I thought about adding more to this, but considering the time I'd be as well as starting the next chapter. Didn't get much in terms of reviews last chapter, which wasn't a surprise, but a hindrance to motivation. Anyway, I'll get to the next chapter, and finish this mission with it.

Disclaimer: ... Thug aim.


The scarred Shinobi

It was early the next day, the morning sun had just finished rising and the sky was now a calm blue. Gaara listened to the sound of the wakening birds, chirping and flying around while he sat motionless on the sand. Utakata and Yagura were taking paper scrolls and forming a large decagon around him, the lettering on one passing onto the next as they formed a circle. Even then the last lettering moved back onto the first, forming an endless cycle of indecipherable seals.

Once they had finished that, they produced even more scrolls from the sack laid aside. Gaara couldn't help but wonder where they had procured these from, but was even more curious about their purpose. The two ex-Kiri nin took those other scrolls and laid them out on each edge of the decagon, unravelling them so that they all led straight to Gaara.

"Take your sweater off, we'll need to draw seals on you." Utakata said, as he pulled the third scroll's end towards Gaara. The red haired boy nodded and did what he was told, slipping his sweater off and laying it before him. Yagura took it and set it aside as he passed, spreading another scroll towards him in the process.

The process seemed more than a little complicated, Gaara was aware that these two had been working since dawn to prepare all this. Like yesterday however, it was Utakata who was the one most willing to go through with it. Yagura had remained quiet, letting himself become immersed in the task he wanted no part in.

Gaara sat perfectly still as Utakata and Yagura knelt to either side if him, with brushes and ink at the ready. He was like a stone statue, right up until the point the brushes actually touched him. The two boys quickly retracted their brushes as Gaara shivered, his eyes suddenly became angry at his own reaction.

"You could throw a wave of kunai, and this guy wouldn't even blink." Utakata thought, as he smirked at Gaara's expense. He then moved forward with the brush again, noticing Gaara had tensed up considerably, "But he probably hasn't known a soft touch for years."

Yagura ignored Gaara's rigid manner for his benefit, he knew that this was likely to be very uncomfortable for him. It was admirable that he could put up with it, having sensitive nerves was hell at times like this.

Gaara fixed his eyes on the ocean line, trying his best to ignore the delicate brushes drifting across his skin. One of the last things he would ever admit to being was ticklish, he'd sooner throw himself into the ocean. However even he had to admit that others knowing would make no difference, who would dare investigate the truth of such a thing?

It took several painstaking minutes, but eventually the brushes were lifted and placed aside. Gaara let out the slightest breath of relief, not daring to let the other two see it. His arms, chest and back were covered in black kanji, all of them running towards his stomach. Utakata and Yagura both got to their feet, stepping around to check their work over.

"It looks about ready." Utakata said, lightly rubbing his chin with his finger as he looked over Gaara's back. Yagura gave a nod of reply from the other side, his arms folding as he narrowed his eyes.

"You still sure you want to do this?" Yagura asked, making a last ditch attempt to stop this situation before it really began. However, Gaara didn't speak a word of reply. The look he gave Yagura more than suffice to get his answer across. Yagura let out an annoyed sigh, before turning around and heading close to the water, "Fine, Utakata, get out of the way."

"Sure thing." Utakata said, stepping back to a safe distance. Once he was outside the decagon, Yagura turned back and faced Gaara. He wore the look of someone who believed he was condemning another man, but he had done all he could. All that was left was to go through with what they were planning, and hope for the best.

"Ok…" he said, slowly raising his hands as he prepared to form seals, "Let's begin."

Fuu slowly opened her eyes, hazily looking over to the carriage not so far away. The birds above had woken her up from what had been a rather uneasy sleep. She couldn't quite remember what it was she had dreamt, just that there had been lots of incoherent yells involved.

She pushed herself up a half sitting position, leaning on her arm as she looked around. The servants were all still fast asleep, and the guards only beginning to stir. Naruto was nowhere to be seen, though he had been here up until Fuu fell asleep last night.

He had suggested that everyone get some rest, and that he would watch over them in the meantime. No one had complained, but Fuu had done her best to stay awake too. It seemed she had been unable to do so however, her stamina clearly was no match for Naruto's.

Guiltily she lifted herself to her knees, stretching her arms and groaning inwardly as she felt the sense of relief that often came with such an action. She raised her brow in surprise though, as she felt something fall off her and onto the ground. She looked down at it, what was Kensuke's happi doing draped over her?

"Hey." came a voice, causing Fuu to look behind her.

"Naruto-san!" Fuu exclaimed, watching as the blond emerged from the bushes. He had a rather bedraggled look about him, his eyes half closed and his frame slouching low. Fuu gave him a closer look, and realised he was looking a little pale, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." Naruto replied, rubbing his head wearily. Though he said such a thing, he certainly didn't look it, "Dunno what that bastard was using, but looks like that gas didn't agree with me."

