Iruka sat with his head in his hands, surrounded by his team. Anko, Ibiki, and Kakashi looked somewhat like mummies with the number of bandages they were wearing, but weren't in any mortal danger. Tenten had only broken an arm and a leg, and Shikamaru had a slight concussion.

Shizune stood next to Iruka as the only other uninjured member of the squad while the now stable Neji lay unconscious next to her.

The brown haired hunter looked up at the people gathered around him, "How could this happen?", he asked quietly, "How could we LET this happen!"

Everyone (minus the still conked out Neji) looked down at the ground. Shikamaru had taken it the hardest and hadn't spoken for hours. He felt that the whole ordeal had been his fault and refused to accept anyone's comfort.

Iruka let his gaze burn in to each of them and raised his voice, "Mistakes were made, mistakes that should be impossible for shinobi of your caliber to make. I am still waiting for a decent explanation."

Iruka was about to start openly yelling when Kakashi cut him off, "I ordered that no lethal force be used"

Their brown haired leaders voice suddenly dropped to a dangerously quiet tone, "what"

Kakashi continued on, "Once you left with Shizune and Neji, I gave Anko and Ibiki an order to refrain from using lethal force, and if they made contact before I did, to make sure that I knew before anything else."

Iruka's voice was still calm, but his eyes betrayed his anger, "and why exactly did you do that?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to kill Naruto before I got to see him."

"Even if I would have agreed, that sort of plan needs to be cleared with the mission leader! What were you going to do if someone had been killed!"

"I figured that as Naruto has shown a reluctance to kill people who were his friends as he grew up, and as Anko and Ibiki can take care of themselves, there wouldn't be a problem." Kakashi answered, still aggravatingly composed, "turns out I was right."

Iruka started to steam, "but still! We planned for days, and then you decide to make a last minute change that might be the reason out mark escaped!"

Kakashi gave Iruka a significant look, "That was the point."

Iruka took a step back, "you do realize what your implying!"

Kakashi turned to Shizune and smiled, "would you mind taking Neji, Shikamaru, and Tenten to the river, I think their bandages need to be changed and their wounds cleaned"

Everyone noticing the extremely obvious attempt to get rid of the younger team members, they quietly left, Tenten helping carry Neji.

Once they were gone, Kakashi and Iruka resumed their face off.

"What you're suggesting is treason!" Iruka said as he simmered

Kakashi waved his finger back and forth, "No, Iruka, it is you who has failed to see underneath the underneath."

Kakashi sat up, "First question, Iruka, who is the most important person involved in this mission?"

Iruka was slightly taken aback, "Obviously, the target, Naru…"

"WRONG" Kakashi cut him off, "He is but a single missing nin with no vendetta against us. He just wants to be left alone, and in this he is predictable, so who then?"

Iruka's eyes widened

Kakashi smiled under his bandages, "very good, I see you understand. Gaara's power and influence is a very real threat to Konoha, and so his sister therefore becomes very important."

Iruka was annoyed with the copy ninja's condescending tone but let it slide.

"I had suspicions from the moment I started my surveillance in preparation of our mission," Kakashi continued, "and they were later confirmed. I only watched their interaction for a minute or two, but even then it was obvious that not only did Naruto care for and feel responsible for the girl, she cared about him."

"This," he continued, "became even more obvious when she made an escape attempt, she wanted to go back and make sure he was ok. To be completely sure, I even asked her why she was going back to Naruto, and in this case," Kakashi held out his bandaged arms, "actions spoke louder than words. She stays with him voluntarily."

Iruka was starting to understand, but didn't like where the facts were leading him.

Kakashi continued to speak in his lecturing voice, "That kind of devotion is Nukenins is rare, so even if we had killed Naruto and taken Temari back to the sand, her and Gaara's influence could ruin relations between our villages. That would be bad enough, so I'm not going to mention what might happen if one of us had to tell Sabaku no Gaara his sister was killed defending Naruto from us."

The commander was now feeling somewhat ashamed of his short sightedness, but was still plenty annoyed as Kakashi went on.

"And then of course," he said, "there's the fact that we got our butts so thoroughly kicked that Naruto would have escaped either way."

Iruka cut in, "But I'm sure we could beat him if we used our resources better, even if Kyuubi is helping him"

Kakashi nodded, "maybe and maybe not, Naruto's speed and coordination have improved exponentially, I have no doubt that he would take at least a few of us down before he died. Either way it's beside the point. We have no reason to go after him again, and honestly, none of us want to anyway."

