GAARA FOUND THIS NEW WORLD unfathomable. He had been here for nearly a month now yet the questions just kept growing and growing.

How technologically advanced were these people? What was the extent of their machinery? If the people from their world had half of the technology from here, it'd be revolutionary. The citizens would benefit a lot from their modes of transportation like the cars, trains, and airplanes. Though they seemed to be lacking in the medical and genetics department, which he found odd.

What was the point of having all these countries? What was it Sakura had said—there were nearly two hundred countries in all with their own respective languages. He wondered what the wars were like with so many sides fighting. The wars back home were devastating enough and there were only five great nations.

Another thing were the laws... He just didn't understand them. They had legal adult ages, laws against murder (even self-defense could get you time behind bars), laws against using your own power, etc. etc. He thought it was too much. Especially the schooling system. The children here started off at age 4 or 5, which was good. It was a few years earlier than most Academy students. But it was the graduating age that bothered him. They graduated at eighteen, and even then they had further education to go for. He thought it was ridiculous. Eighteen was too old to just start a career. Could you imagine starting off your genin years at eighteen? You'd be a laughingstock.

The people here focused on age too much, they were ignorant on the experience part. To them, an experienced twelve year old would be considered a child while an eighteen year old who could barely take care of themselves would be seen as an adult.

The only thing he liked about this place were the clothes. He glanced down at his 'jogging pants' that he was very fond of. Even though this particular one had a weird 'L' and 'V' printed on every inch of the fabric, it was super soft and comfortable just like all the other jogging pants he 'owned'. The shoes were also really nice. They looked they'd weigh a lot, but they were surprisingly light and they were practical because they covered his toes.

Why the Shinobi Nations continued to sell open-toed sandals escape him.

There is nothing interesting going on, he commented boredly as he skimmed through the channels. All that was showing were reality TV dramas where everyone was yelling, movies where everyone was having sex, and kids' cartoons where everyone was singing.

It had been like this ever since they stepped foot into this backwards world. He wished for some grand enemy to appear and engage him in a battle to the death. Anything to get rid of this boredom.

He stopped flipping through channels when he reached a particular news channel showcasing the familiar UA school. There were a bunch of reporters harassing unfortunate students and teachers, all screaming about an 'All Might'.

Who? He asked himself, before he remembered the buff blonde from the library computer screen. Ah, that was right. He was the hero who liked to punch stuff and yell out weird names like jutsu.

Anyways, he turned his attention back to the television. The reporters were shoving microphones at peoples' faces and screaming questions at them. It hurt his ears just listening to them shriek.

He was just about to switch channels when Sakura appeared.

Donning her school uniform, Sakura looked every bit as irresistible as if she were wearing her regular kunoichi attire. Or her wedding gown. Or nothing at all.

She looked so pretty that he was tempted to take a picture with his... what was called again? Cellphone? But unfortunately, he didn't know how to work that feature yet. He had just recently learned how to use emojis. Baby steps were important after all.

Poor Sakura had obviously never handled a large crowd before because the reporters swooped in on her like a bunch of vicious vultures. She was surrounded on all sides with microphones shoved at her flustered face.

"Hey kid, what's it like to have All Might as a teacher?!" One of them shouted at her.

"Wha—no, I'm not in the hero course, I don't—" She tried to tell them but was rudely cut off.

"—What sort of things is he teaching you?!"

"He's not—"

"—Can you give us your name?!"

"P-please hold on...!"

But nobody was listening to her and Gaara had to watch with growing worry and disapproval for these people as she shrunk more and more. He should've walked her to school this morning. Such an incident wouldn't have happened if he were around. It would be all to easy for him to block them away with his sand and—

Oh. That was right. Using his powers were illegal here. Honestly, these laws were ridiculous...

Sakura suddenly gasped and pointed at something ahead. "OH MY GOD, IS THAT ALL MIGHT?!" She cried out and the fools fell for it.

And these are the people who are supposed to be adults? He snorted as the camera went back to Sakura only for her to be gone.

Before they could hound another unfortunate victim, Gaara turned off the TV and rose to his feet.

There was truly nothing for him to do here. Kakashi had left the house to go buy more of his... books, so that scratched out any sparring sessions. More than 50% of their library now contained erotica novels thanks to Kakashi so he couldn't read either. He didn't know how to cook (not like it mattered because Sakura had officially banned him from the kitchen a few weeks ago) and there was nothing he liked in the pantries.

