A/N: Well not as many votes I would've liked, but the polls are still open so, I'll just be patient. Also, I've gotten some remarks as to why Naruto is scarred when he wasn't in the anime. I realize that the Kyuubi would've healed Naruto so no scars were left, but I decided against that to add a bit more feel to the story. From now on since Kyuubi has made contact with him, only lethal wounds or say a blow from a move like Chidori will end leaving scars behind, so please; no more comments on the scarring. Temari makes her appearance in this chapter and perhaps a certain white haired novelist will too. I'll repeat that I'm not accepting votes for Zabuza, Haku, and Kimimaro as I've already got plans for them. And here are the polls as they stand so far:

Tayuya – 5 (Big lead… kinda) - One of those is mine… Hey my vote counts just as much as yours!

Yugito – 3 (People like Nibi I guess)

Tsuchi Kin – 2 (This was a surprise)

Abumi Zaku – 1 (Why?)

Kinuta Dosu – 1 (Repeat from above)

Jirōbō/Kidomaru/Sakon & Ukon/Anyone else - 0

Now let's get this show on the roll! (I don't own Naruto…)

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Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed & Gaara's Nee-chan

The walk back to their new home that evening was mostly peaceful for Anko, Gaara, Hinata, and Naruto; apart from the suspicious and curious looks that were sent their way. The whole time they walked, the young Hyuuga held the sand-boy's right hand with her left, while the snake mistress held the girl's right hand with her left. The blonde was sitting on the purple haired kunoichi's shoulders, with his head comfortably resting on the back of her head. The fox-boy just watched as they passed closing shops, vendors, and the occasional person who gave the group of four, curious stares.

When they reached the building where they were staying, Anko poked Naruto in the back of his blonde head, indicating that it was time for him to get off. With a grumble, the fox-boy reluctantly, hopped off and landed beside Hinata and Gaara. The lavender eyed girl shyly, yet quickly asked, "Wh-where's our room?"

The teenage kunoichi smiled and said, "All the way at the top," pointing at the top set of windows of the eight story tall building.

The blue eyed blonde's jaw quickly dropped to the ground as he shouted, "Nani?! We have to climb eight flights of stairs?!"

Anko chuckled lightly and retorted, "Not on your life; Tsunade-sama may have had you do that but I decided this is the time to show you a new jutsu. Besides, climbing eight flights is just a damn waste of energy to me."

At the words, "new jutsu," the fox-boy started jumping for joy before asking in a rather loud voice, "What kinda jutsu are you gonna teach us nee-chan?! Come on, show us already!"

The snake mistress started massaging her temples as soon as the little blonde started shouting. She now took a deep breath, released it in a winded sigh and proceeded to hit the rambunctious boy square on the top of the head. "Shut up and I'll show you, ok? Just no yelling, I had a long day," Anko said slightly annoyed. She then used a single hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke. An instant later, she reappeared on the side of the building, about three stories up. The trench coat wearing teenager then gave the three kids a playful smirk before vanishing and once again reappearing, this time, right behind Hinata.

"That's the Shunshin no Jutsu; it's useful for traveling short distances, unless you become really skilled at it; which then lets you use it to travel much longer distances. The Yondaime Hokage was one shinobi that was pretty damn skilled at it; and Uchiha Shisui, back in Konoha, even has the nickname, 'Shunshin no Shisui.'" She now noticed that Naruto's eyes were sparkling very brightly, but before the blonde had a chance to say anything, Anko said, "Perhaps tomorrow I'll let you guys try it out tomorrow, but tonight we're just going to relax." She saw the blue-eyed boy's eyes dim back to their normal selves, and watched as he started to pout.

The snake mistress then grabbed Naruto by his collar and told Hinata to hold on to one of his hands, which she quickly did while still holding Gaara's hand. The purple haired teenager quickly made the sign for Shunshin and all four of them disappeared in a large puff of smoke.

The group reappeared outside a door with the number 800 on it. Naruto, Hinata and Gaara were all coughing from the smoke created by Anko's Shunshin. With a cheerful smile on her face, the teenager said, "Here we are."

