Cuttingmoon57 here, and bringing you another chapter of On the Wings of Destiny. Not much else to say except that I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to it. If I did, I would be rich and I probably wouldn't be wasting my time with school.

"Blah" talking

"Blah" thoughts and technique translations

"Blah" Kyuubi/Inner Persona talking; Recap/Next chapter preview lines

"BLAH" Yelling

(Blah) scene change

"Sister, are you alive over there?" An old man said as he set down his fishing rod and trudged over to his supposed sister's fishing spot. He nudged her a little bit more, causing her to collapse onto the floor.

"Oh dear! What have I..." The elder gentlemen stopped as he heard laughing emerging from the body of his supposedly dead sibling. "Chiyo! Must you always pull such hurtful pranks?"

"Oh, Ebizo. You are just so easy to fool." Chiyo proclaimed as she stood to her feet, holding out her hand to her brother as an apology.

Suddenly, a kunai flew out from the shadows and imbedded itself into Chiyo's arm. The old woman neither moved her arm nor flinched in pain, almost as if the kunai had no effect.

A woman clad in ANBU armor with purple hair and an owl themed mask emerged from the shadows. Her hair was tied into a short ponytail similar to Anko's and she possessed an ornate japanese katana strapped across her back, which she began to gradually draw from its sheath as she step towards the old woman.

Chiyo glared her down threateningly, before a confident smirk appeared on her wrinkly face.

"Well, well. Looks like we have some company."

While tensions die down after a grueling battle, A mysterious enemy has appeared in front of the elder siblings. What is her purpose?

Chapter 14: Trigger

"You know, child; young ones such as yourself should be careful when playing with knives, you might poke someone's eye out or cut off an arm..." Chiyo stated smugly, yanking the kunai out of her arm as if it was nothing. The old woman cracked her fingers, working out the joints, and still holding onto the kunai in her hand. One prepared, she twirled the kunai around in her hand and assumed her own battle stance.

"...Fortunately, that's not the case for me."

The ANBU clad assassin charged at the female Suna sibling at an almost blinding speed, completely drawing out her katana in the process.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with." Chiyo brought out a few more kunai, that mystically began to float in the air without any type of support. "Sōshūjin (Manipulating Attack Blades)."

The assassin continued with her charge, not diverting her path an inch. "Konoha Ryuu: Mikadzuki no Mai! (Konoha Style: Dance of the Cresent Moon)" Chiyo launched her manipulated kunai at the enemy woman, the knives bee lining straight for her. Activating her technique, the purple haired, masked assassin transformed into three illusions of herself, all diverting into three directions.

"To be able to use this technique must mean this girl has connections to Konoha." Chiyo made a mental note as she made a one hundred eighty degree spin, recalling that the user attacked from the users blindside. Just as she predicted, the assassin began to descend on her from the air, swinging her sword in a downward arc as she descended. Chiyo pulled out another kunai from her sleeve and managed to parry the assassin's katana, albeit barely.

"I would have thought that since the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha would have changed the pattern of this technique..." Chiyo remarked cockily, though she felt as if the opponent was smirking under her mask.

Suddenly, the assassin disappeared in puff of white smoke, similar to the...

"Kage Buushin (Shadow Clone)! I wasn't the target after all..." She immediately turned to Ebizo, who had also managed to realize that he was the target. The male Suna sibling dashed away as best he could, though his efforts were in vain. The assassin had already plunged a kunai directly above the man's heart, driving it in with force as he let out a shriveled yelp of pain.

"Shit!" Without wasting a moment, Chiyo summoned two human like puppets from scrolls hidden in her sleeves, both of whom plunged a sharp whip with imbedded kunai as well as a katana into the assassin's body respectively. The first puppet was male with messy red hair while his female counterpart had long, dark brown locks.

Upon the moment of impact, the enemy who stabbed Ebizo turned into the familiar white smoke just as the other had. A shadowy figure out in the distance of the room escaped through a closed window, breaking the glass as she exited and alerting the siblings of her escape. Chiyo, knowing better to take care of her brother than mindlessly chase down someone at this time of night, ran over to her brother, dispelling her summoned puppets in the process.

She checked him over, noting that the kunai he was stabbed with was covered in poison, one she was unfamiliar with as far as she could tell.

"Hang in there, brother." She whispered while keeping her cool.

"To have a shadow clone use Dance of the Cresent Moon so flawlessly while simultaneously having another clone strike the real target. And even I'm unfamiliar with this particular poison..." She thought, doing her best to stop the flow of poison.

"It's too well thought out to just be a random assassination attempt...someone ordered this...but who...?"

(Suna Hospital, Early Morning)

"Where am I..." A certain crimson haired kunoichi thought in a confused manner as her eyelids cracked open and received the morning sun from a nearby window. Scanning her unfamiliar surroundings calmly, she surmised that she was placed in the hospital, if the white walls, newly sterilized equipment, and moans of pain from the next room over where any indignation.

"Oh, looks like you're finally awake." A brown haired nurse remarked happily as she entered the room, carrying in a few fresh sheets and setting them down onto a nearby table.

"What's going on?" Akane asked meekly, her voice rather hoarse at the moment. An obvious frown appeared on the nurse's face. She always did hate to be the bearer of bad news.

"Well, you were brought in last night by that crazy...i mean, by a fellow konoha kunoichi; the one with purple hair. Anyway, the doctors say that you've been injected by a multitude of poison needles."

"Yeah, that' right." The blue eyed voluptuous girl confirmed, remembering her encounter with the umbrella wielding Saburo.

