I do not own the rights to "Naruto", nor any of the persons, places, or concepts within. This fan fiction is a non-profit tribute to the series, as well as a critique on it's existing plotline. Therefore, if requested by the owners and distributors of the "Naruto" anime or manga, I will discontinue and remove this story immediately.

Chapter I:

Naruto had thought it through and declined Jiraiya's offer. While the specialized training would protect him from Akatsuki, three years was a long time. There would be little if any time to take the Chunnin exam again, as well as giving up entirely on Sasuke. Finally, there was one other reason he wasn't willing to cut all ties.

Her name was Hinata Hyuuga.

The Jinchuuriki couldn't put his finger on it. Any contact he had with the girl had been short and very awkward. All he knew is that she needed as many people to believe in her as possible. Shino and Kiba weren't enough, even if they were a functional team of Genin. As the blonde-haired shinobi finished returning his things from his backpack to their respective drawers, he even considered the option of training under another team leader. "Kakashi is working with Jiraiya, trying to get me to leave the village," the boy spat out in disgust. "Whatever happened to the concept of 'strength in numbers'? If we all fought against Akatsuki, I'm sure they could be defeated!"

While he admitted to being slow upstairs, Naruto was not a complete idiot. As such, the minute he conned the Pervert Hermit to tell him everything the Sannin knew about Akatsuki, he made the necessary arrangements. Gaara of the Sand, while not an ally by any means, would be another target. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Naruto grinned, writing the letter to his fellow Jinchuuriki two days ago. The letter, he presumed, should have reached Gaara by now. While relations with the Hidden Sand Village were strained, talks were in the works.

But Naruto had no idea what consequences, good and bad, would come of his choices.

•••••••••••••

Jiraiya stood in front of the polished, intricately carved desk in the Hokage's office, Tsunade and him both glaring at the young Genin forcibly dragged to the meeting by Kakashi, as well as two members of ANBU. Kakashi set his hands on the boy's shoulders firmly. "Just what do you think you are doing?" the Jounin asked sharply. "This is no laughing matter, Naruto. You can't just think about yourself with this. The whole village is at risk!"

The Jinchuuriki stared up at Kakashi, and then towards the frowning Hokage. The white-haired Jounin was never this serious unless it was important. As for Tsunade, well, she was always against him regardless of the situation. "Is it true you sent correspondence to the Hidden Sand Village regarding Akatsuki?" the busty woman asked, gritting her teeth. "They can't be trusted, and if they know about it, they may ally with-"

"Gaara deserves to know!" Naruto shouted back, breaking free of Kakashi's hold. The Jounin was unprepared, hoping he wouldn't have to use force against the boy. "We're the same! Akatsuki is after ALL of the nine demons, not just me!" The Genin paced slowly, deliberately to the Hokage. "My letter was to a fellow Genin and friend. Besides, if we put the right foot forward, there is no reason they will turn against us. We already have a common enemy."

Tsunade slammed her fists down into the desk, rising to her feet. "You do not dictate policy to me, Naruto!" she screamed. The boy drew back, but only for a moment. Tsunade was incredibly strong, and knew what she was doing. But the Genin was fairly convinced if he really wanted to, he could leave. Unknown to the others in the office, he had two advantages. First, from his prior exploits breaking into the office, he knew the ventilation ducts of the entire building like the back of his hand. Secondly, and more importantly, he knew Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade would hold back. They presumed he was weaker than he truly was, and their purpose wasn't to harm. Deep down, they needed him. Also, if they truly wanted to kill him, they knew at one point or another Kyuubi would take over. That they couldn't stand up to.

It was no secret among them, after all. The seal was weakening over all these years. The best seal jutsus, regardless of who created them, could not hold forever. This thought stuck inside the boy's head. 'Wait a minute,' he thought. It was becoming more obvious, especially considering who was in the room. If it were just a simple argument to make him train under Jiraiya, it would have only involved the two Sannin. But now that he considered it, between Kakashi, the two ANBU shinobi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, any attempt to verbally convince him was over. They were going to use force, if not to make him train under the pervert, then to seal the Kyuubi further, maybe even killing him.

While Naruto's exploits in the village were rather destructive, he had survived the Chuunin exam, proved he could at least hold his own against similarly skilled shinobi, and if he kept on his current path, would surely make something of himself. The Genin took one more step towards the desk, and glared. His promise to become Hokage would not be stopped, even by the present Hokage herself.

