Made of Fail

Chapter Two
A New Path

The Kazekage sat behind his desk, wearing the traditional Kage uniform. His desk was clear of any and all distractions, and with the black mask on over the lower part of his face, his eyes seemed that much more intense, especially since he seemed to be trying to bore a hole through Tallant with his gaze. She was sitting in the Kazekage's office all alone, with only him and his ANBU guard, one in each corner of the room. Tallant was struggling to maintain eye contact with the man while sitting as still as she could stand it. The only sound was the ticking of a clock she couldn't see at the moment.

To take her mind off of the scary man in front of her, she counted the seconds that ticked by and letting the sound of the ticking clock soothe her – a trick she'd learned from Romi, surprisingly.

Out of nowhere, a single kunai flew towards her, and she used her reflexes, honed by over a year of training with Sara, to dodge a lethal blow, gaining a deep cut on her upper cheekbone for her efforts. Then she felt a light presence on her left arm. Not taking her eyes off the Kazekage, whose hand was still in the air from throwing the weapon, she saw strands of dark brown hair spread across her arm and the floor. "You cut my hair, you bastard," she snarled through clenched teeth.

Amusement lit in the Kazekage's eyes for a moment. "Yes, you'll do. Yashamaru, you may carry on with the proceedings." The light-haired man opened the door and walked in, bowing low to the Sand's leader and beckoning Tallant over. "Tarantu-san, I apologize for the suddenness, but I will explain it all to you now. Please follow me." With one last glare leveled at the mildly amused Kazekage, Tallant followed Yashamaru, eyeing her new haircut in distaste.

"Yashamaru-san," Tallant said grumpily as they walked out into the hall, sticking a bandage on her cut. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Please don't curse, Tarantu-san, it's unbecoming."

"I think this situation damn well deserves it!" she exclaimed. "That bastard tried to kill me! What the hell is his problem?"

"Please, Tarantu-san, be quiet. Kazekage-sama had his reasons, I assure you." Tallant pouted cutely, crossing her arms over her chest – not under them, since that would make them pop out and she didn't want that kind of attention – making Yashamaru chuckle at her before leading her into a room. "Tarantu-san, Kazekage-sama has had me watch over your interactions with Gaara-sama as of late, and due to your actions yesterday, wishes to present you with an offer."

Tallant nodded to show her understanding.

"As you obviously know, Gaara-sama is the container of the Ichibi no Shūkaku, and is quite unstable because of this fact. Seeing your ability to control the sand demon, he wishes to have you instated as a kunoichi of Sunagakure no Sato and have additional training in order to be Gaara-sama's personal minder." Tallant cocked her head to the side, halting in her attempts to pin her now much-shorter bang back with one of her bobby pins. "But aren't you Gaara-chan's personal minder?"

Yashamaru smiled. "No, I am simply part of his personal medical team. My…no, our task is to keep him from any harm – I only have the most direct contact with him. We have no way to keep Shūkaku at bay."

Tallant nodded. "So why the hell did the Kazekage throw a kunai at me?"

"Language, please, Tarantu-san." He smiled. "Kazekage-sama wished to test your abilities, and I believe you went over and beyond his expectations by not only not fighting back immediately, keeping an eye on him for his next move, falling into a defensive stance, and getting angry at him not for almost killing you, but for cutting your hair. To him, it shows that you do not fear death, and that is a strength all Suna ninja must have."

Once again, Tallant nodded. "All right, I understand. I still don't like him, though." There was a pause. "If I am to become a kunoichi of Sunagakure, I don't want to have to do any seduction missions," she said softly, her eyes on the ground. "Not only would I freak out and ruin the mission, but I'm really quite shy and don't think I'm suited for such a thing anyway. That's my only request."

Yashamaru smiled warmly. "I'm sure that won't be a problem," he said. "If you like, we can inform Kazekage-sama of your decision and begin to review you immediately…Tarantu-kōhai."

"I'd like that…Yashamaru-sempai."

Romi was exhausted. Fū had been driving her ragged lately – actually, it had been going on since she'd adopted her, but the hyperactive little brat had been getting worse lately.

Much worse.

"Fū-chan, musume, sweetheart, darling little baby girl, please stop running." Fū, thinking it was a game, giggled and ran even faster from her exhausted adoptive mother before her attention was drawn to a small beetle flying through the air and chased of after it. This distraction enabled Romi to snatch the little girl and hold her squirming body against her own.

