Hey guys. It's the holidays and I'm in Brisbane for a week with my uncle. I've been wanting to get this out earlier, but then I realised I skipped waaaay too far in the first draft of this chapter. So I changed it. Also, I didn't bother to read through and make sure there aren't a lot of spelling errors, because I've got something to do real soon. Thanks for the support, lovelies.

I hope you enjoy.


Shiru hadn't paid attention to any of the battles unless it involved the grass-nin whom she had no information on.

The second fight was between Sabishi and Aburame Shino. Sabishi was the youngest one with the hood and bandage over his eye. He wasn't that impressive, ninjutsu seemed to be his strength; but Shino and his bugs seemed to be too much of a problem and the kid forfeited. He was also too shy to actually hurt the Aburame kid.

The fourth fight was between Tori and Yamanaka Ino. He was the middle one, with blue hair and the goggles. The boy had no problem hitting a girl, which was bad for Ino since her taijutsu skills weren't on par with his and she was promptly knocked out within a few minutes. He was fast and his hits were strong enough to crack the ground, but that was all he showed.

The sixth fight was between Sukafu and Nara Shikamaru. The redhead had a feeling it wasn't his real name. Who names their kid; 'Scarf'? Then again, she was named 'Seal'. The two of them were both intelligent, and the battle dragged on longer than the both of them liked; with Sukafu forfeiting and saying that he was bored.

The only one passing seemed to have been Tori.

After an eventful match between Gaara and Lee, it was finally her turn.

Her name was revealed on the large board.

'Uzumaki Shiru vs. Akimichi Choji'

"Alright, the last two competitors step forward!"

The redhead remained stoic as she body flickered from her spot to the arena below, ignoring the damaged ground below her.

Team Asuma looked to Choji's opponent then to Choji himself, who looked discouraged.

"Can't I just forfeit? Uzumaki-san is scary..." He mumbled. No one noticed the way Shiru's ear twitched, indicating she heard that as she turned to glance up at him with a particularly irritated look.

'You better forfeit. Forfeit so I don't have to reveal shit and still get through.' She growled inwardly, her eyes shifting to his teammates who she knew was going to encourage him.

"I'll treat you to food if you win." Asuma bribed, immediately seeing the way the Akimichi perked up.

"Alright! Here I go!"

Shiru stared impassively at her opponent before her, ignoring the shouts of encouragement from her cousin.

"You can do it!" Shikamaru cheered.

"Fatass!" Ino taunted, knowing that it'd piss the boy in front of her off. It did, and the redhead sighed.

"Those guys better watch it! I'll finish this match quickly and tear them up!" He growled, ignorant to the click of his opponent's tongue.

"Don't you dare underestimate Shiru-chan, you fatass!" Naruto roared, hanging off the railing as he threw around his fist. This further pissed off the Akimichi boy.

"Uhm...well, then! Tenth match begin!"

Shiru wasted no time in body flickering behind the boy before he could react and knocked him out. The girl released a sigh as his teammates went into an uproar.

"WHAT?! But the match just started!" Ino exclaimed loudly, shocked.

"And it ended just as quickly. I have no need to reveal any more of my abilities." The redhead stated blandly, moving back to her team's side just as Hayate declared her the winner.

"Way to go, Shiru-chan! We all passed! We all passed!" Naruto jumped up and down in glee.

The stoic Uzumaki locked eyes with a certain redhead across the room, both eyes unreadable yet equally threatening.

"She's fast, you've got to admit." Temari consented, Kankuro nodding in agreement.

Gaara remained silent as he had a staring contest with the fellow redhead, eyes unreadable.

"With this, the preliminary trials for round three is complete!" Hayate announced.

The winners of the preliminary rounds stood in a row in front of the Hokage and the many chuunin and jounin.

As per usual, Shiru blanked out and into her thoughts as the Hokage muttered about the Chuunin Exams.


