Author's Note: Well here's the next chapter! And just to tell all of you that the edited version of the last chapter is up and there have been two major changes in two scenes: The Ichiraku ramen one and where Kyuubi is talking in the clearing. Also the overall chapter is waaay better. A big giant thank you to Dr. Yami for that!!

P.S. I have a new computer! So ya lol. Also I had major writers block after the scene with Sarutobi so that's part of the reason why it took so longer (It was so bad that I went and re-read my entire fic. It was crazy how many errors I missed and how many little side plots I forgot about!), and school starting up again. I really hate my math teacher... plus spore is addicting...

Beta's Note: Oi vay… They have spell check for a reason Gin. Also, don't be afraid to look up a name if you can't quite recall how to spell it. (A/N: Ya ya I know lol.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Unfortunately. (B/N: Yes, it is quite unfortunate that you do not own my magnificence.)(A/N: TT.TT)

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Kyuubi/Inner Talking"

'Kyuubi/Inner Thinking'

Revelance of the Future

Chapter 14

Grains of Sand

Author: Ginriku

Editor: Dr. Yami

A red haired, jade-eyed figure glared at the sliver of the moon.

A blond, honey-brown eyed gambler stared at the three sevens on the slot machine.

A tall, white-haired pervert gazed at the gates to his hometown.

Something was happening... Something that was changing the very course of the future.

"We need to talk."

The elderly shinobi took a puff on his pipe as he watched the two young genin enter into the room. As they stood before him he chuckled softly and spoke, "Why Naruto, it almost sounds as if you're going to break up with me."

The only response he received was a twitching lip. Sighing deeply he set down the pipe, "That serious, hm?"

The two nodded, neither of their faces giving anything away.

Sarutobi sighed again. "Well, sit down then. I'm guessing it has something to do with the Kyuubi, and your amazing rise to power." The professor gestured lightly to the chairs adorning the room in front of his desk. He had an odd feeling that this was going to take a long while, and that he would feel twice as old before things were through.

They sat down silently, before Naruto spoke, "Can you please dismiss the ANBU, and activate a sound barrier seal?"

While slightly put off by the jinchuuriki's politeness, he nodded. He wasn't the Professor and Kami no Shinobi (B/A: He's 69 years old, been Hokage longer than most Konoha nin have been alive, and he can still fight toe-to-toe with the reanimated bodies of 2 previous Hokages and a Legendary Sannin. Imagine how he was in his prime.) for nothing, and could easily sense that it was indeed their chakra, along with them having no ill intent.

After a few moments spent activating the necessary seals, the Hokage questioned them, "And the reason why we have to take such precautions is…?"

The question hung in the air, daunting. As the old shinobi stared at the two young ones he couldn't help but notice something. 'Their eyes... They look far too old to be set on the faces of ones so young…'

Naruto broke the silence.

"I know that our sensei have been telling you about our... exponential... growth, and they've been suspicious about where we learned our techniques. This suspicion isn't unfounded."

Hinata continued where her partner left off.

"The reason that we are this way is… Well, we are from thirteen years in the future."

Sarutobi took it marginally better than their teammates. Other than a tensing of his hands and narrowing of his eyes, he said nothing. He held up his hand for them to wait a moment, then went to the door and told his secretary he was not to be disturbed. He then went back to his chair and motioned for the pair to go on.

As they spoke the sun started sinking behind the mountains. They ordered supper after a few hours, and took a short bathroom break. When they finally finished, the sun was gone and the moon was directly above them.

Naruto finished with a tired sigh. "In short old man, we're in for a wild ride."

The said old man simply chuckled mirthlessly as he disengaged the silencing seals.

"Well Naruto, I think I may have one wild ride left in me, but after that... the Hokage robes are up for grabs."

It was then that the three felt a presence appear outside the window.

The blonde turned to the Hyuuga next to him.

