Arc One: Seed

One by one like-minded people are standing up.

Lets overturn all the everyday, monotonous things.

❀

"The Kazekage has been kidnapped." Tsunade's hard stare over her hands was all that kept Sakura from repeating her statement for a confirmation. The Hokage before her sat rigid, her eyes unwavering in their piercing gaze into Sakuras' own. The kunoichi stood stiff, her back straight, her fists clenched at her sides, and Shizune had stopped flicking through the papers in her hands causing the room to become enveloped in silence.

"Tsunade-shishou, forgive me for saying but, your letter this morning said Suna was in need of a medical professional for a poison emergency." Sakura said.

"Well, the mission has changed." Tsunade breathed out and hoisted herself up from the most powerful chair in Konoha. She began slowly making her way around the desk overflowing with paperwork of which Sakura and Shizune would often frequently help her with. However if the mission Sakura was being assigned was becoming what she believed, then she doubted she would be seeing that desk for a while.

"Suna contacted us this morning with an urgent request. Their ambassador must have just returned when she sent us the request for an expert medic; truthfully she asked for me by name. She says that her brother Kankuro had a dangerous encounter and has been poisoned." Tsunade crossed her arms and came to a stop in front of her desk, she leaned her weight back on the wood.

"Suna is regarded for being the birthplace and master adaptor of poisons, so to be told that even their finest poison masters have come to a standstill and the man's life remains in danger is quite alarming. Also considering it's hardly even been two years since their aided attack on Konoha, and reaffirming and renewing our alliance, it is a shock that they would make a request of us so soon. Even asking for me personally is a tell to how dire their situation must be.

Tsuande brought her hand up and began worrying her lip between her fingers, deep in thought. Shizune sought to fill the silence, "naturally we can't send Tsunade-sama personally, as her trusted apprentice and proven medical professional it's only logical that we assign this mission to you, Sakura."

Sakura turned her eyes to the brunette. Sakura flushed feeling flattered under the praise but the chill of apprehension washed that feeling away near instantly.

"Naturally," Tsunade waved a hand flippantly, "this is an S rank mission coming directly from Suna's council. You'll be given an escort team to take you to Suna and you're assigned to work to the extent of your capabilities to combat this poison case and heal the Kazekage's brother. Regarding the Kazekage's kidnapping that took place this very morning, I sent for Kakashi to intercept Jiraiya and Naruto as they were on their way to the village to turn their attention to Suna and bring their leader back." Sakura nodded along.

"Do you accept this mission?" Tsunade directed her attention to her apprentice.

Sakura tensed her posture, she met the Hokage's eyes and nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-shishou!" The woman's eyes softened at the corners and her lips quirked up into a smile. Shizune was more open in her pride as the woman's smile lit up her face.

"Good. Prepare immediately, your escort team will be waiting at the entry gates within the hour. Send word once you've worked on the poison and make sure you send samples back."

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou!"

Tsunade made her way back around the desk and sat down. "Work hard, you’re dismissed." Sakura bowed and with that, she left. The kunoichi wasted no time and began preparing.

Sakura checked over her equipment and medical scrolls, making absolutely sure that even though she had been doing this for nearly 2 years now, that she was well prepared. She stood, at fifteen years old nearly sixteen, her long apron buckled in place, her hair only just beginning to curl over her shoulders -it had always taken her years to grow longer- and her circular crest proudly atop her chest. Sakura adjusted her red chunin headband atop her head, tightened the straps for the scrolls on her back and nodded to herself.

She bid her parents farewell and that her mission would keep her for what could be a few weeks. They raised dismissive hands with a genuine "goodbye dear!" and "have fun!" as she closed the front door.

Sakura practically flew past the civilian rooftops, time was always of the essence when it came to medical emergencies, and she came to land at the entry gate. "Good morning, young Sakura!" came the enthusiastic greeting from one Maito Gai. Lee followed suit with a salute and "yes! Good morning, Sakura-san!" Tenten opted for a more tamed wave and smile, Neji's eyes meeting hers was all the welcome Sakura got from the Hyuuga.

"Morning everyone, I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Nonsense!" Gai laughed, "we are your escort team, you are our village's precious medic, we'll be working around your clock and are ready to go whenever you are." Sakura felt better knowing the group would be following her but that was coupled with the anxiety that she was leading them. The weight of expectation hung heavy atop her shoulders but the knowledge that Tsunade trusted her in this kept her from folding under that weight. She nodded.

"Besides I only got here like a second a go thanks to the travel officials wasting my time" Tenten piqued up with a roll of her eyes, successfully making Sakura smile, "Let's go!"

With that, the team was off. They headed south-west, in order to get to a Capital village, a main village of a land, it was no easy task. By definition, the villages were 'hidden' from common people. On maps they were listed in the rough area but for one to stumble upon a village, their chances were slight, even slighter with the fact that those villages were heavily protected by their own shinobi force. For one to safely find and enter a village, it required either incredible skill, or to be personally invited by said village like Sakura and her team were.

Sakura was thankful for the urgency and adrenaline that fuelled her, team Gai were all happy to keep up with her with minimal rests. They sped past a small colony village owned by the Village hidden in the Leaves, the Town in the Valleys. Colonies were a common thing for the Lands to own, however most were either too small or insignificant to become a hidden village. For a location to need to be a ‘hidden village,’ it required the location to be big enough to have their own shinobi system, granted still owned in large by their main village and Kage. Like how the Village hidden in the Stone owned colonies like the Village hidden in the Rubble who had their own shinobi and headband symbols. Compared to the Village hidden in the Mist, the capital village of the Land of Water owned the colony the Land in the Waves which was poor and lacked their own shinobi, and thus relied on the Mist for protection. The Leaf were hired by the Waves back then because they were so small and insignificant that their own capital village had either refused to help or it would have been more trouble to get their help over a foreign village.

Sakura in any other situation would have been thrilled to be in a new Land but maybe another time she would be able to enjoy the new scenery. It took only a little over a couple days for the group to officially step foot in the Land of Wind.

"Okay!" Tenten clapped her hands as Lee handed Sakura a water canister. The group had momentarily stopped to catch their breaths, they looked out from the edge of a forest of trees and out to the vastness of the desert. "Now that we've crossed the border, I'll be leading us to the Town in the Shade and from there we will meet our contact from Suna who'll take us directly there." Tenten took a swig of the bottle Sakura tossed to her and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before continuing, "it'll be smooth sailing until we get to the town so we don't have to worry about things like pitfalls or anything just yet."

"Fantastic!" Gai cheered.

"Let's keep moving then." Sakura smiled and followed behind the kunoichi as she led the group through the vast sandy planes.

The empty atmosphere of the desert became hotter the further they ran, the sun beating down atop their heads from the cloudless sky. Sakura squinted her eyes whenever a harsh gust of wind blew sand into her eyes, the sand itself had she touched the ground would be soft, but each individual grain hitting her skin felt like pin pricks. They ran and ran, though it felt like hours, the sun hadn't looked to have shifted in the slightest.

The only things in the desert to break up the monotony of sandy dunes were the occasional few boulders and smaller rocks, but they were so rare that none could be used as any form of landmark. It was no wonder that under the desert's weather conditions and the lack of any noticeable features standing in the sand that the Village hidden in the Sand was such a hard place to find.

Slowly, there was a blur in the distance, past the Kunoichi leading them, the heat distorted vision eventually began to stabilise and form what looked to be a town. "There it is!" Tenten called. Buildings looked to be made of a form of sandstone, but the tall poles hanging shade sails of varying deep colours; a deep ocean blue, a mossy green, warm orange, they were what drew the eyes. In the empty desert where each breeze felt like a blast from an oven, those shade sails promising a reprieve and place to sit and rest felt like finding an oasis.

"We have made it!" Lee cheered as the team slowed to a stop at what looked to be an entrance to the town.

A man sitting under what looked like his personal sitting station with his own smaller shade sail in a vibrant red stood from the low cushioned chair he had been resting on. "Greetings, you are the Leaf shinobi?" The man was covered in layers of fabrics, a deep brown underneath with a shawl of patterned red wrapped around him, his eyes were cautious but his smile welcoming. He did not approach. "Yes! We are the esteemed Konoha medic and her escort team." Gai saluted and gestured to the group.

The man clapped his hands and raised them, "ah! Wonderful news, wonderful news. You're earlier than we anticipated but your escort is already here, I will send word and have them meet us." He turned to a building near his shaded spot, gave the door a knock before swinging it open and having a word with someone inside. A younger man in similar dress emerged, nodded to the man, and took off in a run into the town. It was clear these men were civilians and not shinobi. The man turned back to them and gestured an arm for them to follow him.

"My name is Chinen and it'll be my honour to help you. I know time is of the essence and naturally you will need to restock your water and food supplies. As you are guests and on a mission for our Kazekage, you've been given permission to get what you need free of charge." He spoke.

"How generous," Gai folded his arms happily and nodded. "Well we've been travelling for a couple days so all we will need is water and food. My name is Maito Gai! These are Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, Tenten and Sakura Haruno, who is the very medic we're escorting." At this, Chinen bowed and then took Sakura's hand in both of his. "That is most wonderful and you have my people's most sincere gratitude." Sakura flushed slightly in embarrassment but shook the man's hands in a friendly gesture.

"The Sand capital itself does not have a very advanced medical profession, we may excel in poisons but our higher ups in Suna for many years cared more about funding our military rather than our healthcare. And to have our capital reach out for help from an ally, it honestly shocks even us here." He released her hand and his eyes crinkled with his smile.

Sakura listened mildly to Chinen and Gai talk to each other as she let her eyes wander. She had been right, the buildings were made of sandstone, upon closer proximity she could see the vast shade sails above head were patterned and possibly even handmade with intricate designs decorating them only viewable from this distance. People bustled through the streets the deeper into the small town they walked. People in layered dress going about their everyday lives, Sakura was reminded of the civilian district back home.

They came to what clearly was the market place full of voices talking over each other and stalls set up with their own shade sails handmade to display what they were selling.

