Disclaimer: Um… well no, I do not own Naruto. And let us all thank God for that because if I owned it, it would probably suck… and be Yaoi… mmmmmmm Yaoi…

Warnings: Yaoi. This means boy on boy action, so please if you don't like it, then just go back now and don't even bother with this fic. Also, LOTS of cussing and maybe some occasional gore. No rape though, sorry. Oh yeah, and the rating MIGHT (this is a big might, but I'm seriously thinking of moving it to M as the story goes on) go up later on. This fic will be SasuNaru mainly, but there will be other pairings. Not everyone will be paired up as I just don't think that very realistic, but there will be a lot of side pairings. There will be OOC. A lot of it. I'm going to try to keep the characters as they normally are, but it's kinda hard, sorry….

Chapter 1

The desert of Suna was not a fabulous place to be. In fact, why anyone would be out there at any time was a mystery the red haired man walking through that very same desert. Actually it was the first time he was feeling the heat of this desert in only God knows how many years. If only he hadn't been "killed" then he wouldn't be feeling anything.

Sighing, the man looked longingly at the sky, wishing for his old body back. He wasn't sure how, but when that girl - what was her name? Wasn't it some kind of flower or tree or something similar? - had killed him, his body had gone back to it's original state! Damn that woman!! He had spent his whole life making his body into a puppet, and now it was all for nothing.

As if wanting to punish him more, a large gust of wind blew sand into his face, catching in between his teeth and getting into his eyes once again. Cursing, he scowled up at the darkening sky. Shit, it was almost sundown. Well, that was just lucky, now huh? Great, another night of making sure things didn't try to eat him. 'Fun' the man thought, rolling his eyes

Damnit, couldn't just one good thing happen?! Was that too much to ask for?! Just ONE goddamn thing!!! Just one!! That's all!! Damn, was it just bad karma? I mean suuure he was an ex-member of Akatsuki, but come on!! He wasn't that bad right? I mean even Itachi - whom was much more evil than he - had some good shit happen to him!!! Couldn't God just give him a break and let something good happen that'd benefit him in some way? No? Well fine!! Screw you Go--!!!! Things went black after that, as something heavy hit the man on his head.

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Earlier That Day: Astoria, Oregon

It was the last class of the day, on a Friday no less, and everyone was buzzing happily around their classroom, while their teacher looked hopefully at the clock every five minuets. One particular boy sat silently, writing on a small piece of paper. The boy's friend - a female - looked at him worriedly, knowing that the boy was usually lively and talkative.

The boy was small, barely 5' 2", with sunny golden blonde hair that spiked in every direction like bad bed head. He had large beautiful blue eyes that could not really be placed as any one shade of blue. His skin was tan, though how it got that way was a mystery, seeing as Oregon got almost no sunlight all year long. The boy's shoulder's were thin and his waste was slim; puberty had been good to him. His genes were spectacular, seeing as he had not a speck of acne on his face. Don't get me wrong though, this boy's looks were far from perfect, in fact, the boy was far too thin. He wasn't an anorexic or anything, he was just poor, his clothes reflected on that too.

The boy worn plain blue jeans that had worn white in places and was holier than Swiss cheese. The bottoms were frayed and had large tears in them, and the pockets too had holes in them, making anything smaller than a quarter fall out. He wore an orange shirt that was as tattered and torn as his jeans, with the seems coming apart in places.

All at once, the boy stopped writing and grinned brightly, handing the piece of paper to his friend who sat next to him. The girl was very pretty, with her orange hair and crimson eyes, she was a rarity. She had pale skin that still managed to looked healthy, and she too had no acne. Her lovely orange hair was streaked with red and gold highlights, and it reached to her mid-back. It was silky looking, but not greasy. But the reason the boy liked his friend so much was not because she was pretty, but because she was motherly and sassy at the same time.

The girl wore nicer clothes than her blonde friend that were by far more expensive. It wasn't like she just had to have the newest cloths like some females, it was just that the clothing she bought were not 5 years old and bought from the discount rack. She wore a baggy red shirt that held no design on it, along with semi-tight black jeans that were starting to fray at the bottoms.

A thin eyebrow raised as she read what was on the note that her friend gave to her. She flung her beautiful orange bangs out of her face and continued to read, stopping to re-read a sentence. When she finished reading it, she looked over at her friend, who looked at her with bright, watery cobalt eyes in plea. The girl rolled her eyes but nodded, making the boy's face brighten, and give her a tight hug in the process.

