Reading Guide

"Hello" Talking

'Hello' Thinking

(Twenty Minutes Later) Time

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

Neji trailed along behind Zoro in Gaara in a daze. Now, this wouldn't have been an issue, but it had been seven hours and they were about to reach Haverin's Summit. Needless to say, Gaara was fed up with his silence. Slowing his pace the redhead allowed himself to fall behind Zoro until he was walking side by side with the Hyuga.

"Come on, you can't stay silent forever," Gaara prompted, "And it's not like this will be so bad. We hardly live in a shack."

The other child glanced up at Gaara and frowned. "So what, you live in a mansion?"

Gaara had to smile at that one. "No, but like I said, it's not a shack. You'll see when we get there, but you'll love it."

The silence before the interchange had been tense, but the silence that followed it was much more relaxed. Not completely, mind, but notably more relaxed. After another ten minutes later Haverin's Summit came into sight, and a half-hour after that they were standing at the mountain's base.

"Wha. . ." Neji asked before Gaara held up a hand silencing him.

"I said you'll see, now come on."

The three began to ascend what had become a worn path over the past few months. It took about five more minutes before they reached the crevice in the rock, and when they did Neji's face fell.

"You live in a cave."

"I said you'd see, now just sit tight," Gaara said. Neji frowned, but he didn't comment.

The three ventured into the cave, Neji still frowning. The frown didn't last though as the three emerged from the tunnel into the interior of the mountain. The tunnel let out onto a platform high up on the inside, over two-hundred feet above the cavern's floor. From the height the sight was spectacular.

There were nine tents set up in a circle around the floor of the cave, each tent glowing a different color. It had been Gaara's idea to turn the symbols on the floor into lanterns, but it looked awesome. The symbols within the tents illuminated the fabric shining through and providing a steady supply of mystic light.

Said mystic light shone all over the floor, but it also shed a little light onto the ceiling of the cavern. Looking up Neji was even more amazed. Hanging from the celling was one of the most impressive arrays of weapons he had ever seen. Reflected in the light he saw thousands of kunai, hundreds of massive shuriken and probably hundreds more of the littler variety. Each weapon reflected the light of the tents sending colors racing across the floor making it look like the canvas of an emotional artist, ever shifting.

Looking to the side he saw that not only was there a path leading down, but also a path leading up; presumably to the armory. Actually, looking around the cave he saw several dozen tunnels branching off at ground level, each holding unknown secrets.

"So, what'd think?" Gaara asked proudly. "Awesome, right? Yeah, and the best part is that we never need to worry about heat. This mountain is on top of an underground lava spring, so it's always warm here."

Neji would have been surprised, but he was honestly too busy with what he was already looking at. "This. . . is something else."

"You said it, now how about a tour?"

Neji's eyes only got wider as the tour progressed. The first stop was the armory, which was even more extensive than he estimated. After that Gaara showed him the tents up close, then the symbols inside each of them. Next up was a tunnel leading to a room that Gaara identified as Zoro's.

"Why does Zoro wear the mask?" Neji asked when he realized Zoro must be the other kid. He had seen Zoro with his mask off briefly, but the second the Hokage had left with the ANBU the mask had returned to its place and there it stayed. The second he asked the question Gaara, how had been walking out of the room, froze. He turned around and it was as if his face was chistled from stone.

"Zoro has a wound on the inside," the redhead explained. "I don't know too much about it, but he lost all of his friends and blames himself. It's best to leave him alone about it."

Without explaining further Gaara exited the room leaving Neji to follow. The next room was Neji's, or so Gaara said it would be. It had a large bed, a fully equipped bathroom and even a closet. It also had a couch, at TV, a heater, a cooler, and if he wasn't mistaken he thought he saw a mini-fridge.

"How?" was all Neji could ask. Zoro's room had been rather Spartan containing only a small bed and a wooden rack holding swords against the wall. His room, to the contrary, could only be described as lavish.

"Well, money's no problem for us. If you want I'll show your our treasury later, it's quite something. As for the tunnels, well, I made them. It makes good practice for controlling my sand. I use it to drill the passageways and hollow out rooms like this one. After that I work on my fine control by smoothing out the edges and making far smaller passages to act as pipes for the water as sewage in the bathroom."

