The Kazekage... KIDNAPPED Time is of the Essence

"Alright, team four here is your missio--" Tsunade started before Sakura and Sai ran into the office, frantic,

"Milady! urgent message from the sand!" She said

"Gaara's been kidnapped." Sai continued, and Tsunade's eyes narrowed,

"Alright. Team four, team seven, these two teams will head to the sand immediately and provide aid. Go now!" She said and the groups nodded,

"We'll head out now, you guys go get Kakashi sensei and catch up with us, time is of the essence." Kohana said and Sakura nodded

"Right, we'll catch up" She said before the splintered off

"We need to go fast enough to get to the sand village but allow enough for team 7 to catch up, you understand Katsuo." Kohana said the group jumping quickly through the trees, Katsuo not liking going slower than their top speed, but team 7 caught up relatively quickly.

"Sorry, had to grab something before the mission" Kakashi said and Kohana nodded before looking down, noting Temari walking along the path to the sand village but with signifantly less urgency.

"Temari!" Kanae said as the groups jumped down

"Come on we've gotta hurry, the sand was attacked and gaara was taken we're headed there now" Katsuo said and Temaris eyes widened, before she narrowed her eyes and nodded, joining the two teams as they sped off to the sand village.

"Katsuo, not everyone can keep up with our top speed, and it does no good to show up to the sand without the poison medical specialist with us. Slow down!" Kanae said

"I can't just sit back and wait we need to get there quickly, you remember why they're after us, me and Gaara. Don't you, Kanae? Kohana?" Katsuo said and Kohana looked away for a moment as the jumped forwards

"There's no point in hiding it. I have the spirit of the 9tailed fox sealed inside me, that's what these Bastards are after. That's why they took Gaara. And that's the worst part! His life is always full of suffering and sorrow, he had to den for himself a lot longer than we did, so we need to hurry and get there damit!" Katsuo said, tears falling back onto Temari's cheek, it was quickly reaching midday, the sun about halfway in the sky placing sun kisses on their cheeks and skin, with a enough generated wind to force their hair back, Sakura jumped up next to Katsuo, concerned for him.

"You make good points, we need speed right now. Temari can I borrow a cloth or something long as it's from the sand village recently, it doesn't matter what it is." Kohana said as they jumped through the forest,

"Sure… but what are you gonna do?" She asked

"We need to get to the sand village as soon as possible, so I'm going to summon my fastest summoning Mercury." She said grabbing the offered cloth,

"Mercury… you mean you can summon dragons?" Kakashi said

"You summon a pack of ninja hounds, Sakura summons a giant slug, Katsuo summons toads, Kanae summons giant lizards, but sure, freak out over dragons." Kohana said

"How much would this city down our time?" Temari asked

"If she agrees, itll cut our time down from three days to 1 hour or so." Kohana said

"Do it." Temari said and Kohana nodded before performing the summoning Jutsu a large blue dragon appeared out of the smoke,

"Mercury, we need you to get us to the sand village as fast as possible. Out friends are in danger." Kohana said to the large beast

"Alright give me something for directions." She said kohana passing it forwards, receiving it back a moment later, passing the cloth back to Temari,

"Come on." She said jumping onto her summonings back, everyone else doing the same Mercury taking to the skies going quickly

"You okay?" Temari asked looking at Kohana who say on her knees looking pale

"Shes scared of heights." Kanae said

"I'm fine. Just can't wait to land" She said

"Well your in luck, cause we're here." Mercury said landing on the Kazekage building before poofing away.

"Lets get to the land of water, we've gotta get there fast but I can't summon Mercury again so soon. Her quota is once every 3 or 4 days." Kohana said as they stood outside the sand village

"We'll catch up when we can." Temari said and Kohana nodded

"I'm going with you." Chiyo said

"I can sense Gaara inside, he's alive but just barely. Neji what can you see in there." Kohana asked lightly as Katsuo began shaking the two of them asking them the same, Neji noting a strange statue that multiple people were standing on.

"Stop shaking me" Neji said, Katsuo releasing his hold, Gai going to kick the Boulder in an effort to get inside

"Let me see something" Kohana said disappearing under the water, before coming back up

"It's a five tag barrier." She said coming back up. Team gai volunteering to take them out, Kakashi removing the last one.

