Inochi entered the village anticipating only a few people outside because of the harsh torrid climate, but instead came across a huge bustling crowd. After crossing the forest and the desert with zero presence of any human being, such a busy place shocked her as well as provided some comfort.

As she trod down the sandy streets she could hear the villagers speak in a different accent which she tried to incorporate in her speech. She stopped midway to look at the huge buildings which seemed to be made out of clay and sand but under the sunlight gleamed as if they were covered in gold. As she awed at their extravaganza with mouth agape, a man suddenly approached her and enquired,

- "Are you new here?"

-" Yes sir " Inochi bowed slightly to acknowledge the man, who didn't seem to bear any ill wishes.

-"The buildings are fascinating aren't they? They seem to be covered in gold"

-"Are they really!?" Inochi's eyes sparkled in curiosity.

-"One can say that. Our Kazekage can control gold sand so he covered many buildings with it to make them look more presentable"

-"Gold sand! It's my first time hearing about it"

- "The third Kazekage used Iron sand. It was even more sightful to see" The man took a look at the buildings as if to appreciate their beauty. "So do you need any help? You seem lost"

- "Oh yes, can you guide me to the Ho-" Inochi stopped herself. She was so awestruck from the scenery that she completely blanked out from the mission.

-"Ho?"

-"Home of the Kazekage? Maybe the Kazekage building? I don't know what it is supposed to be called" Inochi stopped herself from uttering 'Hokage' at the last moment.

-"Oh ok. I get it. Can you see that almost spherical building right there?" The man pointed at a direction opposite to the entrance, at the biggest building that seemed to be built at the heart of the village. Anyone could figure out, even without guidance, that it was the Kazekage mansion, but fortunately the man didn't doubt Inochi's intentions. "Just follow this path. Its a straight way. All the 8 main roads lead straight to that building. This one is the first main road that connects the entrance to the Kazekage building."

- "Oh is that so? Thank you so much sir" Inochi bowed to the man and then headed towards the building, thanking the Gods for letting her first encounter with the villagers to go this smoothly.

As she travelled down the street, she found a whole different world. Everyone was wearing rough clothes and head scarfs to protect them from the sand. Inochi was wearing such clothing too but soon realised that she was having trouble with breathing. The air was too dry and hot for someone from the leaf village which not only had a nice humid climate but was also surrounded by sufficient greenery.

Inochi reached the Kazekage office in no time as it was a one way route. She shyly entered the place, fit for someone visiting the office for the first time. Inochi didn't know if her facade was her real personality or not, but it didn't matter to her. Afterall, as long as she knew what she was doing, her personality, fake or not, hadn't yet created any trouble. She asked a few guards where to submit her application and was finally led to a room.

- "May I ask your name miss?" The woman in the office asked Inochi.

- "Nagisa Kumimono"

- "You must be very brave or very desperate to take this job miss Kumimono" The sand official remarked. She now beared a smirk on her previously unamused face.

- "Yes, I am in desperate need of the job" Inochi started with her already made up background." I am right now responsible majorly for the finances of my family as my father passed away suddenly from a rare disease" Inochi let out a tear. "My mother is already working hard while looking after my younger brother but her sole earnings was not enough to sustain our family. So when I heard about this job and how much it will be paying, I couldn't reject it"

- "Oh...seems rough. I hope your family gets over this" The official started to sympathise with Inochi.

Inochi was an expert in acting vulnerable in front of enemies. It led them to bring their guards down in her presence. Not only this, but she could figure out quickly around whom to act tough and around whom to act weak. How to act cute and dumb in some cases and how to pretend to be calm and composed in another came to her naturally. This skill got polished over the two years she spent in the ANBU, doing numerous missions with different personalities to throw off the enemies.

- "Thank you ma'am for your concern" Inochi bowed.

-" Hmm" The woman took a short pause."Ok then" The official recovered her unamused aura and handed Inochi the permission slip, thus allowing Inochi to take the job. Inochi was the only applicant so the whole process was completed under a minute. Inochi was asked to wait outside as she would be taken to the Kazekage residence by someone.

Inochi waited outside the room for a few minutes after which she saw a blonde shinobi approach her.

- "Hello, you must be the new babysitter" The shinobi said in a calm but happy tone.

- "Yes sir. I am Nagisa Kumimono. Nice to meet you" Inochi shook hands with the shinobi.

- "I am Yashamaru. I am the caretaker you will be working with" The shinobi said while sporting a smile.

-" But you are-" Inochi was a bit shocked. She thought she would be the sole caretaker which would make it easy for her to escape every now and then for her ANBU mission. But it now seemed that she would have to share the responsibilities with someone who appeared to be a shinobi of jounin level

- "Yes, I am a shinobi. Gaara-sama is my nephew. His mother was my twin sister." Yashamaru said with a bit of gloomy aura. Inochi realised the tone, it was the same one she and Kakashi would use whenever they talked about Rin and Obito.

