Well this is chapter 2 and it's even longer than the first. Just so everyone's clear, the future chapters for this story won't be this long. In the first chapter someone name nobody pointed out something about Gaara and the Shukaku. I would message you and explain it, but you don't have an account so I'll just explain it here. Yes I'm very aware, about the akatsuki extracting the shukaku from Gaara's body. In this story Team guy intercepted the akatsuki, before he could be taken to their hideout, thus saving him from certain death. Yes I do watch the anime and I do keep up with the Manga. So I hope I cleared that up. Again, forgive me if there are any punctual errors. Well that's all I wanted to say, now here's the story! R&R

Chapter 2: Chain of Events

"Alright class! I want you to open up your text books and turn to page 18!" Ms. Nekonome cheerfully said. Just by the sound of her voice, you can tell she was excited about the new school year. She enjoyed her summer break, but there's nothing she loves more than teaching her students. Well teaching and eating fish.

"We are going to be reading the tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde." The cat girl adjusted her glasses so they would sit comfortably on the bridge of her nose. "Two humans from different countries who had fallen in love, but they committed adultery in the process." She read from the story's summary on page 17. "Isolde of Ireland was the daughter of the king of Ireland. She was betrothed to King Mark, who happened to be the king of Cornwall. King Mark sent his nephew, Tristan, to Ireland to escort Isolde back to their country." Ms. Nekonome continued reading the small summary for several more seconds. Once she was done she looked up at her class and she was happy to see that almost everyone was paying attention. "Okay you guys, who wants to read!"

She took a second to look around the class for any raised hands. It seemed like nobody wanted to volunteer, so she was going to select a student of her choosing to read the first paragraph. Before she could pick a reader a brown haired boy raised his hand. "Ah, go ahead and read the first paragraph."

"Uh no Ms. Nekonome, it's not that." The boy started. "Your… tail is out again." he said nervously. Every year she would tell her students not to reveal their monster identities. But she would always slip up and unknowingly let her tail out.

"Meow!" The cat woman cheeks were bright red. She was really embarrassed about once again breaking the school rules.

Everybody seemed to be focused on the class assignment, excluding the four girls in the back row to the far right. Their minds were preoccupied with the whereabouts of their precious Tsukune Aono. They were already 45 minutes into the first period and he still hadn't shown up yet. It wasn't like him to be late; he has always been a punctual guy. The only logical explanation is that he decided not to come back. Maybe he got comfortable and decided to stay in the human world. No, that couldn't be it; Ms. Nekonome had called his name during roll call. There was the possibility that he got attacked on his way to school. It would make since considering the fact that Tsukune has four beautiful girls following him around all day. Many of the male students are jealous of him because of that, so it is possible. All these possibilities kept popping up in their head, which was starting to drive them all crazy, some more than others.

"Damn it I can't take this anymore." Kurumu whispered to Yukari. The busty succubus was really starting to worry. The whole period she had been thinking about Tsukune. "I think we should go look for him once first period is over."

Pretending like she was reading, the young witch had her head buried in the text book, but her eyes were shifted to the right where Kurumu was sitting. "I don't think that's a good idea." Yukari said. "Today's the first day of school, so security's going to be pretty tight." She may have been the youngest student at the school, but she was still the smartest.

With her eyes glued to the text book, Kurumu sighed in frustration. "Well we have to do something; we can't just sit here, Tsukune might need our help."

Sucking on her lollipop while flipping to the next page, Mizore caught wind of their discussion. "The tramp is right, we need to take action." She stated calmly.

"Well what do you guys suppose we do?" Yukari asked while writing in her journal, giving the impression that she was taking notes.

The snow woman fixed her purple strands. "It's simple... we freeze them."

"Are you crazy ice queen?" Kurumu's tone went up a volume. After everything that went down last year the school staff was definitely keeping a close eye on the newspaper club. So they didn't need to draw any unneeded attention to themselves. "Are you trying to get suspended?"

Narrowing her eyebrows, Mizore turned around to face her rival. "Do you have a better idea?" Just like the other girls in their group she'd do anything for Tsukune and that includes freezing someone.

"Of course I do." The blue haired girl smirked at the snow woman. "I'll use my love charm to distract the security guards, while you guys sneak past the gate." Kurumu made it sound simple, but the truth was she wanted an excuse to use her succubus powers. It had been a while since she had used her love charm and she wanted to make sure nothing's changed.

Mizore shook her head in disgust. "You're a skank with no shame, you know that?"

"What did you just call me? You stalker freak!" Her voice accidently went up a few levels causing the other students to look back at them.

Ms. Nekonome was a nice teacher, she didn't believe in yelling at her students. Nonetheless she is a teacher and she had to keep her students in line. "Kurumu… Mizore… pay attention." She gave the girls a serious look before she told the student they interrupted to continue reading.

"Yes ma'am." They replied simultaneously, before returning to their books.

Sighing at their actions, Yukari shook her head in disapproval. I'm 12 years old and I act more mature than those two. Brushing that aside, she turned her attention to the most popular girl in their group. Moka Akashiya was gazing out of glass window. Her mind was miles away from class work. From where she sat she had a perfect view of the school entrance. Ever since class started her eyes were focused on what was on the other side of the glass window. Wow Moka's taking his absence pretty bad. Yukari was also worried, but she wasn't one who jumped to conclusions. Well at least not quickly.

Gazing out of the foggy window, Moka awaited the arrival of her closest friend. She had been getting a bad feeling ever since class started. Like something was wrong or out of place. Maybe she was just imagining things; she was probably getting herself worked up for nothing. She knew he didn't ditch them to go to school in the human world. The only possible explanation was that there was something delaying his arrival. Maybe he just woke up late. She told herself. Yes that has to be what's taking him so long. But then again Tsukune was rarely late for anything and the thought of him being tardy for the first day of school was highly doubtful. Still she wasn't going to think negatively because that wouldn't do her any good. He'll show up soon, I just have to be patient. She smiled, now she was beginning to think positively. Before she could get comfortable, her stomach began to growl. She put the palm of her hand on her abdomen to feel the small vibrations. Yep she was hungry. Aww… I hope Tsukune gets here before lunch, because I don't want to have to drink tomato juice!

X-X-X-X-X-X

Far away in the human world, the Yokai bus was zooming down the highway. After an hour of searching, Tsukune and the bus driver had finally found someone who would lend them a hand. He was a nice elderly man who drove an old, blue, pickup truck. Tsukune could tell that he was a blue collar man just by looking at his bruised calloused hands. It only took about 15 minutes for the battery to charge completely. Once it was completelycharged, Tsukune had thanked the friendly old man and then boarded the bus. Now they were back on the road and heading straight for the tunnel that would lead them to world of the monsters.

"Hey kid!" the bus driver shouted from the front of the vehicle.

"Uhh yes…" he replied

"I want to say thank you for your help, I appreciate it." The creepy man gratefully said. There was no way he was going to be able to flag down a car on his own.

Tsukune smiled while rubbing the back of his head. "Oh there's no need to thank me." He replied modestly. "If I hadn't helped, we would have been stuck there forever." The young man chuckled.

The older man also laughed but his was a little bit sinister, which kind of creped him out. "Still I'm grateful." He said while making a right turn. "Anyways we should reach the tunnel in about 35 minutes."

