The Iwa Shinobi chapter 4: Destinies Plan

Disclaimer: I am not rich; therefore I do not own Naruto. Besides, Naruto is male isn't he?

Land of Waves

After Gato left, the room was enveloped in silence. Haku, who had her suspicions about Naruto, decided to keep them to herself until she could talk to the blond (who wasn't really a blond) in private.

Zabuza was the first to speak, "You guys are from Iwa right?" They nod, "Well, then you can turn around and go back, I don't need your help."

Haku stared at her master in shock. He just got his ass handed to him by a couple of Genin and he thought he could handle it by himself? She was starting to question his sanity.

Deidara seemed to be thinking the same thing. "You have got to be kidding me. If they took you down at the top of your game how could you possibly think a rematch will change anything? The time you spend in bed recovering they will be using to train as I am sure that they will not be idle. You need us more than you think, and besides, this is our mission: we have to do this, it is for the sake of our village and I for one have no intention of letting it fail because of some stubborn fool who thinks he's invincible."

Zabuza snorted, "And who are you coming in and telling me how to do my job? I don't need any…"

But before he could continue Haku cut him off, "We will gladly accept any assistance you are willing to give," she said gruffly glaring at Zabuza through her mask, daring him to disagree. Said man hung his head in defeat. Haku smiled behind her mask. He might be her surrogate father, but that didn't mean that he could boss her around all the time.

Naruto smiled happily, "Great! I look forward to working with you."

They talked for a while about what they would do and came up with a decent strategy: Naruto and Haku would spy on the enemy while they were practicing and since none of those on team Kakashi knew what Haku looked like there would be no recognition and Naruto would go along simply because no one would expect a sunny blond to be an enemy spy.

Once the details were ironed out Deidara along with Roshi, Hiro and Jinsoku returned to their residence while Naruto stayed behind to go over the finer details of the operation with Haku. None of Team Deidara nor Zabuza guessed as to why Haku really asked for Naruto to be 'his' partner.

They left the room and when to Haku's for privacy. Once inside Haku put up a sound barrier jutsu and turned on Naruto after closing the door.

"Okay I want to know why you look like a boy."

Naruto started to sweat. Crap how did he find out? "I-I don't know what you're talking about," 'he' said nervously.

Haku grinned behind her mask, "Oh I think you do. So why are you hiding? Got a man chasing after you and can't find any other way to keep hidden?"

Naruto was about to say that 'he' really had no idea when Haku's last words caught up to 'him'. "Are you saying this from experience?"

Haku sighed. If she wanted to get anything out of this girl she would have to reveal herself. "As a matter of fact, I am." She said as she removed her mask, revealing a very non-masculine face.

Naruto gasped. 'He' hadn't been expecting this, then again who would? But still this went beyond ordinary. I mean, how often do you come across people masquerading as the opposite gender?

Haku looked at the younger girl and smiled softly. "I don't know what you've gone thru, but I would like to think I have been in your shoes. Can you show me your real form?"

Naruto looked around, checking to make sure there were no hidden cameras or windows. Once 'he' was satisfied that there was no one watching 'he' turned to face Haku and made the hand signs to release the henge. "Kai," 'he' said quietly.

The jutsu dropped, and the change was simply breathtaking. Naruto's hair, that had once been a bright blond, turned to a crimson red, and where it had once been short, flowed past her shoulders to halfway down her back. Her eyes, that had once been ocean-blue, became a crystal violet, and if one looked close enough, would swear he could see light dancing within their entrancing depths. Her face, before only slightly feminine, now held no doubt that the owner of that face was quite obviously so. It had an innocent look about it that made anyone who gazed upon it feel the intense urge to protect her from anything that might harm her. Her body once quite masculine now was curvy and petite. In short: she looked like a goddess in human form.

While gazing upon her Haku had to fight the intense urge not to take her. Why she had that urge was quite obvious: Naruto was GORGEOUS. There was simply no other way to explain it. Even known womanizers would swear off others if they had the chance to be with her so beautiful was she. Haku thought she had a pretty good idea why Naruto was hiding behind a henge, but that definitely did not explain why she had a male name. So she asked.

"Why do you have a boy's name?"

The human goddess shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. The Tsuchikage gave me the name. My mom wasn't very fond of it, so she came up with one for when it was just us."

Haku leaned in, her curiosity getting the better of her, "What was it? The name your mother gave you I mean?"

She smiled shyly, making Haku hold her breath, "Akahana."

(A/N: Just for reference, it was completely coincidental that Akira came up with that name. When Describing her she is as beautiful (or perhaps more so) than a rose and yet she is a ninja, so she can fight back. All-in-all: a red rose.)

