*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*

Transformation Arc:

Chapter 1 - The Akatsuki Strikes

Just a general warning: this was my first attempt at writing anything (and I mean anything) worth shaking a stick at. And even then... I'm still skeptical, haha. Kyuubi was my pipe dream - the story I hadn't seen on FFN before, and wanted to see desperately. Sadly, I don't think I did it justice - the last few chapters I still enjoy immensely, but I definitely think I can do exponentially better overall.

So, with that in mind, a rewrite is in the works! The general idea behind Kyuubi - essentially, the 'thing' that sets this apart from other fanfictions - is still something I really want to see done: it's my baby. And now that I have a solid six months of writing experience under my belt, I plan to do just that. It is taking me a while, because I have other obligations at the moment, but it'll get there eventually. And I want to do it right.

I don't mean to scare you off - I still think this story is entertaining enough as it stands now. But is it on par with the rest of my work? Probably not. So if you came here because you liked one of my other projects and wanted to read more (...first of all, wow - thank you!), then you might be a little disappointed. Still! It's a symbol of my progression, showing I am advancing, however slowly, towards a better handle on the written word. I developed my style here, learned a TON, and can say I'm better for it in the end. And for that reason and that reason alone, I am immensely proud of this story.

So, without further ado, I present to you: Kyuubi.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The military capital of the most powerful nation in the world – the Land of Fire.

Born from peace, flourishing in war, and rebounding from tragedy after tragedy. The world was cruel to the way of the shinobi; and, by association, cruel to the Leaf.

Inner turmoil, outer turmoil…

…environmental turmoil.

Turmoil that stood the test of time, even after countless societal victories.

In the beginning, there was Madara Uchiha. Then, there was the triumvirate of despicable shinobi wars. Then, there was the Nine-Tails attack. Then, there was the Uchiha massacre. Then, there was the Konoha Crush.

And then…

Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes, breaking her chain of thought at the base, forcing it to come crashing down to the depths of despondency and despair that was her inner being. With a manicured hand, she ran her hair back across her neck and out of her face as she leaned forward in her desk chair and began her daily work.

It was no surprise that the village's strife became her own once she became the Fifth Hokage. Her old sensei and father figure, Hiruzen Sarutobi, always said as much. Then again, he had held the job for decades – nearly as long as she had been alive. To say that the man wasn't influential in the development of the Leaf into the superpower that it was today would be slanderous to the name of the God of Shinobi himself.

Despite her inner doubts, she had accepted the job at the news of the Third's passing, nearly three and a half years prior.

Granted, it took some convincing from a pair of rather… troublesome shinobi. A pair that had become a rather insufferable thorn in her side the instant she laid her eyes upon them in that dusty old bar in the boonies of the Land of Fire. There they found her drinking away her troubles, and living a life of selfish indulgence in an attempt to drown out the voice in the back of her head that loudly criticized her and her actions.

She had loudly (and drunkenly) announced that the job of village leader was a fool's errand, and quickly found herself at the receiving end of a rather vivacious blonde's glare.

Her pen stopped its robotic movement across the signature line of the document she was currently traipsing through, held in an iron grip that shook and quaked like the flood of emotions that just ran through her mind.

"Fuck this," she spat to no one in particular, and propelled the helpless pen across the room – where it embedded itself rather explosively into the door of her office. She threw her chair back in a violent frenzy, her heeled sandals click-clacking at the regained contact with the floor. With one sweeping movement, the bottom right drawer in her desk flew open, revealing a tall beige bottle and another stack of ever-ubiquitous paper.

The bottle's top was tossed aside with a quickness not seen since the Fourth, and Tsunade's red-tinted lips were already working their way through the first half of the liquid when she arrived at the far window of her office.

She grimaced; primarily because of the taste of the sake as it worked its way down her throat, but also because of the disheveled woman that stared back at her through the faint reflection in the sweeping glass.

Long, blond hair was frazzled and askew. Deep, dark bags under her eyes gave away just how little sleep she had gotten the previous night. Her skin was pale and lifeless – a stark contrast to the vibrant red lipstick she had slammed across her face before stumbling down the street in a pre-dawn haze to get to work.

She crossed her arms across her chest, bottle held gingerly in her right hand, and sighed again. Her outfit, the same thing she wore every day, was the same from yesterday – the food stain on her pale grey sleeveless blouse, and the subtle rip that ran down her forest green haori on the right side were evidence enough. She scowled and fumbled with it absentmindedly as her eyes glossed over, vision now focused on the village center below her.

