Chapter 34: The Truth of Tailed Beasts

Finally reaching the Sand Village we saw guards at the gate hearing them give us the rundown on what happened as we raced in. Kankuro had gone after Gaara getting badly poisoned and they lost a lot of shinobi due to the enemy attack. Sakura raced ahead with Temari knowing that she had extensive medical training from Tsunade over the years.

Reaching the room an old woman made a run towards Kakashi seeing Naruto quickly stop her as she proclaimed he was the White Fang of the Leaf. I listened to the old man next to her who I'm assuming was her husband or brother explain that the White Fang died years ago to which she proclaimed she was faking it. Tilting my head confused I heard Kankuro groan in agony as Sakura turned towards us.

"Kakashi, Yuna, Naruto leave this to me." she said confidently as we all walked out knowing she could handle Kankuro from here.

I sat between Kakashi and Naruto watching Sakura work when I heard Naruto say, "Hey Kakashi-sensei, who is this white fang that crazy old lady was talking about?"

My eyes averted to Kakashi seeing him close his book replying, "It's hard to say… but he was my father."

"Your father?" I questioned seeing the old lady stare surprised at him while her brother said, "That's why you both look so alike."

Kakashi laughed nervously seeing the lady glare daggers at him for a moment than look away as I turned back towards Sakura, I'll have to ask Kakashi more about that once this is over.

Finally, after extracting the toxin Sakura finished seeing her quickly get to work on the next step of her plans in creating an antidote. One of the sand shinobi came over giving Kakashi a scroll learning that Tsunade sent reinforcements. The sand shinobi began going through a run down on what had transpired before we arrived learning that they had no idea where the Akatsuki had gone.

"Lord Baki, Kankuro is waking up." one of the medical shinobi said as we all rushed into the room seeing his eyes start to open.

"Temari… when did you get back?" he said weakly as she leaned down saying, "I heard the village was in crises, so I came back early."

"Sorry for making you worry." he said while she shook her head replying, "No need to apologize."

"Good to see you again Yuna… and Naruto you got taller." he said seeing a small smile on his lips as I smiled replying, "Good to see you awake Kankuro."

"Baki, can you take me to the site that Kankuro battled the Akatsuki even if they left the smallest of scents, I can track it." Kakashi said hearing Kankuro grunt replying, "No need, they brought all my puppets back, I got a piece of clothing."

I looked down at the pieces of Kankuro's puppets as he said, "There were two of them, I fought the one who didn't have Gaara but managed to get it from him before I lost consciousness."

"Just what I'd expect from you." I said seeing him smirk but grip his side in pain while Kakashi grabbed the fabric.

I watched him use his summoning jutsu seeing the dogs as I kneeled petting them saying, "Good to see you guys again."

"Pakkun, you look the same." Naruto said as he looked at him replying, "So do you."

"I'm taller now!" Naruto complained making me laugh as Kakashi held out the fabric saying, "I just need to know which direction they went in."

Watching the other dogs disperse Pakkun said, "We'll let you know as soon as we find anything."

"Alright as soon as they come back, we'll head out." Naruto said stretching as the old lady came in saying, "Kankuro I need to hear it from your mouth that it was indeed Sasori who attacked you."

I looked at them and to Kankuro as he said, "Yea, there is no doubt it was Sasori of the Red Sand."

Looking over to the old lady she seemed sad as I said, "This is a perfect opportunity for us to learn more about the Akatsuki… if you please have any information, it will be helpful."

She went to speak when Sakura came back in with the antidote seeing Kankuro choke it down as Baki said, "We've prepared a few rooms for you guys to get some rest."

"We should be heading out now for Gaara." Naruto said as Kakashi replied, "We have a harsh day tomorrow we need proper rest, besides Sakura has been working all day."

Naruto sighed but nodded knowingly as he took Sakura's bag seeing the old lady looking away clearly not interested in having us around. We all split up seeing I shared a room with Sakura hearing her let out a sigh collapsing on one of the beds.

Putting my bag down I began to undress seeing sand fall out of my clothes feeling Sakura's eyes on my back. I got new clothes walking towards the bathroom as I closed the door turning the water on splashing water in my face. Staring at my reflection I saw bags beginning to form under my eyes knowing I needed to get proper sleep tonight. I took a quick shower before walking out seeing Sakura was waiting for me to finish.

