Naruto nodded. "Right. Okay, everyone! I need you all to look for a lady!" He called out to the clones, giving them a description and telling them where to find her. With a collective "Right!" They all dashed off in different directions.

Inside, Gemini saw the puppet and smirked. She took out a shuriken and a kunai, and used the kunai to carve a simple message into the shuriken "I'm fine, keep going." Then she stuck the shuriken into the puppet's hand and sent it off.

Tsunade has left the Casino that she was currently in and headed towards the ruins just outside of town, not knowing that she was about to meet someone that she hadn't seen in a long time, someone who was willing to give her whatever she wanted

Temari saw the puppet returning as well as the note that Gemini scratched into the shuriken and laughed lightly. Even without the message, they would have kept going until Gemini used the signal they established.

The Naruto clones continued to search for a woman matching Tsunade's description, while Naruto himself searched with Yugito and Jiraiya.

Gemini managed to stick it out another three hours before sending up a signal. The signal was weak, though, and barely penetrated the sandstorm. Gemini herself was almost frozen solid, having changed into fox form an hour previous to keep warm. She only hoped that they saw her signal. I really need to learn to stop pushing myself so hard...

Tsunade was up at the ruins and about to leave the town behind her so as to escape whatever the warning of winning proved to her. However, she was too late. Standing in front of her was her ex-teammate...the one that became a traitor towards their village and waited for him to give her a reason as to why he shouldn't be at the business end of her fists.

"Temari stop," Gaara said in a voice full of panic and emotion. He had seen the weakened signal of chakra, but only barely. As he stopped putting chakra into his sand, Temari quickly stopped swinging her fan as well. As soon as she did so, Gaara was using his sand to speed/float over towards where he saw the signal, only to see a passed out fox. 'Gemini-chan... he thought as he picked her up, making sure to be careful and not to wake her. She must have been exhausted...

((Wolfie has no memory of the first meeting between Orochimaru and Tsunade, so can we skip a bit to when they meet her in the gambling place?))

Gemini let out a soft whining sound as she was picked up, and instinctively huddled closer to the warmth of another person. Her form shivered as she slowly changed back, her body reverting to it's preferred form.

(I'm fine with that)

Gaara wrapped his arms around Gemini lightly once she returned to her humanoid form, a look of concern crossing his features as he did so. "We need to get her inside, she's freezing," he said.

Some time later, after hearing various reports of a gigantic snake destroying parts of the town, they realized that Orochimaru was also looking for Tsunade. And by the look of things, he had found her first. It became imperative that they find her A.S.A.P. Naruto had recalled his clones to report, and they managed to narrow down their options to one gambling house. They were headed there now. "If this lady's strong enough to fight of that snake bastard on her own, I'm kinda scared to see what she's gonna do to Ero-Sannin." Naruto commented, knowing the hermit's bad luck with women hitting him.

Yugito laughed lightly at the comment, knowing that Jiraiya did indeed have bad luck when it came to females all over the world. Then again, it was his own fault for that reputation of his, and the fact that he claimed to be a super pervert, and proud of it no less, didn't help either. "I'm not. Ero-sannin has a reputation that he loves to tell people about. I think this is just pure karma from womenkind to him," the neko responded with a smirk.

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, I think you're right about that. Now that I think about it, I kinda want to see this lady hit him. It will probably be hilarious." He said, imagining the old perv flying through a few walls.

(Wolfie almost made a Team Rocket reference there. Almost.))

"Rumor has it that she can punch someone so hard that they go flying for days," she said with a smirk before the three of them entered the establishment. Yugito heard about a food called popcorn while in Kumo and kinda wished she had some for the show that was about to occur.

("We're Blasting off Aggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg gggain!" lol)

((lol Exactly.))

"Now that I'd pay to see." Naruto commented, before looking around to see if the woman was there. "Oi, is that her over there?" He asked, pointing to a blonde woman with a chest that made watermelons feel inferior.

Jiraiya saw where Naruto was pointing and nodded. "That's her alright," he answered before mentally sighing. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.

"Well then let's go talk to her already." Naruto said impatiently, already walking over to the table where Tsunade was sitting with another woman and...a pig?

After being brought inside and sufficiently warmed up, Gemini finally stopped shivering. It took about an hour, but eventually she opened her eyes, blinking slowly. "Gaara-kun..."

Jiraiya shook his head lightly before following Naruto, knowing that Yugito was right by his side. Once he got to the booth, he grinned lightly. "Long time no see Hime," he said to start the conversation.

"I'm here, Gemini-chan," Gaara replied. He was extremely worried at first when she had passed out, but after they had gotten her inside, that worry turned to anger, not only at himself but at Gemini for being so reckless. 'Perhaps she got that from Naruto-kun?' he asked himself.

Naruto stayed quiet for the moment, since he didn't really know the lady or what to say to her. In his experience, staying quiet was usually the most helpful thing he could do.

Gemini smiled sheepishly up at Gaara, a grin that mirrored Naruto's almost perfectly. "I learned something important again. My fox form keeps me warmer, and in a pinch I can keep a fire going. But apparently maintaining that fire in gale force winds is very draining."

