On our last chapter, Naruto gave into his secret desires, after being lost and alone with Sasuke. They now share a room together in the Sand Village, where no one familiar is there to witness their 'hopeful' escapades.
Naruto gently slides his hand around Sasuke's waist and hugs him passionately. "Do you realize how long I've waited for you to do that, loser?" Sasuke looks down at Naruto and smiles gently. Naruto, not being able to resist, stretches his body upwards and kisses Sasuke. Not exactly taken aback, but non-expectant, Sasuke kisses Naruto back softly.
"I had no idea you felt this way. Why didn't you ever tell me?" Naruto looks up at Sasuke again after reluctantly breaking the kiss. "I couldn't possibly have told you. What do you think would happen if the prodigal son of the Uchiha clan, the only left of his kind, were found out?" Naruto thinks about this for a moment before they hear a soft knock at the door. "Sasuke-kun, we have to go to a meeting with the Kazekage. NARUTO!! Hurry your butt up, now!" The two exchange looks inside the room. Looks of happiness, sadness, and amusement linger on their faces. "We'll be right out!" Turning to Naruto he whispers, "She must still be angry about our conversation." Absorbed in his own thoughts, Naruto didn't hear a word of this.
The group walks down the corridor together and enters a room that seemed to already be in the middle of an important-looking meeting. "Because of you we're late!" Sakura flashes a hateful look at Naruto. Gaara stands and looks at his guests, his eyes lingering over Naruto's face. "Welcome back, our Konoha friends." Gaara motions to a couple of chairs and the group sits down. Throughout the meeting, Sasuke was barraged with thoughts of Naruto and hopeful looks from Sakura, who, conveniently, sat between Naruto and Sasuke. They were informed that the Akatsuki had been seen in a small village to the north of the Sand Village, heading towards the Village hidden Beyond the Glass.
"The Village Beyond the Glass?" anyone could hear the shock and amazement in Naruto's voice, "Where's that? Is that even a real village?" "You would know if you paid attention in class, Naruto." the annoyance in Sakura's voice had gone down since she last spoke to Naruto, but she was still annoyed. "They supposedly all died in a terrible accident concerning the Three-Tailed Beast, but apparently, there is still something of interest there for the Akatsuki." No one had realized that Kakashi had actually put his book down (or maybe he finished it), but his talking startled the three. By now they were outside preparing for their mission to the Glass Village, and as expected, Sakura was practically on Saske's back.
Approaching from the main structure of the village was Gaara and two other guys. "These two will help you in your mission." Gaara was calm but obviousl envious that he could no longer leave the village to pursue the wide open world of fighting as he once did a few months ago. "This is Hinako" Gaara gestured to one of the guys who was about seventeen in his appearance, but was as tall as Kakashi. He had short silver-grey hair that was about ear-length. his eyes were a light blue and his physique was of a slim, well-built athlete. Sasuke paid attention to all these details as he looked from one of the guys to the other. ",and this is Ryu." Gaara gestured to the other guard that was with him. This one was about the same height as Naruto with green eyes and light brown hair. He was also slim but not as muscular as Hinako. Ryu seemed to be shy and anxious about his audience. Naruto went up and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry Ryu, we wont bite." he said cheerfully as Gaara exchanged a few words with Kakashi. The two visitors stood off to the side as the group finished their preparations. "Is everyone ready?" Kakashi asked as they straightened up. "Ya, let's go!" and Naruto walked off into the direction of the village gates with everyone at his heels.