Same as normal, I don't own Naruto. The Immortals would be tougher if I did.

Chapter 13: Sand Amongst The Leaves!

Four days later, the entire village was in the midst of preparations. Small banners hung from certain locations, indicating that they were the 'host' houses, where the foreign ninja would be staying. Most Gennin missions now consisted of helping get Konoha ready for all the foreigners. The stall vendors were saving the best of their goods, ready to try dazzling the young Gennin who would be arriving within the next few days.

Naruto sat on top of the Apartments, his feet resting on the banner for his building - the symbol upon it was an hourglass with a bar above it, the sign of Suna. The boy had his new weapon in his hand and was slowly running a whetstone down the length of the sharpened edge, trying to even out imaginary scratches on the surface of the blade. His hands continued the mindless task of stropping the sword as his thoughts drifted to what had happened the night before.

A yell broke the boy from his reverie, nearly making him drop his sword in surprise. He looked down to the alley behind his home and saw that Konohamaru had run into a strange young man in solid black clothes that had a hood that was pulled up above his head, with two small points, almost like cat ears, sticking up from the top. As the black clad man grabbed Kon's shirt, Naruto grimaced. While normally he wouldn't try anything, foreigners threatening one of his friends was something the Jinchuruuki couldn't stand.

He spun his blade around in his hand so the blunt edge was facing out, then dropped off the edge of the roof silently. The dull blade smacked into the black clad shinobi's wrist, forcing him to drop Konohamaru. Naruto grabbed the boy's scarf and pulled the younger boy behind him and brought his blade up into a guarding position. He blinked as he took in the warrior design in the paint on the other's face, then shook his head.

"Sorry stranger, but I can't let you threaten this kid. Besides, it'd be pretty stupid of you to even try." Now Naruto noticed that behind the other shinobi was a blonde girl who's weapon caught his attention. Fantastic. He's got back up, and she's a Wind Mistress. "And as for why it isn't smart… well, that would be three-fold. First, and most important: You'd have to go through me." Please let them buy this bluff… "Second: He's the Hokage's Grandson, so if you hurt him, you'd start an international incident." At this, the young man who had been rolling his arm as if he was getting ready for a fight froze.

"And what's the third thing?" The question came from the blonde girl behind the boy. Despite the fact that her teammate was getting ready for a fight, she hadn't moved even an inch. Instead, she had tilted her head to one side slightly, studying Naruto like he was a specimen on a slide. The blank tone in her voice suggested that if the third reason wasn't good enough, she would strike anyway.

Crap… what to do what to do… if Kon-otouto gets hurt the village will blame it on me… Naruto felt Konohamaru shiver behind him and grimaced. It was at that point that the blonde male felt an intense spike of bloodlust that had him spin his blade around and look around in a bit of startlement. He spotted the source out of the corner of his eye – a redhaired boy with a large gourd on his back was standing upside down on a nearby tree branch. In the back of his mind Kyuubi stirred.

Kit, watch it. That guy reeks of bloody sand. I've smelt that before. He holds Ichi. Naruto grimaced in his mind. The Jinchuruuki of the Ichibi no Tanuki definitely messed the scales up even more. Then the blonde Demon Container noticed that the bloodlust was laced with anger, and all of it was directed towards the other two. A feral grin flashed across Naruto's face as he answered.

"Three. The guy reeking of bloody sand behind you is already pissed, and looks like he's about to snap." Both of the people in front of him turned stark white, which was a feat for the painted man. They turned around as the redhead dropped down from the branch and flipped over in midair to land on his feet. Naruto watched as the two shrank back in fear as the other Jinchuruuki walked to them. Both the blonde and the painted one cringed slightly, closing their eyes tightly shut. They opened them in shock when they felt their teammate push past them.

Naruto shoved Konohamaru back, urging him to run with one hand. The boy sprinted around the corner as the blonde Jinchuruuki stared at the red-haired one. The Konoha shinobi had the novel experience of looking down at someone and grinned slightly. The grin vanished quickly though when the other Jinchuruuki spoke.

