First off I want to thank you Danny (I can't believe I went 8 chs and nobody pointed out the review thing, its been a long time since I've felt so dumb). Yeah I know alot is like the cannon, but I will start deviating from it soon so no worries, and Naruto was with superfreak Jiraiya for three, count 'em three years, I thought it logical that it would rub off on him a little bit. Anyways to assauge your worries I'll just let you know that as the story progresses I plan to develop Naruto in- Oh wait what am I thinking hahaha, you'll just have to keep on reading to find out. Anyways thanx for the review it was very cool. Snakeeyes thank you too, I'm glad you liked my fighting scene. Sometimes it's so nervewracking not knowing what ppl think and if you are doing a good job so thanx for your review too. As always here's the latest chapter I hope everybody enjoys and feel free to review.

As always I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form but if I did this is how it would go.

GETTING IT TOGETHER

Naruto was about to go find out how to get team seven back together when a thought struck him. "Hey Kakashi sensei there would only be three of us on the team is that ok?" Naruto asked, he was looking around him while he waited for the answer.

"Usually, teams are made of four people, however there is no rule stating that that is the only way to do it. We could have as few as two on a team or up to seven people depending on the mission. Why do you ask?" Kakashi stopped and turned to look at his pupil. Sakura stood there waiting patiently.

Naruto was looking at Ino, more like making her blush like mad with his stare, before he turned to his former team. "I would hate to replace Sosuke, but if we were to replace him, I think we should do it with a girl." Kakashi raised his eyebrows in a questioning gesture. "We could use a girl that's strong and that could think on her feet. Nothing against Sakura, but Ino sure is pretty and she could do a lot more undercov." WHAM! Sakura had covered the distance between herself and Naruto and uppercutted him. She didn't pack her punch with chakra this time, but she almost did, Naruto fell to the ground dazed. Ino ran to his aid.

"Damn girl, why are you so violent towards Naruto he didn't do anything wrong." She was gently shaking Naruto waiting for him to get his bearings back, "I guess you really can't handle the truth." Sakura stared daggers at her old friend and started rolling up her sleeves when Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder before she did any more damage.

"Calm down Sakura, it is never wise to attack a comrade or a friend when they are down. You could live to regret that decision. Besides Ino does have a point, you are over reacting." Kakashi looked meaningfully at his former pupil.

Sakura felt horrible. Naruto was probably just playing around, but the thought of someone else taking Sosuke's place on their team infuriated her. Then to top it all off he compared her to Ino like that. It was to much for her to bear. "I'm sorry Kakashi, I don't know what came over me. I guess I'm just on edge."

Naruto had regained his composure and was sitting on the ground, Ino was getting up. "What the hell is wrong with you Sakura. That tw-umm too much." Naruto caught himself just in time, Kakashi and Ino looked at him curiously, but thought nothing of it. "I was just playing, I don't even know if we'll be a team again. I was just trying to ease the tension, crazy woman." Sakura looked like she wanted to respond, but she thought about it and maybe she did deserve what Naruto said.

"If that's all settled then I would like to get going and tell you two what we're going to do." Kakashi said. He turned around and started walking away. Sakura jogged to catch up with him and started walking alongside him waiting for an explanation.

Damn that Sakura, Naruto thought, she didn't even wait for me. He was dusting himself off and getting ready to follow when he remembered Ino. She was looking at him with a little concern in her eyes. Naruto chuckled "Don't worry about me Ino, I'll be fine. It was nice running into you, I gotta go. Take care of yourself and I'll see you around." Naruto waved at her and took off running to catch up with Kakashi and Sakura. Ino absently waved back thinking to herself, I'd better watch myself around that boy he's so smooth now, I don't know when he's serious or when he's playing. She turned around and was about to head into Ichikaru's stand when she saw who was in it. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Temari. Flashback.

A long while back before Temari's visits became frequent Ino and Shikamaru were starting to talk a little bit as more than just friends. However Temari had put a stop to that. Shikamaru had done a favor for Ino and she had re-payed him with a hug. Later on that day she ran into Temari and she invited Ino to a cup of tea. They had the usual small talk and exchange of pleasantries, but not long into the conversation Temari cut to the chase. "So Ino, what's going on with you and Shikamaru? You two are just friends right?"

