Kakashi's P.O.V
Just about a good two hundred yards ahead of us stood the entrance to the Hidden Village of Sand, ruled by Gaara, who was also a friend of Naruto's.
"Okay, listen Naruto, we need to remain a low profile until we meet with the Kazekage, understood?" I asked him for the third time.
"Right, right. Hey, you think they have a ramen stand in town?" he asked me with a grin.
I groaned, he was going to get in deep trouble one of these days, and I'd have to pull him out of it. We got through town, and to my great surprise, had little trouble scheduling to speak with the Kazekage. We were escorted by a Suna kunoichi who seemed to be fairly happy to see us, especially Naruto.
"Naruto, it's been a while! How are you?" asked the blonde haired woman. She seemed familiar.
"I'm great, Temari. How's Gaara been lately?" Naruto replied.
She laughed, "He's good at what he does, and that's all that matters. He tries to give the impression of him being busy all the time though….I think that Kankuro is rubbing off on him a bit.
I suddenly remembered, Temari was the sister of Gaara, and a talented ninja who had helped Konoha against the Sound nin attacks, along with other problems. I believe she currently held the rank of Jonin.
"Well, Temari….last time I remember you were a liaison between Sunkagure and Konohakagure. Good to see you again." I said, trying to make my presence known.
She nodded, "Hatake Kakashi, it's an honor to have you here too."
Naruto turned serious, "Um…Temari, we would like to speak with Gaara as soon as possible, so we can give him some much needed information."
Temari nodded to show her understanding, then lead us through the Kazekage tower until we eventually came to a door that had a sign over it saying 'Please do not disturb. the Kazekage.' Temari merely grunted in annoyance and banged on the door….almost a bit too hard in my opinion.
"The sign's there for a reason." Came a disgruntled voice from the room behind the door.
"Gaara, get up! How can you possibly lead a village if you only sit around and sleep all day!" she turned to us, "I swear, ever since he started sleeping he's been in bed since one in the afternoon everyday."
"Must be making up for lost time." Naruto laughed.
"What's so important?" Gaara complained from behind the door, and a shuffling of feet could be heard.
"You have an old friend from Konoha here to visit." Temari replied, her patience thinning.
A sudden bustling could be heard, followed by the sound of a stumble and something breaking, finished off with a few choice words that would make Kiba blush. A frazzled looking Gaara opened the door, rubbing his eyes and mumbling something like, 'I'll have to replace that vase later...'
"Gaara, long time, no see! How's it going buddy!" Naruto asked the young Kazekage, slapping him on the back. Gaara fell forward a little, but remained standing.
"Just fine Naruto…what are you doing here? You're the second group from Konoha to arrive this week." Gaara commented with a hint of a smile.
"That's something we came to talk about, Kazekage-sama…it's about Sasuke Uchiha and Orochimaru." I answered.
Gaara lifted an eyebrow, "There's been word of Sound nin wandering around the outskirts at night…you know that Orochimaru can't be that far away if that's the case." He clenched a fist, and sighed.
"Yeah, I've come here to get Sasuke back along with Kakashi." Naruto added, then Temari spoke.
"Well, as much as I hate to interrupt, why don't we get you two some food? We have more than enough for two more people." She offered.
"Hey, Gaara, who were the others that you said came here from Hidden Leaf?" asked Naruto.
"I believe you know them…Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Neji Hyuuga. They came here with medical supplies that we normally receive from Konoha once every month." Gaara answered.
Naruto's face lit up, "Really? Great, I haven't seen those guys in a while now."
"Well, there in the dining hall if you want to see them…I just hope that Shika-kun didn't run off like yesterday." Temari added. She then went off ahead down a corridor to the dining hall. Gaara looked ahead and shook his head.
"Ooooh…I see it now. Shikamaru and Temari are a thing, huh?" Naruto laughed.
"Well, my sister is aggressive….and when she wants something, she gets it. Not that he's been putting up much protest…he's lazier than Kankuro. Smarter though, I won't deny that." Gaara said with a shrug, "I hope that Choji didn't eat all the food on the buffet table again…"
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the young Kazekage.
Naruto's P.O.V
When we reached the hall, I immediately recognized the large figure of Choji sitting at a table eating while reading a book of some sort. The title read 'How to deal with Kunoichi: Advice from the Experienced Shinobi Men'
"Choji! How's it going!" I yelled from across the hall. He looked up, stared for a moment, and then grinned.
"Naruto! Hey! Never expected to see you here of all places! Come over here, there's plenty of food!" he replied, signaling for me to sit down.
I took a look around the place, and noticed Kankuro sitting at a table some couple of rows away while Neji and Shikamaru were engaged in a game of Chess. The game was (not at all to my surprise) in Shikamaru's favor, he lost only two pawn and a knight to Neji's five pawns, two bishops, and one knight. Needless to say, Neji was not very happy about it.
"Neji's determined to win…they've been at it since ten this morning…that was three hours ago." Choji whispered.
Ten minutes later, Shikamaru forfeited the game saying it was becoming too troublesome to play; Neji looked disappointed, but said nothing to protest.
"Well, if it isn't Uzumaki. It was about a month the last time I saw you." Neji said upon noticing me, then got up to greet us.
"Yeah, I was wondering where you guys had been. You had Tenten in a rut for a good couple of days, since she only knew that you left for a B-rank mission and wouldn't be back for about a week." I replied, and Neji looked down. He shook his head, but I noticed his face redden a little, and he grinned slightly.
