Time to Fly

Leaving his small apartment behind him, Naruto made his way towards the Kazakage's office to receive his daily orders. Jumping from one roof top to the next, Naruto looked around at the busling city underneath him. If it wasn't for the fact that everything around him was brown, he would have thought he was back in Konoha.

"I can't believe it has been so long since I last saw my village," Naruto sighed, stopping on a building top. Looking through the eyes of his mask he could see the Main Conucil building. It was a dull shade of brown, with wires hanging all around. "I guess for now this is home, I better get used to it..." Reajusting his mask Naruto leaped off the roof, landing on the ground making a fast dash to the office.

Within moments Naruto had reached the circular entrance of the building marked Wind. Pushing the door open with his right hand, Naruto saw the familuar faces that worked there. Heading towards the steps in the back corner, he made his way to Gaara's office.

***

Looking over some old reports Gaara turned to look out a small window behind his chair. It was his only source of day light in the whole office. But with sand passing by the window at great speeds, it wasn't often to get a clear view of the outside world.

Suddenly a loud pounding at the door took Gaara out of his moment of peacefulness. "Enter!" Gaara commanded, turning his chair back to face the door.

Opening the door Naruto entered closing it quickly behind him. Within moments Gaara's sand started to crawl along the floor, makings its way towards the door putting a barrier around it. "Good morning KazaKage," Naruto said bowing before Gaara.

"You have come early today nin," Gaara said in his monitone voice. Naruto raised his head, looking at Gaara through the eyes of the mask.

"Yes sir, I am here to report and get a new assignment," Naruto replied casually approaching the large wooden desk seperating him from Gaara.

"Good, I have been waiting for the report you did about the invasion," Gaara said putting his hands together against his face. Fishing through his vest, Naruto pulled out two small scrolls with the information in them. Placing them on desk, Gaara took hold of them, but before opening them he looked back up at Naruto. "Its safe now Naruto, we can talk about the real matter."

Giving a smile under his mask, Naruto let go of a relieved sigh, "Good, I know that was a real mission but still, its kinda hard to keep my mouth shut at times." Gaara gave Naruto a small smile and nodded. "Well the Akatsuki are on the move again. From my sources they are heading to the Sound Village. They believe that I am there, trying to look for Sasuke, who as we know is still searching for Itachi. But honestly I never found out the real purpose of all this, my master Jiraya is the only one who knows. And..." Naruto gave a sigh, "He has been murdered."

Pushing the scrolls to the right of the desk Gaara closed his eyes to think a moment, "Do you think you Master left any notes or scrolls for you to find?"

"Naw, Ero-sennin wasn't really that clever, well a better word is organized. Besides they would be somewhere in the Konoha village. And we both know going back there would be a mistake. Baa-chan would have his stuff all under guard," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head, while closing his eyes.

"I see...then for now its best for you to stay here and gather more information. Hinata-sama has been sent to Tea Village to do some research for Kankuro. He has been try to find new poison formulas and thats the next best place to look. She should be back in three days," Gaara pulled out a paper from a draw in his desk and handed it to Naruto.

Glazing it over, he saw that Hinata had been partnered up with Kankuro and another Sand-nin, who had just become a Genin. "Well since she will be away for a while, I would think I could get some heavy investigating done. I have received one lead from an old friend in the Vegetable village. I think it would be best if I started there," Naruto said handing Gaara back the paper.

"Alright, I will allow you to go there, but no more than three days or people are going to get suspicious. I have kept you here because you saved my life and have helped my village. But that doesn't mean you aren't easily forgotten by Konoha. I get letters from them regularly, questioning if you are here," Gaara pointed to the stack of letters in the corner of his office.

Walking over to them Naruto bent down picking up the most recent letters. "I see here that Baa-chan is going to be sending Sakura here to do some medical training. I guess this is the best time for me to leave," Naruto concluded putting the papers back down on the pile. "Gaara, I have one other favor to ask."

Gaara turned in his chair towards Naruto, "Yes?"

"May I borrow these once I am back from my mission? There might be something in here I can use," Naruto asked walking towards the door.

"Yes, that would be fine," with that the sand dropped from the door frame crawling back to Gaara.

Leaving Naruto free to make his exit, "Thank you Kazakage."