A/N: So things start progressing and moving forwards...less jumping around this time too which I think makes things move slower and easier to understand which moment happens when because I am comparing the scenes to the anime and adapting them so Ana is incorporated into the plot.

Disclaimer: Not mine I'm afraid.

Enjoy!

There is a flashback which should be clear because the whole flashback is in italics.

Ana approached the main gate wearily, her mind setting in for the task ahead of her and she wondered if she would be able to keep up. Her hand clenched by her side and slowly she brought it up and closed her eyes, determination to help Naruto filling her resolve. Tsunade was waiting for her when she arrived, along with a four man squad who she assumed would be going with her to meet up with Naruto.

"Team Gai has already been informed of your special circumstances," The hokage told her as soon as Ana arrived, "You are to follow Gai's commands to a tee and don't be reckless. The only reason I agreed to let you on this mission is because your powers protect you instinctively according to Jiraiya and with Team Gai by your side, I at least have some comfort."

"Alright team!" Gai said, overdramatically posing with a thumbs up smile that Ana found extremely creepy, "We head for Suna, if we hurry I reckon we can make there in two days!"

"I say we can make it one Gai-sensei!" Ana suddenly wondered if she was seeing double because the guy who spoke looked remarkably like the teacher. Clearly they see the same hairdresser… perhaps they cut each other's hair she thought with a snort.

"Right you are Lee!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!"

Okay now that's just over the top…and where did the sunset beach backdrop come from Ana thought with a nervous laugh suddenly feeling the urge to stay behind. Slowly she turned to look at Tsunade who just looked amused at her and Ana knew this was her punishment for speaking out of turn and demanding to go after Naruto.

"Here," Tsunade said holding out a long katana to her, "Yamato told me you are trained in sword fighting, I had this rush ordered for you. So you're not completely defenceless out there."

Ana took the blade from her, it was simple in design a black sheath smooth to the touch but it was the hilt of the sword that made her smile. It was red with golden trimmings along the middle, a memento she decided to her days as a Gryffindor. "It's beautiful," She told the hokage sincerely, meaning every word of it as she attached it to her hip.

"It a chakra blade, usually it responds to a shinobi's chakra and allows them to manipulate their chakra nature through the blade. I don't know if it will work well with your magic but there is no harm in trying." Tsunade stepped back then and addressed the entire team, telling them all it was time to move out and with a lingering look at Ana she turned and walked away.

Team Gai and Ana moved out, running hard and fast towards Suna and Ana could only hope that everything would be fine, but her gut instinct told her that wasn't going to be true. They kept a hard pace and Ana was left on her own at the back of the group, she wasn't as fast as they were but her determination to not get left behind allowed her to push through the burning in her muscles.

Naruto she thought, her blonde friends face appeared in her mind's eye, his smiling face encouraging her forwards. His embarrassed blush and the way he rubbed the back of his head whenever she praised him or did anything nice for him, he clearly wasn't used to it and she understood why. It made her blood boil to think that he was judged for something he couldn't control and she wanted him to experience the happiness that her friends made her feel, the Dursley's made her feel worthless but the bond of friendship made her feel on top of the world. Be strong Naruto she thought loudly as if the blonde could hear her.

"My name is TenTen," startled out of her thoughts Ana looked to her left and sure enough the brown haired girl was smiling at her, "You're Ana right?"

"Yeah," Ana responded a sudden feeling of shyness overcoming her as she looked away. Did everyone around here have weird names? Ana shook her head as she marvelled on the unique name choices and slowly began to make small talk with the older girl.

TenTen was happy to have another girl with her even though the girl in question was very different to a normal shinobi. The lonely look in the green eyed girl's eyes was what prompted her to introduce herself and was happy to make small talk with her, though she really wanted to know why she was so determined to join them on their mission. They had been running for a long time now and both girls were getting tired and though TenTen complained to her sensei, Ana never uttered one word of how tired she truly was. It took TenTen reminding the other that they had a member who a full-fledged shinobi to get them to rest for the night. They chose a small clearing to rest in and Ana sat by a tree drinking from her canteen of water when she was finally introduced to the others.

"I am Might Gai," the leader told her, posing the same pose he had before, making her cringe just a little, "Konoha's green beast!"

"Ah…it's a…pleasure?" she was unsure how to respond to this much drama, her uncomfortable feelings only grew as his lookalike joined in.

