Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 35

Sakura's POV

When I get to the lab, one of the medics comes up to me and says, "Sakura-san, I believe we might have found an antidote. The research you did and the notes from Shizune-san's poison research have helped us formulate a viable serum that we could inject to anyone affected."
I am surprised and say, "You managed to find a way to adhere the poison rain lily's molecules to the x72 compound?"

He nods and says, "Well you see, Shizune-san's notes allude to combining the natural molecules of the rain lily with an organic compound because the proteins are not compatible. They are however compatible with a strange compound only found in some of the plants in the village of Rain. We never had a reason to combine them before but we now know how to merge both proteins together."
I felt an excitement fill me and we both headed into the lab to begin testing the antidote.

Kakashi's POV

After the training with the new recruits I head into my office where one of Sai's ink birds was waiting for me. It had a scroll with the intelligence that they had found so far.

Yamato's team had found some merchants that had been robbed of their goods on their way to Kumo. Similar reports were filed for merchants going towards Iwa, Kiri, Grass and Rain.

These people are attacking merchants of both big and small villages so as not to alert the bigger nations of a pattern. Suna and Konoha merchants haven't been targeted yet, and some of the smaller villages haven't been hit as well.

What's the link between the robberies…

Kiba knocks on my door and I let him in.

"Kakashi-sama the trainees have finished for today, shall we advance them to phase two?"
"Hai, I also need for you to assemble all the ANBU team captains this afternoon. I will brief all of you of what we have found so far."
He bows and says, "Hai, Kakashi-sama"

I turn to look out the window towards the Hokage tower and begin to think of a way that someone could approach the Hokage's office without being noticed.

Someone had to have placed the scroll on Tsunade-sama's desk, and that person must have known how to handle a poison laced scroll.

How could the guards not sensed the presence of foreign chakra signatures….

Wait… Oh Hatake how could you have missed that one!

I jump out of the window of my office and head straight home.

Sakura's POV

By 4 pm we developed a preliminary serum that showed great potential in neutralizing the poison, it does last about 5 min before the effects wear off. I know that this would be enough time for any highly skilled shinobi. I dealt with Sasori with a much more limited amount of time and somehow managed to survive.

This should help us not only discover anything else in the Hokage's office but also to help any shinobi that might fight against whoever is doing this.

I make my rounds in the hospital once more and head into Shizune and Tsunade-sama's room.

Shizune is making good progress, her reflexes have returned and she responds to touch and sounds. She still cannot open her eyes or communicate with us, but I am pleased with her progress so far. Tsunade sama's chakra pathways are regenerating and getting stronger.

Genma-san had been combing Shizune's hair when I got there. He looked so tired but he didn't complain.

"Genma-san why don't you go home and rest and take a shower. I will sit with them both until you get back ok?"

"I… Well I guess you are right. I don't want this beauty to wake up and see her husband looking like he was just resurrected from the dead."

I laugh at his comment and say, "Go rest, shower and eat. I will be here, don't worry."

He heads out the door and I sit next to my shishou and begin to tell her of everything that has happened so far. An hour passed so I decided to try to make Shizune and Tsunade more comfortable even in their unconscious state. I took my time washing my shishou's hair and then giving Shizune a foot rub to help circulate the blood so her ankles wouldn't get swollen. He small stomach was barely visible but I had to admit that pregnancy suited her. Her skin and hair were more vibrant and her nails grew strong and fast. I gave her a manicure before going over to sit with my shishou to tell her about my research. I was in the middle of explaining the way that we found a possible antidote, when a group of ANBU come into the room battle ready and form a defensive circle around us.

The squad captain, said, "Sakura-sama, we felt a disturbance in the protection seals placed around your office. We will defend you at all costs."

I realize that their might be another attempt towards the life of my loved ones and I begin to think fast.

I tell the captain, "I need one of you to go and protect the lab, we might have an antidote and we cannot afford to lose that. I will help protect them here in the room, but Kakashi needs to be informed of this."

I know that every shinobi knows the strength that I have and he doesn't doubt my abilities as a shinobi. He is just second guessing what Kakashi might do to him if something were to happen to me.

I tell him that he needs to go now and that I will deal with Kakashi when he gets here.

It's as if I read his mind because he relaxes a bit and then heads out to secure the lab and inform my husband.

Kakashi's POV

I was almost home when I felt one of the ANBU guards from the hospital come up beside me. I stop at one of the rooftops and he tells me about the disturbance in the protection seals.

Sakura….

I fly through the seals that will locate the seals in Sakura's ring and teleport to her location.

I arrive by her side in an instant and I notice the ANBU squad on high alert. They executed the formation perfectly but I don't see their captain.

Sakura looks at me and she knows I am questioning where the ANBU captain is at and she puts her hand on my arm and then says, "I think that we might have come up with an antidote so I took his place while they went to protect the lab. He must have sent someone else to find you."

I mentally relax a bit that she had the foresight to go and send someone to protect the antidote, but my stance is still defensive and we are all on high alert.

The ANBU squads outside the hospital are running a perimeter looking for anything suspicious and the guards at the main gate into the village have also been notified.

