Well... I decided that I will be updating this story every other week. (Though, this chapter was late because I was having trouble on it for the battle scene. I suck at those )Sound good to y'all? Better than waiting a whole month, huh? And, I should probably say, some of the characters will be OOC, but that's because I want it to be like that. The characters change and I'm trying to get them to fit this story. Is that alright with y'all? They might be a bit OOC, but I still try to keep most of their personality in. Well, I know I bore y'all when all of my talking, …. But, yeah, on to the story...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's awesome characters. Just Sana. ^^

'Thinking'
'
Kyuubi talking'
"Talking"
/Naruto Talking to Kyuubi/

Chapter Eight: The Party

When Sana started living with Naruto and the Sand siblings, she started to open up more. She started to talk, show all sorts of feelings, and she played and joked around. A lot more than what she did when she spent those first few weeks with him when he had saved her. As she opened up more, people around the village started to recognize her and started to take a liking to her. They would always greet her and ask her questions and just pause to talk. She loved that, and would talk and say hi back. Everyone started to take a liking to her like they did to Naruto.

A few months after being introduced to the Village Hidden in the Sand, Temari started to find stuff out about the girl. And one of the things she found out, she was startled. Sana didn't know when she was born because her dad had never celebrated her birthday. From all of the abuse she had received from him, she couldn't remember certain things from her past. And that was one of them.

When Temari had told her other siblings about it, the Kazekage and the Nine-tail fox holder had decided something. They would throw her a party. They picked a nice day in July for her to be her birthday, even though they didn't really know when she was born. They went all out in decorating the hall where, if ever they needed one, the villages room. with balloons and streamers and think of. The room was huge and could hold the whole village in it at one time. They had all kinds of foods and spreads out along with cake and ice cream and cookies. When they brought Sana to back to the house, after spending the day with one of the local kids, she was beyond surprised. She whole face dropped and her mouth went to a silent O-shape. Everyone in the village was there, wishing her a happy birthday.

"I don't understand," She had said to Naruto after she recovered from her shock.

The blond just smiled and hugged her from the side. "We;re all just happy that you were born. No one really knows when you were really born, so we decided that today, July third, will be your birthday for now on. So today, you'll be twelve years old."

Now, today was once again July third, her birthday. But, of course she forgotten, just like last year; she still wasn't used to having a day all about her.

Naruto had just caught up with his sister at the entrance of their home. She was waiting patiently for him and decided to talk to one of the guards. They were in a deep conversation about the weather, not the Sand's weather since it was always the same but of other countries, he arrived.

"Chi," Naruto nodded his head to the guard in a formal, but friendly greeting.

Said name stiffened and slightly bowed as he said, "Naruto, good to have you back."

The blond smiled. "Good to be back. Hope everything's been good." He had gotten used to the fact that a lot of the shinobi would either bow or salute him, because of who he was 'related' to. At first, he was a bit awkward and would try to get them to stop, but when it appeared, after the ump-umpteenth time, he gave up on it. Now he just accepted it.

"Everything's been quiet." Chi responded and straightened back up. He offered a smile in farewell to Sana, who returned it and allowed them passage to the village. He watched the two siblings walk confidently into the village before returning to his post.

As they walked through the town, they noticed how lively it was. It seemed like everyone was out doing errands, out eating lunch with friends and/or family, or just out to enjoy the nice sun. Everyone they passed by, would look up and smile real big. They would call out, 'Welcome back!' and 'Good to see you!' and some others. A little boy about the age of three, had stopped playing a game of tag with his friends and had run over to the two and hugged Sana before running back. He even threw a toothless fun over his shoulder.

Naruto waved to a young girl who was with her mother, "Today's as busy as usual," he observed. The girl had giggled.

"Isn't it always?" A voice said, coming up from behind them. The two stopped and turned around to find one of their half siblings strolling towards him. His hands were buried in his pockets and he wore his hood down, revealing his brown hair. "'Bout time you two showed up; we were getting worried."

"Uncle Kankuro!" Sana gave him a big hug.

"Hey kiddo, how you been?" He asked, returning her hug. He face lit up like the ball of gas in the sky.

The young girl pulled back and beamed, "Okay, I guess. Where's Aunt Temari?" She asked a bit eagerly.

"Sana," Naruto frowned and scowled a bit. She always rushed to find that woman.

Kankuro waved his half brother's scowl away with his hand and answered, "She was walking towards the park, last I saw her." Sana nodded before waving and teleported away in a ball of flames, going to find Temari, and leaving the two guys alone to walk towards the house.

"Everything going okay since I left?" The blond ask casually once they began their walk. He crossed his arms behind his head as the other buried his hands in his pockets once again.

The puppet master shrugged his shoulders. "Same old stuff as always. Nothing new ever happens. Though, we did have a group of Konoha nin come here." Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what his old village would want here. "All they wanted was to trade a few herbs, A few herbs we grow here and they don't for some they grow and we don't." Naruto nodded, his interest gone. "Oh, we already got everything set up at home and were just waiting for you and Sana to come."

The blond grinned. "Well, it's a good thing Kyuubi reminded me earlier today. I forgot all about it."

The fox rolled her red eyes, no doubt listening. 'You're welcome,'

Kankuro frowned. In a gruffly voice, he said, "You know Gaara wouldn't have liked that." Then, his expression brightened and he smirked, "Though, it would have been hilarious watching him kick your ass because you forgot."

The blond made a face. "He kick my ass? Ha, I'd like to see that!"

"Just name the time and place and I'll be there," a soft, deep voice said to their left.

The two stopped walking and looked over to where the sound was coming from. Leaning against the door frame of a cafe shop, was the Kazekage of the Sand. His eyes were closed and his arms crossed against his chest. He didn't have his gourd on his back or was wearing any of his Kazekage stuff like he was supposed to. Instead, he looked like his normal self, trying to blend in. He opened his eyes and smirked and walked over to the two.

