A/N: Something I think I should let you all know: Jiraiya won't be a factor in this fic (at least not majorly. (One specific instance will break this trend). I avoid writing him if I can most of the time, and this fic is no different.

Time for chapter 23

Enjoy!

Gaara's eyes slowly fluttered open as she was gently shaken awake. The first thing she saw was the face of Naruto, who was cradling her head and upper back. She was still on top of him as she had been that morning, and based upon the state of her body temperature, they had not separated once during the hours of her slumber. These realizations brought a smile to her face.

"Good Morning." she greeted him sleepily. Nightmares had been a predictable issue, but they had also been far less prevalent than they usually were. For the first time in an immeasurably long time, Gaara felt well-rested.

"Goodnight, actually. You slept all day." Naruto corrected. The redhead's eyes drifted toward the singular window their cell harbored. It was indeed still dark, and the temperature of their cell was frigid. With all of this in mind, she turned her gaze back towards him and nestled into him a bit more.

"Did I? I'm sorry for the trouble. You made me very warm, so I got a little too comfortable, it seems" she said through a yawn. Naruto shook his head and brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes, causing Gaara to curl up against him a bit more.

"No, you're fine. You didn't move a ton, so holding you wasn't bad at all." he assured her. Gaara then recalled what she had said to her fellow Jinchuuriki just before drifting off to sleep.

"Since you woke me up, does this mean that you wish to escape, Naruto?" she asked. The blonde nodded stiffly and sighed nervously.

"Y-Yeah. I think I'm ready. Let's break out of here." he said. Gaara studied him for a moment and then reached up to turn his face back towards her.

"We can't stay in Konoha for obvious reasons, so tell me, where are you planning on going? I'll follow you no matter where it is, but I'd like to know ahead of time." she asked. Naruto remained silent for several moments, seemingly struggling with something.

"We're going to the coast. I...think I know a place to regroup. Somewhere I read about a while ago." he explained. The redhead shifted in his arms and maintained her gaze.

"It sounds to me like you aren't entirely willing to stay away." she said curiously. Naruto's expression darkened slightly at her words.

"Danzo is too much for us. I knew that about thirty seconds into my conversation with him. He's stronger than you and I put together. I need time to develop and grow before I come for him." he said. Gaara tilted her head off to one side.

"Oh? This is a new melody from you. I never took you as the type to hold grudges." she said. The blonde shook his head and relaxed slightly.

"I'm not usually, but he crossed every line. He wants to make me a weapon, and he used you as a bargaining chip. I can't forgive that. I'll make him pay for it in blood." he said. Gaara then sat up and made her way to a kneeling position in front of him.

"Well, I'm glad I mean enough to you for such a thing to anger you so. You're very sweet." she said before giving him a peck on the nose and standing to her feet.

"Now then, let's get moving. I'm just dying for some fresh air." she said. The redhead then spread her arms out to either side of her and closed her eyes. For a moment, there was silence, but it was soon broken with a humming sound that was soon followed by a clicking noise. The door of their cell then swung open.

"How did you…" Naruto began, trailing off by the end as Gaara helped him to his feet and led him out into the hallway. She then gave him a smiled and tapped the lock

"There are usually small collections of dust and metallic particles in the inner workings of locks, and if you can move those masses around in the right ways, you can open most doors. I learned that trick fairly young." she said proudly. The blonde frowned.

"You could have gotten out literally whenever you wanted. Why did you bother staying?" he asked quizzically. Gaara then turned a light shade of pink and began to fidget with her hands.

"I saw an opportunity to make things right with you, and I took it. Maybe things aren't fully mended yet, but I got to sleep against you, so I don't regret waiting. I also figured that you would eventually grow tired of imprisonment." she explained. Her fellow Jinchuuriki nodded and glanced down the surprisingly empty hallway.

"Yeah, that makes sense. It's probably a good thing we cuddled up, honestly. We'd have frozen to death on our own." he half-joked. The pair then made their way down the corridor cautiously, keeping a close eye out for traps of all shapes and sizes. After a slow trek, they reached a door that seemed to lead to another block of the prison. After looking underneath the door, Naruto spotted sandals.

"There are guards on the other side. At least four of them." he reported to his companion. Gaara furrowed her brow and knelt down next to him at the base of the door.

"Why do you think it is that we, likely the most dangerous of the inmates, have no guards posted while these fools do?" she asked curiously. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and stood back up.

"We didn't do much other than sleep, talk, and, uh, kiss a little. Good behavior, maybe?" he guessed. The girl suppressed a giggle and nodded.

"Perhaps, yes. Oh well. I'm certainly not complaining about the ease of exit." she replied. The blonde then gave her a more serious look as she rose to an upright position.

"No killing. We aren't even going to badly hurt anybody if we don't have to. Got it?" he said somewhat sternly. Gaara nodded.

