-1Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage, the most powerful 16 year old ever to grace Sunagakure, stood firm, facing up to what was probably his most daunting challenge to date. He was drenched in sweat, shivering gently, bare limbs pale in the strained morning sunlight and breath feather-light and shallow.
He ran a hand through his sodden hair, blanching at the damp and the way it clung to his skin – as though the sensation around his legs wasn't bad enough, liquid lapping around his ankles where, by rights, sand should have been - urging himself onward into the murky darkness, smothering depths and a battlefield full of unknown dangers.
With an expression of pure determination, far more muted than any of Naruto's, Gaara set his swimming ring firmly around his middle, seized his inflatable giraffe and waded, knee-deep, into the shallows of Konoha's only lake.
"It's o-okay if you don't want to," said Hinata timidly, already waist deep, her ever-present beige coat still zipped up over her swimsuit. "I should have guessed you couldn't swim… S-sunagakure is in the middle of the d-desert…"
A touch to her arm, a perfectly blank expression, a soft rush of water.
"Teach me," he said.