"Ack!!! Naruto, you may not have boobs, but I do!! Don't hug me like that! It hurts…!" the girl said as she pride her friend - dubbed Naruto - off her.

"You think Kiba and Haku will come too, Kyuu?" Naruto asked his friend who shrugged. The boy's eyes were somewhat dazed, happy to be going on a trip with his friend.

"I'm not sure. How about I ask Haku-chan, and you ask Kiba-kun? You can text me when you get his answer, ok?" Kyuu said to her friend as she gathered her things. Her friend nodded vigorously, grabbing his binder and walking to the door with Kyuu and the rest of the class.

"Ok, so we'll meet at 3 near Borders, k?" Naruto asked as they waited for the bell to ring. Kyuu nodded just as the bell rang.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"See ya in a bit, Kyuu-chan!!!" Naruto called as he ran towards his locker, in a hurry to get out of the school. He got to his locker, twisted in the combo, and yanked it open. Grabbing his worn and torn hoodie and backpack, Naruto turned - slamming the locker shut in the process - and ran to find his dog-like friend while stuffing his binder into his empty backpack.

Outside the school, Naruto's ever-blue eyes scanned heads, looking for spiked chocolate brown hair with sunny blonde strands. Spotting the ever noticeable hair of his friend, Naruto ran quietly through the people, ducking down to make sure Kiba didn't see him.

"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiba!!!!!!" Naruto yelled as he gave Kiba a running hug from behind. Kiba gave a yelp of surprise as Naruto collided with his back, screaming. Kiba too was tan like Naruto, though he was half Mexican. His eyes were so brown they looked black, though the brown could be seen in the light. Kiba also had light brown hair with golden strands randomly placed in it. Kiba never had zits on his face, like all Naruto's friends, but that might have been because his mother and sister had rubbed off on him seeing as they were both very hygienic.

Kiba wore a large dirty black hoodie with no design that was tattered almost as much as Naruto's, with holes and torn seems, along with a pair of baggy blue jeans that had large holes in the knees. Their was one of his dog's old collar's around his neck, which only emphasize his dog-like appearance, or rather, attitude. Kiba had the tendency to act like Naruto and his friend's guard dog. Their big, lovable guard dog.

"Naruto, you little shithead!! What the hell did you do that for?" Kiba asked his friend in annoyance, though his black eyes shined with mirth. The "little shithead" as Kiba so kindly put it, grinned up at his friend, knowing that Kiba wasn't angry at him.

"Kiba, Kiba, Kiba!!!!!! I need to ask you something!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto yelled happily, making passerby look suspiciously at them before walking on. Kiba eye twitched at the volume of Naruto's voice.

"Naruto, as much as I know you can't help it, TURN DOWN THE FUCKING VOLUME!!! I'M RIGHT HERE SO STOP YELLING IN MY FUCKING EAR!!!!!!!!!" Kiba yelled at his small blonde friend.

"Jeez Kiba, I'm standing right here, no need to yell." Naruto told his friend, who twitched, about ready to kill his petite little friend.

"Naruto, buddy, before I feed you to my dogs, what do you want?" Kiba said, crossing his covered arms over his chest. Naruto's eyes got really big and sparkly at that moment.

"You wanna go camping with me and Kyuubi for the weekend?" Naruto asked, nearly shaking in excitement. Kiba raised an eyebrow at his friend, but gave in, I mean, who could resist Naruto when he got all happy like this? Not Kiba, that's who.

"I'd love to go, but I gotta ask my mom first, ok? I'm sure she'll say yes though. Hey! You wanna come with me? You know she can't resist your puppy eyes, plus maybe she'll let me bring Akamaru!!" Kiba said, hope shining in his black eyes.

"Yeah!! Come on let's go!!!" Naruto said, grabbing his friends hand and pulling him towards the boy's house.

Kiba's house wasn't far, only about 20 minuets away from the school, like everyone else's., but it was all uphill, so Naruto and Kiba usually got a workout when they walked to his house.

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The sound of cheerful barking greeted Naruto and Kiba as the came up on the house. Naruto was a common visitor and often stayed over so the dogs all knew him. One of their biggest dogs, Akamaru, who also happened to be one of the friendliest dogs, jumped Naruto and Kiba as they walked into the house, lapping at their faces.

