Here is the next chapter. I hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

The next morning, only two members had shown up on time with their Jounin sensei late as usual.

"Jeez, doesn't he even make an effort to get out of bed in the morning?" said an impatient Naruto.

"Even after two and a half years, he still makes us wait," Ino agreed.

Then they saw as their sensei sluggishly walked up to them, unknown to them that he had read his whole book twice in one night.

Naruto pointed an accusing finger to him, yelling, "You're late, Sensei!"

Kakashi waved his hand apologetically to them as he replied, "Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night and I was late filling in the new teams and…"

"Yeah right, I bet you were reading that book all night, Kakashi-Sensei," Ino retaliated.

Kakashi replied, "Well, anyway I'm here now and we should get our mission. Then we…"

He paused as he looked overhead; up in the sky he watched as a messenger hawk flew by, flying towards the Hokage Tower.

"That looked like it was flying from Suna, I wonder what happened," Kakashi thought to himself.

At the Hokage Tower where they keep the messenger birds, they saw Suna's fastest messenger hawk, Takamaru on the railing with a message on his back.

They immediately took the message off of his back and released the seal on it.

"This is a coded message, we need someone from the cryptology department," someone told the other to get a decoder in there.

Inside the Hokage Tower, we find Team Kakashi headed in to be briefed on their mission, while Naruto exclaimed, "It's been so long since I've been on a mission, I wonder if we get a high-rank mission like B-class."

"Don't get your hopes up Naruto, you just returned home. Just please don't sulk if it isn't one you were hoping for," Ino replied.

Then, a woman ahead of them ran past them shouting, "Out of my way!" as she ran down the hall.

"I wonder what happened if a decoder was needed here," Kakashi contemplated silently.

Then they came into the room to get their mission, as they entered, Tsunade and Iruka were there to hand them their mission briefing.

Tsunade started by saying, "Team Kakashi, I have a C-rank mission for you to escort some merchants to port and they..."

But Naruto cut her off by shouting, "Tsunade-baa chan! I don't want that kind of mission where we just escort merchants. Don't you have anything better than…OW!"

Ino had tugged on his ear trying to shut him up, then silently said in his ear, "Naruto, shut up! You don't know how she can be when she gets angry."

"Naruto, we have to do our mission, even if we don't like it. You know that, don't you?" Kakashi asked him.

Grudgingly he replied, "Yes, but still isn't there any mission that I can prove how strong I've gotten? I mean I…"

Behind them, the door opened with an echoing crash, the same decoder woman they saw earlier shouted, "Tsunade-sama, a secret message from Suna!"

"What is it that is so important that you interrupt me during a mission briefing?" Tsunade asked, irritated by the interruption.

The woman answered, "Suna had sent an urgent message, requesting assistance from Konoha. The Fifth Kazekage, Gaara had been kidnapped last night."

There was sudden silence at the announcement and Tsunade sat there with her hands in front of her, fingers intertwined.

Then she addressed Team Kakashi, "Team Kakashi, here is your new mission, go to Suna to help rescue the Kazekage. This is an A-rank mission, do you accept?"

Team Kakashi answered, "We accept."

"Then prepare to leave immediately and I shall have one other person go with you that will benefit from this mission," Tsunade replied.

They bowed and departed to prepare for three days travel to Suna.

Meanwhile in Suna.

Kankurou had finally caught up with Gaara's captors and shouted, "Give Gaara back!"

Then he immediately brought out his puppets out of his scrolls and got into position to fight. Then Deidara and the strange figure turned around to face Kankurou with his three puppets, Black Ant, Crow, and Salamander.

"Those three, huh?" the eerie voice said more to himself than to his partner.

Then he continued, "Deidara, go on ahead, I'll catch up with you."

Deidara had an amused smirk on his face and asked, "Are you sure? I know you don't like to be kept waiting or to keep people waiting."

"I'll make this quick. Just go on ahead." Deidara's partner replied.

"Well, I'll leave it to you then, hm," Deidara replied as he got on his clay bird and took off away from the two.

"I won't let you get away!" Kankurou shouted.

He lead Crow to attack Deidara until suddenly, a large scorpion-like tail deflected the attack. Kankurou was surprised that his attack didn't even faze the other person.

"I'm your opponent; don't make me wait for you to attack." He said as he was waving the tail-like appendage.

"Fine." Kankurou replied and got ready to attack.

Back in Konoha

Team Kakashi were ready to go, they just had to wait for that one other person. Naruto was getting impatient though, showing his impatience by pacing back and forth.

"Naruto calm down, it won't do any good if we rush into things," Kakashi said to his restless student.

Then they heard someone shout, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

The other person that Tsunade had in mind was her own apprentice, Sakura Haruno. She had a smile on her face and waved to both Ino and Naruto.

Then Sakura said, "Long time no see Naruto, you really have grown a lot."

"No way, you're coming with us too, Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed happily.

Sakura nodded then replied, "Yes, Shisou had told me that your team could use one other medic-nin and I can get more experience. I hope you don't mind me tagging along, Ino."

Ino smiled, shook her head and said, "Don't be silly, of course I don't mind. This just means I can try to beat you at your own medical skills, Billboard-Brow."

Sakura flinched and retorted, "Oh, is that so? Then bring it on, Ino-pig."

Ino and Sakura were glaring at each other and they were causing the only males of the group to cringe and step back in fear.

"So they are still at it, Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked silently.

Kakashi answered, "Apparently."

"Anyway, we better get going before we lose any chance of rescuing the Kazekage from the Akatuski," Kakashi interrupted the girl's glaring contest.

He continued, "But first, I need a word with you Naruto."

Naruto nodded but was confused so they went a little distance from the girls and they talked.

Then Sakura suddenly exclaimed, "Oh right, Ino I have something for you."

She pulled out a bento box wrapped in a blue handkerchief out of her pouch and handed it to Ino.

Confused, she held it in her hands and asked, "You made me a lunch? I know that you are better at making antidote than food, Billboard-Brow."

Sakura's eye twitched before she explained, "I didn't make it; someone asked me to give it to you."

"Really, who was it?" Ino asked.

"Sorry, it's a secret, but I can tell he was embarrassed about it." Sakura playfully replied, winking her eye.

Ino gave her an annoyed look and gazed down at the bento box, then she saw that underneath the knot, was a little folded note. She took it out and unfolded it to read it and instantly she smiled.

On the note it said,

Ino,

I'm sorry I couldn't give this to you myself, but I had something to prepare for in the exams this morning. It has your favorite food in it and I hope you like it. Though, I don't know if it turned out good at all. Good luck in your mission and be careful.

Shikamaru.

"He is so sweet," Ino thought to herself with a big smile.

She folded the note, put it in her pouch, and carefully put the bento box in her pouch too.

Then she heard Kakashi say, "Okay, let's go everyone!"

They all replied, "Alright!"

Then they all took off for Suna, but little did they know, Kankurou was in a bad state.

In the desert,

Kankurou lay on the ground wounded and his puppets damaged; he was only able to secure a piece of cloth from the Akatsuki member's mask.

"I have kept Deidara waiting long enough; I won't kill you right away. You have only three days when the poison flows throughout your system and then you will die anyway." He said to Kankurou before treading away.

Kankurou was feeling numb from the poison, blurring his vision and making him feel unbearable pain.

Slowly, his eyes were drooping as he watched the figure walk away, before losing consciousness, he mumbled, "Gaara…"

AN: If you have seen the anime, you would probably know how Kankuro's fight went, that's why I didn't include it. Also, I hope you don't mind that I show Sakura early. It's part of my story. Please feel free to review and tell me what you think.