Blood. Dirt. Sweat. The clear signs of battle. 

The scent of defeat hung in the air as decay latched to corpses. Team 7 arrived at the outer gates of the village, their first sight being the deceased bodies of civilians and shinobi alike. 

Sakura made quick work to analyze each body for a pulse whilst Sasuke scanned for those responsible. 

Naruto couldn't keep his eyes off the dead. His eyes splitting between Kurama's and his own as anger between the two were shared with a strong bond.

"Naruto" Sasuke called, his firm tone snapping the blonde away from the eyes of a dead civilian woman. 

"The others are up ahead. Gaara is not with them" The Uchiha relayed, being trained to cover his emotions - especially in times like these.

Naruto said nothing but glanced back at the woman, sending a silent prayer for her, before flashing away toward the chakra signatures of the others.

Sasuke soon followed but Sakura stayed behind, tending to the wounded she luckily found.

As the two stepped into view, they understood how hard their comrades really fought. Jiraiya was knocked out and with the way his skin was turning more purple by the minute, Sasuke could guess he didn't have long if he didn't receive urgent medical care.

Sai and Yamato were worn and torn. Their bodies looked as if they'd drop any second as they tried to stop the bleeding on multiple parts of their bodies. 

"Naruto!" The voice of Kankuro suddenly yelled, shifting everyone's attention to the two newest arrivals.

"Kankuro" Naruto muttered as he furrowed his brows. The male's makeup had been completely wiped off with smudges appearing on the corners of his eyes. His outfit was torn and evidence of his puppets lay across the ground.

"They took Gaara!" He teenage male exclaimed in desperation and anger.

Naruto nodded "I know, we are going  after him as soon as Sakura can get Jiraiya in a stable state" The blonde's leadership skills kicked in as he took note of the signs of agony on Kankuro's face.

He stepped up to the puppet-user and placed a firm hand on his shoulder "Now is not the time to let your emotions rule. This village needs you and your sister to help them heal. We will bring Gaara back. I promise" The determination in Naruto's eyes made Kankuro pause as he was about to refute his order.

He believed in Naruto. 

"You're right. Please...Hurry" Kankuro muttered before he reached for Jiraiya and picked him up "I'll get him set up at the hospital, I know a thing or two about poisons so I'll assist Sakura" He stated before nodding to the two and jumping away with the Sannin in his arms.

Naruto watched them go with concern pooling in his eyes. Sasuke's firm hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality as the blonde glanced at him. With a nod from the Uchiha, Naruto stepped toward Yamato and Sai.

"You put up quite a fight" Naruto complimented and as Yamato opened his mouth to dish out orders, Naruto continued "Which is why you'll be staying here and helping the village recuperate. Sasuke, Sakura and I will be going after Gaara." Naruto explained.

Yamato and Sai's jaws dropped wide "What! You're no match for them-" 

"Neither are you in this state" Sasuke muttered coldly. 

"It doesn't matter. I made a promise." Naruto sighed "Have the leaf sent backup?" He suddenly questioned.

Yamato raised a brow with suspicion in his eyes "They did...How did you-"

"It's the procedure when a neighboring village is attacked and their allies have failed to protect them. Assuming either you or Sai would have sent word of the attack as soon as it happened, reinforcements should be here in the next day. Gives us time." Naruto explained as he thought about the possibilities of their fight and the potential strategies they could try.

"We're wasting time" Sasuke clicked his tongue as he stared at the footprints in the sand slowly being blown away by the wind.

Naruto nodded "I'll get Sakura, you follow those footprints. We'll catch up" Naruto ordered. Sasuke didn't say anything before jumping away to follow the footprints.

Naruto looked down to the, still, shocked states of their new teammates and sighed "Get yourselves to a hospital. Your bleeding hasn't stopped" Naruto lightly ordered before jumping away to get Sakura.

He found her not far away, helping some medical nin's in loading the wounded onto gurneys.

"Ra!" Naruto yelled to get her attention. 

As soon as she looked up at him, she knew the plan. The determination in his eyes was enough for her to know what was running through his mind.

Sakura nodded and handed the last of the wounded to a medical-nin before jumping away with Naruto.

"Sasuke?" Sakura questioned.

"Tracking the footprints, we'll catch up" Naruto muttered as they took a different direction.

Sakura glanced at him in confusion. Naruto noticed "Jiraiya's been poisoned".

He didn't need to say anything else as Sakura poured chakra into her soles to quicken her pace.

___

Hours later and far too many close calls, Sakura managed to heal Jiraiya as much as she could though he'd be weak for a while meaning he wouldn't be of any assistance on the mission now.

"Is he stable?" Naruto questioned as he entered the room.

Sakura nodded as she threw away old bandages. 

"How are you on chakra?" The blonde asked as he came closer to the pinkette.

"I'm still able to fight if that's what you mean" Sakura narrowed her eyes at the male.

Naruto shook his head in amusement before reaching out and touching her shoulder. Almost instantly, she could feel her chakra storage being refilled and her energy coming back to as if she'd just had a long sleep.

Sakura stared wide-eyed at the blonde "Wha-?"

"Something Kurama taught" Naruto smirked.

Sakura stared in confusion at the male again "Kurama?" 

Naruto's own eyes went wide as he realized he never got the chance to explain his relationship with the fox to his teammates.

"Eh...It's the nine-tailed fox" He muttered. Sakura furrowed her brows at him "I'll explain later" Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We need to leave" He said as he calmed down. Sakura sighed at him but quickly gave a nod before the two disappeared from view.

"Hmm...he. hehehe... hehehehehe, someone will see us..." Came the sleeping mutters of the Sannin within the silent room. 

