Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter 24: Testing

Kira awoke to darkness. Something she wasn't completely used to yet. Since the age of three, her ability had ensured her that she had her own form of "sight" the moment she reentered consciousness. Suddenly having that security taken away from her was a bit disorientating.

Kira sat up quickly and directed the water in the pitcher around her, spreading the liquid in the air until it became a very fine mist, nothing more than a bit of humidity in the air. Kira got up and went over to the fridge to get some breakfast. It seemed like she had awoken before the alarm. Either that, or Naruto really hadn't listened to her last night and forgot to set it.

She took a bite of her apple just as high pitched beeping filled the air. Almost instantaneously, she "watched" as Naruto's form started batting at the air next to his bed. He overreached and tumbled from the bed, bringing his blankets down with him in a tangled heap. After a quick "Oomph!", his head emerged from the heap on the floor. Eyes half closed, he yawned widely as he blearily looked around for the source of the noise. Reaching behind him over his head, he smacked his hand down onto the clock, effectively ending its shrill sound. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and proceeded to disentangle himself from his self-made cocoon. Once free, he sluggishly made his way to the kitchen cabinets. He dug out and made some instant ramen while still half asleep, Kira quietly observing him and trying to not smile at his comical morning routine.

He sat down with a steaming cup of noodles and said a lethargic, "Itadakimasu." Halfway through his meal, Naruto seemed to become aware of his surroundings. He stopped eating for a moment, noodles hanging from his mouth, when he caught sight of Kira sitting across from him at the table. Slurping up the bite, he gave her a half smile, "Ohayo Kira-chan. Did I wake you up?"

Kira raised an eyebrow, "I was already awake Naruto-san."

"Oh," Naruto said as he took another bite, "Well, have you thought of anything to help with your…you know…your problem?"

"You mean my lack of sight?" Kira asked bluntly. Naruto slowly nodded his head.

"I believe I found something that may work," Kira said, standing from her seat to stand in the middle of the room, "Though I'm not quite sure how effective it would be if I were to be forced into a fight."

Naruto downed the last of the broth and gave a toothy grin, "So let's test it out!"

"That's what I wanted to do as well, but how?"

Naruto scrunched his brow in concentration as he scanned the room for something. After a moment, he seemed to find what he was looking for as his face lit up. He got up and walked over to his side of the room and picked something up. After turning it around in his hands a few times, he looked up at Kira and chucked it as hard as he could at her. The moment the object came into her five foot range of her mist, she promptly froze it. The object cluttered to the floor in an icy heap as Kira noticed just what it was that Naruto had thrown.

"Naruto-san…why did you throw the alarm clock at my head?"

"You said you needed to test out your new sight adjustment thingy, so I needed to throw something at you."

"Yes, but why the clock?"

Naruto shrugged and a scheming grin appeared across his features, "It was evil and deserved to die."

Kira deadpanned, "And how, exactly, is a clock evil?"

Naruto placed his hands behind his head and casually walked to the door, "Because, it ruined my very nice dream and made me fall out of bed."

Kira shook her head in amusement at his logic as he turned the handle on the door, "Come on Kira-chan! Wouldn't want to keep Gaara waiting!"

Kira felt her lips twitch upwards as she followed the hyperactive ninja out the door, making sure to keep her bubble of humidity securely around her.

…

"Hey Gaara!" Naruto said as he burst through the doors to the Kazekage's office.

"Naruto-san, you should knock first," Kira stated, following after him.

"Nah!" Naruto waved a hand in her direction, "Gaara and I are friends, it's cool."

"Naruto, Sakurai-san, you're right on time," came the soft-yet-deep voice of the young Kazekage. Kira bowed and Naruto just looked at him with a wide grin and his hands behind his head.

"Who's the chick?" came another voice near the desk. Kira rose from her bow and turned to "look" at the two other people in the room. One was a male and one was female. Soon after the question was asked, the female knocked the male upside the head, "Baka, weren't you listening to Gaara? She's the one from Konoha that'll be staying in Suna for a while."

"No way!" he said, holding the back of his head with a slight wince, "I thought it was supposed to be a guy!"

A vein popped out from the girl's forehead in frustration, "And what is wrong with it being a girl, Kankuro?"

Kankuro looked back at the girl with wide eyes and waved his hands in front of him quickly in surrender, "Nothing, nothing at all Temari! I just thought that it was going to be a guy that's all. There's no ulterior meaning, I swear!"

Gaara cleared his throat to stop the impending fight and bring their attention back to the meeting. He then looked to the two Leaf nin in his office and bowed his head slightly, "Forgive my siblings, they seem to be a bit restless."

Naruto waved him off, "Eh, not like we don't have that sort of thing happen in Konoha. Kinda reminds me of how Sakura-chan and I act."

Kira silently nodded in agreement. She did notice Sakura hitting Naruto on numerous occasions.

Gaara nodded and looked to Kira, "Just to confirm, you are Sakurai Kira of the Leaf village, inducted three years ago as a shinobi, specialties: water and healing jutsu, rank: ANBU-"

"Wait a second, this tiny thing is ANBU ranked?" Kankuro said as he dodged his sister's oncoming smack, "There's no way she could be that strong!"

