The Reason to Fight Chapter 4: Scroll 04: The Evacuation of the Sands, a naruto fanfic

Scroll 04: The Evacuation of the Sands

Kozueran watched as Naruto's body went limp and fell to the ground. The blonde's eyes were half closed and blank. It looked like his soul had left his body.

"Wakaya," she called.

A wavy black haired boy appeared behind her.

"Yes?"

"Take him to his friends," ordered her.

"Yes, mother," he replied as he went to Naruto and threw one of the blonde's hand over his shoulders with one of his hand holding Naruto's waist to support him.

.oOoOo.

"Sakura-san!"

Sakura turned to the voice who called her. A blue haired girl was running to her.

"Oh, it's you, Hinata. What's the matter? You looked miserable…" said Sakura as Hinata stopped and sighed.

"Finally I found you. Did you see Naruto?" asked Hinata with worry clear on her tone and face.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I didn't. Why? Did he forget something? Or did he make another trouble?" asked Sakura with narrowed eyes. She honestly didn't want any trouble to face in this kind of situation.

Hinata shook her head wildly so her hair was waving around. "No, no. He didn't make any trouble."

"So what is it?" asked Sakura.

"Well, you see… I was accompanying him back then when he took a walk. After we reached the bridge you and your team usually met, he told me to not follow him anymore because he was going home. So, we separated. After a while I came to his house to make sure he really reached his house. I found the house isn't that bad because only a little part of it broken so it's livable. But I didn't find him in his house. At first I thought he was taking his dinner at Ichiraku ramen, but I didn't find him there. The owner said he didn't see Naruto too! I know I don't need to worry much about him because he may be home longer than I think, but… I'm still worried," explained the blue haired girl.

Sakura was tore between helping Hinata or not. Tsunade had ordered every medical ninjas available to help the villagers. But… she thought it could wait a moment or two.

"Fine, let's find him," said Sakura.

"Thank you!" Hinata nearly squealed in happiness. Just when they were going to walk, they saw two people. One of them was a similar blonde the other one was a boy with black, short, and wavy black hair. When the boys got closer, the two girls were more than sure that the blonde was Naruto.

"Naruto!" shouted the two of them as they ran towards the boys. The one who supported Naruto looked to them. He had been looking to the ground to make sure Naruto's legs didn't trip his.

"Is he your friend?" he asked as his black eyes observed the two kunoichi.

"Yes. What's happened to him?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know. I just found him laid on the ground and I can't just left him," he didn't lie. He was just ordered to bring this boy to his friends. Whatever happened to him back then only this blonde boy and his mother knew.

"Thank you very much. We are sorry to bother you," said Hinata as she bowed to the boy. After that she went to his side to get Naruto out of the boy's arms. Sakura immediately went to help her. They each took Naruto's arms and put them over their shoulders. Now that Naruto was on their tow, Sakura had a chance to observe the boy. The boy was rather… out of place. His clothes made him looked like that. He wore a black t-shirt with a light gold colored jacket. He rolled the jacket's sleeves so they displayed his arms from the elbow to palm. He wore a pair of white shorts that covered his knees with a grey belt tightened around his waist. His fingerless black gloves covered his palms and most of his wrists. Sakura could see a plate of steel or whatever it was that covered the joint between his fingers and palm. It was too white for a steel and too hard looking for aluminum that was used as the basic material of their forehead protector. His shoes were weird too. Unlike their shoes that revealing their toe fingers and heels, it completely wrapped his legs. And it used laces to make it in a firm position not Velcro buttons. He wore a pair of black socks to match his white shoes which it was rare in Konoha to wear something white for their footwear and black as their socks.

"Is something matter?" asked the boy. Sakura became aware that she was staring — underline this word — intently to him. It was not his fault to feel uncomfortable.

Sakura shook her head. "Nothing. It's just your clothes…" then she shook her head preventing the boy to say his excuse. "Ah, maybe it's the country's newest fashion, sorry to make you uncomfortable…" Konoha was a bit isolated from the cities of fire country so it was an odd thing to see modern clothes.

"Don't worry. I already used to the odd stares everybody is giving me. I have to go back now. Make sure you two take care of him. I don't want to carry him again if he collapsed again. He's a lot heavier than he seemed," said the boy. He paused for a minute before saying, "I don't know Konoha has such pretty and cute girls."

The two girls blushed. They looked like steamed crabs. "W-what?" Sakura managed to stammer while Hinata was too embarrassed to let her voice out.

"Oh man, the female ninjas here are so feminine and good looking. Where in my place the females are good looking but tomboy and have bad tempered…" he sighed. "Ah, enough for ramblings, I should go now. Good-bye!" and he turned and ran through the street. Now that his back was turned, Sakura could see a picture of five pointed star on his jacket's back. It was rare to see someone with a symbol on his clothes' back. Usually only clans that that wore symbol on their back, signaling which clan they were came from. But Sakura never saw a clan with that symbol, either with her own eyes or in books. It might be just his style, judging how weird he looked. Not long, he was out of eyes range.

"What—" Sakura started. "—that boy was trying to pull?" she asked to no one.

