Fated Escort Mission: Start!

Akatsuki was an organization known for many things: the S-Class Missing-nin, the strange abilities that each of their members possessed, and the black cloaks with red clouds, just to name a few.

But the most interesting – and probably the most overlooked – part of the Akatsuki was their rings. They were small, inconspicuous, lightweight, and undoubtedly the most brilliant piece of communication technology invented since the walkie-talkie.

If the ring glowed one, it signalled a group meeting via a hologram projected through the rings.

If the ring glowed twice, it signalled that another group member needed to talk to you, also via hologram.

If the ring glowed three times, it signalled that the leader was demanding to speak with you.

In person.

The day that Sasori's and Deidara's rings glowed three times, the blonde decided that it was going to be a very bad day.

The meeting place was not in Amegakure itself, but a safe house just outside the borders. The wooden walls were worn and rotting, some of the doors had even fallen off the hinges. The floors creaked and the house itself swayed in even the slightest breeze.

"You're late," a deep and gravelly voice came from the corner. Deidara swung around just in time to see Kakuzu and Hidan step out of the shadows.

"You too?" the bomber asked, "Something big must be going on, yeah."

"No shit, dickhead," Hidan sneered, "The whole gangs here, minus that fucker Zetsu."

"Leader is here?" asked Sasori, "I don't see him."

"He's in there," another voice came from behind, revealing Hoshigaki Kisame, who was pointing to the door in another room, "With Konan-san and Itachi-san."

"What did that bastard do to get us all roped into a meeting with Leader?" Deidara spat.

"I dunno," the blue skinned man released the clasps holding his sword and placed it on the ground, "But Itachi-san has been acting really weird the last couple of days. He just woke up one day, in the middle of a mission, and told me that we were going to Ame. Next thing I know, he's breaking into Leader's tower and beating the hell out of the guards, doing some of the craziest shit I've ever seen with his eyes closed. And then he just walks in on the Leader and hands the guy a scroll that I know he didn't have before, saying that he 'needed to talk.' Then the rings start glowing and the four of us are running for the safe house like the Shinigami is on our tail.

"I have no idea what is going on, but Itachi-san is in there talking with Konan-san and," Kisame paused, looking uncertain for a bit, "I think its Leader."

"What the hell do you mean you 'think' it's Leader?" Hidan asked.

"Leader's always had spiky hair, right?" the former Kiri-nin said, pointing to his own hair as an example, "Well this guy doesn't. In fact, the guy doesn't look like he's eaten properly in months. He's got Leader's eyes and voice, but that's it as far as similarities go."

"Eyes closed?" Deidara interrupted, "As in he didn't use his Sharingan, yeah?" Kisame nodded, equally confused.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Sasori.

Their conversation was cut short by Konan entering the room. Her hair fell unbound on her shoulders and worry marked her beautiful face.

"Take off you cloaks and your rings," she ordered, "Put them in a pile and burn them. Make sure nothing is left. And, damn it Sasori, get out of that stupid dummy."

The four men obliged, Sasori the most reluctantly.

"Konan," the red head question, "What's happening?"

"Itachi will explain everything. Now get in there, we've got a huge problem," the woman explained, fear evident in her voice.

"Wait a minute," Kakuzu asked as they filed in, "What about Zetsu and that runt that follows him around all the time? Tobi?"

"The last thing we need is for them to be here," heads swivelled around once more before coming to rest on two figures, both with jet black hair. Uchiha Itachi was the first, his headband now resting over his eyes. Beside him was another man, and Deidara could see what Kisame had meant. The guy looked starved to death, the bones of his rib cage showed through the thin blue t-shirt. Every breath he took sounded as if he fought for each one of them.

Just the sight of him brought back memories of the war and the famine that had plagued Iwa for years after.

The man raised his head and Deidara saw their Leader's eye in the place where his long dark hair parted down his face.