"It seems that it wasn't any ordinary poison. In fact, none of us have never even encountered this poison before. It's effect is more of an acid than a poison though. It's literally eating away at your body, like it was alive..." The nurse continued.

"Isn't there anything you can..." Akane blurted out, before wincing at the pain in her leg. As she recalled, she was hit multiple times in the leg by Saburo's needles.

"We've managed to slow it down by injecting in a substitute for it to feed off of, but at this rate, I can't say what will happen..." The nurse trailed off. Akane was caught in a stunned silence, so the nurse decided to leave, feeling the tension getting to her. "I'll leave you alone for now, just...try to get some rest."

The nurse closed the door on the way out, allowing Akane to have some privacy. The girl was curious as to what her leg actually looked like, so she decided to take a peek at it under the covers. Lifting the sheets off, she was surprised at what she found...

"What the...!?"

Though her leg looked perfectly normal, not counting the puncture wounds from Saburo's needles, the real thing that surprised her was her left arm. From the tips of her fingers to her elbow, her left arm was a splitting image of the actual Kyuubi's arm, fur and everything. Glancing around the room frantically, the long haired girl spied a roll of bandages on a stand next to her bed. She quickly wrapped the Kyuubified arm, pulling it tight.

"This shouldn't be happening. Why is this happening? I was sure that I stopped it...and why...do I feel so weak?"

The blue eyed girl began to stumble as she soon found her strength leaving her.

"Why is it so hard...to breathe..." The girl thought as she began to slip into unconsciousness. Her vision began to grow darker and soon she saw nothing but darkness.

"Naruto-kun..."

(Red Sand Inn, Early Morning)

Similar to Akane, Naruto's eyes opened as well, the light filtering into the hotel window. Though there were three major differences between his and Akane's morning. One, he was rather comfortable in his bed at the moment. Two, he wasn't in any real danger of dying. Last, and most certainly not least, a smooth skinned chinese oriented girl with identical buns for hair was cuddled up to him in bed.

And then it hit him...

"Tenten?"

Scratch number two. He was definitely in danger of dying now.

"Sakura-chan is going to kill me if she sees this."

Naruto's head instantly shot toward Sakura's bed, hoping against all hope that she had left the room or was still sleeping. He obviously earned some points with Kami somehow, who he was willing to bet was of the female persuasion, as Sakura was nowhere to be found. Silently cheering in his head at his newfound luck, Naruto decided to wake up the sleeping beauty next to him, that was clinging onto him for dear life.

"Hey, Ten-chan. Wake up. Ten-chan." Naruto whispered, nudging her on the shoulder lightly. It apparently worked, as she slowly opened her eyes and stared into his.

"Oh, good morning Neji..." She said quietly, while letting out a small, but cute yawn. Naruto surmised that she still was half asleep, if her closed eyelids and her greeting to 'Neji' were any indication.

"Um...Ten-chan, you do realize that you're in my bed right?" He decided he would get right to the point.

"Oh...sorry...Neji." She let out another yawn, still obviously talking in her sleep. "You know...my habit and all." Naruto was curious as to what this habit was, but something told him he would be finding out soon anyway. The sleeping girl climbed out of bed slowly, standing to her feet and rubbing her eyes a little. Naruto mentally began to count down.

"Three...two...one..."

"Naruto!? What are you doing in our room?"

"I could be asking you the same question. Nice pandas by the way." Naruto joked warmly, sending the girl a grin as he referred to her panda oriented red pajamas.

"You've got a nice set of frogs yourself, blondie." She retorted playfully, pointing out his own bedtime wear. The bun wearing girl scanned the room quickly. "I take it I got the wrong room." Naruto confirmed it with a curt nod.

"What are you doing here in Suna anyway, Ten-chan?" The golden haired boy asked.

"Well, Tsunade-sama sent Team Gai here to back up Team Anko. We passed what we thought was the battle sight where you guys fought, but from how destroyed it looked, we figured the problem had already been taken care of. And so, here we are." She answered.

"Ah, I see. That means Lee and Neji are here as well." The boy surmised. "But that doesn't really explain how you ended up in my bed."

"Well, now that I remember more clearly, we arrived in Suna late last night, and we were all completely exhausted so I just jumped on the nearest bed I found. I must have gotten the wrong room though." She finished in an embarassed fashion.

"I thought I heard someone come in last night." The blonde stated matter-of-factly. "But no harm done, right?" He flashed her his signature smile.

She smile as well. "Right."

After that ordeal was all said and done, Tenten decided to take a shower while Naruto began to change out of his pajamas. He found out on his three year training trip that carrying ones clothes in summoning scrolls was a very useful and efficient practice, not to mention it saved space for other things. Finding the necessary scroll he summoned one of his favorite outfits, which consisted of pitch black t-shirt with an orange colored konoha symbol, as well as a pair of tan cargo shorts and his regular black ninja sandals with his headband was wrapped around his left arm. He figured it proper attire for a desert climate.

Figuring better to just wait for Tenten then to go out on his own, Naruto plopped onto Sakura's bed and laid down. Though he noticed that he laid back onto a piece of paper. Curious, he placed if in front of him and began to read.

I went to the hospital to check on Akane. I'll be back in an hour or two. Don't know where Anko-sensei is, though if we know her she's probably planning to jump you as we speak.

P.S. I saw Tenten in your bed. There's a good chance that you're innocent and it's just a misunderstanding, but I don't like to take chances.

You'll get yours soon,

Love Sakura

Naruto stared gravely at the note, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

"So much for earning points with Kami."

"Hey, Naruto." Tenten called out while poking her head out of the bathroom door. "Would you mind turning around while I get dressed?"

