WOO~ >w< So happy to hear everyone is enjoying it so far!! Please remember that I am going off of the manga so if you watch Naruto some things could be different or not, I don't really know too much of the Anime but I do know that some of the jutsu's names may be slightly different. Also remember that this is a fanfiction, so if some things are changed around it is because I want it to be like so.

Anyhoo, to the side is a much better picture of Akisha~! I only own my own edits as this was originally a screen cap of Kishimoto's artwork in the manga, I only transformed it into Akisha.

ONTO THE STORY! >w<

***Akisha's POV***

I raced through the trees besides Sakura. "Naruto, can I ask you something?" Sakura asked still keeping pace.  "Since when did the Akatsuki start targeting you?" Naruto seemed to think. "I.. I don't really know.." "A while back two of the Akatsuki's members infiltrated Konoha in order to get Naruto, it's been about three years since they started moving again." Kakashi said, giving Sakura some sort of idea for her question.

Memories popped up in my mind of myself hiding behind Naruto, fearing the two men with the red cloud cloaks. "Ah, I remember that..." Sakura looked over to me. "You were there?" I hopped to a branch closer to her and Kakashi but kept my pace. "Yeah I was, I was hiding behind Naruto, me being taller-" Naruto sent me a harmless glare that made me laugh, "-it felt awkward leaning down under him. That's besides the point however. I only saw it now, but, why would the Akatsuki wait three years?" "Maybe they couldn't take action rather than choosing not too. Naruto always had Jiraiya by his side." Kakashi said. Chiyo glanced over at Sakura and I. "From what I gathered I heard there were other reasons. It requires considerable preparation to separate a tailed beast that was sealed inside a man."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "Tailed beasts?" Chiyo gave a mini-scoff. "How old are you? How can you not know?!" Kakashi shook his head, silently giving off the feeling to not blame Sakura for the lack of knowledge. "The information regarding the Nine Tails is top secret so..." He trailed off. Chiyo nodded. ''Well alright then.." Chiyo went on to explain the concept of the Tailed Beasts to Sakura. Naruto kept silent with a sad look in his bright blue eyes. After Chiyo finished explaining silence occurred for a bit until Kakashi jumped in front of everyone as we jumped down from the trees.

"EVERYONE HALT!" He yelled making me freeze. I looked up to see an Akatsuki member. Wait.. Not just any member.. I know this guy... Don't I?

"ITACHI UCHIHA!" Naruto growled stepping up. 

Oh yeah... Him. "Itachi eh? The boy who killed his entire clan?" Chiyo examined him. "It's been a while... Naruto, Kakashi." Itachi's voice was unemotional and it was clear he wasn't here to surrender or any wonderful miracle like that. I internally sighed, of course I'm forgotten by this guy. It was starting to feel like old times where I was constantly forgotten. I looked to my right to see Sakura tense up with anger. Looking to my left I could see Naruto do the same. "You bastard..." Naruto spat out.

"Not just me but now Gaara too!? I'll beat you all down!!" Naruto claimed pointing at Itachi. Itachi moved his hand slightly making Kakashi snap back. "Don't look into his eyes!!" He yelled. A senseless panic filled me. D-Didn't I already look in his eyes? Or maybe not... 

"Then what do we do?" Sakura asked looking towards Kakashi, making sure her gaze didn't once go to Itachi. "You look at his feet and body, judge his movements by the way they're moving. So long as you don't look in his eyes you won't be trapped in a Genjutsu." I let out a nervous chuckle. "What if you already looked in his eyes?" Everyone turned to me with a drop of sweat clinging to their deadpan features before turning back to Itachi. "Guys? No answers? Really? " I give up. I turned back to Itachi but only looking at the lower half of his body which is much harder than it sounds.

Chiyo stared down at the ground. "It's been a while since I fought a Sharingan... No worries, 'If it's one on one, surely flee. If it's two on one, take the rear!' " Chiyo recited. "We have the numbers for diversion and other counter strikes." Naruto laughed. "So this old hag is useful!" "Plus using special abilities like Mangekyo Sharingan seems to be dangerous for Itachi's eyes." Kakashi said lifting his head band revealing Sharingan."Whoa! Wait. You have Sharingan? Did I know this and forget or something?!" Sakura face palmed. "I don't remember you being so oblivious." 

