An odd assortment of men and women stood off to the side of Konoha's main gate. The newly minted shinobi had arrived at the meeting point well before their teammates, having only stopped off a couple of shops before making it to the gate. As such, they were left to stand and wait until the appointed time. The group gathered many curious stares from passersby, especially Tadakatsu, but the tense atmosphere surrounding them was thick enough to dissuade any from getting too close. The six men had split apart again, pairing off to discuss their preparations with their teammates.

"Rations?"

"Seven days worth, for each of us."

"Canteens?"

"Check!"

"Fresh clothes?"

"Check!"

"Scrolls and ink?"

Yukimura looked up as he paused in his packing, the sudden motion causing the six coins on his necklace to clatter softly against the metal plate of his Leaf headband. "...You really think that we need that?"

Sasuke shrugged, idly scratching under his eye as he leaned against a nearby wall. "You never know. Still, it's better to be prepared for anything."

Nodding enthusiastically, Yukimura leapt to his feet. "Splendid advice as always, Sasuke! I, Yukimura, shall take to heart at once!"

With that, Yukimura dashed off back down the street towards the center of town. After a moment, Sasuke sighed, shifted forwards, and finished wrapping the pile of supplies that he had left behind. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi and Hanbei's discussion slowed to a frosty silence, the two men standing uncomfortably under the ever present gaze of Yūgao. Hideyoshi quietly watched the rapidly disappearing back of Yukimura, only moving when he had fully disappeared.

He had barely taken a step before he was interrupted by Yūgao. "And where do you think you're going?".

Hideyoshi replied without turning back to face her, "There is something that I must discuss with our teammate. If that is not overstepping our limits." The last portion of his reply was delivered almost as a threat, rather than any deference.

With that, the tension in the street magnified immensely. Yūgao and Hanbei both twitched their hands towards their respective weapons, while Sasuke subtly tensed as well. Tadakatsu's head jerked to the side as well, eye blazing red as he stared Hideyoshi down. The standoff was halted prematurely as Hideyoshi loudly exhaled, his fist slowly unclenching as he did so. "... I apologize."

"Accepted." Yūgao's eyes narrowed as she responded, though she did relax slightly. "And no, there's no problem so long as you stay in sight."

Hideyoshi simply nodded before continuing forwards. Walking to the far end of the group, he paused for a second before tapping Ieyasu on the shoulder. As he turned, Hideyoshi spoke, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. "May we speak in private?"

Tadakatsu tensed even further at this, starting to shift forwards protectively even as Ieyasu gave a quick wave of his hand. "No Tadakatsu, it's okay! We should talk."

With that, the pair moved away from the rest of the group, stopping in the shadow cast by a nearby building's overhang. The pair stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Hideyoshi spoke. "I must say, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Ieyasu laughed nervously, "I have to say the same. And especially not… cooperating with these people."

"I had decided to take the chance to learn from my mistakes, and see if I could not strive for your strength. But, now that I see that it failed you as well." Hideyoshi crossed his arms as he finished.

Ieyasu started back, what little composure he still had slipping as he replied. "M-My strength? That's- I'm honored-" He froze, his features hardening as he met Hideyoshi's stare. "Wait, what do you mean 'failed?'"

"Is it not obvious? Your strength was surpassed, just as you overtook my own. As such, it's hardly worth endeavoring for." Hideyoshi answered, not responding to Ieyasu's tone in the least.

"Now, I may not have achieved my goals yet, but I would hardly say that I've been surpassed!" Ieyasu bit back, fists unconsciously clenching.

Hideyoshi gave a loud hmph of dismissal. "If you are here as well, then you must have been. Though, what person in that rotted country managed to take your head?"

"Take- Take my head?! No one! Why would you think that?" Ieyasu asked, aggression falling away.

"What other way would you have arrived here? It may not be the afterlife that we pictured, but that is where we are. Or do you not remember what happened to you?" HIdeyoshi asked.

