Hello everyone!

Sorry about not updating earlier. Unfortunately whenever I went to go write this story I always ended up getting distracted by something or life liked to bite me in the ass either way I finally found the time to do this story again, as well as my others.

Remember to review please!

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Last Time!

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"Well, let's get to it shall we?" Tsunade said as she picked up a scroll, "This is a B-rank mission for your team. You will be going on a lot of missions, as Naruto needs the experience. So get to it you thr…"

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!"

A kunoichi burst through the Hokage's door, interrupting the busty blonde. The kunoichi also completely ignored the expression of anger on the Hokage's face as she relayed her message.

"We just got word from Sunagakure. The Kazekage was attacked and taken by the Akatsuki!" the kunoichi said.

Tsunade's anger froze in its tracks. Ignoring everything else she addressed the squad currently in front of her. "Team Kakashi, you now have a new mission. You are to make your way at the fastest speed possible to Sunagakure and assist them in anyway. Sakura, stop by the hospital and gather what supplies you need to assist any wounded they may have. Naruto, Kakashi, you are to assist in the search for the Kazekage. When he is found you three will assist in retrieving him as well! I will send any help I can, as fast as I can. Get to the West gate in fifteen minutes!" Tsunade said using a serious tone that would broker no arguments. She was now in full Kage mode.

Looking at the three still standing in front of her she exploded for a small second, "What the hell are you still doing her?! GO! GO! GO!"

With that the three quickly left the office, each to gather the supplies they need quickly.

Tsunade turned and looked out her office windows at the shining horizon as the sun slowly made its journey in the sky.

"So they've begun…" Tsunade said to herself, as she quickly sat in her chair to try and figure what reinforcements she could help provide their allies.

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Chapter 3

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'These are so good!' Temari thought as she ate her dumplings with a joy-filled smile.

She had left Konoha not but a few hours ago, and Temari knew that if she hadn't she would have stayed there yet another day in hopes of spending it with her boyfriend, and that just wouldn't do. She'd been gone from Suna for too long, and Naruto was a recently promoted jōnin. He'd be out on missions constantly, so they wouldn't get to spend as much time as she'd like with him anyway. She'd just have to wait for him to take a small break, or well she'd at least force him to when she went back for the chūnin exams in a couple months.

Temari could still remember when they had first gotten together. She had actually been nervous when they went for tea that first time. Naruto had seemed older and wiser than most of the shinobi she had known her own age let alone his age, not to mention he was a hell of a lot stronger than most of them as well. The funny part was that during the whole date, she hadn't thought about the fact that he was two years her junior. He never acted it, so it was hard to tell. That date, while most of her dates had normally only lasted an hour or two at the most, had lasted for over five hours and it was just tea! They just talked the whole time, getting to know each other better, and that's how it started for them.

He had just appeared out of nowhere and swept her off her feet... quite literally with him carrying her to his hotel room to sleep off the alcohol in her system. Since that time, they had been on countless dates; doing everything from climbing the great plateaus of Kaze no Kuni to picnics in the great forests of Hi no Kuni. They had shared almost everything there was to know about each other. Naruto also wasn't like most guys, in the sense that he actually listened. He'd ask questions about how she grew up, her hobbies and things like that, and it all seemed to actually matter to him instead of just pretending to care to sleep with her. She asked him things like how his career was going or his childhood, though he always seemed to hate talking about his younger years.

Another thing that set him apart from other guys was that he never pushed for sex. On the contrary, Temari was the one who had been trying to sleep with him. You'd think that trying to seduce a teenage boy whom you happen to be dating wouldn't be all that hard?

Well if that teenager happen to be someone who's sense of what's right and wrong is so high, like Naruto's, it is very difficult. He wanted to wait until he could truly commit to the relationship instead of just fooling around and only being able to see each other whenever he had a break in his training. He'd pleasure her sure, but she wanted to be with him in every sense of the word. She was going to wait for now until he came back to Suna or she went back to Konoha, she had a plan waiting for him and she would have him damnit!

