of Sand and Leaf

Part 1:

Chapter One- Hidden in the Leaves

***Reminder: I do not own the rights to Naruto, this is strictly Fan-Fic. And will not be following the time lines/show correctly. I apologize in advance for any misspelling or if anyone seems out of Character. Thank you for reading and enjoy, you're in for a long ride***

"Ugh!" Naruto Groaned Loudly, outwardly expressing his annoyance. "It's been raining for days now, when is it gonna end". He hunched over, dragging his feet.

"It's their wet season, Naruto" Sakura said "I'm sure once we cross the border home it will stop, right, Kakashi Sensi?" she tried to be reassuring, Kakashi only grunted in response. The weather seemed to be affecting everyone's mood

"I hope so" Naruto said with a closed eyed frown. They had just completed they're urgent mission in the Land of Grass. One of the smaller Villages were concerned with Suspicious movements near their town and had said to have spotted scary looking men wearing long black cloaks with red clouds; the Akatsuki. The Hokage urged them to run non-stop till they arrived at their destination, fearing that the trail could run cold. It has been their only lead in months in search of the Akatsuki's hideouts. After Running day and night to the brink of exhaustion they managed to cut a 3-day trip into a 1 ½ day, where even after arriving, speaking to the villagers was a bit of a struggle. Sadly, Kakashi knew that any trace of them was gone. They remained a few days to search for any clues they could possibly find, but on the first day even with the help of his ninja dogs, it was obvious there was nothing. They still stayed an extra day to reassure the villagers before heading back home at a snail pace, in no hurry to return after exhausting themselves. Even their stay was disappointing, since it was a small forest village that normally didn't get many foreigner,There was no inn. Team Kakashi had to camp just outside of the gates.

Kakashi knew it was a risk-taking Naruto on this mission but not so bad of one since Naruto had recently returned from his 2 year long training with one of the Legendary Sanin; Master Jiraiya. Sakura also having completed her own private training with the other famed Sanin and current fifth Hokage. They had both improved immensely and have become equal if not greater than Kakashi himself, something he would never admit to. Their progress showed fruition during his famous bell test, Kakashi inwardly shuddered, remembering Sakura practically destroying the whole training ground with her freighting brute strength like that of lady Tsunade, just to find out where he was hiding.

"Man, I can't wait to get back home, I have a giant bowl of Ichiraku ramen calling my name!" Naruto said cheerfully, his mood seeming to turn a complete 360. "Maybe we can make it a date eh, Sakura?" he turned to her wiggling his eyebrows comically.

She scoffed "As if" Naruto spun around opening his mouth to insist and whine,but Kakashi quickly interjected to avoid having to hear their bickering.

"From here it should take about two days to get back to Konoha after crossing the bridge and there really is no rush, why we don't rest in that village we passed by before a couple days ago?" he suggested. Kakashi was exhausted, he always disliked traveling so far in such a short time and was hoping to relax sooner rather than later.

"Oh yay!" Sakura cheered, the distraction worked "We haven't really stopped for rest since we left that town, it would be great to sleep under a roof again instead of a tree."

"or rain" Naruto added.

"what I wouldn't give for a decent bath" She sighed, already imagining the feel of the hot water on her sore muscles.

"I guess we are all in agreement then?" they all nodded vigorously. Kakashi laughed to himself as he noticed the extra jump to their step as the continued at their normal pace.

Soon they arrived at a large village a few miles away from the Techni Bridge. They could sense the tourist friendly atmosphere as they walked along the crowded streets. Banners and streamers were everywhere, Lanterns were being lit as the sun began to set, the town enjoying the last of spring and celebrating the start of summer with a festival. The smell of street food followed them into a nice-looking bathhouse where they decided to settle for the night. After a relaxing soak and declining his teammates offer to join in on the festivities, Kakashi made his way to their room and settled into his bed, reading his promiscuous novel. As the minutes ticked by, the words began to blur as Kakashi started to dose.

