A/N: Well, this is my first Naruto fanfic. Hope you like it. Give me any suggestions you think would help.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, wish I did, but no dice.
Gaara's Rescue
Pain. Pain was Gaara's world. Every inch of his body was in absolute agony. But, it was lessening. Even as the pain was becoming more intense, it was lessening. The sounds of the people in the cave talking were becoming fainter and fainter. There were no more smells, there was simply less of the world. He could only see through his mind's eye now, and in his mind's eye he was simply floating in the middle of blindingly white space. Slowly, an image materialized before him, it was him, but younger.
"Was it worth it?" The younger version asked. "You gave your life to protect the people who hated you for so many years. Now your existence means nothing."
Gaara simply smiled. "You're wrong. My existence means more than it ever could have if I had stayed on your path." The Kazekage smiled even broader. "I mean something to everyone in that village. They finally respected me."
The light around him only kept getting brighter, it was moving to swallow him up. This was it. Then, when the pain had finally gone, it slammed back into him. The pain seemed to sear him. Then, the world became real again. He could hear voices and falling rocks. He could feel his body as it impacted the ground.
"Gaara!"
That voice, Gaara recognized it. How could he not, it was the voice that had saved him from himself. That had driven him down the path he had chosen. It was the voice of Naruto Uzumaki. He tried to speak, but found himself too drained to do so. All he could manage was a weak mumble.
"He's alive," Naruto yelled, ready to run forward to Gaara's aid.
"Naruto, wait..." Kakashi yelled. He grabbed hold of Naruto's shoulder before he could move. "We're going to help him, but we need a plan," he said, calmly.
"Fine."
Deidra and Sasori stood on the other side of Gaara. Sasori looked extremely displeased, but Deidra actually had a smile on his face.
"Well, it looks like we'll get to take care of Itachi's charge as well as ours Sasori," he said in a genuinely delighted voice.
Sasori didn't even acknowledge him. He just stared at the four ninja facing him. "Now we are behind schedule, I don't see why you are happy. We're going to have to fight them before we can begin the extraction again. Since the demon has fully returned to his body it will take another three days to extract it."
Kakashi surveyed the two for a moment as he began coming up with a plan of action. It would definitely be a boon if they could get Gaara into the fight. Kakashi moved toward the center, keeping a close eye on Naruto. "Sakura, do you think you can give Gaara a chakra jump? We'll cover you."
"Hai."
"Chiyo," he turned to the diminutive, old sand ninja, "Go ahead and get your puppets out. You and I are going to attack those two while Naruto covers Sakura directly." Kakashi was making sure to keep his voice at a level where the two Akatsuki members wouldn't be able to hear him as well. "Naruto, I need you to make about ten shadow clones. Cover any attack on Sakura by using one of your clones to absorb it. But don't let their number fall below ten."
"Right. Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled while crossing his hands. The eleven Narutos ran to take up a position in front of Sakura.
As this was happening, Chiyo pulled out two scrolls from behind her back. She took as small bite out of her finger and smeared some of the blood down the scrolls as she unfurled them. Two puppets appeared in the cloud of smoke. One was a red haired man wielding a kunai whip, the other a black haired woman wielding a katana.
Kakashi moved back out from the center so that he could get a clear aim at Deidara. The man was staring at them with a smile on his face. He reached his remaining arm into the satchel at his side, just what Kakashi was waiting for. "Go!" He yelled. "Fireball jutsu," he yelled after completing his speed signing. A massive fireball erupted from his mouth toward Deidara. Simultaneously, Chiyo's puppets launched an attack on Sasori from both sides.
Naruto and his clones sprinted forward under the cover of the two attacks. He and the clones in the middle jumped over the still unmoving Gaara. Deidara and Sasori recovered quickly from the initial attack and prepared to counter. Naruto watched as Deidara threw out two clay birds that quickly grew and targeted both himself and Kakashi. Simultaneously, Sasori unleased an attack using poisoned needles. Naruto moved his clones to intercept both attacks and quickly set to work making more clones.
As the room erupted in battle, Sakura knelt down next to Gaara. She had done a chakra jump once before in practice. The problem was that they were hard and dangerous. She concentrated her chakra in her eyes for a moment in order to decide how much chakra was needed to jump Gaara's network. Using precise control, she gathered chakra in her hands and placed them on Gaara's chest. "Revitalization jutsu," she yelled as she pushed the chakra from her hands and into Gaara. She watched as his body heaved off the ground in reaction to the chakra. It took a few moments, but he slowly began to move and within moments his chakra flow was at normal levels.
