After another tearful goodbye with Inari the next morning Naruto departed from the Land of Waves, heading towards the Land of Tea. He had to hire a boat to get there but it didn't matter to him. He could always just look around for work to earn some money. While staying under the radar of course. His jumpsuit had been traded for a baggy pair of grey pants and a red t-shirt. Only because orange was his trademark of course. He couldn't make it too easy for Iruka-nii to find him after all.

The land of Tea was lush and green, but not nearly as forested as Konoha. Still, it resembled home, he couldn't help but feel homesick, to want to sit with Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei and order a steaming bowl of Ichiraku's finest.

He of course then pushed the thought away. He needed to get strong, not stay there weeping about what could have been. Sure Kakashi and Iruka would most likely end up together (As If they weren't already) but it was likely he wouldn't be there since he had a long way to go. Especially if he kept zoning off like this, he was already there for Kami's sake!

The village he was docked at was sleepy for sure, with no visible sign of any shinobi presence. At least that's what Naruto thought until he ran into the tall brown-haired man.

-----

Sabaku Takao was not having a nice day. His older brother seemed to have found news of him again. This was the third village he had to move to in nearly a month. It was times like these he almost regretted going rogue. Then he remembered what Rasa had done to his youngest son. Takao himself had left when Gaara was only a few years old but he could already tell the brat was gonna be a looker. Just like his uncle of course.

Then some kind of bounty Hunter came into the town. The idiot was still snooping around too. Now this little brat had run straight into him in broad daylight. He of course couldn't help but pull a kunai out to threaten him.

But he stopped short, this kid had the same look in his eyes as his nephew. The same loneliness and constant sadness. And it was pretty creepy when accompanied by his annoying grin and loud demeanor. But the brat was trained, that was for sure.

The only things he carried with him were a slim backpack and a kunai pouch attached to his right leg. Of course that didn't mean it was all he had. He looked fresh around the ears, probably here on his first C-rank or something. Stupid genin.

"Hey watch out old man!" The brat was riled up, his hair practically standing on edge. Now that he thought about it, where was his headband? Usually genin wore their headbands where they were easily spotted. Village pride and all that.

Eh, this kid probably lost it or something.

"Tch, stupid little brat." He walked away, towards the only Inn the village had. He didn't have the patience to deal with some wannabe ninja right now. Rasa knew the general location of where he was. And that idiot would definitely try to find him.

"Why you! Get back here Old man!"