Kakashi reached over to check for something but didn't feel what he was looking for. When he turned to look he was shocked to see nothing there. Gone. He jumped to his feet in a panic, immediately running out the door. The streets were silent, the sun just barely peeking over the buildings. All that could be heard was the sound of Kakashi's bare feet hitting the ground as he made his way quickly towards the village's main gate. He came to an immediate halt as the Gates slammed shut on their own, he couldn't get through. He pushed and shook the gate, but it wouldn't give. Kakashi stretched his arm threw the bars reaching for a little girl with long red hair who was walking away from him towards complete darkness. Kakashi yelled, calling for her but no sound came out, but the girl still reacted as if she heard him, stopping and slowly turning towards him, the darkness swallowing her up before he could see her face…

Kakashi woke in a panic, jerking up into a sitting position, kunai in hand out of reflex. A quick glance around helped him remember where he was. Naruto laying undisturbed a couple inches away in his own bed, snoring. Sakura sleeping on the other side of the room. Kakashi shook his head glad to have not woken them but he was trembling for some reason. Kakashi's breathing was still shaky, his heart pounding in his chest, he was confused. "what was I dreaming about?" he thought. It wasn't his usual nightmares, but it wasn't a good dream ether. He couldn't remember what it was exactly, but one part stood out the most. Red hair, his hand stretched out reaching for her, pleading. "why am I thinking about her after all these years".

Kakashi sighed sadly, laying back down with an arm over his head. His breathing returning to normal, sleep creeping up on him slowly as the images replayed in his mind. He remembered Gai saying once that when you dream of someone that usually means that your going to run into that same person in real life. If that were true he would have seen her every single day since she disappeared long ago. 10 years… was the last line of thought he had before sleep took over.

The Corner of Her mouth turned up into a cruel smile. Kunai sticking to the trees she passes due to poor aiming, the weak attempts coming from the ninjas perusing her. Trying to stop her from reaching the border. Desperate. Their attacks becoming more frantic and less organized the further she got. She purposefully slowed her pace, making sure she remained in sight as she debated on indulging in some 'fun'. She frowned, realizing there is no need for her to mindlessly massacre innocent men just doing their job. She sighed, the good half of her mind winning for a change, she would just settle for daydreaming about it. She couldn't play, Master summoned her, she had to return.

"Man, that was great!" Naruto cheered, throwing his arms up in the air, stretching.

"Yea, just what we needed after this mission" Sakura chimed in excitedly. It had finally stopped raining, the sky was clear and seemed to be reflexing Naruto and Sakura's mood. Kakashi on the other hand did not share in their enthusiasm. His night was spent waking in a cold sweat and glaring at the ceiling. By the time sleep came around his other teammates were up and about, with Naruto being his usual loud self. Luckily, they haven't noticed, which was more than fine with him since he didn't want to be bothered with questions. After a quick breakfast, they had left just as the rest of the village was opening their shops. After walking most of the day,the sun was just beginning to lower as their path lead them across a large valley littered with flowers of various colors, a small lake to their left reflexing the still bright sky. The view would have been nice to sit down and gaze at if it wasn't for a certain blond and pink haired shinobi bickering on like two children. Kakashi walked a few steps behind as he lazily read his beloved book. The path would take them through a small patch of woods and right to the Tenchi Bridge. They were just about to reach the end of the valley when Kakashi suddenly froze mid-step. He closed his book abruptly causing Sakura and Naruto to silence their bickering, now on full alert.

"What is it Kakashi-Sensi?" Sakura was the first to ask, eyes darting around the Valley behind them while Naruto peered into the woods in front of them. Kakashi turned around to face the direction they had come from, scanning the tree line and the path they had taken. Finally, he spoke.

"I'm sensing multiple chakra signatures heading this way and fast" Kakashi reached up and uncovered his sharingan. "It seems like a pursuit" he turned to his teammates "Be on your guard and don't be seen, we don't know who they are or what the situation is"

"Right" they said in unison before dispersing in different directions, keeping a good distance from each other, hidden. A few seconds went by before Kakashi was proven right as a cloaked figure rose above the trees across the Valley, their back toward team Kakashi, facing their pursuers. They were soon followed by a group of shinobi just as Kakashi said.

