S-Rank Naruto

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did then Naruto would be able to fight his opponents without relying on luck and last second power ups.

Note: Sorry for the wait on the update. I was having writer's block on the introductory part of the chapter. Also there were some issues in my job where I had to take on extra hours which cut into the time that I had for writing this.

Chapter 3: Gaara!

It was about noon the day after the test. Naruto was at home working on increasing the speed of his brushless sealing techniques when an ANBU came to his home to urgently summon him to the Hokage's office for an urgent mission. When he arrived at her office Sakura and Kakashi were already there.

"There you are Naruto. Now I called you all here because we received an extremely urgent message from Sunagakure." Began Tsunade as she steepled her fingers. "Apparently they were attacked by the Akatsuki. From the reports he used explosions which means that we are assuming that it was Deidara. During the attack Gaara was winning to begin with, but when Deidara used an extremely large attack on the city itself Gaara was forced to focus his sand on protecting the city rather than himself. Deidara seized the opportunity to win the battle and Gaara was taken. I'm sending you to Sunagakure to help them with whatever they need. If at all possible you will retrieve Gaara from the Akatsuki. In addition to this, Temari left earlier today, you are to catch up to her and appraise her of the situation on your way to Suna."

"Understood Tsunade-sama" Replied Kakashi. "We'll go home to get our extended mission gear and meet at the gate to move out as soon as possible."

"Yeah, we gotta go save Gaara!" Yelled Naruto.

"We will do our best Tsunade-sama." Stated Sakura.

When Naruto got to his house he took off his weights (as he was to never wear them on a mission), took his scrolls and put them on his back, and then left to go to the gates. Kakashi-sensei was waiting for him, but Sakura wasn't. "Hey Kakashi-sensei we got to move as fast as we can as soon as Sakura gets here. The longer that the Akatsuki have Gaara the less likely we will be able to get him back alive."

"We will go as fast as we can without tiring ourselves to make sure that when we do reach the Akatsuki, we will be able to fight them with our full strength. To do anything else would be suicidal." Explained Kakashi as Sakura arrived. "Now let's move out. I'll take the lead position so both of you follow me. I'll push hard, but even if its not be fast enough for you. Remember we are trying to have enough energy to fight the Akatsuki after the run. Let's move out."

Kakashi took them out at a pace that was just a bit to fast for Sakura to talk, but Naruto wasn't having that much trouble as he had had an insane amount of both speed and endurance training. It took them about eight hours to catch up to Temari who had left about four hours before them. Kakashi then slowed to her pace to allow for talking and stated. "Temari we got word from Sunagakure. The Akatsuki attacked and Gaara was captured."

"No, no, no, then what are we waiting around for let's get moving!" Yelled Temari. To which Kakashi silently picked the pace back up to how they were moving before they bet up with her. They continued in silence and continued throughout the night to reach Sunagakure late in the night the next day. This was acceptable as shinobi were trained for sleep deprivation to the point where they only start showing noticeable signs of it after two days, and even this could be easily extended with the use of caffeine pills. With a judicious amount of medical ninjutsu could function for a week before they needed real sleep.

When they arrived in Sunagakure they were taken to where Kankuro was in the hospital for poison. As Temari rushed in to see his brother a small elderly woman turned to see the Konohagakure contingent. Upon seeing Kakashi she immediately pulled out a kunai charging him and yelling. "Die White Fang!"