Kazekage...Kidnapped?! The race against time

"The antidote is ready. It's rushed, but it should work." Sakura said a few hours later as she came back to the medical bay,

"Do it." Gaara said, Sakura nodded, injecting the serum into the man, soon enough, the poision was all but eradicated,

"If we're dealing with Sasori of the red sand, I'd like to accompany." Chiyo said

"Of course." Gaara said the jonin mentioning having grabbed a piece of cloth belonging to one of the Akatsuki members, Kakashi summoning his hounds having them track it, Team 7, Chiyo, and Gaara setting out to take down the Akatsuki, Temari and Kankuro staying behind to protect the village,

"It's near the land of rivers." Pakkun said and Kakashi nodded, sending the pug after Gai's team next

"Shouldn't Natsuko be able to track the chakra from the clone she'd sent?" Gaara asked and Kakashi shook his head,

"Why are you so insistent on helping? You aren't from the sand" Chiyo said and Kakashi glanced over

"Maybe not, but Naruto, Lady Natsuko, and Gaara, are all jinchuriki, they're able to sympathize and understand their pain far better than we could. After all, the treatment of jinchuriki is the same in

all villages." Kakashi said, as the two aforementioned jumped ahead, intent on stopping this before

it goes too far.

"So, these are the guys that've gone after you and Natsuko?" Sakura said and Naruto tsked, as Chiyo went into the story of tailed beasts however, he and Gaara became sullen, having already known the ending to the not-so-happy story.

"In order to cease the fighting between the village, and also balance out the power, the vessels were chosen to house the tailed beasts, these vessels, are called jinchuriki. This was because no-body could control the beasts. I don't know the Akatsuki's intentions, but that power must be kept from their hands." Chiyo said

"Agreed." Gaara said, when they got about halfway towards the land of rivers, Itachi jumped down in front of them.

"Elder brother." Sasuke said preparing to fight if need be,

"An enemy?" Chiyo said looking at the robe

"No, our inside guy." Kakashi said quietly as Itachi nodded

"I don't have long. The sealing of the piece of tailed beast chakra left inside the clone, is almost complete, there is a five tag sealing barrier around the perimeter protecting the base. Remove all five tags at once to enter, the tags are also spread out, 500m from eachother, once the tags around the base is removed there is a failsafe in place. Now. I was sent here to delay you reaching the fort." Itachi said widening his stance

"Right. Naruto, Sasuke, back me up on this, Sai, Sakura, your on standby for now." Kakashi said before he ran forwards, Going head to head with Itachi

"I'm not actually here, I'm still in the den sealing. The chakra inside the gedo statue." Itachi said, Gai's team being stopped by Kisame, who granted and gloated, about meeting Gai before, despite the man having no memory of the incident. The water they were standing on was of Kisame's own design. The four of them went head to head, Gai trying to use Samehada only to end up with his palms sliced through,

"Let's go, Natsuko's clone isn't gonna last forever." Naruto said once Itachi's clone was defeated,

"Our speed has slowed since the message we received. We need to take a break Naruto." Kakashi said,

"I agree, we need to take a small break, then we can continue. I'm sure Natsuko would agree as well, don't you think, Naruto." Gaara said and Naruto looked over before looking away again,

"Yeah… okay, alright." Naruto said stopping, Everyone looking at Gaara, for whatever reason, when he or Natsuko asked Naruto something, he would usually oblige, especially when Natsuko was mentioned.

the next day they made it to the aforementioned goal right behind team gai, who nodded as they saw them.

"You're late again Kakashi." Gai said and Kakashi hummed,

"Sorry, We've got a message. Neji can you use your byakugan to locate the four other tags, they should be 500m away from eachother, inorder to enter the cave. They have a fail safe if they're removed just take caution." Kakashi said and Neji nodded, moving his head around a moment,

"I've located them, one near a river, on the back of a tree, on a cliffside, and in the middle of a meadow." He said looking around with his byakugan, Gai pulled out four microphone sets,

"My teams the fastest, so we'll handle the tags." Gai said and Kakashi nodded,

"What frequency?" He asked, adjusting his microphone set accordingly, team Gai doing the same,

"ALRIGHT, TESTING DO YOU READ ME!" Lee said into the microphone, everyone with the microphones seemed to dance on the water as they winced, Gaara, Sakura, Sai, Naruto, and Chiyo winced in

sympathy

"Eyiioww" Gai said as Lee's voice seemed to bounce off of the walls of his skull, his microphone loud

enough to be heard over an entire group of people. Tenten grabbed her ears as she winced, Neji doing

a similar action,

"Lee! Your microphones too louddd" Tenten said as she came closer

"MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES!" Lee said again bowing, before he adjusted his microphone, causing everyone to spazz out once more, as his voice bounced around their heads, Lee looking up from his bow

"Leee…. Adjust, your microphone." Gai said pointing to the dial on his neck, which controlled microphone volume. Lee's cheeks dusting a light red as he did so,

"I am sorry." he said his microphone readjusted properly and didn't send people into a frenzy. The group sighing, Gai putting his hand out, joined by Lee, and eventually TenTen with some convincing, Gai turning towards Neji who looked horrified, and absolutely not wanting to take part in the… group… cheer. Gai humming continuously, and more harshly Neji eventually putting his hand on.

"Onward with the power of youth. Atta!" Gai said, Tenten and Neji looking completely defeated as they remained silent throughout the cheer.

