Author's note: Sorry for the long wait. My social life has kept me busy for some time now. I'm kinda depressed by the favorite/follow to review ratio. A few words can motivate me a lot. So, after a long wait, I present you chapter 4.

Italics will represent inner thoughts.

Chapter 4

Feeling something caressing her cheek, she opened her eyes somewhat reluctantly, just to receive the shock of her lifetime. A mop of blonde hair blocked her vision, yellow wild spikes somehow looking alive as if taunting her over her own laziness. It was ironic if you thought about it because the owner of the lively mop was snoring lightly beside her.

She noticed that she was buried in someone's chest and that said someone had also wrapped an arm around her slender waste but dismissed this as soon as it entered her mind. After all, who would even dare to try touching her? No ordinary person, that's for sure! She was Tayuya, an elite warrior trained by one of the legendary Sannin since she was seven years of age. The only possible scenario that registered in her still sleep addled brain was that she was dreaming again. Dreams had become a daily occurrence for her since a particular incident very long ago but they were never this visual or graphic or so beautifully defined. If she was dreaming, who was she dreaming of? Her father? The thought actually comforted her a little.

Still, the frightening part yet remained. She could actually feel the slight pressure the person was exerting on her waist, the breathing on her exposed neck and the person's dull heartbeat matching her own.

The cramps on her injured body decided to make themselves known to her. She inwardly cursed.

She closed her eyes and minimized shuffling about lest the cramps should become more severe and before she knew it, the soothing heartbeat of her father (?) lulled her to sleep. Tayuya was exhausted even though she had 'slept' for three frickin days. This was probably due to the fact that Tayuya was hungry; having not eaten for the past 3 to 4 days and her pride had not allowed her to ask Naruto for some food. She did not want to depend on anybody, not if she could help it.

XXXXX

Gaara sighed from frustration, thoroughly annoyed from all these official meetings the post of Kazekage had to offer. Top it up with the paperwork and he wondered just why he had taken this post in the first place. Surely the Kazekage had better things to do than sort out a squabble about a stolen seed for a Bowenia spectabilis plant between two villagers. Never mind the fact that technically this particular plant could not sprout in the weather Suna had to offer.

Currently he was contemplating if he should revert back to his old self as a blood loving demon to deal with the vermin who were talking about politics since the last five hours. He had half a mind to do so and he had no doubt that nobody would care if the bodies of these councilmen were found beneath a large pile of sand. Freaks of nature happened, even in deserts. It'd be easy to blame a sandstorm.

These people were not especially loved by the villagers and shinobi alike. The only thing stopping him was that Naruto would be disappointed in him. Slightly. Even Naruto was aware of how much a pain these geezers could be.

Gaara would occasionally stare at the blank white walls, as if they were more important than the meeting itself, which wasn't far off from the truth. They were used to support the building after all. The only person he thought it was worthwhile listening to was Baki, his former sensei. That man had a special aura around him, an aura that demanded respect, even from the Kazekage himself. And besides, Baki-sensei was more of a man of action than to sit on the sidelines and bicker like old women. He only spoke when the military or safety of Sunagakure was involved so Gaara had made a point to only listen when his sensei spoke. Even then, Gaara would just nod at the other members when he approved of something, which in his terms was equivalent to screaming himself hoarse.

Gaara was broken out of his musing suddenly by the sound of the door to the meeting room opening and a shinobi with brown hair donning the standard chuunin flak jacket entered, out of breath. He hastily bowed and presented a scroll to the Kazekage.

Gaara, recognizing the parchment as the one Konoha used, wasted no time in snatching it away from the chuunin and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. The council members were all curious but also partially dreading as to what Konoha had to say. Things were still shaky with the village hidden in the leaves after the Oto-Suna joint invasion on Konoha. Although a peace treaty had already been made, something so major could not be forgotten so easily or so quickly.

Gaara placed the parchment on the round table in front of him and bit into his thumb, drawing out blood, and placed it on the kanji for 'open'.

The scroll rolled open by itself and presented its contents to Gaara. He quickly read it, his expression betraying the slightest of worry. This was what made the senior members around him pale. Gaara usually remained stoic in even the most extreme of situations.

