Tsunade laid out the two scrolls in front of the Kazekage and sat back down. She knew why he had arrived to her village. As the Kazekage read through the minimal information on the scrolls, she gave a worrying look to Naruto. The blond haired ninja had laid Hinata to rest before joining Neji and Gaara in Tsunade's office.

"Sakura will be here soon to provide more details on what she saw." Mentioned the Hokage as Gaara laid the scrolls back down.

He did not say anything and simply stared at the scrolls. He had already seen his sister and had seen the scratches that were visible by the side of her neck. After speaking briefly with Shikamaru, he had walked towards the Hokage's office.

Tsunade knew that he demanded answers, even though he had barely said a word since sitting in her office. She also knew who was on his mind, and why he had bothered making the long journey from the Sand Village to Konoha. For the past few years, Tsunade had heard the rumors that had been going around regarding the Kazekage and Ino Yamanaka. Although many were not sure when it all started, all Sakura had been able to tell Tsunade was that it had all started around the time Ino first accompanied Shikamaru to Sunagakure.

Tsunade's train of thoughts were interrupted as Sasuke walked in to her office, one arm around Sakura's waist. Even though the kunoichi's injuries were almost gone, Sasuke still had his arm around her, as if making sure that she wouldn't disappear. This was the first time Tsunade had seen Sasuke show affection towards the pink-haired girl in public.

Neji stared at the couple as they were finally inside the office and Sasuke helped Sakura sit down on a chair to the left of the Kazekage. Neji briefly closed his eyes and thought of Tenten, wondering where she was and hoping that she was still alive. Ever since learning about the delay of the mission and seeing Hinata's traumatized expression, the Hyuga prodigy wanted a rescue mission right away. However, he had agreed with Tsunade that they should first hear from Sakura and what details she could provide that could help with the rescue mission.

Sakura looked up and saw that everyone's eyes were on her. She cleared her throat and started talking.

"We were able to find the village after a few days. At first we were not sure if it was even a village, since there were only few houses around. We didn't see many people around, and everything was so quiet. We decided to wait around a bit before taking action. Hinata used her Byakugan and saw layers upon layers of stairs underneath the ground. We found a secret passage, hidden around some bushes. We noticed that most people were coming out from a different passage, so we figured that there would be multiple ways to go underground."

Sakura took a sip of her water and continued, meeting lady Tsunade's eyes. "The reason why the village was difficult to find was because it is mostly underground. When we reached underground, it was all stairs at first…stairs that led to all directions. There were people laying on the floor, sleeping or eating. They were not ninjas…just villagers. Some even saw us, and did nothing. They just carried on with their lives. We saw children running around, playing, and women with buckets of water washing and drying clothes. Everything seemed strange. It's as if no one cared that five ninjas had just sneaked in to their homes. Majority of them did not even pay us any attention."

"If the villagers did not attack you guys, then what did?" inquired Naruto.

Sakura looked up at him and continued. "We don't know what attacked us. And it did not attack just us…it attacked everyone. We found these doors after getting to the lowest level. We knew we were deep underground now. There were tunnels everywhere, and around that area there were no villagers. For some reason, the doors were not closed and we could see what was going inside."

As Sakura continued, she made eye contact with lady Tsunade. "We saw the three missing kunoichi, alive."

Tsunade gasped feeling relieved yet more nervous as Sakura continued. "We saw them, but they were bound to this large machine. They had needles injected into them everywhere. They were barely clothed too. They looked weak and could barely stand. There were marks all over their bodies, as if they were experimented on. There were men in white suits and black masks all over….There were large wires everywhere and they all lead to this open area….almost like a cave. Hinata used her Byakugan to see what was inside that cave, and there was nothing at all actually…not right though…"

"What do you mean not right away?" asked Neji.

Sakura looked at Neji and then at Gaara, as both men stared back at her. She could imagine what they were feeling, knowing that Tenten and Ino were still out there, missing. She felt Sasuke rub her shoulder caringly, and she gave a slight nod before continuing.

"We knew it would not be wise to rescue the women right away. There were a lot of these men around and some had this strange equipment in their hands. While we were planning on how to get them out, we heard what sounded like lightning….which was strange since we were so underground! Everything else happened so fast! We looked inside and saw a blue shadow in the form of a circle appear out of nowhere. Then it grew much larger and all of the sudden, these things started coming out from it."

