I have returned for another update. One day late but I still returned. Now, I'm not going to waste too much of your time with this blurb and let you get to reading.
I don't own Naruto. Just in case any of you though I was Kishimoto. I'm not unfortunately.
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Team 7 had been sent off on a special sort of mission this time. Usually Kakashi would be the one watching over them and leading the mission, but today that silver haired sloth was off on a different, more advanced mission. No, today team seven found themselves led by none other than the God of Perverts himself. Jiraiya the toad sage.
They had been requested by him specifically. He had uncovered a location of one of Orochimaru's research bases and wished to raid it. While Tsunade had tried to knock some sense into him by bringing jounin or chunin, Jiraiya remained firm with his selection. However he did request that a team from suna. More specifically, Gaara's team. Tsunade had opposed it at first, but after a short talk, some sake, and the promise that he could restrain Naruto and Gaara if need be, Jiraiya had gotten what he came for.
They would meet up at a village near the base before heading out together. With the Kazekage dead, the sand siblings' sensei had taken over for the time being. Temari now was incharge of the three of them. Gaara had been more friendly with his siblings since his fight with Naruto. Before then, they were close to strangers to him. Kankuro was always hesitant to answer his questions, wary that the wrong answer could end him up in the hospital.
In the meantime, Sasuke and Hinata had been graced with a bickering duo of children to listen to. A few times she had to resist the urge to attack the pervert. Sasuke kept silent, acting as if he could care less about the conversation. Secretly, he was listening to some of what Jiraiya had to say, mildly intrigued.
To try and keep Naruto busy, Jiraiya would have him practice forming the rasengan. Telling him that he had to be able to make one in an instant, "battle doesn't always provide the luxury of time". Naruto would complain about being bored, but he never stopped practicing. Hinata was impressed with how many rasengans he could make before suffering from chakra exhaustion. She was less impressed with how long he tried fighting her off like a baby before she forced him to let her heal him after he was starting to fall behind.
Lucky for her, Jiraiya had treated them to one of the higher class hotels in the village when they arrived and she had a room all to herself. 'At least those books of his are good for something. I'd much rather have this than sleeping in a tent'.
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The next day, the konoha and suna forces met at the center of town. After a brief rundown of what was to happen, the group leapt off to where Jiraiya had been told the research base was.
Temari, like Hinata, was less than impressed with the Sannin. Irritated that he didn't seem to be serious about the situation very much. Instead he and Kankuro had started a conversation about their favorite authors in Jiraiya's preferred writing genre. Sasuke once again kept to himself, still keeping an ear out for anything interesting from their conversation. Naruto had taken to chatting with Gaara. Or chatting to Gaara. The red haired jinchuriki hadn't been given much time to answer the questions asked to him, and gladly would listen to what Naruto had to say instead of describing what his home life was like now.
The talking came to a halt when Jiraiya suddenly stopped and signalled for everyone to jump to the ground. "The base is about a mile in front of us. While it's not certain that anyone's inside, there still could be traps to defend it that are still active. Naruto, make some clones to set some of the traps off". Begrudgingly Naruto did so, not overly keen about his clones being used as fodder.
He quickly had a change of tune when his clones weren't able to get twenty feet in front of them before being destroyed by a series of kunai tearing through them.
"Told you. Now, make some more, but send them out one at a time, that way one trap doesn't take out 3 at once".
Naruto did as told, only making three at a time and replacing them when his previous clones had all been destroyed. Temari found herself impressed with his chakra capacity. She had used a similar jutsu herself, the sand clone jutsu, only a small number of times and found it to be exhausting after only 3 clones. Shadow clones required even more chakra and Naruto made them as if they were nothing. 'He may have even more chakra than Gaara!'. She found the thought to be a bit scary.
About a quarter mile away from the base, Jiraiya stopped Naruto. "There's signal traps around here. If we set them off, who's ever in the base will be notified. To get to the entrance we're going to have to go undercover".