"I don't have time for these games," Uzumaki spat out, churning the words as they flowed out like bile. "You're not here to convince me. You're here to stop me by any means necessary." The Hokage was the only one who visibly shifted, her eyes glancing towards the right of the desk. Her lips pulled back from the normal frown to a hiss, almost the kind the woman gave when she lost a bet. Her bluff was called, and she had lost again. There was only the need to collect the winnings.

"You want me trained to handle Akutsuki?" the boy grunted. "Fine, we'll do it, but my way. I want to stay in the village, and train under a variety of Jounin, not just Kakashi-sensei or Jiraiya-sama." Now everyone in the room visibly reacted, most raising their eyebrows in disbelief. "How can you make such demands?" the woman barked. "You have no right to dictate-"

"It's my life they're after, my burden!" Naruto interrupted curtly. "The Fourth made me the carrier for this demon and the village's sins. Therefore, if someone comes after me, I decide how we handle it!" Naruto opened his right hand. Nobody knew who first sensed the build up in chakra. Perhaps they all noticed it at once, and the differences in reaction time determined who made the first response. Either way, it was time for the Genin to play his trump card.

"N-Naruto, stop it!" Jiraiya shouted. The boy's hand glowed blue, a swirling collection of chakra forming a palm-sized sphere. The boy took another step, now immediately in front of the desk. Tsunade tried her best to form a hand seal, while the Jinchuuriki noticed Kakashi with the ANBU responding similarly out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't see Jiraiya, but the boy had a feeling he would attack as well. The orb was fully formed now, the boy finally learning how to properly mold the chakra flow with one hand only twelve hours before. It was now he was glad his late night training was done in secret, even from the Sannin.

Bringing his open right palm down into the desk, the wood immediately split, forming a vortex of splinters and shredded papers contained in the desk's drawers. They hadn't even had time to react, expecting the lowly Genin to shout "Rasengan" before his attack. But he had learned that was not necessary, again during the secret training. "W-WHAT?" Kakashi gasped. "How could he form the Rasengan perfectly? He needed a clone to do it just yesterday!"

Jiraiya was both pleased and disgusted. Pleased, of course, because his part-time pupil was finally using the technique in it's true form. However, his disgust came from it's use against the Hokage, the figurehead of the entire village. From this point on, the Sannin thought, the Jinchuuriki's true motives couldn't be trusted. So long as he was willing to sacrifice the village for his own desires, he was just as guilty as the missing nin.

The two ANBU figures charged forward, the cloud of debris masking both their and the boy's movements. Should there have been that much smoke? As the two approached overzealously, both found themselves shrouded in the effects of the pair of smoke bombs dropped just as the Genin made his exit. It was then they noticed the slightly shifted grating of the ventilation shaft overhead. "There!" one of them yelped, pointing towards the ceiling. "Come on, the shaft only leads one way!"

"Use whatever force necessary!" Tsunade coughed, purging the debris from her lungs. "But don't engage him directly! He can't be given a chance to use the Kyuubi!" The pair bolted out of the office, down the hallway, and stopped just short of the stairwell, hurling as many kunai as they could into the nearby wall, just short of the ceiling. The first shinobi charged towards their target, giving a quick punch in the direct center of the kunai's groupings. Each bladed weapon formed a point in a circular ring, and as the lead ANBU struck the wall, all of the sheet rock crumbled, except that outside of the kunai's distribution. The ventilation shaft was made of cheap aluminum, only a few stabs with one of the kunai allowing the men to peel the metal away like the skin of an apple.

Naruto glanced back, stunned, and did something entirely out of character. Raising his hands to his head, he leapt from the hole in the wall, and knelt on the ground. "Okay, fine, I give up," he muttered under his breath. The sudden change in behavior did not stop the ANBU, however, the two twisting his arms, nearly hyper-extending his elbows, as they dragged the resisting form to the office. But as more pressure was applied, the body became spongy. A quick burst of smoke, and a squishy popping sound emerged, and then, nothing.

"Kage Bunshin..." one of them cursed, and stabbed the wall nearest to him in frustration. If they had just looked out the nearby window, they would have seen a Genin in orange jacket and trousers sprinting over the rooftops.

•••••••••••••

Gaara stared at the neatly folded paper, reading the text again. Temari and Kankuro were in his private residence, the one of a very few times they ever visited. He had requested their advice regarding this issue. "This is... rather serious," Gaara breathed, his predatory eyes tracking the hesitant movements of his teammates. "You're thinking about contacting the elders, and having me locked away, aren't you?"