"Understood. I'll do my best to keep things clean. Also, my gourd was taken to a room near the end of this upcoming block, so our priority should be retrieving it." she said.

"How do you know where it is?" he asked. The redhead put her hand on the handle of the door and prepared to turn it.

"It's laced with my chakra. I can sense its location." she explained. With that in mind, she pushed the door open. Once the opening was large enough, both Jinchuuriki rushed through it. Naruto's estimation had been correct. There were four guards stationed in the area, and they immediately took action to stop the escapees. Unfortunately for them, their efforts were in vain. The first of the guards was doubled over by a blow to his stomach by Naruto, and the following two were rendered unconscious by forceful strikes to their jaws by the blonde. That left only one shinobi in their path, who attempted to run in the opposite direction to escape them. Before he could reach the end of the hall, he was chased down and knocked out by a strike to the back of his head with the blunt end of a kunai from Gaara.

"Good, now my gourd should be in that room." the redhead said with a finger pointed at a door on the left wall of the block. It was diagonal to what appeared to be the exit of the section. After a brief jog, the pair reached the door and threw it open. Sure enough, Gaara's gourd laid in the far right corner.

"Pity. I've grown used to feeling lightweight." Gaara muttered as she strapped it over her shoulder and stretched her back. Naruto chuckled.

"That thing's about two-thirds the size of you, so I'll bet it's rough to carry." he said humorously as his companion joined him at the exit of the hall.

"I can't help that I'm small." she huffed. A moment later, they crashed through the next hall. It was much the same as the first, though with three extra guards to contend. Despite the ease with which they were passing through the facility, Naruto still found himself growing ever more nervous. Up to now, Gaara had kept her promise to be nonfatal, but each and every time she neutralized a guard, there was a pause before she would leave them be. She was visibly struggling.

"You okay?" he asked after the final guard had been disarmed and knocked out. Gaara didn't immediately respond, prompting Naruto to put a hand on her shoulder. The contact drew a flinch from the girl. She then turned to look at him. One of her eyes was golden and sporting a diamond-shaped pupil. The pair stared at each other for several moments before the blonde took hold of her hand and led her off towards the next door.

"How about I handle the next hall? It's the last one, I think." he suggested. Gaara nodded stiffly and tightened her grip on his hand.

"Y-Yes. I think that would be wise." she said, her voice strained. Upon entering the fourth, and assumedly final, hall, they were met with a surprising sight. Area was entirely empty. In fact, it wasn't even a prison block at all. It was simply an open room with a large door at the end.

"Well, that's that, I guess." Naruto said, leading Gaara towards the door as he spoke. When they reached the large door, he kicked it open. As expected, open air lay beyond it.

"We need to get to the border. Keep hold of me. I'll lead." the blonde said. Gaara nodded and joined him in a sprint northward.

Unfortunately, it would not be so easy.

Something was amiss. The air was hanging stiffly, it was strangely cold, and the silence of the night felt unnatural. All of these factors combined to set Kakashi very much on edge. The jonin had never been one to sleep early, but it had always been a thing he had considered. Tonight, no such thought had crossed his mind. Even before the tension had truly set in. setting aside the book he had been reading, Kakashi threw his legs over his bed and sat up. His nerves were buzzing.

'I can't quite put my finger on it. What...is it?' he pondered as the air conditioning hummed in the corner of his dwelling. He had long been capable of discerning the factors behind his instincts and gut feelings, but this particular occasion was stumping him greatly. He had half a mind to simply wander the streets until his feelings brought him to the source, but his more logical side told him to wait and see. Something told him that rushing in now would be a poor idea.

Unable to control his curiosity fully, the jonin closed his eyes and focused his senses to scan the village as a whole. After several tedious moments of pinpointing and searching, he discovered the likely cause of his unease. The tension was emanating from the lockdown block of the prison. Specifically, two signatures. They were powerful, they were moving. Within moments, Kakashi identified who they belonged two. Once he did, he sighed heavily and walked to his window.

'So, they're going for it. As much as I feel like I should be surprised, I'm not. This was inevitable.' he thought to himself. He was conflicted. Naruto breaking out of his cell had felt like an unavoidable issue, but it was also one that wasn't entirely unjustifiable. His imprisonment was far from just to begin with, and he had every right to oppose it. With Hiruzen gone, his voice would never be heard by those in power. Doubly so with Danzo at the helm for the time being. It was never a question of if, but of when.

'Chances are, they have nobody on hand who's strong enough to stop them from just leaving. They aren't out of the building yet, but they will be within two minutes. Guy is halfway across the desert with a recon team, and Asuma still hasn't recovered from the invasion. That leaves Kurenai, Sasuke, and I.' Kakashi reviewed. At this thought, he frowned.