Tenten grabbed Sakura by the elbow, "oh! Oh! Sakura, come here, you've got to try this." Sakura smiled and let herself be pulled. Neji turned to notify Gai that they would be stopping to find something to eat. "Very well, I'll report to our contact and meet with you all later."

Tenten came to a stop at a stall with a green shade sale with 'Freshly Cooked Congee' sewn in gold. A middle aged woman with her hair tied to the side of her head smiled at them. "Afternoon travellers! You're those Leaf Shinobi we've heard about, yes? Gossip travels fast you see."

Tenten stepped up, "that's us! We're looking at some congee for lunch today." Neither Sakura nor the boys had agreed to that but their teammates' enthusiasm had them agreeing. Sakura had never had this meal before, maybe it was a Land of Wind delicacy? Either way she'd be happy to try. "Well look no further! My family has been making our own special recipes for generations. I've got thicker blends, a more watery blend, a grain base or would you like a more rice base? We even have our own set congee with toppings or you can make your own special requests."

Tenten chewed on her index finger tip, "ah, they all sound so good. I think I'll have..."

Tenten listed off her own order, a rice congee with tofu, vegetables, ginger, a boiled egg and soy sauce. Listening to her, Sakura could feel her stomach growl. The girl then turned to the group and asked for their tastes to help them figure out how they would like their meal. Sakura settled with a sweeter recipe that included mung beans and sugar.

The group sat at an intricately patterned carpet of green and gold to match the stall, a sunken table in the centre and circled by cushions for them to sit on and wait for their food. Finally sitting under the comfort of shade, Sakura shook her hair off her shoulders and fanned herself with her hands.

"Oh! Gimme a second I'll be right back." Tenten shot to her feet and went back into the markets.

"How do you think Gai-sensei is doing?" Lee asked, and even relaxing on a cushion, Neji's posture was impeccable. Sakura would feel like a slouched slob next to them but she was too comfortable to care at the moment.

Neji folded his arms, "even he would know not to dawdle on this particular mission of such importance."

Tenten returned not a moment later and handed out small hand fans to each of them.

"Oh my god, thank you so much." Sakura immediately began fanning herself. The fans were clearly cheaply made, no double a common item people would buy when the heat was an everyday problem. The wood a near golden colour, the stretched fabric a pure white with thin blue threads weaving swirling lines.

It wasn't too long later that their food arrived. Tenten sighed as she took her first bite and the others followed suit. The flavours flowed as smooth as porridge, a sweet softness atop the tongue and the texture so light it left a smile on the medic’s face. Sakura took a piece of tofu and it practically melted on her tongue.

"It's good isn't it? Congee is really good for when you're sick, or if you need some comfort food." Tenten spoke before popping another piece of tofu in her own mouth. Sakura couldn't help but study the girl; for Tenten to be so familiar with a Wind delicacy, knowledgeable of the terrain to lead them to this town, and her eager eyes hardly leaving her food and friends to take in the scenery. She was so familiar Sakura couldn't help but wonder. However she felt uncomfortable analysing her friend so she opted for the polite option of getting information.

"Tenten you know so much about this place, have you been here before?" The girl nodded happily.

"My family was originally from Suna so we used to stop here all the time when we visited relatives." Sakura blinked.

"I had no idea you were from Suna," Tenten shrugged nonchalantly.

"My family's from Suna, my Grandparents migrated to Konoha after it was founded and my parents were young. I'm born a Leaf citizen but thanks to that invasion at the last Chunin exam, me and my family keep getting questioned by officials before we literally do anything. It's thanks to them I'm almost late to everything." She rolled her eyes.

"That sucks, I'll admit I'm not familiar at all with Suna culture or anything but this is delicious." Tenten beamed.

"I know right! And don't worry, the only real hint I'm from Suna you would have really had is I don't have a last name." Sakura furrowed her brows and tilted her head in confusion.

Tenten giggled in response, "in the Land of Wind, families don't have last names, they have titles. Since families and clans become masters of a craft then they take that on as a title, but when kids grow up and say 'hey maybe I don't want to dedicate myself to that craft just because it's in my family,' then they just have their first name until they make something for themselves.

Sakura had finished her toppings and was spooning the rice into her mouth as she looked at the girl with her green eyes glowing in interest. "That's so cool! I've never heard of that." Tenten seemed to beam in response.

"If I kept my family title then I'd be Tenten of the Forge Fire. But I want to make a name for myself as a shinobi." Sakura was looking at the kunoichi with a newfound admiration. "That's amazing of you."

"Yes! And we will help our teammate every step of the way!" Lee pumped a fist as he placed his now empty bowl atop the table.

"Keep it down, Lee." Neji sent the boy a look over his own bowl he ate from at a controlled and polite pace.

"Sorry, Neji." Lee scratched at his cheek in humility.

"There's my team!" four heads swivelled to the voice of Gai approaching their table. To his right was Chinen and to his left stood a Sand shinobi; his uniform was a mixture of black and beige fabrics with fishnets protecting his exposed arms, his black hair choppy and short, and a Sand headband wrapped around his left shoulder. "Ready to head off?"

Neji sighed as he finished the last of his grain based congee and the group got to their feet. Lee saluted, "ready to go, Gai-sensei!" the man grinned. "Great! Juro here is our guide and he estimates that if all goes well then we'll be arriving after a day.” The man furrowed his brow and gave a pitiful smile. "Gai-san, I said that would be against all odds. That's if we don't run into any sandstorms or pitfall incidents. It's unlikely but it's possible I suppose." Sakura immediately felt for the man no doubt experiencing someone of Gai's level of enthusiasm and optimism for the first time.

"Then we best go now!" Lee voiced, matching Gai's enthusiasm. The two looked to be in their own little world as Sakura approached and shook the taller shinobi's hand. "Thank you for coming to guide us." The furrow of his brow eased away as she spoke, seemingly relieved to have found someone with a level head. "The pleasure is all mine, we've gathered the supplies and are ready to go now."

As he took them to the opposite end of the Town of Shade, they introduced themselves and Sakura pocketed the fan Tenten had gifted her. A souvenir that she’d put on a shelf in her bedroom when she went home.

Upon stepping foot outside the gate, thanking and saying goodbye to Chinen, and leaving the comfort of the mass of shade sails; Sakura already missed the serenity of the Town behind her. She nodded to the group and they wasted no more time.

It must have been hours. The sun beat down harsher than before, Juro alerted the group when an unsafe patch of sand was in their way and instructed them to move a safe distance around it. Sakura, from the glimpses of pitfall patches of sand she’d seen, couldn't even really see any tell as to how he knew they were dangerous. Though the desert was just as vast as it had looked before, it felt like it stretched on for an eternity.

The group took a few breaks when they needed to rest their legs and take a much needed drink of water. Juro kept his eyes on the horizon and the sky, he explained that if a sand storm was to strike then it would be quick. Storm clouds and a distant wall of brown dust rapidly approaching would be their only signs. Luckily as they ran further and further they had yet to encounter such signs.

They were nearing night as the hours had begun to pull the sun from the sky. But Juro was adamant they reach a certain distance before they break, "falling asleep in the desert without a landmark in sight may as well be a death sentence."

" Are there any landmarks out here?" Sakura asked.

"One." His voice was grim. "And it's imperative that we get to it before nightfall or we'll be in complete darkness." Sakura nodded. There were absolutely no light sources out here, no towns or villages nearby to provide any light. They needed to break for sleep and set a fire but if they did that without a recognisable landmark to indicate any direction then when they wake they could get lost very easily.

"I see something!" Lee voiced, he pointed out into the far distance, the sun past half way set and falling. There in the distance, there was something but Sakura struggled to describe it. It looked... like a person? no... it was a figure of some sorts, stretched out reaching in all directions, near pitch black and too many limbs to be a person. A tree?

Sakura blinked as they came closer. It was a tree.

They slowed to a stop a good few metres away so it stayed in the distance but in perspective it looked to be as tall as Kakashi when in fact Sakura estimated that it stood at a massive 35 metres tall. There were no leaves, it wasn't completely black but in fact a mixture of lavender and black twisting and turning from base to tip. It twisted like two large fabrics, turning and turning together, branches splitting off in varying directions and pointing in every such way. It looked almost hollow, the centre a small window, a space where a person could slip into before it twisted at the top. Each branch tip looked to be reaching up to the sky. Though the tree looked dead, there were small black buds no larger than a cherry in the palm of one's hand, decorating the branches. There were no roots to be seen at the base, as though it were simply sitting atop the delicate sand and one gust of wind would be enough to topple the landmark.

"We're here." Juro sighed, pulling off the bag strapped to his back and kneeling on the floor against the sand dune they stopped below. Sakura continued to look at the distant tree. She felt... a pressure. As though the tree itself was emanating... something. She couldn't describe the sense of dread that just looking at that mass of twisted wood was emitting. She just felt that none of them should go any closer. Her stomach clenched and she forced herself to look away. Neji and Lee were regarding the tree with the same wariness that she was, which comforted her in the knowledge that she wasn't alone in this feeling. Gai and Tenten were helping Juro set up the protective tents they would be sleeping in.

Sakura regrouped and began helping them set up the tent while Neji pulled out a paper seal and began making a fire. Three tents were eventually set and secured down. One for the girls, one for the boys and one for Juro. Sakura felt a little sympathy for Neji. The sun had left them. The wind now offered a chill. Sakura finished unrolling her bedroll and emerged from the tent to sit by Tenten around the fire while Gai and Lee began roasting some food they had stored.

Sakura accepted the dried meat that Tenten offered her and began to fill her stomach. Sakura felt her gaze naturally drifting towards the tree in the distance. It was too dark to see it clearly but she felt its presence there like a predator laying in wait, making her hair stand on end.

"Spooky, isn't it?" Sakura jumped at Tenten's voice. The girl offered a little supportive shove at her shoulder.

Sakura sighed and forced the tenseness to melt away. "A little, yeah."

"You don't have to sugarcoat it, Widow’s Hand gives literally everyone the creeps."

"Widow's Hand?" Sakura tilted her head.