Both Genin drew back, holding their hands up in a sign of friendly intentions. "N-no!" Temari answered. "Nothing like that!" Gaara, however, was not convinced. "I won't be caught, not by this Akatsuki, and not by the village." The Jinchuuriki turned his back to his former allies.

"Gaara, please!" the boy's older sister pleaded. "You're an important part of the vill-"

"I am a weapon to all of you, nothing more," Gaara interrupted her. Now the boy was thinking. He had received the letter a day before, and while he was considering his various options, he wasn't taking them truly seriously until now. What little things he needed were packed. It would only take three days to reach his destination, maybe less since he didn't sleep. Emotionally, he had no desire to be connected with the Sand Village any longer.

"Wait, Gaara, don't do this!" Kankuro started. He immediately felt a sharp pain, his back slammed against the nearest wall, a giant, amorphous form of sand pinning him just below the force necessary to crush his body. "I'm not your weapon," Gaara snarled, holding up the letter. "I have a choice. At least one person thinks so, and he's just like me."

"Gaara!" Temari screamed. "The village won't let you go if you hurt us or anyone else!" The girl reached behind her back, drawing out the giant fan, and crouched in a wide defensive stance. "I don't want to do this, but if you don't let go of our brother now..." Her threat, however, did not have the reaction she desired. Gaara, for the first time since the failed assassinations by the village, smiled.

"You people are so pathetic," the red-headed boy grinned. "Do you honestly think your attacks will be fast or powerful enough to penetrate my defenses, especially after my latest training?"

Temari glared. "That boy, Uchiha Sasuke did."

Gaara felt a searing pain work it's way up the back of his spine to his skull. Clenching his fists, the pressure of the amorphous sand form increased, knocking the wind out of Kankuro. "How dare you!" Gaara snapped. "It was a surprise attack." Another form of sand, molding into an ellipsoid wall, stood just a meter from Temari. But Gaara wasn't finished. A similar barrier of sand formed again, now a half-meter from Gaara, and another mere centimeters away.

"YOU THINK I'M WEAK WITHOUT THE SAND?" Gaara screamed. In an instant, conical spikes shot from the outer shield, forcing Temari to back away. She was stopped when her back hit the wall opposite Kankuro. but the spines continued extending. It was only when the girl turned her head away, a slight tear falling down her cheek that Gaara stopped, the protrusions halting, their sharp tips forming slight indents in her skin. Temari shook, causing a slight cut to form along her left cheek, a trickle of blood mingling with the sand.

"YOU THINK I'M STILL WEAK, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR SHINOBI?" the boy roared. "The sand is NOTHING! It's the user who makes the sand work for them!" Another set of conical spikes formed, this time, over the form forcing Kankuro into the wall. The thorns surrounded the puppet user, restricting his movements even more. "Give me just ONE good reason why I shouldn't let your blood join the sand!"

Temari whimpered, the slight wounds over her face coated in red stains as Kankuro closed his eyes, breaking the unspoken rule that men should not cry. This, however, could be a valid reason for any man to cry, watching his own brother put both him and his sister on the brink of death. Then, in a sickening way, Gaara smiled again, a broad, predatory smile. "You are afraid," he whispered. "Now, if you so much as follow me... even to gather reconnaissance, I swear to whatever pitiful gods you weak humans worship, I will make you regret I didn't kill you here."

It didn't matter to the two older siblings, though. There was no reconnaissance necessary. They knew where Gaara was going, and had told the village council such. Of course, regardless of how little the boy slept, it would still take at least two days to reach his intended destination. A message could get to the Hidden Leaf in less time.

•••••••••••••

The bells sounded all over Konoha, the signal for every available shinobi to report for combat. Hinata Hyuuga had just awoke, the distant bells filtering through her dreams. She stirred, pushing the covers off her bed. It took two to three minutes before she finally associated the sound of the bells with their meaning, her mind coming out of the deep fog of sleep. "It's a-" she began to speak, when a panicked knock sounded on her door. "Hinata!" Neji called out. "This is big! The order for all shinobi has been given! Get up!"

"I-I'm coming!" she squeaked back in panic. It only took three minutes to get fully dressed, rub the sleep out of her eyes, and appear reasonably presentable, but the minute she opened the door, Neji was already complaining. "The Fifth has been calling on us for over ten minutes!" he shouted, bolting for the head office. Hinata followed quickly behind, stumbling into a run. The slight winds picking up through the valley added to her disheveled hair, the girl mentally cursing her unprepared state. This was her desired career, after all, and her lax behavior would get her killed in real missions.