Giggling, Kiba and Naruto made their way out from under the huge white giant of a dog, and walked into the kitchen, where Kiba's mother usually was, if she wasn't helping her daughter with sick dogs. Kiba's sister was the town veterinarian and was often helping dogs and other animals - including wild ones - when Naruto came over. When he was younger, Naruto had a crush on Kiba's sister, but not because of her looks - though she was quite pretty - it was because she was nice to him that he had a crush on her. He grew out of that childish crush rather quickly though.

Kiba's mother was a wild looking woman; you could tell who Kiba got his looks from. She looked almost exact like Kiba, but older and female. She was also just as easily swayed by Naruto's puppy dog eyes. Kiba's whole family had a soft spot for the little blue-eyed blonde, even the dogs!

"Hey mom?" Kiba asked as he and Naruto entered the kitchen where his mom was cooking dinner. His mom grunted, to show she was listening, but didn't look up from what she was doing. "Um well, Naruto was wondering if I could go camping with him and Kyuubi." Naruto added a "And Haku!" and Kiba's mom sighed.

"Oh I don't know, how long are you planning on being out there?" Kiba's mom asked, finally looking up at the two boys, only to be met with two pairs of watery puppy eyes.

"Only 'till Sunday!" Kiba and Naruto said in sync, making Kiba's mom chuckle. Shaking her head, she finally gave in.

"Oh fine, as long as you take Akamaru with you. I'm trusting Kyuubi and Haku to use their good sense to make sure you two don't do anything stupid and Akamaru to make sure none of you get eaten." she said with a smirk, making Naruto pout and Kiba scowl.

"Hey we aren't that irresponsible, we are 16 you know!" Kiba told his mom, making her raise an eyebrow and look them both up and down.

"Says the boy who's 5' 3" while his friend is only 5' 2". You two look like middle schoolers and act like you're still in elementary school. I wouldn't trust you two with anything living." she said jokingly.

"Well gee thanks, mom. Make me feel loved why don't cha." Kiba said with a pout, making his mom laugh.

"Ah whatever, go get packed and out of my house. Naruto be a dear and help him would ya? The sooner he gets out of here, the safer it is." she said, mirth fresh in her voice as she shooed them away into Kiba's room.

"Ahh man, my mom cleaned my room, now I don't know where anything is…" Kiba said as he scanned his now clean room. Normally his room was a horrid mess, but somehow he always knew where everything was when it was that way. When it was clean, he didn't know where anything smaller than a pillow was.

"Dun worry, I'm here to help you!" Naruto said as he happily walked around the small room, grabbing Kiba's sleeping bag, and flashlight, while Kiba grabbed clothes and stuffed them into an empty backpack, which he always kept in good supply for some odd reason. Kiba just seemed to like backpacks a lot….

Finished packing the necessities, Kiba and Naruto ran out of his room, and with a quick, "Bye!! See ya Sunday!!" they were gone and out the door, Akamaru, the ever tame mutt, trailing after them as they headed towards Naruto's house to pack for the camping tip.

Naruto… had no parents. Well, he had parents, but they were dead. Yes, poor wittle Naruto was an orphan. Not that he minded all that much. Sure he loved his parents, but they were never home anyway, so it wasn't like anything really changed when they died, well except for the fact that Naruto now had to pay bills and buy his own food.

Naruto's house wasn't very far from Kiba's, only about five minuets walking, and it was small. It had always been small, only a two room house with a small kitchen and living room, but it was enough. And, contrary to common belief, it was clean. And white. It was almost impossible for it to ever get dirty, because Naruto didn't have much stuff at all. When his parents had died, Naruto had had to sell a lot of their things because he wasn't old enough to get a job.

He had been 6 when his parents had been killed in a car crash, but the towns people had taken pity on him and he got a job at a ramen restaurant at the age of 7 as a table cleaner. He still worked at the ramen restaurant, but he had gotten the week off, because he had "worked extra-hard this past week" as the owner called it. In all truth, though he had worked very hard that week - like he did every week, he had to work extra hours to get enough money to pay the bills - , the owner had just heard of his camping plans and had taken pity on the little blonde.

As they entered the almost empty little house, Naruto grabbed his binder and threw it randomly on the floor, running to his room and packing some clothes. Kiba, who was used to the empty house, just stood in the doorway, but then decided to check Naruto's food inventory. Kiba, like Kyuubi and Haku, always checked to see if Naruto had enough to eat when they went over, because Naruto had a tendency to not buy food when his bills got high.

