Here is the new chapter. It's slow I can admit that, but I hope everybody enjoys it.

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

A CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Sakura had finished her examination and had done all she could do. Now they could only wait for him to heal. She turned around to face everybody. They had been hovering over her shoulder waiting for her to finish for a short while now. They were all waiting for an explanation. "I'll make this as simple as I can. Kankarous blood was coagulating at an abnormal pace making it hard to detect what was the cause. It was also laced with a second poison to complicate diagnosing the poison and finding a cure. Because you have to know the ingredients of the poison most remedies would have killed him. This poison was meant to keep him alive until somebody helped him. The chemical reaction with the remedies would have triggered a reaction that would have killed him. He would have died eventually due to the coagulation, but the sleep helped slow down the process." She finished explaining seeing that Naruto and Hirai looked completely clueless. She said. "Besides you two," she said indicating them. "Are there any questions."

Ebizo quickly spoke up. "What caused the appearance of dissolving the veins?"

Sakura had wondered the same thing at first, but had quickly seen the cause and explained it to him. "The solidifying blood was expanding so it stretched the veins. This was due to the irregular pace it was doing so." That should be all she thought to herself. While dealing with Kankarou's problem she made a large enough batch of remedy to prevent coagulation. She couldn't make a remedy because she didn't know if that was the only poison that could be used. She would have to deal with that later on.

Kakashi took the initiative in moving the conversation forward. "So what information do we have on Gaara's kidnappers?" Chiyo and Ebizo had no answer for this. Kakashi saw the look on their faces and knew what it meant. He saw that the situation had just become exponentially worse.

Hirai who had been in the background up to this point spoke up. "Kankarou told me about the situation. At least what he knew about it. Gaara was taken by two ninjas. He identified one of them as Sasori." Chiyo and Ebizo's eyes widened with recognition. However Hirai didn't stop. "He also uses poisons and puppets much like Kankarou himself. That is all the information we have on the kidnappers thus far. We do know their whereabouts. My familiar knows the location." Hirai finished.

Kakashi felt a wave of relief. He was familiar with the files on Sasori. He thought they now had a good starting point. "We have to begin organizing the group that will go try to retrieve Gaara."

As Kakashi and the others organized themselves in preparations for the mission. Jiraiya and the others were finally ready to head out after having ate a good breakfast. They didn't talk during the meal. Now however Jiraiya opened up the map so they could all see. Hinata and Shino on either side and Kiba looking over the shoulder. "Can you hold this end Hinata." Jiraiya asked. Hinata complied and this freed up his other hand to demonstrate. Jiraiya began tracing a path on the map for them. "This is the path we're going to travel." He said. They all paid attention and nodded. He then stopped. They were all expecting this to be some sort of destination they would reach by night. Jiraiya had other ideas though. This is where I want to stop to eat lunch. It's not a town, but it's a nice area to rest and regroup." Hinata and Kiba's eyes widened with shock. Shino was wearing his sun glasses so nobody knows if he was shocked, but it's likely he was.

Kiba as usual was the first one to protest. "What the hell do you think we are! We can't cover that distance by lunchtime!"

"Tschh... you can't? What about Akamarou?" Kiba looked at his friend and knew that he could. He nodded his head. He was about to keep protesting, but Jiraiya cut him off. "Then you're taking care of. We'll get there in time. Trust me...I am a Legendary sannin after all." Jiraiya was expecting an agreement to come from somewhere. A 'yeah guess you are huh'. Instead what filled his head was Kiba's laughter. He was rolling on the ground holding his sides.

"HA-AHA, legend-bwahahahaha... oh god my sides.. hahaha." Kiba was laughing hysterically now, making quite a scene. Jiraiya's eyes twitched and he began to menacingly walk towards Kiba preparing to beat some respect into him when he felt a hand on his shoulders. Shino was looking at him and he nodded. Jiraiya knew Shino was right and he should ignore Kiba, but that didn't make the desire to kick him across the forest any less. Jiraiya did not immediately turn to his two other team mates. It was hard to ignore that laughing baka. He did eventually focus his attention on Hinata and Shino though. They were both waiting to hear what he would say.

Jiraiya was glad that they were willing to listen and weren't like Kiba. "We have a long way to travel and it would benefit us to get there quickly and without wearing ourselves out." He looked at Shino. "You of the aburame tribe feed your chakra to your insects so I can't ask for your chakra. I will summon the transportation for you." He then looked at Hinata with genuine interest. "You on the other hand I will need for you to lend me some chakra I want to see something and also conserve some of my own Chakra." He patted both of them on their shoulders and moved passed them. "Ok, let's get to it." He said clapping his hands together.

