Chapter 47: Leaves in the Breeze

They made good time, impressive time actually, in their trek from the Leaf to the Sand. It made Tenzo appreciate the student he was given and the gifts the boy had, the jounin had little idea as to what he would do if he was building up a shinobi from scratch. The only frame of reference Tenzo had to the development of the youth was Danzo's methods which were…less than ideal.

Naruto had the stamina to keep pace with him all through the day as they sprinted out of the village's gates. With an employer, they would've had a full fortnight of travel ahead of them/ With a genin squad, 10 days would be necessary when one accounted for the travel under the desert sun. In the Anbu, Tenzo and his peers would make that trip through a single 48-stint of travel through the days and nights. Rigorous, taxing, but it could be done and it was done. With Naruto, and taking the body's need for rest, they were set to make it to the entrance of the Land of Wind's shinobi village on the morning of the fourth day. But what was more impressive was Naruto's dedication to his training after a day of travel.

Each night, when camp was set, fires were burning, and food was prepared, Naruto was training himself with the jutsu his teachers set for him to learn. The scroll that Kakashi passed to Tenzo, a scroll that contained a Forbidden Jutsu of the Leaf, was learned within the first night of their travel. Much like the process taken with learning the Gale Palm, Tenzo gave Naruto the scroll and through only a few readings and practice attempts, the technique was learned. It was truly remarkable for the jounin to watch, like watching a prodigy work, except this boy was never lauded as such.

Sure, the technique given to the boy to learn wasn't the most rigorous to learn. It was a B-ranked clone jutsu, but one that was demanding, and even lethal, for the average shinobi to use. The Shadow Clone was one of the many products of the Second Hokage's ingenuity when it came to the nature of chakra and its manipulation. The Shadow Clone, as opposed to the standard Academy Clone Jutsu, was a physical clone in every sense, not a mere illusion. The user would sacrifice a lump sum of their chakra to make a perfect clone of themselves that retained the user's abilities and thoughts completely. This clone was an extension of the user, going so far as to have access to its own chakra reserves, depths given at the user's discretion, and, most importantly, the clone would transfer its memories to the user once it was dispelled.

This fact was the most important fact of all for Tenzo's mission that extended outside of the initial request. This fact was what made Kakashi intent on sharing a Forbidden Jutsu with a chunin, and it was also part of the reason the technique was so dangerous. Not only did the Shadow Clone technique have a risk of killing the user from its chakra demands, but the stress caused by the transferring of memories, or the potential risks of many different lines of memory transferring all at once could cause so much stress to the user's brain that they could be catatonic or worse should they use the technique with a modicum of respect.

Those warnings were the first words out of Tenzo's mouth after his apprentice mastered the technique only a couple of hours after he opened the scroll passed along from Kakashi. It was imperative that the boy understood the risks and he didn't overextend himself for the sake of using a recently learned technique. Luckily, there was little push back from the boy. The only questions he received were merely concerns of why he was to learn such a technique, especially if it was so dangerous.

Tenzo decided to save that for when their true mission began, and instead nudged the young Jinchuuriki to work on the Rasengan now that the Shadow Clone was learned so swiftly. And so, with that brief dismissal, the blonde nodded his head and the flaming ink marks that lined the Forbidden Jutsu's scroll burned from black to a bright orange and the scroll burst into fire. The knowledge of the secret technique being lost to embers and smoke just as was designed.

Naruto's uncanny ability to grasp concepts from scrolls made it a much more comfortable entrance into the Village Hidden in the Sand. It made it easier for Tenzo to plan their movements once they departed from the Sand to conduct their business, however the first hurdle was getting there. Foolish was the man that looked past the issue at hand.

He and Naruto were led through the village by a pair of Sand shinobi, likely chunin due to their age and flak jackets, and Tenzo watched Naruto's eyes flit around his surroundings like a fly buzzing around shit. Tenzo, in his time within the black ops groups of the Leaf, has seen the inside of every shinobi village in the country, outside of the Hidden Waterfall Village. Naruto, however, was experiencing a brand new environment that was to be held to the same standard as their home and his curiosity was palpable.

