Tenten breathed in deeply as she perched on a tree limb hundreds of feet above the ground. Keen brown eyes scanned where the treeline met the night sky, the only sound crickets and the rustling of leaves in the cool midnight breeze.

Someone was following them.

She flared her chakra ever so slightly, just enough so Karin and Shino could pick up on it and relate it back to the others. She saw the distant flash of a Konoha headband;

One,

Two,

Three.

Message received. Neji activated his bloodline.

Tenten took yet another deep breath as she contemplated the absolute absurdness of the genin, most of them only a few months into their training, out on an unauthorized retrieval mission to save the last Uchiha and a woman who was more full of secrets than Neji was filled with angst, from one of the most powerful and dangerous missing-nin known to the elemental nations.

But even that had changed, hadn't it? In the week and a half since the Forest of death incident Neji had almost seemed to be...at peace with himself. A tenseness she hadn't even realized was there had evaporated, and he had emerged from the exams a new person. He smiled, which almost never happened before, and granted, still didn't happen much, but was still there.

Everything seemed to have taken two steps to the left while Tenten wasn't looking. Tenten who had spent her entire life on edge, watching the village moves, waiting for something to snap, knew that a breaking point was fast approaching.

And she didn't know what it was.

It made her blood boil.

A few years ago, it was the Uchiha. While the ninja scratched their heads like the sheep they were and let the Hokage and the council guide their thoughts, the civilians and the civilian-borns cowered and did their best to make it look like bowing. But then again, that's pretty much the same thing, isn't it? They knew of Konoha's long history of discrimination, they knew the true meaning of seeing underneath the underneath, and they knew the genocide of the Uchiha clan wasn't just some freak accident.

Tenten didn't dare search for answers to what really went down, but her curiosity burned inside her all the same.

The world had shifted a few degrees onto its side yet again and this time, Tenten's curiosity would be satiated.

She turned her body so that it was parallel with the treelimb she was on, and observed the boy hovering on a cloud of sand in front of her.

The bags under his eyes were even more pronounced than before which Tenten had believed to be impossible. His arms were crossed, fingers digging into his biceps and his pupils seemed to train on her with desperation.

Her keen weapons mistress eyes noticed and felt the rest of her group desperately signaling her to jump away, but she didn't want to do that.

She wanted answers.

She looked Gaara straight in the eyes, lifted a single brow, and waited.

He didn't take long.

"What is my purpose."

Tenten blinked. That was...not what she had been expecting. Maybe shouts of revenge for the insult of a civilian-borne girl taking the son of the Kazekage down. Maybe some gloating. Some edgy monologues of death and destruction. Not for him to be asking her what he should do with his life. How the hell was she supposed to know that?

He was staring at her, the glint of desperation in his eyes becoming more pronounced.

"Please, what is my purpose?' And at this point it was more begging than asking. Tenten was surprised at his manners, considering that fact he grinded off most of Ino's face not two weeks ago.

A part of her flinched at the reminder of how the world was drenched in the blood of senseless violence, but outwardly, she showed nothing.

"That's a big question." She said bluntly. "I hardly know you. How can you expect me to answer something like that when I don't know you?"

He gave her a considering look, then opened his mouth. Tenten prepared herself for the probably horrific backstory.

"Before I was born, my father elected to have a monster implanted within me. He thought I would be born with tremendous strength and power because of it. Instead, It sapped the strength away from my mother, taking away her life, and I was born small and weak."

Tenten's eyes narrow in sorrow, but not surprised. The were all considered tools and weapons of war to some extent. Gaara was a extreme case.

"From my very first breaths I have been a failure. I have killed the only person to ever love me, and failed to control the beast sealed inside. For so long, I tried to fix that by showing I cared, but everyone ran from me."

It sounded to her like Gaara's purpose was to be a weapon of mass destruction. That was a lot of pressure to put on a baby. No wonder he snapped.

