(Gaara has been kidnapped and team Kakashi is in Sand)

Granny Chiyo ran at Kakashi, accusing him of being the White Fang of Konoha. Naruto, using shadow clones, stopped her and they explained exactly who he was.

"Please!" Temari said in order to stop them from fighting.

"More importantly, Kankuro needs to be quickly…!" Sakura said as she started working on him in order to remove the poison.

"Got it!" Sakura said as she sighed with relief. " I don't think there's any need to worry about his life anymore. I've directly removed the poison." Temari sighed, falling to the floor as she released her tension. "Now I have to make an antidote for the little bit of poison left in his body. We can't relax yet. Please gather what I say." Sakura started giving out orders and they led her to the green houses where they keep all the village's herbs.

*
(very early in the morning, Sakura is still working on the antidote in the green houses alone)

"Now I'll add this and see if this kills the poison."

"This herb will work a lot better." Sakura turned around and saw a figure in an Akatsuki coat.

"KAZE! You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous after what happened."

"I know…but…" Kaze took off her hat. Her hair was longer and tied back in a low ponytail with a blue bow. "I wanted to make sure that…"

"Did you tell Akatsuki about Gaara?"

"No, they found out about him when he became Kazekage." Sakura took the herb Kaze held out and placed it in the antidote, and then watched how it killed the poison. "Be careful Sakura."

"Of what?"

"You're going after Sasori-nii and Deidara-nii, right? They're really strong. You have three days to save Gaara. It will take that long to extract the tailed beast. If you get there before then, then the tailed beast will flow back into the jinchuuriki and he will keep his life."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't worry about finding the hideout, it's getting in that's the problem."

"Kaze." Sakura hugged her, she hadn't seen her since that day when Kaze explained everything to her. "I missed you." Kaze smiled and hugged her back.

"Me too…but seriously, you have to be careful, especially when fighting Sasori-nii."

"Kaze, are you close with the members of Akatsuki?" Kaze blushed.

"Yes, some are like brothers. I…"

"Will you be upset if I…I killed one of them?" Kaze's eyes went wide with fear.

"I know they've done some pretty awful things, they probably deserve to die, but they do have their kind sides, they're just blinded by power."

"I'll try not to kill them."

"No, Sakura, if you don't attack them as if to kill…"

"I'll never be able to win." Sakura smiled. "Kakashi-sensei taught us that." Kaze opened her mouth to say something else when the door to the green house opened. Kaze waved goodbye and then disappeared as the guards came in.

"Sakura, did you find the antidote?"

"Hmm?...Oh yeah, it's right here. I'll give it to Kankuro in the morning."

"Thank you so much Sakura."

"No, problem."

*

"Yo, Kaze, are you here to help with the extraction of the beast?" Deidara asked as Kaze walked through the large opening to the cave.

"In your dreams. I just came by to ask if I can have the body when you're through with it."

"Well, if Zetsu doesn't get to it first, then yeah." A cold shiver went down Kaze's spine at the mention of Zetsu.

"I'm leaving." Kaze said as she turned around.

"Come back soon Kaze!" Deidara yelled as she opened the rock.

Kaze sighed as she began to walk out. "I hope they get there in time. I hate death." Kaze then disappeared.

*

"Everyone halt!" Kakashi said as the team and Granny Chiyo were running through the forest towards the Akatsuki's hideout. Standing in their way, was none other than Uchiha Itachi. Kaze, at the top of the tree, knew who it really was though. She wasn't concerned about her friend's safety because it was not Itachi, just a substitute. Kaze disappeared, deciding to lie low until the end of this whole fiasco.

*

Kaze watched as Deidara was fighting Naruto. She sighed and was about to turn away when she sensed something. She turned around slowly, seeing what she feared. The fox's chakra was leaking out and covering Naruto in a bubbly shield of chakra. Kaze, eyes showing her shock, decided on what she must do.

Kaze closed her eyes.

*

Kaze was walking through hallways with water on the ground. She then came to a giant gate. Inside the gate, large red eyes stared out at her, Naruto in the fox's jaws.

"Who's there?! Well, well, well. If it isn't an Obake, I thought they were extinct."

"We're not animals, fox. Now let Naruto go!" Kaze said in a demanding voice.

"Oh, but, Naruto chose to gain this power, you won't take him away from it, will you?"