Chiyo expertly maneuvered her fingers as she sent another attack toward her grandson. His tail was flying around in random directions. She let go an attack with the kunai whip, wrapping it around Sasori's tail. She then rotated the puppet and flung Sasori toward his explosives-wielding associate.
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Neji was becoming worried as his battle with his doppegänger continued. He was pretty sure that Lee was on to something with his comment about mirrors. Neji considered this during a lull in the fighting. "There are two ways to get rid of a mirror image, get rid of the mirror or get rid of the image," he thought to himself. So, since he didn't plan on committing seppuku that left one option. "There's got to be something generating these clones," he said into his transmitter.
"But what could it be?" Lee asked.
"Well, when did they appear?" Neji asked.
"Right after we removed the seals," Tenten commented.
"Maybe we have to destroy the seal in order to kill the clones," Gai said. "They counter us at every turn, but unfortunately they aren't running out of breath."
Neji quickly scanned the area using his Byakugan. The clone was closer to the seal than he was. "Everyone, catch your breath. I'm going to test our theory." Neji gathered his chakra for his second most powerful attack. He ran at his clone, who had also gathered the chakra for the attack. He braced for the impact he delivered his attack. "Gentle Fist Technique: Chakra Explosion." The two balls of chakra crashed into each other, blowing the combatants backwards. Neji quickly drew a kunai from his pouch and attached an explosive note to it. He expertly launched the kunai at the seal. He landed unceremoniously and skidded a few feet before he stopped. He looked up when he heard the explosion. His clone, who was already on his feet, froze in place and a moment later dissolved. "It worked," he said into his microphone. He managed to get slowly to his feet and began walking back toward the cave.
"Neji... I need help." Lee said. "I've moved away from my note. I don't know where it is."
Neji used what little was left in his reserves to activate his Byakugan. "It's behind you Lee. About ten feet at the foot of the tree." Before the others asked, he located their too and relayed the information.
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Things had gotten quite a bit worse in the past few minutes for Naruto. Kakashi was currently digging himself out from under some rocks, Sakura and Chiyo had their hands full with Sasori, and Naruto had run out of clones during Deidra's last attack. "Shadow..."
"Too late," Deidra said smirking. He sent a small army of clay grasshoppers flying at Naruto.
This was not good. Naruto crossed his arms in front of himself to brace for the impact, but it never came. Naruto watched as a wall of sand appeared in front of him, absorbing the attack. "Are you OK?" Gaara asked in his typical quiet voice.
"Yeah," Naruto said. "Now let's kick this guy's sorry ass! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto produced twenty copies of himself and began charging at Deidra. He was going to make him pay for attacking Gaara.
Gaara simply stood with a passive look on his face. "Sand Technique: Sand Missiles," he said. "The sand that was now floating around him formed into balls and launched themselves at Deidra. Naturally, the Akatsuki member dodged them, but that wasn't the point. Naruto was now in range of the smirking bastard.
"Rasengan!" Two of the Narutos yelled as they closed on Deidra from opposite sides. He leaped into the air just to have his face smashed in by an axe kick which sent him right into the path of the double Rasengan attack. He managed to recover just enough to knock one of the Narutos off track, but took the other attack straight to the gut and went flying into the wall.
Gaara, still looking passive, launched another sand missile attack just as the Deidra was about to get up. One of the missiles, which where as hard as steel, slammed into the man's head. His neck snapped all the way back, killing him instantly.
Sasori had been troubled by how things were developing even before the second Jinchuuriki joined the battle. Together, Sakura and Chiyo had managed to destroy his outer puppet shell. Though he was now using his powerful Kazekage puppet, it was a hopeless battle. One Jinchuuriki fighting against you was doable, two was a force of nature. He didn't even waste his time trying to convince Deidra to join him in fleeing. His associate was far too proud and convinced of his own superiority to run. Sasori called upon the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand Technique and used it to clog Chiyo's puppets and launch an attack on Sakura. He the performed a substitution with a chunk of rock at the opening of the cave and drew his puppet along with him before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Damn it!" Naruto yelled, he punched the air just to try to rid himself of some of his fury. "That bastard ran away."