"What do you mean undercover? It's not like we can just disguise ourselves as the people inside!" Naruto said.
"I never said we'd be going in as people," Jiraiya said. The genin, including Gaara, had a confused look. Jiraiya didn't provide an explanation but instead summoned a small toad. "Alright everyone, time to get in the toad".
. . .
"WHAAATTT?!". Jiraiya was nearly knocked onto the ground by the question. Temari, Naruto, Kankuro, and Hinata had somehow synced up and asked it with equal intensity and timing, the force of their question knocking him to the ground.
"You heard me, common, it's a lot bigger than it looks. Open up Kimachi!". The tiny toad did as asked, with it's mouth extended to an impossible size. Jiraiya jumped above the wrong and fell into its mouth, landing somewhere in the abyss below. Temari and Naruto looked down to try and see him. "Common slowpokes, we don't have all day!".
The genin shrugged at one another, some more disgusted than others as they followed the sannin into the toad's mouth and into the abyss. When they landed, the genin found themselves in what looked like a hallway made of body tissue. "Welcome to the throat of a toad! Now, it may get a bit bumpy so make sure to attach yourself to the floor with chakra, otherwise you'll find yourself crashing into the walls and floors".
The genin quickly listened, none of them wishing to be covered in toad throat mucus. Even with using chakra to stabilize themselves the genin found it hard to remain upright when the toad started jumping. Naruto and Hinata used each other to stabilize themselves. Temari helped Gaara, making sure he didn't fall. Sasuke and Kankuro had grabbed each other's shoulders, trying to remain upright themselves, though Kankuro did end up falling anyways and got tossed around by the sudden movement of the toad. Jiraiya laughed the entire time, peacefully standing off to the side, having no problems with keeping himself stable.
Having no control of himself, Kankuro accidentally fell into Sasuke, taking the Uchiha with him on the hellish toad ride.
When the toad stopped, Jiraiya called for it to open its mouth once more. Naruto had been laughing the entire time at Sasuke and Kankuro, when the toad stopped he had attempted and failed at asking if they were alright. Once the toad opened its mouth, Jiraiya jumped out, taking in his surroundings and calling the rest to follow. The toad had brought them straight to the entrance, a lump of dirt with a metal door stuck into its side.
"Okay, from here on out we're going to be split into three groups. Naruto, Gaara, and Hinata one one team. Kankuro, Temari, and Sasuke on the other. I'll be going by myself. We'll locate each other with these". Jiraiya handed each of them a stone with a seal on it, along with a map of the area for each group. "The dots on the map represent a stone, or in this case one of us. Will this map doesn't show the layout of the hideout, it should still help you find each other. Now, let's get exploring!". With that, Jiraiya turned and ripped the doors wide open, completely ignoring that they were metal.
The genin reluctantly followed, not thrilled about being lead into an enemy hideout by a man who seems to think of it as mostly a joke. The genin split when they came to a fork in the path. Three hallways stood before them, a stick on the group pointing to the one in the middle. 'He used a stick to decide which path to take?!' Temari thought.
"Well uhh. We go left, you guys go right?" Naruto suggested. It was accepted without opposition. Hinata was hesitant to be around Gaara without his siblings around, but she knew Naruto wouldn't be able to take care of himself and she didn't trust Gaara to protect him.
Temari was thrilled about being placed in a group with Sasuke. She may have feelings for Shikamaru, but a chance like this was just too good to let go. 'Besides, it's not like I'd want to be in a relationship with him. Maybe one or two dates, but that's it'. "So, Sasuke. Do you have any plans when we get back to the village?". Kankuro sighed as he watched his sister flirt in front of him.
"Yes, I do". Sasuke replied.
"Oh? And what is that?" Temari asked, curious as to what the Uchiha had planned, and wondering if she could worm herself into his plans.
"I'm going to look for a gift for my boyfriend".
