Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Sand in the Leaves	By : ahmenet Category: Naruto > General Views: 1273 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
I hope everyone is finding this
story at least mildly entertaining. I pay more attention to hits
than to reviews but reviews are always welcome. After all, everyone
loves praise (praise me, PLEASE!) and criticism alike (pouts).
Anyway, I don't own Naruto.

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

Gaara stood,
leaning against the target posts close to the road of one of the many
training fields. He'd been released from the hospital the day before
and set up in temporary lodgings until he could find something more
suitable. No matter which way he looked at it, he'd be staying here
for a while. The wind blew a chill across the air and ruffled his
hair making him thankful for the black long sleeve undershirt and
green Jounin vest he'd been given in place of his desert attire.

The desert. He
missed it. He missed Kankuro. He missed Temari. He'd barely slept
for the dreams.

Hanging his head
he marshaled his thoughts and looked up and down the road for the
fifth time in the last twenty minutes. To the average passerby he
looked as though he was contemplating the horizon or simply
daydreaming. But the truth was, he was lost. He'd been given orders
the night before to meet his team at training ground nine. He'd
simply nodded his understanding and gone to bed. What he'd failed to
understand come morning was, though he'd left early to make sure he
was on time and had proper directions, children were by nature
pranksters.

“Oi!”
Gaara looked up at the deep call and found three familiar shinobi
heading toward him. “You look lost!”

Gaara recognized
the larger man as he strolled forward with his blond companion. The
other member of their team lagged lazily behind, but then, Temari had
aways said Shikamaru was a lazy bastard.

“You don't.”
Gaara pointed out and pushed away from the post.

He met them half
way the road and took note of their expressions. Shikamaru looked
uncharacteristically somber. Ino, the blond, looked sympathetic and
shifted her eyes away from his face. Only the largest of the three,
Choji, seemed in a comfortable mood.

“You're with
Gai sensei, right?” Choji asked with a relaxed lift of one
brow.

“Yes.”
Gaara answered

“Walk with
us. We're using the training field next door.” Choji smiled
sweetly and started down the path, pausing for Gaara to step in next
to him.

“So... why
were you waiting at the genin grounds?” Shikamaru asked
conversationally.

Gaara sighed and
stared ahead of him. He should have known better really, but he'd
been fear so much by his enemies and apparently by his people that he
hadn't thought to consider it.

“I asked a
group of genin where ground nine was. I hadn't thought they'd give
me the wrong directions.” He sighed again and waited for the
laughter.

It didn't come.
He was almost disappointed.

“Who did you
ask?” Shikamaru asked, again in a mild tone.

Gaara thought
about it. There had been three and they'd been very young. He'd
realized they had to be genin since they wore a forehead protector,
they'd looked very fresh from the academy. One even younger.

“There as a
small red head with long braided pigtails, a black haired fair
skinned boy and a boy who looked no more than eight. I'd thought
they were academy students but they were wearing Leaf protectors.”

“Yikes!”
Ino spoke for the first time.

“You might
want to watch your back.” Choji said quite seriously.

Gaara frowned and
turned to look at the larger armored shinobi. Shikamaru and Ino had
moved up beside him so they took up the entire roads width.

“Why would I
need to watch my back against allies? And children at that?”
Gaara asked genuinely confused.

“That's
Anko's bunch.” Shikamaru explained. “They have a bad
prank rep.”

“Prank rep?”
Gaara asked a little wary.

“When a new
ninja or even just a long visiting one come to town all the genin
groups tend to prank them.” Choji smacked Gaaras shoulder,
rocking the smaller man. “Looks like you're the new victim.”

“And you've
got Ankos team to boot. You're in for one hell of a ride.”
Ino said quietly as she faced forward.

“Yeah, those
kids put a beauty snake in Tenzos sleeping bag on a mission he took
with them to Snow Country two weeks ago. Honestly didn't know there
anything that could scare that man but apparently snakes that look
poisonous do.” Choji chuckled.

Gaara looked
horrified.

“Be lucky
they only gave you bad directions.” The larger man continued.

Gaara swallowed
quietly several times before taking a deep a cleansing breath.

“How long
does this usually last or do I need to avoid them?”

“You can't
avoid them.” Choji answered. “And the how long depends
on their mood and if they take it too far... in Ankos eyes.”

“That
doesn't sound very reassuring.” Gaara mumbled.

“It's not
meant to be.”

The group came to
a halt and Choji pounded Gaara on the back a couple of times, nearly
toppling the man once again.

“There's
your group. I'm sure, if you ask, Sakura will be glad to give you
the tour after training.” Choji placed a more gentle hand on
his shoulder and Gaara turned to look at it. “Take it easy.”

Gaara simply
watched as the rather affectionate shinobi gave him a kind smile and
turned to follow his teammates toward a training ground just on the
other side of the path. The wealth of concern hidden behind that
smile had not been lost on him but he couldn't seem to hold it
against the man. After all, he was the first person, other than the
genin terrors, to simply look at him and not pity him.

“OI!!
GAARA!!”

He turned to see
three people standing at the foot of the hill. One with violently
pink hair. He started down the slope, toward Sakura and his new
teammates, wondering how long this calm he'd somehow found was going
to last.

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

“You have
your assignments. Daily reports will be coded and routed directly to
this office. No one. I repeat, NO ONE is to know of your existence.
Use whatever means necessary to accomplish this task.”

