Lili moves as fast as she can. She has to get to Konoha before morning and she can’t let her lack of chakra stop her. While she travels, she contemplates the last couple of hours. She had toyed with Orochimaru, finding out the information she sought, but, thanks to his arrogance, he hadn’t suspected anything. However, his minion, Kabuto, had suspected something and Lili had nearly killed him when he had confronted her. Then, she convinced Orochimaru to send Sasuke to her. She wanted to meet Sasuke, see what kind of person he was, and ended up almost killing him as well. She sure had been busy. But, that was just the start.

She knows who she needs to bring back to Orochimaru's hideout, or at least she knows two of the three people she needs: the boy, Naruto, the girl, Sakura. The third person will be someone else they want to bring. She isn’t sure exactly why another is needed, but she has a feeling that this is how it needs to be and she has long since trusted her instincts.

She stops running. She is at the gates of Konoha Village. It has been a long trip and it is near dawn. She quietly pushes open the gates and steps through. She can't let the Sannin know she is there. It would be messy - for them. She already knows where the Naruto boy is, thanks to Orochimaru, and the boy probably knows where the Sakura girl is. Then, together, they can decide who the third person will be.

She is finally at Naruto's room. Carefully, she looks through the window, just in case he felt her chakra already. Although, she seriously doubts that, she can never be too careful. Spotting him sleeping soundly in his bed, she slips in silently through the window and moves over to his sleeping form. Without any reservations, she kicks him fully in the side. He awakes with a loud grunt. Sleepy and confused, he looks around and finally spies her.

"Who are you?" he asks rudely.

"I am Lili. And I have come to take you to Sasuke."

As soon as she says 'Sasuke', Naruto is up. He is dressed and ready to leave within a minute.

'Wow he sure is energetic,' Lili thinks amusedly. Then she says aloud, "Before we can leave, we need to find the girl called Sakura, and she is to come with us."

He nods and says, "Yeah. She would like to come."

"Lead the way to her house," Lili says.

Naruto nods again and says, "Follow me.”

Within minutes they reach Sakura's house.

"I'll go in and get her." says Lili.

In short time, Lili returns with Sakura. Standing in front of Sakura's house, Lili asks them, "Now, you must choose another you want to bring."

Looking at one another, Naruto and Sakura seem to know instinctively who they need to come with them and, silently, they come to an agreement.

"Gaara."

Lili stumbles and gasps," What?! He's in this village?! Why?!"

As though it were completely obvious, Naruto simply says, "He’s helping protect Konoha."

Taking a moment to calm herself, Lili says, "Go get him and meet me at the east gates, ok?"

Naruto and Sakura nod and set off on their search for the sand ninja. As Lili watches them leave, she shakes her head. She can’t believe it. In a dream like state, she slowly walks to the gates. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sakura have found the sand ninja and he agrees to come, but, perhaps, he wouldn’t agree so readily if he knew just who 'Lili' is.

As the three approach the east gates, Lili is determined not to look at Gaara. However, he can’t help but stare at her. He looks very surprised that this is 'Lili', the girl Naruto had told him was to take them to Sasuke.

Coldy, Lili asks Gaara, "Are you happy to see me?"

Gaara was still in shock, but he finally manages to stutter, "Sh-Shinaro?"

Before starting to run, she mutters, "Glad you remember"; but she doesn't sound glad at all.

Naruto and Sakura exchange glances that say 'Did you understand that?' before setting off. Gaara decides to follow, but still looks completely shocked.

When everyone except Shinaro starts to tire, she stops to let them rest. She walks into the forest and, using a technique to clear out space around her, makes a small place to sit down. After they are all seated, Naruto, whose curiosity gets the better of him, asks Gaara, "What am I missing here? Her name isn’t Lili? How do you know her?"

Gaara looks guilty and can’t look at Shinaro for some reason, but he feels her staring coldly at him. Gaara finally says, "You are missing everything. Yes, her real name is Shinaro. And I know her because... Because..."

"…Because I killed his ancestors," Shinaro interrupts.

Sakura and Naruto give a small gasp and look at Gaara to see if she was telling the truth. Gaara nods.

Sakura manages in a small, sad voice to say, "Why?"

"Because they deserved it," Shinaro says simply.

"What did they do to you?!" Naruto demands without thinking.

"Do you really want to know? I'll show you! I'll show you a tiny bit of the horror they did to me!"

Shinaro starts to remove the bandages from her eyes. Sakura covers her mouth so she does not scream. Naruto can only stare in horror. Gaara only looks sympathetic because he has seen her eyes before. Her right eye has been sewn closed and her left eye has no pupil, just the pure white part of her eye. Crossing both eyes are nasty jagged scars that once had been very deep cuts. She has another scar right underneath her left eye.

In a high pitched voice, Sakura asks, "You said a tiny bit of horror, didn't you? This is not tiny!" Naruto nods his agreement, too shocked to say anything.

Her left eye narrowing, Shinaro says in a dangerous voice, "You don't want to see my body. Right, Gaara?” Then, looking at Sakura and Naruto’s pale faces, she adds, “They would probably faint."

Gaara almost laughs, but this is no laughing matter. Instead, he says, "Shinaro, I am sorry for what my ancestors did to you. Please forgive them."

Unaware of what had transpired, Naruto and Sakura are surprised to see Gaara, the scary sand ninja, be so polite, but Gaara remembers what his uncle, Yashamaru, had told him about Shinaro. The guards of the Sand Village had noticed Shinaro approaching their village and something about her made them nervous. That night, while she was sleeping outside their gates, they captured her using a forbidden technique that made her unable to move. Their medical ninja, using another technique, forced Shinaro to reveal that she is a container for a four tailed wolf demon named Amida. Wanting to find out how to reach her demon without releasing it, Gaara's ancestors conducted experiments and tortured her for over 200 years. Finally, Shinaro learned how to use the experiments to make her strong and she was able to break free. After escaping, Shinaro’s anger reached stage 3 and she killed almost everyone in the village.

That night, Gaara was only a small child of two. He had been hidden in the woods by his uncle, but he was frightened. He came out of his hiding place and saw her. She was flushed red with anger. He froze in fear – she was a monster! She was covered in deep cuts and scars and her body was deformed. Her eyes... he remembers how her eyes had frightened him the most. They were still bleeding, and badly infected. After gouging out her right eye, they had sewn her eyelid shut and then, in anger, they made deep cuts over both eyes, which would leave ragged red scars. Shinaro saw him and was going to kill him, but she saw a sorrow in his eyes – he felt sorry for her! Her face softened as she watched him look at her arms and legs. He was afraid, yes, but he still felt pity, even at that young age. Her anger lessened and her hair turned back to white. She looked at him for a minute more then turned and sped away from the village. The killing lust in her had ended.

Later, Shinaro had learned that Gaara was the Fourth Kazekage’s son and regretted that she hadn’t killed him since she had been unsuccessful in finding the Kazekage and killing him.

Shinaro gives a hollow laugh and says, "Yeah, and would you forgive me if I killed you right now?"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gaara says, "You have every right to."