I was going to say something back to defend myself when Kakashi talked first. "Itachi, how far has your eyesight deteriorated?" Itachi looked taken back but still concealed his emotions well. I felt lost though.. Wait did Kakashi mean by that? Side effects of the so called Mangekyo Sharingan most likely. "Kakashi, I'm impressed.." Itachi said with only a hint of surprise in his voice, otherwise it was smooth and flawless. Naruto stepped ahead but Kakashi's hand stopped him. "Naruto, I'll handle him." Naruto somehow managed to pout in this dangerous situation. "HEY! IF I DON'T GET TO FIGHT HIM THEN IT'S NOT MUCH TEAM WORK IS IT!?" Kakashi shook his head. "No, this time I want you to cover me. Even with me as an opponent for him, it's difficult alone." 

I smirked. "Little cocky there, ey Kakashi?" I could see the matching smirk through Kakashi's mask. "Well I expect you to cover me too, show off what you've learned." 

"Naruto, I kindly ask you to come with me." Itachi more demanded it, rather than asked prompting Kakashi to run at him. "You'll have to face me first!" Kakashi threw a punch to which Itachi easily caught, behind Itachi another one of himself ran at us, mainly aiming for Naruto. "A Shadow Clone!" Kakashi yelled as the Itachi with him poofed away.  Naruto ran ahead with Rasengan making my smirk widen. "Sorry Naruto, but I think it's time I got the spotlight!!" I yelled jumping ahead of him, much faster than himself. Swiftly taking out some needles I punctured Itachi's stomach when he poofed away too. 

I stood up in alert. "This one is a shadow clone too." I informed my team but turned to see them all knocked out. "Huh!? Guys!?" I looked too Naruto and Kakashi to see they were also down. "When did-" "Ughh.." My team groaned dragging themselves up. "Guys?" I asked but immediately summoned my chakra around myself with needles in between my knuckles as they morphed into more Itachi clones.

As they ran at me I jumped evading one and threw needles hitting them all and making them disappear. I flipped in air to hit a perfect landing. I stood up with a groan, understanding what happened. "Shit, I'm in a Genjutsu aren't I?" "You aren't as weak nor cowardly than when we first met, are you?" A voice from behind asked, I spun around blocking a punch from Itachi. 

After I blocked him he swung for a kick but I jumped back just in time. "Time will tell, no?" " Perhaps, you still have weakness to overcome though. That's easy to see." I jumped back again dodging more punches. Moving quickly as to avoid more kicks and punches, I shut my eyes tight and clasped my hands together, easily disrupting my flow chakra. That was the trick with high-end Genjutsu's, the chakra in your mind has been tampered with, therefore a way to stop it would be to disrupt it. 

"-isha?" My eyes flicked open to see Sakura with her hand on me and Naruto. Chiyo was on the other side of Naruto who seemed rather in a state of shock. I bet he was placed in a Genjutsu as well... Obviously worst than my own. "Kisha?" Sakura asked again. "Yeah, I'm good," I said snapping out of it, "Naruto are you alright?" The attention turned back to Naruto. Naruto flicked his eyes lids before nodding. "I-... I'm alright, but Itachi doesn't just use his eyes to cast you in a Genjutsu." Naruto informed. 

Infront of us Itachi still held Kakashi's fist when Kakashi jumped back. "Right, it's time to end this. Put your all into it everyone!" Itachi took this moment to form hand signs familiar to me. "Oh crap! MOVE!" I yelled jumping to the left with Chiyo. "GRAND FIREBALL JUTSU!" Itachi yelled with a still plain emotion in his tone.

Chiyo gave me a confused look. "How did you know that jutsu was coming?" I took out needles in preparation for the on coming battle. "Way back when, I trained hard to be able to use this jutsu.. Well just the fireball part, not the grand.." Chiyo's eyes widen. "But you're a wind-" I waved her off. "Yeah, yeah I know, blah blah. Let's focus on the fight Granny-" I coughed loudly hiding my mistake. "Chiyo-sama! I said Chiyo-sama.."  She smirked. "Right."  

