Haruto's decision

After the plan began, Haruto did not follow Gaara and the others, she stayed behind for her own reasons. She was somewhat torn; she couldn't help the Leaf ninja defeat her village, but she couldn't stand by while innocent people got hurt. She remembered what she had seen while on her seek-and-maim mission for Jiraiya. She couldn't believe it at the time, but when she went back, she realized the truth. Who ever was behind the plan, it wasn't the Kazekage!

Then it hit her; she could help the Leaf shinobi and still not be considered a traitor to her village. She ran from the stadium, her mask covering her identity. She noticed that several in-training ninja were moving in the direction of the Hokage monument. She saw one of her fellow Sand ninja approach; she could either sit back and watch the battle, or she could prevent it from happening altogether! She chose the latter option.

"I'd get out of sight if I were you."

"What…?! Who said that?" said Iruka.

"I said you should get out of sight, the sooner the better. Enemy shinobi are heading in this direction. Unless you want to endanger the students, get out of sight NOW."

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" said Iruka.

"Fine…if you pipe down!" said Haruto as she emerged from the shadows. Iruka and the other teachers immediately went on guard when they saw her headband which was around her neck like a scarf.

"Who are you and why are you here?" said Iruka.

"I'm just trying to prevent a fight from breaking out between my village and you lot. Unlike most of my comrades, I actually CARE about what happens to the village. You can either take my advice and get out of sight fast, or you can get into a potentially disastrous fight. Your choice."

"Why should we trust you? How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Ask the runts with the goggles. They should recognize me pretty easily," said Haruto as she removed her mask, revealing her face.

"Hey…I remember you! You were the one who stopped that mean Sand Genin from hurting me when they first got here!" said Konohamaru.

"Are you positive it's the same girl, Konohamaru?"

"Yep…I'd recognize her eyes anywhere! They're the same as Naruto's!"

"Look, you can either take my advice or not. I'm just trying to help you guys without being branded a traitor by my village."

"Tell me your name first," said Iruka.

"It's Kazehana, Haruto. I'll try to divert their attention long enough for you to escape."

"Come everyone, let's keep going," said Iruka finally.

"Iruka, are you really going to trust this girl? She's one of them!" said one of his fellow teachers.

"Don't ask me why, but something tells me that she is honestly trying to help. My only question is, why does she care about this village to begin with?"

"I was born here, idiot. That, and I don't want to lose my twin after finding him after all these years," snorted Haruto.

The class and the teachers did take her advice and took cover. She went to her fellow Sand ninja and gave them a false sighting; they immediately headed towards where she pointed. She then headed towards where the most action was. The commanding Jonin saw her and demanded that she identify herself.

"I am Kazehana Haruto, youngest member of the Sunakagure Black Ops."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" he said. Haruto smirked, and then looked at one of the Sound ninjas close by.

"Sand Burial." Haruto said and close her fist; sand came out of nowhere and surrounded her hapless victim.

"Sand Coffin!" she said clearly and watched as the man was crushed by the sand.

"Very well, you pass. Care to explain why you killed one of our allies, Miss Kazehana?"

"Easy; something's wrong with this whole attack. I think we've been deceived by our so called 'Kazekage'."

"What makes you say that?"

"I found something suspicious outside the village a few miles from this point. I stumbled upon his corpse and the corpses of his Black Op bodyguards while I was trying to locate someone else."

"What! Are you positive beyond a doubt that it was the Kazekage?!"

"It looked like they'd been there for some time, but I'm certain it was them. Whoever gave the orders to attack the village is an imposter. I don't know if you guys noticed, but for the past few weeks he's been acting strangely. That's what got me to take a closer look at the bodies."

"Describe the surroundings so I can send someone to investigate this immediately."
Haruto gave the description of the area, and three of the Jonin went to find out if she was telling the truth.

"If you are telling the truth, why did you not come to us sooner?"

"If I was wrong, then it would have compromised the mission. But the one thing that really made me suspect he was an imposter was when I saw the overgrown serpents. That alone told me something was very wrong."

"Why is that?"

"Since when does our village use that particular breed of snakes? They look too much like the ones I encountered when I was stuck in the Mist village for two years. Not to mention the fact that I was attacked by someone riding a snake similar to these during the second part of the exam."

"Until they return, I want you to lead a unit to search for any Leaf shinobi you can find. If you encounter them, kill them. Is this understood?"

"Hai! There's one thing though."

"What?"

"I don't recommend putting ANY Sound shinobi in my group. I might accidentally-on-purpose attack them. I didn't like their genin, and I do NOT want to deal with them any more than I have to."

"That sounds reasonable. Very well…no Sound shinobi in your group. You three! Go with Kazehana and begin searching!"

"HAI!"

They systematically attacked the Leaf forces they did find. Unknown to her fellow Sand shinobi however, Haruto wasn't killing the shinobi. She only knocked them out and made it look like she killed them.

When the Leaf's counter-attack finally went into effect, she immediately ditched her unit and began her own assault on the serpents. She quickly disposed of one and was about to go after another when she came face-to-face with the instructor from the first part of the exam!

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"What does it look like? I'm dealing with these annoying snakes!" she retorted.