Temari froze. Kankuro struggling to cover his laughter, he could see the " has stopped working" in his head. While he and Sasuke continued onward, Temari trudged behind, her spirits feeling betrayed.
[#_#]
Naruto had led the way with his group, Gaara and Hinata following behind him. Hinata kept on glancing over, waiting to see the bloodlust she had seen at the exam once again in his eyes. She was so distracted that she was completely unprepared for when Naruto had accidentally set off a trap. Hundreds of poisoned needles shot out of the wall towards him. He was saved by a wall of sand having caught and blocked all of the needles aiming for him.
Naruto looked back, "Thanks Gaara, I guess I need to pay more attention to where I'm going huh". Gaara bowed his head, his sand retracting itself back in his gourd. Despite saving Naruto's life, Hinata still didn't trust him.
The trio continued, this time with Naruto being more cautious of his surroundings. They eventually came upon a large room with a second story balcony on the other side of it. Only a few flicker lights were on, giving it an ominous feeling.
A crash came from the doorway across the room. All three genin stood stock still. They watched in fear as a mutated arm fell in the doorway. The grotesque body it belonged to following it. The skin had turned blue with veins bulging and the muscles weren't proportionate across the body. While it used one arm to drag itself, the other trailed uselessly behind like a piece of spaghetti. Its legs were the same, only the torso matched the first arm's strength. The creature's face was hidden by hair, but the eyes had briefly peeked through and the genin were able to see the pain it was enduring. Naruto and Gaara saw their own pain in the creature's eyes.
All of a sudden, the creature started hauling itself towards them at a rapid pace. Without a word Gaara restrained it while Naruto slit its throat. It all happened so fast, Hinata was only in her fighting stance by the time it was over. Naruto stood next to the body, his hair blocking his eyes from sight. "Let's go". He turned and continued walking, Gaara right next to him.
Before the creature Naruto had been shivering in his sandals, now Hinata didn't know what he was thinking. Now it was she who was trying to restrain her shivering. She didn't like how insync Gaara and Naruto had acted, she found it unsettling that in such little time they had become so close.
The three continued onward into the tunnels. Encountering two more of those creatures in the process, Gaara and Naruto not hesitating to eliminate them. Eventually they came to what seemed to be a lab of sorts. There were multiple broken vials and beakers, with ingredients smashed on the floor.
The three split up to investigate the room.
Naruto had gone over to the lab counter while Gaara and Hinata searched the 's sand spread itself across the room, feeling all the bits of broken glass, searching for secrets. Hinata found it to be incredibly annoying. No matter where she looked there was sand, and when she would grab something to inspect the little pebbles would make it so uncomfortable.
Without reason, another beaker fell from a shelf and startled everyone, including Gaara. He had unintentionally pulled his sand back suddenly too and tore up Hinata's palm, she gasped in pain. Naruto appeared right beside her, inspecting treating the wound right away. "Hinata are you okay?!".
"No! My hand is all bloody because of him! He's too dangerous to be around us!". Gaara's eyes widened ever so slightly in shock, his mouth slightly agape.
"Hey he didn't mean it Hinata! He just got startled!" Naruto defended.
"Yeah and if he threatens to shred us when he gets startled, I don't think it's safe for us to be around him. He tore up my hand and he cut your face!". Hinata pointed to the cut. Naruto followed her pointing with his hand to find a small trail of blood.
"So? It's only a minor cut. It'll heal in no time!".
"We were lucky this time, what if he loses even more control next time and instead of one scratch he covers your face in cuts!"
Gaara looked to his feet. Ashamed of being startled like that and hurting his teammates. Naruto and Hinata continued to argue over him, that is until Naruto had pounded his hand onto the table and accidentally had pushed a button of sorts. The floor opened up beneath him and closed as quick as it opened once he fell through.
Hinata and Gaara rushed over, looking to the floor. They then rushed to the table, searching for the button hoping to follow Naruto down there. Unfortunately for them, Naruto had smashed the button so it was impossible to follow him without breaking the floor. It was then they heard a low "OW!".