"Don't worry," Gaara said in a satisfied voice. "We got the one that defeated me the first time."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled, ignoring the other two boys and running to the pile of rocks Kakashi had been buried under. She began heaving the boulders aside to help her teacher get out.
When Sakura finally reached him, Kakashi was wearing what passed for a smile from him. "Thank you, Sakura. Is everyone alright?"
"Yes sensei, but one of them escaped."
"Yeah, that puppet creep ran."
"I should have expected that. Sasori, for all his faults, is still rather humble," Chiyo said. "It's why he doesn't like to keep people waiting. Because of this, he also doesn't overestimate his own skills. I should have done more to prevent an escape."
"There's no need to blame yourself, Chiyo," Kakashi said. He then tapped his microphone. "Team Gai, anyone, come in?"
"Kakashi," said the voice of Maito Gai. "I'm glad to hear my rival has made it through the battle so that we may continue our contests."
Kakashi gave his typical answer to Gai. "Were you saying something? Bit hard to hear." On the other side he could hear Gai grumbling. "Is your team OK?"
"Everyone is just fine. We're a bit worn out, but nothing serious."
"Meet us back at the entrance to the cave. Our mission is partly accomplished. We need to return the Kazekage to the Hidden Sand Village now."
"Roger Kakashi! Team Gai, double-time back to the cave entrance."
"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled. The other two simply grumbled and said they would make their way back as soon as possible.
Kakashi then nicked his thumb and slammed his hand to the ground. The cloud of smoke that accompanies a summoning appeared and when it cleared Pakkun and two of Kakashi's other dogs appeared. "Pakkun, I need you to tell the Hokage that we have rescued the Kazekage and that we are going to escort him back to the Hidden Sand Village."
"OK, but what are these other two here for?"
"They're meant to protect you if you need it." Kakashi watched as the dogs quickly hopped up the canyon wall and into the trees. "Chiyo, do you have anymore of those birds that you could use to send a message. I'm pretty sure that your village would like to know its leader is safe."
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3 Days Earlier
Hinata walked at the lead of Team Kurenai. They'd just arrived back from their most recent message, tracking a missing-nin from the Village Hidden in the clouds. As they approached home, they'd noticed an increased number of gate guards.
"Looks like something is wrong," Kurenai said.
"Damn it, I was planning on taking some time to relax. She promised us..." Kiba complained and Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Well, maybe we'll be given an important mission if something is wrong," Hinata said hopefully.
Kurenai smiled at her student. Hinata had changed a lot. It all seemed to start during the mission her team and Naruto had undertaken to find a bikochu. Though the mission had failed, because of Naruto, Hinata had experienced a great boost in confidence. Since then, she had redoubled her training efforts. With the help of Neji, and eventually her father, Hinata had become a respectable ninja.
As they reached the gate, Kurenai walked up to the gate guards. "Team Kurenai reporting in."
"Good," the guard said. "Tsunade has asked that you report directly to her office."
"Understood."
Just before they could walk off, the guard yelled at them to hold up. "Oh, almost forgot," he said to the three Chunin, "Your friend Naruto is back."
The three responded in different ways. Shino simply nodded, Hinata blushed, the mention of Naruto still did that to her, and Kiba smiled, "Cool. Bet he's got plenty of interesting stories."
"Come on you three, we need to get to the Hokage's office immediately."
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Tsunade looked up from her papers when she heard a knock on the door. Shizune opened the door and lead team Kurenai into the room. "Good," she though, "We need people with their skills right now." She waited for them to finish filing in and the door to be shut before she began. "We are at Level 2 Crisis Level right now. The Kazekage has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. I've sent Team Kakashi and Team Gai to aid in his rescue..."
"So you reformed Kakashi's team?" Kurenai asked.
"Yes. Now as I was saying, we are worried that some of the other nations may take this opportunity to launch attacks not only on the Land of Wind, but on us as well. Our strong alliance is well known, and they undoubtedly know that we will have sent ninja to our allies aid. I am sending your team to Post 8 where you'll help keep an eye on our border with the Land of Sound. This is an A-rank mission and I will need you to depart immediately."
"You can count on us," Kurenai said. "Team, you have ten minutes to resupply. Hinata, take care of gathering some food. Kiba, make sure we are fully stocked with weapons. Shino, take care of water. Move."