"I think… it's his way to say good-bye to girls…" said Hinata. She had never been praised by another male beside Naruto before and now her heart was filled with pink clouds and flower.

"Oy, don't tell me you've smitten to that boy…" said Sakura with a hint of fear in her tone. She didn't need someone that was only staring to the sky, imagining the loved one like she had done before (you know who she imagined: Sasuke). Not now, not in this troublesome situation. Hinata was just looked like a lovesick puppy. And she was the type that fallen in love easily.

"N-no, I'm not!" said Hinata. My love is just for Naruto only! Wait a minute… what did she just think? Then she blushed redder. "B-besides, should we take Naruto to somewhere now?" she decided to change the topic before she exploded like a volcano.

"You're right. Let's take him to Tsunade," said Sakura as she shifted her grip on Naruto.

"Eh? Why to Tsunade?" in Hinata's eyes, Naruto was no more than a sleeping boy.

"Look to his eyes and you'd see what I mean," Sakura ordered.

Hinata looked to Naruto's eyes. They were half closed and blank. Almost soulless. She would think that he was already dead if she couldn't feel the heaving chest and slightly hear the calm breath. And the boy's body, she wasn't sure if it was just her feeling, was being colder and colder. Naruto could be in danger and if they didn't act fast, he could have been worse. Hinata faced Sakura and spoke with silent glance. Sakura nodded and they went to see Tsunade.

.oOoOo.

It was boring. He was only sitting on the bed and stared to the ceiling. To be caged in a room with no more than bed with its pillow and blanket, chair, two doors (one was locked; served as way in and out of the room meanwhile the other one was a simple toilet) was not his favorite thing to do. The window was no more than one round hole with bars. Even without that bars, he still couldn't get out because its size made it passable only by a baby. Well, at least he still got a bed and a toilet. It could have been worse.

He looked to the locked door. He knew there were ANBUs out there, guarding the door, and more outside especially around his room. He was brought to an old but big house at the outskirt of the village. He praised at Tsunade's keen sense. She brought him to this place so when he escaped he wouldn't lay a hand on innocent villagers. She also had been cautious. She had shackled him. With the strongest metal Konoha has. The shackles were tight around his wrist but the chain was loose enough to make him a little bit free when he did his daily activities like eating. And one another fact, the shackles was engraved by special chakra sealing spell so he wouldn't be able to use any destructive jutsu.

But all of that wouldn't and didn't stop him from being sat still like a good child. The chakra sealing spell would do nothing against him. It would do nothing because he wouldn't use ninja techniques that required chakra. He would use his natural talent: the advances of onmyoujitsu. The spell wasn't as strong as the one he usually use to seal a demon or spirit chakra, but enough to make him lose nearly half of his power. But half of his power was more than enough to initiate 'The Shadow of Sun God' skill. With some cunning tricks here and there he would be able to go out without having the guards knew it.

He didn't waste his time. He performed some hand seals and stopped at one. The hand seals were not the ones ninjas used. They were his village's special hand seals. The hand seals wouldn't do many good to ninjas because it only released and control spiritual power. Ninjas' hand seals were the ones who released and control the mixture of spiritual and physical power. And because he only used spiritual power, the chakra sealing spell wouldn't do much to stop this technique.

"Rei's special technique: The Shadow of Sun God," he mumbled softly. After that, his body glow a bit for a moment, and then after the light died his body slumped to the bed with the hand seal still intact.

Outside, on a lucky building that still had its roof, a circle of soft yellow light emerged. From the circle, a yellow liquid emerged slowly but surely. It gracefully shaped a boy's body. After it done, colors quickly came out of it and it became clear who the one it cloned. The clone of the green haired Reikage stared to his hand and moved his fingers as if he was testing his nerve. But actually he wanted to test his control of the clone. The Shadow of Sun God skill was a nearly perfect skill of cloning. It wouldn't vanish with one mere attack like bunshin, kage-bunshin, mizu-bunshin or anything. But because the clone requires half of his soul, when the clone hurt, his true body was hurt too. And this skill only formed one clone. But it had its advantage. No one would able to detect his chakra because he was kind of ghost now. But he still could touch something or somebody and attack it. This skill was similar to Ino's Shintenshin. Rhaera realized that Ino's skill was originated from his village. Shintenshin was a basic requirement to pass the examination from D class to C class.

Rhaera looked around. Well, it was more like smelling, sensing, and hearing around. He found that he was nearby the place where he was caged. Another weakness of this jutsu, it couldn't perform the clone to the place the user wanted to. And the performed clone was always near the place the real body was. "I guess I really did push my luck…" Rhaera sighed mentally. He was already lucky when the Hokage was wise enough to not make him enemy. He had succeeded avoiding his village from making foe and what was the reason he couldn't this time?

"Tsunade-sama!" a voice entered his keen hearing sense. He recognized it as Sakura's voice. He went to the voice source by jumping from roof to roof. Well, it was more like teleporting from roof to roof because without a sight that match Uchihas' they only could see he was disappearing from one roof and appearing on another roof. Finally, he reached his destination. He made his ears and nose to their best and trying to suggest what was happening. He could smell Sakura, Tsunade, Naruto, and that Hyuuga girl whatever her name was (he met her only once and just was told that she was one of the Hyuugas). But there was something weird about Naruto. He could feel it. The blonde's energy was too active to be sleeping but Naruto was not moving. It looked like he was battling in his dream.