"I am Gaara. You are?" There was sheer, unbridled bloodlust racing through the boy's words. The blank look on the heavy-lidded boy's face was countered by a sudden, savage grin on the whiskered boy.

"My name is Uzumaki-Rei Naruto. Hello Ichi, I am Kyuu." Behind the redhead, the other two nearly fell to the ground in shock when they saw their teammate falter and fall away from the blonde boy. The girl caught a glimpse of the teeth-baring grin that faded into a normal grin. She watched, her shock growing, as the other blonde clapped one hand on her village's Jinchuruuki before speaking.

"Well then, Sabaku no Gaara. That means that you two are Sabaku no Kankuro – nice war-paint, but the third sigil on the left under your eye is an inch off – and you, ray of sunshine, are Sabaku no Temari. And that means, that if I hadn't stopped Sabaku-kun, an international incident truly would have been impossible to avoid." Naruto grinned slightly. So glad Aniki and Jiji-chan made me memorize the group. Though I wonder where their sensei is.

"Wait, you mean you weren't joking about that snot-nosed brat being the Hokage's Grandson?" The calm and composed façade on Temari's face had shattered when she realized that she really did almost start a war…aside from the one they were already planning. Oh man… this kid… he saved us?? She took a long look at him, taking in the dark green robe that had been swept open, to the piercing blue eyes shot with streaks of a fiery red.

Gaara overcame his startlement and smacked Naruto's hand off his shoulder angrily. "I do not care which of them you carry, Mother wants your blood. I will kill you and validate my existence when the time is right." Naruto looked at him steadily for a moment, hiding that he was in conversation with the Kyuubi.

Alright Kyuu-sensei. I got territoriality, the ability of the Kitsune to Alter my shape, it's damn near impossible to catch me in a genjutsu unless I want to be, and I've got massive stores of chakra. What did Jinchuruuki Ichi get?

From what I see, not a lot. He's got sand covering him, something I remember Shukaku doing. So, sand armor that'll be hard to crack, I'd venture a guess that he's got excellent control over sand, and apparently, insanity.

Insanity?

That line about killing you to 'validate his existence' is something that Shukaku would spout off every time he went into battle. Come to think of it, we started avoiding him, and it got worse. Wonder if there's something behind that…

Maybe… hmm. Ok then.

Kit? The Kyuubi sounded worried. It could tell that it's container and pupil was planning on trying something that could end up hurting.

Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara all froze in shock as Naruto's smile flashed for a brief second before he grabbed the other Jinchuruuki in a hug that cracked the Suna no Yoroi that Gaara had on. As the other Suna Gennin watched on, sand fell away from Gaara's face to reveal that it was turning blue. Temari took a hesitant step forward to tap Naruto's shoulder. Not that I wouldn't mind seeing the last of this psycho who's always threatening to kill me…but he is still my younger brother and… At her light touch, Naruto let go of Gaara, who fell to the ground, grasping his chest as he gasped for breath.

"What – was – that?" He spat out between gasps. He fell backwards as Naruto crouched down onto his heels next to him.

"It was a hug Gaara. I validated your existence – if you didn't exist, how could I have done that?" The cheery smile on Naruto's face confused the redhead. He looked up at the blonde Jinchuruuki as his sand slowly crawled back up into place, turning over the others words in his mind. No matter how he looked at it, neither he nor his 'Mother' could figure out a way to dispute it. "So then, friends?" Gaara blinked and saw that Naruto had stood up and stuck his hand out to him.

Kankuro fell over in shock when his younger brother, who he was sure was a blood thirsty monster who could never touch a human being without immediately wanting to kill them –family included- hesitantly took this Konoha shinobi's hand and stood up, nodding. He made a loud clatter as he landed on the bundle on his back, before he scrambled up quickly, hoping that he hadn't drawn attention from the psychopath and the lunatic (Gaara and Naruto), or from his volatile sister.

