This is my first SasuNaru fic (and also my first mostly serious Naruto fic) so I apologize if it sucks. All the Japanese I know comes from watching subbed episodes of Naruto and from reading other peoples' Naruto fics, so while there will be some suffix things after names, as well as random Japanese words I know that I know the meanings of, don't expect very many. XD Okay, here goes!

A Final Attempt at Keeping His Promise

Summary: Takes place somewhere between the end of Pein's attack on Konoha and the beginning of the meeting of the Kages, but Tsunade is perfectly fine. Gaara has been targeted by the Akatsuki yet again! This time, he sends for help from Konoha before he actually gets taken away. Naruto and Sakura, of course, are two of the shinobi who go on the mission. What will they do when they see that it's Sasuke and his team trying to take Gaara away?

Chapter 1

Gaara sat in his office, looking over all his paperwork. He stifled a yawn; there were times he questioned the benefits of being Kazekage. The door to his office burst open, and Gaara looked up to see one of his guards standing there.

"Forgive me, Kazekage-sama," the man said breathlessly, "but we've received some disturbing news from one of our returning shinobi."

"Go on," Gaara said.

"She said she saw four people headed towards the village, all wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them."

Gaara's eyes widened slightly. "How far away?"

"Not very far, though she said that at the pace they were going, it could be a while still."

Gaara nodded. "Send word to Konoha. If there are four of them, it would be best to get whatever help we can right away."

"Yes, sir, right away!" The man rushed out, forgetting to close the door in his haste, and Gaara got up, deciding to search for his siblings in order to let them know of the coming threat.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm tired," Suigetsu complained, dragging his feet. "Can't we stop for a bit?" He immediately received a smack to the back of his head.

"Idiot!" Karin yelled as Suigetsu glared at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Sasuke-kun said he wants to get there as soon as possible!" Though she wouldn't admit it, Karin was starting to get a little tired as well.

"Perhaps we could stop, for just a little while?" Juugo half suggested and half asked of Sasuke. All members of Team Hawk stared at their leader's back in anticipation. Sasuke stopped.

"Fine," he said, not looking at any of them, "but make it quick. I'm sure someone's spotted us by now."

Suigetsu plopped himself down on the sand as soon as Sasuke said the word "fine." "But how would they know what we're planning to do?" he asked now.

Sasuke sat on a convenient boulder, facing his teammates with his usual indifferent expression. "It's Madara's plan, not ours."

"Whatever," Suigetsu said flippantly. "It's us carrying it out, not him."

The Uchiha was silent for a long moment; so long that Suigetsu almost asked his question again, sure that Sasuke had forgotten it.

"Whatever our intentions," the raven haired man said finally, "our cloaks clearly mark us as Akatsuki, and Suna is sure to be on alert if any of them see any of us anywhere near their village."

Nobody said anything to that, and after another fairly brief moment, Sasuke stood. "Enough resting," he said. "We should get a move on."

Suigetsu stood with a barely concealed groan, earing him another smack to the head from Karin. The quartet continued their trek, everyone struggling to keep up with Sasuke.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What? Gaara needs our help?" Naruto asked, looking straight at Tsunade, who sighed and rubbed her face before answering.

"Yes, Naruto, that's what I just said. You, Sakura, Sai, and either Yamato or Kakashi – your choice – are going to go to Sunagakura to help out however you can. Now, because the Akatsuki are involved, I wouldn't ordinarily send you, Naruto, but the Kazekage asked for you specifically."

"We get to choose our team leader?" Sakura asked. Tsunade nodded. Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and grinned, looking back at Tsunade.

"We choose Kakashi-sensei!" they both said simultaneously.

Tsunade blinked. She didn't know what she was expecting, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn't that. She looked to the third member of the team, who was just standing there silently. "Sai? What do you think?"

Sai shrugged. "They want Kakashi, so I suppose we'll take Kakashi."

Tsunade nodded. "You have three hours to prepare, then you'll all be meeting up with Kakashi at the entrance gate. Got it?"

"Wait," Naruto said quickly. "How long are we going to be there for?"

"As long as you're needed. Dismissed!"

