The shadows crept over the five shinobi as they stood in the ruins of the Hokage's office. The sixth Hokage stood quietly over the broken pieces of building underneath the agitated boots. "You five have all under gone special training, I expect you to find Naruto Uzumaki and find out why this happened. Only one of you will end up back in the time to fix this problem, so good luck to you all and do not fail me." The Hokage raising a hand motioned quickly for the shinobi to use the Jutsus.

The five pulled out the specialized red scrolls in a synchronized motion; the tail ends came undone and the five began to spin them above their heads. They vanished in blurbs of red smoke leaving the Hokage to the thoughts of despair that had taken to Konoha in the leaving of Naruto. He turned his head and stared out the window grumbling a bit to himself; the city below was in an almost constant state of turmoil, fire daily, the Hokage's building attack so many times they stopped repairing it ages ago.

The Hokage removed his hat and there sat Kakashi in robes, his scar showing in the futile rays of sunlight that blew down between gusts of clouds. "I hope they find him in time. Naruto, you knew I wasn't meant for this job. I just wished I knew what made you like this."

Naruto bounced along the trees happily, the clumps of hair flapping around in the wind as the sun shone down brightly on the city of Konohagakure. Behind him Sakura was following, her form getting more gracious as the days passed; it had left Naruto smiling every time he saw her. It was why he asked her here today, today was the day he would find a way to kiss her and make her realize what it meant to him to have her around in his life.

Sakura remained clueless somewhat beside the picnic, around her arm draped a small basket filled with rolls, sushi and other food to be shared later on. Sakura finally jumped up next to him and turned her head slightly, a simple little smile about her, her eyes glittering in the sun. "Naruto… Where are we going?"

"Huh? I thought I told you, a picnic." He said not understanding the question. Sakura rolled her eyes and Naruto laughed. "I knew what you meant. It should only be a little further."

"This is really far away from Konoha." Sakura said landing her right foot on the tree and pouncing off onto the next one. "Shouldn't we have told Tsunade-sama or Kaki-Sensai or someone?"

"It's not like everyone's going to randomly pick today to try and take over, Sakura-chan. Loosen up a bit." Naruto jumped down and took a gentle hand to push the leafy greens of a bush over to reveal the space he had spent days searching for. Sakura jumped down mocking his sentence by repeating 'loosen up a bit.' She stopped and skipped a heart beat when she saw the perfect little patch of grass amongst the river and trees.

Naruto smiled as he watched her face, she was stunned by the beauty for a minute and took a couple steps closer to the bush until she was close next to Naruto. Naruto blushed at her closeness and moved through the bush and was followed. He sat down on the grass under the shadow of a mighty tree looming over head. He leaned back against the tree and patted the ground next to him. "It's worth coming a little out of the way, didn't it Sakura-chan?"

"I… I guess so." She said walking over slowly and moving next to Naruto sitting down slowly. She looked around quickly and turned her head to the sky. "Sometime it's place like this that make life easier. There's nothing bad here…"

"That's why I picked this place. Sakura-chan… I…" The sentence was cut off as they moved quickly in opposite directions and watched as Sai jumped down and landed in between them. "SAI! What are you doing here!"

"Something big is happening, the Hokage sent for you Naruto." Naruto stopped and let out a 'huh' before Sai continued. "You need to come immediately, sorry to break up your luncheon."

"No, it's alright Sai." Sakura said quickly, she perked up and place a hand on Naruto's shoulder. She pulled out a small tray of Sushi and handed it to him. "Mind swell not waste the food. Go see what's the matter, I'll meet you later."

"But Sakura…. I had things planned…" He whisper to himself and turned to her smiling. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute, Sakura?"

"But you should really…" Sakura said persisting but she was dragged behind a tree. "Naruto, I know were a thing but really, you have to go."

"One thing." Naruto said holding up a single finger and staring at her with a straight face. She nodded and was pulled in. Their lips brushed and Sakura found herself locked in lips with her comrade. Naruto held her there for a quick second, he pulled back and smile. He kissed her on the cheek quickly, "bye, I'll stop bye your house later."

"I'll be waiting." She said as she watched Naruto walk away and vault into the trees away to Konoha. Sakura took a step back and watched, her hand held in a fist over her heart, she sighed in an angel's breath and moved quietly out and leaped up behind them at a slower pace pulling out a bottle of water from the basket. She was missing Naruto already.

"So…" Tsunade said and held the piece of paper looking over at Kakashi who verified the signature. "I see, and I believe you. You are simple to find out and stop Naruto from leaving the village. Do you know when this happens?" She said looking at the two shinobi in front of her. They nodded. "You're positive it's sometime soon."

"Hai." Said the girl ANBU in a dolphin mask. "We're sure it's within two weeks of our arrival, and since were here, we can stop the decay of the future. I'm sure you can see from the letter the urgency of this matter. The Sixth said something about a tree being the reason he left but that was all he knew about it."

The man in the normal Konoha ninja outfit was more relaxed. "Twenty years down the road, the city was destroyed by Kyuubi. Perhaps that wasn't written in their for a reason, but it is known that Naruto chose to release the Kyuubi and let him attack the city. When we found him…"

"He was suicidal." The girl interjected. "He had developed split personalities, was drunk, and killing randomly. We believe he was calling one of the personalities 'Sasuke.'"

"There's no way I'm letting Naruto turn out like that. You two are to be stationed under him the entire time, observing him and following his orders." Tsunade said reading through the letter again. "It's his instructions. It also says here Jion," the girl bowed quickly. "You are to remain hidden, I suggest you do that. And Kaede is to escort Naruto everywhere. You'll have a problem with that."

"What do you say that?" Kaede asked as the door burst open and Naruto and Sai burst in, Naruto moved over to the desk and slammed his fists down on the desk. "Yo, Granny. I was on a date, what the Hell are you doing sending someone to break it up?" He stopped and turned and noticed everyone else in the room. "What's going… on?"

"Naruto. I'm going to be frank. I'm giving you body guards. This is Kaede, he'll be going everywhere with you. The ANBU will be in the distance so you'll have privacy from her, you can go back to your date now."

"It's too late…" Naruto said and walked away. "And I don't need your body guards."

"I thought it was something like this." Sakura said appearing in the door way. "Give me a minute with him." She said and pulled him out into the hall and closed the door. "Naruto, listen to her please, she knows what's best. That's why she's Hokage."

"But… but I'd never get to be with you." Naruto complained. "I can't kiss you in front of other people."

"Why not?" She said sternly and crossed her arms. "Well?"

"I can but… You're not going to take any excuses are you?" Sakura shook her head and it was then Naruto pulled her in and kissed her wrapping an arm around her. He held her carefully and then opened the door with the other hand. Sakura pulled off and blushed a deep red as the room stopped.

"I changed his mind." She said quickly. "Didn't I?" Naruto nodded furiously.