Temari barely noticed when her black clad brother collapsed to the ground. She was too busy staring in shock at what had just happened. She remembered times when Gaara hadn't indiscriminately attacked and killed people, and that was typically only because someone stronger than he was around. While demented, the redhead knew times when he was outmatched. For this blonde boy to be able to calm Gaara down from anger, for him to be able to touch, to hug the Jinchuruuki of the Ichibi no Tanuki, spoke volumes to her about just how strong he must be.

Gaara was staring in wonder at his own hand, Shukaku for once silent in the back of his mind. The Sand Armor had refused to move down to cover his left hand, the one he had clasped Naruto's with. For the first time in a long time, he felt human contact, and unlike that last time, he didn't feel any undercurrents of anger or sorrow, only a cheerfulness he couldn't comprehend. He looked up into Naruto's eyes and saw that same cheerfulness shining out from them.

Pup….he's…different. I don't want his blood. If he holds the Kyuubi, his blood would hurt me. The Ichibi, feeling his container's sudden reticence about attacking the other Jinchuruuki, gave him a way out. A small trace of relief swept through the redhead. Who knows. This guy might know how to reinforce the seal so we can both get some sleep. Won't bring that up with the kid though. This thought Shukaku kept to himself, not wanting to get the child's hopes up.

Naruto merely grasped Gaara's hand and smiled at him. His words further cemented the redhead's acceptance, and confusion. "Alright then! Then some time when we have some spare time, I'll introduce you to some of the things I do for fun."

"What?" Now it was Naruto's turn to look at the other Jinchuruuki in shock. He opened and closed his mouth several times, before shaking his head.

"You know, fun? Games?" The blank look on Gaara's face worried Naruto. He turned back to look at the other two Suna ninja. "Did you guys never let him play games or have fun??" At Temari's trembling nod, the blonde Jinchuruuki slapped his face and dragged his palm down it. "Oh yea, I'm requesting some spare time to play games. You need to lighten up if you want anyone to like you other than me." Shaking his head, Naruto clapped Gaara on the shoulder and started around the building, tapping the girl on the forehead to get her to stop trembling, then stopped long enough to help Kankuro to his feet.

"Come on guys, we need to get you settled. There's only a few more days before the Exams come up, and we need to be rested." Kankuro and Temari stumbled when they realized that what he had said meant that he would be a competitor. The two reacted differently to the news – Kankuro ground his teeth, swearing that he would figure out how another Gennin could pull his brother out of the instantly homicidal maniacal personality he had been in when neither he nor his sister could even get him to smile. Temari on the other hand, scooted closer to Naruto, studying him intently to see if he looked like he would snap on the spot like Baki occasionally did. She blushed when he turned the corner and saw her staring, and shot a beaming smile towards her as he tugged Gaara along.

Once they were inside, Naruto pulled Gaara's sand gourd off and pushed the boy down into the plush chair, not realizing that the chair would swallow the younger Jinchuruuki. Kankuro sank down onto a cushion on the floor near Gaara, his attention on the carpet at his feet as he worked on the puzzle of why his brother had changed so rapidly. Temari sat down on one end of a couch tentatively and looked up to see Naruto smiling at their group.

"Hey everyone! The Sand team is here!" The sudden bellow startled the Sand ninja, making all three snap their heads up to look at Naruto. Then their heads swiveled to the stairs where three sets of footsteps could be heard descending.

The first to arrive was a young woman with dark brown hair in a kimono. Temari noticed that the girl had a faint blush on her face when she looked at Naruto, something that irked the Sand kunoichi for some reason. She shook it off as Naruto introduced the girl as Momochi Haku. Temari's eye quirked, wondering if the girl had any relation to the Shinobi of the Seven Swordsman, Momochi Zabuza. When she smiled, the girl's teeth were normal, so the Suna kunoichi doubted it. She looked up as another woman appeared.