"Gaara!" Naruto said, not at all nervous. He smiled real big and grasped the man's forearm.

"It's about time you made it back," The red head commented and they let each other go.

"Been busy."

"And you forgot," Kankuro added, getting a punch in the shoulder. "Hey, you and I both know that it's true!"

The three resumed walking the way they were going.

Without even a glance around, Gaara asked, "Where's Sana?"

His real brother shrugged, "Sent her on a wild goose chase." Naruto turned his gaze over to him and raised an eyebrow. Kankuro rolled his eyes and explained it, "Temari's really back at home touching everything up. I didn't want Sana to walk right into the surprise without us being there."

"You know she's not going to like that," Naruto said with that knowing sideways smile.

"Eh, the surprise will make up for it."

Changing the subject to one more important, Gaara asked, "So what were you doing for the past few months that you were gone?" He sideways looked at the blond.

Naruto shrugged and waved to the owner of the ramen place. The young man stopped serving long enough for a smile and wave before returning to his customer. Kimball's Ramen was the name of the place. It wasn't nearly as good as Ichiraku Ramen, but it was a good substitute. "Same old same old." He replied to the question. "Training, visiting friends, taking people out. That sort of stuff." He looked ahead of himself and smiled. "Though, Sana has been getting really good at ambush combat."

"She should be," Kankuro chuckled, "You train her non-stop. I'm surprised she hasn't fallen down exhausted yet,"

'See? Even they say the same thing,' Kyuubi mumbled, referring to the conversation he had with Sana earlier today.

"I just have to keep her ready and always on guard," he said to them both, though a little annoyed. He hated revisiting topics.

Gaara cleared his voice and said, "You're going to need to be more on guard when you leave again. I've been having reports that Orochimaru has been traveling around and making small appearances. One scout reported that he was recruiting."

"Recruiting? That doesn't sound good." Naruto frowned. After a few years, he finally heard some news about that snake, and of course it was something about recruiting. Lovely.

The three stopped when they came to the middle of the village. A dome shape building stood in front of them. It was a normal size building, not one of those huge ones. This one blended in a little better, even though this was the Kazekage's building. Instead of passing through the door to the building, they took a right and walked a ways to a different building. This one was smaller than the other and it didn't have any guards posted around it. This was their house.

"There has been rumors that Orochimaru has been forming an army, though no one knows who he is going to attack." Gaara explained. "I received a letter from the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls saying that they lost a few powerful nin to him."

"Exactly what kind of ninja are they recruiting?" Kankuro asked, sounding like he was just hearing of this. When they came to a halt right outside of their home, Kankuro knocked on the door twice, paused, and then knocked one, he opened it up and entered. The other two followed and Naruto closed the door behind them.

"Anyone he can get to. Besides the Waterfall Village, the sightings said it to be anywhere from three years of experience in fighting to twenty. Weak and strong shinobi."

The house, when you enter through the door and not the side entrance, was simple. You walked down through the hallways and the first room you come to is the living room. Simple. When they all reached the living room, they found Temari rearranging a few 'Happy Birthday' streamers. The whole room was decorated with balloons and streamers of all colors. Most of them were green, which was Sana's favorite color. All sorts of food lined the table and counters, anywhere from a simple meal of ramen to a roast chicken. On the coffee table was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and with some blue icing spelling out, 'Happy Birthday, Sana!' Around the cake were two presents with different colors of wrapping paper.

"So a army is growing with strong ninja and Orochimaru is going to attack some village," Naruto summed it up, scratching his chin. He had an idea of who that could be but kept quiet.

Temari turned around just as they came in sight. She smiled to the blond and in her own greeting, said, "'Bout time you showed up. I'm guessing you sent Sana looking for me?" She pointed her question to her older brother.

Kankuro nodded and went over to the table where the bowl of chips were. Just as he was reaching in, Temari was there and smacked his hand away.

"Wait till Sana gets here!"

The puppet master rubbed his redden hand and pulled away, "Gosh, you only had to tell me!"

The only chick crossed her arms and gave him one of those mischief smiles. "But, that's no fun." She turned around and went back to where she left the streamer crooked.

Gaara sat down on the couch, crossing his arms against his chest again. In a way, people would say that wasn't a very comfortable position to sit in, but for him, it was. His green eyes were fixed on the blond as he plopped down on the other couch and started to relax against it. His arms hung over the side of the couch and he closed his eyes.

"So what're you going to do about it?" Naruto asked.

The Kagekage shrugged though he didn't move much, "The most I can do is have everyone on their guard. I would double up the patrols, but I don't think that would do us any good right now. But there's something you should know," Naruto sighed but let him continued, though he already had a guess on what this was going to be about. "I had sent Temari on a mission two weeks ago and she and her squad ran into a group of Orochimaru's men."

Said name was done with the streamer and came over and stood behind the couch her brother was sitting in. "They asked us to join them," she rolled her eyes. "I had heard Gaara talking about Orochimaru, so I decided to play along with them and asked questions. And I do have to say, we actually gathered some information. We –," she was cut off by the door to the house opening. You could hear it, but there was a jutsu hooked up to give some warning to others if they were in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, or in their rooms.

"We'll continue this later," Gaara instructed as he and the blond stood up. They all went from serious faces to happy, calm ones as Kankuro joined them.

"Guys," Sana's voice sounded a bit annoyed as she was walking through the hallway. "Why'd you do that for? You could of just told me –,"

Right when Sana came into view, not looking too happy with her arms crossed against her chest and a pouty face, everyone, except for Gaara, 'cause he's not like that, yelled out, "SURPRISE!"

As soon as the 'magic words' were said, two balloons appeared over the young teen and exploded and confeddi came sprinkling down in a rainbow-y way. Her posture dropped and her expression changed from annoyed to surprise.

Kankuro appeared beside her and picked her up in a bear hug, "Happy birthday, Sana!"