Sakura knew that she probably sounded crazy to them, but she continued on with her story. "I am not sure how to describe the…they're nothing that we've seen before. The moment they ran in to the lab, they started destroying everything…."

"What about the men in white with the black masks? What about the three kunoichi that were trapped in there?" Tsunade asked.

"The three kunoichi…Tsunade-sama….were dead the moment those creatures came through. The men in white were trying to contain them, but they were so fast and so many that they couldn't. We knew that if those things got out, it would wreak havoc to those who could not protect themselves! So we joined the fight, but they were so many and this blue light….from where they came from….immediately turned into a dark fog and no one could see what was going on properly. Things started collapsing within, so we started to retreat. Those creatures were fast and all of the sudden, we were all fighting them while trying to escape. The fog that had emitted from the blue light took over and it was impossible to fight. The villagers from the levels above immediately started opening all of the passages that lead to the outside, so we followed the sunlight."

Tsunade took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Naruto looked at her suspiciously. "Jiraiya had told me stories of unknown groups trying to open portals to other dimensions by sucking blood out of people." The blond-haired ninja proclaimed, and everyone in the room looked at him in surprised. Naruto continued speaking as his eyes never left Tsunade's. "I thought he was joking, and even he himself was not too sure if all of it was true, considering no one has actually verified this. It has all been rumors and stories for years."

"Even I have heard the same stories, Uzumaki." Tsunade replied. "These masked men must be the reason why everything is underground. They were hiding something dark."

"It explains the blue light." Sakura said. "The creatures though, they seem to be blind. After we had escaped on to the daylight, Hinata and I were standing quietly in front of one, but it did nothing. It just walked around and quickly left once it heard a noise. We saw nothing that looked like eyes. We found Temari on the ground with her arm broken. We believe she may have been in contact with one of the creatures. Hinata searched the area for Tenten and Ino, but the darkness that came with the creatures immediately surrounded us, and even the byakugan was not as effective. Villagers from under and above ground started running and panicking, but all that did was get them killed as the creatures were much faster than them. We started escaping ourselves from the area, and one of the creatures attacked us."

Hands and ankles cuffed, Ino and Tenten were dragged back to the underground layer in which the underground village once existed. Now that it was daylight, they were able to see the destruction that the creatures had left behind. Bodies were scattered everywhere, blood stained on the ground. Tenten closed her eyes as she saw the head of a little girl with wide eyes staring back at her from the ground. Ino gave a worrying look to her comrade before looking straight ahead.

Ino was able to hear some of the conversations that the men in front of them were having. They had spoken about the creatures running back underground through the portal. They had spoken how finally they were able to summon the creatures from the other dimensions…That the next step now was to control them. That was the next stage that the man had spoken about before taking them away.

But for that, they needed more blood.

Female blood….

Ino tried to keep her mind positive, knowing that by now, Konoha would be ready to send out a rescue team for them. And not just Konoha, but Gaara too… She smiled a bit as she remembered the times she had spent with him.

~ Flash Back ~

Ino stared at her food for a bit before looking at Gaara from underneath her lashes, watching him look back at her with his typical blank looks. They were purposely sitting across from each other as Temari, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and Chouji sat around them and continued their loud conversations.

Despite the fact that both of them had been sneaking around for over a year now, Ino still felt nervous and shy around him. Even though he was mostly quiet, he would sneak behind her and trail soft quiet kisses around her bare shoulders. On the days that she would wear her purple mini skirt, he would give caress her bare thighs whenever they would be alone in his bedroom.

Outside the public eye, Gaara was very touchy… And Ino had no complaints. In fact, it was the driving factor as to why most of the clothes she brought to the Sand village had her showing a lot of skin.

Because he was the Kazekage though, she knew that in public, it was best for them to have some distance between each other. Their relationship was not a simple. Not because of the long distance, but because he was the Kazekage and she was just Ino. Eventually, he would have to marry to continue his clan. And so far, the councilmen in his village did not know about their relationship and would not want him being with someone outside of Suna.

Shikamaru had once caught them together in Konoha, during the timeframe in which the Kazekage was visiting the Hokage on a business trip. It was the first time Shikamaru had caught them together, and would definitely have not been his last…

Ino remembered that time. They had been near a waterfall, many miles away from the Hidden Leaf village. She had been wearing a small, almost revealing two-piece white bikini and was drenched head to toe, her blond hair cascading around her shoulders. Sitting closely behind her on a rock had been Gaara, eyes closed as he had meditated.