"Well its been called that for as long as I can remember." Tenten shifted into a more comfortable position. "When I was a kid I was told the story. Basically once there lived a woman from Suna who's husband passed away before they could have kids and she wanted more than anything to be a mother. She got sadder and sadder by the day, wandering the streets and looking longingly at whichever child she saw. Eventually she stayed out later and later in the day to see the children more until she never really returned home. Then one day it’s said that she wandered so far that a sandstorm swept the village and she was taken out into the desert. Not even making a sound as she was buried up to her feet, to her stomach, to her neck, until she was completely buried."

Sakura blinked, her eyes wide.

"Then one day, two enormous hands sprouted from the ground and entwined together in the desert. And it's said that if any child were outside in the dead of night; those hands would twist and turn under the sand, burrowing themselves right under that child, pulling them into the desert and taking them back to where she sprouted. She'd twist around the child, keeping them as her own."

Sakura thought of the branches reaching up and the tree twisting around itself, she could see how it resembled that of two disturbingly and unnaturally entwined hands. The opening at the centre would be an easy place for a child to rest. She felt a shiver up her spine.

"That's, and I'm being completely honest, really creepy." Sakura chuckled awkwardly and Tenten responded with a sincere laugh of her own.

"None of it’s real though! At least I hope not. It's just one of those stories parents tell kids to teach them a lesson like; don't talk to strangers and don't stay out after dark. Totally worked though, used to scare the crap out of me as a kid and I lived in Konoha !" This had both girls erupting in laughter.

After they calmed down Sakura found herself asking, "so if that's just an old wives tale, what's the real story of Widows Hand?" Tenten shrugged nonchalantly.

"No idea, that tree's been here literally forever. I figure people make stories of things to explain things they can't explain. I have no idea why it feels like I'll die if I go any closer to it. But I know this is as close as I ever want to be." Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Tenten, Sakura-san!" Lee captured the girls attention with a wide warm smile and a hand extended holding out two extra long senbon with roasted marshmallows gracing the ends. Sakura's smile warmed her eyes. "Thanks Lee, and I keep saying it, you can just call me 'Sakura' when we're not doing a check-up." She took the offered sweet.

Lee's expression was too complicated for what the request really was, "but I respect you too much! I try not to use honorifics like you ask but as my medic I struggle not to show you the respect you deserve." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"But if it would truly make you happier, then I will have to try harder!" He said and Sakura found herself laughing.

It was later in the night right before the kunoichi were about to go to their tent that a moving star caught Sakura's eye. Just as she was about to raise a hand to point to the star and get her friends attention, something felt off. She blinked and focused on the glowing spot, it didn't glitter like a star. But rather if a cotton ball fell from the sun and swayed in the breeze, a tiny warm glow, helpless to the push and pull of the wind and gently carried by the updraft.

She tilted her head. It looked instead of falling from the sky, to be sprouting from the distant sand and hovering in the air.

Juro suddenly sprang to his feet and stomped out the remains of the fire. "Everyone get in the tents now!" They leapt to their feet, grabbed the last of their things they had yet to put away and hastily got into their tents. "What are they?" Neji asked in total darkness. None of them had closed their tents and they looked on at the slowly forming cluster of warm glowing lights.

"Burrowed Sun Bees." Juro's voice could be heard from his tent. "They emerge from the desert at night, though most of them are harmless, the aggressive ones can be deadly. They've been endangered for centuries so it's best to avoid them. They won't bring us harm as long as we stay hidden."

From then on, the shinobi remained silent. Sakura was entranced, they looked like fireflies but not, they were bigger. The colour a warm yellow, or orange, or maybe red? They nuzzled from the ground until they sprouted free and floated in a very bee-like fashion into the air. If one blurred their eyes, it would look like the stars were dancing in the black sky.

Sakura and Tenten peaked out from their tent opening and watched as the Burrowed Suns began to cluster. There were maybe a hundred decorating the sky.

Sakura stifled a gasp as the Widows Hand began to glow, the lavender colour emanating a light that looked to feed into the buds growing on the branches. Sakura wished she could get closer, dread of the tree aside, the buds began to bloom a stunning purple. The flowers may be the size of her hand when the petals unfurled, soft glowing particles beginning to glitter into the sky and float like tiny paper lanterns. The Burrowed Suns buzzed and were as quick as their slow fluttering could take them, they began grabbing what Sakura assumed was the pollen? the nectar? Sakura couldn't be sure. Either way these bees seemed to only emerge from the ground to collect these glowing particles, because once obtained they fluttered back down to the sand. The tiny lights landing atop the ground before slowly disappearing below, returning to where they came from. The name Burrowed Sun fit the insects well.

Sakura wasn't sure how long those flowers would bloom for, and though she desperately wanted to stay awake, if just to watch something she'd never seen before; she was on a mission. Tenten spoke for her, "we should get some sleep." Both girls tightened up the entrance and made sure the small tent was safe and secure before taking off their weapon pouches and scroll straps. They bid each other a good night and were asleep within the moment.

Thump... Thump...

Sakura's awoke. By her quick estimate she had been sleeping for a few hours until a sound woke her.

Thump... Thump...

She slowly sat up, making as little noise as she could. Tenten laid close, fast asleep.

Thump... Thump...

She looked around. That sound. That thumping didn't sound like it was coming from anywhere around her. It sounded... Like it was coming from underground.

Thump... Thump...

"Tenten," Sakura reached over and nudged the girl's arm, she mumbled in response before pulling herself up on her elbows. Her hair spilled over her shoulders as she blinded awake. "What is it?" her voice muffled with drowsiness.

Thump... Thump...

"That!" Sakura whispered urgently. "We might be in danger." Tenten blinked, realisation was a soft light in her eye and she flopped back onto her sleeping bag’s pillow.

"Ah, that. No need to worry." She yawned. She rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes to force herself to be more awake. "Just another desert myth. It's said a man who wronged a spirit or a god or something was cursed to lose his eyes and he walked out into the desert to find the spirit and beg forgiveness. He fell down a pitfall and it's said that the thumping is him trying to dig his way out."

Thump... Thump...

Sakura looked around hesitantly, "so... what actually is that noise?" A myth is cool but something had to be making that sound. Tenten shrugged, "maybe an animal or a huge bug or something underground. The sounds have been a thing for a long time so no one really questions it anymore. Hell, some people even say it's the 'deserts heartbeat'," she rolled onto her side. "We're not in any danger, get some sleep." She coaxed and Sakura slowly lowered herself back to the pillow. Hesitant as she was, they did need all the sleep they could get. With luck on their side they would be arriving at Suna by midday and Sakura would immediately be working on her patient. She forced her eyes closed and let the dull - Thump, Thump, Thump- fade into a rhythmic white noise lulling her to sleep.

❀

Hours later, the group woke up with the sun. They rolled up their sleeping bags, tents, and supplies. Everything was stored into scrolls and with one last look to the distant tree, they were off. Juro took the lead and the group followed behind. They stopped for a drink less this run due to the unspoken urgency to reach the village.

Time blurred along with the sandy landscape until Juro announced they were about to reach Suna. The landscape was still deceptively flat. Sakura furrowed her brow and looked around, slowing her run sprint to match Juro's. She gasped as they came to what looked like a cliff's edge.

They slowed and looked down, what looked like a large fissure in the ground inside of which a village was cradled. Thousands of sandstone buildings of varying sizes and shapes, and stood proudly in the centre was an enormous rounded building; the Kazekage's establishment.

"We're here. Come, we need to register at the gate." Sakura could feel her adrenaline at being so close to her mission, her dying patient, and followed at Juro's heels as they leapt to the front entrance.

A blonde Kunoichi pacing, her head snapped up to the group. Temari. "You made it!" her voice was as controlled as she could make it, the desperation she hid shone in her eyes. "I'll register them in. Gai-san, I will need you to stay to register your papers. The rest of you, please hurry." Juro nodded to Temari and she mirrored the action.

"Follow me, we need to hurry!" She spun on her heel and the team followed her. They ran atop roofs above the heart of the village before landing in front of a rounded building with a medical red '+' sign on top of it. The nurses and medics took one look at Temari and that kept them from stopping the group. They skidded to a stop outside Operating Room 3 and Temari threw the double doors open.

Sakura quickly took in the scene in front of her; the patient groaning in pain and thrashing around -unrestrained- on the bed, doctors and nurses around the room with various equipment though they seemed unsure which to use, and a pair of older people in more leisurely clothes -probably retired experts brought in- turning to look at them.

"Leaf shinobi, oh how low we've fallen." The older woman shook her head.

"We've got the medic, make room!" Temari wasted no time, ordering the staff away. Sakura sped to the table, put on a pair of medical gloves and pulled out a hair tie to prepare. "Let me take a look at him." She said and got to work. "He's clearly having physical reactions so can I please get some restraints?" Sakura asked a nurse standing at her side. Temari gave the hesitant man a stern look that shook him into action, "-ah, yes ma'am!" and he sped off.

"Give her some space, everyone unnecessary out!" Temari commanded. Team Gai moved to stand at the door as security, various people left but a handful of nurses and the older pair that stood at the far side of the room, the woman kept her eyes on Sakura.

Sakura hooked her foot on the leg of a small wheeled table and yanked it to her side. She pulled off a scroll from her back strap and summoned various medical instruments to use and laid them on that little table.

A tiny flashlight; patients' irises aren't reacting to the light at all.

A disposable wooden spatula; the back of his throat was swollen, the airways sounded clear but compressed and tight, he was salivating too much.

A stethoscope; his heartbeat was incredibly slow despite the tenseness of the muscles and erratic spasming of the patient.

"We're definitely dealing with a heavy metal based toxin, the kind that attacks the muscle tissue and destroys the cells integrity. Have you run his diagnostics from when he first got here?"

A nurse across from her shook himself and nodded, "y-yes of course." He handed her a clipboard with the information on it. "Please run his diagnostics again, we need to see the difference to estimate the speed the poison is working at."

"Yes Ma'am!" Another nurse moved to the patient to follow her instructions. The man who handed her the clipboard spoke as she glazed over the information. "We were getting a breakdown of the poison but as you can see there are still a lot of blank spaces."

Sakura put the clipboards atop the table with her medic scroll. She pulled out the pink notebook Lee had first gifted her; it had become her go-to booklet for nearly everything when she was working. She pulled out a pencil and began writing. "Here!" She took the offered note slip with the patients updated diagnostics and riffled through her brain for a conclusion.

