A/N: My goodness, it's been a while since I've been here in the editor section. Good times, good times. Anyway, here's my new multichapter fic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi and TV Tokyo. I don't own it. All I own are shattered dreams! -cry-

Wanted
Chapter 1:

The Oto settlements were fairly peaceful for those who followed the laws of the land baron, Orochimaru. So long as the people served him steadfastly, they had hope of seeing a bright and prosperous future. Little did they know, Orochimaru was not all that he promised to be.

Orochimaru was a sickly, pale man with a wicked soul and ambitions to match. Having reached a seat of power through the monopolization of land and resources, he craved only one other thing: eternal life. A desire that had only increased as his health deteriorated.

"Lord Orochimaru," called a voice from his door. "It is time for your medicine."

Orochimaru extended a skeletal hand, waving the young doctor in. "Come in, Kabuto." Kabuto approached him easily, setting his tray of supplies on the table beside his master, before proceeding to mix ghastly-smelling powders into a green liquid.

"How do you feel today?" Kabuto asked absently, pouring the mixture from his bowl into a teacup and handing it over to the older man.

Orochimaru took the cup, then gave him a stern look. "How do you suppose I feel?"

Kabuto bowed his head, "Forgive me. It's customary to ask, regardless." Orochimaru grunted and drank the vile concoction, already used to its unpleasant taste.

"The ones who call this The Romantic Death are mistaken," he rasped, appalled that any man would wish Consumption upon himself. He all but threw the cup back at Kabuto and collapsed back onto his bed, hissing between his teeth at the burning pain in his chest.

Kabuto silently wiped the sweat from Orochimaru's brow, then pulled his quilt back up over his torso.

"Have you found it yet?" Orochimaru snapped suddenly.

Kabuto didn't need specifications as to what 'it' was; Orochimaru asked for the same thing every day. "There are rumors," Kabuto began slowly, "That the northern lands of the Konoha tribe have something similar to what you seek, My Lord."

"Have you sent out a unit?" When Kabuto hesitated, Orochimaru peered at him through the darkness. "Well?!"

"Yes, sir."

"And?"

Kabuto moved to the fireplace and threw another log in, coaxing the embers into a blaze. "It would seem that they have been… Eradicated."

"By them?" Orochimaru spat venomously.

Kabuto pushed his glasses up his nose and nodded, "It would seem." Orochimaru would have shook with fury if he had had the strength to.

"Double the reward money," he suddenly demanded. "I don't care what it takes; I want them dead."

"Yes, sir." With that, Kabuto left Orochimaru alone in his chamber.

"Double?"

Kabuto nodded, unaffected. "That is the order."

Zaku seemed to blanch further. "That's crazy!"

"Did anyone ask your opinion?" Kabuto bit back, making the young officer bite his tongue.

"No, sir. I'll see to it that Orochimaru's will is done."

"Good. Dismissed!" Kabuto took a second to enjoy watching Zaku running away before continuing on with his other duties. There was always some satisfaction in seeing the lower members of Orochimaru's ranks squirm. Still in a good mood from his little power trip, he whistled on his way to assemble a new team to send to Konoha.

Within hours, new posters were being printed, in which a large fortune was being offered for four outlaws known as The Desert Bandits; wanted, dead or alive.

The siblings of the sand, Gaara the Demon, Kankurou the Grave Robber and Tornado Temari, and their caretaker, One-eyed Baki were the very reason the notorious Suna pass was so notorious. The Suna pass was the most direct route between Oto and the Konoha forests, where most of the food and lumber came from. Thanks to The Desert Bandits, most people were afraid to venture into the barren territory that the four had claimed as their own.

"Would you look at that," jeered the black-clad middle sibling with a grin. "You see what I see, Temari?"

Temari peered down into the canyon below, where a carriage was making its way through at a fast pace. They probably thought that going fast would get them through unnoticed, when all it did was kick up more dust. She smirked to herself and looked over her shoulder at her youngest brother.

"What do you think, Gaara?"

"Kill them," Gaara said emotionlessly, pulling out his long barreled revolver and climbing up onto his horse. He didn't bother to wait for either of his siblings before taking off.

Kankurou brandished his two repeating pistols and fired a few times just for the fun of it. "Don't take too long! You'll miss all the fun!" he called back over his shoulder at his sister as he rode off after Gaara.

Temari grunted in annoyance at his immaturity, pulling out her rifle and climbing up onto her own horse. "I'd better make sure they don't do anything stupid," she muttered. "Do you mind watching camp?"

Baki shook his head and waved her on. "I don't mind. You'd better hurry along before it's over."

Without a second look, Temari did as she was told, easily catching up with her brothers. They rode in a triangular formation, Gaara in front with the older two in back, until they caught up with the buggy. The first thing to do was to stop it, and that meant deciding if the horses were worth anything, and if not, killing them. Kankurou pulled out his bowie knife and cut the horses free, then herded them to a halt a short ways away.