Hinata spoke up. "Umm...Jiraiya-san, what about Kiba. Will he ride Akamaru that far." She asked wondering what Jiraiya was planning for them. Jiraiya's respond however was not really what she expected.

Jiraiya could still hear Kiba's laughter so his response came out a little colder than he meant it. "It doesn't matter. Kiba can shift shapes so however he wants to follow really makes no difference." He caught the edge in his voice though and when he spoke again it was a little more calm. "The choice is his. If I summoned transportation for him I might have alienated Akamaru." He was caught in a moment of thought.

Hinata asked a question that brought him out of that reverie. "W-what is our umm.. transportation going to be?" Jiraiya looked at her a smile spreading on his face.

"Oh, you'll like this." Jiraiya said. He turned around and bit his thumb in his practiced manner that brought out a little blood and formed the seals. A giant cloud of smoke appeared in front of Jiraiya and started to clear. Hinata was the first to see what was emerging out of the smoke. She let out a gasp not knowing what to think. Shino just raised his eyebrows intrigued by this mode of travel.

Kiba had finally stopped laughing and joined them. "Whoa, that's one big ass toad." Hinata started a little bit. She hadn't noticed him. Shino didn't react.

Jiraiya spoke with the frog for a little bit and then turned around and looked at Shino. "He agreed to let you ride Shino. Shino this is Taguro, Taguro Shino." Taguro bowed his head as introduction and went to stand by Shino. Taguro was about six feet tall and wore a vest, his skin was dark blue and he was very stoutly built.

Jiraiya once again turned around and went through the same procedure again. This time a orange frog appeared and took a position nearby. This was Jiraiya's friend and the frog he would ride. Jiraiya turned and beckoned Hinata over. When she was standing next to him he began to whisper in her ear. He told her to focus on her chakra so that he could draw on it to summon her frog. He explained all the details of chakra transfer. She soaked it all up like a sponge. She wanted to ask him some questions, but decided to wait until after the summoning. Jiraiya didn't tell her, but he was asking her to lend him chakra not because he couldn't do it, but because he wanted to see how much chakra she could channel. She was from the Hyugaa clan so this would be good information for him to have. First though he wanted to see if she could channel enough for a successful summoning. Hinata put both of her hands on Jiraiya's shoulders as he once again went through the summoning seals. She felt the initial jolt of her chakra moving like he said and then she felt normal again. Jiraiya drew on her chakra and she was able to supply him with enough chakra for a successful summoning. As he finished the summoning he began wondering about Hinata's capacity. He began to look forward to training with them. As the smoke cleared a lavender frog appeared in front of them. The frogs color was a few shades darker than Hinata eyes. It looked less stout than Shino's and wore a blue vest. Jiraiya turned to Hinata and introduced her to her steed. "This is Tenma, Tenma this is Hinata." Once they were all paired off he said in a clear voice so they could all hear. "Familiarize yourselves and when we are off as soon as we're ready." He then started walking torwards his frog when he was stopped by Kiba.

"Hey, old man what about me?" Kiba asked. Standing next to Akamaru, Jiraiya's anwer shamed him a little bit.

Jiraiya turned to look at Kiba and in a semi-frustrated voice addressed him. "I already told you, you would ride with Akamaru. You can travel alongside him, or am I wrong. Do you just want to leave him behind to travel by himself?"

Kiba looked at Akamaru. Even though Akamaru took no insult in what had been said. He felt glad that he would not be made to follow alone. Kiba apologized to Akamaru and Akamaru let him know that he should not think anything of it.

After a few minutes Shino and Hinata were successfully mounted and communicating with their frogs. Kiba sat on top of Akamaru. Jiraiya thought they were ready to ride and mounted his own frog. Once they were all mounted he turned to them and addressed Kiba. "We'll ride straight for half hour increments. Every half hour we'll take a break to let you catch up. We don't want to wear ourselves out so don't try to be tough and not tell us if you need a break." Jiraiya saw that Kiba was sticking out his lips in a stubborn fashion and wondered if he was going to make it. There was only one way to find out though.

Hinata asked a question. "So we're just taking a break for Kiba to catch up, why don't we just keep pace with him?" At this Jiraiya started laughing. A look of confusion settled on everyone's face. What was so funny they all wondered.

"I'm sorry, you guys haven't done this before. It's not just for Kiba's benefit, it's for your benefit as well. You will see though." Jiraiya turned and in a loud voice asked. "Are we ready. He glanced at Shino to see him nod and then at Hinata to see her nod as well. "Then let's ride. Tenma, Taguro follow us." Jiraiya yelled as his frog took to the air with a powerful leap." Immediately after that Tenma and Taguro were after them. Akamaru was also beginning to follow. In this manner their trip began.

