Note 1: If you haven't read the prequel, check out the notes underneath this chapter to see what you need to know. It's not a lot, but it might help. OR you could go read Uneasy! :)

Chapter 1. Storm's Rolling In

Sunagakure was a city of dust and air. During winter, harsh sandstorms would beat against the dome shaped clay buildings. In summer, the heat would be so stifling that leaving one's home was not unlike stepping into a live oven.

Early autumn, however, was rather pleasant to someone accustomed to Konohagakure's much more temperate climate. It was comfortably warm, and the breeze was just cool enough to ease Kakashi itching lungs.

It was stuffy in the Kazekage's office, and his still healing lungs had gotten uncomfortably tight. Kakashi had requested a quick rooftop break, using the excuse that he needed a moment to think. Better that than to interrupt the whole meeting by coughing constantly. There are still people you didn't want to show weakness around. Now, he leaned against the banister on top of the Kazekage tower and breathed in gratefully.

"Naruto told me of your condition," Gaara's soft, deep voice said from behind him. "I hope you don't mind. He was worried."

Kakashi sniffed. He'd sensed Gaara before he'd heard him; the smell of sharp spice and dark chakra filling the air. "I hope he didn't ask you to babysit," he said dryly.

Gaara smiled faintly as he joined Kakashi at the banister. "I hope you are recovering well...?" He asked. He often reminded Kakashi of Sai; always searching for the right social cues and responses. A childhood spent on the battlefield tended to do that to a person.

"I'm fine. Just a hiccup," Kakashi said, which was almost the truth anyway. "I just wanted to enjoy the view."

Gaara's nearly invisible eyebrows rose minutely. It was probably not every day that he caught a fellow Kage in such an obvious lie. Still, he had to at least be somewhat unsurprised after the whole 'I'm sorry I'm late, but I was kidnapped by a camel' schtick Kakashi had attempted earlier that afternoon. (He'd overslept- the warmth still lingering in the buildings had made him terribly drowsy).

Of course there was also the fact that interrupting an official diplomatic meeting for the sake of enjoying the view was a bit of a thin excuse.

Kakashi and his small party had arrived at Sunagakure's gates the previous day for the official meeting between the two Kage's. Kakashi would've preferred to attend such a meeting as bodyguard or advisor, but Tsunade was annoyingly persistent about the whole 'you deal with all of that now, I'm retired, damn it' she liked to throw at him. Troublesome, as Shikamaru liked to say.

Okay, so he didn't completely hate politics. In fact, it wasn't as unlike battle as he had anticipated before he had taken up the Hokage mantle. It was all about making the right move with the right piece, and nudging the pieces you couldn't quite control in just the right direction with some subtle manipulation. It was an entirely new sort of challenge, and he had always liked challenges.

Still, he couldn't help but miss the heart-pounding adrenaline of a good chase.

After his party's arrival, there hadn't been much time to do anything politics related. There had just been the ever so dreary parade towards the Kazekage tower (which was a rather awkward thing to do when one's father had spent most of his life cutting through the people now watching the parade). Then the next day, they would discuss politics, trade agreements, Intel, and a surprising amount of frivolous formalities.

The atmosphere hadn't been completely friendly. The younger people were fine; the older ones had a habit of giving him distrustful looks. It really rather depended on what they remembered him for.

Fortunately, the diplomacy part of things was pretty easy. Gaara was a loyal ally of Konoha, and he didn't need any convincing to stay on their side. As expected, their discussions had been rather uneventful. A few new trade deals here, preparations for the next chunin exams there…

The biggest hiccup had been one of Gaara's top jounin being an annoying little shit by insisting that Kakashi apologize for his tardiness, and then subsequently interrupting the discussion far too frequently. He was one of the distrustful ones, part of the older generation that had a harder time forgetting the past. Personally, Kakashi felt a big part of it probably had to do with the fact that that same generation hadn't fought side-by-side with Konoha during the last war.