"No- I didn't die!" Ieyasu steadied himself, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I was taking a walk with my men, and there was a flash of light, and I found myself in this country, along with Tadakatsu. Shingen, Yukimura, Keiji, they all- I didn't ask, but they all didn't mention anything about dying! I don't know where we are, or what we're all doing here, but I don't think that this is the afterlife."

Hideyoshi didn't respond for a long moment, simply staring back at Ieyasu. "I see. If you were alive when you came here, then your strength may have value after all. At the very least, you were undone through underhanded cowardice." Turning abruptly, he started to walk back towards Hanbei and Yūgao. After taking a few steps, he stopped again, half turning back to Ieyasu. "If nothing else, I'm glad that I was able to speak to you again. At the last moment, I was… proud. Of you."

A flicker of emotion passed over Hideyoshi's face before he turned away again and began to walk back over to his own team. As he left, Ieyasu stood stunned in his wake, eyes wide in shock. He let the feelings wash over him for a moment, before smiling and wiping away the moisture that had just started to glisten in his eyes. No sooner than he did so, the entire group's attention was drawn by a loud shout coming from down the road.

Looking for the source, they all saw Yukimura carrying an armful of scrolls, with the rest of the shinobi walking behind him. With that, they finished tying their provisions together, the samurai loaded up their horses, Ieyasu bid farewell to Tdakatsu, and the Kazekage Retrieval Squad left Konoha.

A loud crack echoed through a secluded valley, a flock of birds filling the air with noise as they fled from their riverside perches. Saika Magoichi gave a short grunt, shouldering her rifle. She made her way through a bank of dense underbrush, moving to the side of a wounded deer. The animal thrashed as she approached, blood frothing around its nose and mouth as it tried to push itself back up to its feet. Magoichi looked down at the deer and silently drew one of the pistols from the holster wrapped around her leg. One shot later, she began the process of butchering the carcass.

This wasn't the first time this process had played itself out over the past week. Eight days prior, during the middle of a firing test, Magoichi had been overwhelmed by a sudden flash of light, and had woken up in a strange desert. From there, she had simply fallen back on her old survival training, slowly making her way through the unexplored terrain. In a way, it was an oddly nostalgic journey. Even the gruesome work that she now found herself doing began to fall away, her hands performing the actions by memory as her thoughts drifted back to the past.

"Now that we've skinned the back, why don't you start on the legs-" The speaker suddenly reached out, grabbing the young Saika by the arm as she stabbed her knife into the leg. "Easy now! You have to be careful or you'll damage the meat."

She scowled back up at her mentor, trying her best to look more intimidating that the seven year old girl that she was. "Why do you care? It's dead, isn't it?"

The older hunter smiled softly, setting down his knife on a nearby stump. Kneeling down to the girl's eye level, he put a large hand on her shoulder as he spoke. "We must show respect for that which we have killed. It has made the sacrifice of dying for our hunger, and so we respect what it has done for us."

"Look around us, little crow." He continued, gesturing to the surrounding forest. "Everything around us relies on everything else. In this case, the deer will sustain us, while we shall carry its soul within us so that it may reach Nirvana. Everything has its prescribed role and position- it's like our clan. But, none of them ever take each other for granted. That's why we cannot act recklessly ourselves- it would take away from the sacrifices of all that have come before us, and disappoints the ones that depend on us. Do you understand?"

The was a long pause before she nodded, looking towards the ground. "...Yeah."

Smile widening into a grin, the man stood back to his full height. "Well then, let's get moving! It's almost dark out, and just between you and me, if we get this back to the camp before it gets too late, I'll teach you my secret stew recipe."

With a small smile, the girl replied. "I would like that, Magoichi-san."

