Summary: Shukaku is gone…Gaara's dying but he's alive…What's happening? He's gone but Gaara's body and mind are changing being corrupted by something deep within his blood…

Warning: blood violence swearing

"speaking"thinking as well as normal stuff

Demons speaking or real intense things

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto or any of his characters though I wish I did

A/N: thanks so far to everyone who's reviewed, it means a lot to me it really does. I'm sure none of you really care about these things so let's just get on with the story shall we?

Chapter 10

"NARUTTTTTOOOOO!"

Said blue eyed blond jumped about a foot in the air at the loud and rather angry sounding voice that just shouted his name. The black straps of his forehead protector whiplashed through the air as he turned his head towards the sound: fearing that the voice belonged to Sakura while also noticing how the villagers who were outside at the moment seemed to dart and run away. Breathing heavily with an anime sweat drop and down-right terrified look plastered on his face he recognized the owner or perhaps owners of said angry voice.

Temari and Kankuro were running towards him –very quickly might he add- but in his mind they couldn't be moving any slower. Both seemed to be moving in slow motion, their faces twisted in mixed emotions of anger and desperation, their eyes wide and nostrils flared. What on earth could have done this to these two of all people?!

But, than again…they never really were the 'oh nothing can scare me' type, in fact they were scared of many, many things…mostly their younger brother when he was still insane but they always fight and deal with whatever it is, no matter how scared they are. Whatever is bothering them right now must be major to get that look on their faces.

And seeing as how they seemed to be angry with him didn't mean that he was about to go for a nice and peaceful walk in the park with the sand siblings.

He didn't want to talk to them though. Seeing and talking to the sand ninja only proved in depressing him. Besides, they were going to hurt him, everyone who runs up to him with those kind of looks end up beating his face in.

The two finally caught up, and Naruto hitched up a blond brow, scratching the back of his head with his right hand in a subconscious display of discomfort. "Hey guys…what's up?"

The siblings' lips were trembling as they glared slash teary eyed looked at the Kyuubi holder. The villagers seemed to have gone, the expressions on the foreigners faces frightening them almost as much as Tsunade herself…it didn't help that the two had quite the ominous reputations either….

Finally the eldest sibling got a hold of herself and the teary eyes disappeared to turn into a full out glare. "You saw Gaara, didn't you Naruto?" she said in a voice that dared him to lie. In that voice promised pain upon more and more and more pain if he were to lie about something like that.

Hell, the question wasn't even a question! The younger blond scowled as he crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, why bother asking something if you're just going to make it sound like you already know the answer! He hated that about some people, if you know he did something already than just accuse him damn it, instead of making a big scene in the middle of the village!

Sighing and attempting to push back unwanted feelings he nodded at the same time muttering quietly, "Yeah I saw him. Me, Kakashi sensei, Sakura and Sai…we all ran into him on our last mission when we tried to scout out Sasuke." On the inside Naruto was sulking, his knees drawn to his chest as tears slid down his face. Why do they have to do this now? All I want is some ramen…

The puppet masters glare dissipated as he looked at his sister for a moment before looking at the ground, even himself getting a bit disturbed by the dangerous aura emanating from her.

Temari stood, fists shaking teeth clenched and her eyes burning. She stood up to her full height as she attempted to loom over the boy who was exactly her size…height wise of course. It would be appropriate if steam started to flare from her ears and nose but unfortunately –or perhaps it is fortunate- that never seems to happen.

"AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?!?!?! YOU KNOW WHERE OUR LITTLE BROTHER IS AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN CONTACT US!!!! YOU BASTARD!!!"

Even Kankuro had to back away from her on that one.

Both boys were standing about five yards away from the enraged wind mistress, each with their arms held in front of their faces and chests in an instinctive protective manner. Naruto's face had turned a beet red, sweat beading down his head in rivers, his eyes wide and white and his heart thumping wildly in his chest. Good Kami this woman is worse than Sakura! And she hasn't even hit him yet!

The blond gulped and stuttered in a suddenly very weak voice, "I-I just n-never t-thought about it. G-gomen…" Naruto tightly closed his eyes waiting to be hit for the honest answer. Than a thought passed through his mind which made him reopen his eyes and look across at the fuming kunoichi.

How did they know he saw Gaara again?

