CHAPTER 7

Kakashi was waiting for them, just as Naruto knew he would be. The rain was starting to fall now but the kids were too happy with Naruto's consent to their participation that they didn't complain. They landed lightly behind Naruto on the rooftop when he stopped to greet his old teacher.

"You're that weird pervert guy," Blondie accused.

"If you're here to stop me, you're late," Naruto half grinned. "We had that chase a few hours ago."

"Oh," Kakashi smiled. "Then I guess there is no point in starting it again."

He pulled out a leather-covered scroll from the bag on his shoulder. Naruto took it wearily.

"It's information Sasuke and I have been gathering about the place where you were held," Kakashi explained mildly. "I was on my way to deliver it to Shikamaru but I suppose it fell out." Naruto looked surprised, then Kakashi held out the entire bag. "I dropped this too."

"You seem to be having a bad day," Naruto managed to say.

"Worse then usual," he shrugged. "I also failed to complete a seal I placed on an apartment today."

If Kakashi could wink with one eye he would have. Naruto only managed a short nod as a thank you. Blondie looked from one face to the other then grumbled.

"Are you two done or can we keep going before anyone else catches us?" she snapped.

They made it out of the town safely. The West gate was surprisingly empty and Naruto had a nagging suspicion it wasn't totally an accident. They disappeared into the forest at a slow pace as the kids struggled to find footing on the slippery bark of the trees.

Thunder was rolling overhead when Naruto called a halt by the stream where Shikamaru had stopped them earlier. They took shelter under a tree and Naruto opened the bag, finding four radio headsets and two oiled, waterproof blankets. They all put on the headsets and left the blankets in the bag. Then Naruto carefully opened the scroll.

"There's an entrance south and north," he pointed. The map and information was coded using an alphabet Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and himself had created years ago. He remembered how long it took him to understand it and even now he found himself frowning at certain symbols. "Most of it is underground. It looks like three guards at each entrance. They don't wear hitae but that doesn't mean they don't use chakra. Minimal traffic over the past few weeks," Naruto paused. "That might be the supply merchants. They must live there themselves."

"Who?" Hanako asked. Naruto looked at her and realised she was being serious.

They listened wide-eyed as he gave them a quick version.

"But, why would they kidnap you?" Blondie questioned when he was done. He ignored her.

"Our mission is a rescue," he explained. "Normally you guys would be starting out with D-Rank missions, rescuing lost pets or pulling weeds," all three made a face. "Hey, hate them or not, those missions pay enough for food in your bellies and the clothes on your back. This mission would probably be A-Rank," he paused and looked at them all with a serious face. "Normally a team or two of chuunin plus a few jounin would be on a mission like this. We are about to infiltrate an unknown enemy base that has enough power to kidnap and hold two strong, experienced shinobi for nearly half a year. We don't know how much manpower they have, what kinds of juutsu or weapons we will be up against or even where our target is being held." It felt odd, being in charge.

"You're starting to sound like we don't have a chance," Blondie accused.

"The odds of us actually doing this are slim," Naruto shot back. He tried to channel Iruka's optimistic charm but thought he was coming off more like Kakashi's deadpanned pessimism. "And there's good chance of fatalities." Blondie swallowed hard. "You guys wouldn't have to face this kind of mission or decision until you became chuunin," he stressed. "You need to decide now whether or not you want to go through with this. If you're in you can't change your mind. If you're out you should head back to the village and forget everything that's happened so far tonight."

"I will go," Musad proclaimed almost because Naruto could finish. "I am not running away."

Hanako nodded too. She looked pale and her hands shook a little but her jaw was squared. "I trust you, Naruto-sensei."

It was Blondie who took the longest. Finally she looked up, scared but angry too. "It's not that I'm a baby or anything," she started. "But this is dangerous. People always tell me that kids need to be protected and it's crazy for the Academy to train us." Then she smiled and said, "But I am a ninja and I'm a kid and I'm going to prove them wrong."

"You three need to listen to me," Naruto was relieved they had all agreed. "No questioning once we start, no hesitation, nothing. This isn't a game and it's not a drill. You have to trust that I know you guys well enough to put you where I put you," he grinned when Blondie glared at him.

"How the heck would you know that," she grumbled. "You haven't spent more then half an hour with us!"

The rain was coming down in sheets now and Naruto rolled the scroll up and tucked it into the leather case to protect it. "Hold out your hands, palm up."