35 minutes… that's' good I should be able to make it before lunch begins. He thought to himself, as he began to gaze out the side window. Once again he started to daydream about the upcoming school year. He was glad that he was going to be reuniting with all of his friends. It had only been a few weeks since he'd last seen them, but somehow it felt so much longer than that. But like the driver said, I'd better keep my eyes open because after everything that took place last year, nothing would surprise me. Last year the Tsukune and the rest of the newspaper club took on the security committee. The end result was a battle between the two groups on campus. The security committee was easily defeated, except for their leader Kuyou, who was just as strong if not stronger than a vampire. Kuyou had chased Tsukune and the others who escaped. As soon as he had caught up with him he launched a fireball at Tsukune, putting him in critical condition. In hope of saving his life, Moka injected some of her vampire blood into his blood stream. After that he changed into his monster form, which is a fox demon, he attacked all the members of the newspaper club. Gin and Moka both struggled against him and there both S Class monsters. Surprisingly enough it was Tsukune who defeated the kitsune. The vampire blood that was flowing through him caused him to temporarily take a vampire-ghoul hybrid form. With everything that transpired last year, there could be someone else out there is targeting the newspaper club. That being said I'm going to have to be ready for anything.

Resting on a huge stone near a river bank was a dark skin muscular man holding a huge sword with blue scales. On his face were oval shaped sunglasses. He also wore a white Kumo forehead protector. He held onto the hilt of the sword with his right hand and with his left, he ran his thick fingers through his goatee. Apparently he was thinking. About what, who knows? He could be thinking about the hokage's large breast. Or maybe he was he was thinking about a new rhyme. Then again… it could be the dead Anbu agents scattered along the mountainside.

"B… What are you doing sitting? You shouldn't be lounging around; we need to return to the battlefield." The Hachibi stated from within bee's psyche. "Those two leaf shinobi Kakashi and Guy, Won't be able to hold off Madara and the other Biju forever."

"Yo! Shut up eight tails! I'm a take a break down by the lake." Killer b said while reclining his back on the smooth rock. "Yo those punk ass mask ninja we're tough, yeah." No less than 15 minutes ago, he was attacked by a small unit of Anbu agents. He had beaten them with little to no effort, which wasn't surprising. As soon as he had gotten rid of them, twenty more of showed up. The good thing was that he used Samehada so he didn't have to expend too much chakra.

"There's no time for your lame rhymes you idiot. We still need to find Naruto!" The ox yelled, its deep voice boomed inside of B's subconscious. "Don't you remember? They're after the Jinchuriki," He said. The tailed beast was very aware of the situation they were in. The eight tails was a smart and observant creature, unlike b who acts on impulse like Naruto. An example of this is when he stopped b from killing the last assassin. He told the rapping ninja to get some info out of him first. At first he didn't want to talk but after 5 minutes of torture using the shark blade, he finally gave in. "There's a good chance they've already attacked him and the Kazekage."

Those words seemed to get his attention, judging by his changed facial expression. Naruto and b had split up nearly two hours ago. Anything could have happened, but Naruto was strong and so is the Kazekage. "Aye… Yo they be aight, jinchuriki the best we never lose a fight! Yeah." He said while sitting up. Damn I guess it's time to go back, he sighed while standing up and grabbing Samehada. "Yo eight tails we gonna go back to help those leaf shinobi."

"Hmm… are you sure you don't want to go help Naruto?" The ox asked once more.

"Yo Naruto's could beat those bitch ass ninja any day," The rapping ninja smirked while confidently beating his chest. He had seen the blonde's raw determination so he knows what he's capable of. Even though he'd never met the Kazekage, his brother told him he was one of the strongest shinobi in this era. With that being said, he strapped the massive blade onto his back. "Yo-Yo it's time to go! Yeah," He rapped while walking back east towards the battlegrounds.

"Shut up you fool! You're annoying," the Hachibi yelled. He was becoming even more agitated with him by the second. "Now hurry up… You're wasting time..."

"Yo stop bitchin! I'm going I'm going…" Killer B sighed, before turning his casual walk into a full sprint.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Walking through the dark forest, the two jinchuriki surveyed the area for fruit and vegetation. It had been an hour now since they entered the forest, and they had found several edible items. They found a few flowers, some leaves, and a few pods. Bananas were the only fruits they came across. Naruto wasn't a big fan of fruit or vegetables, but he didn't have any choice in the matter.

Something that caught both of their attention was the forest inhabitance. There were hardly any animals. The only creatures they saw were a few birds. There were no tigers, snakes, squirrels or rabbits. But that didn't mean there was anything wrong with these woods. Eventually they came to the conclusion that most of the animals must have died out.

They had a replenished a decent amount of chakra. A rough estimate of the energy they regained had to be about 30 percent at most. It wasn't much, but they couldn't waste any more time looking for more. Their comrades needed there help, so they had to head back towards the battlefield.

Nevertheless they couldn't leave, there was still someone watching them.

"He's still out there… I could feel it." Naruto whispered to Gaara, as they ventured deeper and deeper into the forbidden forest.

"We're going have to get rid of him now, if we want to get back in time." Gaara responded with narrowed eyes. He was really frustrated; he could have sworn they had gotten rid of all those Root officers. When he used his sand tsunami, He had covered the whole valley in sand. No one could have possibly survived such a devastating attack, except for Kimimaro.

The blonde agreed with his friend, but he was still skeptical. "Yeah your right, but we don't have a lot of chakra left." Which was true, they hadn't even regained half of their chakra. "Are best shot at finishing this guy off is a surprise attack." Naruto stated plainly.

"My thoughts exactly," The Kazekage looked straight ahead to see if there was anything they could use in a surprise attack. Unfortunately the only thing the red head could see was a cavern. From his position it didn't seem all that welcoming. Still it was better than nothing. "Look up ahead." He said, while pointing to the underground passage.

Immediately the knuckled lifted his eyes off the ground and looked straight ahead. He squinted several times to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. "A cave… I think that will do just fine," He remarked with a relieved smile.

Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow at this, "So you have a plan?"

"Believe it! I told you last time, I call dibs on the next enemy we face," He stated. Naruto was aching for a fight after watching his friend take down 50 Anbu agents with just one jutsu. Even though he only had one opponent he figured it was better than nothing. "Just leave everything to me."

The duo stopped right in front of the huge opening before entering. There was something weird about the cave, but they couldn't put their finger on it. It looked just like any ordinary cavern, but the things they were sensing were very off putting. It was a very strange sensation; nonetheless they had to go in if they wanted to lure that bastard into a trap. But still there was no need to spend more time in this cave then necessary so they needed to take care of him fast. There was no time for spelunking. Quietly the two started walking into the underground passage. After about 10 seconds, they had completely disappeared into the darkness.

"Wow it's pretty dark in here." He whispered. His sandals made pattering sound every time he took a step. "But it's probably better this way." even if Naruto couldn't see his opponent clearly he could still sense them.

"Yes it is," Gaara responded while his eyes wondered around the cave. Like Naruto had stated earlier, it was pretty dark inside the underground structure. Even so, they were able to see good enough to walk around without tripping over themselves. Gaara walked on the right hand side while Naruto walked on the left. Since he couldn't see the structure clearly, he decided to place the palm of his hand on the wall's surface. The reason he did was so he could see what kind of rock the cave was formed by. There were several different kinds of forms that caves had. Some were made out of chalk, dolomite, marble, salt, and even gypsum. "It's made of limestone," he whispered to himself as he patted the hard surface. Limestone is a sedimentary rock made of hard minerals. It's perfect for Gaara to use his sand ninjutsu without expending too much chakra.

While they walked through a narrow passage way, Naruto accidently tripped over something hard causing him to stumble. "Oh crap!" He said while trying to regain his balance. Before he could fall Gaara grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back. The hyperactive ninja sighed in relief. "Thanks… I almost fell flat on my face," he scratched the back of his head in amusement of his clumsiness. What the hell was that anyway? He turned around and knelt down to feel the object that caused him to trip. He couldn't see so the only thing he could do was run his hand along the smooth surface. Suddenly his hands felt something hard and rigid. It feels like… His hands then went upward and he felt the same thing, the only difference were there were even more. Upon realization his blue orbs slowly widened in horror. "It's a skeleton!" Immediately he jumped back and pointed at the human bones.

