Gaara? What brings you here?" Lady Tsunade asked the red-haired young man.

Gaara sucked in a breath. He looked at the woman before him, the seriousness in his eyes was almost intimidating to her. Her face went from surprise to concern in a matter of seconds. There were a few moments of silence before he spoke.

"I need help.." He said. Shock once again, returned to the hokage's face upon hearing his words. "What's going on?" She asked, worry and anxiety was laced in her voice.

"A couple days ago, members of an unknown clan, invaded our village. They stole something precious to us, especially to me." Gaara replied. "I didn't find out about it until hours after the invasion occurred." He finished.

Lady Tsunade gazed at him for a moment, still shocked that he of all people, needed their help. If he was asking however, she knew it had to be a very dire situation. "Please. Tell me everything and I'll send out our best to help." She replied, returning the same serious tone that Garaa held. He nodded only slightly before sighing once more.

"A young girl, about seven years old, was removed from the village. Her name is Yua and she's practically my sister. Temari and Kunkuro found her about three years ago and I don't know what it is, but she's one of the very few things that give me a purpose in this world." He said. Gaara's demeanor suddenly switched up and his fist went up then hurled downward, slamming on to a desk that the two stood beside. His eyes reading nothing but pure rage. "How could I be so careless and irresponsible, to let her get captured the way she did?!" He growled.

Lady Tsnaude was slightly startled. She was able to quickly compose herself and placed her hands onto Gaara's shoulders and forced him to look at her.

"Gaara, this is not and will never be your fault. People are cruel and I'll make sure that she's found safe and sound and the culprit is punished severely." She said.

Garaa gazed into her eyes for a few moments before closing his own and taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I want the waste of space that took her, to be captured alive. I'll personally handle them." He said in a dangerously calm tone. "And thank you. Please keep me updated." Gaara said.

Tsunade removed her hands from his shoulders. She nodded and looked at a guard that was posted outside of the door. "I need a team and I need them quickly." She said. Gaara left as she scrambled around to figure out who would be best suited for this type of mission.

***A couple months since this mission was assigned, Tsuande found the best group she could for this mission, however, nothing has been found. Gaara had a few witnesses sent to the Hidden Leaf village to provide any information to Lady Tsunade but it was never enough to find any leads. Gaara was becoming increasingly depressed and his anger that he once held before, is beginning to resurface. However, Lady Tsunade and the team she assigned this mission, have made it abundantly clear that they refuse to give up. They will stop at nothing until Yua is home safe and sound.***
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The frigid breeze blew her semi-long light brown hair in all directions. Dark clouds formed and thunder began to rumble in the skies above her. She whimpered quietly, clutching to her chest as she shivered. Her ragged and ripped night gown was all she wore that night. No shoes, no pants. Her body was so thin, you could easily see her rib cage, quite a surprise that the wind isn't knocking her down. She sucked in a shaky breath and continued to trudge along through the dark forest.

She could hear the crickets, the owls and the howls of wolves that only deepened her fear and just her luck, the rain began to fall. Her shivering got worse as the rain went from a little trickle to a straight down pour. Cold and now soaked, she still forced herself to continue. Her skin was becoming blue from how cold she was and her stomach rumbled and caused her pain from the extreme hunger. She looked around her, trying to find some kind of shelter but to know avail. Tears formed into her eyes and fell, mixing with the water that fell from the sky. She was hopelessly lost. She continues to struggle through the forest on foot, crying softly to herself. The rain had finally stopped. After what felt like an hour of walking she stopped and glanced towards the sky and noticed a small line of smoke in the air and her eyes lit up.

"A fire! Maybe I can finally find some help!" She said hopefully but her voice was still very weak. She started making her way through the forest and towards the cloud of smoke. She was getting close enough to the point she could smell the burning of the wood. Finally, she saw the fire and around the fire were about four or five people that she could see, sitting around it.

She ducked behind a tree, scared because she could tell they were ninja by the way they were dressed. She feared it could be the same people that captured her just a few months ago.

~"Stay still you little brat!" A man screamed, causing Yua to whimper faintly. "We need her alive remember? The boss is gonna love this. She's said to hold a special Kekkei Genkai that not even her current village knows about. She's got the scar that matches the now dead clan." Another man said.

