17This is a total AU with little to no resemblance to the canon.
Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto
Chapter 1: THE MEETING
We were back in the Land of Rivers. Pakkun has left us to find Team Gai and lead them to us. From the position of the sun I guessed that it was three or four hours past noon. The red rectangular barrier that we had spotted on the horizon awhile ago just disappeared. A few moments later the sound of a muffled explosion reached our ears and we all tensed involuntarily. I calculated that if we continue at our current pace we would arrive there in a little under fifteen minutes.
Our team was moving in a wide square formation with that old lady Chiyo in the centre, not that she needed any protection if the speed with which she had attacked Sensei was anything to go by. Sensei was leading with Sasuke-teme to his left. He kept removing his headband at regular intervals to inspect the surroundings with his sharingan. Guess, he doesn't trust teme enough to do it for him. Even in my exhausted state I managed to snicker mentally at my own joke. Sakura nee-chan and I were bringing up the rear.
I was beyond exhausted by then and by the looks of it my team mates were not faring any better. Three days of continuous travel from Konoha to Suna at a hurried pace, with short breaks and a Kazekage with even shorter temper as travelling companion, is no joke. We only got half a day's rest before we had to set out again with Chiyo baa-chan to track the Akatsuki. On top of that Onee-chan had to heal the Kazekage's eldest son's wounds and remove Sasori's poison from his body. I nearly missed a tree branch on my next leap due to the utter fatigue in my muscles, which screamed for respite.
"Nawaki, eat a food pill.", I heard my sister's voice coming from my left, prompting me to make a disgusted face.
"Don't make that face, idiot! They taste bad because of all the nutrients and boosters in it.", her indignant voice floated to my ears. I took a pill from my jounin vest and popped it in my mouth without any further argument. I did not want to be on the receiving end of my sister's wrath, just because I found the food pills made by her to be disgusting.
"Get ready and be careful. The residual chakra in the air is very high even at this distance. ETA five minutes.", Kakashi-sensei's usual nonchalant tone was unusually stern and on edge.
We all acknowledged his words, while Sasuke… well he grunted as usual. I looked over to my sister to check on her. Her pink hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and the usual vibrant colour was dull with sweat and grit. Her green jounin vest had a single blood stain on the right side. Probably from when she was healing Kankurou. She looked less fatigued compared to the last time I checked , she must have followed her own advice and eaten a food pill.
"We are here.", Sasuke's clipped tone made me face forward to take in the picture presented to us.
We stopped at the edge of a clearing and going by the looks, it wasn't there until recently. The ground was wet with puddles of water scattered around. Shredded and splintered trees lay around carelessly. The burn marks from the barrier that we had seen earlier was clearly visible on the ground at the edge of the clearing. All those things dwarfed in comparison to what held my attention then. There was a sizable crater in the middle of the clearing, with pieces of what appeared to be broken puppets strewn around it haphazardly. The scene before us could very well be compared to the devastation left in the wake of some force of nature.
I was brought out of my musings when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked behind to see my sister looking at something to our far left. I faced in that direction to see Gaara, the Kazekage's youngest child, lying motionless on the ground under the shade of a tree, with a raven haired man standing in front of his form, kunai in each hand. He had a cloth mask up to his nose very much like the one our teacher had. He was clad in a sleeveless red haori with black flames adorning the bottom edge, under which he had a dark blue full sleeved shirt. Black pants with weapon pouches, black gloves and boots completed his clothing. Thus, the part of his face above his mask was effectively the only part of his body open for the world to see. I could also make out the handle of a blade peeking out from under his haori, probably a katana. No village symbol was present on his clothing, neither did he have any symbol resembling the red clouds that the members of the Akatsuki supposedly wear.
Sensei, Sasuke and old lady Chiyo were walking towards the man, with Sensei speaking in low tones. I suppose me and Sakura onee-chan are backup since we were left behind. Damn, why do I have to be the backup?
"I know what you are thinking, Otouto.", my sister's even tone cut through my thoughts as her grip on my shoulder tightened. I wasn't going anywhere, my shoulders slumped in defeat.
Suddenly, the man's hand shot out and the kunai that was previously in his right hand embedded itself in front of Sensei's feet. The next moment I was beside Chiyo baa-chan while Onee-chan was beside Sasuke, to the right and left of Sensei respectively. My hands were already at the last seal of my jutsu and waiting for a signal to release it.
"I said that's close enough", the man's stoic voice was unnerving but at the same time it sounded tired. I guess we were not the only exhausted ones in the clearing. I think the five of us could easily take out the shinobi before us if the need arose.
As if hearing my thoughts , the shinobi turned his gaze towards me and pinned me with his steeled cerulean eyes. At that moment, I knew that one mistake was all it would take for me to never face the monstrous strength of my sister or mother, and right then even breathing seemed to be a huge mistake on my part.
