'well, well, well, just look what we've found,' said a voice from above on the morning of the third day out. the three members of team 7 had stopped for a rest after the moon set the night before, and started out again with the sun.

'who's there?' naruto demanded, glaring up into the trees surrounding them. 'show yourself, cowards!'

'ooh, now that's not nice at all,' the voice observed. 'we'd better make sure they don't mistake us for cowards.' dark laughing filled the trees all around them, and suddenly three ninja leapt from the nearby forest to stand before them, weapons already drawn. 'tell us,' the one in the middle continued, 'how is your precious sensei? is he dead yet?'

naruto let out a growl, infuriated at the implication that these missing-nin had something to do with kakashi's potentially fatal illness. 'don't,' sasuke warned, meeting naruto's eye. don't give them what they want, naruto. we can't afford any setbacks now.

sakura was glaring at them as well. 'are you saying you're the reason he's sick?' she demanded of the ninja who'd spoken.

he chuckled. 'it's better than poison, isn't it? harder to cure and much more painful- just what any konoha shinobi deserves.' he tossed his kunai from hand to hand playfully. 'go on then, avenge him. I know you want to.' he grinned mockingly.

naruto had watched as he'd tossed the knife and noticed it looked rusty, as if it hadn't been cared for. then, with a start, he realised it wasn't rusty at all- it was coated in a layer of dried blood. blood that was no doubt infected with sand fever, just waiting to kill them all. they couldn't risk a battle, he knew that now, but they had to get back to the village with the cure, and there was no way they'd let them pass.

just then, there was a faint whistle, and the ninja on the left suddenly collapsed. his two comerades turned to stare, seeing a shuriken embedded in his neck- he was dead before he'd hit the ground. 'there are more of you?!' the leader demanded, staring fearfully at the three genin. sasuke gave a tiny smirk, saying nothing. 'let's get out of here, I- what!' he turned to warn his other teammate too late, as he collapsed with a pair of senbon in his own neck, already dead. without another word, the leader leapt out of the way, a kunai parting sakura's hair as it flew past, right where the ninja's neck had been just a second before. a moment later there was a flicker of movement in the trees, and a masked person dashed past, sword in hand as he pursued their assailant. sasuke and sakura looked completely unnerved at the sight. naruto was awed. 'was that...an anbu?' he asked. sasuke nodded and sakura blurted 'let's just be glad he wasn't after us! come on!'

'but why else would he be here?' naruto wondered aloud as they started off again. 'he must have been sent to track us and make sure we didn't run into trouble or do something stupid.'

sasuke scoffed. 'I don't think the hokage thinks you're that important, naruto. anbu are sent after major criminals. you're just annoying.'

'yeah, but he happened to be there at just the right time- he had to have been tracking us,' naruto insisted.

sakura let out a whimper. 'can we just stop talking about this?' she asked. after all, if that kunai had been aimed an inch lower...she shivered involuntarily, checking her belt pouch for the five hundredth time to make sure the herbs were still safe.

'sure, but you know, I was just saying-'

'SHUT UP NARUTO!'

'oh all right then.'

they made good time, though they were starting to slow down just from physical exhaustion. it was almost sundown when the village gates came into sight, and they headed towards them with their heads down before sasuke looked up again and stopped, taking a step back and alerting the others. waiting at the gates, apparently for them, was, not one, but three anbu, an entire team! sakura recognised the one on the right as the one who'd been after the missing-nin that morning. he- or she?- stepped forward now, beckoning to the three bedraggled youths. they looked at each other, then, hanging their heads in defeat, stepped forward to the waiting anbu, assuming they were about to learn the true meaning of punishment for disobedience.

however, before they reached the three masked ninja, the one on the left started to laugh at their faces. 'you three look like you're off to be executed,' he remarked, and they looked up, confused. 'the hokage knew what you were doing, so he sent us along to keep you safe in case you ran into something you couldn't handle,' the one on the right- who was apparently a girl- explained. 'he wants to see you now, then you can take the herbs to matron,' the anbu in the middle told them. 'best hurry- time isn't your friend.'