Kankuro wasn't dumb, despite the fact people judged him for his attire and puppet work. He knew that having Gaara's seal fixed had changed things before Temari even made her announcement (he had been spying through the window even though he'd bailed out said window).

The question was, how much would it change things?

Kankuro knew Baki was ready to throw in the towel with Konoha. All of them could agree the place was nuts, but someone kidnapping GAARA from right under their noses, just to fix his seal... No one was that stupid, right? I mean, kidnapping a Jinchuuriki was already beyond stupid, ignoring the fact that they'd clearly succeeded. Afterall, pulling it off or not, it literally only made you a target for the village the Jinchuuirki came from, as well as the Jinchuuriki themselves. On top of that, it would give you a reputation, a reputation that the other nations would pay attention to and most likely test you or kill you, depending how much of a threat they deemed you.

But someone in Konoha had done it, done it so smoothly, Gaara was returned within a day, no worse for wear and Shukaku still locked away. And no, Kankuro (nor his team) thought anyone else had enough balls to kidnap their psychotic Jinchuuriki other than Konoha. Nor did they think anyone else had a seal master capable of pulling off the seal work to fix a defunct seal, as that was no small feat because you had to understand the faulty seal thoroughly before correcting it.

Yeah, the place was bogus.

It really didn't help Kankuro's mood that the whole mess really just seemed to be getting uglier. It completely unnerved him to find Gaara still sleeping like the dead, his snores making Kankuro twitch when he himself tried to sleep (years of paranoia when Gaara uttered such a sound weren't about to be broken in a month). He wondered how much Gaara would change once he woke up. Gaara's whole life was defined by his status as a Jinchuuriki, and his whole personality had developed around it. There was no telling how different he would be, how much he would change now that the seal was fixed. Not only would it mess with his personality, it also had to mess with his sand and chakra control. Kankuro wasn't looking forward to his puppets being Gaara's targets for the training it would take to fully suss out how the new seal would affect Gaara's fighting capabilities.

And then came the largest hang up for the next month. What were they going to do about the invasion? They couldn't participate as planned with a Jinchuuriki that couldn't unleash their bijuu on command. None of his team were fools. They all knew they lost any chance they had to make a dent in Konoha's defenses, especially after witnessing and suffering the shenanigans in that Kami-forsaken Tower. The whole invasion looked completely hopeless and stupid since they'd gotten an up close and personal experience of Konoha itself. Afterall, everyone had thought Konoha was lax as hell, but clearly, all of them were on high alert and twitchy, like an enemy was around every corner. It begged the question, did they already know about the invasion? And if they did, why were they allowing Suna's team to participate as if nothing was amiss? Was it a challenge? Was it actual ignorance? Was it a trap?

It also didn't help that their contact hadn't actually made contact. Baki was livid about that, ranting about wasted hours and useless spies.

Kankuro made a point to whine just as loudly about how idiotic the whole invasion was anyway, repeatedly pointing out Karasu was gone and limited his own fighting capabilities. He knew his team found it supremely annoying, but Kankuro was bound and determined to get them to change their minds, to rethink this whole damned invasion. He didn't want to participate anymore. Without Karasu, the lack of sleep over Gaara's full blown sleeping coma, and Konoha's just overall weirdness, he'd rather go back home where things were blessedly normal (he blatantly ignored the fact that normal meant a psychotic and bloodthirsty younger brother, low missions for low pay, and an overall sense of disconnect from pretty much everyone but his pushy and often violent sister).

So, it would be less of a shock to find Kankuro was brought to tears when he spotted Karasu standing in the market square while he and Temari were getting food for dinner (and avoiding the strangeness of a sleeping Gaara as much as possible).

It didn't dawn on Kankuro that it was odd that Karasu was moving without his chakra manipulation. He didn't see the queer look that Temari was giving the puppet, said puppet that was seemingly looking around as if lost. He didn't even question how odd it was that Karasu just "happened" to appear when they'd chosen to be in the market on whim after deciding Gaara's snores did not make for comfortable dinner atmosphere.

Things only got more strange as the puppet suddenly nodded to itself, setting down a battered hat on the ground at its feet. It straightened, and then proceeded to dance and sing.

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout! Here is my handle, here is my spout!" Karasu's voice was high and reedy, grating on the ears.

Temari looked positively horrified, as if her belief that things couldn't possibly get worse had been shattered brutally.

Kankuro, with tears blurring his vision, practically launched himself at his missing puppet. "Karasu!"

Temari was relieved he interrupted the show, still looking disturbed as Kankuro gleefully tried to hug Karasu's wooden frame. She was also trying to figure out how the thing was moving, as she couldn't sense or see any chakra strings attached to the puppet.