They did. "This is what I was trying to teach you before," he said. "Your hands touch everything in your lives. I was staying with a healer woman in a village in the Country of Grass for one spring. She could tell a person's life story by look at their hands."

"Impossible," Blondie scoffed and Naruto felt a weird shift of déjà vu that reminded him of Gaara.

"Just look," Naruto was rapidly losing patience but now with the added responsibility of these three he wanted to go in ready. If they didn't trust him they would get themselves killed. "Here's a hint. Look at Hanako's. What colour do you see?"

Her hands were small and pale, splattered with dirt and drops of blood where the bark at tore at her hands when they had been running through the trees. Naruto wished they weren't with him.

"Brown," Blondie said and Naruto swatted her.

"I don't mean what's on her hands. Pretend you are focusing chakra but not your chakra."

"Blue," Hanako said suddenly. "Blue like that river."

"White," Musad echoed. "Like sand."

"And what feeling is that?" Naruto asked. Hanako looked at her palm thoughtfully, her now wet hair hanging over her eyes.

"Clean?" Blondie finally said. "And, sad," she glanced up at Hanako but the other girl's face was expressionless.

"Now Musad's," they looked at the pale palms that stood out against his dark skin.

"Red," Blondie spoke first this time. "Like clay or something."

"Yeah, red," Hanako agreed. "But like fire."

"Passion," Naruto said, needing them to understand. "Strength." Musad squinted but didn't say anything. The rain was pounding through the tree and on their backs but they didn't seem to notice. "And now Blondie."

"Kaida," she corrected but she wasn't angry as she concentrated on her own hands. "Green I think. But really dark green."

"Dark green," Musad nodded. "And it feels deep."

"You're yellow," Hanako looked at Naruto but not at his hands. "Like sunshine and gold."

"Never mind me," Naruto scolded. "Do you understand yet? Why I gave you the list I did that first day?"

"Maybe," Blondie leaned onto the back of her heels and suddenly realised she was soaked. "Awe man!"

Hanako stood and started to wring out her yellow dress, now stained with mud and dirt. She sighed but said, "I don't get to read that often. My aunt and uncle need me to work in the garden and at Yamanaka's flower shop. So making me get those books would be difficult and vegetables and plants would have been easy. But how did you know that?"

Naruto stood too and Musad and Blondie follow him. "Your plants left their signature on your hands."

"You're a bastard," Blondie grumbled. She was shivering as her thin shirt was clinging to her. "I could have found all those wild plants no problem but you gave me stinking vegetables."

"I thought you might hate being around people," Naruto smirked. Before Musad could speak Naruto continued. "You are from the Sand," he said and Musad nodded. "Plants are scarce and very different in the desert. I figured you would have trouble finding them in the forest."

He turned on his radio and the three fumbled to do the same. "If you have worked together you would have been able to make it back to the apartment at the same time," he gave them a look and they glanced at their feet in shame. "But then you guys stood up for each other and you started to band against me and that's where teamwork comes into play. Plus that little show in my apartment," Naruto grinned and they all had the grace to blush. "So congratulations, you are officially genin."

"You're just passing us now?" Blondie exclaimed and they all winced when it crackled over the radio. Musad glared at her.

"Yup," Naruto stuck the leather case back into his bag. "You three remember the map?" They nodded nervously. "Good. Musad, Hanako, you two cover each other. Blondie, you're with me."

She grumbled but held her tongue when he shot her a look. "Rodger."

"From the reports it looks like there is more activity towards the north entrance," Naruto continued. "If we hurry we will make it there while it's still raining."

"Why would we want that?" Blondie said sourly, looking like a wet cat and having much the same expression.

"No one is going to be expecting an attack in this weather,' Naruto pushed his bangs out of his face so he could see properly. "It will help mask our entrance. Getting in is the first step."

Naruto led the way, hoping the directions on the map Kakashi had given him was right.

……………………………………………………………………

"What do you mean you lost it?" Shikamaru felt like sometime inside his brain was going to snap. Kakashi shrugged.

"I think my bag strap broke."

"Did he take his team with him?"

Kakashi nodded. Shikamaru rubbed his temples. "Get Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Chouji, Sasuke, Sakura and…" he paused. "Ino. I'll get Ino. We need to brief them. Bring them back here in fifteen minutes."

"That many?" Kakashi looked surprised. Shikamaru glared at him.

