Nindō 0035: Preventing War

Naruto and Sakura left the hospital ward where Gaara was housed, allowing Temari the necessary alone time to gather herself.

"I feel bad for Kankurō especially," Sakura said. "He will be the one who ends up dealing with the aftermath of the situation in Suna. That's not even mentioning his injuries, which, while healable, are also very bad. His internal injuries will take at least a week or so to completely heal."

"He'll be fine Sakura-chan. Temari and Kankurō are very strong people. You know that."

Walking some distance away from the room, Sakura turned to Naruto and grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. She looked up at him and met his eyes. "How bad is Gaara's situation exactly? Tell me without sugarcoating it." She asked, prompting Naruto to shake his head with a dismayed expression.

"Back then … When Kakashi-sensei was subjected to the Tsukuyomi by Itachi Uchiha, it took him a long time just to wake up, let alone fully recover. And that was despite the Uchiha holding back significantly. Gaara is currently in a similar yet much worse situation. His spirit has been damaged so badly that he is going to need at least a decade or so to heal. Even then, it's unknown whether he is going to be fully recovered."

Sakura gasped, "We can't do anything to help him?"

"You know better than anyone what he needs right now. All we can do is sustain his physical body until his spirit naturally heals and he wakes up. It could be a couple of years from now or a few decades. I don't really know." Naruto said.

"So what now?"

"I'll come up with something," Naruto said. "At the very least, Suna will not go into a civil war over who will become the new Kazekage, I will make sure of that. I'll be off to bid farewell to the other Kage. You take care of Gaara. I will return to talk to Kankurō and Temari tomorrow once they've had enough time to pull themselves together."

"I understand," Sakura said with a tired sigh. "Take care," She patted his arm as he turned to leave the hospital.

On his way out, Naruto heard Kurama's skeptical voice in his head.

[I don't think Urashiki is strong enough to incapacitate Gaara to this extent, Naruto. In the fight in your memory, those two were able to hold him back without any major loss. Here, however, one got beaten to a pulp and the other got his spirit shattered.]

[You think Urashiki implanted Gaara with a Kama as backup? After seeing how Momoshiki changed his movements, I wouldn't put it behind Urashiki to take some precautions as well. The only problem with this theory is that I examined Gaara, but there were no signs of him being implanted with Urashiki's Kāma.]

[Maybe it will take some time to reveal itself. Or maybe it needs Urashiki to die before the Kama manifests itself. After all, considering Kawaki's experience with Jigen's Kāma, it is notoriously picky about its host.]

[That does seem like the most likely possibility.]

Naruto's next destination was the railway station. He had to go see off the three Kage who were all departing for their respective villages.

"Tsuchikage," Naruto's first encounter was with Kurotsuchi, who was leaving on the train to the Land of Earth.

"Hokage," The woman wearing a red qipao bowed in greeting. "I hope everything is now in order?"

"Things are as well as they can be. I wanted to thank you for your help during the conflict. You saved the lives of many of Konoha's shinobi and civilians alike."

"Please, you'll make me blush," The Kage-level kunoichi said jokingly before her brows scrunched into a concerned frown. "I heard about the Kazekage."

"He's going to be fine," Naruto said with a casual smile. "That third Ōtsutsuki seems to have used some kind of ability to completely drain Gaara's chakra. He is just suffering from some chakra exhaustion, which caused him to lose consciousness temporarily, that's all."

"Good to know," Kurotsuchi nodded. "Take care of your village, Hokage. I feel that these aren't the only enemies who might spring up out of nowhere in the near future."

"Likewise, Tsuchikage. Take care on your journey. And give my greetings to your grandfather," Naruto bade her farewell with a handshake before moving to the next platform. He had a similar conversation with both the Mizukage, Chōjūrō, and the Raikage, Darui. He answered the questions that they had and bade them farewell as well.

[Suna is going to be vulnerable without the Kazekage.]

Naruto nodded at Kurama's comment.

