Konan had long ago passed the point where she spent the night praying no more comrades would have to die. After Yahiko, when her heart had been broken into more pieces than the paper she could scatter into, she'd thought she couldn't take anymore. It hurt so much she threw herself into Akatsuki missions, choosing the most reckless, dangerous ones she could so her comrades didn't have to. Still, the world spun and new days passed and new deaths appeared to shatter her even more. It was amazing how much the human heart could take; if heartbreak could be measured on a scale akin to physical pain, Konan's was equivalent to every bone being shattered on a continuous basis while her skin burned in white-hot flames.

Her only solace for a long time had been Nagato, whose agony was the only one that could perhaps equal hers, though he claimed it was greater. The problem was that together, their sorrow was multiplied and reflected back until they were trapped in an infinite loop of horrors that Nagato could give only one name—Pain. It was a continuous cycle like a dark, hazy dream, one they'd both thought there was no way out of. They'd both been wrong.

Naruto's arrival had been a sliver of sunshine finding its way through the dream, illuminating the darkness so Konan's heart could wake up just a little. His smiles, his yelling, the scraggly flowers he'd bring her from the desert, the constant loudness that he brought into an otherwise silent world… A part of Konan that had laid dormant since Yahiko suddenly woke up, and it said over and over again: Protect him. He was her last chance, and she couldn't let the world's coldness take him too.

"Nagato," Konan said now, her fingers finding their way into Pain's cloak and gripping it. In any other circumstance, she wouldn't have used his real name, but this particular one was so horrible that her mind had cleared itself of anything logical or clever.

"That didn't happen," Sasori said flatly, as if denying what the three of them had felt would make it go away. "It couldn't happen."

"Nagato," Konan said more insistently, shaking the sleeve she'd grabbed a little to shake Nagato from his mind. The face that turned to look at her was Yahiko's, and the voice that came from the mouth was Yahiko's, but the words were all Pain.

"He's alive," Pain said grimly, his face dark. "That was undoubtedly the chakra of the Nine-Tails, but it hasn't vanished. Someone has suppressed it."

Time started moving again, just a little, as Konan released Pain's sleeve and turned to gaze at the Leaf village. Konoha looked beautiful from above, but what Konan saw wasn't a beautiful view. What she saw was the single biggest dark hole on all of the earth; a black hole that had sucked the lives of more friends into it than any other place. The streets were steeped in evil, even if many of the people who walked through them were innocent.

"Someone?" Konan asked, her eyes wandering over people so far away they looked like ants. For Konan, Pain, and Sasori, they would likely be as easy to crush too.

"The number of people who could do such a thing are limited," Pain replied, narrowing eyes that belonged to Nagato and making an expression that Yahiko would've never worn. "Kakashi Hatake has a Sharingan, but I doubt it's strong enough. Hiruzen Sarutobi is no longer young enough to pull off such a feat. I've heard tale of someone with powers like the First Hokage's, but I believe Naruto would need to be wearing the First's necklace for that to work. That leaves only two people."

"Itachi's younger brother?" Sasori queried, and Konan knew the three of them were hoping against hope that it was the truth. However, awakening such a strong Sharingan so young was nearly an impossible feat.

"Most likely it was Danzo Shimura."

The name made everyone there go cold, knowing what they did about Itachi's family. Even among the Akatsuki, only a few people were aware of who was behind the ordering of the massacre. The three members there knew the story, and Konan felt as if the air had turned to ice, every breath freezing her lungs. Danzo was the embodiment of everything wrong with the village; he was so loyal he'd turn friend against friend, brother against brother, if it helped the Leaf's cause. What he'd do to and with Naruto, as the Nine-Tailed fox's vessel…

"The only one who could've forced Naruto into that position is Orochimaru," Sasori said, thinking. "I'll summon Kabuto and find out what I can from him. Since Orochimaru is working with Danzo, Kabuto should be able to confirm whether or not he has Naruto."

