Chapter 1: Way of a Mercenary; Stone Cold Spy

A small breeze picked up around the caravan as the mercenaries hired by the Land of Waves walked alongside the carts full of prisoners. The Land of Waves had built a bigger prison to hold their criminals and needed help transporting them to the new facility.

Lucky for them there were people like Seena and Takamaru who made a living off being hired for their abilities to fight. The Land of Waves was still a small and secluded region, not big enough to need a ninja force when they could temporarily hire someone.

Seena pushed her pesky, blonde bangs out of her face for the hundredth time. They always got in her way. She looked from left to right to keep an eye on any enemies that could spring up and try to sabotage the efforts of the convoy.

Takamaru, Seena's partner, was walking to her left. He was a huge man, nearly 6'7'' in height and he was a complete wall of muscle. He was carrying his battle-ax on his shoulder as if it weighed no more then five pounds. Seena barely came up to Takamaru's elbow. He was a huge force in battle, making it easy for Seena to not need another member for their mercenary team. They were able to fight with just the two of them.

Takamaru was walking closest to the caravan and every so often a prisoner would reach their arm out at Takamaru and try to bribe him to get him to release them. They promised some crazy things, too. One man offered Takamaru a castle in the wind country. Seena rolled her eyes, as she highly doubted this man even had a shack to trade.

Seena sighed. This mission had been very dull from the beginning. At first Seena hadn't wanted to take it, but Takamaru insisted since they hadn't been able to find enough work lately and funds were running low.

This beats walking around aimlessly, I guess, thought Seena. She looked around at the other hired men in the caravan. Some of these guys looked like they couldn't fight against a 10-year-old, let alone prevent any serious attacks. Seena shook her head. So many thought that traveling around and carrying a weapon made you a mercenary. How pathetic.

"Psst."

Seena glanced to her left. One of the prisoners was trying to get Takamaru's attention.

"Hey," the scruffy man whispered. "I'll make a deal with you - "

"Save your breath," said Takamaru coolly in a deep voice. "I'm not interested."

"No, you gotta listen," said the prisoner reaching out an arm to try and grab Takamaru's sleeve.

Before the criminal grabbed it Takamaru swung his hand and smack the prisoners arm away so hard it nearly dislodged the elbow from its socket. The prisoner cried out, but then muffled the sound at the look that Takamaru sent him.

"You know," said Seena calmly. "You don't always have to be so rough."

"Yeah, well, why don't you try standing on this side and have them grabbing at you all day," said Takamaru a little annoyed. "You'd think that a person twice their size would make them think twice, but not with this bunch."

Seena chuckled a little.

They continued walking along with the caravan. This had to be one of the dullest missions they had ever gotten. There was no action, no excitement. Seena kicked a rock in the road and it tumbled down the small slope to her right and into the bushes.

That's when she heard the small, almost inaudible, grunt from the bushes. Seena stopped and stared hard. She knew she had heard it, but where were they. Takamaru stopped with her as the rest of the caravan continued.

"What's wrong, Seena?" he asked.

"There's someone in the bushes," she whispered turning her back to where she had just kicked the rock. "Keep walking like nothing's happening, then follow my lead."

Takamaru nodded curtly then resumed walking. Seena began walking again, but at a much slower pace. She had only taken about five steps when she whipped out three senbon (throwing needles) and threw them at the bushes where she had heard the sound.

A man jumped out of the bushes where Seena had just thrown her senbon and started running toward one of the carts of prisoners. Five more jumped out of the bushes and ran the same way. On the other side of the road seven more men came out and they all charged the same cart.

"Stop the caravan!" yelled Seena.

Takamaru and Seena both ran towards the cart the assailants were trying to attack. Takamaru, who was the biggest man in the caravan, grabbed one of the intruders by the collar of his shirt and yanked him from the cart to the ground. Seena jumped into the cart and started kicking and punching at the men trying to clamber into the cart. By now some more of the mercenaries had run over and were trying to fight off the attackers, but Seena could tell that they had little fighting experience.

"Hurry up, you fools!"

Seena turned to where she had heard the voice. One of the prisoners was shouting at the men trying to come into the wagon. It was a rescue attempt!

Seena saw one of the attackers reach over the side of the cart and try to pull their friend out. She swung her leg around and kicked him hard in the chest sending him backward. Seena kneeled in front of the man who still had his hands tied behind his back.

"They're here for you, aren't they?" she asked him.

The man turned his face away from Seena, not wanting to meet her eyes. The fight continued as Seena waited for a few seconds before hitting him hard in the face, knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Takamaru was doing fairly well for trying to fend off three people at once. Takamaru wielded his battle-ax with amazing agility and strength. The criminals couldn't get within seven feet of the cart since every time one of them would try to get close Takamaru would swing his ax and make them step back.

"Hey!"

Takamaru looked over his shoulder and saw Seena standing in the middle of the wagon with a man over her shoulder. He looked like he was one of the prisoners.

"If you want to save your friend," she shouted. "I suggest you try and get him."