'That's an issue. Kurenai can't handle Gaara. Not a chance in hell. And we've already seen Sasuke try and fail. Naruto is a question mark when it comes to willingness to fight, but if he resists, he's even stronger than Gaara.' he thought somewhat nervously. Jonin were bound to be deployed, but few were capable enough. Sasuke was almost certainly going to catch wind of what was going on fairly soon, and once he did, he would come running.

'I need to get there first. This'll get ugly if I don't.' the silver haired ninja concluded with a nod to himself. After putting on his forehead protector, covering his left eye, and throwing on his flak jacket loosely, Kakashi opened up his window and leapt down to the street below. He immediately broke out into a sprint for the prison.

It took him no more than forty feet of running to realize his error in judgement. On a dime, he shifted his trajectory towards the northern border of Konoha. The likelihood of the pair remaining at the prison for much longer was low, and if anything, they'd be making a haste to reach the border.

'The only real question is what they plan to do. They can't stay in the village now. If they try, they'll be cornered and tossed into separate cells inside of two days. Probably tortured in Gaara's case. But there's no way they don't know that.' Kakashi thought to himself between breaths. He was panicked. The chances of his encounter with Naruto and Gaara being anything but incredibly ugly were exceptionally low, and the more the jonin thought about it, the more and more prominent a certain question became.

What exactly did he plan to do? What was the proper course of action? It was a pertinent thing to ask oneself in such a situation. If he were to stop them and turn them in, which he could easily do, they would be detained once again, and likely under harsher conditions. There was a not insignificant chance that Gaara would end up dying in the process, and Naruto would likely be imprisoned for far longer than previously scheduled.

'I could care less what happens to Gaara, but if she goes down tonight, he goes down with her.' Kakashi contemplated. As he was grappling with the choice he was being forced to make, a figure crashed across the rooftops in the same direction as the Copy Ninja. After a moment's observation, Kakashi stopped running and watched the person leap across infrastructure. It was Sasuke.

'If he's going where I think he is, then he's about to do something incredibly reckless.' Kakashi thought as his student shrunk into the horizon. Yet another decision had now presented itself to the jonin, and it needed to be made quickly.

'I'll slow down my pace and keep an eye of the three of them until I arrive. If things get dicey, I'll speed up.' he decided. He then broke out into a hasty jog with the intention of reaching the border within roughly ten minutes. It was a gamble to be sure, but one that gave the silver haired ninja room to breath. With his heart racing and sweat running down his brow, Kakashi focused his senses.

'Slow them down, Sasuke. Just for a little while.'

Sasuke grit his teeth and picked up the pace at which he was running. Time was of the essence, and try as he might, he couldn't reach a speed that would calm his nerves. The very thing he had feared had happened. Gaara had escaped her confinement, and she had brought Naruto with her. It was a nightmarish scenario. One that the Uchiha would not allow to complete itself. He was approaching the border rapidly, and his dojutsu had locked onto the pair. He was set to intercept them just as they would reach the upper border of Konoha. It would certainly be close, but Sasuke was moving more quickly than they were. He would get there first.

'I don't know why she's slowing herself down by dragging him along with her, but it can't mean anything good. From the feel of things, she's ready to fight. Her chakra is all over the place. Just like it was when we fought.' he thought to himself as his legs carried him across the rooftops as fast as they physically could. Several minutes later, the trees of the forest came into sight. Along with them, at the edges of his peripheral vision, Sasuke caught sight of what he was moving to intercept. Gaara and Naruto were running from the east towards the edge of the village. With his adrenaline pumping, Sasuke burst forward one last time into a powerful leap.

He landed directly at the edge of the forest, squarely between the foliage and the pair of Jinchuuriki. They both stopped with a flinch as the Uchiha rose up from his knees and straightened himself.

"Imagine meeting you here." he greeted them sarcastically with his arms folded across his chest. He then noticed several oddities. Most chiefly was the fact that Gaara was grasping his teammate's hand tightly with her fingers laced through his. Beyond this, it appeared that Naruto had been the one leading Gaara rather than the other way around if his positioning was any indication.

"Sasuke. I...didn't think you'd be here." Naruto said hesitantly. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and let his arms drop to his sides.

"Neither did I. Not until around eight minutes ago, at least. Now, would you mind explaining to me what the hell is going on?" he asked. The blonde took little time to respond.

"What does it look like? We're leaving for a little while." he said sharply. Sasuke cast a glare towards Gaara and took a step forward.

"And who's idea was that?" he asked. Naruto pointed to himself as his redheaded companion kept her eyes fixed on the ground.

"Mine, actually. I don't have a ton of reason to stay here as of right now, so I'm taking my leave." he replied. Sasuke scowled.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? No reason to stay here? We have a war on our hands! You have every reason to stay!" he questioned incredulously. The blonde shook his head and glanced back at the village to his back.