Neither noticed the insect burrowing into Fū's clothing.

Tallant took it back. She hated this. Yashamaru, despite his gentle demeanor, was evil. It had started out all right, he'd tested her out and saw that she was adept with medical techniques, genjutsu, and chakra control, but her stealth was amateurish, her taijutsu was even worse, and her ninjutsu was nonexistent. All she knew were medical techniques and the shadow clone technique. This, Yashamaru said, was unacceptable if she wished to be Gaara-sama's minder.

He'd decided to test her elemental affinity and she found that she was a water-type, which was okay, as Yashamaru knew some water techniques.

He began to train her in ninjutsu, seeing as how she had practically zilch in the way of offensive jutsu. He'd let her look some up…then he ran her into the ground and squeezed every bit of energy she had. Upon the end of the day, when Yashamaru said that she could go home, she passed out.

Yashamaru shook his head. Oh, well. She'd learn.

Of course, he continued to train her for the rest of the week, having her use Kage Bunshin to learn ninjutsu and beating the crap out of her. If nothing else, she learned to dodge.

After knowing that the basic taijutsu was not working out for her, Yashamaru decided that he'd teach her a different style – Aikido, The Way of Harmonious Spirit. It focused on using the momentum of the opponent to take them down with minimal damage, which was perfect for Tallant – as a Yang, she was mentally unable to harm anyone, and instead used her power to heal. It was the pitfall of all of the Yang. They simply could not bring themselves to hurt others, and because of that, they were seen as weak – but their medic skills were second to none.

Yashamaru, not knowing any of this, tried to introduce her to iaijutsu, but was severely disappointed as Tallant shied away from the sharp blade. He sighed as he watched the girl practice the kata, a determined glint in her eyes. She would need to learn break through her kind instincts if she wanted to be a true kunoichi – killing came with the job.

But…maybe it wasn't so bad to have her innocence with them. He had to admit that she brought a smile to all of the hardened medics she trained around, and her determination was contagious. Medics who hadn't bothered to improve for years decided to get better after seeing her practice.

She was causing a ripple in Suna, and soon it'd turn the entire village upside-down.

Gaara, meanwhile, was bored. His Okā-san had been taken away for special training; although now that he thought about it, it wasn't so bad. She would be made his official minder and work with Yashamaru and the others in taking care of him. She'd stay with him and be a real kunoichi of Suna.

He was happy about this.

His okā-san had taken some time to explain basic emotions to him every so often, and sometimes she'd quiz him on them. She said that he'd only pass once he'd experienced all of the emotions she'd shown him.

The first was sadness.

Next was happiness.

He'd passed those tests quite quickly, as he was now able to quickly define those emotions and label them as he had them. He found that if he took a more systematic approach to his emotions and filed them correctly as he'd been taught all these years, he'd catch on quicker.

The next tests had included trust and doubt.

This one had been harder. He was told that trust was an emotion that allowed one to put his care into another's hands and be okay with it, knowing that the other would not harm him. Doubt was the opposite, as it was an emotion that made one hesitant or even flat-out refuse to willingly put his care into another's hands.

Soon he realized that he felt 'doubt' around most of the village. He did not trust them.

His okā-san, however, and Yashamaru… He trusted them both.

He truly couldn't wait until his next test. Four emotions swirling inside him were put to rest, but there were countless more, whizzing around inside his body and making his head and chest hurt. In fact, he almost wanted to keep going and continue labeling his emotions, but he had promised his okā-san that he wouldn't try to do that on his own, since he might mislabel them.

He didn't want that.

His tenant, however, was acting unusual. He was quiet more often than not now, and had been since he had first met Okā-san. He guessed that labeling his emotions and identifying the positive ones made an impact on the Ichibi.

Of course, that didn't mean that he could sleep without Okā-san's help – and even she could only help him with it if she wanted to sleep the rest of the day. So he made her limit herself to once a week, despite her protests.

At night, she'd come into his room and read him a story before kissing him goodnight. These moments made Gaara very happy.

