Naruko! We'll save you!

Sai lead the Konoha gang up the side of a jagged hill. The gang trailed a good six yards behind him.

"Slow down, Sai." Ten Ten called to the raven. Sai didn't respond but his pace slowed down reasonably.

Ino looked at the surrounding area noting the overgrown grass and shrubs. Some thorny veins twisted themselves clumsily on the forest floor. The girl sighed. "Good thing I wore shorts instead of pants…"

Hinata looked worriedly behind her but came face to face with a stoic, murderous, face.

"What?" Gaara spat at the teen who 'eeped' before replying.

"I-I was w-worried that th-those people might b-be following us…"

Gaara shook his head. "This place…dangerous." Hinata tilted her head to the side in confusion.

Noticing the girl's confusion, Temari translated, "He means that we're the only ones stupid enough to venture to the heart of a forest which undoubtedly promises death. So those guys probably won't come after us."

Temari gave an encouraging smile, making Hinata smile as well, "Thank you, Temari. And thank you, Gaara." Right after Hinata said this, Neji pushed Hinata further up to the front of their gang.

"N-Neji?" Hinata looked up at her older cousin.

Without looking at Hinata, Neji answered, "Don't talk to them, Lady Hinata. They look dangerous."

The shy girl looked down and whispered in an inaudible voice, "But I want to…They're nice."

Neji turned around, looking for something. Hinata saw as his face grew bright, indicating that he's spotted his target. "Hinata, don't talk to dangerous people." With that, Neji hurriedly ran off to talk with Ten Ten.

Hinata smiled. Neji was FINALLY taking interest in girls. And here, she thought he was asexual…

"Ten Ten," Neji exclaimed as he ran toward her. "Umm… your bag seems heavy, should I hold it for you?"

Ten Ten stood there, a little confused, but then that confusion turned to a smile. "It's okay, you're holding yours and Hinata's bag so…"

Neji shook his head and said matter-of-factly, "It's not heavy at all."

Ten Ten shook her head, "Hinata should really carry her own bag. She's so stuck up that she can't even do that. That's a noble for you…"

Neji shook his head, once again, "Lady Hinata doesn't make me, I choose to."

"Oh, then I guess you just don't have any self respect, huh?" Ten Ten laughed at the face Neji made.

Sakura tripped over a rock and was heading straight for the jagged rocks but her fall was broken when a boy, clad in green, saved her.

"Are you okay, Miss Haruno?" Lee asked giving her a weak smile.

"You look familiar…" Sakura started as she stared up a lee, still in his arms. "And I don't mean on the ship. Hmmmm…"

Franticly, Lee tried to shoo away the subject, "A-Anyway, A delicate flower such as yourself must be more careful!"

"I know!" Sakura shouted, "You're that weird stalker dude from when I was shooting Romeo and Juliet!"

"Yo, Lee, you were a stalker?" KIba smirked.

"It was a mistake!" Lee shouted at Kiba, Then turned to Sakura, "Miss Haruno, you must believe that I was not stalking you! I was out in daylight and told you that I wanted your autograph…"

"But then you ended up following me through the whole set when I told you I was too busy." Sakura ended.

"B-But…" Lee sniveled.

"People like you make me sick." Sakura proclaimed as she pushed herself out of Lee's arms. Sakura started walking away "You're lucky I didn't get a restraining order."

Lee's eyes turned teary, "Miss Haruno… WAAAAH!" With that, He left to find his childhood friend, Ten Ten, to console him.

The sun was nearly setting at this point. Sai worriedly looked at the sky knowing that they'd be forced to stop when the light goes out. The group followed him, most of them tired and sore from the day's walk.

"Sai!" Kiba called. "Let's call it a day. Everyone's tired." Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Sai shook his head furiously, "No we have to find Naruko." The raven took a step forward but immediately looked back when he heard a loud shriek.

Ino's leg was literally getting devoured by a huge plant. Just imagine a Venus fly trap but a thousand times bigger. Yelling, Ino kicked and twisted her leg, trying to get it out of the monster's drooling mouth.

"Too troublesome… Shikamru mumbled to himself as he charged at the mouth. With a quick flick of his pocket knife, Shikamaru was easily able to cut the delicate flesh of the monster. Ino fell to the ground but was thankful that her leg got out okay.

"Thanks, Shika." Ino sighed. The group turned to face their leaders, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sai.

"What was that!" Kiba demanded.

Sai was completely baffled and tried to calm himself while Orochimaru quickly tried to put away his camera. That was a great scene for the film…

Sai put his hand to his head, "I-"

"Aaaaah!" The group looked back to see Hinata screaming in the air. She was held up by a huge vine that connected to another giant, monstrous plant. Immediately, A swarm of vines came out of the trees and up from the ground. The group pulled out any of the sharp objects they had.

"Nii-sama!" Hinata cried as the vine tried to thrust her into the mouth of the plant.

Neji leapt into alertness grabbing his pistol in one hand. He lunged forward fully intent of ripping the monster's throat clean out when kiba tumbled past him in a burly, extremely clumsy whirlwind og power.

"I'll save you Hinata!" Kiba declared as he charged at the enemy. And he would have succeeded too if it had not been for a particular root which hung out in an odd angle from the ground. Kiba tripped langing in an ungraceful mess on the floor.

As if on impulse, Gaara swept past the fallen brunette and headed straight toward the plant. With an inhumane strength, Gaara ripped the soft, green, vines apart with his bare hands. The blood from the monster showered his body.

Gaara smiled, "Blood…"

Hinata blushed, "Th-Thank you, Gaara." Kiba growled low in his throat at the redhead but tactfully shut up about it, hoping not to bring any more attention to his failure.

Orochimaru put away his camera that he had been using to tape Hinata's rescue, "All right, time to retreat," The gang wasted no time running away from the mutant plants.

Naruko looked down at the sleeping form on her bed. She smirked, "My chance to escape."

About my late update…sorry…

Unfortunately, this does not mean that I will update each week now (thus the ten reviews rule is broken), school's been piling up.

I'll see you a lot sooner then last time, bye! And happy Valentines Day to everyone! ~ ^_^

BTW: I'm not giving up on this fic!