-1Disclaimer: I do not presently, or have ever, owned Naruto, or any characters, situations, or settings that exist within Naruto. I am using characters and settings that do not belong to me and I will not make any money/receive any gifts from the writing of this story. This is merely practice for writing and I will remove any and all stories that I post at the Owner's request.

Prologue: Awakening

He awoke to the sensation of little pinpricks across his body and a chilling cold that seemed to penetrate him to his core. Shivering he pushed himself up into a sitting position and with his other hand brushed the damp locks of blond hair from his eyes. A groan escaped his lips as a jolt of pain shot through his body.

Confusion clouded his mind. What had happened, how had he gotten here? Then it all returned to him in an instant. The mission, the conflicts with the supposed kidnappers, and finally the fight with Him. With Sasuke. Finally he remembered his defeat. With a cry somewhere between sorrow and rage he slumped forward and struck the ground with his fist. He remained that way for a moment before his shivering got worse and his teeth began to chatter. At last he forced himself to his feet.

Looking around him he surveyed the damage that the terrain around him had suffered. He saw the craters, the torn up landscape, and paused reliving the battle for a moment with a melancholy frown on his face. At last with a sigh he turned in the direction he believed that he had come from and started off slowly with the rain mingling with the few tears that were slipping unnoticed from his eyes.

A few minutes after he had left, a man and a dog rushed into the clearing from a different direction, stopped in awe at the destruction that lay before them. Slowing walking forward he saw something glinting on the ground. Reaching down and picking it up he saw that it was a forehead protector and that going through it was a single slash.

Deep in the forest

Naruto shivered as he walked quietly through the woods, his head down. He knew that he was lost but at this time he really didn't care. The cold however was beginning to take its toll on him and he knew he needed to find a place to dry off and warm up or he would die.

Looking up to scout out a place to stay he saw something deeper in the forest. It looked vaguely like a building of some sort so he started towards it. As he got closer, the structure became clearer and he could see that it was ruins of some kind. Large stone buildings that were all set close to one another with stone walkways going from building to building on several different levels, many of which appeared to have collapsed. Some of the buildings were missing walls and trees and plants seemed to be growing on, and around the pillars used to support the walkways and the buildings themselves. He thought it looked like a dump.

First, taking shelter under one of the ceilings that still had at least three walls he pulled off his wet shirt and pants. Standing there shivering in his boxers he saw that a small tree had died and collapsed into the building leaving most of its branches dry. Quickly tearing off several large branches as well as several smaller ones for kindling, Naruto was able to use his flint that he had in his pack to start a fire. He then placed his clothes close enough to the fire that they would soon dry, but not close enough that they would catch fire.

Drawing as close as he dared to the fire Naruto wrapped his arms around himself and shivered, fighting off the effects of hypothermia. From time to time he got up and would get some more wood for the fire. As time went on his clothes slowly dried and finally with their help he managed to finally feel warm. As he began felling better his curiosity about the ruins grew. When the rain finally stopped a few minutes after that, it was the final push. No longer able to wait, Naruto decided to go explore the ruins.

Walking deeper into the ruins Naruto figured that they used to be part of a city of some kind. Naruto figured that anything of any interest to him would probably be near the center of the structures. Walking through the remains of what looked like they may have been streets at one time, Naruto headed towards the middle of this ancient city looking for anything that might give him a clue to the history of this local. Glancing around his eyes hit on a low squat building that looked like it had better endured the years than it's counterparts. Thinking that it was as good a place as any to start his exploration Naruto headed to the opening that apparently served as entrances to these ancient buildings.

The insides were, at first glance unpromising. A large room with no windows that was mostly empty, vegetation had apparently taken over and was thriving. Naruto was about to give up when he noticed all the way in the back there was what looked like a stone doorway that looked to be in good condition. Naruto pushed his way through the vegetation that was blocking access to the door, before he leaned against the door and pushed. Not being able to budge the door Naruto was about to use shadow clones to help him when he noticed the handle carved into the door. With a sheepish glance around, half expecting someone to appear and laugh at him Naruto put his hand on the handle and pulled. With a sound like a jar being opened the door pulled open revealing an unlit staircase spiraling downward into blackness, with unlit torches every meter or so.

