The desert within the Land of Wind was always changing with the smallest flick of wind. This night though, few people would dare to tread outside of safe walls. The desert was a force to be reckoned with as it killed anything it wanted; anything that dared to walk amongst its vastness. Two figures walked through this desert despite the conditions. Dysis looked around her as she walked calmly through the desert. She pulled a tan cloth farther over her face to hide from the sand. Her tan cloak was flapping around her in the brutal wind of the night and hiding her farther from view.
"Riyuka, we need to find shelter or we'll be buried alive. I personally don't feel like digging myself out of this sand ever again, once was more than enough." Dysis turned to her companion of three years glaring. Her pure yellow irises with no pupils, haunting in the moonlight. "I thought we would be closer to Amegakure by now!"
Riyuka kept her eyes straight ahead as she pulled the black cloth covering her mouth open to speak. "Turn here." Riyuka and Dysis took a turn down a dark alley way.
"Where are we going? I can't see anything!" complained Dysis. Riyuka ignored her and stopped before a closed door. She knocked and waited in the darkness.
"Long time no see old friend." said Riyuka in a cunning voice.
"Riyuka." was all the stranger said before opening the door wider, allowing them inside.
Once inside, the stranger lit multiple candles, illuminating the previous pitch black room. Dysis saw that the stranger was a boy, maybe a little older than her, with short red hair and a face that would even scare the rain. "What brings you to the village Hidden in the Sand?" said the boy, seeming uninterested.
"Just passing through. Were on our way to Amegakure." Dysis watched as the boy's face shifted into a more foul mood.
"What's in Amegakure?" he said in a voice that sent shivers up Dysis' back.
Riyuka looked at him with serious eyes, her face blank of any emotion. "ANBU from the village Hidden in the Grass are hot on our tail and we need to disappear for a while."
The boy sighed heavily with irritation. "Still running away, it's pathetic."
"Hey! What gives you the right to judge us?" shouted Dysis angrily. The boy just looked at her though it felt as if he was looking through her. It made Dysis sick and her rage heightened.
"I'll prepare some beds." he said as he disappears into the darkness.
Dysis turned to Riyuka, her yellow eyes filled with anger. "Are you going to let this idiot talk to us that way?!"
Riyuka closed her eyes and sighed, sadness overwhelming her features. "He's not our enemy Dysis. He knows better than anyone our situation, even though he is not a rouge. He is the only person who understands me and accepts me for all that I am. Don't be so quick to judge someone you know nothing of. He has his reasons for saying what he does, he does not say things for the sake of saying them without a purpose. And besides, it is pathetic we are still running for our pasts."
Dysis' rage denigrated and she felt the despair of her companion. "Who is this guy?" she asked gently.
"He is known as Gaara of the Sand."
"Gaara of the Sand you say?" Riyuka nodded. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" Dysis rubbed her forehead trying to remember where she had heard the name before. It was sitting at the edge of her mind, taunting her. "Where'd you meet this Gaara? The only thing I remember about him is hearing that he was a part of the attack on Konoha."
"He was, but something must have changed in him." Riyuka turned to look down the hall Gaara had gone down. Her eyes narrowed in thought. "He used to be cold and filled with blood lust. And now that isn't the case."
"That didn't answer the question."
"Before I met you and after I had become a rouge, I ended up here in the Sand village. The Kazekage took me in for a while, and as payment, I was to assist in the training of his son, Gaara. Gaara would attack me and try to assassinate me multiple times. After that attack on Konoha, Gaara came to see me and we ended up friends by the end of the day. He never did explain what changed him."
"I've been with you for three years, how did I not know this? I would have been with you when he came to see you!" Dysis took a deep breath to try and calm her anger. The only time she ever really let her anger get the better of her was when people didn't bother to share information she deemed important.
"You had left to see your cousin after he was pronounced a missing-nin. Gaara came while you were away." Riyuka said as justification with a relaxed demeanor as she picked at a wooden table with her painted black fingernail.
Dysis nodded and turned away towards the front door. Pulling her scarf over her face, she opened the door. "Zosimos is still lurking, I'm going to find him."
"Your hawk can survive on its own for a night."