As a result of his newfound happiness, he smiled more and stopped killing others. He'd even started a better relationship with his onē-san, Temari, although his onī-san, Kankurō, didn't seem to trust him all that much. He could see why, as he wouldn't trust himself so easily either. However, even his onē-san had been easing into the whole 'trust' thing more. They still didn't trust each other – it would be a while before they did – but they were trying, and that's what mattered. He only wished his onī-san could give him another chance like Onē-san did…

He sat on a swing and held his teddy, fiddling with it and making it move with his sand. Boredom was, unfortunately, an emotion he'd become quite familiar with, since with those long, lonely nights he didn't have much to do. At least now that he learned to meditate, he could go into his mindscape, which was a beautiful place. Nothing but barren sand all around, as far as the eye could see, the cold desert night and the stars and moon in the sky shining brightly in the darkness…

Beautiful.

But in the midst of this dark beauty was a well-lit oasis, a veritable jungle in the middle of his desert. Animals of all kinds were there – all kinds, except the humans. He was the only human in his mind. But he wasn't lonely, far from it. He loved to listen to the sounds of his little jungle, from the monkeys screeching to the bees buzzing, and loved to taste the juicy fruit, plucked so easily that it veritably fell into the palm of his hand before he bit into it, so filled with juice it trickled down his chin.

His mind made him happy, and everything in it smelled like his mother. His mother's scent was beautiful and woody, like that of a sapling and that weird 'grass' stuff Yashamaru had shown him just after it rained.

Inside Fū's body, several beetles had hatched. Their mother had gnawed her way in through the skin, and now they went to work inside of her, completely unnoticed by all, even their host herself.

It was the new moon. Gaara enjoyed this time of the month more than any other, as it was when Shūkaku's power was the weakest. Now, with his tenant being quieter than ever, he could barely feel the bijū. He was very happy, especially since his okā-san had been released from her intense training. Her ninjutsu skills had jumped from nonexistent to low chūnin thanks to her use of shadow clones, but she tended to prefer the protective ones. It didn't matter, though, since her job would be to protect him, anyway.

In any case, she was back with him. And that's what mattered.

After her training, his okā-san's body looked slimmer and more muscular. If he had to compare it to someone else's, he'd say she was the closest to the legendary Sannin, Tsunade, but her breasts were smaller. Her skin was tanner than other people's, but not nearly as dark as the people from up north, in Kumo and Iwa. She was more in-between, with olive-colored skin, dark brown eyes that were shaped like Tsunade's as well, and soft, dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders in the same way Yashamaru's did, only longer. She was only slightly taller than the average twelve-year old, maybe one hundred-sixty centimeters. She still retained her softness, however.

Of course, Gaara would be happy with her if she was uglier than anyone else.

It was nighttime and his okā-san had gotten permission to go outside three kilometers out of the village during the night, with the rest of his medical team and several ANBU, along with Chiyo, the elder, as well as his own father, who only came to oversee the operation. His okā-san's sister, Kuro-onē-chan, had come as well, leaving Fū-chan with Sara (a strange name, if you asked him).

Their purpose? To fix the Ichibi's seal when its power was at its weakest.

Tallant – now legally 'Tarantu' – stroked Gaara's hair soothingly. "Don't worry, Gaara-chan. Once this is over, you won't have to worry about fuzz-butt ever again." Gaara giggled. "I'm not worried, Okā-san," he said. "I know you won't hurt me. I trust you."

Tarantu looked at his shining face a moment before smiling softly and kissing his forehead. "All right, then," she said. "Just remember, you're the most important part of this plan. I'm very happy that you trust me, but right now, you need to trust," she touched the tip of his nose with her index finger, "yourself."

Gaara looked at her determinedly and nodded. "I won't let you down," he declared.

Yashamaru went through a few hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground, making a small pedestal of solid earth rise up out of the sand, just big enough for Gaara to lie down comfortably. Romi stepped forward with ink and a paintbrush before letting Gaara lie down topless on the pedestal. Her hands worked quickly as she drew a complex design on Gaara's forehead, trailing off onto his stomach, arms, and the pedestal. Chiyo checked to make sure everything was in order before nodding her consent.

Now it was Tarantu's turn. She stepped forward, put her hand on the center point of the design – the left side of Gaara's forehead – and the both of them closed their eyes. Taking a deep breath, she channeled all of her chakra into the seal.

The chakra around her hand turned visible and pure white, slowly turning the design on Gaara's skin pure white as well. As Gaara screamed from the pain – of both the sealing and his bijū's anger at being sealed – the now-white seals along Gaara's skin and the pedestal quickly receded into its center point, at which point there was a bright flash of golden and white chakra, a loud scream as black mist began to leak out of Gaara, Shūkaku's angry roar…

Then all was still.