"Metal based poisons are extremely potent and this one looks to be spreading fast despite the slowed blood flow. This poison, based on these diagnostics, tells us that the cardiac muscle will be weakened to the point of collapse and cease functioning altogether. But before it shuts down completely it looks like it will spread and shut down nearly every organ before the patient will lose consciousness. It seems to leave the pain receptors and nerves untouched so that the patient will feel the pain of their body failing before it allows them to die..." She brought the pencil to her lips and furrowed her brow. "Only a heartless sadist would be capable of even creating something like this. And at the speed that this poison is moving it's doubtful we'll be able to make an antidote from scratch before the patient succumbs."

Alarm lit Temari's face, "What - What are you saying? There's nothing you can do?"

Sakura looked at the girl before writing more in her notepad, she tore the page once she'd filled it and handed it to the nurse who gave her the diagnostics.

"I didn't say that. An antidote to completely eradicate the poison may take time but we can extract it here and with hope, erase any damage already done. I'll need everything I've listed here immediately. And where are those restraints?" she said urgently "Right here Ma'am!" The man returned and began to attach them from the bed to the patient's arms and legs. "Keep his torso exposed, just restrain the limbs, I'll need someone manually holding him by the shoulders."

"Yes, Ma'am," a nurse said.

Temari ran forwards and held her brother by the shoulders.

"Now this procedure may seem a bit crude but we're working under a crunch and I'll need full co-operation. And get a monitor here and hooked up to the patient." Sakura pocketed her notepad in the side of her apron, pencil above her ear, and she pulled a scalpel from her scroll atop the side table.

She sent a fraction of chakra to numb the area as she made two small incisions to the sides of the patient chest. Two nurses came in, one wheeling a tray holding the concoction she'd requested and the other with the necessary ingredients and equipment to make more in the room.

"Okay I'm about to begin. When he struggles I'll need him held as still as possible. I've numbed what I can but this will hurt him. Is everyone ready?" As she spoke, she used a subtle water release jutsu to hold the concoction from the now empty tray as a bubble in her hand.

"Beginning the extraction." Sakura pressed the bubble to the first incision. She began focusing her chakra, blending it with the mixture and easing it into the body. This concoction, though it looked like water, the ingredients added made the mixture function as a wider extension of her chakra. It helped her feel and focus on even the tiniest of impurities in the body and acted as a cleanser when said impurities were lifted. It contained the toxins without causing her any damage. However the process of pushing a foreign liquid into a body was obviously painful so this was done primarily in emergencies.

She began applying pressure and immediately the patient reacted, he thrashed as much as the restraints and others holding him down would allow him. Temari winced at the painful cries her brother was making but kept her grip firm.

Sakura focused on the cells, each individual one, her chakra extending and flowing, encompassing the organ pumping blood. 'Focus... Focus... Find the impurities, clear the tissues, salve the damage -and extract the toxins!' She pulled her other hand away from the exit cut. The solution flowed from the body and a toxic liquid flowed inside. The medics in the room gasped. Temari looked in horror, "is.. is that..." Sakura nodded and released the liquid into the original tray. "Another!"

"Yes Ma'am!" A nurse brought her the next batch and began preparing the one after. A nurse at her side wiped her brow for her with a cloth as she used her medical chakra to influence the original incisions to close. Ointment would help further seal the incisions as she needed all the chakra she could, she didn't know how many times she would need to repeat this procedure until the patient was clean of the toxins. "Keep as much of the poison to the side as you can. I'll need someone extracting it from the solution so I can work on breaking it down and constructing an antidote."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

The treatment continued.

Liver. Lungs. Kidneys. Intestines. One after another. Sakura worked and worked. Her chakra flowed. Trays were emptied and refilled. Toxins were extracted. Hours dragged by, minutes digging their heels in the ground, seconds reluctantly pulled by the hands of time.

With a release of her chakra, the toxin filled solution filling the tray, and a final wipe to her forehead; Sakura was officially done. The procedure was a success.

"The patient is now in stable condition. I've removed the majority of the poison and he's out of any immediate danger." A sigh of relief swept through the room. The tension that gripped Temari by the shoulders eased, her arms dropped to her sides, she backed up against a wall and she slid down.

"We can't relax yet though." Sakura removed the medical gloves and threw them in the nearby bin. She pulled the pencil from behind her ear and began jotting down her notes. "Keep him on a drip system, make sure he's closely monitored and I need someone to change these bandages for clean ones. I'd like to get started on analysing the poison immediately." nurses moved to complete her requests.

"Anything you need, don't hesitate to ask." Temari got to her feet, her eyes carried the exhaustion of an older sister's worry for her brothers. Sakura gave her -what she hoped- was a comforting smile.

"Well I'll need a list of the medicinal herbs available here, and if I could have access to a laboratory to analyse the poison to work in that would be ideal."

"You certainly work efficiently." Sakura turned to the side, where the older woman spoke. Her tone and eyes held a wariness as she looked Sakura up and down. Sakura knew what it felt like to be scrutinised. Her hair and forehead were enough as a child to be on the blunt end of such eyes. She straightened up.

"Thank you, I'm sorry I don't think we've been introduced. My name's Sakura Haruno." Sakura bowed her head slightly.

"Yes, a medic from Konoha, and so young at that."

Sakura noted that though the woman wasn't outright hostile, she hadn't reciprocated Sakura's open invitation to introduce herself and she seemed apprehensive about her. "I may be 16 in a few months but I promise you I am capable of handling such a patient. My mentor Tsunade-shishou sent me here personally and I would do anything in my capabilities to not reflect badly on her and her teachings." That caught the woman's attention. She certainly held some kind of contempt for Tsunade.

"Now, now sister, it's a new age, be a little more hospitable." The man came close and gave a polite nod of his head to Sakura. "I apologise for my sister's curtness, I am Ebizo, this is my elder sister Chiyo. We're retired poison masters." Sakura smiled brightly.

"A pleasure to meet you." She gave him a bow before a nurse handed her the list of medical herbs they had available. A shorter list than what she'd hoped. "Thank you," she said as she brought her pencil to her lips, running her mind through the options these herbs would provide her.

"If I may, you're free to use our poison laboratory." Sakura lit up the same moment Chiyo's eyes darkened.

"That would be fantastic, I'd be honoured if you'd allow me."

"And why should we? Tch , offering our own lab to a Leaf ninja that's still a child and associated with that slug woman." Chiyo spat and crossed her arms.

"Come now sister, I can tell you're impressed by what you've seen or you wouldn't have spoken to her." Chiyo seemed to grit her teeth at that correct analysis. "Very well."

"Thank you." Sakura smiled. She turned to Team Gai still standing on guard at the doors. Tenten and Lee were there, Neji and Gai were speaking out in the corridor. They agreed it best to have at least one of them with Sakura while the others went with Baki -the sand siblings Sensei and high Suna official- as they were lacking a Kazekage and in the wake of the attack that stole him, they needed the extra security. Lee volunteered to be Sakura's guard and with equal vigour, volunteered to be her helper.

Sakura and Lee followed the elder siblings, exchanging polite neutral conversation with Ebizo as she was led out of the hospital. There stood a small greenhouse and circling the glass building was a sandstone structure encompassing it. That was their laboratory.

She thanked them as two nurses brought in samples of the poison in glass containers and placed them on a bench. The lab was built of sandstone but the long wall circling the greenhouse with doors to enter was made entirely of glass. This lit the room up. An abundance of professional instruments, rows upon rows of beakers and grinding equipment. Sakura practically glowed as she began separating the poison in vials and instructed Lee to get her specific herbs she wrote down for him. He saluted and practically flew into the glass greenhouse to fulfil his task.

Sakura could hear a muffled "Yes! That is the one!" with each herb he collected.

"Loud one isn't he." Chiyo voiced from the chair she was perched on. Her brother sat at her side rubbing his aching knees.

"I prefer the term... Enthusiastic." She smiled. "I'm also happy with the range of herbs you've got here."

A nurse to her side that was grinding up an herb she needed done spoke up, "well we try. Our soil isn't very good for growing much of anything so we do what we can." Sakura nodded. Konoha held the perfect weather conditions to grow just about anything so their hospital lacked for nothing when it came to medical herbs. Suna did what it could through its own capabilities or through trading with other villages. She felt for the Suna hospital and its workers.

"This will be enough. If all goes well then we could even have multiple antidotes."

After time, Sakura successfully pulled apart the poison to its individual components. It took hours to do and was an incredibly tedious process, if anything it put her almost in the mind of the poison's creator. She had to think like they did, 'I want this to slow the heart but spread through the body at a fast enough rate to affect the victim immediately.' 'No I don't want to shut the brain down yet, I want this to shut everything down first, they need to suffer before they're allowed to die.' 'The pain should be straightforward, no numbing, the victim needs to know they're dying every second they're afflicted.'

In any other mindset Sakura would be appalled by these thoughts, but she needed to practically reverse engineer this entirely new and complex sadistic poison and create an antidote from scratch.

She felt Chiyo's eyes on her as she worked the entire time. She felt the woman wanted to give her input but her desire to see Sakura function under such pressure won out.

Now that she'd broken down the poison, she applied small doses to poison sample scrolls. These scrolls were designed to provide a space for the poison to act as though it was still in a body and by administering a small drop of a solution to the poison, one would see how it reacted. The markings circled the spot where Sakura dropped the sample size of poison. It took her short of an hour with each attempted antidote.

She would squeeze out a drop of the component from a dropper to the poison, a failure would result differently either way. The poison bubbling before settling back to its active state, the drop sliding off like oil to water, a smoking reaction before resuming to how it was, a small fire catching, even a more extreme reaction would mean the would-be-antidote caused a tiny explosion atop the scroll.

Hours and hours of trial and error. Lee insisted that she at least drink the water he offered when she refused any food until she finished her task. Chiyo's eyes were judgmental as Sakura worked.

