Chapters are short, I know, deal with it. I'll update often, though. Please review. And don't sue me: I don't own Naruto!

Missing Ninja:

"Naruto, I have bad news."

"Oh. Is that why you called me here?" Tsunade and Naruto sat in her office. Everyone else, including Tsunade's assistant, had been ordered to leave the office. Everyone except Kakashi and Sakura.

"You know that lately many people have been targeted, it seems, and killed around this area. All belonging to Konoha?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, yesterday another man was killed."

"Mhmmm…"

"Naruto, that man was Umino Iruka, your sensei in the academy. I'm sorry."

Naruto sat there, stunned. He didn't even realize that tears had somehow made their way into his eyes, and behind him Sakura was already crying. Naruto got up from his chair, and, with his head down, left. Everyone who had gathered around the door just watched him leave. Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Ino, Lee, Shino, Chouji, Tenten, everyone.

They knew he was crying. Hinata made a gesture to follow him, but Kiba put an arm in front of her.

"He needs to be alone. Right now let's just go get our next mission." Hinata nodded in response. They and Shino stepped into the Hokage's office to receive their mission. And it would be way more than they bargained for.

(&)

"What! Go to the Wind Country, to the Hidden Sand Village, to meet with that freaky guy with the red hair!" yelled Kiba.

"Yes. You said you wanted harder missions, ne?"

"Why are we doing this again?" asked Hinata.

"They have a missing ninja, who was possibly targeted by the same person who has killed all the others recently. You will go to meet with Gaara and his team, and help them track down the missing ninja," explained Tsunade.

"But…why are we helping the sand nin?"

"Because I believe that these attacks may be related to Uchiha Sasuke, somehow."

"I see," said Shino.

"We'd better get packed, then," replied Kiba. Hinata nodded.

(&)

"Wow, how did we get such a bad mission? I mean, sure it's tough, but to team up with sand nin? And especially that Gaara dude! He gives me the creeps!" complained Shikamaru.

"And I don't see how we got paired with your team. We had enough to deal with already! We didn't need a whole lot of weaklings on our hands, also," replied Kiba smartly.

"Just who are you calling weak, dog breath!" yelled Ino, towering over Kiba and Akamaru, flames surrounding her.

"C…certainly not you! Never you!" cried Kiba, trembling.

"That's what I thought you said!" Ino said, triumphantly straightening her outfit.

Wow. Women are scary…thought Shikamaru, staring at the clouds.

(&)

Four Days Later:

"Well, we're here," said Kiba dully.

"What kind of food do you think they have?" asked Chouji.

"Come on. We're supposed to meet them right about…oh, hello." Shino had come face to face with Gaara.

"You are the leaf ninja?"

"Uh…yeah! Hey, where's that cute girl…on…your…team…" Kiba's sentence was broken as Gaara and Kankuro glared fiercely at Kiba.

"She's the one we're looking for; and if you ever make such a comment about my older sister again, I'll…"

"Gaara…um…shouldn't we be leaving, now?"

"But…we just got here!" Hinata said anxiously.

"Older…sister?" stuttered Kiba.

"Yeah. We got enough stuff for all of us, but we're traveling light so we can move quickly. Our sister's been missing for about a week, so we should hurry," Kankuro informed the group.

"Let's go," said Gaara, running off through the desert.

"Matte!" called the leaf nin, running after him.

How troublesome…thought Shikamaru, the last one to follow. This was going to be an interesting mission, indeed.