"And if it is Danzo? What will you do, Pain?" Konan asked, hoping and fearing for a certain answer.

"I will erase the blemish that is the Leaf Village from this earth," Pain answered stonily. "I will seize Naruto back by any means necessary."

Konan looked down at Konoha, which was full of men, women, and children. There was so much potential in the budding youth of the village, with so many young shinobi undecided on who they would become. There was the potential for great, wonderful things, and the potential for heartbreaking, evil things.

"Then, if necessary, I will aid you any way I can," Konan said softly. There was no point in asking herself if her heart could take it or not—no matter what happened, she would bear it. That was all she could do now.


Gaara was lying on his usual roof with Naruto beside him, and Naruto kept pointing out stars and giving them ridiculous names that Gaara knew for a fact were wrong. He let Naruto keep at it though, enjoying how easy it was to be with the other jinchuuriki. This was his best friend, and maybe one of the things best friends were supposed to do was accept a couple mistakes from time to time.

"Scared of?" Gaara rolled onto his side to frown at Naruto, wondering what had prompted the question. Naruto was looking at the stars through the cracks in his fingers, which were stretched up as if he wanted to pull a star down. If it was him, he probably could.

"Yeah! Like, I dunno, some people are scared of spiders. Or the dark. Or, or, this one's kinda funny, you know, but my older brother Kisame is scared of leeches. I was just wondering if you had anything like that."

"Fears, hm…" Gaara wracked his brain for small, insignificant things he was afraid of, but he didn't really have much reason to be scared of things. His sand would protect him from anything on the outside, and if not, he didn't care much if he got hurt. The things he was scared of were all big things, like someone hurting Naruto or his siblings, or one of them turning against him.

"I guess my biggest fear would be…" Even though he wanted to say it was someone he loved getting hurt, he couldn't lie to his best friend. "Myself."

Naruto dropped his hand, tucking it behind his head instead of reaching at the sky. He turned his head a fraction to look at Gaara, and Gaara could see in his eyes that he didn't need to explain any further. Something like this was beyond explaining with words, and it was something only a fellow jinchuuriki could understand, for many different reasons.

"Yeah," Naruto said softly, returning his gaze to the moon. "Me too."

Gaara jerked awake, his eyes flickering open to see the sun cresting over the trees. He'd slept long and hard, something he still appreciated after years of incessant insomnia. Along with Temari and Kankuro, he'd made it to the building in the center of the forest within the day, earning not even a bug bite to show for it. They'd figured out that they were supposed to open the Heaven and Earth Scrolls together, but Gaara hadn't wanted to.

And with good reason—the massive chakra he'd felt had confirmed his beliefs that Naruto had entered the Exams in disguise, and that the disguise was Kaze Naminato. Kaze's outer shell must've been the puppet Naruto had been bragging about making for months; one with a voice changer and the ability to change facial expressions using chakra, like Sasori's Hiruko. He'd hastened to get to where he'd felt the chakra, but there was no time to investigate anything because the place was swarming with Anbu.

He'd decided, along with his siblings, to come back here where they wouldn't be attacked and get some sleep. If the Anbu were swarming the place, Naruto must've gotten out somehow, which meant he was either strong enough to move himself or someone had helped him. There were probably other alternatives, but Gaara didn't care to think of them.

He eased himself to his feet, taking care to be quiet, but Kankuro was a light sleeper and was awake before Gaara could take even one step.

"Headed out without us?" Kankuro asked in disapproval, rubbing his eyes and smudging purple across his face. He looked at his hands in astonishment, then let out a loud groan.

"Dammit, this is going to take a while to redo," he lamented, waking Temari up. She looked from Gaara to Kankuro to Kankuro's hands then burst out laughing, shaking her head.

"And that's why I don't wear makeup."

