2nd entry of the journal of Tsuchi, Rei
"Naruto's our youngest, both physically and mentally. Honestly, he's one of the most endearingly idiotic, naïve, and annoying shinobi I've ever met. He's only a few months younger than Gaara, and yet acts almost half Gaara's age. He's nothing like any of us. Gaara and Musan are complete psychopaths, the old one barely talks, Kudo talks too much, but he's just hiding under all that bravado, Yugito is a rebellious brat, and Setsu…she's beyond crazy. I know I'm not all that different. I'm an asocial careless bastard that can barely keep sane among these psycho-cases. Gods, the Kages really were sadists. This goes under cruel and unusual."
"Those boys certainly came a long way."
"What makes you say that, Gai-sensei?"
"Look at the state of their clothes and feet. They must have walked until their shoes and clothes wore out. Now that takes guts!"
"But what would make such young boys do such a thing?"
"I think that they're older than they look."
"But they're so small-"
"Believe me, they must be at least 11. I have grandchildren, you know."
"Then…"
"The only way for humans to stay that small is to be starved over the course of years."
A short silence.
"Oh!"
"Poor things. I believe that they ran off from an abusive home."
"But it must have been a shinobi who taught them. I've never seen those kinds of techniques outside of the Hidden Villages."
"Some villages are harsher on their children to make them stronger. I've heard that the Village of the Bears sends its children alone into the mountains for months to prove that they're strong enough to become shinobi."
"How awful!"
Gaara listened with a half an ear on the hushed conversation. Humans are certainly stupid, he decided, they talk and talk about things which don't concern them. He kept his eyes shut and his breathing shallow and even. He sat leaning against the trunk of a tree with Naruto's head pillowed in his lap. Naruto lay sprawled out as usual, taking up as much space as humanly possible while he slept. Gaara kept one hand placed on Naruto's head as he always did to keep away nightmares. This was the only time when Gaara felt close to happy. Whatever "happy" was, he only ever felt something like it when he was with Naruto.
"But what to do with them? We can't leave them on their own: who knows what kind of trouble they may get into!"
"Ruri-hime, this is your decision as you are our client."
"I thought this was shinobi business, Might-san. But I can't just leave these two alone. The younger one didn't even know what to do with their money."
"It's doubtful that they were telling the truth about being kicked out from their old home. Shinobi don't just let their subordinates go like that. They may be missing-nin. This could bring more trouble onto us, hime-sama."
"I appreciate your concern, Hyuuga-san. However, it is not much further to my village. They can stay with me for a while until they get find their feet. I really don't mind."
"They could be trouble, though. I don't like this. With all due respect, hime-sama."
"You just don't like them, Neji!"
"Ten-Ten…"
"She's telling the truth, Neji! You don't appreciate their youthful spirits!"
"Keep out of this, Lee!"
"Now, now my passionate and hip young students! Don't let this disagreement break your joyful team bonds!"
"What 'joyful' team bonds?" Gaara heard the one called Hyuuga Neji mutter resentfully. Out of all of this team from Konoha, Neji was the one that truly brushed him and Naruto the wrong way. Maybe it was his condescension toward Naruto's declaration of the two of them becoming powerful ninja. Maybe it was just his cold and arrogant manner. Whatever it was, Gaara decided that Neji wasn't worth keeping around for much longer.
The woman, Ruri whatever, had talked about taking them in. Well, that might be useful. It was only after their meal and the talking that went with it that Gaara realized how unprepared he and Naruto were: the state of their clothes, their lack of shoes, and their general ignorance would only draw unwanted attention.
"So we're agreed. The boys will come with me as my guests."
Guests? Gaara smiled quietly to himself as the firelight flickered over his darkened eyelids. Old hag, you have no idea.
A chuunin wandered out of the Records Room, yawning and stretching from hours of repetitive, mind-numbing work. Right now, he was ready to head off to the Dango Shop and maybe get a small cup of tea as well. He didn't notice the figure crouched on the roof directly above him. As soon as he left, Musan crawled into the room, still using chakra to hold his arms and legs onto the roof and jumped down. A quick genjutsu and the same chuunin stood there. Musan stared at the endless shelves of scrolls that awaited him and grimaced.
"Work, work, work." he muttered gloomily as he pulled a promising scroll from the nearest shelf, "That's all I'm good for around here!"
-----
Rei heard them behind him. He was sprinting over the roofs of Konoha, making sure that they stayed on to him.
I just hope Musan manages to the get the information we need, he thought,then we can get out of here!
"Katsu!" Several explosions were left in his wake, leaving his pursuers in the confusion as he ducked into an open window and sprinted through the empty room and down the stairs.
"Pardon the intrusion," he muttered ironically as he swung over the banister and landed lightly on his feet in a neat sitting room. An old woman sat in a small chair and was darning what looked like a lopsided sock.
"Eh? Is that you, Matsu-chan?"
"Erm…"
Rei quietly tip-toed out of the room while the old biddy blinked about in confusion. Thank goodness the only occupant here was blind and mostly deaf!
He raced out of the door and began striding towards the edges of the town. Musan needed all the time he could to copy those records, so it was probably best to draw their enemies out and away from the village center.
"Halt!"
Rei stiffened as he felt the kunai dig into his back. He turned and silently cursed as he saw the shinobi with the dark glasses from before.
"You people never give up, do you?" He muttered.
"Indeed not." The stiff shinobi replied, "You have no idea whom you are up against! This Ebisu is one of the finest shinobi to grace this village!"
"'Finest', huh?" Rei swung and pivoted on his leg. Their kunai clashed briefly as they broke away and leapt for opposite ends of the field.
"Let's go." Rei hissed as he lunged for the shinobi. The Konoha-nin smirked and did the same.
Eeeeh! I'm sorry it took so long! Finals were a bitcah and on top of that my # dorm sprung a leak and messed up my computer! Well, I'm back. Sorry if this chapter isn't that long but it'll get better soon, I promise!
DOKIDOKIpanic: Yeah, sorry about the formatting. I'm kind of new to formatting stories for FF . net. Glad you like it though.
uh...: I'm working on the formatting after I finish outlining the plot.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a belated Happy Hannukah, an early Kwanzaa, and a very early Happy New Year (whenever that is for your individual religious/cultural denomination.)