Fortunately, Gaara's calm yet stern presence had quelled any real disruptions. Despite his youth, he practically exuded of authority.

Despite the casual nature of the discussions, Gaara had rushed through them with uncharacteristic taste. Kakashi had been invited to stay for a week, but it seemed that the young Kazekage wanted to speed through all of their discussion points within a single day. They'd even been served dinner at the meeting table. That was a new one.

(Despite knowing better by now, Kakashi had still pulled the eating-without-showing-his-face trick. It was so hard to resist, and worth it just to see the expression on the annoying interrupting jonin's face.)

"How long ago did it happen, again? Fox's attack?" Gaara asked, interrupting his thoughts. Kakashi turned to look at him. The younger man leaned forward on his elbows, the setting sun adding an orange hue to his already bright hair. His face was rather grim, but sincere.

"Four months," Kakashi said. Four months of recovering his health, moving into a new apartment (this time, he'd insisted on something that suited his tastes a little better, but he had lost the battle of not having his apartment on top of a tower marked by the Hokage symbol. Well. You win some, you lose some), talking about Minato and Kushina with Naruto, and spending far more time than he liked in a hospital bed as Tsunade checked him over.

The poison was as good as gone by now, Sakura's seal having done its job, but there was still the lingering damage to his lungs. Tsunade had even gone so far as to insist Sakura would join him on his trip to keep an eye out. As far as Kakashi was concerned, he felt it was unnecessary meddling- but even he couldn't deny he enjoyed having one of his students with him.

Sasuke had gone off to travel again, for the sake of his rather elusive atonement (how atonement was achieved far away from the people he'd hurt most was something of a mystery to Kakashi). Naruto had decided to join him for a while, and had then gotten stuck in Kumogakure. By all accounts, Bee was currently teaching him how to rap. God save them all. Finally, Sai, still recovering from his own trauma, had stayed behind to oversee the further examination of former ROOT agents- intended to root out (pun intended) the last of Fox's minions.

That had left Kakashi with a party of five, himself included; Shikamaru (as his self-appointed assistant), Sakura, Mitarashi Anko, and finally an ANBU bodyguard, Yuugao.

"I was shocked to hear of it," Gaara said slowly. He looked at Kakashi from the corners of his eyes as if to gauge his reaction. "It seems our past continues to haunt us."

That was interesting." Our past?"

Gaara grimaced slightly. "There is something I should discuss with you. Something rather important, but I didn't want to do so during the meeting."

Odd. It had to be something important, for the Kazekage not to entrust his closest advisers with it. Well, knowing Sunagakure's power division, it was likely Gaara's siblings would know. But why not involve the rest of his council? Curious.

Kakashi shrugged slightly. "I'm here now. Fire away."

Gaara shook his head. "You'll have to see it to believe it. We'll go tomorrow."

He woke up early the next morning and dressed in silence, slipping out of his room before any of his guards noticed. Sunagakure's empty streets were already bathed in warm orange light. It wasn't hard to see why people might love this village, how even dust and sand might appeal. There was a warmth to it, and a kind of careworn love that Kakashi remembered Konoha having before it was destroyed by Pain. The majority of Konoha's current buildings were new, and even though they had been built up in the same style as before, they weren't quite so lived-in or familiar as the old buildings had been. But Suna's buildings still carried the history of many generations.

Kakashi made his way over to the main gate silently and quickly, going unnoticed by the few sleepy guards posted on the towers. Once he reached the gates, Gaara stepped into existence from a nearby wall; the only person who had sensed him at all. He seemed to materialize from the very sand itself, like a vengeful wraith. Jinchuuriki or not, he still maintained some of that unnatural quiet he had possessed before.

Like Kakashi, Gaara was all alone. A quick sensory inspection revealed that there wasn't anyone hiding behind the scenes, either. Kakashi smiled. The more he got to know his fellow Kages, the more he began to suspect that the one thing they all disliked was the formality and protectiveness their fellow Shinobi had a habit of smothering them with.

