A/N: I've been kind of busy the past 3 months, so I apologize for the lag in updates and not responding to reviews. I've been working very hard to get into college and finally finish up my education; get the job of my dreams and whatnot. I'm not sure when I'll get in, but I expect it to be sometime during October, so I have no idea when I'll be able to put up the next chapter. Even though I haven't started on it yet, I know exactly what's going to happen, so it shouldn't take too long, internet willing.

But more recently, I lost internet all last month! For a while I thought that it was the ISP, but came to find that my router had died on me, so I had to find a temporary solution until I fix the problem.

In this chapter I use a new term for money, "zeni", which some readers might remember from such popular RPGs such as Final Fantasy and the like. Here I'm using it as the word for money from the Wind country, which uses different currency from Fire, which is yen. I'd like to thank all my reviewers for giving such wonderful reviews!

Chapter 14: The Troubled Fan-girl

- Sunagakure -

The day had dawned clear and warm over the artistically beautiful village of Sand. Children ran happy little circles around their loving parents as stores opened left and right, greeting the day as if it were just like any other. However, a calm air of tranquility carefully masked the shameful truths hidden from all outsiders; the fact that the village was quickly dying.

In one such store, an outlet devoted to providing the very best in protective robes, turbans and sunshades, the daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage gave a hassled sigh. By some miracle, all of the Konoha shinobi had been rounded up and brought to the clothing store; however, they didn't have any zeni whatsoever, and Temari unfortunately came up short.

"I don't get paid until after completing this mission! Can't you just put it on my tab so I can pay for them later?" the blonde complained angrily as she slammed her hand on the counter, startling the cashier.

"W-we don't have a lay-away system here, miss." The woman stammered before glancing towards the foreigners and whispering, "Not with the state of affairs in Suna and all…"

"My father is the Kazekage! Make an exception!" Temari growled, leaning threateningly close to the frightened employee. "These guys are here on a political diplomatic mission," the genin lied cunningly, "How bad do you think it'll get if they go home and tell their village about how sloppily we treated them? And you know it'll all be your fault!"

As Temari continued to argue with the cashier, Ino shook her head and sighed in exasperation, "They're not even that fashionable… We should be getting a discount for them! Right, Hinata?" the preteen murmured as she held up a simple, blue robe in her size.

"Um… I don't know… If Ino-san thinks so, then I guess…" the timid Hyuuga whispered softly, not taking her white eyes off of the ground as she poked the tips of her index fingers together.

"Hey? Do you think that girls in Suna dig boys wearing these things?" Kiba asked Shino as he placed his hands on his hips and struck a manly pose in his own brown robe, "It feels like a dress to me; I hope I don't get hit on by guys."

Ino grinned smugly as she glanced towards Kiba and said, "I doubt any of them would be able to take their eyes off of me long enough to notice a dog-boy, anyway."

"Now, now, kids…" Asuma scolded kindly, "The sun in the desert is three times as harmful as in Konoha; you need appropriate cover. Besides, just think of these outfits as souvenirs of your first visit to Sunagakure."

Suddenly Temari gasped and took a cautious step back, confusing the cashier, who turned and paled in fright at the sight of a powerfully built man standing behind her. A dangerous looking Suna ANBU had appeared, dressed in a slate grey uniform with polished metal armguards and an odachi strapped to his back. "Temari-san, I have personally been requisitioned to deliver your pay for the completed mission. Your siblings have already been paid." He announced as he gently laid a thick stack of Wind country money on the counter. With his task complete, the ANBU exploded into sand.

"It's about time something went my way, damn it." The angry blonde scoffed as she ran a hand through her hair and sighed in relief. "This should be enough for the clothes. Now, let's go and see my father now; I'm sure he'd like to get that scroll back as soon as possible."

"Oy! We're not leaving so soon, are we?" Kiba growled testily, "I haven't gotten to see any cute girls yet; Kurenai-sensei stopped me before I could find any."

"For once I agree with dog-boy…" Ino admitted, giggling teasingly when Kiba growled at her, "I want to see some of the local boys, so we should stay in Suna for a couple days."

Shino shook his head in embarrassment, ashamed at how his companions were acting on such an important mission. "We should do what we came to do and avoid imposing on a foreign shinobi village. We're still on duty."

Chouji frowned and paused with his hand just over the opening of his bag of chips, "Didn't we just walk four hours through the burning hot desert? If we go out again without resting I'll burn up and die for sure! Besides, I want to try out all of the local foods!"

"You're too concerned with food, Chouji." Asuma scolded with a chuckle before sharing a sly look with Kurenai. "But I think it might be a good idea to accept Suna's hospitality for a little while longer. Let's get this mission done first, though."

- Kazekage's mansion -

Much as he had expected, only Shino and Temari would be accompanying Asuma to see the Wind Shadow, leaving Kurenai behind to keep an eye on the more pubescent and lazy genin. As soon as they entered and crossed to the middle of the floor, the blonde teen sank to her knees and prostrated herself before the village leader. As usual, the Kazekage was seated behind a semi-translucent cloth veil and flanked by two ANBU captains.