Gaara narrowed his eyes in disbelief "A skeleton?"

"Y-Yeah…" He replied with goose bumps appearing on his skin. He wasn't scared as much as he was surprised. He had been a ninja for four years now and he had seen plenty of corpses, but never skeletons.

We've only been in this cave for two minutes and we already found a skeleton. This cave… it's not normal that much I'm certain of. "We should probably keep moving," Gaara said. The cave began to come more and more suspicious to him.

The two jinchuriki were now 120 meters deep into the cavern. As they approached a corner they saw a small glimmer of light. The sound of boiling water was also heard. "What the hell is that sound?" Naruto whispered as they made their way around the corner. Once they made their way around the corner, Naruto froze. "Whoa…" His blue eyes shot open in astonishment. In front of him was a small valley field with miniature craters. Each crater was a meter in width and length. Inside those holes was hot water that boiled at least 300 degrees Celsius. Damn I would not want to fall in there. He said while staring intensely at the tubes filled with simmering water. The water springs emitted a blue light making everything in the room more visible.

The red head gazed at the simmering liquid for a while. Interesting I've never seen water of that temperature before. He had been inside at least 5 caves in his short life and he had never come across a hot spring of such intense heat.

"Gaara Wait." Naruto whispered

"Hmm…" He stopped and slightly turned his head, so he was looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I think we should stop here," the blonde said while gazing at the field of steam pools.

Gaara gave him a questionable look. "Why do you wish to stop here?"

"We shouldn't go any deeper into this cave than we have to." Naruto was right; there was no need to spend their time wondering around in a creepy ass cave. "Besides this is the perfect place to ambush that bastard!"

"Are you sure?" He asked. It was Naruto's turn to take charge, but he didn't know if it was safe for them to battle in a field of hot springs.

"Trust me this place will work to our advantage." He claimed while sporting a confident smirk.

Gaara stared at the Kyuubi jinchuriki as he thought it over. How could this work to our advantage? It's deadly to be around all this hot water one touch and our skin will be skewered. But then again those springs will serve as a problem to him as well. I think I understand why he chose this spot. "Alright Naruto… What do you have in mind?"

The ninja quietly walked through the treacherous cave while keeping his eyes peeled. He had decided to wait few minutes after they entered, before following them. This cave was one of the main reasons the forest was forbidden. There had only been one shinobi to make out of here alive and he was the creator of the ninja world and the founder of ninjutsu. He was a Jonin level ninja, not to mention a member of the foundation, there was no way he could fail.

Only a few moments after he entered the cave a hidden door slowly started to descend from the top of the cave entrance. The door slammed down on the soil, causing a small quake. Using his reflexes the man turned around to see the nothing but darkness. "Damn it! I'm trapped inside." He muttered underneath his breath. His heart was beating rapidly; he couldn't deny that he was a little nervous. Well that must be one of the reasons why it is called the forbidden cave. Still… Why didn't the cave door activate when those demon brats entered? He raised an interesting point, nothing happened when Gaara and Naruto entered.

Fuck I can't see anything. The man dug deep into his pockets and pulled out a metal lighter. He used the lighter to help him see more clearly. Now he was capable of moving at a faster pace. The good thing about his lighter was the flame was big enough to guide him, but too small to have any effect on the bats that hung from the ceiling, which was a good thing because the ones hovering above were vampire bats. Vampire bats suck on blood so he had to be careful not to awaken them or he'd become lunch. He wasn't able to breathe easy until he was several yards away from the entrance and even then he did his best to remain quiet.

"Where are those demon brats?" Just like the jinchuriki he didn't want to stay in this cave any longer than he had to. However, unlike them he knew just how dangerous this cave was. If the rumors that he heard were true, them this cave had to be almost 3,000 years old. It is also said that the sage of six paths had ventured hear many years ago. He was the only one who ever made it out of the ancient cavern. Of course he was a legendary man, with the power of the Rinnegan. He was also the world's first jinchuriki and the beast that he sealed within himself was the ten-tails. After he journeyed through this underground space, no one else had entered and survived. Yes the man knew a lot about the forbidden cave, but there was still a lot that he did not know. Rather I make it out alive or not isn't important. I have to make sure that those two perish. If I could the eye of the moon plan will be impossible to complete.

The assassin passed through a narrow passageway that was filled with skeletons. The man gazed at all the bones that were scattered around the thin passage way. Obviously he wasn't the first person to be trapped inside this hazardous cave. Many of the skeletons still had on their clothes. Some of them were shinobi that much he could tell. All of the flak jackets he saw belonged to Kirigakure. What was the hidden mist doing in here? He pondered. Nonetheless he continued down the hallway, until he saw something blue illuminating. The light was reflecting on the end of the passageway. Slowly, the masked man paced toward the blue light.

When he turned the corner and walked into the opening he saw a valley of boiling water springs. Each one of them was at least three feet wide, how deep there is unknown. Upon entering the dangerous room filled with scolding water, His eyes inspecting every inch of the perimeter. He looked up at a small cliff in the room to see if anyone was up there. All he saw was a pile of rocks, which didn't seem suspect. Next he scanned the roof. There was nothing up there, not even bats. I don't think there in here, I can't sense their presence. As soon as he said that he stumbled upon a small pile of sand. "This is-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a flurry of kunai came hurling at him from the opposite direction, giving him little time to react. "Shit…" He jumped back just in time before they could make could make contact with him. The sharp blades missed him by a hair and got lodged in the ground. "Where did that come from?" his eyes shifted all around the vicinity for enemies. He looked up at the cliff and found the man responsible for that attack. At the top of the cliff there was a spikey haired blonde. The teenage boy had an arrogant smirk on his face. The assassin glared at the kyuubi jinchuriki. "Well I see you've been expecting me." His deep voice echoed throughout the room. "Nine tails..."

Naruto chuckled lightly before replying. "Well you bastards aren't that good at hiding your presence."

Instead of getting mad, he chose to ignore the insult. "Where's Gaara? I know he's around here somewhere." After seeing the pile of earth minerals, he knew the red head was nearby.

With the clueless expression he replied "Gaara? I don't know where he is." He placed his thumb underneath his chin, to give the impression that he was thinking. "Why don't you go look for him? I'm sure you'll find him sooner or later."

So that's how you want to play it nine tails? His eyes narrowed at the blonde. "Fine have it your way. I'll kill you first and then him," He stated while shifting his eyes back and forth. He knew Gaara was around here somewhere so he had to keep his eyes open for his sand.

Naruto narrowed his eyebrows before jumping down from the 25 foot cliff. Landing hard on the cave floor, he looked up at the man, his face full of intensity. He stood up straight, and pulled out a kunai. "You sure are confident, aren't you?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" He retorted. "You are a strong opponent, there's no hiding that." He stated as he pulled out two small summoning scrolls. "You may even be the strongest shinobi in your village." He smirked as he held up a sign to summon the objects in both scrolls. Smoke surrounded the area for several seconds. When it finally cleared it revealed two puppets with chakra strings attached to them. Both of them had red hair and wore long black robes. There was only one distinctive difference between the two puppets and that was the weapons they wielded. The one on the right had duel swords that were dosed in poison. Suna is famous for their poison, one cut from that blade and it will all be over. The other puppet was armed with duel pistols. But Naruto had no idea what would come out of them. "But at the end of the day, you're still a worthless freak. No amount of training will change that."

"Is that so?" he asked while staring at the dangerous marionettes. It's going to be hard to get close to this guy. I should destroy one of his puppets to make things easier.

