2: tropical disturbance

The night the Godaime Kazekage fell was a quiet one. The sand he used in the fight against the Akatsuki had returned to the ground with little protest. All was silent along the expanse of land, meager terracotta-colored buildings huddling to watch. The civilians of Suna had not seen in the dark of the kidnapping night, but word traveled; it was currency passed behind cupped hands and hushed breath. No one knew where their Kazekage had been taken. It was beyond the expertise of a civilian to understand just how the shinobi of their hidden village intended to retrieve him. So instead, over the days, the common people traded stories of their Godaime's kindness. They walked the spice markets he'd once frequented, they remembered to make music and be merry. Gaara had never taken part in their debauchery, but the civilians suspected he loved the rhythm of their drums. Suna, for days after their Kage was stolen, almost had a heartbeat, so loud did its residents beat their drums in his absence.

The renewed Team Kakashi had heard of Gaara's abduction and the poisoning of Kankuro. Naruto's wheedling had caused them to stand in Tsunade's office, where the Uzumaki man had met Tsunade's raised eyebrow with a mild expression.

"You have not been in Konoha for more than two weeks."

"Un."

"You've not taken a standard A-class mission in three years."

"Un."

"Yet you want to attempt an S-rank mission. To Suna. And meddle in their affairs without an explicit request for assistance. Is that correct?"

"Un."

"Hn. And you two—" Here Tsunade nodded to Sakura and Kakashi while shaking out a familiar roll of tobacco leaves. "—you intend to accompany him as well?"

Kakashi nodded as Sakura drew a breath. "If I may speak, sensei."

"Speak freely, student."

"An attempt to aid Suna would only further strengthen the alliance between our hidden villages; even if we are unable to recover their Kage, it is unlikely Suna would hold a grudge. Additionally, it is rumoured one of their nin was poisoned by an Akatsuki member. To be able to research an attack on a group of interest to Konoha in such a way is rare. It would be unwise to ignore the opportunity."

"And you think the three of you are the best to track down the Akatsuki, engage them, and recover the fifth Kazekage, all the while collecting and analyzing data?"

"We recognize a need for manpower, Tsunade-sama. We offer ourselves to attend to it."

"How diplomatic," Tsunade said, puffing on her cigar.

"Every moment we spend is a moment we could spend on the road," stated Naruto, whose eyes had gone steely. "Hokage-sama."

"It is just your luck the administration had identified and recognized the same issues you vocalised, Sakura," Tsunade said, neatly ignoring the blond in the room. "I imagine you will be relieved to hear you are slotted to join this mission as an offensive component to compliment the mixed-talent chunin team with whom you will be partnered."

Both Sakura and Naruto let out a sharp breath.

"They're a team used to rough travel; I suspect they are waiting at the gates for you all. I assume you've packed?"

Early in their training, Yuuhi Kurenai had instilled in her team inalienable rules of operation, tried and proven by nin Kurenai had fought with. Some were adages: a hungry man will always eat. Other maxims were simple: when observing, do not engage; repetition of technique risks discovery. Others were bits of common sense that often eluded Konoha shinobi: do not confirm or deny assumptions of ability; there is no honor in violence. Others were directives for their growth as a team: give anger no room to fester; burdens should be shared; what one has, all have. A solicitous scientist, Kurenai had mothered the worst of their traits away in a wild and demanding series of trials (training sessions). She had cross-bred her experience with their willingness to produce a codominant, pastel-pink sort of functionality. It had taken root in Team Bingo, intertwining their workflows to produce their own nindo: better together, better apart.

By now it was a formality, more of a ritual rather than a necessity, yet Team Kurenai still counted off their weapons prior to departing. They were in the middle of it when Team Kakashi came upon them.

*89," said Kiba.

"93," said Shino.

"69 senbon," said Hinata.

"130," said Kiba.

"113," said Shino.

"47 meters." This number was in regards to ninja wire.

"23."

"20."

"84 soldier pills."

"150."

"165."

With that count, they set about consolidating and re-rationing their resources. At the end of it, each of the trio had eighty-three kunai, one-hundred-and-four senbon, thirty meters of nin wire and an equivalent amount of bandages. The soldier pills split evenly, but it was far too trifling to stand try to count those out. Instead Hinata pressed a fresh jar of ointment into each of her teammates' palms.

"What a surprise," said Kakashi. "To be traveling with part of the Rookie Nine. I've heard a lot about your team."

Hinata smiled, offering the three shinobi jars of ointment. Kakashi inclined his head as he accepted his. "Just as cooperative as the rumors say."

