Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 239 The Kazekage of Sunagakure, Ishiichi Saigakure
Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro stayed by the campfire in the desert for a long time at night. At dawn, a small white snake slowly crawled out of the desert.

"They're here!" Naruto, who was idly adding firewood to the campfire, immediately perked up upon seeing them.

When the communication snake from Ryuchi Cave came to his side, Naruto squatted down and reached out to let the snake crawl onto his arm.

"Naruto." The communication snake that had wrapped around Naruto's arm spoke in human language, and the voice that came out was Uchiha Touko.

"Teacher?" Naruto was taken aback when he heard Uchiha Touko's voice. He thought that after sending the message back, his teacher would only send Neji or Sasuke, but he did not expect that it would be Uchiha Touko himself who came to provide assistance.

“Sasuke and Neji have other missions right now,” the communication snake said in Uchiha Touko’s voice. “Therefore, I used a sealing technique to seal a portion of my chakra in the communication snake, which can maintain real-time communication with my main body.”

“Alright, teacher, with you here, Temari’s coup will be even more foolproof,” Naruto nodded.

"Alright, let's get down to business first." Naruto turned the communication snake on his wrist to Temari, who was standing beside him. "Princess of Sunagakure, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um, if I may ask, who are you?" Temari looked at the little snake that was speaking to her and asked hesitantly.

"Uchiha Tokō," the messenger snake said slowly.

"The Fifth Hokage?" Temari's expression changed upon hearing this. The mention of Uchiha Touko startled her. She glanced at Naruto with a somewhat bewildered expression, thinking to herself:

[Aren't you a rogue ninja? What rogue ninja can just call their own Kage if they get into trouble outside?]

"Greetings, Fifth Hokage." Kankuro hurriedly said. Although the relationship between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire had not been so harmonious since the last trade war, as the son of the former Kazekage, he could not neglect proper etiquette. Moreover, after the battle some time ago, Uchiha Tokō had established himself as the strongest ninja in the other side. Therefore, even though it was just a small snake with Uchiha Tokō's chakra, Kankuro did not dare to act rashly.

After calming down a bit, Temari realized what was happening and bowed to the communication snake in Naruto's hand, saying, "Greetings, Hokage. I dare not call myself a princess in front of you."

"No, no, no, you must remember this well. From now on, no matter who you are facing, you must consider yourself the princess of Sunagakure, understand?" Uchiha Touko's voice, tinged with laughter, came from the mouth of the messenger snake.

"If you want to become the Fifth Kazekage, then you must make sure that everyone in your village never forgets the kindness of your father who single-handedly supported the village's economy and enabled them to live a good life," Uchiha Touko patiently persuaded.

“I understand.” Temari nodded. She realized that this legendary ninja had begun to guide her in carrying out the coup. “So, besides that, what else should I do?”

"Wait." Uchiha Touko said slowly, "The situation inside your village is still unclear. Before your and your brother's identities are officially confirmed by your village, what you need to do is gather information about the situation inside your village, and then wait patiently. I think you should have a way to contact the ninjas in your village who support you."

“Yes,” Temari nodded. “I have a way to contact our uncle.”

“Uncle? That would be perfect.” Uchiha Touko nodded, his assessment of Temari’s chances of a coup d’état rising another point. Since ancient times, uncles have always been the best helpers in a coup to seize power, not to mention that the uncle of these three siblings held a high position in Sunagakure.

“So what you need to do now is to get yourself out of this mess,” Uchiha Touko said. “Until you become Kazekage, your Jinchuriki brother can only be a rogue ninja for a while. Also, if you can return to the village, you must show enthusiasm for capturing Gaara, who is a rogue ninja.”

"In other words, you have to cut ties with Gaara for now, since what Gaara did in your village is an undeniable fact," Uchiha Touko continued.

“But if that’s the case…” Temari hesitated upon hearing this.

"Are you worried that if you do this, even if you become the Kazekage, you won't be able to clear your brother's name?" Uchiha Touko asked rhetorically.

Temari didn't speak, she just nodded.

"It seems you have no concept of just how much power the Kage wields," Uchiha Touko laughed. "Once you become the Kazekage and completely control Sunagakure, whether Gaara becomes a rogue ninja is really just a matter of your word."

"Just like him?" Temari asked, looking at Naruto.

“Well, his situation is a bit complicated, but you’re not wrong to think that way,” said Uchiha Touko. Naruto, who was mentioned at this moment, scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

“But our village isn’t just ruled by the Kazekage…” Temari said. “Even when my father was alive, sometimes he had to listen to the opinions of the village elders.”

"When you expressed your desire to become the Fifth Kazekage, what was the attitude of the elders in your village?" Uchiha Touko asked in return.

“They…aren’t very supportive.” Temari sighed and said, “Even though my strength has reached the top level in the village after my training, they rejected me because I’m still too young. However, they’re probably still observing, otherwise they wouldn’t have been delaying the election for the Fifth Hokage. Also, Elder Ebizo’s attitude towards Gaara during this pursuit suggests that he will no longer support me.”

"Isn't it obvious?" Uchiha Touko laughed. "You're going to seize power through a coup. In the process of becoming the Fifth Kazekage, they are all obstacles that must be eliminated. Once you succeed, do you think anyone will stand up and try to stop you if you want to pardon your brother?"

After hearing what Uchiha Touko said, Temari's pupils first contracted, and then she suddenly understood.

Yes, she's planning a coup to seize power. The two elders will definitely stand against her, and purging and eliminating their influence in the village is something that must be done during a coup. So, once she succeeds in taking power, she might become the most powerful Kazekage in Sunagakure since the First Kazekage. At that time, pardoning Gaara would be a piece of cake for her.