"SHUT UP!! Let. Him. Go."

*

Naruto jumped up on a pointed rock then stopped, the fox, stopping because of Kaze's command. Kakashi placed a seal on Naruto's head and the fox's chakra diminished.

*

"What's going on, my chakra is getting sealed?!" Naruto floated out of the gate and Kaze grabbed him.

"You're okay now." She smiled then went back to her body.

*

She blinked seeing Deidara cornered by Guy's team.

"Well done, Negi." Guy-sensei said. Tenten threw Kunai at Deidara and he ran towards his clay headless bird.

"Everyone watch out! That person's a long distance type who attacks with explosions!" Kakashi-sensei yelled. Deidara spit out the kunai he had in his mouth and began eating his clay.

"Take a look at my ultimate work of art…Art is a BANG!" Deidara's body began to swell. Kaze gasped when she realized what was going to happen. She began to run towards the group.

"Everyone, hurry get away from here!" Negi yelled, obviously seeing what was about to happen. Everyone started to run away. "Oh no, I'm not going to make it." Kaze thought as she continued to run.

Then, instead of an explosion, silence filled the air. "Huh?"

"What's going on?" Guy asked. The explosion was focaling to a point and then it disappeared. Kakashi sat on the ground with a new Sharingan that seemed to cause the explosion to occur. But that technique caused Kakashi to use too much chakra, so he fell over from exhaustion. Kaze sighed in relief. She landed on the ground a few meters away from the incident and stood staring at a piec of land.

"You can come out now, Deidara-nii." Kaze said as a blond armless man came out from the ground.

"Great, now I have to go find my arm. See you Kaze."

"See you."

*

Zetsu was looking at Sasori's dead body. "So this is Sasori's real body, eh…" Just then an annoying voice sounded from the back of the cave.

"I got it! I got it, Zetsu!" A young man with a orange lollipop shaped mask sat holding a ring. "With this I can become a member of Akatsuki too, right? There's an opening now."

"Idiot…it's not that simple…We can let him in. Tobi's a good boy." Tobi dropped the ring and then started to sob that he couldn't reach the ring because it fell into a crack. Then the ring rose out of the crack and floated over to a hand. Kaze looked at Tobi with a frown. Then she turned around to Zetsu and yelled,

"Don't you dare touch Sasori's body, you overgrown weed!" Kaze walked over to Sasori's body and knelt down beside it. "Sasori-nii." Kaze reached out a shaking hand towards the puppet master's dead body. A tear fell down as she picked up his body and turned towards Tobi and Zetsu. "I'll be taking him…Tobi, getting into Akatsuki is not as easy as finding a ring. You have to talk to the leader." Kaze knew that Tobi was the leader, but Zetsu didn't so Kaze was putting up an act. In a gust of wind, Kaze disappeared with Sasori.

*

Wind blew the long grass in a large field. Kaze was digging a hole in the ground. When she was done, she placed Sasori in it and placed a large rock at the head of the now filled in hole. With a kunai, Kaze wrote Sasori's name in the stone. Then she took a cat puppet out of her bag and placed it near the stone. Tears fell on the head of the little cat as Kaze remembered when Sasori gave it to her.

*

(flashback)

"Don't cry Kaze." Deidara said as he hugged her. She was still very young and she was hanging out with Deidara and Sasori when she had a bad dream and woke up crying. Sasori took out a puppet and attached chakra strings to it. A tiny cat walked up to Kaze and rubbed it's fur against her leg. Kaze hiccupped and looked at the cat.

"Please cheer up Kaze." Sasori said while he moved his fingers around. With tears still streaming down her face, Kaze smiled.

"Thank you, Sasori-nii."

(end flashback)

*

"hic…hic…Sasori-nii…SASORI-NII!!!" Kaze was distraught. She lost another person really important to her. She cried and cried at the place where she buried Sasori, eventually falling asleep there.

"Geez, Kaze. You shouldn't sleep here." Kisame said as he and Itachi walked past. Itachi picked Kaze off of the stone she was hugging. His eyes widened when he saw the name carved on the stone.

"So, Sasori's dead." Itachi held Kaze princess style, seeing the tear stains on her cheeks. "Kaze, you're a good girl." Itachi kissed her forehead and the two criminals rook her away.