She opened the door and all three children's mouths dropped, though Gaara's never hit the floor because of his sand. The room they were looking into, wasn't some cheesy, cheap, one room apartment; the room could very well be compared to a hotel suite. The room they were looking into was obviously the equivalent of a den; the large flat screen television mounted on the wall, two tan sofas with identical indigo markings that resembled the wind, and three reclining chairs made that obvious. The floor had pristine white tiles and easily looked clean enough to eat off of.

Walking in, a large, polished oak table surrounded by several chairs, also oak, with floral cushions on the seat and back was off to the right along with a modest kitchen area; complete with a fridge, sink, dish washer, and opaque marble counter. The walls, much like the floors, were a stainless white and held only a clock to the right of the television, giving the room a slightly, hollowed-out feel.

Shyly, the dark haired Hyuuga asked, "C-can we paint the walls, th-they remind m-me of home?"

Anko smirked and replied, "Sure Hinata-chan; white's to bland a color for me anyway," she then thought for a moment before asking, "What color do you want?"

She quickly got three replies, being, "Yellow!" from Naruto, "Blue," from Hinata, and "Red," from Gaara. The snake mistress sighed and retorted, "We'll paint your rooms those colors, but how about tan or something for this room?" she finished with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice that none of the kids picked up on.

The teenager then noticed that Hinata was rubbing her eyes tiredly, while the fox-boy and sand-boy just stared at her, the latter holding an arm of his teddy bear in his right hand. She then said, "Hinata-chan if you're tired, go lay down on the couch while I get some dinner ready," then turning towards the two boys, "Naruto-kun, you and Gaara-kun can watch some TV, ok?" The three kids quickly walked over towards to sofas, the Hyuuga girl a little more slowly than her two male friends, while Anko went over to the fridge and started looking through the freezer which, along with the fridge, she had fully stocked while the kids were playing.

Before she could get anything started though, Naruto and Gaara walked over to her, the former saying, "Anko-nee-chan, we can't find a remote to turn the TV on."

Yet again she smirked lightly before saying, "It's ok; I wanted to ask Gaara-kun a few questions anyhow, about his," the snake mistress then lowered her voice so Hinata wouldn't hear if she was still awake, "tenant."

The tanuki container flinched lightly and stared at the teenager in front of him, fear evident in his jade eyes. "Wh-what do you w-want to ask me, A-Anko-san?" he asked nervously.

The dango addicted kunoichi took a dead breath, before replying, "I just wanted to know which Biju was sealed in you; I'm sure Naruto-kun's told you about Kyuubi by now, right?" she finished turning towards the blonde who nodded lightly.

Gaara looked at his fellow container who warmly smiled at him, lessening his doubts, before turning to Anko and saying, "Ichibi, the Suna no Shukaku is inside me. He keeps saying that I shouldn't be Naruto's friend because of Kyuubi."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before the kunoichi before the two boys said, "If that's the Biju inside you, then I guess you don't sleep a lot, eh Gaara-kun?" Anko didn't know a great deal on the Biju, but she remembered some things that her former sensei had told her about the nine deadliest demons in the world. Though she clearly remembered what he spoke of in regards to the Ichibi and the Kyuubi, the only other one she could remember anything of was the Nibi and that it was basically a giant flaming cat.

The redheaded boy looked at the snake kunoichi and softly said, "Y-yes, I don't sleep a lot. I kn-know it's been a really long time since I slept," he finished, trying to remember when it was he did exactly last sleep.

The teenager frowned and thought sadly to herself, "This kid's got it almost as bad as Naruto. Though it doesn't look like he's ever been hurt; him not being able sleep peacefully and being awake for days on end, sure makes up for it; though I can't imagine what kind of people could honestly seal demons into such young kids consciously, knowing very well they're being damned to a lonely existence."

That's when Naruto interrupted her thoughts, asking, "Nee-chan, who's Orochimaru? Shukaku-baka mentioned someone named that and Kyuubi got really mad when he heard it."