Shino stepped forward. "We know your team is one of great large chakra reserves. We may not match you in pure power, but we are shinobi of stamina. We will follow your pace."

Kakashi noted the twin hilts peeking over the Aburame's back. Each was wrapped in black bandages that were near indistinguishable from the fabric of his pants. The young man's shirt was an olive green. It was still unsettling to see an Aburame without a coat; in fact, if he hadn't known Shino to be a member of the clan, he wouldn't have guessed him to be affiliated with anything besides Konoha. The hitai-ate would clue anyone in.

"Thank you for being so accomodating," Sakura acknowledged. She looked around before she asked, "Is Akamaru sitting this one out?"

"Iie," said Kiba. "Akamaru tends to travel in disguise." He nodded to some place on the ground, though Sakura didn't understand what he was attempting to bring to her attention. The tall man was decked out in all-tan apparel, the red fangs tattooed on his cheeks still as bright as they'd been in his youth.

"A trip to Tanzaku-gai can take a couple of hours if we move aggressively," Sakura said. "We may be able to reach Kaze no Kuni by noon tomorrow."

"We've made quicker trips. By tonight, we should be eighty kilometers outside of Suna, at the very least," Shino stated. "Why? Because all of us here are at the very least capable of such."

A bit taken aback, Team Seven took a look at the resolute faces of Eight.

"What Shino means to say," said the shortest member of their posse, decked head to toe in a light grey fabric, "is there is little need to limit yourselves on our behalf. We will follow."

"Then Hinata and Shino will take the rear. As sweepers and surveillance," Kakashi suggested. Sakura nodded her assent.

"Naruto and I will take point. Kakashi, Kiba—the middle."

They arrived at Suna breathless and anxious, feet tender from hours of pounding ground. Team Kurenai had only ingested a couple of soldier pills and begged off from formal introductions in order to rest before the tracking truly begun. In the meantime, Sakura had been ushered to the hospital where Kankuro laid.

His skin was pale, having been sheltered from Suna's harsh sun by his puppeteering robes. The man's shoulders were broad, his torso wide and square after the fashion of most male shinobi. His calves clenched and unclenched. The muscles in his upper thigh looked strained.

"How long has he been this way?"

"37 hours, Haruno-san," said a nameless nurse, standing a respectful distance away from Kankuro's cot.

Sakura gave a small hum, bending directly over the man. The nurse heard Sakura take a deep inhale.

"Do you smell anything?"

Sakura didn't answer, instead peeling back one of Kankuro's eyes and watched it dart around his socket.

"Belladonna and hemlock. Oleander, maybe, macerated in honey…?" the medic trailed off, trailing an arm down the face, watching the bottom half of her patient's body continue to spasm. "There must be something else. An advanced sedative would never cause this effect."

Sakura raised a hand to Kankuro's face, running a hand over his Adam's apple. Temari, who had just entered the room, thought it much resembled the touch of a lover, until she caught the cool, distant gaze of the Haruno woman.

"His jaw is clenched. He's in pain," Sakura observed. "A sedative and a pain inflictor." Fascinating.

"What is your plan of action?" asked Temari, arms crossed. Sakura broke out of her reverie to face the blonde woman. Her eyes were hard, dressed in black robes with slits up the sides. She had a face similar to the working wives of artisan men in Konoha. Sometimes their husbands would injure themselves, loosing fingers or hands during a job. Staff would cart the bleeding men in during the wee hours of the morning (the prime time for accidents). Right behind them would be their wives. Their faces were always drawn, cheekbones sharp. It was something in the set of their chins. Sakura always imagined her patients would have an earful waiting for them at home.

"I believe the toxin is based in an elemental metal. Perhaps arsenic or mercury. However, there are too many variables to attempt to make an antidote to administer. While I can hazard a guess at what was in whatever poisoned him, there is always a possibility for me to make an inaccurate judgement," Sakura started. It would be safer to purge his entire body of the stuff, or at least remove enough so that it was nonlethal. "Who attacked him? Do you know?"

"An elder in our village said he was likely poisoned by a missing nin named Sasori. Kankuro was in pursuit of Gaara when he encountered him," Temari replied.

"Sasori…" the name was familiar to Sakura for some reason. She had half a mind to send a message to Tsunade, though she knew there was no time.

"Metal in the body should be removed quickly; there's a chance his heart could stop any time. Bring me three basins of saline. And some extra hands to hold him down. This will be painful."

At Temari's hand, several nin filed in, among them Sakura's teammates. Sakura gestured to the solemn nurse who was holding several basins, instructing her to put one near Kankuro's bedside table.

