Author's Note: Two chapters in two days. Huh. Well, whatever. I write this fic for my own amusement, not for anyone else's, which is probably why this thing is actually getting written. Added a much needed paragraph to Naruto's inner rant, making it much more entertaining.

The opposition against allowing the Akatsuki representatives to enter Konoha was loud and fierce. Despite the necessity of the alliance, Tsunade couldn't help on some level agreeing with them. Though they had started with only nine members, in the six years since its founding the Akatsuki had grown to such proportions that the numbers of its ninja rivaled that of the smaller shinobi villages, and every single one of the Akatsuki was jounin or better. Almost all of the most powerful missing-nin had long since joined the Akatsuki out of sheer necessity, and fear of its strongest shinobi. They were a threat that far exceeded that of any other enemy, even Orochimaru's Sound Village, and no one could see a reason for them to want to ally with the Leaf. So it had to be a trap. At least that's how the more paranoid Konoha ninja saw it.

"They are sending four shinobi to hammer out the truce. That number is ridiculous, especially taking into consideration that among them number Uchiha Itachi and Gaara of the Sand." Most of the shinobi in the room couldn't help but glance at two young ninja speaking quietly in the corner. Kankuro and Temari were the only survivors of the slaughter of Sand Village, all of the others killed at the hands of Gaara mere days before he joined the Akatsuki two years ago. No one knew why, but it was rumored the Akatsuki had used it as an entrance exam, though this was little more than hearsay. Kankuro and Temari had stumbled into the Leaf a few weeks after the attack, ashen-faced and exhausted. Tsunade had taken them in. She too knew the pain of loss, but many of the Leaf suspected Kankuro and Temari to be spies for the Akatsuki. Why else would they be the only ones spared? These suspicions were heightened by the knowledge that Kankuro and Temari were the siblings of the killer. Privately Tsunade thought Gaara had spared his brother and sister out of some lingering sibling affection and had no ulterior motives, but despite her considerable pull as Hokage it had taken the support of Jiraiya and Kakashi for the villagers to finally accept the two, though both Kankuro and Temari insisted on keeping their Sand forehead protectors. They had since made jounin, but spoke rarely and worked with no one but each other. Despite Tsunade's concern, neither of them had worked through their grief. The sannin wasn't sure it was their village they mourned for.

"Councilor, your advice is appreciated, but you're being ridiculous. The Akatsuki consists of shinobi, and only shinobi. They do not have diplomats to send us. They assigned some of their strongest members to the task as a sign they are taking us seriously."

"Sending the murderer of the Uchiha Clan is a deliberate attempt to mock us! We should. . ."

"This discussion is over, Councilor Yamamoto. They are arriving tomorrow. This has already been decided. We are merely convened here to determine how to best deal with the Akatsuki, not to decide whether to accept their being here in the village." Tsunade's tone was cool, and brooked no argument. Yamamoto still tried.

"But. . ."

"Councilor, you know as well as I do that we need this alliance. Constant fighting with the Mist and Cloud on the eastern border have significantly weakened us, and though they have not attacked us in some time, the last battle we had with the Sound killed off of many of our strongest fighters. The Sand were our strongest allies and they can't help us now. The Stone have isolated themselves, and the smaller villages have to take care of their own people. If we do not ally with the Akatsuki, within a decade the Leaf will collapse."

A sullen silence fell over the assembly, which was soon broken by Kakashi walking in, late as usual. "So, what did I miss?"

Tsunade glared at the copy-ninja, but after so many years even she accepted that nothing short of war could force Kakashi to be on time. "Just the usual bickering after everything has already been agreed upon."

"Ah. By the way, Hokage-sama, I just got some information. The Akatsuki representatives are making better time than expected. They'll be here by tonight."

Tsunade felt her eyes widen. "What? We aren't ready! All of the daimyos aren't here yet and where did you get this information?"

Kakashi shrugged. "One of the ANBU scouts spotted them about fifty miles away about half an hour ago and sent a messenger pigeon." He dug a scroll out of his pocket. "He also gave some specifics too about the shinobi they sent. As expected, two of the shinobi are Uchiha Itachi and Gaara of the Sand. One of the others in Hoshigaki Kisame, Uchiha Itachi's partner and a Mist renegade. The last was unidentified, and his lack of a forehead protector means we have no idea what village he is from. The ANBU wasn't able to get close enough to get any defining characteristics except the fact that the last representative has blond hair tied back in a short horsetail. He wore an Akatsuki cloak, but that tells us nothing but what we already know."

Tsunade nodded sharply and turned to Shizune. "Are their rooms ready?" Her assistant nodded. The Hokage sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Well, we'd better get started. Move out, people."

As the shinobi filed out of the room, Kakashi noticed Sasuke brooding in a corner. At age sixteen, the heir to the Uchiha clan had achieved the third pinwheel of the Sharingan, but had not yet managed to use the mange Sharingan, which constantly rankled the young man, as he knew that he was still far below his brother in skill. "Sasuke, you know you cannot fight Itachi while he is here under a flag of truce." The hands crossed across the young prodigy's chest momentarily clenched into fists, but he nodded tightly. Kakashi nodded back, and turned to leave. He wasn't surprised to see Sakura standing hesitantly by the door. Though she had long given up on Sasuke as a love interest and instead had started to return the taijutsu specialist Rock Lee's affections, she still cared for the Uchiha greatly.

"Is he. . ."