"The prelims have ended, and they will begin the finals." Kabuto informed his master, who leaned against a pillar.

"Shiru-chan passed, yes?" The snake sannin questioned even though he knew the answer.

"Of course." Kabuto smiled, standing up and pushing up his glasses. "She wasted no time in knocking out her opponent and not revealing anything other than her speed."

"Mmm. My poor little apprentice has had enough of the village that has become too accustomed to peace." He chuckled along with the white-haired medic.

"She was thoroughly displeased with the mission to the land of Waves. It raised Hatake Kakashi's suspicions and he has reported it to the Hokage. We could take it now and as an added bonus; not make Shiru-chan angry at us." Orochimaru's spy suggested with a secretive smile.

"I'm not sure taking the head of that geezer would be much fun...and seeing Shiru-chan's annoyed face is just so cute. She repulses them as much as I do for their sentiments." Orochimaru replied a smirk, the image of his little apprentice's face morphed into an expression of annoyance was simply amusing.

"You seem hesitant to act..." Kabuto responded, immediately earning himself a hard stare. "From now on, the various hidden villages will fight against each other in a long and intense battle. Hidden Sound is also one of them. You intend to become the trigger of all this, and he's the bullet for that purpose, right? Uchiha Sasuke-kun, was it?"

"Hehe...you're so intuitive that it's scary. "

"Not really," the medic denied, "I didn't know about Zaku, Dosu and Kin after all. As part of my assignment on gather information on Sasuke-kun, I wanted to know the powers of the three sound nin. Unfortunately, Shiru wouldn't appreciate the drama so I couldn't test out their abilities. It would've been foolish of me if I did, anyway."

There was a moment of silence.

"You still don't fully trust me yet, it seems."

"Was there even a necessity to tell you, my right hand man, something as insignificant as those three? That is the proof of my trust." The snake assured. "It seems that the curse mark I implanted on Sasuke-kun was sealed up by Kakashi...well, not that it'll have any affect, of course. As long as the 'darkness' in his heart doesn't disappear, which is unlikely because of Shiru-chan's influence, he'll come to us. She'll need help."

"You make it sound as if there's something in the way."

"There was something that bothered me a little." He replied.

"Is it...Uzumaki Naruto?"

'Heh, such a clever child.' Orochimaru smirked. "Sasuke who lives for the sole purpose of killing his brother, Itachi in revenge. He's a child who will never die until he's achieved that goal. Yet, when he fought me; he came at me without fear of death even though he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat me. I didn't think he was a child to rush to die like that." He explained, frowning slightly. "According to your data, it looks as if his contact with the nine tails boy is changing some of his heart and goals. We need Shiru-chan to tear a rift between the two, and make sure her 'cousin' isn't able to influence Sasuke-kun to divert his goals of revenge. I'm sure she's capable of doing that, but she can only stay undercover for so long."

"Well, then..." The sannin's right-hand man began to walk away. "I'll be sure to inform Shiru-chan of your plans. How do you want her to further influence him?"

The snake hummed in thought. "She's already under his skin, she'll need to leave soon or her cover will be blown and I can't have my apprentice in their hands. Get her closer to him, make sure that the nine tails boy can't influence him any further unless it's to darken his heart. Tell her to make him leave as soon as possible."

Kabuto's lips quirked up. "Will she be leaving with us after the invasion?"

"If she can convince Sasuke to leave at that time, yes."

A dangerous, almost deranged look formed on the young medic's face as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.


Uzumaki Shiru.

Black eyes glanced to the girl who'd be his opponent. Her hair was spiky and messy, but she had nice eyes. If she wasn't looking at you.

The grass-nin gulped at the uncomfortable stare she gave him. She looked irritated.

'Heh. How cute. If she took more care of her hair she'd be very attractive. It'll be a shame to defeat her.' Tori smugly thought, winking at her through his goggles. Her eyes narrowed, forcing him to chuckle nervously and look away.

