The Protagonist System

315 Dinner And A Show

The dinner was supposed to be a formal affair and we did stick to the normal protocols, except for one thing. Tsuru adored little Gaara's shyness and how cute Temari's blonde pigtails were. She couldn't stop herself from using her well honed motherly instincts to fuss over them while we ate and talked.

It made Temari blush at having someone act like a mother should and little Gaara was too confused about the complete change in his circumstances to understand what was going on. You see, he had never had anyone but his older sister to take care of him, so everything Tsuru was doing was fresh and new to his eyes.

Temari had been almost four when her mother Karura died and had some experience with being mothered, which was why she had thought it was her responsibility to help both of her younger brothers. With Tsuru doing it, she knew she had been doing her best and had also missed a lot of things, since she had no one else around to show her how to handle things.

The Kazekage looked stunned at how the dinner was turning out, even if the discussion was exactly what he expected. His eyes kept going to Tsuru and how she had so easily assumed a motherly role for his three children and was engaging them in talking, having them eat the right foods without complaint, and was giving them encouragement and a few admonishments for their behavior.

As for myself, I tried to not laugh at how well Tsuru was ingratiating herself into their family dynamics. Apparently, the huge hole the Kazekage's wife had left in their lives, had never been filled by anyone, not even by the maids and attendants that had been hired to do so.

Yui kept giving me knowing looks and Akiko seemed as amused as I was about the whole thing. The kids needed someone in their lives to treat them like children while also respecting their independence, which they had, since they were members of the local academy.

Temari would be graduating next year when she turned 12, then the next year for her younger brother Kankuru when he turned 12, then it would be 2 years later for Gaara just after he turned 12. He was almost a year older than me, with him born in January and I was born in October, so I wouldn't have been allowed to graduate from the academy until the next year.

Surprisingly, that would be the same time Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuga, and the other 23 people would graduate and form 9 teams to be taught by their assigned mentors. It made me wonder who would be taking my place, since I wasn't there for them to hamstring and forced to become the worst in the year to be paired up with the Rookie of the Year, Sasuke.

I pushed those thoughts about the future aside and enjoyed watching Tsuru show them that she knew what she was doing as a motherly figure. She might not have had her own children; but, she had plenty of experience and had Yui's brain to pick for the last 7 years, nearly 8 now.

She had become the best mother figure she could be, and it showed. She hadn't let her konoichi skills weaken or fade as she ran the construction business, either. She had grown more powerful and could have raised her rank at least twice if she had still been registered as a shinobi.

The meal ended when most of the food was gone and the Kazekage raised his wine glass and thanked us for sharing the meal with him and his family, then he fled. His secretary looked surprised for several seconds before she took over and finished the formal ending to the event and then ushered us out of the formal dining room and into the hallway.

This was when Tsuru really shined as she mothered all three of the Kazekage's children, gave them motherly hugs and kisses on the forehead, then told them to be good and that she was sorry she couldn't tuck them in like they deserved, since she wasn't allowed to follow them to their private rooms.

That was when the secretary realized why the Kazekage had fled. He didn't want to see the anger on the children's faces when they heard about that restriction and he also didn't want to see how he had failed as a father with how a virtual stranger had so easily assumed the motherly role in his family.

When the secretary started to move the children away from us, Gaara stopped walking and turned to look back at us.

“Why don't you hate me like everyone else does?” Gaara asked and the brutality of the child's bluntness had only surprised the secretary.

“Because no one should ever hate a child for what was done to him.” Tsuru said and scooped me up into her arms, despite me being 8 and a little too big for that. She cuddled me and kissed my cheek. “It wasn't your fault you were chosen to be a jail and then used without any thought about what that would do to your life.”

The secretary's eyes widened at the implication and then the three children stared as I changed my face back to the one everyone would recognize, thanks to how the Hokage's and Danzo's agents had made sure that everyone knew about me.

“Mine's gone, too.” I said and patted my belly. “No more anger, or danger, or anything else.”

Gaara walked over to me and Tsuru put me down to stand in front of him. We were about the same height and he stared at me without blinking for almost a full minute, then he blinked once.

“Can you change my face too?” Gaara asked.

Temari gasped and covered her face with a hand. I smiled and nodded as I held a hand out for him to shake. Gaara took it and stared into my eyes.

“I'll do the same to you as I did to myself.” I said and changed my face back to my disguise. “Instead of looking like my dad, I look like my mom.”

His eyes darted to Tsuru's face and back to mine, then he nodded.