[Correct. I can't have a war between the hidden villages while the threat of the Ōtsutsuki looms over our heads. We have to make sure that Suna's situation is stabilized as soon as possible.]

…

"I know you're busy, but I needed to talk to you about something extremely important," Naruto said.

The setting sun shone through the window of the Hokage's office that was behind Naruto's desk. It illuminated Shikamaru's serious expression, "What do you need?"

"Have you talked to Sakura or Temari?"

"Not in the past hour, no. Last I heard, Sakura was going to rest after pulling an all-nighter healing the wounded. As for Temari, she was going to check up on Gaara and Kankurō."

"There's been a complication."

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The Kazekage is comatose and will remain so until further notice." Naruto's words made Shikamaru widen his eyes.

"What?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "That Ōtsutsuki, whom Gaara and Kankurō fought, did something to Gaara. Something that damaged his spirit horribly. To the point that he isn't going to wake up in the next decade or so. We have essentially lost the Kazekage for the foreseeable future."

Shikamaru, despite the bomb that had just exploded in front of him, analyzed everything as quickly as possible.

"Who else knows about this? We need to suppress this news from the other villages. If any of the daimyos get a whiff of this information, then Suna will have a war on their hands. With their commander comatose in Konoha, they will be like sitting ducks. While it doesn't affect us much, Suna's capture will cause global unrest and destroy the hard-earned peace that we have all worked so hard to bring about."

"Calm down," Naruto said. "No one beyond me, Sakura and Temari know. And now you as well. Everyone else merely thinks that Gaara is suffering from chakra exhaustion. We need to do damage control."

"What we need, is for someone to step in as the Kazekage. Someone who can easily quell the upcoming civil war that's about to take place in Suna."

"Exactly," Naruto nodded. "We need to send an ambassador from Konoha with Kankurō to support his ascension as the Kazekage. They need to be strong enough to have a deterrent effect on the ambitious ninja there. I was thinking Lee."

Shikamaru went silent for a moment and shook his head, "We don't need to send an ambassador there, Naruto." Naruto waited for Shikamaru to continue. "We need to send someone who is respected among their people and will be able to take Gaara's role while steamrolling any opposition. Someone who, unlike Kankuro, is suited to lead a hidden village. If Kankurō steps in as the Kazekage, the Suna's elders will take little less than a few months to wrestle all power away from him, leaving him as a puppet and mascot."

"Are you thinking of sending your wife to another hidden village, Shikamaru? You know that I can't let you leave Konoha long-term, right? You will be separated from her," Naruto said. "Your presence is just as integral to the village as Ino, who runs our entire communication system."

"I know, Naruto. Shikadai is already all grown up, if not for the interruption, he would've become a chunin regardless. As for me … I can deal with a bit of loneliness. Even if it is a drag." Shikamaru smiled. "Temari is the best choice for the new Kazekage. With Konoha's underlying backing, she will make the perfect Kazekage for Suna."

"Do you think your wife will agree to leave her family in Konoha to get embroiled in the political whirlpool of Suna? As the new Kazekage no less," Naruto asked. "She will be at the eye of that storm once she arrives. The elders won't just sit on their asses and let a woman, even if she has royal blood, who has lived in an enemy village for over a decade take over their village."

"She will agree. I know she will," Shikamaru said. "I'll talk to her. Not only will she agree, she will beat up anyone who stands against her."

"Since you've made your decision, I won't stand against it," Naruto nodded. "You can talk to your wife tonight. To make sure that people aren't too suspicious, we need Gaara's party to depart tomorrow at the latest. I will brief Temari and Kankurō of the new plan at that time."

"Understood." Shikamaru nodded before standing up. "If there's nothing else, I'll be in my office."

"Think it over once again, Shikamaru. Not only will your wife be in danger, but it's hard to know when you might be able to see her again if you send her to Suna to take over as Kazekage in Gaara's absence."

Shikamaru stopped at the door for a moment before nodding. He opened the door and walked out, slowly closing the door behind him as a thoughtful expression seemed to take up permanent residence on his face.

***

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