Baki was the first to speak up. "What seems to be the problem, Kazekage-sama?" He asked, his voice unwavering.

Gaara leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin upon his hands. He seemed to be thinking about something. After two long torturous minutes, he spoke. "Intelligence has arrived from Konoha which seems to be quite…interesting," Gaara chose his last word carefully. "According to the Hokage, Jiraiya of the sannin's intelligence network reports that a place has been found that allows a jinchuuriki to fully harness his or her respective bijuu sealed inside them. They thought it was best to inform us as they think it best to avail this opportunity. "

Everyone gasped at this, all words abandoning their minds. Murmurs of the Hokage's words being authentic were heard and the words 'revenge' and 'trick' echoed more than once in the room. Gaara raised his hand to quieten them down.

A man in his late forties with black eyes and brown hair was the first to snap out of his daze. "So what should we do?" a senior citizen named Goza asked all those who were present around him.

Baki was the first one to respond, "As much as I hate to say this, Kazekage-sama, Konoha is right. If the other villages hear of this, their military potential will rise drastically. We should send you to this place as we will be more vulnerable than ever before if we do not as the other villages would have a jinchuuriki that has full access to their bijuu's power. If they any other village decides to attack us, they would prove to be formidable foes. Furthermore, if you decide to do this Gaara-san, you will be more respected than ever before. The villagers would never fear you of losing control over Shukaku again."

Gaara had remained silent during his former sensei's speech. He knew that what Baki had spoken was true in every way. A good kage should set his personal feelings aside and do what's best for the village. Not only would he grow stronger and gain the villager's respect, he would also be protecting the village as he would become a stronger Kazekage and no matter what, in the end, a kage's ultimate role is to protect his/her village. "I'll do it." Baki nodded as if he had expected this but the others were shocked yet again by how easily their Kazekage had complied. They were still getting used to the new Gaara, an individual who cared deeply for his village, not his old self who killed just because of the hell of it.

"What exactly is this place and where is it located?" Sajo, a man with shoulder length dark hair asked.

Gaara looked over at the scroll again before replying. "It seems to be a temple or shrine of sorts. According to Jiraiya, the jinchuuriki is to drink water from the waterfall located over there. After drinking it, the jinchuuriki will slip into a trance and enter his or her landscape. After that, the exact details are unknown." Gaara's tone indicated that he was a little hesitant to continue. "This place is located near the border of Takigakure. Despite this, the strip of land where this temple is located belongs to no country in particular so it's fair game for every village, all the more reason to hurry. I doubt Iwa, Kiri and Kumo would willingly let us anywhere near this place if they arrive before us."

Baki frowned, "They also have their own village's jinchuuriki safety to consider. Iwa probably does not view them as anything more than a weapon. I wouldn't put it past Onoki of the twin scales to forcefully send his village's jinchuuriki to this place. It's a great military move, in terms of both offense as well as defense. I can't say for sure for the rest of them. After all, the Raikage's brother is also a jinchuuriki. Also, Kiri's own Kage is a jinchuuriki but last time I heard, Yagura was occupied with a civil war on his hands. We need to send a strong force with you but a large number of shinobi would be susceptible. We need quality over quantity. So I would recommend sending myself, Temari and Kankuro as bodyguards with you."

Gaara simply nodded and clicked his fingers. An Anbu entered the room through the open window the window a second later. "Inform Temari and Kankuro that they should prepare themselves for a weeklong trip and meet up with me and Baki-san at the village gates in two hours tops." Gaara's expression now turned dark. "Do not take 'no' as an answer from them. If they ask any questions, tell them I will explain the situation to them on our way."

The Anbu bowed and shunshined away, leaving a pile of sand in his place.

Gaara dismissed the meeting and everyone left except for Yura, a dark eyed man with a goatee. Yura was deep in thought. He glanced at the letter from Konoha that was still on the table. He quickly memorized the map which displayed the location of the temple. He chuckled evilly and got up from his chair before exiting the room and making his way towards his own personal quarters. Man, wait till Sasori-sama gets a load of this.

At night, eight hours later, an unauthorized messenger owl exited a room through the window and started to soar in the sky, flying over the sand buildings and huts of Sunagakure before it faded from sight, heading towards a direction the owl was already way too familiar with. In its talons was a scroll and on that scroll was a sealing seal that required a certain missing nin puppeteer's blood/poison to open.