"Sakura, I think I told you to…" Tsunade stopped her words when she turned and looked. "What happened to Naruto?" she asked.

"Well, that's why we come to see you. A boy found him and we couldn't figure what's wrong with him. No wounds or disease. He was like in a genjutsu state but I can't be sure enough. Could you help him?" asked Sakura.

Tsunade put her hand under her chin, while her eyes examined Naruto. It was true what Sakura said. No injuries or indication of disease. "I won't promise since even you, my apprentice, having a hard time to figure out what's wrong. But I'll try. Let's go to the tower. I have a special medical lab and room there." Sakura and Hinata were about to ask how a medical lab, room or whatever could exist in a tower that was only used as the place of important people meeting and discussion, where they received their mission, or where ninjas organized the administrations or paperwork when Tsunade answered for them. "The influence of Hokage, I guess…"

Rhaera, who was hearing all the conversation, also wondered what happened to Naruto. A genjutsu like state but it's not definitely a genjutsu state? He had a bad guess about what happened to Naruto and had a bad feeling but he hoped that he was wrong.

Too bad for him, being a Reikage and an onmyouji meant he had good experience, information, and good intuition.

Which it was simpler to say, he ALWAYS right.

And this time, like any other time, his mind and feeling didn't fail him.

Tsunade examined Naruto. It was almost there was nothing wrong. No wounds, no disease, no POISON, and whatever. Oh joy. If Sakura said that he was like under a genjutsu, she would say that Naruto was like an empty shell. Still alive, but didn't have a soul to make it lively. The flow of chakra, she knew by ordered Hinata to examine it, was weird. He was sleeping, but his chakra flow was the one when someone used in battle when performing a jutsu. That was way too impossible. It was acceptable if his chakra was like when he was in conscious state. Tsunade had tried to search this kind of weird condition in the library with help from Sakura and Hinata. But until now, they found nothing helpful. They were too busy and frustrated so they didn't notice Rhaera (who was watching them all the time from the beginning) was battling between helping them or not. But finally, his kind self took over.

"Maybe I could help you."

The females quickly raised their head and saw that Rhaera was sitting on one of the highest bookshelf. Why didn't they recognize him earlier?

Ok. This was careless, crazy, stupidly idiotic, foe making idea. Rhaera scolded himself. But it was no use regretting about what he had done. Just look at the (may be) bright side. He might gain some trust from them by helping them.

"You," the Hokage hissed. "How could you escape?" she asked. But actually she knew what the answer was. HE was a Reikage. And looking at the power show off from Miyabi, it didn't take much to believe that he was more than capable to escape.

"I'm not escaping," said Rhaera honestly.

"But you are here…" said Tsunade.

"I'm not really here. It's my clone that's here," explained Rhaera innocently.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Your clone?"

"Yes. Don't worry. I can't harm you because I can't touch you." He jumped down and suddenly attacked Sakura with his hand. Sakura was surprised and couldn't act. Tsunade and Hinata couldn't act too. But his hand never hurt Sakura. Because the hand went through Sakura's belly like a mere low level genjutsu. Sakura gaped as Rhaera pulled his hand back. "See?"

Of course Rhaera didn't lie. He never lied. It was very unmanly and cowardly to lie. His clone could be hurt and touched, but only in certain conditions. First, he couldn't use much of his power. It was not that he didn't have any remain, but he had to save it. Who knew if a person like Miyabi came again and rampage the village once again? This jutsu requires a lot of chakra and concentration to be perfect. Second, he couldn't attempt it in an unsafe place. No one could guarantee that nobody would kill his real body. Half of his concentration was set to be ready when an enemy attacks. And the last was only a Spirit village's technique and another spirit that could harm him in this state.

"So, are you going to let me examine him or not?" asked Rhaera, snatching the females' attentions.

Tsunade only said, "Uh," because of her shock. Rhaera took that as a yes.

Rhaera didn't bother to open the door that connects the library to the medical lab. He just went through it which made him required thoughts like: "He's really a ghost." But because they couldn't let him alone with Naruto, they followed him.

Rhaera used his power to check Naruto. He put a hand above the blonde's head and soon, his palm glowed with blue chakra. After a moment the glow died and he put his hand to his side. He was silent for a long moment until Tsunade fed up and decided to bring the boy out of his dreamland.

"So tell me what you think…" she thought for a moment before adding, "genius…"

Sakura and Hinata wondered why Tsunade acted cold to Rhaera especially when they heard 'how could you escape' part in the conversation. They had been silent through the conversation, trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, curiosity won.

"Uhm, Tsunade-sama?" asked Sakura.

"Yes?" Tsunade almost spited.

"Why do you… act so cold towards Rhaera? As far as I know, he didn't do anything wrong…" Sakura asked.

Oh shit. She forgot about the girls. They weren't there when she interrogated Rhaera. It was no wonder why they questioned her hostility toward the Reikage.

