Kankurou sighed as he stepped onto the bank. He had forgone coming over the water on a boat since it would take too long and Temari was waiting for him. Hopefully, Naruto and Sakura had not left yet. That would make attacking them a little more difficult. But, then again, when was a ninja's life ever easy? He just hoped Naruto didn't take it the wrong way if he found out who was attacking him. Kankurou really didn't want to have to go up against those damn swords. They'd smash his puppets to pieces.
He'd decided against wearing his normal bodysuit attire for this mission, as he didn't want to be recognized by Sakura or Naruto. It would just raise more questions if they were caught. He found the hotel where she was staying and slipped inside quietly.
Temari was lying on her back, reading a magazine, trying to pass the time. All Naruto and Sakura ever did was train and go to the hotsprings. It was so boring for her, since she couldn't interact with them and Kankurou wasn't there to talk to. Tazuna wasn't much for conversation either. It was much less trouble to read a magazine. If the couple decided to leave, Tazuna would send for her. It wasn't like she could spy on them all the time...no matter how hot Naruto's body was. A knock at the door shook her out of her musings before her thoughts could turn...sexy.
She groaned and flung the magazine across the room before setting her feet on the floor and shuffling across it. The frown on her face turned upward slightly at the sight of her brother. He looked like he'd been running all night and most of the day if his grunt of a greeting and subsequent passing out on her bed. She cocked an eyebrow and sighed at his passed out form. They'd have to make plans later. For the moment, she'd better check up on the prospective lovebirds. She grabbed her facemask and tied her hair back in a single spiky ponytail to throw off further suspicion of who she was and left out the door.
As she meandered through the streets to Tazuna's house, she thought of the mission and how stupid she thought it was at first. She couldn't believe that she actually let Gaara talk her into this, but the prospect of messing with Naruto's head was such a fun sounding task. She couldn't pass that up, especially as much teasing as the boy was prone to give her earlier in both their lives. Her eye twitched as she remembered one time he had died her hair green while she was asleep. One of the few times she'd ever seen Gaara walking around with a grin that wasn't scary.
The thought of her brother smiling put a spring in her step, as this was Gaara's way of repaying Naruto for helping him so much. She knew that Naruto expected no reward for helping anyone, but he was being stubborn about Sakura. True, he was warming back up to her quicker than she would have thought, but any guy would warm up to a girl if she showed him her tits. She blushed slightly as she thought of the scene at the hot springs. No wonder the pink haired girl wanted him so bad. If she could find a guy with a body like that, who was as kind and gentle as the blonde was, she'd want to put a lasso around him too.
She finally reached her destination and put up a simple cloaking jutsu so she wouldn't be detected. The two were in Tazuna's backyard and Naruto was sitting in the Lotus position with both swords laid across his lap. Sakura sat across from him in the same position. Temari sighed internally. Those two never did anything exciting. With the exception of when Naruto had punched the hell out of her, the two just...sat around, either talking or meditating. Naruto had agreed not to mess up Tazuna's place, so they didn't do any training. She shook her head and started the walk back to her hotel room. They had to start planning now or they wouldn't get a chance until the next town.
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Naruto sat like he was a statue, ignoring the rest of the world. In reality, he was painfully aware and yet, removed. He was in his mind with Kubikiri Houcho and Samehada, standing before the Kyuubi's cage with his arms crossed as the three faced him. Naruto was not ecstatic about being here, but knew that the three had been talking and had apparently come to some sort of compromise regarding their deal. Kubikiri coughed and Naruto's attention turned to him.