All this happened with the patrol guards of Sunagakure on duty being none the wiser. No one amongst them was a genjutsu user and thus, they were unable to spot the rather large bird exit the village.

XXXXX

Not far off from the village, a pair of Sharingan eyes were glowing in the bright and sunny day, too sunny in the owner of the said eyes opinion. The man was 6 feet 1 inch in height and wore a dark grey cloak that covered most of his upper and lower body. He also wore a mask that resembled the one Kakashi wore. In fact, the mask was so similar to Kakashi's mask that it was frightening. All that could be seen of the man was his wild yellow locks of hair.

His hair waved back and forth in the slight wind that the barren landscape offered. The tomoe of his eyes had spun rapidly during the entire time the meeting had been held in the Kazekage tower, surveying the room from the outside.

The meeting ended and the Kazekage and council members started to depart, some shunshining away and some using the more practical way, the good old fashioned door. He smirked. His plan was proceeding as he had expected.

The man with the Sharingan disappeared with a yellow light, not leaving any indication at all that someone had listened to a top secret meeting. He had also been so careful that he didn't even leave an impression on the sand as he had purposefully only trodden on cold hard rocks. Experience did that to a person. The only thing he had failed to notice was the evil gleam in Yura's eyes who had remained in the room even when all the other senior members had already left.

XXXXX

Sasuke leapt backwards, using his body weight as an anchor to keep himself steady. He opened his legs slightly, and struck one of his hands out, in a way that resembled the Jyuuken stance of the Hyuuga, the only difference while the Jyuuken required the user to be relaxed, this particular taijutsu style required the user to be stiffer in order to deal maximum damage to the opponent.

He quickly did some hand seals at a speed that almost rivaled the copy nin and lightning flashed around his hand. The ground under him cracked slightly. "Chidori!" Lightning flashing in his hand, he charged ahead at a speed that made him blur with the surroundings when seen with the naked eye.

He ripped through 8 shinobi in one go but the squad captain was not a person to be taken lightly. Just before Sasuke reached the burly squad captain, he heard the shout of a jutsu. "Wind release: Air Bullets."

Sasuke saw the almost transparent gusts of wind aimed at him. He tried to dodge them but one of them collided with his left hand, the hand that had a Chidori wrapped around it. Blood gushed out and some of it landed on Sasuke's face. Sasuke winced but refused to cry out. As lightning was weak against wind, naturally the wind ninjutsu had been able to overpower his lightning style ninjutsu.

Unable to channel chakra into his left hand due to the fact that the said hand a hole in it, he took out his sword of Kusanagi out from its sheath by his right hand before channeling lightning chakra into it. 'Chidori Katana'. The blade was now glowing and crackling with lightning chakra but his enemy was unfazed by this display of chakra control. "So that's how you want play, brat! Fine, I'll entertain you."

The squad captain that had been assigned to deal with Orochimaru quickly reached into his weapons pouch and took out a two scrolls, one hand holding each scroll. He whirled them around him in order to open the scrolls as quickly as possible and a poof of smoke surrounded him. After the smoke began to clear, he was seen to be holding two axes instead of the scrolls. The scrolls, now discarded, lay around his feet.

The squad captain now furrowed his brow in concentration as a layer of chakra now surrounded his axes. He swung them up in an arc above his head as a practice spin. Sasuke with his Sharingan activated saw that the axes appeared to even cut the air molecules around them. He stored this information in the back of his mind because it could prove useful in this fight later on

Deciding to confirm his suspicions, he charged ahead with his blade. He swung the Kusanagi in an upward slash, only for it to be blocked an axe. His opponent saw an opening and swung his other axe, aiming for Sasuke's abdomen. The burly man's move slowed down in Sasuke's vision due to his Sharingan and he leapt in the air, using the broad face of the axe as a stepping stone to further his momentum and landed behind the enemy. The jounin saw this and wisely retreated until he was a safe distance from the impending doom the blades would offer. He was not keep on getting stabbed in the back.