With his mind made up Naruto charged toward him with the intent to get rid of his puppets. As he sprinted towards him, the puppeteer used his sword puppet to attack first. It sprung towards him with impressive speed. When it got close enough it swung at his head, but Naruto evaded it by jumping to the left. After he dodged it he continued to run straight for the masked man, but the puppet was hot on his tail. Once again the man used his sword puppet to take a swing at him. "Damn it!" Naruto stopped and pulled out a second kunai to block both blades. Luckily he was able to block them, but there was still the other puppet. Before he could turn around to face it, the doll shot long streams of fire at him. When the fire hit Naruto he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The fire also happened to come in contact with one of the hot springs causing it to erupt. Boiling water shot up towards the ceiling.

"A shadow clone I should've known." He shook his head in annoyance. "Now where is that little shit?"

Coming from behind were two Naruto's, one had his right hand out while the other had both his hands hovering over it and rotating. Instantly a blue sphere of energy was formed and the clone on the right dispersed. He got within five feet of the man and was ready thrust the ball into the man's body. Unfortunately for him the man sensed his approach and had already used his left hand to send the Sword puppet to aid him.

"Too slow…" The sword puppet whipped around him and sliced Naruto on his right shoulder before he could embed the blue sphere into the man's back. He fell to the floor and his Rasengan had defused. He turned around to face Naruto. Underneath his mask he smiled sadistically while looking down at the boy kneeling on the ground. He watched as the blonde held his injured shoulder and winced in pain.

"Looks like you're the original." He said mockingly. Even though he wasn't a threat no more he still needed to stay alert. He didn't drop his guard because he knew Gaara was around somewhere, so he kept shifting his eyes and back and forth. Where is he? I know that freak is here, he said while turning around to look at the large pile of chakra fused sand.

"You're a fool… for underestimating us."

The man turned around to see Naruto struggling to stand up. Both of legs started trembling uncontrollably. His breathing kept fluctuating, as he held onto his injured shoulder. The Suna ninja's eye's narrowed in frustration. How the hell is this punk still standing?

"Do you really think it's over?" Naruto said while gasping for air. "I'm… just … getting… started." He struggled to speak. The poison was slowly starting to spread, which was also consequently zapped his energy.

"Oh… really?" The Suna ninja asked with amused smile. "That poison is lethal, there's no hope for survival. You have three hours at best." He informed the injured jinchuriki.

Naruto chuckled, which resulted in him grunting in pain. He clenched the wounded area even tighter as he glared at his enemy. "In that case… I'll finish you before then!" He shouted before collapsing towards the ground.

"I see, so the rumors are true. The nine tails jinchuriki has an undying will." He said while stepping towards the dying boy who was hunched over coughing. "That's very admirable," he smirked. He raised his left hand. His fingers started to move, and so did the puppet swordsman. The puppet raised its wooden hand; you could clearly see the poison dripping off the blade. "For that I'll end your life now and relieve you of your pain."

Naruto didn't move his head was practically faced down in the dirt. There was no way he could even try to dodge the attack; the poison in his blood stream had caused him to go numb. He was completely vulnerable.

"Goodbye," The puppeteer said while moving his fingers. The puppet's swiftly brought down it's sword to pierce Naruto's heart. The blade came down at an alarming speed, but it came to a halt several inches away from the boy's chest. "What!" He tried to move the puppet again, but to no avail. "What the hell is wrong with it!" he screamed while shaking his chakra strings. When he did that, the puppet also shook causing small grains of sand come out the dolls joints. "Sand." He whispered. The Sand clogged its joints rendering it useless.

He heard snickering so he looked down to see Naruto giggling. His face only inches away from the dirt. Slowly, he lifted his self-off the ground, so he would be sitting up on his knees with a foxy grin he said "Hahaha… Gotcha!" He yelled before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"What the-" He trailed off when he felt something behind him. He turned around to see the blonde charging towards him with the same blue sphere in the palm of his hands. Naruto was within 15 feet so he still had a couple seconds to stop the attack. Alright stay calm… You still have one puppet left. He told himself while moving the fingers on his right hand. When he did this, the puppet gunman only moved a few inches. Oh shit! Him too! He cussed inwardly as small amounts of sand fell out of the dolls joints. Once he realized the puppet was now useless he turned to see Naruto right in front of him.

"Rasengan!" He screamed, before slamming the sphere into the man's stomach.

"Ahhhh!" He yelled as the ball of concentrated chakra dug into his abdomen. The swirling sphere launched the man about 25 feet away from his original position. He stopped flying through the air when his body came in contact with a wall. On impact a loud booming sound was heard throughout the room. The collision caused the room to quake temporarily.

Gaara had watched the whole thing from the cliff. He and Naruto used the transformation jutsu to take the form of a pile of rubble. Naruto used a shadow clone jutsu first, and then he added the transformation. Naruto had also transformed his shadow clones into rocks. The only thing he asked the red head to do was leave a pile of sand near one of the hot spring tubs. He knew it would raise suspicion. The whole thing was designed by the knucklehead.

But Gaara was the one who put the puppets out of commission. Since his older brother was also a puppet master, he knew their weaknesses inside and out. All he had to do was leak some of his special sand into the puppets joints, so when the assassin tried to use them they would move as slow as a turtle. I have to admit I've never seen someone use shadow clones so cleverly, he thought to himself. He had seen Naruto use his clones many times now, but watching the way he manipulated them never got old.

Now that they had defeated their enemy, they were able to leave the cave and return to the battlefield. Gaara used the body flicker technique to disappear. A second later he reappeared next to his jinchuriki counterpart.

"Ha! I didn't even have to use sage mode." "He smiled. Naruto swiped the palms of his hands together. "Well at least it's over" He sighed in relief. This time around he was pretty happy since he didn't have to expend too much chakra. He still had a decent amount, since he borrowed some from the kyuubi. He put his hands behind the back of his head in his usual stance. "You know… I didn't need your help back there."

"I know… but the sand has the deadliest poison so I didn't want to take a chance," He explained. In the end it was a wise decision, if one drop of it got it to his bloodstream he'd certainly die.

"Yeah… yeah… But you could have at least left the other puppet for me."

"Hmm I didn't think of that..." He said while walking towards the passageway that would lead them back to the cave entrance.

"W-What you didn't think of it! Hey don't you walk away from me!" The young sage shouted animatedly while jogging to catch up with the red head.

As they approached the exit, they heard something. "What was that?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know…" Naruto replied in confusion. Again they heard the sound, but this time it was easier to understand. It was the sound of a man groaning in pain. He's still alive!

The teenagers turned around to look at the settling debris. Interested in getting a few more answers the duo walked towards the injured man who was currently lying on his back. His mask was now off so his face now visible. Once they got close enough to study his features they came to a halt. The man appeared to be in his early thirties. He had chocolate brown hair and his face was shaved. He also had dark eyes and bronze skin. After Gaara had studied all the man's features his eyes went opened wide in astonishment upon realization of the man's identity. "Masanori?" he questioned.

The blonde squinted in confusion while turning to look at his friend. He may be strong, but at the end of the day he's still not the sharpest guy around. "Masa… what now?" He scratched the top of his head in confusion.

"Masanori" he repeated while staring at the man in disbelief. "He's one of the members of Sands council and he is also one of the few people I trusted back when I decided to aim for the title of Kazekage."

"G-Gaara…" he stuttered. He was dying so it was incredibly hard for him to speak. There was huge hole in his jacket from Rasengan he received. He also had a small crater in his abdomen. Masanori looked up at his village leader, who was staring back at him with a blank expression. Seeing that dumbstruck look on his face made him smirk. "That… was pretty impressive. The way… you… disabled my puppets."