Karasu let out a shriek of horror, startling the hell out of both of them. "No! Don't come near me!" Karasu pulled away, curling in on itself like a maiden trying to protect her innocence.

Kankuro was struck dumb, gaping at Karasu in disbelief while Temari looked like she really wanted a stiff drink...or five.

Some weird blond haired kid stepped closer. "Hey, what's wrong? Everything alright?" He was looking at the puppet in concern, like it was a person, and not an obvious wooden puppet that shouldn't be able to move about or speak freely.

Karasu clung to him with a wail. "Don't let him come near me!"

The blond kid stepped protectively in front of the puppet as two more young teens stepped forward. The pink haired one looked wary, and the black haired one looked irritated.

Temari almost sighed in exasperation. They were genin, genin from the exam. Their blond teammate was an idiot.

"Why? What's wrong?" the pinkette stepped forward and put a consoling hand on Karasu's shoulder.

A groan escaped the Suna kunoichi's lips. Seriously?! Was the whole team that dense?!

Kankuro spluttered, gesturing wildly as he tried to comprehend what was going on (he was failing miserably at it).

Karasu simpered as it huddled against the blond kid's back. "I-I was just minding m-my own business, trying to make some coin, a-and...h-he…" The puppet shuddered and let out a whimper.

Temari wondered if the rumors that Yamanaka could erase memories were true.

"I didn't do anything!" protested Kankuro.

"He's lying!" screeched Karasu. "H-he...he does things to me, puts things-"

Kankuro was mortified, face slack and bug eyed. "HEY!" His arms pinwheeled about as his frazzled nerves just made the whole situation worse. "I don't! I mean, not that way! I-"

It was an utter shitshow. Kami had to hate her, Temari decided. She had to have done something horrendous to deserve this. This doesn't happen to normal people, right?

Temari stepped forward. "Hand over the puppet. It's our property-"

"Property?!" bellowed the blond kid. "You can't treat someone that way!" He got up in her face, expression thunderous.

Temari nearly lost her cool and obliterated the kid…until she saw the twinkle of amusement in his eye and the small twitch of a mischievous smirk.

Kami-sama… They were pranking Kankuro!

She honestly didn't know if she wanted to shriek in fury or laugh uproariously.

Then, a strange feeling overtook her, a sense of blessed serenity. Everything was suddenly crystal clear, like the beauty after a heavy rainstorm.

He was letting her in on the gag.

Temari changed history. She let go.

"Ha! Property is property!" she scoffed loudly, crossing her arms and looking down her nose at her fellow blond. "What Kankuro decides to do with said property is not my business. However, it is my business to see that said property is returned."

Kankuro turned to her and gave her a look of absolute betrayal. "I don't do anything like- don't say it like- Why would you-?!"

The unholy glee in the blond kid's eyes was like a breath of fresh air. Temari wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but she had the odd feeling she'd somehow just made a friend.

"You shouldn't treat anyone that way! Karasu isn't just property!" The kid shook a righteous fist.

Temari didn't even bother wondering how the kid knew the puppet's name. "Karasu is property. Kankuro can do as he wishes." She waved a hand airily.

Kankuro looked like his soul was being sucked out, hands grasping vaguely at the air as if trying to find something to ground himself with in all the insanity.

"That isn't right!" protested the blond kid.

"Psh, right, wrong, does it matter? We're ninja. If you don't return his property, we'll accuse you of theft."

Karasu bemoaned it's lot in life piteously in the background. Temari really wanted to know how they managed that.

"Tch! It's wrong!" the shorter blond growled, looking properly offended on the puppet's behalf, his teammates hovering in the background. The pinkette looked anxious now, while the black haired one looked like he wanted to burn them all to ash for interrupting his day.

"So's stealing," rebutled Temari, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Naruto, maybe we should just…" the pinkette trailed off, shuffling foot to foot in uncertainty.

"It isn't right, Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette winced. "But she's not wrong. Stealing isn't right either."

Temari gave him a gloating look, making him hiss at her like an angry cat.

"FINE!" he shouted, throwing up his arms. He turned to Karasu, expression serious. "If he does anything weird, you let me know! I'll take care of it, believe it!"

Kankuro looked torn between being elated and affronted.

Karasu, despite not having any actual facial expressions what-so-ever, managed to portray a grudging and tearful agreement, grasping the blond in a quick farewell hug (which was returned). Karasu then shuffled slowly towards Kankuro, as if headed for its doom.

Kankuro clearly couldn't decide if he should grab Karasu and run or if his own puppet would explode if he dared to try.

Temari grunted. "Take your toy home. I'll finish getting dinner, give you time to clean it up."

Kankuro shot her a pained look as he hovered anxiously around Karasu as he "showed" the puppet the way back to the hotel.

Naruto turned to scowl at her, clearly sizing her up. "He shouldn't be allowed 'toys'."