"Um...S-Sure..no p-problem..." The blonde adonis managed to stutter out, sweating bullets at an even higher rate. Throughout his trip with Jiraiya, one would think he would be used to a woman undressing or anything of the sort.

"Cute." Tenten giggled inwardly, noticing the nervous state of the male on the other side of the room. "Make sure not to peek, okay." Naruto could have sworn she was tempting him when she said that. She slowly unwrapped the towel around her, the fabric hitting the japanese style floor with a soft thud. The blonde turned a brighter shade of red at the sound.

Apparently, the brown haired kunoichi had also discovered the art of storing clothes in summoning scrolls, which was no surprise from the weapons expert. She summoned the outfit, which was comprised of a regular green t-shirt with an intricate black chinese dragon design coiled around the shirt and simple black cargo shorts.

"Alright, Naruto, you can turn around now." She said playfully as she put her hair back up into buns and tied her headband in it's proper position.

"Finally, wasn't sure how much more of that I could take." The blonde thought inwardly. "Hey, Ten-chan. What was that habit you mentioned before?" He asked curiously. Tenten's eyes grew wide as she realized what he was referring to.

"Um...well...you see..."

Suddenly, a gentle knock came from the direction of the door, and Tenten, being the closest one, answered it. There standing in all his glory was Neji Hyuuga, in casual wear no less, which was made up of a white t-shirt with a large yin/yang symbol embroided on the front and black shorts similar to Tenten's.

"Wow, it's odd to see Neji so informal and casual..." Naruto remarked inwardly.

"Greetings, Naruto-san...Tenten-san."

"Then again, appearances can be deceiving." The blonde finished sarcastically.

"What's up, Neji?" The bun sporting girl asked. "Thank you so much for the save."

"I was approached by Sakura-san earlier this morning. She asked that you come visit Akane-san at the hospital as soon as possible."

"I was just on my way up there anyway. Would you guys like to come?" The golden haired boy asked his fellow Konoha nin. Receiving nods of approval from both, the trio headed off.

(Kazekage Tower: Official Meeting Room, Morning)

"Kazekage-sama, what's this about Ebizo and Chiyo being attacked last night by Konoha ninja?" One of the older officials called out from his seat around the table. Gaara continued to stare blankly into seemingly nothing as he usually did during these meetings. Kankuro secretly wondered if he had somehow trained himself to sleep with his eyes open.

"Sabure, take your seat! Honestly, making such groundless claims." Baki called out in repressed anger. He allowed himself to calm down before continuing. "This is what we were able to gather so far from our investigation unit and an eye witness report from Chiyo-sama. Ebizo and Chiyo's estate was broken into last night by a masked assassin of unknown origins. The assassin was able to avoid Chiyo and strike Ebizo with a poisoned kunai knife using the Mikadzuki no Mai (Dance of the Cresent Moon) technique. The assailer's whereabouts are currently unknown and Ebizo is in critical condition as of the present."

"If I may speak, Baki-sama?" Another council member asked politely, standing to his feet. Baki and the rest acknowledged him accordingly. "I believe that Sabure-san may not be so off. The technique that the assassin used, the Mikadzuki no Mai; if I remember back to the Third Great Ninja War, that technique was used solely by ninja from Konoha. I myself can attest to that, as I was once wounded by the technique during that war...as were you in the Konoha invasion, Baki-sama."

Baki clenched his teeth. This member had him on that one.

"Don't misinterperet me, members of the council. I am not against Konoha in any way. All I am implying is that we keep a watch over the Konoha shinobi and representatives over the next few days. We were lucky this time that no one was killed...but as evidenced by Konoha's current Hokage..."

"...Luck is always sure to run out..."

Baki let out a heavy sigh.

"Thank you, Hissori, for your opinion. That concludes today's meeting." At this, the officials and council members shuffled out of the room, leaving Baki, Kankuro, and Gaara alone once again.

"I don't believe or understand either, Baki, but Hissori did have a point, no matter how you think about it." Kankuro stated gravely, staring off into the distance as he sat on the seal of the open window.

"Yes, I know. This is getting out of hand..." The jounin commented, looking down at another report. "Look at this, another squad of shinobi disappeared. This time it was our own men."

"Do you think we should up the border patrol? Surrounding countries are sure to find out about this and I'm sure someone will make a move." The puppeteer asked. Baki sighed once more after deep thought and a nod of confirmation from Gaara.

"I suppose we have to at this point. Send two squads this time to investigate. The first squad will move on as normal, but the second squad will stay a little ways back. Have the second squad move only if something happens to the first squad." Kankuro nodded in approval before leaving.

"Have faith in the leaf." Gaara began, walking over to the window and looking down as Baki watched him. Naruto, Tenten, and Neji passed by the window, something that even Gaara had to smile at.

"Even during the harshest of storms, the will of fire burns brightly in all of them."

Baki smiled at Gaara's confidence in the Konoha shinobi.

"Kazekage-sama!" A worker at the Kazekage tower called out as he rushed into the room. "It seems that a sandstorm has been spotted in the southern desert. A big one!"

"Understood." Baki remarked. "Notify the citizens immediately, no one is allowed to leave Sunagakure for the time being."

(With Naruto, Neji, and Tenten. Morning)

"Hey, Ten-chan, what's with your's and Neji's clothes? Are they some sort of new design or something?" Naruto asked in a perplexed tone as the three continued to walk down the dusty streets of Sunagakure. He had never seen designs of the sort in Konoha before.