Yua was terrified and trembled in the corner they had her trapped in. She didn't know what to do. They kept trying to stick her with a needle that held some kind of liquid that was foreign to her. These men were careless and didn't think much about actually tying her up. She was completely free to move about. She looked around and saw an exit. That's when a light bulb lit up in her head. When the man came at her with the needle once more, she kicked him right in the shins and the other right between his legs before she bolted out of the hut they had her trapped in.~

The memory of her escape still makes her tremble everytime she thinks of it. She shivers harshly as a cold chill runs down her spine. She peeked around the tree and gazed at group that was crowded around the fire. She tried her best to hear what they were saying.

"Aww man, we've been at this mission for months and we've still come up dry everytime." A male voice that was slightly deep but slightly raspy too. "Calm down Naruto. Remember, we're doing this for Gaara." Replied a female voice.

Yua recognized the name the two spoke and her interest was piqued. She tried to quickly and quietly move to get a closer look when one of them turned toward her direction.

"What is it Shikamaru? Did you hear something?" The same female voice asked.

Yua saw a figure suddenly stand up and shove their hands into their pockets before sucking in a breath and exhaling with a huff. "Look, I know you're out there, just show yourself, I really don't feel like fighting right now." A male voice said with a rather bored tone to his voice.

Yua released a loud whimper, now terrified that she was caught. Now trembling, she slowly stepped into the vision of the group and one of them jumped into action. "It's a kid! Hurry and find a blanket!" The same female voice from earlier said.

She hurriedly yet cautiously made her way towards Yua and stopped at a decent distance away, as to not scare her any further. Yua got a good look at her. Short pink hair, her eyes were a blueish green color. She wore a red sleeveless top, a pink apron skirt with black shorts underneath, pink elbow protectors, black gloves and classic ninja boots. Yua studied her as she moved closer.

"Hi there, we're not going to hurt you, we want to help you." The female said quietly, as she held a hand out to the trembling child. Yua looked into this woman's eyes and tried to find any sign of malicious intent but she was met with the exact opposite when she gazed into this young woman's eyes. It was an inviting kind of feeling. A comfort that she hadn't felt in months. Hesitantly, Yua slowly walked over and took the hand of the helpful female.

"I'm Sakura, let's get you warmed up. You're turning blue! You poor thing." She said as she gently wrapped Yua in the blanket and set her in front of the fire. "Hey kid, are you hungry?" The raspy, and slightly deep voiced male asked.

Yua looked at him and studied his features just as she did Sakura's. Blonde spikey hair, light blue eyes and what looks to be whisker lines on his cheeks. His ninja headband sits proudly on his forehead. He wore a black and orange jacket with Orange pants. A shuriken holster was strapped to his right knee and he wore light brown ninja shoes.

Yua didn't feel any malice from this man either. She nodded her head slowly and the man handed her a plate of freshly caught and cooked fish, to which she almost immediately scarfed down. The group just kind of gazed at her.

"So what happened to you?" Another young man from the group asked. Yua sat quiet for a couple moments before looking to see who spoke to her. This time her eyes met a pair of black ones. His hair was round, practically bowl-cut shaped and his eyebrows were a very prominent feature on his face. Yua just frowned and snuggled into the blanket that was attempting to keep her warm.

"Come on kid, talk to us!" The blonde-haired man suddenly shouted, which only frightened Yua. A whimper escaped her lips as she snuggled into the nearest person beside her, to hide her face. "Yeah, yelling at her is working so well, Naruto." The sound came from the body Yua snuggled into.

She looked up to see who it was and it was the same guy who practically sensed her presence. She recognized the pony tail, and now was able to better see his appearance. The short-like ponytail, his semi bored expression that's plastered on his face and dark brown eyes. Silently, he stared at her, still with same bored-like expression on his face.

"Hold on, Naruto, where'd you put that scroll that had the picture for our mission?" Sakura asked the blonde haired man. "N-naruto?" Yua said faintly. She recalls hearing the name before but can't quite remember where she's heard it from. She glanced back over at the blonde man, who's now staring at her.

"What? You want to talk to me now?" He asked but Yua sighed. "I don't want to relive the nightmare.." Yua whimpered. Everyone kind of stopped what they were doing to look at Yua for a moment. Sakura shook off the initial shock and quickly found what she was looking for and unrolled the scroll to match up the picture to the girl sitting in front of her. A loud gasp escaped her lips and the scroll fell from her hands.

