Chapter 10: The Kazekage

Team 1

Hinata had sighted a cave that was further west. There they were going to rest in turns with one person staying up to keep watch. The cave was in the desert and so the team landed. It had a lot of sand, much to Deidara's annoyance and as luck would have it, they were in the middle of a sandstorm so they couldn't leave even if they wanted to.

"This is why I hate this place. Sand, sand and more sand, yeah. You have to wash your hair like four times to get it all out. There's even sand in my damn ears and we just got here." Deidara scowled; there was already sand falling off his head. Hinata giggled even though it was the same for her.

"We'll have to stay here until the storm dies. Who wants to stay up first while the others rest?" Yamato asked.

"I'll go first!" Naruto said.

"I-I'll be second." Hinata said.

"Then Deidara can take the last shift. Okay everyone we'll eat first then we can rest." Yamato stated, taking out a scroll from his bag.

…

Hinata looked towards Deidara while they were eating. He looked strange without his akatsuki cloak but she would never tell him that to his face. After all, would you tell someone something they would take as an insult especially if they could bomb you up?

"Stop staring yeah, it's freaking me out." Deidara said, glancing at her.

"S-Sorry!" Hinata apologized growing a bit red.

"Well I guess it is okay, yeah. I mean it's not every day you get to see someone as good looking as me."

Sakura and Naruto spluttered before looking at each other and bursting into laughter.

"What? Did I say something wrong, yeah?"

….

Hinata awoke to someone shaking her lightly by the shoulders.

"Hinata-chan, it's your turn now."

Hinata opened her eyes to see two big blue orbs staring at her. She immediately jumped up in surprise and Naruto started laughing at her.

"N-Naruto-kun, please don't d-do that." Hinata said once her heartbeat returned to normal.

"Eh, it's always fun to see people's reactions when I do that. You should've seen when I did that to Sakura-chan, though she beat me up pretty bad afterwards…" He said with a grin and then a shudder when he remembered the violent memory.

Hinata smiled, the same old Naruto.

"I think I'll go sleep now. I'm dead tired. This journey sure takes it out of you." Naruto said before yawning and getting into his sleeping bag. He fell asleep almost immediately.

Hinata smiled again and walked to the entrance of the cave. The sandstorm had left a lot more sand inside than when they first got there. The first thing she wanted when they got to Suna was a nice long shower to get rid of all the grit.

Hinata peeked out the entrance and saw the sun was just beginning to rise. The first streaks of light in the sky were just starting to brighten up the land, the beautiful colours of red, pink, orange and yellow combining to form the multicoloured sunrise. The group would probably be leaving late morning to let everyone have their fair share of rest. It would be a long, hot and tiring journey through the desert and they needed all the sleep they could get.

Returning to where the others were sleeping, she sat down. Her eyes couldn't help but trail towards a certain blonde and she sighed. She really did wish she had more confidence.

"You could just tell him you know, yeah." Hinata gasped and looked behind her to see Deidara sitting up in his sleeping bag and rubbing his eyes.

"T-tell who w-what? And why are you awake?" Hinata stuttered. She could feel a blush creeping on her cheeks. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Don't play dumb, yeah. I've seen how you look at him and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's happening. Also I don't know why but I just had the feeling telling me to wake up." Deidara said with frown. Hinata looked down to her feet.

"But it's not that simple."

"Sure it is, yeah. You just tell him."

"If he doesn't feel the same way it could damage our friendship. Plus I think he likes Sakura."

"What, her? That may be a one sided thing since she clearly doesn't feel that way about the dunce, yeah. I saw how she was watching that Uchiha."

"Even so…"

"Look, if he doesn't like you just move on, yeah. I'm sure you have loads of guys going after you."

Hinata wasn't too sure about that since having Neji around was enough to keep away anyone trying anything. She thought about it for a while but came to the conclusion that giving up on Naruto was impossible. She had been watching the blonde for as long as she could remember, what was the point of giving up now?

"Thank you, Deidara-kun, but I don't think that's likely."

"Eh, if you say so but you really should give it a try, yeah." The terrorist replied with a shrug and snuggled back into his sleeping bag.

…

Team 5

"So are we there yet?" Mezura asked.

"I don't even know where we are going. Don't ask me ask him." Suigetsu said, pointing to Shikaku.

"But you're closer?"

"Kami, you're irritating. Go bug Kiba."

"That's mean! And I wouldn't bug that guy anyway, not with that huge dog he has."

Suigetsu face-palmed. This had been going on since they left the cave. Apparently the three elders were too scary for her to mess with and Akamaru was even scarier so her choice was poor Suigetsu.

Mezura was now grinning and walking with her arms behind her head, making weird hand signs. That was a little strange, even for her.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Why can't I?"

Suigetsu's eyebrow twitched and he was tempted to throttle the female. Kiba laughed at them, thankful that he had Akamaru to keep the monstrosity away.

…

Somewhere out there

"The bait has been taken. Let's go."

….

Team 1

"Kami, it's hot, yeah. Another reason why I hate this place. How long will it take for us to get there?" Deidara scowled at the sun and pulled his cloak tighter. They all had cloaks packed specially for them to cross the desert in.