"You are a Sand Genin, correct? So why are you helping us save the village when yours is attacking ours?!"

"Do you really want to know?" she said; he gave her a look that said yes, "It's because I was originally born in this village. And my twin still lives here. So why wouldn't I try to help?"

"Maybe because you'll be branded a traitor to your village?"

"Look, I had to spend 2 years stuck in the Hidden Mist village. I'm a Sand kunoichi, so it was practically my own hell-on-earth. These…SNAKES are almost identical to the ones I had to deal with in that blasted place! Why wouldn't I want to kill them?!"

"So you're just going to tell them that they reminded you of the Mist village? I highly doubt that they'll buy it."

"Well, even if they don't, they still won't accuse me of being a traitor since this whole attack wasn't staged by the real Kazekage. And since I was the one who found that fool's body, they won't care that I helped you lot."

Before he could say anything else, she pushed him out of the way of the snake's heads that was crashing down on them. She retaliated by killing the snake with one blow from her shurinkens. It whizzed around momentarily before flying back to her awaiting hand.

Then she saw…HIM. The legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya. Her eyes filled with rage; she launched three of her custom shurinkens at him, all of which he narrowly avoided! The moment he turned to see who threw the weapons, he realized he was in serious trouble. The look Haruto had in her eyes said that if she got within striking range of him, she wouldn't hesitate to kill. He keeps his distance from her, hoping she won't come in for the kill, as it were.

"Why are you attacking one of the Sannin?"

"That moron pushed me over the side of a cliff with jagged rocks jetting out in irregular intervals! He put me in danger for what he called…motivation, for my twin!"

"Ah…"

The snakes were killed fairly soon after that; Jiraiya kept a good distance from Haruto. When the assault was over, they heard what had happened to the third Hokage. Though they had misgivings, Haruto was allowed to live in Konoha.

"Why are you staying here?" said Gaara.

"I have two reasons."

"It's Naruto isn't it? You've been acting different since you found out he was your twin!"

"That's the second reason. My main reason should be acceptable for the Captain of the Black Ops."

"What? I seriously doubt that he'll let you get away with staying here," said Kankuro.

"Ever hear about the Toad Sage Jiraiya?"

"Isn't he one of the legendary Sannin?" said Temari.

"He's also the author of… (ugh)...Come Come Paradise."

"Isn't that a…?"

"Yes, it's a major piece of trash. If I ever get my hands on a copy, I'll start a bonfire with it!" said Haruto.

"What about him?" asked their sensei.

"I have a score to settle with that… (BLEEP)!! If I ever get my hands on him… well, let's just say you'll have trouble findings all the pieces of his body."

"Yikes…I'm glad I'm not on your 'soon-to-be-dead' list. I thought the Kazekage was on the top of the list. Or to be more exact, he was the list," said Kankuro.

"He's dead, so I can't show him how much I enjoyed helping Gaara kill the assassins that he sent. Now, Jiraiya the Toad Sage is the list. Though Orochimaru is close to making it…"

"I almost feel sorry for him," said Kankuro.

"You've always been a pain-in-the-ass, but you never did anything to really set me off. And so long as you don't give me a reason to put you on my list, then you won't have to keep looking over your shoulder worrying that a demon will come to rip you to shreds from the shadows," said Haruto with a laugh. (Kankuro gulped. Thank you mental images!)

"So you won't come back until you settle things with him?" said Gaara.

"Or until I have a good reason to. Either way, I will come back to the village. I won't be doing another 2-year away like last time," replied Haruto.

"That's reassuring…" said Gaara.

"So, I'll see you guys later then?" said Haruto.

"Sure…I guess…" said Gaara.

Little did she know that another person would be a potential 'list' victim. A 'list victim' as Kankuro had once dubbed them, was someone who had pushed Haruto too far. By too far, they were in danger of death. The Kazekage was the first person to make her infamous 'list'. They had thought that she wouldn't add another for many years; Jiraiya was an exception.

As the shock of the Chuunin exams slowly died, another would begin. And this would shake Team 7 to the core. It was…Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha! Itachi had massacred his clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. Sasuke had vowed to avenge his clan, a vow he still keeps to this day. He would never rest until he killed his older brother.

Itachi arrived close to the village shortly after the exam ended. His reasons for appearing were unknown to everyone but himself. As he entered the village, he quietly knocked out the guard. They walked into the village without a fuss.

"Naruto…don't tell me you're eating Ramen again for breakfast!" said Haruto in dismay.

"You better believe it! I have a free meal ticket and I'm gonna use it!"

"You gave your last one away to Konohamaru, baka."

"No I didn't!"

"Then where is it then?"

"I know I have it somewhere…"

"Oh Wiz…wanna help this fool find it?"

"Kyu!!"

Wiz managed to sniff out the coupon, which Naruto put behind his forehead protector to prevent losing it during his morning training. Haruto grinned and said, "Looks like you have to treat Wiz with some ramen too."

"Fair enough sis. You comin too?"

"Nah…you know I'm not a big fan of ramen for breakfast. I gotta go…there's something I need to deal with right now. I'll see you later bro."