Disclaimer: Same as the usual.

a/n: I'm sure there are those of you out there saying, "How did she learn all that in one week?" Well, this chapter should answer most, if not all, of your questions.

I made it there with no difficulty. There was no one walking the halls today so I didn't get stopped and asked where I was going. I walked slowly down the hall that led to the Kazekage's office and as I neared his door, I could hear voices. I smiled to my self as I pressed myself against the wall and scooted as close to the door as possible to listen.

"She has to be a Jinchuuriki. That's the only explination." I heard Gaara say. I narrowed my eyes, Jinchuuriki? What the hell was that?

"Nani! How is that possible, she's from another world all together!" This time it was Tem-chan.

"I've been looking into that. I don't think it's true." Gaara said.

"So she's been lieing?" Temari demanded. She sounded angry.

"Iie. I think she beleives she is from where she says she's from. Everything sounds accurate, but I've been looking into some information that had come to my attention recently." Gaara said. I heard a shuffling of papers. He must be showing Temari the reports or something.

"Genjutsu? That's your explination for this? There isn't anyone out there that can create a Genjutsu of this magnitude. It's impossible." Temari said after a minute or so and sounded skeptical.

Genjutsu, genjutsu...I've heard that before... Oh yeah, it was the illusion technique. I narrowed my eyes. Gaara thought my life had been nothing more than an illusion? Who the hell would do that to someone?

"Improbable, not impossible. I beleive I have an idea of who is behind this."

"Who would have the power to do this?" Temari sounded worried.

"Who had the power to influence the last Kazekage, who had the power to defeat the Third Hokage? Who is the only known person to leave Akatsuki and live to tell about it?" Gaara said with a tone that said he knew, but wanted Temari to figure it out.

"Surely not. He's been in hiding too long now to let something like this happen, let one of his..." She paused and I heard her take a breath, "...precious experiments...get away from him like this?"

My eyes widened. Experiments? Is that what she had just said? I was an experiment? I leaned closer to the door.

"I'm sure there is more to it than that. We will just have to wait and see." Gaara said and I heard a mettalic creak. He must have sat back down in his chair.

I stood up straight and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm myself, and also keep myself from bursting in. He had obviously not wanted me to hear the conversation. That would explain why he ordered me to my room and told me training was done for the day. I froze as the door opened. I was caught for sure. But what did it matter? What would happen, would I get grounded again? Big deal.

Tem-chan walked out and her eyes widened as she noticed me leaning against the wall beside the door.

"How long ha-"

"Long enough." I said, cutting her off.

"How much have you heard?" She asked.

"Everything from 'Jinchuuriki' on." I paused as I saw her pale slighlty, "What the hell is a Jinchuuriki anyways?"

"It means...you're more like Gaara than anyone else." She said as she glanced over her shoulder into the office.

"I don't follow." I said and it was my turn to pale, Gaara had just appeared in the doorway behind Temari.

"It means you have a demon sealed inside you." Gaara stated plainly.

I raised an eyebrow, "And that explains it? Or is there more to it than that?"

Gaara nodded before looking at Temari, "You have busines to attend to, right?"

Temari nodded, "Yeah. I'll stop by later to check on you, alright Ah-chan?" She gave me an apologetic look and left me standing in the hall alone with Gaara.

"Come in here. I have something to show you, it should help you understand." He said as he walked back to his desk.

I walked into the office and shut the door quietly behind me. I looked up to see Gaara pull out a rather thick book, open it about half way though, and set it on the desk. He nodded to it.

I walked over and looked down at the book. It was in a language I didn't know so I looked back to Gaara, who took it upon himself to explain it.

"Here, in our world, there are Nine Tailed Beasts. They were once thought of as legend, but twenty two years ago, one of the Beasts attacked Konoha. It was the Kyuubi, or Nine Tails. To defeat it, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, sealed it within a newborn baby. A year before, my father had done the same, with Ichibi, or the One Tailed Beast. He sealed it within me, not to save the village, but to use it as a weapon."

I nodded and looked back down at the book. The current page it was opened to had an image of a raccoon on one page, and on the other, was what looked like a two tailed cat. It wasn't as big, but looked just as mean.

"With the Tailed beasts, their strength is based on the amount of Tails they have. Ichibi, having only one tail, is the weakest. Kyuubi, with nine tails, is the strongest."

I looked up at Gaara, who was watching me now, "So which one do I have?" My hands were shaking slightly, so I stuffed them into my pockets and tried to keep my voice normal, but I could tell it held the tell tale signs of fear.

