Naruto frowned as watched the results form of his patient's MRI scan. He had been hoping for a better outcome then the picture that was forming. The young, blonde man looked over to his friend and the lead surgeon on the case Sakura Haruno to gage her reaction to the information presented. The short, pink hair women had a grim expression on her face and Naruto felt his heart drop. He had come across cases like this many of times in his nursing career, especially since he had chosen children's oncology as his speciality but this case was especially close to his heart. Konohamaru Sarutobi, a 13 year old boy with severe spinal cord tumour and also their late head of the hospital's grandson. Naruto shouldn't have even be assigned to the case considering how close he was to the boy, he was practically a little brother to him since Hiruzen Sarutobi; or Jiji as Naruto called him, had taken him under his wing and become like a second father to him. Naruto had promised the ageing man before he past that he would watch over his grandson and Naruto had kept that promise, visiting him weekly at Konohamaru's uncle's house.

"This is out of my league Naruto, even with Shizune's help the success rate is low…less than 20 percent" Naruto punched the wall behind him, his heart clutching in despair. He couldn't keep his promise to the man who gave him shelter when he turned his back on his father and the family business.

"There has to be something you can do Sakura!" a tear slipped from the surgeon's eye and she shook her head.

"We've tried everything to shrink it to the appropriate size to operate on Naruto and nothing's worked. It's too deeply rooted around the spinal cord, almost like it's infused with it" Naruto's shoulders slumped forward. He wouldn't give up, he couldn't.

"Then find someone who can do it! What about Tsunade!" Sakura sighed and looked over the boy's notes. Tsunade was in America for the next few month's teaching, she wouldn't make it back in time.

"There is one person…" Naruto grabbed her shoulders, desperation in his eyes. "He's new here but I heard he's meant to be on par with Tsunade, I could ask him to take a look"

"Who! Tell me who Sakura and I'll find him right now!" the petite girl cringed. The new surgeon was known as ruthless and cold, he only took on case's that he found interesting enough to give his career a boost and that didn't bode well for them considering the surgery would be highly risky, anyone who performed it and failed could be held liable.

"Gaara Sabaku…let me talk to him though Naruto" the blonde shook his head, this was too personal for him, it was his responsibility.

"No, Jiji entrusted me to look over Konohamaru and that's exactly what I'm going to do" Naruto grabbed the young boy's notes and x-rays and dashed out of the room. He wasn't sure where he would find this new surgeon but he would turn Konoha hospital apart till he found him.

…..

Gaara Sabaku was a shrewd man. By 19 he had finished university top of his class; 3 years earlier then he was meant to. He had then slowly made himself a reputation, scaling the surgical ladder until he could reach his final goal; head surgeon of Konoha Hospital. Currently Lady Tsunade held the position but he knew her retirement was in a few years and he could wait, it would give him time to establish himself as the best candidate for the job. The 26 year old man sat in his office, his red hair parted to the side to revel his Ai tattoo and his green, sea foam eye's sifting through the surgical cases currently admitted. He didn't want to take on any boring case, it had to be interesting enough to get him into a medical journal for it. He glared at the door of his office when he heard a commotion outside, someone was arguing with his secretary and he was about to stand up when a dishevelled blonde man bustled his way into the room. He pierced his eyes into and over him, taking in his appearance. Over all the man was quite stunning, he had a well-toned physique that was subtly hidden under his scrubs and his face had a certain innocence to it which was only enhanced by his shocking crystal blue eyes. The only downside to the man was his messy blonde hair which looked like he had crawled out of bed and hadn't bothered to brush it.

"May I help you?" The man slammed an arrangement of notes down on his desk and their eyes met. Gaara was in awe of the determination in the man's eyes and he found a heat flutter in his stomach. It took a lot to get his attention and this man had done it within a matter of seconds.

"Can you remove it?" he pushed an x-ray towards him and Gaara flicked his eye's downwards. He held back a satisfied smiled, immediately recognising what the attractive nurse was showing him.

"It would be polite to introduce yourself first before I look over any of these note's" the man stood up and crossed his arm's, obviously irritate with his attitude.

"Naruto…Naruto Uzumaki" Gaara held back a smile. He had heard about Uzumaki, the boisterous yet top nurse in all the land of fire. He cared for each patient as if they were his own family and his success rates were through the roof in Oncology leading him to become the charge nurse of the children's ward at only 24.

"Alright Naruto, what is it exactly you want me to do…" he picked up the x-ray and held it up, a small smile on his lips. It was a difficult case but fortunately he had done a procedure like this before which raised the success rate to fifty percent. A second spinal cord tumour removal at 26 would definitely put him in the race for head surgeon.

"Can you remove it or not?" he eyed up the man in front of him again, nodding with a sly smile on his face.

…..

Naruto hated the way the obnoxious surgeon was looking at him. It was if he was a piece of steak being served up on a plate for the red haired man. If he wasn't so irritated by him right now though he probably would have found the smaller man attractive.

"I can remove it…but" Naruto cringed. He was use to but's, he had grown up in a mafia family and nothing was for free. He felt his stomach drop, his mind reeling with all the possibilities that the green eyed surgeon could want.

"But what…" the man sighed and flicked over the note's quickly. Naruto shuffled from side to side as he began to feel uncomfortable. He had turned his back on his family, sick of being used and he had sworn he would never be put in a position like that again.

"I want you to stay on this case" Naruto let out his breath, he needed to stop being so paranoid. "I've done a procedure like this before, it's long and difficult so I want someone who knows these notes and the patient backwards and forwards, I can see how passionate you are about this so I consider you an asset"

"Of course! You'd have to kill me before I got pulled off Konohamaru's case!" Naruto felt elated, there was hope finally and his chest felt lighter.

"I would also like you to have dinner with me tonight" as quickly as the elation came it deflated. There was always a catch, especially with power driven people like Gaara. "These note's mean nothing to me, I would rather hear everything from you" Naruto nodded, he was confused. Gaara gave out a tension that basically screamed he was attracted to him and yet he had never heard of another surgeon apart from Sakura that was interested more in the patient then the notes. Sure they were important but to get down to what care was really needed before and after surgery a therapeutic relationship needed to be built so trust could be formed. That's what made Naruto an exceptional nurse but it was very rare for surgeons.

"Oh…sure" Gaara gave him a small smile then a cold mask feel back into place. He raised his hand and shooed Naruto out, focusing on the note's given to him. Naruto scuttled out of the room quickly, his mind no longer on Konohamaru but on the confusing green eyed surgeon instead.