The not-really hermaphrodite looked at the older girl and said girl saw that her eyes held a bit of fear in them. "You won't tell anyone will you? Deidara-sensei and Onoki-sama said that I need to keep my identity secret because people will come after me and hurt those I care about."

Haku didn't like how this was going. Her sensei and the Tsuchikage told her that her precious people would be hurt if she didn't hide her true face from people? Sounded more like they were trying to hide her from her people that want to find her for other far less sinister reasons. But she didn't know the whole story so she would hold her peace for now.

She smiled down at the young redhead, "Okay I won't tell anyone," she waved her finger at her, "But you have to stay like this when we go out information-gathering."

Akahana opened her mouth to protest but shut it upon realizing that nothing she could say would dissuade her more experienced counterpart. She hung her head, "Okay, I will stay like this, but," she brought her eyes back up to meet Haku's, "Deidara-sensei can NOT know about this, or else I am screwed five ways to Sunday."

Haku laughed, but agreed to the terms.

Resetting the henge, Naruto left the room with a now-masked Haku and they left to prepare for their mission tomorrow morning. Little did either know that something, or rather someONE had been watching them, and it was quite possibly the last one they had expected, had they even known he existed . The watcher's face split into a giant grin- it was quite disturbing considering that his face was split between the colors black and white and his head was surrounded by a giant venus flytrap- when he slipped out of the room after the girls were long gone. Zetsu had found the missing Jinchuuriki; Madara-sama would be most pleased.

The next day Naruto was walking toward Zabuza's base wearing a plain black tee and matching pants. But in his hands was something that would have looked very wrong on him had he put it on: a red kimono with roses running up the side, along with a bra and panties. Not something a young man would be caught dead in. Luckily Naruto wasn't really a young man.

Looking around quickly surveying the surrounding area 'Naruto' crept behind a tree and released the henge. Quickly taking off shirt, pants and boxers Akahana pulled on the panties and clipped on the bra and slipped into the kimono. She attached her kunai to her right arm under the sleeve for a quick release. Stashing her clothes in the hollow of the tree, she made sure that her art tools were undamaged from the journey and stood up. She checked herself in a mirror that Haku had given her before they parted the other day and noticed her headband was still on and hurriedly took it off and stuffed it in the bag She straightened her hair and walked out from behind the tree, and straight into a young man with black hair.

"Ahhh!"

They ended in a tangle of limbs.

The boy was the first to move. Getting up he reached out his hand to Akahana to help her up. Gratefully she accepted. He grabbed her bag off the ground

Once up she brushed her kimono off and smoothed it out. Looking up she felt her breath leave her lungs. And the boy across from her felt the same.

Sasuke had never seen such an image of beauty before in his life. Those violet eyes looked like jewels fit for a crown and her hair a fine silk waiting for a weaver. He had never experienced this feeling before: could it be love? No, that's impossible. And besides, even if it was, what would this angel want with him? But whatever he was feeling, his cheeks heated up just the same.

Akahana was speechless. This boy was obviously a fallen angel because she couldn't think of any other way Kami would have got away. His body looked like it was chiseled from the finest stone and his hair the color of the deepest blue. She blushed heavily.

They both looked away shyly. It was while she was turning away that she noticed something tied around his head. A ninja headband. More specifically: A leaf headband. She stiffened. She had never heard good things about Konoha shinobi. They were always depicted as evil people that just wait for the opportunity to cut you down. But if what just happened was any indication, that was most likely not true; at least, as far as this boy was concerned. And she was quite happy to have it that way. This way at least she could watch them train without them knowing what was really going on.

Fighting to control her intense blush, she looked up at the boy and saw that he was looking at her as well, and she was immediately lost in his onyx-black eyes, her fight lost.

Sasuke- having been better schooled on controlling his emotions- was able to fight his own blush down and saved Akahana from hers, if only momentarily, which he found very cute, "I'm sorry for running into you. I wasn't watching where I was going."

Blushing again Akahana looked down and said quietly, "It-it's a-alright, sir. You must have a lot of things on your mind, being a ninja and all."

Sasuke tensed, narrowing his eyes he asked the girl pointedly, "How did you know I am a ninja?"

Akahana giggled and pointed at his headband.

Suddenly feeling very foolish he blushed again and decided that it would be in his best interest to change the subject, "So, what are you out here all by yourself? It's dangerous to be out and about alone. Especially a girl as pretty as you." CRAP! Did I just say that! Now she's going to think I'm a pervert.

Hearing that he thought she was pretty made her blush deepen ten-fold. Deidara-sensei had said that she was too plain and that was one of the reasons why she wore the henge, although her mother disagreed with him when she told him what he said. But she couldn't help but think that it was a mother's prerogative to do so. "Yo-you really th-think I'm p-pretty?" Damn that infernal stutter!