'He's underestimating me.' Shiru analysed, the corner of her lips twitching in amusement. 'That's fine. I'll be sure to keep an eye on him during the month to see if he has any other talents than taijutsu.'

When Naruto got home that night, his cousin was nowhere to be found. The blonde shrugged. It wasn't unusual for her to be out, she doesn't sleep and staying in her room all night can be suffocating.

What was unusual, was the encounter she had with a certain sand-nin.

The two redheads stared at each other for the longest time.

"What do you want?" Gaara finally asked, eyes narrowing just a fraction as the girl before him sighed.

"You're sitting in my spot." She replied, glancing up at the moon. The two of them were situated upon the large metal fish that decorated one of the many roofs of the village. Instead of asking the boy to leave, she sat down a good distance away from him and stared up at the moon whereas he had his back to it.

The two remained in silence for over two hours, letting the tension build on the sand-nin's side.

"Do you not sleep?" He nearly growled, the demon within him becoming impatient with the full moon out. 'She's been here for two hours.'

"I don't." She merely replied, surprising the boy slightly. "I can't."

He didn't reply after that.

Even as the sun began to rise, the two had stayed in each other's silent company.

"It's time for me to go." Shiru stated as the sun was fully in view, causing eyes to land on her as she stood up and had her back to him. "Goodbye."

Sea foam eyes stared at the spot she had occupied.

And continued to occupy. The next night, it was the same.

She would appear, sit and remain silent for the entire night until the sun came up.

Gaara was rigid the entire time, unable to relax for fear that she would be waiting for his guard to come down. Eventually though, he began to relax slightly in her presence after realising that her intentions were not malicious.

The red-haired Uzumaki was a stoic girl, she rarely spoke to him; but what confused him more was her blatant disregard of his presence. She neither feared nor hated him, for if she did; she wouldn't be there every night.

The situation repeated itself for a week, before Gaara finally had enough of their silent company and decided to interrogate her.

"Why do you come here every night, knowing that I am here?" He frowned at her, their eyes once again locking in an unreadable staring contest. "Do you not fear me?"

His eyes didn't miss the upwards twitch of her lips. "I told you, this is my spot. Your presence doesn't bother me." She replied, breaking the eye contact by blinking and turning her gaze back onto the moon; the boy across from her surprised by her response. Unfortunately, the response made him narrow his eyes dangerously; killing intent leaking from his form.

"Are you insulting my existence?" He growled, a dark look in his eyes. When she glanced back at him, she tilted her head to better look at him.

"I find your existence..." She trailed off in thought of a word, further irritating the red-haired jinchuriki. "Lonely."

His eyes widened at her, his guard dropping and his killing intent gone as he registered what she had said.

"It's better to be alone, isn't it?" The redhead sighed, looking down at the surface she was sitting on; knowing that Gaara's eyes were intently on her. "It's better to fight for only yourself, to care about only yourself. You don't get hurt that way." The slightest of pained expressions crossed her features, before it was gone. But the keen-eyed sand-nin was perceptive. "Friends...family. There's no point. They'll leave you in the end."

The male redhead was speechless as she looked up to the sky, a cloudy look in her eyes. She was hurting, he knew. Why? Because that was his expression once. Before it was taken over by the stoic face, something that the two seemed to have in common.

Her expression soon became more hostile, albeit a subtle change. The more noticeable change was the tense air around her. "You get attached to someone, you care about them. You trust them with all your heart, and what do they do? They betray you in the worst sense possible."

Gaara's mind reeled back to his uncle, but the memory was so traumatising that he began to hold his head as it throbbed; a groan escaping him.

She had stayed silent until he was finally able to regain his composure.

"You're like me." He muttered softly, glancing up to her. He didn't know how he should react around someone who was so alike him, who was so similar in their sense of beliefs. Instead, he chuckled in a slightly deranged way. "You're like me." Gaara repeated.

