Nindō: Dominion

While the real Naruto spent his night entangled in bliss with his wife, his clone on the train with Temari was silently meditating, not particularly focused on anything.

"Hokage-sama," Temari spoke to him as Naruto opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Have we crossed into Suna?" He spoke rhetorically, looking at the time; it was an hour past midnight, which meant that they were well into the Land of Wind. "Did you rest well?" He asked her.

"I slept … well," She said with some hesitation. "The bed here is even more comfortable than the one at my own home." Looking out the window, she approached Naruto and sat on the couch opposite him. "I'm not used to such a soft mattress."

"We should eat something. We never know when the trip might end up getting cut short," Naruto said. "The meals are already prepared, can you bring them from the refrigerator? I'll warm them up for us."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," Temari got up and walked to the drink bar before Naruto called her.

"Also, Temari," He said as she turned around to look at him. "Calling me Hokage-sama all the time is a mouthful, don't you think? Just call me by my name. I don't mind."

"It is a bit of a mouthful," Temari said, turning around and getting the food out of the refrigerator, "But you are still the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. I should follow certain etiquette."

"You are about to be the new Kazekage of Sunagakure, Temari. You will have a political position equivalent to myself. So, your point is moot." Naruto looked at the woman as she placed one of the two wrapped bowls in front of Naruto and the other opposite him as she sat down.

"I still can't decimate a country by myself, Naruto," Temari said as the man heated the bowl with a Boil Release jutsu. "At best, I will be seen by Suna's elders as a proxy of Konoha, who has been forcefully put in power by the Hokage himself. At worst, I will be scorned as the woman who sold herself to another village and is now following their bidding to help them annex her home. The worst part is that those situations aren't mutually exclusive."

"Shikamaru's words from that day got to you, I see," Naruto said.

Temari paused as she was unwrapping her freshly warmed food. "Something like that, I guess. I married into Shikamaru's family–clan," She corrected herself, "because I knew that Gaara didn't, in particular, need me anymore, and I also wanted to get away from the whole political situation in general because it stressed me out. But my own husband doesn't seem to share my thoughts and is instead dreaming of conquering my home by using me as a proxy."

"Ambition is everyone's right, Temari," Naruto said. "Even Shikamaru's. Say what you will about his lazy attitude, but the drive that he has toward serving the village is unmatched. The Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans have always been an integral part of the Hidden Leaf Village, only slightly below the Senju and the Uchiha clans — which, I should mention, might as well be considered non-existent. His Nindō is to bring prosperity to his village, to be worthy enough of holding the mantle that Shikaku Nara passed on to him on the fateful day of his passing. That is what drives his ambition of Suna's annexure. Not Suna in particular — He will never in his life admit it to me, but he wishes that the Hidden Leaf village could one day grow into an independent entity that is far beyond the control of the daimyo of the Land of Fire. That is his true ambition."

Temari looked out the window, recalling the many times throughout her life that she got a glimpse into Shikamaru beyond his frontal lazy persona. "You're right," She nodded, not having taken a single bite of her food. "The signs were always there. I just never connected the dots in my head."

"It's not necessary for you to have connected the dots, Temari. It's not surprising to me that he never confided about it in you," Naruto said. "Hell, he never even discussed his thoughts with me, the Hokage of the very village he wants to make prosper. Without me, none of his thoughts could ever come to fruition. And that's because they are just that. Thoughts. I have spent a good chunk of my life as one of that man's closest friends, and even then, it took me a very long time to understand what drives him. I never particularly fostered his drive because what he wanted to do was just that impossible of an ask."

"Ultimately, all of his thoughts were merely things he thought would be pretty nice to have, but he understood reality and his own limits," Temari said.

"Exactly," Naruto nodded. "Even with all my strength, I cannot forcefully take over the elemental nations. I think that's what truly curbed that ambition in Shikamaru."

Temari released a heavy breath, "I don't think I even know the man anymore. I've spent so many years with him, and he's always … always just giving his bare minimum."

"I think you should have had this conversation with him before we left," Naruto said. "It's going to be a while before you can meet him. And eat, I'll have to heat it again otherwise."

"I suddenly don't feel very hungry," Temari shook her head. "Why would he never talk to me about it? I'm his wife for crying out loud."

"Eat. You never know when we might encounter the intercepting ninja and be forced to abandon the train. I'd rather you not be complete baggage." Naruto said with a laugh.

"I would've shown you the meaning of baggage if you weren't Naruto fucking Uzumaki," Temari clenched her teeth, feeling deeply offended. The anger, however, seemed to bring back a breath of life into her hunger, allowing her to start eating the food. "I like hearing your thoughts about my husband, Naruto," She said after devouring some bites of her portion, "Why did he never talk to me about any of this? Why did he always keep everything bottled up?"

Naruto shook his head at her, "Think about your reaction when he did talk to you about it, Temari."

"Hey!" She snapped her chopsticks at him, "I was completely valid in my reaction, that bastard just abruptly told me that he wanted to use me to take over my own home country. And he told me that when I'd just found out that my own brother, the leader of said country, was in a coma until further information. Of course, I was mad at him."

"While I find your reaction understandable — Shikamaru did make a bad call with his word choice and timing — you have to look at things from his perspective as well," He told her. "To some extent, he has always expected such a reaction from you, which is why he stayed quiet. He didn't wish to ruin his marriage by rousing meaningless conflict between you two."

"He never talks …" Temari said. "Neither of us is perfect; we fight occasionally. While I try to talk to him to fix things, his response is to go to the backyard and smoke. Why doesn't he just try to talk to me about his problems? About the things that are bothering him?"

"That's because that is his way of managing conflict. Simple. While you feel that talking about a problem will fix it, he prefers to have some time to himself while he figures things out on his own. That is how he manages conflict," Naruto said. "And if you push him to talk anyway? He will lash out."

"I've never talked much with you, and here I am receiving therapy from a shadow clone of the Hokage of Kon —" As if a prophecy was fulfilled, the front of the train exploded as multiple kunai wrapped in paper bombs attacked it.

"Woah!" Temari was thrown off of the couch on her side as the train was derailed, still moving with its previous momentum while traversing the sand as more and more explosions assaulted the carts from all sides, unable to truly breach the train. As the explosions slowed down, Temari stood up, looking at Naruto's back. He'd stood up and closed his eyes, sensing his surroundings. "Suna-nin?" She asked him as the lights inside the compartment went out completely, darkening the insides of the train, only to be illuminated by the faint moonlight that shone through the windows.

"We're surrounded by them," Naruto said. "They've separated us from the engine and the other two carts, leaving just this cart to move in its inertia.

Temari looked outside the window as her pupils got used to the new light conditions before that light darkened as well.

"Cloth Binding. We're being sealed inside." She said, easily identifying one of the two most commonly used signature jutsu that Suna-nin utilized.

"It's fine, let them stop us. They will realize their mistake once they break into the train," Naruto told her. In the now completely dark metal box that was slowly being sealed, Temari's eyes were attracted to a faint orange light that seemed to emanate from Naruto's face, specifically around his eyes. As the compartment was illuminated again, she gulped audibly, feeling that things were going to get dangerous soon.

***

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