"Oh my Gai-sensei, her youth flows strong!" He struck the same pose as his sensei and Ana felt like running far, far away and hiding under her blanket. The green spandex outfits they both wore were horrific and she was sure there were live caterpillars on their eyebrows. "My name is Rock Lee!"

"Guys," TenTen protested on Ana's behalf, "you're creeping her out."

"You are so mean to me TenTen!" Lee shouted, tears streaming down his face.

"No," Ana said quickly, hoping desperately to stop the dramatic display in front of her, "I don't mind the theatrics, it's nice to see such enthusiasm."

"Did you hear that Gai-sensei," Lee cried out happily making Ana feel like she just made things worse, "she likes our youth!"

"Indeed," Gai joined in, "we are in the spring-time of our youth! Come Lee, TenTen, join me in some training so we may show more of our bountiful youth!"

"I think I found a word I'm beginning to hate," Ana muttered as they moved away to train.

"They are always like that," said a quiet voice beside her, startling the girl who thought she was alone. She turned to look at him, noting his hair was longer than hers but it was his eyes that intrigued her, lilac in colour and without any irises.

"They make Naruto look tame," Ana told him as she tried to avoid looking into his eyes, she wanted to examine them further but was afraid he would think she was some sort of weirdo.

"Indeed," he agreed, watching her closely and readily admitting to himself he was curious about her. Tsunade said she possessed no chakra and her powers came from her blood, magic he recalled Tsunade saying. "My name is Hyuuga Neji," he was tempted to use his byakugan on her just to see what a person without chakra would look like.

"I'm Ana," she responded, "but you already knew that." She sighed as she noted his curious gaze on her, it seemed unlike with TenTen she wouldn't get away with using small talk as a distraction so she decided to be blunt. "Ask," she told him as she brought her knees up to rest her chin on them.

"Excuse me," he was a little taken aback.

"Your questions," Ana said with a shrug, "Tsunade has already told you I have no chakra, you're curious about my magic so ask your questions."

"And you will answer them?" Neji responded, doubt filling him as to whether he could trust her enough, "truthfully."

"I will answer your questions to the best of my ability," she told him seriously, "but I have a question for you."

"Nothing is free," he said lightly before nodding his head in agreement, "very well, what is magic?"

"Straight for the kill, I like it but it's hard to explain." Ana stared into the distance as she worked out how to answer his question, "magic is unlike chakra the only similarity is that your chakra signature is unique to you just like my magic is to me. Its energy I guess in its basic form and people like me are born with it, it's in our blood and it never runs out. Sure the witch or wizard gets tired eventually under excessive use but it's very rare for a person to die from magic exhaustion because it always replenishes itself in a constant flow." She took out her wand and showed it to him before using the aquamenti spell as an example of magical incantations, "see this is my wand and it helps focus my magic to produce things like the water. But those who are extremely powerful can use wandless magic and even do the incantation nonverbally, I can do some low level spells without my wand but the more powerful spells require more concentration. I've been working on that though so it allows me free movement in a battle situation."

"I see," he took the wand from her and examined it closely, admiring its polished shine it was obviously well cared for. "You performed a water…spell?" he wasn't familiar with the term and hesitated in its use, "then you are a water type?"

"Ah," Ana said after a pause, finally realising what he meant, here they had elemental natures so he was asking if she had a water nature, "it doesn't work like that, I can create the elements using my magic yes but we don't have specific nature types…I can transfigure a whistle into a pocket watch if I desired."

"I think I understand," he told her, his mind working overtime to process the information given to him and though he was struggling with the concept he did understand the basic principles and again he felt the urge to use his dojutsu. "I have another question, if you don't mind answering."

"Ask away," Ana said turning to face him.

"Why are you joining us?" he had been curious about this since Tsunade told them they were having an extra companion on their mission.

"Naruto," Ana told him and seeing his probing glance she continued, "there is a group after Naruto and he is my friend." Her hands clenched at the thought of the Akatsuki, "I will be damned if I let another friend face that kind of danger alone. I need to help him."

Neji's eyes widened slightly at the admission before he smiled, it was a small smile one that was barely there. She reminded him of the blonde she adamant in protecting and he was suddenly reminded of Naruto's declaration to avenge Hinata at the Chunin Exams. "That is an admirable goal," he told her earnestly before silence befell them and together they watched the others train. "You should ask Lee to help you train," Neji suddenly said and Ana turned to look at him in question, "Lee uses only taijutsu, though his methods are a little unorthodox, I am sure he would be willing to ah… spread the youth."