After a moment, Romi caught Tarantu as she fell, the medical team swarming in to check Gaara. Both had fainted.

Romi carried Tarantu away from the busyness around Gaara and laid her down, delicately brushing her sweaty hair away from her forehead and dabbing at her face with a wet washcloth. "You did well today, 'Nē-san," she muttered. "You did well."

She looked up as the Kazekage approached, caught his eye, then quickly averted her gaze and bowed.

"At ease." Romi relaxed and nodded before wiping her tired eyes. "Was there something you wanted, Kazekage-sama?" she asked politely, looking up at him. He nodded. "I wish to thank you and for you to give Tarantu-san my thanks when she awakens. All of Sunagakure owes the both of you a great debt."

Romi blushed at the praise. "It was nothing, Kazekage-sama. On behalf of myself and Tarantu, I wish to thank you for not only letting Tarantu stay in your beautiful village, but also for allowing us to help Gaara-chan. Both of us are quite fond of him."

The Kazekage nodded and walked off, allowing Chiyo to approach her. "You both truly are something else, aren't you?" she said. "I've never seen that kind of chakra before in my life, and your seal work is something I've never seen before. If I might ask, how did you get the knowledge of that seal?"

"My friend Sara has a plethora of forgotten scrolls filled with information, Chiyo-obā-sama," she said, bowing her head in respect before looking up with a twinkle in her eye. "You can try to ask her where she got the scrolls, but she'll probably be too busy infecting people with her idiocy to answer."

Chiyo looked at her a moment before cackling. "Oh, dearie, you truly are something else."

It was the end of their stay in Suna, and Romi, Sara, and Fū were standing at the front gates. Fū had learned to walk – well, walk was not the right word for it, but there wasn't a word for something faster than 'sprint', so 'walk' it was.

"Mu! Mu! Mu! Mumumumumu!"

Oh, and she learned how to say 'nothing'.

Romi gave a little warning growl and Fū immediately stopped running and walked back to her adoptive mother's side meekly. Apparently all it had taken was for Romi to be a bit more aggressive and ask her more…animalistic side for help. Namely her wolf side. Which involved gently knocking her pup down and growling in warning.

Hey, it worked. Ever since she'd merged with her hanyō side, she'd grown more animalistic – so far, she'd unlocked her Red Wolf demon personality and her Bornean Bay Cat demon personality. She had only one left to unlock, but before that she'd have to work to master their instincts and techniques.

Romi put her hand on her daughter's head and smiled sadly at Tarantu and Gaara. "I guess this is it, then," she muttered. "You'll write, right?" Tarantu, who was holding a crying Gaara's hand, smiled back. "Of course. I won't forget, unlike you." The two girls laughed. "You know what to do, right?"

Tarantu nodded, and the two gave each other a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'm gonna miss you," Romi said. "I'll visit you both, all right?"

"And we'll visit you."

Sara grinned. "C'mon, Ro, we're gonna be late." With one last goodbye, the two crying friends parted. Then Fū broke away from Romi and streaked towards Gaara. "Mu!" she said, gesturing for him to lean over. "Mu!" Gaara, curious, did so – and got a clumsy kiss on the cheek from her, making him blush. "Mu!" She shoved something into his hands and ran back to her mother.

Tarantu couldn't stop the goofy grin from spreading across her face despite her tears. "It looks like you've made another friend, Gaara-chan. Go on, see what it is."

Gaara slowly opened his hands. Lying in them was a small beetle.

Romi was depressed. Tarantu had been her reason to live. She had picked her up when no one else would in those damn woods. For the entire year they'd both depended on each other. Losing her best friend was surreal – then it got depressing.

Her beloved green-haired daughter's giggling made her look to her left. "Mu!" she said happily as she poked something sticky with a…stick. This brought a smile to Romi's face. She might not have her best friend by her side at the moment, but she did have her daughter.

"Kimi wa aishitsuru, Fū-chan. I love you."

Having already stopped in the Kawa no Kuni, the Land of Rivers, before visiting Suna and Ishigakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Stones, right after, Sara, Romi, and Fū's next stop was Iwagakure no Sato, which took maybe a day and a half to get to – they'd thought about just going straight to Konoha, but decided that making a few cameo appearances in the major hidden villages would be beneficial.