Naruto still didn't know what was going on so he remained quiet. So this guy is on Gaara's council?"

"I'm s-surprised… At how strong… You've become…" He spoke softly, as he tried to stay conscious. "I never … imagined… you would surpass the fourth Kazekage."

"What are you saying?"

"I watched your fight… the one you had… with your father." He answered in a clearer voice. "He gave you the last of his gold dust, didn't he?"

"You were there?"

"How do you think we knew where to ambush you?" Masanori responded without gasping once during his explanation. He was able to muster up some strength. "We've been watching you…Naruto… and killer Bee ever since this war started. Every unit had the assignment of capturing one of you"

Finally things were starting to make sense. The foundation was able to ambush us because they were posing. That's' why the first unit that had attacked us wore flak jackets. They were fighting alongside us the whole time. Naruto balled his fist. He was angry with himself for not paying better attention.

"It all makes sense now… So you're one of the traitors" Gaara calmly stated while gazing at his former mentor. "If that's the case, than which elder asked you to join Root?"

After he mentioned the name of their organization, Masanori's eyes shot open. This was the first time his face showed any life since he'd collapsed on the floor. "So you know about that huh?" His dark eyes focused on the blue light on the ceiling. The Suna ninja had no attention of giving him an answer.

"So you're not going to tell me?" He questioned, using his deep monotone voice. Masanori didn't reply, he just continued gazing at the ceiling. "Very well, but answers me this…" The look on his emotionless face, changed to a one of disappointment. On the inside he was slightly hurt by his betrayal. But it wasn't the first time someone had stabbed him in the back, so the affect it had on him was minimal. Nonetheless the young leader was still curious. "Why?"

The assassin once again turned away from Gaara, and focused his brown orbs on the sharp rocks on the ceiling. This time he didn't make eye contact with him because of the emotions that were stirring up inside of him. The topic was something that he wanted to avoid, but since he was defeated the least he could do was give them explanation. Sighing in defeat, he opened his mouth to give him the answer. "Because… You killed Kazuki… My little brother"

Gaara's reaction was instantaneous; his green eyes shot open in surprise. "What?" He had seen Kazuki before, though he never really had a conversation with him, because of their age difference. Still Kazuki was one of the few people who didn't stare at him with hate.

Masanori could see the clueless expression on the red head's face, so he decided to elaborate. "When you were 6 years old, you went on a rampage." He started, but began coughing up blood before he could continue. His time was almost up, but he wanted to make sure Gaara understood his pain. "It was the same day your Uncle Yashamaru had tried to kill you, which was the very thing that triggered your transformation."

Just like before, Gaara remained quiet. He didn't want to hear this, but he needed to.

"Once you had transformed into the Shukaku you went on a rampage, destroying everything that was in your path. Your father had dispatched a small unit to restrain your inner demon. As you know back then our village was low on shinobi as well as resources, which ironically led to your creation." He chuckled after his last statement. Even in his present state he could still find the humor in the ignorance their village was famous for. "With that being said, your father had to assign chunin and genin to pick up the slack since many of the jonin were out on missions. I had just become a jonin, so I was out on my second S rank mission."

The Kazekage closed his eyes and replied, "So my father had assigned your brother to stop me."

Masanori nodded. "Kazuki had just become a chunin at age 13, and he was already being assigned to restrain a tailed beast! In the end the fourth Kazekage stepped in and put an end to the Shukaku's rampage. "His emotions were starting to get the best of him. "I wasn't there, but some of the villagers who witnessed it, told me he gave his all. "Tears were now beginning to from in his eye lids. He was trying his best to hold back his tears, but his emotions were getting the best of him. "I didn't even get to congratulate him on becoming a chunin..." Now the water was starting to run down his cheeks and onto his lips.

"Look I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your brother, I know how it feels to lose someone you care about." Of course he was talking about the loss of Jiraiya who was like a grandfather to him. When he died all he wanted was revenge, but he knew that's not what the pervy sage would want. "But you can't blame Gaara for something he couldn't control. He didn't choose to become a demon container." Naruto calmly explained. He was really starting to become agitated by his logic, but he tried his best to keep together.

"Ha… spoken like a true jinchuriki." Masanori retorted sarcastically. "All ways sticking up for your own… typical."

Annoyed by his attitude, Naruto made a tight fist while stepping toward him with the intent to shut him up for good. "Why you…" Naruto growled, preparing to finish the man hear and now.

Before he could act on his emotions, Gaara extended his arm to stop him. "Naruto you need to stay calm." He stated in sedate manner. "I've got this…"

Naruto knew he was right, but he had just let his anger get the best of him, but he's always been this way. He was never the type to sit back quietly while someone insulted his friend. At the same time this was Gaara's problem so he needed to be the one to handle it. "Alright Gaara…" He replied. Now that he had calmed down a bit, his eyes returned to their ocean blue color.

"I know it probably doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry about Kazuki. I'm not going to try and justify his death because there is no way I can do that." Gaara spoke sincerely. "At that time I was in a very dark place and everyday was a struggle." Pain and sorrow were evident on his face. "I'm not asking you to forgive me for what I did. I just want you to understand."

"I do understand Gaara, but that will never change the way I feel..." Masanori replied with bitterness. The hatred he had for him was too strong. "You've caused… so much pain and… you've killed so many. Those sins don't just go away overnight Gaara." Instead of the sadistic smirk the assassin had sported the entire conversation; his face was now full of sorrow. You could see the tears forming in his eyes, as he lied there quietly.

He was now on the verge of dying, but that didn't mean he was going to give up on his mission. Not for the organization, he could care less about their goals at this point. No this is was for his little brother, who was killed on that fateful day. "And that is why you must die…" Slowly he lifted his right arm which was numb, but it was still significantly stronger than his left. He placed the sore appendage on the brown zipper on his flak jacket. Quickly he pulled it down revealing a cluster of paper wrapped around his torso. "Does this look familiar Gaara?"

"What the hell!" Naruto screamed. He tried to count all the explosive tags that were strapped onto his body. There had to be at least 30 of them.

"There's no escaping this explosion…" Masanori stated in between coughing up more blood. The paper bombs he had were special. These weren't the usual small explosions that you get with your average paper bomb. The ones he had were had were equal to that of a C2 bomb. "The cave entrance is enclosed, you two will die here."

Not wasting anytime Naruto turned to Gaara to snap him out of his daze. "Come on Gaara! We gotta get the hell outta here!" He shouted before turning around and sprinting.

For a minute Gaara stared at his dying mentor. He wasn't fazed about him trying to reenact the final moments of his uncle's death. He was saddened to find out that he hated him so much that he would end his own life just to take him out. You'd really go this far to end my life? He thought. Shaking his head in shame, he turned around and ran to catch up with Naruto. Before he could get too far, he took one final glance out of the corner of his eye. "Farewell Masanori…" He whispered, before once again shifting his attention up ahead.

As soon as he did the explosive tags detonated, causing the whole cavern to shake violently. Gaara was a good 50 feet away, so he wasn't within range. Still that didn't matter because the cave was imploding. The sharp rocks from the ceiling were already beginning to descend making things that much difficult. It's going to be difficult to find an exit under these circumstances, but we have no choice. Naruto was at least 15 yards ahead of him, so he picked up the pace.

Once they left the room full of hot springs, they were basically running blind. They had no choice but to go deeper and deeper into the cave since the entrance was blocked. However Naruto didn't know where the hell they should go. Currently the duo was running through a stoned path with lava on the inclines.

After several seconds Gaara had caught up with Naruto. Sighing in relief, the blonde looked at him expectantly. "So... You gotta plan?" He asked playfully. It wasn't a good time to joke around, but that's the only way he Knew how to stay positive in situations like this.