"Hina-chan, why don't you go home for now. It's midnight, and I'm pretty sure that your father will be waiting. I'll tell you all about it in the morning."

Hinata smiled softly and gave him a fleeting kiss on the cheek before making her way to the door; she knew what was going to go on when she left. She also had a feeling that the three involved wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, even if they got home before the sun made its reappearance to the world.

She paused before walking out the door. "Goodnight Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow."

With one last glance to the window the heiress walked out of the Hokage's office, the stars shining brightly overhead.

Two minutes later the aging Hokage calmly called to the figure outside of the window, "Alright Jiraiya, you can come in."

Not a moment later the tall self-proclaimed super pervert appeared in the office.

The blonde time traveler spoke up first. It was a little early but he just missed the old pervert too much. "Hello Jiraiya-sensei."

The Toad Sage looked at the boy in front of him, and addressed the Hokage to his right, "Who's this brat?"

Sarutobi chuckled as he allowed Naruto to answer.

"What ero-sennin, can't remember your own god-son?"

Jiraiya's eye widened. He turned to Sarutobi. "How the hell does he know about that?" Once again, the long explanation ensued.

Luckily, it didn't take nearly as long as the previous, to the relief of all those present. By the time they were finished, it was four in the morning and they were all starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation.

Sarutobi was leaned back in his desk chair, pipe returned to his mouth. Naruto was sitting crossed legged on the floor, leaning on his arms and staring at the ceiling, and Jiraiya was firmly seated in another chair with his head in his hands.

The sannin was the one to break the silence that they had been lulled into, "So, we need to find Tsunade?"

The other two nodded and gave a nonchalant 'mhmm' at his inquisition.

The white haired super pervert stretched back into his chair, rubbing his eyes, and sighed. "Oh boy…"

A few more moments passed and just as they were all being lulled into a much-needed sleep, Jiraiya decided to voice one last question.

"And just how the hell am I supposed to get Tsunade back to Konoha? She could care less if this village was razed to the ground, as long as any gambling and sake joints were still standing."

All that greeted him was a shrug and a puff of smoke from his old sensei. The boy, however, looked intently at the sannin.

"By any means necessary. Offer here money, give her sake, blackmail her, drug her and bring her back in a burlap sack, just get it done." The two elder men were quite surprised at the boy. Naruto ignored them, pulling a scroll from his rear pouch. A hand sign and a smear of blood later, Naruto held a familiar three-pronged kunai in his hand. He then turned to Jiraiya. "Here, take this. If you really need help throw this down and I'll show up, okay? I'm sure if it gets difficult I may be able to knock some sense into her. Literally."

The sage's eyes went wide as he took the handle of the finely crafted weapon. "You know how to do Hirashin?"

Naruto smiled tiredly. "Of course I do ero-sennin. I also learned rasengan in a month, and I took to the sage arts like a fish to water, albeit I don't have enough chakra to draw in nature chakra now. I am my father's son, and your future apprentice, after all."

The great super pervert shook his head. He didn't think he would ever get used to this. "Well, I'll leave the day after tomorrow. And to be back before the chuunin exams... That gives me approximately three weeks to find her if we want her to be in top shape and informed. That's a fairly difficult order Naruto, you know that right?"

Said boy nodded, "I know, but you're the only one capable of bringing her back. Right now you and oji-san are probably the only precious people she has left. So don't screw it up ero-sennin." He chuckled at the light scowl on the sannin's face.

It was then that Kyuubi, after the whole night of just sitting in the shadow behind Naruto's chair, decided to make his appearance. All present company was quite surprised when a small red fox appeared on the blonde boy's shoulder, staring intently at the aged sannin.

Taking a step back in shock, Jiraiya's eyes went wide in comprehension. They had told him that Kyuubi was able to in and out the seal as he pleased, and that the demon was far from evil as it was depicted, but to hear about to and see the apocalyptic demon itself were two very different things.