___

The duo ran for the rest of the day as they rushed to catch up to Sasuke. Luckily, they were trained enough to not need rest throughout even under the hot sun of the desert. 

Night had just fallen and the coldness it brought with settled onto Naruto and Sakura. They hadn't said a word since they left neither did they complain about the different environments and temperatures hitting them one after the other.

The silence was enjoyed by the two, something Sakura likes to believe that they picked up from Sasuke. 

Though, that silence didn't last long as a large explosion went off in the distance. The duo glanced at one another in concern for their teammate before rushing forward, as fast as they could.

Sasuke didn't expect them to be going slow, so when he accidentally caught up to them whilst jumping over a canyon, he was as surprised as they were.

"Hn" The Uchiha grunted as he jumped away from an oncoming tail just as his feet touched the ground. 

"Who the hell are you?" One of the other members yelled, his silver hair gave away that this was Hidan. Sasuke knew all the members by name yet they didn't know him, all thanks to his brother.

"It's that bastard's little brother!" The blonde, Deidara, yelled as he glared fiercely at the Uchiha.

Sasuke remained silent as he eyed the group, especially the two silent ones known as Sasori and Kakuzu.

He was in trouble, he knew there was no way he could win against all of them.

"Art..." Deidara muttered to himself, Sasuke could see Sasori sighing silently as he began "Is an EXPLOSION!" The blonde screamed before throwing bombs toward the Uchiha.

Sasuke eyes widened before jumping out the way. Unluckily for him, he came too close to Hidan, who swiped his scythe at the raven-haired male.

The blade caught his cape but luckily didn't draw blood. Upon seeing this, Hidan threw a fit before he smirked "I'll sacrifice you to Jashin!" He yelled. Sasuke noticed Kakuzu sighing this time.

The Uchiha couldn't help but roll his eyes at the two 'outgoing' members. They were annoying.

Suddenly, he could feel his teammates chakra approaching which gave him some relief.

"Pay attention" The Uchiha heard behind him. Quickly glancing back, he didn't have enough time to dodge as Kakuzu kicked him toward Hidan. 

Sasuke panicked and threw a paper bomb at Hidan before the Uchiha's body could reach. Hidan cussed and jumped out the way but Sasuke caught the end of the explosion. He glided across the sand before coming to a stop with a grunt. His arm had been slightly burned which made it painful to cast jutsu. 

Sasuke knew his teammates were close and just needed more time to distract the group before they tried to retreat again.

"Not much of a challenge" Sasori commented with an emotionless expression.

Sasuke smirked at the red-head which caused him to tilt his head in confusion.

Looking at their feet, the group follow his gaze to see kunai sticking out with wires wrapped around them in circles. 

"Hm, not bad" Sasori stated as he realized they were all trapped as the Uchiha used lighting chakra to create a lightning barrier around them all. 

Hidan and Deidara tried to attack in any way they could being so close to the barrier but nothing worked. Deidara couldn't use his bombs and the space was big enough to Hidan to swing his scythe. 

Sasuke smirked as he felt his teammates appear behind him.

"Good job, Ke" Naruto complimented with a smirk of his own.

Sakura didn't say anything but moved behind her raven-haired teammate and began healing his wounds.

"Hn, thanks" Sasuke muttered to her. 

"Let me the fuck out!" Hidan yelled, pulling the trio from their bubble. He smashed against the barrier as best as he could with his scythe.

Sasuke grunted as he needed to send more chakra to his barrier in order for it to stay intact. Unfortunately, this kind of barrier needed constant chakra when attacked but could stay stationary when left alone.

"Jashin will soak in your blood. Your sacrifices will-"

"You're a Jashinist?" Naruto interrupted the man. 

With an irk mark, Hidan glared at Naruto "Yes, I am" He snapped, expecting some kind of mockery but when Naruto gained an excited glint in his eyes, Hidan became confused.

Sakura shook her head "Not now, To." 

"We don't have time for this" Sasuke added on as they both glanced at the blonde.

Naruto sighed and smiled sadly at the Jashinist "If we weren't enemies, I would have liked to learn more about this Jashin" He said.

Hidan was shocked but became equally as excited as Naruto and equally as sad when he realized they would never be able to communicate well enough for him to learn.

"What should we do now?" Sakura moved on as she eyed Sasori who eyed her right back.

"Knock them out and bring them in" Sasuke muttered as his eyes found Gaara's limp body in Deidara's clay bird.

He couldn't risk getting him now when the blonde still had control over his bird.

Naruto also noticed this "No. We don't have the resources to bring them all in. Either we kill them or take Gaara's body and let them go" Naruto weighed the options.

"Or..." Kakuzu included himself in the conversation "I take your hearts" He said with no emotion, not a hint of malice or hate. 

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man and opened his mouth to speak when the three were pushed back by a heavy force. 

The trio huffed as they stood a good distance away from the Akatsuki. Sasuke's barrier had broken upon the break of his focus. 

"What was that?" Sakura muttered as she came to stand next to the boys.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Kakuzu, his body seemed to be moving on the inside and the Uchiha could have sworn he'd seen black strips retracting into his shoulder after they were knocked back.

"Seems like we're going with option three" Deidara grinned as he jumped on his bird and soared higher into the sky. 

Hidan gave his own maniacal grin before rushing forward with his scythe. Sasuke clicked his tongue as he unsheathed his sword and met the silver-haired Jashinist head-on. 

Sakura turned to Sasori, the two already decided mentally on their opponent which happened to be each other. 

While the two studied each other, Naruto faced off with Kakuzu. 

The blonde had a feeling this battle would be a lot harder than the Akatsuki let on.