"Grass Shinobi" Kakashi informed. They watched as more appeared below the foreigner, hoping to corner their target. The cloaked figure grabbed the first ninja to get close, midair, spinning them back towards his comrades that had come to help. Still in the air the target made a few hands signs, the ground where the other Grass Ninjas were erupted into massive earth spikes, causing the ninjas to scatter. Team Kakashi could feel the after shock from where they were hiding a couple hundred feet away, observing. The cloaked figure landed hard on the ground causing more sharp rocks to erupt in front of them towards their pursuers, not giving them a chance to recover from the first attack.

"Kakashi sensi, what do we do, should we interfere?" Sakura asked.

"No" Kakashi said not taking his eye off the fight "We don't know what business they have or who this person is. Let's watch and judge by how this plays out" they nodded in agreement.

"it looks like the 'good' guys are losing" Naruto obviously pointed out. A couple of ninjas laid out on the ground hurt, but not dead Kakashi noted, leaving four out of the nine that came, standing. A little over half of their team wiped out in a matter of seconds. The cloaked shinobi now stood 100 feet from where Naruto hid, facing the last of the Grass ninjas. What looked to be the leader moved forward and realizing their defeat, signaled a retreat. They watched as they gathered their fallen teammates and disappeared back the way they came, leaving the unknown and possibly dangerous stranger with them. From behind the cloak hid the person well, unable to tell from a glance whether they were male or female and if they carried anything threatening. Kakashi stiffened when said person turned slowly to face them. The hood shadowing their eyes and a mask, like Kakashi's, hiding the rest of their face. The stranger cocked their head to the side, seeming to stare into the trees, possibly towards Naruto. They know we are here, Kakashi was trying to come up with a plan to either attack or run. Kakashi never being a fan of the latter, but one never knew who they were picking a fight with.

"Hey" Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. Naruto. He watched as the idiot walked out from his hiding spot with his hands in front of his chest, showing peace and a big goofy grin on his face. Sakura remained where she was, gritting her teeth at the blond, waiting for Kakashi's signal to attack. "What was that all about just now?" to anyone else Naruto would seem innocent as he sheepishly began walking towards their possible enemy, but they knew he had his guard up and was trying to provoke a response from the person whether good or bad. The stranger remained were they stood, facing Naruto. "I'm asking you a question, you shy or something?" he said putting his hands on his hips. In a Blink the cloaked person disappeared only to reappear in front of Naruto, Kunai in Hand. Naruto dodged the attack in time, jumping a good distance away.

"Naruto Look out!" Kakashi yelled. Naruto barely managed to flip away from the floating Kunai that seemed to have a mind of its own, only to have to scramble to get out of the way once more as it turned sharply to strike again. I almost didn't notice it, Kakashi cursed at himself as he poured his chakra into the kunai he pulled out and threw it, cutting off the chakra string that was attached to the weapon attacking Naruto. The enemy was standing back where they were before, turning to Kakashi. Now Team Kakashi had the persons full attention. During all this Sakura had managed to sneak around the enemy and as soon as they had turned their attention to Kakashi, she used the distraction to her advantage.

"Cha!" Sakura leaped into the air and came down leg extended. The enemy dodged out of the way with ease, the ground where they had stood destroyed in the exact way Sakura did during the bell test. While in the air Naruto and a shadow Clone appeared behind the person, rasengan in hand. But the enemy weaved around Naruto's attack and kicked him in the chest sending him into his clone. Sakura continued her assault, throwing calculated punches, her chakra visibly glowing around her balled fist. Naruto recovered and was now aiding Sakura striking from behind while Sakura continued attacking in the front. Kakashi watched, waiting for an opening. It almost seems as if the person was toying with them, the enemy's movements almost seemed Lazy while they dodged, like as if Sakura and Naruto were moving in slow motion. There. Kakashi flashed right next to the enemy, sharingan activated, and managed to land the hit into the persons ribs, sending them flying into a nearby tree, only to disappear in a cloud of smoke. A clone!