"My birthday?" She let her brother/uncle carry her towards the others without squirming like she would have normally done. She looked around her house and noticed all of the decorations and the happy birthday signs and the cake.

Temari rolled her eyes and once her blood brother put her adopted sister down, she planted a kiss on the teens head. "You do know you have a birthday every year, right?" She laughed, good nature. She gave her a tight squeeze and released her.

Gaara cracked a small smile.

Sana smiled and bit her lip in embarrassment. "I do now,"

Naruto came out of nowhere and picked up his sister and set her on his shoulders. "C'mon, let's go play some party games!" He hollered in that usual hyper voice. He then looked over to the Kazekage and smirked, "And you're playing too, UncleGaara."

Said name glared at him and walked after the group as they spent an hour playing many different party games.

Flash Back:

One year earlier:

"C'mon, Sana, nothings gonna happen," Naruto coaxed.

"It's easy," Kankuro added, "Just go up to him and tell him what we told you,"

Sana bit her bottom lip and looked uncomfortable, "I don't know..."

Naruto tried to reason with her as the three walked down the hall to the Kazekage's office. They passed by a few ninja who didn't pay them any attention. "I'll..." He thought, trying to think of what she would like the most, "buy you a new... outfit if you do."

Sana's eyes seemed to brighten up a bit and the nervous had resided a bit, "Any outfit?"

He frowned, thinking about how filled his wallet was now. If they went shopping, after, it would be flatter than a pancake! "Of course. And Kankuro's helping," he added.

"I am?" Naruto punched him in the shoulder behind Sana's back. Said name grunted from the pain and nodded, "Ah, of course I am." He sent a look towards the blond, but Naruto pretended not to notice.

They stopped outside the office door, which was always opened unless he was in a meeting. The two grown men hid from sight like they were spying on the person inside. Sana stood in the middle of the door way, thinking she should back out now.

"Go on," Kankuro encouraged and the blond held up a thumbs up. They hid just enough to where they could peek into the room and watch, but that was about it. "Just say exactly what we told you and you'll be fine."

She took a deep breath and walked in the room casually.

Naruto smirked and whispered, "I wonder what his reaction would be," his partner in scheming shrugged his shoulders. "Huh, say, ten bucks if he doesn't notice?" Kankuro tore his eyes from the room and grinned at the blond. He shook hands, knowing that Gaara would notice immediately. The bet was on.

Gaara was dressed in his Kazekage's outfit, the white jacket and his hat was perched on the ground next to him. He was busy doing busy work with his pen flying over the paper. He didn't even look up from his work as Sana entered and got closer. He never did unless it was someone important or the subject was important.

"Um..." She fidgeted, nervously. She started to mess with the loose thread on the bottom of her shirt. Trying not to stuttered, she asked, "Uncle Gaara, where's Aunt Temari?"

Without even glancing up or slowing his pen, the red head replied, "Did you try checking the training grounds?"

Sana looked over her shoulder just in time to see Kankuro hand Naruto some money before looking back and slightly bowing. "Uh, thank you, Uncle Gaara." She let out a sigh of relief and quickly teleported away in a ball of flame that seemed to heat up the small room.

Once she was gone did he stop writing and looked up. His expression stayed the same but his voice was uncertain, "Uncle?" And then he heard rather two loud people laughing right outside his door.

"He fell for it!" Naruto laughed, clutching his sides.

Kankuro was also laughing, "Ah man, we should of had a camera with us. Especially his reaction now!" He fell from his crouching position onto the floor, having the time of his life. The things Naruto could come up with, was always the best. Even if he sometimes lost money or something. They were still the best.

As the two were laughing, oblivious to their surroundings, a certain someone got up from his chair and walked over to them.

"What's going on?" Gaara asked and crossed his arms over his chest in that stance that said, 'I now your up to something,'.

The two men had just enough time to get to their feet and smirk. Naruto spoke first, "Nothing, Uncle Gaara. Nothing at all." He turned around and started to walk away from them, all the while trying not to burst out laughing again.

"See you around, Uncle Gaara." Kankuro added, shaking his head and following the blonds lead to the outside.

The Kazekage just stood there, slightly annoyed and slightly confused. He lingered there for another minute before turning back around and walking over to his desk, all the while mumbling under his breath, "Great, I got a new nickname."

An hour later, the sun was starting to set behind the Kazekage's back as he was busy doing more work. Temari appeared, at her normal time, with a tray of tea in her hands. Like her other brothers, she too, held a smirk on her face. "Hey, ruff day?"

Her younger brother rolled his shoulders back and placed his pen down. He let out a silent sigh. "Same as everyday," he said.

His sister set the tray on the table next to his paper work and poured his a cup of herbal tea that was still steaming. "So, anything interesting happen today?" She had to keep from laughing since she heard from Naruto what had happened earlier today. She leaned against the wooden table, and looked at him.

"You could say that," He took a small sip of his tea.

Temari nodded. She was wondering how to approach the subject without making it seem odd.

Before she could come up with anything, her brother spoke again, "You want to know what my reaction is," He said without even needing to look up from his cup. He could read her like an open book.

"Well duh," She laughed, "You fell for something Naruto thought of. You never fall for any of that; you are always one step ahead and know everything!"

Gaara just shrugged and said it like it was no big deal, "She caught me off guard."

She snorted, "As if, no one can catch you off guard, not even a leaf that is about to touch you. You are always on guard!"

Temari continued to talk, letting the Kazekage enjoy his break, "You do know that no on is going to let this go, 'specially Naruto."

"I figured,"

"He's going to be talking about this to everyone in how the Great Gaara let his guard down for a thirteen year old girl."

Finally, the One-tails Jinjuriki looked up from his tea and cracked a small smile, "Yes, but there is something else about this I don't think you realized. He got you and Kankuro too,"

Temari frowned, "How so?"

