I don't own Naruto.
Bold is supernatural speech.
Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.
-Chapter Three: Sunagakure no sato-
Waking at dawn was no unusual thing for Naruto, he dressed in his black clothes, took his sword and other weapons, and packed his equipment and provisions and decided to go meet Temari at her house.
Temari woke up and decided a bath would be nice, so she decided that she'd indulge before getting ready for her journey.
Naruto had made his way to the house, and nobody answered the door, so he decided he'd put some of his finely honed stealth skills to use. Climbing to the second floor he snuck into a window, coming down on the floor silently. He snuck across the room carefully, and into the hall.
Temari had thought she heard a window screech open briefly, but dismissed it as a hawk or bird that screeched.
Naruto had carefully opened every door in the hall, finding empty rooms or on one or two occasions a closet, an extra bathroom, and a door that led to the attic.
Temari sensed something, just for a second, and her senses instantly sharpened. Quickly drying, she wrapped her towel around herself and grabbed the kunai sitting on the counter.
Naruto had expected a few things to happen, but having a kunai nearly skewer his face as he opened a door was fairly low on the list. His carefully conditioned skills of avoiding were all that kept his face intact. His face mask however was not as lucky.
"What are you doing here Naruto?!" She shouted, face red, but she was unsure of whether it was in anger or embarrassment.
"We were supposed to leave at seven, it's seven thirty." Naruto pulled out his pocket watch to prove the point.
"Are you serious?!" She dashed back inside the bathroom, drained the bath and made a dash for her room.
Naruto simply wandered around the house, he stopped by her door once.
"You know you should really keep your hair down, it looks much better." He said in a loud voice, knowing the doors were rather thick here.
After about half an hour, Temari emerged from her room with her pack and fan. Her hair was up in the usual ponytails.
"It keeps my hair out of my face to wear it like this." Temari glared at him, deciding that she was angry that he'd walked in on her.
"Ever think of doing just one?" They had started walking towards the exit.
"Actually, no." They continued their banter about Temari's hair for much longer.
Sasuke was not happy. If one were to ask why he weren't happy, it was a very simple answer. Every single one of his former classmates hated him. Sakura and Naruto were the exception, Naruto had actually seen to it that he was placed back into the ranks of Konoha ninja. Sakura was a totally different story, one that he was unable to explain in any easy way.
-flashback: Sasuke's inauguration into ANBU-
Sasuke was standing in front of the entire ANBU rank, minus Naruto who had left to Sunagakure. Many were shinobi he'd never met, one he recognized as Neji, and another yet was Shikamaru, but the rest he was sure he'd never seen. They'd asked him to prepare a speech.
"All of you know who I am, so I'm not going to introduce myself. I have my teacher to thank for being here, I'd always been told then to never abandon my teammates, but I did. I left in search of power to kill my brother. I did, and when I learned the truth, I also learned something else. My duty should have been to my village. I should have never left, but I made the mistake of leaving, and I'm incredibly lucky to have been found by Naruto and not someone else. I have him to thank for being up here, but he isn't around. I know you don't trust me, but I'll earn it, and I'll do things right this time." Sasuke finished, and there was no clap, he'd expected that, they all hated him here. He bowed and left.
Sitting atop the Hokage monument, he drank sake by himself.
"Naruto, you're lucky, you have that unbreakable will of yours." He drank another cup.
"But you've got yours as well. The fact that you're even back says something about that. You were simply lost." Sakura came out from the surrounding trees. "We missed you, Kakashi-sensei and I." She sat down next to him, taking the bottle from him.
"He was at my inauguration. He was glaring at me."
"But he did miss you. He would always say how the team just wasn't right anymore. Even though Naruto's only been back for about two weeks."
"He was gone on considerably better terms I bet." He took out another bottle and began drinking again. "I ran him through the chest when I left, he was taken in by a Sannin, and then his brother."
"Don't dwell on what happened, we've got to have a celebration for your return. And if you drink this stuff you'll end up addicted like Tsunade-Shishou." She took the other bottle away.
"It's not bad, I drink it to help me sleep." He handed her the glass he just poured.
"I'm not gonna drink it." He shrugged, took the drink. Just when Sakura was expecting him to talk again he kissed her, forcing the liquid into her mouth. She pushed him away at first. "That was a dirty trick."
"Ninjutsu is all about deception." He smirked and kissed her again. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. They broke the kiss again. "May I have my sake back?"
"No." She took a drink from the bottle, repeating his previous trick, and then took a drink of her own."
"I thought you weren't going to drink?"
"I changed my mind." He smirked and they shared drinks. The night eventually lead them back to Sasuke's home, and into his bed.
-Flashback: End-
Waking up in Sasuke's arm was, Sakura decided, one of the most pleasant places she'd put herself in. The throbbing hangover wasn't. Sasuke's stirring alerted her of his waking. She sat up, seeing his bare, scarred chest, and remembered the previous nights events.
"I hope you're feeling better than I am Sakura." Sasuke sat up, holding his head.
"If we go find Tsunade-Shishou, she has this medication that stops hangovers." They got up, dressed, and very slowly made their way to the Hokage tower.
Tsunade saw her red eyed apprentice and Sasuke walk in and she smiled.
"You finally got her to drink?" Tsunade asked Sasuke. "That's amazing." She reached into her desk and withdrew a bottle, it was her hangover killing tonic. When they took some, after only a few minutes it seemed as if they'd never had one.