Resigned, he let out a sigh and asked aloud, "Alexa, what is something I can do around here?"

"I can give you directions to the Musutafu Cosmetics Institute." The mechanical voice offered.

Gaara furrowed his nonexistant brows. "What's in there?"

"Eyebrow implants."

His whole body tensed up with unbidden fury and he had half a mind to break the house down with his sand—but Sakura would kill him. She really liked this house.

Feeling merciful, he glared at the empty air (because that damn Alexa was literally everywhere) and stormed out.

He could never get over how different the outside of the house was every time he stepped out of it. There were buildings taller than the Kazekage Tower, cars that moved faster than carriages, and hundreds more civilians bustling around the streets than people living in Sunagakura. And this place was just a mere city.

They also had this thing called 'artificial beaches' that his village would probably enjoy. Now that he was aware of such an idea existing, he was contemplating having Sakura come over to punch a crater on the ground so it could be filled with water, then bam. Instant artificial beach, plus a way to keep her in Suna.

He walked idly down the streets, admiring a few things here and there, but soon found himself baffled by a shoe store. They sold light up shoes that activated when stomped. What was the point in those? The practicality? They lacked any sense of stealth and such atrocious footwear would get you killed immediately back in his world.

While he was busy shaking his head at the light-up shoes, a familiar grey haired Kage found him.

"Yo, Gaara." Kakashi greeted, his hands empty.

He turned away from the display window. "Kakashi," he acknowledged, then noticed the lack of books. "Ah, I see you've run out of... your genre of books to buy then?"

"Never made it to the store..." The masked man muttered uncharacteristically.

He sensed an odd emotion from him and dared to ask, "Is something wrong?"

Kakashi's mood darkened. "I got side-tracked. There was this cafe... Did you know cat cafes were a thing here?"

He blinked. "Cat cafes?"

Kakashi nodded quickly. "Yes! It's the worst thing ever and I couldn't even find one for dogs, yet they have a cafe dedicated to cats of all things...!"

"You got sidetracked from buying your questionable books because you were angry at the existence of cat cafes." Gaara summarized blankly.

"Erotic literature." He corrected.

I can't believe this man is ruling a village... He thought, though he had no right to judge considering the fact that he was previously a homicidal psychopath who verified his existence by killing people and only loved himself. Besides, Kakashi had done a lot of respectable things. He taught Team 7, who almost everyone and their mother knew was the most dysfunctional mess of... unique individuals the world had ever seen. He had to give him credit for that.

"What about you, Kazekage-sama? Out for a stroll?" Kakashi hummed as they walked side by side.

Gaara, who wasn't going to tell him about Alexa's offensive suggestion for eyebrow implants, lied, "I wanted to see more of this... strange city."

The older man nodded in understanding. "Yes, this city is quite... odd." He said as he glanced over at a green-skinned man with three eyeballs attached to a set of pink cords.

Gaara eyed the man as well before turning away. Seriously, there were people walking around looking like that but some machine had the audacity to comment on his lack of eyebrows? Unbelievable.

"Oh my god, did you hear?" A woman gasped out loud, drawing their attention. She had her eyes plastered onto her phone as she was ushering her friends to come closer. "UA was broken into!"

Both men froze.

Sakura, they thought in unison before disappearing in a blink of an eye.

─────•~❉🌸❉~•─────

Sakura was sick of school. It was Saturday, the week was almost over, and the only progress she had was in her English speaking skills. Despite the short amount of time of learning she received, she was already more proficient at the language than most of her class, which was honestly just sad. These kids had, what, years to learn it yet the were so behind? Maybe Kakashi was right about their brains working slowly. Or maybe shinobi brains just worked quicker.

Recovery Girl isn't the Doctor, she thought with certainty as she shouldered her back and prepared for lunch. Which was just great, because then that meant she had been stalking an innocent elderly woman for a whole week and it was all for nothing. Not only that, but Recovery Girl had actually grown fond of her. Sakura wouldn't be surprised if her new role as the nurse's assistant was permanent now. Oh well, at least she was given candy after every shift...

What am I gonna do...? She lamented as she miserably played around with her ramen. But then she was reminded of Naruto and grew even more miserable.

