Chapter One: A Message
Hello everyone in the wonderful world of fanfiction! I'm Alexis Night, and this is the first fanfiction I've ever written, and I haven't graduated middle school yet, so I beg you to be nice. XD
Disclaimer: This shouldn't be necessary. If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be on a fanfiction website. The only thing I own is the plotline. (I apologize. Sarcasm runs in the family.)
Gaara looked up at the clear blue sky hanging over the Hidden Sand Village. His eyes brightened as a messenger hawk from Konoha, the village where his best friend, Naruto, lived flew in. A smile met the extremely wise yet young Kazekage's lips as he went to retrieve the message. As he read, his eyes widened in fear.
"Kankuro, Temari!" he called to his older brother and sister. "Pack your things! We're departing for Konoha immediately!"
"What's wrong, Gaara?" Kankuro asked.
"It's Naruto." Gaara's eyes were filled with anger, and both his siblings were thankful he no longer contained Shukaku, even though his capability to control sand remained intact. It was actually very ominous. "He's been captured."
Temari's eyes widened. "The Akatski?" She shrank a little remembering what they had done to her brother.
"I don't know." Gaara's eyes fell. It was Naruto who pulled him from the hell know as loneliness. Naruto who saved him from the Akatski. Now it was Naruto who was suffering.
That was less than an hour ago. Now Gaara and his siblings rushed toward Konoha. He had to admit it was a little reckless, leaving Suna without its Kazekage, but he knew there were good jounin who would protect his people there. Right now all he could think about was protecting his first real friend. Finally, after running and running, they made it to Konoha.
As the trio walked into her office, Tsunade's eyes widened. "Kazekage-sama! You didn't have to come all this way yourself!"
Gaara waved her off. "I appreciate the concern, Hokage-sama, but Naruto is a dear friend of mine. This is an emergency situation, right? If we don't hurry, he could be killed, or worse." Gaara flinched as he remembered the pain the Akatski put him through. "Was it them?"
"No, thank god." Tsunade said, recognizing the sorrow in the other Kage's eyes.
Upon hearing this, Gaara calmed down a bit, and for the first time noticed a small girl crying in the corner with whom was obviously an academy teacher hovering protectively next to her. Gaara walked over and crouched down in front of the child. "What's the matter?" he asked with genuine concern.
The sniffling child looked down. "It's all my fault. Naruto-kun is gone because of me."
Gaara's face creased with worry. He stood up and turned toward the teacher. "What does she mean?"
"My name is Iruka." The shinobi began. "I was Naruto's sensei while he was still an academy student. Every year the student body nominates shinobi they want to come to the academy. Then they vote. This year Naruto won, most likely due to the incident with your village. He was more than happy to comply..."
Iruka's mind took him back to the unfortunate event. All the kids were excited to have a ninja that went from failure to success. It made them all feel like had a chance as shinobi. It had been during the jutsu training that things went downhill. Naruto started off slow. First, he showed them the walk on walls jutsu. Then, the walk on water jutsu. He had just completed the shadow clone jutsu and let the kids train with them a little All the students looked on in surprise as Naruto repeated the shadow clone jutsu, but this time he only made one duplicate of himself.
"And now for the Rasengan." Naruto grinned. "You guys are goanna love this! It was the Fourth Hokage's jutsu." Young faces looked on in awe as Naruto's shadow clone formed the swirling blue chakra in his hand. Just then, there was a rude interruption to the demonstration.
"Uzumaki Naruto!" an unfamiliar voice called. Naruto wheeled around, Rasengan in hand. "You're coming with us. We suggest you go quietly."
'Akatski?' Naruto thought. 'No, they're missing the cloak.'
"In your dreams!" he yelled aloud. "You have perfect timing, actually! Now I can REALLY show these kids Rasengan!"
The academy students all cheered. Then the unthinkable happened.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Naruto turned to see another man holding a knife to the throat of one of the freshman academy girls. He banished his shadow clone and let the Rasengan disappear.
"Alright." Naruto said with a heavy heart. "I'll go with you."
"Good decision." The first man to show up took the box he was carrying off his back and opened it. Naruto stepped forward. Two more men came and the three grabbed him, tying him cruelly tight inside the box. Then they closed it and put a chakra sealing tag on it. When they finished they ran off. The man holding the student stayed long enough to give the others a head start before seemingly vanishing into thin air.