Naruto, Sakura, and Sai left the Hokage tower, each going to their homes in order to prepare for the journey ahead of them.

XXXXXXXXXX

Three hours later, Team Kakashi was assembled in front of the gates to Konoha with Tsunade in front of them.

"I expect each of you to come back," she said, staring at each of the four of them in turn, "and I also expect you to do the best you can, and follow whatever instructions the Kazekage gives you."

"We know this already, Grandma Tsunade," Naruto complained, getting antsy. "Can't you just let us go already?"

Tsunade pursed her lips, taking another long look at the teammates. "Kakashi, come with me for a moment. I need to talk to you."

Kakashi and Tsunade walked a little way off, and Naruto strained his ears to hear what the Hokage was saying. Sakura smacked him upside the head once she figured out what he was trying to do.

"Baka!" she exclaimed. "It's rude to eavesdrop!"

Naruto pouted, rubbing his head. "Did you have to hit quite that hard, Sakura-chan? That hurt! And besides, don't you want to know what they're talking about?"

Sakura bit her lip. "Well, yeah, I do, but still...we shouldn't..."

"How will we get in trouble if we don't let on that we know?" Naruto asked with a grin. Sakura mulled that one over for a bit, then nodded. They both tried to listen in. Unfortunately, their conversation took so long that all they could hear was the last bit.

"...and don't let Naruto and Sakura know," Tsunade was whispering. Kakashi nodded.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama," he said, and headed back over to where the rest of his team was waiting, Tsunade following him.

"Alright, Team Kakashi," Tsunade said once the two of them had returned, "move out!"

The four Konoha shinobi embarked on their long journey to Sunagakure.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are we there yet?" Suigetsu complained.

"You can't seriously be tired already," Karin said in disbelief. "We stopped only five minutes ago!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't much of a stop," the white-haired ninja said. "Not nearly enough time for me to even begin to rest up properly."

Karin was about to say something nasty, but Sasuke interrupted, not stopping nor glancing back at his teammates. "If you don't like it," he said simply, "then leave."

This shut Suigetsu up for a whole ten minutes. A new record, Karin thought dryly.

"So...remind me again why we're doing Madara's dirty work?" Suigetsu inquired once the ten minutes were up.

"Because Sasuke-kun needs the help of the Akatsuki to carry out his revenge plan," Karin said. Sasuke stopped.

"I don't need their help," he said coldly. "It would be much easier if I had it, but I am perfectly capable of taking out Konoha on my own...with you three, I suppose." This shut both Karin and Suigetsu up, and Sasuke kept walking.

"You two should learn to keep your mouths shut more often," the Uchiha said as the group continued along its way. "Juugo is a more peaceful traveling companion; he doesn't feel the need to fill every silence with endless chatter." Team Hawk continued in silence for another twenty minutes, when Suigetsu collapsed on the ground. All three of his teammates stopped and looked at him; Juugo with pity, Karin with sympathy disguised as disgust, and Sasuke with cold indifference.

"We'll stop here," the raven haired man said, and Karin flopped on the ground with a relieved sigh. Sasuke sighed. It was going to take a lot longer than he'd intended for them to reach Suna.

XXXXXXXXXX

Gaara's eye twitched. "How much longer is this going to take, Kankurou?" he asked. His older brother held up a hand.

"Just bear with me for another moment," he said. Kankurou fiddled with one of his puppets for a little while longer before stepping back with a grin. "Okay, watch this," he said. He did his Puppet Master Jutsu, and the puppet stood. It was much smaller than the rest of his puppets, and Gaara wondered what the purpose of this one was.

Kankurou moved the puppet so it sat on his shoulder. He looked at his brother, still grinning. "Gaara," he said, "meet Woody!" The puppet waved. "Hi, Gaara," it seemed to say in a higher pitched version of Kankurou's voice. Gaara's eye twitched again.

"You made me sit here and wait so you could show me your ventriloquism act?" he asked, clearly not impressed.

"Well, yeah," the puppet user said. "I was going to perform at the bar tomorrow. What do you think of it?"