Temari also had to plan when Naruto would ask permission to court her from Gaara, as well as her asking Tsunade for her blessing.

While the talk between Naruto and Gaara was required by Suna customs, the talk between herself and Tsunade was not. Temari wanted to though, as the Sannin played a large role in her boyfriend's life. She was basically his mother in most aspects, especially when he talked about her with such loyalty and pride; she knew she just had to hope she would give her blessing, though it wouldn't stop them from being together. Hell they were already breaking tradition with Naruto being with her and him not asking Gaara's permission, so it's not as if it would really slow them down at all.

Temari went to go grab her tea and a crack suddenly appeared the ceramic cup, making her freeze immediately. 'Shit, that can't be good… I need to get back to Suna quicker…' Temari thought to herself as she gently grabbed the cup, downed the contents and ran to pay.

Not a full minute afterward the cup cracking was she running on the road, hoping to quickly get back to her village as the sense of unease she felt was only getting worse.

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Temari hadn't been running for more than an hour before the sound of shinobi running through the trees could be heard. This didn't really concern her since she was still somewhat close to Konoha.

"TEMARI!"

Said girl turned her head to see her boyfriend and his team in the trees, jumping down to her, so she stopped to let them catch up.

"What's wrong?" Temari asked as she discretely looked at Naruto. While outwardly he didn't appear at all shaken up, she could tell that he was pissed and worried about something. After having spent so long together she had gotten good at figuring out his emotions, even when he didn't want to show any. So being able to read this put her even further on edge than she had already been.

"Sunagakure's been attacked," Sakura said, gaining the wind mistress's attention immediately with surprise and worry, "The Kazekage was taken by Akatauki; we're headed there now to provide support."

Temari's world stopped for a moment. Her brother was just attacked?! AND HE WAS TAKEN?! Where the hell was everyone? Why hadn't anyone helped protect their Kazekage?!

All of these questions began to plague her mind as panic started to set in about her little brother as her heart pounded away at the possibilities.

"Temari, calm down, everything is going to be fine. We'll get him back."

The voice brought her back to reality, and she looked at Naruto. He had said what she needed to hear, and not only that but he also sounded so confident as well that she couldn't help the small smile that made its appearance on her face. He was always confident, just one of his many features that made her fall for him.

"Your right, no use worrying over anything I can't control. I'll lead you all to Suna quickly, let's go." Temari said, this time jumping from the road to the trees and taking off at a high rate of speed. She didn't get very far before Naruto was right next to her, timing his movements to match hers perfectly.

"Don't worry Temari-chan," Naruto whispered again in a soft and loving tone, "We'll save him before anything can happen. I still have to ask him something, remember?"

Temari let out a nervous chuckle, 'Sure, think of asking my brother about whether or not it's okay to date me. Sure let's focus on that right now instead of how he might be dead,' Temari thought to herself sarcastically with an internal chuckle. However it did do its job and kept her mind off of the worse things, and instead had her thoughts on the teen next to her.

"So Naruto-kun," Temari started in a sultry voice, 'Since they're headed to Suna to help, I might as well make sure he knows to come back to me, since knowing him he'll probably go off after Gaara first chance he can.' "Wanna grab some tea at my place after all of this?" Temari asked making sure to keep her voice at a volume low enough that Kakashi and Sakura couldn't hear her. Or at least she hoped they didn't.

"Hmm, depends. Are you going to do something to the tea that I should be aware of?" Naruto asked with a smirk, guessing her intentions.

"Yes, I plan on slipping in a drug so I can rape you later." Temari said bluntly, though a smirk also played on her lips.

Naruto's step faltered for a step before he was back with her. Temari was always blunt at times, but it always seemed to catch Naruto off guard when she basically said she wanted to have sex with him out in the open.