Tsunade sighed. She figured it would be better to tell the truth. Sooner or later everybody will need to know anyway. "He didn't do anything wrong but…"

"…you believe I have a connection with the culprit. And as far as I know, I am…" Rhaera continued Tsunade's sentence which made him required a glare from the Hokage.

"The culprit? Of what?" asked Hinata.

"The one who made blocks of ice fell on Konoha…" answered Tsunade.

"What? I thought it was only a… weather antic…" commented Sakura. What else could explain something like blocks of ice fell on a tropical zone?

"I would think so if I didn't see the fight he had…" mumbled Tsunade, audible enough to Sakura and Hinata.

"Fight?" asked Hinata.

"Enough about questioning, you could ask her for explanation later. Do you want to know about Naruto's condition or not?" asked Rhaera.

"Sure, go on," replied Tsunade after she gave an eye signal to make the girls wait until this was done.

"As you can see, Naruto is in a soulless like state. In my village, the condition of soulless happens quite often when a person's soul leave his or her body to enter some restricted areas. I won't bother with details since it would take so long. But basically, in my village the souls could return to their body, thanks to our onmyoujitsu skill. But Naruto was different. His soul is never leaving his body. So he's not soulless," explained Rhaera. Tsunade nodded in understand but Sakura and Hinata gawked.

"I'm sorry to bother, but… what are you talking about? I understand about Naruto's condition but what do you mean about onmyoujitsu?" asked Sakura.

Rhaera sighed. "In case you forget, do I need to explain once again about onmyoujitsu?" Rhaera was EVER explained this with details and long examples.

Sakura slammed down her fist to her palm. "OH! That one…"

"I can hardly believe that Tsunade said that you're the smartest girl around…" commented Rhaera bitterly.

Sakura flushed with embarrassment. "Come on! I just forget because things are going hectic because of your people…" she pressed some tone in the 'your' word.

"Sakura! Watch your mouth! He's the leader of the Rei village! In short, he's the Reikage!" hissed Tsunade with warning tone. Did this girl want Konoha to make a foe against these… monsters?

Sakura pointed a finger to Rhaera. "What? He? A kage?"

Tsunade sighed. "Though I don't believe him completely yet, the situation made me."

Rhaera sneered. "It's not my people who did it. It's a traitor. And a traitor does not work under my command."

Sakura had no choice but glared to Rhaera while her inner self shouting: "Just wait until we are alone!" From the start she never really likes the Reikage as a teammate. He was bossy (maybe because he was a leader of a village). And he always was thinking that he was the one who knew more. But sadly, in the truth (Sakura's inner self screamed bloody loud when admitting this) he was.

"So, can I continue?" asked Rhaera, seeing that he won.

"Yes, please," Tsunade threw another warning glare to the girls, hoping they would catch what she meant. Thankfully, they did.

"Naruto isn't soulless. Now there's one question left. Is he under a state of genjutsu? I think he is. But not a usual genjutsu you've encounter," explained Rhaera.

"So what's exactly going on with him?" asked Tsunade becoming impatience.

"He's under the '100 Days of Illusion' jutsu," answered Rhaera.

"What the heck is that?" asked Sakura, letting her inner self control.

"It's an unbreakable genjutsu technique. Last one hundred days long. A very cruel torturing technique," explained the archer plainly as if it didn't matter.

"I don't like what you said…" commented Sakura.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Hinata.

"We can't do anything. Like I said, that jutsu is unbreakable. If you forced to break it, Naruto would break too," explained the Reikage as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you suggesting that we should wait until he wakes up? After we letting you examine him, only this result we got?" asked Tsunade with an annoyed tone.

"Don't get angry to me. It can't be helped. Even I cannot break the jutsu. It's too risky. The only one who could help Naruto is himself. All we can do is waiting until one hundred days. Oh, yeah. We should tie him to his bed too, and of course, with your strongest bindings. This jutsu is a torturing technique, who knows if Naruto would gone wild? And if more than that he didn't wake up, consider it as the end of Naruto," said the archer.

Tsunade could only nod in agreement. She would later order her medical ninjas to prepare a bed and strap Naruto to it.

"But…" Hinata began. Everybody looked to her. "Why would somebody do something this cruel to Naruto-kun? He didn't do anything that wrong to deserve this…"

Everybody went silent. Hinata was true. Naruto might be a troublemaker but he didn't deserve this.

.oOoOo.

One of the gate guards yawned. It was boring to just stand and guarding the village's gate. But he knew that his duty was very important, so he tried his best to suppress his sleepiness.

"Sleepy already?" asked one of his partners that stood at the right side of the gate.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't attend my cousin's birthday party. He did have a hangover…" he yawned again.

"Isn't it good enough that you weren't consuming alcoholic drinks?" asked his partner.

He yawned again before mumbling, "Whatever."

His partner grinned then looked up where their female partner was. She was the long-range watcher. Her position was on the tower that was also the part of the gate. "Hey! Keiko! How things are going up there?"

"All is clear, Hatsuba! The sky is red, the clouds are orange, the sun is setting, the forest is green and almost dark —ah, there's a cute owl there!—, the ground is blood-free— wait a minute. There are bloods!" yelled Keiko.