"What the fuck did that brat call me!!" said sand Biju roared inside of Gaara's head, causing the sand-boy to clutch his head in pain, dropping his teddy bear in the process. While the tanuki was busy raging and causing his host pain, a certain demon fox was chuckling from the deepest recesses of the blonde boy's mind.

As soon as the redhead began clutching his head, the snake mistress was by his side, but the fox-boy stood still, as Anko felt a familiar chakra begin to bubble up from within the blonde, who's hair quickly grew spikier and more unruly; his stubby finger nails growing out till they resembled claws, his small canines quickly enlarged into fangs, and his ocean blue eyes turned crimson red and the boy's normally round pupils became thin, black slits. Kyuubi had caused Naruto to transform like this each morning before training, by sending a larger amount of demonic chakra into the boy than normal, hoping to increase the boy's chakra supply and expand his chakra system further.

The snake mistress actually shook in fear at what she heard next, since the voice wasn't in a darkened version of the blue-eyed boy's voice, but was that of the Biju which resided inside of him. "Stop torturing the boy, Shukaku, or I'll leave you in worse shape than I did that damn fucking snake Yamada!" Kyuubi roared at the sand tanuki who only decided to increase the mental pain he was inflicting on his container, causing Gaara to wail even louder as he scraped his nails through his hair and across his forehead.

From wherever it came from, sand started to collect on the left side of the redhead's face and head, until it was eerily similar in shape to that of Shukaku. The boy's left eye was now fairly small, nothing more than a small, yellow circle, with five smaller blue dots, one in the center then one in each corner of the eye. It focused only on the transformed Naruto as a voice that could only be Shukaku's, as far as Anko knew, said coldly, "What is my container to you, Kyuubi? Do you actually give a damn about his feeble life because I don't? Unlike you, I don't have to worry about dying when he dies; as long as I'm near this desert when he croaks, I can live; you however, die when your fucking host dies, unless you're forcibly extracted, in which case, your host still fucking dies!"

"Is that a threat, tanuki-dobe? If it is, perhaps I should enhance that seal that binds you so your host can at least sleep without having you haunt his every thought?" the demon fox said in a warning tone, causing Shukaku to try to take a step back, only to realize he couldn't.

Then a weak, shaky, and exhausted sounding voice escaped Gaara's lips, "G-get b-b-back in y-you're cage, t-tanuki-teme!" the voice grew stronger and steadier has the sand on the redhead's head began to fall off. He then shouted, "This is my body and I won't let you torture me anymore!" A whining cry in Shukaku's voice could be heard as the last of the sand fell to the floor, which after dying down, Gaara dropped to his hands and knees with sweat running off his face profusely, as he breathed in deep, ragged breathes.

Kyuubi smirked at this and said to the young redhead, "Pushing Shukaku back is no small feat, kid. As far as I know, none of his other containers had any form of control over him until they were adults. For you to be able to resist him, and push him back in his cage at such a young age is an admirable accomplishment." The sand-boy smiled as his arms gave way and he fell to the floor, exhausted. "Though it looks like you are still quite low on stamina, but at least for once in your life, you can sleep soundly without fearing that tanuki," Kyuubi finished, patting Gaara lightly on the back and sending some of his own demonic chakra into the boy to suppress his demon for the night.

Naruto's transformation then quickly undid itself, as the blonde returned to his normal self. It was then, that a small, quiet voice said, "Anko-chan, Naruto-kun, w-what just happened, a-and who are K-Kyuubi and Shukaku?" Both the blonde boy and the purple haired teenager turned to see, Hinata peeking around one of the sofas, visibly shaking. She had seen everything, heard everything, but understood little of it.

"Shit!" was the only word to pass through Anko's head as she looked at the fox-boy next to her, his eyes showing a fear she hadn't seen in him since the morning after she rescued him.

Naruto looked up at his nee-chan, with tears starting to form in his eyes. The last person the blonde ever wanted to know about the demon inside of him, was the dark blue haired girl now standing across from him, who was shaking like a leaf. "H-Hinata-chan," he started, but he had absolutely no idea of what to say after that; all he was waiting for was her to shriek and call him a demon or monster.

