Thanks to ChibiEd, Vampire Ifurita and Fivefootangel for the reviews, And to everyone who reads and enjoys this!

Drew a little SasuGaa pic over here: http://skyblade. Which is why this chapter is a bit late. Sorry!

In Shin Kadu's name Shin is his family name and Kadu is his given name. There's a lot of Kadu in this chapter (I'm sorry for the OC ( ) but it couldn't be avoided. Just bear with me until next chapter!

Part Seven: Shin Kadu

"I don't want to hurt you." Gaara commented, watching Sasuke stretch.

"That's fine. But I won't go easy on you just because you're scared." Sasuke completed his first set of warm-ups and went to the next. The two of them had been training together every day for three weeks, ever since the incident with the pirates. At first they had used Suna's training grounds, they were going easy on each other, just testing Sasuke's speed against Gaara's and the Sand's reaction times. The first few bouts Gaara's sand hadn't been able to truly keep up with Sasuke, but after the third round the Kazekage's reactions had improved drastically. That's when they'd stepped things into a higher gear.

After the first time they'd nearly destroyed the training field, they took their daily training out into the desert. Sometimes they went into a full pitched battle among the sands, sometimes they moved to the foothills a few miles from Suna, playing a game of cat and mouse, chasing each other among the rocky outcroppings, each attempting to find and outwit the other; in that game everything was acceptable, ambush, tricks, anything they could come up with. There were only two rules to the sparring: try not to destroy the landscape, and try not to kill each other.

Sasuke could see now why Gaara had been hit by the water blades of the pirates. It wasn't that Gaara lacked skill; the Kazekage was probably a genius when it came to battle techniques. But Gaara had no sparring partners, ever. The only shinobi who could keep up with Gaara in Sunagakure were either too busy with missions, were Gaara's personal Anbu, or were his siblings. He wouldn't fight his siblings, and even if he had it would have been useless, he wouldn't have put his all into the bout, and he wouldn't take Anbu or other shinobi off their duty or leisure time to spar with their Kazekage.

So that left Sasuke, who was more then happy to push his own limits and Gaara's daily. It was rather thrilling to practice at such a high level; it kept Sasuke's skills and senses sharp, and he'd even developed a few new techniques, counters to Gaara's sand he was sure might be applicable in other battle situations.

That day Sasuke had insisted on an all out match in the dunes: he was at a serious disadvantage in that environment, while it was Gaara's ideal battleground. Sasuke wanted to push himself, see how far he could go in such a situation, and he didn't want Gaara holding back.

The match started without warning. One moment Gaara was watching Sasuke stretch, the next Sasuke was behind the Kazekage with his sword halfway imbedded in Gaara's back. Not even a flare of chakra in warning; Sasuke's speed was natural. Gaara's back began to crumble around Sasuke's blade, but instead of dissolving back into t he desert, the clone turned and reached for Sasuke's sword, attempting to grip the weapon, force Sasuke to struggle or let go of his sword.

Sasuke wrenched his sword free, using a surge of chakra to leap away from the sand clone and the sands at his feet; he barely dodged the grasping trap of sand that his footing had become, a hand nearly tugged off his sandal. He touched down only to lead again, heading with deadly momentum for the Kazekage, who stood on top of a dune a hundred yards away.

The two traded blows for several minutes, Sasuke constantly leaping about to avoid the sand traps that always appeared wherever he stood, Gaara effortlessly blocking Sasuke's blade with sand defense, countering waves and fists of chakra and sand.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Sand hissed as fire seared across its surface, and Gaara found his defensive wall was no longer sand, but crude, molten glass. The highly irritating noise of chidori on the other side of the melting sand-turned-glass defense wasn't enough warning to get away, Sasuke was upon Gaara with lightning in his hands before the Kazekage could even trigger a transportation jutsu. Instead Gaara threw the desert at Sasuke in a demonstration of monstrous chakra. The dunes themselves shifted, Sasuke's footing faltered as the dunes buckled and surged, seeming to converge towards Sasuke with deadly force. Moving that much sand was slow, however, even with Gaara's chakra. Sasuke managed to escape by bracing and leaping upwards, and he hadn't even had to release the chidori, which annoyed Gaara.

As Gaara was preparing to retreat and send another attack at the Uchiha, a flicker of chakra to the side halted the two combatants immediately. One of Suna's Anbu force materialized next to the Kazekage, whispering a message into Gaara's ear before disappearing. Gaara frowned.

"We need to go back."

