Fumiko Mitsuwa

Fumiko Mitsuwa
Fumiko Mitsuwa is a genin-level kunoichi from Sunagakure and a medic-nin. Her best friend is Gaara, who eventually becomes her love interest. She has an unusual chakra defect that she has had since birth, which prevents her from fully utilizing her chakra. After becoming friends with Gaara at the age of seven, she is hated by the village alongside him, but remains cheerful. She excels at Genjutsu despite her Chakra Defect. Although she is a civilian for most of the series, she eventually is promoted to Genin in order to join in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Contents
[hide]#Background
 * 1) Personality
 * 2) Appearance
 * 3) Abilities
 * 4) Status
 * 5) Part I
 * 6) Part II
 * 7) Trivia
 * 8) Reference

Background
Fumiko Mitsuwa is the firstborn of parents Hanako and Fukuda Mitsuwa, and is an older sister to Mai. Fumiko was born with a rare birth defect, having almost no chakra at all, which should have led to her death, no longer supported in her mother's womb. However, a few hours after birth, for unknown reasons, Fumiko's Eight Gates opened, allowing her contained chakra to run free, leaving her with a slightly above average store.

As a child, Fumiko met Gaara while playing soccer with a few of her friends. Despite initially being terrified of him after being attacked, she eventually confronts him, and learns about his tailed beast Shukaku and loneliness. During this conversation, they decide to be good friends forever. That same night, after attempting to bring Fumiko some medicine he had obtained from Yashamaru, Gaara is driven out of her house by her former best friend, Yoshiki, and Fumiko's family, who claimed she never wanted to see him again. After learning about this, Fumiko runs out to find him, and explains what had happened. Shortly after this, the pair was attacked by a disguised Yashamaru. After being fatally injured by Gaara, Yashamaru reveals that he had never truly loved Gaara, and told him that killing him would avenge the death of his sister, Gaara's mother, who had named him Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅, Ware o aisuru shura) as a sign of her intense hatred for Suna rather than her love for Gaara. In a last-ditch effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a number of explosive tags   covering his body, asking his nephew to "please die". Fumiko tries to grab onto Gaara, and because of this, Gaara's sand protected almost all of her body, save for part of the calf and foot of her left leg, which is decimated. Gaara brings her to her parents, and her mother, who is a medic-nin, amputates what's left of the burned part of the limb. Fumiko would go through many more surgeries throughout her childhood until eventually her leg ends a few inches below her knee.

Despite this, Fumiko remains good friends with Gaara. Fumiko's entire family at first were terrified of him, still thinking of him as a demon as the rest of Sunagakure portrayed. However, eventually Fumiko's mother and younger sister Mai would warm up to him. Fumiko's father, however, continued to hate him throughout the series, which caused a lot of conflict between Fumiko and her father.

Fumiko and Gaara grew to be close friends, often sleeping over at each other's houses and playing together during the day. After learning that Shukaku prevented Gaara from sleeping, Fumiko decided that she would no longer sleep during sleepovers because it would be "rude", and dubs them "stayovers" instead. They would continue to use this term for the rest of their lives despite Gaara eventually being able to sleep after Shukaku's extraction.

Fumiko attended Sunagakure Civilian's School as a child, where she was constantly bullied, although she kept up a jovial and happy attitude until she graduated at twelve as valedictorian alongside Gaara, who graduated from Sunagakure's Ninja Academy. Fumiko was a very bright student, acing all of her tests and assignments with a near photographic memory. She often skipped classes to watch and secretly support Gaara during his spars and important tests until he found out, after which she remained in the open to cheer him on. Fumiko was constantly bullied both physically and mentally, often being called "Lead Foot" in reference to her prosthetic leg. She learned Genjutsu and minimal Ninja Skills from Gaara, but only really became proficient at Genjutsu.

After their graduation, Fumiko would occasionally accompany Gaara and his siblings on their missions as long as they weren't too dangerous, and would eventually go with Gaara to the Chuunin Exams.

Personality
Fumiko is a very happy person. Despite almost all ofher friends being shinobi throughout the series, she is a pacifist, believing that people should never fight or hurt each other unless it's necessary. She is shown being extremely uncomfortable around malicious people such as Yoroi, and is very upset after Temari's match with TenTen during the Chuunin Exams preliminaries.

In part I, she is more childish, easily exciteable and pleaseable, unbothered by the people Gaara killed along the way. She often comforted Gaara after such episodes, and was always ready to forgive and forget. Despite not having any friends, she was always kind to everyone she met, whether they were mean to her or not, claiming that it was always better to be "sweet" than "bitter". Fumiko baked constantly and attempted to give food and gifts to anyone who would accept them, usually Gaara. She loved playing games and fingerpainting. To most people, she appears extremely simplistic and stupid, although when people got to know her they tended to realize that she simply didn't need anything more than her friends and to be happy. Fumiko likes to help people, and temporarily works as a medic-nin at Sunagakure's hospital during the two-year period between Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden.

In part II, she is more mature and quiet, although she maintains her bubbly personality. She takes a greater interest in art, and eventually becomes a well known artist in Sunagakure, opening her own Gallery. Fumiko is almost constanty happy and upbeat throughout most of the series, quick to laugh. Although for the most part she remains a civilian, she at one point states that her own Nindo, or Ninja Way, was to "Be happy and make other people happy". She is also extremely perserverent, never giving up in anything she tries. While Gaara was attempting to become Kazekage, she often went around to as many people as she could individually to state Gaara's case, and on multiple occasions confronts the Suna Council, usually winning any arguments she is drawn into, albeit politely.

During the Kazekage Rescue Arc after Gaara's abduction, Fumiko was forlorn and emotional. She fluctuated between anger, sadness and fear, often sitting outside at night to watch the horizons for the Kazekage Rescue Team's return and throwing herself into Gaara's work during most of the day. This is one of the few times during the series in which she can be seen getting angry, snappish and confrontational, having emotional breakdowns and throwing the closest hard object at anyone who tried to make her eat, sleep, or calm down, including her own family members. After discovering Gaara's body she was inconsolable. Even after Gaara's eventual resurrection, she avoids others, preferring to train in Taijutsu with Mai and Lee. She remains this way until Gaara confronts her, and after an explosive argument, she realizes that life was too short and unpredictable to worry over 'What-if's'.

After Gaara's 'death', and especially after war is declared and giving birth to her twin sons, Hajime and Hiroki, Fumiko becomes much more determined and focused, training in Water and Earth Release ninjutsu as well as Taijutsu, and standing up to Gaara over being allowed to involve herself in dangerous fights and situations. This is influenced by a need to protect her loved ones.

Appearance
Fumiko is notably short, never reaching over five feet until The Last: Naruto the Movie. She has considerably pale skin for living in Sunagakure, although she is more tanned than Gaara. She has straight, regular brown hair that is often described as "plain" along with her facial features, which are thin and small. Fumiko has brown eyes. Due to her chakra defect, Fumiko is thin throughout the series, although she gains slightly more curvature after her pregnancy; and is often noted to be flat-chested and weak-looking. Fumiko's hair is long, having grown since her childhood without being cut. Her bangs curl above her eyes. The most noticeable thing about her appearance is her shockingly deep insomnia circles, which she developed after constantly 'staying over' with Gaara without sleep.

In part I, Fumiko is seen wearing a tight white, sleeveless turtleneck and black cargo shorts along with one tan Sunagakure-issued shinobi sandal. She also wears a brown cape-like cloak with no hood that pins at her collarbone and a brown satchel that clips around her waist that holds 'necessities' such as sugar, paint, napkins, and other miscellaneous things. Around her neck, Fumiko wear a handmade necklace; a hollowed out walnut painted with yellow to mimic flying sand that contains some of Gaara's chakra-infused sand. It has a hole carved into it with a carved down piece of cork glued on, and is kept around her neck by a peice of fishline that she weaved through the cork. This is her 'good luck charm' because it has a part of Gaara. She also tends to be covered in spots and streaks of multicolored paint with painted fingernails. She wears a prosthetic made of sanded wood and metal, similar to a peg, but with a silver metal hook for balance. The prosthetic is held in place by a clear white gel Chakra Sock that often spills over the top. The wooden parts are always painted with images. During the interlude between parts I and II, she also wears a larger brown crossbody satchel to hold her medical supplies.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">During the beginning of part II, Fumiko wears only her white turtleneck, black shorts and medical satchel, abandoning her cloak and having lost her smaller satchel and necklace during the Kazekage Rescue Arc after fighting Sasori. However, as she becomes pregnant later on, she begins to wear various maternity clothes gifted to her by citizens of Suna, which tend to be low-cut and half-sleeved silk shirts and cutoff drawstring sweatpants. She wears the same styled prosthetic as in Part I, only larger to accommodate her growth and without any painted designs. Later in the series she begins to wear an archer's sheath to hold her modified Bo staff.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">During the Fourth Shinobi World War her outfit changes again, and she wears a Sunagakure Flak Jacket over a half-sleeved armoured fishnet top, underneath which is a plain white T-shirt. Her flack jacket is modified with clamps to hold her sheath. She also wears dark blue pants, with the leg messily cut off above her prosthetic. She has a dark blue shinobi sandal. She keeps her waist-length hair up in a ponytail. Fumiko has shinobi tool holders such as a blue kunai holster attached to her right leg, a larger version of her medical satchel which holds offensive battle seals, sealing tags, and battlefield medicine supplies; and wears the universal "Shinobi" forehead protector on her forehead. She is also seen with a single fingerless white glove on her right that reaches up to her elbow, which is embroidered with Seals that hold Water, extra Weapons, and Water respectively. Fumiko also wears a necklace made with a leather string, which holds up a black fabric drawstring pouch, inside of which is a glass prism given to her by Neji for her birthday. She wears a homemade friendship bracelet almost identical to Gaara's on her right hand, which is made with braided leather and a teal blue Chakra Stone containing a small portion of Gaara's chakra.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">

Abilities
<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Initially, Fumiko is considered extremely weak, and relied completely on Gaara for protection. Most of the abilities she learned were mediocre and used only for fun, such as genjutsu and tree-walking. However, after gaining a resolve to fight, Fumiko has grown considerably stronger.

<u style="font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;">Genjutsu
Fumiko is well-known for her skills in Genjutsu. Despite her birth defect, she was initially very good at Genjutsu, relating it to art like painting and drawing. She uses her defect to alter her Genjutsu rather than allow it to weaken, concentrating less on control inside her own body and learning to manipulate it outside after flowing out of her skin. Instead of changing a victim's- or "viewer's"- ocular senses, she forces her Chakra into her target's body all together, overriding all of their senses at once. This would come to be called her 'Sympathetic Illusion' because her signature attack was simply convincing her opponent that he or she had won and left, when in reality they were immobile. As a child, Fumiko used this to get past ninja well above her level to sneak into Gaara's Ninja Academy and places such as the Chunin Exams outbuildings.

Fumiko can be seen in the Kazekage Rescue Arc using her Genjutsu to fool two Akatsuki, Deidara and Sasori. Using her Sympathetic Illusion, Fumiko momentarily manages to trick Deidara into thinking he had left while in reality she observed his movements within the Genjutsu and used that to make him descend. Later, she sucessfully tricks Sasori into thinking she is dead.

Medical Ninjutsu
Fumiko was taught medical ninjutsu majorly by her mother Hanako, who is a medical-nin. Fumiko uses her chakra differently, as she is unable to maintain the fine control needed for regular Medical Jutsu. It is described as having a more watery effect, sinking and traveling through the body to stimulate cells into healing rather than specifically healing injuries. For this reason, she avoids using her ninjutsu to heal finite things such as diseases or broken bones, sticking to open wounds. For all other injuries Fumiko resorts to non-chakra civilian first aid.

Physical Prowess
Although noted to be very physically weak in Part I, Fumiko eventually becomes proficient in Taijutsu after training in regiments created by Mai and Rock Lee, although she is hesitant to spar or fight with anyone, as she doesn't want to hurt them. She is shown training with her Bakuryou, or modified Bo staff, with extreme proficiency and accuracy despite her lack of balance. Fumiko tends to rely on Taijutsu in a battle, as she cannot build up a chakra store to handle multiple jutsus. Fumiko is terrible with shurikenjutsu, although when under pressure has been shown to pull through.