"No I don't." He responded while scanning the lava filled room for an exit. Behind them they could hear the crashing sounds of rubble. The bats that were hanging upside down near the cave's entrance were now flying over their heads. It seems they were also searching for an exit. "We probably have about 5 minutes before this cave completely collapses." A smile appeared on his face, while dashing through the passage. "My sand defense will definitely be useless then." He mused.

"Yeah you're right… So we're going to have to find one before that!" Naruto said with enthusiasm. There was no way he's was going to die in some decrepit old cave.

Exiting the lava filled room the two headed down a dark hallway. The floor in the new passage way was rocky like gravel, unlike the smooth ground they had been walking on so far. This part of the cave seemed slightly more stable than the northern region, but considering where the explosion came from it made sense. As they ran they could see the rats scurrying around in different directions. Aw man that's disgusting!

After coming to the end of the passage way, they reached a corridor. There were two hallways for them to go down and they had little time to decide. Whichever one the picked, they would have to stick with. There was no going back, once they went down that hall way, the corridor will be completely enveloped in rubble.

"This isn't good…" Gaara grinded his teeth while shifting his eyes between both hallways. Maybe we should both go done one. Know that isn't good we need to stick together.

"Ah shit!" Naruto shouted while beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. There's only one way to decide in situations like this. He lifted his right hand and used his index finger to point at the first passage. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe -

"Naruto… You're not serious are you?" He asked while raising an invisible eyebrow. He's seen the knucklehead to do some dumb things, but nothing like this.

"Yeah… This is the only thing I could think of." He replied nonchalantly.

The red head gasped at his explanation, but silently agreed. We don't have any other options so I guess I can't argue. "I guess we have no choice," he sighed. His friend smiled and returned to his decisive game of Eeny meeny miny moe. While Naruto was picking a passage, the hallway that they had just come out of was starting to collapse. Damn it! We don't have much time. Before he could scold Naruto about wasting precious time, something had caught his attention. Out of there corner of his eye, he saw a dim light flickering on and off. Just what the hell is that? He wondered. The light was coming from the first hall way, which seemed to be slightly bigger than the second one. Listening as good as a person could in collapsing cave; he had also heard a strange sound to match. This might be our ticket out of here.

"I think we should take the first one…" he remarked, interrupting Naruto's train a thought.

Not feeling any need to argue Naruto simply replied "okay…"

Now that two were on the same page, they wasted no time sprinting down the first passage way. With each step they took the light got brighter and the sound became clearer. A light! Yes we found a way out of this hell hole. A foxy grin appeared on the blonde's face as they dashed down the old hall. As they got closer and closer to the light, they were able to clearly see the writing and sculptures on the walls. The stone carvings were images of warriors surrounded by ferocious flames. The flames came from a giant red dragon that was hovering above them. Dragons and shinobi, what does it mean?

After running down the endless passage the strange light became within range. The light was purple, and it seemed to be emitting small electrical shocks. The two had planned on running straight through the light as soon as they saw it, but once they got to within 15 feet of it they stopped. "Whoa…" was the first thing that came to Naruto's mind as he gazed at the huge object. Right in front of them was a large purple hole of energy. Coming out of the hole were small bolts of electricity. The sound that it emitted was similar to that off a radio short circuiting.

In awe of the sight before him, Gaara had become speechless. So this is the light I saw? He wondered, while staring at gaping hole. His eyes scanned up and down the giant mass of energy. It was so amazing to him; he couldn't understand how something like this even existed in their world. As he glanced at it his eyes wondered to a sculpting that had hung above the hole. It was an image of a man with a staff standing up to the giant dragon. Next to that was some encrypted writing. He squinted several times to see if he could understand the writing but to no avail. The words were written in another language or code, there was no way he'd able to decipher the writing. But when he decided that he wouldn't be able to decipher the writing, he turned his attention back on the image. In particular the man holding the Buddhist staff, there was something familiar about him. His eyes had a rippled like pattern with a light purple iris and sclera. Immediately he recognized it. "The Rinnegan…"

While Gaara stared at the sculpture above the door, Naruto slowly approached the huge hole. He was somehow being drawn to it like a magnet. His blue orbs were mesmerized; he was basically walking toward it without even being aware of how dangerous it could be. Once he was within a few feet of the mysterious portal, he placed the palm of his hand on the surface causing it to ripple. As soon as he touched it he felt a welcoming sensation. The electricity from the gate immediately began spreading through his core. "Amazing…" he whispered with a faint grin.

The room northern part of the hall was now beginning to fall apart, so they only had a minute at most to make a decision. They could either take a chance by steeping through the portal or stand there and wait to be crushed to death. The choice seemed obvious, but there were still unknown dangers that could be awaiting them on the other side. Gaara was still uncertain about the mysterious door. Just like Naruto he felt drawn to it, but he wasn't the kind of guy who judged things solely on instincts. Not to say he didn't use his instincts, he was just happened to be a very cautious person. However, Naruto already had made up his mind when he touched the gate.

"Gaara I think we should go," he stated with confidence, while gazing at the monumental hole of swirling energy.

There was no time for him to argue with Naruto's decision, nonetheless he was curious about his reasoning. "Why?"

A huge smirk appeared on the blondes face, "Just trust me… have I ever been wrong?"

The Kazekage didn't even bother answering the question. Instead he just stared at the blonde for several moments. A small smile appeared on his face, "Well I suppose it's better than dying." He responded while watching the rubble fall from the ceiling.

Once he heard he was on board, his smile grew even wider. "Alright! Let's go!" He pumped his fist in the air enthusiastically. Not wanting to waste any more time he jumped through the electrical portal, causing the gate to shudder.

"Wait!" Gaara warned but it was too late, Naruto had already gone through. Now he was alone in the collapsing corridor. The ground was shaking violently but the red head kept his composure. He took one final glance at electrical hole before sighing. "Naruto Uzumaki… You haven't changed a bit," he said. Quietly he walked toward the surging gate. As he made his way toward the gate, a large piece of rubble was heading straight for his head. Before it could make contact, the red head crossed through the portal.

The colorful lights flickered, as the bus zoomed through the tunnel at an incredible speed. The bus driver knew Tsukune was already late, so he didn't have the time to worry about speed limits. Besides he was crossing through tunnel that separated the monster world and the human world. No one was going to see him so it didn't matter anyway.

I'm almost there Tsukune thought while looking straight ahead. He could see the white light at the end of the tunnel, which reassured him of their impending arrival. It should take me a good 15 minutes to get to the school from the drop off point. He was anxious to get to school; he had already missed several classes. Before he knew it they had passed through the dimensional tunnel. The bus then came to a halt at the edge of a cliff. When it stopped, Tsukune stood up from his seat in the back and headed to the front of the bus. He waved to the bus driver as he exited the vehicle.

"Hey…"

Tsukune turned around to see what the strange man wanted. "Yes?" he responded, curious to what he would want

"Remember what I said, watch your back..." After his brief warning, the driver closed his automatic doors and took off in the opposite direction.

Tsukune waited till the bus was no longer visible before scratching his head in confusion. "I wonder what he means." He shrugged his shoulders before turning around to look at the forest he had to go through to reach the academy. It looked just as dangerous as ever. Sighing he said, "Well… I guess I better get going."

X-X-X-X-X-X

High above the forest in the vanilla skies, a small hole appeared. It was emitting strong bolts of purple electricity while spinning rapidly. With each electrical bolt, a thunderous sound came with it. For about a few minutes the vortex hovered 2,000 feet above the ground. After what seemed like forever, a figure came out of the swirling maelstrom. Emerging from the hole was blonde male. After his whole body passed through the vortex, his body began plummeting. While he descended he didn't move at all, his body had small electrical bolts surging through his body. He appeared to be unconscious, which only made matter's worse.

