Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since i last posted...again. I've been busy, my computor was broken, [insert a list of other possible excuses]. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you like!
Gimmie suggestions of what you want to see in upcoming chapters! I wanna hear what you think should happen next.
Love you all!
The Sand Siblings walked together down one of the main streets in Konoha. They were finally getting used to the confusing circumstances all the villagers were in. Well sort of.
"Morning Kankuro," said a girl, waving at the boy with a wink.
"G-good morning!" he replied, blushing. That girl was really cute! Then, suddenly realizing what he was thinking, he shook his head roughly.
"Argh! I hate this! Why do all these girls have to be guys!" he exclaimed. His siblings laughed.
"Well according to Tsunade-sama, technically, they are actually girls right now. Why don't you ask one out? Look, Shikamaru's right there! Go make a move. Didn't you think she was cute?" Temari joked, remembering when they first saw Shikamaru like this. She snickered. Even Gaara let out a chuckle, although he did have similar thoughts as his brother.
"I thought Shikamaru was yours," he said with a teasing grin.
"Shut up!" his sister growled, smacking him upside the head, her cheeks bright red.
"Morning," said Shikamaru approaching them, a confused look on her face as her eyes lowered to Kankuro who was on the ground, clutching his throbbing head.
"Good morning!" said Temari, her face pleasant again. "How are you doing?"
Shikamaru sighed, "Fine. This whole ordeal is as troublesome as ever. I'm sure you heard about the contents of the last assembly."
"Heh, yeah. Welcome to the pleasures of being female," replied the blonde sarcastically. Gaara and Kankuro sent the two confused glances. The men hadn't been present so they weren't informed.
"Don't worry about it," the two girls said in unison.
"Anyway…I have some errands to run so I'll see you guys later," said Temari, eager to escape this uncomfortable environment. The last thing she wanted to do was explain what a period was to her brothers.
After waving goodbye, Kankuro turned back to Shikamaru. "So what are you up to?" he asked.
"A few of us are being trained by a ninja from outside the village on advanced transformation techniques. We're trying to see if any of them will actually work since the regular transformation jutsu isn't. Actually, she's from the Sand so you probably know her. Want to come with me?" explained Shikamaru.
The Sand Siblings nodded.
"Who is she?" asked Gaara as they walked to the forest.
"I think her name is Watanabe Chiaki," replied the brunette, her hands in her pockets.
They nodded, unsure of whom that was. Kankuro vaguely remembered there was a Watanabe clan in the sand but never heard of this girl. It wasn't too surprising. The Sand was a big village.
A few minutes later, they reached the clearing in the forest. Everyone else was already there.
"Hey guys!" yelled Kiba, waving at the group. She wondered why the Sand Siblings were here. Were they going to help Chiaki teach them the jutsus?
Everyone was too focused on the new addition to the group that no one noticed the alarmed expression appearing on Chiaki's face for a split second before her signature smile was back on her face.
"Gaara-sama? Is that you?" she cried, running over to them.
"Uh, yes, it's me," replied the Kazekage, not recognizing this girl. He noticed her forehead-protector had the Sand symbol. She must be Chiaki.
"It's such an honor to finally meet you," she said with a bow. "I'm Watanabe Chiaki of the Watanabe clan."
"Yeah! Sand sent her here to see if we can transform using a more advanced jutsu!" said Naruto, popping up behind her. "Wait, you should know that, right Gaara? You'd be the one to send her, right?"
"Well yes," he replied, suspicious. What Naruto said was true. From the looks of it Chiaki was thinking the same thing. He could sense some fear radiating from her. He wondered why.
"I wasn't sent by Gaara," she said quickly, her face taking on a calm expression. "I was sent by one of the other higher ups. Since you're here Gaara, the other higher-ups who are working on this sent me here."
That made sense. Gaara pushed his suspicious thoughts out of his head. He was always too paranoid. Her reasoning was correct. When they were called out by Tsunade-san, the board was unhappy that Gaara wanted to go with his siblings. He was the Kazekage; he should stay in the Sand. But Gaara was getting sick of the stuffy office and kind of missed the interesting ninjas of Konoha. And so he chose to go, leaving the Kazekage duties to his second in command.
The rest of the day was spent working on the transformation jutsus. They tried three more but nothing seemed to work. The ninjas left the clearing at sunset, disappointed as the day before. The jounin headed their separate ways but most of the kids stayed together wanting to get dinner. As they walked through the village in search of what to eat, Chiaki moved next to Kankuro.
"Hey," she said shyly, looking at the ground.