The early morning rays of sunshine were beginning to peek over the tops of the massive forest that girdled the village, casting massive shadows across the streets and buildings in a conquering darkness. Still, despite the lack of sunlight and the brisk chill that hung in the early autumn air, villagers were beginning to stir along the gravel pathways and go about their daily business. Shopkeepers were assembling their merchandise along the city streets, carpenters were gathering their supplies and materials to begin their construction work, shinobi were beginning to trickle out of the darkness sleepily and approach the Hokage Tower for their day's missions.

And then, like the violently beautiful opening of a symphony, sunlight exploded across the Leaf, basking Tsunade in a warm and bright glow.

She flinched and growled, covering her hungover eyes with her bottle-wielding hand.

With another effervescent chug, Tsunade polished off the bottle and gracelessly allowed it to drop from her fingertips onto the wooden floor with a rattling crash.

Her eyes shifted to the massive monument that ran across the left half of the window on their own accord, much to her displeasure. The figures of her late grandfather and granduncle, as well as her sensei, stared back at her unmovingly, as if to mock her meager troubles. She shook her head in an attempt to force their judging faces out of her mind, but that only served to exasperate her steadily growing headache. She groaned in displeasure, before collapsing against the windowframe behind her desk and looking off at the front of her office, rubbing her temples tenderly.

The pen was still stuck through the door unwaveringly, and splintered bits of wood from the impact crater littered the surrounding floor. A few small paintings of nothing too sentimental in particular lined the walls, and a decent sized bookshelf was leaned up against the beige wall to her left.

As she began to right herself once again and head out of her office in search of more alcohol, a soft tapping echoed through the quiet office.

With a confused scowl, Tsunade turned on her heels towards the source of the strange sound, and was greeted by a small dark shadow dancing across the glass, obscured by the rays of the sun as they blitzed past and into the bowels of her workplace.

"What now…" she grumbled as she took the steps necessary to make her way to the window. With an exasperated sigh, she fumbled with the window's latch until it unclasped, and the large brown messenger hawk hopped through the opening, eager to deliver its playload.

Tsunade shook her head as she opened the small container attached to the predator's leg, and removed its contents – a small scroll. "Why the hell don't these damn things ever go to the messenger tower first, instead of here," she mumbled under her breath, as she made her way back over to her desk, ignoring the bird's hungry and questioning gaze.

With a small plop, she slammed back into her office chair with the grace of someone much less sophisticated than herself, and unraveled the scroll with a massive yawn.

The Hokage's eyes began to graze through the kanji, one by one, soaking in the information.

Her eyes shot open, mouth still open from her instantly-stopped yawn. The scroll clattered to the ground from between her outstretched fingers, glancing off the side of her desk as it fell.

"Oh no…"

"What do you mean the Kazekage has been captured?!" gaped Sakura. "Gaara's missing?"

The pink-haired kunoichi ran her fingers through her hair as she took a step back, head shaking all the while. "That's impossible! Gaara is… well, Gaara! He wouldn't let something like that happen!"

A single slate-grey eye followed her as she began to pace around the crowded office. "You know as well as I do, Sakura, that Gaara is powerful but not unstoppable." Kakashi turned his shrouded head back towards the Hokage's desk, where Tsunade sat, unmoving. He nonchalantly adjusted his forest green jounin flak jacket across his chest, then returned to his trademark slumped posture, hands barely attempting to nestle themselves in the black pockets of his shinobi pants. "I take it there is more information, Lady Tsunade?"

"Hn," she grunted in affirmation, steepling her fingers atop her workspace, disregarding the plethora of paper that was beginning to pile up just from an hour or so of her ignoring it. "According to the message, he was taken by a pair of… interesting men." She turned and looked Kakashi right in the eye. "They said that the men wore matching black cloaks with red clouds on them." She smirked humorlessly and turned her attention to another man in the room. "Sound familiar?"

"Indeed," replied Gai with a frown. "Akatsuki."

Tsunade only nodded with a frown of her own. "So it would seem."

"Sensei," a tall, black-haired boy inquired from the back of the room. His cream-colored kimono shined almost as brightly as his pale white skin and emotionless steel eyes. "Do you know of these Akatsuki?"

Gai frowned, his ridiculously large eyebrows flickering in anxiety, as he looked apprehensively at the Hokage before him. She sighed and nodded. "We might as well tell them, if you are going to be going after Gaara." With a subtle motion, she flicked through the stack of papers to her right and retrieved a small yellow folder stamped "TOP SECRET" across the top in big, red kanji. She tossed it down on the table before her, and it split open like a cracked egg, revealing a multitude of grainy photographs, mission reports, and other things.

