Naruto Senju Shippuden

Chapter 4

Naruto was sweating. "Hurry up, Sakura!" He says to his female teammate. "I can't hold him stable forever!" A bead of sweat ran down his temple. He had held Kankuro alive for a few hours now. "Give me just a little more time!" Sakura says as she rushes as much as she can. "Here! Is the antidote!" Sakura screams as she finishes the test on the structure. "Good! He is slipping!" Naruto says. Sakura administers the antidote into the young man's mouth. Naruto sighs in releif. "Thank you for your hard work Sakura. He is easier to hold stable now," Naruto says with a genuine smile. Sakura looks away from Naruto's kind demeanour with a slight blush. "Don't worry about it. I did it for Kankuro," She says quietly. 'Was he always this relible and kind?' Sakura thinks. Temari had slumped down to the floor, the adrenaline finally going away when one of her younger brothers was safe. "You did well... It was almost like looking at two slug girls working," The elder lady says when she walks into the operating room. Naruto scoffs. "Yeah, no thanks to you..." He says quietly. "Naruto! Show some respect," Kakashi scolds him. "We still need to find Gaara. And while I am happy we saved a life here, another one is in danger as we speak!" Naruto says as he holds Kankuro alive long enough for the antidote to work. "Thank you that means a lot since I am her apprantice. And sorry for my teammate... He is quite worried about Gaara," Sakura says to the elderly lady. "Times are slowly changing Nee-chan..." the elderly man accompanying the woman says when she looks downtrodden.

"We have a message from Hokage-sama!" A random sand ninja says after running to Team Kakashi. "I'm the team leader. I'll take it from here," Kakashi says as he walks up to the man and takes the outreached scroll. "Let's see..." He says. "What does Ba-chan want now?" Naruto asks as he walks over to Kakashi. "She said that she sent Team Nine as backup," Kakashi says. "Ba-chan sure doesn't thave faith in me, huh..." Naruto says as he sits down a squat and draws small circles on the ground, and pouts. "I assume Kankuro is going to be okay?" Kakashi asks. "Yeah... The antidote have activated now. He just needs some rest, why don't you believe in me either..." Naruto answers sadly. Kakashi sweatdrops at the depressed state Naruto is in. "No... I just meant to ask for his prognosis..." Kakashi says, trying not to aggravate a downwards spiral.

"Kankuro!" Temari suddenly speaks up, gaining everyone's attention. Sakura, the nearest medical ninja, runs up to check on him. "You should be resting!" She orders. "I have... something... that will... help you... find the... Akatuski memebers..." he croaks out. He points toward his destroyed puppet. Baki, the young man's sensei, opens up the hand of the puppet. It contained a piece of cloth. "It... belonged... to Sasori... of the... red sand..." He croakingly says. Then old lady tenses at the name. "Sasori... Are you sure it was him?" She asks. "Chiyo-baasama... and... Ebizou-jiisama... Yes... he confirmed... it himself..." He says, still croaking. He looks around the room and sees Naruto. "These Konoha-nin was sent here to help," Temari says to her brother. "Senju... Naruto, please... bring back... my... brother..." He says before falling back into an unconscious state. "Baka... That is what I'm here for..." Naruto says. 'It's good Gaara has family that cares this much...' He thinks with a smile as he places a glowing hand on the young man's forehead to alleviate some pain.

"Give it to me. I'll send out my summons to look up the trail," Kakashi says as he holds out his hand for Baki to give it to him. Baki nods and hands over the piece of cloth. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He says, and eight dogs pop up in a poof of smoke. "Pakkun!" Naruto says when he sees the dog. "Naruto? You haven't changed a bit!" Pakkun greets his master's student. "What are you talking about?! I grew like 20 centimetres since we last met!" Naruto exclaims. "Let's focus on why I summoned you. Please search up these men for me," Kakashi says as he gives the dogs the cloth to sniff and search. They spread out and ran away. "Could you give us some information on this... Sasori of the red sand. Please," Kakashi asks the two elderly siblings. She doesn't answer.

"You must be tired from all the travelling and healing you have done today. Please use some rooms to rest in. Kankuro seems to have stabilised. And your summons hasn't come back yet," Baki offers Team Kakashi after a few more hours of monitoring Kankuro. "No, I fee-" Naruto starts. "We will take you up on that offer. Thank you," Kakashi interrupts him. "Naruto, you can't do anything until we find them. You haven't sensed them, right?" Kakashi asks his energetic student. Naruto scoffs and walks toward the room they had been allocated. "Don't mind him... He has a one-track mind... Now that Kankuro's safe, he was obviously going back to save Gaara," Kakashi says to Baki, who understands. Chiyo looks over at the stomping teenager with curious eyes.