Tsunade looked
over the group of masked ninja standing before her desk and wondered
if she could forget the faces behind each mask and make this job a
lot easier on herself. As her eyes passed over a familiar shock of
gray hair; she knew she couldn't. As Hokage it was part of her job
to delegate tasks and remember the faces of those that didn't return
from them.

“You leave
in one week. Good Luck. You are dismissed.”

The group bowed as
a whole and moved from the room in a staggered line. As the last
ANBU left Tsunade looked down at the mission directive and sighed.
She'd known it would be sent, she'd even known who would send it, but
she hadn't expected it this soon. It couldn't be help but still...

“Lady
Tsunade?” Shizune poked her head around the door before
sliding in and closing it.

“Yes, what
is it?”

“The elders
have requested...”

Tsunade growled
and stood from her chair so fast it fell to the floor.

“NO! Tell
them they can shove it to the tenth level of hell! I am NOT signing
that form!”

Shizune nodded,
eyes wide and slowly back to and out of the door. The moment it
closed there was a resounding crash as half the rooms contents
bombarded the walls.

“They ask
her to sign the disillusion form again?” Asked a stunned
Iruka.

“Yeah. She
refused.” Another barrage of projectiles hit the wall in front
of them.

“That's a
pretty adamant refusal.”

“She just
wants to give him time. He's been here less than two weeks. We
don't know the conditions in Suna as of yet. The borders are closed
and trying to scout is pretty much a declaration of war but there
still might be hope.”

The two looked at
one another for a long moment before looking back at the wall.

“How long do
you think she can keep this up?” Iruka asked, looking at the
forms in her hand.

“Another two
weeks, then she'll have to concede. I don't think I want to be here
when she tells him.”

Iruka nodded.
“You and ever shinobi in the building.”

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

Gaara hurt.
Everywhere. Without the sand he'd been forced to rely on his
taijutsu skills and a lot of dodging. Needless to say, he was rusty.
Sakura had gone easy on him, though he was pretty sure it had less
to do with his physical condition than she'd like for him to think.
Gai, for his part, had given him a good run, measuring his weaknesses
and strengths no doubt. Exactly what a teacher and team leader is
expected to do. It was Neji who was responsible for his current
physical distress.

Gaara had
introduced himself to his new team though they all knew him. It was,
after all, the polite thing to do. Gai had been gracious if
exuberant. Sakura had been polite and accommodating. Neji had
blinked cool clear eyes at him then turned his head to watch the tree
line. As Gai explained the dynamics of the team and his eagerness to
bring everyone together as a well functioning unit, Gaara noted the
tension in everyone around him. He remembered the original team. He
was there the day Lee had died. He'd never forget the look on Gais
face the moment it happened. Sakura had replaced TenTen, but she was
a leaf shinobi. He new the transition was going to be difficult for
all of them.

Then they began
sparing.

By the time he
came to Neji he was beginning to flag just a little. Gai had indeed
gone easy on him, but he had by no means given him a break. Gais
paces were three times the speed of Sakura and he'd been hard pressed
to keep up. That being said, he'd not been able to observe Neji and
Sakuras sparing. Mores the pity. If Gai was fast Neji was stealthy.
The continued cut and jabs he'd endured left him bruised in places
he didn't even know could be reached with the human hand. And the
gentle fist the Hyuuga boasted only furthered his frustration since
the man didn't even have to connect to hit him. But it was the look
of leashed anger in Nejis too clear gaze that made Gaara back away
more times than he normally would and expend far more energy on
dodging his partner than he should have. The man had looked more
than ready to kill him. Now he wasn't so sure why he hadn't let him.

Gaara took the
stairs slowly as he moved to the second floor of apartments. This
was his temporary lodgings until he could find something more...
permanent.

“I want to
go home.”

Reaching the door,
he slipped in the key and listened to the lock tumbled before
reaching to open it. Only a hand brush his aside and wrapped around
the small handle.

“Everyone
does at one time or another.”

Gaara turned to
see a young man with dusty brown hair and a round face standing
behind him with a wide smile. The smile looked very familiar and he
gave a small smile back without thinking,

“I'm
Konohamaru. I doubt you'll remember me, I'm the Thirds grandson.”

Gaara nodded
though he didn't recall meeting the boy before. He didn't look much
younger than himself. It was possible he'd seen him around but it
was hard to remember every face.

“Don't worry
about it.”

The boy grabbed
him around the waste and pushed the door open. Gaara stiffened at
the unfamiliar touch. No one but his family touched him like that.

“My team and
I watched you spar today. Thought I might bring over some lineament
and give you a few pointers on how to deal with your new teammates.”

Gaara eyed him for
a moment, completely confused.

“Why are you
doing this?”

Konohamaru walked
them through the door and turned to push it shut behind them.

“Because a
friend asked me to.” He grinned even wider. “And
besides, I think one of my teammates has a crush on you.”

Gaara groaned and
praised the powers that be that the day was over. Though, if his
aching muscles were any indication, tomorrow promised to be a lot
worse.

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

Alright. Another chapter under my
belt. Not as good as I was hoping for but it at least set up a few
things. I think. AGES!!

Regular cast, including Gaara and
Sakura- 19

Neji- 20

Konohamaru and team- 15

More as they come to me. And just
so you know, I have no beta so there will be mistakes. Feel free to
point out problems. I may not think it is a problem but if you point
it out I will look at it and see if I can make it better.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Sand in the Leaves