"For the last three months," Gai began with an air of seriousness about him that was quite out of character for him, "I have been assigned on several extended S-ranked espionage and reconnaissance missions throughout the northern part of the Land of Fire. My target," he paused as he began to walk across the room with his arms crossed over his green spandex-clad chest. When he arrived at Tsunade's desk, he plucked the picture she was holding out for him, and turned to show it to his students, "has been the organization known as the Akatsuki."

Neji narrowed his pupilless eyes as he observed the photograph with slight curiosity. His teammate and rival, a boy that looked to be the spitting image of their sensei – down to the black, bowl-cut hair and everything, ogled at it from beside him. "I see. This is why we have been partaking in much more… individual training than usual."

"Indeed," Gai said with a small smile. "I have asked Kakashi to observe your work effort and he has told me that you three are doing a most splendid job!" One thumbs-up and cheeky grin later, he was back to business.

Before returning the photograph to the file it came from, he gave it another once-over himself. Two fuzzy figures were seen walking down a gravel pathway in what looked to be the forests to the north. One was tall and muscular, with a large bandaged object slung over his shoulder. The other was also tall – albeit not quite as much – and rather lanky looking. They both had jet-black hair that peeked over their large-collared black cloaks – the taller one with a more modest cut, the other with a long, silky ponytail that ran down the back of his neck and over the back of his robes.

And then, there were the red clouds, peeking through the ink of the photograph like spilled blood. They speckled across the black cloaks almost haphazardly, but with a sense of organized chaos. They were disturbingly beautiful.

Shaking his head, Gai turned and placed the photograph back in the folder, which Tsunade snapped shut immediately and stuck in one of the endlessly-stuffed drawers of her desk.

"The Akatsuki," she began, "are an organization of S-class missing-nin from villages all across the Elemental Nations. They've been increasingly active the past few years, to the point where they are coming out of their nests in the ground regularly to stir trouble among the 'Big 5'." She sighed, and crossed her arms in front of her as she leaned back in her chair, observing the congregation of shinobi before her.

There was Kakashi and Gai to the left, each wearing expressions of boredom and determination, respectively. The tall, silver-haired shinobi raised an eyebrow at her sweeping gaze, before pulling out a small orange book and indulging himself. His mouth and most of his nose were covered completely by a black, cloth facemask, and his left eye was obscured from view by his Leaf headband, which was tilted off-center on his forehead.

Gai, on the other hand, was a much more bombastic individual than his self-proclaimed "eternal rival". He wore a vibrant green unitard that ran across his body like a sickness, and was covered abruptly from his knees down by neon orange legwarmers that bunched up at his ankles. A traditional green jounin jacket across his chest dulled the visual pain significantly, slightly blocking the view of the Leaf headband that was wrapped around his waist like a belt. He was still definitely… something, that much was certain.

Down the line was Neji Hyuuga, a prodigy in his own right and the first among his graduating class to be promoted to full jounin. He watched her intently as well, arms gracefully at his side, ready to go at a moment's notice.

And then there was Lee. Lee was like the spitting image of his sensei – for good reason. The boy had taken Gai on as a surrogate father, a role that the taijutsu master had readily accepted and flourished in. To show the pride he had for himself and his adopted guardian, Lee wore a matching green spandex outfit and flak jacket. He additionally wore a series of bandages across his lower arms and over his hands, leaving only the very tips of his fingers exposed. But the most prominent feature of the taijutsu prodigy was his eyes – they were round and bowl-shaped, girdled by eyebrows so massive in size they gave Gai's a run for their money. His hair was cut in exactly the same way and shape as his sensei's as well, and he, too, bore a determined and excited glean in his eyes.

Sakura stood a good deal away from Lee, closer to Tsunade's desk than the rest. Her pink shoulder-length hair was frazzled and askew, indicating that she ran here immediately upon receiving her summons. A vibrant red-pink jacket was zipped up her front, matched with a pair of skin-tight ash grey shinobi shorts that held her medical supplies and a small tantou on her right hip. She was still pacing back and forth, a speculative look on her face all the while.

And finally, Hinata – the heiress to the mighty Hyuuga clan. She was standing uncertainly to the side, not facing anyone in particular, and held her hands together at her waist in worry and fear – fear for Gaara, fear for her friends - and fear for herself, Tsunade hypothesized. Her big bulky cream-colored jacket glowed warmly from the far side of her rather drab and depressing office. Tsunade smirked inwardly, realizing just how metaphorical the scene looked. The girl was a bastion of light amongst the darkness the Hyuuga had fallen into the past decade or so since her mother's death. And it seemed that no one, not even Hinata herself, realized just how important this girl was. Her fearlessly kind attitude was an insurmountable asset, not weakness.