"I'm trying to make this look like a real mission," Shikamaru growled. "If Naruto would just have some patience. Tsunade is talking with the elders about this. A team from Sand is arriving tonight to meet up with us," he sighed again. "I sent a messenger pigeon to the Kazekage last night and they had one nearby. Now go and get the others."

Kakashi nodded and was gone. Shikamaru stood up, pushing the Hokage's chair out from the desk and cursing Naruto bitterly. Before he had come back no one had questioned his decisions before, not even Tsunade. It had made his life so simple but having Naruto around made him think harder then ever, calculating first Naruto's last minute actions which seemed to have no rationality behind them and then the unexpected loyal acts people seemed to be inspired to do because of him.

He was glad he had acted quickly yesterday in sending the pigeon to the Sand country. Now at least they knew Gaara was not a missing-nin but a missing person, abducted over six months ago. They had Sand involved in the mission, securing both Naruto and Gaara's amnesty. Still, if only Naruto hadn't gone charging off.

He left to get Ino from where she was practicing in the northern fields with her other jounin prospective friends. With the test in a few days she had turned her Academy classes over to another chuunin while she trained with her team, rain or shine.

She was confused as to why he was dragging her away from something so important but saw the expression on his face and didn't argue. The rest of the Konoha ninja were in the Hokage's office when they arrived back, mud splattered and soaked. Shikamaru couldn't help but scowl at them as they lounged around the room, most of them impeccably clean and dry.

Kiba was sizing up Sasuke, who was subtly hiding behind Sakura, who was chatting easily with Hinata, who was discreetly trying to ignore Chouji's crunching in the corner, who was trying to read over Kakashi's shoulder, who was inching closer and closer to the stoic Shino.

They all looked up when Shikamaru and Ino entered from the window.

"Is this about-" Sakura started but Shikamaru cut her off.

"Naruto has escaped his apartment," he said flatly but none of them seemed too surprised. Sakura looked vaguely guilt but Sasuke and Kakashi didn't flinch. "He has also taken a genin team outside of the city walls in an attempt to fulfill a possible A-Rank mission."

"Are you sure he took them?" Kiba said ruefully. "Because even Naruto isn't that stupid."

"Our primary mission is under the highest confidence," Shikamaru continued. "You were all chosen for your loyalty to Konoha and to the Hokage. This mission is not to be spoken of outside of these walls, not to me, not to the Hokage and not to yourselves."

Chouji shot a look to Ino but she just gave a small shrug.

"Our primary mission is to protect the reputation of Uzumaki Naruto. As far as anyone knows he is in this room with us right now, planning this mission. The Hokage is currently protecting the three genin, Ishimoto Hanako, Daida Kaida and Musad bin Suoud."

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura didn't look surprised but the others glanced at each other. Shikamaru waited tensely, hoping that he had judged them all correctly. Naruto's unwelcome influence had thrown everything he thought he knew about people into a wild loop.

Finally, it seemed like they had all come to an agreement. "We're in," Kiba said grimly but with a smile on his face. Ino nodded for her and Chouji and gave him an affectionate grin. Shikamaru gave a mental sigh of relief but turned to Kakashi and said out loud, "Give us a brief on our target and his location. We need to know what he's doing if we're going to protect him from himself."

……………………………………………………………………………………

The sun had been hiding behind the clouds all day and, just as Naruto and the kids approached a small door way shaped with the wings of a temple entrance, the sun had started to sink behind the protection of the horizon, making the all ready dark skies blacken.

Two guards were huddled just under the shelter, smoking and hunched over. It made Naruto nervous that there were only two of them; Kakashi report had said three. It was good Naruto and the kids were wearing the radios. It had been hard to talk over the pounding of the rain when they had all been scrambling for footing. More then once Naruto was sure he had lost one of the kids but they always managed to bounce back with a quiet apology (Hanako), curse (Blondie), or grunt (Musad).

Now they were crouched at the bottom of a tree again, several hundred meters from the entrance. Wanting to keep an eye on the guards but also wanting to see the south exit, Naruto was torn between leaving the kids where they were and hoping nothing would happen, or trusting them to keep out of sight while they scouted.

"Musad-kun and I were always paired up for tracking class," Hanako reassured him. "And we always won the competitions."

"Fine, but be careful," he said sternly. "And don't get out of range of the radio."