"Naruto! Are you okay?!" Hinata yelled.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just hit my head on something. Anyways, there's a map of the compound down here. Maybe there's a way for us to find each other again". Naruto took to the map. After a few seconds of searching, Hinata became uneasy with the silence.
"Are you still there Naruto?"
"Yeah. Oh! I found it. So if you guys leave that room and keep going straight I should be able to meet up with you two in the… capsule room? It's really big, you'll know it when you get there. I'm off!"
"Wait! Naruto!"
"Yeah? What's up Hinata?"
"... Please, be safe"
Naruto paused for a moment, touched that someone would be so concerned for his safety. "I will Hinata. See you there!". Naruto then started towards the capsule room. He had dropped into an empty room with a random statue by the wall. It was some girl throwing a punch at nothing. Naruto chalked it up to Orochimaru having a weird hobby.
After comforting Hinata he started walking towards the doorway into the hallway, a heavy metal door thrown to the side as if it had been broken through. Being alone he had gone in fox form and was using his advanced eye sight to see. Along the floor of the hallway were more statues of people. All in various positions. Some cowering, others running, some seemingly trying to fight. All of them either missing a limb or their head. Naruto found it unsettling how detailed they were. 'Man, Orochimaru has a creepy hobby. Why is he so good at it?'.
Naruto was constantly looking at the map, making sure he didn't miss a turn and measuring his distance from the capsule room. As he was passing a room labeled office a clattering sound rang from the room. Naruto put the map back in his pocket and entered his fighting stance. "Come out! I'm Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf! Surrender and I won't hurt you!". Naruto heard some whispering from inside the room, he took a step forward, the whispering stopped.
He made a clone to go investigate while he prevented any escape. The room had a large desk at its center with numerous shelves of books behind it. The clone slowly made its way to the other side of the desk. Once it had, water suddenly rose from the floor and formed into a boy around Naruto's age. The clone barely dodged the boy's attacks, and any attacks the clone threw would pass harmlessly through the boy. The boy was backing the clone into the book shelves where a red haired girl leapt down and stabbed the clone in the neck. The two were startled when the clone only poofed into a cloud of smoke instead of collapsing dead.
"Well you two are pretty good together. Though, it probably wasn't best to have a plan that only works on one opponent. The two turned towards the doorway, looks of fear on their face.
"Who's there?!" the girl called out.
"Didn't you hear? I'm Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf".
"Uzumaki?" the boy said.
"Yes! Uzumaki! Why?"
"Nothing!" the girl quickly said. She pulled out a candle and match, using the latter to light the former. Naruto was just out of their field of vision. "Come into the light, Naruto Uzumaki," the girl said cautiously.
Naruto deactivated his fox form before revealing himself. The two relaxed seeing that he was a kid like them. "Who are you two?" Naruto asked.
"I'm Karin. He's Suigetsu. Why are you here?"
"I was sent here to investigate one of Orochimaru's hideouts".
"How have you been getting around here? You don't have any light".
Naruto froze, trying to think of a cover story. "I uhh was using a candle but blew it out when I heard you make that noise". The two were suspicious of his answer but didn't linger on it.
"Do you know how to get out of here?" Karin asked, a desperate look in her eyes.
"Yeah, I found a map in a room back there. I've been following it to the capsule room to meet up with my friends". The two had their eyes go wide.
"The capsule room?!" Suigetsu shouted.
"Yes! Why?"
Suigetsu and Karin looked at each other with a scared look in their eyes. Karin was the one who answered, "There's a very dangerous experiment in that room".
"Experiment? What kind of experiment?"
"A human experiment. One that can turn people to stone with a single cut" Karin explained.
The blood drained from Naruto's face. 'Those statues… aren't statues… They're people that were turned to stone'. A sudden realization made Naruto pale to the point that Karin and Suigetsu were starting to worry about his health. 'I've sent Hinata and Gaara to their deaths'.