Inside his room, Naruto stopped when he heard Kiba open the small, old refrigerator. Wincing, Naruto knew that he was going to get a scolding, as he hadn't bought any new food for the past week or two. Instead he had used to money pay off the bills, which the had gone suspiciously high that month.

Sighing, Naruto grabbed his two orange shirts and only other pair of pants. Naruto had a total of 2 pairs of pants - both jeans, one black and the other blue - and 4 shirts, all of them either orange or black. It wasn't that he liked the color orange, in fact, he really only liked the bright color the color because it reminded him of Kyuubi's hair, but they had been on sale, and it's not like Naruto had money growing on trees.

Just as he finished packing his small amount of clothes, Kiba came stomping into the room, a pissed off aura radiating off him. "Mind telling me why you still have almost no food, and why the only stuff you do have is expired?" Kiba asked, his arms folded across his chest, obviously very pissed off at the little blonde.

Naruto, who was still kneeling on the floor, cringed and said in a small voice, "Sorry Kiba, but the bills were high this month, and I couldn't afford any food…" Naruto said, his eyes finding the floor very interesting.

Kiba let out a large sigh, his angry draining away, "Why didn't you just tell us then? We would have given you some money for food, or something…" Scowling at Kiba, Naruto got up and put his hands on his thin hips, shaking his head , cause his sunny blonde hair to sway back and forth.

"No Kiba, you know I could never do that. I don't want to bother you guys with something as petty as food." Naruto said, though in all truth he just didn't want to burden them buy asking for money or food. Everyone in the little town of Astoria was quite poor, so it wasn't fair to ask them for money just because he had none.

Kiba's eye twitched, and he gave Naruto a "What are you stupid?" look, saying, "Something as petty as food? Food? Petty? Dude!! You need food to LIVE!!!!! I wouldn't exactly call one of the necessities of life petty!!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know mother. Give me a break will ya? I'm trying my best here." Naruto said whipping out the out-of-date cell phone that Kyuubi and the other has pitched in to buy for his birthday. Texting to Kyuubi, he wrote "Kiba going, Haku?" then sent it, waiting for Kyuubi's reply. "Ya, meet u there." was the quick reply from Kyuubi.

Nodding to himself, Naruto looked at Kiba, shooting him a challenging grin before taking off, rushing out of his house, not even bothering to lock his front door. A shout was heard from Kiba as he passed out through the front door, Akamaru jogging smoothly beside him, happy to take up Naruto's little racing challenge.

It was lucky that Kiba was as fit as he was, for otherwise he wouldn't have been able to catch up to Naruto and Akamaru who had a major head start. Kiba made it a point to take a jog at 5 in the morning - every morning - with Naruto and Akamaru for about 2 to 3 miles. Actually running that far wasn't all that hard, it got easy after the first mile in which you're body tried everything in its power to tell you "Hey! What the fuck are you doing??!? No way am I running that far!!" After the first mile though, it just kinda gave up in defeat.

They way to Borders was almost all the way downhill, which Naruto was extremely grateful for, seeing as neither he nor Kiba owned a car. Only Haku, their feminine friend that was coming with Kyuubi, had a car, which meant that Kyuubi was probably going to be getting a ride to Borders. Naruto kept telling her that if she never did any work she'd get fat, but she always hit him when he did. Damn females and their moods swings, I mean really, he was only trying to be helpful!

Borders was not a grand place by any stretch of the imagination. It was a shabby old place that was sort of run down, even still Naruto loved to go there. Borders was the only book store in the small isolated town, but even so far from other towns as it was, it still had a nice selection of books, including manga.

Naruto and his friends happened to love reading manga, and Kyuubi often told Naruto that he wasn't ever going to get smarter if all he did was read manga, which he would always reply to saying, "Yeah well at least I wont be fat…" Of course he always got hit afterwards, but it was ok since she knew that Naruto was only kidding.

Reaching Borders, Naruto and Kiba came to a halt while Akamaru continued to romp around them in circles. The two boys were covered in a light sweat and were both slightly winded, but not enough that Naruto couldn't jump up and down, screaming "Yosh!! I totally beat you! I finally won!!! Hehe, yes!!" Kiba meanwhile just rolled his eyes, knowing not to ruin the small blonde's little moment.

