The lost soul..

In the village of Suna the Konoha refugees had set themselves up in the market district, due to the circumstances the council of Suna had provided their rooms free of charge until they were able to reach a decision.

Inuzuka Hana walked into the room that was shared between her and her brother, he was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the windowsill Akamaru was laying on his belly, in subdued silence on his lap as Kiba absently scratched his head.

Hana stepped forward, her footsteps, echoing quietly off the walls.

Kiba suddenly spoke up. "She's…not coming…isn't she."

Hana looked to her feet, trying to push back the tears as pain shot through her chest. She knew the reality of the situation, most of their family had been cut down, only Kiba, herself, and three more Inuzuka remained along with whatever others had sided with the opposing faction, which was about a dozen or so.

She silently walked to her little brother and wrapped him in a hug. He clasped one of his hands over hers, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back tears. Hana placed her forehead on the base of his neck as tears leaked from her eyes as well. Akamaru whimpered in sadness as the salty scent reached him. He nudged Kiba's hand offering what little comfort he could.

Shikamaru sighed as Chouji, himself and Sakura stared at the blond haired girl who had not spoke a single word since their arrival. Not even her mother, who was equally distraught had managed to get her to speak.

Shikamaru had become something of a…support for his teammates, hiding the pain of his father's passing in order to help them cope, letting his tears fall only when he was alone or in the middle of the night, in his sleep.

Chouji was still in a form of shock, or perhaps disbelief and still hadn't been able to fully wrap his mind around his own father's death. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that even when they were talking in the Hyuuga mansion that it was his way of saying goodbye.

He just couldn't accept it.

Sakura had been trying in her own way helping them out, being that her parents were civilians they left with the group. She felt terrible for her friends. She didn't know what to say or do really. What could she really say? She couldn't say she understood, because she knew she didn't, her parents were both alive and were volunteering in the hospital to help treat some of the remaining injuries the survivors had right now She didn't understand their pain, and so she wouldn't pretend to.

Chouji moved to step forward but Shikamaru's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to his lazy friend with a confused gaze but he merely shook his head. "I'll deal with it." He sighed tiredly.

Sakura nodded and grabbed Chouji's hand. "Come on Chouji. Lets leave them alone and see if we can help out at the hospital."

"Yeah, sure." He absently said walking along side her waving at Shikamaru who waved back.

Shikamaru sighed again as they left and he walked into the room.

He sat down at the edge of the bed, next to her. "Ino?" He prodded.

She gave no answer.

He sighed. "Ino…come on this is unhealthy." He said, holding back his customary mutter of troublesome.

She still gave no answer.

He sighed. He then stood to leave but her voice stopped him.

"Why did they stay behind?"

He paused and sighed again. "Because…if they ran, the enemy force would have caught up to us…they had to protect us…"

She bowed her head, placing her forehead on her knees, letting her blond hair cascade forward like a platinum waterfall. "So…its our fault?"

Shikamaru snapped his head to her. He walked around the bed and sat infront of her. He firmly but gently gripped her shoulders. "Ino…listen to me." He paused trying to find the right words. "Your dad loved you right?"

She nodded.

"Don't you think…he would be angry at you for blaming yourself for his death, when there was clearly nothing you could do.."

"But…"

"Ino." He firmly cut her off. "There was nothing you could do…there was nothing anyone could do." He said, somehow both for himself as well as for her.

She muffled a sob in her throat as her shoulders shook. "Its not fair…its not fair…its not fair…" She continued to repeat over and over again as she shook her head. Shikamaru slowly wrapped his arms around the girl as she continued to cry.

Slowly he felt her arms wrap around his waist as she buried her face in his chest and wept bitter tears of loss.

Meanwhile in the Suna council chambers several individuals were locked in an argument.

"These recent events make it abundantly clear that we must reinstate our alliance with the leaf village immediately. If the eye witness accounts have any merit at all then that means they possess a ninja that can single-handedly wipe out at least 1/3 of our ninja. Not to mention that a good portion of the ninja he faced were those of the renowned Hyuuga clan. If we could somehow arrange a political marriage then surely…"

"Are you insane man!" Another cried out, cutting him off. "This fool intends to lead war across the nation, if we ally with him then we will surely be dragged into this war which is impossible to win. What we must do is attack Konoha now while they are weak! It is the perfect opportunity to increase our influence along the central forests region. We could nearly double our income."

"No you fool even if we somehow are victorious against this new Kage they have we must also defeat Jiraiya of the sannin and Copy ninja Kakashi. Surely even if we win our forces will be so decimated it will take years to get back our former strength. It is reported that this is the same individual that managed to defeat Gaara-sama."

The entire room grew silent at that, it was no secret that none of their ninja could beat Gaara. That a Konoha ninja was capable of such still left a bitter taste in their mouths.

Some of the council members turned to the young red head who had been watching the proceedings from a seat he held, from time to time, now that his father was dead. "Gaara-sama." One man queried. "You will be taking the title of Kazekage in a few months time what do you think of this?"

Gaara remained silent for a moment contemplating the pro's and cons of such a decision. While he did feel some form of personal respect and even a debt to Konoha's Jinchuriki as the future Kazekage he had to put the safety of his village before his personal beliefs. This decision was quite literally the future of Suna, this could either go off magnificently, or it could all just blow up in his face. He had to be very careful in this.

He took a deep breath and spoke. "As of right now there are still too many variables. Too many…complications that could appear due to either decision. I suggest a… "Wait and see" approach. Depending on future events we will make our decision then." He spoke calmly.