Tenzo himself couldn't help but let his own eyes wander a bit as he inspected the state of the village. There have been a few convoys of supplies that have made it from one village to the other in the short alliance between Leaf and Sand, and according to all the previous reports, Tenzo could only notice the slight improvement of the village that they walked within. The aid the Leaf sent was not something that could be used to replace or push aside the years of neglect the citizens of the Sand have experienced, nor the struggles that they were forced to face. However, it was clear that there was an overall change in morale in those that they walked past. None of the civilians that he walked by were in any kind of dire shape. It was clear that many clothes were replaced with newer threads, empty stomachs and dry throats were filled and hydrated, and the worriment that came with starvation, the fear of dying in such a state, was relieved significantly. Tenzo wouldn't act as if he were the expert on the stability of the Sand through the years, but there was no longer an immediate feeling of impending collapse when he searched the faces of the civilians.

That being said, he was not naive enough to believe that this could be sustained improvement without further actions, but that was why they were called here in the first place.

The pair of Sand chunin led them to a large, spherical building that sported a massive symbol for "Wind" on its face, a building one could only guess was the cousin of the Hokage Tower. Tenzo entered the building with Naruto only a step behind him as they approached the desk that sat just before a doorway that expanded into a massive room. At the desk was a woman in the same fatigues as the chunin that led them here, she boasted a long ponytail of thick balck hair that flowed down her back. Her dark brown eyes caught sight of them immediately and she forewent whatever she was focused on earlier to receive Tenzo and his little apprentice.

"May I help you?" The woman spoke with an even voice, her eyes glancing between Tenzo and Naruto more than a few times with an air of caution. The jounin was surprised to see this, not because he was bothered by the suspicion, but because he knew that they weren't the first Leaf team to start these joint jobs with the Sand shinobi. Surely she wouldn't have the harshest grudge on the Leaf, as she was likely younger than Tenzo himself by a few years, far too young to remember the harshest grudges between the two powers. Odd, to say the least.

Still, Tenzo removed the mission scroll from his flak jacket and passed it to the woman with a small smile to help ease tensions. Though there was no budge in her sun-kissed face.

"We are here for a joint mission that is set in the northeastern portion of the Land of Wind. There is talk of trouble with the trading towns near your border." Tenzo tried to be a bit more open than he would usually be, there was little hope in starting off cooperation jobs with not even cracking the receptionist. However, his words only seemed to unsettle the woman more as she glanced back at him and Naruto one last time before nodding.

"You may enter." Those were the final words spoken between them as the girls went back to work with clear dismissal. Tenzo looked toward Naruto, only receiving a raised eyebrow to show his own confusion, and with a shake of his head the jounin nudged his student through the threshold of the large room just past the desk.

The room seemed to be the majority of the building itself. An assembly room that was spherical, just as the structure was, and had ceilings that rose high enough to leave little space for much else in the building. For the most part, the room was empty aside from an arced table that would infer some kind of board or council seat, but all seats were empty aside from one at the very center of the table. The head of the table held the Kazekage himself, sitting in silence wearing his traditional robes as he looked at the pair of shinobi that stood just in front of him. Tenzo recognized both shinobi immediately, as they were both present during the exams that were held only months ago.

However, that did not bring comfort to Tenzo, and based on the stiffening of the boy at his side, Naruto was much of the same mind.

"We have been expecting you and your apprentice, jounin Tenzo." Rasa spoke first, his voice echoing through the large room. With his words came recognition of the two Sand shinobi that had their backs to him and Naruto, making them both turn at their entrance. Tenzo was more than comfortable with the Sand Jounin joining them on this mission, the man was highly spoken of as a well-accomplished practitioner of Wind Release. The boy at his side, however, could be an issue.

The blood red hair and light-green eyes of the Sand Jinchuuriki were easily recognizable, as was the boy's clear fixation on Naruto.