Being the idiot that he is he never even realized that he spoke the question aloud until Kankuro answered him. "Your new team mate, I'm guessing that the guys name is Sai, was drawing a picture of him…a very warped picture of him but him no less." The brunette was facing the jinchurriki but his eyes were glued warily on his furious sister, trying to find the right timing to stop her attack if –no- when she got out of her docile stage.

Eh? Naruto had a sudden urge to run over to Sai –wherever he is- and kick the crap out of him. The bastard was getting him into a hell of a lot of shit with his friend's older siblings and frankly the two, mostly Temari, was scaring him shitless. Of course he'd only kill the artist after he had seen the drawing.

"So, Naruto," Temari's voice brought the blond back from his musings and he shuddered at the tone of her voice. It was like grandma Tsunade and Sakura put together. "Are you going to tell us where our little brother is or has that completely evaded your mind as well?"

Kankuro glared at him too, now that he had reminder as to why they had searched for the boy in the first place. Each demanding the information on their little brother with their arms crossed and eyes hard and cold their mouths held in firm lines while fingers twitched with the effort as to not pull out their weapons and pummel the kitsune. The scene was actually quite frightening.

Naruto opened his mouth to blurt out the red head's location and he suddenly was bombarded with a wave of emotions. Frustration, disbelief and some others that he wasn't even sure about filled his entire body and he stood up straight, crossing his arms as well. Gaara didn't want to be found, that much was obvious if he wanted his siblings to know where he was then he would have told them before he ran off. They should understand that. Thinking about the red head made him remember the promise he gave him and he opened his mouth to answer before Temari could take a step forward, her intent most likely to wrap her hands around his throat and throttle him.

"I can't tell you where he is," he ignored their angry spluttering and continued on as their faces turned to bright shades of furious red, "but he wanted me to tell you guys that he missed you."

They both calmed a little after that remark, as if they were happy that Gaara had considered them in his thoughts during his disappearance but seconds after they turned furious once again. How dare this little blond hyperactive and most unpredictable idiot presume to think that they had no right to know where their baby brother was?! Sure he hadn't said that they had no right to know but by saying 'I can't tell you where he is' it is pretty much the equivalent of them not having the right or privledge!

Kankuro marched forward and fisted the demon vessels jacket in his hands, dragging the blond up close so they were practically nose to nose. Naruto could actually smell the faint scent of meat on the older boys breath, could see every crooked white tooth as he snarled at him, could see the lines underneath the purple warrior paint and could practically see within those beady dark eyes the fiery abyss of Hell itself. He gulped and smiled nervously in response, idly remembering what Sai had said some time ago about fake smiles being used in difficult situations to help lighten the mood.

Too bad it didn't seem to be helping the mood. Kankuro seemed as pissed off as ever and Temari's dangerous energy was wafting over the brunettes shoulder and tackling the blond in a body slam wrestler style. Was there a slight change in the wind pattern just then?

"You. Are. Going. To. Tell. Us. Where. He. Is." Kankuro bit each word off with a venomous hiss, his glinting poison as the words were whispered maliciously through his clenched teeth. "NOW NARUTO!"

Naruto bit back a startled yelp as he laughed silently and pathetically. He really hated to do this…. "Maybe, if you let go and give me some more space I would teme!" Yes, he was being an idiot for calling the potentially homicidal ninja a jerk and snapping in his face like an excited puppy but whoever said that Naruto was smart?

Kankuro blinked, as if only then noting how close he held the ninja and what a tight grip he had on him. Coming out of his homicidal mode for a moment he loosened his fingers from the fabric enough for Naruto to break free. "Well?"

Straightening out his jacket, squinting at the still fuming siblings and then looking up at the now cloudy sky Naruto sighed and put on a face that was very similar to that of a face of someone trying to remember something. Closing his eyes and lowering his face from the sky he sighed again before allowing the corner of his mouth to lift in a smirk before taking a deep breath. A second later he was gone, leaving nothing but two very shocked sand ninja and a cloud of dust in his wake.

The two seemed to jump from their stupor soon enough for Naruto heard two roars of absolute rage as he sprinted towards Hokage tower. While running and apologizing to random passerby that he accidentally bumped into in his run he thought, sorry guys, but no way in hell am I going to betray Gaara's confidence like that.

Naruto crashed into the door not even bothering to say anything to the secretary at the front desk and instead decided to barge right up the spiral staircase, two mad siblings hot on his heels, starving for a lot of Uzumaki slash Kyuubi blood. Doors slammed closed as people attempted to get out of the way of the raving trio's path and Naruto turned, went up another flight of stairs, turned again than made another turn and ran straight down the hallway. Tsunade's door was right there….!!!!

