I have returned!

Um...nothing exciting to report, so here's my witty disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Naruto. That belongs to Kishimoto. But Izumi, Wataru, Hibeki, Takama, and Diachi are mine.

Chapter 4: First Blood

The desert that made up most of Kaze no Kuni had not always been the sandy monstrosity that it is today. Legend has it that it was once a thriving jungle of lush plants and flowing rivers. Its people were a peaceful, honour-bond society that lived atop the green trees rivalled the sizes those found in the Hi no Kuni these days. They lived in splendour, perhaps too much splendour, as that was their downfall.

There is a story about a young priest with hair the colour of life blood who fell in love with a woman. He courted her in secret, giving her gifts and asking for nothing more than her hand in marriage. He loved her more than anything in the world, even though it was against the code of the temple to do so.

And then one day the girl told him she was pregnant with his child.

They managed to keep it secret for several months before the head priest found out. The woman was set for execution on the grounds of that she had seduced the young man into her bed for their tribe's secrets. They were wrong, of course, as she had never intended to. The execution was pushed back for of her pregnancy because the child that she carried within her was innocent of its mother's sins.

The head priest slit her throat the moment she came out of labour. The woman never even got to hold her baby.

The father of the child lost his respect at the temple and fled on a moonlight night. He cried out to the skies, calling upon his people's god, Fujin of the Wind, to avenge his beloved. The god sent powerful gales across jungle, tearing trees out of the earth and upturning the soil before giving rise to the first sand storm. Before the night was over, Fujin had turned their paradise into a desert hell.

The tribes took to the caves, hoping to appease their god with, but that only made him angrier. The heat did not stop, the winds did not cease, and all hope of the return of their old home died with the passing of the older generation.

Sabaku no Gaara sat at the mouth of one of these caves near the Ame-Suna border, watching the sand whip by with enough force to strip a man of his skin, and wondered if this was how the Tribes of Old felt when they faced the unknown for the first time.

Fuura Diachi was annoying, and that was coming from someone who had Shukaku ranting in the back of his head for a good portion of his life. The man acted like a spoiled noble; demanding this, wanting that, and giving little to no respect to the shinobi who were guarding him. He had even had the utter gull to flirt with Temari, who was nearly ten years younger than him. Gaara's little brother instincts had kicked into high gear at that point. Needless to say, Diachi was now sitting as far away from his sister has he could.

Gaara knew the man was full of himself, though. The clothing he wore looked expensive, but under closer inspection one could see it was made of the cheep, rough fabrics of Kusa. His green hair was dirty and his teeth were crooked, so it made the red head think that Diachi was simply trying to look rich. For what reason, he did not know.

There was a rustling to his left, which made him turn. The girl from the other team, Watanabe Izumi, was looking through one of the bags.

Izumi could be defined as "cute" in his books, kind of like people found teddy bears to be cute. Her brown hair fell limp to her shoulders and her bangs nearly covered equally brown eyes. Her green t-shirt ended just past of her chest, revealing a mesh covered stomach. A beige, half-apron skirt covered bottle green pants that cut off at the knee. Her blue hitai-ate was tied around her neck. She was young, probably a year younger than him.

"What are you looking for?" Gaara asked. The girl jumped, clearly terrified of him. She shook and tried to squeak out an answer.

"God, she's shy," he thought before speaking again, "I asked you a question, Izumi-san."

"F-F-Food, Gaara-sama. I'm l-l-looking for fo-food," her hands trembled as she answered.

The red head sighed, "Who told you to look in there?"

"K-Kankuro-sama…" Izumi gulped.

"That's Baki's pack," trust his brother to pull a prank on the rookie genin, "Any food you find in there will probably attack you."

She dropped the bag in a panic. Gaara sighed again before fishing out one of his scrolls and tossing it to her, "In there you will find some dehydrated herbs. Put them in boiling water and you'll have soup in ten minutes." Izumi stared at him like he was an alien creature, "I'd go before someone gets hungry."

She nodded before scampering back to the makeshift fire.

"She's not just skittish around you," Shukaku pointed out, "Look at her. She makes a twelve year old Hinata look confident."

Gaara glanced over to see that the demon was right. Izumi jumpy, even around her teammates and sensei, showing a sever lack of self-confidence. Something must have happened in her past, which caused her to turn out like this.

