The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

They survived the Mist, but now the team of rag tag hero students, ninjas and whatever the 3 adults are is facing a new challenge, and this one will test all of their courage to the breaking point...
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Gaara's peace cohort, now known as Team Zoe, are making their way to Iwakagure, or Stone Village.

After the success of their last Village visit, the team (composed now of the Sand Siblings, the DJs, Team 10, Team 7 including Sai, Hinata Hyuga, Tenten. And the heroes Todoroki, Yaoyorozo, Bakugo,and Camie, the villain Dabi, and adding Hanabi Hyuga [and Rock Lee]) is in a good mood, but, Stone Village throws them a lot of unexpected curve balls, and throws some other things at them also.

While things heat up on the political front, the team's internal relationships continue to either fray, or deepen as they spend more time together.

Sasuke is still there, but his war with himself gets only more and more intense as he continues to consider if his place is even with Team Zoe, or if he should strike out alone again.
And is his bond with Naruto and Sakura changing?

Shine and Wally sprinkle all this with a healthy dose of teaching and funny anecdotes as they try to keep a group of 20 teenagers from tearing each other, and the shinobi villages, apart.

Things have never been this bleak for Gaara's mission, will he end up having to go home in disgrace? Or will he find a way to persevere?

[This story serves as a SOL/action style exploration of the events that happen between Naruto and Boruto. All ships are canon or unconfirmed off canon. The story follows the "Way Into Mist Village" and "New Way of Ninja" stories on my profile, and is before the "Way Above Cloud Village" one. All stories in the saga can be read separately, but will make more sense if you go in order. ]
Cover art by Julianna Gardner