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Hinata and Gaara walked towards the capsule room in a sad silence. Gaara was upset about hurting his teammates and Hinata was upset about her outburst causing Naruto to pound the button and fall through the trap door. Before Gaara had started using a layer of sand to send out before them to help sense their surroundings, now he kept his sand in his gourd. Only the dimly lit torches provided them any sense of their surroundings.
Gaara was the first to break the silence. "Hinata… why do you care so much about Naruto?".
Hinata would have blushed and became angry at the question if not for how innocently curious Gaara had sounded. "I… I guess it's because of how caring he is… He's the first person to reach out to me outside of my family. Before him, I thought relationships were pointless as a shinobi. I guess I was afraid of losing anyone else".
Gaara pondered on those words. "I think you and I are very similar, Hinata Hyuga. Naruto did the same for me. Before him, only my family would speak to me for reasons other than ninja business. I was shunned by my village for being a demon and I thought making a friendship was a worthless cause… It wasn't until I saw him, with friends that care for him, that I considered trusting people… But there's still something I am confused about".
"What is that?"
"You seem to be more protective of Naruto than Sasuke is. Both of you are Naruto's friend, why is this?"
"Not all friends are the same. Some are more protective than others. Some are more trusting. Sasuke and I are both friends with Naruto, but how we go about being friends is different".
"Huh… Are you and I friends Hinata?"
Hinata was surprised by the question, or maybe it was how unsure Gaara sounded. "I ah… I don't know. Would you like to be friends?"
"Yes. I would like that very much". Gaara replied, the end of his lips making a slight curve upward.
The two lapsed into another period of silence, though with a lot less tension between them.
It was Hinata who started the next conversation. "Gaara, what is your sand to you?". Gaara gave Hinata a confused gaze. "I mean, is it a part of you; do you control it separately; is it possessed by something? What is it?".
Gaara was a bit surprised Hinata had asked about his sand, especially after how she had reacted in the lab room. "I don't have complete control of it. It only acts on its own to protect me. Besides that, its like a third arm. I feel with it, I move with it, I interact with the world with it".
"So it's like an extension of your body".
"Yes"
"Can you feel pain with it?"
"No, but like an arm, I can accidentally make sharp movements with it when startled"
Hinata now felt even more guilty about her outburst in the lab room.
"I'm sorry for cutting your hand".
"No, it's fine. I know some medical jutsu so I patched it right up".
"But you were scared. That's why you became so mad. I apologize for that".
Hinata didn't have a reply to that. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. Who wouldn't be scared of someone who had walked away from a fight with Rock Lee after being tossed around like a doll and had nearly killed Lee in the process. All the while calling for blood.
"I am also not innocent though. I was being much too harsh on you. I was scared of you, but that's not the real reason why I snapped at you… Ever since we met up this morning, Naruto's been talking with you the whole time. I guess I've been scared that you'd take him from me".
Gaara understood where Hinata was coming from. Naruto was a light that they both so desperately are clinging to, neither of them wanted to lose him.
"I do not think you need to worry about me taking him from you". Gaara said after a pause of silence. "When I had cut your hand he had appeared by your side almost immediately. I may be learning what a friend is, but I know you are more than a friend to him. I do not think I would be able to steal him from you". Hinata turned pink at that remark, she was also left pondering on Gaara's words.
'More than a friend? Maybe a closer friend but nothing more than that right? But would Naruto act that way with Sasuke? I don't know. It doesn't matter. Knowing Naruto it's probably him just being kind'. Hinata pushed the thought to the side for a later time, putting her focus back on the present and looking out for possible danger.
After a few more minutes the two came upon a massive room. Huge tubes jutting out of the floor in ordered rows. Some cracked or shattered, others completely intact. They agreed that this must be the capsule room. "Naruto!" Hinata shouted. No reply came so the two furthered their investigation of the room.