Back in the desert a group was leaving the village of sand. In this group there were four people following a small ferret. The three Konoha shinobi had been joined by Chiyo. They were going at a fast pace and after a short time were out of the villages sight. A short while after this on the opposite side of the village another group of shinobi were arriving. Gai and his group had made good time and were now coming within sight of the village of sand.

Kakashi and his companions did not want to bring Chiyo, but she had convinced them of her importance to their success. She had a thorough knowledge of one of the kidnappers and his techniques. She also knew the desert and would be able to notice traps or other obstacles that they could not. In the end the Konoha shinobi had set aside their discomforts and agreed to have her travel with them. By now they had covered a good distance and even with her skills Chiyo had failed to notice they were being spied upon. Only Kakashi noticed, but he dismissed it, thinking it was only his imagination.

At the village of sand Gai and his team were meeting with Temari about their current situation. After a brief discussion it was decided that Temari would go with them to find Kakashi and his team while Hirai would stay and watch over Kankarou's recovery. Temari thought it best to leave quickly so they could track them down with more ease. For this reason they left without thoroughly formulating a plan. She told Gai she trusted them and would leave the tactical decisions to him if they were necessary as she didn't know enough about his subordinates. After their brief meeting they too were heading out and crossing the gates of the village on the trail of Kakashi and his group.

At a cave in an undisclosed area there was a group of shadows around a seemingly unconscious Gaara. It appeared from their body language that they had come to an impass. One of the shadows broke the then lingering silence. "We need to re-think our strategy. This jinchurikki is unlike the ones we have dealt with before. We may not be able to break the bond at this time." This voice said.

Another voice quickly spoke up. "You would waste the effort put into getting it? I cannot accept this." It angrily said.

The first shadow turned its head in this new voices direction and in a menacing voice retorted. "The host is already at deaths door. Your efforts would be wasted if we killed it before extracting the youma. You dis-" This voice was abruptly interrupted by a third voice. This voice belongs to Zetsu it was oily and cunning.

"We have interlopers. They are on the way here. One of my subordinates spotted them crossing over a while ago. Just now I was informed of a second group following this first." Zetsu finished.

A fourth voice now spoke up. This voice spoke with curiosity and a sense of authority. "How many and from where are they?" This shadow had been overseeing the arguments so far.

Zetsu answered however. "There are four in each group. It appears there are three Konoha shinobi in each group being led here by a sand ninja in each group." Zetsu gave no other information other than what was requested.

The fourth voice seemed amused. "From Konoha huh?" He looked at the shadows resembling Itachi and Kisame. "Would you two like to buy us some time while we wrap up our little get together?" Even though it was a question he sounded as if he expected nothing less than compliance.

Itachi answered smugly. "I see no reason not to deal with the trash from my village. We will buy you some time while you wrap up here. Just inform us of what's going on later on." With that Itachi and Kisame's shadows dimmed and disappeared.

The shadow that seemed to be the leader turned to address all the others present a total of eight now. "Now that that's settled let's finish up here."

PREVIEW

Jiraiya looks forward to training, how will he go about it. Will Naruto and his group get to Gaara in time.

RSO'S

dragonman180- You, you got some good ideas. I hadn't thought about that poor Akamaru I don't think I could traumatize Akamaru like that. lol. Thanx for the review.

drschuet-Yeah he is. lol. That's a good question, we might have to find out. I'm sorry about the sand mission being to much like the cannon, but there a lot of things that I will change in the coming chapters that aren't like the cannon. Also I used this so that I could give team 8 the opportunity to have their adventure and set up alot of other things. Thanks for the review. You probably skimmed through portions of this chapter too. Don't skim over the Naruto Itachi encounter though. Lol.

danny-yeah she is. Yeah poor Hinata maybe one day that dream will become reality. As long as Naruto doesn't find out Kiba should be safe. Umm... if Hinata and Jiraiya don't kill him first. lol. I don't hate you, if you read Ichikarus comments in ch. 4 I mention a new girl being hired to handle the workload Naruto would bring to the shop I haven't gone into detail about it, but it's not the same person. I left that in the air so I can still do other things with it. Thanx for your thoughts though I will take them into consideration.

bakamcgee-Thanx for the review. I know Naruto does shift characters and maybe I did make it a little too forced, but there is a reason that will be revealed later. On the dream thing maybe you're right. I'm not too good with grammar. The bell was in her dream and when she woke up she didn't really realize it yet so she thought it was supposed to be there for real. Maybe I spoil future things but it has something to do with the idea she wants to act on. Sorry bout the confusion.

biggstone-thanx

acrazygirlofmanynames- ummm...thanx I think.