Two of them? Does he live in a brothel or something??? Temari's eyebrow flattened when she recognized the woman from the Bingo Book. Naruto's introduction of her as Mitarashi Anko merely confirmed that. Haku had settled down on one of the open chairs, while Anko took up a spot on the other couch as if she were waiting for someone. Then the third step of footsteps arrived.

This time, a man came down the stairs, ducking his head to avoid smacking his forehead on the overhang. He smiled at the group as Naruto introduced him as Rei-Uzumaki Ronnel. This new person sank down onto the couch next to Anko, wrapping one arm around her waist gently and looking at them again before speaking.

"Welcome to the Apartments Suna ninja. Your sensei, Baki, is currently talking with the Hokage about security issues that have come up. He will be along as soon as the discussion is complete. Until then, we have dedicated one of the floors of the Apartments to you. This –" The newest man's arm came up and swept around to indicate the floor they were on, "is the ground floor. It's where breakfast and dinner will be served. If you feel the need to meet with villagers, or someone from another village, this is the floor where you can bring them. The first floor up is where you will be staying, with a main bathroom at the end of the hall, and the adjoining bedrooms having their own small toilet areas. Please stay to that floor unless one of us asks you up."

Kankuro raised his hand slightly. The purple haired woman, Anko, looked over at him. "What is it make-up boy?" The puppeteer scowled for a moment before replying.

"Where are we going to get training done? Doubt it would be a good idea to let loose in this place." He looked around, wondering if the Konoha ninja thought that they wouldn't practice. While he could practice in his own room, and Gaara didn't practice at all, Temari wouldn't be able to work on her wind techniques if she didn't have room. And considering that at least one of these people was blatantly unafraid of the bloodlust that had been pouring from Gaara, Kankuro did NOT want to piss them off by having his sister accidently tear out one of the supporting walls.

"Ah, that's easy. We've got an open training ground, it's where Aniki and I go for practice for our Fuuton techniques. We won't mind sharing it with you guys, will we Aniki?" Naruto fielded the puppeteer's question, finishing by looking over at Ronnel who shook his head. "Well then, now that that is settled, why don't I show you guys some of the sights around Konoha? Gaara?" The blonde Jinchuruuki looked at the redhead, tilting his own slightly. When the volatile Container stood up and nodded, Naruto grinned and ran to the door.

"Come on, come on!" Anko and Ronnel looked amused as Kankuro and Temari looked at each other before shrugging helplessly and following after the two Jinchuruuki. When Haku stood up to follow them, a snake wrapped around one of her legs. She turned around and glared at Anko, who merely stared at her.

"Sorry girlie, but you have duty in fifteen minutes. You need to get ready and get over to work. Ronnel can go let the Hokage know that they arrived. I have stuff that I need to get done too. No slacking off for us!" The brown haired Hyoton wielder lowered her head but nodded before going upstairs to get into her scrubs. Ronnel stood up as well, sighing.

"As much fun as that would be though… you're right Ko-chan. We can't afford to be lazy. Go get ready for I&T, I need to go tell the old man, and provide overwatch for their little expedition." He pulled on his Jounin vest and slid his weapons into the sheathes that had finally been sewn on. He leaned forward as Anko stood up, pressing his lips against hers. She moaned unhappily when he pulled back and wagged his finger. "Now now Ko-chan. We're not going to scar Haku when she comes down here. Go get ready, I'll see you tonight unless you have to pull another all-nighter." The female Jounin scowled at her boyfriend but went upstairs to get herself ready.

Ronnel rubbed his face and sighed. Things are going to get interesting around here for a while. I'd better go let the old man and the Sand leader know that his team is getting the Uzumaki-Rei guided tour. He sighed again and stalked out of the room, using the Shunpo to get to the Hokage's Tower.

With Naruto and the Sand Sibs

Their group came to a halt outside a massive complex with men standing guard outside. Naruto turned and grinned at the Sand ninja.