Sasuke glanced at his own weapon and what he saw confirmed his suspicions. The edge of the Kusanagi was chipped a little at the point where it had collided with the sharp edge of the axe. Only wind element could do this to a lightning enhanced blade so that meant the man was not channeling simple chakra into his weapons like most people would do but rather, he was channeling his affinity into them.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to win using his preferred method, he quickly sheathed his sword. His enemy took this sign as a sign of quitting. "Yeah, that's right kid," he began in a mocking tone, "You had no chance of winning against me anyway. Your fate was already sealed when you came up against a person who naturally had an advantage over your lightning element." This caused the boy to inwardly smirk. "Be a good boy and tell me where the snake bastard is."

Sasuke simply stared at the jounin as if he had grown a second head. Not one to waste words, he began a set of hand seals while his Sharingan's tomoes began to spin. His opponent saw that he was preparing a lightning jutsu if the hand seals being performed by the Sharingan brat were anything to go by.

"You really are a fool to think that lightning will work against me. Haven't you learned that by now? You aren't fit to be a shinobi." With that said, he began spinning both of his axes in his hands so fast that they blurred even when viewed by the Sharingan.

Both of them shouted their jutsu at the same time but all was not as it seemed.

"Chidori Senbon"

"Wind release: Art of the gust blade"

The bigger man was now swinging and swiping his axes in sideway arcs at the same time. Several blades of wind were launched in the direction of the lightning Senbon. This wind technique focused on a broad area of attack so the opponent could not dodge it (unless the enemy knows the Hiraishin, of course).

He kept on slashing and swinging, creating more blades and thus was unable to notice the smirk that had made its way across Sasuke's face.

When both of the jutsu were about to collide, Sasuke dispelled the genjutsu he had placed before performing his hand seals for the supposed Chidori senbon technique. The senbon turned into multiple balls of fire, each one the size of a small child and way smaller than the fireball jutsu but impressive nonetheless, when you considered the sheer quantity of them

The Jounin could only watch in sheer horror as the two jutsu crashed against each other. The small fireballs were fueled by the wind and the result was as you would expect. The once small fireballs were now about as large as a six feet tall grown man.

What was worse was that the fireballs did not deviate all from their intended course. The Jounin knew he was done for and had closed his eyes shut, embracing his fate. My life ended by a simple C rank jutsu. What a disgrace…

Sasuke's Fire release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu struck home. Sasuke had to close his eyes for a moment because of the brilliant flash of light that followed shortly afterwards. He opened them after awhile and watched the scene in front him with mild grotesque evident on his face. The ground was charred beyond recognition and the body of the dead jounin was lying in a newly formed, shallow but widespread crater. The said body was unrecognizable, fully covered with second and third degree burns.

He did not enjoy killing, not in the slightest bit. Kill or be killed was the sad but true motto of this cruel shinobi world, not the fantasy that had been drilled into their minds at the Konoha academy. He just did what he had to do and right now, he had done this to gain power so one day he could beat his brother in a one on one fight, if only for self satisfaction. He knew that by killing his brother, related to him only by blood, would not bring his family back, it would not bring back all those that had died on the day that was now dubbed as the 'Uchiha Massacre'. The only thing it would accomplish was that his soul could rest in peace by knowing that justice had been served on a silver platter.

Sasuke turned his head around when he heard the soft rustle of leaves as Orochimaru had decided to grace the battlefield with his presense.

"Kukukuku… Sasuke-kun, you did better than I expected. That was a missing nin team from Sunagakure consisting of eight genins and one jounin. Just look at the results! And I only just began to train you. By the time I'm done with you, you'll definitely come out top against your brother," Orochimaru said, stressing the last word

Unfortunately, the snake sannin knew just the way to rile Sasuke up and an angry person is easily manipulated.

Sasuke chose not to respond and was about to walk towards to the hideout to retire for the day. He would not admit to anyone that his chakra reserves were almost depleted. He made a mental note to himself to train extra hard to increase his reserves.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto wheezed, out of breath. He had run from the hideout at full speed because the news he had to share was too important to wait for.

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked.

"I have some interesting news," Kabuto began. "There was a slight disturbance in the Time-space continuum. I observed it on the device you were working on."