Blondie looked after them longingly but resigned and followed Naruto up the trees so they could talk freely and keep a better eye on the guards. She leaned back against the trunk, clearly happy to be out of the brunt of the rain. Naruto wanted to scold her for relaxing when they were supposed to be watching the entrance but she started to scan the treetops and he let it slide.

"There is a big stream west of here," Hanako's voice crackled over the radio and Blondie almost fell out of the tree. "We need to find a way past it, it may take a while. Over."

"Okay," Naruto replied. "Don't try to swim it, not in this weather."

There was a pause, and then Musad replied in a borderline sarcastic tone, "Rodger."

"Keep alert," Naruto said over his shoulder to Blondie and he could almost feel her bristling on her tree.

"I'm always alert," she finally shot back. "It's Musad you gotta worry about."

"Why's that?" Naruto asked, partly to pass the time and partly because he was starting to realise just how venerable the kids were now that two of them were out of his sight.

"He's a such daydreamer," she perked up. Mostly protected from the rain and finally able to speak to someone other then her teammates she was ready to gossip. "I've been living at Araki's house for years but he only started there seven months ago."

"Why's that?"

"I don't really know," she shrugged. "He's not much of a talker. But he knew a lot aboutninja stuff and he was pretty strong so he started at the Academy with me and the other kids went to the normal school. I go there because my whole family used to be ninja."

Naruto looked at her for a moment. "Really? Where you a clan?" It was hard to imagine that someone with ninja parents would be left to a foster home. All of the ninja parents he had ever met had airtight wills when it regarded the care of their children.

"Well, no," she admitted. "I mean, everyone's pretty sure I'm from a ninja family, because it would be weird for me to be a ninja if no one else was. I mean, Hanako's mother was a jounin and Musad said his uncle's family worked for the Sand's shinobi."

Naruto glanced from where he was watching one of the guards scratch his nose and gave her a puzzled look. She held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Search me why he's living in Konoha! Araki told me his parents used to be merchants or something and there was a raid or something. One of the people who found them brought him here. I think they just stuck him in the Home before Araki's."

"The Home?"

"Yeah," Blondie looked at him indignantly. "You know, the Home of Orphaned Children?"

Naruto shrugged. Back when he had been younger all he could remember was random flashes of masked ninja or clearly unpleased civilians feeding him, pushing him out the door, or locking him in rooms out of their way. When he had started at the Academy he had lived on his own with one of his teachers checking on him or dropping food off every so often.

"It's not that bad," Blondie shrugged. Naruto looked back to the guards; they hadn't done anything interesting.

"I mean, the people who run it are nice enough and we had enough to eat," she continued. Naruto had the feeling she was not so much gossiping now but just talking to cover up the rain and her nervousness. It was odd, he supposed, to reveal to cover up. "I lived there for a long time, then they shipped me off to the Academy early. It was fine, then I guess I was practicing too much on the other kids and Araki took me. I think they just figured Musad would live there too because he went to the Academy or something."

She wasn't speaking too loudly and there was still nothing exciting happening so he didn't stop her when she kept on babbling.

"Hanako, now that girl should be living with us. I mean, when her mom died she was supposed to just live with her dad then he took a dive off the Hokage cliff and she got shuttled off to her aunt and uncle's. I think it was," Blondie wrinkled her nose and thought. "Um, four years ago? Yeah. Anyway, they didn't really want her or anything. Her aunt is the meanest woman I've ever met. And her uncle just drinks and drinks. Araki likes her sake every so often but nothing on Hanako's uncle. So she spends a lot of time at our house because no one really knew what to say when her dad died and me and Musad were the only ones without parents. Not that Musad talks a lot or anything but if you hang out with him enough you can just tell."

Naruto nodded to show he was listening and he was.

"I think I have him figured out, actually," she brightened up a bit. "I mean, I've been able to piece together some things. He's actually kind of nice. Sometimes. But all boys are I guess."

She fell silent and before she could speak again the radio crackled.

"We've reached the South entrance," Hanako's voice sounded oddly prideful. "There's one guard."

"Just the one?"

"He is very fat," Musad added.

"Any movement?" Naruto asked and there was a pause.

"A rabbit," Musad was sarcastic.

"I've set up three detection spells, Naruto-sensei," Hanako said in an apologetic tone. "If a human sets them off we'll know."

Naruto was a little shocked at her certainty that her detection spells would work They were often temperamental and unreliable, but it was the best that could be done and he ordered them to get back. When Hanako showed him the three bells on her belt that were attached to the spells around the South entrance and he was fairly impressed.

