Gaara retrieval mission

Naruto deepened her kiss, and Shizune melted a little more into her. Separating so the brunette could gasp for air, Naruto smirked at the normally demure jonin before leaning in to nip at her nick. And once she was all hot and bothered...

Tsunade burst into the quiet record room Shizune had dragged Sakura into. Shizune blinked hazily, before recognizing her sensei. "Oh, Tsunade-sama. Are you going to join us?" she asked slightly vacantly, leading Naruto and Tsunade to chuckle lightly.

"Not today, my apprentices." Tsunade said, and Shizune blushed, realizing she had just propositioned her mentor. She made to stutter her apologies, but Tsunade waved them off with a leer. "Maybe later, but we've got a situation."

Naruto, by this time, had her blue and white battle dress back in place, and fussed with Shizune's kimono, which was still in disarray. "Oh?" she asked absently.

"Sand's asking for backup. Akatsuki stole Gaara." Tsunade answered bluntly.

Naruto blinked- she had already seen the report thanks to her stolen eyes, but it was still surreal to hear the words. "How do you steal a Kage from his village? And what does that say about Sand?"

Tsunade grunted, and Naruto and Shizune fell into position either side of her as they returned to Tsunade's office. "It reflects poorly on them, and us by proxy because of the alliance, but they aren't actually that weak. Really, Gaara and Sand just got overconfident that nothing could challenge the Ichibi in a desert. Akatsuki capitalized on it." She shrugged to emphasize the point, and her marvelous chest followed the motion, drawing Naruto's eyes. When she returned to eye contact, Tsunade gave a flirty wink to the pinkette.

"Well, I can't actually order you Sakura, my queen- what will you do?"

Naruto smiled at those words- 'my queen'. They were true too, as Naruto was sole master of the Venus Contract. Naruto's loss of the Frog Contract had been a bit of a sore point, and she had worked to obtain a new contract to replace them. Somewhere along the way, Naruto had crafted a chakra contract with herself as the master... but no summons. But it was when she really examined her contract again that she realized that the pacts characteristic of a summon contract could be tweaked to create unbreakable loyalty, personality and emotion influencing connections. Functionally, any signee would love Naruto, be unshakably loyal to her, and obey her orders. Oh, they could question, and waver, but if Naruto truly wanted them to obey, they'd do it and think it was their own idea. In return, the signees were granted the regeneration Naruto had, meaning they didn't age, scar, or get sick. Enhanced stamina and chakra reserves had appeared as well.

Naruto had been quick to get her lovers, and a few more, to sign what she came to call the Venus contract. Ino, Tenten, Hinata, Kurenai, Anko, Yuugao, Shizune, Tsunade, Koyuki, Tsume and Hana had all found themselves to be signees, which none of them could really find it in themselves to mind. Naruto didn't even have to exert unnatural influence.

In particular, Tsunade was delighted with her returned youth, the regeneration having returned her to the physical age of twenty-one, and was known among the Venus Court for being a bit of a nymphomaniac.

...None of them really seemed to mind though.

Naruto shook herself from happy recollections and spun to head out the door, but not before tossing her head over her shoulder. "I'll handle it."

When Sakura arrived at the gates of Sand, it was an anxious Temari who was there to escort her in. She watched, amazed, as the pink haired jonin calmly set about bringing her brother back from ****'s door, not a single sign of stress on her features. Once she was finished, Sakura turned to her and asked to be taken somewhere they could get some privacy. Gaara's office being the best choice, Temari escorted her there. Once Sakura was satisfied that they were secure...

"Right. Now, how're we planning on saving Gaara?" the pinkette asked her. "Can you still sense him?"

Temari blinked, and tried to deny that she was a sensor, only for Sakura to shift her hips, brush a bang back over her ear and roll her eyes. "You could sense him back at the chunin exams Temari." Temari blinked, surprised the girl had remembered that fact. "Also, I'm a medic-nin that my Kage is willing to send to fight Akatsuki solo. You need to work on concealing your body language, at least against a master of anatomy like me."

Temari nodded warily, and Sakura smiled in return. "Alright, now I have a technique that'll establish a link between us- I'll be the master of it though, and I need you to accept it. Tsunade-sama lets me use it on her, it's safe." Temari accepted, accepting the pre-mission prep for what it was, and then she was Sakura's.

Naruto admired Temari's backside as they flew on one of the oversized fans the wind mistress favored. The newest member of the Venus Court was moving them towards what she detected was Gaara's position, and rattling off what she knew of the political structure of Sand. Given that her brother was the Kage and she was by far his most trusted confidant, that meant she knew it all. And what it basically broke down to, at least in so far as Naruto was concerned, was that if Gaara did not return alive, Temari would be the new Kazekage.

Unfortunately, they were intercepted by the Akatsuki member Deidera, who Naruto left Temari to combat. Counting on to the location that Temari had indicated, Naruto eventually found herself standing above the battered, inhuman remains of the Sand missing-nin Sasori.

Recovering the body of Gaara, Naruto waited for him to awaken, pondering what to do with him.

"I am alive," he suddenly dully rasped.

Naruto smirked lightly. "Don't sound so happy about it." A thought floated through her head as she considered options. "Say, Gaara, have you ever been kissed?"

He shook his head lightly, somewhat confused. Naruto leaned forwards, the perfect face and body she had deliberately crafted creating an enticing image, her dress and hair still perfect, testament to her vast- even inhuman skill. She softly whispered into Gaara's ear, "I know Prince Charming is supposed to kiss Sleeping Beauty awake, but I think you deserve something after your ordeal." Nipping at his ear before turning his face to hers, Naruto went in for the kiss.

And started sucking his 'air' out.

Gaara weakly attempted to struggle for a moment as his chakra escaped him through his mouth, before the Ichibi's chakra began to flow out as well. Naruto felt herself growing greater- felt her consciousness expand to feel the world around her, not just the sand as she had expected. As she continued her draining kiss, Temari finally rejoined them, and took up a position behind Gaara, hugging him from behind, whispering in his ear how it would soon be over. No more battles, he could finally sleep.

As Gaara closed his eyes to enter eternal slumber, he fell to the side, his sister gently positioning him.

The Fifth Kazekage was dead.

Naruto stayed for the funeral, as well as the fallout and debrief after the **** of the Kazekage. Presenting the head and puppet remains of Deidera and Sasori, in addition to Temari's knowledge of the operations of the Kazekage's office quickly saw her taking up the position. The people of Sand thought nothing of the fact that Temari spent an almost excessive amount of time privately in the company of Sakura, but couldn't begrudge her spending time with the allied jonin that had brought her brother's killer to justice and been with her for Gaara's final moments.

When Temari wasn't being 'thankful' to Sakura, they were actually plotting out village movements, making sure the village alliance wouldn't be threatened.

They spent a lot of time being thankful for each other though.

Eventually, it came time for Sakura to return to Leaf.