She addressed the man, "The representatives of the land of Fire have come to deliver the stolen scroll, Kazekage-sama. Sorry for the delay."

Temari expected a grunt of disapproval from her father, but instead the man answered dismissively, "You know that when such sensitive information is involved its return is far more important that the exact time it is brought back. I taught you better than that, girl."

"Baki-sensei?" Temari breathed in shock. Her teacher seemed to have become the village leader, but that didn't explain what had happened to her father and why she hadn't been told about it. "What the hell happened to my father?" she growled and narrowed her eyes at her teacher, angered and confused by the reeling change of events.

"I'll explain it to you later, Temari. Go find your brothers; I'll call for you when I'm ready." the Godaime commanded, watching the genin with his only visible eye.

Asuma grinned and took a small step forward, stopping in his tracks when he spotted the tiniest flinch from one of the ANBU captains, "On behalf of Konohagakure and all of the land of Fire, I'd like to apologize for coming into possession of this information." He chuckled to cover his momentary foul-up of attempting to approach the Kazekage without permission, "I can only imagine how the defector thought that stealing something like this would smooth his entry into our military."

"His ploy may have worked if it had been any other nation." The Kazekage replied. Giving a slow nod he ordered one of his guards to accept the scroll. As the veil was pushed aside so that the elite ninja could accept the scroll, Baki continued to say, "How fortunate for us that Konoha has as much integrity as it does. And it's because of this that I have an offer to make to Konoha's ambassador."

- Cave near Shien no Sato -

Tenten groaned in exhaustion as she dropped to the ground and leaned back against a stalagmite. After meticulously searching the cavern, Neji had thankfully called a rest to recuperate and discuss everything they'd learned that day. "Other than discovering that I'm no good at interrogations…" Tenten murmured dryly, "I found that the bandits had nothing to do with the kidnappings."

"How can you be so sure?" Kaori demanded, looking up from smiling at Gai, "Did they say anything before we arrived?"

Tenten cleared her throat before beginning her quote, "What a bad situation we're in, guys… We'll probably be killed in a Konoha prison for the things we've done, our crimes as well as those attributed to us." The teen shook her head and sighed, "Attributed, such as kidnapping every member of this village. They were blackmailed, and possibly by the person Kaori-san is looking for."

"It's possible. However, I'd like to know if Chimaru revealed anything during his fight." The ANBU mentioned as she returned her attention to her paramour, Gai.

"No, nothing he said was useful." Neji replied with a shake of his head, though he didn't take his eyes off of a darkened corner of the cave. Water was dripping from the ceiling, making a steady plip plip sound. Could something so mundane have anything to do with this case? The Hyuuga was getting so desperate to solve this case that he wasn't willing to rule anything out; his honor as a genius was at stake.

It was at then that Naruto screamed and frantically dashed back to his team, mysteriously zipping up his pants as he came to a stop, "You guys! I just figured out how to find everyone!" A wave of energy exploded through the entire group, fueling Naruto on, "Listen, I went into the corner to take a piss…"

"Naruto!" Gai barked, suddenly appeared behind the crude blonde and catching his shoulder in his hand, squeezing just hard enough to remind Naruto who the teacher was, "You must show manners when in the presence of women!"

"That's very sweet of you, "Paramour", and I appreciate the thought," Kaori cooed as she strode up to Gai and gently caressed his cheek, smiling infatuatedly at the jounin, "but I'm a full grown woman; I can handle dirty language."

Tenten turned to Neji and whispered in a slightly put out and hurt voice, "Gai-sensei's never defended me when Naruto was crude." Neji didn't say two words, he merely stared back at her as if to say 'Obviously it's because our sensei is in love with her, not you.' Tenten got the hint and shrugged dejectedly.

"Anyway!" Naruto cut in, pulling away from the couple and pointing at Neji, "I was worried that someone would catch me, so I hid in the corner of the cave and did my business." Before anyone could remind him that caves didn't have corners, the boy pressed on, "I knew that no one would be able to see it, but suddenly remembered the Byakugan could see through walls; Neji might find it!"

"Use my Byakugan to find his piss? I don't know if I'd want to…" Neji whispered back to Tenten, though the joke didn't seem to be very funny in light of the dangerous mission, or the hope that Naruto did in fact find a solution.

"Byakugan can find anything! If we use that guy's forehead protector, maybe Neji will be able to see if there are any other guys that wear it the same way. Find them and we find the villagers!" The future Hokage exclaimed in a powerful and assured voice, confident that he had just up and solved the entire mission.

"…" Neji stared at his teammate with an unreadable expression. No one spoke; they all turned and stared at the genius, waiting to see what he'd say. Finally he sighed and shook his head, "That man's hitai-ate is a normal headband; if anything I'd only find the ANBU that came with Kaori-san. Besides, unless they've been buried alive, all I'll find down here is dirt and rocks." 'And Naruto's urine, too… but I'd rather not think about that.' "It's a waste of time."