Magoichi frowned, crossing his arms. "Still not going to call me dad?" He and the young Saika stared at each other, locking gazes. Magoichi turned away first, reaching over to rub the girl's head as he let out a loud laugh. "Still as stubborn as ever, Sayaka! Well, I hope that you'll warm up to me yet. Till then, the clock's ticking, and we have a lot of work to do…"

Later that night, meat smoking over a small campfire, Magoichi consulted a carefully protected piece of parchment. On this was drawn a crude map of the land that she had covered in her wandering so far. Mostly the map consisted of the winding river valley that she had been traveling down, but there were some other marks- the direction of sunrise and sunset, as well as other landmarks that she had passed.

Taking a small stick of charcoal, she began to note her progress for the day. em"The river is widening. If I'm right, there's a bend coming up, or at least a dip in the walls. I can get out there, and I'll be able to see if there's a village nearby. If not, I can reach the sea to the west."/em

Finishing her nightly survey, Magoichi then moved to take stock of her rapidly dwindling reserves. Given the sudden nature of her disappearance, she only had her basic survival kit, which all members of the Saika clan were obligated to carry at all times. This kit had contained enough food for three days, but aside from a small amount of rice and nori laying at the bottom of the crude leather pouch, the supply had been completely exhausted.

The deer would let her last for at least a week longer, and she had been fortunate enough to come across the river valley that she was now in. According to her calculations, it was enough to get at least halfway to the sea, if she didn't find anything before then. Still, it would have to be enough. Looking up at the night sky, Saika once again said a silent prayer before turning in for the night.

Three days passed before the Rescue Team reached the walls of Suna. Hardly an hour later, Naruto and Ieyasu both sat in a sterile waiting room. The room was almost eerily silent, something that stood in sharp contrast to the faint clamor that they heard seeping in from behind the black double door that barred the way into the hospital proper. Hours passed like this, the pair content to spend the time the same way that they had spent the trip there.

"Alright!"

Both men snapped to look at the door in unison as their missing teammate slammed through the door. Sakura slouched across the room before collapsing into a seat between her teammates. "He'll pull through," Sakura exhaled. "It was touch and go, but he'll make it."

Naruto slumped slightly, tension flooding out of his shoulders. "That's great."

"It was rough, though. Slow, complete destruction of almost every major organ over the course of days, paired with a psychotropic element that would ensure that he never blacked out from the pain… These Akatsuki bastards are real pieces of work. Looking at that, I have to wonder- What could they be doing to Gaara?" Sakura said, staring down at her hands while she talked.

Naruto winced slightly at her question, hesitating for a second before speaking up. "They're trying to extract Shukaku."

Starting, Sakura looked up to meet his eyes. "W-what?! That's- How would they do that? And why?"

"I don't know how they're doing it, but they're trying to collect all the tailed beasts. Why, I don't know but whatever they want, whatever they're doing... " Naruto gripped the arm of his chair tighter, the wood beginning to splinter. "We've got to stop them."

A weighty silence hung over the room for a long moment. "I'm sorry… But what is a tailed beast?" Ieyasu cautiously interjected. "You keep mentioning them, but I've never heard the term."

Sakura looked over at him, quickly taking on the tone of someone reciting a textbook definition. "Well, a Tailed Beast is a demon, a rampaging beast made of pure, malevolent chakra. There's nine of them, all sealed into people- jinchūriki. Gaara is one of those nine-"

"And I'm another." Naruto cut in, looking down at his folded hands. "He has the One Tail- Shukaku - and the Nine Tailed Fox is sealed inside of me."

Ignoring the stunned look that Sakura was giving him, he pressed on. "That's why we have to save him. We've both got this thing inside of us, but he's always been alone. He's always had to bear the harder burden. And now it might kill him! Just because of what's inside, these people think that they can just use us like-"

Naruto stopped abruptly, looking up as he felt a firm weight press down on his shoulder. Ieyasu had moved in front of him, and was half kneeling to look him in the eye, hand resting on his shoulder. "I can't say that I know much about these beasts, but I know you, Naruto. I've met men that were called demons, and I can tell you that they earned that title. But you…" Ieyasu formed his free hand into a fist, resting it on Naruto's chest. "You've got a good heart. You're a good person, and from how you talk about him, I'm sure that you're friend is too. So, whatever these 'Akatsuki' are planning, we'll stop them. You have my word." Ieyasu's face lit up as he gave a soft smile. "Now, let's get ready to go rescue the Kazekage."