Ino not suspecting anything was honest about her feelings. "We've been on the same team for a long time and he has a lot of good qualities about him. You could say we're just friends right now, but one day we might be something more. You just never know." Ino smiled at her companion, but the smile fell away pretty quickly when she saw the cold eyes Temari was looking at her with. "W-what's the matter Temari."

"Wrong answer Ino. I was in town earlier today and I saw you hugging him, at first I thought it was a hug between friends and I could have lived with that. Now though, I know you wanted it to be more than that and I'll get straight to the point." Ino did not like where this was going. "If you value you're life you will never be more than friends with Shikamaru."

Ino was pissed now, "Who the hell do you think you are to threaten me! I'm not afraid of you and Shikamaru can choose who he likes of his own free will!" Ino was standing and getting angrier by the second.

Temari stayed sitting down and took a sip of her tea, she then coolly said. "Shikamaru likes me even if he doesn't know it yet. Furthermore I have studied all your moves and if you think you can beat me you are sadly mistaken, if you use your little mind control trick my summoned beasts will destroy your body. You know what happens when your body dies don't you, well I do. Don't think I'm a merciful ninja, I will get what I want and if you're in my way, I will remove you by any means possible."

Ino had had enough. She reached for her kunai to take care of this arrogant bitch, but her kunai's were gone. She looked down and saw all her weapons were gone. "What the.." When she looked back at her rival there was a ferret standing on Temaris shoulder, and sitting on the table in front of Temari were all of Ino's weapons. Ino had never met someone who outmatched her like this, unease started to creep into her mind.

"That was rude Ino. I wasn't even done talking, now that I know about this development I will keep tabs on Honoka so if anything I don't like happens I will be here to take care of it shortly." Temari looked up at Ino and smiled as if nothing had happened, "Do we understand each other?" She asked.

Damn her Ino thought. She nodded and conceded to Temari. It was one of the hardest thing Ino had ever done, but in this situation she didn't really see the point of fighting with this girl. Shikamaru was no Sosuke after all. Back to the present.

Ino turned and walked away from the Ichikaru stand, even though she had hated Temari for what she did, now that she looked back on the event. It was all for the best, Ino was glad to still have her freedom and knew she would find someone to make her happy. Inside the stand Temari smiled knowing that at last she no longer had to worry about her rival. Her smile vanished though when the realization struck her that she still had a long way to go to make Shikamaru hers.

Naruto had finally caught up with Kakashi and Sakura and was walking alongside them with his hands behind his head. "So Kakashi what is we have to do."

Kakashi thought it was time to let them know what the task was, so he began to explain. "Before you proved yourselves worthy of being on my team by learning to understand teamwork. The test this time will be the same. I will have two bells and you must take them from me. Failure to do so will result in your expulsion from my team." Kakashi looked at Naruto and Sakura and saw that they were smiling. "I take it from your expressions that you underestimate me. I will not hold anything back, from this point on if we are on the same team we will be comrades. This means that you will be responsible for my life and you will have to prove yourselves worthy of that trust. Do not think that either of you have seen the full extent of my skills and should not underestimate me. This is all the advice I will give you both until we reach the training ground and begin the exams." Naruto and Sakura were no longer smiling.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and said in a serious tone. "We won't let you down Kakashi-san, count on that, right Sakura." Sakura looked at Naruto and nodded.

Back out in the desert we look down from a birds eye view and see a dot moving across the sand. As we move closer the speed at which she is moving becomes more apparent. Hirai is running at a great speed with her kodachi in one hand and three kunais in the other hand. She hasn't felt this distressed in a very long time. The people she had come to care for were once again disappearing from her life. All she could do was run as fast as she could to find Kankarou and try to help. She couldn't slow down. It was hard for her to keep track of time or distance because there was only sand in the desert and the sun seemed to move so much slower than it should. This only pushed her to run faster. Twenty minutes and many miles later she saw a dot in the never changing landscape. She sped up hoping against hope that that dot was not Kankarou. The closer she got the more her fear was confirmed. She reached into herself and pushed herself harder reaching a near inhuman speed as she raced to where Kankarou lay. She put up her Kunai and Kodachi as soon as she reached him he was laying down facing the way she had come from. She hunkered down and looked to see his condition.