Iruka-sensei looked down. "We were all powerless with a student hostage. The worst part is Naruto probably could've beaten the guys if they hadn't threatened Yukiko."
The girl, Yukiko, shrank. "It's my fault."
Gaara looked at the child with sympathy. "It wasn't your fault at all." Gaara said firmly. "Those were very bad people who came to your school, and Naruto is a very good person. He didn't have to let himself be captured. It was a choice he made because he couldn't live with himself if he let them kill you. I bet right now he's fighting furiously to escape. I don't want to hear any more nonsense about blaming your self. Understand?" The girl nodded and smiled up at Gaara, who smiled in return. "Now why don't you head home? I'm sure you've had a long day." The little girl ran out, obviously reassured.
Kankuro watched as his little brother's face fell. "Are you really so sure, Gaara?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
"No. I wish I could be. Anyway, it's really not that child's fault, so there's no need for her to feel guilty."
"I've assembled a team of Konoha shinobi as well. I just sent Shizune to get them. It will consist of Haruno Sakura, Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, Abrume Shino, and Hatake Kakashi." Tsunade cut in.
"Good idea." Gaara agreed with a nod. He had fought among the leaves many times and he knew their abilities. "That will leave a sensory-type ninja to every three-man cell. We can search in three different directions. It will be very efficient."
"That's the idea." Tsunade replied. We all want to see Naruto again, and we have no clue why they kidnapped him in the first place." Tears fringed the Fifth Hokage's eyes. Everyone stood in silence. None of them could bear the idea of Naruto's dream ending here, after he worked so hard.
Suddenly the door flew open. "WE HAVE ARRIVED WITH THE SWIFTNESS OF YOUTH!" Lee came in followed by the others. He turned his head and was surprised to see Gaara. "GAARA, MY YOUTHFULL FRIEND! I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE KAZEKAGE NOW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Before Gaara had a chance to respond, Sakura's worry kicked in. "There must be some sort of crisis with the sand village! Right, Tsunade-sama?"
"Not exactly. Naruto's been captured."
Sakura glanced over at Gaara. "The Akatski?"
"No, thankfully." Gaara said. "We still don't know what their purpose is."
"That still doesn't explain why Kazekage-sama of all people is here in Konoha."
Temari spoke softly now, which was pretty out of character, so everyone was careful to listen. "Naruto was Gaara's first friend. Without him, Gaara wouldn't've become Kazekage in the first place. He saved my little brother." A look of determination took over her face, and the old Temari was back. "Now we're going to save him! We don't have time to be standing around like this! Everyone go gather what you need and meet us by the main gate! Scatter!"
The leaf ninja all took off at a break-neck pace, and the sand ninja left behind them at a more leisurely speed. They were just as worried as the others, save for maybe Sakura, but they already had everything they needed, so there was no point to rushing.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" The siblings of the sand looked up to see a boy about their age standing protectively in front of a large dog. "Run home, Akamaru!"
"It's fine." Gaara said, calm and serene. "We're here on Hokage-sama's request."
The boy didn't seem to hear him. He turned to his dog again. "I told you to run, Akamaru! Did you already forget the chunin exams?"
Gaara's eyes widened as his mind flashed back to the chunin exams. He heard the sickening snap as he broke the small puppy's leg with Sand Coffin and the whimpering after. He saw again the angry and pained expression on Kiba's face, and he understood.
"Who do you think you are?" Temari demanded, bringing Gaara completely back to the present. "Gaara is the Kaze-"
Gaara raised his hand. "Enough, Temari. It's my own fault. I'm sorry, and I'm very glad Akamaru is okay."
Gaara walked away and his shocked siblings followed.
"Hey!" Kiba yelled. What's up? It must be important if the Hokage called in another village."
Gaara looked up at Kiba. "Naruto's been kidnapped. We still don't know the intent behind it."
Gaara watched as Kiba's face became a mask of horror. Akamaru paced around and whimpered. Gaara was pleased to see the effect Naruto had on his village. One day he would be Hokage, as long as they could get him back. Kiba jumped on Akamaru's back and they took off at full speed towards the Hokage's office.