"I'll let you figure that one on your own," and he went back to drinking his tea.

Wasn't even a minute later before the wind mistress groaned, "I didn't even realized," she then yelled out, "NARUTO!" and left in a hurry in search for the blond.

Gaara shook his head and placed his cup on the tray and went back to work. Mumbling quietly as he signed his name, he said, "And there goes Aunt Temari in search to kill the brother," he chuckled in a rare event.

End of Flashback:

"Alright, kiddo, time to open presents!" Kankuro declared after the game of charades in which all three guys lost too. Girls against guys and the girls won by a landslide. Let's just say that Naruto should stick with fighting and scheming pranks than trying to act something out.

Naruto scooped Sana up into his arms as they all walked to the coffee table.

While they were on their way there, Temari went to the fridge and brought out the chocolate cake where it had to be cold and brought it over to the coffee table. She stuck fourteen candles into and lit it with matches Kankuro handed to her.

"Your favorite triple chocolate cake, madame!" Temari smiled.

"You remembered!" Sana beamed as the blond set her back down on her feet before the cake.

Temari chuckled, "Course I did! How could I not? The first time you had chocolate, you were bouncing off the walls for nearly two hours."

"C'mon," Kankuro said, "We have to sing before all of the candles melt!" And together, the four adults sang the birthday song. It wasn't the best, but when is it ever?

When the song ended, Naruto grinned and said, "Make a wish and blow the candles out!"

So Sana closed her eyes, smiled, and blew all the candles out in one blow. When she re-opened her forest green eyes, she giggled and answered Naruto's unspoken question, "I can't tell you! That would defeat the purpose."

The blond frowned and closed his already opened mouth, "Dang. Well, it's worth a try, right?" Then he smiled and ruffled her hair, resulting it to be messy.

"Time to cut the cake!" Kankuro said, getting pumped up for the, not double, but tripled chocolate that he was about to inhale. Like Sana, when he ate anything chocolate related, he was soon to be bouncing off the walls. He rubbed his hands together and then clapped them once, eagerer.

Temari rolled her eyes as she pulled the wax sticks off the cake and set them down on a napkin. She then brought out the knife and started to cut it, She cut a big piece for Sana and handed it to her before dishing everyone else theirs.

Out of the blue, Gaara asked in an all serious tone, "What, no ice cream?"

The other four cracked up. Naruto snorted and then doubled over laughing, Kankuro was clutching his sides, tired by all the laughing they were doing today, Temari rolled her eyes but smiled, and Sana giggled.

"In the freezer if you want some."

With the cake dished out, it was present time. They all sat down and Kankuro handed the teen a medium side box from the coffee table. The wrapping on the box was two shades of green and it was stripped. "This one's from me." He said.

Sana carefully unwrapped the box and opened it, curious on what could lie inside. When she saw what was in it, she let out a small gasp. Laying down was a small puppet that was carved with care. It was about a normal size puppet with a green dress and short red hair. It's eyes were little black dots and it was smiling.

"I can teach you the basics of controlling the strings," He said, "I remember seeing you fascinated when I had showed you my work room. So, when you had left, I spent the next few months creating this one for you."

Sana gently set the puppet and her cake down to the side, and hugged the puppet master tightly. "Thank you! It's beautiful."

Temari cleared her throat when the teen took her seat again, "Instead of buying you something, you and me are going on a shopping spree." Sana's eyes lit up like the Fourth of July. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go."

Sana nodded, already thinking about what she wanted to buy.

Before she got to carried away, Naruto handed her a small box. "And last but not least, this is from the both of us," he slung his arm around Gaara's shoulder, who in return had his arms across his chest.

Sana nodded and looked down to the small box. It didn't have any wrapping on it, since it was a wooden box. She took the lid off and peered into it's contents. A nickle-size shaped heart locket was staring back at her. Carefully, she pulled it out and was surprised to find it was as smooth as gold. Though, she could tell that it wasn't gold because it was a lighter shade and had specks of red in it.

"It's sand molded together with chakra," Gaara said.

Naruto nodded. "It has both of our chakra in it so it'll always hold." And he didn't mean Kyuubi's chakra, but his own.

"It's beautiful," Sana whispered as she turned the locket around in her fingers, loving how it barely weighed anything. She set it back right and opened it. On the inside to the left, was a tiny picture, but when you looked at it, it was like you were holding a regular size picture in you hand. The picture was a group picture of the family; Naruto, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara and Sana. They were all smiling and looked like they were having a good time, well, except for Gaara, but that's normal.

She smiled and looked to the picture on the right side. It was just like the left, the picture was tiny, but it had that effect that it was bigger and clearer. This picture was of her and Naruto, where Naruto was hugging her tightly from behind. They were both smiling for the camera.

"It's nothing big, but it's something to remember us by," Naruto smiled softly, loving the reaction his sister was giving it. Her eyes seemed to soften and and were overwhelmed by emotions.

She was speechless and felt tears form in her eyes. She closed the locket back up and looked up to them, "Thank you,"

Gaara motioned for her to go over to him and she did. She gave him the locket and turned around. She moved her hair out of the way so he could clasp it around her neck.

"There's also something else about this necklace that makes it special," she said and gently turned her around so that she could face him. "If you are ever in trouble or lost or something, fuse some of your chakra into it."

"Why?"

Naruto answered her, "Fusing your chakra within it will tell us where you are because of our own chakra within it. When your chakra is inside this locket, it comes in contact with ours and when that happens, we will know and know exactly where you are. And don't worry," he continued, "I have something similar to your necklace." He held up his right wrist and a tight bracelet clung to him, though it was small and so not that many people would be able to notice it. Heck, she never noticed it at all. The bracelet was the same color as her necklace with the same specks of different colors; red and blue. "All of our chakra is fused into this in case I ever got into trouble."

"But for us to know, you have to fuse your won chakra into it." Kankuro reminded her.