In a weak voice Kankarou said, "What the hell do you think your doing!" He looked up at her and continued, "Never, I mean never run blindly like that, you would have been killed had this been a trap." Hirai was stung by Kankarou's words she was on the verge of tears, after all the things that had happened to her recently her emotions were finally bubbling to the surface. She got up.

"I'm sorry, I won't make that mistake again when I find the enemy." She stepped over Kankarou and was about to keep running when she felt a vice like grip on her ankle, she looked down to see Kankarou's hand clamped there.

Kankarou was on his hand and knees and his next words oozed anger. "What the hell is wrong with you. You would abandon me and risk you life so recklessly. What good would two dead ninjas in the desert do." Kankarou did not look up as he spoke. "Think Hirai, that is what we try to teach you. Yet after all our lessons and hard work you loose your cool and throw all our lessons out the window. Tell me then what did you plan to do if you came close to the people who took Gaara, what have you learned from finding me here."

Hirai felt ashamed upon hearing Kankarous words because they all hit home. She did not know what she was supposed to do, she had not analyzed the situation and what was worst she was about to abandon her comrade because she hadn't thought. "I'm sorry Kankarou-san I-I-I don't know what to do." Tears of frustration fell from Hirais eyes. She sobbed once and tried to stem her emotions. "I have failed you and the village."

Kankarou fell into a sitting position and his next words were in a softer tone. "Don't cry Hirai we all fail at one time or another, I wouldn't be in this situation had I not failed. I too did not think when I came after Gaara." He let our a long sigh, "We can't let our failures overshadow our purpose though. We need re-enforcements we have to head back to the village to wait for them to arrive."

Hirai felt a sense of relief knowing that Kankarou still had it together. Even though he was not her favorite person she had come to respect him. Through her relief she had almost forgotten, "Kankarou, what about Gaara. You and Temari are the strongest behind him, who can help us and what if we can't find him." She looked down to see Kankarou shaking his head in disbelief.

He looked up at her and said, "You still are not using your head. We alone cannot help Gaara right now only track him. I would imagine that you would have seen the logic of this."

Hirai looked a little lost, "B-but how wi"

Kankarou cut her off. "This is what we're going to do. First you will summon one of your beasts to track down Gaara then it can relay the information to us. Then you are going to help me get back to the village. On the way there I will explain the rest of our plan."

Hope was finally coming back to Hirai. She bit her pinky and formed the seals to perform the summoning. She drew from all the chakra that she could muster and successfully summoned a ferret. The ferret was small coming up to her knee. It quickly climbed up onto her shoulder to receive her instructions. After she told it what she wanted it to do it scurried back down to the ground and scurried away. She then bent down to help Kankarou up. She put his arm around her neck and asked, "What now?"

"We head back to the village, I feel very weak so I won't talk in order conserve energy so you don't have to carry me all the way and we can jog when possible." Kankarou said weakly.

Hirai nodded and said, "Hai, hang on we're headed back." She then began making her way back to the village.

Back in Konoha. Team seven finally made it to the practice field. Once there Naruto immediately went down on his haunches and started digging through his backpack frantically searching for something. Kakashi moved his gaze to Sakura who had started stretching, he looked back at Naruto who seemed to have found what he was looking for because he was now preparing to do some stretches. Kakashi walked a good distance away from them and turned to face them. He took out and held to small bells. They made a small noise and got Sakura and Naruto's attention. "Now that I have your attention, these are your targets, make me proud you two. You have one hour."

In another part of Konoha Jiraiya stopped in front of Hinata and Shino. "We need to have these two checked out to make sure they weren't seriously injured. Do you know where they usually go to take care of the dog?"

PREVIEW

Finally the showdown between Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura takes place. Will team seven finally be together again or will Kakashi prove to much for them to handle. What is Kankarou going to tell Hirai. All this and more in ch. 10

Hinata nodded, "Hai, this way." She led the way to the Kiba's sister's office, followed by Jiraiya and Shino. Shino was still wary of this target and kept wondering to himself, who is this guy.