In response, a wave of sand came in and knocked the puppet off of Kankurou's shoulder, smashing it to pieces and then burying it. Kankurou looked at what was visible of his mangled puppet, then looked back at Gaara, and sighed.

"Yeah, that was more or less Temari's response too," he said. "So I guess I should keep working on it, then?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed a little. "I had a reason for coming in here," he informed Kankurou.

"You mean, it wasn't just because you wanted to spend time with your big brother?" the brunette asked.

"No. One of our shinobi saw four Akatsuki members headed this way. I need you and Temari to help get all the villagers somewhere safe, then join me on the roof to await our visitors."

"On the roof?" Kankurou repeated. "Shouldn't we wait at the entrance to Suna?"

"If we wait on the roof, we can see our enemies coming from farther than we can at the entrance," Gaara replied. Kankurou nodded.

"I'll go get Temari and help the villagers," he said, getting up and leaving his newest puppet where it lay. He went off in search of their sister. Gaara stood as well, going to let the other village shinobi know of the predicament.

XXXXXXXXXX

"We need to take as few breaks as possible," Kakashi was saying as he and his team ran as quickly as they could, "and any breaks we do take need to be as short as we can make them. We don't know how close the Akatsuki members are to Suna, and it would be nice to get there before them."

"But it takes three days to get there," Sakura said.

"Not if we keep going without stopping at night. That's why Tsunade-sama gave us a large supply of food pills," Kakashi replied. "Speaking of which, we should probably each take a couple now."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked with a grin. "I'm not even going as fast as I can!" He laughed. "Maybe I should run in front, and you guys can all try to match my pace!" Without waiting for a response, Naruto took off ahead.

Sakura sighed. "Sometimes, he reminds me so much of Lee," she said, taking a few food pills.

"So now you like both of them?" Sai asked flippantly, taking a few as well. Sakura nearly stopped and punched Sai into oblivion, but reminded herself of their mission and calmed down. She shot off, leaving Sai and Kakashi behind her in an attempt to catch up to Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Oof!" Suigetsu exclaimed, landing on his butt in the sand after walking into Sasuke, who had stopped without warning. Karin and Juugo stopped as well.

"...Sasuke-kun...?" Karin started cautiously.

"We have to detour around Suna," Sasuke said abruptly. "We'll go in the back."

"Umm, I don't think there is a back entrance," Suigetsu said, standing and wiping sand off of him.

"Then we'll make one," Sasuke snapped. "You're a water ninja, aren't you? The walls of Suna are all made of sand. You do the math."

"Why do we have to detour?" Juugo asked. "It will just take longer."

"If we've been spotted by a Sand shinobi," Sasuke replied, "the Kazekage will have been informed and be expecting us, likely with an army of some sort...he might be alone, but on the off chance he isn't, we'd best go around."

"We can take them, however many there are," Suigetsu said, momentarily forgetting his fatigue. "I've been wanting a good fight for a while."

"It doesn't matter; we're going around. We're far enough away from the village right now that I doubt they've seen us, so we should be fine. Let's go."

With that, Sasuke started off again, not even looking to see if his teammates were following, which they were.

XXXXXXXXXX

Getting all the villagers to safety took longer than Temari thought it would, mostly because nobody believed her or Kankurou when they said there was danger coming. Nothing was happening at that moment, so why would there be a need to evacuate the village?

By the time everyone was safe, it was already nighttime. Temari heaved a sigh of relief as she and Kankurou headed back to the Kazekage office to meet with Gaara again. They got to the roof, and sure enough, their brother was waiting.

"Do we have to start standing up here right now?" Kankurou asked as the three of them stood side by side.

"They could attack tonight," Gaara replied. "Darkness didn't stop them last time."

"But Gaara," Temari began, "these guys are sure to be different from the last ones. I mean, we know that that one guy was killed, so even if the blonde one is back again, he'll have three new partners who might not want to attack in the dark."

"But we don't know," the redhead told her. "If they attack at night and I'm not ready, then I've failed as Kazekage."

"Part of 'being ready' is being rested and alert," Kankurou said. "If you're waiting here, half asleep, and they come in, you won't be in any condition to fight them off."