"What?" Hatsuba asked incase his ear was wrong.

"I said blood! …Wait a sec! Look to the front, Hatsu!"

Hatsuba complied.

"What is that?" he gaped as his male partner followed his gaze and gaped too.

"No! The question is: what are those?" shouted Keiko.

"Close the gate!" Hatsuba ordered.

"What?" asked his partners in the same time.

"I said close the gate! I think those things are… whatever! Mashima! Get your sleepy ass up and help me!"

.oOoOo.

"I hate that jutsu." Sakura said suddenly.

Rhaera nodded in agreement. "Yup, and it isn't my favorite technique. Never."

"What? Do you mean you can do it?" asked Sakura as she glared at Rhaera with suspicion.

"I can do it but I didn't do it. Only two people in this world that could do this jutsu," said Rhaera.

"Who are they?" asked Tsunade.

"Me and—"

"Tsunade-sama! This is bad!" suddenly Shizune came in by rammed the poor door until it collapsed. "Uhh… am I interrupting?" she asked when she received devil glares from Tsunade and Sakura.

Tsunade put her hands on her hips. She would make sure Shizune would pay the damage (it meant the door) by her salary. "Yes, you are. Now report the thing you want to tell me. I don't have time."

"Ah, yes! There are sand people in front of our village's gate! It seems that they want to enter our village!" said Shizune as she straightened her pose.

Tsunade lifted her eyebrows. After the ice stampede, now it was the sand people? "How many are they?"

"Uhm… I'm not sure but I think it's the entire village."

"WHAT?" Tsunade shouted, Sakura yelled, and Hinata gasped meanwhile Rhaera only furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are they want to attack us or something?" asked Tsunade worriedly. They just had fallen ices on them and they surely would lose if they were attacked now. She was glad when Shizune shook her head.

"No, I don't think so. Many of them are heavily injured and they are demanding to enter the village," said Shizune, putting her hands in front of her to protect her from Tsunade's outburst. Tsunade groaned and placed her hand over her forehead with frustration. "What should we do, Tsunade-sama?" asked the black haired woman.

"Uuhh… what's their purpose?" asked the Hokage.

"We don't know yet. But I believe they don't want to attack us, judging how heavily injured they are looking. They maybe are just asking help from us. But we're not sure yet, so we don't let them enter the village," said Shizune.

Suddenly sounds of wings flapping captured their attention. They turned to the source and found a white bird was flying around. The bird's white fur was very white until it seemed almost glowing. It flew a circle before finally landed on Rhaera's shoulder. It put its beak near Rhaera's ear and moved it as if it was whispering something to the Reikage. Rhaera nodded a few times and frowned when listening to the bird. After it finished, it jumped to Rhaea's palm. Rhaera blew it and suddenly, there was no bird. Only a paper charm left. Suddenly a fire lit from its corner and the charm immediately burned into ashes.

"What's that?" asked Tsunade, didn't bother to hide her awe.

"A shikigami. We onmyoujis use that as message sender," explained Rhaera.

"And what that thing told you?" asked Tsunade.

"It seemed," Rhaera explained with frown, it seemed that he had received bad news, because frown never indicates something good, "that a village on a desert country of the west was attacked by sand-eater."

"Are you trying to say that Sand village was attacked by… what's the thing?" asked Tsunade.

"Sand-eater. It's a spirit that lives in deserts. It eats and controls sand. They're the one who make a sand storm, sand typhoon, and other things that includes sand. So, if the entire people of Sand village are here, it's no wonder," said Rhaera.

"They are evacuating," mumbled Tsunade.

Rhaera put his hand under his chin. "They could escape is a real miracle too. But it was strange at the first place of why sand-eaters attack the village. Even they could control sand, they are quite calm and kind spirit. So the option that left is…"

"Those traitors of your village," finished Tsunade.

"Yup, and they are getting impatience…" said Rhaera.

Tsunade sighed. "Fine. I'll deal with them. Shizune, take Naruto to rest in my medical lab and strap him into his bed with the strongest binding available."

Shizune decided to not question her upper's command. "Yes, Tsunade-sama!" and then she went to do her task.

Tsunade threw a glance to Rhaera before leaving the room. "We'll continue this later. Hinata, you help Shizune to take care Naruto. Sakura, you follow me. And you," she pointed to Rhaera, not sure if the archer knew that she was referring to him. "Don't hurt anybody."

"I already done it if I want," Rhaera sighed.

Tsunade threw another glare but decided not to prolong the matter. She exited the room and went to the front gate.

Rhaera sighed again. Things were becoming from bad to worse. If he didn't act fast, a war would break. He didn't want that to be happened again. The reason why he shut off the village connection from outer world… he shook his head. Staying here would do nothing. He decided to find his underlings. With that, he vanished from the room.

.oOoOo.

"Let us in!"

"Yeah! We come here not for attacking this village but to ask help! So let us in!"

People from Sand were starting to make havoc. Hatsuba and Mashima were getting nervous. They were only two (Keiko was calling for help) meanwhile the sand have one hundred or thousand. But duty is duty and rule is rule. They had to follow it.

