Chapter one

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AN: This'll be a long story. Hopefully I will be able to drag this out and make it a good one, too.

Disclaimer: Naruto is NOT mine. I will only ever own my little fantasies. Mostly the ones invilving Shino and Kiba naked together on a bed.

Warning: Profanity, violence. In later chapters, there will be yaoi (male/male relationships).

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A blinding light emanated around the Jounin, followed by a loud explosion. Four Kunai flew out of the smoke, making their way to the heart of a nearby Sound ninja. The first three kunai hit their mark dead-on, the fourth caught between the fingers of a Sound jounin.

"Is that all you've got, kitty? Maybe you're too much for my weaker subordinates, but against me you stand no chance! Come at me, full force, you--UCK!" He fell to the ground in a bloody heap, a jounin standing above him, grabbing his kunai from the ninja's neck.

"Four more down! Only 126 left!" He smirked, twirling the blade on his finger, walking as though he were taking a stroll on a cool Sunday evening. Suddenly three enemies lunged at him from above, stabbing him in the neck, arm, and sternum.

"We got him!" One of them shouted a split second before the bleeding Shinobi erupted in a poof of smoke, a small log in his wake. "Wha--" All three collapsed instantly.

"Make that 123!"

In a nearby clearing, screams could be heard over a faint buzzing. Another jounin readjusted his black glasses, absently counting the number of immobilized enemies. He counted only 56, when at the beginning he had counted 60. Four were missing. Behind him, he heard four bodies fall to the ground, and he narrowed his eyes, the edges of his lips curling into a small smirk. "Got them."

"Ka-CHAA!" 62 ninja flew through the air, falling onto the ground in tangled limbs, unconscious. "All right!" The Shinobi responsible gave himself a thumbs up, large eyebrows furrowed in accomplishment.

A few hundred yards away, a dog's barking could be heard, along with the shouting of a Sand shinobi, who had already lost his unit. He looked up into the terrifying face of his opponent, red battle paint on either cheek. "Please, spare me! I'll tell you about the plans against the Kazekage!" he pleaded, and his opponent laughed. He raised a fist, bringing it down to connect with the enemy's jaw-a fatal blow.

"Nope, not happening, basta--Shino?" Kiba looked up at the other man, questioning him, tugging at the hand holding him at bay. "Why did you stop me? We were sent to eliminate them." Shino let go of his hand and cuffed the Sand ninja hard as he tried to crawl away unnoticed. The man fell immediately. Kiba sniggered. "Bastard," he muttered, "Got what he deserved."

"We need to get information somehow," Shino explained as he threw the unconscious man over his shoulder. Kiba sighed.

"Fine. How many Sound are left?"

"Should be 20 of them. According to the kikaichuu... there are 12 to the east from here, about 500 yards away, and 8 to the south, 300 yards away," Shino paused, his brow coming together, "They're coming in closer," he whispered urgently, "They're trying to ambush us. Follow The Second Counter Plan." Shino glanced at Kiba and he nodded, both of them suddenly disappearing in a whirl of wind. Not even two seconds later, the 20 ninja were there, looking around frantically for their target. The said target had been immensely strong, having trained with the number one rookie and the number one idiot of Konoha. Not to mention all of those side-missions. Both Shino and Kiba had at least 13 A-rank missions to their name.

"Where did they go? Are they trying to ambush us?" The ninja were about to scatter and find the two targets, when a loud voice started shouting from behind them.

"Gaara! Finish them off!"

A sudden wave of sand came barreling down on the unsuspecting Sound ninja, covering their bodies and screams of anguish beneath the layers of constricting earth. Gaara stood once again, his breathing slightly ragged. He glanced over at Naruto, who gave him a big smile and thumbs up. Gaara nodded absently, crossing his arms along his chest and skimming the surrounding area for any missed enemies. He found none.

Naruto trotted up to the silent man, waving his arms enthusiastically and shouting at the top of his lungs. "Wow! I remember Fuzzy-Eyebrows telling me about that move but I've never seen it before! That was great, Gaara! I-I mean, Kazekage-sama." Gaara wondered idly how he ended up become the 'friend' of this man and kept on his usual mask, not sparing the blonde a second glance as he started walking back to Suna. Naruto ran up next to him, smiling like a Cheshire cat. "I know something! Wanna know what it is?" Gaara kept walking.