Iwa was quite…grey. It was surrounded on all sides by treacherous mountain ranges, and all the buildings were tall and made of stone with pointy roofs. On some of the flat rooftops, some greenery grew, but other than that and the tall but thin waterfalls, it was barren. Power lines connected many of the buildings.

Sara grinned as she looked around. "It's been forever since I've been here," she said happily. Romi looked at her oddly. "You know, you never told me anything about you…and I know you're not human…"

Sara laughed awkwardly. "Aha ha… Well, I'm not telling right now, so…" She glanced to her left. "Oh, look, it's the Tsuchikage!"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna fall for –,"

"Move your feet, you young scamps."

"…You were telling the truth." Sara grinned and leaned way over to look at the Tsuchikage in the eye. "Hey, Ōnoki! Been a while, huh?" The short, pudgy old man paled. "Not you…" Romi looked at her quizzically.

"You two know each other?" The Tsuchikage – Ōnoki – and Sara both nodded. "I've known him since he was born. Heck, I trained him for a bit, too." Ōnoki sighed wearily. "I was hoping you'd be dead by now," he said gruffly.

"You know I can't die, you old coot."

"One can always dream." By now the three of them were attracting a lot of attention, due to the fact that…well…they were talking to the Tsuchikage in a friendly manner.

Although it may also be because they rarely see their kage in public.

Romi cocked a brow. "Okay, now I have to know what's going on." Sara grinned. "I'll tell you later."

"When is later?"

"Later later." Romi narrowed her eyes at her friend, but shrugged off the curiosity as she wiped her daughter's runny nose with care. "You're mean."

"I try, love."

Later, the trio was sitting at a dinner table with Ōnoki. Fū was being fed carefully by Romi, who, despite living with the youngster, still seemed to look at her as though she'd just first laid eyes on her, but still with the love of a mother to her child. Ōnoki, although never a family man, found himself remembering the good times he himself had had with that damn woman as his sensei. Heck, though he'd never admit it aloud, she was like a sister to him. He truly did care for her.

"So, otōto, little brother, how come you were walking the streets? I know you don't make appearances all that often. You're always stuck in here."

Screw it. She was annoying as hell.

"I do make an appearance every once in a while to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking. If a village thought I was dead and hadn't named a successor, we'd be attacked." Sara rolled her eyes. "You always were a bit of a weirdo," she said. "But you've got a point."

"Oh, he's the weirdo?"

"Shut up, Ro."

"Language, Sara."

"And you don't care if I say 'weirdo'?"

"We're all weirdoes. You and I take it as compliments. I want Fū-chan to be able to as well." Sara nodded. "Makes sense." Ōnoki rolled his eyes. He never did understand girls.

Having let the trio stay overnight, Ōnoki had breakfast with them in the morning. Normally he wouldn't be doing this at all, since his old friend was right – he really was a bit of a hermit. He rarely stepped outside anymore, to say nothing of having visitors who didn't hold positions of power. But since one was a childhood friend and the others were with her, he decided to divert from the standard procedure, even going so far as to having breakfast with his guests. Normally his guests only had dinner with him, and rarely did they stay overnight.

On his way to his office (to do that accursed paperwork), he was stopped by his old friend. "Chikurin-san," he said, for that was the name she'd used at the time. "Is there something you needed?" Sara nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering if you'd let us meet Han. You see, the little girl who's with us…" she trailed off and Ōnoki nodded in understanding. "All right. I'll introduce him to you." Then he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not doing this because I like you or anything, you know."

Sara laughed. "I know, otōto. I know."

Back in Sunagakure, Tarantu was quite comfortable. She missed Romi with all her heart, but quickly filled it with love for Gaara. She still needed to train, but that was only every other day. The rest of the time, she stayed with Gaara.

Gaara was doing terrifically. He was sleeping twelve hours a night thanks to his new seal, which took the form of the kanji for 'love' on the left side of his forehead. The Ichibi was actually quite pathetic when it was behind bars. He had actually made the seal into a pit in his mindscape, with an energy field around it. The pit wasn't all too boring, though. Gaara had made sure that the demon was able to fight as much as it wanted, since he was able to conjure up opponents for it to fight. When the fights got too heated he'd get a mild headache, but that was it.

