"Alright," she replied s she continued down the road with the two males.

"We should be able to make it to the next town in a couple of hours, three tops," Jiraiya said as he noticed that the two of them could use a break.

Gaara put more sand into the sandstorm, knowing how brutal the storms could get outside in the middle of the desert. He really wanted Gemini to pass the test.

Naruto nodded. "I can make it that long. How about you, Kitty-chan?" He asked. He knew she was tough enough to last a few more hours, but he still wanted to check just in case.

Gemini hunkered down even farther as more sand blasted around her, shooting a half-hearted glare in the direction she had last seen Gaara. Honestly she wasn't even sure which way was up anymore, but she wasn't ready to quit just yet.

"I'll be able to make it, but thanks for checking," she replied. Others would have just assumed she was alright and be able to keep going.

Gaara kept the sand at a level amount, knowing that any more would probably be too much for Gemini. Though what she was dealing with right now was pretty well...especially for her first time.

Naruto nodded and continued to walk, lost in thought.

It seemed like hours later when Gemini decided she needed to take a break. She was completely numb and could barely open her eyes. Fumbling slightly, she sent a good strong flare of fire up into the air. If that didn't reach them, nothing would.

(feel like timeskipping towards Tozuki Gai? I think that's the name of the place)

Temari saw the flare shoot up into the air, causing her to stop swinging her fan. Gaara soon stopped the sand as well through force of will and stopped it before bringing it back into his gourd.

((Erm...is that where they find Tsunade? Cause yeah, that'd be cool.))

Feeling the wind and sand stop, Gemini stood up slowly and looked around. Once she spotted the others, she waved and smiled. "So, how'd I do?" She asked, approaching them.

(I believe so. Either that, or the place where Itachi and Kisame attack Naruto. One of the two)

"Pretty good Gem-chan. Honestly, I think all we need for you to worry about is moving in a sandstorm if necessary, but I think other than that you're good," the wind princess responded.

((Wolfie thought those were the same place [sweat] shows how much she pays attention.))

Gemini smiled widely. "That's great! Then I'll just need to practice with that, and I'm good!" Just then, her stomach growled loudly. "Geez, how long was I in there? Can we break for lunch?"

"Finally here gakis, though you may want to put an illusion on over yourselves," Jiraiya added. He honestly didn't care that they looked like a cat and a fox...after checking both of their seals of course. What? He was a seal master and knew that the possibility of the seals being tampered with was a possible explanation. After getting two confirmations that they were in control of themselves and their tenants, he let it go. Nevertheless, he wasn't a mass population.

Temari nodded, knowing that saying anything that sounded like trying to cheer the vixen up would only be met with scorn and disgust or something along those lines.

Gaara narrowed his eyes but chose not to say anything, understanding that she wanted to do whatever it took to stay here in Sunagakure.

Naruto nodded and put a quick seal on himself. Gemini had showed it to him before, when she needed to hide her ears and tail. His instantly disappeared and he looked just as he had before, totally human. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

Gemini had expected a protest from at least one of them, and had been prepared to counter, so she was glad that no one said anything. Though she knew Gaara wasn't happy about it- she could just tell. "Good then. A bit of food and then back to work."

Yugito was genuinely curious about the seal that Naruto just placed on himself and asked about it. She was surprised to see that it worked so well though.

"You do realize that your mate is doing this for you, right?" Shukaku asked in one of his saner moments. Gaara; however, was in no mood to talk to the raccoon and kept quiet.

Naruto explained about the seal and showed Yugito how to perform it. "Gemini-chan perfected it years ago. It saves a lot of energy that would be taken up by maintaining a Genjutsu." He said.

After getting something to eat, Gemini was adamant about returning to the training site right away. "I'm ready. I won't quit until I can last at least five hours." She insisted determinedly.

