Reading Guide

"Hello" Talking

'Hello' Thinking

(Twenty Minutes Later) Time

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Naruto.

"No problem," Gaara smirked. He really was happy to be doing something new, and it was showing. "So who has your thing?"

"I don't know, but I do know that he has special eyes, a doujutsu."

"Doujutsu?" Gaara asked. "Then we're dealing with a Hyuga or an Uchiha. Both of the two clans have their own heavily guarded compounds, and I guess this means we're going to have to break in. This is getting more fun by the minute."

"The Hyuga and the Uchiha?" Zoro asked bewildered.

"Yeah, I was taught about all the clans when I was three. It was part of my training."

"So do you know which clan is more likely to have my sword?" Zoro asked.

"Ohhhh? A sword? One of your three swords? Well, I didn't know we were retrieving something so important," Gaara said, seeing as this was the first time he actually heard just what they were looking for. "And to answer your question, I have no idea. Still, I think we should go for the Hyuga first. Their doujutsu allows them to see through walls and such. If we hit the Uchiha and they don't have it they Hyuga will be on high alert and see us coming miles off, on the other hand the Uchiha won't have that advantage. They'll still be prepared, but they won't actually see us coming."

"Sounds good," Zoro said as the two approached the gate. The second before they stepped through Zoro reached out and grabbed Gaara's arm. Using a soru he shot past the twin guardians and into the heart of the city.

(Four hours later - Just after nightfall)

Gaara and Zoro crouched in the darkening night. They were located two miles east of the Hyuga compound, but with Zoro's soru they could be there in seconds.

"You ready?" Zoro asked.

"You bet," Gaara answered as he loosened his sand armor. He had, for a time, considered carrying his sand in a gourd but a much better alternative presented itself. Instead of carrying his sand he wore it. It covered his body and protected him, but the best part was that it literally took no energy. The sand clung to him of it's own free will, so he needn't do anything to keep it there.

Still, that wasn't enough sand to fight with. The rest of Gaara's sand drifted around in the air, dispersed so as not to arouse suspicion. Anywhere within a five mile radius of the redhead floating sand could be found, but despite the distance it took only twenty-two seconds for him to recall it all to himself.

"Well then. . ." Zoro said. He reached over and grabbed Gaara's arm once more. The two sailed through the air before landing silently in the middle of the Hyuga compound. The second they landed Gaara dispersed all of the sand from his body and sent it around the compound. They were going to use the sand to locate the sword because, surprisingly, Observation Haki wouldn't work. Apparently it only worked on living entities.

It was a pity that Gaara hadn't managed to master the third eye jutsu, but they would get by. After three terse moments of silence Gaara turned to Zoro.

"My sand hasn't encountered anything that feels like a sword, but I think I've found someone sneaking around. He has a sword."

"Best check it out," Zoro responded as he soured to the only other presence in the compound taking Gaara with him. When they arrived they discovered that it wasn't actually a single presence, but rather two. And, as Gaara had thought, the first presence probably shouldn't have been there.

The second the man saw them he cursed and unsheathed his sword. Zoro sighed in disappointment. As the man charged them and swung the sword Zoro pushed Gaara out of the way before he jumped over the swing. With a lightning quick punch to the head he killed the man. It had taken three seconds.

Landing once again Zoro brushed himself off. "What are you doing here?" a voice behind him yelled.

'Damn it,' Zoro though whirling around. "Plan B!" he yelled.

"We have a Plan B?" Gaara yelled back.

"We do now!" Zoro responded as he grabbed Gaara and soured to the weakest presence in the compound that wasn't the recently un-kidnapped heir. Looking down at the boy below them, Zoro grabbed him too before soruing away.

The three landed outside the compound and three miles north on top of an old apartment building that seemed to be deserted except for two presence below them. The two people seemed to be in the same exact place, but Zoro didn't have time to dwell on the oddity even though he knew he had felt that type of thing before.

"So Plan B is to take a hostage?" Gaara asked as he sat up rubbing his head.

"Hostage?" a new, sleppy voice interjected.

The two turned to see their captive waking up. Zoro quickly corrected the problem before turning around. "Lets go, our cover's blow. We'll take the Uchiha compound head on."

The second they landed in the Uchiha compound Zoro released every ounce of bloodlust in his body hoping to frighten the clansmen. . . who weren't there.

"Damnit," Zoro cursed, aloud this time. "Where are they?" He stretched his Observation Haki to it's limits and managed to detect a group of people in an underground chamber. Without missing a beat he grabbed Gaara, who was starting to get annoyed. His other white eyed passenger would have been getting annoyed as well, but he wasn't in a state that allowed him to voice his opinion.

Zoro dumped Gaara and the Hyuga child at the doorstep to the shrine before he barged in. Locating the hidden passage in a second, he released his presence. Punching through the stone that covered the secret entrance he charged in. The Uchiha, who had been busy plotting their rebellion, then felt true terror. The felling that filled the chamber was one of hate, bloodlust and rage. It was filled with desperation and depression. Even those who had taken the full brunt of the Kyubi's aura all those years ago had a hard time resisting this one.

