Author's Note: Hello everyone, I am super excited to be back writing and updating again! I am also super excited about the upcoming chapters. As I have told you guys before, this story is going to have a different timeline than the canon and we are at a point where it is going to completely derail. Yes, more of the major event will still occur, but they will be with different people, in different sequences, etc. Also, I love the questions and reviews. Keep them coming. And, if I see a suggestion or comment that I really like, I'll give you a shout out and might even incorporate it into one of my future chapters.

Also, for the record, other than Tsunade, the Sand Siblings (obviously), and a select few of Konoha nin, no one knows about Naruto and Sasuke or Neji and Gaara yet. The comment Mei made about Naruto being in love with Sasuke was more of a tease on her end. She, nor do the other Kages or their escorts know about them being gay. But, yes, if they did know, there would be homophobia present; which will be shown later.

Reviewer Shout Outs:

The Unapologetic and Belletrist Word Salad

Thanks, you guys for your reviews. Keep em coming.

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Chapter 24: A Winter's Night in the Land of Iron

Normal P.O.V.

An hour passed by before Neji and Gaara decided they had enough of the wintry night air. Neither shinobi are used to the blistering cold, icy weather in the Land of Iron, so each had to wear thick layers of clothing. The snow was not falling too hard, so the couple could at least appreciate some of the scenery before Neji noticed Gaara shivering violently. They agreed to warm up by finding somewhere nice to eat. After a while, they settled on a cozy café with a fire place heating the whole restaurant.

"Lord Kazekage and guest, just the two of you tonight?" the hostess asks with a bright smile on her face. Both Gaara and Neji nod to her question. "Follow me please,"

The couple follows the hostess to their table. As she places silverware and menus down, both Neji and Gaara strip out of their protective, iced layers.

"Your server will be right with you. Can I start you off with anything to drink?"

"Hot tea," both answer quickly, blushing at the awkward moment.

The hostess nods before taking off. They sit in silence as they wait for the hostess to return with their hot teas. After a few moments, the hostess brings their teas and places the cups in front of their respective owners. She reminds them the hotness of the cups and tea and that their waitress will be with them shortly.

"So, have you eaten here before? Do you recommend anything?" Neji asks while flipping through the menu.

"I have never been here. I think I'll just order whatever looks good. I'm not entirely hungry anyway," Gaara answers quietly.

Neji nods as he continues to look. Several minutes pass before their waitress finally arrives. She introduces herself before taking their order. She happily takes their menus and excuses herself to out their orders in with the cook. Silently, the couple sips their tea. Deciding that their "date" should be a little livelier, Neji strikes up a conversation.

"That meeting was interesting,"

"Yes. But, usually, anything involving Naruto Uzumaki typically is," Gaara chuckles into his cooling tea.

"That it is. So, tell me, what do you think of Uchiha?"

"If Naruto wasn't the one trying to save him, I would have voted to execute him,"

Neji chuckles at this as he leans forward. "Brutal, but no disagreements here. I have known of Sasuke for a long time. His clan and mine are constant rivals; expected from two of the most powerful clans in the Hidden Leaf,"

"You know, I used to wonder what Naruto saw in a brat like him. But, then again, I was almost no different. You heard me in the meeting. I was a homicidal manic who didn't care who I hurt because they all hurt me. I was hunted like an animal. Everyone wanted me dead and I them. That is, until Naruto set me straight,"

"That Naruto has always been one of a kind. You know, I was terrible to him growing up. I was also disliked by the head of my clan. In my clan, we are supposed to protect and serve the Head or my cousin Hinata in this case. I have a seal on my forehead that binds me to her until I die. I used to hate her and everyone around me, especially Naruto. Even though he was hated throughout the village, he still did whatever he wanted. Maybe it was to get attention or because he wanted people to change their minds about him, I don't know. But, I do know that he was the one who opened my eyes about both Hinata and myself. Ever since then, I started living for myself, Hinata, our clan, and the Hidden Leaf. So, if anyone can save Sasuke Uchiha, it's going to be Naruto Uzumaki,"

Both chuckle while thinking about their friend. While they wait for their food, Neji entertains Gaara with stories of his youth, his team, and some of the antics he would get into with his friends back in Konoha, including Naruto. Neither are talkative people, but when it came to sharing stories, Gaara could hang on each word Neji spoke with a silent enthusiasm. Finally, their food arrives. They wait for the waitress to finish placing their food in front of them before she excuses herself. In one move, they break their chopsticks perfectly in half and eat their food in silence. However, towards the end of their meal, Neji decides to break the silence.

