The Namikaze Legend by Aerotyl

The Namikaze Legend, Chapter 50

It was a struggle, really. Naruto felt like he would trip at any moment, but at least some color had returned to his skin. His pale complexion was slightly better than the ghost white it was before. But the dark purple bags under his eyes were still prominent and the slight tremble in his fingers hadn't gone away. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists every so often, getting the blood pumping, but it didn't do much. His vision blurred less and the throbs in his head were less threatening. All in all, Naruto felt a bit better compared to an hour ago. Hopefully, I can pull through just in time to apply the counter seal...

The rest of his team, however, looked at the blond even more warily. Kakashi followed behind a lot closer than normal, hoping to catch the blond in case he collapsed again. Sakura tossed more wary glances towards Naruto and Konohamaru took extra caution in their surroundings, knowing the blond probably couldn't sense so well at the moment. And Sai, well, Sai remained silent towards the whole dilemma, focusing on the task at hand.

The heat, however, could not be ignored. The hot sand burned the soles of their shoes and the smell of burnt rubber wafted their noses. At the speed of which they were going, their Konoha-made shinobi sandals wouldn't be able to take the friction. The hot sand burned their toes and their skin itched with sunburns.

"Hatake-taichou...Our destination is one click northeast from our current location," Sai reported.

"Good. Let's get moving then."

The Konoha team finally made it to the gates of the Sunagakure village, only to be greeted with sand walls painted with blood. Bodies littered the narrow corridor and the stench was almost unbearable for the team. Sakura rushed over to the nearest body while Naruto almost staggered through the trench as quickly as possible, trying to get the other side before the nauseating headache made him pass out. The sensory overload was too much for his head.

Sakura shook her head at the rest of team before the rest followed Naruto, hopefully ignoring the bloodbath around them. Just as they got to the other side, a group of Sunagakure chuunin ran up to greet them.

"Temari-sama! The Konohagakure reinforcements are here!"

"Let them in! Immediately!"

"Ryokai!"

Temari faced the reinforcements sent by Konoha and almost scoffed. They sent Hatake Kakashi, two chuunin, an unstated shinobi, and a half dead blond. At least there was the copy ninja present or all hope would be lost. She faintly recognized the blond as the conductor of the chuunin exams a few years back and frowned. It looked like he had trudged through hell and back.

"You seem...okay..." she muttered.

Sakura rushed over to Naruto with her Iryoninjutsu. Temari was about to debrief them when two jounins bursted into the room.

"Temari-sama! Kankuro-sama has returned! He has been poisoned!"

Temari gasped before she wordlessly followed the jounins to the hospital. The Konoha nin followed suit, Naruto trudging behind as fast as he could.

"Temari-sama, it's a new poison, we've never encountered it before!-"

"Have you consulted-"

"Temari, let me see him. I'm a trained medic, trained by the slug sannin herself." Sakura intervened. Temari gave a quick nod in response.

Sakura wrapped her hair up and slipped on some gloves before heading over to Kankuro. After a brief look, Sakura began to shoot out orders, watching the nurses scurry away as she began a more detailed examination.

Naruto finally entered the hospital room, slightly lightheaded but focused, nonetheless.

"Temari, I'm sorry about Kankuro, but you're going to have to tell us about Gaara. We're running out of time..."