As the fire cleared away a hole was left in the tracks. A question mark popped up on my head but was quickly dismissed as Kakashi broke out of the ground where Itachi was at. Kakashi jumped up aiming a punch at him when Itachi slid back, missing by an inch. Itachi grabbed Kakashi's sleeve, pulling him down and going to hit him with a punch of his own. Kakashi dodged to the left but held his stance. He seemed to analyze Itachi when Itachi took that moment to grab Kakashi's neck. 

Kakashi froze before coming back to reality. "So this is a shadow clone?" Itachi asked, or more like claimed. " No wonder why the Genjutsu held no affect to you.." From the hole in the ground where the fire ball pasted by, Kakashi got up. "NARUTO QUICKLY!" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Naruto and I assume a clone with a giant Rasengan, and his whiskers were highlighted with red, not to mention his eyes were slits too. He must be using the tapping into the tailed beast's powers.

"GREAT SPHERE RASENGAN!" Naruto yelled slamming the Rasengan in to Itachi. "A-amazing.." Sakura barely breathed out. I grinned staring at the amazing sight, awe within my eyes. "Yup, that's the Naruto I remember... Besides the idiot part.. And the short part.. And the-" "SHUT UP KISH!" Naruto whined pointing to me, his highlighted markings gone and eyes back to normal.

 "Wait a second.. This is.." We all looked over to Chiyo who stood at Itachi's body. We all walked over and as we saw, our faces twisted in to a scowl. "Is this a jutsu?" Sakura asked. Kakashi sighed. "I knew I had a bad feeling about this.." My eyes squinted. "Chiyo-sama, do I know this guy?" Chiyo nodded. "Maybe, he is a Jounin from Suna, Yuuro." 

It was true, Itachi had vanished from place leaving a random person in spot who obviously wasn't waking up anytime soon.

"Does that mean he was an Akatsuki spy?" Chiyo shook her head. "There's no way, he's been working hard as a leader for four whole years." Sakura pointed at him. "Then maybe-" "Hey!!" I shouted loud enough to gain attention. Everyone stared at me. "We have bigger problems than this guy! We need to continue going after Gaara before something terrible happens!" They all looked taken back by my stern and loud tone. "Yeah, Kish is right, we need to hurry after Gaara!" Naruto yelled, backing me up.

Chiyo looked down. "They probably have already began extracting the tailed beast from the Jinchuuriki." Sakura's brow lifted. "Jinchuuriki?" I sighed, antsy to get to Gaara. "A Jinchuuriki is a person who has the tailed beast inside of them, they can even use the beast's chakra." "Yes like Akisha said, many people wanted the beasts power so they sealed them within people to attempt this. And the people who had this were called Jinchuuriki." Sakura looked down. " Well how do you remove a tailed beast?"

 "Well it would take a considerable amount of time but even if it was removed then... The Jinchuuriki will surely..." Chiyo looked away not able to say it looking in to Sakura's eyes. " ...Die." You could see the tears well up in Sakura's eyes. "Sakura, you're always being moved to tears even when I told you not to worry. After all, I'm going to save Gaara!" Naruto grinned making Sakura step over with tears flooding out. "Naruto! It's not Gaara I'm scared for, it's-" I stopped Sakura, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Naruto turned away with Chiyo and Kakashi. Sakura looked at me, wiping away tears. "Kisha?" "It's alright Sakura, come on, Gaara needs us." She nodded. "Right.." 

*****

 I groaned cracking my neck as we jumped tree to tree. "Sleeping for a few hours on the forest floor really does suck." I whined, and not surprisingly, I was ignored, everyone's mind seemed to be focused on the mission. Naruto seemed to be focusing to much as his speed increased and you could feel the anger around him. He started going ahead of everyone making Sakura shout. "Naruto, wait up!!" I wanted to groan again but chose not too. "Kakashi, should I go after him?" Kakashi looked at me with either surprise or doubt. "If you can?" I nodded and increased my speed, not even having to use chakra yet to catch up to Naruto.