"Well you took us pretty far so I guess we should be there by nightfall." Sakura said, glancing at the bomber.

"We better be and seriously, Naruto, you have to protect me, yeah…"

"Yeah, yeah stop worrying so much, besides Gaara might not attack you immediately." Naruto said with a grin.

"Nope but his sister will." Sakura interrupted.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about Temari. If she gets you there's nothing I can do about that…" Naruto said thoughtfully.

"What?!"

"Kankuro is a laidback guy but he might still try to poison you in your sleep and Temari will probably attack you head on and tear you to pieces as soon as she sees you."

"I'm doomed…" Deidara looked crestfallen and Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"Relax! Sakura-chan can talk to Temari before she sees you!"

"As if that will help, yeah."

"Oh it helps plenty! They're friends!"

"What about Kankuro?"

"Oh a little bashing will set his mind straight." Sakura said holding up her fist.

Hinata and Yamato watched the bizarre conversation, finding it hilarious. In fact Yamato was actually laughing along with Hinata. Deidara didn't find it very funny considering his life was on the line so when he looked to the two they immediately stopped laughing from the deadly aura he was giving off. Only his face was pulled in an angry way that looked hilarious to them and they continued to laugh.

"S-sorry, Deidara-kun, but… your face…!" Hinata spluttered, holding her stomach.

"What, what's wrong with my face, yeah?" Deidara asked feeling around his face. By this time Hinata was done laughing but still had a huge smile on her face.

"Oh nothing is wrong with it." The Hyuuga heiress replied though Deidara didn't look convinced.

"Right, so anyway let's move a little faster." Yamato said after he too recovered. The group then continued their trek through the desert in silence.

….

Later that day…

Suna- Kazekage Room

Gaara was content with his life. He had the respect of his townsfolk and children looked up to him. He also had two siblings who loved him but were still annoying at times, mostly Kankuro. At the moment his desk had a stack of papers that needed his approval but before he could do those there was always someone who would interrupt him. Either a ninja asked for something or his siblings came to complain about each other.

For example, Kankuro had come into his office about an hour ago claiming Temari had stolen one of his puppets. Thereafter Temari had beaten him up for even thinking of accusing her and why didn't he accuse the maids who always cleaned his room. Sometimes Gaara would think he was the oldest of the three of them.

There was a knock on the door and Gaara knew it wasn't his siblings since they simply just walked into the room. A shinobi that he knew worked at the gates walked into the room.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Gaara-sama, there are five Konoha shinobi outside the east gate claiming that they need to see you immediately."

Gaara was surprised at this. He wasn't expecting any Konoha shinobi to come and see him.

"Okay, is there anything else they said?"

"Y-yeah, the Konoha shinobi said you knew him. He said his name was Naruto."

"Send them in immediately."

…

"Right, so Deidara-san you're going to wait outside until we say it's safe for you to come in. We're going to speak to Gaara-san a little before you can come in for your safety." Yamato said to the bomber.

"Okay… I hope it works, yeah."

"It should and you should also keep your hood on so his siblings and shinobi don't recognize you."

"Good luck and try not to look at anybody!" Naruto said with a grin.

Deidara scowled at the blonde. How could he be so happy in such a dire situation? Well for him it was but the only one who actually looked sorry for him was the Hyuuga heiress.

….

Naruto and the other three members of his team walked into the office. Gaara was sitting at his desk with his arms on the table, fingers laced together.

"Hey Gaara! Long time no see!"

"Yes, but I received no word of you coming here. Did something happen?"

Naruto frowned at his friend's blunt personality but looked to Yamato for an explanation anyway.

"Okay but it's a bit of a long story… and I also have a favour to ask you." Yamato said with a smile that turned out to be more like a grimace.

….

"So what you're telling me is that Konoha is working together with akatsuki and the guy who almost got me killed is outside my office waiting for my approval so he can come in and you want Suna to help you fight against Madara and Danzou?" Gaara said his voice still devoid of any emotion.

"W-Well yeah, it's not too much to ask is it?" Naruto asked while scratching the side of his head.

"They have already proven themselves by helping us before so questions of trust have been answered. They have a sort of grudge against Madara." Yamato said.

Gaara sighed and looked towards the door before nodding. Hinata walked to the door and went outside. She came back inside with a very nervous looking Deidara. Gaara looked him dead in the eyes and Deidara almost expected sand to come out of nowhere to squeeze him.

"U-Uh… Okay look, I'm sorry. Don't kill me, yeah." Deidara said.

"I wasn't going to. You should just be a little… wary of my older sister." Gaara said bluntly.

The group talked a little longer on what would be happening. They decided to share their success when Pein called them for a meeting. Deidara was not as nervous as when he first entered but was still cautious.

After everything was settled the group all got separate rooms to stay in. Naturally they had all decided to shower first before eating. To say that Temari and Kankuro were not happy about Deidara would be an understatement.

The blonde sibling had chased Deidara around the table several times before Yamato had stopped them. They had then explained the situation and she was forced to leave the terrorist but not without glaring at him during the entire meal.

….

A/N: More of a dialogue chapter I guess. And sorry if it seems I'm concentrating more on them but now that they're at their destination and I can time skip a little with the other teams.