Mostly, though, she looked sad. The small spark in her eye that Tsunade always secretly admired was gone currently, and the way she held herself, albeit professional, was pained. She could tell that Hinata was having difficulty keeping up appearances in front of the group. Something was definitely amiss.

Tsunade sighed, filing that away for future confrontation. Her father would be getting an earful, no doubt. But regardless, she had a job to do – and an ally to save.

"What do they want with Gaara?" Sakura suddenly asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, he's the Kazekage, but wouldn't they just execute him if they wanted him out of his seat?"

"The Akatsuki are after Jinchuuriki. Do you remember what happened during your first chuunin exams?"

The pink-haired girl cringed visibly at the mention of her past, when Team Seven was still intact. "Yes, sensei, I do."

Kakashi mumbled in affirmation, before continuing. "Gaara is the jinchuuriki for the One-Tails. Like how Naruto was the jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails. They need him alive in order to do whatever it is they do, I'm assuming."

"But…" Sakura grimaced again, but struggled through in order to get her question answered. "…what about the Nine-Tails? What happens whenever..."

"The jinchuuriki dies?" Kakashi finished for her bluntly, aware of the discomfort she was amassing at even just a passing mention of her former teammate. She nodded, eyes shifting to the floor. "We don't know, honestly. I've heard rumors, but…" he scratched the back of his neck with an apprehensive eye-smile. "I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet."

Tsunade watched the procession between student and teacher as the knot of guilt began to build up in her system. Finally, it burst, and she winced visibly, desperate to move around again.

With one swift motion, Tsunade sent her chair jettisoning backwards into the wall again, standing fiercely and cracking her knuckles at her sides. "Alright, here is the plan. Kakashi, I want you to lead the team to the Sand. Gather as much intelligence as you can on the enemy. I'll brief you all on what I know so far, but I'll admit, it isn't much." She turned and walked towards her favorite haunt – the window farthest from the Hokage Monument. The room of shinobi simply followed her with their eyes, otherwise not moving at all. "Then, I want you to go after these bastards. They think they can run around the world and just wreak havoc on whatever the hell they want?"

She turned and glared at them. "Not on my watch."

Murmurs of agreement echoed through the room, and Tsunade nodded with a sly smile. "Alright then. Glad we're all on the same page. Now, about these perpetrators. According to the scroll I received this morning, the two Akatsuki members that attacked are unknown to us." She began to walk back to her desk, a scowl on her face. "One was short and stout, like a boulder." She shook her head at the confused looks she was getting. "Not my words. I find it a bit too… cryptic myself." She leaned forward onto her desk, palms outstretched on the wooden surface, still standing. "He was only seen as the pair left the village. But rumor has it that he had a bunch of sleeper agents poised across the village, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Therefore, it's safe to assume that whoever he is, he operates primarily in the shadows." She shook her head absentmindedly, then continued. "Now, the second Akatsuki member is the most concerning to me."

"Why is that, Lady Tsunade?" came the voice of her assistant, Shizune, from behind her.

"Because," she growled, "he looks to be no more than 13 or 14 years old at the most, had vibrant orange hair, rather tattered clothes, and his skin glowed, apparently. And from the report said, he just waltzed in to the village without a care in the world, and attacked Gaara directly from his office." A twirl of her wrist in the air amplified her emphasis on the word 'waltzed'.

"13 or 14?" Sakura repeated with a frown. "Are they really that honorless, that they recruit children?"

"The Akatsuki are monsters," Gai stated solemnly from behind her. She blinked and turned to look at him, surprised by the amount of trepidation he was sporting on his brow. "They are hardly human. Certainly not youthful, by any sense of the definition."

"Then we must tackle this opponent head-on! They can do nothing in the face of our unwavering determination!" cheered Lee from the side.

"Always the optimist," grumbled Tsunade, as she pulled her chair back into place from behind her and threw herself into it gracelessly. "Regardless of how you do it, I want you to rescue Gaara. He is a great ally, and a friend to the Leaf. Do whatever you have to do. Kakashi is in charge, like I said," she stated, with a pointed glance at the copy-nin, "so do what he says. Move out as soon as possible."

"Hn," Kakashi murmured in affirmation, before turning to his squad with a serious aura. "Pack your things and meet me at the front gates in 15 minutes. Pack lightly, but for a three day trip. Bring enough water for five." He turned to Gai. "I want you to send a message back to the Sand and let them know we're on our way."

"Good idea," Tsunade quipped. "I'll have Shizune do that instead. You can go on ahead with your mission. We'll take care of the rest."

Kakashi merrily nodded as Shizune scuttled out of the room, her black-and-blue kimono fluttering behind her as she went.