It wasn't like he didn't want to; just that he didn't want to hurt her if something went wrong. He knew her customs; He knew he had to talk to the male member of her family that was considered the head of the family, which in this case was Gaara since Kankuro refused it, and ask permission to court her. They were already breaking the rules which didn't sit well with Naruto, simply because he believed he was going behind one of his best friend's back and with his older sister no less.

"Great, so I'll just have water." Naruto joked with a chuckle, gaining a soft chuckle from Temari as well. It's not as if she'd really drug him… at least not with something that his system didn't already filter out, thanks to his Uzumaki blood and the Kyūbi, before he was affected with the desired effect.

A comfortable silence reined the space between the squad as they focused on running to their sandy destination.

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Even though it took several hours just to reach the border, it went by relatively fast for the group. Small talk was exchanged between all of them after Naruto' and Temari's small talk, but they mainly stayed silent and tried to move as fast as they could. They all channeled small amounts of chakra into their legs to go faster and all of them had already munched on at least one food pill, Sakura having used two due to her having smaller reserves than the others.

As they crossed the desert, a sandstorm began to form in front of them. This hadn't really slowed them down though, mainly because Naruto and Temari just unleashed a few futon Ninjutsu and forced the storm to break apart before it could fully manifest itself in their path. Of course this surprised Kakashi and Sakura, but the pair didn't really care and just kept on running to Suna; it wasn't the first time they had done that when they were in a pinch for time. There had been times when Temari had to get back on time so their relationship wasn't discovered and Temari wasn't late for an assignment.

Temari lead the group to Sunagakure, seeing as she's from the region and was able to keep them from getting lost. Not that Naruto didn't also know where he was going, having been there plenty of times before, but it just seemed natural for Temari to lead them in her home nation. Naruto knew questions would be asked if he was the one leading them.

As they reached the great earthen barrier that surrounded the desert village, they were stopped by a pair of Suna jōnin.

"Temari-sama!"

The group quickly turned their attention to the approaching jōnin.

"Baki-sama told us that you might be showing up. He needs to see you right away. You'll have to climb the barrier though; the main passage is blocked with rubble that has traps buried all in it." One of the jōnin said. The team quickly took off up the barrier, which actually turned out to be cut out area's that formed platforms with multiple battlements that troops could be posted on. From the dried blood splatters it was where they were placed, but it hadn't been near as effective at all from what it should have done.

They all quickly scaled the walls and jumped over, having only a small problem with the guards at the top who quickly checked their ID's then ushered them into the village.

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As the team made it to the hospital where Baki currently was for some reason the team didn't know. They quickly met him in the lobby.

"Baki-san!" Temari yelled out as she quickly ran up to him.

"Temari?!" Baki said, almost surprised that she was there, "I wasn't expecting you to be back for another day with the sandstorms that I was told were happening to the east, though I'm more than happy to see you. I need to speak with you about your brother…"

"Yeah, let's talk about how you let THE KAZEKAGE GET TAKEN!" Temari roared out in anger. She was beyond upset that her little brother was taken, she was infuriated. Everyone in the near vicinity cowered slightly under the feeling of her wrath. Temari wasn't a woman to be crossed and everyone in Suna knew that. Well everyone except Naruto, who knew he was relatively safe and was at the ready to support her if the conversation turned bad.

"It's not about Gaara-sama, though the one who took him we suspect to be Akasuna no Sasori. I'm talking about Kankurō…" Baki said, his voice tapering off at the end, showing serious regret for something.

Temari's eyes went confused for a second before they filled with fear.

"What happened to Kankurō?" Temari whispered quietly in fear, though everyone could hear her. Naruto wasn't able to stop himself from walking to her side and putting an arm around her, which she quickly gripped his body, her fists clenching at the handfuls of clothing she could grab.

Everyone looked at the couple with odd glances since none of them really knew about their relationship and weren't able to understand the closeness they showed. Some just played it off as Naruto being a nice guy and supporting a friend; it was a well-known fact, even in Suna, that Naruto was very protective of his friends.

