Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Photograph ❯ Welcome ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Theme #3: jolt!

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Sand. And a heck of a lot of it.

`Wow. No matter how many times I visit Suna, I forget just how much sand there is.' Rock Lee, the mighty beast of Konoha, paused in his headlong run to take a look at the incredible amount of sand. `It's already getting everywhere. After every visit I end up taking an hour long shower to get rid of all of the sand.'

There was a lump in the distance that had been growing for the last hour, changing from a distant dot to a series of rounded buildings. The city of Sungakure lifted above the dunes, the only thing aside from the endless sand visible in any direction. Once he reached the massive gates, Lee handed over his papers for inspection. For some reason, the guard kept studying his leg warmers. `Perhaps they think I have weapons hidden in them.' Jumping into his best good-guy pose, the green clad shinobi let the desert sun flash blindingly off of his teeth. “Here, you do not have to worry about these. See?”

With a quick flick of his wrist, Lee pulled one of his weights loose. The guard slowly reached forward, as though it just might be a bomb, and took it from him. Without thinking too much about it, Lee let him.

“Oh, are you all right? It is very important to not try to lift with your back like that.” The guard's hand was caught under the weight, which was now resting on the ground, and the words coming from his mouth were not exactly beautiful or youthful. “You sound rather like a friend of mine from Konoha. He also uses very colorful phrases, but you're not quite as loud as him.”

Lee took the weight back and slid it into its spot in his legwarmer. He was rather glad he had not handed the guard the entire set of ten that was wrapped around his right leg. The guard in question was cradling his hand and staring at him. Eye twitching, he finally nodded. “You're all set.”

“Thank you! Please take care of that back. You are still in the full bloom of your youth, and your body has many years of service left!” Flashing yet another brilliant smile, Lee entered the gates of Suna.

The streets were actually quite familiar to the visitor from Konoha. Tsunade kept a very short list of shinobi that were considered acceptable to work with the Kazekage, and Lee was one of them. If a team was required, Naruto and Shikamaru were the other two names on the list. For various reasons, those three shinobi were the least likely to come back with a missing a limb or worse. Naruto had struck up an odd friendship with Gaara, between knocking some sense into him and saving him from the Akatsuki. As an added bonus, the blonde liked going to the bar and competing with Kankuro in drinking games. Shikamaru was too smart and lazy to annoy the powerful sand-nin, and he was able to work with the Kazekage's sister. A rare feat. The official reports on his relationship with Temari were mixed. However, there was a pool on whether Temari would kill him or marry him. The odds were about 3:2 when Lee left the village, with marriage holding a slight lead.

Why Gaara could tolerate Lee was one of the great wonders of the universe. Lee was loud, enthusiastic, and even his own teammates wanted to kill him on occasion. On more then one occasion he had startled the sand-nin with one of his proclamations, and had the sand burns to prove it. Why the Kazekage would specifically request his presence for missions left the great minds in both villages stumped.

`I will report in, check to see if Gaara-sama will be seeing me right away, take care of my afternoon training, and then I will have time for a rinse. I believe I will use Gai-sensei's training regimen number twenty-three today. Regimen number thirty-seven is tempting, but I should focus on upper body after two days of running. Perhaps I will use number four tomorrow, since I will be . . .'

Lee was cut off in mid-thought by finding himself flipping through the air, sand blasting into his face. He rolled through the blast and ended up on his feet. In an instant he had gone from his usual happy go lucky temperament to one of the deadliest shinobi that Konoha had ever produced. The black eyes easily scanned the area, tracking for the source of the attack. It wasn't hard to find. The black kimono stood out like a beacon against the beige walls, and if someone missed that it was hard to miss the huge fan at his opponent's back. “Temari-san?”

Civilians screamed and ran for cover. This was actually a relief, since Lee would not have to worry about hitting them. He also noticed that his fellow shinobi were screaming and running for cover. That did not bode well. The shinobi from Suna were well known for their courage in battle, and yet they were running even faster then the civilians.

“You idiot.” The fan snapped forward and down, forcing Lee back as the wind slammed into him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Lee staggered a bit under the assault before returning to his perfect stance. “There must be some confusion. The Kazekage wants me.”

“Bastard!” Temari flipped her fan back up, adding some sand to her wind attacks. Her opponent was forced to turn his face aside to save his vision. She leapt forward, snapping her fan closed to bring it down on his head.

Lee evaded her strike, back flipping out of her range. “Wait, Temari-san!”

“I don't know who you think you are, but you stay away from him!” The fan was open again, and her slash sent an attack that obliterated a fruit stand behind her opponent when he leapt away.

Now Lee was fighting two battles. On the one side, he was dodging the wind and sand that Temari was using so skillfully against him. On the other, he was trying to figure out just what his opponent was talking about. “While I admire your youthful enthusiasm, why are you attacking me, Temari-san?”

“Why? You can't be serious. Not only is he the Kazekage, he's my brother. I'm not going to stand by while you cause a scandal.”

`Scandal. Oh, no.' Lee leapt away from her next attack, landing on top of a stack of crates. He glanced around at the spectators that were watching from secure locations about the street, wondering about just how many of them knew about that photo. “I would guess that you have seen it.”

“Damn right I saw it. I'm starting to think that the entire Hidden Leaf village is just a bunch of perverts!” Temari paused, her fan behind her. “Why the hell are you here? What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing, Temari-san! It was an accident, I swear!”

“Accident? Konoha not only specializes in perverts, they specialize in dumb perverts! You can't do that by accident!”

“No, really! You can ask Gaara-sama, I apologized to him most profusely!”

“Apologized?”

“Temari-san, I was sent here by request of the Kazekage. He sent a request to Tsunade-sama, and I have been assigned to Suna until the Kazekage releases me.”

Temari closed her fan with a ferocious snap and stared at the strange shinobi. “So you were ordered here by your Hokage?”

“Yes. Even though I realize that Gaara-sama is a shinobi in the springtime of his youth, my intentions towards him are completely pure!”

The blonde sand-nin went oddly pale. “Don't ever say something like that about him again.”

“Yes, Temari-san.”

“Then Gaara must have sent for you days ago. I just saw it today, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know about it yet.” Temari leaned against her fan as she studied Lee. “Then why did he send for you?”

Lee jumped down from the crates, still watching the young woman carefully. “I have no idea. He did not mention a reason in his message.”

The blonde jounin studied him for a moment, then marched forward and grabbed him by the front of his jumpsuit. Lee yelped in a rather undignified way as he was hauled in nose-to-nose with Temari. “Repeat after me.”

Fear jolted through Lee as he realized just who was the scariest of the three siblings. He nodded franticly.

“I will keep my lips under control.”

“I will keep my lips under control, Temari-san.”

“Good.” The blonde let him go. “Welcome back to Suna, Lee-san.”