Gaara had originally planned to rush out the door, but seeing Kankuro and Temari so relaxed and easygoing calmed him down. Even if he was the strongest of the three of them, they were still his older siblings. They had the ability to put at him ease with a few simple sentences and smiles, and deep down he trusted their word more than anything. Yesterday, they'd both assured him that Naruto was strong enough not to let something like this kill him, and he had taken their words as absolute truth.

"Do you have anywhere in particular you want to search?" Temari asked Gaara as she slapped Kankuro's hands away from his face and started applying the makeup for him. Kankuro huffed but sat quietly, his attention turning to Gaara.

"No. He's too unpredictable to focus on any certain spot."

"Alrighty, we'll comb the entire place if we have to!" Kankuro said with a grin, and Gaara was grateful they were helping him even though they didn't know Naruto that well.

After Temari finished fixing Kankuro's face, the three of them started back out into the forest, Gaara alert and watching for danger. They caught glimpses of other ninjas, but most people gave the three of them a wide berth, probably having heard stories of when Gaara was known as 'Gaara of the Sand.' It was still a little disconcerting that his bad reputation preceded his good one anywhere out of the Sand, but it was useful in a situation like this.

They found signs of other ninjas as they went on, some small, burnt out fires and the remains of eaten animals, and any one of the places they found could've housed Gaara's friend at one point. Gaara found himself growing more frustrated as they went on, worry gnawing at him as they found sights of scuffles. Who knew how strong some of the genin were?

It was midafternoon, the sun high enough for rays to break through leaves in some spots, when the Sand siblings finally found something other than a cold trail or passive ninjas. In a clearing near the outskirts of the forest, sounds of a serious scuffle could be heard, and voices were crying out left and right. Gaara got the feeling that it wasn't Naruto—none of the voices were even close—but curiosity drew him on and his siblings followed until they came upon the scene they'd heard.

The group of Leaf ninjas who'd almost gotten destroyed by Naruto earlier were there, the ones with the kind-hearted girl and the dog guy. They were surrounded by ninja from the Sound Village, and though they were doing their best, the Sound shinobi had forced them into a corner with almost visible waves of sound, and were laughing loudly.

"Do you think we should interfere?" Kankuro asked, frowning at the scene. No one in either group had noticed the Sand ninjas yet.

Gaara watched the scene impassively, wondering the same thing. Usually, he didn't interfere in things that didn't involve his friends or the village, but he thought of how the purple-eyed girl had stood up to Kaze despite looking terrified. She'd pushed for peace even though she'd been shaking in her boots, and Gaara could respect that. For a second, his thoughts flashed back to what his father had asked him to do, but he quickly shoved the thought away. He wouldn't think about how this small, weak girl was somehow stronger than the Fourth Kazekage.

To distract himself, he stretched out his hand, and the sand from his gourd shifted eagerly to obey him, flowing like water onto the damp earth. It still took a while for the Sound ninja to notice anything, so when they did it was much too late.

"Wha—what is this?" the girl cried out as Gaara's sand wrapped around the legs of her and her companions. He walked forward as the sand moved up their bodies and they struggled, eyes darting about wildly like prey. He walked with a single, intent purpose, an eerie calm coming over him as he stopped a metre away to regard the trapped ninjas with a cold gaze.

"Is it fun, hurting others?" Gaara asked, squeezing his hand slightly so they were grateful that every breath they took fit inside their compressed lungs. "Do you enjoy causing pain?"

"L-let us go," one of the boys whimpered, and Gaara turned the full force of his eyes on the boy, narrowing them and squeezing even harder. He could hear the sound of bones creak and, distantly, the whimpering of a dog.

"Gaara—" Temari began, but it was the little purple girl who stopped him.

"Please don't hurt them!" she begged, tears pooling in her eyes as she ran up to Gaara and grabbed his arm. "They were mean, but they don't deserve to die that for. Y-you don't need their deaths on your conscious."

"They're your enemies," Gaara said, not taking his eyes off the ever-weakening Sound ninjas. "Why would you waste tears on them?"