"First up is the lovely Hyuuga Mansion. Most of this clan has giant sticks shoved far up their arses, but there is at least one good person in there. We came here first because I think she'll be able to show you," Naruto pointed to Temari, "since she'll probably know the places girls like to go that I don't."

"Why didn't we just have that Haku girl come with us?" She watched as Naruto moved up to the guards and asked if a Hinata was in. The guard on the left nodded and headed inside to retrieve the girl. While they were waiting, Naruto turned around and answered her question.

"Haku-chan just joined the village a few weeks ago herself. That, and she has work now." That threw the other ninja off. The older man and the purple haired woman were obviously ninja, as was Naruto. Did a civilian live with them? "She works at the ninja hospital. And before you think she's a civilian, she's a medical kunoichi, chuunin ranked." He chuckled as their looks of confusion turned to startlement. He heard soft footsteps coming up to them and turned around.

The Sand trio was treated to the sight of Naruto turning around and suddenly snatching up the pale eyed girl who had come up behind him and spinning around, holding her in a hug. When he set her down, she stumbled and he had to catch her.

"Ehe, sorry Hinata-nee. Guys, this is my friend Hyuuga Hinata. Don't expect her to talk too much, we're still working on her stutter. Ow!" The blonde boy rubbed his arm where the blue haired girl had jabbed him with a glowing finger. The girl stuck her tongue out at the boy. "Mean. Anyway, she tries not to speak unless she has to. Aside from that, she's the best kunoichi in our generation, and if it weren't for the fact that last year has the Weapons Mistress, I'd say the best of the last two or three years. Imouto, I'm showing them around the village. Want to come with and help?" The girl nodded and signaled the guard who had followed her outside. The man bowed slightly then headed back inside.

"Yosh! Then the next stop will be somewhere that we ninja appreciate, the weapons store!" Naruto lead their group down several streets, at times making random turns down alleys. As they walked, the Sand ninja noticed that the older people in the village sent Naruto evil looks as he walked along. Kankuro was about to ask when a soft hand laid on his shoulder. He followed the arm back to see Hinata shaking her head. The black clad Suna shinobi tilted his head before his eyes widened as he recognized where he knew those looks from. His eyes cut over to Gaara, who was walking quietly behind Naruto, his head tilted as he studied their official guide. If I'm right... how did one end up homicidal and the other such a nice guy???

His thoughts were interrupted by Naruto stopping in front of him. He turned to see that they were in front of a small, non-descript store that looked more like it was a little civilian shop than a weapons seller. Naruto ignored the confused look from the foreign ninja and ushered them into the shop. He grinned at Hinata, who shook her head and went inside in front of the blond boy.

The blonde Jinchuruuki walked in to see the looks of shock on the faces of the three foreigners. He looked around himself, nodding slightly. The place hadn't changed much since the last time he was here. Space enhancing seals had been carved into the interior of the store, nearly quadrupling the size of the inside. Swords of all sizes, from the little wakizashi to the massive claymore hung along two walls, serving as display pieces. Another wall had shuriken of various designs and sizes, like the normal shuriken that most ninja had, as well as their much larger cousin, the Fuuma Shuriken. On the fourth wall (AN resisting acting joke here) hung more exotic weapons – chakrams to hook swords to flanged maces. The floor of the shop had the actual weapons that people could buy, conveniently stored in clearly labeled scrolls, with how many of each item they held for the smaller items like shuriken and kunai.

In the center of the room stood the smith and shop owner's pride and joy. In a large display case, covered in intricate defensive seals, were a collection of scythes. The weapons were not the real thing, but representations of the blades that Ronnel, and now Naruto, were collecting from the Jashinists. The real scythes were stored in a sealed scroll in the bottom of the Apartment. Still, the array of deadly scythes was impressive –from the simple scythe that came from one of the first kills that Ronnel had succeeded in, to the pick like scythe that was the weapon of the Jashinist Apprentice that Naruto had humiliated the killed. Taking all of this in was more than enough to shock the three outsiders, who hadn't expected anything like this from what appeared on the outside to be a hole in the wall store.

