There must have been something about Temari's desperation that had sobered Tsunade.

The Hokage's deminier quickly morphing from drunk to determined within seconds of seeing Temari, Shikimaru assumed seeing the distraught expressions was somehow reminisent of her own grief at losing her husband.

It was not soon after till everyone was working fast to organize a group of capable shinobi fit for Gaara's recovery,

By some stroke of luck both kakashai and Gais team were both completely mission less, but much to Shkimarus annoyance Choji and Ino were out, and neither kakashi or Gai seemed to be volunteering him forward, he had to resort to some bribery and mild threats before he was permitted to come.

Nobody expected twenty minutes after hearing word of the mission to be setting of, backpacks half zipped as the shinobi quickly jumped from tree to tree towards sand country

"why did you run here?" Shikimaru asked falling behind a little to run next to Temari, If Gaara had been kidnapped he was surprised she hadn't found the bastards and ripped out their throats aleady.

"those idiots wouldn't let me go after Gaara, yeah they sent out some people, but it wasn't going to be enough. This was the best I could do for Gaara" she explained her eyes steady, Shikimaru appeared to take this in for a second,

"the elders?" he asked,

"yeah," she confirmed, they were the bastards

"do they know were coming?" he asked glancing at the small group of people they had gathered to travel to sand county, it was all very rushed and probably not legal, but Tsunade had promised she'd sort the details out later

"they knew where I was going, but no, there not awaiting you" she replied

"troublesome" he muttered as they continued on,

"I can handle them" she said her voice fierce,

"I believe you" he replied, once again mentally taking in inventory, they would reach Suna, but if they were somehow denied water or food, there would be a BIG problem.

"hey Naruto stick with the group" Kakashi called, shikimaru looked up surprised at how quickly Naruto had become a blur in the distance, it wasn't like the rest of the group were exactly walking, his form dropped back within sight

"sorry, I wasn't concentrating" Naruto replied

"we'll stop in an hour to set up camp for the night" Neji said

"no, we will not stop till Gaara is safe again" Temari cried speeding up to make a point. Everyone looked at each other uncertain

"our team will be no good without rest" Neji replied,

Shikimaru could feel Nejis eyes trying to stab threw his skull in an effort for Shikimaru to side with him,

kakashi and Gai who were supposed to be team leaders were abnormally silent.

"I don't give a shit" Temari practically sang back " I am bringing you to safe my brother, not to camp in the woods"

"were going on, if you wanna rest we could split into two teams" Naruto said, Shikimaru considered it, possible but not practical

"we shouldn't split off, we do need to rest, we cannot get to suna in a day Naruto" he replied,

"well you won't" Naruto replied, there was silence for a while

"we will travel for another two hours but then we will need to rest for the night" Shikimaru said, at a glance everyone appeared to accept these terms and they continued on,

/

Shikimaru was starting to regret his decision, they had been running all day, he could really feel each bone in his foot slapping against his sandal at each jump.

He stared at everyone else thankful to see some signs of exhaustion or pain on their faces, it wasn't just him then. would they be sore tomorrow? Sure they were tough shinobi used to intensive training, but they hadn't had any preparation for this mission and some had just finished training before they started running to Suna, they wouldn't last long if someone decided to jump them.

Naruto looked back oblivious to the pain and exhaustion of his teammates, frustration was rushing thru his veins, all he could see was selfishness, Gaara was dying, without consciousness thought his body almost moved to scream *hurry up* back at them, did they not understand what could be happening, his fists clenched, he couldn't think clearly, it was like he was in some dream.

He found his feet speeding up, no he couldn't leave his team mates but fuck did he wish he could,

"Naruto slow down" Shikimarus voice called, his teeth clenched, he could feel demonic chakra surging up, breathing deeply he continued on.

It took a total of 3 painful days to reach Suna, it wasn't even the fastest time Naruto had ever traveled there. The day after the first they had barely ran before Neji demanded they stopped for the night. Frustration had made a home in his neck, no amount of stretching would loosen the knots.

He should be happy; a big part of the mission was over. they were in Suna.

As they stood outside the huge walls, guards were rushing out

"this way" Temari instructed ignoring the guards who were trying to alter their path.

"you can't do this" a taller one said attempting to stand in front of Temari. emphases on the word attempt.

"don't you dare tell me what I should be doing, its your fault my baby brothers-" she stopped suddenly, almost like she'd shocked herself before continuing to march into the center, the Konoha group looked at each other before following her.

They had only made it three steps before they had lost her in the madness and were soon surrounded by a entire squadron of guards.