"Anyway, I came to ask about my duties now."
"For now, we'll have you stick to patrols in the city, For the first few months it'll be that way. When Naruto returns we'll get you running some real missions." Sasuke nodded. Tsunade began flipping through her paperwork. "Actually, I've got a mission you can do." He handed him the paper. "Sakura's being sent to the Land of Snow to train medics, and she'll need a bodyguard. You're the perfect person for the job."
Sasuke accepted without hesitation.
"Good, you guys will leave in one week, and the mission will last six months."
Naruto and Temari traveled quickly, covering the forty klicks to the border of Fire Country in a half day, they set up camp early and Naruto went to do some training in a clearing just a little ways off. He was currently training with his knives. Temari watched as he moved from one position of the kata to another with a grace that was more than fluid, he moved like he was made of air. The way he moved the knives around, striking killing and maiming blows at the enemy she could almost see herself, both captivated and terrified her. Suddenly he stopped.
"You can quit spying on me Temari-chan." He turned and looked right at her, though she was hidden. "Come out here, I'll show you something for close quarters fighting."She revealed herself and walked over to him. "Attack me." She did without hesitation, and he moved aside, and with a bump of his leg sent her sprawling in the grass. She sat up, totally astonished.
"What was that?"
"That was the basis of Mushin no Shin Ryu. Impose change through movement." She stood up, trying again, this time Naruto moved, and stayed behind her as she tried to track him. A simple nudge of his shoulder laid her flat.
"How are you doing it?"
"I keep you on my center, and off of yours." Temari didn't realize that this was exactly how Naruto's first days training with his sensei were. He helped her up this time, she tried to use the momentum to throw him off, but he shifted, and knocked her to the ground yet again.
"You're a bastard you know that?" This time when he helped her up there was no attacks, and no blond girl lying flat on her back.
"It'll help you, knowing some unarmed combat." He smiled.
"So am I to understand you're going to teach me how to throw people around like you do?"
"I didn't throw you, I barely touched you." The Uzumaki smirked under his mask.
"…You're a very mean person." Temari frowned at him. "I've never seen you use any of those moves like that kata, they were always really small and precise, not those big flowing moves in the kata."
"That's because of the practical application of each of those moves. Every time you saw me move, I could have done it narrower, or bigger, depending on what the attack or defense takes." He saw Temari's facial expression as she drank in the knowledge. "It's the same with my sword, I could slash someone to bits with it, or just cut their clothes with the same move."
"What if they're naked? Then you can't cut their clothes." Naruto was caught totally off guard by this.
"Well… Then I'd just cut them into pieces." Temari frowned, not expecting him to reply so quickly.
The banter continued for a while until they decided to make dinner and cash in for the night.
The next day, they set off for the border.
"So are you seriously going to wear a solid black outfit into the middle of the desert? It's almost one hundred and twenty degrees out there."
"Don't worry about it, I have a plan." He had to remember that he was wearing a mask sometimes.
"I hope that plan isn't frying yourself. I don't want to have to say I told you so."
When they reached the edge of River country, they made camp, for it took all day to cross the swath of land. Naruto had noted that the trees had thinned out considerably, and the temperature had risen by about five degrees as they traveled farther west.
Finally reaching the edge of the desert, Temari smiled warmly at the terrain of her homeland.
"So what's your plan Mr. Movement?" She looked at the ninja. He calmly reached into his rucksack and removed a small scroll she recognized as a sealing scroll. When he unsealed it there was a white cloak in his hands.
"This is my plan, a white cloak to wear over my black clothes." He set down his pack, put the cloak on, it had arm holes and was essentially a hooded trench coat.
"You're…a genius Naruto."
"Your people wear those white robes don't they?"
"Some do, mostly the older folk." Temari sighed, there was no winning against him.
"Well anyway, let's get going so we can cover some distance before it gets too hot." It was just past sunrise so they had to use the cold(1) to their advantage. They did in fact travel far before the sun began pummeling the sand and shrubbery with it's powerful rays. It was seventy klicks to Sunagakure no Sato, and they traveled twenty five klicks in those first three hours of light(2).
Their rate of travel slowed down considerably once the temperature rose past sixty degrees, and quickly soared into the hundreds. They did however make it to the village before the sun began painting the sky with the hues of the sunset. Temari couldn't help but smile at the sight of her home village. She wore an expression similar to the one Naruto had worn only a while before.
"Welcome Naruto, to the village hidden in the sand." She held her arms out at the village.
-Chapter Four: End-
Author's Note: I had a sudden burst of artistic thought at the end. Anyway, onto explanations and things of the sort. My teacher and friend, the one who's style I'm using for this story did a very similar thing to me, he would just barely bump or touch me when I was off balance and I'd be sent sprawling. Now for the Desert temperature, if any of you have ever been in a desert, you know that after dark, the air will get cold very quickly, and stays as such for a few hours after sunrise, but not for very long. Twenty five klicks is not an amazing feat for ninja, it was said that a ninja could travel up to eighty miles a day. That's about one hundred and twenty klicks (Kilometers). So, given that logic, a ninja in Naruto's world can do things that no normal ninja can ever do, therefore, twenty five klicks which is about sixteen miles should be no problem for a ninja in Naruto's world.