TDA: Hey everyone! Been a long time hasn't it? I'm sorry about my other stories, I've misplaced my notebook. AGAIN.

**Sighs** It must hate me……………

……………….

………. Anyways, I've been thinking about how I should make this one and I came up with this so far, I'm going to continue with it tonight and post more chapters. Yay! No work today for me!!

Now, on with the story!

"speaking"

'thought'

Chest rising and falling while little drops of sweat form and gently slide over tanned skin and well toned muscles. Golden hair ruffled and messed up, a little more so than usual. Out of breath and ready to collapse from exhaustion, energy spent from his tiring activity. Face red from moving so much and it being so hot this day, half lidded eyes staring at the figure before him. This would always happen, sometimes at different times of the day or occasionally at night, but every day when he didn't have any missions, he would go through the same, or almost the same strenuous activity.

"You're lasting a lot longer than when we started doing this." the other person said as he too, is covered in sweat, breathing heavily.

"You're not that bad yourself." Naruto stated, catching his breath.

"I think I'm at my limit for today Naruto."

"Yeah, I'm almost at my limit as well, plus…"

"…?..."

"I'm starving. Want to go to Ichiraku's for some ramen?"

"But we've gone there all throughout this week, why not go get some grilled beef for once? Eh, Akamaru?" said Kiba as he went to sit on the nearby log to catch his own breath.

"Woof! Woof!" responded a very happy very big ninja dog.

"Huh? But, Ichiraku's ramen is the best…!" He started waving his arms around as he went on his rant about ramen being the best food in the world.

"It's two votes against one. Sorry Naruto" Kiba interrupted with a slight grin, petting Akamaru, as he gets up and starts to walk into town.

"H-Hey! Wait for me!" Naruto said as he struggled to put his shirt back on. Grabbed his coat and chased after Kiba. On the way back from the training grounds Naruto and Kiba talked about what the other's flaws were when they were fighting and how they could improve themselves. Throughout the years they have grown to be close friends. Since Naruto came back from training with Jiraiya , he's been trying to hang out with everyone to make up for lost time. Having a few laughs, eating, getting advice when needed, you know the usual. Naruto had wanted to see if anything had changed while he was away and these few days where he didn't have any missions were the perfect time. He would usually go and find one or two people that would train with him. It was the only time that he would be able to talk with each person individually. Almost always, Naruto would convince his sparring partner to go with him to go eat at Ichiraku's. Today was not one of those days and that sadden him just a little. You see, there was a reason why he would go to Ichiraku's almost all the time.

"So? What's the reason? You know everyone has been curious at why you're a ramen lover. Shino swears that you're going to turn into ramen at the rate that you're going. Did you eat anything else the entire time you were gone?"

Naruto chuckled, "I have had a lot of different food while I was away, but the dishes never stood up to Ichiraku's ramen. The reason I go there so often is simple really, I---"

"Oi!! Naruto! Kiba!"

"Huh?" He turned towards the voice and the figure walking up to him.

'Damn it! I really want to know why…*sighs*…' Kiba thought eyebrow twitching. "Hey guys."

"Hey Shikamaru, Choji. You guys going to eat as well?"

"Yeah, I'm starving" Choji said as he finished his chips, popping the bag.

Shikamaru just shrugged and grinned slightly, as they all continued to walk down the street. "I heard that Temari and her brothers are going to come tomorrow."

"Huh, really? What for?" asked Naruto.

"Hokage didn't say why, but from what I can gather they're going to be staying for a few days, maybe a week" he replied as they came through the restaurant door.

"Is Gaara even up for the trip? It wasn't that long ago that he was brought back to life" Neji stated.

"Huh? Oh, Neji, how was the mission? Did you just get back?" Naruto asked going over to his table. Everyone else followed suit.

"Yes I did, and the mission was tedious." was his reply.

"Well, I'm not sure if he is up for it but it was mainly Temari that convinced him to go."Sikamaru stated as he sat next to Choji, who was already sitting across from Neji. Naruto sat next to Neji and Kiba sat next to him.

"So Temari wanted to come? Did she have to bring the whole family?" Kiba said remembering Konkuro and his stuck up attitude.

"I'm sure she has a reason for bringing Konkuro, but I'm not sure about Gaara. He's the Kazekage, he has too much responsibility to just go off on a field trip." Neji said knowing about Kiba's spat between Konkuro.

"Well, whatever the reason, it'll be nice to see all of them again." Choji stated.

Naruto nodded in agreement, grinning. "That would be nice. It would be cool if they had time to spar, and then there would be an actual challenge for me."

"You don't call what we just did for four hours a challenge?!" Kiba yelled, Akamaru barked and growled at Naruto.

Naruto just grinned and placed his order to the waitress that came by. Kiba sneered at Naruto before grinning himself. Kiba then as well as the rest of the group placed their order and continued chatting. They stayed there for about an hour, at his point it was really dark outside. They thanked the waitress and paid for the food before they went their separate ways for the night.