She jumped off the wagon and into the forest. The men that had ambushed the caravan sprinted after her. Takamaru stood there for a second before sighing heavily.

"Why can't she ever give me a warning, every once in a while?" he mumbled.

Takamaru raced into the woods after the criminals and Seena.

Seena ran through the forest with the prisoner over her shoulder. She had a surprising amount of strength for a female, which always amazed some people. The large group of rogue criminals was starting to gain on her. Where was Takamaru? He should know by now to have followed her.

Just then Takamaru appeared on Seena's right.

"'Bout time you caught up," she said.

"I wasn't fully prepared to go running into the woods after you," he said sarcastically.

Seena laughed. "I'm just trying to spice things up."

Takamaru shook his head.

They continued the chase through the woods until they found a large clearing. Takamaru and Seena stopped back-to-back with the body of the prisoner at their feet. The group of assailants surrounded them.

"I hope you were planning on handing over our friend," said one of the rogues.

"Nope," said Seena shaking her head. "I was planning on using him as bait to catch all of you."

"Impossible," said another. "There are only two of you and eleven of us. You couldn't possibly take all of us."

"Wanna bet?"

Seena swung her arm and sent senbon at the seven men in front of her, each needle hitting them in a point where their neck met their shoulder. Each man froze and then their knees buckled making them collapse to the floor.

Some of the others gawked at what happened to their friends. How had she been able to take them all down with just one move?

"My turn," said Takamaru.

He suddenly appeared behind two men. They panicked, but before they could run away Takamaru had grabbed their heads and slammed them together. The two men became groggy and slumped to the floor.

There were three left. Seena turned to them as they began to lose their confidence. One of them took a step back when Seena turned to fully face them.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Leader of Sil Ferrin," she said simply.

Before they could make any moves Seena threw more senbon into their necks. They all fell over onto the ground. Seena went over to one of them and checked his pulse. He was fine, but he would have one mean headache when he and his buddies finally came to.

Takamaru walked over to Seena as she stood up.

"Nice work," he said. "Now, would you let me know why we had to lead them on a wild goose chase when you could have done all this back at the caravan."

Seena smiled. "Since we were the ones to take them out, we'll be the only ones receiving a big bonus. Especially when we bring them all back as prisoners."

"I guess that's why I let you call all the shots."

Seena gave him a huge grin. Finally, some action.

Gaara stands at the window in his Kazekage office with his hands behind his back. He looks outside at Sunagakure, the village he now ruled over. After so many years of hating this place and not caring about anything, it was hard to believe that Gaara had become Kazekage and would swear to protect this very village he had once held such resentment for.

Gaara put his hands on the low windowsill and leaned against it. He peered outside looking at nothing unparticular. It had been four years since he had become Kazekage at fifteen. The village was doing well and thriving under his leadership. Gaara couldn't help but be proud of the way the village had turned out. With help from Konoha, Sunagakure had become one of the strongest and most influential villages in the Shinobi Nations.

It seemed that everything was going well for Gaara, but underneath he felt like something was out of place. But what could it be? He was the leader of a powerful village, his people respected and adored him, he had a brother and sister that cared about him, he for once had friends in his life and even without Shukaku he was the strongest ninja in the nation. What could possibly be missing from his life?

As Gaara mused over these things his older brother, Kankuro, came in. Kankuro hadn't always had the best relationship with Gaara, but ever since he'd fought Naruto all those years ago Gaara had changed. He wasn't a heartless monster, as many had feared. Gaara was somewhat approachable now and even though he never showed it, in his heart he cared for the village and his family.

Kankuro was grateful that he and his brother were able to have a brotherly relationship now. Life at home was much easier on all of them. Kankuro waited for Gaara to turn around or acknowledge him. When he didn't Kankuro took a few steps towards the Kazekage.

"What is it, Kankuro?" asked Gaara in his monotone voice.

"The night patrol has now begun and we are awaiting the return of Temari and her team from the borders with any news on Kyuu's disappearance," said Kankuro.

Gaara nodded, but made no reply. He continued to look out the window in thought. Kankuro stood in the office waiting for Gaara to say something.

"Gaara, do you have any idea what could have happened to Kyuu?" asked Kankuro.

Kyuu was a jonin from their village that had gone missing while on a routine border check. No one was with him and he hadn't come back as scheduled yesterday morning. Temari and her team had been sent to scout the border for any signs of Kyuu's whereabouts. They hadn't heard anything since they'd been dispatched last night.

Gaara took a moment before answering Kankuro's question.

"We'll see when Temari gets back," Gaara said.

Gaara continued to look out the window. The village looked so peaceful. People were beginning to go into their homes for the night and the sun was setting behind the stone walls of the city, casting pink and orange rays into the sky. Gaara didn't want to turn around because then he would be faced with his brother's questions, which he couldn't answer, and with the enormous amount of paperwork left for him to finish. Gaara despised paperwork.

Kankuro looked around the office. To a stranger, it would look somewhat messy and unorganized, but to the people that knew Gaara, his office was accurately organized even though it was somewhat untidy. Kankuro could see that his little brother had some work left to do. Then why was he just standing at the window?