"Women can be such a pain sometimes." Shikamaru added.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Temari asked him, stomping over with her hands at her hips. Shikamaru smiled a bit and shrugged.
"Nothing, Temari." He replied.
"Whipped…" Choji grunted. Kankuro laughed a bit while getting some food, but immediately stopped upon seeing Temari's reaction.
"Heh, yeah, and Ino's pretty easy-going, right?" Shikamaru laughed. Choji opened his mouth to reply, but said nothing, and suddenly became interested in his meal again. I noticed him tuck away his book too.
"That is why I don't get involved in these kinds of things." I heard Gaara say, grabbing a slice of fruit.
"Amen to that." Kakashi added while taking out his favorite book.
After a good hour of getting reacquainted, and eating as well, Kakashi and I explained our whole ordeal to them, minus the whole leaving the hospital part. To be blunt, it was dead silent by the time I was done.
Neji was first to break the silence, "Wait…so you're going after Uchiha again? Forget it, he's a traitor, and he's pretty much lost his personality to the Snake-sannin."
"Well, there's still a chance." I responded. Neji let out a breath of air, then nodded.
"Why don't we help? I mean, if that Snake-freak is here in Hidden Sand, then we should do something about it, right?" Kankuro added, turning to his younger brother. Gaara agreed.
"We shouldn't let word out of the situation yet, that could put the whole village in panic, and that wouldn't help at all." Gaara spoke as he got up from his chair.
"I guess we'll be helping too?" Shikamaru groaned.
"I'll put in good word for you with Tsunade." Kakashi offered.
"I'm in." Neji agreed.
"Me too." Choji replied.
"Fine….how troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
So we headed to the outskirts of Sunagakure. Gaara had his staff take care of all the office work until he returned, which he said would be 'as soon as he takes care of some problems'.
We found ourselves walking through a sandy street, and the sun was beginning to set. Things seemed to be hopeless as far as finding any clues to our quarry's whereabouts…that is until Kakashi pushed me to the ground, only to have a kunai go flying through the air and hit a building a second later in the spot that I had stood.
"I thought I threw that one too slowly." I heard a familiar voice say. A voice that I hadn't heard in quite a while…
"Sasuke…" I said, looking up to a roof to see the young Uchiha. Next to him stood Orochimaru and Kabuto, along with at least three dozen Sound-nin.
"What are you doing in Sungakure!" Gaara growled, stepping forward and unscrewing the cork on his gourd filled with sand. I had to remind myself that even without the Shukaku, he still could control sand.
Orochimaru was next to speak, "Well, this isn't the welcoming party I had hoped for. Oh well, this should suffice." He hissed with a smirk.
"Answer my question!" Gaara roared with anger in his eyes.
"My quite the temper for the ruler of the Hidden Village of Sand…that can be quite the problem. Your father is a prime example of-"
"Enough!" Gaara cut off Orochimaru and lifted his hands, blasting sand at the enemy group of ninja. Orochimaru and the others dodged the attack, all except two unlucky Sound-nin who were crushed by tons of sand. They probably received a merciful killing compared to what would happen to the others.
I found myself dodging kunai, shruiken, and senbon needles alike from all directions. I noticed Shikamaru along with Choji and Neji were hiding behind a wall. Shikamaru seemed to be explaining something, and the other two listened. One thing that a ninja should never do is give Shikamaru time; that gives him the opportunity to think up a plan. I decided to go help Kakashi while the Sand siblings fought off the onslaught of ninja around us.
Kakashi seemed to be in trouble, and Orochimaru realized that, "It's a pity really…Tsunade sends out one of her best Jonin to die in a worthless attempt to stop me.
The copy nin said nothing, probably because Orochimaru was most likely right. I was about to attack Orochimaru when a figure stepped in front of me.
"It's been a while demon." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Sasuke, stand down. Now." I said pulling out a kunai.
"Or else what?" he laughed, activating his Sharingan.
"Or else I'll make you." I replied, ready to draw on my chakra.
We said nothing, and ran at each other. Fists flew, and steel clashed. I flew into a wall, and saw Sasuke get up from a pile of brick.
Soon Sasuke's body mutated and the black marking from the Curse Seal appeared.
"Is this the life you want Sasuke! Serving some freak who doesn't give a damn about your well-being, only if you can serve his purposes?" I yelled, getting up and delivering a kick that was blocked by his knee.
"Orochimaru taught me how to become stronger than I could have ever become while in Konoha." Sasuke responded, jabbing me in the jaw.
I spit blood, then spoke, "You're pathetic Sasuke…but you're still my friend and family. I 'm not giving up on you yet."
"Then let today be the breaking point for that hope you have in 'saving' me." He retorted, and formed a Chidori in his hand.
"So that's how it's going to be, huh? Fine…" I then drew upon my chakra, and then went a step deeper, and began to access the endless well of chakra from the Kyuubi.
"Kit…careful now. We don't have as much elbow room for it this time. Don't go killing your friends by mistake." The demon fox spoke to me.
'You sound worried.' I thought.
"We can't afford to lose allies." Kyuubi replied, but I think he was trying to cover up his concern for the others.
I felt the orange and red glow form around me, then my eyes became slits and my teeth and nails sharpened. I felt an orb of spiraling chakra form in my hand. Then, I said one of the most powerful words any ninja could speak.
"Rasengan."
End of chap. 6- Oh yeah! Action! Well, there you go, probably my longest chapter yet. Hope you liked it, there will be more to come! R&R.