"Please calm down! We're asking our leader's permission!" shouted Hatsuba.

"Scram with that! We've signed the peace treaty thing, so we have the right to enter your village!" shouted an old man.

"Yeah, that's right!" the others followed him.

"Can't you guys please calm for a fucking minute? You just popped up at the gate and demanding to go in! We don't know your reason!" shouted Mashima who was getting impatience.

"Reason? There's plenty of it! Can't you see that we're heavily injured?" asked a man.

"Please, let us in, my son is terribly injured," begged a woman.

"And my pregnant wife is on labor! How could you expect us to be calm!" yelled a man.

And the crowd began noisy again.

"SHUT UP! WHERE'S YOUR KAZEKAGE ANYWAY?" shouted Mashima, defeating all sounds.

Everybody fell silent. Now that he mentioned it, it seemed they didn't notice that their Kazekage was not available. If their Kazekage was here, he sure could beg to the Konoha.

Mashima sighed. "Finally, peace."

"We don't care! Let us in!" another shout turned on the adrenalin once again.

"Oh, shit," cursed Mashima as the crowd got louder and louder.

At the other side of the gate, Tsunade was talking with Keiko.

"Tsunade-sama, I've never saw so many sand people in my life! I'm more than sure it's the entire village!" Keiko pleaded Tsunade to believe her words. And it wasn't hard since the loud noises out there were helping.

"I believe you. They are heavily injured, right? I'm sure they are asking medical attention. Keiko, Sakura, I ordered you two to prepare medical posts for them. I know our hands are full for our people already, but we can't just turn them down," ordered Tsunade.

"We understand!" replied the two kunoichis and then they went off.

Tsunade, with her monstrous power, opened the gate by pushing it.

"Calm down ple—" Hatsuba who was trying in vain to calm the bunch of mad hyenas, stopped his sentence as he heard and felt the gate was being opened. He and Mashima quickly got away from the gate and the Sand people fell silent.

"What the heck—" Mashima stared with wide eyes to the gate. He was even more startled when he realized only one person that was opening the gate. But he feared more to the Hokage when he knew she was the one who was opening the gate.

"H-Hokage-sama?" gasped Hatsuba. They used mechanism to close the gate but she? With her bare hands, successful prying the (VERY heavy) gate opened?

"You guys are allowed to enter Konoha," said Tsunade after finishing her task and placed a hand on her hip as if it was an easy job.

The Sand people didn't move. They were shocked by the power show off from Tsunade. They learned to fear the Hokage even more.

Tsunade lifted her eyebrows. Just a second ago, these people were like a bunch of mad dog that were begging for a food. But now they were a shocked goldfish. "What are you waiting for? Go. I even prepared medical care for you."

The Sand people were back to their sense. But they were calmer now, entering the village with walking and even stumbling. Not exactly like Hatsuba and Mashima's expected. They expected the people to be entering the village like mad bulls. But guess what? They thought the Hokage had done a very good job in calming their distress.

"Am I showing off too much?" asked Tsunade after the last person of Sand entered.

The two shinobis shook their head. Only idiots who would dare to challenge the fifth.

"No, you gave the right dose…"

The Sand people were shocked when they saw Konoha was no better than their own village. Buildings were now rubbles. Big blocks of ice were everywhere. Yet, Konoha still received them. The villagers could even still laugh after the huge damages. They wondered if this was Konoha's Will of Fire people said.

Temari, who was lucky enough to just get some minor injuries, saw Shikamaru who was sitting on a chair besides Kiba's bed. Kiba has a sling for his broken arm and was sitting on his bed but it didn't prevent him to be cheerful.

"Hey, sand buddies! Got ice stampede like us?"

.oOoOo.

Tsunade was once again in her office. This time she was accompanied by Baki and other sand nins. One of them was a very old woman. And Tsunade knew who she was. That Chiyo of the Sand, the one who had mixed troublesome poisons during the Great War. She didn't look that happy too, seeing her old enemy. But what bother Tsunade was the absent of the Kazekage. Hadn't he arrived yet? Maybe he was late because he was helping the villagers to evacuate. The only thing that could rival sand-eaters was the Shukaku that was sealed inside of him. But she didn't know the details until the sand tell their story.

Chiyo opened the conversation. "You look as young as you could, Tsunade. Is it by natural or by your ninjutsu and medicines?" she asked. She managed to say Tsunade's name without spit it or said 'slug woman'. But she was a bad actor at voice.

Tsunade tried to smile warmly but failed at the warm part. She knew she always looked ugly and scary with suppressed smiles. As she thought, a scorpion would never lose its poison, wouldn't it? "Actually it's both of the option. I'm beautiful and my medicines and skills are helping me to make it intact. You don't have to be jealous, Chiyo-san. You looked healthy for someone who is older than me. I guess sand has done nothing to your health, has it?" actually, she was trying her best not to be that sarcastic. She knew she was being childish and unwise. The sands came here to demand help and personal grudge was better to be stay out of the way. But well, that old hag started it.

"Hmph! Me, jealous of you? I even never dreamed it!" Chiyo nearly yelled.