Before Naruto could demand that he try it anyway, Gai raised his hand and frowned, "I'm sorry, Naruto; but this is for your own good." Swiftly he brought his hand down on his student's neck, causing the boy to cry out and crumble to the floor, holding a hand to his injured muscle. "I have to hit you when you have bad idea, or you'll never be free of them!"

Naruto didn't respond immediately, he simply glared up at Neji. "Was my idea stupid when I suggested that we henge into each other and trick that guy? Or what about when I figured out to mix your moves together?" The Hyuuga raised both of his eyebrows in surprise; not shocked at Naruto's persistence, this was normal, but that he had an undeniable point.

Neji was beaten to speak by Gai's sweetie, "It sounds to me," Kaori said as she approached Naruto and offered her hand to help him to rise, "like this little boy has had several good ideas. Maybe we should listen to him before passing judgment."

If he was willing to investigate a drip, scanning for Suna headbands wouldn't be too much to ask for. So Neji formed a hand seal to boost the power of his eyesight, "I've never tried to penetrate a cave wall, but I'll do my best. Byakugan!" To test his ability at seeing through the wall of a cave, Neji first peered at the dripping water. With a grunt he forced his bloodline to penetrate the stalactite, and saw the very, very faint blur of an underground lake. He began to concentrate harder, and after several tense seconds, the lake came into focus; but there was nothing special about it. Suddenly he spotted something, "Hmm…"

"What do you see?" Naruto demanded after releasing Kaori's hand, having accepted her help to stand despite not needing it. He strode right up to Neji, staring eagerly into his partner's eyes.

Neji squinted in an effort to see into the distance through Naruto's head, the cave and the ground. "Kaori's teammates are investigating a camp of thieves, but their effort will be wasted because there aren't any prisoners at all."

"But what about the Suna hitai-ate?" Tenten reminded helpfully, gazing hopefully towards Neji.

Neji had enough sense to look at Tenten while she spoke to prevent Gai from yelling at him. However, he was still using his Byakugan at its highest level, so he saw right through her head as well; through her head and right into the wall behind her. Without saying a word, the Hyuuga strode up to Tenten and grabbed her by the shoulders, causing her to stare at him curiously. He gently moved her aside, ignoring the small note of confusion that she made. "I see something strange."

"What is it? Lead the way already!" Naruto cried excitedly, his flaring chakra only visible to Neji.

"I'll show you." Neji stated as he slowly, calmly, walked to the wall of the dark cave and stopped to glare at the stone. "This is a simple concealing jutsu; a grey sheet of cloth as been fastened to the wall here, covering chakra that's been infused into the wall."

"Stand back! Disarming an enemy's trap is a task for a jounin." Gai called as he jabbed his chest with his thumb, having followed the party after Neji. "I will not let my precious student get hurt when I can avoid it." He didn't see Kaori's infatuated smile.

The genin all stood back with Kaori, whom had been asked to safeguard them in case something happened. drip, drip The water splashed into a puddle as Gai slowly scuffed the corner of the sheet and held his breath; all of their hearts were beating loudly in their ears as the jounin took a steady breath and ripped the cloth from the wall!

Rather than a trap, the investigators were treated to a symbol painted on the face of the rock in what had to be dried blood. Hesitantly, Kaori approached the painting and gently ran her fingers along the red substance; she knew what it was and what the symbol meant. "It's the Wolf Spider seal and is usually drawn in red clay. But more importantly, it's the unique jutsu of the person I'm hunting."

In a hushed voice, the young kunoichi of team Gai whispered, "Who are you searching for?" Tenten wondered, eyeing the seal with apprehension. It looked very complex; and complex meant dangerous.

Kaori blinked as she turned away from the seal and looked Gai in the eyes, "This is Daiya's seal, so it'll only open on her command. And I'm afraid that revealing it instantly alerts her that it's been disturbed; she knows that we're here."

Their blood all ran cold, but once again, it was the girl who spoke. "What do we do!?" Tenten gasped in fright, "We can't fight someone on her level! She's the Right Hand of The Wind; the Kazekage's equal! We have to flee!"

"Those are my orders as well." Kaori admitted as she backed away from the seal, "I have to get word to…"

"No!" Naruto barked suddenly, approaching the clay seal, "Even though you hit me when I was right; even though she's as strong as she is; I don't care about all of that. We should take the fight to her before she has a chance to prepare. Let's go kick her ass!"

"Please, no! Naruto!" Tenten pleaded as she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her friend, "We could all really die if we get in over our heads! We need to run when something like this happens! Didn't Mizuki teach you that?"

Finally Gai took a deep breath and glanced towards Kaori, "You have your own orders to follow, so do as you must. As for us, Neji is the one running the show; we'll listen to his orders."

Neji carefully regarded the situation, glancing from the seal to Kaori. "The seal has already been revealed, so Daiya is already aware of our presence; if we try to flee, she'll just catch up to us and kill us anyway. That would be an inefficient waste."