But neither word ever came, all the young Hyuuga asked was, "N-Naruto-kun, p-please tell me who K-Kyuubi is; I-I've heard y-you say its n-name before when y-you're asleep." The fox-boy's eyes shot wide open when Hinata revealed this, as did Anko's. Though in the kunoichi's mind, she was slightly relieved at the moment that the lavender eyed girl hadn't connected the name that Naruto spoke in his sleep, with that of the demon fox that attacked Konoha four years ago.

The blonde meanwhile, was visibly sweating, when he finally spilled his secret to the dark blue haired girl, "Kyuubi is the Kyuubi no Kitsune that's sealed inside me, Hinata-chan, and Shukaku is another demon that's sealed inside Gaara," though his voice wasn't shaky, there was a hard sadness behind it. The fox-boy's eyes quickly darkened and became half-lidded as he stared at the floor, waiting for his friend's response.

Hinata's eyes shot open at this revelation, and it quickly became clear to her that this must have been why Naruto had been attacked and Gaara was all alone. Her small hands clenched into tight fists as she shouted at Naruto, "Why didn't you tell me, Naruto-kun?!"

Still looking at the floor with darkened, ocean blue eyes, the kitsune container said sadly, "I didn't tell you, Hinata-chan, because I thought you would hate and fear me like everyone else, thinking that I'm a demon; and that you'd want to go back to Konoha instead of travel with me."

The young Hyuuga's eyes shot open once more and slowly started to fill with tears, as she ran over to the blonde and hugged him tightly. Through her sobs, she managed to cry out, "E-even with a d-demon inside you, N-Naruto-kun, you're still Naruto-k-kun, not Kyuubi, and not a d-demon." Naruto was soon crying too as he returned the lavender eyed girl's hug and mumbled thanks and apologies to the girl who was becoming like a little sister to him.

As Anko watched this she only thought, "If a girl who's barely out of diapers can understand something so simple, why the hell can't those fucking villagers understand it?! And not just Konoha, it's no different here in this damn sandbox, Gaara's left to himself and completely shunned because of something some ass did to him on the day he was born!" It was then that the snake mistress came to a realization that if Shukaku had been sealed in Gaara the same way that Kyuubi was in Naruto, then that means that there must've been someone who was sacrificed. She looked at the sand-boy who she had just placed on one of the sofas and asked herself, "Who did they use to seal that tanuki inside you, Gaara?"

The three kids were soon all asleep on the same sofa, with Hinata in the middle, Gaara to her right and Naruto to her left. Anko decided to just let the three sleep rather than disturb them for dinner; after all, they just looked to damn cute with each boy having their head on one of the girl's shoulders. So the snake mistress made herself a few plates of dango and then took what had to be the best bath of her life; the damn tub was big enough for two of her to lie down in and then some, and it had water jets.

After cleaning up and slipping into some boy shorts and a large t-shirt, she decided to forget about underwear tonight, the purple haired teenager checked on the three kids who were still sleeping in the same position as before. So she would be there in case any of them woke up during the night, Anko decided to sleep on the other sofa, of course after having a few shots of sake, since she had been limited to only a single trip to a bar while traveling with the blonde medic, who had joined her for some much needed stress relief.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The blonde Sannin and her black haired assistant were still in the same town they were in the day before, as Tsunade decided that spending a few days gambling and drinking to make up for the time she hadn't in the past month was fine. After all, the busty medic had told her ex-teammate's former pupil that it could take up to three months to find her other teammate; wherever in the world he was doing his so called "research."