The Haruno waited until the nurses had secured Kankuro down to the table, Temari making a choice to hold down his shoulders. The women lo cked eyes, and Sakura felt struck with an awareness which made her whole body hot. She had intercepted such looks before. As if she were the only option left.

She would not mess this up.

"I will begin now," she declared evenly.

With one hand she gathered an orb of yellow-ish brine water, placing the other on Kankuro's right pectoral muscle. In one smooth motion, she pushed the orb down onto the left side of his chest, directly over the heart. It wasn't until half the saline was in that Kankuro twitched on the table. The jarring was enough to startle the assisting staff.

"Please hold him," Sakura said, still even-toned. She continued to press the sphere of liquid into Kankuro. The man on the table began to choke, saliva bubbling up at the corners of his mouth. As his nose began to run, Kankuro spasmed again, this time sitting up on his cot. This broke Sakura's concentration. Her brow furrowed as she met the panicked eyes of Temari.

"Hold him!" Sakura snarled.

This time, the staff muscled the shinobi's protesting form on the table. Sakura ignored his heavy breaths and gurgles as she shoved the rest of the sphere into him. The hand which had been resting on the right pec was now charged with chakra. She extracted the brine with it. The water formed a ball which floated a hair away from her palm.

Sakura held the ball up to her eye, staring at the purple-black blobs now within.

"The solids have crashed out the saline solution," she observed. "Whatever the poison is based in is not soluble in water."

The nurse who had supplied the basins asked, "Is that the poison, Haruno-san?"

"Hai. Please," here Sakura gestured to the now-empty bin. The nurse brought it closer to her, and Sakura dumped the ball into it.

By the end of the process, they had three basins full of saline, each with their own amount of near-black liquid pooling at the bottom.

"The poison has been removed," Sakura said. She ruffled through a pouch on her hip and withdrew several large syringes and a couple of detachable, sterile needles. As she prepare one syringe, screwing the needle on, she looked to the pale, relieved Temari.

"I trust you do not mind if I collect this?" Sakura said, plunging her syringe into the water until the needle reached the dark toxin. She pulled the plunger up to separate the poison. "For research."

"It is of no consequence," said a sober Baki.

"The next order of business," piped up Kakashi, "is to trail the Akatsuki who left with the Kazekage. The longer we delay pursuit the colder the trail gets."

During Kakashi's short observation, the hospital staff had filed out the room, wheeling a prone Kankuro along with them. Temari, Baki, Sakura, and Kakashi remained.

"Where you able to collect anything that may help our pursuit?" asked Sakura. Temari shook her head.

"The nin who discovered Kankuro recovered several of his broken puppets. We are waiting to see if there is anything among the wreckage."

"Did Kankuro say anything to the nin who found him?" This was Naruto. The other four jumped at the sound of his voice-he'd been so quiet they had forgotten he was with them.

"Sasori. He was a missing nin from our ranks some odd number of years ago," Baki explained. "Suna sent for an elder in the village that knew him. Chiyo-sama is resting in a dwelling not far from here. She may be able to help you think of an antidote."

"Is she willing to travel with us? We plan to leave as soon as the sun rises," Sakura asked. She had finished collecting the poison and was now standing with crossed arms.

"Chiyo-sama is aware of the urgency of this matter. We will inform her of your request," Baki returned.

"if you are planning to stay the night, we can prepare rooms for you; the other team you traveled with customarily takes one room to share with each other. Would you each like your own space, or do you wish to share?" Temari offered.

"We are flexible and will adapt to whatever you offer us," Kakashi supplied. "Please, show us to our rooms."

It was an hour before sun rise, and Team Eight was wide awake. In the wee hours of the morning, three sharp raps to their shared room had roused Kiba, the lightest sleeper of the trio. On the other side of the door was a solemn Sakura, who had presented them with a piece of red-and-black cloak. It was the cloak of Sasori, who had been the one to attack Kankuro, the shinobi the Haruno had healed. After an update, the pink-haired medic had left.

The name Sasori had been familiar to Kiba-his name was one they'd come across when Team Eight had researched the missing-nin of Suna. They had not found much on him, so their inquiries had ended quite soon. Earlier, before his team had retired yesterday, they'd done some basic research. An aide had told them the Akatsuki which had captured Gaara was a long-haired blonde man, who had been wearing a hitai-ate with a scratch through the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Rock. This matched with Hinata's observation of Kakuzu and Hidan.

"When are we to begin?"