"So? Does that mean…?" Naruto began, gripping his sai tightly in his hands as he mentally prepared himself for battle. "We're going to distract her so that Kaori can get away?"

"Not all of us," Neji replied, "We need Gai here because he's a jounin; we'd be annihilated in seconds without him. Naruto is too stubborn to leave now; that and his special jutsu may come in handy. My Byakugan and Gentle Fist style will ensure that we stay alive as long as possible; not to mention my mind is best suited for coming up with plans at a seconds notice."

"So I'm going with Kaori-san, then?" Tenten figured quickly. Though clearly not on Neji's level, she was a smart girl, after all. "Is it because of my fighting style?"

Neji nodded, "It's also possible that Daiya has alerted someone on the outside, so Kaori could become a target; it'd be up to you to get word out and send help. Now get going before it's too late!"

However, Kaori couldn't leave without doing something first. She reached out and pulled Gai into a firm embrace, kissing him deeply on the mouth. When she broke the kiss, she whispered in a choked voice, "I love you." before pulling out of his arms and gesturing for Tenten to follow her. She didn't like the thought of leaving him behind to become a sacrifice, but as a ninja she knew that her feelings meant nothing when compared to the mission.

When the girls had gone, Neji murmured as he reached out and caressed the strange seal, "Now we have to find a way in. I can see a hollow corridor two feet behind this stone slab; it's my guess that Daiya's jutsu forces the rock out of the way to allow her passage."

"Can you fool the seal into thinking that you're Daiya?" Naruto wondered, "Or do we have to break our way in?"

"No!" Neji hissed as he gently ran his fingers along the wall beside the seal. "The chakra radiating from the jutsu isn't strengthening the stone, but dramatically weakening it. Breaking any part of this wall would cause a chain reaction that'd bring the entire cave down on us."

Gai sighed and shook his head, "We'll need to find a way around it that doesn't involve breaking anything. Can you see where the corridor goes? Maybe we can find a different entrance; like an escape route or something."

"I haven't trained to be able to see through the ground; I never assumed that I'd need to. An oversight, I know; but I'll try my best."

"Wait." Naruto interrupted, squinting at the rock that the clay was drawn on, "How thick did you say this was?"

"Approximately 23 inches… But any sort of concussion or detonation would kill us for sure!"

"Maybe, but what if we cut it? We could take out a small chunk and sneak in that way. My Wind Sai jutsu can get through this, I'm sure of it; you just have to guide me so that I don't hit any of the super weak areas."

"That could work! Prepare the jutsu while I map out the weakened areas." Neji commanded as he turned back towards the wall to do as he claimed. Gai smiled to himself as Naruto and Neji went to work on their plan, deeply satisfied that his students were working together so amazingly well. It was just a shame that there was so little chance that they'd survive…

- Sunagakure -

Upon exiting the Kazekage's mansion, Asuma and Shino found the female Konoha jounin waiting for them in the shade of a government office, and with a nod, the two men strode up to the red-eyed brunette. After lowering his voice, Asuma murmured, "Where are the kids?"

Kurenai grinned when she saw her companions and ran a hand through her hair, "I locked them in their rooms." Kurenai giggled when they stopped to stare at her in surprise; she capitalized on this moment of hesitation by leaping forward and seizing Asuma's right arm, flirtatiously holding it to her chest. "But they're shinobi; I'm positive that they'll eventually find their way out. They want to see Suna too, you know."

In a dry and emotionless voice, Shino glanced towards his sensei from under his sunglasses and asked, "Are we off duty now?"

"We're done for today, yes. I guess you also want to explore Sunagakure?" Asuma replied in an even voice, hoping to cover his embarrassment at being grabbed by the woman and having his limb pressed to her breasts.

"I'm curious about what kinds of insects can be found here. I'll leave you two to your business; you obviously have important things to discuss." The boy muttered in a deep voice, understanding that Asuma would need to tell his sensei about the things that the Kazekage had said. "I've put a kikaichu on the both of you, so I'll be sure to return just before curfew."

When the boy left, Kurenai smiled and patted Asuma on the arm that was still pinned to her chest, "Well, if we're done for the day why don't we just relax and find a nice restaurant to rest in?" Kurenai suggested in a flirty voice, watching her companion from the corner of her crimson eye. "You can tell me what you need to when we're somewhere a little more private."

"To tell the truth, Kurenai-san," Asuma murmured softly, "we're not done just yet. Sure, the children's C-rank mission is complete, but we jounin have an S-rank do deal with now." The kunoichi instantly pulled away from Asuma to give him her full attention. Now free of her clutches, Asuma was able to place a cigarette into his mouth and light it, the man sighed and looked his partner in the eyes, "It's time to put your military training to good use, because the fate of our international relationship with Suna hangs in the balance. We've been offered an alliance between Sunagakure and Konohagakure."