"You know, I never got to thank you for saving my team and me all those years ago,"

"What do you mean? When was this?" Gaara asks in pure confusion.

"During our Sasuke Retrieval mission. We would have been dead had you and your siblings not stepped in and saved us,"

"Oh yes, now I remember. But, I thought you had already thanked me for that?"

"Not officially. I know that we have been "seeing" each other for a while now,"

"Two years at the end of this spring," Gaara reminded silently. A slight blush appears on the raccoon dog's cheeks, causing Neji to chuckle.

"Yes, I remember also. But, no. I never thanked you properly. It's something I think about often. Gaara, Fifth Kazekage of Suna, I truly admire you. Everything about you amazes me. Your strength, intelligence, prowess, your success. You are an amazing person who I have the upmost honor of knowing. It is truly inspiring being around you,"

Gaara is taken aback by this. Sure, he had heard from others how amazing he is and how inspiring he is. But, to hear it from his long haired, snow lion lover put things into a new light for him. Trying to keep the blush down, Gaara brings his napkin to his lips to whip away imaginary food.

"Thank you, Neji, for your gracious words. However, I can't take all the credit. Naruto is the one I need to be saying all of this to. He's the one who straightened me out and woke me from my murderous insanity. And, like I have said for the tenth time now, if anyone can save that stubborn Uchiha it's Naruto Uzumaki,"

"Indeed, you are quite right, Kazekage-sama,"

Feeling there is nothing left to be said, the couple finish their meal in a comfortable peace.

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In another part of town, a frustrated Naruto paces his hotel room.

"Come on, Naruto! Sasuke needs you to think harder. I have to find a way to save him before they do decide to execute him," Naruto continues to pace the room, his four tails swishing behind him while his ears twitch in annoyance. After several minutes of nothing coming to mind, Naruto finally lets out a frustrated sigh before falling onto his bed. He reaches over for a pillow and screams into it, "Why is this so hard?!"

Naruto slowly removes the pillow and looks out towards the balcony. Even though it is pitch black, Naruto's kin vision picks up a figure sitting on the ledge of his balcony. Cautiously, he reaches for a kunai before easing towards the double doors. Naruto slowly opens one of the doors and silently gasps when an unknown Akatsuki member is standing in front of him.

Naruto was ready for a fight but was hesitant when the silent member did not attack him first. Naruto observes his intruder through glaring eyes. From what he could see outside of the traditional Akatsuki cloak, the man had an orange mask with one eye hole black cat ears and a tail, and spikey black hair. Worried as to why the man has not attacked him, Naruto stands his guard firmly and emits his alpha dominance.

Several minutes of silent glares pass before the member finally speaks, "I'm no threat to you, Nine-Tails. Not right now anyway,"

"The name's Naruto and why should I believe you?"

"I haven't attacked you, have I?" the deep voice answers.

"No, I suppose not. But, what are you doing here if you're not going to attack me right now?"

"I needed to speak with you,"

"Are you alone?"

"Yes, I made sure no one else followed me, including Sasuke,"

"Sasuke?! What about Sasuke?! Where is he?!" Naruto growls angerly.

"That is why I came to speak with you. May I come in? It's freezing out here,"

Naruto gives a harder glare before stepping aside for the masked man to enter his room. Naruto looks out a final time, making sure no one else is with him. When the masked feline enters the room, Naruto closes the door and turns to him, anger laced heavily in his voice.

"Now, get to the point. Where is Sasuke?"

"He is safe with us, but he is also nearby. That is all you need to know,"

"What the fuck? How is that all I need to know? No! I need answers! Tell me where Sasuke is or I'll rip your throat out with my fangs!" Naruto threatens as he gets into a fighting stance.

"Easy there foxy, no need to get testy. And you might wanna lower your voice before your commands. Now, why don't you get out of that stance, so we can talk man to man," Naruto obeys the commands by standing straight with his arms crossing and his back leaning against the wall. "Good boy. How about we start with an introduction. My name is… well, you can call me Tobi. Now than, onto why I am here. I'm sure you spoke to Sasuke the last time he was in the village, right? When he went to retrieve his clan's scroll?"

"How did you~"

"I told him where to look for it. I figured he would make a detour while he was in town. What do you think about what he told you? About the Uchiha's past and the night you were born?"