Naruto glanced over at Kankuro with his hands still behind his head, "She went from genin to ANBU in just three years. I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you."

Kankuro grinned, "How about a test then?" he said as he pulled a scroll off his back.

Kira inclined her head towards Gaara, "Only if the Kazekage approves."

The red-head nodded his consent, also curious about her abilities. There was something of interest in the files that Tsunade had sent over, and he wanted to see how accurate they were and how she dealt with various situations.

Kira walked over to his desk and picked up the jug of water that had been placed there, "Would it be alright for me to use this, Kazekage-sama?" she asked with a slight bow.

He nodded, "You may."

Kira turned back to face Kankuro, who had released one of his puppets. Naruto went to stand a bit further back. Kira focused on the mist around her, waiting for the presence of a foreign object to enter her "vision". She didn't have to wait long. She noticed the twitch of a few of Kankuro's fingers and simultaneously had the water from the jug leave the container and fly to a spot to her left as a wooden hand entered her range. The wooden appendage froze on contact with the liquid as it rushed up the arm and over the whole construct. Only a second after it had come within the five foot range, it fell to the floor covered in ice and completely useless.

Kankuro's jaw dropped in disbelief and Gaara raised a brow, intrigued. Temari laughed at her younger brother as he went to go retrieve his puppet. The older girl looked over to Kira with a smirk, "Mind if I have a go? This could be fun."

Kira shrugged. She didn't really mind. If they doubted her abilities, this would be the fastest way to assure them that she could do her job.

Temari moved to grab something out of her weapons pouch when she stopped. Her muscles clenched in a slightly familiar way. It was almost as if that Nara kid had used his shadow jutsu on her to stop her movements. But he wasn't there, and her shadow wasn't being possessed.

"What the hell? Why can't I move?" she yelled in frustration.

"You lose," came Kira's quiet voice. Temari's eyes widened as realization dawned.

"How'd you do that?" she asked as she regained the use of her limbs.

"One of my abilities," Kira stated simply.

"And that's not all she can do!" Naruto exclaimed.

The siblings all turned to look at the energetic blonde.

"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked, still chipping off chunks of ice from his puppet.

"Gaara, go stand next to Kira-chan," Naruto said as he went to drag the Sand leader out of his chair. Naruto turned back to the two older siblings, "She and Gaara are a lot alike."

Both Kira and the Kazekage rose a brow at the statement.

"See! Even their expressions are the same!" he said.

Upon hearing this, the two shinobi in question returned their faces back to a blank expression and crossed their arms. Naruto and Kankuro laughed while Temari tried to hold back a snicker. They actions and expressions looked identical.

"Ok, ok," Naruto said while wiping a tear and trying to catch his breath, "That was awesome, but not what I was talking about. Turn around you two."

"Why?" They both asked at the same time, earning another snicker from the group.

"Come on, it wouldn't kill you two to play along," Naruto said, a mischievous smile crossing his face.

Reluctantly, the two shinobi turned around so that their backs were facing the other three. Kira sighed. It wasn't like this really affected her level of sight anyway. She "watched" as Naruto went over to the Kazekage's desk and picked up two objects. She was too far away, so her mist couldn't tell her what was in his hands. However, given what had happened that morning, Kira had a pretty good idea what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, Naruto reeled back both his arms and flung something at them. At once, the mist surrounding her centered on the object coming towards her and stopped it mid-air. Next to her, Gaara's sand seemed to have blocked the one coming at him. The two of them turned around and sent a questioning look to the blonde.

"See! Told you so!" He exclaimed to the two older sand siblings, both of which had their mouths open in astonishment.

"Naruto, what was the purpose of throwing my paperweights at us?" Gaara asked calmly.

Naruto shrugged, "Just pointing out that you two are almost the same with those shield thingies. Except Kira-chan has water and you have sand."

Kira shook her head, "There are more differences then that Naruto-san. The Kazekage's shield reacts automatically to any danger that comes near it, regardless of the will of its master. Mine, on the other hand, only reacts to my will. I cannot have it react before the danger enters my range."

Naruto nodded sagely and Kira knew she'd have to re-explain it all later. He only looked like that when he was completely confused but wanted to look smart.

"What do you mean range?" Kankuro asked.

Kira inclined her head in his direction, "I am blind. The water allows me a form of sight. And as you are well aware of, there is not much humidity to be found here. I've had to create a sphere of water around me in order to "see" more than just people, animals, and food."

"Whoa, wait a second! You're blind? Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Yes, Kankuro-san, I'm blind. The Kazekage should have been informed of this already."

Gaara looked over to her and studied her features for a moment, "I was. I just didn't feel the need to inform them on this matter."

Kira nodded. Temari looked the girl over with a new respect. It was one thing to be able to beat two opponents in less than a minute, but to do it while having a handicap like that took real skill.

"Now if you are done, Naruto," Gaara said as he sat back down at his desk, "Let's get back to the matter at hand. The reason I have asked you to come to Suna."

Itadakimasu- Thanks for the food

Ohayo- Good morning

Baka- Idiot

I dedicate this chapter to Haruko Takahashi, Anonymous-C, Itachi-Uchiha-lover, and HalfwayParanoid! :D Your reviews and support continue to give me inspiration! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please read and review to let me know! :)