Sana thought for a moment, fingering the cool metal around her neck before noticing something, "So, why isn't your chakra mixed in also?" She asked to Kankuro and Temari.

Temari shrugged, "Gaara and Naruto have more reason for them only to have there's in there." And she left it at that.

XxxxX

Later that night, after all of the party stuff was put up, everyone was lying around, relaxing. Kankuro was on the ground with Sana, showing her how to work a puppet with the chakra strings. Temari was reading a book and was curled up on the couch. Gaara was at the table, doing more work. He would rather be home, with his family and do work, than at his empty office, doing it. Naruto was lying on the other couch, trying not to fall asleep as he watched Sana getting slightly frustrated but had a determined face to figure the stings out.

A few minutes, he let out a loud yawn and got up from the couch. He stretched his back before saying, "Well, I'm going to bed, catch y'all in the morning," He passed by the ones on the ground and headed for his room.

Everyone said their night's and Naruto disappeared around the corner.

After walking for not even a minute, he came to his door that was marked by the Leaf Village's symbol and opened the door. He closed it behind him and didn't even bothered to turn the lights on. Without even having to think about it, he walked over to his bed, took his long jacket off and his shirt and threw them over to the dresser. He stripped down to just his boxers and crawled into bed.

He took a few deep, soothing breaths and starred at the dark wall. Kyuubi was already asleep, so he didn't have anyone to talk to so that he could drift off. Instead, he only had his thoughts. And with his thoughts, lead him on to memories.

He thought about the day he was banished. He didn't like thinking about it, but with the party being today, it made him think of that one day. His own birthday was just two weeks before his banishment, and his own friends had thrown him a huge party. Everyone from the rookie twelve, to his sensi's to the hokage was there, all celebrating. Then was such a happy time.

'What I wouldn't give to get all of that back,' He sighed and closed his eyes. His mind fast forward to after the Elder's had banished him, and just randomly when he had gone to his apartment to gather his belongings that he was wanting to keep. From everything there, besides food, blankets and clothes, all he took was pictures. He wished he had gotten more, but his mind had been a mess, he wasn't even thinking on what to take.

Those four pictures, the ones that always makes him depressed when he looks at them, but happy at the same time. Just those four pictures to remind him of all of his good times there. All of those pictures were in the living room on a end table with a few candles always burning next to them, making it look like it was in memory of them.

The first picture was from his younger days when he was still apart of Squad Seven. They had all taken a group picture with Kakashi smiling in the background and Sakura in the middle of him and Sasuke. Of course, at that time, he and Sasuke were always annoyed of each other, so they ruined the picture by making a face at one another.

The second picture was of him and Jirayah. It was during this three years of training and they were taking a break. His pervert of a sensi was busy writing to his book under a tree and Naruto just so happened to fall asleep right against him, leaning onto his sensi's back. He never could find out who took the picture, other than they had perfect timing.

The third picture was one that he held special to his heart. He and Iruka were smiling for the camera when he was about twelve. Someone had just randomly took it for them. Iruka's arm was slung over the blond's shoulder and looked like then older man was holding on to him. They were both smiling real big.

The fourth picture was of Tsunade, Jirayah, Sakura, and him. They were all smiling for the camera on one of those random days. Just a picture for fun.

Naruto started to drift off, thinking about two pictures that weren't on the table in the living room. These pictures he kept with him everywhere he went. The first one was of his parents. Jirayah had given it to him a long time ago, and had told him the story of them. In a way, Naruto was also in the picture. His mom was pregnant with him at the time the picture was taken. He treasured this picture so much, and loved to just take it out and gaze at it.

The other picture he kept on his was of him and Sasuke. It was a few months after Naruto had retrieved his friend back to the village. Someone had took the picture right after a battle where the two friends were a bloody mess, but they were bumping fists.

With that picture in his mind, Naruto fell asleep.

XxxxX

Flash Back:

"Sasuke, I'm sending you on a C rank mission." Tsunade said, watching the raven stand motionless before her. In the background, two ANBU were standing there, also motionless. They were Sasuke's body guards for however long Tsunade wanted. So far, he's had them for four months, and nothing bad had happened.

Said name nodded, waiting for the details.

"You will be escorting Mr. Mutou back to his village in the Trees. He's an elderly man, so I don't think you should have any problems." She continued. Before she could dismiss the Uchiha, a cloud of smoke appeared behind him. The two ANBU nin tensed, and so did Sasuke.

"What do you want, Baa-chan?" A familiar voice questioned, after the smoke cleared away. Naruto was standing there, hands on his hips with a scowl perched on his face. "I was in the middle of eating my third bowl at Ichiraku Ramen when I got the message."

Tsunade rolled her eyes and had to keep from getting too annoyed. "Well brat, how are you up for a simple mission?"

Naruto dropped his arms and walked over to stand next to the raven. Without even looking at him, he nodded his head in greetings and received one back. "I'm listening," he said, though he didn't really feel like it. Simple missions? Bo-ring.

"I'm having you team up with Sasuke on a C rank mission." She said.

"C rank?" Naruto scrunched his nose.

"Yes, brat."

"Psh, I don't want to go on one-,"

"Too bad," Tsunade cut him off, now getting annoyed. "You're going whether you want to or not. He's your responsibility, and you're going." She said. She paused, waiting for either of the two to object.

Naruto, for once, stayed quiet. Ever since he came back with Sasuke, Tsunade told him that he had to take care of him or there would be consequences like interrogation. Naruto didn't really want that happening, so he said he would look out for the remaining Uchiha.

Sasuke stayed quiet. At least he was getting a mission. Better than doing nothing at his old apartment which he took back.

"Good, you'll be leaving whenever you're both ready." Tsunade said, happy to hear nothing out of the blond for once. She waved her hand in dismissal and all four ninja left the office. Once they were all out, she sighed and leaned back into her chair. The Uchiha had been doing whatever mission she had given him with ease and without complaint. Soon, she thought, he would be trusted enough to be released of his ANBU guards. But, that all depends on how the mission goes. Those two don't know what they were getting themselves in.