"Oh, well I guess you could say they're new. I made them myself." She replied, blushing slightly at his nickname for her while averting her gaze elsewhere. Quickly overcoming her blush, she pointed to the spot on her shirt right above her heart, where similar brand logos would be placed. In that spot was a hollow square with the number '10' inside of it. "See, that's my logo. There's one on Neji's shirt to."

"Um...what does it mean. I don't get it." Naruto said, staring at it intently, though he failed to realize that it was near the area of her cleavage as well. None of the three seemed to notice this thankfully.

"Well, it means ten squared, which would be like saying ten times ten, or tenten, since things next to each other in math are multiplied."

Naruto stared at her in a peculiar fashion.

"I...think I get it. So it's basically another way to write your name?" Tenten nodded with a smile as a reply. "Wow, Ten-chan, I had no idea that you were so talented. Do you think you could make me a shirt or something? All of these look awesome." The blonde asked, puppy dog (or in his case fox) eyes turned on full blast. Tenten's defenses crumbled almost immediately.

"Sure. If you really want me to." Tenten said, secretly overjoyed that Naruto liked her designs. "But it's gonna cost you. Making clothes costs alot more than you'd expect it to."

"Of course. Wouldn't have it any other way. By the way, Neji. You're the last person that I'd expect to wear something other than 'Hyuuga Brand', though I have to say you look cooler."

"Tenten-san put a lot of work into these as a birthday present. Who was I to reject her. Plus, they're very comfortable."

The three continued to walk side by side down the beaten path, Tenten walking in between of her fellow Konoha shinobi. They seemed to garner a large amount of attention from the locals as they strolled down each street towards the hospital. Of course, most of this attention seemed to be of the female persuasion and directed in equal amounts towards Naruto and Neji.

Tenten could obviously see why though. On her right was the cool, calm, and collected Hyuuga Neji, who was always in control of any situation. An aura of mystery seemed to radiate from his quiet demeanor...and what girl didn't love a good mystery.

And on her left was the wild, foxy, blonde adonis known to all as Naruto Uzumaki, who not only had looks that could top any movie star, but a heart of gold to match as well. His aura was almost the polar opposite of Neji's, as his just screamed openness, vitality, and stamina. And every sane girl loves a guy with...stamina.

Both of them had less than stellar childhoods as far as bad childhood experiences went, yet they both turned out quite alright. She was more familiar with Neji's than Naruto's though. The most she knew about the blonde's past was that most people seemed to hate him for no apparent reason, but even he turned out to be ideal boyfriend material. The both of them were also humble about their accomplishments, a good trait that very few seemed to have. Mabye the most important trait that both had but Naruto had nailed down was their protectiveness of not only their friends and loved ones, but people in general.

It was strange, but up until just now, she had never even noticed what a catch both of them were. Perhaps with all the hustle and bustle of shinobi life, a kunoichi barely had time to think about these things.

Though maybe the reason she had never noticed Neji before was that he was more of a friend and a teammate than anything more, something that she preferred stayed the same. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but there was just something about Naruto that appealed to her more and as far as she knew, Neji wasn't interested in anyone anyway.

But there was one thing she was sure of as the three turned a corner...

She was the target of A LOT of female jealousy...and strangely...it felt good.

"Hey, Ten-chan. I almost didn't notice, but where is Gai-sensei and Lee?" Naruto asked, perplexed as to where the two eccentric shinobi had run off to.

"I believe that Gai-sensei said something about running five-hundred laps around Suna. Even on vacation they never stop." Neji answered dejectedly.

"Wait, vacation?"

"Pretty much." Tenten began to explain. "The only reason we came was to back you guys up, but since you finished off the enemy before we arrived, we decided to have a little mini-vacation."

"Oh, I see...wait, do you guys smell that?" Naruto asked as he began sniffing the air around him.

"I don't smell anything." Tenten remarked.

"It...It smells a lot like...like..." Naruto immediately pivoted on his foot, spinning around one hundred eighty degrees to intercept a fist aimed right for him.

"Snakes..."

"Good morning to you to, Naru-chan." Anko said in a sarcastic tone, withdrawing her fist from his grip. "Your reaction time was a little bit slow."

"And you were too easy to sense." Naruto retorted back playfully. "Where were you last night?"

"Well I came back to the hotel around four o'clock last night. I would've stayed but Ten-chan was in my spot." She remarked with a wink, also using Naruto's nickname for the girl. Both Tenten and Naruto blushed at being found out by her.

"But wait, why were you out so late?" Naruto asked.

"That's what I came to get you for actually..."Anko trailed off, her voice taking on a more serious tone. "...It seems that Akane-chan isn't doing so well."

"Why, what's wrong with her?" Naruto asked with a slightly worried tone.

"It would be better if you saw it yourself. Follow me." The tokubetsu jounin stated gravely as she walked towards the hospital, the three ninja following her in silence.

(Konohagakure, Akimichi family restaurant)

"Hello, and welcome to our establishment. Can I help you?" Choji Akimichi asked rather happily as he greeted a rather tall sinewy guest who had just entered their family restaurant. It was the plump shinobi's day off and he had planned to spend some bonding time with his team. Of course, Asuma still had to work and Ino had somehow been coaxed into teaching at the academy. Luckily, Shikamaru was free as usual, but Choji's father had forced him to help with the restaurant today, so the boy decided to make the best of it.

"I'm here for lunch with someone." The man stated curtly and without emotion. He doned a large, black trench coat that he wore over his hakama as well as army boots. His hair was near snow white and he doned sunglasses to hide his eyes. Choji personally thought that he looked strange.

"Well I could help you find him if..." Choji began, before he was stopped by the man.