"I am honored to be of service, Lord Kazekage." Tenzo said, remembering his manners in the presence of a Kage as Tenzo and Naruto stood in line with the pair of Sand shinobi. Gaara's eyes never left Naruto, or vice-versa, making for a tense air to build between the two of them.

"It is I that should be honored. Your Fifth Hokage has granted a large concession by allowing our Jinchuuriki to work with your own. It is a gamble that most wouldn't bother with, but for the sake of our village's cooperation he has done so." Rasa's voice, though speaking words of gratitude, was not any less stern than it usually was. No warmth filtered through his thanks, not did his face appear any less made of stone. "Though, I must ask, with the warning of this Akatsuki group, why would your Kage be so loose with such an asset."

Immediately, only seconds into the conversation, Tenzo was far out of his depth. The weight of such a question was meant for a Kage or someone closely involved with politicking. Of which, Tenzo was neither and had no place to be. With a slight tightening of his jaw, Tenzo thought about his own response. He knew of Kakashi's reasonings, there was logic to move Naruto to places none would expect him to be to remove the boy out of the Akatsuki's immediate view, but that wasn't his information to give.

"I cannot say, Lord Kazekage. I am only here to do the job assigned to me and my apprentice." Tenzo replied, and from the slightest tightening of the Kage's brow, the man knew Tenzo's withholding immediately. Luckily, though, none was made of it as Rasa only nodded and looked to the tabletop and whatever page sat before him.

"Very well, I believe it is time to discuss the parameters with the assigned teams together. I am sure your Hokage relayed what this mission pertained to, however it would be pertinent to ensure both halves of this squad were in mutual understanding." Rasa began , straightening more in his seat as he picked up the paper that was on the desk and read from it to the quartet that stood in silence in front of him. "The trading station village of Fuurin has been ravaged, but there is little information as to what or why this happened. Investigate and report, that is the extent of this mission, however should you encounter the perpetrator do not hesitate to take action. Is that understood?"

Both Tenzo and Baki answered in the affirmative and took it upon themselves to bow at the orders of the Kage. The pair of Jinchuuriki, however, made no notions to move outside of their silent, but oddly tense, stares at one another. Tenzo didn't expect Naruto to lash out, he's spent enough time with the boy to trust that he wouldn't do something so careless without reason. Gaara, on the other hand, was someone he was less than familiar with and more than a little wary of. A boy doesn't simply accept a Tail-Beast and then drop that connection so simply. Volatile didn't quite touch any interactions with the boy.

However, the Hokage assured him that this was the proper choice, and so Tenzo would see to it that things went smoothly.

Rasa dismissed the two pairs of shinobi, but the four didn't separate as they exited the large room. Tenzo made silent eye contact with the Sand jounin next to him, and with the wordless indication toward the Jinchuuriki, they both understood that it was best to sort out everything before their mission started. Negligence, it would be to exit a village with their students at each other's throat. So, the four walked back through the entrance of the large domed building with the goal to handle the silent sparring the boys were having. As they left the building, however, Tenzo saw the receptionist keep a keen, fearful eye on Gaara as they walked passed. Unblinkingly watching the short boy pass without so much as a word spoken.

"Fear of their Jinchuuriki is potent here, not simply the derision and hate that Naruto receives. Rather a true fear of what the boy could or would do." Tenzo mused, but his musing was not a newfound observation. The Monster of the Sand was the title that followed Gaara for years, making it across the desert and to many ears across the continent. Even with Rasa stepping in on the boy's behavior directly, it seems the rest of the village is still more than a little wary.

They stopped only a few yards outside of the large building, standing essentially in the middle of a large road that ran through the heart of the village. All the while, no words were spoken and the two younger shinobi seemed more than content silently deliberating between themselves whether or not a scuffle would break out. Tenzo, gifted with a bloodline that was more than capable of keeping things controlled between the two, was more than comfortable breaking through whatever walls stood between them.

"Is there something we should be worried about? Perhaps a field we should find to sort things out before we start the mission?" Tenzo targeted his words at Naruto, knowing that the boy would at least grant him some kind of response, especially through the painfully dry tone that Tenzo spoke with. Naruto, with some hesitancy, turned his blue eyes from Gaara and looked up at him with a furrowed brow and a wrinkled nose.