"U-um, you said it earlier—you shouldn't fight for fighting's sake! If you hurt them, you'll only cause more pain, like a cycle. I've s-seen it happen. Please, please don't do it."

Her voice was so full of kindness that Gaara almost dropped the Sound shinobi then and there. He hadn't been actually planning to kill them, but he had wanted to put a fear in them they wouldn't soon forget. Instead, he opened his palm slightly, then flicked his wrist so the sand moved up to their arms. The girl he couldn't do much about, but the two boys…

"Stop!" the one boy yelped, seeing what Gaara was planning, but it was too late. Gaara clenched his palms and there was a horrible tearing sound as the things controlling the sound in both boys' arms were shattered. They screamed, writhing against the sand, as Gaara slowly lowered them to the ground. He tilted his gaze towards the Sound girl, who grew pale and took out her scroll, tossing it to him without a word.

"W-why…" the tiny Konoha kunoichi began, and Gaara fixed her with a steady look, holding out the Earth scroll he'd been thrown.

"To end fighting, sometimes we have to hurt others. For some people, pain is the only way to learn that peace is better."

The girl accepted the scroll, swallowing and looking away from him. He could see Temari and Kankuro watching him in concern, but when he gave them a small smile they looked relieved. He joined them and together the three walked away, Gaara looking back only once to see the purple kunoichi surrounded by her comrades, watching him contemplatively.


The tension in the air at breakfast could be cut with a knife, everyone focusing on eating and avoiding looking each other in the eye. Kaze had woken up again in the morning, but somehow things weren't any easier. In fact, they were much more difficult now because Kaze kept shooting Sakura and Sai dirty looks, and it made everyone were intensely uncomfortable.

"So, Kaze…" Sakura began, but trailed off when he gave her a look cold enough to freeze water. She swallowed and studiously ate her food, acting as if she'd said nothing at all.

"I'm gunna take a bath in the river," Kaze growled, standing up on shaky legs. The arrogance he'd shown towards Sakura and Sai was gone now that he was as weak as a newborn kitten, but the blatant anger that replaced it wasn't any better. At least his killing intent wasn't leaking out, poisoning the air even more.

Sai wasn't sure exactly what was causing the anger, but he could see that it was really bugging his raven-haired teammate. Sasuke sat with his fists tightly balled on his knees and his jaw clenched. He'd tried to talk to Kaze, but the blonde had shut him out completely with Sai and Sakura listening. It was odd, considering the little heart-to-heart Sai had overheard them having last night.

"I'll help you," Sai said with a smile, thinking of how Kaze had mentioned wanting to be Sasuke's friend. They had that in common at least.

"No," Kaze said flatly, hunching up his shoulders and stumbling towards the river. He tripped halfway there, sprawling out on the forest floor, and then stayed there on his hands and knees for a few seconds as if he couldn't get up. Sasuke moved to help him, but Sai put out a hand, stopping him. Sai may not have known a lot about bonds, but he knew that if this atmosphere kept up, all four of them would start fighting amongst each other.

Sasuke's look was sour, as if asking Sai what exactly he intended, but there was no time to explain. Sai made his way over to Kaze and knelt down, slinging one of Kaze's arms over his shoulder. Kaze's eyes were daggers, but he must've really been having problems because he let Sai help him. The two of them made their way down to the water and out of the others' sight, and Sai felt Kaze lean into him more, as if he'd been putting on a show to make Sasuke and Sakura think he was better than he was. Or probably just Sasuke.

"After this," Kaze panted, eyeing the few feet left to get to the water. "After this, I'll go my own way. Being with you guys is a shit show. I hate Leaf shinobi."

"If you hate us all, why do you want to be friends with Sasuke?"

Kaze stiffened up, his lip curling into a snarl as he glared at Sai.

"You were listening in? That's a pretty asshole move."