"Is that the Kyuubi?"

"Yes, I am."

He was astounded once again that the little red fox could talk. However, he did not have time to ponder as Kyuubi began to speak.

"Hear me well Toad Sage. The success of this mission is essential to the future of this world." The fox gave a small growl. "Don't screw it up."

The two elders in the room shuddered at his words, seemingly and suddenly understanding just how deeply paramount it was that this mission was successful. Naruto meanwhile sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Laying it on a little thick aren't you, Kyuu?"

The fox turned his crimson orbs to his warden. "I am just making sure he understands the importance of this to our continued existence."

The boy squirmed slightly under the demon's gaze. "Still..."

After this little exchange was over Sarutobi interjected, "Naruto, Kyuubi, why don't you two go home for tonight and we shall discuss more when Jiraiya returns." He chuckled dryly. "You might be able to get an hour or two of sleep before the sun rises."

Naruto stood from his chair with Kyuubi still on his shoulder and walked to the door. Before leaving he turned around once more, nodded to the two in the room and said his farewells. "Goodnight oji-san, ero-sennin. Catch you later." With one last nod and receiving two from those addressed, the jinchuuriki stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

Jiraiya turned to the Hokage with a small, exasperated smile. "He sure is something, eh sensei?"

The old man smiled wearily, "He always has been." With a shaky sigh he rested his head in one of his hands and muttered "I'm too damn old for this."

Sasuke stared up at the green foliage above him. Today had been a long day. A very long day. Yesterday, Naruto and Hinata had told him and Sakura that they were from the future. That was a lot to take in. On one hand, he thought the idea of time travel ludicrous, but on the other hand, it made so much sense.

Well, so could killing the two and replacing them with very good actors to gain information about their village, but that was shot down because if you were a spy you would try to be discreet, and you would try to go for a higher ranking individual. Genin weren't very high ranking. Also, no spy could possibly fake having the Kyuubi, and a spy wouldn't take a jutsu like Raikiri through the chest to protect an enemy ninja.

Sasuke sighed and stood up. The sun was starting to set, enveloping the world and an array of reds, golds, and oranges. Now that he thought about it, those were Naruto colors. There for all the world to see, but only if you took the time to look. On that train of thought, he absently compared Sakura to the dawn, all pinks and yellows. Only there for those willing to wake up early enough, and missed by all of those who didn't make the effort. Sasuke shook his head ruefully.

'Ha, a year ago, I would be thinking constantly about avenging my clan…'

It was true team seven had changed him. And with the conversation yesterday, he couldn't even begin to fathom the depth.

'I wonder... If Sakura's the sunrise, and Naruto's the sunset. What am I?'

The raven-haired teen sighed. He guessed he'd have to wait a while longer to find that out. Another thing that he realized is that for the first time since the massacre, he truly felt at peace, like he belonged here. He wanted to keep it like that. The problem was... would he be able to?

Deciding that brooding over everything wasn't worth the effort at the moment, he deftly turned to face the village and headed out to meet up with Sakura for supper.

During supper (they were at Ichiraku, the place was growing on them) Sakura questioned Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun, do you think we'll do good in the Chunnin exams?"

The raven haired boy looked up and met her eyes, "Why wouldn't we? We've been training like crazy. Also, we apparently made it through before, so imagine how much better we'll be at it now.."

He added the last part in a low whisper to make sure no one overheard them.

Sakura took his cue and also lowered her voice "I know, but still, this one of the sannin we're talking about."

Sasuke nodded. Even he had to admit they weren't anywhere near a sannin's power yet. The most they could hope to do is either escape, hold him off long enough for help to arrive, or avoid being marked. Sasuke silently shivered. He had heard in full detail what become of him after being marked, and he did not wish to experience. Not if he could help it.

He turned back to the conversation at hand "Well, we'll just have to do our best then. We ARE a lot stronger now."

