"What? They kidnapped him?"

Naruto could feel his heart drop as Tsunade half-heartedly explained the situation of the Akatsuki kidnapping Gaara to get the One-Tailed Beast. His fists clenched in aggravation, and he wanted to shout out his frustration to whoever would hear, but Yoruichi put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Just listen for a bit, Naruto," she said softly. He nodded immediately and turned back to Tsunade, who had noticed the chemistry between the two. "Those two are closer than I had thought before," she thought absentmindedly. Clearing her throat, she picked up the mission report. "I'll get right to the chase; Team Kakashi, plus Yoruichi, will travel to the Sunagakure and aid those who are searching for the Kazekage," she looked pointedly at Kakashi. "Anyone who tries to compromise the mission must be eliminated, understood?"

"Hai!

"Alright, Team Kakashi, good luck."

Yoruichi sighed heavily as she packed a backpack of supplies for the trip. In all honestly, she wasn't expecting to be sent out on missions like this, but Naruto's inner hollow was still at risk of being set loose. She was vaguely aware of who the Akatsuki was, she knew that they were S-class missing-nin who are hired mercenaries that plan taking each of the nine tailed beasts. Naruto had mentioned one of them being the brother of one of his past teammates, who is also a missing-nin. She pulled aside the collar of her shirt and glanced down at her chest and saw that her limiter was still in place. "Yoruichi-san? Come on! We need to get going! Gaara's in huge danger!" Naruto exclaimed as he was pacing around as he tucked Benihime through his belt. Yoruichi grunted as she stood up, "Alright, I'm ready. But before we leave, I need to go over some ground rules." Naruto nodded curiously as he sat down on the couch and Yoruichi sat down beside him. "Let's see," she murmured, "you may not like this, but I'd advise you not to use any of your Shinigami abilities unless you're in grave danger. The most you can use is the sealed form of Benihime and your flash steps." Naruto scoffed and crossed his arms stubbornly, "It doesn't matter what I use; anything that will cause the most trouble for the Akatsuki is fine enough." She chuckled loudly and playfully socked him on the arm. "Just be careful out there, we may get separated out there," she put a hand on his cheek, "I don't want you to die out there." Naruto's ocean blue eyes flashed playfully as he smiled at his female mentor. He also laid his firm hand on top of hers that was on his cheek. "Don't worry so much, Yoruichi. I'm not going to die before I become Hokage!" he shouted out loudly. She chuckled wistfully for a few moments before removing her hand, and after a few moments of pondering her next decision, she spoke up. "Hey, Naruto?" she said shakily as she moved forward.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…"

"What is it, Yoruichi? Just hold on a second, I'm putting on my shoes," he said as he was strapping them on.

"This will cheer him up," she thought to herself as she slowly puckered up her lips. Her plan was to kiss him on the cheek, just a simple peck. Nothing that will give either of them the wrong idea.

"Alright, so what did you wa-?" Naruto tried to ask, but his mouth was soon enveloped by her soft one. Their eyes widened in surprise as the kiss continued on for a few moments before hastily parting. Yoruichi immediately jumped up, her mouth falling open in horror as it finally hit her. She had kissed her student, Kisuke's legacy! Trying to play it off, she laughed heartily, "Whoa! I was off, wasn't I?" she chortled as she regained her composure. She continued to chuckle for a few more moments before she noticed that Naruto hadn't said anything. He was staring intently into Yoruichi's golden orbs of eyes as she slowly felt something inside of her start to pulsate with every passing second. "Naruto?" Yoruichi spluttered out weakly as she tried to snap him out of it. "I was only trying to kiss your cheek, nothing else." He ran a hand through his spiky hair and chuckled, "I-I wasn't paying attention, sorry," he said nervously.

She could feel her cheeks heat up at Naruto grinned dumbly at her. Why was she still getting this odd tingly feeling inside of her? Naruto was just like a son to her, they had bonded greatly during the six months they had spent in the wilderness. Now wasn't the time to wonder why she was feeling this way. "Oh, was this your first kiss with a fine, strong, woman such as myself? Is there another lady out there?" she asked playfully as they headed out of the door. Naruto sighed wistfully and nodded his head. "Yeah, there is. But she loves another, and I've accepted that, but I still feel like I have a chance!"

