Naruto stood in the middle of the clearing, sensing the sand-nin slowly approach, surrounding him. One of them called out cautiously.

"Uzumaki Naruto, also known as the Fox, you are surrounded." Naruto grinned and raised his hands into the air.

"You got me. I surrender." He could almost feel the surprise radiating from the Suna shinobi, all of them prepared for a fight that was basically suicidal, considering he was their opponent. As they slowly entered the clearing, none of them let their guard down. One of them he recognized.

"Hey Baki," he cheerfully greeted the stern jounin. Baki looked at him curiously.

"Uzumaki-sama," he said with a bow. "May I ask why you are giving yourself up? With you abilities you have a very good shot at escaping us." Naruto's smile faded into a serious expression.

"I have a message from Temari no Sabaku," he hesitantly informed him. "She is not a prisoner, nor have any of our shinobi killed her. She left a message with Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, and they relayed her request to inform the Kaze-kage of her situation to me, seeing as I have a greater chance of speaking with Gaara-sama." Naruto tensed, prepared for an attack, or some sort of retaliation. None came. He looked up as Baki waved off the other shinobi. He turned, cloak spinning out behind him.

"Come Uzumaki Naruto. I will lead you to the Kazekage." He gave Naruto a stern look. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you, but I know you are a man of honor, so I will lend you my influence to help you pass through our lines." He looked back at Naruto, with a glance that would chill ice. "But if you betray us, you will pay."

Naruto gladly followed him out of the clearing, as his gaze was directed towards the land in front of him. Thank god, I've survived the first part of my mission. Now I need to survive Gaara after he hears what I have to say.

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Gaara frowned at the "prisoner" in front of him. Naruto bow was so deep, Gaara feared he might go through the floor. "Rise, Naruto" Gaara said emotionlessly. He was confused, puzzled because he had no idea why Naruto was there, only that it was important and it pertained to Temari. So he had had them bring Naruto to his office in order for them to talk alone. As Naruto stood up, his confusion increased. Naruto had willingly become a prisoner, which was impressive of any shinobi. Capture usually meant interrogation and eventually death. It meant this was truly important. "What do you have to say, Naruto?" he asked, his voice still inflectionless. Naruto looked at him seriously. If even Naruto had a serious expression on his face, it meant his news was grave.

"I think Kankorou should be here to hear this as well, Kazekage-sama," Naruto said solemnly. Gaara gave him an unreadable look before summoning an assistant.

"Please send for jounin Kankurou no Sabaku," he ordered the assistent as she stared wide-eyed at Naruto, who, noticing her attention, promptly gave her his warm, welcoming smile. The girl squeaked and ran out to do as Gaara commanded. Gaara chuckled at Naruto's confused look. "You don't understand why she was frightened when you smiled?" Gaara asked. Naruto nodded, still a little thrown off by the odd reaction. He chuckled again. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, the fox, the most dangerous Konoha-nin, therefore the greatest enemy of Suna. She was already anxious when she saw you standing freely in my office with no one else present, she was bothered by the fact that we were comfortably chatting, at least that's how our conversation seemed. When you smiled, you completely destroyed all the preconceived opinions she had of you." He gave a hopeful smile. "Maybe this will begin a process of healing and forgiveness for the people of Suna. Maybe that smile will help my people understand that our sister-village Konoha is not truly our enemy."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Let's hope we can fix the rent between our homes." The two of them smiled at one another, bound by the hope of a good future. Then the moment was ruined by a loud voice accompanied by an obnoxious knock.

"Yo, Kitsune!" The puppeteer called out. Naruto turned to face the door, grinning at Kankurou.

"Yo, puppet man!" Naruto replied, still grinning. "I take it you've survived this war so far, done any fighting yet?" Kankurou flipped him off and turned to Gaara.

"So what'd you need me for?" He questioned. Gaara's expression sobered.

"Naruto has information about Temari to share with us," Gaara informed his brother. "He intentionally exposed himself, surrendering to our troops so he could tell us.... what exactly?" The last remark was directed towards the konoha shinobi. Naruto's face had assumed a grim expression.

"Two weeks ago, Nara Shikamaru's subordinates were approached by a Suna kunoichi," he recited. "Temari no Sabaku gave them a message she had received from Nara Shikamaru, along with the request to pass it on to his team. She revealed to them, that, he had been faced with a situation in which he would've had to kill her, or disobey Konoha." Naruto paused. "He chose option three. Repudiation of his allegiance to Konoha, marking this with the traditional cut on his forehead protector." Naruto paused, not sure about how to continue.

"Well?" Kankurou demanded roughly. "What does this have to do with where Temari is?" Naruto gave him a pitying look.

"Temari, after explaining what had occured to Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino, then proceeded to inform the two of her own intention to-," he took a long gulp of sweet air, slightly afraid it might be his last considering who he was talking to. "-to repudiate her allegiance to Suna and follow Shikamaru into exile. In her words 'I'm out guys. I'm done with this war.'" Naruto finished, and looked at the two brothers tentatively.

Crack

Naruto whipped his head around to where Gaara stood by his desk, the desk that now sported a smoking gash neatly bisecting it. He followed the path of the slash to the wall behind the desk, where a quivering blade stuck out of the blackening wood, poison seeping into its grains. Naruto turned towards Kankurou, eyebrows raised. Karasu was out of his scroll, behind him Kankurou stood with a furious expression gracing his face.

Bam

Naruto looked back to the Kazekage's desk, only to realize there was no desk left, only a few splintered scraps of wood where it had stood. His eyebrows climbed higher. Gaara stood slightly to the left of the poor desk's remains, face still impassive, except for a small hint of murderous intent. The only other indication that he was responsible for the death of the desk was the sand swirling at his feet, a miniature vortex of doom. Naruto pursed his lips. "Well you seem to be handling it pretty well," he joked.

Swish

Naruto turned his head to see another knife in the wall, this time an inch away from his face. Thank god Kankurou has good aim.

"You think this is funny?" Kankurou hissed menacingly. Naruto looked him in the eye.

"Please remember, Kankurou no Sabaku, that you are not the only one who has lost someone in this way." He stared down the puppetmaster. "He may not have been related to me by blood, but Shikamaru was a part of my new family, the one that was formed by friendship." He shifted his gaze from Kankurou to Gaara. "This war is doing us no good. We've lost good shinobi in a mindless thirst for blood and revenge. It has to stop." Gaara met his eyes and nodded. He spoke slowly and carefully.

"I agree, this war was foolishly allowed to proceed by myself, and Lady Tsunade-sama. It has gone too far. We must seek a resolution, but before we can do anything about it, I will need to arrange for a meeting with the Hokage. Unfortunately, such things take time, it will be a while before we can start." Naruto's face lit up.

"Ah, Gaara," he said smugly. "Before I left to begin this mission, Tsunade-sama gave me the authority to act as her unofficial representative to Suna. I have the authority to begin peace talks, and collaborate with you on what to do in this — unique — situation Shikamaru and Temari-san have provided us with." He frowned. "What should we do?" Gaara turned to look out his window, gazing over Suna. He thought for a moment before answering.

"We can't ask them to come back when their return would only throw them into the same situation they were trying to escape. When we have established peace, we will send out our messengers in search of them, and bring our lost family members home." He looked back at Naruto and Kankurou, and smiled in response to the hope and determination that had returned to their faces.