The man standing before us was tall, as tall as Kakashi-sensei. Most of his face was covered but I could make out that he was not much older than me. He was lean but every part of his body screamed of strength. His long and spiky dark hair was tied behind him in a ponytail very much alike Otou-san. Now that I was closer and had a clear sight of him, the medic in me was already categorizing his injuries. His clothes had cuts in a few places but the little amount of skin visible through those cuts was unbroken albeit covered in dried blood. Strange, there's blood but no visible wound. He looked tired and seemed to be having trouble breathing. Broken puppets. Sasori. Poison. I connected the dots and had a somewhat clear picture of what happened here. This man had fought Sasori it seems and has been poisoned.
I saw him shift his attention towards my brother before speaking, "Drop the hand seal, boy."
I didn't dare to look away from him to check on my brother. A part of me knew beyond doubt that the man before us was responsible for the destruction around us, and any man who could come out of such confrontation with only cuts and tears on his clothes was not to be trifled with. I felt Sasuke tense beside me. I guess even he is not arrogant enough to dismiss the threat before us. In spite of all this we still had no inkling to what this mysterious man's intentions are.
"As I said before Shinobi-san, we are the members of the team sent to retrieve the Yondaime Kazekage's son from the members of the Akatsuki who kidnapped him.", Kakashi-sensei spoke up, obviously trying to placate the increasing tension.
"Identify yourselves first.", the man spoke up again in his tense but tired voice, addressing Sensei.
And like every other thing which is inevitable, my brother's brash nature finally came through, "Oi! You are the one holding Gaara captive, you should identify yourself first!"
"Quiet, Nawaki!", Sensei hissed. I have never seen Sensei so tense before, not even when Zabuza had attacked us in the Land of Waves back when we were Genin.
Strangely, the man's previously hard eyes reflected something akin to a little mirth at my brother's outburst, as if he had seen it before.
"I am not holding Gaara-kun captive, but you will identify yourselves before you go anywhere near him.", this was the most that I had heard him speak since the beginning of our meeting.
Lady Chiyo who had been quiet all this time finally spoke up, "I am Chiyo of Suna. I am accompanying this team of Leaf Jounin in their search for the Kazekage's son."
"Hatake Kakashi, captain of this Jounin team, along with Senju Sakura, Senju Nawaki and Uchiha Sasuke.", Sensei spoke, pointing towards each of us as he introduced us.
"Show me your Sharingan Kakashi… you too Uchiha.", the man was having more trouble speaking with each passing moment. Nonetheless, Sensei removed his headband to reveal his Sharingan as Sasuke activated his.
"You can never be too careful these days, I had to be sure.", the man sighed before falling to his knees. Gaara, who was lying behind him, dissolved into a puddle of water.
The poison seemed to be taking its toll. The medic in me wanted to rush to his aid, I already had three antidotes to Sasori's poison with me, but we still didn't know his identity. On top of that the person we thought to be Gaara turned out to be water clone.
Perhaps it was the man's vulnerable state that emboldened us. Lady Chiyo was the first to act, she took out a kunai from her sleeves and pointed it towards the man, "If you value you your life you will tell us where Gaara is, Shinobi."
Sasuke unsheathed his chokuto and Nawaki took out his scythes. Kakashi sensei and I took out our kunai and settled into our offensive stances, a warning for the enemy that we were prepared to strike.
The man chose not to reply, instead he glared at us. Nonetheless, he complied as two of his clones appeared from the forest behind him with an unconscious Gaara supported between them. Carefully laying Gaara on the ground they too dissolved into water. Lady Chiyo moved to Gaara's side to check on him while our team stayed with the man.
"I am not your enemy, so put away your weapons before you hurt yourselves.", the man seemed to be irritated.
"You are in no position now to tell us what to do Shinobi-san. Like you said we can never be too careful nowadays and we still don't know who you are.", it was Kakashi sensei who spoke up, ready to attack with his sharingan revealed.
The killing intent that flooded the clearing was oppressive enough to send us reeling back. I was almost down on my knees and was gasping for breath. Sasuke and Nawaki were not faring any better, and even Kakashi Sensei was barely holding up. Multiple splashes of water alerted me that the man had used jutsu, but I was barely holding up to do anything.
I turned my head on hearing gasps coming from my team. The sight that greeted me confirmed my earlier thoughts of how outmatched we were. Nawaki and Sasuke were each held by two of the man's clones with kunai held to their exposed necks, their own weapons lying before them. Nawaki was cursing under his breath while Sasuke was glaring at the man, his sharingan spinning and radiating every ounce of hatred that he could muster. The puddles before them confirmed that they had at least dispatched some water clones before they had been taken captive. Kakashi sensei had managed to block two clones but a third stood with his kunai pointed towards the base of his brain, one push and it would be over for him. Two more clones stood behind Lady Chiyo, who silently continued checking on Gaara but her tensed jaw showed that she was not ignorant to the predicament we found ourselves in. I was the only one who was not held captive by a clone.
"Like I said before I am not your enemy and you would have been dead if I had been one.", the man paused to look at me, his eyes calculating as if confirming something.
When I was a young child I would feel helpless when people teased me for my hair and forehead, when I became a genin I used to feel helpless in face of danger and always rely on my teammates but that was the past. My mother had made sure of it, I had made sure of it. I am a jounin now, so right then I was not sure what made me more angry… seeing my teammates held captive or this stranger treating me like a helpless doll who was not worth wasting a water clone on. I felt all my restrictions break away as the rage in me threatened to erupt as my chakra started to move towards my limbs, concentrating and preparing for the onslaught.