"...When did she get that fast?" I heard Sakura's voice ask but I got too far away to hear the answer. I jumped branch to branch, finally next to an angry Naruto. I didn't try to stop or slow him but just kept watch, making sure he was alright and not releasing any of the beast's power.

Soon enough we all stopped as a huge.. Cave? Let's go with cave; came in to sight. We neared it and a grin made it's way on to my face seeing the familiar team. "NEJI!" I yelled waving over at him. The team turned around, most of their faces washing in to grins or smiles. "Akisha?" Neji observed. I nodded quickly with a smile and looked up to Neji. He seemed to change a lot, not just in looks but personality. He looked calmer, more kind. His height was quite taller than before, and hair longer yet tamed. Tenten looked different too, more feminine with curves. However, Lee and Gai seemed about the same besides the green Chunin vest on Lee.

"Kakashi! You're late!" Gai nearly yelled, pointing at him. Kakashi walked up to a massive boulder in the way of the entrance of the cave. "Yeah sorry about that." Kakashi murmured, examining the boulder. " It's a five seal barrier." Neji said, and the greetings were cut short for now.

I titled my head in question. "And how do we remove it?" " Well there are four other seals, they must all be removed at the same time to lift the barrier." Naruto spun his head back and forth. "So where are the seals!?" "Neji?" I asked. He understood in a second. "Byakugan!" The veins around his eyes became visible showing the familiar Byakugan. "Found them." Neji went on to explain where they were but my mind was spinning. Gaara was on the other side of this place... Memories swirled in my head. 

*****

My small, fragile body shook as I neared Gaara. Kuro-senpai's younger brother but I know the things everyone says about him.. I know how much my parents have warned me around him... Gaara was staring at a couple of kids playing near by, the kids noticed him and ran off leaving Gaara looking at the sand underneath him. I took another step closer, my body pressed to a house by me. Gaara seemed normal but that's how the monster tricks you... Or so I've been told. 

Suddenly Gaara's sad eyes lifted, connecting with my own. "Epp!" I squealed and turned to run when his voice stopped me. "W-WAIT! PLEASE!!" My body shook as I turned back to him. Gaara didn't say anything nor did I.

"Y-you listened?" He asked, with a soft surprised voice. "I-I-I-I'M SORRY!" I yelled in fear, and twisting away, running back to the safety of my home. "PLEASE! COME BACK!?" I heard him yell in desperation but my fear took over and I kept running. Why was I even approaching him anyway?... I should just listen to the adults.

'Don't go near the monster'.

*****

I grimaced, my younger thoughts swirling around in my head.  I was such a coward. A scared, ignorant coward... People treated Gaara as a monster, so that's what he became... Until Naruto saved him.. Naruto seems to do that a lot. A light smile touched my lips. He does that often, doesn't he?

"GOT IT!!" Sakura yelled snapping me out of my trance. Just after yelling that she ran up and punched the boulder, makings it crumble in to pieces. My eyes almost popped out of my head. "Holy shi-" "Let's go!" Kakashi said leading everyone in to the cave. I stared at the pieces of rock, marking down mentally never ever to piss off Sakura.

Following everyone, I raced in the cave, last one to enter. My breathing nearly stopped at the sight. "G-Gaara.." Two Akatsuki members sat on top of him. The blonde of the members smirked. "I wonder which one is the Jinchuuriki, hm?" Next to him was a strange looking bird or something of that like but my eyes rested on Gaara. Tears threatened to spill. 

Gaara...

My Friend Gaara...

"Y-YOU BASTARDS!! I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!" Naruto growled. I looked over him to see his eyes turn red again, teeth sharpen and his whiskers become more define. The blonde Akatsuki member gave a light chuckle. "I guess it's him then, un." The member next to him who seemed to be controlling the puppet from far away also gave confirmation. "Yes, so it seems." The voice was deep and raspy.