Someone suddenly sat down on the spot in front of her. It was Shouto, and the second he sat down he went back to casually slurping his soba noodles as if he hadn't randomly appeared out of nowhere.

She blinked. "Um, hey."

He hummed in reply, noodles still in his mouth.

This is awkward, she thought. "So, uh, why are you sitting here...?" Not that she minded it of course, it was just that the two of them haven't spoken a word to each other ever since that dinner Fuyumi planned. It wasn't as if they were actively avoiding each other though, they just never bothered to hang out.

Shouto swallowed and replied bluntly, "Fuyumi told me to hang out with you."

Of course.

"She says I need friends." He continued in that same blunt tone.

"Ah," she said lamely.

An awkward silence ensued, and the two quietly went back to slurping their respective noodles. The silence only lasted about several minutes before a loud alarm blared throughout the building. Sakura shot up to her feet in an instant, eyes alert and looking around for a threat before a voice announced, "There has been a level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly."

Those words triggered a mass panic.

Everyone ditched their meals and started sprinting for the doors, screaming their heads off.

Shouto rose to his feet, looking tense and confused, but at least he wasn't panicking like everyone else. "What's a level 3 security breach?"

Sakura, having read and memorized the UA High School Guidebook answered, "Trespassers. Come on, let's get out of here."

He nodded in agreement and together they left. Or at least they tried to. They only made it several feet away from the cafeteria before the hallways got too full. She was now pressed against a window by Shouto, who was trying his best to give her his space.

He grunted as someone's elbow slammed into his lower back, shoving his hips against hers.

"Sorry..." He muttered, avoiding her face.

"I-it's fine," she stammered, face as pink as her hair. He was pushed even more closer to her and that was when she couldn't take it anymore. She wracked her brain for an escape before looking at the window. She opened it, grabbed Shouto with one arm, and then promptly threw themselves out.

She was now holding onto the window ledge with one hand while carrying Shouto like a princess in the other.

Shouto's eyes were wide as he was practically cradled against her. He looked down and noticed that they were now several stories off the ground before snapping his head back up. He stole a glance her way and was surprised to see that she didn't look to be struggling with his weight at all.

She's strong... He noted with a particular glint in his eyes. And warm... He couldn't help but add. He was pretty sure the last time he was held like this was back when he was a baby, probably, and yet here he was: fifteen years old, weighing over a hundred pounds, and being carried like a baby by a girl half his size with just one arm.

Was this a threat to his masculinity? Probably. But she was so warm and being held like this felt sort of nice, so he didn't care.

Suddenly he was lifted up a bit more and saw that Sakura had performed a simple one-armed pull-up with ease in order to peek over the window ledge. Then, while her arm was still bent, she looked down to grin at him. "Hey, I think everyone's calmed down now! We can go back in."

Shouto almost opened his mouth to refuse, but caught himself. He watched intently as she pushed herself up and plopped down on the ledge, then carefully deposited him on the floor. She hopped off the ledge to stand beside him and began dusting her skirt off.

"You're very strong," he told her bluntly.

"Thanks," she said, smiling bashfully.

"You carried me with one arm." He said.

"Um... yeah... sorry, did I—"

"—No." He interrupted her.

She stared at him worriedly. "...No...?"

"It was nice." He finally admitted, straight-faced.

Her mouth formed into a little 'o'.

He turned away from her. "Let's go back to our lunch."

"Uh... y-yeah..."

Lunch was even more awkward than before. She could practically feel Shouto's burning gaze on her even as he slurped his cold soba. It was never a comfortable feeling to be watched like a creeper while you were eating food, but either Shouto didn't care or he didn't understand social cues.

Then she was reminded of Sai and became miserable all over again. Just great.

When she was finished with her lunch, she excused herself to go to the restroom. Even as she walked away she could feel his penetrating stare on her back, as if he was trying to figure out how she worked. She repressed a shiver and hurried out of the cafeteria.

The girls restroom was empty, or well it was until Gaara teleported behind her via sand while she was washing her hands. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw him in the mirror.

"Gaara, this is the girls restroom..." She pointed out tiredly.

"Are you alright?" He asked her immediately.

"I'm fine," she assured him, giving him a smile as she dried off her hands. "I guess you heard about what happened, huh? News spreads fast here... It was a level 3 security breach, which means we had trespassers. I overheard some students say it was just the press. I haven't checked it out yet, so I'm not sure if that's true."