"That doesn't mean I'm going to leave him! I'll be back within an hour, no need to wait up. And besides, there's something about your friend that disturbs me." Dysis walked out and closed the door behind her.
"Your friend doesn't trust me." announced Gaara from the shadows.
Riyuka chuckled, " Would you trust yourself if you were in her shoes?"
Gaara looked up at her, his eyes blank of emotions. "No."
Dysis walked hastily through the streets in rage. She didn't understand why her partner, someone who she trusts, would keep things from her. She thought they were better friends. Her thoughts then trailed
to the boy named Gaara. "Where have I heard of him before?" she said out loud, stopping in her tracks has the thoughts pondered the front of her mind. Suddenly she remembered, her eyes opened wide and her heart began to pound as the memories pushed forward into the light.
Flashes of red hair, a small brown teddy bear and green pupilless eyes crying flowed through Dysis's mind as she collapsed on the ground. "He can't be that little boy!" Dysis shouted out into the wind. "Utakata said that he was dead, he said that I'd never see him again. Arie said he was dead. EVERYONE SAID SHUKAKU FINALLY KILLED HIM!"
"Then I guess that means you'll be joining your friend soon enough." A cold voice said from behind her. Dysis's eyes widened.
"Why are you really going to Amegakure Riyuka?" Gaara asked as he poured some tea for himself and his friend, "other than having Grass ANBU after you."
"Dysis's cousin needed to see her soon; we got notice a few months ago that he was heading that way. So when the ANBU found us, it just moved our plans forward a few months," Riyuka took a sip from her cup. "I'm glad though that we got caught in that storm. It's good to see you again Gaara. How are you and your siblings?"
Gaara shrugged. "Good I suppose. They're out on a mission, haven't seen them since last week."
"Why aren't you with them?" asked Riyuka curious. Gaara laid his head back against the wall as he stared at her with the same devoid eyes she has always known. "Didn't feel like going. Tell me Riyuka," he said his face softening. "How is the scar?" Riyuka reached for her neck, but stopped in midair. Her face darkened, she arose from her chair. "Something's wrong."
Gaara stood up straight, his face creasing with curiosity and irritation. "What is it?"
"Dysis." Riyuka stormed out of the house with Gaara right on her heels. "What do you sense?" asked Gaara as he came up beside her.
"I sense she's in trouble. Something's wrong, seriously wrong. I can't be sure what it is, but I have a feeling we were followed into the village."
"So, you finally found us. I didn't think that the Grass ANBU would actually follow us for so long." Dysis took a deep breath and looked around. Fourteen shinobi stood on various buildings, in front and behind her. She stood and crossed her arms. "It's not nice to stalk people."
"That's not the least of your problems." One shrugged.
"We're here to either arrest or kill you and your friend. In my opinion both of you should just be killed," said another.
"But you're worth more alive." The leader took a step forward and grabbed hold of Dysis's arm. "Your friend killed children, while you, you killed the former Mizukage's son, 20 of his guards, attacked the former Mizukage and all of that brought about the fourth Mizukage's death."
"Riyuka didn't kill those children!" Dysis yelled as she shoved the man away. Riyuka and Gaara came running into view, killing three of the shinobi while they made their way to her side. Dysis pulled her cloak and scarf off revealing herself to the harsh desert storm. Her hair black with natural hints of red was choppy in a pixie cut, her yellow eyes narrowed in focus. She wore a half black tank-top with mesh hanging on the back bottom half; full dark red pants with a black half skirt hanging on the left side down to her feet; standard black ninja sandals; a toe ring on her right foot; and a leather bracelet on her left wrist. Her ninja headband was sewn into the back of her pants, the Mist emblem crossed out. The only evidence of her betrayal was a scar from her left middle finger all the way up her arm and across her neck from the 5th Mizukage's attempt to kill her. "And you know what; I did kill all of those people. I take full responsibility for that. So what's stopping me from killing all of you?"
"You two are the worst of a ninja village. We'll make sure you die here tonight! And you boy, will suffer the same fate if you do not back down and head to once you came." Gaara, stood his ground, ready for the challenge. Together the Grass shinobi attacked the small group.