"Yeah, yeah, say what you will, Blondie, but it looks as though out ride is here" Kiba announced, making Naruto stop his bouncing. Looking around, Naruto saw that their ride was indeed there, Kyuubi waving at them from the passenger seat.

Their ride was a large, old, worn-out truck. Its faded silver paint was peeling in places, but the Ford truck was still in relatively good shape. Haku had always made it a point to keep his truck in good shape, because it had been given to him by his "step-father" Zabuza Momochi, who passed away a few years back.

Zabuza had rescued Haku from an orphanage after Haku's parents had killed in a drive-by shooting. None of his relatives had been able to take care of him, so at the age of eight, Haku had been landed in a orphanage. He had spent about a year there by the time Zabuza a found him. After adopting him, Zabuza had moved him to Astoria where he had then met Naruto during 5th grade.

Haku had been Naruto's first friend, as it was. When he had started school, no one would come near him, and often teased him. At first they had made fun of him for his odd hair and eye color (blonde, blue eyed people were extremely rare in Astoria), but they had eventually started to ignore him completely. Then it had gotten even worse, they had started laughing at what he said. Even if it wasn't funny, even if he was just trying to answer a question the teacher asked, they would laugh. Not only would they laugh, but when he said nothing, they would go back to ignoring him. Naruto had eventually stopped saying anything at all.

Haku, being new at the time had not known why people were laughing at the little blonde, for the things he said were not funny at all. Seeing Naruto's distress then his silence, Haku had gone up to Naruto and talked to him. Naruto had been reluctant to talk to Naruto at first, but after Haku had continued to talk to him for about a month, not forcing him to say anything, just talking to him, Naruto had finally opened up and had started talking again. Haku had been shocked when Naruto had started talking to him, but the two had become close friends soon after that.

The rumble of the truck's engine brought Naruto out of his stupor. Naruto watched as the silver truck slowed to a stop, Akamaru running in lazy circles around it, waiting for it's occupants to exit it. And just as they did, Akamaru jumped onto Kyuubi's shoulders, making her giggle as he licked her face vigorously.

Haku gave a small chuckle as he walked around to the front of the truck, grabbed the sleeping bags and packs that Naruto and Kiba had brought, loading them into the back. Getting the last of the bags into the back of the truck, Haku was suddenly tackled by a blonde blur. Surprised, Haku crashed to the ground, with two big, bright blue eyes sparkling at him. "Hakuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!" Naruto squealed still hugging the boy. Sitting up, Haku gave a cheerful laugh filled with mirth.

Haku was a very feminine boy. He had long black hair that reached to his waist and warm chocolate brown eyes. His eye and hair color contradicted to his uber-paleness, making him seem even less pale than he already was. Haku also liked to his long black hair in a pony-tail so that it kept out of his face. Today Haku wore dark green cargo pants that held torn seems and had frayed bottoms, and a black shirt that was in fairly good condition though it happened to be a bit faded in places. Around his waist hung a light jacket of faded blue that he always had with him, "in case it rained" he would always say. Haku also wore contacts, not colored ones, but prescription contacts. Haku had horrible eye sight and from before he met Naruto until he was a freshman, Haku had worn glasses.

"Hey, Naruto, before we go, I want to get a book, ok?" Kyuubi soft voce rang, reminding Naruto that she was present. After seeing Naruto's nod, Kyuubi climbed out of the car, and made her way into the store. No one made a move to follow her, as they knew that she would be back in a few minuets.

Getting off of Haku, Naruto jumped up and down and then , grabbing Kiba's arm and dragging him along with him, Naruto ran to one side of the truck , flung the door open and hastily climbed in, almost tripping in the process. Sighing, Kiba too climbed in, then patted the seat next to him allowing Akamaru to jump into the truck with them. Being the huge dog he was, when Akamaru jumped into the truck, he had landed on Kiba with a thud making Kiba groan and shove the large dog off of him and onto the thin little blonde next to him. Naruto gave a small cry of protest, but when Akamaru looked at him with the big watery eyes of a kicked puppy, Naruto caved in and let Akamaru lay on him, though it was extremely uncomfortable as Akamaru circled around on top of him in order to get comfortable.