His seafoam colored eyes kept scanning her face and body as she spoke, trying to look for any signs of injury before he becoming satisfied when he saw none. "Kakashi is out trying to gather more information."

As if summoned, said man appeared inside as well.

She sighed. "Again, this is the girls restroom."

Kakashi looked around and nodded in approval. "Yes, I can tell. It's much cleaner then the boys'."

"What did you find out?" Gaara asked almost impatiently.

"Some school staff are out investigating what happened," he began. "That UA Barrier this school's so proud of? It was completely disintegrated, turned to dust."

"Which triggered the alarm..." Sakura trailed off. "But the only people outside were the press."

He nodded. "Yes. But the teachers don't think it was them. I have to agree since I doubt a bunch of reporters would be that desperate to get a story. They were all ushered out by the Pros easily too. Someone else destroyed the gates in order to get into UA."

Sakura mulled over it. "Yeah... but do you think it has to do with what we're doing?"

He shrugged amicably. "Most likely not. If nothing else has happened after the barrier was destroyed, the culprit must be acting discreetly, possibly for an infiltration. Judging by all this excitement about All Might teaching here for the first time and the fact that such an incident had never occurred before, this probably has to do with him too."

In other words: it wasn't any of their concern.

"What about you, Sakura?" Gaara turned to her. "What were you doing during this?"

"I was hanging outside a window with Todoroki-kun." She answered. "After the alarms went off, everyone started to panic trying to escape. Todoroki-kun and I were practically squished against the window and well, I improvised."

Kakashi seemed to approve of this. "Ah, so you threw him out a window."

She gave him a bewildered look. "Wha—no, of course not, I—you know what? It doesn't matter." She shook her head.

The bell rang and that was when their conversation ended. "I have to get to class," she told them. "You guys should get going."

They both nodded before vanishing.

─────•~❉🌸❉~•─────

"Do you really think this is gonna work?" Hanae wondered as she stared at the glass screen separating the scientists from being obliterated from the gigantic hunk of machinery on the other side.

"I bet you a hundred yen that this all blows up on our faces. Literally." Miyumi stated, crossing her arms.

"A hundred yen is barely worth anything..."

"Yeah? Well it's not my fault we're all being underpaid here! I did not spend ten years of my life earning my quantum physics degree for this." She complained, motioning to their surroundings. Ever since they lost their first three subjects, the boss had been furious with them. All of their pay got docked and they were transferred to a new laboratory that was a lot smaller compared to the last one. When they first took over, the lighting was poor, there was a nest of rats in one of the rooms, and there were cobwebs everywhere. The only plus side was that it was much more secluded from the rest of society.

"Get ready everyone! It's about to begin!" The lead scientist, Shimizu Mamoru, announced. He looked like the stereotypical nerd; scrawny and with glasses so thick they almost looked like goggles. He also wore his pants high around his waist and behind his white lab coat a pair of suspenders could be seen.

"The poor guy's gonna burst to tears if this fails..." Hanae murmured sympathetically. After she woke up from being knocked out by the pink haired alien, she was one of the many people who saw the man burst into tears after getting an earful from the Doctor. It was a truly pitiful sight.

Mamoru practically worshiped the ground the Doctor walked on and when he heard of his plan about the Nomus, he came up with Project E.T. in order to further help his idol. The Nomus the Doctor had created were made from humans, so Mamoru thought using something greater than humans would enhance their already superior abilities.

Nobody really thought his idea would work, but a bunch of scientists helped him pursue his goal anyways because they needed money. But then three aliens actually appeared and that was when they knew Shimizu Mamoru wasn't a complete alien fanatic.

"Is everything secure?" Mamoru asked once a pair of engineers entered the guarded room. They set their tools to the side and nodded in confirmation. Everything went still as Mamoru began to press the big red button on the control panel.

On the other side of the screen, the Dimensional Gun started to buzz with life. The Dimensional Gun wasn't actually a gun, per say. It was a gigantic cylindrical machine that created wormholes to retrieve the extraterrestrials.

The front of the Dimensional Gun glowed a vibrant blue and the people on the other side of the screen can feel it vibrating with power. After several seconds, it shot out a blue stream of energy, hitting the wall. Rather than blasting through it, it attached itself to the surface and began to spread and spread until it created a large portal.