"Yeah, seriously hating that word," Ana told him making him give a little chuckle, "I will ask him." She was serious about being trained and if Lee could help then she would put up with his unorthodox methods. "Can I ask you my question now, or do you still have more for me?"

"You may ask your question," though he was still curious, he felt he had asked enough for now.

"What do you know about the sharingan?" she wanted to know so she could better prepare for it in case she came across this Uchiha Itachi that Tsunade spoke of.

"You wish to know more of Sas-"

"No, not him," Ana said tersely, she wanted as little to do with that traitor as possible, "I have no interest in Sasuke, he is nothing more than a back stabbing sad excuse for a guy. To betray your friends like he did, that's just…" she was angry towards the Uchiha who had Naruto desperately trying to reform their friendship.

"Good," Neji said, relieved that she wasn't like Sasuke's other fans, "it is refreshing to hear someone tell the truth about him."

"Naruto told me he was popular with the girls," more like the girls where obsessed with him, like a pink haired bully she doubted she would ever get along with, "like I said, he is nothing to me if he values revenge over friendship."

"The sharingan," Neji began as he leant back against the tree, "is a dojutsu, a technique used with the eyes. It has different stages of development but the most basic one allows the user to see through and copy any ninjustu or genjutsu. Some stages of sharingan allow the user to create powerful genjutsu."

"And genjutsu?" Ana asked.

"It makes you see things, like a vision that isn't real."

"So how do you break it?"

"Usually you just have to disrupt the flow of chakra with your own but with you…" he let himself trail off.

"I have no chakra to disrupt the flow," Ana frowned, Itachi was an S ranked missing nin, he was powerful and Ana had no chance at beating him if she had no way of protecting herself. It was like Voldemort all over again wait, that's it she thought, her eyes widening as she looked excitedly at Neji. "Occlumency! I can use that!"

"I am unfamiliar with that," he reminded her slowly.

"Oh I'm sorry," Ana said laughing embarrassedly, "occlumency is the art of shielding your mind from outside penetration, a barrier for the mind."

"Yes," Neji agreed, "that might work," protecting your mind from the inside was a clever idea and something the enemy would never suspect.

"There's only one problem though," Ana grinned sheepishly and in a Naruto like gesture, rubbed the back of her head. "My…uh….well my occlumency skills suck."

Neji almost face palmed at that revelation like Naruto indeed he thought.

OoO

Impatience filled him right down to his core, they were stuck in a sand storm and had to wait in a cave for it to pass, every second they wasted here was another second they could have spent getting information on Gaara's whereabouts. Gaara. The thought of him alone, in the hands of the Akatsuki filled him with a rage so dark it burned him but it wasn't fair, it was always Gaara. Why couldn't the guy ever catch a break? He becomes kazekage and finally begins to be respected and then this happens. It just wasn't fair! His hands clenched so hard that tiny crescent shaped cuts appeared on his palm. He wasn't even aware he was crying until Kakashi handed him a tissue, he took it silently and continued looking out into the storm

Team Kakashi arrived in Suna the next day with Temari with them and they were all escorted to the hospital where Kankuro lay, in need of Sakura's medical assistance. They were all tired but they were used to that, it came with the mission and it was something all shinobi must learn to overcome so they marched forwards and, after a little mishap with the mistaken identity of Kakashi, Sakura immediately got to work on Kankuro.

Naruto watched with a keen eye as Sakura ordered about the medics, a proud feeling welling up within him as he watched how she had grown. She treated Kankuro with efficient calmness and carefully extracted the poison within his body so well that even the old lady beside him commented on it.

"We received word from Tsunade-sama," Kakashi spoke up beside him, reading from a scroll a Suna nin had handed him. "Team Gai is coming to back us up along with another visitor…" Kakashi trailed off, eyeing Naruto with a grin showing through his mask.

"Who?" Naruto asked, confused as to why his sensei was grinning.

"That cute little friend of yours," Kakashi beamed at him, though it was hard to tell through the mask.

"Ana?" Happiness surged through him at the thoughts of the green eyed witch, "how did she manage to convince baa-chan to let her come?"

"Apparently, to use the hokage's words, the cheeky brat gave her an ultimatum."