"I haven't really given it any thought," Naruto says quietly. "But, what does it matter to me? I don't care about any of that. I'm only focusing on saving Sasuke,"

"I know, but you can't save him without understanding his motives. What he told you about that night was all true. Our clan, specifically the part about how they tried to control the Nine-Tails to destroy the Hidden Leaf. I told Sasuke to find those scrolls after he killed Itachi. I couldn't have him hating his brother for something he didn't do. Yes, Itachi killed his clan members, but he did it because Konoha's Elders demanded it. It was either he kills them, become a missing-nin, and let Sasuke live. Or they would send in the ANBU to kill everyone. A hard choice to make and terrible burden to bare, wouldn't you say?"

"So, you mean to tell me that it was you who told Sasuke all of this? You told him the truth about his clan's past?" Tobi nods. "Don't get me wrong, I understand why you did it. I would have probably done the same, but now he hates Konoha. Now he wants to destroy both the village and everyone in it,"

"I know, that's the plan,"

"What?"

"Listen Naruto, the Hidden Leaf may be the village where you two might have grown up and sworn to protect a long time ago, but it has its dirty secrets too. They tried to obliterate an entire clan because they were afraid of both them and their power; even after the Uchiha had sworn their loyalty to them. Fear is what destroyed a clan and it's going to be vengeance that destroys the village with Sasuke being at the head,"

"Why are you telling me this? Why tell me your plan when I'm just going to stop you guys,"

"Do you really think you can?"

"I'll hunt each and every last one of you down until none are left, starting with you," Naruto glares harder.

"Fair enough. We're planning on using you in our plans anyway, but right now this is just a mutual conversation," Tobi says as he sits in a nearby chair.

"Stop confusing me. Why are you hear? What are you trying to tell me about Sasuke? What do you want from me?"

"I came here to test you,"

"To test me?"

Tobi nods and he plays with a random string on his cloak. "You see Naruto, Sasuke is having a hard time with himself. He is torn up about him "killing" Itachi and about the history between his clan and the Hidden Leaf. But, he is also torn up about you. Tell me, Naruto Uzumaki, what do you plan to do with Sasuke?"

"I want to save him. I'm going to save him,"

"Do you think you can?" Naruto hesitates for a few moments but never takes his eyes off of Tobi. "See, I think you can,"

"What?"

"I think you can save him. That's why I am here. I want to give you an opportunity to help Sasuke,"

"I'm not following. Why would you help me save Sasuke?"

"Because Sasuke is not in his right state of mind. There is a difference between wanting revenge and being insane. Sasuke is teetering on that line. It is understandable he wants revenge against the people who decimated his clan but doesn't really have a motive other than grief and confusion. It would be different if he wanted to do it and had a plan, but he doesn't. He is just blindly following us with no rhyme or rhythm behind his motives. He's only tagging along because he is at a loss of how to process the truth. That is where you come in,"

"What am I supposed to do?" Naruto asks.

"How bad do you want to save him?"

"I will lay down my life to get him back. If I die during that process, then so be it,"

"Hn. See, that's what makes you different from him. You are driven. You are sane. You understand what is happening and have a plan on how to cope with it. That is why I believe that you can save him. Call it an experiment. See, I don't think Sasuke truly wants to do this. I can't see him going through with this and understanding the consequences after the fact, but you do. You know what will happen if he goes through with this. You understand the risks and everything that comes with this revenge path he has set himself on. He is in danger and in need for someone to set him straight," Tobi stands up to walk closer to Naruto. The blond fox tenses when the masked feline stops right next to him. "Tomorrow, Sasuke and his team will be arriving her to attack the Eight-Tails host and the Kages. I'm leaving it up to you to stop them. If you can, then Sasuke will be snapped back to reality and might see what he truly wants. If not, then may sink further into his own insanity. Either way, Sasuke will get some kind of wake-up call. I just hope it's the one he needs,"

"Why are you helping me? I still don't get it,"

Tobi turns his head towards Naruto and shrugs before turning back to face the balcony's doors. "Maybe it's because I wanna see if the rumors of the Nine-Tails' host are true. Or maybe it's because I'm sick of Sasuke's insanity. Or it could be because… I don't want him to end up like me,"

And just like that, Tobi disappears from the room. Naruto rushes to open the doors but when he investigates the blackened night, no one is there. Shutting the doors, Naruto mules over the conversation in his head. He walks back to his bed and falls onto it with a bright smile on his face and a new resolve in his heart.

"Well he was a weirdo," Kurama speaks up. "Whatchya thinking, kit?"

"I think I finally have a plan on how to save Sasuke. But I need your help,"

Kurama arches his eyebrow in concern at Naruto's plan, not liking where this might be heading.

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To Be Continued…