I sat watching them, my cyan eyes filled with malice towards this pathetic race. They were weak, backstabbing, and disgusting bunch who would do anything to get ahead in their short lived lives. Hatred burned within me as I continued to watch the mortals' interactions from my place high in the universe. Hatred was not uncommon. In fact, that was the thing that surrounded me. I am not a god nor am I a demon though any who have had the horror of coming in contact with me would say I was close to the latter. I did house a beast in my body; the Shukaku, the source of my hatred.

I couldn't completely blame the beast harbored inside me. I hated because they caused me to hate; I destroyed because my anger made me destroy. The humans deserved it after what they did to Naruto, the One of Determination. He was the only one who accepted me for who I was although the other Ones refused to acknowledge me. I was the most monstrous out of all of them, but Naruto was there; he spoke to me like I was his equal. He was my only friend.

I crouched down on the white nothingness of the galaxy the Ones inhabited as my anger spiraled into despair. I fisted my blood red locks and closed the orbs that had never seen sleep before; Naruto's bright smile haunting me once more as crystal tears ran down my porcelain skin. I could smell his spicy scent as if he were standing next to me. The pain of losing the only person who accepted me was unbearable; and I would make them pay. That human woman would die along with everyone within a hundred miles of her. She would parish for betraying Naruto's love; luring him to momentarily sealing his powers in order to make love to her. That whore would be destroyed for having those ninjas kill my best friend while he was in his human state, unable to defend himself.

Those bastards. I didn't even know why they would want to kill Naruto in the first place. Perhaps he shouldn't have told his little toy that he was a One. Maybe then he would still be with me. After all, the humans knew what we were capable of after living with them for a couple of centuries. Too bad that arrangement hadn't worked out as planned...

I stood to my feet, venom dripping from the expression on my face. I would destroy them all in the most amazing way. Those filthy humans had no one to blame, but themselves. They took Naruto away from me and I, Gaara, would make sure they paid for their mistake in blood...

(_V_)2,000 years later...(_V_)

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" a young kunoichi cursed as she sped across the open field as fast as her chakra enhanced legs would let her.

Six ninjas from the Sound Village were hot on her trail and were gaining fast. After a solo infiltration mission had gone horribly wrong, Sakura Haruno found herself surrounded by the shinobi of the village. It was apparent that their leader knew the Leaf found him a target and had taken precautions. Despite the fact that Sakura had used a transformation jutsu, which had now dispelled from her lack of chakra, in order to pretend to be one of the maids.

Everything had been going according to plan. Sakura had taken the appearance of a maid who she knew had the attention of one of the ninjas that surrounded Hideki Takahashi, the one who was working for Orochimaru. The maid didn't return the man's affections and for obvious reasons. He was handsome, but his hands often wandered greedily to places they shouldn't.

While pretending to be the woman of the ninja's affections, she slipped in a few harmless questions about who he worked for and what he did during a faked night of passion. The word faked, because Sakura had put the man in genjutsu. It was a bit humorous to watch him humping away at an empty bed.

The questions must have made her suspicious and while Sakura going down the walkway outside with a basket full of laundry, twelve ninjas came to oppose her.

She held her facade as long as possible, but it was too late. They knew she wasn't from their village and then tried to capture her in order to make her tell where she was from. It was a hard struggle with being out numbered so greatly, but she managed to take out half of them and make her escape.

Sakura's lungs were burning as she tried to hurry and get to the forest that was beckoning to her teasingly. If she was able to get some cover there was a better chance she would be able to get away. It seemed like because she didn't know the terrain, her adversaries had allowed her to run this way knowing she would have nowhere to hide. With her strength fading, it would probably only be moments before she was caught if she couldn't get some cover.

Hearing a familiar whistling sound, the Leaf Ninja jumped aside, trudging to dodge the rain of kunai and shuriken.

I can't dodge them all! Sakura thought frantically as she stumbled.

The female shinobi tried to quickly regain her footing, but it was too late. White hot pain exploded in her back and right thigh as four of the projectiles hit their mark. Sakura cried out clutching at her injured leg and came to a skidding halt in the tall grass; pain pulsated from her leg and back.

She turned on her side and began to heal the injuries in her thigh while pulling out the shuriken of her body, her teeth gritting with pain. The remaining six ninja smiled at her when they stopped a few feet away.

"Looks like you're caught."

Two figures stood gazing into the pool that allowed them to see the humans. They watched as the pink haired woman continued to try and fight despite the fact that she was exhausted and wounded. Her bright green eyes had fire burning in them as she fought with all her might not to be captured. She was strong, but there wasn't a chance she would get away...not unless someone intervened.

"Sakura Haruno," one figure with long ebony hair said, his red gaze turning to the other next to him. "She's twenty years old and a kunoichi for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. She's got a strong temper and often hits her male comrades when she grows frustrated with them."

The other did not respond, only gazed at the next mortal he had to protect. She was strange looking with features like hers and that intensity she had could be snuffed out easily. It had been done with mortals he was forced to protect before her.

"Gaara, she is your next project. If you can protect her without killing her in anger, she will be the last human you will ever come in contact with. I am aware of how much you hate them."

"Of course you are Madara," Gaara said in his cold, smooth voice. "It is because of you that I must protect humans in the first place."

Madara turned to the One standing next to him. "Yes. What you did was justified, but could not go unpunished."

Gaara continued to stare at the swimming image of this last human before he was free of this punishment. For almost two thousand years after he destroyed hundreds of people, Gaara had to protect one human for five years of their life then move on to the next. So far he had protected 399 humans. This girl would be his last, but there was something he truly did not like about her. She looked strikingly similar to her. Her hair wasn't the same color, but those eyes...

Moving to stand on the image of his human, Gaara looked at his superior silently as he began to slide into the watery depths, his thin lips tightly pursed with dormant anger.

Sakura couldn't believe she had allowed herself to be caught like this; shamefully tied with chakra enhanced ropes and her pursuers surrounding her. She cursed at her poor luck and shook her head to move coral locks out of her line of vision and quickly began to assess the situation.

Six ninjas surrounded her, smirking as the formed a circle around their captive. Sakura's chakra was used up...yep this situation looked pretty hopeless. She was still out in the middle of the field. They probably didn't want to raise any suspicions by interrogating a girl in the village so it made sense for them to do it out here.

"I'm not telling you shit," Sakura snapped.

"Such a foul mouth for such a pretty girl," The one who she had seduced took a step forward, pulling his shoulder-length chocolate hair into a ponytail.

His name was Akihiko Yoshida, one of Hideki's right hand men. He had all the information that Sakura was looking for, but even so, she hadn't been able to execute her plan before she had been found out. The kunoichi was sure that she was going to be tortured into telling what village she came from so it was a good thing she didn't bring her Hitae-ate with her on this mission. That would have been a dead give-away.