Neji had to blink at that. 'He's my age, but the things he can do. . . He's on a totally different level, and it seems as if Zoro's on a level even above that. I wonder what life here will be like?'

"Now then," Gaara said interrupting his thoughts. "One more room, my room. And trust me, your room's got nothing on mine. Of course, I could help you upgrade your room if you want. Still, why don't you come see mine first?"

Without waiting for an answer Gaara walked out of the room, once again leaving Neji no option but to follow. This time the emerged from the tunnel and crossed the entire floor of the cavern before reaching an ornate archway. "Follow me," Gaara said, the smile audible in his voice. Neji nodded and followed the jinchuriki though the tunnel. When he reached the end what he saw amazed him. He had never seen anything like it, not even Kohoha's Hokage Monument came close.

Inside was another massive chamber, this one almost as large as the first. Much like the first, the entrance let out onto a platform near the upper end of the room, but unlike the main room this one had stone walkways arching over the middle of it. The stone walkways crisscrossed the room some going across, others down and yet others heading further up. Looking down Neji noticed the very floor of the room was made of sand. His mouth went dry when he realized what that would mean.

"Did you. . ."

"Yes," Gaara answered. "I hollowed out this entire room myself. It was part of my stamina training. Still, I'm not nearly done making it. He pathways are rough at best, and I haven't gotten to carving out the shelves in the library."

"A library?"

"Yeah, I had prioritize. That and it'll take awhile before I figure out how to get the water here for the swimming pool. Still, once I figure it out it'll go right over there," Gaara said pointing to where one of the catwalks intersected with the wall of the cavern. If he looked closely Neji could see a slight alcove. Once again, his mouth went dry as he looked around the massive room.

"Hahaha, you guessed it. Each place where the catwalks connect to the walls I'm adding a room. By the time I'm done this place will be better equipped than an entire Hidden Village."

traditionally, Neji would have disregarded such a statement, but seeing as there were about one-hundred alcoves already Gaara might just have been telling the truth.

Obito cursed as he stormed through Kiri. The Uchiha clan had wimped out, and now he had issues. They could have done it too, but then again Itachi might have betrayed them if they had tried. No, maybe this was for the best. Jumping up Obito shoved his way into Yagura's office only to be surrounded by AKSU, Kiri's version of Konoha's ANBU and Suna's KAZU. They were dangerous, but they specialized in stealth. It was said that you couldn't find them until you found the knife through your heart.

It only took a moment of Yagura to dismiss the AKSU, and when he did Obito smiled. He still had plenty of cards, he just needed to be sure to play his hand right. If he wasn't so deep in though he might have noticed the hook heading for his head, but distracted as he was he didn't notice until. . . actually he didn't notice at all. By the time he could have noticed he was already dead from chronic hook through the brain syndrome (HBS) thanks to Yagura.

Yagura sighed as he pulled his hook out of the dead man's head, letting the body hit the floor. 'To think, he managed to get me under a genjutsu and it took me this long to get free. But I wonder, how did it happen? To be able to keep me under a genjutsu he would have had to constantly keep a portion of his mind focused on me, so something must have happened that distracted him. Maybe somebody scared him, but whoever it was must have been terrifying to capture his complete attention for even a moment.'

Cracking his neck Yagura recalled the AKSU and had them deal with the body. Sitting down at his desk he slipped into deep thought. 'So, what does this mean? How far does the plot go? Was it just him, or are other Kage being manipulated?'

Yagura smiled maliciously. 'I don't know, and the only way to confirm would be to visit in person. But announcing oneself isn't the way a shinobi should operate, the shinobi's best weapons are stealth and secrecy. Well, lets pay a visit to the other four Kage, shall we Isobu?'

(A/N: Well, that was fun. Zoro's causing waves and the waves are causing ripples. You just got to see one of the major ripples, but there will be others. Next, on the subject of an update schedule, the poll is returning results all across the board when concerning what day I should update, so how about this? I'll update randomly but frequently, probably multiple times a week. Sound good to everybody? Leave an answer, and please review!)