"Alright then. If that is all, you're dismissed," the Hokage stated simply, crossing her arms in front of her chest and closing her eyes, sinking down into her chair like a child at the dinner table.

Then, a thought came into her mind.

"Wait – Hinata? Could you stay for a moment? I'd like a word in private."

The Kazekage Rescue Squad paused momentarily, then shrugged and continued after hearing the Hokage summon their as-of-now completely silent companion.

"Y-yes, Lady Hokage."

With the scurrying of feet, and the click of a doorknob, the two kunoichi were alone. Tsunade was still sitting at her desk with her eyes loosely shut, and Hinata turned and approached her hesitantly.

"I-I-Is something the matter, Lady Hokage?" she finally asked timidly, after Tsunade simply sat there motionless for an uncomfortable amount of time. Hinata had honestly thought the slug summoner had fallen asleep, until she suddenly reached under her desk and procured, seemingly from nowhere, a bottle of sake.

"Want some?" she asked bluntly, eyes still shut solidly. When Hinata shook her head, Tsunade seemed to understand, shrugged, and started attacking the bottle herself.

After a rather long and arduous chug, she haphazardly tossed it onto her desk, just barely keeping its contents in check, before opening her eyes and looking right at Hinata's worried face.

"Something is indeed the matter…" she said simply, sitting up in her chair, and folding her fingers together on the desktop in front of her, "…with you."

Hinata jumped. 'Am I in trouble? Are my abilities really that bad? I thought that only my clan thought I was weak, but if the Hokage…'

Tsunade blinked at the sad grimace glanced across the Hyuuga's face, realizing her mistake. "You misunderstand me. Please," she gestured to one of the two simple wooden chairs positioned before her desk, "take a seat. I just want to talk. Something is obviously bothering you."

Now it was Hinata's turn to blink, before the Hokage's words registered and she complied.

"Are you certain you are capable of performing this mission?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Hinata to jump again, her thoughts returning to their original fearful roots.

"O-Of course, Lady Tsunade!" she stammered out with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to continue defending herself, when the Hokage simply smiled and raised a hand.

"Please, Hinata, don't worry. I'm just concerned for your wellbeing is all." She smiled a bit more in order to try and comfort the girl, but consoling others was never her strong suit. She stuck to brevity and blunt honesty instead.

But Hinata seemed to take the smile happily, giving a small one of her own – albeit forced.

"Hinata. Please. Tell me. What's wrong?"

The girl just blinked, and shifted her gaze to the floor, her flowing dark-blue hair falling in front of her face and obscuring it from the Hokage's view.

"I-I-It's been three y-years."

Tsunade could just barely make out the whisper coming from Hinata, but when she did, she grimaced in realization.

'Of course. How could I have been so blind?'

"Has it really been that long already?" she said softly, looking down at her hands below her. She was never a very good liar – that much was obvious. But maybe Hinata would take her rhetorical question blithely, like she had her smile earlier?

When no response came, she had her answer. The blond sighed and shook her head gently, her wide-framing bangs shaking loose and flickering across her eyes like a feather in the wind.

"Under the circumstances, there was nothing you could do. Please don't blame yourself for what happened, Hinata."

When she heard a sniffle from the girl before her, Tsunade realized Hinata was crying.

"Hey."

Hinata blinked and looked up slowly, silent tears running down her face like raindrops on a pane of glass. When her eyes met the Hokage's, she gasped inwardly.

It was now that she realized just how fatigued and disheveled the woman looked – a stark contrast to her typically meticulous attention to beauty and hygiene.

'Is she… is she going through the same thing?'

Admitting that she'd been had, Tsunade let out a hollow chuckle and ran her hand through her hair, readjusting her unruly bangs and allowing the hollow feeling in her soul to finally struggle its way up to the surface.

"You're not the only one grieving, Hinata," she said bluntly, causing the girl to simply nod her head in trepidation. "Jiraiya was like a brother to me. When I heard the news…" she grimaced and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked over at the girl before her.

At the guilty frown on the bluenette's face, Tsunade decided to continue. "Now, that's not saying that you're not allowed to grieve as well. Just…" she sighed again, holding in her emotions, like a good shinobi. "Just know that there are others around you that are experiencing the same thing you are. Don't be afraid to come talk to me, or to Sakura, or hell – even Kakashi."

She leaned up in her chair, reaching forward and putting a hand over Hinata's firmly clenched fists, gripping each other in her lap. "Don't suffer alone. I did that for years, and it did nothing but push me away from those that mattered. Learn from my mistakes. Be the person that Naruto wanted you to be. For him."

Hinata jumped, and looked up at the Hokage with wide, tearful eyes. "F-for him?"

"For him," she repeated, a genuinely warm smile crossing her face for the first time in days.