In a flash a figure darted into the room before looking around. Immediately all eyes were focused on him, or at least they tried to. The aura the figure was emitting was so strong that it actually distorted the air around him, completely hiding his form.

"Where is my sword?" a distorted voice emerged from the cyclone of emotion that was the aura. Being one of the more cognate shinobi in the room, Itachi immediately understood what was going on. The presence had come for his sword, but he didn't intend to give up the sword for nothing.

"Are you the demon whom this sword used to belong to?" he asked removing the Shusui from his back. "And if I give it to you will you leave?"

"Yes," the presence immediately responded.

"Take it," Itachi said as he stood and walked towards the vortex. When he was close enough to touch the spiraling energy he lifted the sword and pushed it through. "All I ask," he whispered, "Is that you tell them not to rebel against Konoha."

Deciding it couldn't hurt, Zoro took the sword and made a declaration before he left. "Good, and if you do continue with your current plans I shall return and drag you into the pits of hell."

Feeling that he had done his part he fled and grabbed Gaara and the hostage on the way out.

(The next day)

As the sun rose Zoro and Gaara were busy waiting for their hostage to wake up.

"I still don't get why we brought him along," Gaara said.

"It was a spur of the moment thing," Zoro replied. "And it's not like it's an issue. He wakes up, we point him in the direction of Konoha and problem solved."

"Yeah, but then the Uchiha know exactly who crashed their little party."

"..."

"Nice."

"Wha. . ." a sleepy voice groaned.

"Hello, who are you?" Gaara said as he offered his hand to the white-eyed boy. "I'm Gaara Hadesu and the blindfolded one is Zoro."

"Neji," the child introduced himself as he took the offered hand. "Where am I?"

"Well, we kidnapped you to use you as a hostage," Gaara said happily. Immediately the Hyuga was on guard as he slipped into a lose taijutsu stance.

"Don't bother," Gaara advised. "You couldn't beat me, and even if you could, you wouldn't be able to touch Zoro. Anyways, you can go back to Konoha, we don't need you anymore."

"Then why did. . ." the boy began before something seemed to register. "Wait, Hadesu? Like Kazekage Hedesu?"

"Na, I'm his son, but I actually haven't seen him in months."

"Why?"

"I got banished for not being able to control one of my powers. Don't worry, it's under control now, and it wouldn't harm you anyway," Gaara said after seeing the frightened look on the other child's face.

"If it's under control why don't you go back?"

"Don't want to," Gaara responded. "Zoro and I do fine on our own."

"I see," Neji responded. He was about to continue but before he could Zoro's eyes snapped open. He catapulted to his feet and ripped of his blindfold exposing his eyes and skin that was now snow white from lack of sun. Gaara's eyes widened, it was only the second time he had ever seen Zoro without his mask. Why would he take it off, though?

The answer came a second later as ANBU appeared all around them. If that was bad, though, what came next was worse. The Third Hokage himself dropped from one of the trees to face the group of three. If he was surprised by their ages he didn't show it. Zoro reached to his hip and slowly unsheathed the Shusui.

"I don't want to fight," the Third assured the swordsman.

"Really?" Zoro asked. "I find that hard to believe."

"No, although it was most likely unintentional you have greatly helped Konoha. The Uchiha were considering rebelling, and you quelled that. You also killed the kidnapper of the Hyuga heiress, so Konoha thanks you for that as well."

"Who was he?" Zoro asked, genuinely curious.

"A Kumo jonin who was in the village to negotiate a peace treaty." Zoro stared at the Hokage for a moment before he laughed. It was a cold sound entirely devoid of mirth.

"And since I killed him you'll leave me alive to take the fall. You could try to kill me, but you're going to let Kumo do your dirty work."

"No," the Third said, horrified the child had come to that conclusion. He didn't know who the child was, but he was dangerous. Someone best dealt with, in one manner or another. "We aren't actually going to report you to Kumo. Like I said, you have done us a great service. Whenever something like this happens, Kumo tends to get pushy. They threaten to go to war, and sometimes they do. Usually this would be no problem for us, but with the Uchiha as they were a war would have destroyed us. A divided army is a defeated army."

"So," he continued, "Because of your actions we will win the war should it come to that. But, there is a way to avoid war completely. If it is alright with him, I want you to take Neji with you." The boy in question seemed suitably stunned, but the Third continued.

"We shall say that the Kumo-nin killed him, and that shall satisfy Kumo. A life for a life. We killed one of their ninja and they killed one of our Hyuga clan. It shall placate them and avert any hypothetical war. So, Neji, is that alright with you?"

The still shocked child nodded slowly. "Good," the Third said. He waved his hand once and all the ANBU disappeared. "Take care." Then he was gone too.

(A/N: Why did Konoha just go along with it when Kumo threatened them? They said they couldn't afford a war, but why couldn't they? The best explanation is the Uchiha. If the Uchiha were at a critical stage in their rebellious plotting, then a war would be disastrous. That's my opinion at least. Neji's joined Zoro's little club, hope I made it realistic enough. Since he's the one who 'died' he doesn't have the Emo streak either; his father is still alive and kicking. Well, that's about it. Don' forget to review!)