"Good. Because I don't like it when someone jealous of my beauty and youngness. I feel fate isn't fair every time someone jealous to me," replied Tsunade with more sarcastic words. How she loved this chance, she was nearly free to attack Chiyo and the hag wouldn't be able to counter it because the sand needed Konoha's help now. But she had to keep it limited because she didn't want another Suna (Sand) VS Konoha because of childish fight between their old women right now.

"You…" Chiyo hissed.

Shizune, who had been silent because of fear and nervousness, had decided to break the fight, "Uhh… ano… I believe we have something important to discuss here?"

"You are right," said Tsunade as she leaned to her chair. The sands (except Chiyo) were having a hard time to suppress their sigh. They had to thank Shizune sometime later. Women's fight was never a pleasant thing to be held or watched.

Baki decided to be the one who lead the conversation for the sand. He couldn't let Chiyo and Tsunade had a quarrel again. "Firstly, we want to say thank you because you let us enter your village, even your village's condition is… not that good. So I, Baki, as the sand village's representation, give you our thanks."

"You're welcome. But let us ditch the formal conversation. We're allies now, and I don't really like a cold and formal conversation. Don't you agree?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," replied Baki.

Tsunade lifted her eyebrows. "Speaking of leader, where's your Kazekage? I heard Gaara is your new Kazekage and I know he's not the type that would be left behind…"

Baki looked down with a frustrated expression on his face. "You see, that's our main problem. We haven't spotted our Kazekage since he left to help our villagers escape as the bait for those…" Baki couldn't find the right word.

"Sand-eaters," finished Tsunade.

"Eh?" everybody turned their attention to Tsunade.

"Those monsters that attacked your village are called sand-eaters. They caused the sand gone wild, didn't they?" asked Tsunade.

Baki looked to Chiyo before replied, "Yes, they are. At first we thought that it was just a mere sand storm but when those monsters showed up, we ordered the villagers to evacuate. But how do you know that it was monsters which attacked us?"

Tsunade shrugged. "An expert told me." The answer was short and honest.

"An expert?" asked Chiyo.

"Well, you see, we just have got ice blocks. And this person we're talking about knows who cause it. And we assumed it was the same person or at least the same group who controlled the monsters and attacked your village…" explained Tsunade.

Chiyo narrowed her eyes. "So you are saying that those monsters were controlled by someone? What kind of bullshit is that?"

Tsunade sighed. She knew this would happen. "Well, I know it's hard to believe, but what else that could explain the situation? Those sand-eaters, like their name, live in desserts. And why they attacked your village after you had never been attacked by them? You surely didn't do anything that angers them, right? Wait, you and I don't even know how to anger them…" said Tsunade.

"Uh…" Chiyo lost her tounge.

"But… why they attacked us? And why ices fell on your village?" asked Baki.

"That… is what we want to find out. By the way if you are here now, then you were attacked around three days ago, right?" asked Tsunade.

"Actually it was four days ago. Though we didn't stop, the villagers' injuries were quite in the way. Luckily, we didn't get any problem from river country, judging that we looked like immigrating bulls. We expected that our Kazekage was already here, to ask the permission from you to enter your village so when we were here, we didn't meet any problem. But since he wasn't here, we think that there's something happen on our Kazekage…" explained Baki.

Tsunade placed a hand on her head. "Do you think that there would be next?"

"What?" asked Chiyo and Baki.

"I mean next hidden village or place to be attacked. After we, Sand and Leaf, do you think there would be another?" asked Tsunade.

"I don't know. But neither of the option is good," replied Chiyo.

Tsunade lifted her eyebrows. "And why is that?"

"Both of our villages are in a vulnerable state. If there is no other village that is attacked, we would be in danger. By now, words would spread about our village vulnerability. And if we have a bad luck, other villages will see this as a good chance to attack. Especially to your village," explained Chiyo.

"But if other villages are attacked, another war will break," continued Tsunade. "Especially if they know who the culprits are…"

"You know?" asked Baki.

"Not really. But I've seen the face that did this to my village and his power. His ability is god-like," said Tsunade. And she didn't exaggerate it. Who could make ices fell on Konoha? Tsunade only knew one and maybe two.

"You are kidding. No one has the power that near a god except the Shukaku and Kyuubi's hosts," grunted Chiyo.

Tsunade shook her head. "I'm not. You should see how our hospital looks like. I can guarantee that my village wouldn't run out ice stock for one or two years," said Tsunade.

"And why is that?" asked Baki.

"You see, the blocks of ice fell on Konoha because a battle between two people. And that battle was held at our hospital's roof. The hospital didn't collapse, but it looks like a giant ice skating field. For the simpler meaning, it's frozen all over," explained Tsunade.

"Are you trying to say that these damages on your village were caused by a mere battle of two people? What if it was a war?" yelled Chiyo.

"I don't think it's a mere battle anymore, but you're free to guess," replied Tsunade. She didn't have the courage to imagine what it would like if it was a war that was held.

Suddenly, Chiyo went to the door and opened it.

"Where are you going?" asked Tsunade before Chiyo managed to get out of the room.