A much smaller, but just as heartfelt smile began to blossom on Hinata's face and she nodded a few times quietly.

"Promise me," she started suddenly, gripping Hinata's hands a little more tightly, "That you'll come talk to me when you get back if you need to. Okay?"

Hinata blinked and nodded in affirmation, still at a loss for words at the genuine concern the woman was showing for her.

With another small smile - one that turned into a smirk, she pulled back, before taking another, although much more modest, swig of her sake. "Alright then. Well, you had better get going! You only have…" she trailed off and glanced at the clock on the wall, hidden partially by the bookcase, "…twelve minutes left to meet your team at the gates. Best get a move on."

With a jolt, then a smile, Hinata nodded fervently, slowly rising to her feet. "Th-thank you Lady Tsunade. I will."

Tsunade nodded once authoritatively, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning back in her chair. "Good luck. To all of you. Bring him back safely."

"Right!" Hinata said with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, even for her. Tsunade watched in mild amusement as the girl herself realized it, and bashfully took to leave the room.

When the door clicked closed again, and she was finally alone for the first time since this morning, Tsunade sighed and rubbed her eyes. "That's enough mothering for one day."

With another sip of the rice whiskey, the Legendary Sucker began to rifle around in her paper stacks, grumbling to herself.

"Now, where the hell are those scratchcards?"

The Kazekage Rescue Team had been running for nearly 4 days straight. The journey to the Sand was a rough one, and after being caught in a freak sandstorm that delayed them a day, they were exhausted and ready to drop from exhaustion.

But they had a job to do.

When they first arrived on the scene, Kakashi had immediately ordered them to spread out and search for any intelligence they might find. And much to their chagrin, there wasn't much to go off of.

The only significant information they had received was the Kankurou, the rather bold and brash puppet-wielding brother of Gaara, had attacked and been defeated by the strange "boulder"-like man shortly after the assault, and was mortally wounded by some sort of deadly toxin that invaded his body and began to shut down his internal organs, one by one.

That was, of course, until Sakura was able to stabilize him and he was able to speak once more.

As the pink haired medic-nin poured over the patient chart in the private room of the noble Sand shinobi, Kankurou finally began to awaken from his coma-like state. The instant he could move again, he was already leaning forward and trying to get up.

Until Sakura stopped him, and not-so-gently pushed him back into the bed's sweet embrace.

"Th… That kid… That kid in the Akatsuki…" Kankurou mumbled finally, still on the verge of slipping back into unconsciousness.

"Easy now, relax. You need to rest – I got the majority of the poison out, now you just have to let the antidote do its job. And that means no talking." Sakura lowered her clipboard, and stood up from the stool she was sitting on next to his bed to go through his vitals one more time.

Sakura had toiled for nearly 24 continuous hours since they had arrived in order to create an antidote to the rather strange and serious poison that had entered Kankurou's system. Now that it was working, she was concerned that it might have ill effects on the body, just as harmful as the poison itself.

After checking his pulse and temperature, she let out a sigh of relief. "It looks like you're going to make a speedy recovery. You'll be fine in a week or so." Sakura smiled weakly, signs of exhaustion clearly written all over her face.

"No… No… I have to get out there… I have to go with you…" Kankurou moaned, trying to move off of the bed.

"No! I won't allow that. You'll almost certainly die in the condition you're in right now. You're weak, you need to rest." Sakura stopped him, and pushed him back onto the pillows.

"You don't… you don't understand! The other Akatsuki, the one that poisoned me… it's Sasori of the Red Sand," Kankurou said weakly.

"What did he just say?"

An old, short, grey haired woman burst into the room with a silent fury, and jetted over to the bed in the center.

"Lady Chiyo, I'm glad you're here. It would seem that the antidote is working, and it looks like Kanku-"

"Did you just say Sasori of the Red Sand?" Chiyo bent over and peered into the slightly-closed glassy eyes of the bedridden shinobi.

"Lady… Lady Chiyo… yes," Kankuro mumbled. He could already feel that he was on his way out, about to slip back into unconsciousness.

"This is bad… very bad indeed. It looks like I'll be needing to join you and your team after all, Sakura. Where is the White Fang's son? I must speak to him about this myself."

She left as quickly and as ferociously as she arrived, leaving Sakura and Kankuro alone again.

'Well that was… interesting,' Sakura thought to herself with a deadpan glance at the door, as it slammed shut.

"No… that's not… that's not the part that worries me…" Kankuro whispered. Sakura leaned in, trying to catch what little she could of Kankuro's rapidly deteriorating voice.

