Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 35: Move Out!

"Stop, Naruto! What do you think you are doing?"

Naruto snapped back at Sasuke in anger. "What do you think I'm doing? Of course I'm going to Kirigakure! From what they said, Pain must have done something to Kirigakure, and you, of all people, should have known what he can do!"

"Just calm down and listen to me first, idiot!" Sasuke said patiently, grabbing the shoulder of his friend and fellow jonin. "First, are you going to run all the way to Kirigakure on foot? The village is literally on the other side of the map! Even if you run with all your speed there, you will exhaust yourself completely before you can even do anything; not to mention you will probably have to face the most powerful member of the Akatsuki if that's the case! Do you really want to do that and throw yourself into the hand of Pain again? Besides, you really think that Pain would sit there and wait for you to come to Kirigakure to get him? Even if you managed to arrive there without burning yourself off, Pain would have already left the village long before that already!"

Sasuke's reasoning completely shut Naruto up. He gritted his teeth.

"I know, but... we cannot just sit here uselessly without being able to do anything! Everyone in Kiri is in need of our help... not only Utakata-san, but also Zabuza, Haku-chan..."

"I know," Kakashi walked towards him while pulling his hitai-ate down, covering his Sharingan up. "But I think the wisest move for us right now is to return to Konoha as quickly as possible and report this to Lord Hokage. Maybe in Konoha right now, they already realized the problem and sent other teams to support Kiri. If not... well, we would be able to let Lord Hokage know to send force for Kiri as soon as possible. Konoha is actually the village closest to Kiri geographically anyway."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Kakashi sighed. "We have to wait for Sakura to be done with her work first. It's a person's life we're talking about here."

Naruto blinked. "Well, if you want to report to jiji... I think there is a much faster way to do it."

"Team Gai and Team Anko, reporting for duty, sir!"

Hiruzen looked at the eight shinobi in front of him with grim eyes. "Good, you are all here. I want you all to pack up and get ready for an S-rank mission as soon as possible."

The sudden declaration of the Hokage made every member of the two teams jump.

"Why such a sudden mission, Hokage-sama?" Tenten asked nervously. "And what kind of S-rank mission requires two whole teams of jonin and chuunin? Usually as far as I know, a mission like that takes at most one jonin team."

The Hokage nodded at them and said in a serious tone. "You're right. It's because this is not a normal mission. Your mission is to go as fast as you can to Kirigakure to see if there is anything happening to them. After that, if it is confirmed that the jinchuriki of Kirigakure was kidnapped, you will, together with Kirigakure force, track down and apprehend the kidnapper and rescue the jinchuriki."

Answering him was a blink coming from Karin.

"But isn't Sunagakure the village the Akatsuki is attacking right now, sir? Why do we need to go to Kirigakure if that's the case?"

Hiruzen and Jiraiya looked at each other.

"Actually, this is just what we thought of based on logic and instinct, from what Team Kurenai and Baki of Suna told us," the Hokage admitted with a sigh. "But it seems the attack on Sunagakure might just be a distraction. For what reason, we don't know, but if we don't do anything now, it might be too late."

"So you're giving us this mission because of something you thought of on a hunch?" Anko raised an eyebrow. "That's not like you at all, Hokage-sama."

"It is so unyouthful of you to doubt the instinct of someone like Hokage-sama!" Gai howled at the kunoichi. "Even if you don't want to go on this mission, I, Might Gai, the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konohagakure, together with my team, will still take it and will do our best to complete it!"