"Find the person you were talking about. I want to dig the truth out of him or her!" replied Chiyo bitterly as she continued her steps.

Tsunade lifted her eyebrows, and then she forced herself not to laugh. "Too bad you don't know where or how he looks…" commented Tsunade mockingly before Chiyo managed to get out of hearing range.

Chiyo halted her steps. My god, how she hated the slug woman! Not only she was a pain in head/heart, she was ALWAYS right and better than her. She never liked the idea to come to Konoha and asked help from them, but who else they could depend on?

"Besides, you don't know the details about him. Why don't you sit and talk together?" asked Tsunade sweetly but in Chiyo's ears it was a bitter poison.

"Fine," grunted Chiyo as she came back and sit on a free chair. Actually the chair was already prepared for her (the sand nins refused to take the sit) but her pride stopped her from sitting on it. And now she regretted at why she didn't take it before. She never felt this tired before. Those monsters had made her used her best ability and four days non-stop journey was not helping.

Tsunade dropped her sweet expression. This was the time to be serious. "So where should I begin…"

.oOoOo.

Yatsuki watched the green surface of her tea as she played with her brown hair. She and her team were waiting for their Reikage at one of the Konoha's tea house. The brunette was outside of the tea house, admiring the night sky with her black eyes. Electricity (or so she thought) was down because of the ice stampede so the people were using traditional candles or oil lamps which made the place quite beautiful and home-like. Reigakure was a bit left behind in technologies, judging how isolated they were. They still used candles, oil lamps, and lampions as their source of light. She was a bit tacky when she saw the technologies in Konoha (we all question of HOW Konoha got video tapes, televisions, etc). But she managed to control it. She ignored the odd stares people gave her because of her attire. Shikifuku was something to be proud of. It was the symbol of the excellent Rei villagers especially if you were a team leader. She admitted that tea and snacks were the best when you were bored in waiting. It helped you relax and warm your body. The air was quite cold because of the ice and Yatsuki was sure that the tea maker made the tea by boiling the ices in a kettle. Not that she complained though. Water, ice, leaves, and another thing that was produced by spirits usually contains pure energy. It often heals too.

The brunette sipped her tea then continued to watch the stars. It was the first time she had seen stars and moon. It was her first time to see sky, clouds, sun, sunset, and night sky. It was her first time to inhale the air outside the village too. She sighed at the beauty of the full moon. She heard that the moon was unique. No stone or gems that could imitate its uniqueness and beauty, not even Reigakure's purest and biggest pearl. And it seemed that what those rumors said was true. She imagined how it would feel like if she fly as high as her shikigami could bring her and danced there. She smiled dreamily as she sipped her tea again.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Yatsuki choked on her tea when she heard the compliment. It wasn't the compliment that mad her shocked, it was the speaker. She coughed a couple times before she turned to the speaker. It was Rhaera. The Reikage was standing beside her. He was facing the sky as though he could see the stars. Why didn't she feel he come before? Oh well, he was the Reikage, the strongest in Reigakure. Then a fact struck her.

"Reikage-sama, how could you—" she stopped speaking when she realized that it wasn't the real form of her leader that was standing beside her. "The Shadow of Sun God, I see…"

"Enjoy it," said Rhaera as if Yatsuki hadn't said anything.

"What?"

"The stars… as long as you could see it…" said Rhaera.

"Oh," Yatsuki replied. They were silence for a moment before Rhaera suddenly spoke.

"Tell me, Yatsuki. Why do we, Spirit villagers, live under the dark sea?" asked the Reikage.

Yatsuki was confused by the Reikage's question, but answered automatically. "To hide ourselves from normal people."

Rhaera, instead of saying replies, asked another question. "And why do we have to hide?"

"Because normal people see us as monsters," the brunette fought the urge to flinch. That was what her teachers taught her. Spirit villagers must not have connection with normal people. Otherwise they would suffer.

"Then tell me," Rhaera continued. "What's your own opinion about that theory? Don't afraid to be honest."

Yatsuki gulped. "I agree, Reikage-sama."

"Do you really agree?" asked Rhaera coldly and unsurely.

Yatsuki tightened her grip on the tea mug. "Yes, Reikage-sama. I'm fully understood from what fact that theory made and why that theory must be applied to us…"

Rhaera asked another question. "Do you want to live here? Even you understand that?"

Yatsuki's tight grip made the tea mug crack. She decided to answer honestly. "Yes, I want." She wanted to be able to see the sky, sun, stars, clouds, moon, and many other things as often as possible.

Rhaera faced her for a moment then turned to face the sky again. "I'm sorry."

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry. I made all of you live under the dark and cold sea. Even I know you don't like it…" said the Reikage. Then he decided to change the topic. "Are there any words from the rebels?"

Yatsuki nodded. "Yes. It seemed that when they attacked the village of the Sand, they've kidnapped the one tail's host."

Yatsuki could swear that the Reikage had rolled his eyes behind the blindfold.

"Just wait when Konoha especially Suna heard this…" sighed Rhaera.

.oOoOo.

Finished! Yay:) I hope you guys like it. Tell me what you think by hit the 'Go' button at the left below of the page!