"Sounds about right, Ana is really awesome like that. Just wait until you meet her Kakashi-sensei, she is so cool! Even cooler than Sakura-chan," as if realising what he had said he quickly looked at the pinkette and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her still busy with Kankuro.

Later that day Kankuro woke up from his poison induced unconsciousness and was able to give Team Kakashi the key to finding the Akatsuki hide out, a piece of cloth cut from Sasori's outfit. Kakashi summoned his ninja hounds and once they caught the scent from the cloth, they were off in search of the trail leaving the team to wait for their arrival. Naruto, ever the impatient one never stayed still and paced up and down the room he was sharing with Kakashi while the copy nin sat on the bed.

OoO

They had begun extracting the Shukaku a day ago and in two days the process would be complete, the only sounds to be heard was the pained moans coming from the young kazekage as the gedo mazo sucked the bijuu from Gaara's body. The figures standing on each fingertip of the statue were silent, each concentrating his flow of chakra, that was until Zetsu spoke up.

"It seems we have been discovered," he spoke slowly, almost uncaringly.

"Who?" the leader asked.

"Konoha shinobi," Zetsu paused, seeming to take some joy in prolonging the reveal, "I think it is the one who goes by the name of Might Gai."

"Very well," Pein said, annoyance clear in his tone, "we will need to distract them long enough for us to finish here."

"I will go," Hidan said eagerly and with bloodlust in his eye, "I haven't been able to give Jashin-sama a sacrifice because of this crap."

"No," Kisame spoke, recalling the previous meet up he had with the green spandex clad man, just the thought of fighting him again made him eager with bloodlust. "I have unfinished business with that man."

"Kisame you shall go," Pein chose to ignore Hidan's cussing at this, "you have the most chakra out of all us, leave behind about forty percent of your chakra."

"Before you go," Zetsu spoke up, watching Kisame closely, "there is also another travelling with the squad."

"So?" Kisame asked nonchalantly.

"She is different."

"Different how?" Pein asked.

"I do not know." He replied shrugging until black Zetsu spoke up, "she has no chakra, none whatsoever."

"No chakra," Pein said puzzled by this new development, "Kisame be careful, report back on any information you gather on this girl."

"This girl could pose a threat to us," Zetsu warned Pein after Kisame had left, leaving behind his chakra. "She is foreign and is something entirely new… she has a power inside her, I could feel it."

"If she becomes a serious threat then we will eliminate her."

OoO

"Alright!" Gai said after Pakkun had met up with them and explained the situation to them, "new mission details, we are to follow Pakkun here and meet up with Team Kakashi outside the Akatsuki hideout."

"Right!" the four others responded.

"And Ana," Gai called causing her to look at him, "when we do meet up with the Akatsuki, don't do anything foolish we work as a team and you are part of this team right now."

She nodded her head, to focussed on the task ahead of her to give a verbal response. She was close to finally meeting with the Akatsuki, the group who dared to mess with her friend and anticipation filled her. When they moved out again, she was faster than before and only Neji knew the reason why. Nobody noticed Zetsu appearing from the branch before he disappeared to warn the other member of his group.

They were passing through a rocky area, zigzagging through the rocks with Pakkun in the lead, "it's just up ahead," he called to them and Ana was still astounded that he could talk, she wanted to show him to Hagrid and see what he thought of the talking pooch. Pain clenched her heart as she thought of the gentle half giant, the last time she saw him was in the forbidden forest as he pleaded with her not to give herself up to Voldemort. Chains where wrapped around him, as if he was a beast that needed to be caged. Anger surged through her at that and even now it made her angry. She channelled that anger towards the Akatsuki, who only wanted jinchuriki so they could use the power of the beast within them, disregarding the person entirely as they weren't human. It was wrong and it made her so livid, her hands clenched by her sides as she ran, her magic swirling tightly around her body as if to comfort her.

"We have incoming," Neji called out suddenly, his byakugan active and pinpointing the surge of chakra heading their way, "behind us, a massive amount of chakra. I've never seen this much chakra on anyone but Naruto."

Her gut feeling told her this was the moment, her first meeting with an Akatsuki member and she would be ready for it. Green eyes narrowed in determination as they turned to meet their foe head on. A sword broke through the surface of the earth beneath them, speeding towards the group who jumped up onto the rock dunes to gain a height advantage. A rock dune shattered under the force of the sword and there in the rubble and dirt appeared a figure cloaked in black coat with red clouds, he was blue and shark-like. Ana grinned.