I altered his face to remove the traits that made him look like his father, Rasa. His face morphed into a much different look and his hair changed from the short red it was into a soft brown that grew out to be similar to Temari's.

“No one will recognize you now.” I said and let his hand go. “Go hug your sister.”

Gaara nodded and turned around to show his siblings his new face. Temari gasped and tears came to her eyes, because she recognized that face. She ran over to him and hugged him tightly, as if she never wanted to let him go. Her wet eyes looked at me and she whispered a thank you.

Tsuru took my hand and my group walked away, down the hallway, and down the stairs. We crossed te lobby and went out the doors. It was a short walk back to our assigned living quarters and none of us spoke until we were safe in our living room and activated the different chakra barriers to keep us safe and from being listened in on.

“That's going to really rattle the Kazekage.” Yui said and sat on the couch.

“No doubt.” I said and sat beside her. “It will also make him a huge hypocrite if he discloses the new look is still the Jinshuriki of the One-Tailed beast.”

“His kids would really hate him if he did that.” Tsuru said. “Their reaction to how Gaara was treated was enough to shove his behavior back in his face. If he ruins Gaara's chance at being anonymous...”

“...it'll cement in their minds that he really doesn't care about them and only wants to use them.” I said for her and she nodded.

“What do we do if he does?” Akiko asked. “We can't exactly kidnap them, no matter how cute they are. The three of them are training to be ninjas, after all.”

“Well, Temari is about to graduate in the next ceremony, so she will be considered an adult. Her brother's not until the next year, though.”

“Gaara's almost 9, so that's nearly three or four years before he's ready. There's no way his father would let us hang around that long or let the boy out of his sight for that long.” Yui said as she thought about the problem.

“What if we file for special circumstances?” Tsuru asked and the three of us looked at her. “I know if you can pass the written tests and perform the required jutsu without too many mistakes, they'll let you graduate early to get you onto the field and into a team quicker.”

That gave us all something to think about and none of us said anything for several minutes.

“I think this calls for a secret training camp to bring all three of them up to current standards while we work on the mansion. What do you think?” I asked and the three women gave me wicked smiles.

“I think that is a wonderful idea, Naruto. Just wonderful.” Tsuru said an pulled me onto her lap and kissed my cheek several times.

“I'll come up with the training plans, Tsuru can teach them, and you and Akiko can heal them to let their bodies adapt to the strict lessons.” Yui said. “We should be done in time for the Chunin exams to end and they can graduate into adulthood and make their own decisions.”

We all agreed and stayed up to help Yui make up three training plans that were adjusted for each student, since Temari was closest to graduate, Kankuro had another year, and Gaara had another two. It was a close balancing act to have all three plans come together at the end to give them all what they needed to pass the graduate exam at the same time.

Of course, this was all assuming they were going to agree. I chuckled at that thought, knowing full well that the three of them were going to accept. Who would ever choose to deny the chance to advance so quickly? Definitely not those three.

Temari would probably accept before hearing the entire offer, since she was so eager to help her little brother as much as she could. In fact, we could change her training a little to include her in helping Gaara as well, letting her fulfill her desires for both becoming a ninja and the best sister in the world.

*

Temari accepted the offer on behalf of her two brothers without bothering to know the details. Anything that could get the three of them out of the cutthroat academy was the best choice in her eyes, no matter where it came from. She was almost desperate about it, especially when she learned that she could be on the same team if they graduated together.

Utter happiness was an understatement when it came to Temari's attitude after that. She easily coerced her brothers into it, as if they had a choice, and she delved into the mentor role as if she was born to it. It wasn't as big of a stretch as she thought it was going to be, not after all her time spent trying to be a motherly influence for her two brothers.

The reconstruction of the mansion's look went along in tandem with the secret lessons the three Kazekage children underwent, right under their father's nose. The secretary was fully aware of the plan as well, since she was the one supervising the construction job and there was no real way to hide what they were really doing.

Funnily enough, she was okay with everything and didn't tell her boss about how his children were getting advanced lessons on how to be the best shinobi and konoichi in the academy. In fact, she had taken a liking to Yui's role in the company and had learned a few new skills herself.

While that was going on, the local Chunin exams started and candidates from several villages arrived and were put up in special accommodations for the three weeks the exams would be held. Not surprisingly, the Uzumaki Construction Company avoided everyone, especially the representatives from Konoha.