"It's Yua! She's Yua guys!" Sakura said urgently. The attention turned from Sakura to Yua almost instantaneously. "Please don't hurt me!" Yua cried out in fear.

"Listen kid, we've been out here for months, searching high and low for you, that last thing we want to do is hurt you, you know?" Naruto said, crossing his arms. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. All of us here, just want to bring you back home." He said as calmly as he could.

Yua looked at him in disbelief for a few moments before her dark brown eyes widened and filled up with tears. "People were looking for me? D-D..Does that mean Gaara, Temari and Kunkuro really were trying to find me?" Yua asked, with restored hope. Naruto gave Yua a small smile and gave her a thumbs up.

"You betcha they were. They even asked us for help!" Naruto said proudly. "Guys, we have to get her back to Lady Tsunade, Pronto, we shouldn't be wasting anymore time." The round-haired man said. "Oh come on Bushy brow, let's at least introduce ourselves to her before we jet off." Naruto said, which caused a huff from the round-haired man. "Very well, but after, we must get her back to our village. Her capters could very well be close by." He said, only causing Yua's hopeful smile to immediately disappear.

She clung back on to the ponytailed man and let out a whimper. "Rock Lee! You're scaring her again!" Sakura shouted. "Both of you are scaring her at the moment. Calm down." Said a male voice that Yua had yet to hear.

She peeked her head out to find the one that spoke and her eyes set on a man that had long, black hair and what appeared to me light lavender eyes. "Let's get introductions out of the way, so Yua is more comfortable with who's care she'll be in, just like Rock Lee suggested. This is still considered a mission, regardless, so we should treat it with the same urgency." The lavender-eyed man said. Everyone seemed to agree and nod their heads in agreement. "Well, I guess I'll start. She already knows Naruto and Sakura." Said the Ponytailed man. He glanced down at Yua, who was now looking up at him. He sighed slightly but cracked a small smile, though not liking the situation, he couldn't deny how adorable Yua was.

"I'm Shikamaru, judging by the fact you're clung to me, I'll probably be the one to carry you to the village. Trust me when I say, no harm will come to you with all of us here." Shikamaru said, causing Yua to smile ever so lightly. "And I'm Rock Lee! Like Shikamaru said, we'll do everything we can to keep you safe. Whatever happened to you, we'll see to it that it doesn't happen again." Rock Lee chimed in as he raised his fist upwards slightly, stopping on his chest to further show his determination.

"And I'm Neji Hyuga. We have another team mate further ahead scouting the area, searching for clues to find any leads. He's known as Kiba. His friend, a canine is Akamaru. They're a team themselves. I will warn you, Akamaru is a fairly large canine but I assure you he means no harm and will be protecting you the same way the lot of us will." Neji explained.

"Gaara placed a report with our village asking for help to find you, so our Hokage, which is the leader of our village and the one who we report to, trusted us to find you and bring you home at any costs." Sakura chimed in. "Do you feel any better about traveling with us to our village?" Sakura asked.

Yua gazed around at the group before her, stopping to look into the eyes of each person before taking a deep breath and exhaling. She cracks a light smile then silently nods. "Well then, we better get moving!" Naruto shouts as the group abruptly stands up. Sakura quickly gathers up the team's materials and belongings, while Neji and Rock Lee put out the fire. Shikamaru removes the now soaked and cold blanket from Yua and shoves that into a bag before pulling out a new one. He quickly wraps her into the blanket then lifts her up to his shoulder.

"Climb on and hold on tight. Don't let go, not even for a moment." He said and Yua obliged.

After everything was picked up, everyone gave each other a quick nod and took off into the dark forest. Shikamaru made sure to keep a tight grip on Yua, while also going at a slightly slower pace than usual. Yua found herself becoming very sleepy. Between being captured, practically tortured and starved and then suddenly regaining hope once more, Yua was absolutely exhausted, without the ability to sleep. So, within a few moments, the feeling of being relaxed and safe overwhelmed her to the point where her eyes could barely stay open. Unsure of what was happening next, she fell asleep, clinging to Shikamaru's shoulders, her soft snores being heard by him, causing him to lightly chuckle during the run.
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