The purple vortex continued surge convulsively. The thunderous sounds became even louder as another figure was about to come forth. Miniature bolts of lightning flared, as a male with red auburn hair slowly came out of the lightning filled vortex. By the look of his half open eyes he was exhausted, but at the moment that was irrelevant. Now his body was almost completely out of the vortex and once that happened he'd fall straight to his death.

W-Where am I? He wondered while staring at the unfamiliar skies. His body had been severely weakened from traveling through the portal. When his green eyes shifted downward, his heart skipped a beat. Before he could say a word, he had already begun descending towards the earth. Shit! This isn't good. The red head thought, as he gazed down at the ground that he would be soon be a part of if he didn't intervene. While staring at the earth beneath him, he noticed another plummeting object. "What is that?" He whispered while squinting. It was very difficult for him to see with the wind blowing powerfully. The air currents were messing up his field of vision. After a few moments of focusing, he was finally able to make out one of the figure's characteristics. "Blonde hair…"

Immediately a light bulb turned on in his head and he knew exactly who the person was. "Naruto..." He whispered while gazing wide eyed at his friend. He was actually relieved to see him since there was no telling if they would end up in the same place after traveling through that portal. He was going to show one of his rare smiles, when he noticed something strange. Why isn't he moving? He wondered, while studying his body the best he can from his current position. His body seemed lifeless, there was no movement whatsoever. When Gaara figured out what was wrong with him he gasped in distress. Damn it all! He's unconscious. It's probably because he jumped straight into it.

Naruto was now 1,000 feet off the ground and getting even lower by the seconds. His chakra was low, but he really had no choice in the matter. He was going to have to do something to save himself anyways, so might as well help out a friend in the process. As quick as he could in his current condition, he weaved through several hand signs. After he finished performing the necessary seals, he started focusing on the forest. He was obviously waiting for his jutsu to take effect, but nothing was happening. This caused the usual composed teenager to become a little distraught.

He wasn't worried about his own well-being, but he was worried about Naruto. He's the only person he knows who had to endure the same loneliness he did and he was also the one who saved him from that solitude. Naruto Uzumaki showed him that there was a way to gain acceptance as a jinchuriki. He inspired him to connect with the people of the sand and claim the title of Kazekage. His dream is to become the Hokage. For that to happen he needs to live past today. I don't have much chakra left, but it will have to suffice! He was about to repeat the hand signs when the ground started shaking.

Suddenly a massive amount of sand began to rise from beneath the forest floor. All the animals scurried away from the forest opening. The bats that were rested on the surrounding trees flew away, as the sand continued to elevate. Once the sand had rose to about 700 feet it began to take shape. The monumental structure was at least 50 meters in width. Once the transformation was complete, the sand had taken the form of a beautiful woman. Both of her arms were outstretched and the palms of her hands were faced towards the sky in a welcoming manner. The left hand was in perfect position for Naruto to land. Gaara made sure he gathered up enough soft minerals so they wouldn't further injure themselves upon impact, but he also got plenty of hard minerals so they wouldn't fall through the sand.

Naruto was now within 20 feet of the sand woman's hand. Gaara watched carefully as his friend landed hard on the sand. On impact, a loud thud was heard. If he was awake he'd probably feel the full effects of that landing. Gaara did his best to make the sand soft enough for landing, but there had to be a little bit of pain, so it couldn't be helped. A small smile crept on his face when he saw Naruto land safely on his back. Now all he had to do was reposition his body so that he could land directly on the right hand of the sand sculpture. He was within 200 feet of the sand structure, but he was still several feet off target. Quickly the red head began to move his hands and legs in a swimming motion so he could get the correct spot. He kept doing this for about 5 seconds until he felt like he was in perfect position to land on the woman's right hand.

Once he was in the right location he stopped moving at let gravity do the rest. After what seemed like forever he finally landed on the palm. When his body made contact, the thud was even louder than the one Naruto made on impact. Unlike the blonde, he was actually conscious so he felt every ache and pain that came with the landing. "Damn it!" He murmured in a muffled voice. His voice sounded distorted since his face was buried in the sand. Groaning in pain, he tried to roll himself over onto his back. His abdomen was soar not to mention other parts of his anatomy, but he still tried to move. He was extremely exhausted; all he wanted to do was fall asleep. With the shukaku inside of him it was dangerous for him to drift into slumber. However he's far more stable than he was four years ago, so maybe the risks weren't as high.

Once he managed to turn onto his back, he let out an exasperated sigh. What is this place? He asked while staring up at the skies. Where ever they were, it was somewhere foreign. He noticed when he was falling from the skies that seas were red. Where he's from that's not normal. Another noticeable thing was the woods, all the trees were dead. There were no leaves and it wasn't even fall. Then the last thing was that huge building he had seen before landing. I wonder what that building was. He blinked several times before turning his attention to the sand woman he created. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, but he wanted to gaze at his creation one last time before submitting to slumber. Staring at the woman with half open eyes a faint smile crept on his face. Before he knocked out he whispered "You're always there for me... Aren't you mother?" After he said those words his eyes closed and he was out like a light. Several moments later, the giant sand sculpture of his mother Karura began to recede back into the earth.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Not too far from their location, Tsukune had got into a misunderstanding with a beautiful girl while on his way to school. She wore a red shirt tied in front by a bow and the standard skirt that all the female students wore. Her flaming orange hair was tied into pony tails. Unfortunately for Tsukune, her attitude matched her fiery hair color.

"You we're going to grope me again!" The girl screamed before delivering a painful kick to his face.

Tsukune head jolted from the blow, causing his neck to jerk. Rubbing his soar jaw, the young teenager tried to plead his case. "No I swear I wasn't trying to!" He murmured, but the troublesome girl was already too far away to hear him.

"Drop dead jerk!" She shouted back while walking north towards the academy.

The brunette slowly stood up and dusted off his clothes. She may be cute, but she has a quick tempore, he thought while scratching his head. Well at least I'm not the only one who's late he thought as he watched her walk north towards the academy.

He was quietly walking through the forest, when he noticed a sand monument appeared in the sky. The good thing was Tsukune wasn't too far from where it was. If he walked fast enough he'd get there in about 5 minutes. Before he could go, that crazy girl ran him over with her bike, causing both of them to fall. When they fell, his hand accidently cupped her left breast and that's how it all started.

I'm glad that's over… He told himself, before turning in the direction he spotted the monument. When he looked in that direction it was gone. "W-What the hell! Where is it?" He shouted. Just like that the sand sculpture was gone. That strange, it was just there a second ago. Once again the brown haired boy scratched the back of his head in confusion. Sighing he turned to look straight ahead at the path that would lead him to his school in no more than 5 minutes. That little incident cost him a few minutes, but he still had 10 minutes before lunch started. Next he turned to the left to look at a large cluster of trees. That's where that thing appeared; he narrowed his eyes while staring in that direction. There was something suspicious about that thing. Tsukune wasn't one to investigate, but for some reason that monument caught his attention.

Still uncertain, he turned back to gaze at the path in front of him. He knew he needed to get to school, he had already missed almost half his classes, but there a part of him that was telling him to head deeper into the woods. "Alright I'll go… But I gotta make it fast!" He picked up his bag and turned left to head straight into the cluster of trees. He sprinted through the flock of trees, while gazing at his wrist watch every ten seconds. It bothered him that he was missing school to play inspector gadget, but he felt like this was one of those times he had to follow his instincts. As he ran his brand new shoes, were beginning to collect dirt. His school uniform was already dirty as it is and now his shoes. At the moment it didn't matter though, since Tsukune was too focused on something else.