From out the darkness came a crashing of metal. The two went back to back, ready for a fight. A large figure slowly came walking out of the darkness. She was 8 ft tall with snake tattoos covering her from head to toe. She wore a robe that was covered in dirt with an evil smile. "You'll be the newest additions to my art collection" she said in a gleeful and crazed voice. She lunged towards Gaara, one of her hands outstretched as if to play tag.
His sand instinctively came to protect him. It encased her arm, stopping to attack. Gaara closed his hand, a motion he had done countless times before, but instead of her shrieking in pain, the woman laughed. The sand had turned to solid stone that now encased her hand. She slammed it on the ground and broke her hand free. "Nice trick, but you're going to need more than that if you want to beat me boy!"
Hinata was halfway to landing an attack of her own when she heard Naruto shout, "Don't touch her! She'll turn you to stone!". Hinata was just barely able to reroute her attack and retreat from being so close to the woman. Naruto sooned joined Hinata with his two new companions.
"Who are they?!"
"Just some survivors. Now, that woman is part of the Medusa clan. Normally she'd have to use an enormous amount of chakra to turn a person to stone but Orochimaru had experimented on her and now she can't control her powers. By the looks of it, she's also gone crazy".
"Great, so no touching her. Do we use long range attacks then?"
"Yes"
Hinata nodded and launched three kunai at the woman. The woman stopped her attack on Gaara and turned to face the kunai, forming a layer of rock to cover her and stop the kunai. The rock crumbled to the ground afterwards.
"Oh yeah. She can also form rock to protect herself" the girl called out.
"That would've been helpful to know earlier!" Naruto shouted.
"I forgot! Sorry!"
"AAHHHHH. Fine. Hinata! Try using your water laser thing".
Hinata complied, firing her water laser at the large woman. Unfortunately, the woman was quick enough to dodge it, and it required too much focus from Hinata to actually move it around that fast.
"It's okay, I have another plan just…". Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence because he had to dodge a left hook from the woman threatening to send him flying. "Just take the shot when you get it!" Naruto shouted. Hinata didn't know what that meant, but she prepared the jutsu, waiting for that opportunity Naruto promised.
Naruto was just barely able to keep ahead of the woman. While she lacked in speed, her sheer size made up for it. At one point, she had been able to grab his coat and everyone watched as it turned to rock in the blink of an eye before crumbling as Naruto leapt through it.
Dodging another punch, Naruto finally enacted his plan. He ducked under her attack and placed one foot to the side, he then wound up his right hand and a ball of blue light started forming. "RASENGAN!" he shouted as he shoved the ball of light into her gut. The woman went flying, coughing up some blood upon impact with the wall. "Now Hinata!".
Hinata aimed her finger and fired the stream of water. The woman tried making another rock shield to protect her but it was like butter to a hot knife. She was dead.
The genin and company left her there, partly because they couldn't move her. Hinata had decided that they had investigated much more than what was needed and pulled out the map Jiraiya had given her before entering the compound. She saw that the others were already waiting at the entrance and it looked like Jiraiya was coming to get them.
The five of them started for the exit. Jiraiya was surprised to find that they had two more than the three he had originally sent down the hall, as were the others. Suigetsu and Karin were cautious as well, only really trusting Naruto.
"Alrighty then. Now that we've done that, let's go eat. Food's on me. I want to hear everything that happened in there".
All but Jiraiya had their sweat drop. 'He makes it sound like we were never in danger'. True to his word, Jiraiya did pay for dinner, though he was asking questions constantly. Although, most of the questions were towards Suigetsu and Karin. He seemed unfazed when the mutants were mentioned, as if expecting to hear about them and having no concern. He did however flinch when the medusa clan woman was brought up.
The next day was spent relaxing in the village till around noon. Sasuke, true to his word, looked for a gift for Haku, enjoying that he finally had someone that was worth spending his family's fortune on. Temari helped, having gotten over her disappointment after fighting a few mutants and accepting reality. Naruto and Gaara walked around the village together, enjoying the fact that they weren't being shunned by the people. A little before noon Gaara asked, "Naruto. What is Hinata to you?".