"Something like that is on our shoulders?" Kurenai breathed in shock, her crimson eyes widening slightly in realization of the massive scope of the political mission. The two of them would have to put their experience to the test and decide if the benefits would outweigh the danger of such coexistence. "You can't mean… But a decision like that would be something for the Hokage to make, not us! Mere jounin shouldn't even begin to consider making such an involved decision!"

"Please calm down, Kurenai-san. Not only will overreacting needlessly complicate matters, but it detracts from your beauty." Asuma replied with a disarming smile, managing to calm his partner enough so that he could continue, "No one said that the final decision was up to us. Our job is to consult with the council of Sunagakure and agree on terms, only then will it be brought to the Hokage's attention for his approval." Asuma sighed and expelled a cloud of smoke, carefully watching Kurenai's reaction; already he could see the relief on her face. On a certain level he understood her worry; if it turned out to be a front for an attack, he didn't want it to be his fault. As childish as that sounded, it was how they both felt at the time.

"I see. So, when do we meet with them, then? And what should we do about our subordinates?" the woman asked, suddenly aware of how recently she had been promoted to jounin.

"Well, seeing as I'm the man in charge, I've been asked to choose the time; so it's in four hours. In the meantime, we should gather the kids and take Temari-san up on her offer to show us the village." Asuma then took his cigarette and pinched the end to put it out, and as he stuffed it back into the pack, "We're Konoha's ambassadors now; our village's reputation is at stake, so we'll have to make sure the kids stay out of trouble."

Kurenai smiled and gently shock her head, "Most of them know how to behave themselves; it's Yamanaka Ino that we have to worry about."

Asuma couldn't help but chuckle and winked at the woman, "Yeah, she and her accomplice Inuzuka Kiba will be quite a handful. If you ask me…" he insinuated but at that very moment something rocketed by in front him, causing the jounin to go wide-eyed.

Kiba was whooping, howling and taunting the two grey blurs that were hot on his trail, "Run Akamaru! If this is all that Suna can throw at us… Haha!" he laughed as the ANBU tore off after him, unsure how they should deal with the situation. On any other day they would have cut him down in an instant, but today the Kazekage had warned the local jounin against upsetting any foreign parties in Suna.

"Oh no…" Kurenai groaned as Kiba leapt up onto someone's shoulders and used them as a spring board to get on top of a roof. "Go find the others while I deal with this. And see if you can't find a strong rope… Or at least a leash…"

- Shien no Sato -

With a grunt, Gai eased the block of rock out of the wall just to the south-east of the Wolf Spider seal. As he set the block aside, Neji ducked and looked through the hole, murmuring into the darkness about a slant.

Finally the young genin glanced towards his teammates with a strange look on his face, "Fate has given me the advantage of a high IQ and special eyes, but has turned her back on us today."

"Again with the 'fate' crap? What the hell does that mean, Neji?" Naruto grumbled crossly. Neji had to forgive him, because this would be the second time today he'd been asked to wrestle with his mortality. He didn't have the same mind as Neji had.

"It's been bugging me since we chased that chuunin into the market square; the most efficient number for a ninja squad is three, so where were the other members of his team?" Neji asked, though he was obviously about to give the answer.

"They're down in the hole, right?" Naruto guessed stoically, his blue eyes hard and ready for battle.

"Only one of them is down there; the jounin with the title of Right Hand of the Wind. I don't see the man that she was willing to trade Suna's scroll for… I'm still too new to looking through the ground. He could be flanking us, or he could be after Tenten."

Naruto's eyes widened in horror; sure, he wasn't afraid to die, but the thought of Tenten getting hurt twisted his stomach into knots. He would not let his best friend get killed!

"Shit!" Neji swore under his breath as he backed away from the hole, "Daiya is walking up the ramp towards us! If you're going to abandon us and chase after Tenten, now is the time, Naruto."

After taking a deep breath and untying the knot in his own stomach, Gai cleared his throat and clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "I'm sure even Neji will agree that this is a jounin fight and is not meant for genin. I want both of you to go protect your teammate while I attend to this. That is an order." He commanded in a powerful voice of authority.

"That's a waste of my abilities, Gai." Neji accused softly, keeping his feet rooted to the ground and his Byakugan trained on the deadly woman steadily approaching them from the darkness. "Fate has given me…"

"I guess I can't force you to leave, Hyuuga. I just hope you realize that it's the stronger ninja that protects his friends because of what they mean to him than the one eager to prove his own power through battling impossible enemies. As for you Naruto, you can't let your bonds break, can you?" Gai asked, displaying a level of insight unheard of from an exaggerated and childish man with a bowl-cut.

"Over my dead body!" the blonde swore as he spun on his heel and crouched to sprint, a look of complete determination in his eyes. "I know you can handle her, Gai-sensei, so I won't wish you good luck. I'm going to help Tenten!"

"Wait for me, Naruto." Neji murmured in a tone that clearly said that he didn't truly want to leave. He wanted to put his fate-given skills to good use, but that was evidently out of the question. The white-eyed genin took the most important first step; after the first, the second came easier. Before long the two boys were dashing from the cave, leaving their sensei behind to challenge a woman on the same level as the Kazekage of Sunagakure.