Somewhere above them, the guard on duty frowned a little as he sensed something in his periphery, something niggling, like an itch you couldn't quite scratch. Kakashi smiled faintly. They both needed better guards.

Gaara inclined his head in greeting, elegant, even this early in the day. "Good morning . I trust you slept well?"

The guard on the tower gave a startled yelp as he noticed that the two most important people in town had more or less snuck up on him.

Kakashi's smile widened. "The quarters you provided me with are excellent, thank you."

Up above, the guard noticed he was being ignored and wisely decided to shuffle back to his seat, clutching at his spear with a vice-like grip.

Gaara smiled perfunctorily, then beckoned him. Together, they entered the desert.

The desert was always a little disorienting at first, particularly when the stars weren't out. It required keener instincts and know-how to navigate the sands, something that took practice. Kakashi had learned it back in ANBU, but his own expertise seemed practiced and fake compared to the ease with which Gaara navigated. A few twitches of his chakra, and he seemed to know somehow which direction he had to take.

The only problem Kakashi could find with the younger Kage was the silence. He liked a bit of quiet as much as the next man (probably more so), but after spending years with a team of rowdy, loud teenagers who liked to insult each other for sport, he wasn't really used to it anymore. He decided, possibly for the first time in his life, to start a conversation.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be pretty important for you to leave your council out," he said conversationally.

"My council is… Divided. I heard of your plans to make the Council positions elective. I rather like the idea."

"Not just plans anymore. We had the first election last week. They're still counting the votes, but it should be interesting. Why 'divided?"' Kakashi said, looking around for a marker he might memorize so he might find his way back. In the desert, that didn't prove to be particularly easy.

"The Council is large and old-fashioned. I am far too progressive for their tastes-were it not for the support of my people, I would never have been elected," Gaara confessed. "They actively tried to keep me out. Most of them have since changed their minds about me, particularly since the war-" here, a hint of pride snuck into his voice, "but a number of them are still wary."

"How are they chosen for the Council? Can't you appoint them yourself?"

"I would if I could. They're chosen by the clans, or families, as we call them. Each family has been in this village for as long as it has existed. They believe they, not the Kazekage, were ultimately responsible for the village's success. The Kazekage is valuable, yes, but in their eyes it is the group that ultimately upholds our existence. They're not wrong." Gaara said, kneeling on the ground for a moment and placing his hand on the sand, closing his eyes in apparent focus. Kakashi felt another pulse of chakra, and then Gaara moved on into another direction.

"Presumably there's not just the major families...? What about the non-clan shinobi? Don't they get a say?" Kakashi asked, following Gaara at an easy pace.

In Konoha, about a third of the population were active shinobi. Of those, roughly 40% hailed from one of the major clans, the largest of the clans being the Sarutobi and Akimichi clans. Next in size came the Nara, followed by the Hyuuga and Aburame. The Yamanaka clan and Shimura clan were smaller still, and the Inuzuka clan was little more than one big extended family, by now.

Then came the really small clans, clans that had been large and powerful once but had since declined; only a handful of Senju remained in the village, and the Uchiha and Hatake clans only had one member each left to their ranks. Naruto was there to represent the Uzumaki side of things, of course, but with how scattered the family had become there was no way of telling how many other Uzumaki descendents were still out there.

The more time passed, the more clan members mingled with the non-clan shinobi, thinning out their blood and ultimately disappearing into the rest of the population. It was inevitable, unless they decided on a sudden and rather unexpected surge of incest (which Kakashi would certainly try to veto, thank you very much).

In short, though; Konoha had long since learned to neither underestimate or shun those who did not belong to clans, because they held the future. New clans would inevitably rise up, if Konoha decided it still needed them.

It seemed Sunagakure was a little bit more old-fashioned.

"The majority of my citizens belong to one of the major families. Few of them have bloodline limits, but they pass on secret techniques. More importantly, they have pride," Gaara explained, frowning minutely. "They don't like to give up their names, so they don't like their family to mingle with others. Some of the families get along just fine, but others argue and bicker. It makes for a rather tiresome dynamic."