No other boy had ever reduced her to this state. And there were some handsome boys back in Iwa. But suddenly she found herself wondering why she even thought that in the first place. If Konoha had boys like this all over the place then maybe she should move there and see about getting one for herself, preferably the one in front of her.

Sasuke was at a loss of what to say. Here was this beautiful girl who was around the same age as him who heard that he thought she was pretty and was actually flattered? He didn't know what to make of it. The villagers had told him he was incredibly ugly and all the other girls rejected him in favor of the Hokage's son and only his fellow Uchiha had said otherwise, besides the Hokage and his wife of course, and a small number of others who weren't prejudiced.

"W-well yeah, you are so why wouldn't I say it?" And then he had it, why she was so nervous, she had gotten the same treatment as him. He had seen the same things in himself not too long ago and only recently had he gotten over his insecurities. But it appeared she didn't have that opportunity so he would do try and assure her of that oh-so-obvious fact. "You are probably the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my life."

If the blush on Akahana's cheeks were already seven shades of red then, it increased tenfold after hearing that. She had never been complimented on her looks before, having to hide in her henge all the time. Maybe she should do this more often, then maybe she wouldn't act this way whenever someone complimented her. But then Deidara-sensei would catch wind of it and she would get in a lot of trouble and she didn't want that so she was back to square one. Sigh.

Looking down, she addressed the boy again, "S-so what are you doing here? There's not much here beyond the village," she finished stutterlessly. (A/N yes I am aware that is not a word)

Thankful for the change of topic, he happily went along with her, "Well, me and my team were hired by the local bridge builder to protect him until he completed the bridge connecting Wave to the mainland. We have already fought 3 ninja and one of them was an A-class nuke-nin." He said proudly. Akahana's eyes widened then quickly returned to their normal level. And then a small smirk formed on her lips before leaving just as quickly as the plan that she and Haku had discussed skipped a couple steps and went right to ingratiating herself to the young man.

"Oh! You're one of those brave ninjas that are going to help us?" She mentally gagged as she spoke to the handsome beast. (A/N in no way related to Lee)

Wait, did I just think that?

Sasuke smirked, unwittingly making her swoon. She mentally slapped herself at her fan-girlish attitude.

"I guess I name is Sasuke Uchiha. What's yours?"

"Akahana."

"So, what are you doing out here? It's not exactly safe these days."

Akahana struggled to remember her cover story and said as calmly as she could, "I had heard stories about the beauty of Wave Country and decided that I would come out here and take some sketches." She emphasized this by opening her bag and leaning forward so he could see the palette, paints and brushes.

Sasuke was intrigued, "Do you think I could watch you paint for a little while? I don't have to report back for a while and it would be a nice to see some of the scenery. Perhaps you would let me watch you paint as well?"

This time when she spoke she had a faint blush on her cheeks, her eyes on the ground. "I am not that good. You would probably hate it."

Sasuke chuckled, "I am sure you are a great artist. Surely it couldn't hurt to let me watch you for a little while?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized what he had said, and he blushed a deep crimson, putting his favorite fruit to shame.

Akahana blushed again, looking down at her feet in an attempt to hide it, "I'm still not sure why you would want to watch me do anything, but if you really want to, I won't stop you." She couldn't believe what she was saying. Here she was supposed to be tricking him into doing stuff and somehow it had turned into a 'he compliments she turns to goo' situation. Honestly, you would think she was a little school girl with a crush, however apt that description might be.

Sasuke smirked, This girl is easily more beautiful than Sakura. I just wish she was a citizen of Konoha then I would be able to see her all the time. (A/N About that…) As soon as the thought left his head, he grimaced. If she was a citizen of Konoha she wouldn't even consider talking with him like this.

Akahana looked up at him shyly, making his heart beat rapidly, and said, "Well, if you're sure. . . I guess it couldn't hurt."

With that said she started walking down the road again and hitched up the bag in her arms to keep it from falling. Sasuke, seeing another opportunity to endear himself to her, strode forward and wrested the bag from her arms, earning a startled squeak from the aforementioned girl.

"W-what a-are y-you d-doing? Give th-that back!" she stuttered.

Sasuke shook his head smirking, making her inwardly swoon, "Can't do that. It wouldn't look right if I let you carry this heavy bag all the way to the beach now would it?"

"B-but it's n-not that h-heavy!" she protested feebly.

He turned his head back toward her, using his good looks to full advantage, "Don't be ridiculous, I am surprised you carried it this far without dropping it. Now why don't you just let me take it from here."

Akahana's blush went from a stage one to stage ten in five seconds flat and it didn't look like it was going away any time soon.