Until finally; a drop landed, the poison seemed to absorb it entirely, a second passed, and the poison fizzled. Sakura pulled Lee into a hug and jumped in place as all traces of the poison vanished. "Yes! Yes! I did it!" Lee was happy for her and returned the hug and jumped with equal enthusiasm. "Congratulations!" he said and the nurses echoed his praise.

"That's the base for the antidote done! Now I just need to make some minor modifications and I'll be able to produce at least three ready antidotes before the day is over!" It was hard to think of going to bed now that her success ignited the adrenaline in her veins. She was so close! 'Hell yeah!'

Sakura pulled off a summoning scroll from her back and summoned a box of empty instant vaccines. These were needles with safety caps and when stabbed into the body would immediately administer the solution inside, they were a new product only just created about a year ago from the medical capital of the world. In all the Lands, Villages, Towns of the world; the Village hidden in the Rain housed the biggest and most successful hospital where countless medics were trained, where villages sent their people they couldn't heal, where changes to the field of medical science all originated. It was also the place where Tsunade first started her medical training before she -in her own words- said she "walked the fuck out," of. Petrichor Centre.

Sakura had once asked if Tsunade would send her there to further her training but the woman scoffed and said "you want to learn real healing don't you? No disciple of mine is going to that pretentious shithole," and the conversation had ended.

The setting sun warmed the room in a deep orange when Sakura had finished. She had tested her various modifications, tested again, and tested again before deeming the antidote ready to be administered. Chiyo was unexpectedly silent as Sakura thanked her and her brother for the use of their lab and excused herself and Lee back to the hospital with the nurses in tow.

They spoke on her behalf and then she was administering the antidote to her patient. Temari was in the room not a moment later. A moment of silence when Sakura pulled the needle away and Kankuro's eyes were blinking open. Temari sighed in relief, "Kankuro!"

"T-Temari? Where..."

"You're safe now," she put a hand on his shoulder. "You were conscious for a few seconds a few hours ago but couldn't say anything. How are you feeling?"

"Dry..." he muttered.

"That's to be expected," Sakura voiced, finally untying her hair and letting it fall just over her shoulders. "The poison affected your vital organs so naturally the antidote will too. You'll need to stay monitored for about a week for any change before I can safely say you're ready to be discharged."

His eyebrows furrowed on her for a moment, "you're... you're the girl from the Leaf."

"Sakura was sent by the Hokage, she saved your life." Temari said, she looked at Sakura with a grateful smile that spoke volumes. "Th-Thank you, I guess." He coughed and Temari eased a hand on his back and rubbed. "Figure's you're only nice to me when I'm dying."

Temari briefly rolled her eyes, "you're not dying anymore, you're just a bit sick don't be dramatic."

"Ah, there's my mean big sister, I got worried for a second there." Kankuro chuckled a little before coughing again.

He shuffled now he was free of the restraints and struggled to sit up, Sakura protested with a hand to his other shoulder. "You should stay down, the more strain you put on your body the worse you're going to feel. You need to let the antidote take its course."

"I get that and I'm thankful," he coughed, "but I have something that'll help us find Gaara." The kunoichi looked at each other in alarm over the boy's head. He explained how he fought with two men, one carried Gaara away and the other he briefly fought, a nurse returned with the puppet he asked for and it's hand unfurled revealing a scrap of cloth.

"Use a tracker summon... And you can use this to find the guy I fought." The girls forced him to lay back down, he was unconscious the second he hit the pillow. Sakura used a gloved hand to pick up the scrap of cloth. "This is a huge lead, but my summons isn't a tracker." She bit her lip, if Kakashi were here this wouldn't be a problem, but he had hopefully intercepted Naruto and Jiraiya and was leading them here. "My summons are trackers." Temari took the cloth and held it up.

"As much as I hate to say it, it's late and we've been up all day. You especially need rest." Temari held the cloth like a life line in a vice grip. Sakura stepped forward, "if you're planning a rescue mission then I'm coming with you. That enemy is a poison master that I now have intimate knowledge of. If the Kazekage is injured or poisoned then I'm essential to bringing him back alive."

"Sakura is right!" Lee piqued up from the door. "She is a spectacular fighter and would be an irreplaceable teammate to have." Sakura felt touched.

"But the village; without Gaara and all the casualties of his abduction, we're incredibly vulnerable to attacks. We need all the defence we can get in case of any more attacks." Temari said.

Sakura held firm. "I brought Konoha's team of the most efficient fighters with me! If you and I go and find Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya and Naruto, then we'd absolutely be able to bring the Kazekage back!"

"Sakura!" Lee voiced, "but we've been assigned to protect you."

"Lee, you said it yourself, I'm an irreplaceable teammate. This now includes Temari and she needs me. I have complete faith that leaving Suna in you and your team's hands would be what's best." The boy clearly agreed though he wished he didn't. "It's too dangerous for you to go alone and you can't risk taking any shinobi from your village. I've finished my mission but technically you sent for me, Temari, so you can tell me to come with you. I'm volunteering my help, please." Temari bit her lip and looked at the cloth in her grip. "You make a good point, I... can't bring Gaara back alone."

Chiyo's voice startled the group. "I am coming with you."

"Chiyo-sama, what are you saying?" Temari stepped forward.

"From what I've seen, from everything Sakura has said about this poison, I have no doubt about it; my grandson is the man Kankuro fought." Judging by Temari's reaction, Sakura assumed this was a horrifying revelation.

"Sasori of the Red Sand..."

Chiyo nodded solemnly and Ebizo put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sasori? May I ask...?" Sakura left the question open.

"My grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand. Puppet master and Poison expert, he committed many atrocities against Suna before he went on the run and joined the Akatsuki. An organisation that exists outside the rules of the villages and made up of only the world's most wanted criminals." Her voice was tense. "I will see my grandson again. I am coming with you." Temari thought this over, coming to the conclusion that no matter what she said, Chiyo was coming with them.

"Very well. I'll inform Baki-sensei of our decision and plans, we leave first thing in the morning." She pocketed the cloth.

Sakura smiled, "I'll inform Gai-sensei of my new mission and for them to guard the gates in your place."  With that, Sakura and Lee excused themselves and met back up with the rest of the team. It took a small part to convince Gai of Sakura's plan, but he ultimately agreed. His eyes were warm and the hand he placed on her shoulder squeezed in comfort. Baki had words with them next, Temari a stone force; unwavering and unmoving. She was going to bring her younger brother home and nothing would be stopping her. The officials agreed with the decision when Chiyo voiced her participation, as a puppet master and poison expert herself she was well equipped to contend with Sasori. The team of three were set and retired for the night.

She was provided a dinner and breakfast and a place to sleep. Sakura woke in the morning ready for the mission. She met with Temari, Chiyo, team Gai and Baki at the entrance gate. Upon meeting; Temari unfurled a scroll, bit her thumb and glided it on the material. A 'poof' and then Sakura was looking at a mountain lion. The beautiful summons with a sleek amber coat and piercing eyes nodded her head to Temari. "Are you prepared?" Her voice was deep. Temari nodded, "I sent Hokori out last night to track the scent trail and she can guide us there." Sakura stepped up.

"If you can summon another then I have an idea," Temari raised a questioning brow, Sakura pulled out her notepad and flicked to the back page. Clipped there was the first letter Naruto had sent her, she kept it close as it made her feel happy whenever she read it.

"If you could head north-east and track Naruto with this and bring his team to the fabrics scent then we would have all the back up we need." Temari nodded and summoned another mountain lion, a smaller one with a whiter heugh.

"Gareki, can you follow this?" The lion took a sniff before replying "it is faint but well kept, I should be able to find them." With that, the others wished them well, and the kunoichi and summons were off.

They ran and ran, time blurring with the landscape. Sakura wanted to offer Temari any moniker of comfort she could as the girl was clearly distressed for her brother's safety but the kunoichi carried herself as the kind of person that words of comfort wouldn't help her. That determined set in her jaw and fire in her eyes told Sakura that only action would ease her. Thus the journey had Sakura consumed by her thoughts. Just who were the Akatsuki? An organisation of the strongest and most wanted rogue shinobi in the world. Did that mean there were ex-Leaf ninja in it? The only people Sakura could think of as a Leaf rogue ninja was Orochimaru and the man Sasuke told her about when they were genin. The brother that annihilated his entire clan. Sasuke said his goal was to kill the man so he must be a rogue ninja, and anyone strong enough to take down the entire Uchiha clan certainly ticked the criteria for such an organisation.

"You think very loudly, girl." Sakura was yanked from her thoughts and turned to look at Chiyo. "What troubles you?"

"I'm just thinking about the Akatsuki you mentioned. I was wondering who the members were and why they took the Kazekage."

"Well, I've had my ear to the ground for quite a while now, trying to learn whether or not my grandson had indeed joined them so I can tell you this; they took the boy because he is a jinchuriki." Chiyo said. Sakura hadn't known what a jinchuriki was for long, it was only after the invasion of Konoha when Gaara had nearly killed her and Naruto explained before he left why he had to. It put a lot into retrospection for her; Naruto's wild bursts of foreign chakra during the mission in the waves and his fights, he explained that he had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. Sakura was startled at first, she'd only heard legend of the destruction that beast had caused when she was only just a baby. But Naruto was Naruto; brash, impulsive, emotional, reckless, and dependable Naruto.

Learning that Gaara was a jinchuriki too wasn't as big of a shock, as she had seen him in what she guessed was a mid transformed form when she tried to protect Sasuke and was knocked unconscious against a tree. She woke hours later with barely any time to thank Sasuke then Naruto for saving her when the Uchiha corrected her, before she had to be at the Hokage's funeral. These beasts were considered to be top secret but Naruto's business was his own and it was his choice to share this fact about himself with Sakura. Who knew where any other beasts were.

"What kind of jinchuriki is he? If you don't mind me asking?"

"The Ichibi. The One-Tailed Tanuki beast." Temari spoke. "It was sealed in my mother to contain it until she fell pregnant. It's the fate of any pregnant jinchuriki to die as the beast then passes to the child."

"I... I'm sorry."

"She knew what she was doing." Temari's tone was even as though stating a simple, uncomplicated fact.