"We were fighting a clone?" Sakura mentally kicked herself for not noticing before.

"Kakashi sensi, behind you!" Naruto warned, Kakashi turned in time to stop the Kunai from impaling him, locking his hand around their wrist and using his free hand to strike. Only to be stopped with the same exact move by the enemy. Their hood sliding back, falling away from their face. Bright red hair peeked out from underneath, but what had Kakashi frozen where he stood were the two large and familiar teal Orbs staring back at him. Thump. His heart began to pound in his chest as her eyes widened in recognition.

"A…suna" Kakashi breathed, just barely above a whisper. He had no time to say anything else when suddenly Sakura appeared, believing her sensi to be in a genjustu, landing a blow into Asuna's side, that sent her flying into the direction of Naruto and his multiple shadow clones holding another set of rasengan. Asuna used her momentum, turning around in time, legs out, kicking a Naruto clone hard in the chest, and sending herself back toward Sakura. This time it seemed Asuna had grown tired of Dodging and was now taking the offensive, Leaning into her punch. Sakura readied herself to block it but Kakashi knew it was futile. "Asuna, Stop!" Asuna shifted her focus to Kakashi, giving Sakura the opening, she needed and finally connected a punch to Asuna's Jaw. To Everyone's surprise, Asuna hardly budged from her chakra infused punch. Sakura didn't have time to get out of the way before Asuna grabbed ahold of her neck, squeezing. "I said enough!" Kakashi yelled as he flitted in between Asuna and Sakura, shoving Asuna lightly away from his Teammate, shocking everyone further as she allowed him to do so. Asuna jumped back keeping her distance. Kakashi had yelled at his former student, something he had never done before and had even defended the Enemy, he knew he will have to deal with the questions soon but right now he had to confront something much more important.

Sakura and Naruto Stared as Kakashi approached Asuna in a friendly Manner, but his eyes showed how mad he was. Asuna watched as he made his way toward her with her arms crossed and Face expressionless due to the mask covering half of her from the bridge of her nose down.

"We need to talk" he said through clenched teeth. Not wishing to give anything away to his teammates just yet, he was unsure of how to approach any of this. For so long he had dreamed of seeing her again, wished that he could ask why she disappeared with out saying anything. But he wanted to do it privately. "Follow us back home…please" he said, hoping she understood how relived and upset he was. She stared at him, her cold teal eyes softening a little. She nodded.

"As you wish" Kakashi couldn't resist any longer, years of truly believing her to have been a dream or that he would never see her again caused him to act not like himself in front of his gawking students. no sooner had the words left her mouth, He rushed up to her, enveloping her in a tight embrace. He didn't care that she didn't return the gesture or that her eyes showed how shocked she was at the sudden contact, he couldn't hide how happy he was in this second. she was stiff at first but after a couple heart beats, Asuna allowed herself enough to lower her head into his chest, causing him to sigh in relief that she is giving him this moment.

*** Thank you everyone for reading, I really hoped you enjoyed this First chapter on "of Sand and Leaf" I have some explanations:

Grass shinobi- originally in the show Naruto; the Land of Grass is only called that because of the Village hidden in the Grass or another name for it is 'Kusagakure', this is a village in an unknown country in Naruto and had genin attending the Chunin exams and seems to be allied with Konoha. So, because they don't really have a name for this Country and it has shown up multiple times in Naruto I decided to just call it the Land of Grass and that they have Grass shinobi.

Thank you for reading and I promise to make sure I explain parts that might confuse you and please advice is welcomed. I will be working on Chapter two and will be drawing my own illustrations but for now I will just post a simple photo of things a quickly put together, but I plan on at least showing you what Asuna looks like. So please wait patiently. Thank you,

-CrossFireQueen