The First Test

It wasn't even an hour after they left the village that Sakura began to notice things. They were all quite subtle but, being a ninja, she was well accustomed to noticing subtle things. Even things as subtle as the shadow of the leaves moving against the wind was enough to catch her attention. She had the sneaking suspicion that they weren't quite alone on their trip. Now, if only those weird twins would stop chattering like birds, she might be able to hear something too. Of course, telling those two to be quiet would alert their pursuers that they had been spotted.

Picking up her pace a bit, she fell into step next to Naruto and whispered to him, "Hey, Naruto, have you noticed?" Much to her surprise, Naruto seemed to ignore her completely. He walked along without so much as a glance at her. If it weren't for his usual carefree expression, she would be sure he was ignoring her deliberately. "Naruto?" She was about to wave her hand in front of his face when she noticed that the twins had finally quieted down. Now, they seemed to be talking in hushed tones. Maybe they'd finally caught on too.

The whistle of kunai ripped through the air, shattering the tranquility they'd enjoyed since they left the mist village. Two razor-sharp kunai blurred past Sakura, inches from her face, forcing her to leap back to avoid taking a hit while pulling out her own kunai. Too late, she noticed the true track of the kunai as they seemed to embed themselves in necks of Naruto and Gaara respectively. She didn't even have time to gasp in fear, however, before both of them exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"Kage-bunshin?" she asked in an awed tone. She couldn't figure out when Naruto would have had the chance to make them. She'd hardly taken her eyes off of him in the past hour, let alone heard him yell out his trademark technique. What surprised her even more, though, was that Gaara was just a transformed clone as well. That attack would have had no effect on Gaara no matter what since he had that shield of sand but it seemed like he'd let Naruto take care of it. What were they up to?

Her question wasn't answered instantly but she was given quite a clue when she heard someone crashing into a tree trunk with high velocity just behind her. Shortly afterward, the battle broke out into the open courtesy of Naruto whose clones appeared from everywhere. "Sakura-chan! Behind you!"

Sakura turned just in time to see a skinny, masked man slashing at her with a kunai. Thanks to Naruto's warning, she was able to dodge just in time and then counter with a slash from her own kunai. Her enemy dodged easily, using his pervious momentum to roll away. Once he'd regained his feet, he stared at the girl before him and Sakura just knew he was smirking. Everyone thought she was a pushover at first. Pink hair just isn't that intimidating after all. He would soon learn his error.

Up in the trees, Naruto's battle was well under way. Of the thirty he'd conjured up, only thirteen of his clones remained and he'd only managed to take out three of the seven attackers he'd claimed for himself. There was nothing special about the shinobi attacking them, that was for sure. None of them could have been above chuunin even. Their attacks were organized and well executed but there was nothing special about them. They were all basic techniques that any chuunin would know.

The sound of another clone bursting into smoke at the end of an enemy kunai finally convinced Naruto to get a little serious. He and his clones separated into groups of three, each group taking on one enemy. He and his clones engaged each enemy relentlessly until only the real Naruto remained, standing over the unconscious bodies of their attackers. "Heh. Won't be trying that for a while, will you, guys?"

Not one to be greedy, Gaara had only taken three of his own. That they'd allowed themselves to be spread so thin to gang up on Naruto made him quite annoyed. They underestimated the young Kazekage. A mistake they wouldn't have the chance to make again. There was nothing flashy about his attacks. No one even heard their cries for help. In earlier times, he would have crushed them slowly within his desert coffin. Now, he gave them a mercifully quick death.

The twins had their own attackers to deal with, but they were obviously having a bit more fun than any of the others. They were laughing up a storm as they watched a very confused pair of ninja trying to cover themselves as if they were naked. It was strange to watch someone trapped in a genjutsu that didn't inspire screams of terror or a total mental meltdown of the victim, but these children seemed to prefer a good laugh to a conventional genjutsu.

Sakura was still having a bit of trouble with her attacker. They were quite even in taijutsu, going blow for blow and slash for slash. She had a few cuts to show for her effort, and he had a sizable gash on his arm. After a while, the others came to watch her battle, the twins still chuckling from their joke and Gaara as impassive as ever.

"Should we help her?" asked the Kazekage.

Naruto shook his head and smiled that confident smile of his, "Nah. She's gotten good. Just wait and see."

Gaara looked on unconvinced but heeded Naruto's decision. The girl was undoubtedly faster now, but he'd seen no real improvement in her skill yet.

Sakura was breathing heavily now. She'd been fighting three times as long as any of the others and was completely without a bijuu to restore her stamina like the others. Still, she was confident in her ability and it was time she showed it. Leaping back onto a low branch, she grinned at her attacker and slipped on her black gloves. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just see Naruto's smirk before she attacked.

Any doubts Gaara had were cast aside when he saw the destruction caused by a single punch from the pink-haired kunoichi. Trees and rocks flew into the air, as did Sakura's enemy once her fist impacted the ground. He leapt back, trying to find a safe place to land, only to find himself completely immobile.

Sakura walked up behind the man and whispered into his ear, "Genjutsu binding. My sensei taught me this." Her fingers glowed green with chakra, "And this is something I came up with on my own." She jabbed her fingers into the base of his spine and used the chakra to send a jolt of electricity through his nervous system, completely shutting down his movements.

Naruto turned to Gaara with a smile, "Be glad she's with us." Gaara just nodded. The twins, however, ran up to Sakura with child-like glee.

"Wow! Teach us that genjutsu, please! It was so cool." They spoke quickly and in unison; something that Sakura found very unnerving.

"Uhm. Maybe later," she said as she headed over to Naruto and Gaara. As soon as she was within reach of the smiling blonde, she gave him her own smile before conking him on the head. "You jerk! You could have let me in on the plan!"