"You…" Gai said as he stared at the man.

"Do you know this man Gai-sensei?" Lee asked him.

"No…" Gai said and TenTen face palmed in response before muttering under her breath. "You…have we met before."

"You are Hoshigaki Kisame," Ana said stepping forward, withdrawing her wand from its holder on her arm, "a missing nin from Kirigakure, one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist."

She lay panting on the ground, sweat beading on her forehead, her hands bleeding from the force she put behind her punches, the tree in front of her dented and cracked. She left the hokage tower a while ago and was training in preparation for her journey tomorrow.

"You just don't give up do you gaki?" Tsunade called out to her as she approached the girl. Ana sat up and eyed the hokage strangely, not saying a word as the older woman sat down beside her and began to heal her hands. Once the job was done she handed Ana a folder, "everything we know on Itachi and Kisame…I'm not supposed to show you this but I believe I can trust you."

Ana opened the folder and began to read, her brain soaking up the information like a sponge starved of water. She gulped at the power these two possessed, "are all the member like this?"

"I imagine they are," Tsunade replied.

Ana looked down at the picture in front of her, a mist hitai-ate and a blue skinned shark like man stared up at her. Fear crept like a malicious shadow into her mind, consuming her and making her wonder how she could ever help Naruto when she was nowhere near their level. A hand gently patting her head made her look up and she saw the hokage smiling down at her.

"You are a shinobi, unofficial as it may be, of Konoha," She spoke proudly, "you have the determination to help Naruto and you will help him. I believe in you Ana and so does Naruto and Jiraiya."

Confidence and hope bloomed within her heart and she smiled back at Tsunade before handing back the folder and standing up again and facing the tree, she began her punches again and didn't stop even when the hokage left her alone.

"It seems you know me kid," Kisame laughed and hoisted his sword up to his shoulder.

"I would say it would be nice facing you as an opponent but…" Ana smirked, her magic brushing wildly around her now, "you aren't here really, not a hundred percent at least."

"Oh aren't you a clever girl!" He roared with laughter, thoroughly amused by the small girl before him.

"Very well," Ana stood to her full height and pointing her wand directly at him with determined eyes, "before I kick your ass I have a message for you to deliver to the members of your little group."

"Demanding little brat aren't you?"

"My name is Ana," Her magic swirled and fluxed around her and rocks from the ground at her feet were beginning to float around her head as her hair whipped wildly behind her. "I am a Gryffindor and when our friends are threatened we stand up and rise against those who dare harm them."

"Ana," Gai warned her but he was ignored, instead she stepped forward.

"Your group is after my best friend," she took another step forward, her magic becoming visible around her, a green colour the same as her eyes, killing curse green. "Hoshigaki Kisame… give this message to Uchiha Itachi directly would you? Tell him that if he wants Uzumaki Naruto then he will have to get through me first and I will see him sent to hell before he touches a hair on Naruto's head. After I'm done sending him to hell I will make sure you all burn with him you conniving cowards!"

Like a bullet, a spell shot out of her wand before Kisame had time to think and around him everything exploded and he was sent flying back, wide eyed and slightly afraid of the person before him. Is she even human? He thought.

He landed on his feet, his skin stinging from the exposure to magic and he laughed. He was looking forward to this, his grip around his sword tightened before he threw it up into the air and clapped his hands together. "Suiton: Bakusui shoha," he cried and massive amount of water began spilling out of his mouth and piling beneath his feet, he rose up with the wave laughing down at the shinobi before him.

"Damn, I would have brought a surfboard if I knew someone was going to puke out an ocean," Ana said dryly as she stared in mild shock at the massive wave.

A/N: I just had to add the surfboard comment, because that is exactly what I thought the first time I watched that episode...so I had fun writing Gai and Lee. It was really hard writing Neji . I still don't know if I portrayed him well enough. Ana has officially thrown down the gauntlet! What did you think of her speech?

Suiton: Bakusui Shoha = Water Release: Exploding Water Shock Wave (in the English dubbed version.)

So...Sasuke has competition when it comes to his brother... I wonder how he will take that when he finds out...

Hopefully you liked this chapter, I'm a little nervous about fight scenes.

Please review.