She could feel the tension before they even reached the village. She could tell that something was wrong. She wasn't sure what was going on but her instincts were screaming at her to be watchful. She stopped on a branch and looked around, she had precious cargo with her that she refused to let be damaged.

The new Kazekage was with her and his siblings, and they were traveling to the leaf in hopes of forging a treaty with them to stop any fighting between the two villages. It was the hope that it would end the fighting that had been happening.

Ever since the chunin exams, there had been small scrimmages between them. The leaf had sent the Yuri Hokkaido to Suna. Asagao thought that Yuri had took it upon herself to come and it had nothing to do with any treaty. She didn't seem the type to care much about politics if she didn't get to hit something.

"Something doesn't feel right."

Yuri landed on the branch next to her and nodded her agreement. Her wolf was screaming at her. It knew something was wrong and it was chomping at the bit. She wanted out, her pups were away and that meant her grandpup and her boys were in the village alone.

"You're right, we need to move and move now. I'm not sure what's going on but we should have been met by an Anbu patrol by now. It's true that you're here on a diplomatic mission but you're still enemies of Konoha currently. No Anbu would let you get this close to Konoha without an escort even with me here."

Asagao looked over at her aunt and nodded. She understood, as a member of Anbu it wouldn't matter who was leading a foreign group toward Suna she would still follow them closely. It was to easy for someone to take control of or impersonate a fellow shinobi. Case and point, look what happen the fourth Kazekage, Lord Rasa, that whole incident was something all of the Anbu were ashamed of. If they had been better it wouldn't have happened. Granted Asagao still believed that the village was better off without him but that didn't mean that she wasn't ashamed of her failing, she was one of the best she should have known something was up.

"It has the same feel that the chunin exams had. I wonder if Konoha was attacked again. Your village lost a lot of people in the attack. Your weak now and if I was an enemy now would be when I would attack."

She took a deep breath in, trying to smell if there was smoke in the air. She always had sharp senses and she couldn't pick up the scent of smoke or blood. She was glad that she couldn't pick up any copper scent. She knew that meant that there hadn't been any big battles or attacks.

"I can't smell any blood in the air or any traces of smoke. So I don't believe that the village was attacked but something has happened."

Yuri nodded her absently, she had already gathered that. She was being to wonder if the Akatsuki had made another visit to the village. The girls were gone on a mission and that left the boys by themselves. Naruto was a target and Sasuke wouldn't let them just walk off with his friend. Not that either boy would ever admit that they were friends. They were far too proud, something that they had most likely picked from Suitopi.

Yuri took off ahead of the group, she wasn't worried about them keeping up. Granted she couldn't see her face but she knew who was beneath that mask and she had no worries about her abilities.

Which of coarse ticked off Kankuro and Temari. It was one thing for them to give command to their brother and an Anbu, but not to a foreign shinobi that they barely knew.

"I'm not going to listen to her. Why in Kami's green earth does she think that we're just going to follow her? We're shinobi of the sand, we don't listen to leaf shinobi. I don't like this women." Temari growled.

Asagao snorted, "Honestly, she remembers me of you. I have no doubt that you wouldn't take off like that if you thought that one of the boys was in trouble. You can pretend all you like but I know that you love your brothers and you're confident enough that you think that everyone would follow you. Also we don't have much of a choice but to follow her. She is are ticket into Konoha."

Gaara looked over and nodded before adding, "We do have you as well, Asagao."

Asagao jumped and jerked around to look at Gaara. She hadn't realized that he knew who she was beneath the mask. The other two hadn't been able to tell who she was. She shouldn't be surprised that he knew but she was.

"Asagao?"

"I'm sorry, my lord but I'm not sure what you mean."

"Oh, please girl, you missed your chance to play it cool when you jumped like a hare. You should have asked him why it matter if we had a flower. I mean that's only one of the hundreds of different ways you could have played that off." Temari snarked.

She had a knowing look on her face that ticked Asagao off, and Kankuro just looked green, like he was going to pass out. That could be because of all the little jokes he had been making this past week at her expense. Naturally she had been planning on making him pay for every little thing he had said but that was for later.

She sighed "Really, Gaara, the whole point of a mask is so that people don't know who I am. Ya know, the whole secret thing. It helps keep the village's secrets, well secret. I really hope you learn to keep your mouth shut.. Not really your strong suit." Asagao snarked back. She knew that he it would go over his head but she was annoyed with him.

