An Unfortunate Situation


Summary:

Naruto Uzumaki, the son of the great Fourth Hokage, and Sakura Haruno, a great medic-nin, were being chased by two mysterious strong hunters. Naruto and Sakura had been given a classified mission to collect a scroll from the powerful shinobi village of Kiri and deliver it back to Konoha. Injured and tired, will they succeed in their mission or is this the end of our favourite duo?

All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.


Sakura was leaping from branch to branch as fast as she could, the power of her leaps was causing the branches to splinter in her wake. Sakura's face was caked with mud and dried blood and the deep cut on her left cheek was still stinging.

"Dammit, why did that baka have to play the hero again?!" she cried out

They had been on the run for the past three days, but it was the last hour that kept playing in her head again and again. They had just collected the secret scroll from Kiri and they were on their way back to Konoha. No-one told them what the scroll entailed, and they didn't bother to ask. It was just another mission to them. Though, they didn't expect to be ambushed by two mysterious ninjas' in the forest who were looking for the scroll.

Sakura wished she asked now. She would of know what her and Naruto were fighting and sacrificing their lives for. She remembered the way Naruto gave her to scroll and told her to leave.

"The priority of this mission is to deliver that thing, ne? Take it and I'll handle these two. I'll catch up to you later, okay Sakura-Chan?" he said, with his signature smile and thumps up

She felt anxious but she knew he was right. The priority of this mission was this scroll and she trusted him. He always kept his promises. With that in mind, Sakura kept on going, fighting through the tiredness in her legs and the uneasy feeling that gripped her heart like a boa-constrictor.


In the middle of the forest, Naruto was stood still as a statue. His eyes fastened on the beautiful pink-haired girl in front of him. Her emerald eyes hypnotizing as always. Her gentle hands caressing his face. Just behind her a stone's throw away, was Sasuke, a soft smile graced his face as he looked on at the two.

"Perfect! He has fallen for the genjutsu quite easily…", said Yuki

Yuki was knelt on the ground with his hands forming the genjutsu sign. His piercing blue eyes continued to stare at the trapped Naruto.

"His deepest wishes fulfilled in a dream that I created. My genjutsu gathers people's most tragic and painful moments from their subconscious and traps them in a beautiful dream they believe they can never have"

"Though brother, I can't see the scroll on him, and I've looked through his bag, he must have given it to kunoichi… ah such a shame", said Akuma

Both nin's were dressed in all black from head-to-toe, both wearing black bandanas which kept their hair off their face.

As Yuki continued to admire the affect his genjutsu was having on the blonde-ninja. Akuma moved closer to Naruto

"Should I kill him?", said Akuma

"…No in that state he isn't dangerous at all. Look at him"

"I know, I've never seen someone this captured by one of your illusions"

"Yeah, he won't move at all. He's probably been through some rough times, ne?", replied Yuki

They could see Naruto's face was stuck in a dream-like state, tears were rolling down his face. Akuma noted Naruto's expression sent a chill down his spine.

"Ok, well you stay here, and I'll go after that girl and get the pack-"

Akuma was cut off by a sudden explosion that caused the forest to be engulfed by a thick smoke and rocked the ground.

"What the hell?!" shouted Akuma

The explosion threw Yuki off balance and forced him to let go of his hand formation. In the smoke, he saw a feminine silhouette swoop closer to save his victim. It was Sakura who came back for Naruto using the smoke as a distraction.

She was wearing a gas mask to protect her from the poisonous smoke and she quickly slapped on a gas-mask on Naruto too. She noticed her action didn't stir her teammate awake and she knew she had to break the genjutsu somehow. She put her healer hands on his face.

"KAI!"

Sakura's eyes widen, shocked that the genjutsu didn't break. In the moment, she realized that the genjutsu could be too strong for her. A determined expression replaced her fearful face, she wasn't going to give up on Naruto. She told herself to think hard and to not panic. Sweat was dripping down her face. She decided she was going to pump chakra into him to try and disrupt the genjutsu that was affecting his system. She gathered all chakra into her hands and green glow started to emit from her fingertips. She grabbed Naruto's face roughly and started to shake him.

"Naruto! Please wake up! Please listen to me"

Somewhere in the thick fog-like smoke, Yuki and Akuma were coughing hard, the smoke had started to irritate their lungs.

"Hurry! Put your mask on! It's poisonous!" coughed out Yuki

In the illusion, Naruto noticed that Sakura-chan's hands were cold. She kept saying his name, but it was starting to sound distorted. Her voice was shifting from sweet and gentle to a scream. His vision was starting to blur and the pink-haired girl and Saskue were starting to fade.

"NARUTO!"