"Hey," replied the puppeteer. He wondered why he'd never met her before. The Sand may be a huge village but he was the Kazekage's brother. Well, later better than never, he thought.
"I can't believe I'm actually talking to you right now," she said with a giggle, "I've always admired you the most!"
Kankuro's face turned bright red and he was thankful for the setting sun making it to dark for his blush to be noticeable.
"I'm nothing special." He said modestly, looking at the ground and scratching his head. But in truth, he was loving this attention. Plus it was from a girl. And a real girl. Not one that just looked and acted like one but was actually a guy. [A/N: wow that's confusing haha] And she was cute!
The ninjas entered a diner in the center of the village and piled into a big table. Kankuro noticed that Chiaki slid in right next to him. Sweet.
They all settled down and ordered their food. Conversation was pretty normal, everyone joking around casually. If one hadn't known about the Gender Crisis, everything would seem entirely normal. But since they did, it wasn't. Gaara noticed how Neji was twirling her hair and looking at her nails. Sakura took a sip of his soda and let out a burp. Shino was giggling. They all seemed so at ease about it too. It was so strange.
His teal eyes were focused on his brother who was in deep conversation with Chiaki.
At least she was actually a girl, thought Gaara.
"Ino, you're eating like a pig!" said Chouji, looking at her teammate who was currently stuffing as much food into his mouth at a time as possible.
"Wuf?" asked the blonde, a piece of lettuce falling from his lip. [A/N: if you can't tell, "Wuf?" is Ino saying "What?" with his mouth full.]
"Ew," Chouji made a face and went back to her food. She was using a fork and slowly taking neat bites. She wasn't an animal like the boy next to her.
At the same time, Lee was talking animatedly to Tenten.
"Hey, could you teach me how you did those buns you had in your hair when you were a girl? They're so cute! I want to try them out!" she said, her eyes shining. She would see it now. Her shiny black hair pulled into two tight buns on the top of her head. She'd be so adorable.
As Tenten explained exactally how he did it, Neji looked on enviously.
Why is he giving Lee of all people such attention? I'm so much prettier! She thought. She looked away, leaning her head on her hand. If Tenten didn't want to give her attention, she wouldn't give Tenten any either.
After a few hours, everyone was full and ready to go home. The Sand Siblings had to admit, that was one of the weirdest dinners they'd ever had. It was weird witnessing their friends act so ridiculously out of character. But at the same time, it helped. They were slowly getting used to it.
"Can I see you again tomorrow night? Let's hang out!" said Chiaki to Kankuro, a bright smile on her face.
"Yeah! Sure! See you tomorrow!" replied Kankuro. He hoped this time they'd be alone.
"What?" he asked, noticing the look on Gaara's face.
"Nothing" he answered, turned and walked away. "Temari should be back in the room by now and is probably waiting for us."
The Sand Siblings were staying in quarters in the capital building. They were only three floors down from the Hokage's office. The two brothers entered the building and went up the stairs. On their way they passed by Shizune, who was hurriedly going downstairs.
"Good evening Shizune-san" said Kankuro with a wave.
"Yeah, evening." she replied absentmindedly and continued rushing down the steps. A few flights down, she entered the subbasement. Smoothing out her clothing and taking a breath, she came to the information storage quarters. Inside were the secrets to the city. It wasn't just a rumor. A room like this actually existed. And who knew it'd be so easy to access.
"Good evening, gentlemen." she said to the two guards standing beside the door. They were the only people who would be able to open it. They were the only thing standing in her way.
"Good evening Shizune-san. How may we help you?" asked the man on the right.
"Tsunade-sama is in need of a certain file inside there. So if you could just let me in there…" she stepped forward, reaching for the doorknob.
"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold up Shizune-san. You know that even if it's you we can't just let you in here. What's the code Hokage-sama gave you to access the information?" asked the second guard.
Crap!
"Oh heh, silly him. He didn't give me one. Tsunade-sama has been so busy and stressed since this crisis began, she's becoming forgetful. Have a good night." she said, fists clenched, turned on her heels, and walked away.
Later, deep in the forest…
"What do you MEAN you need a code to access the room!" roared a shadowy figure.
"W-well, that's what they told me. What did you expect me to do? Kill them? What if I didn't succeed? Our cover would be blown!" replied the second.
"Hahah. That's your plan? To look up secret government files? This is why you swapped the town's genders? You guys are idiots!" laughed a woman in the corner of the room.
Inside a cell sat the real Shizune. Her face was slimmer and her eyes had dark rings under them, but she was alive. She was in the headquarters of the enemy.
"Silence!" yelled the first ninja, sending a ray of lightening at her.