"Would you doubt their loyalty to your village, or to you?"

"No. I would doubt their discretion."

He didn't say much more than that, leaving Kakashi to speculate. Family arguments weren't exactly his specialty, but he could imagine what might happen. If whatever had gotten Gaara so worked up could in any way be affiliated with one of the families, families opposing them could rise up and point fingers. It was a Civil War in the making, to put it rather strongly. Or a good old bar fight, anyway.

As they traveled, the sun slowly climbed further into the sky, heating up the air around them. Gaara seemed entirely unbothered by it despite his long clothes and pale skin. Kakashi considered using a simple jutsu to ventilate a little bit better, but ultimately decided not to. Better to save his chakra until he had scoped out the situation. Which reminded him…

"If we're about to run into a fight, I'd appreciate a warning," he said dryly.

Gaara smiles faintly. "I'm not expecting one."

Which wasn't the same as there's not going to be a battle. Conclusion: stay on guard. Not that he needed to tell Kakashi that. Kakashi was on guard 24/7. He'd made a career out of being on guard.

They pushed on. Eventually, the smell in the air changed slightly-there was water ahead. They pushed forward until the silhouette of a little town came into view. Or what used to be a little town, anyway. Something had destroyed most of the buildings, burning the edges and staining them black with soot. The surviving villagers had built a camp just outside town, the little white tents sitting next to a small oasis.

According to Gaara, the settlement belongs to a formerly nomadic group who called themselves the Ashihara. They were only loosely affiliated with Wind Country, preferring to see themselves as borrowers of the land rather than owners.

A spark of chakra alerted Kakashi of the presence of another shinobi, and moments later Temari appeared. She didn't look much like her brother; tall where he was short, blonde where he was red, and bold where he was quiet. Her eyes were like his, though; green, and always serious.

"Gaara, Hokage-sama. I'm glad to see you both. The people are getting restless. They're worried the water might be poisoned," she said.

"Is it?" Kakashi said, and let his chakra spread out to sense for threats. Aside from their own signatures, there only seem to be civilians around.

Temari shook her head. "No. I tested it to be sure; it seems fine. Gaara, that just proves that it wasn't a demon, right?"

A demon?

Gaara said nothing, but something shifted in his expression. Something a little bit fierce and angry.

He led Kakashi towards the camp without speaking. There, an elderly woman with wrinkled, dark skin introduced herself as Haruka, the village leader.

"It was like the old days, when the demon monk would attack towns," she said, referring to the one-tailed beast. "Its chakra was so oppressive, we could no longer feel our own. I am no ninja, but we all of us know a few tricks. How to find water, how to navigate the sands, how to steer the wind away from our huts. We couldn't do any of that during the attack. I thought we would all die. The children kept crying, like they were in pain. I suppose they were, their chakra is so small. No one died, but we all suffered."

Despite her age, she was still supple and had no trouble whatsoever sinking down into a comfortable squat next to the fireplace. A pot was hanging over it, and she stirred it briefly. She closed her eyes and took in the smell. Something potato or root based, with an overabundance of sharp spices, Kakashi guessed. Where would she even get the ingredients, in an environment like this? Kakashi made a mental note to ask Gaara.

Haruka gestured for them to sit, which they did.

Gaara explained the attack had taken place almost two days ago. It wasn't the first such attack either; apparently another similarly sized settlement had been struck about a week ago. More disturbingly, one of his shinobi had returned from a mission severely disoriented, claiming he couldn't feel his chakra at all. He was still in a hospital, too disoriented to speak of his experiences with any clarity.

"It really was like that demon, even though we did not see one," Haruka repeated, casting a suspicious look at Gaara. Temari returned it with a far more poisonous look of her own.

Gaara held up his hands calmly. "It was not Shukaku, I assure you. Last I heard of him, he was in the north near the mountains, with one of his brothers. He has promised to do no more harm to our people. You need not fear him, Haruka-san."