"Yeah!" Lee said enthusiastically

"Atta!" Gai repeated, moving the hands down

"Yeah!" Lee responded once again

"And once more for good luck! Atta!" Gai said

"Yeah!" Lee said

"Now! Scatter!" Gai said and the team split up, taking off towards the tags,

"Hey we should do that, eh, ehhh" Naruto said and Gaara looked over

"Not a chance." Sai said grinning, as Naruto looked at him

"No way looser." Sasuke said

"Nope." Sakura said and Naruto hung his head,

"Gaaaraaa?" He said and Gaara crossed his arms, before sighing and putting his arm out,

"Gaara!! Don't encourage him!" Sakura said as Naruto cheered, Gaara laughing as he shook his head, after Naruto got Gaara to do the cheer with him, which Gaara only agreed to since it was Naruto. Gaara looked over towards the group,

"It took us longer to get here than I was anticipating, we should discuss a plan of attack for when we get inside." Gaara said, Sasuke, Sai, and Chiyo nodded, Naruto nodding along as well,

"Just leave Deidara to me. Natsuko said he uses earth release, right, so my lightning should handle him." Sasuke said holding up his hand, and Gaara nodded,

"You shouldn't take any of them on alone, they are formidable opponents. Sai, Sakura, Lady Chiyo, I'll leave Sasori of the red sand… to you three. Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, we're going after Deidara." Gaara said and Kakashi jumped down from the rock, which'd started to move, Kakashi and team gai pulling the tags off. Landing in front of the group who stand at attention, ready to move.

Deidara was sitting overtop the clone, without a care in the world, before it poofed from existence, causing him to fall to the rocky ground. Yelling in surprise, Deidara turned towards the entrance of the cave where Gaara stood alongside the leaf shinobi,

"Looking for someone?" Gaara said, and Deidara tsked,

"You'll appreciate my art!" Deidara said as he rushed towards the door, Gaara using sand to lift Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi, into the air, standing on his sand platform he followed Deidara out of the cave. Sasori still sitting in his puppet,

"That one that was with you last time! She put me under a genjutsu, damnit!" Deidara yelled as Kakashi used Kamui on his other arm, Sasuke jumping off of the sand

"Naruto! Do it now!" Sasuke said and Naruto nodded, jumping up into the air with a shadowclone,

creating a rasengan, before using a small amount of windstyle, to boost Naruto's and Sasuke's speed, sending them through the bird which thanks to Sasuke's Chidori and Naruto's Rasengan, it broke

Apart like confetti. Deidara being caught by Sasuke, who jumped into the air, before landing on the forest floor, sliding back a moment, Naruto cheering a moment before seeming to realize there was nothing under his feet, and he was falling quickly to the ground that was several Meters below his feet. Waving his arms quickly

"Gaara! Gaara, Gaara, Gaara, sand! Please sand! Sannnd" Naruto said and Gaara huffed amused before creating a platform that caught Naruto, who groaned as he hit the sand face first. Putting up a thumbs up

"Thank you" He said before standing back up. Deidara grunting

"Just wait until you see my ultimate art." Deidara said , going for the clay on his side with his mouth, before Gaara held up the pouch that had been on his waist

"Is this yours?" He asked, as he swung the satchel full of clay, using sand

"Hey! Give that back! That's not yours!" Deidara said,

"I think we can call this mission a success." Gaara said as they stood in the middle of a field, Deidara presumably having blown himself to bits, being stopped by Sasuke's chidori Kakashi using Kamui to transport the explosion. The group sitting on the forest ground a moment, Chiyo having started breathing harder,

"Granny Chiyo, are you okay?" Naruto said and Chiyo looked over

"I'll be fine, boy. Don't worry about this bag of bones. I'm not dead yet." She said laughing before looking seriously at Gaara and Naruto.

"I'm happy, someone like you has shown up in the Shinobi, created by we foolish old folk. Everything I've done in my life, has been one mistake after another. But perhaps, I finally did something right. The sand and the Leaf… *looking at Gaara, before looking at Naruto, then finally, the sky* Their future will be much different than back in my day. That strange power Kakashi mentioned you having, Naruto. That power, will have a strong influence on the future. Become a Hokage like none before you. And Gaara, you're already a far… better Kazekage, than those that came before… This old woman. Has no regrets." Chiyo said softly,

"So you guys really can't stay for a bit, I mean, should you even be up?" Temari said concerned as the leaf groups stood in the office,

"If they were able to bypass your security, I worry for the leafs security, and I want to give my report to Lady Natsuko as soon as possible, besides, I'll be alright, I have comrades I can trust to get me home." Kakashi said as he leaned on Gai

"You look terrible sensei." Sasuke said

"I agree. Is leaving now absolutely necessary if the mission's complete." Sai said, and Kakashi looked at the two,

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" He said and Sai looked over

"I wasn't trying to give you a vote of confidence?" He said Kankuro laughing alongside Temari and Naruto,

"Right, well, I guess this is where friends shake hands or something, but I've never really been…" Naruto started before Gaara held out his hand, moving his sand around Naruto's right arm, until their hands met,

"Give my best to Natsuko, have a safe journey back to the Leaf." Gaara said and Naruto nodded, grinning wide, as his eyes shut huh, they smile the same… Kankuro said looking at Naruto,

"Of course you know." he said