"Sakura-san said we would leave at dawn." Kiba said. "The trail should still be viable. We've done more with less in the past." This was true. One of their first exercises with Kurenai as a genin team had been to track a shinobi friend of hers after a five-day lead and in Ame, which rained eighty percent of the time.

Shino was bent over, in the middle of a stretch made to loosen his hips, when he stated, "We know Sasori is a puppeteer and Deidara is a mixed-range fighter who relies on exploding clay. Our odds of winning in either fight is slim; it would be ideal to capture the Kazekage with little combat. But something is bothering me. Why?"

Hinata who had been sitting cross-legged, minding the web of chakra strings attached to the walls making up the corners of the room, said, "Because in all our findings we never uncovered the goal of the Akatsuki in the first place."

"Crime groups often operate out of pure disregard for common law, but there has been a select group of highly adaptive, alternative-justice groups who also break the law. The difference is those groups are often united under a shared goal."

"My hunch tells me the Akatsuki are a group of the second sort," Kiba supplied.

"I agree," nodded Shino. "We only know them to collect on bounties. The jump to kidnapping a Kage seems extreme. If it was an assassination attempt, no reasonable client would ever request an abduction."

"It seems as if they need the Kazekage for something unrelated to a simple bounty collection," Hinata concluded.

"So what about the Kazekage makes him a valuable mark?"

"In other cases, shinobi target other shinobi when they possess a kekkei genkai, like in the case of Orochimaru who has a special interest in them, or the Cloud which still has an obsession with the Byakugan-" at Hinata's wince, Shino shot her an apologetic look "-though the Kazekage's family possesses no such unifying trait."

"It seems odd they would target him, then," Hinata mused. "No particular stand-outs, no abilities that are uncommon-"

"Iie," Kiba interrupted, just as Hinata's eyes widened.

"You're right, Kiba-kun. Gaara-san transformed into a creature called Shukaku during the Suna invasion. I only caught a glimpse of the thing before I started my fight with Temari-san."

"Legend has it Shukaku is a giant raccoon native to the Land of Wind. He was a beast with tons of chakra. Back when Suna and Konoha were hostile, Suna started a habit of sealing Shukaku into their shinobi as a sort of last resort in case of war. The vessels of Shukaku are well-documented; Suna had a pattern of out-right threatening their neighbors in times of stressful relations."

"But what would the Akatsuki do with Shukaku?"

"Well, perhaps they are in need of the chakra the Ichibi can provide," Shino replied. This gave Kiba pause.

"Ichibi? One-tail?"

"Hai. There are legends of nine or ten chakra beasts that roam the Five Nations. Some of them have not been seen for decades. The assumption is some villages continuously seal the beasts into new vessels without allowing for the chance to escape. My clan trades tall tales of the Seven-Tails; it takes the appearance of a rhinocerous beetle. But the sealing process should be familiar. This is advanced fuinjutsu, Hinata, have you not heard of it before?"

"O-Only in passing," said Hinata. "It's always mentioned near literature which talks about summoning seals usually put in scrolls, so I assume the process is similar. I've never had an opportunity to observe the seals themselves, not in a single scroll I've ever read. The information must be classified."

Kiba rubbed a hand over his chin. "But why would the Akatsuki only want one beast? If it was me, I'd take them all. Just to have them."

Shino shook his head, adjusting his shades. "That is unimportant at this juncture. Our focus is to recover the Kazekage. Is it safe to assume a chakra beast sealed into a human container could be removed?"

It was a few moments before Hinata answered. "Hai. When some nin summon from scrolls, the scroll disintegrates after one use. In other cases, the scroll is reusable. The difference depends on the summoner and the seals used."

"And the chances the Akatsuki would care about preserving the Kazekage's life?"

Hinata didn't answer.

"This is conjecture. We will not know what to expect until we manage to recover Suna's leader," Shino said after some time.

Kiba bit his tongue. There was something about the air around here-ever since they'd been deployed on this mission, he'd felt it. There was a difference between charting the Akatsuki's movements and engaging with them directly. Team Eight, or Team Bingo, was a mixed, multipurpose team, sure, but firstly they were a team suited to tracking. Not combat.

If the Akatsuki were after big fish, like the Ichibi, and were able to subdue the Kazekage, then there was a good chance their team would sustain considerable damage if they chose to interfere. Akamaru shifted against Kiba's side with a whine. Kiba ran a hand through the canine's fur as he thought. Additionally, if the Akatsuki did not plan on stopping at the Ichibi, but intended to collect the rest of them, that would be even more of a problem. What would they need all that chakra for?

What would anyone need that much chakra for?

This is the second chapter.

Thank you for reading!