"That you are an obnoxious idiot." Naruto paused.

"I'm not an idiot," he pouted.

Shino and Kiba appeared, with the Sound ninja slung haphazardly over Shino's shoulder. Gaara stopped, turning his head slightly to face them as Shino spoke. "This one was pleading to be kept alive, saying he was going to tell us the plans against you if we did. What would you like us to do, Kazekage-sama?" Gaara stared at them for a while longer before turning his head and continuing walking.

"Interrogate him. Find out what his plans are and tell them to me. I would like to have Lee give me a report on it by tomorrow evening."

The two Jounin nodded, disappearing. Naruto huffed. "How come you're not mean to them, huh?"

"Because they aren't grating on my nerves and they follow my orders when I give them."

"Bastard."

Gaara sighed. This man was the enigma of annoying things. Nearly all of them.

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"Old hag!" Naruto yelled, bursting into The Hokage's office. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched, her head already aching.

"What do you want, brat?"

"I want to go on a mission! I haven't been on one in a week, and I'm bored!" he fumed, giving her pleading eyes. "Please say you have an s-rank, or at least an A-rank mission for me!" he howled, quickly wearing down on the Godaime's patience; not that she really had any in the first place. Tsunade brought her tired gaze up to his, glaring at him to leave her office.

"Naruto... Just go see for yourself if there are missions you want to go on. It's not my duty to constantly keep you entertained with high-ranking missions."

"But, Tsunade... I'm so--"

"NARUTO! Get out of my office before I remove you forcefully! You're grating on my patience!" She growled. Naruto gave her a smug look. But of course he had every reason to be smug. He could think of at least ten retorts that would lead to the Hokage blushing furiously. But he kept his mouth silent, crossing his arms and walking out of the room.

Once out, Naruto slumped. "Ugh... I need a good mission that will keep me occupied... Not those boring missions where you go and do menial labor and all that shit... Ugh. So bored."

"Naruto Uzumaki... I didn't think you were capable of becoming bored," came a voice with an indifferent tone. Naruto looked up, spotting the familiar red mop of the Kazekage. He nodded his head slightly.

"Hey," he said crossing his arms.

"'Hey' indeed."

"So, what are you here for? You left only a few weeks ago, and you're already back here in Konoha? What's going on?" he asked, leaning against the wall in the hallway. Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly.

"There has been a number of missing civilians from my city in the past few weeks. Five, to be exact. That's more missing than in the past 20 years combined. I've gotten quite suspicious, so I came to your Hokage to see if she might have any information on possible new occurrences in this war, or if something similar had been happening in Konoha."

Naruto nodded. Right. "Well the old hag is in there, undoubtedly brooding over the fact that I just about gave her a migraine; though I probably did. Go ahead and head in there, it's fine with me."

Gaara didn't give him a simplistic thank you; he was unaccustomed to pleasantries; especially when these matters were so troubling to him. He didn't knock, just walked in as if he owned the place. Tsunade looked up from her paperwork, grumbling slightly.

"Another thing to deal with..." she muttered under her breath, "Hello, Kazekage-sama. Nice to see you." She accentuated her greeting with a small tilt of the head, standing up and bowing. "Why are you here today, Kazekage-sama?"

"Hokage-sama... Have there been any strange occurrences in Konoha lately? I've been shown reports of five civilians gone missing in my city, more than in the past 20 years." He handed her a few reports.

Tsunade skimmed the reports and blinked. "Missing?" She shook her head slightly, rummaging through reports. "There haven't been any missing civilians, it seems... but... oh... Here's something quite interesting," she said, furrowing her brow, "The dates of your civilian disappearances match with the dates of the attempted assassinations of the next Hokage..." she murmured, looking up at him. Gaara raised his hairless brow.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade nodded.

"I'm getting too old for this kind of thing. I know I may not look like it, but I'm 62 years old, Gaara-sama. Naruto hasn't even caught wind of the attempts, but it leads me to wonder how the disappearances of your people are connected... I have a faint suspicion, but I'm not sure yet." Tsunade paused, feeling Goosebumps along her skin. "Dammit, they need to fix this God-awful heating system!"

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Naruto paused halfway around the hall, sniffing cautiously at the air. His senses were sharp; he could smell an enemy's chakra almost at once, and he froze. Smelt like copper. What an incentive to kill, cooed the Kyuubi, though his voice was not harsh or laced with malice. Naruto growled at him.