"He'll be fine. It's just hard for him to deal with the fact that if the alliance comes through, he'll never get the chance to fight Itachi again. It's difficult to give up on a goal you've had for half your life, but Sasuke is strong. And he has too many ties to the Leaf to abandon the village for vengeance." Sakura nodded, only looking slightly reassured. Kakashi smiled at her. She had grown up to be a fine young woman, becoming a chuunin without the help of her teammates, Sasuke being distant and Naruto being. . . well. That was still hard to think about. Her lack of great stamina had moved her to specialize in genjutsu, illusion techniques, as her ability to see through them was her only true standout characteristic. All in all, she had far progressed beyond Kakashi's expectations, and he fully expected her to be one of the best candidates at next year's jounin exams.

"Trust me, Sakura. He will not leave us." They both glanced at the shinobi in question, who was gazing out the window, a contemplative look on his face. Sakura sighed.

"I hope you're right, Kakashi-sensei."

-

"Brother, what are you going to do?" Kankuro glanced at his sister, standing beside him on the top of a small hill to the south of Leaf Village.

"Why would you think I was going to do anything?"

"Gaara is coming."

"You think I hold the Suna Village against him."

"Don't you?" The puppeteer shook his head.

"The gods know, I used to. But I've had two years to think about it, Temari. And I can't help but think that it wasn't entirely undeserved. The villagers. . . seeing how they treated Gaara, remembering how we used to treat him. . . Gaara wasn't raised with anything resembling morals, or a conscience. It may have been horrible, but there wasn't any reason for him not to do it. They treated him like. . . like. . ."

"A monster."

"Yeah, and they didn't treat us much better. I remember thinking that I was wrong about Gaara getting better after we attempted to invade Konoha, but I think he actually did get better. Why else would he leave us alive?" Temari sighed.

"I kind of agree with you, Kankuro, but don't go around talking about your forgiveness of our baby brother. The Sand were the Leaf's most powerful allies. Your view wouldn't be appreciated."

"Of course not. I'm not an idiot, Temari."

"That could be successfully argued to the contrary." That earned a dirty look from the younger sand-nin. The fan-wielder ignored it. "But really, what are you going to do?"

"It kind of depends on Gaara." A grin.

"Doesn't it always?"

"Yeah. Let's go get some miso. I'm starving."

-

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Now?"

"Kid, shut up before I shove something unpleasant in an unfortunate place." Naruto huffed, but he did stop. The closer they got to Konoha, the more nervous he became. He had already killed three squirrels and a large pigeon when their movement on the edge of his peripheral vision had kick-started his survival training and he had thrown kunai on instinct. This had provided them lunch but gave Naruto no peace of mind. He had tried mulling over the problem, but his brooding skills had always been sub-par and they weren't getting any better. So instead he irritated the others. This proved rather difficult, as Gaara and Itachi ignored him and Kisame only tolerated the annoyance for a few minutes before quickly putting an end to it.

He had little more than six hours before they arrived at Leaf Village. Damn it, he wasn't ready for this! He had thought he had left his miserable life at Konoha behind. ((Not completely miserable.)) A little voice at the back of his head reminded him, but Naruto brushed that aside. A few months of happiness didn't make up for years of pain and cruelty, of being hurt and taunted, treated as something less than human. Even after four years, even slightly wary looks set him off, reminding him of the pain of being despised, or at best forgotten.

Which is why in the end, after the seal had been removed and he could move freely, he had stayed. It was probably sad that he could only find acceptance in a group full of freaks and merciless killers, but he would take it where he could get it. The pain of loneliness was vastly underestimated. To quote something Gaara had once told him, 'It is the inner wounds that hurt the most.' And Naruto knew it to be true.

Sometimes he wondered why Itachi had killed the Uchiha Clan. Though he lacked compassion, Naruto had never seen the Sharingan wielder kill anyone unless it was completely necessary.

Well, except for the boarders at the inn. And that one Cloud shinobi two weeks ago, but he had deserved it. When you're stupid enough to try and flirt with Itachi, from then on anything that happens can easily be attributed to Darwin. Okay, there was also the village girl who wouldn't stop bothering them, and it wasn't like Itachi had actually killed her, he had just used some genjutsu and the cliff had just happened to be there. . . well, there was also that cloth merchant. And the fisherman. . . wait, that had been Kisame. . . what had he been thinking about again? Oh yeah, the murder of the Uchiha Clan.

Maybe there was no good reason. Certainly there wasn't one that could satisfy Sasuke. Not that it mattered. After this, Naruto vowed he would never return to Konoha. Besides, the ramen there sucked.

"Naruto." The former leaf-nin looked up, startled to see that he fallen far behind the others. Gaara was waiting for him. "You're nervous."

"So?"

"Temari and Kankuro are also in Leaf Village." Silence.

"And?"

"I do not know how they will react to seeing me." Naruto couldn't help but smile. Awkward though the attempt was, Gaara's efforts to reassure him were appreciated.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to face their disgust and fear together then."

"Yes." Gods, Gaara was such a maladjusted freak. No wonder they were partners, besides both being demon-possessed and short.

Kisame and Itachi were still walking. "Damn it, don't those two ever wait?" Naruto ran to catch up. Stalling wouldn't make the anticipation any better. If he had to face them, better sooner than later. And then he could go back to his life of difficult missions, ridiculously strong coffee, and going out for drinks with people he had formerly tried his darndest to kill. Right now, it absolutely sounded wonderful.