A hand shot out to clutch at Narutos arm, before suddenly dragging him to meet the face of a very disgruntled guard

"why the fuck are you here" the guard shouted, there was a hint of a smile in his glare, he was enjoying this

"let go of me" Naruto hissed placing his palms flat on the guys chest in an effort to push himself away

"we are here to assist suna in finding Gaara" Neji told the guy ,pulling Naruto back into the group

"we don't need help!" a voice chirped from over the guys shoulder

"the demons dead, we hav' higher concerns" the guard said and then motioned to the exit to the city "after the death of our kage we are not accepting outsiders at this time"

"I don't listen to pricks, we were instructed to be here" Naruto replied, barely managing to control the kyubi inside, oh he'd show the fucker a demon, he opened his chakra channels preparing to unleash hell.

"only the elders have authority and we got no word mate that you'd be here" a tall guard bit out

"our hokage instructed us to be here to meet with the elders to discuss our involvement in the recovery of a powerful jinjuricki, we understand the sensitivity at this time but we will need to meet with the elders to complete our mission and then subsequently leave" shikimaru finished, Naruto wanted to start clapping, the guards didn't quite know what to say either,

"come on!" Temari's voice echoed from nearby, the group walked towards the voice, squeezing thru the smallest gaps between the guards, who had decided that they couldn't quite stop them but they could make their jobs as difficult as possible. while shouting insults of course. classy.

Suna was a strange place, it was so different to konoha that the two places may have been on different planets. Naruto stormed forward, feeling sick at the new scenery. he couldn't take in all this yellow.

After the initial rush of guards, they ran into little resistance.

"what are we doing here" kiba asked as they turned the 6th corner in a minute

"we will gather provisions, and then, I'm going to beg the elders to let me go, either way you will be setting of within the hour" Temari answered as she led them up a steep flight of stairs

"wheres kankuro?" Kiba asked puffing slightly

"in a coma" she replied turning quickly, Kiba made a noise,whether that was the shock at Kankurous condition or his reaction to seeing another flight of stairs was impossible to tell.

"induced..?" Sakura asked trying to remember her medical teachings with the Hokage herself

"he was poisoned, one of the akatski members" Temari replied moving away from the group as she stormed ahead

"and is he being-" sakura started

"look, I don't want to talk about it, the medical wing is that way, so go look yourself" Temari cried pointing towards the right, Sakura stepped back uncertain, was Temari only being defensive or was that an option?, after staring at Kakashi's expression she decided,

"yeah I will go, if that's okay, I have a lot of experience with poison" she said, giving Temai a hopefully reassuring smile,

"okay team 7 will head to the medical wing, we'll meet you at the kazekages house when we are finished" Kakashi said, he looked ready to move away from Temari who was scaring every one of the konoha ninja.

"yes we'll be there" Gai said, nodding at his rival, Kakashi and Sakura started walking, Naruto followed.

/

Screaming that's all Naruto could hear, he'd thought it had been bad approaching the building but it was nothing like being next to Kankuros room, wasn't Kankurou supposed to be in a coma? the screaming turned to shouting oh god, what was Sakura doing to the boy? I thought she was a healer. He buried his head into his hands, god make it stop, why was he imagining it was a redhead.

"kankurous gonna be okay now" kakashi said making Naruto jump, he quickly looked up to see his sensai looking at him worriedly, what?

"oh that's good" he said, wincing as another round of screaming happened, seeing Narutos expression kakashi quickly filled in

"yeah that's just the process, its painful" kakashi got up and shut the door to the operation room, blocking some of the sound

"when was the last time you saw Gaara then" kakashi asked sitting down in the chair next to his, Naruto forced himself to not curl up with the screaming and met kakshis eyes

"ahh must have been years now, before I left with the pervet ya know" he answered, rubbing his feet on the floor,

"hmm yes the-" Kakashi started before being interrupted by the operation door opening again.

"done" sakura said walking out, a much older women walked out right after, glaring at kakashi like he was death himself

"Naruto" a weak voice called , Naruto followed it to see kankuro lying on a bed, surprisingly there was no blood on his body, Although kankuro still looked weak, infact Naruto had never seen him look weaker always viewing the older boy as some abstract symbol of strengh.

"I know your going to save my brother" he said his voice was hoarse "your going to bring him back,"

Narutos mouth was suddenly dry, it was rare people put trust in him, he was being trusted to save someone well, it wasn't his goal to not save him.. so yeah.

"sure Kakuro" he replied nodding at the injured boy,

"no you will promise me" he replied loudly,

"now kankuro, well do our best" kakashi replied aware of how much pressure kankuro was inflicting on Naruto

To eveyones horror kankuro broke down, tears falling quickly down the older boys face

"I just want my brother back, he can't die before me"

"kankuro" Narruto snapped loudly "Gaara will be here alive you have my word"

"I know you can do it, I've seen you save him before" kankurou replied, was he talking about after the chunnin exams?

"we need to go back to the other now" kakashi said leading Sakura and Naruto out of the building