"There are only nine of these demons in the world and Suna has been home to the Ichibi for a truly long time. It used to reside in a cave, eating hundreds who strayed too close until it was sealed inside a person. Then to keep the people safe from the beast, it has been transferred from one person until the end of their life and then sealed in the next. Your village hasn't had their beast contained nearly long enough, not surprising considering your village is hardly even a hundred years old with barely any culture of its own." Chiyo caught herself from ranting and continued.

"These beasts are creatures of pure power, nations went to war to vie for control of just one of them for their own nefarious purposes. It's clear the Akatsuki want them for the similar reasons as I've heard over recent months they've been spotted and sightings say they fought with the demons."

"Did they capture those jinchuriki too?" Sakura asked, feeling a chill of worry for Naruto.

"I don't believe so. Gaara seems to be the one they've managed to take so far. But they most certainly will try again."

Sakura nodded and bit her lip. What did the Akatsuki want the jinchuriki for? Would they go after Naruto next? She clutched her fist to her chest.

Hours passed until Hotoki stopped at a clearing. The group halted and looked at the cliff face opposing them, nothing out of the ordinary. "There!" Temari pointed to two seals hidden on the wall. "They must be concealing the entrance between, if we tear them off then immediately break the centre then we'll be safe." She dispelled the mountain lion with the scroll and they leapt down.

"I'll break the wall!" Sakura jumped in front of the cliff while Temari and Chiyo leapt to the seals standing at mid height. They counted down, "3,2,1!" tearing the scrolls which immediately caught fire and Sakura launched a chakra infused punch at the cliff face.

Said wall immediately crumbled into pieces, leaving an enormous opening. Sakura heard a low appreciative whistle before the dust cleared and the other kunoichi landed at her sides. "Nice, very nice." A young blonde man smiled.

"Refrain from complementing the enemy, Deidara." Came a deeper, more menacing voice from a man crouched below. "I'm man enough to appreciate a nice explosion when I see one." The dust finally settled. The low voice belonged to a man flat on the ground, his eyes lifeless, a tail stagnant at his back, and a cut rag across his face. The young blonde man with a single shown eye analysed them, he sat next to a giant birdlike creature; lifeless, made of clay perhaps? He was sitting on Gaara!

"Get off of him!" Temari commanded.

"Mmm... Well she did yell first, didn't Itachi-san say the jinchuriki was a guy?"

"I don't think he's caught up to us yet."

The young man named Deidara sighed, "damn, we were so close to finishing this one and we could've bagged another while we were out."

"I said," Temari pulled her enormous fan from her back and stabbed it heavily into the ground, "get off of him." She growled.

"Well, isn't she intense?" Deidara deadpanned. "What do you say I take off with the catch and you take care of some of these?"

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Growled the stern voice.

Deidara shrugged, "I'm just saying, I can probably outfly them and finish the ritual but three people are a bit annoying. If you take out one or two then we can meet up after." There was a beat before the man replied with a tense, "fine."

Deidara swung his feet out before standing upright and tapping his bird creature on the side. Without a second's notice it scooped up Gaara in its mouth and flew out the opening. Sakura spun around, "follow them Temari! We'll deal with this one!" The girl nodded. She spun her fan briefly with a hand sign and a sudden gust of wind carried her now perched atop her fan into the sky in a glide after Deidara.

"Sasori…" Chiyo said, "you've changed."

"Perhaps." His head tilted. "I'd rather keep this brief, I'd hate to keep my associate waiting." His tail creaked as it slowly twitched this way and that. Sakura schooled her features, she could tell this was going to be a fight for her life. This man, this puppet, he was a being of incredible skill and danger. Sakura tensed her gloved fists. This was going to be tough.

Meanwhile, Temari was adrift. Her wind release jutsu providing her a gust of wind to carry her after the man with her brother. She gritted her teeth, she repeated her hand seals and summoned another gust of wind. It whipped around her as she forced her fan through the air. She was closing the gap. At a safe distance she reached into her weapons pouch, attached an explosive seal onto a kunai and threw it at the right wing.

The creature had to be made from some synthetic material so if she could just take out a wing, she would be able to swoop in and catch Gaara.

Deidara pulled out his own kunai and it struck hers mid air between them, exploding the seal and the force pushing her back slightly.

"Persistent aren't you?" He smirked.

He pulled out something from his pocket and then suddenly threw a handful of tiny clay objects Temari's way. They were tiny spiders. Not wanting to risk anything, Temari formed the appropriate hand seals, grabbed the base of her fan and in mid air she heaved it over her head. The jutsu she used was one of tiny whirlwinds; they appeared at the base of a person's feet to momentarily propel them upwards in small spinning gusts. But as she was mid-air, the jutsu held her in place, as though she was standing on air, and allowed her to heft the fan and send out a sweep of air hardened like razors -her wind scythe jutsu. She flipped with the momentum of heaving the fan, immediately sending it back under herself, dispelling the whirlwinds at her feet and sitting back atop the wide fan. Above her; the spiders that were sliced by her gust of air blew up in bigger explosions than to be expected by creations of their size. Another hand seal and she was propelled forward again.

" Tch ." Deidara clicked his tongue. He tried a few more times with different creations, they managed to fly out of the desert now and were soaring atop a forest. Temari countered each creation he sent her way. Seeing that she wouldn't be able to close the gap, she had to think of something else. He was defending the bird so fiercely that nothing she threw at it would reach. She needed to land a hit on him .

Mulling over a plan for a moment, she came to a decision.

It took her a moment to complete the necessary hand signs. Once completed; Temari gripped the base of her fan and once again swung it overhead while she was suspended in mid-air. "Ice cyclone jutsu!" Ever since the chunin exams, she had worked on expanding her chakra releases, gaining water release; she had combined it with her wind release to give her command over the ice release jutsu. Her arms flexed as she swung as hard as she could in a downwards swing. The wind came down in a swirling cyclone at her command and she assumed she was lucky at Deidara's sluggish response due to him appearing exhausted from whatever he had been doing to Gaara.

A cyclone misted in the chill descended at a great speed and before he could react, Deidara was trapped in the eye of the storm.

He pulled out more spider creations and threw them at the cyclone circling him. They exploded but it wasn't enough to disrupt the wind. Ice shards began to solidify as it grew colder, no bigger than a forearm, and stray shards spun erratically around him. A cut to his cheek, a cut to his arm. "Shit-!" He gritted his teeth. This wasn't looking good. He was losing too much time and this kunoichi no doubt had back-up coming.

In a desperate move, Deidara pulled out a small bird creation -hidden inside was a tiny explosive that contained an airborne version of Sasori's new favourite poison. They agreed that should the mission fail, then he was to send it to a village to air drop the poison as a distraction.

Just as he was about to send the bird up and through the eye of the storm, a battle cry caught his attention. He spun just a second fast enough to see Temari. She was leaping through the ice cyclone directly at him, the ice cutting her skin as she threw herself, her fan closed and hefted over her shoulder. His eyes widened upon seeing the fan had a large ice shard solidified on the end.

"Ngaah!" She swung the fan down, Deidara pulled his head out of danger but her downward swing managed to connect. Slice! His right arm was severed just below the shoulder joint.

Temari landed on the bird's back and with a furious heft of her fan, she spun around, intent on severing Deidara's head from his shoulders. Seeing this coming; Deidara threw himself bodily back off of his bird, he threw his poison bird up and it sped out the eye of the storm as he fell.

"Fuck it." He gritted his teeth and gave a feral smile as he brought up two fingers. If she wanted that jinchuriki so bad then they could die, he'd release his jutsu and give the world a beautiful work of art in the form of their mangled bodies falling from the sky.

"Ka-!"

"Rasengan!" His jutsu was interrupted. Deidara had the split second to look at where that voice had come from just to see a furious looking blonde haired ninja with an attack at the ready. Deidara only just managed to change his release into a clay substitution when the boys' attack hit him.

He was sent to the ground in an incredible impact. Temari atop the bird used her Ice Blade jutsu to sever its head from its body and separate its jaw. She dove after Gaara and caught him with her fan before he was left to freefall. She checked him over as best she could. He looked in pain, but he was breathing. She sighed in relief and signed for a softer gust of wind to float them down.

"What did you do to Gaara!?" Naruto gripped Deidara by the collar and yelled in his face. Deidara smirked and spat back. "What's it to you? Hey, that mess of hair and loud mouth, you wouldn't happen to be a jinchuriki would you?" He tilted his head, and Naruto stiffened. Kakashi dropped from a tree and to Temari's side.

"Ahaha! So you are. Nice to know who we'll be going for next. We haven't finished with him either, we'll come back again and again until he's good and dead for our plan. I've also sent off a nice little airborne poison to hit the nearest village, looks like that might be Konoha... and judging by your headband I'm guessing you might care about that place." Naruto's face twisted in fury and he reeled his fist back, driving it down on Deidara's face. The Akatsuki upon impact melted into a puddle of clay.

Temari heard what Deidara had said, she pulled out her summoning scroll and called forth two mountain lions. "Hokori, go back to Sakura and Chiyo-sama! Tell them the poison has been sent to Konoha." The lion sped off immediately. "Gareki, go to the Hokage, in the Leaf village and warn her about the incoming poison attack." The other lion fled.

"How is he? How's Gaara? He - He's not..." Naruto approached the unconscious boy warily.

"He's alive." Temari confirmed and he sighed in relief.

"We need to get him medical attention." Kakashi crouched to take a closer look at him. His breathing was laboured and he looked paler than could be deemed healthy despite his already pale complexion.  Naruto hovered anxiously before helping Temari lift him. He offered to be the one to carry him as they made their way back in the direction of the Sand village.

"But Kakashi-sensei, what're we gonna do about what that guy said?" He asked.

"I've sent word. Hopefully it reaches fast enough for your village to prepare them, if not then I've sent to notify Sakura as she manufactured the cure already. It's best to put your faith in your Leaf medical shinobi." Temari said, not taking her eyes off the journey ahead of them as they ran. Naruto nodded, he'd have faith.

Sakura stumbled on her feet. She fell to sit beside Chiyo. Her shaky eyes eventually focused on the man lying dead in front of her. If he could even be called dead. Throughout their battle his eyes had been wide and unblinking, his words grand but breathing non-existent, his lifeless body a hollow husk of what used to be a man. No blood spilled from him, only the profound sadness of a broken shinobi.

