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Sanrou by nkbz

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Chapter notes: The "Daimyo" is the lord in the Land of Iron.


The Land of Iron is known as the last bastion of the samurai and as the hosts during the Kage Summit. It is a frigid icy land steeped in tradition, honor, and loyalty. While the secluded country had remained largely neutral towards the ninja and their conflicts, they were known to possess an intimidating military. After the attack by Sasuke and the news of the approaching fourth great war, the samurai for the first time pledged their aid to the Shinobi Alliance and further went to declare Uchiha Sasuke an international criminal. The Daimyo, leader of the Iron had become enraged that their once peaceful and secure territory had been violated by the criminal -- in the presence of the leaders of all the ninja countries no less -- and hastened to plan to take matters into his owns hands. Although the Daimyo was much more rash than his father and predecessor, he was not foolish and was wise beyond his years. The man knew treaties could not sign trust, and he would go so far as to plot to send his adopted son of seventeen years, the lone heir of the ruling family, to Konoha. His true motives would lay disguised under his carefully chosen words. He reassured Konoha's Hokage that it would be in everyone's best interest for his son to see the wreckage of their village and thus the severity of the situation as he prepared to come of age; for the samurai regularly selected their generals from their own family, or those who'd families had served for generations such as Mifune.

Tsunade quickly grew weary of the Iron's attachment archaic samurai tradition and their manner of negotiating. She accepted hesitantly, mostly out of pure impatience, with the condition she would personally send two ninja to accompany his son. If such a troublesome task were to be done she would ensure the process would be smooth. The process of choosing the escort was anything but easy now that ninja had begun being sorted into roles for the upcoming war. It was becoming a challenge to find someone who hadn't already been assigned to a post. Not only would the selected ninja have to have the correct skill set, but would have to be a 'suitable' candidate as a representative. The easiest choice she figured would be to send two Hyuuga from one of Konoha's four noble clans. Within their own clan the Hyuuga have the skills and experience of negotiating and seemed to share the closest resemblance to the samurai. Not to mention having a sensory type would be almost invaluable in an escort mission, however they were in short supply and filled irreplaceable roles in the war.

Tsunade found it just oh-so-kind of Shizune to constantly remind her through her countless eye-twitching dismissals of the newly leaked folders containing information on the ANBU operatives. It was true for the time being she did have full authority of the specialized ANBU ninja, or rather the remnants of ANBU, yet having to resort to using one of Danzou's brainwashed ninja was viewed as almost a defeat in a battle of pride. Considering where Danzou had landed himself now though....

"Oh come on Tsunade-sama! Have you forgotten how nice of a person Sai-kun turned out to be? And Kakas-"

Tsunade flung her arm up as though to silence Shizune and casted her a grudging glare. Even Shizune's pig took on a look of anxiety, had she finally crossed the line? With an air of defeat and the sun resting appropriately at her back, Tsunade's hand smacked down onto the folder; she dragged it in front of her and wrenched it open as Shizune looked on with a satiated gleam in her eyes. The Hokage's expression became inscrutable once she began sifting through the papers and Shizune quickly scurried around to lean in and observe the process. Not more than fifteen minutes later there became a noticeable trend in the selections.

"Females?"

"Yes, in the organization Sai had only one teammate before being assigned to Yamato," Tsunade explained rather distractedly as she extracted another information sheet and placed it on her desk -- which was on course to becoming more populated with papers than there were leafs in Konoha's forests.

Shizune had perked up immediately at the mention of the artist. Surely Tsunade-sama couldn't be considering 'Sai' as suitable... surely Tsunade-sama didn't stop her tirade earlier and chose Sai just because she had thrown out his name! Full of unnerving imaginative scenarios of the socially challenged Sai conversing in any form with the Iron's Daimyo she geared up on pure impulse to deliver her comment delicately:

"Ah, well... I suppose it is true that Sai has come a long way since he has been with Naruto-kun -- erm -- sociably that is," she began as planned, but as Tsunade's determination showed no sign of wavering her tone became indifferent and exasperated, "Still, the comments they leave about each other in their mission reports...." Shizune had no choice but to resign with a sigh, knowing her efforts were fruitless and that her friend would not be swayed from her implied intentions of sending Sai and his previous teammate.

Tsunade was completely immersed in her task as she closed in on the last of the papers; so much so that she began to toss the irrelevant parcels and sheets aside almost absentmindedly until at last she was left with only one.

"You know, this would have been a lot easier if this had been in alphabetical order," Tsunade remarked as she reclined back into her chair and passed the document over her shoulder to Shizune who began to examine it at once.

"Akemi huh. It appears she hasn't been deployed in Konoha ever since her mission with Sai," she said suspiciously and compared it next to Sai's paperwork. "Do you think we will be able to retrieve her in time?"

"I'd assume so, now that ANBU has dissolved," Tsunade replied curtly after taking a sip of her cold and neglected tea. "The only thing I'm concerned about is that hardass Daimyo's response to one of our escorts being a female."

Although Shizune carried a lot more concern than that, she was relieved to know Tsunade had considered as much. It had been nearly a month, the scheduled meeting was drawing near and she was growing anxious that Tsunade would be too hasty selecting the two ninja. It would be going too far to say that Shizune was comfortable with Sai and the girl known simply as Akemi having added together their apparent absence from each other after a single mission, yet she had to admit Danzou had been spot on melding the two in terms of harmony in abilities...

"Well, who's going to clean this up?" Tsunade's voice dragged Shizune kicking and screaming out of her musings.