"G-GAARA! GET UP YOU IDIOT!" Naruto yelled, his feature twisting in to not only anger but desperation. I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, stop."  The blonder member titled his head. "Yeah, don't you get it, un? He's.. Well, he's dead, hm." Playfulness clung to the tune of his voice. I took my hand back at lighting speed, stepping away from Naruto, giving him space. "Give.. Him.. Back.." Naruto growled, his beast like features becoming even more define than when first entering, luckily no red chakra surrounded him yet.

Naruto ran at them without thinking, ready to kill if it meant getting back the body of Gaara. "I SAID GIVE HIM BACK-" Kakashi darted in front of Naruto, cutting away what could have been disaster. " Stop being stupid, if you run at them without thinking, they'll demolish you." "Sasori my man, don't get upset or anything but I think I'll handle this Jinchuuriki." That's Sasori!? I should have known that I suppose, I mean who else would be using a puppet? I suppose I imagined I'd see him and imagined he'd look like Chiyo. "Deidara, don't get ahead of yourself. One Jinchuuriki to one member." 

"Yeah but if an artist doesn't get high levels of inspiration, his sentiments are dulled... It's said the Nine-Tails is considerably strong, un. I need ideas to flourish for the fine art I create." Sasori scoffed. "You call those explosions 'fine art'? Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future... Eternal beauty." The blonde member or Deidara stood up. "They involve the same skilled labor! I respect you and all but fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion, un!" 

Sakura look taken back. "Wha...What kind of people are these?" Had things not have been so serious or had I not been on the brink of crying, I would have cracked a joke or a sarcastic comment. "STOP PLAYING AROUND DAMMIT!!" Naruto yelled, quickly summoning a huge shuriken and throwing it at the Akatsuki members. A strange metal tail popped up from behind Sasori, deflecting it. "Deidara you really test my patience.." Sasori said, his tone annoyed. 

Deidara smirked hopping on top of the bird 'thing'. "Sorry un! I can't help my fine art is clay explosion! Completely different to your little puppet show! Hm."  The.. 'Clay' bird quickly swooped up Gaara in it's mouth and Deidara waved to Sasori. "See you later, un!" "OH NO YOU DON'T YOU BASTARD!" Naruto yelled, his voice not as aggressive before but I still wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that. "Naruto wait up!" I yelled, tone stern. Can't he ever think, then act?

Kakashi ran right next to me and looked back to Sakura. "Naruto, Kisha, and I will handle this! Sakura, you and Chiyo take care of this one. Try not to over do it till team Gai gets back here!" Sakura nodded making Kakashi put his full attention back to Naruto who was glaring at the Akatsuki member in the sky.Going from the sudden dark cave to bright sunny light should have had me squinting to see but my training really had been paying off. "Sharingan Kakashi? Hm. Are you sure it's me you want to fight? I know I shouldn't be saying it but Sasori is a lot stronger than myself." 

"Kakashi-Sensei, you go help Sakura! I'll rescue Gaara!" I held back a sigh, I mean what do I need to be noticed? Here I thought this would stop but n-Wait I need to focus! I looked back up at Naruto and Kakashi, I assume Kakashi made Naruto listen to him or told him how this shouldn't be taken lightly.

Fast movement in the sky caught everyone's attention. "If you really want this dead guy back, come and get him! Hm!" Deidara flew off but not far, it's obvious he wants us to chase him. Naruto growled and ran off after Deidara, which lead him to the near-by lake. I raised an eyebrow in question. "How did I not see a huge damn lake when we came here?" "KISHA!" Kakashi yelled. Kakashi was already chasing after Naruto who jumped from side to side of the stone, earth walls trying to get a swing at Deidara. The setting really was beautiful, a valley lake with green mossy, stone walls surrounding it and seemingly going on for miles. 

"KISHA!?" My head snapped up. "Huh? Oh right! Shit!" I wanted to smack myself but just sent chakra to my feet and took off to Kakashi. In no time I was next to him, not even sweating yet. "KI-Ah? You're here?" "I got fast..." I said with a slight shrug. Kakashi raced up the wall nearing Naruto, I followed. "I need you to try to slow down or distract the Akatsuki member, I need to get Naruto under control and a plan." I nodded and raced past Naruto who was glaring at Deidara.

