Hitomi and team Guy have been sent as reinforcements to help rescue Gaara. They sped through the forest towards Suna. Normally, it would be Lee and Guy pushing the pace.

Not today.

"Umm, Hitomi-chan?" Lee said, "While I admire your drive and youthful passion, I think that Neji and Tenten are not accustomed to these means of travel and would benefit from a short break."

She looked at Lee then back at the others. She wanted to reach Suna as soon as possible, but he was right.

"Ok. Lets take a break," she said.

Hitomi leaned up against a tree, her thoughts focused on the mission at hand. Gaara had been captured by the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki wanted Shukaku. In order to get Shukaku, Gaara would have to . . . well, she really didn't want to think about that. They had to get there in time, and here they were sitting around in the woods. She knew that the others needed a break, but she couldn't lose Gaara. It was all so annoying. Guy must've noticed her annoyance, as he turned to the others and said:

"Well, that should be enough rest for now. After all we have to rescue the Kazekage! Onward, with the power of youth!"

"Yes, Guy Sensei!" Lee said.

Neji and Tenten sighed. "Hai."

finally! Hitomi thought. "Hai!"

They made their way towards Suna and met up with Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and Chiyo. They all made their way to the hideout, where they discovered the seals. Hitomi accompanied Lee to remove one of the seals. The two of them defeated their clones relatively quickly (seeing as they could fight each other's clones) and headed back to where Chiyo and Sakura were fighting Sasori.

As Lee and Hitomi entered the hideout, it was obvious that the fighting had been going on a long time. Pieces of puppets were scattered everywhere, and Sasori had emerged in his true form.

Then, she saw him.

"GAARA!" Hitomi screamed, and started to run over to him. She were stopped by Lee, who had grabbed her arm. He just looked at her with a sad expression on his face and shook his head. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked back at Gaara.

"Gaara . . . no . . . you can't be . . ."

but she knew it was true.

Gaara was dead.

"I see you have realized the truth," Sasori said, "The Kazekage is dead. He died right after we extracted Shukaku. But don't worry, it wasn't too excruciatingly painful for him."

"You . . . you killed him . . . my best friend . . . you, YOU KILLED GAARA!" Hitomi screamed.

Anger coursed through Hitomi's body. Then, she got that feeling again. The same feeling she got when her parents locked her in her room away from Gaara, when she found her parents dead, when she watched Gaara's transformation. That feeling when her eyesight sharpens and she feels more powerful than normal. But this time, it was different. Her sight was even sharper, she felt more power. There was no stopping her. Hitomi charged at Sasori. He directed his puppets at her, but she destroyed them without trouble. It was almost like she could see what they were going to do before they did it. She activated her chidori (Kakashi taught her over the time skip) and thrust it straight through Sasori's heart so fast he didn't have a moment to react. He fell to the ground, and Hitomi followed up with another chidori. She didn't care if he was already dead. She wasn't taking chances. At this point, Guy, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, and Kakashi had just returned. Hitomi was still beating Sasori's lifeless body. So what if he was already dead? He killed Gaara! It felt good, so she continued firing off random attacks and slamming his body into whatever was closest. She was about to start up another attack when Lee yelled,

"Hitomi, stop. He's already dead. It won't do any good. It won't bring Gaara back."

She stopped, her back turned to the others. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She knew he was right.

"Come on, Hitomi, lets go," he said.

She turned to face them, and their eyes widened in shock.

"No way . . ." said Naruto.

"...but, how?" Sakura wondered.

"How can she...?" Chiyo questioned.

"That's . . . impossible . . ." Kakashi said.

"What?" Hitomi asked.

"Hitomi . . . your eyes . . ." Lee said.

"Huh?" Hitomi asked.

But no one answered. They just stared into her eyes in shock.