The messenger frog appeared at Naruto's desk. Naruto, busy with paperwork didn't immediately notice the arrival of his guest.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I have a message from your daughter, Himawari Uzumaki." Naruto looked up, his face filled with concern. Why would Himawari send a messenger frog. One that clearly came from mount Myoboku by the looks of it. Naruto gestured with his hand that the frog could speak.

"Himawari has sought refuge in mount Myoboku after running into trouble during the mission, which left Shikadai severely injured and poisoned, fighting for his life and Sasuke unconscious due to exhausting all of his chakra reserves. She is asking for back-up, with at least one extra medical-nin to help her take care of those two. She also wants me to let you know that there is still little to nothing known about the enemy except for the fact there is definitely enemy movements which also seem to take place in the land of Birds itself, proven by the trouble Himawari and Shikadai ran in to prior to reaching Sasuke and that it seems that the enemy is protecting something or someone, yet to be discovered what exactly. She also expects to run into trouble, once they leave mount Myoboku."

Naruto had grown pale. He wasn't prepared for this kind of trouble. He knew this mission would be difficult, but for the three of them to be overwhelmed like this… The frog disappeared, returning to mount Myoboku. As if the spirits of the previous Hokage had known his need for his adviser, Shikamaru just entered the room.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked, alarmed by the look of pure terror on Naruto's face.

"The mission… They ran into trouble…"

"Oh no… How bad?"

"Shikamaru… I'm so sorry… Shikadai has been gravely injured, poisoned by the enemy. Sasuke is out as well."

Shikamaru seemed shocked. The news about his son made his gut wrench together and Shikamaru found himself hoping Himawari was okay and taking care of his son. Shikamaru composed himself. Him losing himself in his emotions and worries wasn't going to help his son one bit.

"What about Himawari? Where are they now?"

"I don't know what state Himawari is in, but she can't be to badly injured considering she's the one that send me the message. She took Shikadai and Sasuke to mount Myoboku, so they should be safe. Gamakichi will make sure of that. I'm presuming Himawari is healing both Sasuke and Shikadai right now, but she's going to run out of chakra soon enough. She's asked for back-up."

"Who are you going to send."

"Team 7. And I'm going too."

Himawari was still healing Shikadai. After a while, Sasuke's chakra levels had returned to a safe level and he had regained consciousness for a few seconds before falling asleep again. But Shikadai wasn't doing well. The frogs had brought her everything she needed in order to create the medium needed for the poison extraction, but Shikadai was deteriorating rapidly and couldn't go a minute without her care. Soon, she would have to support him non-stop in order for the boy to stay alive.

Himawari was exhausted. The clone gathering nature energy had disappeared quite a while ago and she was at the brink of reaching a dangerously low chakra level herself. She needed a break and she needed one soon. Aside from being almost out of chakra, Himawari was tired. She hadn't slept ever since she and Shikadai had been attacked by those five ninja at their campsite. She had given up her rest so Shikadai could have some too. She was at the brink of falling asleep and knew she had to do something soon.

Himawari once again thought back at her time with Sakura and Sarada, as she always did in times of great need. She vividly remembered the day she mastered poison extraction and the making of an antidote. The exact thing she needed to do right now if she wanted to safe her comrade. But she also remembered what Sakura had told her after that. Ask Sarada to teach you how to heal yourself during battle. Sarada had told her that she always needed to store away a portion of her chakra, which she than had to concentrate on the area of her injury. Himawari wasn't badly injured, just the usual cuts and bruises, so she had that chakra reserve left. She knew she would have to use it, but it meant losing her back-up plan when the next fight would indefinitely arrive. Himawari plunged into the last of her chakra reserves anyways.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Two clones appeared. She wouldn't be able to do any better without risking to run out of chakra all over again before the antidote was finished. One of the clones took over her position and started healing Shikadai while the other clone installed herself and started gathering nature energy. This way, she would be able to use sage mode for a little, while healing Shikadai, which would buy her time in making the antidote. She knew it was important that she extracted the poison from his body first. She immediately started working.

Gamakichi was watching Himawari's every move from a distance. He was impressed with the confidence the young Uzumaki had gained since the last time he had seen her. When Naruto took his daughter to mount Myoboku to teach her sage mode, she was still young and insecure about her abilities. But right here, he saw a Himawari that pushed through, despite having crossed her own limits a long time ago and that worked with the confidence of a ninja far beyond her age. She truly had grown. He was surprised she was still conscious after all she had been through. He could feel that her chakra levels were low, at a point most people would have lost consciousness already, but her sheer willpower and gutsiness made her continue. For her comrades. Gamakichi smiled. He had reached a new level of respect for the girl.

- I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading!-

disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters