Disclaimer: I do not own any wrights to Naruto or Shadow Skill. I merely use their characters and themes for entertainment purposes.

In a darkened hallway a man with shoulder length hair slowly walks, on each side of him there are dozens of prison cells with several people in each one. The man is not phased by the sight one bit, for he has seen it many times as he has walked down this hall many times before. The man reaches the end of the hall and opens the door to a darkened room. Inside the room another man with hair down to his mid back sits on an ornate chair. The man with shoulder length hair approaches the other and drops to one knee. "Orochimaru-sama our spies say that Sasuke-kun has left the village. His Anbu Team along with another one have been sent to Canyon Country to investigate your former associates."

"I grow tired of waiting for my Sharingan, Kabuto," Orochimaru said, "The longer I am forced to wait the more powerful he becomes. There may be too much risk to attack him soon."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said.

"Has there been any information about the new abilities of his Sharingan?" Orochimaru asked. Ever since he had been informed about Sasuke's new level to the Sharingan he had become even more interested. This level was reportedly different from the Mangekeyou Sharingan that Itachi possessed, and if had different abilities or was perhaps stronger he wanted to know.

"I am afraid not Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto reluctantly said, "Our spies have not been able to get close enough to him to witness any of the abilities."

Orochimaru slowly sat back in his chair to think. Any shinobi worth any skill knows not to enter combat with out as much information about the target as possible. With knowing that Sasuke's new level of Sharingan different from Itachi's it was unknown just how strong it was. In fact Orochimaru was beginning to wonder which would be the strongest. That was when he had flash of inspiration, "Kabuto, what do our spies say about the movements of Akatsuki?"

Kabuto was taken back by that question. Of all the questions he thought the Snake Sannin would ask, Kabuto never thought he would ask that one, "The Akatsuki? Are you thinking of…"

"Just tell me!" Orochimaru said sternly.

Kabuto flinched for a moment, "Our spies access to the movements of Akatsuki are limited at best, but they say they are moving forward with their plans. And are currently around Canyon Country."

"And do they know if Itachi is in the region?" Orochimaru asked.

"Apparently not," Kabuto said, "He has not been spotted by our spies in the area."

"Then we must make sure we keep an eye out for him then," Orochimaru smiled.

"May I ask why Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto said letting his curiosity show.

"Kukuku," Orochimaru laughed, "If we let the information slip on the location of Itachi, Sasuke-kun will follow him and try to kill him. And even if one brother kills the other, then that one will be exhausted…" Orochimaru stopped with a smirk on his face.

"Allowing us to capture the survivor," Kabuto finished. "But what if both are killed?"

"Once I know where they are going I will go myself and make sure that does not happen," Orochimaru said. "Now what about my old sensei?"

"The Third Hokage was last reported to be still in Suna," Kabuto answered. "Our spies say that his guards have increased recently. And that his guards include some of the strongest Jounins from Konoha."

"Are the new Sound Four ready?" Orochimaru asked.

"They are still adjusting to the next level of Curse Seals," Kabuto said.

"Then I will wait," Orochimaru said.

In a small hotel room a teenage Jounin sat looking out at the sky. The village he was currently in was very different from his home village. There were no trees and everything was covered in sand. The buildings were designed for desert and thus looked all rather uniform in sight. In fact the first night he got lost on his way to the hotel simply because all the buildings he passed were looked just alike. Ever since he arrived the young Jounin was having trouble sleeping. Not because of nightmares or restlessness, but because a person was on his mind. Another young Jounin about his age that he saw when his team met with the Kazekage, he sensed a powerful presence from him and something somewhat familiar. He just could not place were from. "Naruto," a voice called to the young Jounin. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Naruto turned to voice and saw the Third Hokage standing in his open door, "A little Old Man," Naruto replied, "There is something about that Jounin Garra that has me thinking."

"Yes I understand," the Third said, "He has rather peculiar chakra signature. And he appears to be holding the majority of it back."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. Looking out the window once more Naruto noticed it was a new moon and with no light from it the stars looked even brighter. "I think I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head."

"Very well," the Third said, "Just stay close to the hotel. We were given permission to wander the village but I doubt our host would like a Konoha Shinobi out at night." Naruto nodded and walked past the former head Shinobi of Konoha.

Naruto did not really want to go very far. In fact all he wanted was a better view of the stars. So as soon as he exited the hotel he made his way to the roof. Once there he sat on the edge and lost himself in gazing at the heavens. Naruto was brought out of his gazing when he sensed a strong chakra signature approaching. He felt no aggression in the signature so he just waited patiently for it to come. When it was less than three meters a monotone voice spoke, "You are different from the others."