"Poor girl," he thought before looking away. Tanaka Hibeki was glaring holes into his head again.

The boy had spiky red hair and pitch black eyes. His blue Suna hitai-ate was wrapped around his right arm, just peaking out from below his tan coloured shirt. The symbol for the Tanaka clan, a triangle split into three parts, was sewn onto the back. He wore brown shorts that carried a medium sized scroll on his hip.

Hibeki had a short temper, Gaara discovered. He had snapped at Diachi more times than he could count over the course of the day, causing him to be berated by his sensei. The boy also appeared to have a grudge on him, which during these times was considered either incredibly brave or incredibly suicidal.

"Food's ready," Hibeki called, giving the pot one last stir. Gaara picked himself up off the rock he had been sitting on and made his way over to the fire. Someone passed him a bowl of soup, still warm for the fire. He glanced over at Kankuro, who was looking at the pot in some kind of horror.

"Is there something wrong, Kankuro," Baki asked.

"No," was his brother's quick reply. Gaara's eyes flicked to Izumi, who was blowing cool air at the soup on her spoon. Though her face was the epitome of innocence, her eyes were filled with mischief.

"I guess there's hope for her yet," he thought.

He released the straps binding his gourd to his back and set it down behind him with a thump before finally sitting down between Temari and the third member of the other team, Kato Wataru.

The boy could have been a twelve year old Itachi's twin, if he did not smile so much. A red sleeveless shirt covered a mesh t-shirt and hung low over long black pants. A pair of small fans was attached to a belt that was strapped over his shirt. His hitai-ate was tied around his forehead.

Wataru was pretty cool. He was not as afraid of him as Izumi was, but did not show the hatred that his other teammate did. While he was still nervous at being around the monster of Suna, it was a nice change from the other looks he got half the time.

Downing the soup as fast as he could, Gaara looked over at the sensei of what had been dubbed Team 24. Mori Takama was a fresh jonin, having only been nominated about three months ago. Her brown-almost-black hair flowed down her back in curls, accenting the tans and greys of the standard jonin uniform. Except that uniform was missing one thing, which made Gaara's eyes widen.

"Shukaku?"

"Yeah?"

"She's not wearing anything under that flank jacket, is she?"

"Yeah."

"…Whoa…"

"…Yeah."

There was a pause, before "Why the hell am I being affected like this? I mean, I've seen girls wearing next to nothing before and I've been able to look the other way. What's wrong with me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shukaku said, clearly amused at situation, "While your mind and soul are of a thirty year old man, your body is that of a twelve year boy.

"It's in the early stages, but you're going through puberty. Again."

Gaara would have cried if it was not so out of character.

Shukaku just thought that his container was a silly little creature.

The Suna nights were as cold as they were dry. Gaara insulated himself in layers of sand before wrapping his blanket around himself to keep warm.

It was about three in the morning on their second day of the journey. Today they would be crossing the Ame border, which was something that terrified him. Gaara had no idea if he would be hauled off by Akatsuki to extract Shukaku from his body. Akatsuki was a wild card at this point in time, and could move in any direction.

The red head did not like that thought.

But following a more optimistic view point, since Ame was such a paranoid military state, they would have to be escorted through the country by guards. No enemy ninja would be dumb enough to try an attack Diachi then.

Gaara poked at the dying embers of the fire with a stick, trying to coax that last bit of heat back into the air. It was third watch and Hibeki sat across from him, looking fiercely at him. The others were fast asleep, snuggled up in their bedrolls. Diachi was snoring louder than normal.

"Do you have a problem, Hibeki-san?" the Shukaku jinchuuriki asked.

The Tanaka twitched slightly, having not expected conversation, "No."

"Then can you stop glaring at me."

Hibeki snorted, before turning his head away. Gaara sighed, before moving his hand over to his canteen. Bringing it up to his lips, he found it to be dry. Grunting as he rose to his feet, Gaara collected his sibling's canteens as well before heading towards the back to the cave.

"Since when did the great and terrible Sabaku no Gaara do chores?" Hibeki mocked.

"Since your watch started. Pay attention, idiot," the time traveler answered before turning the corner.

Lucky for them, Takama knew this cave. There was an underground fresh water lake just below the ground that they could use for water while they waited out the sand storm. Gaara approached the pit that held the water, kicking a stone down the hole while he was at it. As he sat down to tie a rope to the mouth of the canteens he heard it clatter down the sides of the walls.