Yugito watched and listened before thinking she got the hand of it and placed the seal on herself, hopnig that she did it correctly. Even if it wasn't done correctly, she could tell how life-saving the seal was. She just now had to worry about it either getting wet or blood passing over the sealing matrix. "Thanks for showing me Foxy-kun, nya~" she said before giving him a light kiss on the cheek. Great...apparently the seal also brought up the inability for her to control her verbal tic.

Temari chuckled lightly, but was actually glad to see Gemini's determination. "If that's what the warrior princess wants, then that's what she'll get. Come on Outou, let's go," she said with a light smirk. She would only stop when they got tired or hungry now...or when Gemini did what she wanted to accomplish: five hours inside a sandstorm.

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head. "N-no problem, Kitty-chan, dattebayo." He said.

Gemini did a double take, caught off guard by the nickname. "Warrior...princess? Honestly, Temari-san, the things you come up with. I think you watch too much T.V." She said, shaking her head. She certainly didn't think the name fit her. "Alright, I'm ready! Hit me with all you've got, and don't stop until I send up a signal. If I go past five hours, find some way to tell me, but still don't stop."

Jiraiya chuckled at the scene in front of him and started committing it to memory before remembering the promise that he made to both Naruto and Yugito before coughing lightly. "As much as I enjoy seeing one of my scenes being acted out in front of me, we need to head into the village and find hime" Jiraiya said.

Kankuro chuckled before Temari sent a glare in his direction. "What? I'm just glad I'm not the only one who thinks you watch too much television in-between training," he replied. Seeing his sister just shake her head at that caused him to laugh more.

"Alright then, and I'm sure we can think of something if you pass the five hour mark. Maybe one of nii-kun's dolls," Temari replied as she instantly ignored Kankuro's comment about how they were puppets, not dolls.

Naruto glared at the old hermit. "Shut it, old man. We're nothing like your pervy books." He said scornfully. "So how do we find this lady, anyway? Where would she be?

Gemini chuckled and shook her head. "That's fine with me. Okay, let's get started."

Jiraiya just chuckled good naturely, knowing that was the response he was going to get from his godson, but it got the job done all the same. "I'll ignore the slight on my works of literature this time gaki, but to answer your question...Hime is known throughout the world as "the Legendary Sucker" due to her horrednous luck when it comes to gambling and her addiction to alcohol. If she isn't in a gambling hall or drinking sake at this time and day, then I'll stop writing for a year," Jiraiya said.

Both Temari and Gaara nodded before Temari opened her fan and started channeling chakra into it in order to help create the winds while Gaara used his chakra to mix his sand into the twister. He had to admit that he was actually quite proud of Gemini for doing this, most females he knew, with the exception of his older sister, would have stopped after the first attempt and wait until tomorrow to try again.

Naruto mumbled something about hoping the woman was sleeping, but kept walking. "Then let's hurry up and check those places so I can go back to training."

Gemini braced herself for the inevitable blast, and hunched down to wait it out. Five hours was a long time to be stuck doing nothing, so she decided to meditate- as much as she could in the middle of a sandstorm, anyway.

"Let's hope she's not doing those things," Yugito muttered. She wanted to see the book go on a hiatus just like any other female.

Gaara and Temari kept the sandstorm going, knowing that Gemini didn't want them to stop.

Naruto smirked. He couldn't agree more if he tried. In his opinion, those so-called books were an atrocity better to be destroyed. "So how many of those places are there in this town? Are we gonna be wandering around for days looking for her?

Hours passed, or was it minutes? Gemini couldn't tell, being relatively stranded there. The sandstorm they created was raging enough to block out the sun, so she couldn't even use that. Unbeknownst to her, she had just hit the five hour mark.

"Quite a few actually. If you have any clone techniques, they might be able to help," Jiraiya said.

Tsunade stared at the slot machine with shock on her face. The 777 that stared back at her instantly notified her that something bad was going to happen, something big. Quickly turning to her apprentice, she told Shizune that they were leaving.

"More than enough Gaki," Jiraiya responded.

Temari told Kankuro to send one of his puppets to notify Gemini that the five hours had passed.