Why was he being nice to his bijū? Well, it was because of the fact that Gaara was 'being the bigger man', as his okā-san had said. By making the Ichibi's tenure as comfortable as possible, he showed that he was able to keep his cool and let things go. Besides, having heard stories about other people like himself, Gaara dreamed of one day being able to fight alongside his tenant – as partners.

The Ichibi had gotten somewhat more intelligent and sane, but not by much. It still didn't want to sit and talk, but simply fight. Gaara once got him to focus by using the powers of his mind. He'd been asked why he'd been so…well…crazy. Shūkaku had simply laughed and said that he had felt like it. Since he was feeling especially giving lately, he also informed his host that the seal wasn't good enough originally, and they had merged slightly. Add that to that crazy monk who'd tried to merge with it years ago, it had been more unstable. Thanks to the new seal, the monk was dead and it was now purely bijū.

Gaara had nodded his thanks and given it some another opponent to tear up; this time it was one that was really a challenge to beat. He'd nearly blacked out from the sudden migraine, but the bijū had been asleep since then and his mind was peaceful.

The insect Fū-chan had given him followed him around everywhere and had grown as big as the palm of his hand. He'd identified it as a rhinoceros beetle, but it had gained the ability to manipulate water after it had eaten some of his chakra. When he'd asked his okā-san about it, she'd taken a piece of paper out of her pocket, given it to him, and told him to channel his chakra into it. It had turned to mud before it froze over so violently it shattered. She nodded, as if she'd been expecting that to happen, and explained that he was a natural water type, but because of Shūkaku's influence his natural chakra and the Shūkaku's natural chakra (sand and wind) fought for dominance. He had a new kekkei genkai.

He'd trained in water-type, wind-type, and earth-type jutsu after that, even manipulating the milk in his cereal into his mouth every morning. Well, 'attempt' was more the word. Most of the time he missed, but he was getting better.

He'd even learned more emotions: fear and anger, surprise and anticipation, worry, guilt, shame, hate…

And love.

Now he finally had most of the emotions inside him put to rest. Whenever he discovered a new one, he asked his okā-san about it and was able to properly file it in the library in the jungle part of his mind. He'd found it amusing that even in the clutter of his mind, he was able to file things away neatly and orderly.

At the moment, however, he was training with Yashamaru. His taijutsu was…quite bad, and it had been brought to his uncle's attention, thanks to his okā-san. He'd pouted at the thought of physical training at first, but she'd sat him down and explained that she wanted him to be as strong as possible so that when he became a ninja, he would stand less of a chance of dying.

She didn't want him to die.

So for this extra training, he was grateful. He had a lot of energy, but it didn't mean anything if his muscles and bones were screaming at him to stop. He just wasn't used to being worked this hard, so he was beyond grateful when Yashamaru signaled them to stop.

"You are improving slowly but steadily, Gaara-sama," he said, "despite taijutsu not being your strong point. You are truly coming along well." Gaara gave him a big smile before running over to his okā-san and collapsing into her arms. "You did very well, Gaara-chan," she said with a smile as she picked him up and held him close to her, letting his head rest on her shoulder. Her heart swelled with love as he wrapped her arms around her, subconsciously clinging. She kissed his seal and left to put him to sleep.

"Kimi wa aishitsuru, Gaara-chan. I love you."

Han was the jinchūriki of the Gobi no Irukauma, the Five-Tailed…thing. It was technically a dolphin-horse, but 'thing' described it so much better.

He was tall and wore red-plated armor that almost looked like ancient Japanese samurai-wear, but reached up to cover the lower half of his face. Atop his armor he wore a black gi with the sleeves ripped off that he kept his right hand in for some unknown reason. Judging by how much of his body he showed, he had a balance of lithe and bulky musculature. On the back of his steam armor was a furnace that produced his armor's steam. He wore a red kasa, or straw hat, under which hung light-colored cloth. His light brown eyes were filled with hate and anger and were darkly outlined.

"What do you want?" he asked the Tsuchikage gruffly, narrowing his eyes at him. Ōnoki narrowed his eyes right back. "I don't want to see you either," he spat out. "But a friend of mine does, so don't do anything stupid."

Han snorted, but paid close attention as three girls walked in: a baby, her mother, and…

…Holy shit.

"Hey, Han-dan-man-tan-fan-gan-chan-wan!" Han sighed. "What do you want, Chikurin?"

"Aw, can't a big sister check up on her little brother every once in a while?"