It was ridiculously easy to take out the two guards in front and they crept inside, Naruto first, followed by Blondie, Musad and Hanako going last. It was light inside and it made Naruto jumpy. He couldn't tell where the light was coming from, it felt like the walls themselves were the source and for some reason that made his skin crawl.

The corridors were narrow and full of sharp four way corners that bothered Naruto more then it should have. Blondie was so close behind him she kept on running into him when he stopped at the corners but he didn't scold her. As brass as he had been at her age, this kind of atmosphere would have had him terrified.

They came across a door. The sign protruding from above it said "Animal Gland Storage". They moved past it, ducking so they wouldn't be seen through the frosted glass.

Naruto's nerves were all ready strung out and they stretched even more at the seemingly empty building. He knew Gaara was here, he could feel it, but every time he thought he was getting close a corner would come and force him farther and farther away. Finally he couldn't take it and stopped.

Blondie bumped into him again when he turned and Musad and Hanako bumped into her. He crouched to their level and the second he did he saw the small black marks on the walls.

"What-" his voice was so quiet there was almost a breath but it was the only air that stirred in the flat stone corridors and the kids heard it.

Musad held up a small charcoal stick. He had been marking their whole progress. Naruto nodded in approval.

Suddenly, Blondie reached up and grabbed his shoulder pulling him forward, the second she moved he had heard the kunai being thrown at him. It hit the ground, sending sparks flying as it skidded along the stone.

Within the blink of an eye, Naruto had shoved the kids against the wall and turned to face the thrower.

A one armed man faced them, a mask pulled up over his nose and head, leaving his eyes free. His right hand, the only on he had held three more kunai ready to be launched at Naruto's first movement. But what Naruto noticed the most was the Konoha hitae tied around his neck.

The strange ninja had barely enough time to gasp before Naruto took him out, leaving him crumpled on the ground. The three kids had braced themselves along wall, ready to jump in and help but they were all pale and a little relieved.

They ran into three more Konoha ninja, all disabled in one way or the other but no civilians like Naruto thought. In fact, it was like the entire place empty with just this skeletal security staff. He had lost track of how long they had been wandering and a few times found themselves turning corners to be met with the little black marks.

The strain of sneaking and fighting was beginning to tell on the kids. They had been forced to fight; Naruto couldn't maneuver well in the tight hall and often the attack had placed the kids between himself and Naruto. Hanako had taken a kunai to her head in one of the fights and Naruto's heart nearly stopped.

In a rage he had taken the guards out with more blood then he needed to and was kneeling by Hanako almost before the guards body had hit the ground.

She had groaned when he checked her over and he slumped with relief when all he found was a shallow cut.

Finally, they found a door with a useful title on it: "Main Surveillance".

It was surprisingly dark with the dim glow of a dozen television set along one wall lighting the room. It was empty. Floor to ceiling wooden cabinets held boxes upon boxes that spilled over with papers. The room had a general untidiness, like someone had lived too many hours in there. A wooden table took up most of the floor space and it was badly chipped. A single chair looked like it would barely hold a child faced the computer screens. Several empty ramen bowls and dirty cups littered the table, sitting on top of stained papers with hastily scribbled notes. It looked like who ever was usually in here had left in a hurry.

Naruto ignored the television screens and instead stead started to scan the papers. He knocked several ramen bowls to the ground to read something and uncovered a large ring of keys.

"Hey, there's a person in that room," Blondie said suddenly, almost scaring Naruto with her voice. He glanced to where she was pointing and froze. There was Gaara, sleeping peacefully on his back. The picture was fuzzy, unclear but there was no mistaking that red hair, or that tattoo blatant on his pale forehead.

"Is that him?" Hanako had seen him react.

"Where is he?" it was all Naruto could do to keep from jumping over the table and trying to touch him through the screen. He turned back to the papers, not wanting to see Gaara so venerable and alone. In his haste, he knocked over even more dishes, throwing papers to the ground.

"Room 7," Musad grumbled. He pointed to a faded piece of tape labeling the screen. "We passed Room 6 not long time ago."

And Naruto was gone, forgetting the kids as he ran, the keys echoing down the stone corridor the only sign he had ever been there. Blondie was about to start after him when Hanako grabbed her hand. "Look at that box."