"What are promises to a demon?" She returned.

"They're not unthinking beasts," Kakashi said calmly. "I've spoken to a few by now. All they really want is peace and quiet, as well as their freedom."

Haruka's deep, piercing eyes turned on him. "Are you one of that lot as well? One of those demon vessels? Jinchuuriki?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. Prejudice, even now. "No, but I've met a few. They're normal people with extraordinary circumstances, not animals. I'm sure there's no reason to believe one of the bijuu would attack your village," he said. He turned to Gaara questioningly, not wanting to overrule his fellow Kage on his own terrain.

Gaara watched him with something like curiosity. "It's true. You have my word as Kazekage. This was not one of the bijuu." He seemed remarkably patient for someone who'd dealt with prejudice all his life and was now faced with it again.

Haruka watched him for quite a while, her aged dark eyes taking him in with a liberty few ninja would have dared. She didn't seem particularly impressed by rank, come to that. Kakashi could certainly appreciate that.

Eventually, she shifted a little. "The village has been good to us, since your reign began. Less trouble with the shinobi about our tricks," she amended, then flicked her fingers. Kakashi felt a rather blunt, untrained burst of chakra, and then a sudden breeze whirled around the old woman. She sighed, seeming refreshed, and smiled. "Your father did not want us using chakra."

Gaara inclined his head. "My father was a complicated man," was all he said.

With Haruka's concerns largely quelled, Gaara, Temari and Kakashi retreated back to the destroyed village.

"The truth is, my village has few trackers. Certainly none of your caliber," Gaara admitted. "I know it is a lot to ask, and you have your own village to think of, but in the spirit of cooperation…"

Two villages destroyed, their civilian inhabitants distraught and left homeless? Their witness account describing something akin to a demon attack? An experienced shinobi cut off from his own life's energy?

Kakashi shrugged slightly." Seems to me you've provided your guest with an interesting little puzzle," he said lightly. Temari smirked.

Kakashi stretched his hands over his head and listened to the satisfying crack of his shoulder. "The truth is, things have gotten rather quiet around Konoha. I will help you, if I can."

Gaara held out a hand. Kakashi looked at it for a moment before he realized Gaara meant for him to shake it. Something he had picked up from Naruto, perhaps. Kakashi smiled to himself and shook Gaara's hand.

It seemed he had a new mystery to solve. Good. This would be fun.

xXx

"Well, there were definitely people here," Pakkun said, about half an hour later. "And I don't just mean the villagers. Not smelling any demons, though. They have a signature smell, and it's not here."

Kakashi remembered. A mixture of ozone and brimstone tinged by heavy chakra, all of it mingling with the smell of blood and death. That's what Konoha had smelled like almost twenty years ago, when Obito had set Kurama loose on the village. The smell had clung to his clothes and skin for days after, no matter how often he washed.

"The level of destruction isn't really big enough for it either…" He said thoughtfully, squatting down next to his dog. The others of his pack were still sniffing around, occasionally climbing over bemused villagers or avoiding the playful children. Only Bull had allowed himself to get distracted, but then he had the weakest nose of the pack. Besides, the little girl who was currently scratching behind his ear looked like she knew what he she was doing. The giant mastiff looks like he was about to roll onto his back and kick his legs-Kakashi knew the signs well.

"A shinobi attack?" Pakkun suggested.

"They must've considered that already," Kakashi said, looking at his small Suna escort. Temari was currently trying to dodge Guruko's enthusiastic attempts at befriending her. Kakashi whistled sharply. Guruko's head swiveled towards him, and a moment later he returned to tracking. With all the free time they'd had lately, discipline seem to be a thing of the past in his pack.

"What then? Not like there's a lot of other options. Are you sure you should get involved in this, boss?" The pug said, sitting down on his haunches.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Don't you start. I'll get enough of that from Sakura, when we go back."