I heard conversation but didn't stop to listen. Swiftly as possible I added even more chakra to my feet and launched myself on to the clay bird just as Deidara took off again. I nearly fell off but grabbed the tail of the clay bird."Whoa!" "It's not you I want to fight, un." Deidara observed as I pulled myself up to my feet, using chakra too make sure I stick and don't fly off. "I get that often..." My tune downer. "Then go away, hm!" Deidara twisted around threw something at me. "KATSU!"

I hopped off the bird but only to grab it's leg and swing back up, avoiding a blast. I kept silent as I brought out senbon needles, placing them between my knuckles. Chakra formed around me and I raced at Deidara. He threw another bomb but I dodged under. "Damn, you're annoying... Hm." 

I didn't respond and threw the needles in my right hand at him making him dodge left. Being as close at we were, It didn't leave him the option to bomb me otherwise he'd get hit with the blast too. I swung my feet under him trying to knock him over but he jumped and swung a fist at me to which I blocked with my left arm.

"Gotcha!" He smirked and jumped back to the head of the bird making room. I hid a grin as I saw a bomb stick to my left arm. Just before Deidara detonated the bomb I released the puppet hand of my prosthetic arm at him. "KATSU!" Pieces of the my wooden arm flew and I hope pieces of Deidara did too but as smoke cleared he wasn't in sight. I groaned. "You got to be kidding me!?" "Not quite, un." I glanced behind me to see him on the tail of the bird, scratches and cuts from the explosion but not many. "KATSU!" In a split second, faster than I could jump another explosion went off, sending me flying off of the bird. 

I could see Naruto and Kakashi rushing to Deidara but stopping as they saw me. "KEEP GOING!!" I managed to yell before the impact of the blast crashed me in to the stone, earth wall. Sharp pains in my right arm bolted through me, as that's what was hit, and one loud crack splintered out into the air. I tried connecting my chakra again to stick to the wall but couldn't due to the sharp pains.

It felt slow yet I know I plunged fast in the water. Hitting the cold water was perfect for the time actually. Or maybe not? It is good for a wound to be numbed isn't it? I tried moving my arm but each time the pain was to much for me.

Panic started to rise in me as my body starting sinking.

My other arm had been blown off which didn't seem too much as a problem since it was a puppet arm. I still don't regret doing that... But now maybe I might. I tried calling out but only succeeded in bubbles rising from my mouth. 

My lungs started to throb in pain making me call out again but only lost more bubbles. Stupid air bubbles, making me lose even more oxygen-Wait. My mind made the connection and as best as I could I attempted making hand signs despite the pain. I only needed a Wind Jutsu and as soon as I felt I had enough chakra, I blew air below myself, succeeding in my idea and shooting out of the water.

Before I could fall back to the depths of the lake I added more chakra to my feet and simply landed on the lake. I breathed deeply in taking my much needed air. "Oh... Thank... God.." I gasped, water dripping from me back to the lake. Realization hit me and my hand despite the pain that came from moving it clenched. "Why can't I ever be strong?" I asked no one. I had faced an Akatsuki member and was blown up in less than ten minutes. I thought I had grown but I just can't seem to over come my own weakness. 

My anger swarmed inside of me but a voice caught my attention. "Kisha!?" I turned sharply to see Chiyo and Sakura heading my way, both extremely beat up and using each other for support. "Oh good you guys are alright." I breathed out still angry but suppressing it, taking my time to stand up fully. Sakura left Chiyo to run over to me grabbing my arm and making me grimace. "Yeah, are you okay!? You're missing an arm! And the other one looks twisted and broken!" I tried pulling my arm back but couldn't with Sakura's grip. "Yeah! Yeah! I'm fine! The one arm was a puppet extension and this one feels fine!!" My voice was strained in pain.

"Hmpf..." Sakura gave me a doubtful look but I glanced over in the direction Naruto and Kakashi had traveled after Deidara. "We should go look for Naruto." I said quickly, hoping to get her away from my arm. "Right." Said Sakura as she went back to supporting Chiyo and we, as fast as we could without straining ourselves, race after Naruto and Kakashi.

