Author's Note: That was fast! lol. You all got that ransom together in record time. Thanks for all the great reviews. Hmm...I am somewhat concerned that I am making Gaara too OOC (mostly with how much I have her talking and her expression of feelings). That is certainly not my intention, though I do want to explore an increased range of emotion with her since she can finally let herself feel without danger of losing control to Shukaku. Please let me know if you feel that I'm taking her too far from the taciturn, awkward redhead we all know and love...or if you feel I'm making it seem too easy for her to change or something. I also welcome ideas for things you might like to see in this story. I won't guarantee I'll use them but two years is a long time and I only have some of it really planned out. Thanks for reading! Please Review.

Oh and for the record, I did not make Manabu Akado up. He was taking the chunin exam when Naruto took it the first time. lol. I just built him a personality.

Sandstorms and Falling Leaves

Chapter Ten: Long Night

Naruto woke his teammates just after sunset and the three genins set out through the treetops. Their passage was silent, not even a rustle to betray their presence. Matsuri was on point, using her sensory jutsu to search out their target. Manabu followed, mentally mapping the terrain. Naruto brought up the rear, on alert for enemies attempting the same sort of ambush they had planned.

They found the first pile of smoldering rubble about half an hour after they set out. The scroll was nowhere to be seen so they pressed on. The first camp was less than ten minutes from the destroyed shrine and the three took up surveillance positions.

Naruto watched the squad below, keeping his distance to avoid detection. By their markings, they were from the village hidden in the stone. Two men and one woman. One man was already asleep, the woman was eating a ration of dried meat while the second man remained alert, watching the darkness around them for any sign of trouble.

"So do you think the others are having better luck?" The woman eating asked around a mouthful of jerky.

"I wouldn't know." The sentry replied tiredly. "I can't imagine anyone having worse. I still can't believe we lost two scrolls in one day."

Naruto frowned. It didn't seem like they'd be getting anything useful from the Stone ninjas. He faded back into the forest and circled around to rejoin Matsuri and Manabu. Silent hand signals relayed what he'd heard and the trio moved on, looking for another source for the scroll they needed.

By midnight Naruto could feel his heartbeat throbbing in his injured leg with every step and they were no closer to finding a scroll.

Matsuri finally called him to a halt. "Naruto...you're sweating."

"Am I? Must be the heat." The blonde tried to brush the girl's concern off, inwardly cursing how observant the young Suna ninja was proving to be. 'Well she'd have to be...she reads Gaara like a freaking book.'

"Do you think that wound is infected?" Manabu asked hesitantly.

"No...well, maybe. I don't know." Naruto laid a hand against his leg, feeling heat radiating from the wound even through his pants and the bandages. "Probably." He admitted finally, as his hand came away sticky with blood.

"Maybe we should rest. Clean the wound again." Matsuri suggested with a grim expression.

"Yeah, okay." The blonde agreed sourly. "But we are not quitting. Understood?" His blue eyes were like chips of steel in the moonlight.

His teammates looked at each other but after a tense moment they nodded. Manabu then dug out his first aid supplies again and began tending the wound while Matsuri stood watch.

Naruto hissed in pain as the bandage was pulled away from the seeping red gash. "Definitely infected." He observed through clenched teeth.

"And still bleeding." The older man frowned grimly, they all knew that wasn't a good sign.

Manabu cleaned the wound again, being as thorough as he could be with his small first aid kit. Naruto gritted his teeth through the whole process, not wanting to give away their position by letting out the groan that was trying to rip its way free from his throat. Alcohol hurt worse than being stabbed in the first place, and the infection made the wound much more tender than it should have been.

"Done." The older ninja announced after what seemed like an eternity to the jinchuriki.

Naruto released the breath he hadn't been aware of holding and examined the newly redressed wound, pushing himself to his feet and gingerly putting his weight on the injured limb. The pain was bearable and he nodded his thanks.

"I think we need a new plan." Matsuri spoke up. "This isn't working and running around all night is just gonna exhaust us and make us more vulnerable to attack."

Naruto could tell she purposefully didn't mention that it was also aggravating his injury. "Well, we could head for the center. If we catch people as they are heading to turn in their scrolls..."

"Then we'll know they most likely have two already." Manabu nodded. "It's a smart plan."

"Yeah..." Naruto agreed grudgingly. Someone had tried to do the same to his squad in the last chunin exam he'd taken part in. He had been disgusted by the ambushing squad's laziness. Still, he wasn't thirteen anymore and life had taught him some hard lessons. You did what had to be done sometimes.

Without another word, the mismatched little group set off towards the building that was the end goal of the challenge. The blonde felt like someone was holding a blowtorch to his leg but he said nothing.

'I have to pass. I'm gonna be Hokage someday. Tsunade-baachan is counting on me. Gaara believes in me. I can't let them down.' His hand unconsciously grasped at the two pendants tucked under his jacket.