It was a breezy night as Naruto headed in the other direction from the others toward his home. The buildings would seem to be getting steadily more run down as he continued walking, though he rarely pays attention to that anymore, he would just stare up into the night sky and take in the scent of leaves and grass the breeze would bring to him. It was quiet and relaxing as his pace slowed in the moonlight. He yawned sleepily as he kept thinking. 'I wonder when they'll be here, I bet Gaara just got mad at Temari for bugging him so much that he finally agreed to come. But what does Tem---' he was cut off by a stabbing sensation coming from his side as he accidently bumped into a civilian.

"---Aaaugh… Hey what's the big---". He was cut off again as that same figure stealthily turned him around and tied his hands behind him and pulled him into the nearby alley in one swift motion. Pinned against the wall, he felt the duck tape on his mouth to stop him from talking. Fists then made contact to his face and stomach, making him loose his breath. He tried to look at his attackers but found that the cloaks they had on covered their faces. Since he'd been training previously he did not have the chakra or the strength he originally had to fight back. After about an hour of them punching and kicking, each of them taking their turn, the last one grabbed a fist full of hair and made him look up. Bruises showed on his face as he looked up to his attacker, face still dark from the cloak. That one seemed to be even angrier than the rest, who brought out his knife and aimed for his chest. Just as he lunged his knife forward, time seemed to slow down as Naruto closed his eyes waiting for the impact, which never came, although he did feel something grab him. When he opened his eyes he was surprised to find a wall in front of him. 'No it's not a wall, it's a… barrel? How'd I get inside a barrel?' Naruto became more confused. He felt the wire around his hands and the tape on his mouth, 'Okay I'm not sleeping so….?'

"Run!" he heard someone say through the barrel. There were sounds of shuffling then it became silent.

As the barrel opened in front of him, he saw the alley that he had been dragged into was empty however there were some blood stains on the ground from where his attackers were standing just a few moments ago. He didn't expect the barrel to lift in a way that made Naruto roughly fall to the floor, face first.

'Uff! Damn that hurts.' Naruto said aloud yet muffled through the tape.

"I bet that hurt" a rough voice behind him said. "Now hold still."

Naruto just nodded. He sat still as he felt the blade slip between his hands to cut the wire. "Man, this is a tight knot, sorry if I cut your hands. Those guys must really not like you." Once his hands were free Naruto rubbed his wrists from where the wire was, looking over the marks that slowly started to heal.

He then turned around to face his rescuer. "Thanks Konkuro."

"Hey I'm not the only one to thank." He said as he turned so Naruto could see the situation going on behind him.

It was then that Naruto saw his attackers being attacked. Temari had decided that using her fan would cause some collateral damage to the buildings nearby and proceeded to kick the crap out of the four, who in turn, could not land one blow on her. Shikamaru had used his shadow possession jutsu to lure three of them to the cage not far from him. Then he saw that the cage was not made up of any metal, but sand. He turned to find Gaara but he did not see him anywhere.

"Looking for someone?"

"Gah!!" Naruto turned around to find Gaara standing inches behind him. "Oh, Gaara…" Naruto said breathlessly, hand to his chest as to stop his heart from pounding from his near heart attack. Gaara stared at Naruto, his eyes showing a cold hard stare only to have a bit of emotion flicker for just a second. "Don't scare me like that!"

"I merely asked a question" Gaara looked at him and stated what he thought was the obvious.

"All set here, let's get these guys to Hokage's office" said Temari as she and Shikamaru walked the last of the seven into the cage. The cage then formed a door and closed. The cage shrank quite a bit so none of the prisoners could move.

The prisoners grunted as one of them spoke to the group that caught them. "Why…?" Everyone turned to the man speaking. "Why did you fight with us when the one you should fight is standing right there?!" He shouted as he pointed to Naruto. "Don't you know what he is?! He could destroy the whole village if he had the chance! Why would you protect him? He's nothing but a freak! A monster! He should be killed before he kills us!" No one said a thing as anger rose up in each of them, except one.

Another attacker spoke up as well. "It was a mistake sending him to the academy! The only reason the Third let him in was so he could make the kid shut up. He was soft. He should have just killed him when he was a baby! Hell he could have had me do it! I wouldn't be happier t---" he stopped only to find that he couldn't breathe caused by the sand held tight around his throat.

"I'll show you a monster if that's what you---"

"Stop"

Heads turned toward the blonde who had spoken. Their faces obviously stunned and shocked that Naruto of all people would stop what was going to happen. Only Gaara stood still, staring at the man and listened intently. "That's enough. Let him go Gaara"

"But Naruto why would---" Temari started. Shikamaru seemed to know what was going to happen now but was still fuming, though externally calmed down.

"He needs to be turned in like the rest of them…" Naruto interjected. "…Gaara, I'm fine. No harm done."

This time Konkuro spoke up. "What do you mean 'no har?!---"

Naruto abruptly turned towards the direction of the Hokage's office and started walking. "Let's go."

Gaara starred at the man struggling to breathe with cold eyes glaring. Reluctantly lifting his grip on the man, who gasped for air. Gaara turned and followed Naruto as he tried to keep his cool and hide his concern. Temari, Konkuro, and Shikamaru looked at each other after the two walked off. Questioning and concerned glances were exchanged between the three. Only after Naruto and Gaara were at a distance away did they note that neither of them was going to wait for the three, they quickly followed behind them.

Please tell me how it is so far. I'd like you're honest opinions!

TDA