"Sit down," Leader ordered, "And what Itachi is about to tell you never leaves this room."

"Yep," Deidara thought to himself, "It's going to be a very bad day, yeah."

Gaara leaded against the wall of the empty hallway, gourd at his feet as his siblings' footsteps sounded throughout the house as they gathered what they would need for the day. It had been a week since he had made his jump into the past and Baki had given them notice just yesterday that the Kazekage had assigned them an important mission.

God, it was good to see the older man again, minus a few wrinkled and grey hairs. It had taken all of Gaara's willpower not to run up and throw his arms around his sensei's waist. He had missed Baki a lot, but now the man barely knew him.

"As fun as it is listening to your angsty inner monologue, I need to know, have you got everything you need?" Shukaku asked.

"Yes," he responded.

"Tanto?"

"Check." The blade was strapped to his right arm under his sleeve.

"Scrolls?"

"Check…and check."The twin rolls of paper were securely concealed on the inside of his sash.

"ID Seal is hidden?"

Gaara mentally sighed, but pulled up his left sleeve to make sure that the bandages had not moved, "Check."

"Are the scars on your knuckles covered by the armour?"

The red head flexed his fingers, trying to see if the angry red lines showed through the thin layer of sand on his hands. During the night while the others were sleeping, Gaara spent his time trying to build his twelve year old body back up to what it had been in the future. He had a long way to go, but at least he was getting some of his calluses back.

What he did not need was his brother and sister wondering why his hands were beginning to show the signs of him being a taijutsu user. There would be too many questions, and Gaara did not want to have to tell them of his failure to protect them.

"Yes mother, they are. Can I go now or do I need to give you a kiss on the cheek before I do?" the red head asked with visible sarcasm.

"Very funny, kid," the bijuu answered, "You're a riot. Just don't quit your day job."

His inner conversation was cut short by the entrance of his siblings. Temari adjusted her purple kimono – the one he had given her secretly when she was eleven – one last time as Kankuro straightened his kitty-hat – he did not want to look like his father, and Gaara made sure he would not – before coming to a halt in front of him.

The red head let his eyes wander over them one last time before picking up his gourd and swinging it onto his back.

"Let's go," he said, his emotionless mask sliding over his face as Temari took her place on his right and Kankuro on his left. They walked into the busy streets of Suna, just like they had a lifetime ago.

But it was not the same.

Here, Gaara was feared and hated for the monster that resided in the seal on his shoulder. He had forgotten what it was like, where people could look as him, but not see him but Shukaku instead.

It hurt, not just because his people feared and hated him, but Shukaku, his friend, as well.

And it was not just that. Though bustling, the streets of Sunagakure rather empty compared to the ones in him memories. Many of the shops were run down and carried little stock. Several of them had been forced to close. There was evidence of poverty everywhere and there was not a street that the three of them had turned down that they had not seen at least three homeless people.

"This is stupid," Gaara though angrily, "We have the money in the budget even now with the daimyo cutting our income to get the village back on its feet. Instead those idiots up in the tower are spending it on their freaking civil war with Takigakure. There's no logic in it at all."

"Of course there no logic in it," the sand spirit said, "Both the Sandaime and Yondaime were high off their power as Kazekage. And you know what they say about those with power."

"But still, it isn't right."

"Then make it right," Shukaku encouraged, "Become Kazekage again and fix this mess. You did it last time, you can do it again. Make sure that things are right so that when we die you can say that you lived a good life."

Gaara almost tripped over his own feet at the bijuu's words, "We die? What do you mean 'we die'?"

He felt an uncomfortable shift in yokai before Shukaku spoke, "You saved me that day when you were sixteen. According to the laws set down by the Kamis themselves, I owe you what is called a life debt. I will follow you though the Gates of Hell back if you asked me to, but not just because of some thrice damned law.

"You're my friend, Gaara, and the closest thing that I have now to a son. And I'm not going to loose the only family I have left."