"Huh? Why do you ask that?"
"I had thought you two had only been friends, but from what I have seen you act closer. The friendships I have seen do not have the friends being so worried about the other. What type of friendship do you have with her?".
Naruto started blushing at the question. "I umm…. I don't know. She's definitely to me closer than some of my other friends but… I don't know what I'd call her. A best friend?"
"But you are also close friends with Sasuke and you do not act the same way around him".
"How so?"
"When he lost grip in the toad and was crashing into the walls you didn't seem concerned at all. You laughed in fact. Why is that?"
"Umm.. I". Naruto didn't know how to respond to that. 'Why do I act differently around Hinata?'.
"I asked Temari for advice on the subject last night. She had suggested that you have romantic feelings for Hinata. Is that true?"
Now Naruto was beet red. "What?! NO! I… Well… I ahhh… I don't know! She's a close friend! Not all friendships work the same way, maybe that's what this is. Yeah! That must be it!". Gaara was doubtful, but he didn't question Naruto's statement. Naruto had far more experience with these things than he did.
When noon came the suna and konoha forces departed from the village in their own directions. The trip back to the leaf was filled mostly with Suigetsu and Naruto getting into fights while Karin and Hinata watched like disapproving mothers. Karin had attempted to flirt with Sasuke, but quickly learned how hopeless that endeavor was.
(_]}~-~-~{[_)
The 6 were welcomed back to Konoha with confusion. Kakashi sighed at the fact that this was the second time his team had brought back strangers to join the leaf. Hinata and Naruto went on another shopping trip to replace his jacket, Hinata not trusting Naruto the slightest bit when it came to buying his own clothes, when they were allowed to leave the Hokage tower.
Sasuke rushed to the Uchiha district to find Haku, but Haku was out on a mission at the moment. Sasuke sighed in disappointment before remembering that he had wanted to look into something. He made his way to the library to do some investigation.
Jiraiya had stayed behind in Tsunade's office to give a more detailed account of what happened. "Well, just as I had been told, Orochimaru had abandoned it. There was no substantial information to have been gained. Except for maybe that medusa clan woman, but she's dead now".
"I guess your plan worked then, for the most part. There wasn't any conflict between the genin?"
"Conflict? Naruto was chatting Gaara's ear off the entire time and me and Kankuro had lovely conversations. I have no doubt in my mind that this helped our relations with Suna".
"Hmm. And what about the two new brats. I've sent them down to interrogation for now but I'll have to do a medical checkup on both of them".
"Yeaahh… They were not part of the plan. Although, they were a welcome addition. Also, we need to look into the girl's history".
"We need to look into both of their histories, why is the girl more important?" Tsunade asked skeptically.
"On the way back, I had asked the two a few questions trying to learn about who they were before Orochimaru found them. While I didn't learn much about her past I did learn her name".
"Well what is it?" Tsunade asked, her curiosity outweighing her annoyance with how long Jiraiya was dragging this out.
"Karin Uzumaki"
8+][+8
Welcome to the end! You made it! I'm sorry if Gaara was a bit out of character this chapter. I probably should've spent some more time thinking about what would be responsible for him to say or how much he would say. Watched some clips of him or something. Anyways, I know there's holes in the story, I know that not everything makes sense. However, I don't know where all of them are. When you find one please leave a review for me. After I finish this story along with some others, I'm thinking of going back and fixing this one up. It'd be a big help if you guys and gals told me where the bad parts are. Anyways, I only have one or two more "filler" ideas before the whole leaving business. After that I'm going to upload another chapter on my other story before starting on my new one. If you want a description look at the bottom of the previous chapter or go to my profile. On that note, I have an OC in that story. It's not a very big role, but if you'd like to name that character feel free to comment. Until next time!