Fuuinjutsu
Fumiko is proficient with seals, having learned the fine details of using and scribing them during her time as a medical-nin. Eventually she starts creating her own, mainly geared toward medical ninjutsu. Examples of this include her Defibrillator Sealand variations of Anti-Inflammatory seals. After Gaara's original death, she can be seen experimenting with offensive seals, using her knowledge of medical practices to create seals such as her dubbed "Heart-Stop" seal, which uses Lightning and Water chakra to paralyze and kill opponents. Fumiko also uses seals to make up for her lack of Chakra stores for Nature Transformation jutsu by sealing elements such as water, earth and lightning to Unseal and control with Jutsu on the battlefield.

Fumiko also uses regular ninja seals such as Exploding Tags and self-made Storage Seals.

Summoning
On a whim, after finding a Bat Contract in Sunagakure's Library Archives, Fumiko decides to sign it. She shows proficiency in the summoning technique, however lacks the chakra control and enlarged stores necessary to Summon larger summons. She is disliked immensely by the animals she does manage to summon, and is constantly referred to as "Sightseer" by them. Fumiko uses this technique to summon Shaapu, a large bat, to help her locate Gaara and the Kazekage Rescue Team.

Fumiko later learns how to reverse-summon herself to the bats' Land, the "Grotto of Darkness" (地下洞穴 同, <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">Makurayami Douketsu, Literal meaning: Grotto of Total Darkness) in order to convice them to help her during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Sensory Prowess
Due to her chakra disability, Fumiko has been shown to be sensitive to Chakra. Oftentimes she can sense those around her and differentiate them, especially if she knows a person well, as long as she is paying attention. She also has the ability to see chakra in colors which tend to be based on a person's personality, and Fumiko can use this to sense a person's strong emotions such as anger, fear, or happiness. Although originally thought to be a part of her sensitivity, it is later revealed that her younger sister, Mai, can see chakra in colors as well, which brings up the question of whether or not it is due to the Mitsuwa family's faint Uchiha blood lineage.

Stats
<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Part I and II template: Use for characters who appear in both Naruto and Shippuden.

<h2 style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;"> Part I

<h3 style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Chunin Exams <p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko accompanied Gaara and his siblings to Konohagakure to support him during his participation during the Chuunin Exams. Soon after arriving, Fumiko along with Gaara find Kankuro, who had split from their group along with Temari upon arrival, threatening an Academy student. Here she breifly meets Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha for the first time after Gaara apologizes for Kankuro's behavior, and the they leave. She goes fairly unnoticed for a majority of the time unless she directly spoke to anyone, and was avoided along with Gaara due to the other competitor's wariness of him. Although initially Gaara would not let her enter the Examination Room, Fumiko climbs a tree nearby after using her Genjutsu to get past several Proctors and shinobi Guards and watches from a window that Anko Mitarashi, the Second Exam Proctor, would later smash through. During this time she alternated between watching the Genin test through the window and painting a bust of Ibiki Morino on a napkin from her satchel. Later, she is discovered after almost falling out of the tree after Anko's entrance, but she is assisted by Gaara in her escape, who trips the guards chasing her with sand. Later, Fumiko makes homemade chocolates to celebrate the Sand Siblings' successful completion of the first Exam, and brings boxes of it to the guards she tricked and Ibiki Morino, to whom she gifts her painting.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">During the Second Exam outside of the Forest of Death, Fumiko stands with the Sand Siblings as Anko Mitarashi explains the rules. Although she initially worries for Gaara's and the other competitors' safety, she makes a deal with Gaara that she would go in as well, but avoid any contact with other shinobi. After the Second Exam had begun, Fumiko is caught by Anko as she attempted to sneak into Training Ground 44. However, after learning that she had signed one of the consent forms and didn't intend on helping Gaara or cheating in any way, Anko allows her to go. Despite her promise, during this phase Fumiko finds Gaara after he had killed Team Shigure and manages to calm him down before he killed Team 8 and lead the other Sand Siblings to the Tower. Here, the Sand Siblings split up, and Fumiko talks alone with Gaara about his bloodlust, which he attempts to apologize for, but Fumiko waves it off, of the opinion that he couldn't control it and it wasn't his fault.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko is in the crowd of Genin who passed the second exam when the Third Hokage gives a speech explaining the origin of the Chuunin Exams. Fumiko gets uneasy at the Hokage's description of fighting as a shinobi's way of friendship, and says as much out loud, although she isn't heard by anyone but Gaara. In the preliminary matches after the second exam, Fumiko worries after Shukaku's remaining bloodlust and anger at being cheated of Team 8's deaths, concerned that he would murder anyone Gaara was set against. She watches the fights and makes note of each shinobi's individual strengths and weaknesses, pointing out Yoroi's chakra draining technique before Sasuke had figured it out and appreciating Hinata's resolve. When Gaara is eventually pitted against Rock Lee, Fumiko could only watch helplessly as the bloodlust affected Gaara's fight. However, her concern for Lee changes when he takes off his Ankle Weights, almost defeating Gaara in battle. After the fight is over, overhearing Lee's condition, she leads Gaara back up to the observation deck until the final fight between Choji Akimichi and Dosu is over. Gaara is matched to fight Sasuke for the third Exam. They are later seen by Konoha Chuunin Yuuki conversing together on a bench outside the building.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">During the month long training period in between the second and third Exams, Fumiko began to notice abnormalities in Gaara's behavior, unknowing of his and the rest of the Sunagakure Genin to initiate the Konoha Crush, but is satisfied with his vague answers of being tired and stressed from the Exams. She assumes that killing Dosu, who had approached them the night of the preliminaries to kill Gaara, along with Team Shigure and his fight with Rock Lee, was bothering him, and left it alone, trying to cheer him up. She works as a volunteer at the Konoha Hospital, where she treats various shinobi from the Chuunin Exams along with other miscellaneous patients. Here she makes tentative friends with Lee, TenTen, Choji and Zaku. During this time, she is confronted by Neji Hyuga while staying with Lee in his hospital room. Neji berated her appearance and skill sets, but despite this Fumiko only goes through old memories to let him see more of herself. Neji uses his Byakgan, and discovers her birth defect. This is the first time it was ever explained why she had no chakra control. She later tells Gaara and writes a letter home about it to her mother.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">On the day of the third and final Exam, Fumiko sits with Baki in the spectator's stands. She watches all of the fights, since Gaara and Sasuke's continued to get pushed back due to Sasuke's absence. Kankuro's withdrawal from his fight with Shino Aburame greatly alarmed her, and before Gaara's fight she left the stands to find Gaara in the hallway to the arena. Although Gaara originally protests, Fumiko convinces him to let her walk with him to the arena entrance. She stops Gaara from killing two Grass Shinobi after they attempted to threaten him into losing his match with Sasuke. Along the way, Gaara's sharp behavior and anxiety makes her realize that he was hiding something, after which Gaara promised to tell her everything after the match as long as she stayed with Baki. Fumiko complies, and goes back to the stands. She watches Gaara and Sasuke's fight with growing anxiety as Gaara begins to change into Shukaku, standing and screaming when he is injured by Sasuke's Chidori. At the same time, she is put under Kabuto Yakushi's Genjutsu after failing to expel it quickly enough.

Konoha Crush
<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko is asleep for the majority of the chase after Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke pursue them, trapped in Sleep Paralysiscaused partially by Kabuto's Temple of Nirvana Technique. She is carried by Temari for part of the flight, and Kankuro for another. When she finally wakes up, Fumiko finds herself in the middle of a heated battle between Gaara, already partially transformed into Shukaku, and Naruto Uzumaki. She learns from Temari, who was hiding with her behind the trunk of a tree, that they had been pursued and Gaara had begun the transformation while she'd been unconscious. Temari attempts to convince her to run, but she refuses, stating that she wouldn't leave without Gaara. Temari argues that what she was seeing wasn't Gaara, but Fumiko stays put. Gaara takes Sakura Haruno hostage to make Naruto fight him, which is too much for Fumiko, who jumps out and calls to him. Gaara, however, too far into Shukaku's influence, merely flings her away with his Sand Shuriken Technique, which slams her back into a tree, fracturing her arm and breaking several of her ribs. She remains unconscious for several minutes before being shaken awake by Temari, who moves her to a safer place.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">The two are stunned as Naruto launched a successful attack against Gaara using Shadow Clones and managed to injure him in his Partially Transformed state. At the end of this barrage, however, Gaara grows enraged and transforms into his Perfect Possession form. Before he kills him, Naruto summons a giant frog, and a fight breaks out between the Summons and Shukaku. Temari flees. Fumiko stays hidden until Gaara uses his Playing Possum jutsu, successfully summoning Shukaku, after which she tries to find a way to slow Shukaku down. Eventually she finds Temari again, and they succeed in flinging forest debris into Shukaku's eye with the use of Temari's Giant Folding Fan, giving the transformed Gamabunta an opening to attack. After this, Fumiko can do nothing but watch, as she can't see or hear anything of the battle between the awakened Gaara and Naruto. Eventually Shukaku's form crumbled, and Fumiko, watching Gaara fall, manages to go towards them in her injured state, finding Naruto's fallen Konoha forehead protector as she did so.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">On the forest floor, she finds both Naruto and Gaara severely injured, and immediately goes to make sure Gaara is okay. Sasuke appears to stop Naruto from continuing to try and kill Gaara, stating that Sakura was free. Kankuro and Temari appear as well and attempt to finish the fight, however, Gaara stops them. The Sand Siblings help him to stand, and before she allows herself to be taken away, Fumiko gave Sasuke Naruto's headband, asking him to give it to him when he woke up, and then thanks the unconscious Uzumaki Naruto for his help. With the help of the Sand Siblings, they make their way through the forest, still running from Konoha forces. During this time, Gaara apologizes, startling his siblings, and Fumiko wonders if fighting with Naruto had truly changed him.

Return to Suna
<span style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Days after the Konoha Crush, Fumiko and the Sand Siblings are struggling on their way back to Sunagakure, battling their injuries and dehydration as they move into the desert. Eventually Fumiko stops them, pointing out nearby patches of Prickly-pear cacti. The four stop to rest at nighttime, Gaara having fallen unconscious. Eventually they reach Sunagakure, where Fumiko and the others are admitted to the hospital. Fumiko falls unconscious.

<span style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">When she finally wakes up, Fumiko is surprised to be surrounded by her family and Yoshiki, and breifly speaks to them, asking after Gaara, before falling unconscious once more. The second time she wakes up, she stays awake, and finds Temari at her bedside, who tells her that Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, had been killed during the attack. Fumiko tries to get up to find Gaara's room, however is stopped by Temari, whom she puts under a Genjutsu where Temari was needed in an Invasion of Suna. With Temari decapacitated, Fumiko manages to make her way to Gaara's bedside. Gaara was still unconscious with a fever, and she cares for him for a while before Temari comes back in, having dispelled the Genjutsu, to make her get back in bed. Despite Temari and the other doctors' efforts, Fumiko continues to go into Gaara's room to take care of him, talk to and sleep with him while he recovers from his chakra exhaustion. Eventually, her bed is moved into Gaara's room to keep her from aggravating her injuries further.

<span style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">When Gaara finally wakes up again, Fumiko is initially overjoyed. Left alone to talk, they talk about the events of the Konoha Crush, with Fumiko explaining some of the things Gaara couldn't remember, and Gaara admitting to knowing it was going to happen beforehand and apologizing for lying to her. Fumiko forgives him, but fears that she had been a terrible friend for having not realized something was going on for so long, but Gaara reassures her otherwise, and eventually she falls asleep.

Fumiko spends a considerable amount of time in the hospital, staying longer than Gaara due to her broken bones, and the two spend the time together. Eventually Fumiko was released after a physical with a suggestion to get a new, larger prosthetic, which she later does. The pair wander Suna for a while that afternoon, and eventually end up at the swingset where they met, swinging for a while before being confronted by old bullies from Gaara's Academy class. Fumiko leaves with Gaara, stating that the other genin weren't worth getting angry over, and they go to make sand castles instead. That night Fumiko finally returns home to the chagrin of Yoshiki, who complained that she hadn't come home first, and makes Salted Tongue and Gizzard.