Meanwhile in the Land of Fire, a one of the countries more luxurious hot spring resorts, a white haired man with a single red streak on either cheek, dressed in a pale green, traditional Japanese yukata and a red vest, was peeping into the women's bath, snickering to himself as he made numerous sketches of what his eyes were feasting on.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sarutobi was just preparing to leave his office now, after a seemingly endless day of meetings with representatives from Sunagakure in regards to the newly elected Yondaime Kazekage. The Sandaime Hokage himself had been troubled upon hearing the news of the Sandaime Kazekage's disappearance and even more so due to his body not being found and the search for it called off because of Suna's current conflict with Kumogakure. What worried the old man most about the disappearance was that the Sandaime Kazekage was a shinobi who stood on par with the Yondaime Hokage and that if such a strong ninja could vanish from the face of the earth without leaving a trance, then that could indicate that somewhere, a force powerful enough to disrupt the five great shinobi nations was gathering. Sarutobi only hoped that by the time this hidden power emerged it would not be too late, for not only Konohagakure no Sato, but for every other hidden village as well.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Somewhere in the narrow strip of land that divided the Land of Wind from the Land of Earth, a large hunched figure wearing a black coat decorated with red clouds outlined in white and a straw bamboo hat from which hung many strips of white cloth that concealed the figure's face, stood in front of a large mountain face. From the sleeves of the coat, two hands emerged and went through such a quick series of hand signs, none of them were distinguishable. After the final seal, the figure slammed his fight hand onto the mountain face, which after a moment, slowly split revealing a dark cavern. The figure slowly walked in, the back of its coat leaving a long thick line in the sand that surrounded the mountain.

Inside the cavern, after entering a rather foggy room, the figure removed its hat, revealing a heavily tanned head with black braids. The hunched man's eyes were cold, with small, pitch black pupils. His mouth covered by a black scarf was obviously unseen, and when he spoke into the foggy void of the room, he said in a raspy voice, "The Sandaime Kazekage is dead, and in my possession Leader-sama; Sunagakure no Sato is in a state of mass panic; it will be quite some time before those fools recover."

A voice from the darkness spoke in the tone of that of a leader, replying to the braided man's statement, "As I have been informed by Zetsu; you've performed an admirable job, Akasuna no Sasori; you will without a doubt be an influential aid to Akatsuki. If only your partner was as good of a contribution to our organization," the Leader's voice finished with a hint of disappointment evident in his voice.

"Like that damn snake matters anyway," a rather aged voice said, "He's only here to fulfill his own damned ends, not aid in the organization's overall goal! We could probably make a damn fortune if we just killed him off and gave his corpse to Konoha!"

"That's a rather unseemly way of speaking of one's ally Kakuzu, though it's something that I shall keep in mind if he ever attempts to betray us, after all what good are our plans if we haven't the funds to support them?" the Leader's voice came again.

"The member of Kirigakure no Sato's Seven Swordsmen, Hoshigaki Kisame, is approximately-" another voice started before being interrupted. "Fifteen kilometers southwest of here, Leader-sama," yet another, rather robotic sounding voice said.

"That's very interesting news, Zetsu; someone of that caliber would prove useful in Akatsuki," the Leader retorted seemingly towards both of the voices, "Though I do prefer it if just one of you would finish a sentence without interrupting the other."

"Yes, Leader-sama!" the two voices replied together in perfect sync.

"Now Sasori-" Leader began to say before said puppet master interrupted him.

"I'm already leaving, Leader-sama, just keep that pedophilic snake away from my room, I have some unfinished puppets that might unfortunately catch his eye." With that, Sasori proceeded out the way he came, thinking to himself, "This group has enough freaks in it already, including myself! By the time we have ten members we'll probably have some insane religious fanatic and some useless, annoying brat," he mused to himself on the increasing oddity that the members of the organization, Akatsuki were. Unknown to the greatest puppet master of Suna, in Iwagakure a certain blonde woman sneezed as did a white haired, scythe wielding man in the southern part of the Land of Water.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The next afternoon in the same park in Sunagakure, Naruto, Gaara, and Hinata were building an even more impressive sand castle than they had the day before, while Anko sat happily on a nearby bench enjoying a few plates of dango, when a blonde girl who looked about six or seven years old, with her hair done up in four pigtails, and carrying a large metal fan, quickly walked over to where the three were playing. As the girl neared the young Hyuuga, the fox-boy, and sand-boy, she shouted, "Gaara, where have you been? You never came home last night and… who are these two kids?" she finished staring at Naruto and Hinata.