"…No." Sara pouted cutely. "You're mean, otōto. Besides, I'm going by 'Sara' now." Then she grinned. "But I brought a new friend to see you!" Her friend, the one holding the child, came up to him and smiled. "Hey," she said. "My name is Kuro Tsukiakari, and this is my adoptive daughter, Fū, the jinchūriki of the Shichibi no Kabutomushi." Romi let her daughter down and watched as she toddled over to the giant of a man.

Fū looked up at him with her expressive orange eyes inquisitively. Then she smiled. "Mu!" she exclaimed happily as she rummaged around in her pockets before coming up with a small insect which flew up and landed on his shoulder as she gave his kneecap an awkward kiss. "Mu!"

Han heaved a sigh as it ate some of his chakra, but his eyes widened as it started to release a small amount of steam and manipulate it. Another 'mu' brought his attention back to the little girl in front of him. She was looking up at him mischievously, her large eyes twinkling with amusement. He looked down at her oddly before grunting and placing the beetle in his gi.

It was time to leave Iwa, but not before getting an update on the possible whereabouts of Rōshi, the jinchūriki of the Yonbi no Saru, the Four-Tailed Monkey. According to their data, he was last seen in Hi no Kuni about six months ago.

Which wasn't all that helpful, really.

Either way, they left Iwa with the promise that the gates would always be open to them. No doubt their presence was now known in all of the major villages, since it was no secret that they and the Tsuchikage knew each other, and by now it should be leaking that they'd helped fix Gaara's seal. Most likely they were thought to be wandering hermits that had powerful connections and had come out of hiding for an unknown reason – but Romi wasn't very happy about this.

Takigakure would probably be on his tail since she had Fū. They'd either stay on her trail to kidnap Fū when they had the chance, or they'd back off because they were under the protection of the Tsuchikage. It would be difficult to figure out what they would do, and without village walls to protect her, she knew she was in danger. She knew Fū was in danger.

Since they were in such danger, Romi had gone out of her way to teach her daughter how to handle a kunai (she wasn't dexterous enough to throw it yet, but being able to slice someone with it despite the lack of strength behind it would be surprising). Fū had actually taken to it quite well and was currently stabbing the ground with it. The trio was eating their lunch at the moment.

A snapping twig got their attention immediately and Romi was immediately on guard. Both Sara and Fū simply shrugged it off. A red-haired man emerged from the bushes. "Hey, Rōshi," Sara said happily.

"Hello, Chikurin," he said, sending her a smile. "Han sent me a message and told me you'd returned – and you're going by 'Sara' now." Romi, seeing as how Sara was relaxed, sat down again – however, she grabbed Fū and held her tightly, just in case. The newcomer – Rōshi, Sara had said his name was – looked over at her. "Hello. You must be the one Han said was travelling with Chikurin. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Rōshi, jinchūriki of the Yonbi no Saru."

Romi looked the man over critically – he wore a large headpiece with three crown-like ridges and a piece of metal over his nose and cheekbones, as well as a long-sleeved purple shirt and pants with brown armor. Then she smiled. "Hello, Rōshi-san. My name is Kuro Tsukiakari, and this is Fū, my daughter. She's the jinchūriki of the Shichibi no Kabutomushi."

"Mu!" Fū exclaimed in greeting. Rōshi smiled at the youngster. "It's nice to meet the two of you," he said. Romi released her squirming daughter, not at all surprised that she sprinted immediately to Rōshi, dropping her kunai as she went. Crouching down, the redheaded man chuckled as the youngster ran into his arms. He lifted her up and spun her around, making her giggle. Catching her mother's eye, he smiled. "You've got a beautiful daughter."

Romi blushed at the compliment. "Thank you, Rōshi-san," she said with a smile. "It appears as though Fū-chan has something to give you." Rōshi looked down at the girl as she presented him with an insect that flew up to land on his shoulder as she kissed him as well as she could on his cheek. Rōshi felt it absorb some of his chakra, but then he watched as it began to ooze lava from its exoskeleton and manipulate it around itself. "Well I'll be," he muttered, letting it fly onto his finger so he could inspect it more closely. "I've decided: I'm going to travel with you to help Fū out with her mission – I'll help her gain a partnership with her bijū, as well."

And so Rōshi joined their little group.

A/N: Aaaand…that's a wrap! Whew! It got really hard to write this by the end, but that may just be because I'm killing my creative juices by having to write a speech. Damn speech…