Who ever had been tracking Naruto had stopped upon his arrival to the village. He had been careless in the woods. He was such a wreck that he had concluded if his stalker wanted to kill him, he would show himself, and Naruto would deal with it from there.

He had been extremely careless when he fell. By passing out he had left himself vulnerable to any attackers. But honestly, at the time, Naruto wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway, having a broken leg.

Naruto was extremely grateful that whoever it was had spared him. The stranger knew not to kick a man when he was down. Thank God.

After the days of his journey Naruto had clearly lost the presence of his tracker.

He wasn't quite sure what that meant.

Naruto had been given a makeshift hotel room, that vaguely resembled his own home. It wasn't very commodious, but he had no trouble fitting in to the bare room.

He also took no time getting to know those who would be working with him as well as under him. The other main tactician was Kankuro, so Naruto felt at ease while working.

Kankuro was also ranked as anbu. They got along well. Naruto had slipped back into some of his old mannerisms. Laughing. Telling jokes.

There plan had been drawn out over two or three days. Their sources told them that there was a small party of Sound Ninjas just outside the Sand border.

The mission; delete them.

The most efficient way to do so was to get as close as they could without disrupting their activities, monitor them until they discovered their spies, then kill them.

They would be leaving promptly, and the Kazekage would be accompanying them. And his reasoning had nothing to do with the mission.

Naruto wondered since he was going to be back on the road, that his stalker was going to snap to it and start tracking him again. He really hoped not. It had been eerie having someone watching his every move, whether he was evil or not.

His bags were already packed and he was at the city gates early. But not the earliest.

Gaara was there.
Just as Naruto had expected, Gaara hadn't really warmed to the new way Naruto behaved. He was very inquisitive as to the reasoning.

"Hey Gaara."

"Naruto." He nodded.

The silence was uncomfortable. Why were the other members of the crew taking so long?

"Homesick?"

"Excuse me?" Naruto had been lost in thought.

"Are you homesick?" Gaara repeated blandly.

"Not particularly." Actually he wasn't at all. He was glad to be away from that town and all the people in it. His lonely apartment.

He pulled a package out of his pocket and shucked out a cigarette. He took out his lighter and lit it. He let it start and then he inhaled.

Gaara stood looking at the cigarette. His eyes narrowed.

Naruto felt sand brush his face. He closed his eyes to avoid it, only to open them to see his cigarette had gone out.

And it wasn't natural wind that did it.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, then glared at his companion.

"It's unhealthy."

"It's none of your business." Naruto told him calmly.

He re-lit the cigarette.

Gaara's face took on an expression of concern.

Kankuro arrived along with their team. There weren't many, around eight including Gaara, Kankuro and Naruto.

"Let's go." Kankuro told everyone, "Split up into your assigned groups and head out."

Naruto now regretted that Kankuro told Gaara he should come with them. Great.

After a days worth of travel and two days into the stake-out, Naruto was beginning to miss being ignored. Not only was Gaara constantly, inconspicuously asking if he was okay. Which wasn't as inconspicuous as Gaara would have hoped, seeing as Naruto knew exactly what he was doing, but also Kankuro had picked up on how introverted Naruto was.

And Kankuro was a little more blunt about it.

"Dude, why the hell are you so quiet?" He inquired politely one day.

"I just don't have that much to say"
"Uh-huh," Not convinced, "Naruto that is total bull."

"I know." But Naruto didn't really feel like bearing his personal anguish with Kankuro, so he just responded with short explanations that maybe would satisfy him.

"Whatever." Kankuro threw in the towel for the day. He had lost interest and would try again tomorrow.

Naruto went back to eating his meek dinner he was provided that night. The campfire was bright. It was warm, but it was a risk. They were still far enough away from the Sound ninjas, but still.

It was his turn on watch.

He had volunteered for the whole night. They had tried to convince Naruto to divvy it up between them, but he insisted that it be him.

He wouldn't have slept anyway.

His follower was back.

This time around Naruto had not been able to sense whoever it was, but they had at one point close enough, and surprisingly, careless enough to briefly show themselves.

All it was though, was a rustled bush about thirty feet away from the party. But it was enough to put Naruto on edge.

The embers of the fire glowed bright in comparison to the pitch black night.

Naruto reached his hands closer to the heat.

At that moment, Naruto did several things within seconds.

His eyes widened and scanned everything.

Both hands quickly withdrew from the warmth , one going to his sock pulling out a kunai, the other to his belt to retrieve his short sword.

He stood and darted to the first branch of the nearest tree. He needed to be in a safe place to asses his position.

The ninja again scanned his surroundings.

It was close.

Very close.

He just needed to determine where the enemy was.

"Wrong tree Naruto."

That startled him. He had enough time to swing the knife at the voice behind him before he lost consciousness.