Some time later, Fumiko helps Gaara pick out the outfit he wears during the Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc, and secretly works with Mai to make him a new Gourd for his sand. Later, she sends Gaara off to train with his siblings after he confided in her his dream of reconnecting with the village. During this arc, Fumiko also receives a letter from Rock Lee, who states that he knew she had no part in the invasion and didn't blame either her nor Gaara for it, explaining about his successful surgery. Fumiko works more with her art, and is shown selling some of her works at an art show.

<span style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Sasuke Recovery Mission
Fumiko found out about Sasuke's defection from Konoha after Asuka brings a scroll into the aviary room with a message from Konohagakure asking for shinobi support. Using Military Rations pills, Fumiko uses the Body Flicker Technique to reach Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, who had just finished a mission near Konoha. The four of them decide to head directly to Konoha's forest.

After finding the general location of the others in the Sasuke Recovery Team with Gaara's sensory skills, the Sand Siblings and Fumiko split up, Temari leaving to help Shikamaru, Kankuro to assist Kiba and Akamaru, and Fumiko and Gaara to help Lee. While Gaara confronts Kimimaro, Fumiko assists an injured Lee. She is shocked by Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai, but leaves the fight to Gaara. When Lee tries to join into the battle again, Gaara stops him, and Fumiko watched with Lee as Gaara fought. When it seemed Kimimaro had gained the upper hand, breaking through Gaara's defenses of sand, Fumiko tries to stop Lee from trying to help. They're both thrown out of the way by Gaara's sand, and Gaara once more distracts Kimimaro's attention away from them until finally he manages to suck Kimimaro underground. When Kimimaro activates his Bracken Dance jutsu, Gaara managed to save them with his Sand Suspension technique, lifting them high above Kimmimaro's bones. Finally thinking he was dead, the three relaxed. When Kimimmaro attacks once more from the spires of bone, Fumiko tries to push Gaara out of the way. However, Kimmimaro dies of his illness before hitting her.

Shaken, Fumiko clings to Gaara as he conversed with Lee on his musings that <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Meiryo,'HelveticaNeue',Helvetica,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">even a bad person has someone precious to them, and eventually passes out from chakra exhaustion due to the overuse of her Body Flicker Technique. Some time after waking up, they meet up with Temari and Shikamaru, who inform them that Kankuro was looking for the others in the forest. After Lee leaves to get help, they split up once again to find Choji Akimichi. Fumiko finds him first and uses first aid to keep his heart beating until the medical-nin arrived.

At some point on the way to Konoha Fumiko passes out again, and wakes up in the hospital. She inquires after and later visits Choji, and finds Naruto, who was also hospitalized. The Sand Siblings stay in Konoha for a while to help out at their Academy, and during this time Fumiko questions Lee about his ability to open his gates and, hoping to be able to reverse the effect, goes with Lee and Gaara to the Hyuga compound to visit Neji, who told her after some deliberation that it was theoretically possible. She trains with Lee and eventually manages to come up with a prototype of her Yin Release: Darning Stitch Chakra Technique. Kakashi gives her the possessions she left behind during the Konoha Crush.

After arriving back in Sunagakure, Fumiko trains more with her Darning Stitch Chakra Technique to refine it, hoping that she would someday be capable of using Medical Ninjutsu. The desire to learn how to use it stemmed from her experience during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission, nearly losing Choji and after nearly dying at Kimimmaro's hand to protect Gaara. She resolved to be useful the next time someone needed help and her first aid wouldn't be enough.

<span style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Sunagakure Support Mission
Sunagakure was stuck in an immediate rut after the Konoha Crush and the loss of the Fourth Kazekage, whose funeral Fumiko had missed while in the hospital with Gaara. Fumiko volunteers more and more at the hospital until eventually she accepts a full-time position in order to work longer hours. Gaara is called on more and more missions, and they only speak sparingly in between Gaara's missions while he was either injured or chakra deprived. During this time, Fumiko takes on apprentices at the hospital, Ame and Tsuki.

Gaara, along with his missions, is tasked along with various other shinobi to help solve multiple problems stagnated in the absence of the Kazekage. Gaara, using his knowledge of the Konoha Ninja Academy, works to open an experimental branch of the Academy. He succeeds and, more than that, becomes a sensei along with his siblings. As things begin to slow down some time later, Fumiko assists him in setting up the new version of the Academy, even helping to decorate the arena for opening day. She cleans the Kazekage's office, and later is confided to by Gaara about Matsuri's progress.

Fumiko visits the Academy one day during class, bringing cookies she had baked for the occasion. The Sand Siblings give the class the day off to play, including Mai, who had become one of Gaara's students. Later, after an unknown amount of days pass, Fumiko bumps into a stranger on the street, who helps her bring her things back to her house and who is later revealed to be Ryuugan of the Four Celestials. Fumiko doesn't figure this out until after Gaara runs to find her and Mai to make sure they were okay after Matsuri's kidnapping and is broguht to the Suna Council, where she recognizes Ryuugan's profile description. After going to investigate the arena, Fumiko and Gaara notice that Matsuri's Dohyo was pointing towards the Northeast, and after deliberation with the Council it was decided that the Sand Siblings would go to pursue them, despite the fact that the Four Celestials had left a message for Gaara to face them or have more people kidnapped through one surviving member of the slaughtered Border Patrol Squad.

Gaara leaves Fumiko in the village despite her protests, where she agreed to watch over the Academy and teach the students Genjutsu in their senseis' absence. While doing so, Mai discovers a peice of metal scratched out of a ninja tool, presuambly by Matsuri's Dohyo. She sends Mai to research current Bingo Books for Ryuugan's description and anything relating to the chakra absorbing metal. After the class is over, Fumiko returns home and studies the metal. Mai eventually comes into her room with the pages she'd managed to find, and Fumiko quickly finds Ryuugan, and discovers that he was from the recently destroyed Village of Artisans. She peices together most of the Four Celestials and pens a letter to Tsunade concerning what she learned, suspecting that they would try and obtain Shukaku's power.

After receiving a letter back from Tsunade with more information on the village during one of her classes and discovering how to reverse the metal's abilities, Fumiko leaves with Mai to find Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Matsuri by using Fumiko's chakra sensitivity to follow the chakra signature released from the metal chip. They eventually crossed into the Land of Fire's border and found the Four Celestials and Gaara, who was trapped in a metal sphere meant to drain his chakra. Seimei, the village of Artisan's formerly deceased leader, whom Mai and Yoshiki had researched, had already been resurrected and was fighting with Naruto. As Seimei prepares to kill Naruto, Fumiko intervenes, using her Genjutsu to paralyze him. Seimei escapes, and Fumiko narrowly avoids being killed. She tries and fails with Naruto to reason with him, and after being attacked again, is incapacitated. Mai picks up the fight, keeping Semei busy while Naruto helps Fumiko. Mai is pushed back, and Seimei prepares to kill all three of them, but at the last second, Matsuri saves them with her Dohyo.

Gaara in the sphere, chakra drained, begins to transform and breaks out of his prison in his Partial Transformation State. The rest of the Konoha 11 (minus TenTen) arrive. Naruto sends Matsuri away, but after a moment Fumiko realizes that Gaara is still in control. He forcibly changes back to himself and uses Sand Tsunami to turn the surrounding area into a desert, during which Fumiko and the others retreated to a rocky stand. Gaara managed to defeat Seimei with his Shukaku's Pike jutsu, which Fumiko notes doesn't use a lot of chakra and therefore, Seimei's chakra-draining armor had no effect on it. After this, he passes out, and is cared for by Fumiko and Sakura until they make it to Konoha's hospital.

Fumiko, Mai, Matsuri, and the Sand Siblings stay in Konoha for a few days after Gaara is released from the hospital, where they spend time with their friends before bidding farewell and departing back to Sunagakure.

Gaara's Resolve
On a rainy night in Suna, Fumiko has trouble sleeping, thinking about her Taijutsu and weapons training with Gaara and Mai. She also thinks back to earlier that day, where she and Gaara visited Rasa's grave, and Fumiko comforted him that he wouldn't turn out like his father. After a few hours, she decided to visit Gaara despite the raging storm outside.

Fumiko trudged through the rain, avoiding debris, and eventually meets up with Gaara, who had similarly had a hard time sleeping and had decided to visit her house, at the mid way mark between their houses. They both decide to go back to Gaara's house at the Tower, where they change and have hot chocolate. They spend the night watching TV in Gaara's room until he asks her why he can't be happy with others the way he was with her, to which Fumiko replies that he trusts her. After a moment, Gaara confides that he wanted to become more than just a part of the village, and that he wanted to become needed by it. Fumiko learns that he wants to become the Kazekage of Suna, to which she replies, "Let's do it."

Kazekage Campaign
During Gaara's attempt to become the Fifth Kazekage, Fumiko is extremely active in his campaign, surveying as many of the village citizens as would speak to her and even getting signatures of approval from Tsunade, Shizune, and other shinobi from Konoha. She sets up and sticks out a meeting with the Suna Council while Gaara completes his last mission as a sensei in a different Land. Although the Council Elders are still wary of Gaara, after a long argument and continuous insistence Fumiko manages to get them to agree to consider holding Councils after Gaara got more signatures from other villagers. Upon returning and hearing this, Gaara grows considerably more nervous but awed at the help he was recieving.

In between campaigns, Fumiko trains with Gaara, Kankuro, and Mai. Eventually, after Mai gets the last needed signatures from her Genin Class, Fumiko and Gaara together meet with the Suna Council once more. During this meeting, Gaara unexpectedly reveals his motives behind wanting to become Kazekage, both surprising and pleasing Fumiko. The Elders agreed to initiate Council after a month's time.

During that month, Fumiko, Mai, and the Sand Siblings decide to visit Konoha, Fumiko mailing ahead to Lee to let them know the party was coming. Upon arriving, they are greeted fervently by Team Gai, and Fumiko happily greets Neji, TenTen, and Lee. During the month long stay, Fumiko hangs out with Lee and Neji, and staying with with Gaara and the rest of the Suna party at the Nara compound, where Fumiko plays and at some points beats Shikamaru at Shogiand Go. She cooks dinner for the Nara head family and visits Ichiraku Ramen when Gaara trains with Kankuro and Temari, sometimes with Konohamaru.

On one day in particular, Fumiko is shown spending time with Team Gai (minus Gai) first showing them her improved Darning Stitch Chakra Technique and then just talking and helping TenTen with her fuuinjutsu. In the midst of their conversation, however, Fumiko falls asleep. Team Gai, thinking something was wrong, brought her to Gaara, who let her sleep next to Shikamaru while he trained. Eventually, Fumiko, Gaara and the rest of the Sunagakure shinobi head back to Sunagakure in time for the Councils' Convention. Gaara is tested by many proctors, paperwork, and interviews in the brief period before the Councils' initiation.

Baki joins the shinobi Council. Fumiko is nominated by an unknown person to the Civilian's Council, where she convinced many civilian citizens to vite in favor of Gaara's becoming Kazekage. She is questioned on Gaara's mental health, rank, strength, and history with the villagers, to which she replies to as best she can until an old bully of hers asks if Gaara is evil, to which she replies that he's not. After the Council concludes, Fumiko meets up with Gaara in the Archives, where he researched in his free time to learn more about Sunagakure's inner workings.

Hours before the announcement of Gaara's promotion or not, Fumiko paces in Gaara's bedroom, fidgety with excitement despite Gaara's anxiety. She reveals that Mai was spying on the Elder's Head Council under transformation and is confident that Gaara would become the Fifth Kazekage of Suna. Later, with Fumiko beside him, Gaara is announced to be the new Kazekage in front of Suna's citizens, much to Fumiko's excitement. He gives a speech, and later attends a party thrown by Fumiko, Mai and her mother at their house, where he encounters one of his first fangirls and goes to Fumiko for help. Later, they both fall asleep in Fumiko's room, despite her promise to stay awake and watch to make sure he didn't have any night terrors.

Fumiko finally goes back to her work at the hospital as Gaara begins his work as Kazekage, although she constantly helps him out, leaving at he ends of her shifts in the early morning to make sure he had eaten and wasn't overwhelmed with work left behind by the Fourth Kazekage. During her free time, she paints and practices her Genjutsu. When Gaara finally begins to catch up, they spend his days off together, swinging, making sand castles, and eating ice cream on the wall during the sunsets, and having stayovers with him at the Tower.