With bated breath, Maito Gai shifted into a stiff fighting pose in preparation for the upcoming battle. The two best taijutsu fighters of their nations were to clash under the earth in a confrontation of epic proportions and there was nobody to watch. His heart beat in anticipation as the seal began to glow visibly on the face of the stone before the slab sank into the ground, revealing the silhouette of a powerful foreign kunoichi.

"Oh? Alone are we?" Daiya crooned as she strode into the dim chamber of the cavern. "Or perhaps we're not… Come on out, little ones." She called, pausing long enough for Gai to chuckle.

"Your bluff is worthless, woman! I'm your opponent, the Noble Green Beast of Konohagakure, Maito Gai!" The jounin exclaimed as he jabbed his chest with his thumb and crouched a little lower, a sign of tightening his defense. Honed from years of training that would normally kill a man, Gai could strike like a snake and hit as hard as a bull.

"Yes. We've met before, Mr. Gai; but this was before you had that title. You probably don't remember, as you left me for dead that day when you caught me sneaking into that temple to the Will of Fire." Daiya said with a grin, hardly moving a muscle lest she provoke Gai into attacking.

"We've met before?" Gai murmured in confusion, watching as the woman slowly reached up and gently hooked her fingers into the collar of her brown trench coat.

"Never mind." Daiya murmured stiffly as she unfastened the first button. "If you'd wait a moment… I don't fight in my coat. There are too many important things in the pockets, you see."

Gai tensed, "All the more reason to dodge my attack. If you have something to protect, you'll always evade the strike." He murmured, repeating something that his sensei had told him when he was a young man.

Daiya paused on the third of many buttons, fixing her chocolate eyes on Gai's intense gaze. "Hmm, I suppose you have a point, Mr. Gai… Nonetheless, I appreciate your patience. Though, of course, there's no real point for us to be fighting, is there?"

"That would depend." Gai replied guardedly, gulping as Daiya pulled her coat open, revealing a tight, toned body perfectly fit for a fighter. It didn't help that all she wore under it were cloth wrappings around her breasts and tight-fitting leather shorts. "Do you have anything to do with the disappearances in the village of Tobacco Smoke?"

"What? Oh, yes; Mr. Gatou hired us out to train these farmers in the art of ninjutsu." Daiya replied with a tone of amusement in her sultry voice. It was as if she were back in the forest speaking with a teenaged jounin that had just caught her mid-infiltration. Slowly she began to fold her trench coat and knelt to the floor, keeping her keen eyes on Gai as she set her clothing to one side.

Before Gai could respond, his arm jerked up and caught Daiya's foot; the power behind the kick forced him back a couple steps, where he caught his balance and returned to his stance. "I've heard about you as well, Miss Daiya: Right Hand of the Wind." The nukenin paused, waiting for her opponent to continue his train of thought. Gai didn't make her wait long, "They say that your bones are as hard as diamonds and that you can cut through swords with your bare hands."

"Now who are 'they', then?" Daiya laughed as she pulled into what had to be her fighting pose. "Is it from Konoha's bingo book? Nonetheless, it's absolutely true!" Daiya called as she vanished and appeared over Gai with her leg arching down on him.

Gai grunted as he reached up to block the attack with his forearms. He gasped as the dark-skinned woman brought her leg straight down through him, easily slicing him in half! Suddenly Gai exploded, leaving behind a rock that had been cleaved into two pieces; he'd used a Kawarimi no jutsu.

Appearing on top of a stalagmite, the Noble Green Beast frowned as he looked down at his opponent, "You're wrong, Miss Daiya. I heard the rumors when the Hokage and the Kazekage were comparing me to you during the last chuunin exam. They say that if I were a woman, I'd be you."

"What a disturbing concept, Mr. Gai." Daiya chuckled before launching forward to punch and shatter Gai's perch. However, before she could hit, the green jounin erupted into black lines and slammed his leg into her shoulder.

"Dynamic Entry!" Gai exclaimed as he kicked off of her shoulder and back flipped off of Daiya, throwing her to the ground. After landing, Gai only had an instant before having to jump her retaliatory sweep, but even this left him vulnerable to someone as skilled as Daiya; with lightning speed, the nukenin threw out her hand and assailed Gai with a powerful blast of chakra converted into wind.

With a grunt, the mighty Green beast covered his eyes to keep them from drying out in the wind, momentarily blinding him; Daiya rocketed forward and kicked him in the stomach with all of her might. Her shinobi sandals made a faint click as they left the rocky floor of the cave a second time.

Going by this one hint, Gai was able to guess what she was trying to do, and with a twitch caught her by the forearm, stopping the tip of her middle finger less than an inch from his naked forehead. "You're as strong as I'd hoped. That's good… I'm feeling young again from such a great fight!" Gai laughed, though he came to an abrupt stop when loose hairs drifted into his vision, cut from his bangs by Daiya's hand.