He stared to blink fast and noticed that the fresh-faced girl was being replaced by a fear stricken one.

"Wake up! It's just an illusion Naruto!"

"Sa…kura-ch...?"

At that moment, the illusion started to break into pieces in Naruto's mind. He then realized he was looking into Sakura's tear-filled eyes

"Sakura-chan?! What are you doing here?" he said weakly

The medic-nin realized that he made it back to the world of the living and a wave of relief washed over her. Her hands were still tightly gripping his face. Naruto noticed this and his heart was beating fast, her being this close made him nervous. She grabbed his hand and started to sprint away from their enemies, keeping Naruto close to her

"This way! There is no time for explanations!"

Naruto still in his drowsy state didn't have any energy to question her and mechanically started to sprint with her.

Yuki had stopped coughing and regulated his breathing, but he noticed his younger brother was still choking. He swiped a mask from their bag and shoved it onto Akuma's face.

"Are you okay?"

Akuma gripped his gas mask and spluttered and weakly gave his brother a thumbs up.

Yuki knew he had to make the smoke dissipate quickly, every moment they wasted Sakura and Naruto were getting away. They did not have the luxury of failing this mission, their clan depended on them getting that scroll.

"I was able to look around and check out the landscape a bit while escaping the last time. We should get to the swamp in no time" shouted Sakura back to Naruto

They were sprinting through the forest, Sakura in front leading. She was determined to save them this time. Her hand was still tightly clutching his and focused on devising a plan. On the other hand, Naruto was still recovering from his dazed state, still trying to understand what just happened to him.

"We are at our limits, so we have no time waste if we want to get to Konoha by tomorrow"

Sakura glanced back at Naruto noticing he wasn't saying anything back to her. She noticed his eyes were dull and unfocused.

"NARUTO!"

That broke him out of his thoughts. He looked at Sakura, her expression was exhausted, and she was staring back at him pleadingly.

"Please, listen I have a plan, but I need your help!"

He looked back at her apologetically and nodded. She knew she had his full and undivided attention now. He wouldn't let her down. As they were leaping through the forest, small explosions were going off in the distance, from where they had just escaped.

Sakura gritted her teeth, knowing that the enemies were using the explosions to dissipate the gas. This cemented her belief they were facing very dangerous and clever ninja's. She wasn't just about to give up though, she was going to get her and Naruto out of this situation, and she would fight until her last breath. She disclosed the plan to her teammate, and he absorbed every detail, as he knew their lives were riding on this.

The trees started to thin out and Sakura could see the swamp ahead of her. She briefly looked back and saw Naruto had a serious expression on his face.

"As soon as they appear, you know what to do"

Naruto nodded back to her and slowed down his speed he shifted his path to go around the swamp, while she continued her straight. He mouthed something to her, but she was too far away to hear it, but she knew what he had tried to say.

'You can count on me'

Of course, I can Naruto she thought, you don't even have to say it. Just stay alive and catch up with me she thought as put her hand over her heart.


The smoke had just cleared up completely. Yuki and Akuma were recollecting themselves, annoyed that they had been swiftly outplayed by the kunoichi.

"Dammit, what just happened I couldn't even sense her!" said Akuma

"Yeah, she is a skilled medical-nin no doubt, considering how perfectly she hid her aura" said Yuki, staring in the direction the duo had just disappeared

Yuki turned to check on his younger brother and saw that he wasn't wearing his mask.

"What are you doing?! Why are you speaking without your mask, it's going to hurt your lungs even more you idiot!"

"It's ok, you know I'll heal in no time"

Yuki looked away annoyed at his little brother's masochistic behaviour.

"Geez, just because your ability to heal are on such a legendary level does not mean you should be reckless!"

He thought back to when they were younger and Akuma would get himself into the most gruesome of situations, but he would heal like it was nothing. There was not even a scratch on his body to show for it.

Akuma put the mask back on his face just to please his brother.

"Ok, let's get going, the trace we have on them is getting weaker" said Yuki

Yuki and Akuma raced in the direction of their trace. Determined to finish the duo once and for all and get the scroll back to where it rightfully belonged.

Far ahead of them, Naruto noticed the aura of his enemies was getting closer, dangerously fast. He thought he a bit more time, but he knew he had to work fast. The plan was to stick paper explosions on all the trees and direct them to the swamp. That's when the second stage of the plan would commence.

As Yuki and Akuma were leaping towards the swamp they were confused by this.

Why were they wasting their paper explosions on something as futile as this? They should know that each tag means they can trace them easier and follow them. Yuki had a weird feeling about this, he didn't want to underestimate these two. He knew the medic-nin has some real potential and the blonde-ninja has the stamina of 5 people.