"Ow!"

"Shut up, idiot!"

That was not the sound of the rock hitting the water below.

Habits ingrained into him from the Suna-Oto war kicked in. Gaara slowed his breathing, suppressed his chakra signature to an all time low, and even quieted his heart beat. Slowly, he began to form hand seals: Snake, Monkey, Rat, Monkey, Bird, Monkey, Dragon, Monkey, Rat, Monkey.

"Daisen no Me," he thought to himself quietly before crushing the brown eye with his hand.

Reforming it in the pit, Gaara almost gasped at what he could see. Forgetting the canteens on the ground he raced back to the fire.

"You're back quick," commented Hibeki, "Scared of the dark?"

"Get everyone up, we've got a problem," he commanded. The Tanaka hesitated for a second, and that was all he needed to revert into Kazekage-mode, "I gave you an order, shinobi!"

Less than a minute later, all were awake and bleary eyed. Diachi grumbled, "Why has my beauty sleep being interrupted?"

"Two squads," Gaara began, "three shinobi each, are ascending from the lake below."

"Affiliations?" Baki questioned.

"They aren't wearing headbands so it's not official, but the colours of their clothing indicate that they're from Takigakure."

"Smart boy," the voice came from behind. The Suna shinobi turned to see six shinobi dressed in the blue and brown colours of Those Who Hid in the Waterfall. Their wet, baggy clothing and masked faces made distinguishing their genders impossible. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble," one of them asked, "could you hand over the commoner?"

"Sorry, that's not possible," Takama said in a polite voice, her fingers suddenly laced with wire. Temari and Wataru pulled their fans from their holsters and holding them like clubs, knowing all too well that any futon jutsu that they used would lash back on them in this tiny space. Kankuro brought Karasu to life with a flick of his hands. Hibeki unsealed a single Tanaka-style puppet from the scroll he carried, clothed in maroon and sporting a head that looked all too human. Baki's hands twitched at his side and Izumi slid into a defensive taijutsu stance.

Gaara's sand rustled on the cave floor, before leaping from the gourd and hurtling towards the enemy.

They blurred.

He caught one by the arm, sand wrapping itself around the limb as he closed his fist and crushed it. The shinobi howled in pain, cradling his (her?) ruined arm before leaping at him-

Temari sung her fan at another one's head, who just barely dodged out of the way. The shinobi pulled a kunai from its leg holster and made a slashing at her stomach. His sister jumped back and brought her fan down on the ninja's collar bone, breaking it with a sickening crunch-

Team 24 had formed a triangle around Diachi. Hibeki's puppet was sluggish, suggesting he was not an export at controlling it. Wataru blocked and lashed out wildly with his fans, hoping to get in a hit. Izumi had palmed a kunai and edged closer to her black haired teammate, wanting to fight but not really having the courage to jump in.

They were panicking; Gaara knew the signs well, having seen them in genin even younger than them during the war. Panicked humans made stupid decisions, decisions that sometimes ended in lives being lost.

But before he could act, poisoned senbon lodged themselves in the back of the ninjas' heads. Kankuro's puppets, Karasu – deadly and dangerous – clacked into sight, previously hidden by the shadows of the cave-

The air shifted on his left and wire sliced through the air as the two jonins took on of the remaining shinobi. Between Baki's expert wind chakra handling and the savage grace that Takama wielded with her strings, the guy did not stand a chance-

Gaara let his Suna no Tate take the initial punch from the anonymous shinobi in front of him, before coiling sand around the person's uninjured arm and flinging him/her into the cave wall. The ninja's back bent in a way that no human's was supposed to.

"That's five," he thought, "And now where's six?"

"Kankuro, behind you!" Temari yelled. Gaara turned just in time to see the final shinobi slip out of the shadows of a genjutsu behind his brother, kunai raised. Karasu would not be able to make it, he realized. He was going to loose him again.

Gaara did not know how it happened, or when or why, but the moment he was able to grasp that thought, the remaining ninja stopped being a random person sent to attack their client. The shinobi became male and gained long silver hair that was tied back in a pony tail at the base of his neck. The man's sickly white skin appeared to be flaking of him like a snake and his eyes glowed yellow in the darkness.

Sabaku no Gaara saw Yakushi Kabuto that night. And he reacted in the only way he knew how.

Anger.