Sakura sighed, eyes down cast as she slurped up another noodle of ramen. A few moments passed before she spoke again, "Ne, Sasuke-kun, how is your training with Hayate going?"

Shortly after returning to the village, Kakashi had talked to the ailing man and had managed to get him to train Sasuke a bit. They had a three-hour long session everyday at three in the afternoon to study kenjutsu. To say the least, it was coming along pretty nicely. Sasuke was taking well to weapons.

"Alright I guess. Hayate-sensei knows a lot, and I'm learning fairly fast. How about you and medical jutsu? Or that strength technique?"

Sakura twirled a tendril of hair around her finger. She still hadn't gotten around to getting it cut.

"Well, Hinata and I have realized that we can't learn anymore on our own, and need a good med-nin to teach us. Problem is, they're all too busy to take on a student. As for the strength technique..." She gave a playful smirk. "You'll have to find out yourself! I want to see how well I do against you."

The rosette giggled softly with an affectionate smile on her face, and for a moment Sasuke was taken aback. The last one to give him a look like that was his mother. His thoughts took a downcast tone.

'I wonder what mom would say if she were still here?'

It hurt him slightly to think of her, but he couldn't help it nonetheless. A moment later he noticed a hand waving in front of his face. He blinked.

"Hn, what?"

Sakura leaned back, traces of puzzlement on her features. "Oh, nothing, you just spaced out for a second there."

Sasuke nodded before asking something that just occurred to him.

"Sakura, how come you never talk about your mother? We don't even know her name."

She looked startled at the sudden question. Sakura faltered for a minute before answering.

"Well, my mother's name is Sayuri. And, well, I don't really talk about her, 'cause there's not exactly much to say.

She doesn't exactly like the idea of me being a ninja. She isn't, but my dad was. He died in the Kyuubi attack a few months after I was born, so I never knew him. That's the reason why she doesn't want me to be a ninja. But hearing about my father is one of the reasons I wanted to be a ninja.

He died trying to protect those he loved, and I want to do that too. Well, the protecting part at least, I don't want to die, but I would if it would save one of you guys. Team seven is like family to me..."

By the end Sakura was staring absently into her bowl stirring the broth and floating bits of noodles and meat distractedly.

Sasuke blinked. He had always though she had joined the academy because she though being a ninja would be cool, or because her parents had made her. Gingerly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, though only for a moment, before taking it off. Even still it was enough to illicit a small smile from Sakura, "Thanks."

He nodded quietly. That's what friends were for right? Suddenly, he inwardly groaned.

'Damn it, that dobe is getting to me.'

Two weeks had passed since Jiraiya had left to find Tsunade, and there was still about two weeks or so until the chuunin exams, just a bit less. Team seven was currently at the training ground and taking a breather. Unanimously, they had decided to work even harder than before (if that was possible), and were now about to pass out from exhaustion.

Naruto sat up from his place under the tree (Kyuubi was off doing Kami knows what. B/A: I say chasing vixens, rabbits, or both.) and said something that made his teammates both perk up a bit.

"You guys are still wearing, weights right?"

They both nodded, wondering what he was getting at.

He grinned widely. "Do you even notice them anymore? And how much are you wearing... collectively?"

Sasuke lifted up one arm, just looked at at it and replied, "No, I don't feel anything. And about one-hundred twenty pounds all together."

The blonde nodded and looked at Sakura.

She seemed a bit surprised. "I don't feel them either, and I have about a hundred pounds for me."

He grinned even wider. "Wonder how fast we would be without them."

The eyes that met him were the size of saucers, and before you knew it they were ripping the weights off eagerly, anticipating just how much faster they were. A moment later, they were all standing up and doing various exercises. Sakura was hopping slightly and waving her arms, Naruto took a flying leap forward, and Sasuke did a few back-flips.

"I feel so much lighter!"

The rosette seemed to be in awe as she experimented with how fast her limbs moved without the resistance of the weights.