"I'm like you." She sighed softly. Her guard instantly went up when he suddenly appeared in front of her, getting a little too close into her face as he leaned forward with a twitchy grin.

"Like me." He breathed, reaching out to touch her. The girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the hand reaching for her, but otherwise made no move. The moment she deemed the situation hostile, she would react then. Shiru could hardly feel the cold fingertips brushing against her cheek, but the dull sensation was there. The experimentations had rendered her immune to temperatures, but had allowed her to keep the dull sensations whenever something was physically touching her. That didn't mean she couldn't feel pain when she was hurt.

Gaara was fascinated with her, his demeanour already slipped of their cool and stoic nature; but more to a deranged but child-like one. No one he knew held the same ideals. Hardly anyone could look at him and not shake in fear or be comfortable in his presence. He grasped a bunch of her hair in his hands tightly, but not pulling on it harshly. Her eyes seemed to glow against the darkness as she stared at him.

Directly into his eyes without fear, without disdain or malice. There was nothing but guarded suspicion. He didn't know what he was doing. Her skin was warm against his fingers, a foreign sensation that he had never felt; scaring him yet fascinating him. He wanted more, more of that warmth she gave off.

There was something deep down within him, something that wanted to keep her as if she was a rare toy that no one else had. The battered-down longing to not be alone.

She had a name...

"Shiru..." He whispered, chuckling strangely at the way it sounded coming from him. Her hand immediately grabbed his wrist when he suddenly cupped her face roughly and tilted her head up to further look at him. "Mine."

Shiru's eyes widened, her grip loosening slightly. 'What?'

The hand he was using to hold her hair moved to cup her other cheek as he began to laugh insanely. "Nobody can have you. Nobody. Mine."

'I knew there was something wrong with his psyche.' The girl thought, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Why?" She simply asked. So what if they had similar ideals, how did that make her his?

"Why? Because." He replied, his eyes narrowing dangerously as if daring her to defy him. His toy wasn't meant to do that. It reminded her that he was still a child.

That's when it clicked in the female redhead's mind. 'The longing to no longer be alone has manifested itself to this upon realising that his beliefs were shared. How deranged.'

Sighing, the Uzumaki girl raised the hand she had around his wrist and began to reach forward to his face. He immediately flinched, but she kept going.

"So be it." She stated, deciding to go with the flow. As she brushed her thumb over his kanji symbol, he scrunched his left eye and shivered slightly at the contact of her fingers. Her eyes were unreadable as she wondered where this predicament would lead to. 'One thing I will not do is give him the advantage over me. He shall have his thoughts of me belonging to him, but I will not be controlled.'


After that little event, the jinchuriki seemed to revert into a somewhat deranged child-persona; something Shiru found rather interesting. 'His childhood was taken from him...perhaps that is why he is acting like this.' The girl mused as he played with her hair in the slightly rough manner. 'It's certainly strange. Does he believe that he has control over me and that is why he is letting himself do that exact opposite of his beliefs? I can't understand how his mind works in that particular sense. No...I get it now. I'm a special toy to him.'

Upon that realisation, her eyes narrowed considerably at the moon. Another week had past.

Despite the strange event of the jinchuriki behind her, nothing too much had happened yet. She was forced to stay away from Jiraiya, who was currently in town and because of his damned habit of following her master; and she would rather not take the chance of him recognising her even if it may seem unlikely.

Tori was currently working on his speed to work with his taijutsu, possibly taking in the fact that his opponent was significantly faster. Unfortunately, his stamina was rather limited. All she'd need to do is to wear him out and then knock him out. Using her superior speed and stamina, it would be easy.

Frankly, using the same technique of immediately knocking her opponent out wasn't recommended in this situation. The grass-nin was trained to rely on reflexes and his body, he'd realise if someone was behind him and would be able to react in time. She would be capable of doing that without much trouble, but that was the point. Knocking out Choji, who wasn't fast and was rather limited on his abilities was plausible. Someone with significantly better reaction time would raise more suspicion already, something she didn't need.