The air breezed through his hair, as he twisted and turned through the woods. After last semester he had grown a great deal faster than he was. Moka's vampire blood seemed to have an effect on him even when in his human form. He was fairly certain that having monster blood inside him had its flaws, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. I'm almost there… I could feel it. With each step he took he became a little more anxious, resulting in him picking up speed. He was moving so fast that he ended up kicking up small rocks that weren't so visible. After running for about a minute he made his way to an intersection. This frustrated him; he didn't want to waste any more time than he had planned. Grinding his teeth, the brunette picked the path on the right it.

He dashed down the smooth path, but after a while he couldn't control his momentum. The road was too steep; eventually he was going to either trip or crash into something. "Ah shit! I can't control-

Before he could finish his sentence he foot got lodged in a pot hole. Tsukune stopped momentarily, but he fell forward before he could regain his balance. Now he was rolling down the hill at an incredible speed. I should have just walked! Why didn't I walk? He inwardly screamed. After tumbling down the hill for several seconds he rolled into a prickly bush. That was the worst place he could roll into.

Many of the thorns were now lodged in his arms and legs. His stomach, chest, and back were also filled with the miniature needles. To make matters worse his body was in an uncomfortable position. His right arm was stuck behind his back, while the other one was the deep inside the bush. His spine was twisted and his neck was also curled. "This sucks…" He groaned as he tried to maneuver himself out of the bush. He rolled his neck back and removed his hand that was trapped deep within the shrubs. Once he managed to pull it out, he rolled over and fell out of the thorn bush.

When he rolled out he landed on some soft soil, which was a relief. Still with the number of thorns that lodged in his torso made him look like a hedgehog. "I could have just gone to school; instead I decided to play the damn investigator!" Slowly he lifted himself off the ground, so he was now on his knees. Carefully he began removing some of the pricks that were stuck in his arms. Luckily they didn't hurt as much going out as they did going in. There were some small holes in his jacket, but he had several of them packed in his bag. After that he stood up to dust himself off. I shouldn't have been running so fast, now I have to go to school looking like this. He lifted his head up to see a row of pine trees. It was strange to see any trees with leaves in these woods. However Tsukune just shrugged his shoulder as he approached the trees.

They were all jammed close together, but there was still a small space between them. Tsukune tried his best to peek through the pine trees so that he could see what was beyond them. When he did he saw a huge forest opening. The vast clearing was easily the same size of your average football field. The grass wasn't lush green, but it was way healthier than the rest of the dried up forest. The opening was filled with many shrubs. Unlike the prickly bush he had just crawled out of these were actually healthy. "This has to be the place…" He said aloud while gazing at the large field. It didn't make since that he had never came across this place before, but then again he never really ventured in these woods. Most of the time he just took the path that would lead him straight to the academy.

Squirming his way through, Tsukune managed to squeeze through the pine trees. He didn't feel like wasting more time by going around. His brown eyes surveyed the area for anything suspicious. Slowly he started walking through the clearing. Every bush he passed, he'd look behind it before continuing. As much as he didn't like doing this it needed to be done. This school year was going to be like no other, he already could tell that much by the way the bus driver was acting. But it wasn't just the driver, Tsukune had his own suspicions. There was a chance that they could have a normal school year, but in his mind it was highly unlikely.

The 17 year old had now made his way through half of the field. Before moving any further he stopped to look at his watch. It was now 12:25. Five minutes till lunch. Right on time his stomach started growling. "Well I've wasted enough time here; I gotta get to school so I can eat." He was about to turn around when he noticed something on the of the corner of his eye, he saw a trail of sand. The small trail led to a bush that was a few meters ahead. Without giving it a second thought he walked toward it. When he got to it, he was astonished at what he found. "What the hell…" He whispered.

Lying there peacefully was an unconscious blonde male. The mysterious teen wore an orange and black tracksuit. The outfit was filled with holes that revealed all the bruises and cuts on his body. He also had on a pair of black sandals which was weird in its own sense. "I can tell by looking at his clothes he doesn't go to Yokai." He guessed while raising an eyebrow at the unconscious boy's fashion sense. No one wore orange on campus; most male students wore the Yokai jacket with a dress shirt under. After studying his clothes, his eyes wondered back up to his face. There were two things that had caught his attention. The first was the three abstract lines that were located on both his cheeks. "Are those whiskers…?" He thought while leaning in to get a closer look. Squinted several times to make sure his vision was fine. Yeah those are definitely whiskers. Never in his life had he seen someone with Whiskers on their face. That includes all the monsters in their human forms. He sure is a strange one, he thought.

The other thing he noticed was the headband wrapped around his forehead. On the headband was a metal protector with a symbol. It appeared to be a leaf, but he wasn't completely sure. "Who the hell is this guy?" Tsukune pondered while staring at the blonde. He kept observing him until he realized that the blonde was in pretty bad condition. His body was filled with wounds, and some of them were still open. There was no time to waste; he needed to get him to the hospital.

Slowly he stood up and stared at the mysterious blonde. He wasn't sure if he should try and carry him or run and get help. Sure he had gotten a little stronger and a little faster but he was still pretty weak. There was no way he'd be able to carry him all the way to the academy, especially in his current state. He himself was exhausted; the only thing he could do is get help. "I'll be back… I'm going to go get you some help," he said. The guy was knocked out, so there was no reply. Nodding he turned around to take off, but he felt something grabbed onto his leg. "What the…" He turned around to see what was holding him back. It was the injured teen. His blue eyes were half way open as he stared at back at the brunette.

Naruto gripped the guy's ankle a little harder to make sure he didn't run. Carefully the blonde tried to sit up, which was pretty hard in his current condition. Eventually his body started twitching and he fell back down. Damn it! Why am I so weak right now? He inwardly screamed. Sighing in defeat, he looked up at the guy who was standing over him. Who is this guy? He was sure he had never seen him before. Once he was sure the boy wasn't going to run he let go of his ankle.

He moved his neck which was the only part of his body that wasn't soar. Where the hell am I? The blonde wondered. His tired eye shifted left and right studying the foreign place. After looking around he realized this forest was also unfamiliar. This must be the place we ended up after traveling through that strange portal. He thought as his eyes started closing. But before he could slip in to slumber, his eyes shot open. Gaara… Where is he? I know he came through after me so he should be around here somewhere. Desperately he tried to get up, but his body didn't want to comply. Again he fell back down after only lifting his back a few inches off the ground. Damn it! This isn't like me. What the hell is going on with my body!

Tsukune stood there quietly as the stranger kept trying to sit up, but each time he tried he would fall back down in an instant. What is it, that's making him want to move so badly? After about ten tries he finally intervened. "Don't push yourself; you'll only worsen your condition." He warned. Apparently the blonde heard him, so he stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Just stay here and I'll go get you some help. I'll be back in a few minutes." He explained with a reassuring smile. Before he could turn around, the strange teen spoke.

"Wait…" He said. His voice was low and raspy. He looked like he wanted to fall asleep.

"Yes?" Tsukune replied.

"Gaara…" He started as his ocean blue eyes started to close.

"What?" Tsukune responded with a questionable stare. He couldn't hear him clearly. What is he trying to tell me? It must be something important if he's willing to push himself this far.

When Naruto finally found his speaking voice he whispered, "Gaara… my friend… You gotta find him," he requested before once again losing consciousness.

To be continued…

Well that's chapter 2, I hope it was to your liking. Like I said at the beginning of this chapter, don't expect all of them to be this long. By the way it will be a while before update this story, because I gotta get back to working on my other two fics. Anyways leave a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!