And then the bijuu went abnormally quiet and refused to talk to him anymore.

Needless to say, Gaara was shocked. Shukaku had never been so open before, not even in the original timeline. But why him? Why not the other two jinchuuriki, Shinji and Chi, that had come before him? What made him so damn special?

"I'm not going to go get my self killed, Shukaku," the red head projected his thoughts inward, "There's too much that I have to do before I can even think about dying."

The bijuu did not respond, but reopened their connection to speak.

"Gaara," Temari brought him back to the real world, "It's this way." She pointed to an open area and, low and behold, Baki stood at its center.

It was becoming more normal to see the man he had considered a father alive and well over the past few days, but the shock was still there. That was understandable, considering how Baki had –

Their oxygen was running out. The hospital only had so much, and damn it, why had they insisted they take a tank, when it could have gone to someone else? The buzzing had gone but the poisonous fog still remained. Baki took off his mask, leaving the rest of the air for him, and Gaara was forced to watch as his senseiadviserfatherfriend whispered "Live Gaara" in the voice of a dying man before his eyes rolled back and –

died.

Gaara shook his head to clear it. Flashbacks of…the incident…where not needed right now. He walked towards his team, eager to start the mission that he had failed long ago.

"The mission that the Kazekage has assigned us is simple," Baki explained, "We are to escort Fuura Diachi back to his home village, Kochi. After that, we stay behind to protect them until they are able to build proper fortifications of their own."

"Kochi?" asked Temari, "That village is just inside the Kusa border. Why are they coming to us?"

"Because our spies got wind that Takigakure is planning to take over that village. While it is not within our borders, Kochi is a close enough location that if they start putting shinobi there it will start making the Kazekage sweat."

Gaara nodded, understanding full well that Taki shinobi in Kochi had been one of the many reasons why the Kazekage had joined up with Orochimaru and Oto in the first place.

"We need to complete this mission to make sure that Takigakure's plan cannot succeed. That is why this mission is a B-Rank, bordering on an A."

His siblings responded with a "Hai!" while Gaara nodded again.

"Also," Baki added, glancing cautiously in his direction, "There will be another team coming with us…"

"What?!" Kankuro yelled, "We are qualified enough for this job!"

"It's not my decision to make. These," the older man pulled a set of files from his flank jacket and handed them to the other two, "are the files of the people coming with us."

Gaara glanced at them from the corner of his eyes, knowing that they probably would not pass them over to him (the old Gaara would not have cared). A female sensei, a girl in green, two boys, one of which had…

"Damn," he thought, glancing up at his red hair, "I'm going to have to deal with the Tanakas."

It was not rather talked about thing, but many of the people of Suna had guessed that his mother had not been incredibly faithful to the Kazekage around the time of his conception. His flaming red hair was completely unheard of outside the Tanaka Clan; a prosperous and well liked family in Suna due to the fact that the Shodai Kazekage had been one.

The fact that Gaara's mother's best male friend had been the Tanaka heir and looked exactly like him had not helped the rumours at all.

The clan leaders had apparently driven the man into exile after that particular discovery. There had never been any tests to confirm it, though, out of fear that it might be true. If it were discovered that the youngest son of the Kazekage was illegitimate, the Yondaime's reputation would be washed down the drain.

But that too, was to be accepted. Many clans did not want to have him and Shukaku tied to them, especially not as a bastard child.

"Gaara," Baki said, "This is a very important mission to Suna. Please don't kill the other team or our client. I don't want to have to deal with the mess later."

Gaara looked his sensei dead in the eye and said, "Fine."

But what he meant, and what Baki probably saw in his teal eyes, was, "Trust me; I won't fail you or anyone else, no matter what."

That was probably what made the older man back up a step or two and give him an odd look, "We leave in half an hour. Dismissed."

This is the super duper updated version with a red headed Nagato, as well as cannon bijuu and jinchuuriki.