Growing up
Fumiko struggles to keep up with her schedule, full-time at the hospital for most of the day and well into the night, and checking in on and assisting Gaara with paperwork and food early in the mornings. She began to spend less and less time at her own house, as it saved time for sleeping or painting before going back to work at the hospital.

During dinner one night on a weekend, Fumiko's younger sister Mai comments jokingly that she might as well move in with him. However, Fumiko seriously begins to consider this, and eventually decides on the spur of the moment to ask Gaara if she could move into the Tower. Despite her father's disapproval, she continues with her plan. Gaara is initially flustered by her question, but agrees and helps her to pick out a room on the Guest floor of the Kazekage Tower. While packing, Fumiko discovers that Mai feels abandoned, and promises to still be her older sister after moving out, after which she is much happier. Cleaning out the last few things in her room, Fumiko find's Gaara's stuffed bear under her bed, and later gives it back to him.

An explosive fight breaks out after Fumiko's father comes home in the middle of moving out Fumiko's things while Gaara had been helping her move the built up sand that followed him everywhere out of her room. He attempts to put the boxes back, however Fumiko and her mother had Sealed them against his touch. After a brief argument between Fumiko and her father, Fukuda slaps her, which leads Gaara to attack him, shoving Fukuda up against the wall. Fumiko makes him stop, pulling him away, and together they leave. In a rare moment of vulnerability, she asks Gaara why her father couldn't ever be happy for her, to which he replies he doesn't know. Fumiko remains melancholy until Mai brings Gaara's stuffed bear, which they had forgotten in Fumiko's room, to the Tower. Upon seeing it, Fumiko remembered their childhood and the fun times she and Gaara had had, and cheers up, even offering the Genin team that helped with moving cookies.

While perusing the library days later in the Kazekage's floor of the Archives, Fumiko comes across Sunagakure's Summoning Scrolls: Weasel, Spider and Bat. Mistaking them for informational scrolls about summoning animals, she opens the Bat scroll and realizes what it is. After asking Gaara for permission, she signs it, and manages to summon a small bat that immediately vanishes.

Soon after moving into the Tower, Fumiko's room quickly fills with artwork, as she is inspired by strange dreams and feelings to draw and paint things such as clouds and explosions. Kankuro later comments to Gaara that her bedroom had become almost dangerous, but she continues to do so.When Gaara, Mai and the others began acting suspicious, Fumiko was only mildly curious, continuing her work at the hospital and being diverted from Gaara's path by Mai and Kankuro whenever she ended her shifts. Eventually, while giving Yoshihisa (a ninja she had met while volunteering at the Konoha Hospital during the Chunin Exams) a tour of the Tower, Gaara sought her out and asked if she would stay over in his room and admits that he had already moved her necessities to his room. Fumiko agrees, and they make a blanket fort and popcorn to watch movies.

The next day, Gaara leads her to a surprise for her birthday, and reveals that he had bought out a foreclosed building in Sunagakure and moved all of her artwork and supplies inside. This becomes Sunagakure Gallery, where Fumiko stores and sells her artwork. Fumiko retires from her work at the hospital to work full time at the gallery after opening it to the public. It is at this gallery that she is confronted by Shunichi, Tadashi, and Naoki, three former bullies from her childhood, who apologized for being mean to her as children, which she had never been angry at them for. Eventually, Gaara comes into the shop, and they run away.

After hours one night in her gallery, Fumiko is visited by Jiraiya the Toad Sage and Naruto, who stopped by Sunagakure to warn them of the pending threat of Akatsuki. Jiraiya questioned her on Gaara's knowledge of the group of mercenaries and the names of the Heads of Defense in Suna, including Yura. They leave quickly, leaving Fumiko confused and mostly unworried.

Fumiko continued to help Gaara with his paperwork, more and more as she learned how to handle and process it, often organizing his desk for him whenever she visited his office. Fumiko's life stabilizes despite her still strange late-night early-morning schedule, carrying out normal activities such as shopping, painting and practicing Genjutsu. She also paints Gaara's portrait on a commission for the Tower.

One day on the weekend while visiting her mother and Mai for dinner, Fumiko finds Mai alone in the house, angrily working with her punching bags after having ruined multiple others. After much probing, Mai tells her that at a routine physical for kunoichi, it had been discovered that she was sterile, incapable of ever having children. Still, Mai refused to be comforted, and Fumiko spent the entire next day working on a portrait of her after being beat up by a group of other kids in her younger years. After giving it to her sister, Mai breaks down, crying and asking if she would have ever made a good mother, to which Fumiko reassures her that she would've. This changes her view of Mai, putting her in a more caring light as she remembers all the times that Mai, despite her gruff and haughty nature, helped young children in need.

Fumiko and Gaara
Fumiko reads on a flyer about the upcoming Sunagakure's Founders Day Festival, which she had never attended, and gets excited. She convinces Temari and Mai to go with her, and Temari tells her that she should invite Gaara. Although initially excited, she hesitates when Mai comments on Gaara's invertedness, however is made confident by Temari's statement that he would go if she asked him to. When she asks Gaara about it, he is initially flustered and embarrassed, although Fumiko doesn't notice, and eventually agrees to go.

The night of the festival, Fumiko, Mai and Temari bought kimonos. Fumiko wore a pale powder blue kimono with almost full-length sleeves that fell to her ankle, which was covered in flowers in various shades of blue and white, tied with a matching obi, and a dark blue slipper on her right foot. They also got their hair done, Fumiko with her mid-back length brown hair p<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">ulled up in a bun that left her slightly more curled bangs and a few curled locks of hair out to frame her face, along with a few straighter ones drifting out from her bun, held in place by a pale brown ribbon. She wears minimal amounts of makeup such as foundation, eye shadow and lip gloss. After shopping, the girls headed back to the Tower to meet up with Gaara and Kankuro, who were already dressed in yukatas.

<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">Upon arriving, Fumiko is surprised by a cake Gaara made for her, and eats multiple pieces despite the fact that Gaara had accidentally used salt instead of sugar in the recipe, which Gaara doesn't learn about until later. Fumiko excuses herself to redo her makeup and change into her kimono, however, while she is undressed Gaara rushes in to apologize for the cake he had made. Fumiko doesn't care, but he immedietly closes the door and has a heated discussion with Kankuro until Fumiko calls him back in to help tie her obi, which he does with much embarrassment. With her outfit, Fumiko wears her Walnut charm necklace.

<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">The group of them left to head to the festival, and after arriving split up, with Mai leaving to find games and Kankuro and Temari leaving shortly thereafter. Fumiko, accompanied and occasionally aided by Gaara, plays several carnival games, even winning some, including a guessing game and Test your Strength tower. After buying food they sit near the giant temporary dance floor. Fumiko is unable to participate in the faster songs due to her prosthetic, and instead they talk about the festival until a slow song comes up, and she pulls Gaara out onto he floor to dance with her.

<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">During this dance, Fumiko notices and contemplates a butterfly feeling in her stomach, going quiet as she tries to figure out what it was. Gaara asks if she's thinking and she says yes, leaving him curious. Deciding that she wanted to try and kiss him to see if that was what the feeling was, she asks Gaara to lean down, and kisses him. During this moment she realizes that she'd fallen in love with him as her best friend, and afterwards they become a couple. After the dance, a drunken Mai and Kankuro approach them, revealing they'd kissed but laughing when Fumiko asked if they were together as well before wishing them a happy honeymoon and leaving.

<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">After the festival, Fumiko goes on several dates with Gaara, the first of which being horribly formal, with Gaara taking them to a fancy restaurant and both of them wearing nicer clothes. Fumiko comments on this, and laughs when Gaara admits that he'd asked Kankuro for advice. They leave to have dessert at the Tower, and afterwards hang out on multiple occasions just as they always had whenever Gaara had time off, and sometimes even when he didn't, with Fumiko working alongside him in his office when she wasn't working at the Gallery.

<span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">At some point, Mai pulls her away from her Taijutsu training to bring her to her mother. Along the way, Fumiko notices her unusually good mood, to which Mai waves off, saying she had passed a test at school. Before Fumiko can question her further, they reached the house, and just before Mai opened the door, Fumiko notices she has a pierced right ear. Fumiko spends time with her mother for a while and catches up.