"My caretaker was my uncle, my mother's brother. He taught me of Love, and said my mother had loved me. For a long time I thought he did too."

Anticipation, dread, for what was to come next had Tenten swallowing heavily.

"He tried to assassinate me when I was five. I found out that it was on my father's orders."

Tenten closed her eyes.

"Can you believe that finding out it was orders made me happy? That my uncle could maybe still love me, that he only did it because of orders? That it was nothing personal. Not my fault."

She could believe it.

Gaara was looking down at his hands, which he had removed from his biceps.

"The wounds he had sustained from my sand shield were fatal. But before he died, he cleared that up. He had never loved me. Even if they were orders, if he had loved me, he would never had done it."

He scowled.

"I then decided that if no one else would love, me than I would love me and only myself, and make them pay for daring to hurt me!"

"..."

"A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort…" Tenten murmured under her breath before speaking louder.

"What changed that?" Tenten asked. Not softly, but certainly less sharply than before.

"You, and him. That Uchiha boy."

Once again, Tenten blinked in surprise.

"It was my purpose to destroy him, to prove my worth to live, but instead he survived. I should have crushed you, but you knocked me unconscious. How? It was your purpose to fall before me, how did you not?"

Having had much experience with angsty teenage boys who believed resistance was futile, Tenten leveled her experienced, sympathetic gaze on him.

"Someone born as low as me has no purpose. No great expectations. The only purpose you could say I had was to serve as civilian-borne cannon fodder for clan ninja."

Gaara listened in attentively, and against her will, his green eyes reminded her of Sakura's; hungry for guidance.

"I decided I didn't want that. I decided to do something else, become something great, and defy what they wanted me to be."

"Is it that simple?"

Tenten smiled sadly.

"No. Of course not. I cannot speak for Sasuke, and your situation is vastly more complicated than mine, but what I've found out about life, it that we can choose what we want to become and how we act, even if we didn't choose to be born poor, or with a demon sealed within us." Or born a slave with a caged-bird seal, or in a family doomed to die.

"How do I start?" Gaara demanded after a moment of contemplation.

Tenten's eyes sparkled mischievously, but before she could respond, the rest of the genin had jumped down beside her.

Choji and Sakura were glaring at Gaara with all the hatred they could muster.

Naruto was staring at Gaara with an horrified looked on his face. Tenten noticed his hand on his stomach. Lee and Neji landed behind her, each putting a hand on her shoulder, while Kiba, Shino, and Karin stayed off to the side.

Temari and Kankuro jumped down to their little brothers side.

"Leave. Before we make you." Sakura snarled, the memory of her best friend and sister-figure's brutalized face fresh on her looked like he couldn't agree more.

Tenten stood up.

"Wait. We could use their help."

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"We can't do this by ourselves. Those three could be powerful backup."

"While that's true, aren't the Suna nin gonna be going crazy?" Kiba asked insightfully.

"I dispatched sand clones to act in our stead." Gaara answered.

"He hurt Ino!" Choji growled, and wow, that sounded really different than what Tenten was used to.

It was about to devolve into complete chaos before Gaara cut in.

"I wish to atone."

"..."

Sensing that no one was going to speak unless he explained, Gaara spoke.

"I have done much wrong in my life due to the wrong done to me. I wish to break the circle. I will help you get Sasuke Uchiha and Haruhi-sensei back."

Sakura snarled.

"Fine. Fine! But one wrong move and I'll kill you myself!" Sakura turned and launched herself back into the treetops, sneering at Karin as she went. Naruto shot one last wide-eyed look at Gaara before following her. The others got into formation, and Tenten caught Temari's eyes.

"You're looking for answers too, huh?"

Temari eyed her, before nodding.

"Someone warned me about the Kazekage. I think it was her."

It spoke volumes that Tenten didn't even have to ask who Temari was talking about.

Tenten sighed.

"We're all just people with questions, looking for answers." She mused sardonically.