"We have to catch them fast, I have a strange feeling about this…"

"Me too, I think we should split"

"Ok, I'll climb down and get on the ground. I'll try and catch up with them from below and I'll use a net to catch them, so you don't get hurt. You climb up higher and try to avoid the paper tag explosions, we don't need you getting injured ok" said Yuki

Akuma nodded his head and swiftly followed his brother's orders, moving higher up the trees. Yuki knew they had to think fast if they were going to take down this duo. They made an amazing team he thought, they were each other's heaven and earth. The perfect balance. Although, he felt the blonde-haired ninja was more emotionally unstable than the girl. A thought just clicked into Yuki head's, he was going to use that weakness to their advantage when he gets the chance.

Yuki looked at his compass and noticed for a split second it changed its direction. This confused him greatly, but he didn't pay it too much attention. He continued onwards going around the swamp, where in the clearing he saw two figures knelt on the ground looking like they were taking a break. Yuki noticed the first was the pink-haired girl and he threw his sharp kunai at the medic-nin, now slicing the left side of her cheek.

"Sorry, but I can't allow you to go any further. I loved this three-day cat and mouse chase but it ends here. Just hand the package over and you can take a well-deserved bath" chuckled Yuki

Sakura grimaced she was about to respond in curses, but she didn't have no time to react because just that second Akuma came from above with a net and threw it over her. Tangling her up, she tried to break free but the net was chakra infused and was tightly wrapped around her so she couldn't move. Yuki took his chance to grab Naruto from behind and put a kunai to his neck.

"Where's the package?!" he barked

Naruto had his eyes closed. He was too tired too fight. His whole body was aching from all the previous damage he had taken but he knew he couldn't mess up the plan. His true love's life depended on it.

Using his ninja skills, he broke out of Yuki's hold and pulled the kunai out of his sheath. He tried to attack Yuki with it, but his enemy was just too quick for him. The kunai was whacked out of his hand.

"It's over" said Yuki

Naruto just looked at him. Yuki thought a defeated expression would be on the blonde ninja's face, but he noticed that the corners of his lips were slighting turning up. Yuki felt unsettled by this.

"Not yet" replied Naruto

Dramatically, Naruto then turned to smoke. Yuki then realized their error in judgement and the turned to medic-nin in horror.

"What the hell! She must be a bunshin too!"

Sakura then disappeared into thin air too. The net she was just in hit the ground, Akuma looking at it furiously like a fisherman who just lost out on his big catch. Yuki just stared at the ground angrily, knowing he had just been played again.

"We're definitely going to get them next time, that's for sure"


Sakura had made it through the swamp first. She laid down on the bank, breathless and exhausted to the point where she couldn't think or even move a muscle. She heard movement in the water, moving closer towards her, and she prayed it was Naruto as she just didn't have the energy to defend herself. In a flash, a body just dropped beside her. She cocked her head to the left and saw the soaking blonde had laid down on the ground too in exhaustion. His eyes were looking into hers, and he was smiling at her too.

"We did it… Naruto… I think we escaped…" she whispered

She knew they weren't fully in the clear though, just as she was about to go into crisis mode. Naruto broke into her thoughts.

"Way to go Sakura-Chan" said Naruto energetically

She looked up at him, caught of guard by his compliment.

"You are so amazing! You always find a way…!" Naruto rambled on

Her red blush crept up on her face, he always seemed to know what to say to make blush. In any situation, as dark as it may be, he always knew how to brighten up her world and make her feel confident and good about herself.

"You are so clever, strong and beautiful. I love you so much, Saku-" Naruto cut himself off realizing what he had just said.

Sakura was paralyzed by what he just said. They both stared at each-other not knowing what to say. Sakura then whacked him across the head.

"OWWWW"

"This is no time for joking"

She stood up and walked away from him.

"C'mon, we should find clean water and shelter" she said without even turning around

Naruto feeling embarrassed and bruised by her reaction, slowing got up and followed her. He trudged behind her, looking down at the ground. His heart was torn. He couldn't understand why Sakura didn't feel anything for him, not even empathy. He sighed, he knew she was probably still stuck on him.

He still hadn't fulfilled his promise of bringing him back to her. He knew her heart ached for that bastard and that he couldn't compete against him. Naruto felt bad for thinking of Sasuke as a bastard, he himself greatly missed him to. Naruto looked up at the back of Sakura and made another resolve that when they got back from this mission, he would go out looking for Sasuke.


Thank you for reading guys! Please, please leave reviews. I am just practicing my short-story writing skills so any feedback is lush! Please follow too, this is going to be a multi-chapter story! :D