Temari was trembling in an attempt to withhold her mirth. "No, he really shouldn't," she agreed smoothly, her voice barely warbling on her suppressed laughter.

Kankuro was finally out of sight, and the blond Konoha genin shot her a victorious smirk. "Well played," he said, voice still sounding grudging even though his expression was gleeful.

"Not bad yourself," she responded in kind, her own smirk lifting the corner of her mouth. "Later, twerp."

"Bye, porcupine." He listlessly lifted a hand in grudging farewell as he immediately turned his back on her.

Temari decided to treasure the memory of today for life. She'd never seen Kankuro so discombobulated before in his entire existence.

Worth it. Totally worth it.

She was in such a good mood she bought Gaara a night cap of a raccoon and put it on his sleeping head in a blissful daze, completely missing the terrified look Baki was shooting at her. Kankuro was sitting in a corner in a catatonic state, apparently having finally cottoned on to the fact Karasu had been moving and talking on its own. It was sitting against the wall inert beside him now.

'When in Konoha…' she absently mused, 'do as they do, right?'

It was too stressful to do otherwise, afterall, and she'd had enough stress to last a lifetime already, thank you very much.

Team 7 stood in front of their Hokage in their usual informal method. Kakashi was reading his smut, Sasuke was scowling at a random wall with a moody slouch, Sakura was meekly trying to look attentive, while Naruto had his hands behind his head and was looking about in boredom.

Hiruzen growled, spiking his KI. "Am I boring you?" He was somewhat fed up with the team. Their antics were beyond ridiculous, even if he couldn't necessarily prove they were responsible for even a third of it. The sheer flood of paperwork spoke for itself, afterall.

Naruto spared him a glance. "Duh."

Sarutobi almost split his desk in two. "You realize I called you in here because of your actions, correct?" He waved vaguely at a new pile of papers that was already a foot high on the desk. "About some sort of disturbance in the marketplace?"

Naruto had the gall to roll his eyes. "I don't know why that's even a thing. I handled it."

The Third's eye twitched. "Being accused of theft is not 'handling' it." He shot a glare at the sheer number of reports. He was disgusted with the village's poor view of Naruto, especially because they deemed it necessary to file a useless and ridiculous number of reports to try and besmirch the young blond. Kami-sama, was he sick of it.

"Psh! If you can't handle a little paperwork, you should just give me that hat now, old man!" goaded said blond.

"Ha! I can handle a little paperwork." Sarutobi twitched when the piles increased.

"You're a Kage, right?!" yelled Naruto.

"Of course I am!" The Third yelled back, irritated because the paperwork was STILL growing. Everyone else was pretending to be preoccupied with other things while Naruto and Hiruzen had, yet again, another ludicrous verbal spat.

"Then use a KAGE BUNSHIN!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the Third.

Hiruzen roared and summoned six Kage Bunshin. "Kage Bunshin!"

Hiruzen and Naruto had a stare down.

Naruto scoffed. "Tch! Better not be slacking, old man! Or, that hat will be mine sooner than you think!"

Sarutobi, trying to act imperious, scowled back at him. "You have a long way to go."

Everyone else witnessing the scene sweat drop.

"Can we go now?" demanded Sasuke, obviously done with Naruto's antics.

Kakashi secretly hoped that the discovery of the Paperwork Killer would help lower Sarutobi's ire towards him and his team. He also wondered if it should be made mandatory for all future Kage to learn it in order to get the Hat.

Sarutobi waved a hand dismissively, trying to look cool and composed. "That was the only reason I called you in here and away from your training for the Exams. With forgein shinobi in the village, we have to take all complaints seriously. Perception is everything, afterall." He pulled out his pipe and chewed on it.

Sarutobi completely ignored the blatant looks of disbelief his ninja were giving him.

"Alright! Kakashi-sensei! You have to teach me a new jutsu!" Naruto turned gleaming blue eyes onto the silver haired jounin.

"Mah, mah, settle down Naruto. You have a lot of the basics to work on first." Kakashi didn't even look up from his book as he turned towards the door.

"Aww! Basics?! That's boring!" Naruto's whining could be heard the whole time Team 7 was leaving the tower. It only stopped when they reached outside and Kakashi totally shunshinned and ditched his genin, made obvious by the indignant squawk Naruto made as soon as the jounin disappeared.

A/N: Sorry not sorry for this chapter. I thought it was funny as hell so I wrote it and posted it! Um, to be clear in the last chapter, the colors of the masks might not be who you think. Orange was NOT Naruto. Blue was NOT Sasuke. In truth, I was thinking they should be clever enough to start with certain colors but then switch masks at random to make it harder to discern who they are...and to mess with Kakashi when he thinks he knows who's who.

Hope you enjoy!

Toodles!