Sakura nodded, quickly patting Naruto on the shoulder as well. "They still need me back there, and I need to make up some more of the antidote for us to take. But, after that's done, I'll be ready."

With that, Sakura made her way back through the double door, strength returned to her stride. Silence fell back over the waiting room, but the tension had abated. The two men waited in comfortable silence, reading themselves internally for the battles to come.

"Neiji, Tenten, I'm honored that you would come down here with me, but you really didn't have to." The three found themselves at one of Suna's larger stables as the rest of the rescue team pursued their own tasks. "I'm the one who volunteered to do this- I don't want to put undue burden on you all."

"Don't worry about it." Tenten waved him off, carrying a bale of hay towards the stalls. "I used to help out my dad with the horses whenever he had a big shipment going out of town, so I'm used to this kind of thing. Still, why didn't you want the people here to just take care of this on their own?"

"I mean no offense, but if the our comrades and I are going to be depending on these horses, then I need to do my utmost to take care of them. Otherwise, we'll just be a burden on this mission, and the ones that follow." Yukimura replied.

"I doubt that that will be a concern. After all, I may not be an expert in regards to horsemanship, but I can't say that I've even seen someone get that sort of speed out of a horse before." Neji said, looking up from the trough that he was filling with water.

Yukimura looked up from what he was working on, beaming. "Thank you for the compliment, but it's all due to my Lord. After all, the Takeda Cavalry is renowned throughout the… I mean, our land. The only person who can come close to matching us is Date-san, and then only barely!"

"Date? Who's that?" asked Tenten.

Yukimura looked blankly at her for a few seconds before rapidly shaking his head. "Oh, right! I mean Date Masamune, the One Eyed Dragon. He's the Lord of Oshu, an another warrior from our world."

Having finished with the water, Neji walked over to join the other two. "From your tone, he sounds like a close friend."

Yukimura's expression shifted slightly at that, becoming contemplative. "Not a friend so much as a dear rival. More than anyone else, he helps me see how far I have come, and how much more I need to grow."

Neiji nodded once, smiling softly. "I can understand that well. I know someone like that also." He reached out, resting a hand on Yukimura's shoulder. "I hope that you are able to see him again one day."

Yukimura smiled back. "Thank you. I hope for the same. But, until then, my duty lies with Shingen-sama and my fellow team members. As such, shall we finish up before we have to head out again?" Neiji and Tenten both gave quick nods, and the three of them went silently back to their work.

"Pathetic. This truly is a city without strength," remarked Hideyoshi as their group passed by a group of merchants selling trinkets from threadbare pieces of cloth that they laid on the ground like a blanket. "It's no wonder that the leader of this place was taken so easily."

"True. You have to wonder, is this what is bound to happen without strong leaders?" Hanbei asked.

Hideyoshi paused for a second. "I would have said yes, but if Ieyasu is to be believed-"

"If Ieyasu is right, you mean. He's still naive about these kind of things!" Hanbei interjected.

"And was Katakura naive as well? Or is it that their ideals, naive as they may be, are backed by strength?" Hideyoshi asked as he continued forwards, not sparing a glance at Hanbei, who simply shook his head at the response.

"I am still here, by the way." Yūgao spoke up from behind the two men. "And we are technically a team."

"Something that we are of course grateful for, but I fail to see your point at the moment." Hanbei answered quickly.

Speeding up slightly, Yūgao moved up to be even with her two teammates. "I mean, even if we never become anything more than teammates, you could at least try to include me in these little conversations that you're always having. To try and build trust, if nothing else."

A hint of a scowl crossed Hanbei's lips before he quickly replaced it with a bland smile. "And if we included you? What insights might you have to share?"