Iruka deflated, "so what are we going to tell the Hokage then?"

Ibiki cut in, "We'll tell her the truth, Naruto has escaped but is not a threat to our village so long as we do not provoke him, Tsunade will like this better, so she won't argue."

Iruka nodded, "are we sure of that, he really isn't out for vengeance?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, "he threatened to attack Konoha, but only if we went after him first. We stay out of his way, and he and Temari stay out of ours."

Iruka sunk a little lower and nodded in resignation, "Then I suppose that pretty much covers everything……."

Looking relatively disappointed, the brown haired man turned and dismissed his team with a wave of his hand before walking off.

Kakashi watched him for a moment then turned, "Anko, follow him, now is the time for Iruka to hear what you have to say."

She nodded, and rushed to follow the disappearing brown ponytail, the only sign of her injury being a slight limp. She made a mental note to get a really nice present for Shizune once they were back home.

Anko finally caught up to Iruka when he was sitting at the base of a tree, holding his hunter mask up to the sun and looking at how the light shone through the eye slits.

She sat next to him and watched silently for a moment, before interrupting his thoughts, "So we can go home, tell Gaara his sister is fine and thereby prevent Konoha getting stomped, everyone is still alive, yet our fearless leader is moping about something?"

Iruka glared, "We come all the way out here, spending every ounce of time we have preparing and yet I…" he paused for a moment, "still haven't completed my mission."

"That," the brazen jounin replied, "was NOT what you were going to say. And since you're too much of a baby to say it, I will for you. You put all this effort in and still, in the end, you didn't even get to see Naruto's face."

Iruka set the mask down and rested his head back against the tree, "I'm not sure whether I still love Naruto or hate him. We were always so similar….but now he goes and does something like this…"

Anko sighed, "and of course, you start to remember when you considered running away from Konoha"

He head snapped to the side, "how do you know that…"

She stood on the other side of the tree, "It's far more common than you might think, Iruka. Most shinobi consider leaving at one time or another, and when someone does, everyone else worries that someday his or her loyalty might wane. I, of course, being the prime example."

Iruka had just a hint of curiosity on his face, so Anko continued.

"When Orochimaru first left, I was furious, but not because he had betrayed the village or because he had created some forbidden jutsus. I felt crushed that he hadn't taken me with him, all I cared about was the fact that he abandoned me."

She paused for a moment, to let in sink in, then went on, "It has been many years since he left, and even with him dead, I feel no sense of closure. There is a part of me that always has and always will see Orochimaru as the man who used to carry me around Konoha on his shoulders, pointing out people and explaining how to learn things about them just by observing how they acted. I still use his advice today."

"So essentially," Iruka said dryly, "what your saying is that I'll be haunted by this for the rest of my life?"

Anko shook her head, "Nah, you'll probably be dark and depressed for a month or two, but things will soon get back to normal. Besides, you might even meet Naruto on amiable terms again some day."

Iruka laughed slightly, "You talk of him as if you still like him, even after he mangled your leg."

She sighed again and rested a hand on Iruka's head, "When you've ruined and killed as many people as I have, you'll understand that holding a grudge has never done anyone any good."

Iruka just sat in contemplation as she got up and left, failing to hear her grumble under her breath, "Though I would like to see the brat try to fight me without his precious sword…stupid long weapons...its like cheating…"

As she was just about to jump into the trees, Iruka got up,

"So," he asked, "did any actual good come out of this?"

Anko forgot her grumbling and smiled, "Well, I will have a neat new battle scar," she winked at him, "If you're lucky, I might show it to you some day."

Iruka's mind took a few seconds to process the above statement. She had been cut on her left side, from her inner thigh, up through her leg and halfway up her side. So showing him the scar would require her to remove almost all her clo……

He blushed.

It has been said that there are times when people focus so much on a single goal, they forget about the big picture.

Naruto lay on the ground, staring at the sky. They were less than a day from hidden cloud. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do when he got there.

So far, the best he had come up with was wandering around with a 'will do B-rank missions for food' sign, but figured that wouldn't go over to well with the local authorities.

A short distance away, Temari sat examining the chessboard. Naruto had been telling the truth, she decided, the bastard fox was good. She was just about to move a piece when a repetitive thumping sound distracted her.