They walked down the road in silence sending shy glances at each other the entire way when they thought the other wasn't looking. Eventually they made it to a cliff where they had a clear view of the ocean and the village. Setting down her bag, Sasuke stretched his arms exaggeratingly, giving Akahana full view of his muscled body, resulting in the return of the blush she had just managed to bring under control.

Setting up her stand she set the canvas on it and got out her paint. Sitting down on a conveniently located stump she looked out beyond the cliff's edge and took in the beautiful view. Then she started painting: the colors blending together to a melody of nature and forming a picture of intense passion and beauty.

While she was painting, Sasuke looked over her shoulder and couldn't help but gasp at the art being created before his very eyes. The sky a perfect shade of blue with the incoming clouds on the horizon; the ocean a reflective blue; the village buildings crafted with such fine detail from the pointed roofs to the tiny stalls; even the villagers were included in the masterpiece. Sasuke couldn't help but be amazed at the sight.

By the time she was finished, the sun was low in the sky and Sasuke found himself pressed to return to his team. While she was putting away her things, he smiled at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, but it seems that I won't be able to walk you home, I have to return to my team before nightfall or else they will start looking for me and tear the village apart in the process. Do you think we could meet as the same time tomorrow?" He looked at her hopefully.

Akahana wanted to say no but her mouth had other plans, "I would love to. But next time I won't be painting the village."

Smiling Sasuke started to turn around when she stopped him and said, "Thank you for today," and gave him a kiss on the cheek before running away, leaving a sputtering Uchiha in her wake.

When she was a out of his line of sight, she started to mentally berate herself, What the heck was I thinking? He's a Leaf shinobi! He and I could never be together. I hope Deidara Sensei doesn't notice anything.

Back with Sasuke, he was still standing in the spot where Akahana had left him trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had just been kissed (on his cheek, but still) and stood there for several moments more before he came to his senses and rushed back to Tazuna's house.

It took him a few minutes of leaping through the trees but eventually he landed in front of the door and pushed it open. Once inside he walked over to the dinner table where the others had just sat down to eat dinner and settled between Kakashi and Inari.

Everyone just stared at him. Not because he sat down mind you or because he was late coming back, no it was because he was freaking humming. Now I don't know about you but Uchiha's do NOT hum, they chortle, they and chuckle but they do NOT hum. Finally Kakashi got over his shock enough to ask, "So what's got you feeling so happy Sasuke?"

Sasuke gave him a sidelong glance while filling his plate, "I met a girl today."

Sakura snorted at that, "Yeah, and I bet she was real ugly too, if she spent any time with you."

Now at that Sasuke smirked, sending a shiver down everyone's spines. You see, it's not often anymore that you see an Uchiha smirk, considering that they are often looked down on and have to fight for everything they have.

"And that, pinky is where you are wrong," Sakura gaped at him, before switching to a glare at the nickname, "She was far more beautiful than you or anyone in the village. And she wasn't wearing any make-up either."

Naruto at this point couldn't help but ask, "So who is she? This girl that has you so besotted?"

And then Sasuke breathed the one word Kakashi thought he would never hear again, "Akahana."

Kakashi at that moment was taking a drink through his mask and spit out the liquid, spraying it all over Naruto and Sakura. He whirled on Sasuke, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him up to his own face, "What did you just say?"

Sasuke was understandably terrified of his sensei and squeaked out, "Akahana."

Kakashi looked down for a moment, If this is who I think it is… I have to find out. "What did she look like?"

Sasuke smirked again, "She had long gorgeous red hair that went down halfway down her back and the most captivating violet eyes I have ever seen. Heck, I think she had a B-cup, and she's only our age, well, mine and Sakura's. Ahhhh" He was lost in his memories of her. Everyone else sweatdropped, well everyone else except for Sakura- who was furious at the thought of someone having bigger breast's than her- and Kakashi- who had turned into a statue with a look that looked like a cross between horror and hope on his face.

It can't be. She's been missing for so long, to suddenly turn up here. Did we even look here? He thought hard about it for a moment, Nope definitely didn't check here. His face broke into a double smile, his mouth, which you couldn't see, and his right eye. If his left eye was uncovered and he could actually his eyelid over it he would have done so and made it a triple. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, except for Sasuke who was still lost in la-la land thinking about his "precious Akahana".

"Sasuke," he said, trying to get his students attention. Said boy didn't respond, the dreamy look still in his eyes. "Sasuke." Same result. "SASUKE!" he yelled, shaking the boy furiously. That got it. "When is the next time you see her?"

"Tomorrow. Why?" he looked at Kakashi suspiciously.

"I need you to bring her over here next time. I would very much like to meet her."

Even if he hadn't said her name, the description sounded exactly like Kushina Namikaze from when she was a Genin. And Naruto couldn't help but notice the similarities as well.

Tomorrow would bring some very interesting discoveries.

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