Naruto and his friends approached the spot where the grand empire flying machines had dropped off several men. They stayed concealed as the enemy guardsmen started to fan out. Three of them looked like shinobi a closer look revealed their hatai had the symbols of the snow village and the village of artisans surrounded by the symbol of a winged snake.
"Well this explains why the symbol is different in your dream." Kakashi said. "Whenever someone starts to work for the Grand Empire they keep their old symbol and add the winged serpent."
"Yeah but what are they doing here?" Naruto asked.
"I think they're looking for something." Shikamaru said. "Two of them are coming over here."
One of the approaching guardsmen poked through the brush then stopped when he found a seal paper.
"Unit seven to command, I have located the final seal please advise," The guardsmen asked. He held his finger to his ear for a few seconds. Took out something that looked like a clay brick stuck a metal spike in it and placed it next to the seal.
"Isn't that much explosive kind of excessive?" the other guardsmen asked. "That paper can be just torn off."
"What are you an idiot? Something like that is going to be booby trapped." the first guardsmen explained. "The best way to get rid of a booby trap is to be somewhere else when it goes off, and I don't want whatever weird ninja trick it uses to be intact."
The two guardsmen left unaware the shinobi were following them. As the guardsmen gathered at a cliff overlooking a river. A guardsman wearing an officers uniform was looking at a large boulder through binoculars. "Detonate" the officer said. a rocket launcher destroyed the boulder at the same time four other explosions went off else ware.
That was when Naruto saw Gaara lying limp on the cave floor with a boy his age in a Grand Empire uniform standing over him. Naruto dashed past the guardsmen jumped off the cliff bounced off the water and landed at the mouth of the cave.
"It is so troublesome when he doesn't think his actions through" Shikamaru said as the rest of the shinobi went down to back him up.
"YOU," Naruto yelled at Axurhotep. "Get away from Gaara NOW!"
"Absolutely," Axurhotep said as he moved away from Gaara, but drew two of his pistols pointing one at Naruto and the other at Gaara. "Feel free to take him home, Mr. Uzumaki."
The shinobi were very confused they had expected him to fight back not just cave and give in.
"You're just going to give him over to us?" Kakashi said. "Why kidnap him in the first place?"
"I only brought him here to affirm a treaty with the Ataksuki," Axurhotep explained. "As the two corpses and blast damage will attest the treaty didn't go through, so I have no reason to keep him and was planning to return him and apologize."
"You think this will end with an apology?" Naruto said. "You just kidnapped Gaara!"
"And in your zeal to rescue him you have placed yourselves in a vulnerable position." Axurhotep said. "The belief that personal vengeance out ways duty as a warrior led to your ex-teammate's defection, I would think you would be more..." He was cut off as Naruto charged. Axurhotep in a single motion aimed the pistol that had been pointed at Naruto to Temari instead and shot her in her shoulder before she could draw her fan then in almost the same motion he brought up the pistol he had been aiming at Gaara the fired it at Naruto who had cleared the distance and was only a foot away from the field marshal. The shot threw Naruto off balance and he bowled into Axurhotep. Axurhotep vomited blood pushed Naruto off of him then leveled his guns at Shikamaru his hands were shaking.
"Your done," Shikamaru said. "You were probably wounded by the Ataksuki before we even got here."
"Yes, I'm done." Axurhotep said. "However if you look at Miss Haruno's back you will see all the men just waiting on the cliff top are ready for me to give the order to cut you and her down." Shikamaru looked at Sakura's back as she treated Kakashi's wound wait when was Kakashi wounded? he thought. There were red dots of light all over her back he didn't know what they meant but he didn't want to find out.
"Option one you kill me, my men kill you, your country goes to war with the empire and General Tyran wipes you out," Axurhotep said. "Option two you let me go on my way and take advantage of the fact I didn't shoot anyone in a vital organ or major artery. Everyone goes home alive. Now be honest are you even aloud to start a war?"
"Go," Shikamaru said. "But this isn't over."
"I certainly hope not." Axurhotep picked himself up and walked over to the cave entrance the helicopter dropped a ladder and carried him off then it picked up the men on the cliff side.
"Are they going to be Okay?" Shikamaru asked Sakura after the Grand Empire Troops had left the area.
"Yes," Sakura answered. "He was right about not hitting any vital organs, Temari and Kakashi have broken shoulder blades but no other injuries." She ran over to Naruto. "Naruto's out cold and his wound is cauterized."
"Are you sure he didn't just heal fast?" Shikamaru said.
"No these are fresh burns," Sakura answered.
This just keeps getting weirder Shikamaru thought. They spent another few minutes in the cave Sakura tended to the others broken bones and managed to figure out the paralising agent used on Gaara but she didn't have the ingredients to make an antidote.
"We can carry him back," Shikamaru said. Then he heard a silent moan comming from the back of the cave. He went to look and found to puppets one of them was moving like he was alive...
[A/N Sorry for the late up date I had a bad case of writer's block ]