Gaara sat in her room, looking out the window as night fell over the village. She wondered what Naruto was doing. She wasn't sure what the challenge this year entailed, Temari hadn't been privy to that side of the planning.

She had hoped, in a small selfish part of her mind, that the blonde might pass quickly and be home by now. She turned from the view and eyed her bed warily. She hadn't tried sleeping alone since the second night she'd spent with the blonde leaf ninja and she really wasn't looking forward to it.

"You could come sleep with me, you know?" Her sister's voice cut through the room suddenly, but the redhead didn't show any sign of being startled.

"No." She said simply, suppressing the urge to sigh as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

Temari seemed to seriously consider pressing the offer but in the end she let it go with a shrug. "Okay then. Suit yourself. Just don't try to leave the apartment tonight. Some of Kankuro's new traps are a little...experimental." The blonde shook her head with an odd fondness at the mention of their brother.

"I'll be here in the morning." The redhead replied evenly.

"Night Sis."

"Night Temari."

The older girl retreated to her own room and Gaara laid down, letting out the sigh she hadn't let her sister hear. She knew she should at least try to sleep. She pulled a tendril of sand from the pile she kept under her bed and used it to flick off the lights before closing her eyes.

It took a little while for the tense young woman to relax enough to let sleep claim her.

Gaara blinked blearily. She tried to move but found herself bound hand and foot, kneeling on a stone floor. Through the darkness shadowy figures in black huddled over something a few yards in front of her. She caught a glimpse of the red cloud emblazoned on their coats and her heart lodged in her throat.

Voices reached her then, mumbled so that she could only catch snatches of the conversation. '...last one...put up a hell of fight...caught him alone...he won't be missed for days...'

Gaara struggled against her restraints. They were doing it again. She couldn't let that happen.

Then the figures stepped away from the prone and bloodied form on their altar and the redhead's thrashing doubled in intensity.

"Naruto!" She shouted. "No! Stop! Wake up Naruto!"

The chanting began, thrumming through the air like something alive. The blue light enveloped the unconscious leaf ninja and lifted him into the air. She watched in horror as his eyes popped open and an inhuman scream ripped from his throat.

"Naruto! NOOOOO!"

"NOO!" Gaara thrashed free of her blanket with a scream, searching her surroundings with wide frantic eyes. Her room remained as innocuous as it had been when she'd closed her eyes forty minutes earlier.

She could feel her hands shaking and her heart pounded in her ears. She tried to reassure herself that it had only been a nightmare but it had been so vivid.

'They always are.' She thought grimly, standing from her bed and resigning herself to a long night. 'Not the first time I've stayed awake all night. Probably won't be the last.'

"You okay Sis?" Temari stood in the doorway, looking around for any sign of the trouble that had her sister awake at near midnight.

"Nightmare." Gaara offered in explanation.

"Ah, you want to change your mind about my offer?"

"No. I'm fine. Go to sleep." The redhead turned on her light and then moved over to her desk. She had some correspondence to catch up on.

"Okay." The blonde started to turn away but paused. "Gaara...I'm here okay? Nothing is gonna hurt you while I'm here."

"I know." The younger girl replied, giving her sister a look that somehow said all the things they rarely managed to put into words.

Temari nodded and grinned. "Okay then. Night."

Gaara nodded and turned her attention back to her desk. She tried to focus on the letter from Baki she was replying to but images from the dream kept flashing in her mind. The blood running from Naruto's nose and ears, the tattered orange jacket, the way his arm had hung crooked as the light lifted him. He'd just looked so...broken, even before the worst started.

'It was easier when I only worried about people hurting me.' She thought with a scowl. 'Of course, I was miserable, homicidal, sociopathic...insane...' She cut off the line of self-recrimination. It was never productive. She couldn't change who she had been, only who she was now, who she would become. 'And I have precious people who I will protect at all costs.'

She laid her head on her arms on the desktop, really wishing Naruto was there with her. She wanted to see him, see that he was safe, to banish the final traces of fear from her mind.

"Come back to me soon, Naruto." She mumbled.

Naruto was relieved when they spotted the imposing structure at the center of the arena. Blood loss was making him feel slightly tired and he could feel the warm liquid still running down his leg in slow sticky trails from the throbbing, burning gash. They had to get their second scroll fast.

Dawn was bathing the area in soft gray light as they approached. There was a clear area around the building that would make it easy to spot any squad attempting to reach it with their scrolls. It was a prime place for an ambush.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones with that idea. Naruto hurriedly signaled the others to stop as he spotted some suspicious puddles near the edge of the trees. 'It hasn't rained in days.' He'd seen that trick before, on team seven's first big mission.

The group fell back to strategize.

"We have to take them out now...otherwise we'll get in each others' way when it comes time for the real ambush." Matsuri insisted.

"Yeah, I know. How do we want to play it?" The blonde asked, careful to keep his bad leg away from the observant girl.