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here? And who are the brats?" Tsunade asked as the three of them sat down. Shizune also kept quiet, not sure as to what was going on

Gaara just shook his head at that. "That was reckless. You could have stopped after the five hour mark like we suggested. What caused you to go on?" he asked trying to keep the anger out of his voice, but a little bit of it slipped out.

Naruto twitched slightly at being called a brat by someone he'd just met. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my girlfriend, Nii Yugito." He said, being polite despite his almost instant dislike of the woman.

Gemini's smile faded and was replaced with a frown. "I was still going strong at the five hour mark. I wanted to see how far I could go if I really pushed myself. After all, we have no idea how long I'll be out there. What good would it do to survive for five hours and then die out in the desert because I didn't train for it?"

"There's a fine line between being reckless and being stupid. We may not know when you'll be put to the test exactly, but you don't have to foolishly try to prove yourself by going three extra hours and almost killing yourself," he replied. He wasn't truly angry with her, he was just worried.

Yugito frowned as well at being called a brat, but kept her mouth shut...for now. She would let the adults talk, letting Jiraiya explain the reason they were there: that Orochimaru had killed the Hokage and she was to be his replacement.

"I'm not that frail, Gaara-san. I passed out, only because I was tired. I'm far from dead. Please try to trust that I know my own limits. I've lived through far worse than that, and honestly I don't appreciate being treated like a damsel in distress. I'm a shinobi, just like you." Gemini replied, frowning. "And anyway, so what if I'm reckless? I can be if I want to. It's my life and no one can tell me what to do with it. Oh, and by the way? Don't call me foolish, or stupid. I refuse to have my intelligence insulted by anybody. I never said I was trying to prove myself. I don't need to prove myself, to you or anyone. I don't." It was like she was trying to convince herself more than him. Truthfully, she did feel like she had to prove herself. She felt vastly inferior to him in every way, and the only way she could think of to prove that she deserved him was to be just as strong as him. So why was she being so defensive? I'm not used to someone caring about what happens to me...

Naruto started to get frustrated as Tsunade began insulting the position of Hokage. That was his dream she was trashing. And the Third, who didn't deserve to be put down. Finally, he got mad enough to tell her so, giving the much older woman a passionate lecture and telling her to never disrespect the name of Hokage in front of him again.

"I know you aren't a damsel in distress, but I've seen enough relationships to take a guess that the male should at least be concerned about the female's wellbeing. Is it wrong for me to be concerned about you?" he asked in a soft voice. He had a feeling as to what was really going on since he had the same problem until Baki-sensei came along...he was trying to prove to his father that he was good enough to be recognized. Most likely she was doing the same.

"Why shouldn't I? The Hokage position is just a place where fools go to die. You can only bet your life once kid, and I won't foolishly bet my life away on something like that, come on Shizune-chan, we're leaving" she said as she got up from the table.

Naruto stood up, blocking their exit. "Anyone who makes fun of the Fourth and old man Hokage," He said angrily, "Even if they're a girl, deserves a punch in the face!"

"No, that's not wrong. But the male should also respect the female as an equal. The time when girls stood back and looked pretty is over. These days, women are just as tough as men, and they shouldn't be insulted for something that in a male would be labeled as bravery! Caring about someone does not involve calling them names, you know!" Gemini retorted. The words foolish and stupid really stung.

"Oh really? Tell you what, we'll go outside and you can try punching me in the face," Tsunade said.

"What you did is not even something anyone else would do. The desert is a dangerous place Gem-koi. I may control the sands, but I don't stay there needlessly," Gaara replied. "Look...I know you're trying, and I thank you for that...but there is a difference between trying to hard and being reckless."

"Fine with me, lady! Dattebayo!" Naruto replied, going to walk outside. Normally he wouldn't even think of challenging a Sannin (probably) but this was different. She had insulted old man Hokage, and he couldn't let that go.

"But I wasn't being reckless! I didn't just up and decide to stay out there, I thought really hard about it! I don't care if anyone else would have done it, I did it because I wanted to!" Gemini said, finally allowing the tears to leak out, though she wiped them away desperately. "Why can't you just be proud of me? I made it, when other people wouldn't have. I don't understand why you keep trying to hold me back." That's what he was doing, right? She didn't understand that he was trying to protect her because he cared, not because he thought she was weak.

Gaara growled lightly before forcing himself to calm down after hearing her yell once more, his anger almost getting the best of him. "If you think I'm chastising you for doing what you did because you're weak, you couldn't be more wrong..." he said softly. It was the only reason he could think of that was causing her to be so damn stubborn about all of this. "Can't you see that I'm worried about you because I care?"

"Alright then, though I doubt you want your girlfriend to watch you get beaten..." she said once the two of them where outside. She could sense that something was off about this boy, but couldn't determine as to what it was...not yet anyways.

Gemini was brought to a screeching halt then. "Because you...c-care?" She asked, looking up at him. She didn't bother to wipe away the tears anymore. She looked almost childishly confused. "I don't understand this. No one's ever cared enough to worry about me. Even Naruto-kun usually left me to my own, 'cause he knew I could take care of myself. I don't understand how this worrying and caring is supposed to work."

Naruto snorted. "She won't have to worry about that, because I'm gonna win! Don't ever underestimate Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!" He said, not knowing that even Tsunade would recognize his name as the Kyuubi vessel.