"Uh, Gaara…" said Kankuro.

"What?"

Kankuro stopped. Did he have the right to rebuke the Kazekage, even if it was his brother? Sure, the office looked like a mess and there was obviously work left to do, but was it Kankuro's place to tell Gaara how to run the village?

"Nothing," said Kankuro with a sigh.

Suddenly the doors flew open with a crash. Gaara whipped around and came around his desk to stand next to Kankuro who had turned around as well. Temari and her team were standing in the office. A few of them were bent over with their hands on their knees and one was leaning against the wall, all of them trying to catch their breath.

Temari was standing up but was breathing very heavily.

"Gaara …" she panted.

Gaara walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Temari," he said.

Temari ignored what Gaara said. "Gaara, we found Kyuu. He's dead," Temari said, almost shouting.

Kankuro's eyes widened at Temari's news. Kyuu had been one of their most elite jonin. How could he have been taken down?

Gaara's face didn't change in the slightest. He continued to look at Temari who was panting still. She and the team must have run the whole way from where they found the body.

"Where was he?" asked Gaara flatly.

Temari finally started to breath a little more normally while her team still looked winded.

"At the border outpost to the northwest," she said becoming very serious. "And he wasn't alone."

Gaara's eyes narrowed at her words.

"Explain."

"We found a spy from the Hidden Stone Village hiding out in the outpost. It looked like he had been there for a few days. We were able to prevent him from escaping and have him in custody right now, awaiting interrogation from Kankuro."

Gaara looked at Kankuro, who in turn looked back at him. Gaara tilted his head toward the door and Kankuro sprinted out of the office with a ninja from Temari's team following him. Gaara looked at Temari. She was waiting for him to say something.

"You and your team get some rest," he said. "We'll await Kankuro's report on the prisoner."

Gaara turned to head back to his desk. He was beginning to remember just how much more paperwork this would cause when Temari called his name. He half turned toward her with an emotionless expression.

"There's one more thing," she said.

Temari pulled out a scroll from her pack. The seal on it was already broken as she handed it to Gaara.

"We found him reading this," she said simply.

Gaara looked down at the scroll. He unrolled it and looked down at the message. He closed his eyes and let his head hang a little more.

The message was completely unreadable. It was written in a cipher (code/secret messaging). This was nearly impossible to read. Gaara looked at Temari.

"What do you expect me to do with this?" he asked. "I can't read it, you know that."

Temari put her hands on her hips as she looked at the ground. She shook her head as she tried to think. She didn't want to resort to this, but it seemed to be the only way they were ever going to be able to read that message.

"Gaara," she said cautiously. "I think you know what we need to do."

She looked at him with a stern expression. Gaara narrowed his eyes at Temari as if confused by her statement until his eyes widened again. He turned away from Temari sharply.

"No," he said. "There's another way. Someone else can decipher the message."

"Gaara, you and I both know that it would take months for anyone else to crack that cipher," said Temari. She walked up to his desk where he was now sitting. She put her hands on the desk and leaned against it looking at Gaara. "We have to find her."

"She chose to leave the village years ago. Why should we bring her back?"

Gaara was trying hard to keep his voice level and not appear agitated at what his sister was trying to tell him. How could she even suggest bringing her back?

"Gaara, she swore to stay loyal to the village. She's remained faithful to Suna and right now we need her skills. She's the only one who could crack that code. And before you even say it, there is no one in Konoha that could possibly decode it as fast as her and you know it."

Gaara narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Temari wasn't leaving too many avenues for him to choose from. This day had suddenly turned into a bigger mess then he could have imagined.

"There has to be another way," said Gaara feeling cornered as he rested his elbows on his desk and put his face into his hands.

"You know there isn't," said Temari. "I wouldn't even have brought it up if I had thought of another solution. You know, even without saying it, that she's the only one that can crack this message in time for us to take action."

Gaara fisted his hands in his hair. Disaster; This day was a disaster. The Kazekage put his hands flat down on his desk and stood up. He looked Temari long and hard in the eyes.

"You and Matsuri are to rest for the night then leave tomorrow morning," he said looking wearier now then he had fifteen minutes ago. "You have until sundown on the second day to find her and bring her back."

Temari nodded her head then turned and began to leave. The rest of her team followed her out of the office. Matsuri ran up to her side.

"What's going on, Temari?" she asked.

"We are leaving in the morning to find someone," said Temari without looking at Matsuri.

"Who?"

Temari looked at Matsuri out of the corner of her eye then forward again.

"Seena Yamamoto."

Preview Ch 2:

"Are you going to stare at me all afternoon," she said without looking up from her menu.

"Seena, how is it that we've been partners for over four years now and I still barely know anything about you?" asked Takamaru.

Seena looked up at him and put an arm on the table. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you leave the Sand Village?" Takamaru asked without hesitation.

Seena shrugged her shoulders. "Difference of opinions."

Takamaru rolled his eyes and gave her an exasperated look. "See? That's what I mean. I ask you a serious question and you can't even answer it directly. You give me a round about answer."