"I understand." Temari took a deep breath and voiced her final concern, "But what will happen to Gaara if I abandon him now?"

At this moment, Naruto smiled and said, "If you trust me, I will take care of him. With Kurama here, the One-Tail inside him won't dare to cause trouble. Moreover, I can also try to teach him how to control his emotions."

Temari turned to look at Naruto and fell silent. Although reason told her that Naruto was a rogue Jinchuriki, and even if his defection had other hidden reasons, he was still someone from another force. If he and Konoha had designs on the One-Tailed Beast, entrusting Gaara to him would undoubtedly be like sending lambs to the slaughter. However, when she connected her chakra with Naruto using the secret technique of Ninjutsu, Temari felt only the warmth of the sun in Naruto's chakra. This boy in front of her seemed to have no malice towards the world.

"If only I could be like him..." Temari thought to herself, her gaze lingering on Naruto.

“Having Naruto take care of your younger brother is indeed a good choice. At least I think Naruto can somewhat change the somewhat twisted personality of your younger brother, who was raised as a weapon from a young age,” Uchiha Touko said.

"Alright, I believe you." Temari took a deep breath and said solemnly to Naruto, "Gaara, I'm counting on you."

"Sister?" Kankuro looked at Temari in disbelief.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of him." Naruto smiled and nodded.

“Then, my messenger snake will stay with you until your coup is complete,” Uchiha Touko said.

"Okay." Temari nodded and reached out to let the communication snake on Naruto's wrist crawl onto her own.

“Alright,” Uchiha Touko said, “Naruto, you take this child and go. Then, Princess Temari, you can try to contact your uncle. Find out the situation inside Sunagakure as soon as possible. It will also be beneficial for our next steps.”

……

At dawn, Naruto slowly left Temari and her brother's sight with the sleeping Gaara. After watching the two leave, Temari also began to contact Yashamaru using the communication method she had agreed upon with him.

"You two should make some wounds on yourselves, otherwise it'll be hard to explain later," Uchiha Touko reminded him.

"Okay." Temari was also decisive. She grabbed a handful of sand and rubbed it hard on her face for a while, creating some scratches. Then, without changing her expression, she took out a kunai and cut several wounds on her body. Kankuro did the same.

Uchiha Touko, watching this scene through the eyes of the communication snake, nodded secretly. These two siblings were really going all out for their younger brother.

Two hours later, Yashamaru appeared on the horizon, rushing toward the siblings.

"Temari, Kankuro, are you two alright?" Yashamaru came to the siblings' side and first checked on their physical condition. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they had only suffered minor injuries.

"Where's Gaara?" After confirming the safety of his two nephews, Yashamaru also discovered that his youngest nephew was missing, so he hurriedly asked.

"I don't know." Temari shook her head through gritted teeth and replied according to the words that Uchiha Touko had taught her beforehand, "After that person kidnapped us, we passed out during high-speed flight and our chakra was depleted. When we woke up, he and Gaara were nowhere to be found."

Upon hearing this, Yashamaru's pupils contracted. If Gaara had been taken away by Naruto, it meant that the Sand Village's tailed beasts were also lost. This was an unacceptable situation for the Sand Village, which was currently severely lacking in high-level combat power. However, Yashamaru managed to conceal his emotions slightly and said to the two, "It's good that you two are alright. The village will continue to search for Gaara's whereabouts."

"Uncle, what's the situation in the village now?" Temari asked hurriedly.

"Uh..." Yashamaru hesitated after hearing Temari's question.

"uncle!"

“Alright, there’s nothing wrong with telling you.” Yashamaru sighed and said, “After you guys went missing, Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo declared a state of emergency for the village because of the missing Jinchuriki. They directly appointed the village’s elite Jonin, Ishiichi Seigaku, as the acting Kazekage to take charge of the situation.”

“Shi Yixi Yue?” Temari frowned upon hearing this. “Although he is slightly stronger than me, he doesn’t have many supporters in the village.”

“This is the decision of the two elders,” Yashamaru said. “Last night, that guy held a temporary succession ceremony and put on the Kazekage hat. The first thing he did after taking office was to designate you two as rogue ninjas based on your previous rescue of Gaara. However, his proposal was rejected because of the opposition of us former subordinates of the Fourth Hokage.”

"That guy is only a temporary Kazekage, and he's already so eager to eliminate dissidents?" Kankuro cursed at this moment.

"Don't worry, with your uncle here, I won't let you two suffer any injustice." Yashamaru comforted Kankuro. "However, Gaara's identity as a rogue ninja has been confirmed, so it might be a good thing that person took Gaara away. Otherwise, the only outcome for Gaara would be the forced removal of his tailed beast."

"Damn it!" Temari gritted her teeth.

“Since you’re all alright, you should head back to the village,” Yashamaru said. “Otherwise, the longer you linger outside, the more legitimately that guy can label you as rogue ninja.”

"Okay." Temari nodded, and then followed Yashamaru on the road back to the village.

……

Temari and Kankuro had just returned to the main gate of Sunagakure with Yashamaru when they were stopped by the guards responsible for guarding the gate.

A short while later, a man wearing a green wind-shadow hat and a long robe came out. Upon seeing Yashamaru and the Temari siblings behind him, he immediately spoke:
"Yashamaru, Jonin, well done! Men, seize these two suspected rogue ninjas and interrogate them thoroughly about the Jinchuriki's whereabouts!"

Seeing this, Yashamaru immediately blocked the siblings' path, frowning as he said, "Acting Kazekage, even the two elders haven't decided on Temari and Kankuro's identities yet. Isn't it against the rules for you to label them as rogue ninjas now?"

(End of this chapter)