"Like hell I do. You know damn well what Danzo's going to use me for if I stay here." he snapped back. A look of confusion then passed over the Uchiha's face, prompting Naruto to sigh.

"You really don't know, huh? Well, all you need to know is that I don't feel like being objectified or used. You know that." he said. Sasuke's mouth pulled into a thin line.

"Look, if you run, they'll send hunters after you. You'll be in the goddamned Bingo Book. I won't let that happen to you." he said firmly. Then, for the first time since the two parties had encountered one another, Gaara spoke.

"You plan to oppose our exit?" she asked, her eyes still hidden behind her bangs. Sasuke swallowed and drew a kunai.

"If I have to, I will." he said. The moment the sentence had left his mouth, the redhead released Naruto's hand and stepped in front of him. It was then that Sasuke caught sight of her eyes. They were identical to those of her transformed state. The golden hue brought back the memories of the beating he had suffered at the Jinchuuriki's hands.

"I hadn't originally planned on fighting you a third time; not after you nearly removed my head, but so be it. Let us begin, Sasuke." Gaara growled as a plume of sand erupted from her gourd to act as an extension of her will. The Uchiha assumed a taijutsu stance and drew a second kunai.

"Let me handle him, Gaara. Please, put the sand away." Naruto said nervously. Gaara shook her head and took a step towards Sasuke.

"Oh hush, Naruto. This won't take very long." she hissed darkly. Her voice had gained a disturbing edge. Just as the blonde was about to take steps to put himself between them, a blur flashed across his field of view.

"What in the-" Sasuke began as the blur landed in front of him. The entity's landing kicked up a sizable amount of dust, but it cleared quickly. Once it did, the identity of the blur was revealed.

"Kakashi-Sensei. I should've seen it coming, I guess." Naruto said nervously. The jonin glanced back at Sasuke shook his head, much to the surprise of both sides.

"If Sasuke hadn't arrived to cut you off when he did, I wouldn't have been a factor. Your planning, if you actually did any, was perfectly sound." he said. He then cast a glance at Gaara.

"Stand down, half-pint. I'm well within my rights to put you in a coma as long as I don't kill you." he ordered menacingly. The redhead begrudgingly did as she was told and stepped back to Naruto's side.

"Good. Now, the two of you might want to get going." Kakashi said. Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara all stared at him wide-eyed. Though their shock was equal, it was the Uchiha who was the first to speak.

"What?! You're letting them leave?!" he practically yelled. The jonin gave a nod and maintained his focus on the pair in front of him.

"As I'm sure Naruto's alluded to, their reasoning for leaving is more than justified in this case. Danzo plans to weaponize the fox within Naruto for the war effort, and he's likely to use Gaara as leverage. I don't like it any more than you do, but it's either this, or what essentially amounts to slavery for the both of them." he explained. Sasuke opened his mouth to refute his teacher's points, but found that he couldn't.

"I'm serious, you two. Get moving. We don't have long." the Jonin ordered Gaara and Naruto. The pair snapped out of the trance of shock they had entered and did as they were told. They made their way past the two ninja blocking their way and stepped into the forest.

"Where are you heading?" Kakashi asked quickly, clearly aware of the waning time at their disposal.

"The coast of the Land of Fire." Naruto replied. The silver haired ninja tossed him a small object.

"Don't move in straight lines. Mix up your routes to throw off your trail. They'll have hunters on your ass inside of three days." he said.

"And consider that a parting gift." he concluded. Needing no further prompting, Gaara and Naruto disappeared into the forest silently. Once they were fairly long gone, Sasuke spoke once again.

"Was that really a good idea?" he asked tightly. Kakashi sighed and stared up at the full moon above their heads.

"Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term, it'll save both of them a lot of grief. Danzo is a warmonger, and I'd rather not let him get his paws on either one of them. Especially Naruto." he said honestly.

"Do you really trust her that much? Gaara, I mean. I'm not sure she isn't even more dangerous to him than Danzo is." Sasuke asked. Kakashi shook his head.

"I trust her sanity less than I trust her intentions. I'm fairly sure she's like a lost puppy with him. What worries me more is her obvious lack of control over that monster she keeps under wraps." he said. Sasuke put away his kunai and sighed.

"I still don't like the idea of Naruto travelling alone with her." he said quietly. The Jonin put a hand on his student's shoulder and nodded.

"I understand, Sasuke. Believe me, I do. But we just have to let it go for now." he said. The genin glanced up at his teacher.

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" he asked. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at the question.

"We're going to make sure Danzo doesn't take power."

A/N: Yes, huge chapter for the plot. Long one too. So yes, they're leaving Konoha. I really saw no other way to continue this fic, honestly. If that bugs you, I'm sorry. Regardless. You're going to get a lot of GaaNaru stuff from now on. One last fight does remain, though.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing it. Tell me what you thought of it :)

See you next chapter! Read and Review!