Sasuke nodded, slamming his fist into the ground. There would be another spot of random glass in the desert once the molten sand at Sasuke's feet cooled. Disappointed as Sasuke was to have the match cut short, this had to be something important, and therefore interesting. "What is it?"

Gaara approached Sasuke, and the two turned towards the village. "A messenger from Kadu, the messenger will likely be informing us of Kadu's intentions to visit. We'll need to meet with Temari and Kankurou."

With unspoken agreement both Gaara and Sasuke kicked into high speed, heading for Suna.

Despite the months of preparation and warning, the actual arrival of Kadu had the four shinobi on edge. Gaara would keep tabs with his sand eye jutsu, and Kankurou would spy the old fashioned way. Temari had to be sent to Konoha on "Important Diplomatic Business" to give Gaara an excuse to pass Sasuke off as Kadu's escort. Temari was less then happy about the idea, and made her irritation more then clear to her two younger brothers and Sasuke, but she was on her way to Konoha by the time Kadu arrived at the gates of Suna.

Gaara met Kadu at the gates, as befitted a lord of his power. Sasuke stood at Gaara's back, looking indifferent and under-awed. Beneath that, however, he was studying the man. It was his first real close up look of the lord.

Shin Kadu was in his early fifties, but he looked somewhere in his mid thirties. He was handsome and well groomed. His taste of clothes tended towards the conservative and modern; black suit and tie, white silk undershirt, tastefully understated. His hair was black and long, tied in a traditional long braid that was mostly concealed by blending in with the black suit. He wore thin rectangular glasses, but his skin was lightly tanned and he looked fit, if not overly muscled. His two body guards were fitted out in dark grey, silent and deadly killers that watched Sasuke and Gaara like vultures watch a dying antelope.

"Kazekage." Shin greeted Gaara respectfully, smiling and extending his hand to shake Gaara's. Gaara looked at the hand a moment, before seeming to remember the purpose of the gesture. The handshake was brief, but Shin hardly seemed offended.

"Lord Shin." Gaara inclined his head to the man.

"It has been a while. I trust all is well?"

"Nothing of note has happened." Gaara stated, by way of answer.

"Splendid. But where is your most charming sister?" The two were now walking side by side into Suna, Sasuke had stayed back with Kadu's body guards, as his role demanded. Sasuke pretended to ignore the two bodyguards while he took their measure, they pretended to ignore him while doing the same. He knew these two from his previous investigations into Shin, they were incredibly dangerous, and loyal only to Kadu.

"Temari is on assignment. She was the only one we could send."

"Ah, diplomatic mission was it? She certainly is amazingly skilled for so young a girl. She is always a delight to talk to."

"Uchiha will be your escort in her place." Gaara nodded abruptly to Sasuke, who stepped forward and bowed to Kadu. "He will ensure your safety while in Suna, and see to whatever you may need."

Shin smiled, nodding to Sasuke. "Uchiha is it?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"A pleasure to meet you. I trust we will get along well. I trust our company together will be enjoyable. Do you prefer Sasuke or Uchiha?"

"Whichever makes you more comfortable Lord Shin."

"Splendid, then I will call you Sasuke and you may call me Kadu."

"It is an honor, Lord Kadu." Sasuke retained his cool reserve, but Kadu wasn't offended. The man was smooth and charming.

"Uchiha though… I don't remember you, or that family name in Sunagakure."

"He joined our forces after defecting from Konoha." Gaara stated flatly.

"Really, was not the Hokage displeased?"

"Temari managed to smooth things over." Gaara shrugged.

"Yes. Your sister is amazing, as I have said. Well how interesting, I'm sure Sasuke will have plenty of stories to tell. Don't let us detain you Kazekage, I know how busy you tend to be. I think I'll have young Sasuke here show me to our usual lodgings, and then perhaps make arrangements for dinner and the theatre. Do join us if your duties give you time."

Gaara nodded and strode off without a farewell.

"Mm, the Kazekage is still as abrupt as I remember." Kadu spoke to Sasuke, the Lord's voice was teasing and light. "Such a serious young man, he should learn to relax more."

Sasuke shrugged. "He's young to be a village leader, he's probably just tense." The lie was easy enough; it would be what an uninformed foreigner would think. He'd have to be careful not to lie too much around Kadu however, the man was canny, and his body guards were sharp; getting caught in a lie would be incredibly unfortunate.

"Indeed, you are most likely right. Now be good and show a weary man to his lodgings to rest and freshen up. What do you think of theatre?"