"No need...I've found him." The man began to step towards a darker part of the restaurant, where lovers usually sat at to have dinner. Once he reached the back part of the restaurant, he spotted a table where an old man with black hair and bandages across his face sat.

"How nice to see you, Gaidoku-kun." The old man muttered in a craggly voice. Gaidoku sat down in the seat across from the man.

"Let's not waste time with idle chit chat. I'd prefer to keep this meeting strictly professional." The white haired man stated, reaching into his hakama and pulling out a summoning scroll and an envelope.

"Ah, my medicine I take it?" The old man said, grabbing both items. He opened the envelope, revealing a page long letter. "Tell Orochimaru that I will give him a response shortly."

"If that is all then I will be on my way." Gaidoku remarked, standing up from his seat.

"Then I suppose I will be dining alone. Before you leave...I have a task for you."

"And that would be...?"

If Gaidoku didn't know any better, he could have sworn that the old man cracked a smirk...for once.

"I need you to perform a small...jailbreak..."

(Suna Hospital, Akane's Room)

Anko, Naruto, Tenten, and Neji walked briskly down the clean, hospital hallway, heading for room 78, the room where Akane was being kept. Tensions were high and silence was prevelant as the quartet found the correct room number. Anko softly tapped on the door.

"Please, come in." The brown haired nurse said, opening the door slowly as to allow them entry. The moment Naruto stepped into the door, he frantically searched the room for his scarlet haired teammate. His eyes passed over an old woman, who was mixing a few herbs together in the corner, before eventually settling onto the hospitalizied girl.

"Neji, Ten-chan, Anko-sensei; do you mind if I have a few minutes in here alone?" Naruto asked. Neither of the three wished to deny his request, exiting the room with the nurse in tow.

With the four gone, Naruto walked forward towards the bed that she lay unconscious on, staring intensly at her pale face which was the only thing not covered by the hospital blanket.

"Your girlfriend is going to be alright. I know what I'm doing." The old woman reassured him without looking up from her project.

"I know." Naruto flashed a weak smile, while continuing to stare down at Akane's almost etheral face. "So...who exactly are you...?"

"My name is Chiyo. I am a poison specialist." She retorted back curtly, trying to keep the conversation to a minimum.

"Thank you for helping my teamma..." Naruto began to thank her, before she cut him off.

"Do not be fooled into thinking this is an act of generosity. That pink haired kunoichi had something I wanted, to cure my brother of the poison I could not, and in turn I identify this poison on the girl so she can make a proper antidote." Chiyo began, turning to the blonde with a grave look on their face. "I'm not exactly fond of helping a Konoha shinobi, but I refuse to let a person die of a poison that I don't know about."

"Why do you dislike Konoha...?"

"...I wouldn't say hate, boy, so much as...mistrust..."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother, the one that pink hair is treating; he was attacked and poisoned by an assassin last night. She had the mark of the leaf on her mask..." The old woman trailed off, leaving Naruto stunned. He quickly schooled his face back.

"Is there anything you can give to me? Appearance, clothes, smell, techniques...anything will do." The boy asked, hoping to get some answers. If the shinobi was indeed from Konoha, he might be able to identify her.

"She was covered head to toe with the standard Konoha ANBU outfit. She had purple hair though. She also used the Kage Buushin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) and the Mikadzuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon), both of which are native to Konoha." The Suna sibling described.

"Don't you worry, Chiyo-baachan. If you help Akane-chan get better, I'll help your brother in anyway I can and bring this creep that attacked him to justice. That's a promise." Naruto flashed her his signature foxy grin.

"Then it's a deal, but only if you live up to your end of it..." She reminded him, walking back over to the sleeping Akane's bed.

"Of course."

"Chiyo-sama, how is she doing?" Sakura asked as she pushed the sliding door open and entered the room hastily. Neji, Tenten, and Anko stepped into the room behind her, silently closing the door behind them.

"She seems to be stabilizing, but the poison is still eating away at her." Chiyo replied, placing a cold towel on the crimson beauty's head. Neji and Tenten stared at her with looks of sorrow, saddened that they hadn't gotten their sooner to help them. "The poison itself isn't so much of the problem, as it attacks at a relatively slow rate. The problem is that she took so much of it. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's still alive."

"Don't be." Neji, of all people, intervened. "We shinobi of the leaf are much more resilient then most take us to be."

"Neji is right." Sakura added, before her face became more serious. "...but I can't say the same for your brother."

"Can you not cure the poison?" Chiyo asked frightfully.

"I have the ability to...but with the current ingredients at this hospital, I can't make a proper antidote."

"What do you need Sakura-chan? I'll go and get it." Naruto said, walking over to her.

"Well, the last ingredient I need is a small, white flower that grows in the desert and some parts of Konoha, though it's very rare in both places. In Suna, it's called the..."

"Arenohana?" Naruto answered on instinct, the memory of him and Temari on top of the Hokage monument returning to the forefront of his thoughts.

"Actually...yes...how on earth did you know that?" Sakura asked with a tone of surprise.

"We'll worry about that later. Where can I find one?" The blonde asked quickly.

"There's not exactly one specific place that they grow, though they are more frequent in the southern part of the desert." Chiyo explained.

"Got it, then I'm off. You guys stay here. It'll be quicker with just me." Naruto said as he attempted to run out of the door.

"Hold on, Naruto." Tenten said tossing him an empty summoning scroll. "You'll need this. Its so the flower won't get damaged. Plus it'll be easier to carry." Naruto muttered a word of thanks towards her.