Temari snorted in amusement, and Tenten felt her heart flutter.

"Indeed. Got room for one more?"

They had out their weapons in seconds, pointed at the source of the voice. It was a Kunoichi with spiky purple hair, a trenchcoat, fishnet shirt that revealed way too much, and a brown skirt.

"Anko-sensei!" Tenten exclaimed.

"Bingo, kiddo. I'll be accompanying you guys during the rescue, cause knocking everyone single one of you guys out and dragging you back is damn near impossible. Lets go!" Anko jumped ahead, cackling.

Tenten took a second to utter a prayer, and jumped after her

Sasuke grit his teeth. He would not give in. He would not listen to them.

The snakes whispered sweet nothings into his ears. Hollow promises of power, of revenge, of being able to kill all he wanted.

Sasuke would have snorted in laughter, if he wasn't trying his best not to scream in frustration.

Sasuke had seen enough death. The only person he wanted to kill was Itachi, and no one else if he could help it. Orochimaru spoke of letting him murder unrestrained like that was something he wanted. No.

If he started to kill anyone and everyone who even slightly inconvenienced him he would be no better than Itachi. It make him sick to his stomach that there were many people in this world who thought that was the best way.

A python curled around his shoulders, whispering of unimaginable strength, and he grimaced.

He would not cave. He would not give in. Submitting to Orochimaru would be to give the power of the Uchiha bloodline to someone who was even worse than Itachi.

His wrists ached as he tried to break free of the snakes, desperate to see if Haruhi-sensei was okay. He hadn't seen her in...God, he didn't know how long. It was dark down here, and for all he knew, weeks could have past.

Sensing his anxiety, the snakes started hissing.

Haruhi-sensei had judged him at first. Raised a dismissive eyebrow, made sharp comments, and snorted at his actions and words. She thought she knew better, she thought she knew him. And she thought there was nothing about him worth her while.

But something had her change her mind. In an act of humility and self contemplation that had left him awed upon reflection, Haruhi had admitted her arrogance, her judgemental attitude, her mistakes, and had promptly apologized and did her best to make up for it in any way possible.

Sasuke was so used to people just assuming things about him that he had ignored her at first. But after that…

No one had ever apologize to him before for judging and thinking they knew him. Even Sakura hadn't done that.

If a ninja made a mistake, they covered it up, or acted like they meant to do that or that it was a good thing.

Not Haruhi.

She listened to him. She didn't want anything from him other than to make up for her wrong-doings. She offered advice and comfort Kakashi-sensei never could, whether it be because of his own emotional constipation, or because it would be treason.

Haruhi had went from just another person who dismissed him, to someone who was humbled and genuinely cared about him. She helped him get dressed for Sakura's party, and bought his favorite food when they went out with a secret wink and a sly smile. She comforted him and didn't mock him for not wanting to kill. She flirted with Kakashi and tricked him into teaching him cool Jutsu's. She expected him to be no one but himself.

No one had been this nice to him since…

Sasuke blinked his burning eyes, and took a deep, shaky, breath.

He hoped she was okay.

He really did

It's labor day weekend! And this story finally topped a thousand favorites. Y'all get an update!

And gosh, so many things going on all at once, huh? What should Ino do with Sakura's bloodline? How will Anko react to being so close to her former teammates daughter? What will Sakura do with Karin? How will Naruto react to Learning Gaara's also a jinchuriki? What do Temari and Kankuro think about Gaara's turn? How will they react to Orochimaru, knowing what he did to their village? How will Sasuke and Gaara interact? What will happen to the village, with lord third in a coma, Tsunade no where in sight, and Danzo in command? If they all make it out alive, will they be tried for treason and killed? How is Kakashi taking all of this? Are the exams even still on? Will there be a third part? Will someone attack Konoha early to take advantage of its weakness?

and most importantly;

IS HARUHI OKAY!?

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z!

Question of the chapter: What do you think of Sasuke now? What do you think will happen next?