"You really did it this time didn't you Dysis!" Riyuka snapped, "If you would have just stayed inside we wouldn't have been found."
"Yeah, well it's always fun to have a nice fight before bed. You know me; I spent too much time around my Jinchuuriki cousin to be considered sane my friend." Dysis grinned and punched Riyuka's arm gently while the ninja ran towards them. "You know you'll enjoy yourself."
"You're thirteen! You shouldn't enjoy fighting so much, even having grown up with Utakata."
"Quit bickering and fight!" shouted Gaara as his sand took out two of the Grass shinobi.
Dysis glared at him but it made no effect on his grimace. Riyuka, dressed in all black slid through the shadows without sound and moved so quickly, the shinobi didn't know what hit them. She did this just using her taijutsu. But the fight would require more than just simple physical combat. It called out for power. No matter how many they killed, more kept taking their place.
"They keep coming, what should we do?" asked Dysis, before realizing she already had the answer.
Riyuka slowed her movements and scanned the surrounding area, she found what she searched for. In a blink of an eye, she swept passed and smashed in a water pipe along the side of a three story building. Water spewed out heavily. Riyuka then began her jutsu.
"Gaara, get to higher ground!" she screamed. Gaara jumped from roof top to roof top until he was sure he was out of the attack zone. "Ninja art, water protection jutsu!" the water submerged Dysis violently, along with creating large bodies of water a mile in each direction.
Gaara watched wide eyed, he hadn't expected Dysis to be a part of the jutsu. He began to wonder what was coming next. Suddenly his sand reacted to something behind. Gaara stood on his feet, his anger once again brewing. He slowly turned to face his foe, his eyes filled with that lustful hunger of the other side of himself. "Now it's my turn."
Riyuka then submerged herself into the small body of water beneath her feet. A Grass Shinobi came at her as she sank deeper into the water but missed his chance to make his fatal blow. "She disappeared!" he shouted in awe. "Stay away from the water!" commanded one of the shinobi five feet away. Without realizing, he had stepped into a puddle of water. "Too late." a voice said behind him. As he went to turn to strike, Riyuka kicked up some of the water. As the water flew into the air, she released another jutsu. A jutsu of ice. "Ice dagger jutsu!" Spears of ice few at the shinobi, piercing every major organ in his body. The man stumbled at her feet, blood pouring from the holes now in his body. He looked up at her as he collapsed. Riyuka, without mercy, formed another ice dagger in her hand and sliced it across the man's neck. Still emerged in the body of water, Riyuka had provided, Dysis calculated the exact locations of all the ANBU Grass ninja. Only six of them left. She began wondering why none of them used jutsu to apprehend them. Dysis shook her head, there was no time to make sense of every detail. This had to end, and it had to end now. "Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu." the area began filling with a thick layer of heavy mist. "Hidden mist jutsu!" shouted a Grass Shinobi.
Closing her eyes Dysis pictured every one of Riyuka's puddles. They were always deep enough for Dysis to remain fully emerged in the water. They had trained each other using their respective Kekkei Genkais. "Ninja art, liquid retreat jutsu," Dysis felt her body split for the briefest of seconds before forming again in another puddle, "Ninja art, liquid restriction jutsu." The water around her sizzled as part of it turned into a gas, filling the two men near her and then turning back into water, drowning them. She moved again to the next puddle, ice forming in her hands as she stepped out of the water enough to stab the ice into a shinobi's thigh, right where an artery was. She continued like this, killing the men without them even knowing that she was close to them. Finally, she stepped out of the last puddle completely and stood on the water. She quietly removed her half sword from under her skirt where it was hidden from view. She walked to the leader and tapped his shoulder. The man spun around, impaling himself on the sword in the process.
"Nice work Dysis. You're getting quicker using your kekkei genkai." Riyuka stepped forward out of the water where she was hiding. She didn't have a single drop of water on her as she walked calmly through the mist surrounding them. Dysis flicked her wrist and the water in the puddles and the mist disappeared into the sand.
"Thank you, but you really should think about that next time. That water was going into someone's house; they may need that in the morning." Gaara jumped down from the building next to them. "You aren't half bad there sand boy. I saw your talent."