"I could use my probability jutsu." Manabu suggested. "That is...if we can lure them out in the open where they'd be susceptible to it."

Naruto grinned with a strength he didn't entirely feel and in a moment there were several more of the orange clad ninja. "Leave that to us." They said confidently.

Naruto sent one shadow clone into the ambush.

He wasn't disappointed as the puddles erupted, spewing forth the same mist ninjas that had tried to steal their scroll that morning.

"Give us one of your scrolls and we'll let you walk away with the other." One of the three snarled.

"No, I don't think I will." Naruto's clone grinned. "So you actually managed to get a scroll without blowing yourselves to smithereens?" He taunted.

"Shutup!" The leader snapped. "You're the brat from yesterday." His gray eyes flicked to the bandage on the orange clad teen's thigh. "Huh, looks like one of us got you after all."

"You wish, I got a little scratch when the shrine blew up." The clone laughed it off.

A kunai silenced his laugh and the clone vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Well, that wasn't very friendly." Another Naruto moved into view. "You forget about the no killing rule? That kunai was aimed at my heart."

"Hmph, that's what's wrong with you leaf ninjas. You're all weak...soft."

"You only say that because you don't know a thing about us." Naruto growled.

"I know enough to be able to leave you in pieces without killing you...at least not right away."

"Try it." The blonde offered simply, his void devoid of its usual warmth.

"Nah, you're probably just another clone." The mist ninja laughed scornfully. "You leaf ninjas don't have the guts to stand up and make it a fair fight."

"Says the guy who was pretending to be a puddle a few minutes ago." The real Naruto stood and moved from his concealment, trying not to favor his injured leg, letting the clone poof out of existence.

Manabu moved with him, hidden in the jinchuriki's shadow as he went through the hand signs to trigger his genjutsu. The older man's fingers flew through the signs faster than he had ever tried before. 'Just a few more moments...'

"Now..." He said and Naruto stepped swiftly aside as the genjutsu fell over the three mist-nin.

Unsure what had just happened, the three reacted by attacking immediately.

The leader suddenly bristled with kunai and he began to throw them rapidly. Naruto remained still as all of the weapons went well wide of hitting him. The next man poured out his water whip and lashed out at Naruto, only to hear his companion cry out in pain as the lash caught the third mist ninja instead of the orange clad teen. The man crumpled in pain as the watery weapon knocked the wind from his lungs. Two Narutos were on the fallen man instantly, trussing him up and punching him into unconsciousness.

Matsuri's chain whip lashed out and caught the kunai wielding leader around his ankles. A sharp tug sent the large man crashing to the ground where two more Narutos pounced on him and efficiently rendered him unable to fight back as well.

Matsuri reeled in her weapon and approached the real Naruto, still standing beside Manabu. The trio eyed the final man. It was easy to see his mind working, trying to figure out how the ambush had gone so spectacularly wrong. Naruto saw the light dawn in his eyes and the mist ninja prepared to dispel the genjutsu...

...Just as half a dozen Narutos dropped out of the trees and wrestled him to the ground by sheer strength of numbers.

"Aha!" One of the clones sitting on the leader grinned and held up the scroll, tossing it to Naruto.

The blonde tried to catch it but lost his balance and stumbled to his knees. All the clones disappeared, thankfully having finished restraining the final mist ninja. Matsuri scrambled to catch the falling jinchuriki as Manabu darted over to make sure the last enemy joined his teammates in sleep.

"Sorry..." Naruto gasped as the fall jarred his leg and sent waves of agony pulsing through him. "Got dizzy."

Matsuri struggled to get the blonde back to his feet as Manabu retrieved the prized scroll.

"Come on Naruto." The Suna ninja ordered as she dragged him upright, slinging his arm over her shoulder and letting him lean on her. "We got the scrolls. Let's get out of here. Gaara-sensei will be really disappointed if you fail now."

It was just the right thing to say to prod the leaf ninja into moving forward with her.

It seemed to take ages to reach the doors of the building but no one appeared to stop them. Manabu pushed aside the large wooden obstacles and then hurried back to take the blonde's other arm as he realized Naruto had fallen unconscious at some point during the short walk.

A plaque on the wall gave them the simple instructions to open the scrolls.

Matsuri leaned the injured teen against the wall and dug in his jacket for the first scroll they had gotten. She tried to ignore the boy's rapid breathing and his too pale complexion, not to mention the fever she could feel through his shirt. Tossing the scroll to Manabu she took the second one and they prepared to open them together.

"I hope this brings help." She muttered, cracking the seal with a prayer.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Yeah it is a little short but I didn't want to get into the aftermath in this chapter. The next chapter is ready to be posted. I'm just waiting for five reviews for this chapter and then I'll make it magically appear. I will not be able to post at all this weekend so if I don't put it up tomorrow you will have to wait until Monday. ^_^ Yes, I may be slightly evil...or maybe just desperate for feedback. lol.