The front doors to the truck slammed shut as Kyuu and Haku got into the truck. While Kyuubi walked out of the store carrying a small white bag with the Borders logo on it and made her way to the car, Haku started the truck, it's engine rumbling viciously. Looking behind him, Haku threw the large silver truck into reverse, pulling out of the Borders parking lot slowly, allowing Kyuubi to hop in as he pulled out of Borders, and onto the road, which connected almost everything in the small little town.

Since the whole town was surrounded by forest, there where many places to camp, but Naruto and his friends had a special place that they always camped in. Though each of his friends had camped at least once with the blonde, they had never all gone together. This was why Naruto was so excited, for he anted to enjoy his favorite spot with his best - and only - friends beside him.

The drive to the spot was about 20 minuets at tops in the car. They place where they planed to camp out at was surrounded by dense forest, so Haku's truck would have to stay on the side of the road and Naruto and his friends would have to carry their bags.

The drive to the sight where they would need to stop with was filled with a comfortable silence, even the radio that Kyuubi had been messing with was off. When they reached the sight, they all open their doors simaltaiously, though Naruto's thighs were impaled with Akamaru's claws as he shot out the door right over the petite little blonde.

Yelping in pain, Naruto glared half-heartedly at the long gone dog. With an exasperated sigh, Naruto climbed out of the car, the sight of the woods instantly lifting his mood. 'Today's going to be great, I just know it!!' Naruto thought happily as he was handed his pack by Haku who was unloading the truck.

Once they were ready, they started into the forest, Naruto in the lead. Shaking from excitement, Naruto scrambled uphill, having to stopping to wait for his friends at the top, who were still far behind. "Hurry uuuuuuup!!! You guys walk too slow!" Naruto whined, his voice straining to a higher octave. Below him, Kyuubi's eye twitched while Kiba rolled his eyes and Haku gave out a small chuckle, mirth shining his dark eyes.

Hating to stand still, Naruto sung a song in his head while twirling around in circles as he waited for his friends to catch up. Giving Naruto a look of concern, Kiba scrambled up to the top where Naruto was, saying, " Naruto, I am seriously concerned for your mental heath. You see what happens when you don't eat?"

"I am having small bouts of ADD, shut up. And I do to eat, just not a lot." Naruto said sticking his tongue out childishly at Kiba. Chuckling, Kiba poked Naruto out of boredom. Looking down, they saw that Kyuubi and Haku were still somewhat far away.

Whining in sync, the blurted out, "You two are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow!!!!!" at the same time. Looking at each other with surprised eyes, the burst out giggling. Rolling their eyes, Kyuubi and Haku looked at each other as they continued to climb the giant hill, and just to make them even more-so mad, they walked at an even slower pace. Akamaru meanwhile was busy chasing random smells, though he made sure to stay close to the four teens.

When Haku and Kyuubi fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally(according to Naruto) reached Naruto and Kiba, they started up the hill once again, Naruto being once again very giddy. As the foursome climbed more of the hill, they finally cam e across a clearing in the forest.

Part of the hill had leveled out for the clearing, so it was flatland, perfect for camping. Squealing with delight, Naruto bounced up and down as he into the clearing, throwing his things into the soft, lush forest grass. Giggling with joy, Naruto flopped onto the ground, his three friends and Akamaru not far behind him.

The time spent with the sun still out was quite boring, so I will not bother with bothersome details. It was only when night fell that things got strange. But strange is good, no? Yes as Naruto and his friends got their campfire started, they didn't realize that their fate was about to change and they were about to be sent to a place that none of them would have even imagined even existed.

Huddling around the campfire that Kiba had just made, they four friends threw a large blanket around them to keep the warmth in. Kyuubi was in the middle of the three boy and the dog, allowing everyone to get a good look at the book she had just pulled out. Naruto and Kiba had wanted her to tell a story, so she had agreed, and got out her book.

The book was not very big, about 6 inches at most, but it was thick. It had a worn look to it and the paper was thick like the kind they had used in ancient times. On the cover was a large oddly colored compass rose that almost took up the entire front cover. The Northern arrow was a chocolate brown color. The Eastern arrow was a deep blood red, while the Southern point was a lovely sky blue. The Western point was a dark brown that looked black in it's worn state. In the center of the pretty compass rose stood a whit circle that connected all of the other colors. Written in ancient Japanese kanji, the title appeared as: 戦争の世界.

"Tch, you and you're old Japanese literature, Kyuu. This is what you're going to read us?" Naruto scoffed as he examined the front cover of the book. Kyuubi Snapped her head around, giving Naruto a hard glare.