"There's also one more thing." Sakura began. "After studying both of the poisons and running various tests, it seems that while different in some ways, they are essentially the same type of poison, which means we can cure Akane as well." The medic nin said confidently. "Try to bring back more than one."

Naruto smiled.

"Yes ma'am." And with that, he took off down the hall running, a newfound resolve flowing through him.

"Excuse me, Sakura-san. You did say that the poisons were virtually the same, correct?" Neji asked inquisitively. Sakura gave him a nod of confirmation. "If that's true, to use the same poison would mean that Akane's opponent and whatever caused Ebizo-sama to gain the poison are somehow linked; though it's just a hunch."

"Neji's correct on that one. Two unrelated ninja using the same poison can't be just a coincidence." Anko, who had been relatively quiet throughout, added.

"So, do you think...?" Tenten began before being cut off by Sakura.

"Yeah, Ketsueki and this mystery assassin of ours are both definitely linked somehow."

(Sunagakure Gates, Afternoon)

"What do you mean I can't leave?" Naruto asked in an agitated fashion as he attempted to walk past the guards, who continuously blocked his path.

"We have reports that a large sandsotrm has been spotted in the southern desert region and we have orders not to let anyone leave Sunagakure until it's passed!" The guard retorted just as agitatedly. "It's not safe to go now, you'll die without a doubt. You can leave when it's over."

Naruto slammed his foot into the loose sand, making a small thud in the process.

"I don't have time for that. I have to go get those flowers so Sakura-chan can make the antidote. Otherwise, Akane-chan and that old guy Ebizo will..."

"Wait, did you say Ebizo?" The guard asked him in astonishment. "Say no more, go and get whatever you need. Just come back alive."

Naruto smirked.

"Alive is the only way I could come back, isn't it?" The blonde took off past them down the path.

"Wait kid, you'll need these." The guard tossed him a pair of goggles. "It'll keep the sand out of your eyes."

"Thanks guys, I'll be back in no time." The blonde began to pick up speed, finally exiting the gates and dashing out across the barren wasteland that was the desert.

"You know, Kazekage-sama will have our heads if he finds out we let that kid go." The second guard said to his peer.

"I've got faith the boy will come back. After all, he did beat the Kazekage once."

(Konohagakure High Security Prison, Afternoon)

They hadn't even known what hit them.

Then again, that was simply par for the course when Gaidoku was doing his job. His job today was performing a jailbreak, and he preferred to go about his job thoroughly, making sure enemies were completely incapacitated...or dead; it depended on the mood he was in. And right now, he was in a good mood.

The white haired man continued to walk past the cells of various criminals and missing nin of Konoha, most begging him to free them. Of course he payed them no mind. He was here to release just one man and one man only.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the purple eyed shinobi arrived at the cell of his objective. A dirty blonde haired boy, around the age of sixteen or seventeen, lay disheartened on the less than sterilized floor of his cell. Patches of dirt covered his clothes and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in a week or two. Gaidoku stared down at him.

"What is it that you seek?"

(Wind Country, Southern Desert. Late afternoon)

"Damn it, I wish I would have brought some water or something." Naruto thought as he trudged through the sand, the rumored sandstorm already hitting him in full force. It was already bad enough as it was, treking through a hot desert without any letup from the overbearing light and heat of the sun, but their just had to be a sandstorm to, and it certainly lived up to its namesake of storm. Luckily, that guard had supplied him with a pair of goggles, otherwise finding this flower would be near impossible.

Suddenly, an abnormally strong gust of wind and sand blew into the blonde, knocking him over into the sand covered ground below him. The Kyuubi container struggled to get back up, but managed to do just that, planting his feet firmly in the sand.

"Come on, move...it's just a stupid sandstorm."

Naruto continued push through the storm, which was for some reason beginning to shift directions.

"Finally, it's beginning to let up." The blonde cheered inwardly, until after pushing through for a couple of minutes was able to perform a light jog. He thought it was odd how the sand ridden winds suddenly switched directions, but decided not to think of it further.

That would prove to be a fatal mistake.

The winds that had been pushing him back so forcefully before were now actually pulling him back...almost as if it was sucking him in.

"What the hell? A tornado...made of sand?"

True to Naruto's thoughts, the sandy winds began to spiral inwards, creating a large vortex of sand similar to something Gaara could come up with. The blonde shinobi began to be drawn towards the tan spiral, before finally succumbing to the force and drawn into it. The winds began to violently rack Naruto's body, as he thrown around the tornado violently.

Various memories of Akane began to run rampant throughout the blondes mind.

"Oh, good morning, Naruto-kun. Did you sleep well?" Akane asked, greeting Naruto with a smile.

"Naruto-kun lets go in that one. It has really pretty lights." The blue eyed girl pointed out a sign to the blonde and Tenten before running off towards it.

"What do you think, Naruto-kun?" The scarlet haired kunoichi asked the Kyuubi jailor his opinion on her outfit.

Naruto's eyes flashed open and his resolve skyrocketed.

"Like hell I'm losing to some tornado..."

The blonde was almost to the top of the vortex at this point, but he figured if he timed it just right, he might be able to escape the tornado. He barely managed to hold out his hand in front of him, the same way that he would hold a rasengan.

"I've never succeeded with one hand before..." The boy did his best to calm and stabilize himself amidst the tornado like winds blowing him around. Chakra began to swirl around his hand as with the regular formation of the rasengan...though this one began to grow bigger...

"Odama...Rasengan...(Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)!!"

The chakra sphere in Naruto's hand grew to massive proportions as it's unstable shell gave way, causing a massive explosion of chakra. The blast of the technique was enough to disrupt the sand vortex completely and free Naruto of the tornado. Of course, the plan had its negative points as well, such as that same blast knocking him away as well. The shinobi landed in a sand dune a few dozen feet away, taking away some of the impact of the fall.