"It was kind of hard not to, what with how loud you were," Sai said with another fake smile, and Kaze sneered before looking away. The more they moved, the paler he got, and he was now gasping for breath and practically falling into Sai's arms. There was clearly something very wrong, but Sai couldn't diagnose what it was. In all his years at the Root, he'd never heard of someone's skin burning off from the inside out then coming back within a few hours. How was someone supposed to be after something like that?

"I don't… understand…" Kaze gasped out, more to himself than anything. "Wasn't like this… last time…"

He shook his head as if to clear it, his face twisting in pain.

"Do you want me to take your clothes off for you?" Sai asked, although he wasn't sure letting someone like this swim was a good idea. Kaze shoved him away in response, stumbling and just managing to keep his feet.

"Gunna… go onto… water and… wash from there…" Kaze said, taking tiny steps until he got to where the water lapped at the side of the earth. Sai crossed his arms and watched as Kaze tried to build up chakra then step onto the water. But, instead of his foot resting easily on top of the water, it sunk and Kaze let out a strangled cry, falling forward. Sai lunged and grabbed his arm before he could topple into the river, and he fell into a coughing fit so severe that Sai wondered if he'd break his ribs.

"My… chakra…"

Kaze's eyes were wide with horror as he started coughing again, and when he pulled his hand away from his mouth it was bright with blood.

"Do you have some kind of sickness?" Sai asked sharply, studying the young ninja's ashen face. He'd heard of a sickness where strong ninjas started coughing up blood, but Danzo hadn't wanted him to bother with learning about medicines and sicknesses. He was supposed to be a killing machine, and so the only medicines he'd learned were poisons.

"My chakra won't come," Kaze wailed quite suddenly, gripping Sai's arms and looking up at Sai with more fear than Sai had ever seen. "Every time I try, it hurts. What's going on? What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Blood dribbled from his lips and his eyes were wild, his voice raised so much that Sasuke and Sakura came running over the hill. They both came skidding to a halt at the sight of Kaze begging Sai for an answer, his face looking more gray than white now. Sai shook his head mutely, eyes wide, unsure what to say. Kaze looked so much younger now that he wasn't snarling or sneering, and his large blue eyes were even filled with tears.

"I'm fucking useless to them like this," he whimpered, then went into another coughing fit that sent red droplets spattering down onto the earth. Sasuke bolted down the hill as Kaze started to slide down, but Sai was the one who caught him first. The two boys supported the blonde between them as Sakura approached, her panic hidden better than the rest of theirs.

"What happened?" she asked, but there was a tone in her voice like she already knew what their answer would be. She looked immensely tired, as if what she was about to hear was sucking the life from her. Sai caught her glance worriedly at Sasuke, as if wondering how he'd react, but Sasuke was too busy staring dumbfounded at his panicking, coughing rival.

Sai explained the symptoms as best he could, and Sakura seemed to wilt.

"I know what this is," she said quietly, and Kaze's desperate eyes went to her, searching her face. "It's rare, but I've heard that sometimes ninjas who get too strong too fast can damage their internal organs. The chakra network runs close to the blood vessel network, and it matures as you do. If you start getting strong at too rapid a pace, however, your chakra network can't handle the extra flow and pieces of it start to burst. Chakra won't harm you within the network, but it's like blood—if it gets out, it can hurt your internal organs."

"What does that mean?" Kaze asked, spitting more blood.

"Basically, you used so much chakra that you burst a part of your network. Every time you use chakra from now on, it'll damage wherever it's escaping to. With your symptoms, my bet is that it's damaging your lungs or even your heart."

Sasuke and Sai exchanged incredulous glances, while Kaze's head dropped as if someone had just proclaimed a death sentence. Which, in essence, was what Sakura had just done.

"If I… keep using it… what'll happen?" Kaze asked.

"I can't say for sure, but I think…" Sakura swallowed, looking guilty even though it wasn't her fault. "You'll die."