"How?"
"Anyone who can use the Hidden Mist jutsu is able to see everything within the mist if they train enough. Riyuka showed me that. I watched the entire fight." Dysis narrowed her eyes at the boy her age and looked at him. She raked her eyes from his toes to the tip of his hair as she took in everything about him. "You can stop glaring Dysis," Riyuka snapped. Here were two of her friends glaring at each other as though they had a long lasting hatred for the other. It wouldn't do to have her allies fighting each other off every time they met. "What is your problem with him? I know you're more trusting than this."
Dysis smiled at Riyuka before stepping forward and hugging Gaara. "It's so good to see you again Shukaku!"
Gaara pushed her away, his mood becoming once more foul. His eyes narrowed as he turned toward the direction of his house. Before he took a step forward, he turned back and looked at Riyuka. "You're going to have to fix that pipe." that was all he said before continuing on. RIyuka spun around and backhanded Dysis. "Don't you ever call him by that name! He is Gaara that is all he is." Riyuka walked away from her friend and longtime partner toward the busted pipe. She took the open metal in between both hands and mended it back together, but before sealing it, she used what was left of her jutsu to collect what water was left from the ground and placed it inside. After, the pipe was like new, Riyuka turned to walk after Gaara. "He is Shukaku you know. No matter how much you wish he was not, it can never be. No sense in hiding who he is." Riyuka didn't bother to turn around to look Dysis in the face, she kept walking on. "How do you know what's inside him? You acted ignorant up to this very point of who he was. What are you keeping from me?" Riyuka thought to herself as she fell into the darkness of the night.
The rays of the morning sun shining through the sheer curtains awoke Riyuka from a restless sleep. She sighed as she flopped on her back, she turned to Dysis's bed and found it had not been slept in. "Where did you go?" she asked herself. She forced herself out of bed and to get dressed. The storm had passed so she packed away her trench coat and mask. As she stuffed the items into the bag something had fallen out. Riyuka bent over to retrieve it, it was a photo of her and Dysis together smiling like two happy idiots. "Oh Dysis, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" came a voice from behind. Riyuka turned around and found a stuffed mouth Dysis staring at her. She frowned at her friend. "You're going to make yourself sick." Dysis shrugged as she walked over to her bed and tossed herself down as she swallowed her food. Riyuka eyed her friend and noticed a red mark on the side of her face where she had hit her just hours ago. Regret overwhelmed her. "Dysis, I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I shouldn't have treated you so harshly." Dysis lifted her head in puzzlement as to why her friend is apologizing to her, but immediately let her head fall back down onto the soft sheets of the bed. "It's okay, you were just protecting your friend."
Dysis could feel those piercing sapphire eyes staring at her, how those eyes made her uncomfortable. So blue and mysterious like a lake she and her brother used to play around as children in the village Hidden in the Mist. The memories pained her and filled her with anger. She wanted to smash in a wall. "Why are you so against him?" Riyuka asked. Barely hearing her, Dysis replied, "Who?"
"Gaara." She answered.
"I'm not against him; I'm not against anything you do with him. Why do you think I could embrace him knowing that he is Shukaku's host?" Dysis turned on her side as she spoke, trying to reign in her anger at her memories, memories that fought to come to surface.
"Will you stop calling him that?!" Riyuka snapped.
"WHY? Why should I stop calling him by a name I have always called him by? Why should I ignore the fact that he is a Jinchuuriki? Why should I stop calling him what he is!? I have nothing against Gaara of the Sand or the one-tailed beast that resides inside of him." Dysis stood up and marched to the bedroom door, taking her bag with her. "I'll see you in Amegakure." Her skirt was the last thing Riyuka saw of her friend before the door closed behind her.
Riyuka sat on her bed and gripped the picture in her hands tighter. A few moments later a knock sounded on the door. "Come in Gaara."
Gaara entered into the room at looked around. Dysis wasn't there and her bed was neat. Riyuka's stuff was in her bag. He looked down at his older friend, memories of them years ago surfacing. "What did she do?" his voice was cold and as hard as steel. "Why do you travel with someone who you can't even get along with?"