Her thoughts were thrown away as her hair was roughly tugged on, forcing her to lean back and into the lap of a certain male redhead; her eyes glaring at the face above her. He was glaring lethally at her as well, the two again locked in a staring contest. It seemed to be a thing between them now.

"You weren't listening." He seethed, his deep voice throwing off the slightly childish-demeanour he recently had around her. "You're meant to listen to me, Shiru."

The girl sighed. "What?"

"I'm going to kill your teammate." The boy repeated, lips forming into a smirk. His fingers almost desperately brushed against her cheeks, the sensation of human warmth was almost overwhelming.

Her eyes stared back blankly at him, a reaction he expected. "Perhaps. Perhaps not." She replied, eyes narrowing at the way his sand threateningly seeped out of his gourd. "I'm not going to lie to ease your whims, Gaara." The redheaded girl stated boldly, causing the sand-nin to chuckle darkly at her.

"Mine..." He muttered, apparently forgetting their conversation and going back to his morbid fascination of the girl in his lap. She was like a doll. His doll.

Shiru sighed again, as if she were dealing with a child. She was; a slightly mentally unstable one as well. She noticed how he would follow her when she would leave when the sun rose, he was becoming a tad obsessive with her; something she didn't need. Despite not caring what was to happen with her cousin and Gaara, the girl had hoped the blonde idiot would be able to snap him out of his general insanity. It would be troublesome to have something like this mess up everything.

The boy was desperate for the warmth, the feel of another human; if the way he had continuously touched her face was an indicator. Always treated like a disease, he's probably never had anyone so much as poke him.

"Gaara." She spoke softly, gaining his attention as he was playing with her fingers. His eyes were...mixed with emotions. There was fear, excitement, suspicion, fascination...what a strange boy. The female redhead reached forward, ignoring how rigid and tense he became. He was the one who touched her, rarely the other way around. The boy flinched as her fingers brushed against his cheek, but there was that feeling. That warmth. He leaned towards it.

"I wonder...do you know what a hug is?" His frown of confusion answered her question. "I see."

He stared. She stared. She was making no move to show him just what a hug was.

"Show me." He ordered, sand wrapping around her wrist and forming into a hand.

"No." Shiru denied, bored eyes staring into his annoyingly curious ones. "I don't do hugs. Go ask someone else."

"Show me, woman." Gaara growled, his nail cutting the flesh just under her jaw. She didn't flinch. "I will not hesitate to force you."

The girl clicked her tongue, her eyes shifted momentarily to the streets below her; something convenient within her sights. "You see those two down there?"

The jinchuriki's eyes shifted to where she was looking, finding two people (a man and a woman) close together with their arms wrapped around the other.

"That is a hug." She clarified. "Now get your sand off me, I showed you."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but reluctantly removed his sand. "Why do people hug?"

"Perhaps it's a show of affection, familiarity with one another." The Uzumaki girl explained, a sigh escaping her mouth; something he was currently staring intently at as he registered her words.

"I see."

His hands dropped from her face, the cold immediately returning to his fingers. She stared at him.

"Why do you not fear me? Why do you not hate me? Am I not a monster to you?" Gaara abruptly bombarded her with questions, standing up and backing away.

Cool emerald eyes never looked away, not even when he started to become hostile. "I have a strange collection of fears, death is not one of them. People fear you because they feel unsafe, because they believe you are a monster that will definitely kill them."

"And I would." He interjected, giving her a hard stare.

Shiru shrugged. "I don't care. What I think you are has nothing to do with what you really are. Unless you get in my way, I won't care what you do. I feel that hate is too much energy. It can consume us and destroy us, and that's just letting it control us. You've never done something to insult me directly, I don't hate without a reason. We may not think of each other as friends, as allies, but it's undeniable that we are curious of each other."