"That boy… the Akatsuki member that took out Gaara single-handed… he's… he's…"

Sakura leaned in more, but by that point, Kankuro had fallen back into unconsciousness. She frowned, and put the clipboard down on the stool.

She grabbed her kunai pouch from the bedside table, and began to walk out of the room. "It looks like we're in for a surprise, then."

"S-Sakura, how is Kankuro?"

The pink-haired kunoichi closed the door gently behind her, and looked at Hinata, who was sitting on a bench outside of Kankuro's hospital room, and sporting a rather concerned look on her face.

"Oh, Hinata! He's going to be fine. I managed to get enough poison out of his system before administering the antidote, so he should make a full recovery in a day or two." She finished off her diagnosis with a smile, and sat down next to Hinata.

Hinata smiled slightly, and looked at the ground, twiddling her fingers together. "Th-that's good."

Several heartbeats of comfortable silence occupied the air around the two Leaf ninja, only occasionally interrupted by the sounds of nurses coming and going from various rooms around the hospital. Every second or so, a reassuring and healthy beep would come from Kankuro's room, indicating that Sakura's assessment was accurate.

Finally, Sakura turned and looked at the Hyuuga heiress, and sighed.

"I miss him too."

Hinata jumped at the words; somewhat because they broke the warm silence that had enveloped them, but mostly because Sakura hit the nail right on the head. She frowned, and looked down at the ground, obviously lost in thought.

Acknowledging that Hinata wasn't going to respond quite yet, Sakura continued. "I still remember where I was when we got that first message back – the one from Master Jiraiya. That is a day I will never forget."

Hinata sniffled, and nodded, still staring at the ground absentmindedly.

"Lady Tsunade called me into her office, and when I arrived, Kakashi-sensei was already there. I could tell something was really, seriously wrong the moment I walked in." Sakura paused for a moment, and let her memory catch up a bit. "I don't remember much after that, it was all a blur; I just remember shaking uncontrollably and getting really, irrationally angry for some reason. After that, the next thing I knew, we were at his funeral, in front of an empty casket, and sharing our favorite stories about our favorite knuckleheaded orange-clad blondie." She smiled weakly, and waited to see if Hinata would respond. To her surprise, she did – but Sakura had to really strain her hearing in order to make out the near whisper that came out of the girl's mouth.

"…I was training with Neji when I got the news. Kiba and Shino had just returned from a mission… and were coming back from speaking with the Hokage. They had found out then… and rushed to tell me… I'm glad they did. It warms my heart to know that they knew how much he meant to me." Hinata's voice wavered, and she stopped before she began to cry again.

Sakura reached over and put her hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder. "Hinata. It's okay. You can let it out."

"N-No." Her voice was firm and loud, shocking Sakura. She looked up and right into Sakura's eyes. "N-Naruto wouldn't have wanted that, to see me cry so much over him. He'd want me to become stronger, and a better person because of it. To continue his legacy."

"You're right," smiled Sakura. "It's what Naruto would have wanted."

"St-still… I don't think I believe that it was just a training accident. Master Jiraiya wouldn't have allowed something like that to happen." Hinata looked down again, a discontent look on her face. "Something tells me that they were attacked, or poisoned, or… something."

Sakura looked at Hinata with a puzzled expression. "No, if I remember correctly, the letter from Jiraiya explicitly said that his death was as a result of chakra exhaustion, due to Naruto's attempt to create a giant Rasengan. You know how he was, always pushing himself past the breaking point, always living on the edge." She cracked her knuckles, and frowned indignantly. "All I know is, if I were there, I would have knocked some sense into both of them. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that that perv was off ogling at some woman, when Naruto snuck off to get some training on his own."

Hinata smiled warmly at the image of the two of them, then saddened again. "It's just a shame that we can't ask Master Jiraiya himself exactly what happened."

The medical ninja shook her head, and looked at the ground as well. "It was barely two weeks later. That was a very tough month to get through."

'Lady Tsunade had never looked worse,' she added mentally, remembering the ghostly apparition of her sensei at the Sannin's funeral.

"Wh-what was his cause of death again?" Hinata had a troubled look on her face again.

Sakura sighed, and once again delved deep into the banks of her memory in order to quell Hinata's curiosity. "Well, if you remember, Naruto's body disappeared the night after Jiraiya found him…"

She was going to say "dead", but she figured that would be too insensitive right now, especially in front of Hinata. Instead, she just paused, and decided to simply skip the word and move on. "…out in the woods where they had been training. As far as Master Jiraiya could tell, there were no external wounds or injuries, apart from a blistered hand from forming the Rasengan hundreds of times. Therefore, he deduced that he had to have died from some sort of internal complication, and all signs seemed to point towards chakra exhaustion." Sakura paused, breaking out of her robotic medical professional voice, because she recognized that she sounded like she was rattling off facts, not describing the death of a friend.