Naruto let out a loud yelp before screaming, "Last one to the monument and back is a wimpy little pansy!"

Without any other warning he took off with Sakura and Sasuke yelling behind him. "Naruto you jerk! You got a head start!" and "Dobe! Get back here!"

Fifteen minutes later found our favorite team panting and gasping for breath back where they had started. Sakura had lost.

"Haha! Sakura you pansy!" That of course was our beloved time traveler, Naruto.

She heatedly glared at him when she heard a quiet chuckle emit from somewhere behind her. Slowly her head spun around to look at the Uchiha desperately trying to reign control in his laughter.

"UCHIHA!" She let out a ferocious scream and punched him so hard upside the head that he flew backwards around twenty feet before slamming into a tree.

For exactly twenty eight seconds not a sound was heard. In that twenty-eight seconds, Naruto's eyes slowly widened one point four centimeters. Sasuke's brain repeated the same thought exactly every two seconds of those twenty-eight. 'Did hell just go and freeze over again?' Sakura's heart beat exactly 40 times as she realized what she had done.

"S-sasuke-kun?" She slowly tiptoed over to where the dazed (mainly surprised) Uchiha was laying on the ground, "Are you okay?" He nodded shakily before standing up.

"Sakura, how did you do that?" Sasuke asked while brushing the dirt off his shirt.

Nervously she answered him, "Well um, you know I was looking into Tsunade's super strength?" He nodded, "Well I have gotten gist of it, but it's still kind of weak. I-I'm sorry!"

Her head was bowed down in shame but Sasuke's mind was reeling, "That was weak?!"

Behind them, still under the tree, Naruto burst out laughing.

"Oh ya you guys! That was pretty weak! In the future, she nailed me so hard that I flew through two cement walls and about three hundred feet of dense forest before screeching to a stop. Now THAT hurt."

Sasuke's mouth gaped open and closed like a fish out of water, imaging if he had been hit that hard, while Sakura look utterly amazed, staring at her fist like she had never seen it before. It was too much.

"Ahahahaha! Oh- oh- Your faces! Hahahaha-arg! My spleen!"

It was one week from the chunnin exams when Naruto was summoned to the Hokage's office. To say the least, he hoped that it was about Tsunade and Jiraiya, as he was getting anxious. He walked through the door to Sarutobi's office with Hinata at his side only to see that, for once, his plan had worked out perfectly. There, in all of her pissed off glory, was the slug sannin Tsunade.

A wide smile split his face as he felt Hinata's hand slip into his, "Hello Tsunade-baachan." Oh how good it felt to say that! Beside him Hinata greeted her as well with a soft smile, "Hello Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san, Jiraiya-sama, Sarutobi-sama."

The slug sannin roughly turned to face the two and glared daggers in Naruto's direction.

"Is that the boy you were talking about Jiraiya?" Her deep honey colored eyes darted from Jiraiya to Naruto and back as he nodded. She turned her full attention back to the boy and began.

"What's with the name brat?"

He grinned and move farther into the room and sat in one of the free chairs, Hinata taking the other. "At least your name is in it. I just call Jiraiya-sensei ero-sennin."

He looked around the room taking in each other of their faces before he spoke. "Well now Baa-chan, how much exactly did they tell you?"

She crossed her arms. "Everything."

"Shizune as well?"

"Yes."

He rubbed his temples, "Well that saves me from telling you, but I wasn't exactly planning on telling everyone everything so soon." He sighed, "Oh well."

"Umm, Naruto-kun?"

He looked at Hinata, giving her his full attention. "I was thinking, if Tsunade-sama were to agree she could train Sakura and I while Jiraiya-sama would help you and Sasuke. I know that there is not much time before the exams but there is the month break in between the second and third exam."

"Mhmm. Well Ero-sennin? Tsunade-baachan?"

The female sannin rubbed her temples in frustration while Jiraiya stood calm beside Sarutobi's desk and nodded.

