Nozomi looked at the Kazekage and frowned. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, but she knew that it wasn't her uncle-in-law.

"What's wrong?" asked Temari quietly.

"That's not the Kazekage. I don't know who it is, but it's not him," she said.

Temari paused.

"Is it your gut telling you that, or just a general feeling of unease?" she asked.

They had learned very quickly that when Nozomi had a 'gut feeling' about something, that every time it generally turned out to be true. It might not reveal itself right away, but it often had a habit of happening sooner rather than later.

For a shinobi, who's life was at risk every day, that sort of warning could be priceless especially if it provided more than just a general alarm. More often than not, when Nozomi had a 'gut feeling' it often came with a specific action or warning of what to avoid.

As a result Temari and the others were more inclined to listen to her with full attention if she had one of her 'warnings'.

Nozomi had absolutely no clue about it, as she usually followed it on instinct.

Baki listened intently, since he was also aware of Nozomi's almost superhuman instincts for trouble.

Nozomi's eyes glowed almost an amber color as she said "It's not him. I can't explain how I know or why, but I know that's not really him. All my instincts are screaming to run as far away as fast as I can from his presence, because it feels absolutely vile. There's also a strange undercurrent about snakes, but that's about it."

Baki almost growled.

The second she mentioned snakes, he had an idea what happened.

Orochimaru had decided to replace their leader, likely to get close to his teacher and kill him. Which meant the Kazekage was almost certainly dead or a hostage, and they were being played for fools all because some arrogant snake wanted a chance at the third Hokage.

"Stay here. I need to have a word with the others. Do not let anyone from Oto near her or Gaara," said Baki.

"Yes, sensei," said Temari and Kankuro.

By the time he came back, the plan had been altered slightly.

They would continue with the invasion as planned, but the second Orochimaru attacked the Hokage they would immediately turn on the Oto shinobi for the betrayal and help the Konoha nin. After all, only a select few were aware of Nozomi's warnings. They might respect her for finally getting Gaara under control, but they wouldn't listen to her vague warnings without proof first.

Baki, on the other hand, was a jounin and close to the Kazekage. If he said there was a chance Orochimaru had killed their kage and taken his place to go after the Sandaime, the Suna nin would believe him. After all, what would he have to gain by lying about such a thing when he was the one who had to be in close proximity to Gaara every day?

Nozomi sat up in the stands next to Hinata, who she had become rather fond of. The girl was shy, but she had a strong heart and the two had become fast friends almost immediately. Both of them hated fighting and the idea of hurting others, but neither of them would hesitate if it meant defending their loved ones. Nozomi was rather envious Hinata had a little sister to spoil, even if Hanabi was something of a brat.

She could openly sympathize with having a crush on a boy that seemed unreachable by mortal standards.

For Hinata, she had a crush on Naruto who was a social outcast and therefor not 'worthy' for the Hyuuga princess, even if he had a decent chance of complimenting Hinata's gentle personality.

For Nozomi, who's exposure to the shinobi lifestyle and the restructuring of certain morals had caused a shift in her own way of thinking, it was a certain demon prefect. After several visits to Suna and getting to know her cousins better, she found herself looking at her classmates and finding them wanting in many ways. The only one she found even remotely interesting was Hibari-sempai, who would never look at someone like her twice in a romantic sense.

It was still nice to look from afar and sigh in disappointment because she knew deep down he would never regard her as worthy. Not unless a miracle happened anyway.

(When Nozomi showed Hinata one of the few good pictures she had of Hibari, the girl had immediately compared him to Sasuke Uchiha, except with a far more tolerable personality. At least Nozomi didn't squeal over boys like the majority of Sasuke's fan girls did.)

Kurenai rather approved of the tiny civilian. Her presence was good for Hinata, as she provided a female friend the girl could confide in that wouldn't hurt her.

Even if Nozomi did remind her of a fluffy bunny.

Nozomi looked at Hinata with sympathy as the girl clutched her hand. She was torn between cheering on her rather angry cousin and the boy she had a deep crush on. In the end she remained silent and just prayed that neither one of them suffered permanent injury.

When Naruto won, and gave Neji the overdue reality check he so desperately needed, Nozomi hugged Hinata. The girl was almost faint with relief and could only hope her beloved 'nii-san' would learn to drop some of his defeatist attitude.

The two of them watched the fights, and she could only feel sympathy when Temari faced that shadow user, who made her win after soundly defeating her.

She could just tell Temari wanted to wring his neck for giving her a false victory. She barely restrained her fury on the matter.

It was when the fake feathers began to fall that she knew something terrible was happening.

Temari had coached her several months ago about how to deal with genjutsu, which was what the shinobi called the art of illusion.

There were a few ways to break out of one, but the most common was introducing foreign chakra to your system...or causing just enough pain to snap out of it, preferably without causing permanent harm to yourself.

Nozomi didn't have any weapons, but she did have one thing available to practically everyone.

She bit her lip hard enough to taste blood, thus negating the genjutsu's effects. Kurenai looked at her with an appraising expression, before a hint of respect was seen in her eyes. Every other civilian was out cold by this point, but Nozomi was still wide awake and scared out of her wits. But she wasn't running. There was a hint of steel in her eyes that said she wouldn't hesitate to fight if necessary.

For the most part she kept her head down and tried not to get in the way of the shinobi.

At least until a man wearing a Konoha headband and glasses appeared before her, looking at her as if she was some new experiment.

Her 'inner warning system' went off like a klaxon, telling her to get as far away from him now because if he caught her she would not like what he would do to her. And it wouldn't be because he wanted to relieve his more carnal urges on her either.

It would be far worse.