Gaara had long since shot the driver, so all that remained was disposing of any passengers. This seemed to be a cargo wagon, though, giving them one less step to reach their goal. Once the carriage had come to a stop, the three of them opened it up to evaluate their bounty.

"I hope it's food," Kankurou said, pulling one of the wood crates out and prying it open with the edge of his knife. Once it was open, they crowded around to get a look inside.

"Hay?" Temari hummed, confused. "Why would they be shipping hay in crates?"

Kankurou shrugged, digging through. "Maybe it's to pack in something valuable."

Gaara straitened and gave his sister a look, which she returned. They were both thinking the same thing: it didn't make any sense.

Temari caught a gleam out of the corner of her eye just in time to dodge the bullet that was fired at her. Her brothers acted at the same time as her, and the three of them took cover behind the wagon.

"Shit!" Kankurou cursed, "An ambush! I knew it."

Temari would have rolled her eyes, "I'm sure!"

Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari exchanged fire with their attackers, but it was quickly becoming obvious that they were severely outnumbered.

"Where is Baki?" Temari asked to no one in particular. She wasn't surprised when she didn't get an answer.

"I'm out of ammo," Gaara said, holstering his gun.

"Where is your extra?" Kankurou asked, reloading his second pistol.

Gaara crouched further below the wagon, "With my horse."

Temari and Kankurou gave matching groans at that, casting helpless glances in the direction that their horses had all run off in after being spooked by the gunfire.

"It's not so bad," Temari tried, "We've gotten out of tighter scrapes than this, right?"

Kankurou shook his head, putting away his second gun, now also out of ammo. "I don't think so, Temari."

Temari ignored his comment, getting a clear shot at one of the enemies and pulling the trigger, only to get the disheartening click of an empty chamber. She cursed loudly and joined her brothers below the cart.

"We're sunk."

"Well there has to be something we can do!" Temari grit her teeth in concentration, but it was hard to think when it felt like the world was crumbling around her.

The group of Orochimaru's men had begun to descend upon them, noticing their cease in fire. They scaled the cliff carefully, taking turns so that there was always someone pointing a gun at The Desert Bandits. They were unlike any of Orochimaru's other troops. They were efficient and organized.

Gaara rolled into a crouch and prepared to sprint. "On my mark," he said.

"What are we going to do? Hope that they stop shooting long enough for us to get close enough to hit them?!" Kankurou balked.

Temari shifted to do as Gaara told her, "What else can we do?"

"You're both crazy!" Regardless of his own protests, Kankurou also prepared to run at the enemy despite his gut instinct to run away from the gunshots.

Gaara's deep breathing told his brother and sister than he was counting. Preparing. Calculating when the best moment to move was. The troops got closer, and through the pounding in their ears, Temari and Kankurou heard their younger brother's usually quiet voice cry out.

"Go!"

All at once, the three of them took off for the closest enemies, taking them down with close-range weapons and just barely managing to not get shot. They went on to the next wave of men, once again killing this group but lacking the element of surprise from the first wave. There was a lot of blood, and nobody could really be sure who's it was at any one moment.

They had reduced their enemies by half, showing them all just why the three of them were considered such deadly forces. Just when it looked like they might have some hope of getting out of their predicament alive, Kankurou stopped in his tracks, yowling in pain and clutching at his stomach.

While it wasn't in Gaara's nature to stop for anyone, even his own brother, Temari was unable to go on knowing that one of her baby brothers was about to die. Without much thought, she reeled back and was at Kankurou's side in a matter of seconds. From then, everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kankurou was yelling that he was fine, and that she should keep going. A few yards off, Gaara was tearing into another enemy. At the same time, one of the Oto soldiers (a redheaded girl, Temari would later be able to recall) took aim. And in that moment, all Temari could hear was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.

The redhead took her shot, hitting Temari in the shoulder, before she quickly fell back to avoid shots from somewhere behind Temari, using one of her own as a human shield. The next thing Temari knew, Baki was lifting Kankurou up onto the only horse they had left and demanding that she take him and get to the Konoha forests.

Baki was battered and bloody, and Temari could tell that he had already been through a battle of his own before coming to save them. She allowed herself to be hastily thrown up onto the horse with her semi-conscious brother, before grabbing the reigns and taking off toward the north. The last thing she heard was Baki commanding Gaara to retreat as well, then it was all quiet besides the wind whipping past her ears and her own ragged breaths as she tried not to feel the pain of the wound in her shoulder.

The horse, suffering from injuries of its own, collapsed shortly after they entered the thick of the forest, and Temari did her best to stop Kankurou's bleeding. The skin around his wound was turning a strange purple color and she was quickly losing consciousness herself. Her last thought before she blacked out was how sorry she was that she couldn't save her brothers… Again.

A/N: Review if you want to. I understand that everyone is busy, so I won't demand that I get reviews.