"That, I can't answer." He said as he picked up the book and snapped it shut.

"Why not?" I was slightly irratated. He can tell me I have a demon in me, but he can't tell me which?

"Because I don't know. No one but the one that sealed it within you knows, and the way the sealing goes, he or she, is probably dead. For the sealing techninque to be sucessful, it needs a sacrifice. That is why it is considered forbidden." With that said, he turned his back on me and looked out the window.

I sat there for a few minutes in silence before finding my voice again, "So what happens next?"

He didn't answer right away, "You will resume your training. It will only get harder from here on out, but you must stick with it." He paused for a few seconds, "You may go now."

I didn't answer him, I just stood and walked out of the room, deep in thought.

Tem-chan knew, did that mean she was going to treat me any differently now? She had said that everyone in the village was afraid of Gaara. Was she afraid of me? Was that why she suddenly got pale when I told her I heard what they were talking about?

I walked to my room, still thinking about what had been discussed with Gaara when I bumped into someone. I muttered an apology with out looking up and continued walking.

"Amanda?"

I turned and saw Kankuro looking at me curiously. I stopped walking, "What?"

He narrowed his eyes, "You find him or what?"

Find him? Oh yeah, that's right. I had left Kankuro in Gaara's office and went to find him. I nodded, "Yeah."

"Good, I was worried. Did you get caught by the storm?"

I nodded.

"Did something happen? You're being far too quiet."

I shrugged, "I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff." I said as I turned to continue on my way to my room. I heard Kankuro mutter something about women being all the same before I turned down another hall that led to the stairway.

I made it the rest of the way to my room without running into anyone else, be it litteral or not.

I kicked off my sandles and uncliped the small pouch from my hip. I suddenly remembered the scroll I had found. I pulled it out and looked at it for a second before hiding it in the nightstand drawer. I figured I would look at it after my shower.

I walked over the bed to the closet and pulled out a black shirt and a pair of clean pants before locking myself in the bathroom for well over an hour, during which I spent submerged in hot water.

I redressed myself and walked out of the bathroom, towel in my hands, drying my hair, when I heard a knock on my door. I drapped the towel over my shoulders and opened it. Temari was standing there, looking quite nervous.

"Hey." I said as I opened the door all the way to let her walk in.

She seated herself on the bed as I finnished toweling my hair. I tossed the towel into the bathroom and it landed on the sink.

"So he explain everything?" She seemed curious.

I nodded, "As much as he could. Still confused though."

"Yeah well, not a whole lot is known about the Jinchuuriki. Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto are the only known at the moment, and you, of course." Her nervousness seemed to fade as I sat down on the bed.

"This isn't going to change anything, right?" I asked hesitantly.

"Change anything? No, why would it?"

I shrugged and smiled, she said exactly what I had hoped she would. I reached over and pulled open the drawer to the night stand and pulled out the scroll.

"You know what this is?" I asked as I tossed it to her.

She caught it with one hand, pulled off the red string, and opened it.

After a minute, she spred it on the bed, "It's a Technique Scroll. It tells you, in detail, how to perform it."

"Really?" I was automaticly interested now. Maybe I could learn it.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's called Sunakirino Yaiba." She paused and read the scroll, "Interesting. It creates a sword made entirely of sand that is just as sharp as steel." She said with an approving nod.

I grinned, "Sweet! Can you help me learn it?" I leaned forward and watched as she pointed out different symbols.

"It might take a while, you'll need near perfect Chakra Control, but yeah, I think we'll be able to tackle this." She looked at me for a moment, "Where'd you get this?"

"I found it while looking for Gaara. I tripped over it."

She shrugged, "Stroke of luck then. Scrolls like these, even second hand, are fairly expensive. After you learn it, you might want to take it to the scroll shop and sell it. I'm sure you could get a couple hundred ryou for it."

I beamed, "Yes! Money is always good!" I said and jumped off the bed and pulled on my sandles, "C'mon, lets get started! I want to learn this one as soon as possible!"

Temari shrugged, "Sure, we still have a few hours before dinner. You'll at least be able to get the hand seals right."

Tem-chan and I spent the better part of two hours working on the hand seals. Once she was satisfied with my efforts, she said it was time to call it a day.

--

After an uneventful meal of rice and curry, which I had declared my new favorite, I headed back to my room. About half way down the hall I came across a young blonde who looked very lost. He kept looking around sighing.

"You lost?" I asked loudly to catch his attention.

He turned and focused a pair of very very blue eyes on me and nodded, "Yeah, I'm looking for someone."