The man's calm but tired voice halted my actions, "I didn't want to anger the only person who could remove this poison from my body, which I am sure you have already noticed, but it seems I have unknowingly done exactly that by not treating you as a threat. It seems that the byakugou and her medical skills were not the only thing your mother passed onto…"
The unconscious man lay face down in the wet and muddy ground without finishing what he intended to say. His water clones disappeared with his consciousness and I was left wandering as to who exactly the man was to know about the significance of the purple diamond on my forehead. Very few people has seen the power of the byakugou and anyone outside our village had not survived to tell about it.
My hand shot out almost reflexively to catch Sasuke's hand to stop him from beheading the stranger with his blade. His irate sharingan shifted towards me to question my actions.
"What are you doing Sakura?",Sasuke asked.
"He knew about the byakugou but I have never met him before. He also seems to know my mother, and any person my mother shows the byakugou and lets live must be an ally.", I replied matching his glare.
"He could be an enemy who is simply stronger than your mother.", Sasuke shot back. Nawaki didn't say anything but he seemed to agree. Sensei who seemed to be in deep thought finally spoke up.
"And yet we are here alive. Like the man said we would be dead if he was an enemy."
"This could be an trick to make us lower our guard.", Nawaki piped in.
"Look around you Nawaki, do you think a person capable of this needs cheap tricks. He could have held you captive and forced me to heal him at the very beginning.", I replied neither taking my eyes off Sasuke nor releasing his hand.
"I agree, still we will be careful.", Kakashi said moving to tie the man's hands with chakra reinforced wires. He motioned for Nawaki to help him to move the man. They settled him against the trunk of the tree near which Gaara was lying with Lady Chiyo checking on him. Nawaki used to his mokouton to bind the man to the tree just to be cautious as I moved to apply the antidote.
"Gaara is alright, except for a concussion. Probably from the fight with the explosive using Akatsuki member.", Lady Chiyo informed us.
"Good. I think we can assume that this man somehow rescued Gaara.", I nodded to Sensei's conclusion as I injected the antidote into the man's left bicep through one of the cuts in his shirt, "but we still don't know for what intents and purposes."
"So what now?", Nawaki asked as I moved back from my place beside the bound man. Sasuke still had his sharingan turned on, silently glaring at the unconscious prisoner.
"Be on guard, we don't know what happened to the Akatsuki. They may decide to come back with reinforcements. Can you heal Gaara enough to wake him up?", Sensei paused to see lady Chiyo nod before continuing, "We will move for Suna with the prisoner as soon as Gaara regains consciousness. We will drop Lady Chiyo and Gaara at Suna before requesting for reinforcements to help bring the prisoner back to Konoha. Sakura can you make sure that he remains unconscious in the meantime?"
I nodded and activated my mystical palm. One touch to the base of his skull and it was done.
"He will be out for a week unless someone reverses it.", I informed my teammates.
"We should check under his mask and see if we can recognize him?", Sasuke finally broke his silence, and shifted to look at Sensei asking for his thoughts on the matter.
"You just want to see the face of the man who beat you so easily.", Nawaki quipped earning him a glare from Sasuke. My idiot of a brother had the gift of making fun of Sasuke even in such tense situations.
"We were no better Nawaki.", I spoke up, smiling at the overdramatic slump of his shoulders. I looked to Sensei who nodded, signaling me to go ahead.
A thin tendril a sand wrapped around my wrist stopping my fingers millimeters from the stranger's mask.
"What do you think you are doing?", Gaara's cool voice interrupted everyone's thoughts. Even Chiyo who was healing him seemed surprised.
"You should learn to respect a man's privacy Sakura-san.", Gaara continued as he sat up with Chiyo's help.
"A prisoner has no privacy, Gaara.", Sasuke replied, as Sakura removed her released hand back.
"Menma-san is a friend who it seems rescued me and as far as I know is an ally of the leaf.", Gaara said his voice getting colder and gaze intensifying even further.
The Konoha ninja were stunned into silence on hearing this, even Chiyo seemed surprised. Sakura who was crouching beside the man looked closer to see if he could identify the man, but she drew a blank.
The group heard the leaves rustling in the forest and tensed to prepare for an attack. Several Suna ninja dropped into the clearing who seemed to have been led by the Kazkage's only daughter, Temari, who rushed to Gaara and embraced him in a hug.
After a few moments of fussing over her brother she turned towards the Konoha ninja, who were still silent after thr latest revealation, to thank them for saving her brother when she saw the bound man.
"What are you doing to Menma-san?!", Temari exclaimed surprised.
Kakashi's team were stunned further, it seemed they were the only ones who didn't know the man. For the second time that day Nawaki asked his question, "So what now?"
A/N: If you are wondering how Gaara knew who recued him if he was unconscious the entire time don't worry it will be explained. Nothing else to be said except read&review and wait for the next chapter.