'My heart is just like this body.' He had said.

Sakura had tried to beat sense into him. Try to convey the enormity of her complicated feelings on the shinobi system and how it treats its people, with the simple feelings about blood ties. But even though he had remained unshaken, his wide red-painted eyes vacant, something in him must have shifted. Just before collapsing between the puppet bodies of his parents, he had admitted to having a spy in Orochimaru's midst and a location in which to find them. Sakura furrowed her brow in question. Why had he told her that? Why did he seem to accept his death at the end of their fight? Her heart ached against her better wishes.

Sakura pulled herself to her feet and stumbled over to the older woman. "Chiyo-sama, are... are you alright?" The medics chakra was running dangerously low, but thanks to Chiyo healing her at the end she had just enough chakra to herself to be useful still.

"Aye... I'll live." She stumbled and Sakura was quick to steady her.

"We need to get you back! The hospital still had the blueprints of my antidote and I left word with them to make more just in case." She eased a hand on the woman's back and rubbed.

"No," she protested, "there is still more to do."

Before Sakura could voice her objection, the mountain lion Hokori leapt into the cave entrance and over rubble to come to a skidding halt in front of the women. "I bring a dire message. Temari-sama has Gaara-sama and they are with backup, he is alive and needs medical attention though he seems to be alright. However before the enemy escaped he sent out an airborne version of the poison to attack Konoha. Temari has sent me and my sister Gareki to warn you and your Hokage of the incoming attack."

Sakura felt herself stiffen, her anger over the cowardice of the enemy quickly stomped out by her immediate concern. "Konoha doesn't have the blueprints for the antidote! Tsunade and Shizune would have to work from scratch!" Not to mention the sheer amount of patients they'd need to tend to immediately compared to the single one Sakura had to treat.

"You need to return." Chiyo said.

"But the Kazekage! He needs medical attention, and you're injured!" Sakura voiced. Her mind was a frantic mess as she tried to problem solve. She had already memorised the antidote's components, not to mention her notebook held a list of what she needed and how to prepare said antidote. But it would realistically take her days to reach Konoha. The summons wouldn't reach Tsunade in time. What could she do?

"You have accomplished your mission, now your village needs you. You are dismissed." Sakura shook her head at Chiyo's words.

"Mission or not! It's my duty as a medic - not a leaf medic - a medic to keep everyone alive and well! If someone is injured then I will heal them to the best of my capabilities." She held a fist to her heart, her eyes vacant at the ground as she ran over plans for what she could do. Chiyo watched her in silence, her eyes holding a kind of warmth brought out by respect.

Knowing Tsunade, under an attack where multiple people are injured or poisoned then she wouldn't risk leaving them to the hospital, she would want them all in an induced stasis while she and Shizune would work tirelessly to create the antidote. Sakura's head shot up. There was something they would do without question then. Sakura felt she had just enough chakra to do what she needed.

She took a deep breath and brought her thumb to her lip. Tsunade was the holder of the Slug Summons scroll, when Sakura had proven her healing capabilities to the women then she had allowed her to sign her name on the contract. It took weeks for her to be able to summon the slug without the scroll as a template. The slug Katsuyu was unique compared to other summons because unlike all others where the summons was a group of creatures tied to the scroll; Katsuyu was just one. She was the only slug. However she was capable of dividing herself to whichever size she pleased. Tsunade was capable of summoning the slug to a truly staggering size but just as capable of separating the slug into up to hundreds of tiny ones. Katsuyu was also a healer summon, she wasn't built for tracking or combat - though that didn't mean she was a stranger to a fight - her strengths lied in her healing properties. One ability she was capable of was what Sakura was hoping would help her now.

"I have an idea." She said as she placed her hand to the ground beneath her and called forth her summons. A poof of smoke and in front of her, reaching her hip height, and leaving her practically depleted of chakra, stood the slug summons Katsuyu.

"Sakura-sama! You're injured." The voice was soft and kind, a soothing tone that gave one the feeling of a hand stroking your hair back to look over you for injuries.

"I'll be alright, Katsuyu-sama. We have a problem though." She reached into her medic scroll and pulled out her notepad. "A poison is on its way to Konoha to be airdropped and we don't have much time. I've got all the information on the poison and how to make the antidote here. Tsunade-shishou will no doubt summon you to help the afflicted. So would you be able to take this to her?" She held the notepad out. Katsuyu seemed reluctant before she shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. You see, for me to hold that I would need to consume it before going back to my forest and waiting for Tsunade-sama to summon me. Non organic materials would naturally dissolve inside of me." Sakura bit her lip, mulling over her options again.

"Okay," Sakura knew that an ability Katsuyu had was to basically consume a patient to keep them in an induced stasis until Tsunade was capable of healing them. She would logically perform this technique to help the poison afflicted patients, though the number of Katsuyu splits she would need to make would depend on her chakra output. "If only organic material is safe then would you be able to hold me? Then take me with you to the forest and then release me when Tsunade summons you?"

Katsuyu's reaction was instantaneous, she shook her head and her being seemed to radiate anxiousness.

"While I can take you there, it is only when a summons intends to put their summoner through the trials to become a sage! To have you step foot there when you clearly are not ready and have no intention of becoming a sage? The indignity of it! It would cause such a stir and the other summons would be in an uproar when they would find out!"

Sakura furrowed her brows, but this was her only option. "Katsuyu-sama I have an idea then. What if I didn't step foot there? If you held me but didn't release me then technically I wouldn't step foot there and so wouldn't possibly imply that I was to begin any trials. So if you hold me until Tsunade summons you then you would be able to take me directly to her and I can immediately work to mass produce the antidote for the poison!" She held her arms out desperately. It was a loophole but it was her only hope.

Katsuyu seemed conflicted. She slouched in on herself and took in the battered girl's appearance and desperation. She went back and forth for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "Very well. However I will not do this again." Sakura nodded frantically. "I won't ask again! Thank you so much Katsuyu-sama!" The slug first split off a smaller slug the size of one's hand and it moved to Chiyo. "First I will heal you."

Chiyo grimaced but held her tongue, Katsuyu said "you will still need the antidote but I have staved off the effects for the time being." Sakura smiled, it would be enough. Tsunade had drilled into Sakura's head many times not to rely on Katsuyu unless unavoidable. To work her hardest as a medic before resorting to the slug for assistance. The smaller slug now perched on Chiyo's shoulder spoke up, "take me with you to the Kazekage and I shall assist him until he is safely at the nearest hospital."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much Katsuyu-sama."

"Yes my dear, though I don't know how long it will be until Tsunade-sama summons me so you will need to hold your breath lest you be put under stasis." Sakura nodded. Just to be safe, she pulled out a tiny compact summoning scroll; usually used for food pills and the like and hid her notepad inside. The scroll took up the size of her palm.

Before she would leave, she looked to Chiyo and Hokori. The mountain lion first, "thank you for the message, please tell Temari and her backup of my plan and that one of my summons is here for the Kazekage." she nodded and sped up rubble and out of the cave. Sakura turned to Chiyo, she gave a deep and respectful bow. "It was an honour to work with you Chiyo-sama. I can't thank you enough for your help and I am deeply sorry for your loss." She kept her head bowed. It was a moment before she felt a hesitant hand rest atop her head. She blinked owlishly.

"...The honour was mine... and thank you." The hand pulled back and Sakura met the woman's eyes. "You're not a bad medic, there's still time yet for you to ditch the slug queen and become my apprentice." She cackled to herself. Sakura smiled and cocked her head, "I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

Chiyo nodded , "you take care of yourself out there." Sakura nodded back before turning back to Katsuyu and kneeling down at the slugs eye height.

"Are you ready, Sakura-sama? You will need to curl in on yourself so I do not accidentally bite off any limbs, and to hold your breath as long as you can." Katsuyu said and Sakura nodded.

"I'm ready." Sakura took the tiny scroll, for safety she heaved in her last breath and popped the scroll into her mouth. Sakura had only a split second to take in the sight in front of her. Katsuyu opened her mouth, a stretched mass like an unhinged jaw being pulled down by gravity and suddenly it encompassed Sakura's body and pulled her from the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as she was engulfed in the slugs mass.

The light from outside vanished as Sakura assumed Katsuyu had vanished from the cave leaving Chiyo and a smaller Katsuyu. Sakura had wondered what the Shikkotsu forest was like. All she knew was it was the home of Katsuyu and like other summons homes it was unreachable to the world unless you were taken there personally by the summons. Those who went to their summons homes either came back as sages or not at all. If Tsunade had ever been there or not, Sakura had no idea, and the woman was notoriously tightlipped about personal matters. Asking would do Sakura little to no good, if Tsunade wanted Sakura to know something then she just had to wait for the woman to tell her.

Sakura tried to calm herself. She needed to keep her heartbeat under control, she needed to ease her muscles, she had to keep holding her breath.

The feeling of Katsuyu's body encompassing her was odd. It was as though she was underwater, but the water was thicker than it should be. Her skin tingled, as though every inch of her was being brushed up against feathers, as though tiny bubbles were popping all around her. Any sound was muted, it sounded like her ears had popped. She held her knees to her chest.

As she waited through the seconds she was left with her thoughts. Katsuyu said 'when' other summons find out. Did that mean they were all in communication? Did more than one summons live in the Shikkotsu forest? Come to think of it, where was the forest? Sakura tried to distract herself with these thoughts to calm her as she felt the seconds pass and her need for air was becoming more and more apparent.

The scroll in her mouth pressed against her cheeks. Her hair felt like it was standing on end. It felt like her body was fizzling around her. She needed to breathe. No! She couldn't! She just had to wait a little longer. She could do this. She had to do this. Please, Tsunade-shishou... Please hurry.

Suddenly there was light shining mutely beyond her eyelids. Before she could really register it, she was being pushed, Katsuyu was expelling her. The second she felt the tingling leave the skin of her face she flung her eyes open and inhaled the deepest breath she could. "Paah-!" She spat out the tiny scroll and it rolled on the floor.