"Augg!" She groaned as if physically in pain before continuing, "You brats sure aren't making it easy for me are you? Bad enough I had to come back to this village, I have to take on a couple of brat students too?"

She took a few seconds to look at the faces around her and sighed defeated, "Fine. But you guys better be good." Her eyes were bored into Hinata's, daring her to disagree.

A simple "Of course." Was all that Hinata said in reply.

A moment later the tension was broken as Sarutobi coughed politely and began to speak, "Well if that is all I would like to bring up another issue." He looked straight into Naruto's eyes as he continued, "What about Kakashi, Naruto? We, and your teammates know, but not your sensei... most peculiar."

The youngest blond in the room shifted uncomfortably, that had been a tough decision for them too. "Well, we weren't sure for a while. We know that it has to come out, and we know who needs to know first, just Kakashi is a little farther down on the list than you guys."

Hinata then spoke up from his side, "We've decided to tell him in the break between the second and third exams."

The three elder shinobi in the room nodded in assent. That seemed to be a fair enough choice.

The Hokage cleared his throat one last time before speaking, "Well you two are dismissed. All that is left to do is wait. Luckily, or rather, unluckily, it's only a week and we still need to form a plan to keep Orochimaru out."

Naruto stood up, "Umm, actually, I was hoping you wouldn't do that. We need to keep under the radar until the invasion. The sooner he gets taken out, the better. I'll take care of him in the Forest of Death. Also, the main reason I wanted Tsunade-baachan and Ero-sennin here was to help you face him in the invasion." His face scrunched up in disgust. "Even that tenacious, pedophile snake in the grass would fall under the combined might of two sannin and a kage."

Sarutobi rubbed his temples tiredly as Tsunade and Jiraiya narrowed their eyes, neither liking the idea. As reluctant as he was to admit it, it would be better if they could take Orochimaru out sooner.

"Very well, although we will be monitoring the situation, is that clear?"

The two nodded.

"Alright then, you are dismissed. Don't do anything stupid."

Naruto only smiled as he and Hinata made their way out the door.

Inside the room, the two sannin and one kage stared at each other. They could all feel the migraines coming on.

Another two days passed before Kakashi brought up the subject of the chunnin exams. They were meeting up at the bridge, as per usual, with Kakashi late, as per usual. He poofed in with a "Yo", lazily dodging several kunai and a few shuriken. He gave his usual eye smile.

"Well team, the chuunin exams are right around the corner, and I was wondering if you guys wanted to compete?"

A sweat drop formed at the back of his head as all he received were deadpan stares. The great shinobi, copy-nin Kakashi of the sharingan eye, nervously chuckled as his students continued to stare. That cold, dead stare. Staring, staring, boring into him, rending his soul apart, burning, burning--

"It took you that long to ask us! We have known for over a month about the exams and you only just ask us about it NOW!?"

Sakura was in a steaming rage with the boys on either side looking equally angry. The silver haired jounin took three steps backwards before letting out a rushed sentence, "Fill out these forms and hand them in on the exam date good bye!"

Without another word he poof-ed out of existence, leaving three sheets of paper to flutter to the ground.

Sakura silently shook her head before bending to pick up one of the sheets. "When will he learn?"

The two boys just shrugged as they picked up their sheets as well.

A few minutes later, as they were filling out the forms, Naruto voiced something that he had recently remembered. "Oh, hey, Sakura?"

Absently she replied, twirling a pen around one of her fingers, "What?"

"Well I was thinking, are you going to cut your hair? Last time you nearly got it pulled out of your head during the exams..."

That got her attention, her head turned sharply to face him, and intense look on her face.

"Is that so?"