The girl stood as the sun began to rise. "Perhaps I don't make sense, but that's what I feel. Goodbye."


On the day of the final round of the Chuunin Exams, the competitors all stood in a row to face the crowd; with the exception of the Uchiha and female Uzumaki.

The blonde looked around. 'Where's Sasuke and Shiru-chan?'

"Hey, stop looking around and face the customers. In this tournament, you guys are the main stars."

Naruto was scared out his wits when his cousin suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside him.

"GAH! When did you get there?!"

"Thanks everyone for coming to the hidden Leaf Chuunin Exams!" The Hokage declared, earning everyone's attention. "We will now start, the main tournament matches between the ten participants who made it through the preliminaries. Please stay and watch until the end!"

Shiru leaned against the wall as she waited for her turn, reading a book and pointedly ignoring the looks she was receiving from a certain redhead not too far away. It reminded her of a spiteful child who was annoyed. That's probably what he was anyway.

Time seemed to finally pass enough for it to be her turn.

"Finally, my turn!" The blue-haired nin laughed as he jumped over the railing and down to the arena, where his opponent was already waiting. 'Shit, still can't get over her speed. Good thing I've been improving on that in the past month.'

Emerald eyes analysed the hyped up boy in front of her. 'Is he smart enough to change plans once he figures out I'm wearing him down by simply dodging?'

"You kick his ass, Shiru-chan!" Naruto cheered.

"Don't worry girlie, I'll go easy on you." Tori winked at her as the proctor stood in the middle but not in the way of crossfire. The girl before him simply clicked her tongue, before glancing up to the waiting area and seeing the rest of her team show up.

"Teme! You're late!"

"We're not disqualified, are we?" Kakashi asked sheepishly.

"It's been postponed to the last match!" The examiner stated, causing the silver-haired jounin to relax.

Shiru cut out their voices and focused in on the boy with blue hair and goggles.

"Alright, then...begin!"

Tori charged forward with good speed, readying his arm for a punch as his opponent stared at him.

When he was close enough to hit her, he missed as she suddenly disappeared in a blur; confusing the blue-haired boy. "Huh?"

The girl reappeared behind him, and he immediately went for a kick; but she merely dodged it.

He continued on with a barrage of punches and kicks, but she kept on dodging and moving around.

"She's wearing him out." Kurenai noted from her spot in the audience. Asuma, who stood beside her, nodded in agreement.

"It seems that she's only using her speed because it's the only thing she revealed in the last match. She knows that Tori specialises in taijutsu and is using that to wear him out. But if that's so, she must think that she has greater stamina than him; otherwise the plan isn't going to work out." He analysed, watching as the grass-nin was panting as he leant on his knees and Shiru standing a few metres in front of him without a bead of sweat.

"Why don't you stand still, dammit!" Tori demanded, running forward and doing a midair kick. 'The bitch dodged again!'

"All she's doing is dodging. Why?" Naruto frowned, confused. The two geniuses beside him snorted.

"She's obviously tiring him out." Sasuke answered, staring intently at the redhead. Would he be stronger now, after all the training he did?

"She's probably not attacking so she doesn't reveal all her techniques." Shikamaru commented after.

"Maaan, she always makes things so boring." Her cousin moaned.

After a few minutes more, the crowd began to become restless; yelling their displeasure and telling the blue-haired kid to hurry up.

Unfortunately, Tori was on the verge of exhaustion. He'd blindly used multiple combos and continued to attempt to hit her without a change of plan, which greatly affected him since his stamina wasn't that great.

He was on his knees, panting heavily and sweating horribly.

"Do you give up?" Shiru questioned impassively.

"Like..." He panted. "hell...I will!" He brought a kunai and threw it at her as he pushed himself off of the ground.

The redhead simply tilted her head to the side, dodging the weapon and remaining in her position until he was close enough. The boy roared as he lifted his fist, his speed and strength drained.

