Thanks for the reviews peeps :P Now let's see if I can keep this one going.

"Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness for father's sins cast to his son."

-Gravemind

Sakura got out of the shower the next morning, getting ready for the missions she was leaving for in awhile. Supposedly, the three of them were going to leave an hour or two earlier than they were told. Naruto was really determined to get this done.

Smiling, Sakura looked at herself in the mirror. She wished that she had someone to fight for. Or even to be given determination from that person. Naruto had everything she didn't. Maybe one day . . . she thought.

And maybe that day, is today. Inner Sakura commented.

What do you mean?

I mean that you're going to go find Gaara. And maybe if you rescue him, you'll gain his trust and have the 'person I wish to protect guy.'

Sakura stopped fixing her hair. Gaara? You're joking, right?

Hey, I'm just saying it's always an option. He has changed you know.

True . . . maybe if I got to know him better.

Well, if I were you, I'd quit lagging. Your favorite person is walking towards the door.

How do you know that?

Inner Sakura sighed; I can only hear him from a mile away.

Sakura stayed quiet for a few seconds. When she heard the blonde outside, yelling her name she walked towards the door. She opened the door, only to be knocked down on the floors with Naruto on top of her. I'm seriously going to hurt him soon.

"Naruto, get off!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto quickly got up off of Sakura and helped her up. He nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that, Sakura."

Sakura brushed the dust off of her shorts and crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Naruto? I need to start packing." Sakura told.

"Actually, that's what I'm here for. I wanted to see if you wouldn't mind leaving in like a half an hour."

Sakura's eye twitched. She watched as his face turned from the happy smile on his face, into a determined and serious look. "Alright, let me pack and then we can go, since we'll have to wait for Kakashi anyway."

Naruto grinned. "I told him to be at the gate an hour ago. I didn't want to wait for him."

Whoa, he's good.

You got that right. Why didn't we ever think of that? Her inner self agreed.

Naruto followed Sakura into her room, where she began to pack.

The two ninja walked up to the front gate of Konoha. As they approached, they saw another person leaning against the stone arch. "Well, look who's on time for once." Naruto smiled.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "I'm never late."

Sakura laughed. "That's a good one, Kakashi."

"Come on, Kakashi, let's do this mission."

"Well, someone's eager to get going." Kakashi commented.

Naruto was well ahead of them as the two of them continued out of the gate.

"Naruto, you need to slow down!" Kakashi yelled ahead.

"You need to speed up, Kakashi!"

Kakashi sighed. "Just face it, he won't calm down until we get Gaara back."

"We don't even know he's alive." Naruto mentioned as he slowed down.

Sakura stared at him. "Naruto, the ninja that escaped said that he was still alive."

"How do we know he's not making this up?"

"Naruto, that man who escaped, didn't make anything up." Kakashi told.

"How do you know for sure?!"

"Let's just say, the two of us met before."

Naruto looked at his former sensei before concentrating on the mission. He knew he had to stay positive if he wanted it to end well. Looking ahead, he noticed a small river getting closer. On the other side lied a stone building. They were finally there.

"Okay, before we enter, I want all of you to take extreme caution. These ninja might be dangerous."

"We get it, now come on." Naruto urged.

Impatient as always.

I can't blame him, though. Those two were always close. Sakura said as the three of them began to walk into the building.

Inside the building, the lighting was dim. The floor and walls were wet from the water dripping from the ceiling. As drops of water hit the floor, its sound echoed through the torch-lit halls. Walking down the large hallway, Sakura observed the stone walls. Plant vines grew within the cracks of the bricks. "Okay, here's the plan. Each of us will go a different direction and we'll meet back here once you're done searching that particular area." Kakashi told.

Sakura and Naruto nodded as they started to walk down a different hallway.

Sakura opened the last door that was in her section to search. She looked inside and found that it was empty. Sakura sighed with disappointment as she started to run back to the entrance of the building. As she approached the main hallway, she saw that Naruto and Kakashi were already there. "Did you find anything?" Naruto asked.

"No . . . nothing."

"That's strange." Kakashi commented.

"What is?"

"Think about it, Naruto. This is a facility where they kidnap other ninjas and then try to sell them. Don't you think that we would have seen any of the rogue ninjas by now?" Sakura questioned.

"You know, you do have a point, but also the ninja that was here said he saw them. So, where are they?" Kakashi thought.

Naruto tightened his fists as he walked over to the stone wall. He yelled as he slammed his clenched fist into the wall.

'Thump!'

Naruto turned his attention to the wall. Sakura and Kakashi walked up behind him and started to inspect it. "I-it's hollow." Sakura said.

"Care to take the honors, Sakura?" Kakashi smiled.

Sakura returned the smile. "My pleasure."

Raising her fist into the air, she surrounded her hand with chakra before slamming it into the wall. Then stone crumbled under the superior strength and fell to the floor. Naruto took the lead and walked through the newly formed hole. Inside the passage way, the light was much dimmer than before. "S-Sakura, what is this place?"

Sakura stepped in front of Naruto and looked around. A new hallway filled with cells appeared. "Gaara has to be down here!"

All of the started to hurry down the rows of cells until they came to the last one. "Sakura, he's in here!"

Sakura hurried down by Naruto and looked into the cell he was at. Inside, Gaara lay against the wall, his hands and feet locked in chains. Naruto was about to break opened the steel bars, but was stopped by Sakura. She pointed to a piece of paper wrapped around some of the bars. "Chakra seals. They'll drain your chakra whether you are touching or inside the sealed area."

Sakura ripped of the seals and then broke open the cell door. The three of them rushed over to Gaara and kneeled by him. His body was abused and bloody. Raw skin showed under the cuffs around his wrists and ankles. "Hey, Gaara, listen we're getting you out of here." Naruto said as he and Sakura wrapped his chained arms around their necks.

Once they stepped out of the cell, a loud buzzing sound filled the air. "What's that?!" Naruto yelled.

"They're coming . . ." Gaara whispered.

Well there's chapter zwei! I tried to make this one a little bit longer.

R&R!