The ANBU member scoffed. "Plenty. I've lead teams before. I've seen some of the best and worst Kages to ever hold the title. I've had just as much experience as either of the two of you, so don't look down on me."

Hanbei started to reply, but was cut off as Hideyoshi spoke over him. "I apologize. The next time we discuss these matters, I would care to hear your opinion. For now, it seems that we are at an end."

At that, Sasuke dropped from the shadow of an overhanging roof. "We're heading out. Meet at the front gates in 10."

Yūgao scowled. "Why so fast? We haven't even had the chance to restock from the first leg of the trip."

"There's been a lead on where the kidnappers went. It's time sensitive, though, so we need to move fast before we lose what we have" Sasuke shrugged, before stepping back into the shadows. As he began to melt into the darkness of the merchant's stall, he spoke. "That's all they told me, anyhow."

Turning back to her charges, Yūgao barked out orders. "Alright, let's move!" The pair nodded in acknowledgment, and the three of them hurried off towards the front of the city.

Kakashi leaned on a wall next to the gate proper, lazily surveying the assembling group. Over the twelve minutes that had passed since he had Sasuke send the message to gather, the members of his extended squad had been filtering in. The reformed Team Guy was the last to arrive, Neji and Tenten helping Yukimura lead the horses from the stable. As they walked up, Kakashi stepped forwards, clapping once to get everyone's attention.

As soon as everyone present looked over at him, Kakashi addressed the group. "Alright! Looks like everyone is ready to head out. We've found a trace from one of the kidnappers that we'll be using to track them down. In addition, one of our contacts has given us a lead on a potential hideout that they might be using. Because of this, We'll be splitting into two groups to minimize the effects of any ambushes or false information that they may have planted."

"Team Guy and Team Yūgao, you'll skirt south and move directly to the potential hideout,' Kakashi gestured to them as he spoke. "Except you, Sasuke. You'll be accompanying the us as we follow the kidnapper's trail directly. If our information is right, we should meet back up at the hideout. I'll be sending one of my ninken with the other group so that you can contact me."

"And what if you're disabled, or unable to contact us back," Hanbei asked from the back of the group.

"My ninken will know if that happens, and lead you to our last location. You can pick up the trail from that point, if you're able to continue. Are there any other questions?" Kakashi watched as the group collectively shook their head.

"Good. Now, one last point. This is Chiyo, one of Suna's most respected elders." He gestured to the elderly shinobi that had been standing a short way from him. "She's going to be accompanying us for the rest of the mission, on behalf of Sunagakure."

The groups all gave their greetings with various amounts of enthusiasm, save for Hideyoshi, who simply let out a sharp huff of breath as his gaze intensified. Chiyo was quick to notice, pointing him out. "Do you have a problem, big guy?" Hideyoshi didn't respond to the prompting, turning his head away from the elderly shinobi. She just cackled, egging him on. " Don't be shy! We're all one big team here, aren't we?"

"My only emconcern/emwas that someone of your age has no place on the battlefield. A nation's duty is to care for its elders at home. And the elder's place is to accept this." At this point, Hideyoshi had returned to staring Chiyo down. "It simply seems that the Sand would have served us better by letting us work on our own, if all they could spare were emelders./em"

Chiyo's laughter had long since stopped at this point, the pair staring each other down. Kakashi and Yūgao were both tense, ready and waiting to jump in if things escalated much further, while the rest of the team started on, somewhat dumbstruck. Chiyo was the one to break the tension- not by jumping forwards in a murderous rage, as some expected. "Funny! Here I was, worried that when we needed help, all Konoha sent us were self important foot soldiers. It looks like we'll all have to deal with what we got."

Abruptly turning, Chiyo began walking towards the gates. "Let's get moving! I'm not going to keep my grandson waiting any longer than I have to! He always gets grumpy when someone's late, you know."

Kakashi, Yūgao, and Neji all were quick to seize on this opportunity, quickly echoing the command to move out to their respective subordinates. Within moments, the gate was almost empty in the late afternoon sun.