"Well, it is for a reason-"

"I'm fine." Kakashi got back up and pretended to inspect a bit of nearby wall. It was a sooty black, and entirely uninteresting.

"Subtle," Pakkun drawled behind him.

Kakashi cast a look at Gaara to see if he had overheard, but Gaara was just watching the dogs, arms crossed over his chest. He was one of those people who just looked innately cool; he'd probably still look cool brushing his teeth or wearing one of Gai's horrible jumpsuits-okay, no, no one could look cool in one of those, but Gaara would get closer than just about anyone else.

He was also very, very young, which meant he was inexperienced. Idealistic, too; no Kazekage before him would've asked a Hokage for help. Kakashi just hoped he wasn't naïve. An attack on a village this close to Suna? It could well of being one of Gaara's own who'd done this. That, or someone with a blatant disregard for his authority. Maybe Gaara hadn't told Kakashi all of his reasons for keeping the Council out of it. Tricky. Certainly on a political level.

Vice versa, no Hokage before Kakashi would have considered helping another village in such a personal way. It was an entirely new position, one for which there were no guidelines or rulebooks. He had to figure it out himself, and decide to what extent he wanted to invest in this.

He liked Gaara. He respected Gaara. But ultimately, his own village would come first.

Kakashi shook himself out of his thoughts. One of the dogs was barking excitedly. Uhei, from the sound of his voice. Kakashi turned and strode towards his dog.

"I found something, boss," the dog said, his tail wagging back and forth in obvious satisfaction. "Some kinda metal thing? It looks funny. It smells of people." He prodded at something with his paw.

Kakashi knelt down and placed a hand on Uhei's warm, firm shoulders. The dog grinned and nosed Kakashi's knee affectionately as he observed the metal object. It looked like some kind of metal band, large enough to wrap around someone's wrist. He took a kunai from his pouch and used it to prod at the metal. Nothing happened. Still…

"Do you think you could track the smell?" He asked.

Uhei nodded fast enough that his tongue rolled out of his mouth. "Yeah, boss. Sure, boss. If the boys help. I don't like the sand. It's hot, it hurts my pads."

"I will wrap them for you. Track the scent as far as you can go. Keep me updated. Sent the boys, one by one. Pakkun will know how." Effective as they were, most of the dogs weren't particularly bright. That's why Pakkun was their leader; he was the cleverest by far.

With that taken care of, Kakashi joined the sand siblings once more. He held up the piece of metal. "Look familiar?"

The siblings inspected it with a nearly identical frown, highlighting their few similarities. "I can't say I do," Gaara said.

"The best I can think of is that it was part of a puppet. Kankuro would know." Temari said, putting her hands in her side and looking out over the camp. "Gaara, we should help these people. If there's another attack, they're sitting ducks."

Gaara nodded. "I've put Himura's team on the job. They're to guard this site. I sent another team to the other village that was attacked, Yamamura. Evacuation doesn't seem immediately necessary. Our shinobi will help with the renovation of the village, and keep an eye out."

"There's a storm coming," Temari said. "If those tents don't hold…"

"Haruna's people have survived out here for centuries. The houses are a recent addition, they will manage without them quite well. They're welcome to come to Sunagakure, but... "Gaara gave Haruka a meaningful look. "I have a feeling they'll refuse."

Temari nodded, then pointed at the piece of metal. "Will your dogs need it, Hokage-sama?"

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets, only to immediately pull them out again. Too damn hot in the desert. "They've had a good whiff. They can hold onto a smell for days, I don't expect they'll need another one. Take it."

Temari blinked, looked at the nearest dog and whispered something that sounded like "useful little mutts".

Kakashi looked at the sun. It was a little hard to tell the time, as dark clouds were gathering near the horizon. He guessed it was around 10 in the morning. By now, Sakura would be bordering on apoplexy. Give it another hour, and she'd be sending out search parties. Mind you, the first search party would be to Kakashi's bedroom, to make sure he wasn't still sleeping. How insulting.