"You- you should be getting some rest!" Fuu hastily said, placing both hands on the ground as she gave him a worried look. She knew it would be bad if he was unable to fight in his condition, especially since he believed the enemy from yesterday was coming back.

"No time, we gotta move." Naruto replied, straightening up as best he could. He was putting on as best an act as he could, but Fuu could see through it. For once the weight of the blade on his back seemed to be affecting him. He turned away to the road ahead, looking to the place where this long valley ended, "I'll take the lead, Daisuke and Hotei will come with me, but the others will watch over the group."

"But-" Fuu began, taking a step forward and raising her hand to stop him. Naruto was already making his way away, waving behind him with a half limp hand.

"Give that back to Kensuke, I told him to give it up while you were sleeping." he said, looking back and giving a reassuring grin that didn't really do the job.

"Huh, that was you?" Fuu asked, rising to her feet with the happi in her hand, "What did you do that for?"

"Eh, just something Kisame-sensei told me." Naruto replied, shrugging as he continued on his way, "You see a girl lying half naked on the road, she's either in trouble, or she's going to be."

Fuu paused as Naruto jumped up the rock wall to join the two dogs he was taking with him. She cocked her head curiously, "Half naked gi-" she repeated, before her eyes bugged out in shock. Her face reddened, and she held the happi close to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut and yelled out, "Don't think things like that about me!"

But Naruto was already too far away to hear her, the only people in proximity were the guards, servants, and Kensuke, all of whom were listening intently. Fuu came to realise this, the proof lying in the full face flush she now had. She threw the happi over to the carriage, before chasing after Naruto.

"Wha- Fuu-san!" Kensuke called out, picking his happi up off the ground and looking after the shrinking girl, "Why the hell are my guards leaving?!"

However, just like with Naruto, Fuu failed to hear the cries coming after her. She ran up the wall and followed after Naruto, who was riding upon the back of Daisuke, looking back at her incredulously, "What the hell, get back to the group will ya?!"

"Why should you get to take the lead?!" Fuu demanded, running alongside the blond with an irritated look on her face, "You're sick, so you should be the one staying back!"

To Fuu's surprise Naruto seemed to recover slightly, colour returning to his cheeks as he glared openly at her. Though with a look like that, it was very possible that it was just anger that was causing his blood to pump a little quicker.

"Baka, you've never even fought another Shinobi before!" he exclaimed, cutting right to the chase. Fuu's expression faltered slightly, she knew he was right about that. But she kept looking strong, her determination catching Naruto's notice most prominently. However determination didn't score points with him, he knew too well that will alone wasn't enough, "You take on this guy, you'll get killed!"

"But I-"

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, causing Fuu to flinch in fright, "I don't fight well with others, and there's no way I'm letting you take him on alone, so just get back already!"

Fuu stared hard at Naruto, but Naruto's eyes were much more piercing. She understood that nothing she said was going to change his mind, so in the end she had no choice. She slowed down, and allowed him to move on ahead.

"Sorry, but I can't let anything happen to you!" Naruto called, giving a nod of thanks as he turned his head back to the front. Fuu came to a stop, watching Naruto's back with a cross expression.

"No, I'm sorry." Fuu thought, as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a mini blowgun and a dart case. With lightning quick movements, she took a dart from the case and slipped it into the blowgun, before taking it between her lips and aiming, "You'll die like that."

"Look out!"

Naruto whipped his head back, looking at Fuu in shock. Before he could make any other movement, the dart she fired pierced his neck, injecting a strong sedative straight into his system. With the condition he was currently in, the drug only had a quicker effect on him as his vision soon became blurry.

"Damn… it…" he thought, as he collapsed on Daisuke's back.

Yagura was crouched down on the sand, his teeth gritted as his hands were pressed flat on the scroll before him. He watched the experiment nervously, his sclera already darkened to a red just in case. A bead of sweat dripped down from his temple as he put all his effort into keeping the Jutsu he was using constant. The effects were already clear to see.

All twenty of the scrolls, each of which had been covered in a combination of lettering damn near impossible to replicate, were now completely blank. They looked almost brand new, but the sand and ocean water were beginning to stain them. More interesting though was what had become of the kanji written across them. Now they all lay upon Gaara's body, glowing a dull red as the circled around in an uncountable number of directions. The seals lost their form and meaning as they were horded on Gaara's lean frame, moving fast without the slightest sign of slowing or fading.

The only places they didn't seem to occupy was the seal that had appeared on his stomach, which was a rough design of the kanji's for wind, desert and sun in a circle segmented thrice by unreadable lettering. The other place free of the seals were his eyes, which were wide open and frozen in place. With his eyes like that and his mouth clamped shut, his appearance really was quite scary.