A sudden chill in the air, and soon the ends of Naruto's finger tips began to go numb. He noticed he could see his breath, and the edges of the frames in the hall were beginning to look frosted.

"'The hell...?" Naruto managed, feeling his throat and mouth go numb from breathing. Is this some kind of genjutsu? What's going on...?

A cold chill ran down his spine, making him shiver involuntarily, his knees weak. He slumped to the ground, barely breathing as the cold swept through his lungs, seemingly paralyzing him. He tried to get up, but his arms gave way as well, letting his body fall with a muted thud. "Ku... so." he mumbled, his vision beginning to blur with the lack of oxygen to his lungs.

Kyuubi, don't tell me I'm going to die right here, right now. That's so not fair.

Silence.

Kyuubi? Kyuubi?

Still more silence. Naruto panicked. The Kyuubi was unresponsive. Shit.

"Hogake-sama... Hokage-sama..." a female voice called, voice eerily light, ringing in his ears. Naruto snapped his eyes open. 'N-no... Hoka...ge..." I've gotta keep that old hag safe, he muttered inside his head, trying again to stand and failing miserably. The figure of a woman was knelt in front of him, eyes filled with the intent to kill, glaring at him.

"Die, Hokage-sama..." Naruto froze. Hokage... me? "Just die... Just let go and die. You're not needed, the people don't want the Kyuubi ruling their lives; they live in fear of you, and hate you. Die, Hokage-sama..." The voice was close to his ear, its icy tone making him shiver, not from the cold, but from the fear. No, he thought. Not going to give in. Not going to let this bitch get a hold of my mind.

Naruto panicked even more when he heard the faint voice of the Kyuubi.

Brat... The darkness is closing in... Why is it getting so dark...?

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Gaara stiffened for a split second, smelling copper. "Hogake-sama... Do you sense that?" Tsunade looked up from the sea of reports, shaking her head.

"Sense what? I don't sense anything... I think I'd know if someone were near. I am one of the legendary Sannin, after all."

"Stay here." Gaara was immediately out of the room, and his breath and body froze as soon as the door shut behind him. He glared at the woman in front of him, long black hair and golden eyes. She held a kunai held to the neck of the blonde shinobi, drops of blood dribbling down his jaw and neck, dripping carelessly onto the floor, whose eyes were blurry and glazed over slightly. The eyes lazily looked up at him, seeming pleading, yet nothing else moved. Gaara became slightly tenser than before, realizing this was another attempt at an assassination.

"Ah, Kazekage-sama... did you come to join the party? Come die with him, Kazekage-sama... Just die... You aren't needed by your people anymore than the Hokage is by his, and you are feared and hated by all of them, and they certainly won't stop hating you as long as you are Shukaku's container... Just die, Kazekage-sama..." the woman purred, her voice making Gaara's head painfully throb. He grabbed at his scalp, breathing heavily, his memories swarming back at him in hordes. He let out a small scream of anguish, falling to his knees. "That's it, just die, fall to your knees, collapse, and die... " Gaara clenched his teeth, breathing heavily, his throat burning.

"Who are you?" He demanded, glaring at the woman. She smirked.

"I'm nothing more than a vessel to carry out his orders. You've already met me, before this, Kazekage-sama. You were only this tall," she exclaimed, holding her hand a few feet above the floor. Gaara's eyes widened, his breathing becoming sporadic.

"No... you can't... can't be her.. she's dead... no... dead... she can't... she's dead..." he muttered, his palm pressed against his forehead.

The woman smirked again. "She is dead. I'm only using her body as a vessel. Just like the others. All of them will be used..."

Suddenly a kunai flew past them, sticking right in the woman's neck. Sasuke stood at the end of the hallway, his eyes wild. "Don't fucking touch them!" he growled, getting into stance. Lee stood behind him, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"We will be forced to kill you if you do not release your hold on our friend," he said, holding a bandaged hand in front of him, the other placed behind him. The woman stood fully, grinning like a maniac. She reached up, grasping the ring of the kunai and yanked it out of her neck, laughing.

"You cannot kill me."

"And why can we not?" Lee asked, through gritted teeth. He tensed when Gaara slumped to the ground, breathing heavily. The woman laughed again.

"Because I am already dead."

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End of the first chapter. How do you like it? Tell me what you think. It will get better as it goes, I promise.

Neko