His smirk was cold and had no soul to it. Unknown to Nozomi, her eyes began to glow from an internal light that turned her eyes into an amber orange.

Without a second thought, and following her instincts, she dove over the side of the wall that lead to the arena, uncaring of the fact that it was far too high up for her to survive without some major injury.

With all the fighting going on, very few would have seen her jump. At least none of those she had befriended anyway.

Seeing the ground close in and knowing she had no way of stopping herself, she had only one thought.

I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

Images of her family and the friends she had made passed her mind, and how they would all be terribly upset if she were gone flashed through her head.

Something inside her seemed to snap, as warmth flooded her body. It felt right, like something that had been forcibly taken from her was being released and everything was being unleashed all at once.

Flames erupted from her forehead as she found the ground coming towards her at a much slower rate. She barely registered Gaara's presence, or the fact that he was there when the flames sputtered out and he caught her.

Gaara was not happy. Someone had either thrown his favorite cousin over that wall, or gave her enough reason to jump herself.

Considering he spotted a man with silver hair looking down with a predatory gaze that he vaguely recognized talking to Baki earlier, he had a good idea whom.

And if Gaara wasn't happy, then Shukaku was livid.

For reasons the bijuu was quite unlikely to explain, he liked Nozomi. She was quite possibly one of the few humans he would try to avoid killing if possible while on a rampage.

There was one thing that baffled Gaara though, and that was the fact that the comforting presence he had always equated to Nozomi had somehow ramped up to twenty once she burst into orange flames.

Somehow he had the feeling his new friend Naruto would approve of the color, considering his own love of orange.

For now he had idiots to deal with and a cousin to keep safe.

Nozomi was quite glad that her summer vacation lasted two months. She really didn't want to explain to Hibari-sempai that she had been detained in a foreign country because her cousins were part of an invasion force.

She highly doubted he would believe it, even if she presented proof, and would likely bite her to death for missing so much as a week.

As it was, she was one of the few who wasn't forced to spend her time in a holding cell or being interrogated simply because she was a civilian.

Once Baki was released, she went to find him.

"You want us to what?" said Baki, staring at her.

"I think it would be best for all involved if Gaara and the others disappeared for a bit. At least a month or two to calm things down and give everyone a chance to deal with any losses they had without reminding them of the idiotic deal the Kazekage made," said Nozomi.

Because it wouldn't surprise her in the least if the shinobi looked at Gaara, Temari and Kankuro and were reminded of their father's failures.

Baki gave her a flat look.

"You just want to bring your cousins on a vacation to the Outside, don't you?"

"There is that. Plus it would free you of having to act as their sensei for a short time, which means you would be able to help reorganize your remaining forces long enough to keep the other nations from getting ideas," said Nozomi.

Baki looked seriously tempted by the idea. Then again, he had a good idea who to ask in order to push through the measure so long as it was temporary. Besides, it would give the council some time to think things over without having to deal with a potential loose cannon in their midst with Gaara around.

Though he wasn't going to say no to the idea of Jiraiya fixing Gaara's seal. The Sannin had made it clear after learning the original plan that he would look it over and preferably do something about it, as he didn't like the fact the plan was to set Shukaku loose on a village that had already suffered an attack by the Kyuubi.

(Nozomi had already tracked down said man and told him flat out to include something that would at least allow Shukaku to take over a simple sand clone, so he could get still get drunk. She thought it would be very rude indeed to bait the demon with the freedom it had previously enjoyed, only to take it away with the new seal. Considering he had seen her ball busting techniques, and the fact it presented an interesting challenge, Jiraiya had agreed to look into it. He had high hopes to be done before they left.)

Considering the headache he had, and the fact that this would at least relieve some of the burdens he had to deal with in keeping Gaara under control, he had no issue sending them outside the veil.

Besides, the limited books Nozomi had been able to acquire had been of great interest to the council. Particularly the medical books and the ones about common herbs. He was sure Temari and Kankuro could find even more information that they could bring back to justify the vacation.

There was just one small problem. Nozomi was due back in her hometown in less than a week, and the siblings wouldn't be released for at least another eight days.

Baki couldn't escort her back either, and it would take a civilian at least three days to reach Suna. At least he could make sure she was escorted past the Leaf/Sand border by the patrols, who were at least briefed on what she looked like and the fact she kept the Shukaku calm enough that he didn't go on a rampage again.

For that fact alone they would protect her.

Nozomi made sure to say good bye to Naruto, Hinata and Lee.

Hinata in particular made a note to get her hands on a messenger hawk or at least an egg so she could write to Nozomi.

At the border of Suna

When Nozomi finally arrived four days later, she had someone with her. It was a girl with a rather flat chest, long dark brown hair and kind eyes. She wore a relatively new kimono and followed Nozomi like a puppy.

Her name was Haku. The same Haku Naruto had mentioned when he spoke about the Wave mission and how he had a bridge named after him in remembrance to how he had brought hope to the people in the village.

Considering Nozomi had taken a slight detour to see the bridge in question and to listen to Tazuna's take on the whole thing...and ended up finding Haku, who was hiding in the woods nearby to guard Zabuza's blade...it was only understandable that Nozomi would end up collecting the stray kunoichi without a village.

Haku kept the headband, because Zabuza had given it to her, but it was firmly sealed in a scroll along with everything else. She would have to find someone worthy of of his sword before she passed it on.

Since Haku had no reason to live, being a 'tool' for her master, she opted to follow Nozomi instead. She had this aura about her that said she would be a good person to follow, even if she made sounds of dismay every time Haku tried to call herself a 'tool for Nozomi-sama'.

Besides, Haku was rather interested to find out what the world outside the veil was like.