Baki coughed into his hand to gain everyone's attention, "When Gaara-sama was taken, Kankurō quickly pursued the Akatsuki duo that had performed the assault. He tried to take on Sasori, and ended up being poisoned. We haven't been able to counteract his poison at all, our medics say they haven't seen anything like it." Baki answered, his tone grave and without hope.

Temari froze up and the only thing that was keeping her on her feet was Naruto's arm that had quickly snaked around her near collapsing form. Both of her brothers were facing grave situations, and she was helpless to stop any of it.

"Let me see him. I might be able to help."

Temari heard this and quickly turned to see that Sakura had stepped forward. Thinking quickly, she was one of the apprentices of Tsunade, so if anyone here had a chance it would be her. Temari latched onto that small sliver of hope with everything she had, and she felt some strength return to her. Enough for her to stand on her own, though Naruto's arm didn't leave her side and went fairly unnoticed by anyone, most thinking that he was just being friendly and supporting his known friend's sister.

Baki nodded and quickly escorted them to Kankurō's room.

Once the group arrived at Kankurō's room, Temari couldn't help the gasp that left her at the scene in front of her; a group of four medics discussing some theories with an old woman, while her brother laid suffering on the bed in the middle of the room. His breathing was erratic and his body was sweating profusely, all the symptoms that his body was indeed poisoned by something. And whatever that something was it was making the man suffer.

Seeing the sight, Temari started to breakdown again, again only to be saved from collapsing by Naruto again. As he pulled her into his embrace a yell came from the group.

"YOU! YOU WILL DIE KONOHA NO SHIROI FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY SON!" The old lady roared out in rage.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened at the claim as the old lady, who was standing with the medics, came charging at him. She jumped into the air and attacked with a flying kick; Naruto quickly moved and intercepted the kick, catching her foot with his right hand. The elderly woman threw her other foot to hit him across. Temari quickly stepped in though and using a quick wave of her fan, blew the two apart. The old woman twisted in the air and landing lightly on her feet, Naruto however, due to him not foreseeing Temari's actions, or the force the blonde used, found himself face first in the wall.

"ENOUGH!" Temari yelled out, enraged that one of her villages elders would pull something like this, "He isn't Konoha no Shiroi! He's Sharingan no Kakashi!" Temari yelled out, "Now can we focus on my brother damnit!"

The old woman took a moment to look at Temari, well glare really, before she turned her vision onto the white haired jōnin who was sheepishly waving at her from his new position behind Baki. A lot of the group was trying to figure out how he had moved behind the Suna jōnin so quickly.

"Oh! My mistake." The elderly woman said in an innocent tone with a smile, a complete 180 from earlier, making everyone sweat drop.

Sakura ignored everything that was going on and was already at Kankurō, examining him. Naruto moved back to Temari, after having pulled himself from the wall, which gained looks from everyone that he quickly ignored in favor of focusing on her.

"Temari-chan, why don't we go wait outside? Let's give Sakura all the room she needs to work okay?" Naruko said in a low and comforting tone, trying to give her a moment to compose herself.

Temari shook her head in the negative, "I'm going to stay with him, you need to work on getting Gaara back." Temari said, before taking a last moment of comfort from Naruto's presence and then moved to her brother's side.

Naruto didn't respond, he just up and walked out of the room, letting Temari have what time she could with her brother. Kakashi followed his student, knowing that this could be one of the last moments Temari might have with her brother. It wasn't that he had little faith in his student, on the contrary he had absolute faith in Sakura, however he also knew how dicey the situation could get and didn't want to intrude on a matter that held little concern for him. He also wanted to know what was going on between Naruto and Temari, as he was now reviewing what he had seen of their behavior between the two of themselves.

Unknown to both men, mainly for them not really caring, they were followed out by the elder siblings, as they too didn't think they could do much either.