This was true. Ever since the snake sannin's failed attempt to destroy Konoha, he was trying to time travel so that he could fix his mistakes and accomplish his lifelong goal. Time travel was a concept that had been studied by only one shinobi before, Minato Namikaze of the hidden leaf, and even he had studied something slightly different. While Minato's Hiraishin was based upon the principal of travelling to a different dimension, time travel had an extra requirement.

While Minato used a kunai with a special sealing formula to re-summon himself back into the original world, time travel required the user to be able to re-summon himself/herself to a different world altogether, a parallel reality if you want to call it. This was easier said than done because for this to happen, the user had to brand that parallel world with a summoning formula. Now the problem arises… Just how the hell could they reach the parallel world in the first place?

"Oh, is that true?" Orochimaru asked cautiously. Whoever had finally perfected the art of time travel must have been a truly gifted and powerful shinobi indeed. "Who is it?"

"Th- That is unknown," Seeing his masters dissatisfied and pissed of look, he continued. "What I do know is that the person who has time travelled has very large chakra reserves as proved by the large time ripple he caused when he entered this world. Larger than Kisame Hoshigaki, who has the largest chakra reserves currently without housing a bijuu inside him. This leads me to believe…,"

"That the person who has time travelled is a jinchuuriki," Orochimaru interrupted, finishing Kabuto's sentence for him. Kabuto nodded while Orochichimaru continued, "Whoever it is might become a nuisance to us in the near future. I want you to locate the person and track him or her. That being said, the person also could have time travelled to defeat the Akatsuki. We have to confirm the person's identity before making a rash decision."

"I'll send someone to investigate the location where the time ripple occurred immediately."

"Don't waste time. Get to it."

Kabuto bowed and left, striding back to the hideout. Sasuke had been listening to the exchange with barely hidden curiosity.

XXXXX

The aroma of food woke up Tayuya, as her stomach growled uncontrollably. She heard a suppressed laugh, which caused her to open her eyes. She saw something directly above her head that greatly contrasted with the white of the ceiling, yellow hair…wait..yellow!?

Tayuya sat up as quickly as she could, which caused the blonde to jump back from surprise. Naruto stumbled and fell backwards, hitting his head on the cold hard floor in the process.

Not waiting for him to recover, Tayuya leaned forwards on her bed and picked Naruto up by the scruff of his collar. "What the fuck do you think you were doing shithead?" She asked in menacing tone, radiating a ton of killer intent.

The container of the demon fox cowered under her gaze. "I wa- I was," he gulped before continuing, "I was watching if you were awake or not. Look, I even made you breakfast!" He gestured towards the direction of the bedside table by making wild motions with his arms.

Tayuya, believing he was saying this just so he could escape from his punishment for acting as a pervert, kept her death grip on his shirt and glanced at the table. Her breath caught in her throat.

There lay a feast…if a piece of toast, an omelet and a few pancakes could be considered that. Nonetheless, it was a feast in Tayuya's eyes. People tend to think like that if they have only eaten a solider pill daily as long as they could remember. She looked at Naruto in a new light. He made her reconsider her opinion of him with everything he did. She had only met him yesterday after waking from a three day long slumber but he was acting like he was her boyfriend.

This made her blush. She slugged him on the head because of making her blush. She wouldn't tell him that though. When Naruto was in the process of rubbing his sore head, she hugged him and muttered a quick 'thank you' in his ear and broke the hug before Naruto could even register it. With a loud 'Itadakimasu', she greedily began eating her breakfast. She happily sighed, savoring the taste the omelet left in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been watching this and her hug had finally registered in his mind. He watched her happy expression, like that of a child that had received a new toy, as she ate the omelet before making her way towards the pancakes. He wondered if she had a dual personality psychological disorder. Making a note of asking her about this later, he contentedly watched her knowing that he would not get to see much of this side of her in the near future.

Fortunately for Naruto, Tayuya's mind was too absorbed in savoring this treat from the gods to even notice that Naruto was staring at her. Otherwise the consequences would have had been drastic… *shudders*

A/N: Please leave a review. The more I get, the more motivation I receive, the faster I write and thus the faster I update.

Oh damn…this was a long chapter! If someone wants to beta read this fanfic, please contact me.