"What we need to do is separate them, so they can't work together. Katsuo listen to my plan before objecting. I think we should split into three teams. Sai, Katsuo, and Kakashi sensei should go after Deidara. Between the skill with your paintings, speed, and Kakashi senseis… uh… sharingan? He should be no problem, while Granny Chiyo, Sakura, and Kanae go after Sasori, between the puppetry skill, medical ninjutsu knowledge, and speed and flexibility, he shouldn't be a problem. I'll send a shadow clone in to replace Gaara, and get him out of dodge. But it's important that you act as you don't know that." Kureha said, having received the names of the Akatsuki members beforehand.

"That sounds like a solid plan, but will you be okay by yourself?" Sakura asked and Kohana nodded,

"Ill be nearby, I'm not as skilled in medical ninjutsu but Rin sensei made sure we knew the basics… well… that I knew the basics." Kohana said

"Medical ninjutsu is seriously so hard." Katsuo said

"He kept lightning his fish on fire." Kanae said

"Right, let's do this, I haven't seen my grandson in ages I'm up to the brim with anticipation." Chiyo said

"I'll make the preparations now. Kohana said creating a shadowclone, before using the transformation jutsu, to look like Gaara, her and the clone diving under the water to avoid detection.

"Alright. Let's do this." Katsuo said as the boulder fell away, Deidara sitting on Gaara before he shifted, unnoticed by the two akatsuki

"What do you think your doing! He's not a seat!" Katsuo said, Kakashi putting a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him, Deidara placing the clone inside his bird before flying off, Kakashi, Sai, and Katsuo close behind him. Chiyo, Sakura, and Kanae staying in the cave with Sasori. Kohana going through the cliff nearby with Gaara, landing in the grassy field.

"Okay, so, that wasn't the best way to get you away from the akatsuki but it is the only way I could think of." Kohana said before healing what she could, checking his condition.

"You're not dying today Gaara." She said pumping Gaaras blood around his body for him, unable to do much else. Having healed his lacerations, repairing his chakra network slowly, thanking the gods for giving her and her siblings more than average chakra that she can now put to good use,

healing the one she loved.

Chiyo attached threads to Sakura and Kanae, helping them dodge the needles sent towards them by Sasori, Sakura using her chakra enhanced strength to beat through the puppets, while Kanae put her forte in lightning style to good use, slicing through groups of puppets at one time.

"Come on! We need to go faster!" Katsuo said as he jumped through the ravine after Deidara, with Kakashi and Sai. Sai creating a large bird and jumping onto it at the end of the ravine, Kakashi and Katsuo doing the same as they flew after Deidara, quickly, trying to catch up with him, Katsuo ranting and raving the whole way.

"Come on… you cannot die today. Not before I can tell you, I love you." Kohana said her hair raising from the force of her jutsu, Gaaras body glowing white a moment as she continued to force his heart to pump blood around his body, using some techniques unique to the Uzumaki clan that was taught to her, Kanae, and Katsuo while they were on their travels. Doing so she was able to completely fix his chakra network. Bringing his vitals up from low to stable, the only issue was using this technique drained her chakra levels fast, and there was no guarantee it would hold. But she didn't know of any alternative. She kept this jutsu going for 20 minutes, currently the only thing keeping Gaara from completely checking out. Kohana was sweating, and also crying, the tears from her eyes hit Gaara's cheeks, the boy still unresponsive, stuck inside his own head.

"Gaara, come on damnit." Kohana said softly 'who is it? Who's calling… Gara? Is that my name?' Gaara thought as he looked down at his transparent skin. Which was fading in and out of existence, 'Gaara! That's your name! You can't die! You hear me? You are. Not. Dying. Today. Not as long as I'm here. Your not allowed to check out.' Kohanas thoughts filtered in around him a moment 'Gaara… that's right, that's my name… that voice… that's… That's Kohana.' Gaara thought as he looked down at his hands, outside of Gaara's headspace, the other teams had finally arrived, about 10 minutes later.

"I've got him stabilized but I'm running out of chakra." Kohana said, Chiyo taking over the healing alongside Katsuo, Kohana falling back in the grass right onto Temari's leg.

"Oh hey." She said leaning against her, completely exhausted,

"Thank you. Are you okay?" Temari said and Kohana nodded waving her hand a

moment,

"I'm fine, or rather, I will be in a few hours. It's an Uzumaki technique that I used to stabilize… him, it just takes a lot of chakra to sustain for long periods of time" Kohana explained.