"We do get along!" Riyuka looked up at Gaara from her place on the bed. "We have fights but we always get along. We're all each other has most of the time. I have you, and she has her cousin, but both of you could be killed at any time. We've only been apart once since we've met, and that was when she got an
urgent message from her cousin and she left without notice. To this day I don't know where she went or what she did. That's when you found me again Gaara and we talked."
"Did you tell her what I am?" Gaara narrowed his eyes at her, fully expecting the truth.
"No! That's what has me confused; I don't know how she knew what you are." Riyuka looked down at the picture in her hands; it was taken just outside of a little village. They were standing under "The Great Naruto" bridge. "You know me; I spent too much time around my Jinchuuriki cousin to be considered sane my friend." Dysis grinned and punched Riyuka's arm gently while the ninja ran towards them. "You know you'll enjoy yourself."
"You're thirteen! You shouldn't enjoy fighting so much, even having grown up with Utakata."
"Damn it! She knows what you are because she knows the signs. Her own cousin is a Jinchuuriki!"
"Does she treat her cousin the same as she does me?" Riyuka looked at Gaara, his face sadden and his eyes toward the floor. She walked up to him and hugged him. "No she does not."
"Will you go after her?" he asked without pushing away from her. "I think Dysis and I need time apart."
Gaara parted from his friend, his face turning serious, the sadness gone. "I must leave on a mission to the Hidden Leaf village. And since Temari and Kankuro are still out, I have to form my own team. Though everyone other than those two are a waste of time, I thought of asking you and your friend. But since she's gone, I can't ask her."
"What is this mission?" she asked, her tone of voice cold.
"As you may have heard, the Leaf village has been low on shinobi since the chunin exams." Riyuka nodded that she knew the situation. "Well the Hokage requested Sand shinobi to aid a team of genin on an A-rank mission, and since no chunin or jonin are available, naturally they asked us for help. Apparently she doesn't think her genin can take care of this matter themselves."
"Do you have any information on exactly what we're doing on this mission?" Gaara shook his head. "My orders were to go to the village and there our mission will be explained along with the team we will be aiding. So Riyuka, what will it be?"
Riyuka chuckled. "I've never been to the village Hidden in the Leaves."
"Village Hidden in the Leaves huh?" thought Dysis to herself as she listened in on the conversation from outside by the open window."Guess I'll see you there Riyuka," Dysis said as she quickly ran from the village. After running for a few hours Dysis stopped and turned to look back at the village far in the distance. "I hope to see you again soon, but Utakata needs me first. Let's just hope that this isn't the last time we meet." Dysis disappeared from the desert, heading straight towards the assigned meeting place, towards her cousin.
"So you want to bring me, a Rogue Sound Village ninja to a place that has one of the largest groups of shinobi? You do have the oddest sense of humor Gaara." Riyuka whistled to herself as she walked beside Gaara. The two of them had decided that they would be enough. There was no need to bring others along who would spend their time trying to arrest or kill her. The Sand village might be more willing to trust a rogue ninja from the Sound then other places but they still had alliances they had to follow through on.
"It's not a joke. And since your face isn't in the bingo book most people won't even know that you are a rogue ninja. Just remember to hide your headband and we'll be fine." Gaara continued to walk across the desert sand as though it was nothing.
"So do you have any idea what the Hidden Leaf Village wants? Even a hint?"
"None. But from the message I received it could very well be something very important. Konoha has strong shinobi, so if their Hokage doesn't think that they are able to handle it by themselves that is
saying something." Gaara thought about what he knew of the shinobi. They were strong, and even the ones his age had a strength that he didn't often see in other shinobi from the various Hidden Villages.
"You know, you talk a lot more now. What ever happened?"
An image of a blond haired boy dragging himself across the ground using only his chin flashed in Gaara's mind. His eyes glazing over for the briefest of moments as he remembered that day. "I met someone who showed me that I was wrong. He is a Jinchuuriki as well, but he doesn't let that change what he fights for or why."
"Sounds like someone I could get along with." Riyuka said with a slight smile before stepping up the pace. "When should we be there?"
"Two days and no later, I want to get there quickly. Once we reach the forest we run the rest of the way."
