Son of the Sannin(Back)

Desert Winds

Or

Why turning your children into weapons is not cool

Seven years after the Kyubi attack

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO! STOP ASKING THAT ALREADY!" Jiraiya yelled in anger. Between the heat and Naruto's constant chattering, he'd swear he'd go insane at any moment. Then he noticed something in the distance, and narrowed his eyes to see it better. Then, he turned to Naruto and said: "Yeah, we are there already. Sunagakure is just behind those dunes."

"Finally!" Naruto threw his hands in the air.

The heat was downright oppressive, and his thirst was becoming nearly unbearable. He wished he had listened to Jiraiya's advice and didn't drink all the water from his canteen the first day they were in the desert. But after two hellish days waddling through an ocean of sand, their journey was already over.

After much, much time, and much, much stalling on the Kazekage's part, Sarutobi finally managed to convince his Sunagakure counterpart to accept the visit of a Konoha diplomat, in order to strengthen the relationship between the two villages, as well as to "help" with his Jinchuriki problem. While the intention to help was genuine –or else Sarutobi wouldn't have send Konoha's best seal master alive as its representative– Sarutobi had other less selfless motives behind such action, namely, evaluate the threat said Jinchuriki could pose, as well as the Kazekage's intentions on how he was planning to use him.

Jiraiya requested to bring Naruto with him to the mission, believing that having a Jinchuriki who also happened to be a kid of the Suna Jinchuriki's age would help to connect with him. Koharu and Homura vehemently opposed to such thing, since not only it would mean taking Naruto out of the village despite not being a ninja, but bringing him into a foreign village. Sarutobi, however, agreed with Jiraiya's reasoning. Besides, if something happened, Naruto had one of the Sannin taking care of him.

Tsunade also opposed her husband's idea, but for different reasons. She felt that Naruto was too young to do such a journey to another village, and all the possible dangers he could face, besides losing Academy days. Jiraiya spend a whole hour convincing the Slug Princess that he would make sure that Naruto would return from the trip unscratched, and that Naruto would work extra hard to make up for his absence at the Academy.

Naruto was elated when Jiraiya informed him about the trip. He had never been outside Konoha's walls, and he was dying to see the world out there. He was amazed by the lush forests of the Land of Fire –which made Naruto wonder why it was called the "Land of Fire" instead of the "Land of Forests", and that such name would only make sense if somebody set those forests on fire. Jiraiya begged Naruto not to try to make their country's name more meaningful– and was marveled by the watery landscape of the Land of Rivers. But when they reached the Land of Wind...

"This place should be called the Land of Unbearable Heat!"

But fortunately, they arrived at the large rift in the middle of a large stone wall which was the entrance to Sunagakure, flanked by a couple of Suna Chunin. After they verified the Toad Sage's identity, they allowed both him and his son access to the village.

The hallway that was the rift was completely covered in shadows, and thus had a much cooler temperature, something both Konoha residents greatly appreciated. After a short walk, they arrived at the village proper.