"Ask him. He said we would finish things next time we met. I'm waiting for him to do something." Naruto told him, speaking as if he were stupid to do anything other than what he already was. With that short explanation, Naruto turned back to Gaara. There was a brief refrain of silence, Baki not joining the conversation as he looked to his pupil as if he expected some form of response from the odd boy.

"I have yet to discover whether you are right or wrong, Uzumaki. I've waited for Temari and Kankuro to return, but I don't know when that will be." Gaara said, his voice rasping harshly as he spoke from some sort of damage or simply disuse. The light green eyes then turned to meet his own, though there was no change in facial expression. "There will be no fighting, I have no purpose to prove with Naruto Uzumaki."

Tenzo, not fully understanding Gaara's meaning, found solace only when Baki gave him a shallow nod in reassurance. They wouldn't have any issues, though that was not a promise that he would hold them to. Gaara was unstable, by all accounts, and it wouldn't be far-fetched to hear that the boy changed his mind halfway through their duties. So, even with this small reassurance, Tenzo would keep his eye close on the short boy.

There was no more lingering between the quartet in front of the Kazekage's building, rather they split up to gather themselves before they departed first thing in the morning. Tenzo and Naruto traveled the last few days, and so it was a given that they would be granted a night to recover, but that was not all that they needed to accomplish. Before retreating into a hotel room for the night, Tenzo led Naruto into the marketing district of the Sand Village and purchased them both clothes that were more suitable for the harsh rays that fell onto them. Sure, for a few days of travel at high speeds, the clothes they were already fashioned with were suitable. However, on a mission that would take them into the desert for an unknown amount of time meant that they needed to be better equipped. At least as best as they could be.

It wasn't a drastic change, but the thick sweats that made up the traditional fatigues for the Leaf chunin and jounin were less than ideal for their needs. Granted, thick was an overstatement in most cases, the fabrics doing well to be breathable in the summers of the Land of Fire, but even in what was supposed to be the start of autumn, the Sun of the desert was lethal. Tenzo was sure to purchase a suitable number of replacement clothes that were of much more breathable material. Threads that could catch the gusting winds of the Land of Wind, colored just off-white and loosely hanging off their bodies, replaced the navy sweats that both he and Naruto usually wore. Their flak jackets remained, but as Tenzo stuffed the bottoms of his loose near-white pants into the tops of his sandals, the refreshment of cooler air was already felt.

After they replaced their clothes to better suit themselves in a foreign land that they weren't acclimated to, Naruto and Tenzo found themselves a room for the both of them. Separate lodging was unnecessary for a single night, and the both of them were content in sitting quietly within the small apartment until they needed to turn in for the night. Tenzo spent his time reading through the pair of missions he was given by his Kage, both the mission the Kazekage assigned in the domed building and the additional one that required Naruto's learning of the Shadow Clone. What was asked of them would be risky, clones or not, and it made Tenzo more than a little on edge in how to approach it. His internal musings were disrupted, however, by the steady humming that would come from the Blonde's hands on the cough ahead of him.

While Tenzo planned their next moves, Naruto held his right hand, fingers clenching, as he focused on the chakra spinning within the space above it. In breaks the of his mental exercising, Tenzo would watch the formation of swirling chakra, something that was already stronger in the few days Naruto has been working on it, but as the chakra would spin faster and more aggressively, the boy's grip on it would shake and lessen until he halted all the chakra and it disappeared back into nothingness. Each time, Naruto would stop his attempts in a huff of personal annoyance, grumblings, and numerous sighs before he fell into it once again. The jounin wanted to suggest that Naruto should follow through with the technique despite his shakiness, but that would go against Jiraiya's teaching strategy as well as cause a substantial chance for their rented room to be destroyed. Jutsu rebounds could get violent, especially with such precise chakra control.

