'halt! who's there?'

it was the middle of the second day of their journey, and they'd reached the border between the land of fire and the land of wind. they had partly expected it to be guarded, but had seen no one until after they had crossed over. now, three ninja many years their senior blocked their path. naruto was already bristling at them.

'let us through! we have to get to the village, dattebayo!' he barked at them, and the ninja in the middle, wearing the sand village headband, laughed.

'do you really think we're going to let a set of leaf village punks like you through to our village?' he asked mockingly. 'go home, kids, you're not welcome here.'

sakura whimpered. 'but we have to! our sensei is sick, and without herbs, he'll die!' she exclaimed.

'sick?' the ninja on the left said thoughtfully. 'sick of what?'

'sand fever, the hospital says,' sasuke said solemnly. all three sand village ninja took a step back, fear in their eyes, looking the three genin over as if searching for something.

'you didn't get any of his blood on you, did you?' the ninja on the right demanded, eyes darting between the three of them. they all shook their heads.

'he keeps his face covered, luckily,' sasuke said, and the guards relaxed a little.

'well, I suppose Akio here can take you to the kazekage- he'll decide whether to give you the herbs.' the two other ninja stepped aside and the one who had been on the left, akio, took off, leaving them to follow.

'we haven't had a case of sand fever in more than five years!' the kazekage exclaimed when the three genin were brought before him.

'yeah? well, you do now!' naruto exclaimed, teeth bared in desperate anger. 'two days ago our sensei was coughing and off-balance, then he started coughing up blood and passed out. he's in the hospital now, and matron told us without the cure he'll die for sure!'

the kage nodded sadly, sitting back down. 'so it is sand fever,' he sighed, looking away. 'I had thought we were rid of it, but perhaps we never will be...'

'that's nice and all,' sasuke interrupted, 'but we need to get those herbs as soon as we can and get headed back to konoha- I think you know there isn't much time.'

he nodded, standing again. 'I'll take you to the herbalist myself- and you'd best to take a little extra with you. anyone who comes in contact with your patient's blood is at risk for catching the fever also.' he led the way out and down the street to the apothecary, run by a kindly-looking old woman named minto.

Minto explained all about the deadly disease while she rifled through piles and bins of herbs in the back store-room. 'there was an epidemic, oh, probably at least fifty years ago,' she began. 'we lost over a hundred people, and most of them were shinobi. it was called "genin fever" before we realised why they were most at risk- training left them with small cuts and scrapes, and sand fever is spread by blood-to-blood contact.' there was a sharp clatter and some shuffling, then she continued, 'we tried every herb there was, but it seemed we could only delay the inevitable, until finally someone found- ah.' having located the herb, she came out from behind the curtain with a handful cupped in her palms. 'a young child, still in academy, fell ill, and this was the last herb to try. in an effort to boost its strength, his entire clan pitched in, pouring their chakra reserves into the broth until it glowed a brilliant blue. after it was given to him, he recovered fully within hours. it's not a perfect cure, because it's so costly for everyone, but when the other option is certain death, it's worth the cost, I think.'

minto held out the handful of herbs for sakura to put them into a waiting bag, which she closed tightly and then clutched to her chest as though her life depended upon it. 'I wish you luck and good speed,' minto said, waving them out with the kage. 'the longest anyone's ever lasted when kept asleep is five days- you must hurry.' the three genin nodded and the kazekage gave sasuke, who he judged the most responsible of the three, a scroll.

'take this to your hokage,' he said, and sasuke nodded, tucking away the small scroll and taking off after the others.