Hesitating for a moment on the threshold, Naruto stepped down onto the first step placing one hand on the wall to prevent himself from slipping in the dark. With a whooshing sound a seal that he had placed his hand on activated. A line that traveled along the wall lit up and ignited every torch that it passed. Naruto took a step back with a gasp of surprise. Waiting a minute to see if anything else was going to happen, Naruto looked at the seal that set off the unexpected reaction. It looked as if the seal had been carved into the wall and then some kind of paint had been placed inside of it. After a few more moments of uneventful waiting, Naruto began to descend the staircase keeping a careful watch for any more seals that might be on the walls or floor. With every step he took, a small cloud of dust arose, causing him to sneeze a few times. After descending for what seemed an eternity, he finally reached the bottom. At the bottom of the stairs appeared to be an antechamber of a sorts with lit torches every half meter providing good light. The walls seemed lined with carvings that seemed to depict everything from ancient battles to farming and childbirth. One thing that caught Naruto's attention was that every person had tattoos somewhere on their body, all in beautiful patterns that reminded Naruto of the seal that light the torches. Looking past the carvings Naruto saw something that peaked his interests once more, a door.

Closer inspection of the door revealed that it had been embedded with seals similar to that which had been used to light the torches. There was one difference however that even a person that didn't know seals would have immediately recognized. There were a series of slashes through the stone and seal rendering it unusable. With a frustrated sigh Naruto tried to force the door open with his shoulder, when that proved useless he placed his hands into his favorite seal.

"Kage Bushin!" with a loud poof an exact copy of Naruto appeared next to him.

Both Naruto's began to press against the door trying to force it open. With a groan both stopped trying to force their way in after a minute of futile pushing. One looked at the other, both grinned and an instant later the door had been demolished by the power of the Rasengan. As the copy dispelled as abruptly as it had appeared, the real Naruto stepped through the doorway and looked at the large room that he had worked so hard to reach.

It appeared to be a kind of library or study of a sorts as it was filled with scrolls of all shapes and sizes. There were what appeared to be stone benches and chairs around enormous stone tables. Shelves also made of stone spanned all the walls and took up most of the space each filled with scrolls. Scattered on the floor were a few scrolls that looked like they had been dropped accidentally by someone in a hurry and the shelves looked a little disorganized.

Stepping forward, Naruto scooped up a scroll of the floor and carefully opened it. It seemed to be in good condition considering the age of the ruins. Looking at it he was surprised to see that he could understand most of the words that had been written there. Only a few words and symbols were unknown to him and as he looked further down the scroll he could see diagrams of what looked like seals. Returning to the top of the scroll he read the title. Intermediate Defensive Building Seals: Theory Volume 4 of 37. Naruto paused for a moment and walked over to another scroll setting down the one he had opened on a table. Picking the new one up he opened it and read the title. Beginner Seals: Basics: Practical Applications Volume 3 of 8. As Naruto read over some of the text he realized that not only could he understand the concepts behind the text but that there were things in this scroll that he could use. With an almost awed expression on his face Naruto realized that with this knowledge and the skills that these scrolls could teach him he could easily become strong enough to bring Sasuke back. He could still keep his word!

A little while later Naruto walked up the stairs, turned and closed the door. All he need was some food, and maybe something that he could use to sleep on, and then he would return and began learning as much of this stuff as he could. It was shocking really some of the stuff he had read, there were things in there that he had never heard of any ninja doing, and he was going to use this stuff to get as strong as possible. He regretted a little that he wasn't able to tell Tsunade that he was all right but not only did he not know the way to get back to Konoha, he also didn't think that he would ever be able to find this place again. So with a sigh he put all distractions out of his mind and readied himself for the necessary work that had to be done.

Back in Konoha

With a heavy heart Kakashi had returned to Konoha and was standing before the Hokage. He had just given the hardest report to a superior since he had to explain Obito's death to his sensei. Two of his students gone, one a traitor the other had disappeared off the face of the earth, so it seemed. Pakkun had been able to track them until it had started raining. He had lost the scent at the apparent battlefield but where the two had gone after that was a mystery. Although he suspected that he knew where Sasuke had gone. Tsunade had been stunned by the news and he knew that Sakura was going to take this hard as well. The others on the rescue mission had all been retrieved and had been stabilized, Sakura had already been frantic, so he had heard, wanting to know whether Naruto had succeeded in bringing Sasuke back or not.

Kakashi sighed as he was dismissed and he turned and left the Hokage's office. As he stepped outside he looked up seeing the clouds starting to break up and the sun beginning to peak through and he couldn't help but to feel some hope, just enough to make him think that things could get better. With a shake of his head he signed, the momentary spell gone. He decided that he would go see the memorial stone first before he went to tell Sakura the bad news.