Something suddenly happened, the sand that occupied the decagon reacted without warning, swirling around Gaara in a mild cyclone that slowly grew in speed. Yagura narrowed his eyes while Utakata shielded his own, this was really growing to be quite violent.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Utakata yelled, as the whirling sand created a wind strong enough to cover anything quieter. He took a step back as the small storm grew fierce, sand striking his skin hard and causing him to cough as he accidentally breathed some in, "IS THE ICHIBI TAKING OVER?!"

"NO, NOT YET!" Yagura shouted back, lowering his stance more to increase his wind resistance. He could sense the furious chakra that was the Ichibi no Shukaku pulsing from Gaara's body, but because of the seals it couldn't form into anything and was pulled back inside, "GAARA-SAN KNOWS THE ICHIBI'S POWER, THIS ISN'T A BATTLE OF STRENGTH, IT'S A BATTLE OF WILL!"

Utakata barely caught that, and it failed to make him feel any better. Though he had little doubt that if it was strength, the Ichibi would win, if it came to will, then the worry of not knowing what the outcome would be felt even worse. From the sight he was seeing, he certainly didn't envy Gaara right now.

In the eye of the storm, Gaara sat unaffected by the world around him. His eyes were blank and unseeing, and his form unmoving. Though this was mostly impart to the Fuinjutsu which was being used on him, he probably couldn't have moved if he wanted to.

Then something happened. The storm came to a sudden halt, the sand suspended in mid air as if time itself was taking a pause. Yagura and Utakata both looked up in surprise, watching the transient column of sand frozen in place.

"What's happening?" Utakata breathed, taken in by the sight before him with a look of awe. On the other side, Yagura watched with the same mesmerized look, caught in the worried thought of whether what he was seeing was a good thing or bad.

Utakata slowly straightened up, looking through the still sands to Gaara. The red haired boy still seemed unaware, his almost stubborn refusal to move making him seemingly identical to the immediate area around him. Utakata took a step closer, reaching out to touch the hovering sand. But before he could do so, everything began moving once more, and he hastily retracted his hand.

"Tch!" Yagura grunted, his teeth bared as the sand suddenly converged on Gaara, enwrapping and enveloping him in a massive sphere. Yagura took this as a negative, was the sane trying to stop the Jutsu? That was how he saw it anyway, and was getting ready to act on it.

The sphere was steadily contracting, growing smaller and smaller until it was a size that Gaara could barely be able to fit in. It was then that it looked its most solid, it seemed to Yagura that it would take something of massive magnitude just to break through such a barrier.

"Well, if that's the way it has to be." Yagura thought, as his body tensed up. Red chakra slowly began to pour out of his body, like a thick sweat secreting from his skin.

"Wait!" Utakata called, throwing his hand out with his eyes wide. He was watching the sphere as if it were about to explode, but his reason for stepping in was far from that.

The sphere of sand was crumbling, slowly falling apart as if it had lost its strength. Both Utakata and Yagura watched as Gaara's red hair became visible, but not much else. The sand lay in a pile, burying him inside it. The other Jinchuriki were confused, what had happened?

For several moments there was nothing, and then came movement. The sand shifted aside as Gaara stirred, slowly rising to his feet. The desert dust continued to pour off of him even as he stood, his eyes closed but calm.

"The sand…" Yagura whispered, as he slowly removed his hands from the scroll.

Though still upon his body, the sand had stopped moving the way it had. Instead it seemed to be changing, taking a shape of its own on top of Gaara's body. It crawled along his arms, covering the outer side and running down the back of his hands. It then dripped down slightly, until it hung about a foot past his fingers. The same thing seemed to be happening behind him, the sand forming on his back and trailing down to the ground behind him.

The sand then began to harden, taking on a more solid form. The mounds that were now draped over his shoulders and spread down his arms, formed into arms themselves. They were long and thin, though still thicker than Gaara's. Blue vein like markings appeared across them in random places, and the end of the sand arms sharpened so that each hand had three black tipped claws, one positioned as a thumb would be.

From the mound on his back grew similar markings, though it also had several points running down it just like the claws on the arms. It formed into a giant tail, sitting down on the sand in an almost relaxed state. It was a large, thick thing, with the tip being the only point that wasn't blackened.

Then came the final measure. As Gaara stood there, taking deep breaths that made his chest fully expand, more of those markings came to appear on his own skin. But the most intense aspect came when he slowly opened his eyes. His sclera had blackened and his iris turned a deep gold. His pupils had also changed shape, forming into four point stars that curved inwards, with four black dots appearing around them. Gaara looked across to the horizon with those eyes, before lowering down to Yagura.

"… Give me your blood."

"Hyunnn!"

Naruto shifted slightly, furrowing his brow as he heard one of the dogs whining close by. His eyes were closed tight, the light of the sun irritating and giving his eyelids a red colour to them. He was disturbed once more as he felt a large wet nose touch his neck, making him shiver from the cold.