"You were brilliant in there by the way." I said seeing her smile replying, "Thank you… ever since I met Tsunade, I wanted to be just like her."

"I'd say one day you'll be better than her… though don't tell her I said that." I said seeing her smile widen replying, "What about you, I heard you've been training with Kakashi-sensei."

"Yea, we are both lightning users and besides he's been the closest thing to a father figure I've had since the Third passed away." I replied seeing her frown lightly saying, "I'm sure he'd be proud of you, and I can't wait to see what you can do."

"You will tomorrow." I said confidently while she nodded walking into the bathroom saying, "I look forward to it."

Laying on the bed I didn't realize how tired I was until I fell asleep to the shower running in the bathroom in a matter of minutes.

I finished packing everything as Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto and I made our way towards the entrance of the Hidden Sand. Pakkun was able to find the hideout and we were wanting to leave as soon as we could just waiting on Temari and her squad.

"We're ready to go." Temari said confidently but frowned seeing Baki appear replying, "Temari with Gaara kidnapped and Kankuro still in bad condition we need you to stay here."

"My brother is out there, I need to help find him." she yelled at him while he shook his head saying, "Our village is vulnerable right now we need all the help we can get from our shinobi."

"So, we are just going to send our allies into unknown territory?" Temari countered hearing from above, "No, I'll be going with them."

"Granny Chiyo?" Temari said surprised as the old lady stared down at us hearing one of the sand shinobi say, "Don't overdo it."

She suddenly jumped down landing perfectly in front of us watching Naruto and Kakashi freeze up as she stared towards Kakashi, "Besides, I haven't doted on my own grandchild for a while after all."

Looking towards Kakashi he said, "Of course you can join us, the more the merrier."

Standing at the gate we said our goodbye to Temari and the other sand who came to wish us luck. Temari assured us that as soon as she could leave to help, she would but Naruto was confidant we'd have Gaara back before that.

"See you guys soon." Sakura said as we began heading into the direction Pakkun had told us to go in.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?" Sakura said suddenly seeing him nod as she finished saying, "When did you first start getting targeted by Akatsuki?"

Turning my eyes towards her Naruto said, "I don't know."

"After the attack from Orochimaru and the Sand." I began seeing them all look towards me as I continued, "Two of them came to try and make contact with Naruto but they were driven away."

"That was three years ago… and they hadn't made a move since." Kakashi said hearing Sakura reply, "Why did they wait three years?"

"It may not have been because they didn't want to instead of, they couldn't, after all Jiraiya was around Naruto all the time." Kakashi said hearing behind us, "No, my information has told us there is another reason why."

"What is the other reason?" Naruto asked worried as we all turned to Chiyo while she said, "There is a large amount of preparation if one is to draw out the tailed beasts that's inside of a person. They encountered difficulties with that."

"What are these tailed beasts?" Sakura asked seeing Chiyo turn towards her saying, "You're Tsunade's disciple and you don't know, the Leaf village had the Nine Tailed Fox."

"Keeping the Nine Tailed was a big secret in our village." Kakashi told her as she shook her head saying, "Well that's not surprising I guess. A tailed beast refers to the beast spirits with tails, long ago the Sand had the One-Tail, that's the Shukaku inside of Gaara."

"Are there more besides the two?" Sakura asked while she replied, "Of course there are nine all together each corresponding to the number of tails they possess. They have immense amount of chakra and were used by the Hidden villages in times of military purposes. Unfortunately, no one can control their power despite them all fighting for it… I don't know why the Akatsuki are after it but all I know is it's dangerous."

I frowned looking towards Naruto who was looking down clearly learning some of this for the first time as we all were. Seeing Kakashi's face he was aware on most of this but like he said, it was a big secret for our village. Stopping suddenly, they all followed suit as I did some hand signs.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked as I bit my finger holding it up with a smirk, "Taking proper precautions."

We all began running again as Kakashi explained Guy's group should come to the hideout first since they were closest. As we were running Kakashi, and I suddenly stopped feeling the others follow suit behind us feeling my body tense up.

"Who is that?" Sakura asked cautiously while I tightened my fist, "Itachi Uchiha."