Ino had turned around, bikini top now off, and sat herself between his legs. She had leaned her head back, resting it on his shoulder, as the Kazekage buried his face on the crook of her neck while his hands had started trailing up her arms, to her shoulders, and eventually to other places on her upper body….

After accidentally catching them several times, Shikamaru had warned her to be careful. The Kazekage still had enemies out there, still had some issues with his past, and his councilmen weren't aware of their relationship.

Chouji's yelling interrupted her thoughts as he demanded more meat be brought towards the grill. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance as Ino smiled at Chouji's antics.

About an hour later, Shikamaru and Temari both got up, staring at each other. "We are going to head back. It is getting very late." Temari said and after saying their goodbyes, left.

Chouji excused himself as well, mentioning how he had some leftover dessert from yesterday in the fridge that he wanted to try.

Finally, it was just the three of them: Kankuro, Ino, and the Kazekage.

Knowing that he was about to become the third wheel soon, Kankuro also excused himself but not before giving a wink to Ino and thumps up. Ino blushed and looked away. Kankuro knew way too much….

"Are you ready?"

Looking up at him, she nodded and both left via different routes, yet to the same destination….

~ End Flash Back ~

Shikamaru finished zipping his small bag and looked next to him, watching as Neji stared from the window. After Sakura finished telling the horrors of their ordeal to everyone in the room, Neji had stared directly at Tsunade. Tsunade knew what the Hyuuga wanted and sighing, had told everyone to get start getting prepared. They were to leave in one hour.

They had another fifteen minutes before their mission started. Lee, Chouji, Shino, and Kiba were present in the room as soon as they were informed with what had happened.

Naruto was speaking to a now calm Hinata, promising her that he would bring the two missing kunoichi back safely.

Shikamaru walked out of the room they were huddled in and towards the room in which Temari was still resting in. Her arm was wrapped in a cast and she had small band-aids all over her body. Kankuro and Gaara were in there as well.

"We are leaving soon." Shikamaru said calmly.

Temari looked at him, giving him a slight nod.

"Please be careful. I don't know what those things were. But they were fast….too fast…to be killed."

Shikamaru held her hand and kissed the top of it.

"I will be."

He got up and walked towards Tsunade's office where the rest of them were waiting for him. Due to his strong leadership skills, they had chosen him to lead the rescue mission. As he neared the hokage's office, he saw Sasuke and Sakura not too far away, having a silent yet serious conversation.

"I have to go." Sakura whispered loudly, staring right into those eyes that she had always loved staring into.

"No." Sasuke replied, "You were almost killed. We don't know what we're dealing with and I can't afford seeing you get injured again."

"Tenten and Ino are still out there, probably hurt! I need to be there. Even if you find them, you'll need a medic right there to treat their wounds. It will take days for any of you to reach back to Konoha."

Sasuke stared back at her, knowing that she was right. Sakura was mostly healed now, so she would still be able to travel along with them. Placing one hand on her cheek and stepping closer, watching her face blush, Sasuke replied back to her. "I do not want you fighting these things." He stared back at her bright green eyes as he continued, "You will stay within a distance. We will bring Tenten and Ino to you to heal. I can't afford to seeing you this injured again."

Sakura nodded in agreement and they embraced before walking inside Tsunade's office and joining the others.

Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, Shino, Chouji, and Kiba stood in front of the Hokage as she stood up, Shizune standing right by her side.

"Your mission is simple." The hokage spoke. "You are to bring Tenten and Ino back safely. Use all means possible to achieve that. In addition, notate everything you see. I will start warning other villages about what is going on. We don't know if these creatures are capable of traveling long distance. The last thing we want is to have villages attacked by these things."

Tsunade stood up as she continued speaking "The nine of you… be careful. We do not know what we're dealing with."

The nine ninjas nodded in understanding. They all turned around as footsteps approached them from behind.

Gaara stopped next to Shikamaru and stared at the Hokage in front of him. "I will be coming too."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she shook her head. "With all due respect Kazekage-sama, but this mission is dangerous and you may be needed in your village. Our resources are capable of bringing them back."

Gaara did not blink as he replied. "I will be coming. And I will bring her back."

Tsunade sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with the Kazekage. Considering how unannounced his presence was, she should have realized that nothing would stop this man from finding Ino and bringing her back.

"Be safe, all of you." Tsunade said.

The ten ninjas nodded and left.