Naruto didn't miss the glint in her eye even though her tone was airy. Then right before their eyes the pink haired kunoichi pulled out a gleaming, razor-sharp kunai, pulled her hair back and cut it off. She watched as her teammates eyes widened as tendrils of her cherry blossom blew away with the wind. Sakura gazed on as her symbol of childhood flew over the trees and out of sight. Innocence wouldn't keep their hands clean for much longer. The real world was knocking on the door, and it wouldn't come in gently.

They may as well be ready to kick the real world's ass.

Another five minutes passed before anyone spoke, when they did it was Sasuke who broke the silence.

"You guys ready?"

His onyx eyes passed between Naruto and Sakura before they answered in unison.

"As ready as we'll ever be."

"Hey! Hinata! Naruto! Wait up!"

Sakura quickly ran to the couple as they walked down the ally. They stopped and turned slightly as she caught up with them. It was now only three days before the exam, and they were all anxious for it to get underway.

"Hello Sakura!" Hinata was as eager as the rest of them as they waited. Naruto merely grinned and waved in greeting. He didn't look it, but he was tense as a coiled spring- ready to snap out at an instant's notice.

They idly chatted for a few moments, mainly Sakura questioning them about the training that they would receive from Tsunade after the second exam, which she was quite looking forward to.

A few minutes into the conversation, Hinata said something that made her stop. "Sakura, I am only going to be training with you and Tsunade-sama for a short amount of time. After that I am going to be focusing on my own method."

"W-what?" Obviously the girl had thought that Hinata had been as much of a medic as she had been in the future. She would've liked having the dark-haired girl for company. Hinata began to explain.

"I'm not a med-nin Sakura-san, not formally. I am at the same level as an accomplished field medic, but it's not my career. It's yours. Although in the war, I had to dabble in many different areas from medical, to interrogation, and to negotiation, I am most comfortable with close-range fighting and tracking." She smiled somewhat sadly. "I will be training with you, at the most, for six months."

Sakura had barely finished nodding when a shout of "Boss!" came from three voices behind them. Even as they turned, a young brown haired academy student, wearing a cape-like scarf, firmly attached himself to one of the blonde's legs as two more short blurs came flying at them.

Before they knew it, all three near nine-year olds were shouting at them.

"Boss! Boss! Can you play ninja with us?" Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all clamored over each other for a bit of speaking space. Finally, after a few moments of this, the trio seemed to come to an unspoken consensus, clasping their hands in front of them and doing their best puppy dog eyes. "Pleeaase?"

And Naruto, knowing that this may very well be the last time he would see the children so carefree, gave in to their bewilderingly effective stares.

Giving a defeated sigh he shot Hinata and Sakura an amused look before addressing the kids with a short barking laugh, "Fine, fine. I'll play. You guys run on ahead to test out your crazy stealth skills, and I'll try to find you."

The Kono Corps gave a cheer before speeding off down the alley, trying, and failing miserably, to cover their tail behind them.

Hinata just shook her head, a small smile adorning her face while Sakura looked amused. Naruto sheepishly chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I'm such a sucker aren't I?"

The girls both nodded as they turned to follow the retreating students.

For another few minutes they walked in a comfortable silence before they heard the first surprised- and fearful- yelp.

Naruto turned slowly to the other two, his eyes determined.

"Gaara..."

Not another word was said as they all flew towards the origin of the tumultuous outcry.

A/N: And that my dear friends is the end of chapter fourteen! I took forever to write. Once again I am sooo sorry for the long wait, I really didn't mean it! Also I'm sorry for the jumpy and quick-ness of this chapter, I really needed to get these things out there and get the characters involved for what I need to do with this story.

In any case I hope your all not too appalled with this sorry excuse of a chapter and I totally did not plan on going into that much detail with Sasuke and Sakura but I felt that she really needed a back story and we needed to see what he was thinking, I'm sorry if I made him a sap lol.

B/N: Editing… Done. Didn't have to do too much. Now, to all people who read the chapter but don't review- FALCON- PAWNCH! –punch off screen- GAME. SET!

You have been warned.

Please...

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