Whirlwind Fighters (NaruTema)

#5 Flashes of the Past

Following his fianceé's brother Naruto rushed through the forest, he sensed Temari running after him, but knew that it could be a matter of seconds so he didn't wait for her. Coming to a clearing he saw Kankuro lying on the ground, a lot of blood around him along with wooden parts of some kind of puppet. Kneeling down next to the brown haired boy Naruto quickly checked for a pulse, sighing in relief as he felt the heartbeat on his fingers. Hearing Temari come into the clearing behind him he looked at her with a sad smile.

"He's alive, but we need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible." He stated, earning a nod from the blonde girl. Moments later the Kazekage and a squad of Anbu appeared in the clearing with one of the Anbu immediately going to Kankuro to do a more thorough check, his hands glowing green.

"There is a strong poison in his system. We need to get him to Chiyo." The Anbu relayed to Rasa, who nodded.
"We have to go after Gaara." Temari said to her father who nodded and watched as Naruto and Temari took off further into the forest.

"Itachi, we need to hold them off." Pain spoke, as they were preparing the extraction of Shukaku.

"Is the body ready?" The Uchiha asked, as he got into position on the big hand in front of the statue. The leader of the Akatsuki simply nodded, causing Itachi to form a hand sign and close his eyes.

"You won't get to him in time." Naruto and Temari heard as they landed in front of a small seal. Looking around they saw a black haired person step out from behind a tree, a black robe with red clouds confirming to the that they had gotten close to the Akatsuki hideout.

"We will get him. You won't stop us." Temari said, determination evident in her voice.

"Oh, but I will." The man said smiling as he opened his eyes, revealing the red and black of the sharingan.

"Itachi Uchiha." Naruto cursed under his breath. He knew that this was not the real deal, since the person in front of them had less chakra than Itachi had the last time they had run into each other, back when Jiraiya was travelling with them around the five nations. However if that person in front of them had any idea how to use the Sharingan they would be in trouble.

"I have to try it." Naruto whispered to Temari, as his hand slowly slid into his pouch. Temari's eyes went wide, knowing exactly what he meant. Taking out the three pronged kunai the blonde focused himself, hoping that this would mean a quick end to this fight.

"Be careful." Temari whispered back, readying her fan in case Naruto's plan didn't work.

The fake Itachi watched as Naruto threw the kunai and although he recognized the kunai, he was not fast enough to pull out his sword before the kunai had already passed him and a flash cut through the trees.

A moment later Temari saw Naruto standing behind the fake Itachi, his sword in hand, blood slowly dripping from the blade. Then she saw the blood flowing out of the chest of the akatsuki member, who looked down with wide eyes, before collapsing on the ground.

"I want you to try to learn something." Jiraiya said as Naruto watched over his team running up and down the trees.

"It's a jutsu that has yet to be performed by someone other than the fourth Hokage, but if anyone can learn it, it would be you." Jiraiya continued, after seeing the curious look on the raven's face. Taking out a strange three pronged kunai, Naruto recognized it from a history book that he had read in the academy.

"The Hiraishin." He whispered in awe as he carefully took hold of the kunai. He had begun to learn the art of sealing as soon as they had started their training trip a year ago. He had seen the seals on the grip of the famous kunai when they were shown to the academy classes but now having spent a year on sealing himself, he knew that he would have to learn a lot more before even having a chance to understand the complex seal that spiralled around the hilt of the kunai. He could make out a few parts, like a small chakra storage seal but he had no idea how they worked together.

"Don't worry about understanding it yet. You will need a lot more knowledge about sealing for that. But from what I can tell, your chakra and that of the Minato Namikaze are very similar. I think that maybe his seal will work for you too. From what he told me, it is really simple; he pushed his chakra into the kunai as he threw it and as soon as the chakra was spent it teleported him to the kunai." Jiraiya told the boy what he knew of the technique.

"So it is like an explosion tag, the more chakra it has the longer is the trigger." Naruto said more as a statement than a question.

"I'll try it." He said after a few moments, smiling at the prospect of learning something so powerful.

"I can't believe it finally worked." Naruto whispered as he lowered his sword, turning around only to rush to Temari and tackle her to the ground.

"Hey, what was that for?" Temari shouted, after half a minute of nothing.

"I thought I saw a tag glowing on his back." Naruto said, a sad look on his face as he remembered the last time he had seen an explosion tag in action.

"It's alright, there is no tag." Temari said softly, as they slowly sat up. She wanted to continue, but was silent as she saw the body of the fake Itachi glow and slowly change.

"What the hell?" She whispered as the glowing died down and they saw the suna headband covering the forehead of the corpse in front of them.

"I don't know." Naruto replied, looking at the unknown man in front of them.

"But honestly I don't care at the moment." He continued as he took Temari's hand and they again disappeared deeper into the trees.

"They what?!" Tsunade screamed as she read the scroll that had been sent to her with Sunagakure's fastest messenger hawk. An angry flick of her hand later a squad of Anbu appeared in front of her. "Get me Kakashi, Kurenai, Hanabi and Konohamaru. Now!" She ordered, watching as they disappeared from her office again.

Reading the scroll again she shook her head.

Hokage-dono,

I have the unfortunate news to tell you that the Kazekage's son Gaara has been captured by the Akatsuki. The two shinobi you had sent to deliver your latest letter to our Kage were close by when the two attackers attacked Gaara and his brother Kankuro. They went to help, but couldn't stop the son of the Kazekage from being captured. The council hereby requests the immediate sending of reinforcements, to help us in the pursuit of the kidnappers. Your two shinobi along with the Kazekage himself have already gone out to find Gaara, but have yet to return. When we get word from the Kazekage we will send you the presumed location of the Akatsuki hideout.

The Suna Council

"I hope you are alright." Tsunade whispered, rolling the scroll back up and looking at the door as she felt eight chakra signatures approach. She had already received the second message, telling her that the hideout had to be somewhere near mount Myoboku.

The four Anbu appeared before her with their targeted people next to them. Waving her hand the Anbu appeared again, leaving the Hokage with the four people she requested.

"Alright, this is an emergency extraction. Temari's brother Gaara has been captured by the Akatsuki. The last known location is somewhere around mount Myoboku, most likely between the mountain and Suna itself. Temari and Naruto are already in pursuit. You are to leave immediately and search for them. If you find them, link up and get Gaara back to Suna. Go." Tsunade ordered, earning a shocked look from Kakashi and Kurenai, as well as surprised and fearful looks from the two genin in the room. However no one complained and they quickly went out of the office.

"Okay, don't worry about provisions, we will be there within a few hours, if you can't keep up, say something and Kurenai or I will carry you." Kakashi said as they stepped outside of Konoha's gates. Everyone nodded and they dashed off into the forest, everyone having the same thoughts.

Let them be safe.