Inevitable
Chapter 9

The next two days of travelling went generally well for theninja squad sent to help out Gaara. There were a few awkward moments -bothmornings found Amejisuto cuddled up to someone, namely Sakura one night andItachi the other, to her embarrassment and Kakashi's amusement- but otherwise,they rushed forward without any problems. No ninja attacked them, making thejourney smoother. By the time they reached Sunagakure, they could tell that everyonewas in a panic. Temari, Gaara's sister, greeted them and led them to a hospital.

"We have so many problems right now," she sighed."Gaara's been captured by the Akatsuki and the council members are almostconvinced it's a lost cause to wait for his return, so they might elect anotherKazekage. And then there's this," she pulled open a door in the hospital,leading Sakura to gasp and run to the patients side. It was Kankuro, twitchingand gasping in immense pain.

"Get a tub of saline immediately!" she ordered.

"And who are you?" a doctor scoffed.

"Sakura Haruno, apprentice to the Hokage Tsunade,"she answered.

"You couldn't possibly be able to heal this boy. Noteven Lady Chiyo could, and she's the best medic in Sunagakure!"

Sakura put her hair up in a ponytail and slipped off herfighting gloves before washing her hands. "Just watch me," shegrowled.

The doctors looked to Temari, who nodded, and fetched a tubof saline, setting it next to the kunoichi. "Keep those coming," shesaid before opening Kankuro's eye. "Pupils dilated," she took a stethoscopeand listened to his lungs. "Rapid breathing," she clutched his hand."Spasms." She turned to the bucket of saline and attached her chakrato it, letting it swirl in a bubble beneath her hands. "He has a steeltype poisoning in him. It shuts down organs first and then blood stops flowingto the heart. I have just enough time to stall it before making anantidote," she explained.

She pushed the saline through his skin, leading it with her chakra.'Find the poison, capture it in thesaline, guide it out,' she thought to herself. She had to order the otherdoctors to hold him down since he was struggling and writhing from the painnow. She let the saline stream out, following her hand to the tub before itsplashed in. Everyone saw as there was a few purple dots mixed with the lightblue liquid.

The others watched in awe as she did that on all other majororgans. An old lady sat next to them, grumbling to herself. "She remindsme of the slug princess," she mumbled.

"Well Granny Tsunade was Sakura's mentor," Naruto smiled. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki,That's Sakura Haruno," he pointed at the rosette.

"I'm Amejisuto Ishi,” the brunette beamed.

"Itachi Uchiha," the older raven said.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Ka-" Kakashi didn't get to finish before thewoman attacked him, punching and kicking, spitting curses at him.

"You killed my son, you devil! Evil White Fang! Hedidn't have to die! Why are you still here? I thought you committed suicideyears ago!" she screamed at him. Kakashi didn't know what to do. Hewouldn't fight back against an old lady, and he didn't have any chance tocorrect her. All he could do was block and try to put up with her. An old manran on the scene and held her back.

"The man who killed your son is dead and has been for over twenty years," the man managedto say. The woman stopped fighting and smiled.

"In that case, never mind," she sat down again.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. You might've been talking about myfather," the Jonin said, still trying to process what happened.Apparently, it didn't occur to Naruto that his sensei could have a family, dueto his reaction of yelling 'Kakashi had a dad?!' Leading Sasuke to sigh andcall him an idiot.

"I'm Chiyo, a village elder. This is my brother, Ebizo,"the woman laughed.

"Most people forget my name and just calls megrandfather or old man, so feel free to as well," he grinned.

"The poison has been reduced. Now there are only a fewtraces and I have to make an antidote," Sakura announced, to everyone's astonishment,especially Chiyo's.

"The greenhouse has many medicinal herbs. We willescort you," the doctors said, leading Sakura down the hall and out of thehospital.

"I think she's surpassed the slug princess," Chiyosighed in disbelief. "She's definitely surpassed me."

They sat around chatting for another half an hour. "Guys,I think he's waking up!" Temari shouted excitedly. Everyone ran into thehospital room to greet him. "Who did this to you?" his sister asked.

"S-Saso-ri of the r-red sand," the brunet choked.Temari handed him some water and he drank it greedily.

"He... He can't have," Chiyo gasped. "Ithought you fought an Akatsuki member!"

"He is one," Kankuro said weakly.

"My grandson wouldn't even stoop this low!"

"Grandson?" Naruto asked.

Chiyo didn't answer and just stormed out of the hospitalwith her brother following her, flashing an apologetic expression to the Konohaninja. "Well, someone's moody,"Sasuke mumbled.

"Speak for yourself, bastard!"

"Moron, don't start a fight in a hospital."

"I CAN START A FIGHT WHEREVER I WANT!"

"Calm down, idiot. You're being too loud."

"I'M BEING PERFECTLY QUIET!" Naruto shouted beforefalling over with a bump growing out of his head and a furious Sakura standingbehind him with her fist raised.

"Do you ever shut up? We're in a hospital! Be morerespectful, idiot!" She said in a threatening tone.

"Sakura," he whimpered.

"I made the antidote. I also made two more just in casewe run into him, which is a high probability," she went to Kankuro andgave him a shot.

"Let me go with you to get Gaara," he begged.

"No, you're too weak. Even I'm not going. I have anelection to postpone until he gets back," Temari said, pushing Kankuro onthe bed when he tried to get up.

The Konoha ninja were ready to leave the village, when Chiyoshowed up. "I'm coming with you," she announced.

"Alright," Kakashi said, knowing he couldn't goagainst the woman. She would just hit him again...

They ran across the desert, following ninja hounds thatKakashi had summoned. They were tracking down the scent of Sasori from thesample that Kankuro managed to capture.

"So which one of them will you marry?" Chiyo askedAmejisuto, pointing to the Uchiha brothers. The Ishi blushed and almosttripped.

"Neither, I'm just an Uchiha apprentice," the brunetteexplained. “Why?”

"Hm, I was curious, and it’s practically unheard of forUchiha’s and other clans to interact so personally without any intent onmarriage. You seem closer to the older one though."

"Yah, he's my sensei. They were both close friends atone point though."

"Very interesting," Chiyo moved on to Naruto,asking questions on why he was so intent on replaceing Gaara.

"She's the type of person to probe into other people'slives and question everything. More in a pessimistic way, it seems," Itachisuddenly appeared at the Ishi's side.

"Itachi, people constantly ask if I'm married oradopted. It's annoying," she sighed.

"Maybe you should wear a sign that says 'not an Uchiha',"he joked.

"Hah, hah, hah," Amejisuto rolled her eyes."Then everyone would be after me. I like that boys leave me alone in thefear of dealing with you. I'm not really into any of them and it is hardrejecting them as politely as I can all the time."

Itachi silently thanked god as he heard that. There was achance that she wouldn’t end up being ripped away from someone she loved. Hethen shook his head to clear away those thoughts; he should be putting themission first. It was time to save the Kazekage.