"Well, since you two know so much more about the situation than I do, what do you suggest?" Gaara snapped.

"Gaara, we're just trying to help," Temari said.

"Yeah, there's no need to snap at us!" Kankurou agreed.

Gaara sighed. "Well? What do you think we should do?"

Temari put a hand on her youngest brother's shoulder. "Go inside and get some sleep. Kankurou and I will stay here and keep watch. If we see anything, one of us will come get you, okay?"

"We will?" Kankurou asked. Temari gave him a look that clearly said 'cooperate or else'. "I mean, yeah, of course we will." He put a hand on Gaara's other shoulder. "You're the Kazekage. Out of the three of us, you're the most important."

"We can't have you trying to fight when you're falling asleep the whole while," Temari added. "You'll get yourself killed or captured that way."

Gaara stood there silently for another while, then shrugged his siblings' hands off his shoulders and went inside without a word.

Temari and Kankurou looked at each other, then sighed in relief.

"I'm surprised he actually took my advice," Temari whispered softly.

"Well, at least half of it," Kankurou replied. "We don't know if he went to bed or not, but at least he's inside."

Temari nodded, and the pair of them looked off into the distance, beyond the gates of Suna.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Can we stop here for the night?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to have to keep going all night," Kakashi replied. "If we want to get to Suna in less than three days, this is necessary." Sakura groaned.

"Then can we at least stop for a longer break than normal?" she asked.

"We just stopped an hour ago, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, still as energetic as ever. "You're tired already?"

"Not all of us have a demon inside of us to give us strength, Naruto," Sakura snapped. "And besides, I wasn't asking you."

"He's right, Sakura," Kakashi said. "We did just stop an hour ago. We'll have to wait at least another half hour for another break."

Sakura groaned again.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next night, Team Kakashi could begin to see Suna's lights.

"We'll spend the night here, Kakashi said, stopping just outside a cave. "We're only a couple hours away from the village now, so we'll rest up and head over in daylight."

Sakura flopped down onto the sand, sighing in relief. "Finally!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes. She was asleep in seconds. Sai sighed in relief as well and dragged his feet into the cave, laying down and using his backpack as a pillow.

Naruto sat on the sand near Sakura. "Do you need someone to keep watch, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked with a small yawn.

"Get some sleep, Naruto," Kakashi said. "I can take the first watch. It shouldn't be necessary to have anyone watching, but just in case, I'll stay awake."

Naruto nodded, surprising Kakashi by not arguing. He must be more tired than he lets on, the silver haired jounin thought to himself.

Naruto laid down on the sand, closing his eyes. Kakashi sighed, then sat in front of where both Naruto and Sakura lay, preparing himself for a long night of nothing.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Temari yawned, sitting on the roof of the Kazekage office with Kankurou. Her brother looked at her. "You can go in and get some sleep, you know," he said. "I can come get you and Gaara if something happens."

Temari looked at him. "You sure? I can stay awake if you want."

"No, no, go ahead."

The blonde kunoichi stood without another word and left to go inside. Kankurou sighed and looked off into the distance, where the sun was rising slowly. Just then, he saw four figures running towards the village at top speed.

"Crap!" he exclaimed, and quickly went back inside to get his brother and sister.

A few minutes later, the three siblings of the Sand all stood atop the Kazekage office, Gaara in front. They watched the four shinobi run closer, and the first thing they noticed was that the people weren't wearing Akatsuki cloaks. The second thing was that the person in front was none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

Gaara gave a small smile and lowered himself to the ground with his sand, heading to Sunagakure's gates to greet his friend.

Well? What did you think? Good, bad, horrible? XD Like I said, this is my first time writing something like this. Please review and let me know how I'm doing so far! I can't promise all the chapters will be this long, but I'll definitely try, because I know that my other stories tend to have short chapters, and I'm trying to work on fixing that issue. So yeah, review and tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas for later in the fic! I know this is labeled as "Romance/Drama" but every good fic needs to have some degree of humour in it, especially for this fandom. And just so you know, the chapters in the future probably won't have this many page breaks. I just did it this way for the first chapter because I was trying to write three different groups at once. Okay, I'll shut up now.