He considered lying in the sand for a moment, as he was exhausted after that little ordeal, but he quickly stood to his feet and continued on his trek. He knew he had absolutely no time to waste. Akane and Ebizo were counting on him.

"Tajuu Kage Buushin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!" Naruto called out as nearly one hundred clones appeared around his position. The dopplegangers all spread out in various directions, intent on searching for any sign of the flower.

"Don't worry, Akane-chan. I'm coming." Naruto thought as he dashed off in his particular direction.

"I've already lost one teammate to a snake; I'm not going to lose another to the venom."

(Sunagakure Hospital, Akane's Room, Late Evening)

"This is bad. Where is Naruto?" Sakura asked, doing everything in her power to keep Akane physically stable. "Tenten, bring me some more cold towels." The bun sporting girl did as she was asked. The red haired kunoichi was by this time barely holding on. The poison had managed to move itself into her respiratory area and had already begun breaking down her lungs. Sakura had been consistently performing a mystical palm technique for the last two hours, but she had no idea how long that would last.

Suddenly, A nurse flung open the door.

"Sakura-sama, it seems that a blonde haired boy was spotted walking towards Sunagakure. A few of the guards have already been sent to retrieve him. Naruto-sama made it back." She exclaimed, smiles and victorious smirks lighting across the room.

"Good, get him here as fast as you can." Sakura ordered.

"No need, we've got the scroll right here. He said get it here by any means and as fast as we could." The nurse handend the pink haired medic nin the same summoning scroll that Tenten had given to him. Muttering a small 'thanks', the kunoichi immediately exited the room and ran down the hall to mix the flowers with the other ingredients.

(An Hour Later)

Anko, Neji, Tenten, and the now returned Naruto all sat in the waiting room on couches, eager to find out the fate of Akane and Ebizo. Well, three were eager anyway...Naruto had fallen asleep, on Tenten's lap no less. Though it was understandable as it probably had taken all of his energy to find those flowers.

The chinese oriented kunoichi was currently playing in the messy, golden hair of the Kyuubi container, curling strands of it around her fingers and ruffling it every so often. Neji sat on the other side of Tenten, reading one of the miscellaneous periodicals he had located on the coffee table in front of him. Anko, who sat next to him, had been intently watching Tenten, wishing she was in the same position that the kunoichi was.

Of course, she could always go for runner up...

"Hey Neji, can I play with your hair for..."

"No." The boy answered curtly, not even looking up from his magazine.

Anko huffed.

"Jerk."

Suddenly, the door to the infirmary opened, with Sakura stepping out and taking off her mask and gloves.

"Akane and Ebizo are now officially poison free." The medic nin remarked, giving everyone and nice guy pose. "All thanks to Naruto."

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked. Sakura tossed her the summoning scroll that held the flowers Naruto had gathered. Placing it on the table and making a quick handsign, the brown haired girl released the seal.

"...how many did this boy get? I thought they were rare." Tenten asked in astonishment as flowers literally filled the scroll.

"He got twenty three...and they are rare." Sakura commented. "You might want to save those, I'm sure they go for a high price because of their scarcity." Tenten opted to follow her advice, sealing the flowers back into the scroll.

"So is Akane-san able to come back yet?" Neji asked.

"Unfortunately, not yet. The amount of poison that she acquired really ate away at her. She'll be here for another two days while I patch her up." The emerald eyed girl explained. "As for Ebizo-san, he's just old. So he'll be here for the same amount of time."

"Then for the time being...Team Anko is safe." The snake jounin remarked as she stood up and gave her own thumbs up to everyone. "Let's head back to the hotel."

(Red Sand Inn, Hour before midnight)

"Sakura-chan, not so rough okay." Naruto whined as Sakura wrapped bandages around his torso, pulling them rather tightly.

"Quit whining, Naruto, and just stay still." Sakura retorted back, her face red in embarrassment from having to be so close to him. "It's not any easier for me..." She continued to bring the bandages upwards, finally making it up to his arms. Once finished, she patted the bandages down to make sure they were tight. "There, how does that feel?"

"Pretty good actually. Thanks, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled, with his teammate smiling back...

...Which was then followed by a crushing blow to the blonde's face.

"That...was for this morning." The medic nin remarked, still fuming at the thought of Naruto and Tenten in the same bed.

The girl in question then opened the door slowly, holding the blonde's shirt and shorts in her arms.

"Alright, Naruto-kun. I did what I could for your shirt but...IS HE ALRIGHT!?" Tenten asked, seeing the blonde face up on the floor with his pupils dark and empty as well as a river of blood flowing from his mouth, not to mention the large bruise on his face.

"He'll be fine...I held back." She replied. "What are the those for?"

"Oh, Naruto's clothes got really torn up, so I decided to sow them up for him." Tenten answered, setting them down on the table. "Are you sure he's okay? He doesn't look like he's breathing...or alive for that matter." She asked with a sweatdrop.

"Don't worry, he'll be up by morning. He deserved it anyway."

"What exactly did he do?"

Images of a sleeping Tenten with nothing but a loose nightgown on top of a half naked Naruto poured into her mind.

"Don't worry about it."

The oriental kunoichi shrugged it off, reaching into her belongings for a regular sized notebook and a pencil. Grabbing them, she took a seat on the bed and flipped open the little black book to a page with some drawings on it.