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Present Day
Under the "whips" of Gai and Lee, the two teams were keeping up a grueling pace on their return to the village. Naruto spent much of his time questioning Gaara about his responsibilities as Kazekage, surprisingly, Gaara was rather forthcoming with answers. "So, how do you decide which missions to take?"
Gaara pondered the question for moment. "I consider our alliances and our need to appear strong and make my decisions based on that."
"Hmmm," Naruto said thoughtfully. As he considered his next question, he surveyed their group. As always, Kakashi had his head buried in one of Jiraiya's books. Sakura and Chiyo were discussing the merits of certain ingredients in poisons, Neji and Tenten were having a hushed conversation and Lee and Gai were now competing to see who could make the most jumps on their hands.
"That was an impressive attack against Deidra. The Rasengan?" Gaara said.
Naruto turned and smiled. "Jiraiya taught it to me. He made me work on combinations with my clones as part of my training."
"You have become quite strong, Naruto." With that Gaara returned to his inner musings.
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Pandemonium broke out when they entered the village. People lined the streets to cheer their Kazekage's return and his rescuers. Lee and Gai used the opportunity to unleash the "nice-guy pose" on the villagers. Naruto engaged in his normal celebration, saying things like, "What else would you expect from the future Hokage?" The rest remained relatively silent.
On entering the Kazekage's tower, Sakura made for the hospital to check on Kankuro. Naruto ran after her as she did. "Sakura..."
Sakura turned to face her teammate, she was pretty sure what was about to happen. She had to say, she regretted what her answer would be.
"Would you like to go get some ramen? Just us two?" Naruto clearly tried to put on his most endearing face."
"No..." She said. She made sure not to put the harsh edge she used to on her rejection.
"Why not?"
"You know why..." She said, leaving it at that.
Naruto simply sighed. In the old days, he would have started yelling and possibly chased after her until she hit him on the head. He turned and saw Lee standing there behind him.
"I know how you feel," he said, "For I too am in love with Sakura, but alas can not capture her heart."
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"That was rather impressive how you figured out the seals Neji," Tenten said from across the table.
"Well, I did kind of cheat. I was able to see that there were two sides to the seal. Plus, Lee inadvertently hit on what was happening," Neji replied.
Tenten couldn't help smiling. Neji had changed a lot in the past few years. He had gone from an egotistical douche, to a decent human being. "Well, it was still a good job."
"Here's your bill," the waiter said as he arrived at the table. He handed the bill to Neji.
"I told you I was going to pay for my own dinner," Tenten said, frustrated.
"Don't worry, anyway I make more as a Jounin. Just call it a gift."
"Fine," she said, still putting on a frustrated face.
The two walked back to the Kazekage's tower in silence. Tenten spent her time casting nervous glances at Neji. He'd been the one to propose dinner, though he didn't make it seem like it was a date. Though, it would be like Neji to make assumptions. She was surprised when she felt him grab hold of her hand. Tenten simply smiled, it was a date. In his own way, Neji was being romantic.
When they reached the tower, where Gaara had insisted that they stay, Neji walked Tenten to her room. She opened the door to the room she was sharing with Sakura to say goodbye. To her surprise, Neji bent down and gave her a short kiss on the lips.
"Thank you for coming to dinner with me," he said as he turned to walk to his room.
Tenten rushed into her room and closed the door. Inside she started doing a happy dance and running her fingers over her lips.
"What are you all worked up about?" Sakura asked.
"He kissed me!" She yelled, ecstatically.
"He did?" Sakura asked, joining Tenten in her happy dance.
The two spent a few minutes jumping up and down. Once they'd calmed down, Tenten related the whole night to her fellow kunoichi.
"Well, its not exactly what most people would call romantic," Sakura commented. "But it is Neji we're talking about." Honestly, now that she thought about it, a date with Sasuke would likely be the same. "Well, we should get to sleep," Sakura said.
"Yeah," Tenten said, her voice still dreamy.
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The next morning Kakashi and Gai roused their charges early. "The quicker we get on the road the sooner we'll be back to our wonderful village," Gai said, ending with his patented smile.
Gaara, Kankuro and Chiyo walked the Leaf ninjas to the gate of the village. Before they left, Gaara pulled Naruto aside. "Thank you for everything. This is the second time you've saved me."
"No problem, just think of it as two you owe me," Naruto said, in true Naruto fashion.
Gaara just seemed to smile as Naruto turned around. Though, he did feel bad for him, it appeared Sakura was preparing to yell at him for how he handled the situation.