After composing herself, she continued. "Jiraiya decided that it'd be best to bring his… body… back to the town they were staying at at the time and to try and get some help from the nearby hospital. However, while he was on the other side of the building writing his letter to the Hokage, someone took his body and ran off with it."

Hinata spoke before Sakura could continue. "A-Are we sure that's what happened?" She was twiddling her fingers again, obviously conflicted by the information.

"Well, dead people can't just get up and walk away, now, can they?" Sakura smiled grimly over at Hinata, but the 'joke' either passed her by, or she decided not to acknowledge it. She grimaced at the shocked look that the Hyuuga heiress gave her, and mentally punched herself. "Sorry, that was insensitive."

"N-no, Sakura, you're right." Hinata nodded, and Sakura continued her explanation, still not entirely convinced.

"Well, if you think about it, I don't believe any Jinchuuriki have ever died while still holding their tailed beast within them. Not to mention the fact that Naruto was a bit of a living legend when it came to his chakra and stamina. I'll bet you a bowl of ramen that someone wanted to get their hands on him for that reason."

This time, Hinata giggled slightly to herself, thinking about how much Naruto loved ramen. Sakura smiled warmly, glad she had slightly broken the sad atmosphere that had developed around them, and went on. "So, Jiraiya went after the body, and the people that took it. He apparently didn't get far, because we received a letter from the Hidden Stone 15 days later saying that they had recovered the body of 'one of the legendary Sannin'." Sakura put her hands up, and made rather vivacious air quotes, mocking the cryptic nature of the letter. "At first, we were all hoping that Naruto and Jiraiya had finally nabbed that bastard Orochimaru while they were out and about, but…" Sakura trailed off, assuming that Hinata could fill in the blanks. The bluenette nodded, signaling that she had.

"Thank you, Sakura. I had always wondered about that," Hinata said firmly, eyes still planted on the floor in front of her.

Before Sakura could continue, a Sand nurse rounded the corner, and approached her. "Lady Sakura, how is Lord Kankuro doing?"

"Oh, he's fine. Just resting now. I filled out the charts on the clipboard next to his bed, there's a more detailed analysis there." Sakura smiled, immediately transitioning from the role of a helping friend to the role of a professional medical ninja.

"Excellent, thank you Lady Sakura. I'll take it from here." The nurse passed them by, and began to open the door to the puppet master's room. With a smile, she turned around and addressed the two of them. "That reminds me. The rest of your group have assembled in the lobby downstairs, and they asked that I tell you that you were about to head out again."

"Thank you, nurse. We'll be on our way then." Sakura stood, and Hinata tentatively did the same.

When the nurse was out of earshot, Sakura cracked her knuckles and scowled out the window of the hospital, at the far-reaching dunes of their inhospitable surroundings.

"Alright, Hinata," Sakura grinned menacingly, as she took a few steps forward, "Let's go kick some Akatsuki ass."

Three figures trudged through the harsh desert sand, wind whipping at their cloaks, sand blasting to and fro. One figure appeared to be carrying another, while the third simply followed along at the same slow, steady pace of his companion.

Then suddenly, the carrier spoke, his voice passed along by the currents in the wind and only just barely picked up by the follower.

"You are aware that they've most likely called for the Leaf."

The follower made only a simple wave of his hand in lackadaisical boredom, signalling his comrade to get to the point.

The stout, masked figure of the strange scorpion man frowned in indignation at his partner's lack of respect. "You may encounter some of your old... friends, if they have, you know."

This time, the follower did nothing to show he acknowledged the carrier's rebuttal. The carrier was about to open his mouth again to curse out the follower, when something clicked inside of his mind. Instead, he began to smile menacingly from behind his shroud.

"Oh, don't tell me that you're expecting that!" he said in jest.

Once again, the follower did nothing but continue marching off towards their unseen destination.

The carrier, eyes twinkling in mild surprise, chuckled once. "You are, aren't you!" He smirked and shook his head. "Leave it to you to have something in the works, woven together with the Leader's plans. I trust you intend to take care of the matter yourself?"

The follower stopped, and the carrier followed suit.

A pair of vibrant red, vulpine eyes locked with his own lifeless black ones. At the contact, the follower's eyes narrowed, as if to say 'stay out of it, and you'll live to see another day.'

The carrier chuckled again and continued on his way. "As you wish," he sent back behind him, before the endless sands of Wind country absorbed their silhouettes, fading off into the horizon.

A/N: Edited on Sept 17, 2015. Introduction added on Jan 28, 2016.