"We lost ten genin and three chunin in the coup. Mostly because they failed to follow protocols."
Baki reported to Gaara with bended knee.
"They will serve their village in other ways."
"Yes!"
Gaara sipped his coffee thinking about the repercussions of whatever shitstorm he stirred in Konoha. Still in search of the deceased bodies of their allies Konoha came to Otogakure and Sunagakure for information but found no leads so far. The anger of Konoha soon burned as they pusued the forces of Oto. Sunagakure on the other hand is left alone due to thier inaction and the fact that they are also a victim of Orochimaru's schemes.
The already bankrupt Orochimaru gritted his teeth after seeing base after base turned to rubble that littered the ground in the lands of Oto. What was worse is that Konoha is still on his tail looking for their dead. He also learned of Sunagakure's sudden betrayal, he didn't expect them to find out that he killed their Kazekage in such a short amount of time. It looks like the failure in his plans had a major backfire and his ass is about to be torched.
"Kabuto, call him. Tell him that I am willing to work with him and that I am in need of immediate assistance."
His subordinates have never seen their Lord so helpless before. Orochimaru's respected image became tarnished by his defeat in the hands of those he looked down on. The man himself realized this and looked for immediate assistance before his subordinates had the silly idea to turn to him just for the heck of it. No, he wasn't willing to kick the bucket just yet. No, he wasn't willing to die at all. He would rather make a deal with the devil than perish.
"He said he'll be coming right awa-."
"YO! My... Look at you guys... Someone told me that you people are in need of transporting?"
A man wearing a golden cloak appeared, the decoration in his cloak is that of a tree which is unique to only one organization.
'''''Yggdrasil'''''
"You sure are fast. How should we address you?
"I don't have a name. If you are ready then please do gather closer my range is still limited by my rank."
The man only waved his hands to dismiss the conversation. He looked around and frowned.
"Are you expecting guests? There are incoming from the southeast about twenty of them are at least jonin rank."
Orochimaru of course knew who are coming, they immediately gathered around the masked man in gold cloak. The man threw a scroll up and the scroll spun around them fast before a huge explosion of clouds replaced them. Kakashi and his group arrived at the scene a few breaths later and managed to see the Oto Lord and shinobi vanish.
--------
Three weeks later.
Gaara and his siblings sat in the Hokage building listening to the report on the events that transpired in Konoha. When Baki revealed the reason why they differed from the original arrangement of cooperation with Otogakure to standing by the side as they defended themselves the elders applaud their quick thinking. As the one who weaved all of it, Gaara's name was pushed forward.
"Konohagakure already contacted us with the intent to peacefully negotiate the arrangements of the matter pertaining to the missions. Should we accept, Suna will be on an economic chokehold of Konoha. But if we refuse, we are back to square one. The problem is that we don't have the gold dust to support the expenditure of the village."
Granny Chiyo relayed the current situation and the consequences of each decision.
"Stuck between a rock and a hard place."
Baki muttered silently, but loud enough for those who heard him to nod their heads. That is an apt description of what they're in right now.
"What is you opinion on the matter disciple?"
"I see no problem with clinging to Konoha at this time, this will give us the option of spreading influence west of Hoshigakure and then beyond the secret strait. Iwagakure will be wary of this move but will hesitate on issuing a full scale war due to our newly established ties with Konoha.
If we can exert dominance over the lands beyond the Gulf of Wind perhaps we won't even need to rely on this agreement in the future. But if you really want my opinion, a change in the holder of Daimyo seat should do the job. Its not like we don't have anyone competent enough to manage the civilians."
"I will pretend not to have heard your treasonous remark this time because I asked. Did you actually think that the previous Kazekage tried nothing of the sort? Konoha leaning the olive branch our way is actually as you said, a 'carrot' but its not all bad."
Gaara nodded, reading into Granny Chiyo's words. Of course there's someone spying for the Daimyo in the circle of elders, corruption is not unique to his old world after all. He suddenly flinched and turned back towards his siblings who are grinning like devils.
Ever since they dicovered his overly sensitive virgin spots, it has been what got his elder siblings through this freak-ass long meetings with old people. He gave them a glare but could only helplessly sigh, this is going to be a long day.
--------
At the same time within a laboratory in Roran Gaara's real body appeared through teleportation. According to the memories of his clone who was in charge here, they have finally managed to make the shinobi world's first fuinseal 'supercomputer'.
"The compute nodes are connected to the network using the teleportation properties of 'flying raijin'. Each node features 'multithreaded processor seals', 'memory seals', 'network adapting seals', 'local storage seals', and 'accelerator seals'. Theoretically there should be a 5000% improvement to our previous designs which are purely made using civilian level technology."
The scientists looked proud of their department's accomplishment. Although it seemed nothing much has been achieved so far, they can already see the vast applications of their work in use within the organization. Their names will be written in the annals of the incoming era of discovery, of science, of technology.
"That is 100,000,000 cores so at least 115 petaFLOPS. This is about material resource isn't it?"
Gaara delved into the memories of his clone with some help. If this thing came into being, this would basically leave the competition to the dust. But there are still challenges that needed to be reesolved before this project can come to see the light of day.
"Yes sir, the materials we have available can't seem to be able to bear the chakra load and easily becomes prone damage."
Gaara's memories and deduction is spot on. It is natural to encounter this problem. Ink and paper may be enough to carry jutsus but it looks like its application in the field of continous activation is insufficient.
"I suppose you have already tried all the materials that we have available else I wouldn't be needed. Are you asking for a green on a joint program with 'Omega brain?' Well it does have merits to look into. I will update you on this development as soon as possible. For now everyone can rest in Takamagahara and celebrate."
'Well I guess there's that too. I'll send someone to check it out later.'
Gaara left to check on his favorite scientist since he is here.
"Boo!"
Gaara covered the eyes of a girl with silk-black long hair.
"Gaara stop disturbing me I'm in a middle of a scientific breakthrough in here."
"Ooooo! A breaktrough. So what's up? I called Zabuza not long ago and he kept on ranting about this new obsession of yours."
Gaara asked lazily prodding the data sheets scattered on the lab floor pondering if he should issue a forced vacation on his friend.
"Pshh Don't be overdramatic, the guy isn't even that old. He need a lovelife! That's what he needs!"
Haku stopped for a moment with gleaming eyes. It was like she already solved the problem that stumped her for a long time.
"No way. No!"
Haku frowned at him with puffed cheeks. Gaara flicked her forehead and laughed.
"Pftt. Fine. You look like a monkey by the way. What's this?"
A red liquid inside a transparent container caught his attention.
"This is what I'm researching about all this time. This is a completely artificial biofuel secreted by the tree. The quantity however is fairly small so I'm looking for a way to increase production. Maybe you can help me?"
Gaara pondered for a moment before agreeing to her request since he became curious as well now that he has seen what she's up to.
"I'll assign a clone to you later. I must tell you that my expertise in Botany may need some refreshing."
"No biggie. I only need fresh ideas anyway."