Then it occurred to her. If the bells were sounding, it was serious. There would be no room for error.

The first few minutes of the general assembly outside of the head office consisted of Tsunade cursing the Genins, most of them taking five minutes or longer. "Do you REALLY expect to survive?" she yelled. "If there was an immediate danger, most of you would be dead! Don't you remember the attack by the Sand?" Jiraiya, standing to Tsunade's left, nudged her in the elbow. "Umm, are you sure you want to say that?" he muttered, unheard by the audience. He nodded towards the few surviving shinobi of the Hidden Sand Village. The group consisted of three ANBU members, transferred to help protect the Sand's ambassador.

Tsunade stopped, her mouth agape, then turned back to the gathering crowd below. "As of yesterday afternoon, Gaara of the Sand attacked and murdered over ninety percent of the Hidden Sand's population, including women and children." A series of gasps, groans, and the general act of cringing followed as each member of the crowd reacted differently. "Just before he left, Gaara indicated to two surviving Genin his intention. In short, Gaara is coming here."

There were more gasps, though a few of the older Jounin commented amongst themselves. "If he's anything like he was during the Chuunin exam, it should be an easy kill," one huffed. "Nothing to worry about," another replied. "He's too reckless, too unstable." "Not even worth a couple teams of Jounin," another muttered.

"But that's not all," the Hokage continued. "Also yesterday afternoon, Naruto Uzumaki threatened my life, as well as the lives of some high level shinobi."

Throughout the crowd, one could see the heads of the Genin jerk back, eyes glued to their figurehead. Hinata in particular cringed, her face drawn back in fear. Neji, standing to her right, glanced over towards her. Sweat began to build on her forehead, the girl shaking slightly.

"This is NOT a series of random events," Tsunade continued. "Gaara and Naruto have been in contact, and it appears the two are allying against our villages." The blonde woman paused, taking a deep breath. "Not many of you know this, but Naruto should be considered just as dangerous as Gaara, if not more so. For this reason, the risk to the village is too great." Tsunade glared at the crowd. "Naruto and Gaara are missing nin, and an enemy of this village! You are to hunt them both down, and kill without hesitation!"

Somewhere in the crowd, a small group of Chuunin and Jounin began talking. "A real mission!" one exclaimed. "It's about time someone put an end to that punk!" another huffed. Turning about, the voices grew in number, all praising this course of action. Those who did not join the band wagon, however, were the Genin who had fought alongside the terrorist shinobi.

"This isn't like Naruto at all!" Shikamaru grumbled. Slowly, he crept up to each member of the Rookie Nine. He told each one the same thing. 'Meet up the minute we leave the village perimeter. We need to... discuss tactics." But the order was unnecessary, as Kakashi stepped forward amongst the promising shinobi. "All of you and your team leaders will come with me," the man sighed. "We have a special mission for you."

•••••••••••••

The best way to describe the role of the Rookie Nine was that of bait. However, even bait needs to know something about it's opponent. Kakashi led the Genin and their respective Jounin instructors to the fallen nin memorial. "As you heard," he began, "Naruto Uzumaki is to be considered just as dangerous as Gaara of the Sand." The Genin all nodded, most more hesitant than Neji and Tenten, the two who had the least experience with the blonde troublemaker. "Until now, no one has told you why the villagers have tried to keep their distance. Under Special Directive 87, on the order of both the Hokage and Village Council, I am now permitted to reveal this information." Before continuing, Kakashi paused, and looked over the crowd.

"Understand, the briefing today is classified, and once the mission is complete, Directive 87 will be withdrawn. Everything you say regarding the directive or this briefing to anyone outside yourselves will be considered an offense punishable by death." This seemed to get the attention of all present, including Hinata. "If any of you feel the temptation is too difficult to keep this information from others, you may leave now, and there will be no disgrace." Sensing the growing tension, Neji glanced over to his cousin. Hinata began to tremble.

"Perhaps you should leave, Hinata," the Hyuuga boy whispered. The girl shook her head defiantly. If it was about Naruto, she wanted to know everything. It wasn't just about her childish crush any longer. If the boy was going to be killed as an enemy of the village, she wanted to know precisely why.

Nodding once, Kakashi began his briefing. Eight minutes and twenty-three seconds later, everything the future hope of Konoha knew about their comrade was forever tainted in a dark history of death, lies, and sacrifice.

End of Chapter I

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First chapter up. Any comments or suggestions to advance the plot or initial themes would be appreciated, though I won't take any flames. Leaving the reviews open to guest users is a privilege, not a right.

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