Then his body was thrown back at the force of the punch he received to the face. His body flew through the air before landing in tumbles and kicking up dirt.

When the examiner went to check on him when he wasn't moving, his eyes widened at the damage a single punch did to the kid's face. He was thoroughly knocked out.

"Winner! Uzumaki Shiru!"

The crowd was silent for a moment, registering what just happened.

"I...I didn't even see it! What happened!" A random person amongst the crowd demanded.

Soon, there was an uproar about how the match was boring and then suddenly having it end like that without them even seeing.

"Not that I care." Shiru muttered, leaning against the wall where the other participants were at. 'I don't fight for your pleasure.'


Shiru glanced down at the two snakes slithering up to her, one was the recognisable silver that was Wakai. The other was a dark crimson, being even longer than his brother. That was Orudo.

She willingly let them slither up onto her shoulders, their bodies wrapping around her shoulders as they affectionately nudged her head. Orudo hissed softly, informing his master of the news he was meant to deliver.

The redhead's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're saying I did this useless exam for nothing, then?" She muttered, her eyes absent-mindedly staring at the fight between a deranged Gaara and Sasuke.

'So they want me to convince him to come with them now. Fine. Now that Wakai and Orudo showed themselves anyways, I can't stay. I can already feel Kakashi's heated stare.'

The feathers began to fall from the sky, and that's when Shiru closed her eyes.

The invasion begins now.

She purposefully avoided any of the leaf-nin as she followed after Sasuke, his chakra signature fluctuated and a bright beacon to her. Wakai and Orudo hung onto her, the two hissing in annoyance at each other. The two always bickered.

Kakashi searched the area as he killed another sound-nin, no sign of his female teammate. He saw Sasuke leave to follow after Gaara, but she seemed to have suddenly disappeared. His eyes narrowed as he thought more about the redhead.

The two snakes had come to her, and she had conversed with them. Snakes...snakes automatically meant Orochimaru, or Anko. But Anko has never interacted with the redhead before.

'Dammit!' He growled inwardly, dodging an attack from his left. 'I should've seen the hints!' If she worked for the snake sannin, that meant that she was after Sasuke. 'Shit!'

Sakura, the pink-haired girl who would've been his student if it weren't for Shiru's higher score, shrunk back into her seat in terror; apparently having been able to dispel the genjutsu. As far as he knew, she worked in the medical program.

"Haruno-san!" The copy-nin called, blocking an attack. The girl abruptly snapped her head in his direction. "Wake Naruto-kun and Shikamaru-kun up!"

The pinkette awkwardly made her way to the blonde Uzumaki, her life protected by the silver-haired jounin and his 'Eternal Rival'.

Once she did, Kakashi appeared in front of them. "I'm giving you guys an A-ranked mission." He stated, summoning Pakkun in front of the three.

She screamed when a ninja appeared behind Naruto, and screamed even more when Gai blasted a hole through the cement wall with the guy's body. Shikamaru cringed away from the girl.

"Are you guys listening? Once you've heard the mission, escape through that hole. Chase after Sasuke, join with him and stop him. Then take him away to a safe location. Haruno-san will be the assigned medic." He ordered with a seriousness that unnerved the three of them. "And...keep an eye out for Shiru. She may have been a spy for Orochimaru all along."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at Kakashi, before growling angrily at his sensei. "What the hell are you saying, Kakashi-sensei! Shiru-chan's not a spy! She's our friend!" He defended his cousin, refusing to believe that his cousin of all people was a bad guy.

"Naruto." The sharp tone in the copy-nin's voice made him flinch, he tensed under the hard stare his sensei gave. "Don't let your emotions get the better of you. If you find her, stay away from her. She's completely out of your league."

The blonde was conflicted, but he wasn't allowed to dwell anymore as he was forced out of the hole with the four-man team he was assigned to.

He was increasingly lost in his thoughts as they chased after Sasuke. 'They made a mistake. Shiru-chan would never betray them. They...they were family, right? She wouldn't...'