Sand rocketed across the open space and wrapped itself around the man in a deadly desert coffin. Gaara clenched his fist, causing the technique to implode and crush the shinobi death. Blood sprayed outwards, drenching his brother's clothes.

"Sabaku Soso," he whispered finally ending the jutsu.

"Holy shit," Diachi, who he had forgotten in the heat of the moment, decided to make himself known, "But…you're just…they're just…kids…"

And then he passed out.

Wataru looked from the dead bodies of the shinobi who had attacked them to their client who was unconscious on the ground.

"Well this sucks…"

"Genin," Takama muttered, pulling back the mask of the one Temari had killed, "Maybe a fresh chuunin. Taki's not exactly pulling out all the stops for this village, eh?"

"Who said it's Taki?" Baki interrupted and then addressed Team 24, "You need to get a firmer hand on politics. Ok brats, why is this not an official attack?"

Hibeki and Wataru made little noises of embarrassment, while Izumi muttered something under her breath.

"Speak up girl, we ain't got all day," his sister snapped. Gaara had forgotten that at this time Temari hide behind a mask of indifference. She was, after all, the eldest child of the Kazekage and the sister of Suna's Ultimate Weapon.

"Th-they haven't g-g-got hitai-ate," the girl mumbled, "If th-they had them, this…this would ha-have been a c-c-cause for…war."

"Exactly," Baki said, "Now, the storm's died down for now so we can start moving again. Kankuro, you carry the client."

That did not sit well with his brother, "What?! Why do I have to? Get one of the rookies to do it."

"This is your punishment for letting that shinobi sneak up you. If it weren't for Gaara, you would be dead."

Shit, Baki had noticed it. Thankfully no one asked any questions.

"Oh," Kankuro said, before turning towards him, slightly humbled, "Thanks, I guess."

It was not until the sun was high enough in the sky for it to break through the rain clouds and they were half way through Ame under escorted guard that Gaara was able to whisper "You're welcome" in his brother's ear.

He found it quite amusing to watch his brother trip and fall face first into a puddle afterwards.

"Oh yeah, I'm back," he laughed inwardly. Shukaku could not agree more.

Glossary:

Daisen no Me: "Third Eye"
Type: No rank, Supplementary
User: Gaara
This jutsu creates a floating eyeball out of sand that is connected to Gaara's optic nerves. Gaara can control the size of the eye depending on its use. Its main purpose is spying, since it can form and disperse in any location on command. This jutsu was used when Gaara fought Sasuke in the Chunin exams and was surrounded by the Sphere of Sand.

Suna no Tate: literally "Shield of Sand"
Type: B-rank, Defensive, Short range (0-5m)
User: Gaara
This jutsu causes sand to automatically surround and protect Gaara from harm, even if it's self-inflicted, regardless of whether or not he wants it to. The shield is capable of withstanding considerably strong attacks and projectiles, and can be hardened to a point where it's stronger than steel. It can be defeated by avoiding it completely, with extremely high-speed attacks, or merely overcoming the shield with incredible brute force

Sabaku Soso: Sand Waterfall Funeral (Sabaku Sōsō; Viz "Imploding Sand Funeral", English TV "Sand Burial")

Type: Unknown, Offensive, Short to mid-range (0-10m)

User: Gaara

After wrapping an opponent with sand, Gaara will cause the sand to implode and crush whatever is within. When used to kill a person, the death is so quick that there isn't even time to feel pain. The pressure also produces a sizable fountain of blood. Gaara can control the pressure used in the attack, which allows him to merely break bones or completely liquefy an opponent.

Enter Team 24, a series of misfits put together on a team by the Kazekage to keep them out of the way. Diachi, their client, is being annoying but he's got a good reason for it. I hope I did a good job at keeping Temari and Kankuro in character.

I like the legend at the beginning. It will play a role a little later on, but until then you're going to have to wait.

Have any of you ever read "For the Love of my Friends" by Foxie-sama? It's where I got the idea to write this fic from. I don't care if you don't like NaruHina, you should read it. I don't like NaruHina and I believe it to be one of the most epic Naruto fics on this site.

Also, there is "Naruto: Nine Demon Songs" by Lithius Amarantinos. It's amazing. I read this to get inspiration for the fight scene at the end. After all, the author has been called the God of Action Scenes, so there was no better place to start.

Later,

Whitefox