"Hey, cut it-" he began, before his eyes snapped open. In an instant he was sitting up, alert and whipping his head around fervently, "Hey Fuu!"

He looked around the place he lay, it looked like Daisuke and Hotei had placed him down on the grass and now lay beside him, looking at him uncertainly. But Fuu was nowhere to be seen, from the looks of things he was at the exact same place he'd lost consciousness.

"Damn it…" he muttered, reaching up and pulling the dart from his neck. Why the hell had no one told him Fuu had things like these?! And for that matter, just where was she?

"Hey, Naruto-san!" came Kensuke's voice. Naruto looked over to his right, he was still on top of the valley wall not too far away from where the group had started off. That either meant that he hadn't been out long or they hadn't moved.

"Where's Fuu-san?" Naruto asked, giving them a look that said he wanted an answer fast. Fortunately Kensuke had no problem complying.

"She ran off that same way you were going!" he called up, holding his hands to his mouth to make his voice clearer, "It's been about a minute or two since she left!"

"Fuck!" Naruto cursed, throwing himself to his feet. He looked off into the trees, Fuu was out there on her own?! He looked over to the two dogs behind him with a serious expression, "Stay with Kensuke!"

The dogs whined again, but Naruto ignored him as he darted off into the woods. Though he hadn't been out for long, Fuu was already well out of sight. He could just barely pick up her tracks from faint footprints in the soft earth, but the ground was growing harder the farther he got from the valley.

"You idiot!" Naruto thought, as he weaved his hands through a series of hand signs. He could only hope she was close enough for this to work, otherwise he would need to get one of the dogs to come along. He didn't want to weaken the defences of Kensuke's group, and so he tried this instead, "Ninja art: Biju Resonance Call!"

He placed his hands around his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, the sound piercing through the trees and seeming to echo as it moved. He kept his eyes shut tight as the Jutsu allowed faint images to form in his mind, but nothing completely visible appeared.

It took several desperate moments before he picked anything up, but his brow suddenly rose as the waves of his Jutsu struck something hard. In moments he could see a near perfect form of Fuu, lit up in a sparking red outline. He saw her whip her head in his direction, her lips parting in a look of surprise. Naruto almost let out a breath of relief, but then he froze as the sound waves struck something that hadn't been there a moment ago, something that was right in front of Fuu.

Moving as fast as he could, Naruto raced through the trees. The wind howled past his ears, but he ignored it as he listened out for any other defining noise. He had a very good idea as to what that form that appeared by Fuu had been, and it didn't make him feel the least bit secure.

The first sounds came, the clang of metal on metal. He could hear the swift strikes clearly, whoever was on the offensive was attacking fast. With serious doubts that that person was Fuu, Naruto gripped Eko's hilt and prepared to step in.

"Hang on Fuu!" he thought, gritting his teeth as he pulled the blade out and held it behind him. By now he could make an accurate estimate as to where they were, and so was able to act accordingly. He leapt up into the trees to obscure his movements, and covered the last hundred yards to reach the troublesome girl and her opponent.

"Down there!"

Naruto nodded, leaping high into the air as the trees came to an abrupt end. He soared over a wide earthy basin, where he could clearly see Fuu and the Shinobi from before taking each other on in close combat. Fortunately the scarred Shinobi had his back to Naruto. Unfortunately, Fuu was stupid enough to look up when she saw Naruto appear in the sky.

"GET DOWN!" Naruto yelled, slashing out with Eko in a sweeping movement. The silver sword sung as it arced through the air, slicing the hood of the cloak clean off. Unfortunately though, that was all Naruto had succeeded in hitting. The owner of that cloak had removed it just in time to roll out of the way, making quite a bit of distance between Naruto and Fuu.

"How are you even here?!" Fuu demanded, as she turned to stand next to Naruto. She wore an angry look, but judging by how quickly she had moved, she was far from upset that he had arrived.

"Like hell a weak ass drug is gonna keep me down!" Naruto yelled in reply, shooting her a glare from the corner of his eyes as he readied himself, "Then you come looking for this guy… I'll deal with you later."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Hey hey, don't get distracted now!" the scarred Shinobi called, drawing their attention back to him. Naruto looked the man over, if not for his scars he would probably seem to be in his late twenties. His black hair swept away from his face, spiking at the back like the wind was hitting him hard. He wore a tight black muscle shirt and trousers to match, fairly suitable clothing for a Shinobi. The double bladed staff he had used against Naruto was held in one hand behind his back, ready for battle at a moment's notice, "This ought to be more interesting!"

"Damn it, just stay back!" Naruto ordered, glancing at Fuu just before he ran off. Fuu watched him with cross eyes, tensing up as Naruto and the enemy clashed blades.

"Like hell I will." she muttered, as she began forming hand signs.