- "Oh. I am sorry for your loss. I hope she rests in peace" Inochi said, with sadness visible in her eyes. She was a bit aware of what had happened when the jinchuriki was born.

- "Its okay. Gaara-sama reminds me of her a lot. Let me introduce the children to you" Yashamaru let go of Inochi's handshake and showed her the way "follow me please, Kumimono-san"

Inochi tagged behind Yashamaru to another building very close to the Kazekage's office. She was led to an open space between the buildings which seemed like a mini playground. There Inochi saw three children playing on the sand, rolling in it and building sand castles.

- "The girl is the oldest sibling. She is Temari sama, the most responsible among the three. The boy next to her rolling in the sand is the second born, Kankuro sama. He is very playful and is the most mischievious among them. And atlast, the little boy opposite to them, behind that beautiful sand castle is Gaara-sama" Yashamaru introduced Inochi to all the three kids from a distance.

- "Why is Gaara sama sitting so far away?" Inochi saw Gaara hiding behind the castle. All the three kids were having fun but it was apparent that the other two were keeping a distance from him.

-" He sometimes goes out of control. The one tails inside of him takes control of his body and till now it has killed a lot of shinobis" Yashamaru said guiltily. He had remorse in his voice which made Inochi stiffen. "This is not good" Inochi thought as she knew that the more she would see Gaara in trouble, the more she would try to help and will ultimately get attached to him.

Inochi saw a man approaching her and Yashamaru while looking out to the playground. He had a relaxed face as he approached the two. Yashamaru beckoned to Inochi to bow which Inochi did after a few seconds of realisation that it was the Kazekage.

-"Good morning Kazekage sama" Yashamaru said in a formal tone.

-"Good morning Kazekage sama" Inochi repeated after Yashamaru in the same rhythm. The Kazekage, named Rasa, looked down to Inochi and said,

- "You are the person who applied as the babysitter, I suppose"

-" Yes sir" Inochi studied the Kazekage's face. "He is handsome" Inochi thought, who had till now lived most of her life looking at an old shinobi as the Kage. "But his face is almost distorted by stress lines. I wonder how hard it is to be a Kage of the wind nation"

- "For a person as young as you to take up such a dangerous job, it doesn't make sense"

Inochi was going to narrate her sob story again but the Kage continued

- "However I don't mind it if I get good results" The Kage shifted his attention from Inochi over to his kids.

"Results?" Inochi thought in confusion just when she saw a scowl forming on the Kazekage's face. He stomped to the playground and asked Temari and Kankuro to come back with him, leaving Gaara to Yashamaru.

Inochi felt a bit uneasy with the change in the Kage's attitude. But before she could think further, Yashamaru asked Inochi to introduce herself to Gaara.

- "Hello, Gaara sama" Inochi crouched down to meet Gaara's eye level. "He is so cute" Inochi thought while resuming her introduction. "I am Nagisa Kumimono, your new babysitter. You can call me 'Umi' if you like" Inochi smiled. She never had to talk so formally with anyone so this was completely new to her. She hoped her smile would lead Gaara and Yashamaru ignore any kind of slip up.

Gaara was a bit taken aback by the sudden niceness. He tried to reply but out of habit, just ran to Yashamaru and hid behind him.

- "Gaara sama, don't be so shy" Yashamaru chuckled. He knew that Gaara loved the fact that someone who was not his uncle Yashamaru, was nice to him.

Gaara waited for few moments in which Inochi again approached Gaara. She now completely sat down on the sand in an informal manner which Gaara found very amusing.

- "Hello" Gaara atlast spoke in the softest tone." I am Gaara, Gaara of the sand"

- "Ohhh Gaara of the sand?" Inochi said in amazement." I am very honoured to make your acquaintance sir" Inochi bowed playfully. Gaara chuckled at such a gesture. Yashamaru who was standing in between them was surprised to see how fast Inochi , who he was introduced to as Nagisa, got along with Gaara. "Maybe she will be able to make Gaara control Shukaku" He thought as he watched Gaara introduce his elaborate sand castle to his new babysitter.

As the week passed, Inochi and Gaara got even more closer. However, Inochi did not forget her primary mission. On the first day itself she was handed her routine, which she found to be a little troublesome. Each week she was allowed to return to her assigned apartment for only three days alternatively. She was asked to stay awake the rest of the nights to watch over Gaara as he slept, because he would usually lose control of the beast and unleash its power. If that were to happen, Inochi was ordered to quickly inform Yashamaru or any of the guards available nearby. Inochi was also kept in charge of basic chores like cooking and cleaning but Yashamaru volunteered for the majority of them.