Why is it only after a tragedy do people join together in harmony? Sai paused and lifted his pencil as if he must know the answer before resuming his sketch. His hawk-like eyes scanned from atop the Hokage monument downward onto the hardworking townsfolk. On his sketchpad that rested in his lap was not an image of the current scene -- not of the Konoha people banding together as they did now every day in a feverish attempt to reconstruct their lives and their friends lives -- but of the sun that was rising.

From early morning until the sun's set, the people of our village work together. Am I being led to believe in an era like this the people of my village are shining their brightest? Is the kindness they show each other going to sink into the shadows once the war is over? The more he thought, his appearance became rather scornful and he deliberated that 'Konoha's sun will eventually set'. It is inevitable, he convinced himself, but I can't keep looking down now on my home.

As he redirected his attention to sketch, he merely stared at it, contemplating. An unfamiliar frustration overtook him minutes later and he found himself drawing the cover over his art until it lay beneath the rest of his untitled work. He himself had begun to struggle with his own emotions. His ANBU training pulled at his cords daily in a desperate attempt to steer him clear from feeling and sympathy, but even he could not deny he was beginning to bear the burden of his teammates emotions after all that has happened. Birthed from his heart which once only resided the ability to study emotions in others, slowly came the realization he was becoming his own test subject. Now in his contemplations he even began to smell a sweet scent, the scent of... plum blossoms?

"Sakura?" muttered Sai with unrestrained surprise, but did not look round. In fact he felt himself freeze and felt unguarded from not sensing the presence of the girl. How long had she been there?

Pink hair fell in sight from the corner of his eye. "Yep!" Sakura chimed merrily, leaning over the shoulder of the boy who sat cross-legged. "We've been in this position before haven't we?"

Sai finally turned his head to meet her, a smile pasted on. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" she repeated, looking scandalized yet unable to tell if he was jesting.

Sakura took a step back and analyzed him with a hum. "You've been thinking too much again, Sai!" preached Sakura sagely, apparently taking it upon herself to explain his odd behavior, "I've already told Tsunade-sama you'd go mad if you had too much time to yourself. You're fragile after all, what with all those emotions you've kept bottled up inside you."

"Is that so? Are you making a diagnosis of some sort?"

Sakura seeing the thorny Sai had made his appearance today, her brow twitched in agitation. "Yes, that's right!"

Sai removed his gaze and his shoulders began to bob in silent laughter. All the emotions I have bottled up, is that so Sakura-san? After he had spent the morning contemplating such thoughts the irony was highly amusing to him. Dimples appeared on Sakura's cheeks, whose smile had melted into something more genuine.

Sai drew himself up, his tunic billowed in the spring breeze that had carried the scent of plum blossoms. Pencil in one hand and his sketchpad tucked underneath his arm, he merely stared blankly at Sakura from some few paces away. He could not help but to admire the color she dashed into the palette of browns and grays which coated Konoha. It was true, he now told himself, that tragedy has a way of bringing about harmony and good. He realized if Sasuke not have left, he himself would never have met Sakura and Naruto. Everyone was getting stronger now because of the war, everyone was coming together under one banner -- even the samurai. He considered should the Moon's Eye plan fail, maybe the sun will never set and the countries will stay unified.

Ah, I believe I am being naive now.

As he slowly came out of his reverie, his expression still static and inscrutable, he noticed Sakura's cheeks had taken on the color of her hair.

"So Sakura-san, what is it?"

"W-what is it?!" she recoiled immediately, appearing both irritated and embarrassed (Sai could not pick which one was causing her face to flush), "I should be the one asking that, you're the one staring at me!"

"Oh. I meant what is the real reason you approached me so early in the morning-- surely you didn't just come to tell me I am going crazy," he insisted. "You should worry more about yourself Sakura-san and less about others; or do you take comfort pretending to be my sister?"

The words seemed to set off a spark in Sakura and for a moment she appeared devoid of all thought and emotion. The once steady and peaceful breeze seemed to halt to make way for the silence. Sai opened his mouth trying to grope for words, but stopped when Sakura tensed immediately like turtle quickly withdrawing into its shell. With his mouth still slightly open Sai calculated and realized the girl was, for some baffling reason, becoming enraged.

Sakura's eyes were livid and she struggled with each syllable as she attempted to deliver her message: "Tsunade... Tsunade was waiting for me in the hospital this morning. You have a mission briefing today, assuming you aren't hooked up to an IV at the hospital." Trembling with balled fists and white knuckles, she closed her eyes and searched for whatever patience she still contained but to no avail. "Go ahead and find out when yourself, idiot!" she snapped.

"Ok, understood!" Sai replied in an upbeat manner and a smile in hopes to calm down Sakura, however the girl had stormed off so quickly he'd believe she was already out of earshot.

Sai appeared somber as he watched Sakura trek down the hill path. The girl's hands began spending more and more time at her bleary eyes. If only art could portray the message he was so intent on sending her he felt she may understand. Sai's naivety hadn't gone so far as to blind him from the fact that he was her last remaining teammate. It sat at the back of his mind and indifferent gaze each time he would go out with her and Ino. The new bonds he shared with Sakura and Naruto were treasured, but he took care that Sakura wouldn't become too attached to him. Sai promised himself he wouldn't be another person to leave her stranded on a high emotional plateau after the experience of being at her side when she confronted Naruto in the Land of Iron.

Sai bent down and slowly began to store away his tools into his pack. He found he had snapped his pencil and with one look he stowed the eraser end in his pocket.

Sorry Sakura-san, in these times I have to assume I'll be undertaking quite the mission of my own.
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