Emerald eyes watched the situation in front of her unfold, Shiru was hiding amongst the trees; waiting for the right time to make her appearance to the Uchiha.

'I have to get him to leave today.' She frowned, glancing to the pinkette who was currently pinned to a tree by Gaara's sand. 'I hadn't expected her to show up.'

She commended Naruto, for his strength and will to go on. Even if she no longer bonded with people, there was an understanding as to why he as so adamant to protect his comrades.

'I used to be like that...' She thought wistfully, her heart clenched in pain. The girl was thrown out of thoughts when the fight between the two jinchuriki took on a bigger scale. 'Now.'

The redhead appeared in front of a bewildered Sasuke, whose eyes widened with fear if only for a second; before calming down upon realising it was her.

"Dammit...Shiru." He coughed, holding his arm as he glared at her. "Where have you been?"

"I've been here the entire time." She admitted truthfully, her eyes boring into his now surprised ones. "Naruto has gotten stronger, hasn't he?" The female Uzumaki turned to look back at her cousin who was fighting. Onyx eyes followed her line of vision.

Jealousy wrapped around his heart as he watched. 'This fight is incredible...'

"You're never going to be that strong." His eyes immediately darted towards the redhead, fury welling up within him as she seemed unaffected as ever. Her eyes shifted to lock onto his. "If you stay here."

Again, his eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

Shiru crouched down to him, leaning close into his face with an unwavering stare. It made him uncomfortable. "You want to become stronger, right? Stronger than Naruto, stronger than me? Come with me."

"What the hell are you going on about?!" He demanded, leaning back.

"I am not a leaf-nin." The redhead stated, her ear twitching as the giant fight behind her went on. "I never was. The entire reason I came to Konohagakure...was for you."

Sasuke froze. 'What?' What the hell did she mean she came here for him?

"I am Orochimaru's apprentice."

"What?!"

"I was assigned here to influence you to come to him. You will never be powerful if you stay here. You know it, don't you?" She tilted her head as he registered the information, eyes glancing to the giant toad.

"Sever the ties from this village. From Naruto. If you wish to come with me, then decide now." She moved to stand up, and then began to slowly walk off. His mind swirled with indecision as he was given a very short time limit.

'Abandon the leaf...? And Naruto?' The Uchiha stared at the toad again. His eyes narrowed darkly. 'I don't need to choose.' He stood, slowly and walked towards the redhead; who stopped and waited for him.

Who was he leaving behind? Kakashi and Naruto, but they would only hold him back...right?

"You've decided, then." Shiru stated more than questioned, staring at Sasuke, who stared back with fierce determination.

"I have a goal, and I will become stronger no matter what to fulfill it." He replied with a resolute tone, making her smile slightly. It made him note that she looked more feminine when she did so. That was involuntary, so he shook his head roughly as she began to leave. 'Idiot. I'm an idiot.'

"Coming?"

He and Shiru disappeared just as Naruto defeated Gaara.

Pakkun looked around frantically, the sudden disappearance of Sasuke's scent making him worry.

'Could it be that Shiru has already taken him?'

Kakashi wasn't going to like this.


And so, we conclude that the Uchiha is now on the dark side a lot sooner than planned. Now, I wanted to sort of clarify Gaara's abnormal behaviour towards Shiru.

Gaara is a complicated mofo, and this is my interpretation of him if he were to meet somebody like Shiru. He's a child who longs for acceptance, but it's buried deep down. I doubt anyone's so much as touched his hair, so human warmth is something I felt would fascinate him. I would've made the two hug, but Shiru isn't a hugger. I'm sorry if it seems too OOC for you guys, but I'm not going to change it. It was effort trying to keep him in character as he interacted with Shiru.

I do hope you enjoyed. Reviews are motivation.

P.S. I'll probably get to the proper editing later. I get OCD when I read through my chapters and see mistakes.