Neji comes inside the room in his ANBU captain's gear and then bows to us followed by a worried looking Genma.

Genma goes to Shizune's side and is on high alert.

"Kakashi-sama we found a box nearby addressed to Naruto-sama. No one has touched it nor has it been tampered with."

I nod at him and then look at Sakura, "Do you think that we might be able to test out the antidote?"

"It's worked so far, I don't think it should be a problem."

"Good, Hawk here will take over the protection detail of the hospital grounds and staff. I am sure that he will be perfectly capable of keeping them safe for us."

I nod in Neji's direction and he bows in acceptance of his new post.

Sakura and I walk down to the lab and she hands me the antidote serum that they have ready.

I take the antidote vials and we both go to where the package was being held.

Naruto was already there and so was Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji.

We approach them and Sakura informs them that her medics came up with an antidote for any possible poison we might contract.

Kiba says, "I don't smell anything like poison but there is something definitely off about that box. It smells like death."
I had to agree with him but since we were not sure if it was a poison that was passed through the skin we had to be safe and have someone take the antidote to check it out.

I volunteered but Shikamaru said that I was not allowed to put myself in danger for no reason.
Choji stepped up and said to Naruto, "Will the Hokage allow me to be the one that takes the antidote and investigate the box?"

Naruto looks over to Shikamaru and he simply says, "Naruto-sama, Choji can metabolize the antidote faster than anyone here. Sakura is here to help if we need it. I don't see why there should be a problem."
I see the truth in his words and take a step back and nod at Naruto's direction.

Sakura gives him the antidote and tells him that he will be protected for 5 minutes max.

Choji nods and then steps forward.

Sakura then takes something out of her pack and yells at Choji, "Hey swab the inside of the box with this and use this one for the outside. If they change color then that means they are laced with poison."
He catches the pack of swabs and then makes his way towards the package.

He carefully swabs the outside and nothing happens. He then slowly opens it and then gasps with what he see's inside.

He first swabs the inside of the box and when nothing happens we all approach it slowly.
I could smell the stench of decay from here but both me and Kiba held our breath and stepped forward. Our very sensitive noses could tell that the things inside had recently been killed.

Inside there was a weasel with a snake wrapped around its body with a note saying 'You're next' and a fox with its throat slit and a note saying 'How can you bring about peace when you are dead?'.

There was silence from everyone that was gathered.

Shikamaru said, "Whoever this was, had a personal grudge against Naruto-sama."

I then add, "And Sasuke too."

Shikamaru looks at me and then down at the weasel and snake.

He says, "This is so troublesome… This person or group of persons know about Sasuke and Naruto-sama. We know who they are targeting… now we just don't know why."

Naruto turns to me and says, "Sasuke is not to leave your side under no circumstances. I will move out from your house, there is no need to keep both targets in the same house and make it easier for them."

I nod and we all move towards the Hokage tower.

Sasuke was summoned and he joined me at my side. He had already taken off the ANBU gear I had given him. I had told him that he was only to wear it when we would be within ANBU headquarters.

I filled him in and told him of the package that we found. He stiffened at the mention of the weasel and snake and knew the meaning behind it.

Choji volunteered to go through the Hokage's office to verify if there are any other tainted documents.

He swabs all the documents on the desk and when he finds the contaminated scroll, he puts it in a flattened glass case. This way we can investigate the document without fear of being poisoned.

There is no seal on the scroll, no mark of a daimyo or village leader. It simply looked like a report on trade routes and merchant contracts.

Kami… the merchant robberies… this is how they are connected.

I tell everyone about the intell that my ANBU teams have collected and Shikamaru begins to think about the possible repercussions of not informing the other countries.

Naruto looks at me and then at Sasuke.

He tells him, "Sasuke, you are not to leave Kakashi's side, understand." His tone is serious and he is completely focused. He looks directly at Sasuke and says, "I will not lose my best friend again, but I have to think about Konoha now. You are to follow your commanding officer's orders without question. If he tells you to do or wear something you will do it and act the part that he has told you to play. If things get worse I will make sure that your chakra suppressors are taken off. We need every able shinobi ready for battle if it were to come to that."

He looks at all of us and says, "That being said, we need to think about the economic stability of Konoha. We will open the gates and continue regular trade agreements. I will order some teams to keep a closer watch on the trade routes but I will have to inform the other Kage's about this situation eventually. ANBU will continue the recon assignments that are currently in place, the information obtained is now crucial to our defense."

I then look at Naruto and say, "Hokage-sama I might have a lead. Before I was alerted of the package outside the hospital I was going to go home to ask Sasuke a question."

They all look at me and I turn to Sasuke, "Your old team… didn't you have a person there that could mask their chakra where even Naruto had a hard time finding them while in battle?"

Sasuke's eyes widened and he whispered, "Karin…"

A/N: What do you guys think? I working in another arc into the story so hopefully I can make this work. My story is getting a bit complicated and I have to keep track of my outline for sure now. Any suggestions are always welcomed. I do take them into consideration and I have used many of prescripto13's suggestions in the past as well.

Thank you for your words of encouragement I really appreciate them very much. Please continue to review!