Part II
Kazekage Rescue Mission

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Gaara is pulled away for a meeting as Kazekage on the threat of Akatsuki, leaving Fumiko on a balcony of a Sunagakure building. Despite having agreed to hang out afterwards, Gaara later apologizes to Fumiko in his office, still wanting to get a few things done and promising to get home early. Fumiko agrees and goes to her gallery later that night to finish her Bo Staff. At some point during the night she is confronted by Satomi, who warns her about the Akatsuki's coming attack, revealing her part in Akatsuki. However, when the sound of explosions let her know that Sunagakure had already been infiltrated, Satomi claimed it was too late and left via her jutsu. Fumiko climbs the maintenance stairs to the roof of her gallery's building, and discovers the body of a patrol border soldier with his head blown off by Deidara's clay bombs. Horrified, she recalled Satomi's warning. The sand in her Walnut Necklace begins to react, lifting to the air, and in a panic Fumiko makes her way back down to the floor of her gallery and runs outside, only to be nearly hit by Deidara as he flies by on his clay bird, chased by Gaara's sand. Fumiko realized that Gaara was fighting in the air when the sand began to rise around her in sync with her necklace, and runs to the Tower to see what is going on.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Upon arriving, Fumiko quickly climbed to the roof, where she finds Kankuro and several other shinobi watching the unfolding fight in the sky. Gaara eventually captures Deidara in his sand during the battle, and Fumiko remembers her conversation with Jiraiya and Naruto about the Akatsuki, and wonders why they were after Gaara. When Deidara escapes, Baki approaches Kankuro and the other shinobi nearby about Gaara, and she gets upset when Baki mentions evacuating the village due to the possibility of Gaara losing control of Shukaku, but she doesn't say anything, watching as Gaara managed to crush Deidara's arm and keep him on the run, cheering him on with the rest of the villagers and realizing that Gaara was truly needed by other people. Deidara releases one of his most powerful bombs. Fumiko is temporarily blinded by the explosion, but realizes afterward that Gaara had used the sand to protect the village. She watched on anxiously as Gaara moved the shield of sand away from the village and panics when he is captured, demanding a kunai from one of the other ninja and racing downstairs to follow Kankuro on his pursuit of Gaara. She falls down the Tower stairs, spraining her ankle and getting a slight concussion, but continues.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko barely escapes the explosion caused by Sasori's exploding tags, and follows Kankuro as he heads out to find the two Akatsuki despite various shinobi, including Baki, telling her not to. She realized that Gaara's Sand Armor had left a trail, bypassing multiple false trails and leading Kankuro to where the Akatsuki are. After almost a full day, they catch up to Deidara and Sasori and confront them. When Deidara attempted to leave, Fumiko trapped him in her genjutsu, making him believe he had already left while in reality his bird floated midair. While Kankuro battles Sasori, Fumiko observes Deidara's movements within her genjutsu until she learned how he controlled his clay bird, and forces him to move in similar ways to land by manipulating his Yang chakra. However, before she can finish, Kankuro pushes her out of the way of one of Sasori's attacks, breaking the genjutsu. She succeeded in making Deidara crash land, but before she can reach Gaara she is picked up by Sasori's tail. Fumiko fights but is unable to escape, and eventually is hit by Kankuro's poison tinted blades and thrown into the ground, paralyzed. She watched as in despair as Deidara escaped with Gaara, certain they were going to kill him. She sees Kankuro poisoned, and, thinking she was about to die, apologizes to Gaara for failing. However, before Sasori's tail pierces her neck, the sand in her Walnut Charm bursts out, coating her neck with Sand Armor and protecting her from the brunt of the attack. Shocked, Fumiko barely managed to put Sasori's chakra under a genjutsu, making him falsely believe she had died. Sasori leaves. Hours later, after being found by a retrieval squad from Sunagakure, Fumiko passes out.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">When Fumiko wakes up, she briefly doesn't have any memory of what had occurred. However her memory quickly returns, and she leaves to find Kankuro. She cared for Kankuro for several days, assisting Chiyo in her endeavors to find an antidote for Sasori's poison to no avail. It's discovered that Kankuro would die in three days if they couldn't heal him. Eventually, Konoha is contacted, and after hearing this Fumiko believed that Naruto would come. She remains in a state of depression, using Kankuro's condition as a distraction until the Kazekage Retrieval Team arrives with Team Otokaze, whom they had met up with outside the village on Mai's return, and Sakura healed Kankuro, removing a majority of the poison from Kankuro's body and eventually making a cure.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko has a breakdown when her mother attempted to comfort her, realizing that nobody but Gaara had ever hugged her while she was upset. Mai forces her to punch a wall to relieve her anger, and afterwards Fumiko escapes into herself, throwing away her cloak and sitting immobile, certain that Gaara was going to die. Eventually, she forces herself to continue caring for Kankuro, wrapping his wounds and administering painkillers until Sakura can come up with an antidote. Mai leaves after a fight with Kankuro. Later, Kakashi summons his dogs to scent the scrap of fabric Kankuro had managed to cut from Sasori's clothing, and she feels even worse, convinced she had been completely useless in the fight. Uncomforted by Kakashi's assurance that everything would be fine, Fumiko gets sick and throws up, after which she is moved out of the hospital room to the corridor. Later, she watched as Kankuro took Sakura's antidote, but doesn't feel relieved.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">In the night, she is unable to sleep, plagued by another panic attack. When morning came around, she immediately went to find Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi before they left to find Gaara, determined to go with them and be of help to Gaara. However, Sakura turns her down, and Fumiko started to cry, growing hysterical until Naruto promises to find Gaara and bring him home. They leave, but Fumiko once again seeks them out before they can leave, forcing Naruto to promise in so many words to bring Gaara back. He does so, and despite her fear she began to feel hopeful for Gaara's survival, putting her trust in Naruto. They leave, and to distract herself Fumiko does what Sakura had told her to and maintains Gaara's desk as his Second in command, although she doesn't know she holds this position.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Over the next few days, Fumiko became more and more unstable, prone to breakdowns. She often took breaks from working at the Kazekage's Office to sit outside Sunagakure's wall on the giant pile of sand left behind by Gaara's shield, usually at night, to watch the place that Naruto and the others, including Chiyo, had left, waiting for their return. Fumiko also reads many Bingo Books, memorizing the pages of known missing-nin. Fumiko attends a meeting in Gaara's stead over the state of Sunagakure's affairs in Gaara's absence, and becomes angry and horrified when the suggestion comes up to replace Gaara immediately, eventually running out of the room crying after Kankuro attacks the Elder, picking him up by the shirt. She unknowingly passes an upset Mai and proceeds to break into tears, screaming at the walls.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">Fumiko doesn't eat or sleep during Gaara's absence. She has an argument with Yoshiki while working in his office, who was convinced that after so long Gaara was probably already dead. Fumiko gets angry, accusing that if she was this upset while Gaara was still there Yoshiki wouldn't have bothered comforting her. However, in the middle of the argument Fumiko gets a terrible feeling and breaks her paintbrush accidentally. Yoshiki tries to stop her from leaving, and Fumiko threatens to never speak to him again before leaving, knowing that she had felt Gaara die but refusing to believe it. She managed to summon Shaapu, a large bat that disliked her, and after a long argument swore to never summon him again if he helped her find Gaara. Shaapu reluctantly agreed, and along the way they find Sasori's remains in a destroyed cave by a river. Fumiko pulls the swords out of Sasori's body after realizing it was a puppet shell, and continues with Shaapu, who can sense the Kazekage Rescue Team nearby.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">When they reach them, Shaapu disappears, and after realizing that Naruto was crying discovers Gaara's body and is overwhelmed with despair. She falls into a fit by his body when he doesn't reply after telling him she loved him and after failing to heal him with the medical ninjutsu she had learned, crying and accidentally emitting waves of Killing Intent, which Neji notes. She is uncomforted by anyone, as Team Gai and the Kazekage Rescue Team are too uncomfortable to approach her. Fumiko is startled out of her fit when Chiyo kneels beside the body and orders her to move, which Fumiko does, putting Gaara's head in her lap and watching brokenly as Chiyo attempts to bring him back to life. After realizing that Chiyo was using a Puppet Reanimation Jutsu, she regains hope, but it is immediately crushed when Chiyo runs out of chakra. However, Naruto comes to assist her, and when she realized it was going to work, Fumiko adds her own chakra to the technique, praying for Gaara to come back and knowing that she, along with everyone else, needed him. The jutsu is successful and Gaara comes to life, after which Fumiko kisses him happily.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">She notices Gaara's shock at the amount of Sunagakure Shinobi, including Temari and Kankuro, who had arrived while she was mourning his death and smiles, but grows melancholy again as Naruto mistakes Chiyo's death for exhaustion. She sends Chiyo her thanks, and eventually goes with the rest of the party back to the village on foot, trying to help carry Gaara but failing. They are greeted by hundreds of citizens of Suna, and Fumiko reflects on Gaara's role in everyone's lives, but is unable to shake her anxiety and fear. She later attends Chiyo's funeral, bowing to her gravestone and addressing her as Honoured Grandmother Chiyo, using the honorifics Chiyo had often chastised her for forgetting. After this, several of the Konoha ninja leave.

<p style="font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">After they depart, Gaara falls, caught by a sudden fever. Fumiko as well becomes dizzy and eventually passes out. She later wakes up in the hospital, greeted by Mai, who explains that she had had another panic attack and warning her not to overdo it. However, as soon as she leaves Fumiko removed most of her IVs and leaving to go to Gaara's room, which is next door to hers, where Kankuro tells her he had told the doctor to ignore it when her heart monitor flatlined after taking it off.

Fumiko Mitsuwa
Without Shukaku's vitality, Gaara grows violently ill, usually unconscious and sometimes hallucinating. He has several nightmares, but Fumiko realized that they were regular fever-induced nightmares and not cause by Shukaku. She cares for him until she wakes up weeks later, at one point falling ill herself. During this time, Fumiko becomes troubled, still refusing to eat. She wondered briefly on multiple occasions about the intervention of the sand in her walnut charm, certain that Gaara had been too far away and incapacitated to have done it, and that Shukaku hated and wouldn't have helped her. However, she lays her emotions aside to help Gaara. When he finally wakes up Fumiko is struck with a sudden crippling anxiety, and when he reaches to hold her, she runs from the room. For the next several days she avoids him, only talking to Lee and Gaara, who help her with her training. Fumiko obsessively works on her Taijutsu, severely bruising and injuring herself in the process. Gaara catches her once changing out of her ruined clothes in their bedroom, but she leaves before he can say anything. Plagued by fear and various emotions she had never felt before, Fumiko also paints multiple disturbing artworks, including images of Gaara's dead body and Satomi's face, as well as obsessively drawing pictures of the sky. During this time, Mai questions her sister's unusual behavior, and Fumiko admits to feeling guilty, ashamed and afraid. Mai tells her that she had some symptoms of PTSD, but Fumiko refuses to get help from a psychiatrist.

Fumiko is eventually confronted by Gaara, who catches her during her training with Lee. Lee leaves, ad Gaara tries to convince her to calm down, which causes Fumiko to hide from him behind a training post and scream at him, asking what she should do if he died again. Gaara is unable to give her an answer, which angers Fumiko further, until finally Gaara admits that only she would be able to know what to do and that he couldn't promise he wouldn't die again. Fumiko breaks down, hugging him and crying as she realized that he could die again at any time and she needed to spend as much time with him as possible. Gaara brings her home and makes her eat, and they later go to bed, Gaara actually falling asleep without Shukaku's influence. Fumiko has her first nightmare, which includes Gaara's death and Deidara, in which the sand had eaten Gaara's blood and sucked her down. She woke up screaming and is comforted by Gaara, to whom she finally admits to having pursued the Akatsuki, greatly scaring him. Fumiko demands to know what would happen if the Akatsuki returned, and states that he could very well have stayed dead. Gaara, once again unable to answer her questions, merely covers her eyes. This calms her but eventually she pulls his hands away from her face and kisses him to try and make herself feel better. Things quickly escalate, and they end up sleeping together.

My Family
The morning after, Kankuro unknowingly tries to wake Gaara up by knocking for a meeting Gaara had missed. Gaara remains asleep, and Fumiko wears some of Gaara's clothes to answer the door, and after a moment of conversation he realized what had happened, and in his embarrassment, he leaves without ever waking Gaara up for his meeting, saying he'll cover for him. Fumiko, wanting to let Gaara sleep peacefully for the first time in his fifteen years, leaves to make breakfast after leaving a note on the door. After she realized that it was already midday, she makes salted tongue and gizzard for lunch. Gaara comes into the kitchen, and they talk about what had happened. Fumiko, not wanting to hold onto her guilt any longer, tells him that she felt like a coward for saving herself when she should have helped him, to which he sternly replies that she shouldn't ever do something stupid like that again. This eases her conscience, and the two eat, after which Gaara leaves to work. Fumiko, with nothing else to do, makes cupcakes for the workers in the Tower, and cleans the kitchen until Kankuro and Mai show up, talking about what Kankuro had seen that morning. They talk, Mai unsurprised and amused, which further calms Fumiko down.

Later, Mai convinces her to work on Nature Transformation. Fumiko had already figured out that her chakra affinity was for Water, and Mai explains how to visualize it, sidestepping how she knew nature transformation at all by lying that her sensei had taught her. When questioned further, she changed the subject back to jutsu. Fumiko notices and is amused by the fact that Gaara got tired much more easily, and they both begun sleeping more than they had as children. Fumiko doesn't go back to her gallery, usually helping Gaara with his paperwork. After learning that Mai was going on a mission to Kusagakure while repainting Gaara's kanji, she asks Mai to pick her up more supplies for paint while there. Nothing else happens until Mai's return a few weeks later, and she takes the plants Mai had brought back and stores them away.

For a while Fumiko doesn't feel well and thinks that she had the flu, but still occasionally made breakfast for Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Mai. On one such occasion she ponders the changes in her sister's personality since Akatsuki's invasion of Suna. Fumiko begins experimenting with offensive seals meant to injure others, using her vast medical knowledge to create various prototypes. During one such time Gaara catches her, and she sheepishly told him what she was doing. He never pushed the topic again, but Fumiko never felt quite right about the seals' creation, although she continues to make them and bring them with her on various occasions. Fumiko weaves in and out of sickness, usually staying in bed. Fumiko is later seen conversing with Gaara in his office while feeling well, having brought him lunch. They talk about what their lives would have been like had they not meet each other. Fumiko decides that it would have been boring, with more friends and less near-death experiences. Fumiko begins planning for her sixteenth birthday, wondering if she can use the hall the Council used for any of Gaara's parties as Kazekage. She planned to invite her friends from Konoha, and asked Gaara about it. She realized after looking at some of Gaara's paperwork that he was planning to call a Five Kage Summit, and after hearing his reasoning for doing so- that they wouldn't be able to beat Akatsuki on their own, and needed to collaborate with other villages to keep more jinchuuriki from being targeted- she agreed and decides to help, but points out that if they called a Summit, Akatsuki would likely attack it. She also states that it was probably the only option to defeat Akatsuki. She continues to create party invitations, even attempting to invite several ANBU guarding Gaara's office.

Fumiko continues to have nightmares, which had started after Gaara's original death, but despite waking up constantly in the middle of the night several times a week she doesn't let them bother her. She also continues to be sick. Painting in her room, she thinks on Satomi, and decides that she wouldn't be able to forgive the former Akatsuki for betraying her and having a part in Gaara's death. At some point, being convinced by Mai, Fumiko schedules and attends a physical to have the tail-shaped bruises and formerly damaged bones checked on. Everything appears well, but after the medic scans Fumiko's ribcage and stomach with a diagnostic technique, she realizes that Fumiko was pregnant with twins. Fumiko, ecstatic, runs to Gaara and mostly unsuccessfully tries to drag him away to find her mother and Mai until Gaara makes her slow down and tell him what was going on, after which he stays shell-shocked while she later excitedly tells the rest of her family, excluding her father, and Kankuro about her pregnancy. Mai and her mother get excited as well, and they celebrate together. Although she notices Gaara's worry, Fumiko is convinced that they would both be happy with the twins. She is much more upbeat about her illness, which she now discovers was morning sickness. She and her friends are generally excited, although Kankuro is shown on multiple occasions to be extremely embarrassed. Temari teases Gaara, who also becomes easily flustered. Fumiko starts to forget her fear of death, reverting to a state similar to the way she was before the Kazekage Rescue Arc.

