Disclaimer: everything belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Sandy Roads of Ichikazo

Oneshot

After her recent promotion to the rank of Chūnin, and the following break-up of her team, Ino simply hadn't got a break. Four days ago, she had come back from her last mission. Back then, she had hoped her return would be the interlude to some relaxation in the hot springs, only for her dreams to be shattered like glass. The Godaime Hokage, bless her soul, had had other plans.

Instead of relieving her sore muscles in warm water, Ino instantly had to set out again, this time toward a small village called Ichikazo. It was wedged between the green forests of the Land of Fire and the seemingly endless desert of the Land of Wind. Ichikazo was one of the many trading posts in the area, and the Hokage asked her to get an accurate status report from a team that was stationed there.

"Listen closely now."

"And what am I supposed to hear?" Ino asked, deeply annoyed by the lax posture of the blond shinōbi in front of her.

"What you're supposed to hear? Well, everything, I'd say," the young man answered, a crooked smile tugging at his lips. "You wouldn't be much of a kunoichi if you didn't..."

Ino's cheeks acquired a red hue. "That's—"

She stopped herself from murdering the guy, and her brow furrowed. The voice sounded familiar. Had she met the guy before? The shinōbi was content to let her puzzle him out apparently, as he leaned back even further and fell into a stack of hay. He looked like he had no care in the world and smugly moved a toothpick between his lips.

Then it clicked. All gears in her mind came to a grinding halt, and she pointed her finger at him. "You— You're Naruto!"

She saw his blue eyes glitter with amusement. No wonder she hadn't recognized him before. He wasn't short anymore; his hair had grown past his shoulders, held back by a ponytail; and his outfit was almost the opposite of what he had worn in Konoha.

"But, that means Sakura and Sasuke are here too, right?"

"You called?"

The hairs on her neck rose as warm breath tickled her skin. A weight settled on her, and when Ino glanced to the side, she saw her childhood friend leaning heavily on her shoulder.

"Sakura? You've been here all the time?" she asked, stunned. "I've looked for you in Konoha, and Team 7's been here, all along?"

Ino's eyes widened minutely when she felt Sakura's arm sneak down to her rear, but her attention was soon redirected.

"Bureaucratic mess up," said a third voice.

She looked over to the direction it had come from, and saw Sasuke sitting cross-legged on an empty barrel—a weirdly deformed cigarette dangling from his lips.

"After Kakashi died, we got lost in the paperwork," explained Sakura. "Not that I'm complaing, mind you."

Ino focused on her pink-haired friend, but noticed at the edge of her vision how Sasuke flicked a second cigarette to Naruto. The blond was still lazing around in the hay.

She shook her head. "Got lost in the paperwork? How the hell does a team simply get lost?"

"Beats me," answered Naruto, swinging his legs. "We've got some theories, but hell if we know whether they're true or not."

Ino tried to say something, but words had forsaken her. She opened her mouth, and closed it with an audible snap. Finally, after years of search, she had found Team 7. Under which circumstances though? They had lived here for almost three years now, and never once returned to Konoha. It looked like they had never even entertained the notion at all.

Before her thoughts could spiral even further out of control, the sound of a large gong echoed throughout the village. She felt Sakura, who was still leaning on her shoulder, tense up.

"Ah, looks like catching up with you has to wait a bit, Ino-chan." Naruto stretched, and a loud yawn escaped him.

She saw him walk over to Sasuke and poke him. "Oi, your highness, can you stand up and walk without looking like a retard?"

Why would the prodigal Uchiha be unable to walk straight? Ino turned back to Sakura, only to see the girl take a deep hit from the deformed cigarette that had, till then, hung between Naruto's lips.

"This' a pretty hard mix," Sakura murmured next to her.

Ino heard Sasuke grunt in acknowledgement. She looked over to him and was shocked to see him slouching against a wall, barely awake. Even an academy graduate would have an easy time killing him at the moment.

"Looks like it's your turn." Ino heard Sakura say to the blond. "I'm too lazy, and Sasuke's nearly asleep. Make it quick, will you?"

She saw Naruto dust himself off, before he walked over to her. "You should come with me if you want to see some action." He pointed at his teammates. "These two are going to be pretty boring in the next few hours."

His chuckle wasn't reassuring and confused her more than anything. "Action? Boring? What is going on here? What does this gong mean, and why didn't you come back to Konoha?"

"So many question - slow down a bit. Nobody's runnin' away. There'll be enough time to explain things after we've taken care of business."

With those words, she saw him vault over a small fence, and then over the wooden palisade that separated Ichikazo from the outside. Ino quickly followed him, but was completely underwhelmed by the sight she came upon. There was only sand, countless grains of it making up the vast and seemingly endless dunes in front of her.

"Where the hell can we find action in this place?"

"Eleven o'clock," Naruto answered.

Ino narrowed her eyes and focused on the area Naruto had indicated. After a few seconds she saw it. Something became larger and larger with rapid speed, and as she figured out what that something was, a dozen curses left her uncouth mouth. Beside her stood the blond, apparently not bothered by the enormous sandstorm heading their way.

"Naruto?" she asked, a bit of fright entered her voice.

"Relax. We've had this problem quite often over the last three years." She saw him kneel on the ground, racing rapidly through a long sequence of hand seals. "Just goes to show that there are always multiple solutions to a problem."

Ino noticed his wistful tone. He had closed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Eh, Sasuke got his fire, you know?" Naruto answered. "He's still the same genius as always, and just stands there for minutes and turns everything even remotely sandy into glass. He couldn't do that today, obviously. Probably would've burned himself."

Then, Naruto slapped his palms on the ground and his eyes snapped open. The wind currents around them picked up.

"Me?" he continued, his voice filled with mirth. "I'm a wind user. Give me a minute, and I'll infuse my own currents into the storm."

She didn't bother to reply and sunk to her knees, observing the spectacle in disbelief. Her senses were screaming at her from the ridiculous amount of chakra Naruto released next to her. For a few seconds, she even saw large wisps of blue energy in the sandstorm, before it was slowly led away from the village.

To see pure chakra with the bare eye was unusual. Ino looked over to the blond, who wasn't even sweating, and thought back to what she had learned about Team 7 in the last thirty minutes.

Yes, she had found them, and it hadn't even been her mission. But, she doubted they would fit into Konoha as they were.

One thing was clear—they hadn't slacked off after Kakashi died, and perhaps even became monsters in their own right.

AN: How can a team get lost in the paperwork? Obviously, the idea has several holes as a hidden village would never 'forget' about the last heir to an important clan, or their Jinchuriki. Still, I imagine it went like this: the Sandaime was dead, and Kakashi died on some mysterious side mission while his team was stationed in Ichikazo. Jiraiya didn't find Naruto to bring Tsunade back (he managed on his own), and this way she never got to know the blond, thus 'forgetting' him and his team.

Also, a shameless self-plug: I made a Jiraiya Tribute AMV. You can find the link on my profile if you want to take a look at it.