"Ahh, Sakura-chan! That hurt!" he said, holding his head to stop any further beatings. When she moved closer, he flinched, thinking she was going to continue his beating but instead felt her lips on his cheek briefly. By the time he opened his eyes, she was already several feet away, healing a small cut on Kiri's shoulder. He touched his cheek where the feeling still lingered and then looked to Gaara, "Did that really just happen?"

Gaara simply smirked and turned away, "We should question our captives."

Still dumbfounded, Naruto continued to stare after Sakura until he heard Gaara entering the brush where some of the enemy still lay. "Oi! Wait up, Gaara! They need to stay alive!" He turned and ran in Gaara's direction, catching up to him where the prisoners lay. All seven of them were still quite unconscious and looked as if they might stay that way a bit longer. As an added precaution, each was cocooned in solidified sand, courtesy of the Kazekage.

"Well, Naruto," asked Gaara, "Care to ask a few questions?"

Looking as intelligent as ever, Naruto scratched his head before crouching down, "Wonder if they know where any good ramen places are around here." Even Gaara's eyes widened at the boy's oblivious nature.

"I suppose I should handle the questioning for now," said Gaara, in his usual detached manner as he crouched next to one of the men. Suddenly, the man jolted awake with a gasp as unseen needles of sand poked him in areas sensitive enough to awaken him.

Direct as always, Gaara let the sandy cocoon contract around the captive, "What's your name?"

The man looked into Gaara's emotionless eyes and immediately began to struggle at the binding sand that held him. Gaara's only response was to hold out his hand and slowly begin to close it, watching his enemy gasping for breath as the sand became tighter and tighter. "Aggghhhh! Ichiro! My name is Ichiro!"

The sand ceased its constriction and Gaara nodded, "Who hired you?"

Relieved of the sand's pressure, Ichiro laid his head back in the dirt and breathed deeply before answering, "I don't know who actually hired us. He used a puppet for all contact."

Naruto, quiet up until then, stepped forward and looked at the man on the ground, "Then why take the job if he wouldn't even show a real person?"

Ichiro sighed and turned his head to look at Naruto, "The money was real, even if he wasn't. The price was too good to pass on. We're just mercenaries after all."

Naruto snorted at this and rolled his eyes, "Greedy old men. Always doing stupid things. Reminds me of Ero-sennin." He looked over at his stoic companion, "So? What should we do with them?"

Gaara didn't even waste a moment considering his answer, "We'll kill them."

"What? No! We can't do that!" yelled Naruto, loud enough to bring Sakura and the twins over, "That's just cold!"

"It's necessary, Naruto," Gaara explained calmly, "If we let them go, they will most likely report back to their employers of our mission and then come back twice as strong."

"I know all that, but…but we still don't have to kill them!"

Gaara turned to Sakura and sighed, "You're the smart one. Talk some sense into him." He was quite surprised when she shook her head.

"No, Gaara. We are not typical ninja. We do not wish to kill if it's possible to avoid it. Neither of us has actually killed before."

Ame and Kiri peeked over Sakura's shoulders and grinned, "They tried to kill us, they get to die. We're with you, Gaara," Ame said in an all too cheerful voice.

Staring at the twins for a moment, Gaara shook his head and then looked at Naruto, "Regardless of your fragile feelings, we must do as the mission dictates. If you do not wish to see this, move along. I will catch up soon enough."

Naruto glared at Gaara and then pointed to the mound of sand on the ground, "We can erase their memories, beat them until they get amnesia…something! I don't want them dead!"

This time, Gaara's icy look was no match for Naruto's determined gaze. Once again, the Kazekage was reminded just who he was dealing with. This was the one that had defeated him so soundly. This young man before him had broken him out of his dark, lonely place in that battle and shown him just how powerful fighting for someone could be. Now, here he was defending the lives of the enemy just as fiercely as he had defended his friends. Only, it didn't make any sense. He knew now that Naruto had a demon within as well. Not only that, he had the greatest of all demons; one known for its vicious nature and desire for conflict. Yet, he kept that power in check even when drawing upon it. To learn that the container of the Kyuubi had never killed before was unbelievable and he wouldn't believe before he'd met Naruto.

"Fine, Naruto. I will give you two hours to come up with an alternative. If you can't, they die." Gaara turned away from the others and leapt into a tree where he rested easily, "Just remember. The mission is the most important thing here, not the lives of a few enemies."

Naruto nodded at Gaara, the determined look still on his face. Finally, he turned to Sakura, "Well, you're the Hokage's apprentice. Do you know any way to erase their memories?"

Sakura shook her head, "No. That's too dangerous to do here and it would take too long. They'd never survive. The neural pathways are-" Sakura's explanation was cut off by giggling from behind her.

"Why don't we just call for the hunter-nin to take them?" asked Kiri, Ame nodding beside him. "It would only take an hour for them to get here," said Ame, "their patrols don't usually come over here till later in the day."

Sakura and Naruto just looked at each other and then at the twins, "That's not a bad idea. How do you call them?"

Ame and Kiri grinned and bit their thumbs, "It's easy!" The pressed their thumbs together and then slammed their hands onto the ground, "Kuchiyose no Justu!" When the small cloud of smoke cleared, two muskrats sat awaiting their summoner's commands. Kiri told his muskrat to go east, while Ame told hers to go west, each of them to return in an hour with a hunter squad.

"All done," yelled the twins, once again in unison and child-like glee.

Naruto laughed and gave them the thumbs up, "Good job guys! I think we're going to like having the two of you around!"

This seemed to increase the size of their grins as the two laughed, "Thanks, Naruto-sempai!"

Once the captives were in custody, the group once again set out on their way. This leg of the trip would be the most dangerous so far. They would be entering territory hostile to both the Leaf and the Mist.