The scientists straightened up with hope. A similar thing had happened the last time they activated the Dimensional Gun. If things went according to plan (which it didn't the previous time), their next subject would shoot out from the wormhole.

The Dimensional Gun sputtered before dying out, the glowing blue portal fading away instantly. Mamoru didn't let this faze him much, it happened before anyways. Instead, he glanced down at his computer screen and beamed.

"Ahah! A dimensional rift was located! Retrieval team, whoever it is, I need you to go to these coordinates!"

─────•~❉🌸❉~•─────

A clonk on the head was what woke him up. His body twitched upon hitting the ground and a pair of dark eyes slowly fluttered open. Underneath him was concrete, a familiar material that was usually used in Amegakure.

Wait... where was he? Grunting softly, he pushed himself up only to squawk in embarrassment.

W-w-what the fuck?! I'm naked! Internally panicking, he looked around for someplace to hide and found a smelly dumpster. It wasn't very ideal, but he ducked behind it anyways. He peeked over the top and saw that he was in some alleyway sandwiched between two tall buildings. Their heights reminded him of the buildings in Amegakure, but he couldn't be there because these buildings were styled differently.

Hold on a moment... didn't he die?

WHY THE HECK WAS HE ALIVE?!

"What the fuck...?" He spat under his breath. Nothing was making sense here. The last thing he remembered was dying so he should not be alive right now. Yet here he was... naked.

Was this some sort of Edo Tensei jutsu Orochimaru and his equally as creepy lackey, Kabuto, were trying again? No, that couldn't be it. He was in full control of his body and he didn't have any weird desire to obey anyone's orders.

His bare back leaned against the dirty wall as he tried think. He was exhausted, so his chakra was most likely near depleted meaning he wouldn't be any good against enemies. But so far, he couldn't sense any. No wait... he couldn't sense anything.

There was no chakra here.

That... shouldn't be possible. There just couldn't be no chakra, that meant there was no life and—

He stopped when he heard a someone whistling a tune. They sounded just close to where he was hiding, but despite that he couldn't sense the person's chakra at all. He dared to peek over the dumpster and saw a young man ambling by. He was literally just a few feet away from him yet he couldn't sense any chakra from him.

Fuck it, he decided. He'd mull over things later. Right now, he needed some clothes. Swiftly, he left his hiding spot and pressed his finger against a pressure point, knocking the man unconscious. Judging by how easy it was, he was most likely a civilian.

He slipped on his new clothes, feeling weird in them. The material of these pants was... weird and rough, but somehow comfortable. His new shoes gave him full coverage and for some odd reason, his tee-shirt was showing a picture of bikini-clad woman. Who sold clothes like these?

He walked further down the alleyway, feeling a bit awkward for wearing a shirt that blatantly showed a nearly naked woman, but there was no one around to judge. That is, until he turned a corner. A group of shady looking men wearing odd attire was gathering near a wall full of graffiti and they were muttering things to one another.

They spotted him immediately, and he started to feel a little self-conscious about the scandalous shirt he was wearing.

"Hey you! C'mere for a sec!" One of them beckoned him. He had to blink twice because the man had the head of a literal bear. Was this some sort of genjutsu?

He approached them wearily, very aware of their scrutinizing eyes. They must have found whatever they were looking for from him because they were suddenly nodding their heads and murmuring in approval.

"You look like a fighter," the bear-man noted. "What's your opinion on UA and them hero brats?"

"Uh, what?" He said dumbly.

Another one leaned forward to whisper, "We gonna head over an' attack 'em tomorrow. Ya wanna come with? There's gonna be big money and we're gonna have a party afterwards!"

He really wasn't in the partying mood. He just wanted to know what was going on and where he could get some underwear (because going around commando was not fun).

His stomach suddenly rumbled, an introduction for another problem.

They all heard it and the bear-man grinned at him. "You come with us, and we can getcha fed. I heard there's gonna be some barbecue and some dude's bringin' over dango—"

"—I'm in." He decided.

— author's note —

Shouto likes being held like a baby, it's canon guys, I swear.

The scientists are a group of highly educated morons sharing a single brain cell that they keep throwing around like a game of hot potato.

Can any of you guess who the new character is? It may or may not be a love interest. I left a few hints of their identity here and there so have fun guessing!