"I don't want to kill you, Mr. Gai, and I'd prefer it if you didn't kill me either. Not over a misunderstanding such as this." Daiya mentioned as she slowly lowered her arm and adjusted the turban which bore a flipped Suna hitai-ate. "If we continue on any longer, one of us will certainly die within the next three minutes."

Gai released her arm and jumped back, too used to the subtle tactics. With a glare he looked his hands over; there were two red lines cut into each palm where he had gripped Daiya. "What are you talking about? What is the misunderstanding?"

A small smirk formed on Daiya's lips as she gingerly strafed around, matching Gai's movements exactly, effectively keeping him in front of her, "What do you know about Shiengakure?"

"Shien-what?" Gai murmured, not confused by the term, but taken off guard by how it was used. It insinuated that the village of Tobacco Smoke was a hidden ninja town. Suddenly Daiya shot forward, swinging her hand down on Gai as if using a karate chop, of which the Noble Green beast blocked with a kunai. They flickered and collided three more times, each strike parried as before, until with a stunning display of precognition, Gai created an opening by gracefully dodging her and slamming Daiya with a perfectly executed Konoha Whirlwind right to the woman's face.

Daiya skidded to a stop several feet away, pressing her hand to her bloodied lip, fixing her opponent with a calculating glare. 'If it keeps up like this, I won't be able to win without opening the gates. But even then…' "Konoha is more like Suna that I thought, Mr. Gai." Instead of replying, Gai returned to his ready stance, keeping his keen eyes on the woman's dim form; their eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness of the cave. Daiya chuckled softly as she wiped her bottom lip, "We jounin don't ever hear about the missions that the council turns down, do we? All we do is handle the tougher ones that get through. Is that right?"

Gai glanced down at the stub that was left of his kunai, having been sliced to bits by the Right Hand of the Wind's right hand. Finally he looked up, only to find that she had vanished while he was distracted! 'Oh no!' he gasped, throwing himself back just as a pillar of stone fell from the ceiling of the cave, smashing to the ground where he had been moments before. With his heart beating in his ears, Gai called out into the dark, empty cavern, "You seem to know a lot about how Konohagakure is run…"

From the obscuring darkness, Daiya drew up behind Gai and placed the tips of her fingers to the base of his spine and chuckled, "Just guessing is all. Otherwise you wouldn't be asking these questions, would you, sweetie?"

Gai didn't move a muscle other than turning his head to look back at the half naked woman breathing down his neck. His heart beat harder in his chest as he molded more chakra. Something clicked in his mind as he watched the woman grinning behind him for any signs of tension, knowing that would be the sign of her thrusting her arm forward, 'Daiya must have a reason for bringing up rejected missions. Not to mention that the villagers hired nukenin rather than going to Konoha…' Daiya's arm tensed!

The Right Hand of the Wind raised an eyebrow as her opponent grunted and jumped away. She had already expected him to get away, though she was surprised that he had jumped away in two different directions. "A kage bunshin? Should I be honored to have forced the Taijutsu-specialized Noble Green Beast to use ninjutsu?"

"I'll only use ninjutsu to either protect those which are precious to me or when I find an opponent worthy of the full power of my youth." Gai admitted as he and his clone gingerly shifted into a defensive stance, prepared for anything his terrifying opponent might try. "But more importantly, Miss Daiya; tell me more about this Shiengakure that you mentioned…"

- Suna -

Sarutobi Asuma had been given tips by his father mere days before he had ever personally met team ten, "Despite your gut feeling, sometimes the best course is to do nothing and let your students figure the situation out alone. This way they'll be better equipped to deal with life as a shinobi after they're done with you." The Hokage had used this philosophy to raise first the three Legendary Ninjas of Konoha. However, Asuma had a different way of dealing with students, ways that wouldn't cause a war with a desperate foreign nation.

One of the ANBU chasing after Kiba looked over as Asuma breezed past him, quickly catching up to the errant genin and coming up beside the boy. The elite ninja's heart skipped a beat as the unidentified man threw himself to the side and checked Kiba off of the roof, watching as he fell into the sandy road and landed with a thump and a growl.

"What the hell, man?" Kiba growled as he struggled to get up. The ANBU landed one at a time around them, each glaring down at the troublemaker.

Asuma shook his head as he stood on the corner of Kiba's jacket, pinning him to the ground, "That's called tough love, Inuzuka. But you should know all about that; your family practices it as well."

"Are you this boy's captain?" the ANBU leader demanded coldly, hating his sudden lack of power.

"More or less, yeah." Asuma answered calmly. "I almost don't want to know, but what did he do to warrant you chasing him, captain?" Kiba grinned up at the collection of shinobi.

"We spotted him sneaking a peek into the girl's bath on our regular patrol. Nonconsensual voyeurism is a finable offence in Sunagakure, and I'll not have it from anyone within our gates, foreigner or not."