"I really like that one how you did this one, Tenten." Sakura remarked, pointing to a particular portrait in the notebook. The portrait was a picture of Tenten, her hair tied into two braids Her hair also contained purple highlights throughout. The portrait doned a purple, Chinese themed shirt with two intertwining dragons running up the middle. Lastly, she sported a tight pair of jeans and two purple bracelets made of beads on each wrist.

"I wish I made this one. You know Ayame-san, from the ramen stand?" Tenten asked. "She came up with this one."

"Wow, I didn't know Ayame could draw like that." Sakura said, marvelling at the picture. "This would be perfect for you on a date once you make it." Sakura was already aware of Tenten's clothing designer hobby.

"That's what I'm counting on." She accidentally whispered, covering her mouth and letting out a gasp as she realized she said it out loud.

"Well, well..." An evil glint manifested in the pink haired kunoichi's eyes. "So this is for a date...but the question is with who?"

"No one!!" The bun sporting girl replied hastily.

"Is it Neji?"

"No. We're just friends."

"Lee?"

"No. Too hyper."

"Kiba? Shikamaru?"

"Too arrogant. Too lazy."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Sakura asked flatly. Tenten shook her head. "Fine, but I'll find out eventually."

Just then, the bathroom door opened, steam flowing into the room by the gallons along with a certain tokubetsu jounin who had just had the most relaxing bath she's had in a long time. She stepped out into view with nothing but a towel wrapped around her.

"Did I miss anything importa...is Naru-chan okay?" Anko asked, looking over at the blonde's body lying limply against the wall.

"He's fine." The medic nin repeated once again. "We were just looking at some clothes that Tenten's designing."

"Oh really?" Anko said with a smirk, walking over to the kunoichi. "Does she do lingerie also? I need some new outfits since my last ones are all worn out."

Sakura and Tenten both refused to reply to that. There was just some places that you never went...ever.

"Relax, I was kidding. Anyway, time for bed kiddies."

"Something tells me she was completely serious..." Sakura thought gravely, a sweatdrop forming on her head.

"Um...Anko-sensei, there are only two beds..." Tenten pointed out. Anko thought for a moment, before coming to a decision.

"Then we'll just have to double up I suppose. You and Sakura take that one, and Naru-chan and I will take this one." She answered with an innocent smile, quickly retrieving the blonde from the other side of the room and tucking him into her bed.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Anko-sensei." Tenten said, crossing her arms.

"And why do you say that, Ten-chan?"

"Because...you might do something to him while he's asleep..."

"So are you saying that he should sleep with you? I doubt we should have a repeat of this morning."

"So I accidentally picked the wrong room. So sue me. It's better than getting..."

Growing tired of their petty argument, Sakura instinctively got on the other side of her bed and pushed it forward, slamming it into Anko's bed and creating one large futon able to accomodate the four of them.

"There we go. Problem solved..." The kunoichi stated. She grabbed the still unconscious Naruto and dragged him to the far end of the bed. She then placed herself right next to him, after switching into her pajamas, her body acting as a wall between the Kyuubi container and the rest of the room tenants. "Any complaints?" Both kunoichi shook their heads in defeat.

"Good, then go to sleep."

The two did as Sakura commanded, jumping into bed next to her after changing. After an hour, all four were finally asleep...all except for Anko, who's eyes were currently wide open. She looked over to the others momentarily. Naruto was sleeping peacefully as she expected, with Sakura cuddled up to him. Tenten was apparently having a dream as she kept repeating someone's name in her sleep. The snake mistress couldn't exaclty tell which name it was, thought it started the letter 'N'.

She did her best to try and get some sleep, but she was too tense. That, and she was nervous about the fact that the cursed seal on her neck had been acting up ever since that battle with Ketsueki, even inside Sunagakure. But there was one other thing she was concerned over...the real reason that she was chosen to come on this mission in place of Kakashi.

"I can't waste any more time...the real mission begins tomorrow..."

(Konohagakure High Security Prison, Ealier that Day)

"Who are you...?" The boy asked in an audible whisper.

"Does it matter?" Gaidoku answered cryptically.

"Then why are you here?" The boy asked once more, this time in a low growl.

"My employer has taken an interest in you is in need of your services."

"What can he give to me?" The adolescent quiered, taking an interest in the conversation.

"Power, wealth, fame, women; anything a man could want can be yours..."

"What about...Justice...?" The boy lifted his eyes, staring straight at the masked man in front of him. The man let out a deep chuckle.

"My boy, the main purpose of our organization is justice."

A malevolent smirk crossed the boy's face, as he stood to his feet.

"You've got yourself a deal then..."

Gaidoku matched the boy's smirk, opening the rusty cell door as he did.

"Very well...Daichi."

As Anko prepares for her real assignment, Gaidoku has made contact with the least expected person. The trigger to this conspiracy has been pulled. The recoil is yet to come...

Next Chapter: Shifting Sands

(End Chapter Fourteen)

A/N: Alright here's chapter fourteen. A few things. I got this out so fast because I'm going to camp next week and I wanted to get it out as fast as possible, hence why it might feel a bit rushed. To be honest, it was more of a filler chapter than anything, with only patches of plot advancing happening. One of the outfits mentioned in the chapter (The one that Akane drew in Tenten's notebook) was inspired by a picture on deviant art made by Pumpkin-Girl. The link should be on my page a little bit after this and all credit for that one outfit goes to her/him (though by the name I'm guessing she is female.)

One last thing, I changed the title of chapter eleven because I wanted to use that title for next chapter, as it fit more with the content. No actual content in chapter eleven was changed, solely the title. Oh, and kudos to anyone who can still remember who Daichi is. If not, chapter six is your answer.