Naruto was beating his head against the ground in frustration, and failed to notice his audience. It wasn't until he heard laughing that he stopped and looked up.

"Rather than amusing yourself at my expense, how bout you try to come up with something yourself," he said, sounding only slightly annoyed.

Temari snickered and went back to trying to take the Kyuubi's queen, "Who says we need to start doing missions right away?" Temari said distractedly as she played, "why not just start off doing some odd jobs and getting a feel for the town?"

Naruto spent a moment just sitting there, trying to come up with a retort. He couldn't.

After noticing his silence, Temari turned to look at him, "see? You just think to linearly"

Realizing she was right (again), Naruto just flopped back down and starred up at the sky, mumbling about know-it-all sand nins. Temari absent-mindedly picked up one of her training water balloons and threw it at him.

The two arrived at the hidden cloud just as night was falling and the gate was being closed. As they had no passports and really weren't supposed to be there, they waited until the gate was fully shut and started walking around the outer perimeter of the wall.

There were never enough guards to have a constant vigil all along the wall, so they moved in shifts. After half an hour of observation, Naruto and Temari waited for a patrol to pass and jumped over the wall, landing quietly on the other side.

Upon the mutual decision that they didn't have money for a hotel, the first order of business was to find an area to sleep. Temari suggested they look for a training area within the city walls, as they would be generally deserted at night, and not 30 minutes later, they found just such a place.

Spending only a moment to hide their bag in some brush, the two Nukenins found themselves with a whole village to explore. Naruto insisted that he needed new wrappings for his sword, and set off to find a fabric shop while Temari went to buy food.

Naruto wandered through the crowds of people, holding his sword at his side and trying to make it as subtle as a 9-foot sword can be. It only took half an hour to get his wrappings and wrap up Seirei Kirite, so Naruto amused himself by sitting on top of a building and examining his surroundings.

As had been the case in hidden sound, hidden cloud looked like any other village. Various people, with or without forehead protectors wandered by, going about their business.

He just sat and watched for about twenty minutes, then realized he needed to get back, and bounced across the rooftops back to their designated sleeping area.

Temari barely even twitched as Naruto dropped down next to her and grabbed up a cup of instant ramen.

"Water?" he asked grumpily

Temari handed him a pot of warm water and he poured it over his ramen. She looked him over slowly for a moment, "what could have possibly happened in the last hour to annoy you so much?"

Naruto poked at his still hard ramen, "I was just watching people"

"Why is it," Temari said semi-rhetorically, "that the people blessed with the greatest power always envy those with no power whatsoever?"

Naruto snorted, "Here's a imaginary situation for you, I'm in a bank when it is being robbed, I have to decide whether to use my 'great power' or not, and my decision either way could cost people their lives. Robbers are evil by most people's definition, but so am I. Do I kill them? Do I help them? What should I do?"

Despite the fact that it was just a hypothetical situation, Temari found herself trying hard to come up with an answer.

He gave her a few seconds and observed her confusion.

"Whoever it was," Naruto continued, "that said that responsibility comes with power wasn't referring to being spiritually bound to a demon, but the principle applies all the same. I didn't ask for my power, but when the pressures on, I have to make a decision, hoping it's the right one."

He paused for a moment, and looked off into space, "Then again, how do I even decide what 'right' is"

That statement just hung in the air for a moment, then Temari shook her head slightly, "ok…that's enough philosophy for now, my brain is hurting. I'll never understand how people like you and Gaara can just ponder these things all day long and still be sane."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Sane?"

It suddenly occurred to Temari that Gaara was best known for his random squishing of people and sand that was alive, while Naruto, on the other hand, was a perfect gentleman whenever he wasn't busy killing things, and had a talking sword that played a mean game of chess.

"Never mind," she muttered

Smirking, Naruto started to eat his semi-cooked ramen.

Naruto and Temari slept side by side, as was their custom, so when Naruto was rudely awakened, he bumped into the sleepy sand girl beside him, and both of them immediately started to realize that the noise that had woken them was actually someone talking, just VERY loudly.

"What do we have here? A young couple, no doubt fleeing from oppression to elope together and live out their dreams! AH! How I am INSPIRED!"

Naruto closed his eyes, slowly counted to five, and opened them again. The obnoxious man was still there. It seemed the fates truly hated him.