The chaperones only tried once to approach them, despite Anko's warning not to. They had their orders from the Hokage and she just shrugged and told them she would send word back to their families if they died. It made the two men, Ibiki and Asuma, laugh. The one woman, Kurenai, had mostly listened and took her words with a grain of salt.

It wasn't until they approached the curtained off partition around the front of the Kazekage's mansion that they received their first warning. An alert barrier was there. As a construction company, why did they need something like that?

Asuma Sarutobi was the Hokage's son, so he stepped across it without trying to disable it, confident that he could talk to them without causing any problems. It was a bit arrogant of him to do that, because as soon as the alert was tripped, a second chakra barrier appeared and it felt threatening, even to seasoned shinobi. The man froze with his other foot in the air and about to take another step.

Ibiki grabbed his arm and pulled him away, earning a whispered thank you from Asuma. They didn't know what the hostile barrier would do to any trespassers, so it was safer to avoid it for now. The two men nodded at Kurenai and she stepped forward to use her chakra techniques to analyze it and possibly disable it.

“What are you doing?” A sexy female voice asked.

The three Konoha ninjas felt her killing intent and stiffened for a moment, then they turned their heads to look at a gorgeous blonde woman that could be a cousin to the famous medic-nin, Tsunade. They knew who she was, because of her looks, and the three of them relaxed. She was only a civilian and they assumed that what they were feeling had been part of the chakra barrier.

“We were coming to talk to you.” Kurenai said and started to reach inside her tunic, only to freeze when a short sword was pressed to the side of her neck.

“If you were reaching for a weapon, you're going to be a head shorter.” A female voice said.

Kurenai only moved her eyes to glance to the side and saw a young blonde girl with short puffy pigtails. She also looked very serious and had her life in her hands, making the older woman remember Anko's warning.

“Neither of you move.” A younger voice said and both Ibiki and Asuma jerked slightly as something sharp poked them in the back to stop them from throwing their shuriken at the teen holding Kurenai prisoner.

“Turning your back on the place you were trying to break into?” Tsuru asked with a smile. “This is the Kazekage's mansion. You two are a special kind of idiot, aren't you?”

Asuma let out a little sigh. “All she has is a letter to hand over.”

“Really?” Temari asked and pulled Kurenai's hand out of her tunic and it held several throwing stars. With a flick of her other wrist, the short sword slit Kurenai's throat and Temari swung around and followed through with a chop. The older woman's head was severed from her neck and both that and her body fell to the ground.

“You'll pay dearly for that.” Asuma said, his voice angry.

“I am the Kazekage's daughter, foreigner. All I did was kill a violent trespasser.” Temari said and flicked her sword to fling the blood off of it. “Or are you going to claim you have a right to enter another Kage's personal home without permission or invitation?”

Asuma was definitely not going to say that. “I am the Hokage's son...”

“GUARDS! Seize him!” Temari ordered and a group of shinobi appeared in a swirl of sand around him to hold the point of their swords against him.

“You can't do this!” Asuma exclaimed as he was shackled. A moment later, all of his weapons and items were removed.

A moment later, an oppressive feeling filled the area and two of the guards bowed.

“It seems the Hokage has decided to end the alliance between our villages.” The Kazekage said as he walked out from behind the curtain over his front door.

“No! We were just delivering a letter to Uzumaki Construction!” Asuma said.

“By breaking into my home?” The Kazekage asked and he didn't answer. “Was using a simple courier to make the delivery within the same village too much for your little brain to handle?”

“We were to hand it over personally to ensure it was delivered.” Ibiki said.

The Kazekage gave him a pointed look and then huffed. “Search the body and hand me the evidence.”

Asuma opened his mouth to argue and the sword in his back poked him.

An envelope was pulled out from a different pocket than what the konoichi was reaching for and Temari shook her head at her father. He nodded back and the letter was checked. It glowed purple when chakra was injected into it.

“It's poisoned.” The guard said and handed it to another guard, whom wrapped it in cloth to hand to the Kazekage.

“You were going to assassinate my personal guests?” The Kazekage asked and Asuma's face drained of color. “Kill the spare. We'll keep the Hokage's son prisoner until the trial and then we will all see how much Konoha's Kage is willing to pay to save his son from the executioner's blade.”

Asuma shouted his denial as he was led away and claimed that no one in Konoha would believe the lies. He was being set up and they should look for the real culprits.

Both the Kazekage and Tsuru chuckled, because it didn't matter if it was a setup or not. They would use it to their advantage anyway.