"Tell me of these Leaf shinobi." said Riyuka as she walked beside him.
"They are a strong group of shinobi and various types of kekki genkai and jutsu. They even have a ninja who only knows taijutsu, he almost defeated me."
Riyuka was astonished at the accomplishments of such shinobi, and not only that, most of who Gaara speaks of are no more than genin. "What of this person you met that changed you?" Gaara half smiled.
"His name is Naruto Uzumaki,"
"He's named after the Great Naruto Bridge?"
"More like the other way around, he and his team escorted the bridge builder there and while there, they defeated one of the Seven Swords Men of the Hidden Mist and a thug of a businessman. He helped save the village and so they named the bridge after him. Anyways, how he changed me came as a surprise to me as well. It was during the chunin exams where Orochimaru attacked the village and the Sand Village had planned on me being the ultimate weapon to bring down the Leaf. I had put the plan on a different course. I was losing control and wanted nothing more than to kill Sasuke Uchiha," Gaara's hand tightened to a fist, but as quickly as it came, it deminished. "I became injured and Temari and Kankuro were ordered to get me out of danger to recover so we can get back to the plan. It didn't happen that way, Sasuke caught up with us and I lost all control." Gaara chuckled. "Sasuke couldn't beat me on his own. That's when Naruto and his other teammate showed up. I planned on killing the girl who came with him, and something in him wasn't going to let that happen. He cared so much for his comrades even though they were weak and insignificant. He fought for them, he never fought for himself. He always fought for others. We battled each other, his power is like nothing I have ever seen or encountered. He defeated me. But even after he defeated me he was still determined to make me see truth and continued to fight even though all his strength was gone. He came towards me by dragging himself only by his chin. The look in his eyes..." Gaara swallowed as he returned to those memories. "I owe a great debt to the Hidden Leaf Village and to Naruto Uzumaki. He is the most stubborn, foolish, annoying person in the entire world, but I can call him my friend."
Riyuka smiled at Gaara as they kept walking on. This Naruto kid in her mind seems like the dangerous sort, but if Gaara trusts him, she must trust him too.
By the time they made it to the end of the desert, night had fallen. "Should we keep going or find shelter?"
"We keep going, who knows what is out in these woods."
"Right." Riyuka said as they jumped into the trees and began to run.
It didn't take them long to travel to the Hidden Leaf Village. They stopped only once for a brief time to eat and fill their water out of a river. Riyuka kept glancing over that Gaara, something was making him almost… well, twitchy. 'There's something wrong. Gaara can tell as well, something is going to happen.' She thought as she landed next to her friend in front of a pair of tall gates. The characters A and N placed on each door. "Hello Gaara!" called one of the shinobi, his voice cracking. They looked to the left where two jonin sat at a booth to login all of the visitors. The other shinobi looked as those he was trying to make himself as small as possible.
Gaara nodded his head. "My cousin and I are here on orders from the Kazekage and the Hokage."
"Of course, we got word that you would be coming. We need your cousin's name to mark in the books." Gaara glared at the man slightly. "It's procedure Gaara."
"Put down Hana of the Sand." Gaara continued to walk past the two and into the village.
Everywhere they turned you could see hints of building walls that weren't as old as others, and in some places holes in the ground. It hadn't been too long ago that they had just replaced the previous third Hokage. The villagers would make a wide gap around Gaara and herself while they walked. "These people fear you."
"Yes, it is to be expected."
Gaara walked up some steps and down a hall. When they reached a door on the right Gaara knocked twice before walking into the large circular room. The opposite wall was made of windows that were open to allow the wind to cool the room down. Inside was a woman with large breast, a blue diamond on her forehead, and her blond hair was tied into two ponytails on either side of her head. Her green and grey outfit was a little more traditional than an average ninja's and she wore high heels. She was sitting behind a desk. There a few other people in the room with her.
"Lady Tsunade, may I present my cousin, Hana. While my brother and sister are away on a mission I have chosen her to accompany me on this task."
"Very well Gaara." She said without looking up. The woman kept her head lowered as she wrote. Moments passed before she set down her pen and looked up at the two sand ninja. "Hana is your name correct?"
"Yes, Lady Hokage." answered Riyuka civilly.
