The Epic Rescue of Naruto and Sakura by Kakashi and Sasuke (but mostly Kakashi)

Far more quickly than he had hoped, Kakashi met Asuma and Kurenai in the canopy with his two rescued students on either side of him and Sasuke clutched tightly to his front. The man and woman stopped before Kurenai darted to him to lay her hand on Sasuke. "What happened to the kid?" She demanded.

"Just a bump to the back of the head and a minor cut to the stomach," he explained; "It's not like him to get beaten down so easily-think it's because he's recovering from that cold?"

The woman pursed her lips as the other jonin watched Asuma herd Naruto and Sakura in front of him to look over and supply with rations and weapons. "I would say so," she agreed; "I wanted him to hang around another day and just rest...obviously he forwent that idea."

"That explains why he believed you were trying to hold him back," Kakashi sighed.

She bit her lip. "It would."

"Can you grab the bandages and antiseptic from the pack in my bag?" He questioned.

Kurenai nodded. "Of course," she replied curtly doing so and then carrying out the careful task of cleaning up Sasuke's stomach and tapping down gauze. "It looks a little deep, you might suggest a visit to the hospital when we get back;" she remarked.

"They're all going to the hospital," Kakashi told her as his eyes darted to the boy and girl watching them.

"Aw, do we have to?" Naruto whined unhappily as crumpled up the wrapper of his protein bar.

Rubbing at the spot between his eyes, the teacher gritted; "Yes Naruto, it's protocol."

"My parents..." Sakura whispered.

"Have been notified," Asuma finished for her; "They know what happened and know we went to get you back. They'll likely meet you at the hospital to take you home."

The pink-haired girl grinned in relief. "Thank you," she said backing off to hover by Naruto's side.

Naruto himself frowned. "What about-"

"You and Sasuke will likely stay with me while they gather intelligence and review how a team of shinobi from Otogakure got into Konoha undetected," he said cutting the boy's question off.

"Otogakure shinobi?" Sakura murmured dubiously.

Kurenai answered for him. "That's right, your sensei was smart enough to realize that we'd have run into them much easier if they'd come from Kusagakure-lucky for you, he and Sasuke intercepted the team before they got to Otogakure."

The blond scratched his head. "Why'd they look like Kusagakure nin though?"

"Likely a disguise to throw us off-which it did." Kakashi replied as he shifted Sasuke a little.

Asuma moved in front of him. "Did they say why they wanted you?" He inquired looking to Naruto and then to the way they came.

The genin gnawed at his lip and Sakura at her nails as she glanced nervously between the boy and the adults. "They kept talking about how they wanted me 'cause I'm the jinchuriki," he finally answered in an ashamed, quiet voice.

Running a hand through his hair, the gray-haired man grumbled; "Mah, and here I thought Orochimaru would want Sasuke over Naruto..."

"Guess not," Asuma grunted. "Dad's going to want to talk to him, you know."

"I know;" Kakashi replied.

Kurenai leaned forward and urged; "Let's get going, the farther we get from here the better."

"If we hurry, we can be back in Konoha in a few days at most." Asuma smiled.

Nodding, Kakashi followed his fleet-footed companions as he kept a keen eye on his two remain students as they ran between him and his fellow jonin. The adrenaline dying down, he let relief win out as he became farther and farther from Otogaukre; his students were safe once more.

And here we are! Two more chapters and we're done I think.

To reviewers, YamiB1999, Rosebunse, The Goliath Beetle, Harvestangel99, and The dark side of the lunatics; thanks so, so much guys! You rock :)

And as we are winding down, remember to vote on the poll on my page for my next story and if you like, you can give me suggestions for other story ideas now as well! Either PM me with them or leave them in your review :)

Thank you for reading and please review!

P.S. I have written and posted a "Teen Wolf" fic that centers mostly on Camden Lahey. I don't know how many of you would be interested, but I thought I'd put it out there. It's called Daddy's Son.