"Come on guys, surely you've seen a weapon store before. Ne, who's on duty today?" Naruto's question rang out through the quiet shop. From the rear wall, where a large doorway could be seen, came a deep voice.

"Who do you think brat? Why are you here anyway, run out of kunai and explosive tags for you pranks again?" The flaps covering the doorway were pushed aside as a massive man entered the room, ducking to get through the doorway. When he straightened up, the three Suna ninja shrank back quickly, even the slightly deranged Gaara. All of them were intimidated by the man who stood easily eight feet tall, and looked like he was eight feet across, all of it muscle.

"Eh? You have newbies here? Little princess, did he forget to warn them about my shop and about me?" The man turned to look at Hinata, who nodded. Without a pause, as soon as Hinata's head answered yes, a tremendous fist crashed down on top of Naruto's head. "I've told you brat, don't use me as a scare tactic or a prank! Unless it is targeting someone who hurt my precious Tenten." The last bit was mentioned under his breath as he glared at Naruto.

The Jinchuruuki sat up rubbing his head and glared at the shopowner. "So mean. Guys, this is Kousuke Higarachi. He made most of the weapons you see around you, except for those in that case in the center. He's also the adoptive father of a good friend of mine, the only rival for 'Best Konoha Rookie Kunoichi' for these last three years, Tenten Higarachi. Kousuke-san, these three are the Suna delegation, I'm giving them a tour of Konoha." Kousuke shrugged his large shoulders.

"If you guys need anything, you know where to find me now. Though I have to warn you, my wares are not cheap." With that he turned and returned to the rear of the shop.

"How does he stop people from leaving without paying if he stays in the back?" Temari looked to Naruto. The blonde chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"He's got them sealed so that if you take them outside of this room without him altering the seal in a way that only he knows, the contents of the seal are ejected into the seal realm. While it isn't truly 'lost forever', we haven't ever been able to retrieve anything that this happened to. Theoretically, if we got lucky, we could summon the stuff back but… yeah. Hasn't happened yet, and people have tried. Come on, I have more I want to show you! Gaara, this next place is going to be for you." The redhead turned his head from where he was staring intently at a pair of jagged edged chakrams. He nodded and walked out of the building, prompting the rest of the group to follow him quickly.

On the Rooftops across the street

Ronnel crouched down when he saw Naruto led them into the Higarachi shop. He knew that it wouldn't take long for them to leave, so he wasn't surprised when they exited moments later. He pulled back into the shadows and suppressed his chakra. The Hokage had asked that he make sure that Naruto not show them anything vital to village security, knowing that the boy was fully too trusting. As he paced them along the roofs, he noticed another shadow following after the group. This one though, was down on the ground behind them. He probed at it with his chakra and was hurled back by a vicious snarl of chakra that was twisting itself inside out. He shook his head and rubbed it, feeling a headache growing from merely viewing that mess of chakra. Whoever it was, was definitely not sane. He carefully planted a trace of his chakra into the mess, which would let him know where that person was even if he lost track of the psychotic person. Out of curiosity, he checked Naruto and Gaara the same way.

Naruto had too soothing flows of chakra running through his body in streams, mimicking a normal person but doubling the number of streams since he was a Jinchuruuki. Just above his heart, the two streams of chakra were slowly merging together. Naruto's blue human chakra and the Kyuubi's red demonic chakra were creating a purplish chakra. The effect wasn't extensive, but in time the Kyuubi would fade as its chakra merged with its hosts.