She gets nervous again, however, when she realizes that she has to tell her father, who at this point still hated Gaara and her relationship with him. Mai points out that it needed to happen earlier rather than later. Despite Gaara's insistence that it wasn't necessary, Fumiko agrees. Later that day, she and Gaara go to her old home, where her father was home from work on the weekend. Despite her uncertainty, Fumiko managed to tell him the news, and another explosive fight breaks out, ending with Gaara restraining Fukuda by the hand. Fumiko, however, angered by her father's use of the word 'bastard' for her children, confronts him, and accidentally puts him under a genjutsu, forcing him to see memories of him she recalled at the same time, overwhelming him. When she realized what had happened, Fumiko released him, but the accidental attack had made her father angrier. When he moved to grab her, Fumiko reacted the way Lee had taught her to, flipping him over onto his back. Startled and still angry, Fumiko leaves, followed by Gaara, who tells everyone he sees.

Later, Gaara tells her that he had to attend a meeting and tell the Council about her pregnancy but refused to let her come, saying it wasn't necessary. Fumiko disagreed, but eventually accepted it. A few days later during the meeting, Fumiko instead works on her invitations, turning the birthday party into a baby shower, and makes a list of people to invite, also telling a few staff and Baki about her pregnancy but asking them to keep it a secret. She mails the invitations via Asuka to Lee with a letter telling him to give the rest to everyone else. Later Temari comments that when news got out, life for Fumiko would get hectic, also saying that Fumiko would get a lot of presents. Fumiko wakes up from a nightmare sometime later, and to comfort her Gaara gives her a potted cactus that he had cultivated that flowered. Some time later, Fumiko stood with Gaara on a stage as he addressed the citizens of Sunagakure, eventually telling them about the pregnancy. Gaara freezes before he does so, and Fumiko shushes the crowd long enough for him to gather his wits and announce it. After answering several questions, the crowd gets rowdy and Fumiko and Gaara are escorted off stage, after which Fumiko suggests they make a cake.

Fumiko gets letters back from Konoha, but rather than being happy like she expects, they turn out to be disturbing instead, all giving their congratulations but asking for a reschedule. Several of the Konoha ninja allude to Shikamaru, Ino and Choji losing their sensei Asuma at Akatsuki's hand and having killed and decapitated Akatsuki members Kakuzu and Hidan. Included with these is a letter from Shikamaru's father Shikaku, which says much of the same. Fumiko, rocked by the news, laments the loss of life, remembering Chiyo's sacrifice, and regains her fear of Akatsuki, which frightens Gaara, who tries in vain to comfort her. Eventually Fumiko falls asleep, and upon waking up had moved past her emotions once more, although she maintained her anxiety in subtle ways, such as being unable to look at clouds like she used to, developing Nephophobia.

For a while Fumiko is overwhelmed by the response of Sunagakure citizens to the news of her pregnancy, sorting through hundreds of letters that included both positive and negative feedback as well as many presents including diapers, baby food, toys, and maternity clothes. She also reads newspapers about her and Gaara, mostly negative, but doesn't mind. Surprisingly, not much time passes before Fumiko gets a letter from Lee saying that most of the Konoha 11, save for Shino and Kiba and including Sai, were on their way to Suna, after which she frantically and quickly decides on Godparents for her children with Gaara- Neji and Temari for the firstborn, and Lee and Mai for the second. She briefly considers Shikamaru but decides he wouldn't want such a troublesome title. Gaara asks when the letter had been sent, and they realized that the Konoha ninja would arrive in Suna the following day and hurry to make preparations.

Reunited with her Konoha friends at the gates, Fumiko is ecstatic, immediately setting to catch up with Lee and meeting Sai for the first time, who calls her attractive. Fumiko, not realizing that he was calling her the opposite of what he truly saw her as, compliments his ink-styled appearance, saying he looked "cool." Naruto gets excited, teasing Gaara about the pregnancy. All of the friends go to the Tower, where Gaara had arranged for them to stay until the Shower. Later they go out sightseeing, with the Konoha ninja commenting on Suna's barren wasteland. They have dinner together, minus Gaara, and catch up with each other, telling stories of their battles and all of the events each other had missed. Sakura brings wine and Fumiko, a lightweight and having never drank before, immediately gets tipsy. Lee brings her to Gaara. Over the following two weeks, Fumiko hangs out individually with them all, taking Ino and Sakura out shopping, watching Lee's spar with Mai, bringing Choji and Shikamaru out to eat at a restaurant, giving Hinata cactus flowers to press in her books, talking with Neji about her perfected Darning Stitch Chakra technique and pregnancy (with Neji revealing that both twins were boys,) showing Sai her art studio, and working with TenTen on her offensive seals.

Late one night, the Konoha 11 plus Mai, Fumiko, and Kankuro have a Shogi tournament with a new shogi board gifted to Fumiko by Shikamaru for her passed sixteenth birthday. Eventually, with everyone who lost along the way falling asleep or leaving, Shikamaru and Fumiko are left playing for the win. Gaara comes for a short while, and then leaves momentarily to check their store of peaches, which Fumiko was craving. Fumiko says goodbye despite Gaara promising to come back immediately, and caught Shikamaru watching her. She asks what he's thinking about, and the two talk about Gaara's kidnapping, Shikamaru admitting that he had almost joined Team Gai to help but had decided not to get involved and apologizing for the experience. Fumiko likewise apologizes for the loss of Asuma, but thanks him for killing the Akatsuki, which Shikamaru is bewildered by. He admits that he expected her to feel sorry for him, and Fumiko, noticing his use of the Rising Silver strategy, tells him that she had acted worse in her grief and that in comparison, sleeping a little more than usual wasn't so bad. They eventually tie the game, and both go to bed.

Some time later, Fumiko discovers Shikamaru smoking while looking for a game of Go or Shogi. Disturbed, she comes up with the idea of chocolate cigarettes, and makes them in secret and breifly borrowing Shikamaru's cigarette case and laughing when he mistakenly believes she wants to smoke one. She puts the candy inside after throwing away his other cigarettes,

Eventually, the Konoha Ninja ask about her baby shower, admitting that they would have to leave soon. Fumiko decides to hold the party in the large living room of the Kazekage family's floor, dubbed the rec room, and to only invite close friends, including the Konoha nin, Mai's teammates, and some of her old colleagues from the hospital. The party is festive, and Fumiko partakes in multiple party games. Fumiko receives several gifts, including dumbbells and training weights from Lee, baby development books and paint from Sakura, a ramen coupon and nursing bra from Naruto (who got the bra from Jiraiya,) blue baby clothes from Sai, a body pillow and book of seal tactics from TenTen, a box of various blankets and stuffed animals from Neji, a tri-folding picture frame and knitted baby bag from Hinata, miscellaneous baby toys from Shikamaru, baby booties and a restaurant coupon for two from Choji, and a nail kit and set of matching baby clothes from Ino, along with similar gifts from the others. She breaks the news to Lee, Mai, Neji and Temari about their being godparents, and Lee starts to celebrate, scaring away most of Fumiko's non-Konoha shinobi friends. The party eventually ends.

Later, Neji asks Fumiko to go on a walk while she's washing dishes, and she agrees. As they do, they meet a child named Kenzo, who had been trapped in Fumiko's gallery during a sandstorm a year or so prior. His mother eventually drags him away, and they continue. Neji eventually gives her a second gift, meant for her sixteenth birthday: a glass prism, which reflects the Suna light into rainbows. Fumiko thanks him, saying that she could "really use a portable rainbow." Later, the Konoha ninja leave.

Fumiko begins to work on a nursery, pcking out a room with Gaara and setting to painting the walls blue and planning to put murals over top of that. Her happy mood is spoiled once again when news comes from Konoha about the discovery of Jiraiya's body, having been killed by the Peins. Gaara is pulled into a work frenzy, and Fumiko busies herself with the nursery until one day, Gaara storms into the room. Alarmed, she falls but is caught by Gaara's sand. Before she can say anything, Gaara tells her that Deidara had been killed by Sasuke Uchiha.

Fumiko remains rattled for a while after that, contemplating Deidara's death during her nature transformation training in the Sunagakure Water Reservoir days later. She scared herself after accidentally making a cloud of water, but is distracted by Mai, who is half-dressed in her ANBU uniform. They talk for a while, Mai alluding to her coming ANBU mission. Eventually, Fumiko leaves her in the Reservoir, suspecting it to be a Black Ops HQ entrance.

Pain's Assault
Fumiko receives a letter from Choji inviting her to his birthday party in Konoha. Ecstatic, Fumiko decided to go, but Gaara refuses. Offended, Fumiko argues with him, eventually having a fit and storming off to the bathroom and then the kitchen, where Gaara follows. He doesn't argue when she again tells him she was going. Gaara at some point agrees to go with her for the first week, which would miss Chijo's birthday but allow him to visit. They make plans under the guise of a political meeting with the Hokage Tsunade of Konoha. At some point before leaving she makes Choji a present. Now in her second trimester, Fumiko waits for Mai to return so that she and Team Otokaze can be her and Gaara's escorts to Konoha, along with an official caravan and guard of shinobi provided by the Suna Council. They travel for three days before arriving, and are warmly greeted by Team Gai at the Konoha Gates. During their stay, they live at the Akimichi compound at Choji's parents' insistence. Gaara leaves before the party, and Fumiko stays behind with Team Otokaze. Choji's party ends up being a massive all-you-can-eat at his favorite Barbeque restaurant. Team Otokaze joins them, and Fumiko enjoys herself, giving Choji her gift of a butterfly made of cold porcelain and painted with the Akimichi clan's symbol and swirls similar to those on Choji's cheeks.

Afterwards, Fumiko prepares to go home, with Choji, Mai and Ino walking her to the Gates where her caravan would arrive. Choji tells her that her belongings had already been sent up to the checkout area. Ino commented that Shikamaru was too lazy to say goodbye, but Choji defends him, saying that he was working on figuring out Jiraiya's message. As they walk, however, Fumiko hears an explosion nearby. Choji and Ino deny it, and only Mai believes her, remembering Fumiko's trauma involving explosions. Another rocks nearby, but the group realized that it was a summoning technique, revealing a giant centipede. Ino leaves to inform Konoha's Intelligence, and Choji directs Fumiko and Mai in the direction of the Hokage Monument, where there was an evacuation center. They run, but Fumiko's condition slows her down as well as her prosthetic, and falling debris, more centipedes, and other fleeing citizens impede their path. Mai attempts to take them a different way to avoid the chaos, but is forced to run away from the Monument after seeing one of the Peins. Despite this, they are attacked by another giant centipede, and Fumiko attempts to run away at Mai's instruction but is stopped by a member of Akatsuki, later revealed as the Animal Path. Mai is stuck battling the centipede, and the Pein interrogates Fumiko on the whereabouts of Naruto Uzumaki. In her terror, Fumiko recognizes the Rinnegan eyes of the Akatsuki but can't remember what they do, and denies knowing where Naruto is despite knowing about his training at Mount Myoboku. Mai kills the first centipede and tries to help, but the Akatsuki summons another, sending her running to circle back around the buildings.

Fumiko attempts to put the Akatsuki under a Genjutsu, but it fails due to the Path being a corpse. Before she can react again the Pein pins Fumiko against the wall by the throat, cutting off her air and asking again where Naruto was. Fumiko can't answer, and the Pein recognizes her Suna-style clothing, surmising that she had no idea where Naruto was. Fumiko finally remembers what the Rinnegan does and recognizes the Akatsuki as merely a puppet body, remembering Jiraiya's message about the Peins. Overcome by fear for herself and the twins, dying of asphyxiation and delirious with lack of oxygen, she cries out for Gaara to help her, forgetting that he would be all the way back at Suna with no idea what was going on. The Pein snaps her neck, and Fumiko dies.

Her soul left her body, and Fumiko finds herself in the complete darkness of purgatory. Confused, Fumiko briefly sees Karura's image before she's left alone once more. She called out in an attempt to find someone, and is startled when she gets an answer, meeting a younger man with a lantern sitting on a bench. They talk for a while, and Fumiko learned of her own death. She cries, not wanting to leave Gaara, Mai or any of her other friends and family and mourning the supposed loss of her twins, although the man reassures her that they twins, having not appeared, probably hadn't died. He reveals that he was Mai's ANBU teacher in life, and had been killed by Yura during Deidara's invasion of Suna. They talk for a while, exchanging stories. Fumiko's body and the twins are protected by a Katsuyu slug, but eventually the twins die, and Fumiko sees their souls pass through purgatory. When she is brought back to life, she can only remember a few things from the meeting at all, and is intensely confused after waking up in Mai's arms, who had been mourning her and the twins' deaths. Fumiko realized that she had been brought back to life along with her twins.