XxxxX

After being dismissed from the Hokage, the four walked outside into the afternoon sunlight. Naruto huffed and shook his head. Sasuke looked at him from the corner of his eye but stayed quiet.

"Well, I'm going back to my apartment to gather some stuff." Naruto finally muttered. He looked to his comrade to just see him nod and continued to look ahead. "See ya," he said, and pushed off the ground in the direction of his house.

With his comrade staying in the Leaf village now, was something different. No one treated him the same and would always give him weird looks. No more of 'Oh, it's Sasuke, I wonder if he'll look at me,' or 'Oh, he's so cute!'. They treated him like a normal citizen, if not a little worse. Not as bad as how Naruto was treated, but more as invisible. Even with a few months passed, only a few people would talk to him; Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, but only when she gave him missions, and Iruka. Only them.

A lot about him changed. He was a lot more quieter now than when he used to be, his fighting changed, and his wardrobe changed. He now wore all black, from his shoes to his shirt. He had a whole new look about him, going from a black muscle shirt with a black jacket on, to black pants, to his black ninja shoes. He still kept his pouch on his left hip and his black bag on his right thigh. On his back was the one weapon he wanted to keep; his sword. He had to get a new head band since his old was of no good. Instead of placing it on his forehead like he did years ago, he tied it to his left bicep. On his left shoulder of his jacket held his clans symbol, and on his left wrist was a black band. (Like a guys bracelet.) He still styled his hair the same way, though it was just a little outgrown now. And whenever he went out on missions, and it was needed, he still held on to his pitch black cloak. He was the creature of the night.

Naruto quickly packed a small backpack of things he would need on the mission like food, a few scrolls, and a few extra weapons in case. As he got ready to leave, he tightened his headband around his forehead and smiled, eager to get on with the mission.

XxxxX

"My name is Mr. Mutou," An elderly man, probably in his early eighties introduced himself to Naruto and Sasuke. He didn't really have any hair on top of his head, and if he did, they were very white and not so many of them. Though, he did have a thick and long beard that went all the way down to his mid-chest. His eyes were half closed and wrinkles covered his face. Over his shoulder was a small bag that was big enough to hold a book or two. He slightly bowed.

Sasuke returned the bow, but in a quick manner. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha." His voice was low and soft.

Naruto grinned real big and pointed to himself, "And I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Mr. Mutou nodded his head and grinned a tooth-less smile. "Nice to meet you." His gaze lingered on Naruto a little longer than it should have. A spark of admiration passed through his eyes before he said, "Shall we get going? It's a day's walk from here, and I do wish to get home before I die of old age," he joked and laughed, sounding like a whistle was caught in his throat.

Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes at the joke as Naruto just smiled and nodded. "All right, off we go!" The blond yelled and the group of five left.

The two ANBU stayed quiet through the whole small conversation, probably had already met the older man. They kept their distance of seven feet behind Uchiha and kept their unmoving eyes on him. Though, you wouldn't have been able to tell, since they were both wearing masks. One a duck, and the other a beaver.

Mr. Mutou walked ahead of the group, since it was easier for the experienced ninja to keep an eye out for him if danger would to come. He had a cane in one hand, allowing him to walk a little faster. In the middle of the group, was Sasuke and Naruto, and in the back was the ANBU guards.

As they were walking, Naruto looked over to Sasuke and decided to bring up a conversation, "So, teme, getting along with your new friends?" He smirked, motioning to the guards.

A twitch appeared on his forehead from the name, and another twitch from the comment. "Oh yes, loads of fun." He said in that low voice of his. He kept his eyes on the road and occasionally look at the elder.

Naruto just had a happy aura to him as he crossed his arms behind his head. "So, what kind of 'fun' do you guys have?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I dunno know," he shrugged, but just loved how this small talk was annoying the crap out of the raven. "Just want to." Any minute, the other should get angry and say something 'smart'. And that was exactly how it happened.

"Well, how about you have these two goons for the day while I go around free. Then you can see how fun it is!" Sasuke barked. He ignored the guards tense and glared over to the blond, just to find him still smiling. "What is so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Naruto happily said. 'It's just good to have you back,' he thought.

The other snorted and his anger was gone. To keep from hitting the blond, like how he used too, he looked away and back to the scenery. He wouldn't say it, but it was nice to be back, even though the dobe was annoying.

XxxxX

During the trip there, it was quiet, from no bad guys, to their conversations. After the interesting talk between Naruto and Sasuke, it was pretty quiet. The elder would often talk about when he was younger, and Naruto would listen out of respect, and sometimes found the stories rather interesting. Sasuke listened, but stayed quiet. And, of course, the two ANBU stayed quiet.

They were about half way to the village of Trees when Naruto and Sasuke stopped in unison. They tensed and in a flash, a kunai was in their hands. They looked around the trees, trying to pinpoint where the intruders were coming from.

"Stop," Naruto ushered to the elder man who didn't notice the change. But, as soon as his words were out, the man froze on the spot and looked around.

'About ten.' Kyuubi muttered, sensing the number. 'By the way of the smells, they're all Jounin, and only one of them is higher. Be on your guard.' And she left him to think of a strategy.

As the two were looking around, they got in a defense position, making sure their mission was going to be safe, and having their backs face one another as they circled the road. Mr. Mutou stayed within the protection of the two ninja, wondering what was going on.

As Naruto examined every dark place in the forest to every opening, he started to notice something. He quickly did a one-eighty and ended up with nothing, "Hey," he whispered, "where's your guards?"

Sasuke took the time to look but before he could insult them, he raised his hand and deflected a kunai headed straight for his eye. At the same time he did that, he heard Naruto deflect a few of his own.