Behind them on the shelf was a leather bound box with the words "U Z U M A K I NARUTO written in bold black letters. Right beside it sat G A A R A. Wordlessly, Blondie pulled them off the shelf and they opened them, none of the three noticing when the lights suddenly went out in the halls and plunged the entire underground into near darkness. They started to read by the glow of the screens.

………………………………………………………………………….

Gaara had just started to stir awake when he heard a noise he had never heard before while being in this room: a sound outside the walls. Groggy, he scrambled to his feet as a part of the wall moved. He stared at it; he and Naruto had never been able to find any cracks or lines indicating a door though they knew there must be one.

It moved out before slowly starting to open. Gaara braced himself, narrowing his eyes with a strange, nervous pit feeling in his stomach he had never really felt before. Fear, he thought to himself as the door slowly, slowly, opened. The room was light and there were no shadows but whatever was outside of it was dark. Gaara squinted, unable to see what was behind the door.

Suddenly he saw a darker shape amoung the dark backdrop and he rushed it, hoping to get an advantage.

"Gaa-" he hit the body, throwing both of them out of the door, finally out of the door, and into the shadows. Gaara felt the body grunt as they hit the ground, cold stone, colder then Gaara had felt in days and he relished in it as he pinned the person with a knee to the chest and two hands around the throat.

"Gaara!" the body gasped out, strangled, and Gaara let go in shock, finally, finally, hearing it and hoping it was for real.

He stumbled back, away from the body, the only warm thing in the cold stone outside and fell against the door, pushing it closed and sealed without him behind it.

The body, the voice, Naruto, coughed and Gaara's eyes still couldn't make him out clearly but the yellow hair, like sunshine and gold, stood out against the dark and he couldn't, shouldn't, believe it.

"Some welcome," Naruto rubbed at his collar. Those blue eyes, as bright as chakra, smiled at him and finally, finally, Gaara believed.

"Naruto," it was hardly more then a breath but Naruto heard it and he smiled the smile Gaara knew Naruto thought he didn't see whenever Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eye.

Then suddenly the cold stone on his back, colder then he had felt in days, seemed gone and the warmth over him was warmer then anything he had felt ever. Naruto's breath was over his and they were so close he didn't see anything but the blue and he reached up to touch, to grab the solid shoulders, to make sure it was real. Scarred, rough, pale hands braced on either side of his head, blocking out the rest of the world as everything turned to focus on Gaara and Naruto's breath, their mouths, their lips and the soft touch as they finally, finally, connected.

One of those scarred, rough, pale hands slide from the wall to his hair as Naruto leaned forward, taking control for a few brief, eternal moments before he leaned back again, leaving Gaara in the wake of the kiss.

"Is this what I think of you?" Naruto asked, breathless and smiling in a way Gaara felt rather then saw.

All the thoughts of his cunning plan to win Naruto over were thrown out the window as Gaara stared at him, struck dumb now that Naruto seemed to have sucked him dry. Naruto released his gentle grip on Gaara's hair and slowly ran his finger through it, all the way back to the stone wall.

"Not," Gaara managed to squeeze out. "Uh, we weren't quite there yet."

"Oh," Naruto said, an edge of something on his voice and he started to lean away, taking his hand and taking his warmth with him.

"Not," Gaara struggled with his brain, cursing the fact he seemed to have forgotten whatever language they were speaking in. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Oh," Naruto grinned.

Suddenly Naruto glanced up and moved away from Gaara much too fast for his liking. He shivered against the cold stone, and then stood with Naruto as he heard the footsteps approaching them too.

"Yo!"

Gaara stared as three children jogged up to them, the lead one holding a small flashlight. They looked ragged and tired, and scarily young to be standing in the dank, dark corridor.

"Oh, you found him," the lead girl panted as they stopped. She was blonde and looked like a wet dog. She had a liberal spatter of freckles all over her face and glared at Naruto with bright blue eyes. "We were right behind you, ya know."

Naruto shot them a sheepish look.

"We found papers, Naruto-sensei," the shorter girl and another boy both held boxes in their arms. She looked the worst off of the three with a hastily cleaned head wound and splatters of mud on her face, making it paler then it was, and clumped in her copper red hair. The last kid, a short dark boy, kept on glancing over his shoulder and didn't say anything.

"Good," Naruto said and started to go the opposite direction the kids had come in. "Let's get out of here-"

But too late Gaara saw the familiar red seal flash on the floor and he felt the nauseating pull on his midsection.

Go read the Reader's Guide for more info. It's on my lj, under my memories.