"If you must know, it's a book on demons and war. I thought it'd be something you'd like. The title is, 'World Of War', pretty cool, huh?" she asked, looking at the book fondly.

"It's ok I guess, kinda corny though…" Naruto said, looking doubtfully at the book held lovingly in his female friend's hands. Seeing as Naruto wouldn't be interested in the book until she read some of it, she opened the book's cover, revealing old Japanese kanji, which she easily understood.

"Once appeared a nine tailed demon fox. One swing of its mighty tail could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon, the people assembled the shinobi. One brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon, but he lost his life in the process. That shinobi was called the 4th Hokage." Kyuubi read allowed, her voice soft and even.

She stopped to turn the page, looking at her listeners to see their reactions. All held looks curiosity and immense interest. Their reactions were better than she had hoped, even Akamaru was looking at her intently, waiting for her to continue reading.

As she was about to turn the page, Akamaru was suddenly in front of her, seemingly attacking the book as he leapt onto it. Then as he connected with the book in her hands, something strange happened. A bright white light sprung out from the book, sucking Akamaru into it also, and as quick as the light had come, it sucked back into the book, leaving no trace of Akamaru with it. Shocked by the sudden leap of faith by Akamaru, Naruto had fallen onto Kyuubi's lap, where the book currently was. As he connected with the book, Naruto let out surprised yelp as a bright blue light shot out from the book and sucked him in, cutting his yelp short.

Without thinking, Kiba grabbed the book, but as soon as he touched it, he too was pulled into a black light that dragged him into the book unwillingly. As Haku and Kyuubi stared at the book in shock, a scream wound it's way up Kyuubi's throat, coming out as a shrill, terrified shriek.

Haku clamped a pale hand over his friends mouth, muffling the scream. Giving her a look that told her to be quiet, Haku stared at the book, deep in thought. Haku's hand still clamped tight onto her mouth, her wide, horrified eyes looked frantically between Haku and the book. Quivering, she reached a shaking hand out to get the book.

"Don't", Haku said in a serious voice. "Not yet." He continued to stare at the book before finally saying, "Stay away from it, Kyuubi" Haku said hesitantly, as though he was not quite sure. If possible, Kyuubi's wild eyes got even bigger.

Shaking off Haku's hand she said, "What are you stupid?! It just sucked up out friends!! We have to go save them!!" Her voice was shrill and uneven, showing her panic. Haku just shook his head.

"Even if we go in, we cannot be sure that we will end up in the same place as the others, nor do we know if there are any kind of creatures there -wherever there is- that could hurt or possibly kill us. I want to save them just as much as you, but I don't want to risk it…"

Angry to the point of rage, Kyuubi slapped Haku across his face. Shaking form anger, she said in a strained voice, "Whatever happened to 'protect those who are precious to you'? Isn't that what you always say? What happened to that, huh? Or are they just not precious enough to you?" Haku was about to say something, but Kyuubi cut him off saying, "GODDAMIT HAKU!! WE'RE GOING IN!!! I don't care if it's dangerous!! We have to save them!! Now come on!!"

With a heavy sigh, Haku looked sadly at the book, nodding slowly. "Yes… I guess you are right… alright I'll go first, then you go alright?" As Kyuubi gave a angry nod, Haku looked strangly at the book before picking up.

The instant his hands touched to book, the was sucked into a bright brown light, disappearing into the book. Kyuubi was the only one left, and as she stared at the book for a moment, a feeling of forboding washed over her. Ignoring the feeling, she picked up the book quickly, being suddenly engulfed in a blood red light.

As she was sucked into the book, it felt as though buckets of ice water and spheres of intense heat were being thrown at her all at once. A wave of electricity made her eyes seemed to pull back into their sockets while her stomach and other bodily organs seemed to be knocked around like piñatas, and in a moment of harsh pain as her body seemed to twist and become deformed, she passed out, gratefully welcoming the silent oblivion of her mind.

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Stunning, ever blue eyes slowly blinked open as the small blonde slowly regained consciousness. He was on his back, and as soon as his eye opened they were squeezed shut once more because of the blinding light that came from overhead. Groaning from a sore body, Naruto tried to sit up only to find that his body would just not comply to his wishes.