Mutters were heard throughout the room some positive, some negative. He didn't really care that much, as long as they remained in line they could say whatever the hell they wanted.

"What will we do with the refugee's?"

Gaara sighed. "Should Konoha-shinobi come looking for them, then we will hand them over, until that time, we will provide refuge for them. More mutters were heard, he ignored them all as he stood." I assume that is what you wished me to discuss with you. If that is the case, then I take my leave." He turned and walked out the door leaving the councilmen to themselves.

Temari sighed tiredly as she flopped down on her bed, all day she and Kankuro had been assigned the D rank mission of getting the civilians into their quarters and helping carry the injured and near dehydrated individuals to the hospital. Her hands still felt the sting of wooden slivers as she had carried that damn stretcher to and fro for about an hour.

Before she could drift off to sleep a voice from the corner of the room reached her ears. "Tired?"

She jumped about three feet in the air, which is remarkable considering that she was laying down. She fell off the bed and into a tangled heap of limbs and sheets at the edge of the bed, she glared up at her brothers look of boredom. "Don't. Do. That." She ground out through gritted teeth.

Gaara merely raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

Temari snarled before picking herself up from the ground and sitting on the bed. "What the hell do you want now?"

Gaara sighed and leaned back on the chair. "So…you think it's the same guy."

Temari stiffened before looking away. "Red hood, black clothes, two swords and gauntlets. Yeah, I'm pretty sure its him." She muttered. That Konoha ninja was one she would never forget.

Gaara sighed. He wasn't even the official Kage yet and already he was hating the job, it was so much easier just to be an underling. The boss pointed and he crushed whatever it was it his sand. Simple.

Why did he take this job again?

He sighed and looked to Temari. "What do you think I should do?"

She sighed laying back on her bed. "I don't know."

"You're no help Temari." He muttered "I wonder..." He sighed after a while catching her attention.

"What?" She said.

"A world of peace…is it at all possible?" He said almost wistfully as he stared at his hand.

Temari looked at her brother oddly for a moment before sighing. "Gaara, it might be, but it's a long shot…especially with his methods."

Gaara continued to stare at his hand until finally after a good long moment he spoke. "If…there is ever a world of peace…then people like me and him…wont exist anymore."

Temari stiffened and looked to her brother. She wanted to speak but the words simply slipped past her as he opened the door and walked out, leaving her alone to her thoughts.

Meanwhile, somewhere along the borders of Konoha and Kumo someone was beginning to wake up.

The young girl groaned as she opened one of her exhausted blue eyes she raised her hand to touch her head, but gasped as he hand came in contact with the rough texture of a bandage.

Her eyes snapped open and she scanned the relatively plain room. She began to panic slightly as she didn't recognize her surroundings.

She took a deep breath and thought. 'Alright…don't panic. Calm down and figure out where you are then you can panic all you want.' She made her plan and tried to sit up, but the action proved to be far more difficult than she expected. Finally after almost thirty seconds of struggling with her sore muscles and aching bones she was finally able to sit up, panting and sweating from the stress to her battered body.

She couldn't believe how much effort that took, again her lungs seemed to burn with each breath she took.

She heard the door open and she turned her head in time to see a woman with short black hair enter. She was startled when she saw her up and rushed to her bed side. "Oh my, I didn't expect you to be up yet. Please lie down again, you have to rest, the muscle relaxants in your system still haven't worn off and if you exert yourself to much you may damage your muscle ligaments more than what they already are.

The girl allowed herself to be placed back down on the bed and coughed a little. "Where?"

The woman's eyes softened. "My name is Shizune, your in a hotel in a small town along Kumo's borders…what's your name?

"A…aki…na." Her eyes fluttered closed and she once again fell back asleep.

Shizune sighed as she ceased the flow of chakra into the girl. She certainly didn't expect that she would wake up so soon. She should have been out for about two or three more days.

Her wounds were serious, a minor concussion, the right elbow was fractured, a large gash along her stomach, just barely missing her organs, her left ankle was also sprained badly, and she was suffering a terrible case of exhaustion.

The door opened again revealing a woman with long blond hair in two pigtails. "How is she?"

Shizune sighed. 'Well she woke up."

Tsunade looked startled. "That shouldn't have happened."

Shizune sighed. "Yeah well she was sitting up and looking around when I walked in."

"Hmm." Tsunade mused as she sat down. "I wonder what happened."

Shizune plopped down and absently petted Ton-Ton as he walked up to her. "Whatever it was it must have been bad."

Tsunade nodded and absently sipped some sake.

They wouldn't get answers until she woke up.

Naruto absently read a report from some ninja that had gone to a C rank mission when Jiraiya leapt in from the balcony. "You called?" He said rubbing his eyes, the old pervert was no doubt sleeping.

Naruto looked at Jiraiya before speaking. "I want you to find your old teammate, ask her to join us."

Jiraiya stiffened. "And if she refuses?"

"Then make sure she will at least not get in our way."

The toad sannin sighed in relief, he wouldn't have ever hurt Tsunade, not even on his order. He nodded and leapt away.

Naruto went to look through another file when he noticed the tower was eerily silent. He stood and walked to his door. He opened the door and noticed the Anbu guards and the administration employees were all knocked out, sprawled on the floor completely unconscious. There was no smell of blood in the air meaning most likely that no one was dead. He looked down the hall and noticed a blue skinned man with a large sword on his back.

He recognized him almost immediately, the monster of Kiri, Hoshikage Kisame.

He turned his head slightly and peeked back into his office from the corner of his eye and saw another individual standing behind his desk.

"Uchiha Itachi."