The light of day around her was so bright it took a second for her to really adjust to it. "Sakura!? What are you doing there?" Shizune was crouching at her side and rubbing a hand on her back as she heaved. Sakura looked up, she was atop the Hokage's building, Tsunade looked to her in surprise, there were Anbu and shinobi around her.

"Tsunade-shishou! Has the poison hit?" Sakura practically yelled.

"Just then. I've separated Katsuyu to grab the afflicted and bring them to the hospital. It was just one air bomb but it hit the main marketplace just before it was blown to pieces." Sakura grabbed the scroll and scrambled to her feet. She pulled out her notebook and held it up to Tsunade. "I'll explain how I'm here later but first, I finished making the antidote and I've got the blueprints to make it right here! We need to work fast to mass produce it before the poison does any damage to the patients." Tsunade didn't even waste the second to scrutinise what Sakura was saying. Being a woman who had faith in her apprentice, she threw out a hand and instructed her so. "Then go! Shizune, go with Sakura immediately to the Hospital and get to work on those antidotes. I'll have Katsuyu send the patients to the first emergency ward for you and send back word to Suna of your arrival."

The women nodded, "yes ma'am!" and they were off.

They worked fast. Sakura took an offered food pill to keep her energy up as she worked, sure it meant she would need more sleep later but she'd cross that bridge when she got to it. She and Shizune worked seamlessly together. The easy rhythm of having worked hours together at the hospital had them finishing the first round of antidotes only after a little over an hour. There were around 50 patients who were hit but the area was mass evacuated so shinobi with wind release jutsu would be able to clear the area from any lingering effects.

It was clear this wasn't a targeted attack meant to cripple the village but rather a desperate diversion to let that blonde Akatsuki man escape. It was a couple hours later when Shizune and the hospital clearly had the situation under control when Sakura was forced to go home and rest. Shizune was very forceful when she wanted to be and she practically strong-armed the young medic to agree that "yes they will be fine and you need to go home and rest. You look dead on your feet. Also send word for your uniform to be repaired from the slight damage it had sustained from the time you were inside Katsuyu."

Sakura was practically dead to the world the second her head hit her pillow. Her parents a brief presence before leaving her to her much needed sleep. She should really send a word to Naruto when she gets the chance and apologise for not being there to see him... She fell asleep.

When Sakura awoke it was in the early morning two days later. Shizune had apparently dropped by to give her a once over and came to the conclusion that she had completely exhausted herself, that her body and chakra reserves needed a long rest to mend her. She had slept through the next day, she thought it best to check in with Tsunade before the hospital as it was nearly 8:00 in the morning.

Tsunade had comforted her with the facts at hand. The village was safe, the patients had all lived and with thanks to Sakura's arrival with the antidote they would suffer no permanent health issues, shinobi were working to mend the damage and would be finished within the week, and that Tsunade was proud of her. "I expect nothing less from my disciple."

Before she had left to check on the hospital, Tsunade presented her with something. It was one of Kakashi's dog summons; Urushi, a small light brown dog with a shabby cut to his fur. He presented Sakura with a letter.

Sakura-chan,

I was THIS close to seeing you again! It sucks but the little old lady Chiyo-baa-san said you had to go back to help Konoha so I guess I shouldn't be too upset (=｀^´ =)

I hope everything's going okay over there 'cause I'm not gonna be back for at least 2 weeks. Please don't be mad! I'm just worried about Gaara, they say he's gonna make a full recovery but I want to stay for a while and make sure he's okay. Not that I think you didn't do a great here! Kankuro is already trying to get back out there but the Nurses said you told him to stay put so I'll make sure he does! (=•̀ᴗ•́=)و ̑̑

I promise I'll be back as soon as I can and we can hang out and everything! I'll even take care of our first round at Ichiraku!

Kakashi sent Bushy-brows and his team back so you can at least hang out with them until I get there.

From your favourite teammate,

Naruto!

She smiled as she read. She felt momentarily bad that she hadn't left him a letter to personally explain why she'd left but time was of the essence and she could tell he understood. She resolved to write back that she'd made it back okay, that everything was taken care of, how she wasn't mad and thought it was sweet of him to wait for Gaara to be okay, to thank him for keeping Kankuro in bed, and how she was looking forward to when he'd be back.

Sadly it would be much longer until they would reunite.

A week had passed when Sakura was given another mission. She was back to full health, fully recovered and just finishing a shift at the hospital when Tsunade had summoned her.

"A poison has been spreading through a small colony village of ours called Town in the Roots. Word has been sent to us of the patient's conditions and it sounds similar to the week previous poison case." Tsunade said as she lowered herself into her Hokage seat. "Team Gai were on a mission nearby so I had them stop in the town to check the situation and they agree it seems similar. Just to be safe, as they have only a small general hospital, I'd like for you to head to that village and assess whether this poison is a variant or has been modified and so your antidote needs adjustments."

Sakura nodded. "Understood. Will I be accompanied by anyone else?"

Tsunade looked her over briefly, "after your actions last week I don't think it will be necessary. You proved your competence and work ethic. I'll have Team Gai meet you at the entrance of the village to provide you with whatever you need." Sakura felt a flush of pride at her mentor's words, she truly trusted her so much that she would be allowed to make the trek alone. Granted it was to a colony village owned by Konoha and still in the Land of Fire so it's not like there would be any dangers from other nations shinobi or anything worse than possibly some bandits or something. But still!

"You leave immediately. I expect your best out there." Tsunade dismissed her with a hand wave and Sakura bowed. "Yes ma'am!" She nodded in goodbye to Shizune and sped home. A quick word to let her parents know she would be gone for maybe a week or possibly more depending on if the poison actually required her to make any adjustments. She packed a few cartridge's of her antidote in preparation, the notes given had told her there were a maximum of 5 cases, and made sure she was well stocked on all her equipment before she left.

She downed a quick breakfast before she was off. She bid the shinobi at the gate a farewell. Sadly this would mean it would be even longer before she saw Naruto but after nearly 2 years, another week wouldn't be too much, not to mention he had Kakashi with him so at least they could catch up together.

Over the hours that she leapt through forests she checked her map, the Town in the Root was indeed a tiny town. They provided some agriculture to Konoha like certain fruits and vegetables but there was nothing really remarkable about the town. No big hospital, no shinobi school, no Peak families so it was built primarily of working class civilians, it earned enough for those villagers to live comfortably. It wasn't a poor village but a cosy enough one for people to build lives in. Why would a poison like the one of the Akatsuki member Sasori of the Red Sand make an appearance there? Hadn't she and Chiyo killed Sasori? But that blonde man had air dropped that poison before, had he done it again? Did they have more of Sasori's poison left? Or was this even a deliberate attack? Has someone just been able to replicate it and used the village as a trial run? Or was it an accident? Sakura wouldn't know much more until she met with Team Gai there.

It was hours later when Sakura stopped atop a tree for a quick lunch break, she was getting tired and she needed to make sure she kept her chakra reserves as healthy as she could. Her seal still wasn't ready and her constant process of depositing a small amount of chakra into a small reserve to prepare for it was still a successful process. After eating she leapt to the dirt path now in her sight and decided to walk the rest of the way; wouldn't do well for the medic to arrive too exhausted to heal anyone.

She felt her energy slowly coming back as more hours ticked by. The trees overhead casting nice shade as the sun began to dip, she'd be needing something for dinner soon. She came to a stop beside a larger tree to hide in the shade as she took out a water canister from her side pouch and took a swig of it. If her calculations were correct then she should be arriving at the village in probably the next three hours or so, but if it got too dark then it would be best she find somewhere to hide and camp for the night. Though she would prefer to make it to the village as anyone camping alone would be vulnerable to anything. She stretched her arms out above her head and felt her spine align at the action, she sighed happily and rested a hand against the tree to hold herself up as she rolled one of her ankles.

Sakura felt her hair stand on end.

Something was wrong.

She couldn't be sure what but her body erupted in goose-bumps. As though she was being stared down by the gaze of a predator twice her size.

She tried to continue rolling her ankle unshaken but she couldn't quite tell where the danger was coming from. Her hand tensed on the trunk of the tree. The texture was off under her gloved hand. This tree was wrong somehow.

Not wanting to let whatever had its eyes on her get anytime to react to any shift she gave. Sakura feigned stretching her arms to the side, she felt her right shoulder and she brought a fist up and swivelled the shoulder joint in place. In that instant she charged her fist of chakra and swung it at the tree.

Just before her attack could make contact, the tree seemed to open up, peel apart from the centre where she would have struck, a hollow inside like a mouth ready to engulf her. Her eyes widened. This tree or whatever jutsu controlling it was about to consume her! Sakura in that split second angled her fist down to the base of the tree and drove her powerful fist into it.

BAM!

Impact was made and the force behind her fist was enough to shatter the ground beneath the tree. The ground crumbled into giant chunks of rubble and the tree was forced to become uprooted entirely and strike the ground below in a husk. Sakura leapt atop a piece of rubble and launched herself back and away from the tree. ‘ What was that-!’

Before she could even comprehend what she was seeing, there was a flash of orange in her vision and her world began to spin. She was sent into a void of unconsciousness and left to freefall from the air.

She was out cold. The figure of a man dressed in a black cloak and red clouds with a spiralled orange mask vanished from where he had appeared directly face to face with the kunoichi. In the blink of an eye he was suddenly behind the girl and caught her before they landed on the ruined path.

The tall man held the medic under the legs and supported her back, he adjusted so her head rested against him and turned in place. His companion slowly emerged from the ground, the enormous plant-like mouth that engulfed his head opening to show the person there.

"Ahh Zetsu-chan you said you had her, no problem." He whined, "but if I wasn't here then ba-Boom! would've been your head!" The man laughed.

"Be silent. Let us return now." Their voice was hoarse, as though it was not made to be used at all.

Tobi nodded his head in an exaggerated fashion before whispering rather loudly. "Gotcha, gotcha, can't let our new medic wake up until everyone's ready to say hi!"

He turned in place as Zetsu pulled themselves from the ground and the two began to walk into the woods, the sun nearly gone, casting long shadows behind them. Tobi sing-song-ed quietly, "ah, I wonder what she's dreaming about."