The Hokage looked Riyuka up and down before lounging in her chair. The tension in the air was so powerful, it was almost impossible to breathe but Riyuka and Gaara stayed calm and alert should anything go sideways. The Hokage opened her mouth to say something when suddenly the door behind them flew open.
"Grandma Tsunade, do I have a bone to pick with you!" shouted a blonde haired kid as he charged into the room without acknowledging Gaara or Riyuka. "So I hear Neji, TenTen and Rock Lee are going on a mission, I think you need a ninja like me on their squad!"
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking! And besides why would I put you on their squad when every time you go on a mission with them you ALWAYS disobey orders!"
"It's not my fault something always goes down and Neji always plays by the book!"
"Uh Lady Tsunade, the two sand shinobi are still here." said Shizune quickly.
"Sand shinobi?" said the blonde haired kid to himself before turning around and looking straight at Gaara.
"Gaara!" he shouted as he ran right up to his face. "How you been? What brings you to the Leaf Village?" said the kid with such enthusiasm.
"He and his cousin are here to aid Neji and his team."
The kid's face dropped and suddenly anger crossed his features as he spun toward the Hokage. "What do you mean he's here to help Neji? If that's the case I definitely have to go!"
"Absolutely not! You have other duties you haven't even completed yet."
"Oh come on, those lame missions? A real ninja like me needs to be out on the field defending the Leaf Village!"
"My answer is no."
"Yeah, we'll see about that." whispered the kid.
"What did you say?"
"Oh nothing. By the way, did you say cousin?" the blonde kid turned on his heels to face Gaara, but this time he took in the tall woman standing next to him. His jaw dropped. "She's, she's his cousin! No way she's his cousin, she's way too pretty. No offense Gaara."
"Naruto! Settle down."
"So this is the kid who changed Gaara," thought Riyuka to herself. "he's interesting."
"After you put me on the mission!"
"My answer is no-"
"Naruto." said Gaara in a calm voice. "The Hokage has her reasons."
"Says you." he said before facing Tsunade. "You know you can't stop me so why not make it easier on yourself and just let me go?"
The Hokage's face lowered with a mighty glare. She crossed her hands together and chuckled, making Naruto flinch.
"Fine, you want to go? You can go."
"Yes!"
"On one condition." Naruto stopped dancing. "You fail this one, and you'll never go on another mission...EVER."
"...You got it Grandma Tsunade, you can count on me. Believe it!"
"I told you to stop calling me that! And as for you Gaara and Hana, instructions on the mission will be given first thing tomorrow morning along with your squad."
"Yes ma'am!" They said together before taking their leave with Naruto. When the door closed behind them, Tsunade sat back in her chair deep in thought.
"What is it Lady Tsunade?" asked Shizune.
"That girl, Hana, she looks familiar."
"How so my Lady?"
"I don't know, but I know for a fact she isn't a sand shinobi. Find all you can on Miss Hana and quickly."
Gaara, Riyuka and Naruto walked out of the Hokage building with Naruto chatting their ears off. The little blond boy sure could talk. Gaara would nod every once in a while to show that he was still listening, but Riyuka mostly ignored him. "So, I'm been searching for him as much as I can. Old perv says that we'll be going away for training, so that's another reason I wanted to go. I won't be able to go on missions for who knows how long once we're gone."
Riyuka turned her head, finally paying attention to the conversation. "Wait, who have you been searching for? I thought Konoha didn't get many missing or rogue ninja."
"Sasuke isn't a rogue ninja!" Naruto snapped, his hands clenching by his side. "He just got tricked, that's all."
"So that makes him still a missing-nin. I'm surprised that you guys haven't sent ANBU out after him."
"Riyuka, leave it alone." Gaara quietly told the woman. They both looked at where Naruto had stopped behind them, his eyes filled with hurt and sadness. "Listen Naruto, he'll return when he needs to. Either that, or you'll find him. But it is true that you have to realize that there is a chance that he may not come back willing or still be innocent."
Naruto nodded his head vigorously and clenched his right hand in front of his face. "You're right I will find him."
Riyuka raised an eyebrow, 'did he not get the rest of that conversation?'