Really the boy needed to remember to use his head. He couldn't just blurt out her name when she was in her anbu uniform. She had a job to do and that job needed to be done quickly, quietly and most important with no emotion. The mask helped you forget that you had a family back home. Who you were without the mask wasn't who you are with it.

She took off her mask. Wasn't much point in wearing it now anyway. She shook her head before she took off after Yuri. Gaara and the others would follow her. Gaara maybe her superior officer but she did have more field experience than the three of them, so he did take her advice. Of course she had thought it was because she was his anbu guard.

They hadn't even truly started their mission yet and she was already ready to go home and be done with it. She wasn't looking forward to wait else was going to go wrong, and she had a feeling that they were in for a fight, she was just hoping it was more the political kind.


Of course, some little genin had go and get themselves kidnapped, and naturally it had be some clan brat on stop of 's why the whole village was in an uproar.

Asagao sighed as she adjusted her mask. She was trying to keep her cool but this crazy woman wanted them to go out and save her little Uchiha. Asagao understood that it would help relations between the villages but she wasn't ready to send her Lord into a war zone.

She growled as Gaara talked with the Hokage. She didn't want any part of this, more so, because of that Uchiha brat. He tried to kill her best friend and his family. Not to mention he was an Uchiha.

It could just be the Hokkaido in her but she was okay with leaving him to his fate as it were.

"Doku, I understand that you're not happy about this but the Uchiha and Uzumaki-san need our help. So please try and keep your displeasure to a minimum."

Asagao turned and looked at Gaara and nodded. She didn't have to be happy about but she would listen to whatever her leader told her. Even if she did think it was ridiculous.

"Whatever you say My Lord. I'm only here to see to your safety and I don't believe that this is a good idea, but you are the commander and I will do as you tell me." Asagao bowed as she spoke.

Granted she was agreeing to do as Gaara said but she was doing it grudgingly and everyone knew it. Temari was trying not to laugh and Kankuro wasn't even trying.

"Hear that Gaara, she basically just said that you were an idiot and that she was only going along with it because you were the Kazekage." Kankuro got out between laughs. He was having a hard time staying upright.

Asagao rolled her eyes beneath the mask. She couldn't stand Kankuro on a good day, and today wasn't a good day.

She smirked beneath the mask and looked at Kankuro, "Now, Lord Kankuro, I never said that and you really should conserve your energy. After all, we are about to on a near suicide mission and accidents happen. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you." she tilted her head to the side, "or would we?" she whispered softly. Just low enough for Kankuro to hear.

He jumped away from her and inched behind Temari.

"We both know that hiding behind me won't stop her if she really wants to hurt you, and I'll help her." Temari growled as she pushed Kankuro out from behind her. She hated when he acted like that.

Gaara glanced up from the map that Lady Tsunade was showing him. He looked from his siblings to Asagao and back again. He didn't really think that she would kill any of them. After all she had taken an oath to protect them with her life. But that didn't mean she would make Kankuro suffer if she could, and she could. She hadn't earned her title by sitting sit and looking pretty.

"Doku, please don't threaten my brother. Even if he's being annoying. We're going to need him in working order soon." Gaara had already gone back to looking at the maps before he spoke.

Asagao walked over and looked over the maps. They had a red line going up the map toward the valley of end with small black circles along.

"I take it that the line is were our enemy has traveled? The black circles? Are they combat zones or..?" she let the question taper off when she noticed the looks she was getting from the Konoha-nin.

She glanced over at Gaara and gestured with her hand at him. Unsure of what she had done. She wasn't one to sit back and just take orders. If she could help with the planning she would. She was a leader after all and Gaara was still learning how to formulate a plan of attack.

"I'm not sure who you think you are little girl but this is meeting is for the leaders and their council not meer guards." a grizzle one eye man said from the corner.

"Doku is one of our best Anbu, if not the best, she has more kills to her name than shinobi twice her age. She is not a meer anything. I respect her opinion far more than some self important old fool that feels that he has any say over a shinobi from another village." Gaara spoke with his normal expressionless face and emotionless voice.

She could hear numerous coughing fits breaking out around the room. Yuri didn't even try to hide her laughing. She was barely holding it together. She had her hand braced against the wall and was holding her stomach.