Suddenly aware of the lack of light on his closed eyes, Naruto's eyes fluttered open, only to have his vision filled with jade green eyes. Blinking in shock, Naruto's vision focused and he found himself staring at a curious face, though slightly annoyed face.

Surprised, Naruto scrambled back, his hands being swallowed by the rich, hot sand. Wait… rewind!!! Sand?? The fuck??? When did that happen?? Confused, Naruto looked up to find those shocking green eyes staring at him once more.

Looking the person up and down Naruto saw that this man was quite different than he and his friends. For one, the wore a battered black cloak with swirly red clouds random placed over it. The man had too pale skin and a bright red mop of blood red tangles atop his head. His skin was stretched tight over his face, giving him the 'starving' look that Naruto had. His bright green eyes were dulled, even as they shone with curiosity.

"Who are you?" Naruto and the man said at the same time. Surprised, their eyes widened, each as wary as the other. Looking around, though he was sure to keep the man in his sight, Naruto took in his surroundings. All around him was golden sand and strange cacti plants. There were no other people around except for the red hair man, and this worried Naruto.

Golden brows furrowing in overwhelming confusion and distress, Naruto turned to the man and asked, "Where are my friends?" Surprised, the man looked at him in a questioning manner.

"What friends?" the man asked in a soft, deep voice that had a relaxed tone to it. The tone made Naruto subconsciously clam down, while the words spoken sent him into a confused panic.

"There are three of them plus a dog. There's a boy with spiky brown hair and dark brown eyes, and a another boy who looks like a girl with long brown hair and light brown eyes. There's also a girl who has orange hair and red eyes and the dog is really big with long-ish white hair and floppy brown ears!!" Naruto said quickly, explaining to the man what his friends looked like.

The man shook his messy red hair, destroying Naruto's spirit as he said, "No, there is on one here like that. You are the only one that I found. Actually you fell on top of me…" As he said this, something in Naruto's brain clicked.

The book… when he had fallen into the book, he had been dropped here. But this made on sense, how could a book bring him here? To a desert no less. And if that was true where were his friends? Hadn't they come after him? Maybe they had just stayed back in Astoria and left him to die…. NO!! No, that's not like them at all, besides, Akamaru had gone in first, so wouldn't he be here? Or… maybe he was having a dream and none of it really happened?

Grabbing his cheek, Naruto gave it a hard pinch, yelping out in both pain and surprise when it hurt. "I guess I'm not dreaming then…" Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Why would you be dreaming?" the man next to Naruto asked, making Naruto aware that he was there once more. Surprised, Naruto just shook his head, causing his golden locks to flap softly against his head. "… Where do you come from?" then man asked suspiciously when Naruto wandered once again into his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, I come from Astoria Oregon." Naruto said cheerily, happy to be talking about his home town. The strange man in the cloak gave him a blank look and a raised eyebrow.

"I have never heard of such a place…" the man said in a dull voice that held massive boredom and slight curiosity. Naruto nodded at this, because it was obvious that the man would not know where Naruto had come from.

"Well, yes, I suppose you wouldn't. I'm not even completely sure as to just how I got here, besides, I don't know where here is…" Naruto said, not saying that he had come here through a book, as he would then be considered crazy by this man, who just so happened to be the only person for what looked like miles.

"…Yes, that does seem like a problem doesn't it?" the man asked, the curiosity gone from his eyes, leaving only the dull boredom they held before. "Well, could you at least tell me your name?"

"Oh! Yes, I guess I haven't told you my name!! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and yours?"

"…I am called The Demon of the Red Sand, but my true name is Sasori…"

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Author's Note:

Tch, the ending totally sucked, but I can't figure out how I would change it to make it better. Oh man, I am soooo digging myself into a pit here. I should be writing my other story, but instead I'm using my spare time writing this instead!! I'm kinda stuck in a huge writer's block on Freaks, so I decided to try this story out. The idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so I wanted to see how you guys like it.

Please, please, when and if you review, do not just put "It was good" or "Update soon", because I love my reviewers, and when you put only those things it puts pressure on me and makes me feel as though my story isn't good enough for a good review. I'm not asking for a long review(though one would be MUCH loved), all I'm asking for is maybe at least two sentences of writing saying the things you liked; disliked; thought that I could improve or do better; anything you got confused on; or and constructive criticism you have for me. I'd really like to hear what you guys think of this, because if it doesn't get at least one review then I won't continue it… but I'm hoping for some reviews!! -crosses fingers-