Fortunately, Naruto never did push the chakra too far and dig into Tenzo's pockets deeper than what was necessary. When they woke the following morning, the Sun had yet to rise and the desert was still covered in its nightly chill, making it a comfortable trek to the entrance of the village. When they arrived, Tenzo was surprised to see that their associates had yet to arrive, and so both he and Naruto were forced to wait patiently with the Sand's entrance guards in silence. Though, in realizing that they were early, Naruto's reaction to not arriving last was enough entertainment to carry Tenzo through the short wait for Baki and Gaara to approach.

"Apologies, my friends. Lord Kazekage called me for some words before our departure. All is well and we can be on our way." Baki said as a greeting, his tone cordial and his face, the half that was visible, was at least somewhat welcoming. It made for a good indication that there shouldn't be much issues between them as professionals at the very least.

"By your leave, Baki. Naruto and I are less than familiar with the Land of Wind. You'll have to lead us to our destination." Tenzo replied, allowing Baki to take point as the man looked out across the vast expanse of sand that lay before them. An arm was raised and stretched forward in some unknown direction, seemingly a reasonably distant degree north of the path back to the Leaf.

"That is where we are headed, not far removed from the borders of the Land of Claws and the Land of Rain. Fuurin is one of the many settlements within the Land of Wind that were established solely because it was a well traveled path for merchants and traders. It is only a couple days of hard travel away, should we be hasty." The Sand jounin explained to them, but it was the geography that Tenzo was clued in on more than anything.

"We will have to wait until we are almost upon our target before we can move onto the other assignment." Tenzo reasoned, thinking of the best way to depart from their group. They would already be positioned near the border, and with the use of clones, clones that can retain memories to the user, they would be able to travel most of the way on their own. However, they were to do so without raising suspicion of the Sand.

Lord Fifth, along with assigning the mission with the Sand Village, gave orders for Tenzo to take Naruto and investigate the borders near the Land of Earth. Those borders were merely on the opposite side of the Land of Claws and the Land of Rain, but the issue wasn't the location of the lands themselves. The Stone Village, the shinobi of the Land of Earth, would be commonplace where they would be traveling and they would need to keep their stealth to the highest degrees if they were going to return any information to the Leaf without getting discovered. The point of using clones that held their memories was that they wouldn't have to worry about the consequences of being caught, however that could very well be at the very moment Naruto and he crossed the threshold outside of the Land of Wind.

With Baki at the helm, the passage through the harsh desert was a simple one. There were no worries of losing a path in the sand or being turned around by the tall dunes that rolled over the land. Resource preservation was a science, not a break or tug of a canteen was taken hastily or without care. There was a sense of relief within Tenzo for Baki's full acceptance of taking the lead on their mission. One would assume that such responsibility was the standard, that it was only natural for the superior shinobi that was native to the land they worked in to take control of the squad, however that was not a promised outcome. With the Sand and Leaf, there was new ground being broken for the sake of their alliance and joint missions were not a finely described process. There could have just as easily been a shinobi of a similar pedigree that left both he and Naruto behind to perform the mission on their own terms, be it out of pride or revenge for past grudges between their villages. They had no such issues.

When they stopped for the night, finding a bed of sand away from the main trails, there was no tension between the two pairs of shinobi. They ate in relative silence, not much conversation outside of the standard field talk between the two jounin. Naruto, by nature, didn't speak up around those he wasn't familiar with and Gaara turned out to be much the same, keeping the group in a settled silence at most points. Or, that was the case, at least until Naruto started his nightly training.

They sat together yet, around a fire that burned and crackled under the mostly dark sky, too early to situate themselves into their sleeping bags but their dining was already over to leave them in a stagnant silence. Out of the corner of his eye, Tenzo watched Naruto sit in a more attentive position in the sand. His back straightened and his chest broadened, an arm extended forward just above his bent knee, and his other gripped it tightly. Both Baki and Gaara watched Naruto with some sense of curiosity, but the boy's intentions were obvious to him. That, however, didn't make him comfortable with it. The technique he was to practice was not one of obscurity, but rather well-known and finely remembered.