In his mind, he summoned his sharigan and his eyes turned red with three dots in them. He looked around and only had time to see hundreds of kunai and stars being hurled at them in all direction. Quick as a cheetah, he threw his kunai just in time for it to bounce off of a others and bring those to the ground. Naruto had done the same, and tried to jump out of the way, but the sharp objects had them surrounded.

"If we don't think of something quick," Naruto muttered, bringing out another kunai and threw it again, "we'll be kabobs." He blocked a few of the knives aimed straight at the older man.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as his hand dug into his pouch and he grabbed a hold of one of his favorite weapons. He brought out a large, black hunk of metal and pulled it up to his face. In one great motion, he hurled the object away from him and watched as it unfolded into the Dark Star. The weapon flew in the air like a boomerang and hit all of the kunai. Though, not all of them. The weapon came back to it's owner, who caught it in his hand easily, before setting it off again.

Naruto smiled in victory as all of the knives fell to the ground. But, his victory didn't last long before he was attacked by the ninja they sensed a few minutes before. Two came upon him and started to punch him in all directions, though he kept dodging them all. With a quick scan, he couldn't identify the enemy except they were covered from head to toe in dark clothing.

"Who're you and what do you want?" He demanded as he punched the lights out on one of them.

The remaining didn't answer as he kept trying to land hits, but to no avail.

Quickly, Naruto turned around and scooped Mr. Mutou up into his arms and pushed off the ground. He appeared in the safety of the trees, ten feet from where they were just standing. As he set him down, he whispered, "Stay here and we'll deal with the others." Mr. Mutou could all do but nod in understanding and watch as the blond disappeared back to the battle.

Sasuke was having the same problem, two attacking him. But, unlike his comrade, he didn't speak. Naruto would find out the answer somehow, he always did. He just worried on kicking the enemies asses before anything bad could happen.

When the two finished their first round, more showed up and started to attack. The two Leaf shinobi were having a bit of difficulty, but all in all, these goons were easy.

"Answer me!" Naruto yelled and punched one guy square in the nose, then again in the jaw. Of course he didn't get an answer as that man fell to the ground, unconscious. He was just about to yell in anger as someone appeared behind him grabbed him by the neck and started to stretch it. But, Naruto was quick to defend him self as he grabbed a kunai form his pouch and stabbed it in the man's arm.

That man released the blond with a hiss of pain. He glared at him before charging at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes and met him half way with his fist ready.

Sasuke couldn't even count how many people were in the battle field. Because, right when he was about to look around, after defeating his half, he sensed a stronger presence coming closer. He had just enough time to watch Naruto knock his enemy unconscious before a gust of wind came out of nowhere and hit the blond, sending him flying through the air and hit a tree or two.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled but didn't have time to check if he was alright. A another blast of wind came towards him, but he was able to dodge out of the way. When he did, he was met with another, and quickly front flipped away from it and somersaulted to land.

"Who's there?" He barked, grabbing the hilt of his sword and pulled it out. He crouched on the ground in defense mode, watching as a man of six foot five walk into the clearing.

This man was shirtless and had many scars all over his body. Smalls ones to long, deep gashes. Some were new, and some old. The man had a cloak around his shoulders that flowed down to his knees, blowing in the wind. He had lock, golden locks that framed his heart shaped head. He smiled at the raven.

"I am Oddi, expert on the winds," he said in one of the deepest voices Sasuke had ever heard of.

"Ouch," a whine distracted both skilled ninja. Naruto came to the battle scene, rubbing his head where he hit it against the tree. A few chucks of the tree could be seen in his hair and all over him. When he caught sight of the new character, he tensed. "Who are you?" He repeated the question from earlier.

Oddi ignored the question and looked around the clearing, noticing all of his men were easily taken out. "Well, that must have been a piece of cake for two strong shinobi, hm?" He started to walk around, checking to see if any of his men was dead.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, annoyed that no one was answering him. He crossed his arms, hiding the kunai in his hand. Once again, Oddi didn't answer, resulting the annoyed blond to run at the man. When he was within distance, he threw the kunai as a distraction and balled up his fist to punch him.

Oddi rolled his eyes at the attack and quickly moved his hand without even having to look up from his search.

With the hand gesture, another blast of wind appeared, hitting Naruto and throwing him back. He went head over feet in the air and crashed to the ground on his back, appearing next to his comrade.

Sasuke took notice of the movement and smirked. "I guess you already figured out he can control the winds," Naruto sat up and sent him one of those 'You think' looks, "But it's not him doing it."

"How so?" Naruto frowned, looking back to the man, noticing that he wasn't paying them any attention. He looked like he was really into finding if they had killed any of his men. "It looks like he's doing it."

"It is his attack, and he's doing it, but this is all for show. He's risking a clone to be out in the battle field, testing us." He said, thanks to his sharigan. "He's just doing a fancy trick with his hand to make it look like he's the one doing it, when really, the real him is hiding in the trees behind him."

Naruto nodded, understanding. Man, it would have took them forever to have figured that out on their own if they were still younger. But, this is what happens when you train as hard as they did. He smirked along with the raven and got to his feet. "So take out the real him; sounds easy enough." He crossed his hands together and summoned up two clones.

By the time Naruto had formed a Rasangan in the palm of his hand, Oddi looked up with a hint of amusement.

"We know your weakness," the blond smirked and poofing both of the clones away, started to run towards the man. Sasuke stayed where he was, making sure nothing weird came out as a surprise attack.

"Oh do you?" A voice said right behind Sasuke.

Sasuke spun on his heal to a standing position, but didn't have any time to block the gust of wind shot at him. "Damn it!" He cursed as he came crashing into Naruto. They both went down and luckily for them, the Rasangan went out like someone blowing a candle out.

"What the-," Naruto muttered as both he and Sasuke got up. They stood back to back, each facing a different man. He stared at the clone as Sasuke stared at the real man. "How'd he get over there so fast?" Naruto looked over his shoulder to find the man there already.