"Do you have to leave now, in your condition…" Temari said looking at Kakashi, Kohana was unconscious in the sands hospital, having completely drained her chakra reserves, and as such wasn't going to be moving for at least a day.

"Yeah, if the Akatsuki was able to infiltrate this far into the sand, I worry about the leaf's safety. Besides, with team four remaining here until Kohana's okay to travel, I want to get my report to the hoakge soon as possible." Kakashi said

"I will get him back to the leaf as quick as possible. Oh yeah!" Gai said, with a thumbs up. Team 7 and team Gai were in the office, team 4 was sitting in the hospital with Kohana. Saying goodbye to the other teams from the leaf

"She okay?" Kankuro asked referring to Kohana who was still asleep

"Yeah." Katsuo said with his hands behind his head

"The move she used, to keep you from completely checking out, uses a lot of chakra." Kanae explained

"Yeah and Kohana is the only one who can use that… er… aside from Kurena Uzumaki" Katsuo said scratching his chin

"Hey Kohana, we're back in the sand." Kanae said as Kohana awoke, before sitting up quickly,

"How are you feeling?" Gaara asked, managing to startle Kohana who nearly fell off of the bed, Kanae laughing like a hyena, having been the one to shield Gaaras chakra until he spoke,

"I didn't mean to startle you… sorry" Gaara said, Kanae excusing herself, Kohana taking breaths to slow down her breathing,

"Kanae was shielding your chakra. So don't worry about it," Kohana explained before looking at Gaaras face

"Are you okay, no lasting affects, fatigue? I tried using a clan technique we learned in training and…" Kohana said stopping as Gaara hugged her, she tensed a moment, Gaara wondering if it was the wrong move, before she hugged him back tightly.

"Don't ever do that shit again, I was so worried you were gonna check out, after I couldn't keep my jutsu going" Kohana said and Gaara put his chin over her head as he hugged her

"I'm sorry" Gaara said

"Catch me up to speed, I don't sense granny chiyo anywhere, did the other teams go back to the leaf?" Kohana asked and Gaara tsked,

"Lady Chiyo… gave her life on the mission. As for the other teams of the

leaf, yes, they did head back." Gaara said and Kohana hummed, taking in the information a moment.

"Let me guess, Kakashi wanted to report to the hokage about the Akatsuki right away? Since they infiltrated the sand as far as they did" Kohana said

"Wow… that was spot on." Kankuro said the triplets were standing prepared to leave,

"Hey wait, before we go, guess what Gaara! We were made chunin and jonin just before this mission, cool right, just one step closer to being Hokage." Katsuo said with his hands behind his head,

"Huh, well that is something, I'm guessing Kohana's the jonin." Gaara said and Kanae nodded, they paid respects to Chiyo's gravesite before leaving. Katsuo shaking Gaara's hand as Kanae and Kohana stood behind him, Kankuro and Temari standing behind Gaara.

"So what was that move that knocked you out?" Kankuro asked, and Kohana hummed

"Oh that? It was an old Uzumaki clan technique we learned while on the road. Well… 2 thirds of us did." Kohana said as Kanae snickered behind her hand,

"It requires fine chakra control, and at least a basic in medical ninjutsu. You have to also know the innerworkings and be in tune with the body systems, cause one wrong move and you'll burst a bloodvessel." Kohana said

"Or a few… remember the training." Kanae said Kohana and her snickered behind their hands, while Katsuo's face went beet red,

"Hey that's not fair ya know, it's really hard and you guys have the kekkei genkai to help out." Katsuo said

"Katsuo burst three blood vessels when he tried the jutsu. Couldn't train for a week." Kanae said snickering as she "whispered" to the three sand siblings.

"I understand you have a request?" Tsunade asked Kohana, who nodded

"Yes Granny, I was wondering if it'd be possible to stay on the akatsuki case. It's my brother's life in danger. Please." Kohana said and Tsunade nodded

"You sure it won't cloud your judgement?" Tsunade asked and Kohana shook her head

"No sir it wont. Even if I don't head the case, I'd still like to be on the case regardless. To protect Katsuo." She answered

"Well good, cause that's actually something I wanted to address, I'd like to

make you a liason for the Akatsuki case, which means you'd travel to meetings regarding the Akatsuki and so on." Tsunade said and Kohana nodded

"Really? You mean it?" Kohana said and Tsunade nodded,

"I accept, of course I'll accept, thank you so much Granny Tsunade, I promise to work hard on this case." Kohana said