Naruto inhaled sharply through his nose as his hand tightened in exertion, the manipulation of raw chakra beginning. Tenzo didn't keep his focus on the boy, he's watched enough of the repetitive practice to know what to expect, but he was more curious of his fellow jounin's reaction. Brown eyes watched the Sand-nin carefully, and in his spying, Tenzo was able to discern exactly when Baki realized the Technique being drilled. The realization came within seconds of the beginning hums of the jutsu and the man's single invisible eye never looked away from Naruto until the hum became disjointed and uneven, only to soon disappear all togeether. A dark brow furrowed and a hard gaze was turned to Tenzo as a number of questions silently filtered through Baki's face.

"What was that Jutsu?" Gaara rasped, his eyes showing an inkling of his own amazement through his usually stoic face. Naruto sounded like he was going to respond to the Sand Jinchuuriki, but he was swiftly interrupted before he could properly begin. Baki's voice came out hard and pointed, the words directed at Tenzo entirely.

"The Rasengan. A technique created by the Fourth Hokage and lost to all once he died. Strange how this boy could know such a thing." Baki ground out, but Tenzo was having trouble distinguishing the frustration in the man's voice. It was no surprise that a village would favor their Jinchuuriki's development enough to share such a thing. It just so happened that Naruto had more than one reason to learn the legendary jutsu. Baki's gaze returned to Naruto briefly, taking a careful eye to the chunin's form. "That jutsu and that hair, some might begin to ask the question–"

"I would stop there, Baki. There is no need to continue such a thought." Tenzo interrupted swiftly, minding his tone to not be too aggressive lest he cause offense. Though it was crucial that such a rumor stays quiet and unheard. Be it obvious or not, the Leaf had a standing rule on Naruto's identity and Lord Fifth was intent on keeping that information away from common knowledge until Naruto was prepared for the consequences of such knowledge. Even Tenzo wouldn't have been informed had he not been within the Hokage's Office where the secret was spoken more readily.

However obvious it seemed, no matter how few were around at the moment, Tenzo would abide by his Hokage's words.

Fortunately, there was no pushback from the Sand jounin and the quartet fell back into silence. The humming of failed Rasengans filled the air, occasional comments from Gaara who had gained both an interest and an itch to talk when the technique was performed made whatever tension that was growing in the air slowly dissipate. However, the searching eye of Baki remained as the man slowly took in all the resemblance between Naruto and the legendary Fourth Hokage. He was not stupid, Tenzo knew that Baki was going to report his suspicions to Rasa immediately upon their return to the Sand, but at least he could say he sidelined such things as well as he could.

The second day of travel went just as the first did, there was little happening around them and less to sprout around them in the heart of a sanded wasteland. However, conversation sprouted between Gaara and Naruto once again, quiet companionship showing between the two Jinchuuriki. It was a stark contrast to Tenzo's expectations of bad blood and renewed vigor, but he supposed that such a change was preferable to the alternative, though his eye was never far from the pair. The Sand Jinchuuriki was still a question mark, and therefore he wouldn't trust the boy with any more space than he deserved.

The longer they traveled the desert sands, the more that stability was to be found under their feet. Tenzo realized how close they were enclosing on the border of the Land of Wind as the sea of sand gave way to harder and harder surfaces under their feet. The soft cushion of free flowing particles was replaced by stone and dead strands of grass that had little chance of true survival. More and more plant life then became regular, bushels of stiff leaves and bright bulbs were more commonplace and by the time the Sun set on them once again, Baki reported the village of Fuurin to be not but a couple short hours away.

Instead of completing the journey, though, it was agreed upon that they would rest now and wake up early to investigate the ravaged town first thing in the morning. If the state of the trading post was so dire, it wouldn't do to walk into such a dangerous spot without light or proper rest. Additionally, Tenzo couldn't let them get too deep into this mission without initiating their secondary mission. So, they followed the same schedule the night before, but as the night became later, the more Tenzo's eyes flitted over to the form of Baki. The Sand jounin couldn't be made aware of any departures or alternative activity, so Tenzo waited for his turn to take watch to make his move.

