Chapter 1

*Kankuro*

The small group my father assembled for a secret mission moved quickly through the crisp night air. None of us knew where we were going all we knew, by my father's body language and tone, was that whatever it was was very important.

A small breeze rushed by us, carrying a scent … that was familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I inhaled the fleeting scent once more and my mind started to tick, 'it smells like … like … ramen.' Wait, RAMEN! But there's only one place anywhere near where we were currently that even sales ramen but that was … my thoughts finished when the target came into view, "the village hidden in the leaves."

We all stared at the massive city limit in disbelief; we all glanced over at my father, who was starring hungrily at the obstacle.

"Sir", a light brown haired boy asked, he was only a kid but something was off about him, "what are we doing here?"

There was an uncomfortable silence before my father turned to the boy. He swiftly grabbed the kid by his neck and let him dangle over the edge of the limb he was perched on, his voice grim, "what we are doing here is not for you to question, you are simply to do what you are told to do. Understood?"

The boy weakly nodded.

"Good boy", my father put the boy back on the branch and released him, the boy was shaken but okay, then he looked at the rest of us, "alright, Kankuro, Gaara, and I will go into the village and grab the objective. Two of you, will be our backups and defend us with your lives if any leaf ninja show up. The rest of you will stay on the boarder." He watched as we nodded our heads. "And remember, failure is not an option. If you screw up it's your ass that will pay, alone."

The kid gulped beside me, deep down I expected the kid to mess up and pay the price. It's a shame he was so young and had so much potential, I felt a pang of pity for him but it was short lived.

"Let's move."

My father ran into the dark city with Gaara and I on his heels, the other two on ours, there was no going back from this point on.

*Sakura*

I sighed and looked out upon the sleeping city with a tooth brush hanging out of my mouth. I walked back to the bathroom, spitting into the sink then rinsing with some Listerine. I turned off the light in the bathroom then sauntered back to the window to close the curtains, when something caught my eye.

I looked down into the leaves of the nearby tree, scanning every inch for anything suspicious but all that was there was a pair of birds nesting for the night.

'I'm just tired', I tried to reason with myself. 'I'm so warn out that I'm starting to hallucinate.' I walked away from the window, my skin prickling with uncertainty, but I crawled into bed, turning off the light and falling into a deep sleep.

*Kankuro*

The light in the apartment went black, but I couldn't figure anything out. "Sir", I asked my father. "Why are we at this young lady's house?"

My father starred forward still as he answered, his tone making my insides freeze, "she has something I want."

I wanted to ask more but then I remembered who I was dealing with and remained quiet, listening to my father mumble something under his breath that I couldn't figure out. I shot a quick glance at my brother who was stone still, his crimson hair lightly blowing in the breeze.

Suddenly, my father made a fist leaving two fingers up then waited for Gaara and me to follow. We did so quickly, then poofing into the apartment with little to no sound. My father lead the way into the bedroom where the girl lay entangled in the sheets, he motioned us to the other side of the bed, and we did as we were told.

Numerous hand gestures later, the pink haired girl was in my arms, bound and gagged when a small pebble was thrown at the window. Gaara went and checked, one of the backups were jumping around and flailing his limbs trying to get him to understand. Gaara turned back to us, "we have company."

My father nodded and transported all of us out of the apartment to the awaiting others. We snuck back to the wall and into the shielding darkness of the woods, our inventory still fast asleep. We only stood still for a second before moving again, the chakra presence of leaf ninja hanging in the air. Father lead us a different way this time until we reached a collapsing entrance way of what looked like an old mine shaft. Cautiously, he went inside motioning with his hand for the rest of us to follow.

Left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right.

The tunnel had some many dead ends, twists and turns, it was like a live rubics cube that only my father knew how to solve. I was confused and dizzy by the time we reached our hide out again, but I managed to see straight long enough to put our 'guest' into her quarters.

I closed the cage door and dimmed the lights in the room before looking back at her once more and closed the door as I left.