"It's that Sakura girl, is it?"

"Well…

"So we're not going to that icky Sand Village, right?"

"No, we're not going unless-"

"Yay~!"

"Not unless they need backup, idiot!"

Rangiku groaned as she flopped back on the mattress in the apartment building that she, Toshiro, and Shuhei were sharing for now. She had hoped that they would have a comfortable stay in the village and have little to do but relax and wait to be recalled back to the Soul Society. But now that a village leader has been kidnapped, their stay has been extended. Kicking her feet up in the air, she turned back to her captain, "That's almost guaranteed captain! They're going up against terrorists!" she exclaimed. Hitsugaya sighed heavily as she sheathed Hyorinmaru, who he had been speaking with before. He shot her a reproachful look and lay back on the couch. "The Hokage told us that if they needed backup, we were to help them. But obviously we are not to get too involved in this."

"Why not?"

He scoffed impassively and stretched out, "It has nothing to do with us, she hasn't signed the treaty," he turned on his side and yawned. "If there is any threat to Shihoin-san of Uzumaki-san, we'll head out. We are not involved in Shinobi affairs." Rangiku frowned and eyed her captain suspiciously. Even if his explanation gave her less work, it still wasn't right to leave their new Shinobi friends vulnerable to any attacks. These Akatsuki sound extremely dangerous, who knows what they will do? "I guess you have a point," she said warily, "we don't want to make enemies from the Shinobi enemies." Hitsugaya smirked and turned back around.

"Exactly my point."

"So we stay put unless Yoruichi or Naruto gets into trouble."

"Precisely, but knowing Shihoin-san, nothing serious will happen."

"So, are we all here?"

Kakashi's exposed eye scanned his team in front of him as they prepared to leave for the Sand Village. Sakura adjusted her gloves and nodded, "Yes, Kakashi-sensei." He nodded to her and turned to Yoruichi and Naruto, who looked slightly apprehensive. Naruto kept sneaking glances at the woman and hastily turning away from her, while she herself was trying to prevent herself from meeting his glance back. Sakura noticed the tension and frowned, "Hey, are you two alright?" she asked. Naruto nodded profusely, "Yes, Sakura-san!" he exclaimed. Yoruichi merely nodded slowly, still staring at the ground. Kakashi closed the novel he was reading and spoke up. "We need to start now; it will take three days to get there." Yoruichi shook her head, "No, it's going to take less than a day," she said quietly. She took out two odd looking bracelets from her pocket and gave Kakashi and Sakura both one. "Both of you on your own wouldn't be able to keep up with me and Naruto, so these will allow you two to keep up by speeding up your regular running speed." Kakashi slipped his on wrist and nods appreciatively at the flash goddess, while Sakura hesitates, but eventually slips hers on. Yoruichi smiles and says;

"Alright, let's clear out."

After about three hours of traveling, Naruto and Yoruichi decided to stop for a break for the sake of the others. Naruto opened his canteen, took a swig, and spoke, "We have about two more hours until we get there." He put a hand over Yoruichi's hand to get her attention, because she was spacing out. "Huh?" she said quickly, "oh, yes, we're nearly there." Naruto frowned slightly and leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "If it's about this morning, don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean it." The cat woman chuckled loudly and playfully slapped Naruto on the arm, "Duh! It's was just an accident!" she exclaimed loudly.

You didn't mean it. It was just an accident.

Kakashi watched the duo converse casually as he sharpened a dull kunai. Shifting his gaze to his right, he sees Sakura staring intently at Naruto as he leaned over and whispered something softly into Yoruichi's ear, to which she started to laugh loudly about. Even with his keen hearing, he only picked up certain parts; he heard something about Yoruichi not meaning anything and some sort of accident that happened this morning. He noticed Sakura's eyes narrow as she saw the princess slap Naruto on the arm. He smirked under his mask and continued his work while murmuring;

"You aren't jealous, are you?"