"So are you," Naruto said. He turned to his visitor, "I am Uzumaki Naruto."

"Garra of the Desert," Garra replied.

Garra moved closer for a moment and Naruto stood up. They were now less than a meter apart each staring into the others eyes down to each other's soul. What they saw was a mirror image of past pain. Finally Naruto broke the stare and looked up, "I prefer when the moon is full."

"I prefer when there is no moon," Garra said, "I can sleep better."

"When did it end?" Naruto asked.

"Not long ago," Garra answered, "You?"

"A couple of years ago," Naruto answered, "But I was forced to leave. When I was gone I helped to know there was people waiting back home.

Garra nodded thinking about when he had to leave his home. He was becoming more and more unstable and people feared to be within a kilometer of him. His father, the Kazekage at the time, was planning his latest and most dangerous assignation attempt yet…

The Kazekage was addressing his children's Jounin sensei Baki about the development of their skills. "How are they progressing?"

"Very well Kazekage-sama," Baki replied, "Kankuro is now able to effectively use two of his puppets in combat and is quickly learning to use his third as well. Temari is getting used to her new fan and is continueing to learn use it as a long and close range weapon."

"And what of Garra?" the Kazekage asked.

"He is becoming more erratic I am afraid," Baki said. "The A Rank and B Rank missions do not appear to be appeasing him."

"Leave, I have work to do," the Kazekage ordered. Baki bowed and left him alone. Once Baki was gone the Kazekage spoke again, "He is becoming too much a liability, he is too dangerous to keep as a weapon and must be dealt with."

"Yes but how will we get past his ultimate defense?" a Sand Jounin said coming out the shadows. "Many have tried but nothing can get passed it."

"That is because up until now I have merely been testing its strength," the Kazekage said. "Even my weak brother in law was just a test." He went to his shelf and took out the Suna Forbidden Seals Scroll, "In here is a way to make the Demon sleep for a few minutes. That will be enough time for you and the others to kill him." The Jounin smirked and took the scroll and left the Kazekage's office. Little did they know that another was listening in.

In their private training area the Kazekage's children were practicing their jutsus, well Temari and Kankuro were and Garra was passively watching them both. His gaze always made his siblings nervous and today was no different. Just as Kankuro was about to begin another round of trying to control all of his puppets six Jounins surrounded the three. "What's going on?" Kankuro asked.

"None of your concern!" the lead Jounin said. He and the others began a long series of hand seals before slamming their hands into the ground saying, "Youma Forced Sleep no Jutsu!"

For a moment it seemed that nothing happened. But everyone knew something was not right, it was then they noticed Garra's gourd began to dissolve. Everyone had a surprise look on their face, but none more so then Garra. It came as an even greater shock when one of the Jounins threw a single kunai at him and the sand did not block it and struck him. "Look the demon is suppressed!" one of the Jounins said, "Now kill him before it wakes up again."

For the first time in Garra's life he was afraid. He had been hurt because his sand did not protect him. He was so afraid that he was not aware of anything until he felt blood slashed on his face. When he came around he saw Temari standing over him with a sword through her shoulder and a face of agony. Once again he was shocked but could only ask, "Why?"

Tamari gave him a pained smile saying, "Because…brothers and sisters…are supposed to look out for one another. Even …from their…fathers."

It was this act and these words that changed Garra's life. By the time Baki had arrived the jutsu had worn off and Garra made quick work of the Jounins. When he arrived he apologized for not coming sooner and promised to take care of Temari after Garra said he needed to go away for a while, leaving his team in the middle of the training area…

Naruto ended Garra's thoughts when he said, "I need to get back to my team. I was interesting meeting you Garra." Garra gave a nod in reply as Naruto left him alone.

When Naruto returned to the hotel he noticed the Hokage was still up. When he came in the Third asked, "Did you speak with Garra?"

"Yes," Naruto answered, "And I think I know why he feels stronger than the others."

"Oh and what is that?" the Third asked.

"I believe he may have a vessel for a Tailed Beast," Naruto answered.

"And why do you think that?" Kakashi asked coming in the room.

"His chakra is like what mine used to be," Naruto replied, "Human mixed with demon."

Out in Canyon Country nine people streaked across the landscape. They were all wearing masks; but while eight were wearing various animal masks, one was wearing a mask with nothing but some paint on it. Also traveling with the group was a dog that was leading with the painted masked person. Suddenly the dog came to a stop soon follow by the group of people. "What is it Kiba?" one with a panther mask on asked.