"He's playing tricks on us," Sasuke muttered, glaring. He tilted his head to the left where another Oddi appeared and again to their right, where yet another appeared.

"Shadow clones," Naruto agreed. "But, which one is the real one?" He looked at all of them, trying to figure it all out. But, that didn't last very long when a shadow appeared and was shielding them from the sun. They both looked up just in time to dodge out of the way as a blast of wind made a crater in the ground where they were just standing.

They both rolled in different directions. As Sasuke was getting to his feet, he gripped his sword and ran at one of the clones. He could hear that Naruto did the same, so he worked on slashing the man in the stomach and chest.

Right when the clone poofed away, he was on to his next and within three seconds, that one was gone too. Going on to his third, he felt something change and paused on his attack. Knowing better, he back flipped three times back to the center of the road and had his sword down at his side.

"Naruto!" He yelled, seeing the familiar blond being held captured by a clone. The man had a good grip on Naruto's hair and had a knife against his throat. Even from a few yards away, Sasuke could see the knife was already digging into his neck and blood was leaking out.

"L-let go!" Naruto growled and tried to get away. But, that only made the weapon at his throat deepen, causing him to whimper softly and stop.

"Tsk tsk," a voice sounded. Sasuke looked over to his right and saw, for what he could tell was the real Oddi, come into view with a familiar someone in his arms. Mr. Mutou was being led onto the battle ground with a knife at his throat.

"Mr. Mutou!" Naruto managed to yell, despite the position he was in.

"S-sorry, I stayed where you told me too," the older man apologized, like this was somehow his fault.

Oddi led the elder over to where Sasuke could watch from across the clearing. He stopped when he was three yards from his clone and Naruto and turned to look at Sasuke. "I am giving you a choice, Mr. Uchiha," he said and smirked.

Said name narrowed his red eyes, "What kind of choice would that be?" he barked. He took a second to look to his comrade and nod his head a bit before turning back to the man. The nod, meaning, 'Trust me on this,' and Naruto had nodded back in the 'Okay' sign.

"One that is quiet simple." He said. "The choice is, you can save your friend here," he nodded to Naruto, "and let me kill this old man here, or save the old man and continue your mission and let your friend die. Your choice." He twirled the knife around Mr. Mutou's throat, like he knew what the answer would be.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile and close his eyes. "Really? That is one stupid choice," he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Choose between my friend or my mission,... hm... oh yeah, that is a hard one," he added in a sarcastic tone. He reopened his eyes and looked to the blond giant.

Oddi tried to figure out what that meant as he furrowed his brow. But just as he did that, the Uchiha disappeared from spot and reappeared next to him. Before he had anytime to stab the elder in the throat, Sasuke swung his sword to cut off his arms.

He wasn't going to let that happen, so Oddi released the elder and saved his arms with just a second to spare. He stumbled back and nodded to his clone to kill the other, but his eyes widen as his the prisoner had just killed the clone with the same kunai that was just embedded in his neck.

"What?" He stared, wondering how this had happened. He backed a few steps away, just as Naruto and Sasuke started at him with some kind of amused hint in their eyes.

"So," Naruto smirked, crossing his arms against his chest, "How'd we do?"

Sasuke slipped his sword back into it's cover and, after making sure his mission man was alright, smirked at the man.

At first, Oddi tried to play it off with 'What do you mean' look, but when he took notice that wasn't going to work, that they figured it out, he smiled. All hint of confusion was gone and in place was approved, "Pretty good." He said. All around the clearing, many popping noises were heard as all of the 'unconscious' men disappeared. "It's really up to the hokage, though," he added.

Naruto nodded.

"How'd you find out?" He asked, and looked over to Sasuke, knowing he was the master mind since Naruto already knew this was coming, just he didn't know when.

Sasuke smirked and crossed his arms. "From the beginning. If you're going to attack like that, you might want to try to hid all of the chakra signatures so one skilled wouldn't recognize that they were all the same."

Oddi nodded. He looked between the two before saying, "You may proceed with your mission." And he was gone.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who looked at him. Without saying anything, Naruto held up his fist and Sasuke bumped it with his own, just how they used too.

XxxxX

"So...?" Tsunade demanded.

"The Uchiha boy knew from the beginning, but he made sure to keep Mr. Mutou safe. As for Uzumaki, I say he kept him safe also." Oddi reported with a bow. "They seem to trust one another to know what they are doing. At the end, they both seemed to be on the same page, even if Uzumaki knew what was going on."

Tsunade nodded. This was what she was wanting to hear; those two trusting each other to get a mission done. "Alright, you may go." She dismissed the man from her sight, knowing that he was going to see Shizuna for his payment before he would leave.

She turned around in her seat and started out of the window to overlook the village. "Since he is at least relying on Naruto, I might just release him of his guards," she muttered to herself.

End of Flashback:

Naruto turned on to his back as he continued to sleep. A smile was on his face as hot liquid started to leak from his eyes and slide down his cheeks. "Guys," he mumbled, his dreams turning to his friends back at the Leaf and how much he missed them.

XxxxX

Till next time! ^^ And yeah, the Flashback of Sasuke and Naruto... I rate it a two out of five. Lol. I could have done better, but whatever.

Oh, I have an important question! I am going to be changing the name of this story, so listen up. I'm putting a Poll on my profile so please, please choose on of the answers. I just don't like the name of my story right now, so I want to change it. If you don't like the names I have thought of, then you can PM me and send your request. Sounds good? So please, choose one! The name of the story is in your hands!

Reviews:

Elemental Dragon Swordman: Thank you! Everyone always comes up with great ideas... Sorry it wasn't the best. But, yeah.. Glad you thought it was okay though! And you might be seeing Naruto reunite with his friends in a few chapters. Like five, maybe. XD Hehe, but thanks for reading! Means a lot.