Yashamaru had been the one to take care of Gaara since he was born. However, the sudden need of Yashamaru in the shinobi forces of the sand made the Kage appoint someone else as the babysitter. Unfortunately, no one applied for the job as it was risky and the spot remained vacant for months until the leaf Anbu applied for it on behalf of Inochi.

Inochi started noting down the schedules and timing of all the guards around her in order to carry out her spy mission flawlessly. She first presumed that she would be allowed to return to her apartment every night, but as it was not possible, she had to scratch her pre formed plan. Her new plan revolved around three basic points; the whole morning was to be spent with Gaara, the evening would get spent with the rest of the chores and only three nights in a week would be left for her to carry out the mission. Inochi at first had the idea of using her mud clone to spy, but did not want to alert the shinobis of an intruder as a clone would be clumsier than the original ninja. So the whole first week passed with Inochi taking in information about the village, playing with Gaara and coming up with a new plan.

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As the second week started, Inochi started to get a bit restless. "Will I receive Naruto's letter this week? Or Kenta's letter? I am so excited" Inochi thought to herself as she picked out the vegetables she would need for the week.

The sand's market place was more busy than the leaf's. Probably because of the congested nature of the market, but the people seemed to be more lively and aggressive than those back in Konoha. In all of that commotion, Inochi stood out a lot. She got looks from shopkeepers and customers, and she could hear them whispering about her behind her back.

- "Is she the girl who took up the job?" A woman's voice said in shock

- "Yes yes, I am sure. She looks new to the village too" A shopkeeper answered her.

- "Man, such a young girl, she could have taken any other job in the village" A man said with pity in his eyes.

- "Are you sure she is not a shinobi? There is no way a commoner would be able to handle that demon" A group of women discussed.

- "She is going to be dead meat in no time" A guy joked to his friends as they bet on how many days Inochi would last.

"Man, these people are so annoying" Inochi thought as she navigated her way out of the stares. She hated being the center of attention, even under a false alias.

As she walked down the street, she continued thinking about her plan. She was sure that she would start with it this week, so she recapped all the main points as she headed back to the residence. On her way, Inochi came across a playground, almost thrice the size of the one back in the residence, in which she saw little kids of same age as Gaara playing with the biggest smiles on their faces.

"They look so happy.. I wonder whether they will let Gaara play with them" Inochi's mind shifted from her mission plan to Gaara. However, she got skeptical about the idea as she remembered how Naruto was treated, at first, by the kids of his own age back in Konoha. "Should I talk to the parents?" Inochi's sight drifted to the group of women sitting at a corner ,gossiping. She took a step towards them but stopped midway.

-"What am I doing, I should first focus on the mission" Inochi slapped herself to refocus on her priorities and scurried back to the Kazekage residence.

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As the second week passed by, Inochi felt a bit disheartened. She did not receive any letter, even one from Naruto.

-"Did Shin forget to transcript Naruto's letter? Or did Naruto himself forgot to write to me? Wait....is he is danger!?" Inochi thought as she hung clothes out to dry.

Gaara was playing with his stuffed animals, while being visibly bored from the solitude. Inochi saw from the corner of her eyes that Gaara was trying to control the sand to hover a toy above him, but he lost control after a few seconds and the sand fell all over his face along with the toy.

-"Gaara sama, are you alright?" Inochi dashed beside Gaara, and wiped the sand off his face.

-"Umi neechan, are you a ninja? You are so fast" Gaara asked as he picked up another stuffed bear.

- "No, Gaara sama"

- "How are you so quick then?"

- "Where I live, there are a lot of bad people. Speed was the only thing I could use to escape them" Inochi went on with her false stories.

- "Oh is that so?" Gaara looked up to face Inochi. "Do you know a lot of people think I am bad"

Inochi couldn't say anything in reply, but she knew exactly what Gaara was referring to. "His pain must be so much greater. Not only is he outcasted, but he is probably carrying the guilt of those killed by the one tails inside of him, even though its not his fault." Inochi beared a soft expression on her face. Not knowing what to say to Gaara, she hugged him tightly.

Such situations made Inochi feel even more guilty about the whole mission. She wasn't only spying for the ANBU, but she was lying to a kid who was in serious lack of care and love. Everytime she would leave the Kazekage residence to go to her assigned apartment, she would regret taking the mission.

- "Don't let this mission mess you up" Inochi said to herself in front of the mirror. She washed her face with cold water as if to wash away her worries. "This is just a spy mission. All you need to do is avoid showing your true identity to Gaara. As long as he is happy, it shouldn't leave a stain in your morality" Inochi muttered to herself. This had become a routine since the start of second week as Inochi commenced with her newly created plan.

"This is such a pain" Inochi whined as she changed into the sand shinobi uniform which she stole, and went out to carry out her mission.