Sakura jumped slightly at the sound of Kakashi's voice and hastily shook her head. "No, of course not!" she whispered frantically. "I just don't trust her, that's all." She paused and glanced back at Yoruichi, who was burning a strange shape into the ground with some beam that was coming from her finger. She had every right to be suspicious, this mysterious woman out of nowhere comes and sweeps her remaining teammate away; and suddenly joins their team! Nothing was making sense anymore. "Look, I understand where you're coming from," Kakashi says gently as he turns to her. Sakura smiled triumphantly as she threw another suspicious glance at Yoruichi; at least someone was on her side now. She took a big gulp of water and started to stand up.

"You want to confess your undying love to Yoruichi, and Naruto is in your way!"

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

She spat out her drink and glared angrily at Kakashi, who was smiling widely through his mask, even if no one could see it. Naruto and Yoruichi obviously heard Kakashi's odd conclusion and had mix reactions. Naruto scrambled to his feet and looked back and forth from Yoruichi to Sakura. "Eh?" he shouted loudly, "You have a crush on Yoruichi-chan?" Sakura turned beet red and attempted to explain what she was trying to say but Yoruichi interrupted her. "We're on a mission, let's go," she said quietly as she disappeared. Naruto was first to speed right after her, but he sensed that something was wrong. She would be first to say something snarky to Sakura after that little incident, but she didn't even glance at anyone as she sped away.

"Was it something I said?"

After another two hours of travel, the team eventually made it to Sunagakure. The village was in the middle of the desert, obviously, and was surrounded by circular-like buildings. All in all, it wasn't as impressive as Konohagakure. Yoruichi rubbed the stray sand that blew into her eyes and sneezed, "Holy hell, it's like a damned litter box here," she murmured. Sakura shot a reproachful glance over her shoulder but kept silent; she had no doubt that Yoruichi kept a few inappropriate comebacks in her arsenal. She soon was called to heal Kankuro of his injuries by Sasori. Kakashi also went off to discuss more details of the mission by the village elders, leaving Naruto and Yoruichi by themselves at the hospital. "I'm surprised that you haven't shot off into the desert yet to find your friend," she said, giving her young student a pleased look. Naruto shook his head slowly as he continued to pace around the hallway, "I can't tell you how much I just want to beat the Akatsuki's faces in, but that would mess up the mission," he chuckled sadly. "So here I stay." She put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, we're going to get your friend back," she said, giving him a Cheshire-cat like grin. Before he could thank her, a loud voice shouted at them from down the hallway.

"You! You're that woman!"

Yoruichi's eyes narrowed as she turned around slowly to look at the person who shouted at her. It was an old lady who was wearing a long, dark, dress and a white hat. She was about to carefully tell the lady that she did not know her; the woman was probably a patient there and was confused. But there was something about the woman that just rang a bell inside of her. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy," the woman whispered harshly, "you're the Shinigami woman who saved me when I was a little girl!" she whispered as she pointed proudly at her head, "I don't forget anything!" The Shinigami woman gave her a confused look and started to think deeply, "Was it that time where you were nearly kidnapped by another village? It was before this village was established, right?" she asked. The old woman nodded sagely and sat down next to her, "Mmhm! Yes! It was mere months before this village came to be, I was nine years old and my father was a noble." Yoruichi smiled softly at the woman and stood up, "Thank you for jogging my memory, but I think you should get back to your room. The nurses wouldn't want you to wander around like this." A large tick mark appeared on the woman's forehead as she crossed her arms indignantly and huffed.

"I'm not a patient here! I'm the head village elder, Chiyo!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he too stood up, "But why are you here now?" he asked rudely.

"Silly boy! I'm going on this mission with you!"

"Huh?"

Sorry that there wasn't any action in this chapter, it's been ages since I wrote anything for it since I was already writing another popular story. Thanks for reading!