I glanced him over. He was wearing a pair of damn near close to neon orange pants, black sandles, and a black tee shirt underneath a black and orange jacket.

"Got a name for this someone, I might be able to help." I said causally. It took me a moment, but I noticed the bandana around his head had a familiar looking metal plate on it. It was a leaf shaped symbol, "You're from Konoha, right?"

He grinned and nodded, "Yup, one day I'm going to be Hokage."

I raised an eyebrow, he seemed far too happy for his own good. I waited to see if he was going to answer my first question.

He rambled on about how Hokage was his greatest dream, declared himself, 'Uzumaki Naruto-sama, Konoha's number one show-offy ninja.' It was here that I stopped him.

"Alright alright. I get the point. Who are you looking for, Naruto-san?" My patience was wearing thin, and a loud mouth blonde was the last thing I really wanted to deal with today.

"Her name is Amanda. Do you know her?" He looked hopeful.

I swear my jaw must have dropped a good foot an a half, "What are you looking for me for?" The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself.

"You're Amanda-san?" He sounded doubtful.

I narrowed my eyes, "Yeah, wha'd you want?"

Naruto broke into a long winded story about how he was on some delivery mission for the Hokage and when he had delivered his package, Gaara had stopped him and asked him to find me and talk to me about something. What ever that something was, Naruto didn't specify, but made it sound really important.

When it sounded like he was finnished, I stoped him before he could say anymore, "Okay, so it's by Gaara's request. What is it you're supposed to talk to me about?"

He looked around and suddenly looked very serious, "I can't say here. Can we go somewhere private?"

I closed my eyes and sighed, "Yeah fine. My room's just down the hall." I said and walked past him, "Keep up, these halls are booby trapped." I added to make sure he didn't lag behind.

He followed closely much like a lost puppy and kept chattering about how someone named Sakura-chan would love to visit, and how she and I could probably be friends. I rolled my eyes and thanked god when I saw the stairs that led to my room. I took them two at a time just to speed the whole process. Naruto was really getting on my nerves, he talked too much for me.

I pushed open my door and made a beeline for the bed and sat down as he followed me in.

He looked around hestiantly and shut the door behind him.

"So what is it you need to talk to me about?" I asked as I kicked off my sandles and sat cross-legged on the bed.

He sat on the floor infront of me and nodded, that serious look back on his face, "Jinchuuriki."

I narrowed my eyes for a moment before remembering that Tem-chan had said that Gaara and an Uzumaki Naruto were the only known surviving Jinchuuriki. This blonde chatterbox sitting in front of me was that Uzumaki Naruto? Oi.

"What about them?"

"Is it true what Gaara told me, that you're a Jinchuuriki too?" He looked like a kid asking their grandparents if Santa really exsisted.

I sighed, "That's what he thinks anyways. I don't know. Why?"

His eyes went wide and all shiny, like if grandma or grandpa had said that yes, santa did exsist, "Because that's just so cool, Amanda-nee-chan!" He jumped to his feet and tried to tackle me, in what I think was a hug, but I jumped off the bed and away from him before he got too close.

"I will not allow any of that. Not even if you have something furry and tailed inside that hyper active body of yours." I said with my hands on my hips.

He leaned back on his elbows and grinned, "So which one do you have, Nee-chan?"

I shrugged, "No idea. You?" For some reason, I could picture a ferocious looking rabbit with nine puff-ball tails, bouncing around inside this guy. Just the thought made me smile slightly.

"Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed fox." He sounded almost proud.

"Kyuubi, that's the strongest one, right?"

He nodded, "Yup."

There was along silence between the two of us before I finnaly broke it, "So when are you leaving back for Konoha?" I asked out of mere curiosity. Part of me wanted to see this other village. I was getting tired of sand every where.

"Day after tomorrow. I promised Sakura-chan I would bring her back something." He didn't sound too thrilled at the prospect.

"How about, I help you pick something out for Sakura, and you return the favor by doing something for me?" I offered up.

He opened his mouth to reply but paused and looked at me strangely, "Something like what?"

So he wasn't as dumb as he looked, "Just fill me in on some blanks that I really want to know, but don't think anyone will tell me. Just some innocent information is all." I added a smile for good measure.

"Sure, ask me anything!" He sounded pleased that I would ask him a simple question.

"I might be rude in asking, but who defeated the third Hokage?" I asked quietly.

"Why?" All humor was gone from his voice.

"I"ll tell you after you answer my question."

"Orochimaru." He said the name much like someone would say a curse.