Asuma sighed and rolled his lazy eyes at the situation. "Maybe you could forgive him this one time? He's just a pubescent child after all." The jounin stepped back, allowing Kiba to stand up and smirk as he brushed the sand off of his jacket. "Besides," Asuma continued, "we're here on a diplomatic mission and I'm sure the Kazekage wouldn't appreciate anything happening to visitors to your village."

Not one to be put in his place by a foreigner, especially by a jounin from Konoha, the ANBU captain puffed out his chest and spoke in a forceful voice, "The fine is 10,000 zeni. I'll add the charge to your expenses to be paid before you leave Sunagakure."

"What's that, Akamaru?" Kiba perked up, glancing towards his puppy. "You smell more girls? Lead the way!" he commanded, and while Asuma was distracted by the ANBU he took off at a run after the barking dog. As he rounded the corner, he had enough time to spot a familiar blonde kunoichi dressed in a white slip with a red sash; however, he wasn't used to running on sand, so he was unable to dodge her. He skidded and ran face first into her chest, bouncing off of her soft bosom and stomach with enough force to floor them both.

"Hey! Watch it, brat!" Temari roared as she flipped back to her feet and reached over her shoulder. "Look where you're going!"

"Shut up!" Kiba barked in return, placing a hand in the sand next to him for leverage to rise. "It's what you get for putting your village in the sandy desert! Right, Akamaru?" The dog-user cried, unaware of the frightening situation he was in. Temari was far from being a delicate desert flower.

"You shut up." the blonde female ninja commanded coldly as she drew her Iron-fan and crushed the end into Kiba's stomach, forcing him back to the ground. Akamaru began barking like mad, but no matter how loud the dog barked or how colorfully Kiba swore at her, Temari ignored them completely, continuing to grind the hard casing into the genin's abdomen.

It was at that moment that someone came skidding around the corner. Asuma had just finished with the ANBU when Kiba had begun roaring obscenities to the four winds; and he was struck dumb when he realized just what had happened. Finally the jounin found his voice, "I think you should apologize to Temari-san, Kiba."

"I think she should kiss my a…!" the Inuzuka's reply was cut short by a cry of pain as the kunoichi twisted her fan in his stomach, kicking Akamaru off of her ankle at the same time.

"What should I do, again?" Temari demanded darkly, glaring daggers down at her trapped prey. "You dirty little Konoha shinobi, do you have any idea how easily I could crush you?"

Asuma sighed and shook his head in frustration seconds before flickering and gently easing Temari's hands off of her Iron-fan, letting the weapon fall into the sand with a heavy thud. He realized that she's been put under a lot of stress today, and Kiba did deserve his fate, but he had to put a stop to this before it got out of hand. "You'll have to excuse Kiba; he's young and kind of stupid, but you don't need to kill him." Kiba was too busy groaning and holding his gut to stand up for himself.

"You need to teach that brat some manners, Sarutobi-san!" Temari growled hotly as she yanked her wrists free of his grip and glared at the two foreigners.

"I'm sorry for Kiba, Miss Temari. I'll handle it from here, so please…" Asuma began, but the girl cut him off.

"Baki-sensei ordered my team to gather up all of the visiting genin and show them around the village." Catching herself, Temari quickly corrected herself, "Kazekage-sama, I mean!"

A small grin came to his lips as Asuma helped Kiba to his feet, instantly realizing what the Wind Shadow had in mind; he was giving Kurenai and himself enough time to discuss the upcoming meeting with the Suna council without the interference of children that didn't need to listen in. "That's very thoughtful of the Kazekage, isn't it, Kiba? If you calm down and ask nicely, maybe Temari-san would know here all the cute girls hang out."

"You think so?" Kiba wondered, suddenly forgetting the pain in his stomach in favor of other… priorities… "Do you know where all the girls hang out?"

"…no, I don't." Temari murmured in a dangerously low voice, "But I'm sure that Kankurou has them memorized…" she said, reminding herself of the tone Baki had used when he issued the orders. He had told them that this wasn't an optional mission.

"There you go!" Asuma laughed, clapping Kiba on the shoulder. With a grin, he glanced towards Temari and suggested, "It would probably be safer to split them up; Temari-san, Kankurou-kun and Gaara-kun can keep two people company until curfew."

"That might be for the best." Temari grunted before squatting and reclaiming her fan, stuffing it into the back of her red sash. With a sigh she stood back up and crossing her arms, "Well, come on; let's go meet up with my brothers and get this over with. Good day, Sarutobi-san."

Asuma waved as the two genin and the puppy began down the road, thinking about how close they had come to creating an international dispute. Thankfully, his smooth talking had saved the day, but if he and Kurenai couldn't convince the council about the benefits of allying with Konoha, it might have been for nothing.

- Preview -

Two against six: Asuma and Kurenai face off with the Suna council as to whether they agree or disagree on an alliance treaty. And where is the Fourth Kazekage during all of this? In the next chapter of Naruto Neo, Shiengakure is revealed!