SALVATION

Chapter 5

~Time skip a few days~

"Uah!" yawned Naruto loudly and stretched himself. "I'm so excited to see Gaara again, dattebayo."

With sparkling eyes, the blonde jinchuuriki skipped next to his teammates, a nonchalant Genma and a depressed Obito.

"Sasori-senpai mentioned something about a new poison he invented," mussed Sakura and an evil smirk grazed her face.

Obito secretly tried to bring more distance between him and Team 7 and whined quietly: "I'm going to die!"

"I need someone to test my antidote on," exclaimed the pinknette at this moment and Obito paled even more.

"Minato-sensei," whimpered the Uchiha agonised.

"I'm not gonna be the idiot this time," Sasuke muttered resolute and crossed his arms.

Shuddering, he remembered the one time he had stupidly allowed Sakura to test one of her newly invented antidotes on him. Even though he hadn't died - which he was very glad about - he had been paralysed for three days straight. Sakura's antidote had worked in the end, but she had knowingly forgotten to tell him that the poison she had used was one of Sasori's master pieces.

After he had gotten his movement back, he had chased his female teammate through Konoha, which hadn't been a very smart move on his end. Still a bit clumsy, he hadn't been able to stop himself, tripped over his own feet and ran face first into a brick wall. He had to walk throughout Konoha with a red mark across his face for the next couple of days because his wonderful teammate - please not his sarcasm - had decided to be sulky and not heal him right away. Apparently, he had made her experiment invalid when he had decided to chase her instead of resting. So no, there was no way he'd ever be her test subject again! Should she try it on Obito or Naruto, he didn't care. Well, he'd care about Naruto but there was Kurama who'd prevent Naruto from death.

"Not me, dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto and hid behind Sasuke.

"Of course not," replied their teammate sweetly. "I still need you guys."

"Cut it out, Sakura," groaned Genma when Sakura eyed the other Uchiha sweetly. "Don't forget why we're really in Suna."

As if he had switched a switch over, the previous cheerful and teasing expressions of Team 7 changed to serious ones.

"Of course not," said the blond coolly, his azure blue eyes having lost their cheerful sparkle.

"Nobody will be able to come close to Gaara or Sasori," added Sasuke, the usual contemptuous Uchiha smirk playing around his lips.

Determined, Sakura added as well: "We're Team 7 after all!"

"Yes, you are definitely his team," whispered Genma with a melancholic smile as he thought back to the many situations Kakashi had made similar promises.

Meanwhile, Minato and his companions had finally arrived at the Kage meeting.

"We're here," muttered Jiraiya darkly as he immediately felt the pressure of having five Kage in the same place.

"Don't be so tense, sensei," replied Minato swiftly but left them alone as soon as he saw Rasa.

"It's easy for you to say," groaned the Toad Sannin. "You're not feeling any of it."

"Stop playing around, Jiraiya," hissed Orochimaru whilst at the same time Tsunade punched their whining teammate.

"Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru. It's nice to finally meet the three legendary Sannin," said a voice suddenly next to the white-haired Sannin, resulting in a high-pitched squeak of said Sannin.