"Akamaru says he smells traces of some very powerful chakra," the one with paint on his mask. "I think were are close."

"Which way is it coming from?" One with a dragon mask asked.

Kiba turned to his dog and the dog barked in response, "He says it is just over the next ridge."

"Okay," the dragon masked shinobi said, "We are not sure what we can expect so keep alert. Sasuke take your team and scout around to the left. We'll go to the right, Kiba you're with us."

The group gave a silent nod and spit up. As Sasuke's team rounded up the left side of the left side of the ridge, what they found totally shocked them. On top of the ridge there were signs of a battle, but this battle was fought on massive scale. It seemed to go on for miles in the damage that was caused. There were deep gashes in solid stone several meters in length, impact craters a dozen meters across, the few plants that were still designable were half burn or still burning. All in all it looked like a natural disaster came through the area, and considering the power of a Tailed Beast that was not as far from the truth as some might think. "This is like a Sannin battle, only much worse," one with a monkey mask commented.

"What was that?" one with a deer mask asked.

"As you know I'm new to the Anbu Squads and was a Chunin before now," the monkey mask said, "During the war I was under Jiraiya-sama's command. When we arrived to help Tsunade-sama, I saw her summon the slug boss and Jiraiya summoned the toad boss. The destruction those two creatures made was just like this. And I'll tell you the kind of power displayed by them was rather frightening."

"More freighting then you think," Sasuke said, "I know the kind of power a boss summon can make, I've done it myself a couple of times." The two that were a part of Sasuke's original team remember when he summoned the dog boss to help with a desperate mission once and nodded in agreement, "Before we left I summoned one him to ask about the Tailed Beasts. He said that only the bosses of the snakes, slugs, and toads could match the power of the Tailed Beasts, and that was only the weakest of them. If we go by the number of tails as an indication of power then we can assume the Four Tailed Wolf is only at the middle range in strength."

"Then what kind of men could bring down such a force," the deer masked Anbu said.

"Men like my brother and his associates," Sasuke said. Silence washed over the squad for a moment before ordered, "Spread out and search for anything that might be useful."

"Yes Sir," the rest responded and jumped away.

After a half an hour of searching Sasuke's Anbu squad rejoined together. And soon after the other squad showed. When everyone was together the one with the dragon mask asked, "Did your team find anything?"

"No Daisuke," Sasuke said, "Only more scarred land."

"Well we found something," Daisuke said.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"We found a Sound-nin's body of all things," he answered.

"What were the Sound doing here?" the monkey masked Anbu wondered.

"Probably the same thing we are," Daisuke replied, "Following Akatsuki. And apparently one either got caught or caught up in the battle."

"We should take the body back with us," Kiba suggested, "Some Missing-nins have been known to join Sound, and we might learn something from the body."

"Agreed," Daisuke said, "Let's go back to the body."

Back in Konoha Hinata was working at the hospital when Sakura came in practically carrying a slumped over Gai on her left shoulder. Hinata immediately went to her friend and the ailing Jounin. "What happened Sakura-san?" Hinata asked

"It appears Gai thinks Kakashi was selected over him for mission to Suna," Sakura said handing over Gai to a nurse. "So he decided to train, unfortunately Gai has been training since they left, non stop."

"I SHALL BEAT MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Gai shouted.

"This is a hospital!" the nurse attending to him said, "Keep your voice down!"

"I found him passed out at the training area," Sakura continued.

Hinata took a glance at the loud Jounin and scanned him with her Byakugan. She then turned to the nurse, "He is just merely exhausted, put him to bed and don't let up for at least another two days."

"I MUST TRAIN IN ORDER TO BEAT…" Gai started but was cut off when Tsunade came in and hit a pressure point to make him fall asleep.

"Take him to the sound proof room," she told the nurse.

"Yes Hokage-sama," the nurse said before dragging the unconscious Gai down the hall.

Tsunade then turned to the young Medic and Jounin, "I'm glad I was able to catch both of you. I need to tell you that the village will be requiring your skills for the next few months. Hinata you are one of the best Medics in the village and Sakura you are one of the best newest Jounins. That means that you will probably be sent out at a moments notice and into heavy fighting."

Sakura was the one that spoke for the two, "We are aware that Hokage-sama. We are not strangers to danger."

"Good," Tsunade said, "In that case you both have a B-Rank mission in the morning. Even with the new orders we must fulfill our obligations to our clients."

"We will report to the administration office in the morning Hokage-sama," Hinata said. "Now I must return to my duties." Hinata bowed and left to finish her rounds.