Naruto sat down on a bench just outside the room, and tried to gather his thoughts on what to do. He didn't know if he was in charge and needed to make decisions because Tsunade wanted to know his leadership capabilities or if Kakashi was and he just needed to wait for orders.

"So Naruto…" Kakashi started, taking a seat next to his student and pulling out his favorite little orange book.

Naruto however beat Kakashi to the punch, "So who is this Konoha no Shiroi Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked looking at the one eyed jōnin even though he didn't need to. Kakashi sighed, and took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"He was… well in a word, he was my father." Kakashi said in a calm and rather subdued voice as memories of his father that he had long repressed came slowly trickling back, "He was a great man, a loyal shinobi that was said to have power equal to that of one of the Sannin at times."

Naruto could hear the soft tone Kakashi was using, and the under tone of pain and sadness that was escaping from his control. Naruto knew Kakashi, and he knew that he would want to stay in control as best as he could so he quickly changed the subject.

"So how are we going to track down Gaara? I would be able to track him if I had the general direction he was going and a small sample of his chakra." Naruto said using a tone that was louder than necessary, but not overly in hopes of getting Kakashi's attention on the mission instead of the past. This had the inadvertent effect of grabbing the elder's attention that had strayed as they knew Kakashi, like many shinobi before him, found it hard to think of his past and felt it wasn't their place to listen in.

"Want to let me know how you can do that?" Kakashi asked giving Naruto a sideways look.

"The Gama clan has trackers that they can dispatch. Unlike the Ninkin from the Inuzuka's, the Gama Trackers track via chakra traces. However like with scent, a trace of someone's chakra doesn't always stay around for long, maybe a week at most depending on how potent the chakra is, so their tracking has to start quickly." Naruto explained.

Kakashi nodded before closing his single eye in contemplation. After a moment of thought he reopened it and looked at Naruto's covered eyes.

"Are those your orders?" Kakashi asked. As far as Kakashi was concerned this was now officially Team Naruto instead of Team Kakashi as Tsunade had put him in charge.

"Orders?" Naruto asked, as he wasn't sure if he was actually in charge or not.

"Hokage-sama put you in charge for the current missions. This one might have been thrown at us abruptly but this is still your team. I'm here as an acting member of the team as well as to give you advice when you need it." Kakashi explained.

Naruto took a moment to fully let it sink in that he was in charge at that moment.

"Alright then, as soon as Baki-san is available we'll get to work. He should be able to get up a sample of Gaara's sand, and maybe something with his scent on it as well. From there we'll send out our summons to quickly track down his location. And then we'll do JUST our mission," Naruto said in a clear commanding voice, which brought a smile to Kakashi as he was reminded of his own sensei back in the day, "we get the Kazekage back. We're not there to wipe out the Akatsuki. They might have done a lot of harm, but if we don't focus on getting Gaara back then we might lose him. Besides, I remember a smart man once telling me that revenge has no place in the shinobi world; so no matter what they've done, we're just there to extract the Kazekage, and then run like hell back here." Naruto finished with a small smirk.

Kakashi chuckled at Naruto's comment. He remembered when he had told Naruto those words back during their battle on the bridge in Nami no Kuni when he had wanted to continue attacking Zabuza. "Good to know that you at least listened to me back then. At times I wondered if it just went in one ear and out the other." Kakashi said with a soft chuckle.

Naruto just made a 'so-so' hand motion which brought a laugh out of both jōnin.

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"You've got what I need you to do?" Naruto asked.

"We've got his chakra. Wherever your friend is, we'll find him." A yellow toad with a sling styled bag on his back. He had seven other toads of varying color standing behind him, carrying a similar looking bag. These were tracker toads; toads that specialized in zeroing in on someone's chakra and being able to track them down.

"Good, try to move as fast as you can." Naruto said with a serious expression.

"Hai!" was called out by all of the toads and then they were off, speeding into the desert, the full moon showing them against the sand.