Naruto wasn't made wholly aware of their duties, and so it was up to Tenzo to get them out of camp properly. His eyes watched Baki's laying form until the man's breathing leveled off into a light sleep, and only then did his hands clasp together as roots danced under through the ground to Naruto's sleeping form. Wood sprouted from the ground quietly and ensnared Naruto, gripping the boy's mouth to refrain from any sound leaking out as the Jinchuuriki was lowered into the ground and taken away from the camp. Tenzo's eyes closed as he fell into deep concentration and when he was sure his student was carried far enough away he let both Naruto and the roots surface once again, following those movements with a set of hand seals. He felt, rather than saw or heard, his surfaced roots join together and form a clone out of the wood and branches. Only when he was sure the clone was properly formed did Tenzo cut his chakra to the roots that gathered under the ground's surface.

The Wood Clone was an interesting technique, just as every aspect of Wood Release. The chakra of the bloodline was manipulated into the elemental nature within the body, and when enough chakra was pushed into a simple technique, such as the Wood Clone, different properties appeared over the traditional clone techniques. The Wood Clone, the clone he just left with Naruto, was much more akin to the Shadow Clone in that it also was able to transfer its memories to the user. Tenzo assumed it was a product of how interconnected the Wood Release was with the carrier of the bloodline, linking the chakra in a way similar to the Second's created Clone Jutsu. With his Wood Clone in a place away from camp, he was sure all the necessary information could be passed to the boy and the blonde would be returned to his original place soon enough.

After the clone was created, Tenzo was forced to regather himself from the energy expenditure such movements required. No matter how adept Tenzo got with the bloodline, it was still unnatural for his body to have, and thus he could never replicate the legends that were spoken of Hashirama Senju. It was said that he, and he alone, was responsible for the dense forestry around the Leaf Village. Tenzo couldn't hope to scrape a faction of such power, the demand of creating a clone from free flowing Wood Release extended only a few dozen yards was taxing enough on his reserves.

When Tenzo regained himself and leveled his breathing, his eyes immediately trained on Baki's sleeping form that looked unmoved from the start of his root manipulations. A sense of relief flowed through the Leaf jounin as he wiped his sweating brow, finally allowing himself to relax for the night. However, before he could sit comfortably, the jounin felt a gaze piercing itself into the back of his head. Eyes trailed back to Baki's still form, then to Naruto's still empty sleeping bag, and then, in a cold wash, Tenzo recalled Gaara's sleeping habits, or lack thereof. The boy was quiet and still, eyes closing in a form of meditation through the night as the container of Shukaku couldn't sleep, but meditation was not what was found when Tenzo looked at the Jinchuuriki.

Light green eyes were piercing into Tenzo's own, the sand around the boy moving ever-so-slightly in a spiral. Tenzo met the gaze and kept it there in silence, hiding whatever unsettling bristles climbed up the Leaf shinobi's back. For whatever reason, Gaara didn't feel the need to report anything to his superior and all the wood-user could do was hold the gaze in hopes that no words would be spoken until Naruto returned.

It could've been minutes or hours, Tenzo had no ideas as to which, but the sounders of moving dirt introduced Naruto back into their camp with roots crawling out of the ground and quickly returning. Gaara broke their eye contact, choosing to acknowledge Naruto's return, and, for whatever the reason, the blonde's return was enough for Gaara to close his eyes once again without making a peep. Tenzo inspected the boy a little longer, only pulling his focus away when he was sure all was clear. Curious, and worried, blue eyes were disregarded with a shake of the head and Tenzo continued the rest of his watch in relative peace.

Both missions had officially begun, hopefully the hardest parts of the completion of these missions were behind them. Recon and village investigation tended to be basic and lackluster.

Surely there was no reason to worry over the days that sat immediately ahead of them.


Three of three, all three of the happenings have been introduced. Next we will be shifting focus back to Sasuke's point of view. It seems the more I write in this little section of the story, the more I need to cover. At first there was only going to be two chapters for each portion, but that is quickly looking to be a steep undersell.