"I knew that I liked this kid for a reason." she got between laughs. "We should listen to him. It's not often that we can get an opinion from an unbiased outside source. I really don't think it would be wise to pass this chance up, Tsuna." she was wiping tears off her face at that point.

Asagao didn't really understand what was so funny about Gaara standing up for one of his people. Any good leader would and Gaara was a good leader. Or at least he would be. He still had a lot to learn.

"Doku, please continue." Tsunade said with a wave of her hand.

Asagao looked back down at the map with a shrug, missing the old man's look of fury.

"If these are battles like I originally thought that means we need to get out there soon. From what I've gathered from this meeting you sent a bunch of Genin, talented as they may be, they are going to need help and soon. The longer we leave them out there the worse this is going to get for them. I don't see that creepy snake dude sending just anyone to take the Uchiha heir," she added air quotes, "from the village. It would be understood that you would send the best you had to offer after him. So naturally he would have sent the best he had to get the boy, and you sent Genin after them. I don't think were going to be finding many allies left on this battlefield." Asagao spoke with a calm forceful voice.

She wasn't okay with them sending children who were barely out of the academy to do something that a trained experienced shinobi would have a hard time doing. Of course she was overlooking the fact that she wasn't much older than them herself, but she never really put herself on the same level as her peers. She had been trained in a hard school at a very young age. Having a crazy old lady as your teacher and an even crazier boy who tried to kill on a daily basis did that to you. She had been a harden killer by her tenth birthday. The only one of those Genin who could match her was the Uzumaki, maybe the Uchiha, and she only knew that because of what Gaara had told her.

"We don't have any Jounin or Chunin to spare. At least not until Blood Moon gets back. Which should be soon but I'm not sure when. I sent a messenger bird to them this morning but it could take it days just to find them. Hatake has been called back as well but he won't be back until tonight at the earliest, tomorrow morning at the latest. Trust me if I had another option I wouldn't have sent them."

Asagao growled under her breath. There was always a choice. She hated when leaders used that line.

"Fine, our team will head out as soon as we get some more supplies. As soon as you can send more man do so. As good as the Kazekage and his siblings are there's not much that four people can do. I'm sure that we're going to end up splitting up." Asagao turned toward Gaara, "We need to head out soon my lord. I'll come up with a plan of attack as we leave." Asagao snarked before turning to leave.

The old man stepped up, "Just one moment child. We can't have foreign shinobi wondering thru our country." he had a superior look on his face.

Asagao turned back, "Well, I'm afraid you're a little too late to worry about that, Old man. Maybe if you had thought about that you wouldn't have to turn to foreign shinobi to solve your problems. Another thing old man I have a name, it's Doku, maybe you should use it or at least look it up. Ah, but then I didn't bother to learn your name did I?" she smiled under her mask before walking out.

She didn't deal well with fools and that man was one. They were asking them for help not the other way around. For a diplomat that man was beyond rude and uninformed.

Kankuro followed her out, "I love when you get all sassy."

Asagao cocked a brow, forgetting that he couldn't see it, "I thought you hated when I got sassy."

"When you're sassy with me, yeah I hate it. But I love it when you use your evil powers for good."

Asagao shook her head. There was no winning an argument with Kankuro when he got like that.

"Yeah, now I hope I didn't just get us killed. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that." Asagao sighed.

Kankuro walked over and patted her head and pulled her into a half-hug. It was a rare moment of affection. The two of them may fight like cats and dogs but Kankuro thought of her like a little sister and always had. Not that he would ever admit it out aloud and if anyone asked he would deny.

And Asagao would never admit but Kankuro was like her annoying older brother and she did love him. She returned the hug before quickly pulling away and straightening her clothes and punching him in the arm.

Which is what Temari and Gaara saw when they left the council room, they look at each and Temari rolled her eyes and stepped between Kankuro and Asagao before he could retaliate and get himself poisoned or killed by Gaara.

After getting their supplies they each made their way to the village gate. Asagao was the first to arrive and she turned back to town to watch for the others. She was beginning to formula a plan of attack and the quiet was helping. She just hoped they would be in time to save her best friend's savior. She could care less about the Uchiha.


Been working on this one for awhile. I just love how sassy Asagao is. I'm pretty sure that you can guess who the old man is. Please enjoy and review.