When Ronnel looked at Gaara though, he blinked in shock. The boy had three lines of chakra flowing in his body. Two of them struggled to maintain the normal routs, a blue line and a brownish line, but the third stream, another human blue, was screwing with them both. It raced back and forth all over the place, defeating the other two in their attempts at harmonizing. What the hell? Where'd the kid get another human source of chakra? Ronnel resolved to check the boy if he would let him, although he was wary due to the reports of the boy's insanity and bloodlust. He had yet to see either of those evidenced, only a sense of confusion and wonder.

Silently, the Jounin watched as the tour stopped at the bath houses when Hinata tugged on Naruto's jacket and pointed at them. The blonde boy shrugged but described them, and his adoptive brother could hear the boy's laughter when the blonde girl squealed and nearly raced inside then and there. It took her brother, Hinata, and Naruto holding her back to keep her from barging in at that moment. They got her calmed down and the blonde Jinchuruuki led the way towards his favorite food stall. The tour then went to the Hokage's Tower, with Naruto describing a bit about the history of the Hokages. After that, he showed them some of the minor points of the village, including the empty training grounds that were available.

Back at the Apartments

That night, when Naruto lead the Sand nin back into the apartments, he saw his brother talking quietly with a man he didn't recognize. As he stiffened, he saw that Temari and Kankuro had relaxed when they saw him. Huh. This guy must be their sensei. He shook the tension out of his shoulders.

"Aniki, we're back." He blinked when his brother looked up at him and winked before shimmering slightly. The blonde boy groaned when he realized what it meant that his brother there had been a clone. Behind the Gennin there was a 'pop' sound that had Gaara bringing his sand out of his gourd as he spun around. Seeing nothing but fading smoke he blinked in confusion.

"Relax Gaara. Anyway, sorry we're so late. Hinata changed our route so she could show Temari the bath houses. But we did get to take Gaara here to the park." Naruto grinned at his fellow Jinchuruuki. "He loves playing games, right Gaara?" The stoic boy nodded.

"While one of these…games… would not have matched the pleasure of killing, there are far more games to play. It is a satisfactory alternative." Temari and Kankuro were breathing sighs of relief while beating themselves up mentally for not finding this out sooner. If they had known that playing games would be all it took to keep their brother from killing people, Suna would have a higher population than it now boasted.

Baki stood up and cleared his throat. "Well then, now that my team is returned, I would like to thank Rei-Uzumaki-san for letting us stay here. Come students, let us sort out rooms and prepare to sleep." The Sand Sibs nodded to Ronnel and Naruto, with Gaara blinking when Naruto pulled him into another hug.

"You're my friend Gaara. We understand each other better than anyone else ever can, even the demons we hold back. If you ever need help, let me know." The redhead had a strange look on his face as he headed up the stairs.

"Won't even ask what that was about. Sorry Naruto, but the girls won't be back any time soon. Ko-chan got roped into a series of sessions, and Haku has paperwork she's been letting pile up since she didn't want to deal with it. They won't get back until late. Even later than now Head on up to bed, I'll have a large breakfast to make up for us not eating dinner." The boy nodded and went upstairs to his own room. Ronnel rubbed his neck to ease the tension that had accumulated there while watching Naruto, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara play in the park.
"Che…sometimes I forget that he's still a kid." He shook his head and shunshin'd up to his room.

AN-

Ok, getting back into the swing of things. Next chapter starts the Chuunin Exams arc! This is probably going to end where things are close to canon, so expect deviations from here on out. Cyber cookie to anyone who figures out who the person with the messed up chakra is.

Review Responses:

Geetac:

Thankee sir

DASM:
That won't happen until after the Exams, but Naru won't be too happy. Glad you liked the battle scenes!

Firelordeg:

My muse would kill me if I didn't write what she got past my writer's block. Still wondering what the acronym means.

Bleacher:

They're here, the wait is over!

Schnookums:

Fights are hard ugh. Next one out may take longer to type though, sorry about the delay!

Umbra8191:
Yahoo, a new reviewer! Here's the next chapter!

P.S.

Did I kill my reviewers with the false update? Sorry guys…