Still, a good sensei took pity on his cute little students every now and then. Particularly if he wanted to continue making said student pay for his dinner bills. (Which he did, thank you very much; just because he had a full bank account didn't mean he had to use it if he could get food through other means. Just strategic foraging, really.)

"We should have back, my party will be getting worried by now," he said, a little reluctant. He wasn't really looking forward to more meetings. On the other hand, Gaara and he now had far more interesting things to discuss. Such as to what extent Gaara wants to keep this from his people-a strategy Kakashi felt was rather tenuous, as it had failed him only four months ago.

Fortunately, Gaara agree to his proposal. Temari stayed behind to wait for the team that was supposed to arrive soon, with the promise that she would follow them home as soon as she could. From what Kakashi could gather, she also tended to serve as Gaara's advisor and bodyguard. If she was anything like Kakashi's bodyguards, she didn't enjoy leaving her charge behind.

Bah, bodyguards. It was almost like constantly trailing after you and generally being a nuisance by having their chakra hover on the edges of your awareness was their job, or something. He'd only brought two himself, and only one of those was actually serious about her job. The other, one Mitarashi Anko, might have been picked because he'd known from the start that she would get distracted by the shiny new village and get off his back every now and then. Not that he would admit to such a thing.

The way back to Suna was a little bit slower than the first trip had been. It was getting warmer by the minute, and Kakashi could feel his dogs' despair at the hot sand underneath their pads through their shared chakra connection. Kakashi winced. It seemed just wrapping their pads hadn't been enough. Still, the boys were tough and the further they were apart the less he felt like he had to tear off his own shoes and throw a water jutsu at the balls of his feet. Transference of feeling was a pain. He would have to give them a nice bath when they got back.

Fortunately, Gaara didn't seem to notice his discomfort. He himself seemed utterly unaffected by the heat, even though his skin had roughly the same color as milk and surely had to be sensitive to burning. Maybe he just wore a lot of sunscreen. That's what Kakashi should've done, if he didn't hate the stickiness and sickly sweet smell so much.

About half an hour away from the village a spark of chakra in the distance, almost entirely concealed, gave them pause.

"One of yours?" Gaara asked.

Kakashi nodded, and flared his own chakra in return. His ANBU guard, looking tiny against the backdrop of dark, rolling clouds.

Gaara silhouette gradually darkened as the light faded. He frowned as he watched the clouds approach. "We should hurry. There's a storm coming."

AN:

Thank you all so much for your overwhelming enthusiasm for this story. I hope you will enjoy this as much as you did my last story. To any new readers; I hope you'll enjoy the ride!

Some general announcements :

1. This is a sequel, so here's a few things you might want to know if you haven't read the first story in this series (which is perfectly okay, though of course as its author I am inclined to recommend it ;) ). Here's what you need to know:

• The story takes place about two years after the fourth great ninja war. Kakashi is about thirty-four, team seven is around twenty. Kakashi is Hokage.

• The Konoha council members (Koharu and Homura, her hubby) are dead. A new, larger and modernized council is about to be elected.

• Kakashi is still dealing with the aftermath of being poisoned. He has a temporary seal across his torso to help him heal.

2. As the majority of you prefer for this story to be gen, any romantic plot lines will be kept subtle and in the background (which was kind of my intention anyway). Out of the canon pairings, ShikaTema will probably appear the most. I will let you know in advance whether anything else will appear.

3. I don't watch or read Boruto. This story is going to be Canon divergent in a pretty big way. I am somewhat aware of Boruto's plot, but whatever might happen in that story doesn't happen in mine. In short, if something happens here that isn't true for Boruto, just accept it as canon within this fic-verse.

4. You can find me on Tumblr as hii-raeth. Ask me a question or check out my blog, if you like.

5. I have no idea how often I will be able to update. Real life is pretty busy, but I am very determined to update fairly regularly.

6. I am very much one of those authors who writes more if she gets a lot of comments *HINT HINT*