The redhead looked at the female blonde and said, "T-Temari, these are my n-new f-friends, Naruto and Hinata-chan. I didn't come home last night, because I stayed with them and Naruto's nee-chan, Anko-san," he finished pointing at the purple haired teenager who was watching the conversation between the two siblings.

Temari looked at her otouto curiously and asked, "When did you make friends, Gaara?" The only reason that the fan wielding girl asked this was because, for as long as she could remember, her brother had never had friends and had always been alone due to Shukaku being sealed in him. She and their uncle Yashamaru had been the only ones to ever treat Gaara as a human, rather than some wicked monster. Though her father had told her when she was younger, that Gaara had killed her mother, Karura, when he was born, but was later told by her uncle that that her father sacrificed her to seal Shukaku inside her brother. After discovering the truth about her mother's death she avoided her father as much as possible and along with her uncle had been looking out for Gaara whenever possible.

The redhead's jade eyes darkened slightly as he replied to his sister's question, "I made friends," he started slowly then pausing for a brief moment, "When I found people who are like me and understand me," he finished with a small smile gracing his face.

This only made the teal eyed girl more curious as she asked hesitantly, "People… like you?"

Anko stood up and walked over then said, "He means people who have been shunned by their home and in Naruto's case," she looked down at the blonde briefly before finishing, "Someone who has a demon sealed inside of him."

Temari's teal eyes shot wide open as she glanced down at her fellow blonde who was only staring at the ground. She thought to herself, "There are other people with demons inside of them like Gaara?! I thought that putting a demon in someone's body was just a crazy idea chichi-teme came up with to make Gaara into a weapon, but this kid is the same as Gaara." The blonde girl looked at Anko and quickly asked, "What village did you three come from anyway?"

The snake mistress stared at the teal eyed girl momentarily before saying, "Before I go off and answer that, Temari-chan, I've got something I need to tell you about your sweet otouto." Temari's headed tilted to the left slightly, most likely out of curiosity of what the teenage kunoichi meant. "Sometime between one and three months from now, me, Hinata-chan, and Naruto-kun are going to be leaving Suna, and Gaara-kun here decided he wants to join us, but only if you, his precious nee-chan, has he put it, comes along with us. So, Temari-chan, do you want to come along with us and travel and train under two of the Sannin?" Anko asked, ending her little speech.

Temari could only stare at the purple haired teenager after being asked such a life altering question. She thought to herself, "If I leave Sunagakure with these people and Gaara, I could escape all those glares for being related to the monster; and Gaara would escape them too. Both of us would finally have some friends and we wouldn't be at the mercy of that bastard who's now the Kazekage. But what about Kankurou and Yashamaru-ojisan, what would happen to them? If Gaara and I don't go, we could probably be passing up our only chance to get out of this nightmare."

The teal eyed blonde looked directly into Anko's eyes now that she'd finished thinking, quickly saying, "If going with you means getting me and Gaara out of our father's grasp then," she hesitated for a brief second, "Then we'll go with you, consequences be damned!" she finished pumping her right fist in the air.

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A/N: Damn, did I just really write all of that? Well this is my longest chapter ever and I'm proud of it! Now as for the introduction of several Akatsuki members and the organization itself; your favorite S-Class Criminal organization will be playing a major part later in the story. In reference to Zetsu speaking, his white half's speech was written in normal font, while the black half's was in bold. There will be one or two more chapters before I do the time skip to where Jiraiya arrives to reunite the whole group. Finally, I want to open this poll now so I don't end up forgetting it: Haku's gender. So please R&R and vote on the character that will be saved once the short time skip goes through and on Haku's gender. I ask that if you've voted for the first poll already, please don't vote again 'cause I won't except it. Now I'll see everyone with the next chapter, later!

Translations:

Nani – What

Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique

Shunshin no Shisui – Shisui of the Body Flicker

Yamada – The Yamada no Orochi

Dobe – Dead last; slang for dumb ass (both fit for the way the word was used so take your pick for its meaning)