Immediately, Fumiko, Mai and her team leave via the caravan that had arrived after Naruto's fight with the Peins and Nagato. Mai threatens to kill her if she ever died again, and tells her that she would explain the entire situation to Gaara when they got back to Suna. Fumiko agrees, exhausted, and Mai softens when she laid her head down on her shoulder, petting her hair. To keep her awake in order to keep herself awake because of her concussion, Mai asks Fumiko about the afterlife, and she tells her sister everything she can remember. Mai gets excited, although Fumiko doesn't know why. Eventually the caravan stops as Gaara, Kankuro and Temari appear, Gaara having sensed Fumiko's death. He finds and kisses her, stating that he'd thought she was dead, and then joins them on the caravan. After explaining the entire story to him, with help from Mai during the parts where she'd been dead, Fumiko falls asleep, held by Gaara, for the rest of the trip.

Mai's Taicho
Fumiko wakes up in Sunagakure's hospital, with Gaara in the room. After a quick examination and confirmation that the twins were healthy, Fumiko left. Gaara informs her that Mai had been operated on due to heavy injuries to her internal organs and bones, to which Fumiko jokingly replied that her sister would be back to training in no time. She visits Mai from time to time until she's released, after which Fumiko spent most of her time in the Tower as her pregnancy began to affect her more, keeping herself occupied by painting, training with her Genjutsu or Nature Transformation, cooking and painting the nursery. She also continued to go through the letters sent to her about her pregnancy. Fumiko is often followed closely by Mai during this time, who has multiple broken bones and is off active duty. Later, Fumiko pointed Mai toward the vet she took Asuka to after her sister finds a young grey kitten.

Five Kage Summit
One morning after waking up alone, Fumiko looks for Gaara throughout the Tower, as she had become used to Gaara staying behind to say goodbye in the mornings before work. She eventually found him in the Kazekage Office in a meeting with Kankuro and the Suna Council, and learns that the Raikage had sent Sunagakure as well as the other Hidden Villages a request for a Five Kage Summit, which Gaara had been trying to start since Shukaku's extraction. Fumiko, despite the protests of the Elders, tells him that he had to go. Gaara agrees, and the meeting continues for a while later until eventually being dismissed.

Fumiko pondered the possibilities from the Kage Summit, realizing that anything could happen, from the Hidden Villages allying to a fight breaking out and someone getting killed. Determined not to be separated from Gaara again and wanting to be at his side to help him, Fumiko decides that she would go with Gaara to the Summit. Later that day, while packing for the trip, she is found by Gaara. Expecting an argument, Fumiko starts to speak, only to be cut off as Gaara admits to knowing that she would want to go and agreeing to let her. Fumiko, uncertain, wonders why this is, to which Gaara replies that it isn't in her nature to stay behind. Fumiko wondered if her death had changed something in Gaara, but is excited for the trip.

Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, and Fumiko set out with Team Otokaze as their escort, Mai having finally been placed back on active duty and freed of her cast and foot boot. Upon hearing Kankuro's question about the other Kage, Fumiko brightly commented that they were probably really nice, like Gaara. They travel by foot for a while, Fumiko admiring the scenery, including swamps and shores, with Gaara helping her. They eventually get on a boat on which they travel for several days, and Fumiko is ecstatic during this time, having never been on a boat before. She made fast friends with several of the crew and the boat captain, being taught several sea shantiesand techniques to caring for the boat. At night she stargazes with Gaara. Upon reaching the Land of Iron, Fumiko became even more excited after seeing snow for the first time, ignoring her inadequate clothing and the cold. The party continues to travel, and Fumiko, despite nearly developing hypothermia, is the entertainer of the group, playing in the snow and keeping up the spirits of the other shinobi. When they finally reached the Land of Iron's Summit Rendezvous, Fumiko happily greeted Mifune before going inside, eating, and immediately falling asleep under Gaara's watchful eye.

When the Five Kage Summit takes place, Fumiko is not allowed in the Summit room, and instead stays several floors down with Team Otokaze. Fumiko becomes bored and curious after Mai sends Eishi and Shiragiku to scout the massive floor's many hallways, questioning a nearby samurai about his life. She isn't offended when he answers bluntly, knowing that it was probably a secret.

When the samurai gets a message from Mifune's Head of Security about Sasuke's arrival, Mai attempted to make her run, however the samurai do not allow them to do so. After hearing a commotion outside the main doors of the floor from the other samurai sent out to apprehend Sasuke, however, the last of the remaining samurai leave. Mai tries to run again, but Fumiko, worried about the Samurai and Eishi and Shiragiku, hesitated long enough for Sasuke and two other shinobi to enter the room after killing most of the samurai. Sasuke recognizes her from the Chuunin exams and paused. Fumiko recognizes Suigetsu from the pages of Bingo Books she had studied and informs Mai. Eventually she asked Sasuke if he had ever eaten the food she had left him while he had been in the hospital after the preliminaries, and Sasuke orders Suigetsu and Juugo to attack. Immediately, Mai engages with Juugo and Suigetsu, both of whom Fumiko disorients with a Genjutsu until Sasuke, who had immediately broken free of the attack with his sharingan, confronts her. He guesses that Gaara is te father of her child after commenting on her pregnancy, and Fumiko asks why he was after Danzo, who had been made temporary Hokage in Tsunade's place until she woke from her coma, after which he attacked. Fumiko is easily beaten despite the use of her staff and medical seals and thrown back. Mai tried to help her, but Sasuke easily defeats her with his Tsukuyomi, commenting on and allegedly revealing that Mai had a Sharingan with two tomoe, and throwing her into a wall before knocking Fumiko out with a Genjutsu.

Fumiko doesn't wake up until much later, and when she did found herself with an unconscious Mai in a protective shell of sand. Chakra exhausted from Sasuke's attack, she barely managed to stay conscious, listening through the thin wall of sand as a man who identifies himself as Madara explains his Eye of the Moon Plan and intent to capture both Killer B and Naruto for their Tailed Beasts. Gaara and the other Kage refuse to hand the jinchuuriki over, and Fumiko listens on with horror as Madara declares war on shinobikind.

Later, after being freed from the sand shell by Gaara, the remainder of Team Otokaze, Kankuro, Temari, Mai, and herself immediately pack up and leave, concerned about Mai, who hadn't woken up, or shown signs of doing so. Fumiko is much more subdued on the trip by, worrying incessantly over Mai and Madara's declaration of war. While traveling, she sensed Naruto's chakra at a nearby inn, and the party goes to warn Naruto of the danger, and to see if Sakura was with him to help Mai's mental trauma from the Tsukuyomi. She isn't, and so the Sand Siblings relay the events of the Kage Summit to Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai, who decide to act as though Kakashi had replaced Danzo as Hokage. Fumiko, noticing Naruto's sadness, laments on the unfairness of him being unable to achieve both his dream of becoming Hokage and have Sasuke as his best friend. Eventually, they leave, traveling back to Suna. Upon arriving, Fumiko immediately wrote a letter to Sakura, and she replies back at once and arrives within days. Fumiko is relieved when Mai wakes up, hugging her despite her having attacked TenTen, who had come with Sakura, upon awakening.

Beginning
War preparations begin, and Fumiko helped Gaara with the processing of requests, comments and suggestions for the Allied Shinobi Forces by other shinobi, mainly the other four Kage. At some point, she along with Gaara are seen sitting on the Sunagakure's border wall eating ice cream and watching Mai as she practiced her Fire Release Techniques. One morning, she wakes up to find that Gaara was still sleeping, and enjoys the moment for a while before waking him up. The same afternoon, she attends a meeting with the Suna Council with Gaara about the implemation of the Fourth Shinobi World War. It goes fairly well, and halfway through they receive a letter from the Wind Daimyo stating that the war would receive funds.

Fumiko gets violently sick again for the rest of presumably the next day, and Gaara takes off part of the day from work to be with her. That same night, she wakes up, having gone into labor, and Gaara rushes her to the hospital, where she gives birth prematurely at twenty four weeks to twins Hajime and Hiroki. Afterwards, she regained enough awarenes to interact with her family as they held the infants. She and Gaara stayed in the hospital for several weeks until Hajime and Hiroki were released to go home with them to the Tower, learning how to care for and feed them. At some point, Fumiko's father attempted to see Fumiko and the infants, but Fumiko listened from the door as Gaara sent him away. When they were brought to the Tower, the twins stayed in the nursery room. However, they were eventually moved to Fumiko and Gaara's room after inscessantly waking up everyone on the floor in the time it took to get from one room to the other, Gaara bringing their crib next to their bed.

One morning while Fumiko cares for the twins, she thought about the declaration of war and realized what she had to lose. Fumiko develops a will to fight after realizing that Madara was targeting life itself, and began to cry. Later, she trains with Temari and Mai to get back into shape and completes her Water Release training, after which Mai suggested learning Earth Release. She doesn't tell Gaara about her training although she suspects he knows.

Bonds
Fumiko writes letters to Lee, inviting him along with Neji to Suna to see the infants. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;">She spends her time caring for the twins and for Gaara, continuing to help him at his desk and bringing him food. Fumiko attempted to tell him her intention to fight in the Allied Shinobi a Forces, but never does. One day while preparing to give the twins a bath, Lee bursts into her room, followed by Neji, Shikamaru and Temari, who had escorted them upstairs. Fumiko is ecstatic to see her friends, and they are equally excited to see both her and the twins, Lee insisting on holding them. Shikamaru leaves with Temari to talk to Gaara about war strategies. The Konoha ninja only visit for a few days before leaving.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;">After bidding them goodbye, Fumiko returns to the Tower, where the receptionist on the first floor warned her that a woman had been asking after her before disappearing in an ash-like technique. After confirming Gaara and the twins were okay and in the office and that the woman was nowhere to be found, Fumiko thanks her and heads upstairs. When she reached her floor, she suddenly remembered Satomi and her Black Ash Transfer Technique, but before she can find Gaara she hears a noise from the nursery and finds Satomi. Shocked, Fumiko doesn't run until Satomi speaks, awkwardly congratulating her on the twins, after which Fumiko slams the door and ran for the stairs, but Satomi uses her jutsu to stop her. Fumiko, terrified that another attack was coming, doesn't understand when Satomi explains that she wasn't with Akatsuki anymore, but before the conversation can continue Gaara, having sensed Satomi's chakra and Fumiko's distress, shows up, and Satomi flees when he attacked. When Gaara sets up a stayover that night, Fumiko knows that it was because Satomi made him nervous, but still enjoyed herself.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;">After waking up from another nightmare, Fumiko tells Gaara about wanting to be a part of the Allied Forces and fight in the war. He objects, and an argument breaks out between the two, with Gaara accusing her of not taking death seriously, and Fumiko arguing that he didn't trust enough. Despite Gaara asking her not to leave the twins behind, Fumiko stays adamant, and eventually Gaara stops fighting, although he states that he didn't think he was wrong to try and stop her. Fumiko agreed, saying they were both right, and both wrong. Although Gaara never agreed to let her come, Fumiko lets the argument go.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;">Later, Fumiko designed and began to create a seal glove, stained and eventually embroidered with storage seals for elements and weapons. She mixed her own blood into the ink used to dye the embroidery thread, and after bandaging her arm, goes to hold the twins, who had started to cry. As she made to leave the nursery, which she had used to create an expanded seal, she finds a note on the floor from Satomi, who then proceeded to teleport into the nursery. Before long, however, Mai intervenes, having been looking for Fumiko's sealing ink, and Satomi leaves once more. The next morning, while making breakfast, Fumiko talks to Mai, and notices her discomfort. Fumiko, thinking it has to do with the Tsukuyomi she had endured and wanting to know more about the Sharingan, called her away after eating to talk. Mai does reluctantly, and immediately apologizes for having the sharingan and keeping it a secret. When probed further by a concerned Fumiko, Mai admits to hating bloodlines, thinking they gave an unfair, unearned advantage, and to hating the Uchiha for the blood attached to their name. Fumiko attempts to convince her that she was nothing like Sasuke, even going so far as to look at her sharingan eyes and discover their difference in color (the tomoe were more brown than black) however Mai doesn't believe her. Fumiko, realizing that a sharingan only developed with extreme mental trauma, and Mai finally reveals that the person Fumikov aguely remembered from Purgatory had been her deceased ANBU sensei. Upon hearing about his death, Mai had activated her sharingan despite the thin bloodline, and further matured it during the Invasion of Pein after thinking that she was going to die along with Fumiko. Mai began to have a breakdown after saying this, further admitting to the murders she'd commited as an ANBU, and Fumiko, saddened by this, hugs her and tells her she didn't have to talk about it. When Mai admits to thinking she was going insane, Fumiko comforts her, saying that the rest of the world was going insane, too.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;">Gaara later gives her her Genin registration and Ninja Registration codes, which Fumiko is extremely grateful for. Later Fumiko is called from her room while painting to talk to Baki, who asked her to walk with him to a balcony overlooking Suna. Here Baki reveals that as Gaara's technical Second in command, she can technically fight as a Genin without being promoted to Chuunin. He gives her a forehead protector engraved with the kanji for "Shinobi". Afterwards, Fumiko is saddened, unsure whether or not she really wanted to fight anyone, but still determined to protect her family and friends.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
The final preparations for the war are being made. Fumiko signs up for the Second Division and continued to train with her Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu in preparation. She comforts Gaara, who is saddened by her involvement, and spends time with the twins and her family. Although she spends less time helping Gaara, she still does so on some occasions. On one such time, Gaara muses about making Shikamaru his Fourth Division proxy, and later admits that Naruto wouldn't be a part of the war.