Over an amount of time we came to a forest area, following tracks and explosion marks. Kakashi and Naruto were next to each other and a pile of clay that seemed to form a body shape. I didn't question it but asked the first thing on my mind. "Where's Gaara?" Naruto looked up to one of the tree branches and I followed his gaze to see two clones supporting the... 'sleeping' ...Gaara.  "Are you all alright?" Kakashi asked helping Naruto up to his feet. "We're okay, beat up is all." Sakura answered. 

"Yeah I'm alr-" "Although, Kisha has a broken arm." My eye twitched. "It's not broken I'll be fine!" Sakura scoffed. "Really?" My expression went firm. "Yes!" She gave me a stern stare before poking my arm. I yelped in pain and pulled back. "Ow!! Why the hell would you do that!?" I whined, wanting to hold my arm but having no other arm to hold it with. "It's broken or cracked in multiple spots." Sakura confirmed.

Kakashi backed away from Sakura, not want her to examine him next. "Oka-" "AHA! WE HAVE YOU NOW!!" A mighty voice yelled. All of our expressions matched dully, knowing who that ''youthful'' voice belonged too. We all seemed to share a sigh too before taking off in that direction, leading us to a grassy plain, Naruto's clones holding Gaara following behind.

Right when we got there, team Gai took a step back, away from the familiar face of Deidara. "ART IS A BLAST!!" Neji's eyes widen from where he was, he waved madly. "EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM HERE!!" Team Gai ran back to our confused group but stopped when Deidara suddenly disappeared. 

"Eh?" Several voices rung out. "What's happening anymore?" I murmured making Tenten mumble in agreement.

"I made it.." A voice barely managed to say. My eyes like everyone else's drifted down to Kakashi who was on his knees panting. "Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto yelled as Kakashi collapsed to the side. Naruto caught him just in time. "Kakashi-Sensei, what was that-" Sakura started asking but Kakashi shook his head. "Fo-focus on Gaara first."

Naruto's clones set Gaara out in the middle of the field making everyone surround him. Sakura sat down on her knees, her palms glowing green but no signs of life came from Gaara. Desperation filled Naruto's eyes. "S-sakura?" The green glow slowly died from her hands over a few minutes of attempting to do something. "Sakura?" Naruto voiced louder, this time his shaky words reached her eyes. Sakura didn't answer with words but the turning of her head made it clear Gaara really was gone.

Naruto started to shake, tears dripping down his face. "...Why was it Gaara? ...Always Gaara... To die like this... He's the Kazekage, God da-" "Relax Naruto. Uzumaki " Chiyo said to calm him, however, she only succeeded in hitting a nerve. He spun around, snapping. "SHUT UP!!" I took a step back next to Tenten not in fear but to give Naruto room.  IF YOU NINJA OF SUNA HADN'T PUT A MONSTER IN GAARA, NOTHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!" Rage and pain filled Naruto's words.

"DID ANY OF YOU EVEN TRY TO ASK GAARA HOW HE FELT!!?"  Naruto's eyes filled up with even more tears as he dropped to his knees. "I couldn't save Sasuke and I couldn't save Gaara... I trained so hard for three years... Nothing has changed." Regret deeply coursed through those words.

Chiyo silently moved past Naruto to Gaara, sitting on her knees like Sakura was. Wind blew around Chiyo as her hands glowed like Sakura's did. Sakura gasped. "Chiyo-sama!! That jutsu!?" Chiyo silenced Sakura with smile.

Naruto got up to his feet wiping away his tears. "H-hey, what are you doing?" Sakura put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to stop him from interrupting Chiyo.

"She's bringing Gaara back." 

*****

  TADA~ END OF THE CHAPTER! 

Hope you liked it, sorry for the long wait but I was busy doing... *---dun--dun--dun---*

...MANUAL LABOR Q~Q It was horrible!  *ahem* >.> Eheh, anyway! I hope the chapter was enjoyable! Please comment! Vote! Fan/follow!

Mainly comment please! >3<