"It's about time you turned this mission report in Kakashi."

The jounin smiled and closed his one visible eye in mock humor as he ran a hand through his silver, gravity defying hair. The Hokage's brown eyed stare was deeply disconcerting and honestly the copy cat ninja just wanted to run away and read his precious "Icha Icha Make Out Tactics". He had stayed up all night working on the report, having forgot about it the first day they made it back from the mission and at the moment he was having serious withdrawal symptoms from not reading the precious porn for seven days. The first four days were spent on the mission and coming back from said mission, and the last three days were spent with himself locked away in his house staring at the wall seeing and feeling nothing but Gaara's sharp claws raking across his temple to withdraw a piece of wadded up paper. His skin had turned pale thanks to the withdrawal symptoms, his appetite almost disappearing, or at least his normal appetite, now all he wanted to eat was very, very spicy foods which didn't agree at all with his stomach.

Oh how he wanted to read Icha Icha….

"Sorry about that Lady Hokage, the report just -!" Kakashi was cut off by the loud crash of a door banging harshly against a wall, the barrier bouncing back to return the punch to whoever had barged in. The ramparts shook from the impact the wood had made and there was a yellow and orange blur streaking across the room to hide behind Tsunade's chair.

Tsunade and Kakashi blinked before the woman turned, furious on the cowering blond getting ready to shout out words that could kill before the door blasted open yet again and this time wood actually splintered off the poor appendage. Snarling like a rapid beast now she whipped around to face the equally furious faces of Temari and Kankuro. Said faces rapidly loosing their hostility to gain one of frightened and shocked.

The older two in the room glanced at each other curiously, Tsunade looking more furious than curious though. Slapping one hand on the desk she growled out, "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" The foreigners seemed to deflate, their postures almost physically getting smaller and weaker as perspiration ran rapidly down their necks and a soft terrified whimper came from behind her chair. "AND GET OUT FROM BEHIND MY CHAIR BRAT!!"

Naruto whined before scurrying out from behind her so called protective self and running over to his former sensei's side, his blue eyes glancing fearfully from the raving Hokage to the siblings. "YOU ALL DO REALIZE THAT MY DOOR IS NOW BROKEN -" they all turned to look at the door which was now hanging awkwardly on one hinge before turning back to her. "NOT ONLY THAT BUT YOU THREE JUST INTERUPTED A MEETING THAT I WAS HAVING WITH HATAKE OVER HERE! YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXUSE FOR THIS BECAUSE I AM CLEARLY NOT IN A GOOD MOOD!"

That's for sure, the woman was shouting so loud their ear drums were shattering and spit was flying out of her mouth in all directions. Just to make matters worse black bags were under her eyes indicating that the woman had very little amount of sleep the night before and when Tsunade doesn't get enough sleep everyone else pays the price. She had her fist placed on her desk, the wooden frame crying from the amount of pressure she was placing on it, veins clearly visible against the pale skin of the back of her hand.

Temari was the one who took a brave step forward, being a woman of similar temperament she was the one least scared. "Please forgive us Lady Hokage…you see, Kankuro and I were following Naruto –not that I mean to place all the blame on him or anything, the two of us are equally responsible. He had been with-holding information about Gaara's whereabouts so naturally we reacted in a negative way…."

The older blond inhaled deeply before dropping heavily into her seat. She removed her fist from the desk which gave a happy and relieved heave before covering her eyes and rubbing her temples in an attempt to ward off the coming head ache. "I can understand why you two would be angry about that, after all Gaara is your little brother so of course you're going to react in a naturally protective and violent way." She lowered her hand to show hard brown eyes and a disappointed frown. "However, I am deeply disappointed in you two, Naruto I can expect something like this from, but you two, now that is just very surprising. Especially seeing as how thanks to Hatake's report I was able to send a message over to Suna about the Fifth Kazekage's whereabouts."

Temari and Kankuro immediately brightened, happy to know that his location had been found while Naruto looked shocked and on the verge of angry. If Gaara didn't want people to know where he was then he would have told them all damn it. Kakashi on the other hand seemed to look rather flustered, receiving both looks of gratitude from the suna siblings and one of disbelief from his old pupil, oh why did the old hag have to involve him in this little quarrel?

The somewhat happy atmosphere of the room immediately dimmed to something ominous because of the menacing smile lurking on Tsunade's face and the dangerous glint in her flashing eyes. Her voice was now very perky… "Yet, there is still the matter of your punishment…."