Naruto smiled, "who are you, and why the HELL are you waking me up this early."

He and Temari had just gotten to sleep a couple of hours before and were looking forward to at least another 4 hours.

"I," the man said, "am Cirrus, and you need to vacate our field, young man, so my glorious students may train their bodies and minds so as to better BURN with flaming passion! We must start before the sun rises so as to allow more time for our great pursuit!"

Temari was now also fully awake and noticed three children standing behind the man, all looking somewhat exasperated and embarrassed. Naruto just glared, it figured that every village had its weirdoes, but why they always managed to congregate around him was a mystery.

"Fine…" Naruto said as he climbed out of his bag and put on his vest, ignoring the blushing of various observers. He looked at Temari pointedly, but she shook her head.

"I don't care if this is their field, I'm not getting out of my bag with THEM watching."

The four cloud nins (for it was obvious that was what they were) immediately jumped and turned, the two young girls still blushing from Naruto's brazen shirtless-ness.

Temari was struck by the surrealism as she rushed to change out of her nightshirt and into her regular clothes. Only with Naruto would she be dressing at four AM next to the turned backs of unknown shinobi. She was just glad she had removed her forehead protector before turning in.

Once Temari was dressed, Naruto quickly packed their sleeping bags and everyone just stood awkwardly for a moment. Cirrus, however, soon banished the awkwardness with raw enthusiasm, as he grabbed his pupils and pulled them in front of him.

"Alas, I forget my manners. Students! How could we displace these people from their resting place without first introducing ourselves?"

All three sighed collectively, but the first girl stepped forward and suddenly exploded with enthusiasm, "Nimbus: The Silent Rain!"

The second girl jumped up to join her, "Cumulus: The Lightning Fist!"

The boy did a flip and landed between them, "Stratus: Shinobi of a Thousand Faces!"

Naruto and Temari just held their gear and stared blankly, but it wasn't over yet.

The annoying jounin suddenly appeared behind his students and thrust his finger into the sky, "Cirrus: The Human Hurricane! …and together we ARE"

They all called in unison, "Cloud Team 5: The Storm of Righteous Fury!"

Naruto had seen many things in his life, but he was currently standing with his mouth agape, reconsidering whether he wanted to stay in hidden cloud.

Once their intro was over, the three students sighed again and hung their heads as their teacher clapped happily, "well done, you three! I expect that kind of performance in your training today as well!"

At this point, Temari had taken hold of Naruto's arm and the two were backing away slowly, when Cirrus suddenly spun back to them, "Ah! You must not leave yet, in return for the use of our field, I ask nothing more than the stories of the many trials and tribulations that have brought two passionate young people such as yourselves to a place like this! Will you not stay?"

Naruto froze up for a minute, Temari was pulling on his arm, trying to drag him away, but he suddenly got an idea. A wonderful, amazing, dastardly idea.

"I would like nothing more," Naruto said with a grin, "than to pass on my story so that it might inspire future generations!"

Temari looked at him as if he had grown another head, but Cirrus was practically beaming, and waved off his students while leading the two nukenin over to a log and sitting down.

Cumulus, Nimbus and Stratus started into some basic warm up exercises while Naruto and Temari sat with Cirrus on the log.

"Well," Naruto started off thoughtfully, "my tale begins many years ago, when my older brother murdered my entire family…"

Authors Notes: When I started this story, I decided that I wasn't going to start any others until I finished it. However, this story shows no signs of being done any time soon, and I have not one but two ideas for new stories that are bouncing around inside my head, and have already started to draft both of them.

The point of all this is that I'm looking for a few people to pre-read the prologues for Aim For The Blind Spot and Unseen and give me some feedback. If you happen to be interested, you can say so in a review, leaving your e-mail adress, or just e-mail me directly

On a completely different note, am I the only one who has always figured every village has their own version of Maito Gai? That one person whose exuberance does nothing but drive everyone else up the wall?

I cut Cirrus from the same mold as Gai, but a lot of his character came to me while watching the DBZ episodes with the Ginyu force, a deadly squad of intergalactic warriors who introduce themselves by yelling and posing ridiculously. Even if you dislike dragon ball z, I'd say those few episodes are worth watching.

But I digress….

Next Chapter: Naruto weaves a new identity and Gaara finds out that someone tied up his sister

Be afraid, Shikamaru. Be very afraid.