Chapter 5
Devon and his sensei walked up to the ramen shop. Sumaia's sensei was standing out front with a bowl of ramen turned up to his face, finishing the last of it. "It's about time you guys got here. That was my fifth bowl." Devon's sensei just shook his head. "Naruto, you could eat that many bowls in two minutes. Which is ironic because we're only two minutes late!" Naruto just grinned. "Well it's a long way to the Village Hidden in the Sand, Neji. Are you sure you guys don't want to eat first?" Neji looked at Devon. Devon shook his head and looked down. "Let's go Naruto. We would get there earlier if we went full speed." Naruto nodded and they all jumped to the rooftop. They all started running and leaping between roofs until they got to the edge of town. They jumped off the last rooftop and headed straight for the trees. After about nine or ten leaps from branch to branch, Neji and Devon noticed Naruto grab his stomach, utter some kind of a groan, wipe his mouth and continue. When Devon and Neji looked down where Naruto had stopped, they cringed as they saw used beef ramen on the ground, some of the branches and a very angry Anbu! Devon and Neji started jumping faster and passed Naruto in about 3 leaps!
Since they went full speed, thanks largely to the Anbu that pursued them, they reached the Village Hidden in the Sand in about an hour! They landed at the front gate and approached the guards. One of the two guards noticed their Leaf Village forehead protectors and immediately readied a sand shuriken. "State your intentions here!" Devon responded by drawing a kunai and aiming at the guard. Neji signaled Devon to holster the kunai. Naruto stepped forward as Devon put his kunai back in the pouch. "We're here to see Gaara. Is he here?" The other guard motioned for his partner to lower his shuriken. "My apologies. My partner's a bit high-strung. We were told to be alert to someone in the area from your village. It's not him. Put that away." His partner put the sand shuriken back and stepped back. The second guard continued. "Lord Kazekage is expecting you three. I will escort you." Neji and Naruto looked at each other thinking the same thing. "Lord Kazekage?!" The guard opened the gate and motioned for them to follow. Devon looked in amazement at the buildings that appeared to be made entirely of sand. To Devon, the village looked to be an amazing wasteland. Kaikaron, however, was not so astounded. "You'd think all it would take to destroy this place is a giant broom and dustpan!" Devon grinned.
When they finally reached the Kazekage mansion, they looked up and saw Gaara meditating on the roof with his gourd. "Wait here a moment." The guard leapt to the roof behind Gaara. Gaara opened his eyes and looked down at Neji, Naruto and Devon. The guard motioned for them to come up. They looked at each other and jumped to the roof. The guard disappeared as Gaara stood up. He turned and looked at Naruto. "Sorry about my guards. They can be a bit too cautious at times," said Gaara in his calm and raspy voice. Gaara then turned his gaze to Devon. Devon looked into Gaara's blue eyes. Usually, Devon was never intimidated by anyone. But this man was different. He could sense something monstrous behind his eyes. He could actually feel Kaikaron writhing in fear! So he knew there had to be something bad about this shinobi. "Is this the one you wanted me to train? Is this Devon?" Gaara could sense Kaikaron inside of Devon and immediately knew why Naruto brought Devon to him.
Naruto, still surprised by how calm Gaara was acting, was a little slow to respond. "Yes. He needs to learn how to defeat the demon inside of him so he will have control. The finals are in about 1 week. Can you help him?" Gaara continued to look at Devon. "I will train him under one condition. You two can't stay here for this. It will only distract him." Neji stepped forward. "I'm not leaving my student here with you for a week. There's no way. I will stay with him and…" Gaara knew where his comments were going and cut him off. "Fine. If you don't trust me, take him with you. See if you can control his beast." Gaara turned and sat down. Neji started to say something, but Devon pulled him to the side. "I know we still have more taijutsu training sensei. But if he can help me harness Kaikaron, I think it would be best if I stayed with him. I'll be fine." Devon then walked over and sat beside Gaara. "I'll train with you if you'll allow it." Gaara actually smiled a little. He slightly turned his head towards Naruto and Neji. "We have a lot of training to do. He will be back for the finals at the latest." With that, Neji and Naruto leapt off the roof and started to head for home. Neji took one more look back. "Take care Devon. I hope Gaara can maintain his own control."
As Neji and Naruto started jumping through the branches, Naruto felt uneasy for a second. "Stop for a second Neji." Naruto looked back toward the Sand Village and immediately felt someone staring back at him. "It…can't…be…him…" Naruto thought to himself. Neji looked at Naruto and then looked in the same direction. "Byakugan!" Neji stared and saw someone in the branches ahead. He sensed a very powerful source of chakra flowing through the person. Then he noticed the red and black eyes that formed a familiar pattern. "Is that…" Before he could finish, the person was gone. Neji and Naruto looked at each other. "I think we should alert the others as quickly as possible." Neji and Naruto leapt faster and faster as they began to realize that they knew exactly who that was…