She screamed in pain and fell silent. She would just have to bear with this. Already she had so much information on the enemy. She just needed to figure out a way to escape.
"So where have you guys been all day?" asked Temari. She had finished everything she had to get done hours ago and was bored out of her mind.
"We were working with everyone on finding a way to change everyone back to normal." said Gaara as he put his gourd down. He was so tired.
"Yeah, there's actually someone else here from the Sand helping out," added Kankuro.
"Really? Who is it?" asked Temari.
"It's this girl from the Watanabe clan. She's really cool," he replied, blushing. Maybe once this was all over, him and Chiaki could walk back to the Sand together. Alone. His face grew redder at the thought.
Temari noticed the look on her brother's face and wanted to know more, but she knew when he was in this shy mode, he wouldn't give any answers. Oh well, she'd see the girl tomorrow. She wondered if she knew her. She was friends with a few people in the clan.
It was getting late, so the three siblings curled up in bed and went to sleep, unknowing of what would be to come the next day.
"Sasuke! I got you daisies!" yelled Ino, chasing after the raven haired girl with a bouquet in hand. Having parents who owned a flower shop had its perks.
"I don't like daisies!" she yelled back, turning a corner. This was ridiculous. She thought that at least if they'd switched genders, people would stop trying to court her every five seconds. Wrong.
"I have roses too!" he yelled, pulling a second bouquet from behind his back.
"Move bro." yelled Sakura, pushing the blonde out of his way. "Sasuke! I got you chocolates. Do you like chocolate?"
"No!" Sasuke screamed, escaping in a puff of smoke as fast as she could while the two males continued their squabble while trying to find her. She sighed in relief from her view in her hiding place on the roof as the two boys grew further and further away from her. This was so annoying.
"Jeez, Sasuke. I'm so jealous!" said a voice next to the brunette's ear.
She jumped, almost falling off the roof, to see that it was none other than Naruto. She was laying there, arms behind her head, looking at Sasuke with an amused impression.
"It's been a hectic morning for you, hasn't it? Man, Sasuke, I wish Sakura and Ino were fighting for my affections," she said, examining her nails. "Ugh, I need a manicure. My cuticles look horrible!"
"Not so loud, idiot! They'll hear you." said Sasuke, looking around suspiciously. Those two guys could be anywhere. Her black eyes returned to Naruto. If she didn't know who that was, she'd assume that was just some random girl. A natural girl. She just wanted to punch her in the face. How could she be acting like a girl? They may have the physical appearance of that now, but they were men! Manly men. At least Sasuke was. And she wasn't going to stand for the way things were going. She slowly lifted her right hand, clenching it into a fist and…dangggg, her cuticles needed some work too! Maybe she should join Naruto in a getting a manicure. A pedicure wouldn't hurt either.
She shook her head. Snap out of it!
"Who'll hear me, Sasuke?" asked Naruto, not lowering the volume at all.
"There you are!" yelled two voices in unison.
Sasuke turned his head to see Sakura and Ino approaching her quickly.
"Idiot." she grumbled once again and bolted. There was no way she'd let them catch her.
"See you at training later!" Naruto waved nonchalantly and reached into her purse for a comb. Tangled, windswept hair was not a good look.
Everyone was gathered in the forest, ready for another day…of failure.
"Is this really necessary? This hasn't worked the past few days, why would anything work now?" Shikamaru asked Kakashi. This was troublesome and a waste of time.
"You never know. Today might be the day we'll find something effective. Never fear or doubt for the power of youth is upon you! And with truth and passion we can achieve anything!" yelled Gai, butting into the conversation. Shikamaru just sighed and walked away, heading to his team. Waste of time.
"Good morning everyone!" said Chiaki as she entered the clearing. "Let's get to work!"
About an hour and another failed jutsu later, the Sand Siblings were almost there.
"I didn't think that meeting with the Hokage would take this long." said Kankuro.
"You upset because you're missing out on time to watch your precious Chiaki help Konoha?" Gaara teased.
"Shut up!" said Kankuro, his face bright red.
"Wait, the Sand girl's name is Chiaki?" asked Temari. Something about that name clicked in her head. There was something off about this.
Before she could ponder about this more, the three of them entered the clearing.
"Good afternoon Gaara-sama and Kankuro-sama. It's great of you two to join us. Who is this with you?" Chiaki asked, coming up to them, a bright smile on her face.
Temari's eyes went wide and her unsure feeling from hearing that name came into focus. She looked at the red headed girl in front of her, full recognition in her eyes.
"This cannot be Watanabe Chiaki. Chiaki was a friend of mine back in the Sand. She was killed during a mission three years ago."