Half a day later…

Baki sighed as he sat in the cushioned chair in front of his desk. His hand was cramping after three hours straight of signing paperwork after paperwork and his head ached and thudded from having to read so much paperwork. Putting the last document away he placed his elbow on the desk to support his cheek with his palm so he could gaze out the circular window on his right.

The wind was blowing very gently today, like it has for the past month, carrying only the slightest amounts of sand. The village was doing well, Kankuro and Temari continued to be the sand's ambassadors while he sent different teams on different scaled missions depending on their ranks. Though quite a few of the genin squads kept throwing silent tantrums behind his back whenever he gave them pointless D and C ranking missions. What can a Kage expect though? Most teams always thought that they were stronger than what they really were, making them act more cocky so they could impress more girls or boys when they got B and A ranks but once they got on the actual mission or their leader explained what exactly they would be going through they chickened out.

It was kind of amusing actually, especially seeing as how the latest team he sent out was once under Kankuro's guidance and now be lead by Suzuki, the new jounin. Two overly cocky boys and one overly cocky girl, whined on and on until he snapped and gave them an A ranking mission to protect one of their elders to another country. Than when they came back they began crying about the abuse he was trying to put them through, as if he was trying to get them all killed and that the Fifth Kazekage would never have done such a thing.

Baki's brows furrowed as moved so he was leaning back against the chair, giving him a better view of the training grounds where trainees were practicing under Kabiki's watch.

The village's status had stayed the same, no less crimes' committed and no more than the usual since Gaara's disappearance. Many of the older villagers really cared about his unexpected leaving, though it was the children who were suffering. Trainees, genins and chunins were all devastated when the elders and himself had said that the Fifth Kazekage had left. They were disappointed, confused, angry and sad, the younger ones asking frequently, when is he going to come back? I miss the Kazekage. I want Gaara to come back.

The kids trained harder more intensely as if thinking that if they improved Gaara would come back. It wouldn't happen, though he sometimes wished it would happen too. He hated to admit it, for it made him feel very childish, but he missed the red head as well, only wishing that the demon factor wasn't happening and this whole mess was just one messed up nightmare.

He was brought out of his thoughts when a knock sounded at the door. At his word the door opened, letting in a young kunoichi who he honestly didn't remember the name to. She was fairly new as a secretary, her brown hair landing neatly on her shoulders and framing her round face. She had large chocolate brown eyes and word the traditional dark clothing and shoulder pads of the suna shinobi.

If she didn't wear the traditional clothing she would look very much like Matsuri.

The girl bowed and held out a scroll, saying quickly, "This is from Konoha sir."

He thanked her and took the scroll, having her stay in case he needed to send a response. As he read over the sloppy scrawl that was obviously Tsunade's his eyes widened to unbelievable sizes and his mouth opened. Putting the scroll down as if it were a baby he looked up at the girl who stood there awkwardly, and she stared back, starting to fidget under his strange and bemused stare.

"Uh, sir? Is everything all right?"

Snapping out of his reverie he sat up straight and slapped his hands palms down on the desk his voice hard with authority. "I want two squads here now, ANBU preferably, this is an S class mission."

OOHHH WHAT'S THE MISSION? WHAT'S THE MISSION? YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT TO FIND OUT.

ANYWAY THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS AND I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT UPDATING RIGHT WHEN I GOT 35 BUT HONESTLY I DIDN'T HAVE AN EXACT IDEA AS WHAT TO PUT AND PLUS I HAVE ABOUT 2 PROJECTS DUE FOR SCHOOL THAT I HAVE TO WORK ON.

I'M SORRY IF YOU GUYS WANTED IT TO STAY AS ROMANTIC NARUGAA BUT I CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE FOR THE LIFE OF ME OR FRIENDS OR ANYONE ELSE, SO IT WILL BE SWITCHED TO ACTION, THOUGH DON'T WORRY THERE MIGHT BE LITTLE FLUFF SCENES BETWEEN THEM BUT I'M NOT SURE.

THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE WITH ME AND ALSO FOR THE REVIEWS.

OH, DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHERE SOMEONE CAN WATCH FREE YU YU HAKUSHO ON LINE I CAN'T FIND IT ANY WHERE AND I'M HAVING AN OBSESSION WITH HIEI GOING ON.

PLEASE REVIEW

JA NE