Fumiko watches Gaara with his occasional training on his days off as well, beginning to take Hajime and Hiroki, at this point almost five months old, outside with her. She delivers commissioned paintings that she had abandoned after Deidara's invasion of Suna and later finished to various people with the help of Temari, and continues to finish her seals. Fumiko and Gaara talk about who to leave the twins with, and Fumiko decides she wanted to try and leave them in her mother's care. Gaara disagrees, and they compromise, saying that if her father seemed aggressive in any way, they would find someone else.

When Fumiko tries to travel home to ask her parents about it, she comes across Yoshiki, whom she hadn't seen since their fight during Gaara's absence. Although initially awkward and apologetic, the mood quickly changes when Yoshiki attempted to kiss her, despite the fact that she had both Hajime and Hiroki with her. Fumiko, realizing that Yoshiki had had a crush on her their entire childhood, at first grows angry but eventually calms down. Yoshiki asked her if he had ever had a chance, and she tells him no, and offers to show him why. Yoshiki agrees, and Fumiko uses her Sympathetic Illusion Technique to show him her life growing up with Gaara. Afterwards, he admitted that he didn't think he'd ever felt that way about her, and she leaves, going back to the Tower, unwilling to fight with her father after the experience, feeling betrayed and guilty. That night, she asks Gaara what he would think if she kissed someone else, and he immediately became protective, asking who had hurt her. Fumiko tells him and then stopped him from going after Yoshiki, telling him that she needed him there. Eventually Gaara calmed down, and she went to sleep.

The next day, Fumiko, after studying the bat summoning contract and discovering extra seals, successfully Reverse-summons herself to the bat Land, which Shaapu later refers to as the "Grotto of Darkness", a large grotto cave with an underground lake and zero visibility. Here she asks the bats for their help, explaining about Madara and the Akatsuki's stealing of jinchuuriki. Fumiko meets an Elder of the bats, Sageyoku, and a few others. The other bats presumeably agree to help, although this is not shown.

Fumiko, along with Mai and Temari, finds and buys several shinobi clothing articles such as flak jackets, pants, fishnet clothing, and a new archer's sheath. Despite Temari and Mai arguing over what she should get, Fumiko eventually picks her own out of piles amassed by the two. During this time, Fumiko is reminded of shopping with them for the Sunagakure Founders Festivals they had gone to. This steels her resolve, reiterating the life and freedom she had and wanted to protect.

Later, Fumiko goes to her old home, where she is icily greeted by her father. Undeterred, Fumiko continues inside to her mother. Fumiko admits that she was going to war, alarming her mother, but gives her reasons for doing so, stating that she wanted to protect them. She asks her mother to take care of the twins alone at the Tower, enraging her father, who compares her and Gaara to Rasa for leaving her children alone to become monsters. This makes Fumiko angry, but instead she speaks only to her mother, stating that as a child her father had made her feel unloved and that she didn't want that for her children. Eventually Hanako agrees, and later temporarily moves into the Tower. Before she does, however, Gaara and Fumiko cease working and preparing along with Mai to an extent to spend time only together and with the twins before the war. When it finally comes time for them to leave, Fumiko leaves them in the care of her mother, who states that she would be strong during the fighting. Fumiko thinks back to how weak she had been as a child, and promises herself that she would be strong at least once.

Finally leaving, Fumiko, the former Sand Siblings, and Team Otokaze travel to Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning, along with every remaining Sunagakure Shinobi who was a part of the Allied Forces. They travel for several days, and Fumiko attempts to keep the mood up by being upbeat and singing several of the sea shanties she had learned during the Five Kage Summit Arc. Later, she conversed with Mai alone over a campfire one night, with Mai commenting on the dying resolve of the Allied Forces. Fumiko disagrees, stating that Gaara and the other Division Leaders would inspire them once they arrived at Kumo.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
After arriving in Kumo, they wait a day for any stragglers to arrive, staying in Kumogakure's Kage Tower. Then the Division Leaders prepare to give speeches concerning their individual Divisions, and Fumiko, after making sure that Gaara knew all of the things he was supposed to talk about, wishes him good luck, along with Kakashi. Mai enters the room, telling Fumiko that they had to join their divisions. Fumiko kisses Gaara goodbye and, after wishing them all good luck once again, leaves. She says goodbye to Mai before joining the Second division and finding Hinata, Neji, Karuiand Kurotsuchi. They talk for a while until several fights break out, which Gaara eventually breaks up with sand. <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Meiryo,'HelveticaNeue',Helvetica,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">He gives a motivating speech, explaining to the joined forces that he himself was a product of the hatred between the villages and yet his fellow jinchūriki, Naruto, bore no ill will towards him and others. He states that they were all united by the pain Akatsuki had caused them, and that they are no longer merely of several villages, but that they were all "Shinobi". After the speech, shinobi who had fought together apologized and were united.

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Meiryo,'HelveticaNeue',Helvetica,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">They spend one final night in Kumogakure before heading out to their assigned destinations. Fumiko is at first unable to comprehend the magnitude of the quickly coming war, but accepts it. Later she wakes up from a nightmare, and together she and Gaara make a blanket fort for a final stayover. Mai comes, similarly unable to sleep, and they all stay together. Fumiko admits to Gaara that she was scared and didn't want to die, and Gaara agrees, making Fumiko feel as though it was okay to be afraid and letting her sleep. When she wakes up the next day, she discovered that Mai had left in the night, going to Kankuro's room to sharpen her tanto blades. Fumiko prepares to leave, dressing up in her shinobi attire. She also gives Gaara a frienship bracelet made with woven leather and a blue chakra stone holding a portion of her own chakra, and having Gaara put a portion of his own into an identical bracelet with a slightly different colored teal stone for herself. Upon hearing Gaara ask if she was ready, Fumiko, although still scared, says she is.

Trivia

 * The name "Fumiko" literally means "Child of Abundant Beauty" (富美子), while "Mitsuwa" ( 三和) spelled with the kanji for 'three' and 'harmony', has no clear meaning.
 * According to the databook:
 * Fumiko's hobbies are painting, baking, and hanging out with her best friend Gaara.
 * Fumiko's favorite foods are anything sweet, such as sugar, while her least favorite are things that are bitter, such as coffee or dandelion greens.
 * Fumiko doesn't want to fight anyone.
 * Fumiko has completed 0 official missions in total.
 * Fumiko's favorite words in the first and second databooks are "Sugar" (糖, satou), "Love" (愛, ai) and "Happiness" (幸, arashi) and in the third also include "Family" (家族, kazoku) and "Strength" (力, chikara).
 * In part I, Fumiko's fingernails are painted a different color every time she's shown, except for in the Forest of Death, during the second test of the Chunin Exams.
 * Up until the Kazekage Rescue Arc and losing her waist satchel, Fumiko carries around a jar or plastic soda bottle of sugar and is seen eating it constantly.
 * Fumiko has a pet messenger hawk named Asuka that also runs espionage missions for Sunagakure.
 * When referring to Naruto, Fumiko calls him "Uzumaki Naruto". She doesn't appear to use the surname of any of her other friends. This habit started because she thought his name was fun to say.
 * The only person to whom Fumiko refers to with honorifics is Chiyo, whom she calls Honorable Grandmother Chiyo (Chiyo-baa-sama) after the Elder's death.
 * Fumiko paints Gaara's ai kanji scar red with homemade paint intended to stay on skin for weeks at a time. This started when Gaara became self-conscious about the mark.
 * In her original conception, Fumiko was meant to be several years younger and Sasuke's younger sister, and to have a paternal relationship with Gaara, but her creator, Pikapixie, changed the designs at the last minute before writing Timeline of Forever to make her a citizen of Sunagakure and Gaara's age.

Quotes

 * (to Gaara) "We could be friends, if that's okay with you."
 * (to Mai) "Bitter people are bitter, Mai. You don't have to let them bother you."
 * (to Gaara) "Love you."
 * (to Gaara) "How about instead of a sleepover, we call it a stayover?"
 * (to Neji) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Is a flower really better than a weed?" 
 * (to Temari) "I'm not leaving without Gaara!"
 * (to Gaara) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"And best friends... hide things. Blur things. Sugarcoat a lot of stuff. But... Best friends don't lie." 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara about Kimimaro's death) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Maybe... this can last forever. Instead of Orochimaru, maybe this can last forever. Ne, Gaara?" 
 * (to Gaara) "Someday, Gaara, when people aren't threats and pain isn't destruction... you'll trust them with your heart."
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Lee)  "Hmm... My nindo... My way of life... I guess... to be happy. And to make other people happy. Yes."
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"I wasn't sure at first, if that was going to work. But I guess... That I just wanted to kiss you!" 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara about Rasa) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"You're the Kazekage now. Not the Fourth Kazekage. The Fifth. People will call you that long after we're both gone. 'The Fifth was like this', 'The Fifth did this'. They might not know you as Gaara, but they won't compare you to him." 
 * (to Baki) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"I'm going to get Gaara back!" 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Naruto about Gaara) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto! Wait! . . . Please, bring him back. Promise you will." 
 * (to Shaapu) "Shut up, you stupid bat! <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">You have no idea <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">what I need! You don't know anything!"
 * (to Gaara's body) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Gaara. Gaara. Gaara. Gaara. <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">Listen to me. Listen to me. Hey… Gaara... Love you. [...] <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">C-… C'mon, Gaara. Say it back. 'You too'… c'mon. Gaara?" 
 * (to Gaara) "What am I supposed to do if you die again?!"
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"How do you not know? <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">You're a shinobi! You're supposed to know everything! <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">I don't know if you'll die again and I don't want to not know what to do!" 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Fukuda) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Protect me from him? From Gaara? <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">Gaara's only protecting me from you!"
 * (to Temari, about being stuck in the Tower) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Gaara's happy, so I'm happy. And that makes him happy, which I love. So we're good." 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Shikamaru) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"Hey, I was worse. I threw crumpled paper balls at the advisers. Or plates, if they tried to make me eat. Sleeping a little more really isn't all that bad, in comparison." 
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara) "You know, Gaara... You're a really good daddy."
 * <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">(to Gaara about the war) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"And you don't trust people enough, Gaara! You don't trust me not to die!" 
 * (to Hajime and Hiroki) <span style="font-family:Verdana,Verdana,Arial;">"You know I love you. I love you both. So, so much. Know that. Please... know that." 

Reference
<li style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Timeline of Forever</li></li></li></li> <li style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Between Love and Everything Else</li></li></li></li> <li style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Sands of Time</li></li></li></li> <li style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">DeviantArt Account of author</li></li></li></li>