After years of being kept in the dark of her past and of her family, Kari Yamada finally knows the truth. However, there's something still missing, something detrimental to gain the peace she strives to find. With the Akatsuki breathing down hers an...
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The room Sakura and I'd been given the night before has a stunning view of the village. It faces the village entrance; the wide space formed between the hardened mountain-high sand dunes reveals the rising sun, which blinds me the moment I open my eyes. The noise I make wakes Sakura up from the bed across from me, and she doesn't look pleased.
"Sorry," I say. "I'm not a morning-type of person." She lets out an exhausted groan, which almost instantly turns into a yawn.
"I don't think anyone is," she says through it.
We dress and prepare ourselves in silence, worn out from the past three days of travel. I've been well-rested, thankfully, enough to relocate the location of the Akatsuki. If I'd been able to sense Gaara's chakra, it'd be no problem. But for some reason, and I'd tried last night, having gone on a walk around the village to let out my restlessness, I couldn't find a trace of him. All that remains are the bits that are scattered throughout the Kazekage mansion and the village, itself.
Don't you worry, Gaara—we're coming to save you!
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"Seems we'll be working in conjunction with a squad from the Sand Village," Kakashi-sensei tells us, once we've all met outside. "As soon as they're here, we move out."
I see six figures emerge from one of the exits of the Kazekage mansion, and note that both Temari and Kishibi are among them.
"Okay, there's no time to waste!" Naruto says, limbering up. "Let's get this show on the road!"
"Hold it!" a voice shouts. Startled, I look above us, just as Baki drops between our two groups. "Temari, you and your group are to stay here and patrol the perimeter."
She gapes at them. "Are you kidding me or what?" she demands.
"Orders," he says, "from above." Temari gasps. "If word gets out that the Kazekage's missing, our enemies may use it as an opportunity to launch an attack on the village."
"Come on!" the girl with the purple face paint exclaims.
"Don't you get it? That's all the more reason we have to get him back as soon as quickly as we can!" She suddenly gestures to us. "Look at these Leaf Ninja; they left their home and came all the way here just to help us rescue Gaara! And Gaara's not even their leader! He's our Kazekage! The Sand Shinobi should be the ones to save him!"
"I'm sorry—""Well, I'm going!"
Once more, I'm startled, and immediately start searching for the source of the voice. Up on top of the Kazekage mansion stands an elderly woman—Lady Chiyo.
"If a Sand Shinobi is needed, I'm the one to go," she announces.
