Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto would I be writing fan fiction? No I'd be sitting on Kishimoto-sama's desk, poking him in the side of the head and asking him when he's gonna put Sasuke back in the manga.
This takes place four days before Naruto returned.
Rock Lee stood grinning as he faced his rival Hyuuga Neji who also smiled slightly. The two of them were about half a mile outside of Konoha in what had once been a dense copse of trees, but now was a battleground littered with bits of splintered trees and ninja weapons. Both were panting slightly and staring into each others eyes watching of when the other would attack.
Rock Lee no longer wore the green jump suit he'd worn while he was a genin. He now wore a sleeveless light green shirt that had the symbols for "Hard Work" In black ink on the back. He also wore green pants that came down to about midway to his shins and were of a darker hue with specially made cargo pockets for his kunai and shuriken. His training weights were now concealed in his sandals. He still kept his hands bandaged, but now hidden inside those bandages were new weights that wrapped around his forearms.
Neji had also changed his clothing style, he now wore a white, long sleeved shirt that hung loose off his body. The sleeves came down to about the middle of his hand. He also wore simple white pants with a black sash and black sandals.
Normally the shinobi of Konoha would train in certain areas of the village set apart specifically for that purpose. Unfortunately Neji and Lee had a way of completely destroying everything in an area in just a few training sessions, and after the fifth training area they'd completely destroyed, they'd been politely told to train somewhere else or as Tsunade put it, 'quite destroying our training grounds before or I'll turn both of you inside out!'. The way Lee understood it, Tsunade hadn't slept the previous two nights before that and was slightly irritable at the time.
Just as the pair were about to make their move there was a blinding flash of light and an explosion that knocked both of them off their feet. Lee caught himself with one hand and flipped himself back to his feet and Neji was standing in another moment with his Byakugan activated. The two of them launched themselves into the trees to get a closer look.
"Two people are fighting. I can't see details but one of them looks like they're from this Akatsuki organization." Neji said calmly as he jumped from branch to branch.
"Who's winning?"
"Can't tell yet… No, wait one of them is down and the Akatsuki member is moving away very fast."
"Alright I'm going to move up ahead. Catch up as soon as you can." Neji nodded and Lee became a blur of movement that quickly disappeared from normal sight.
In only a few moments Lee was at a truly amazing and at the same time horrific scene. There was a crater that was at the least fifty feet deep and had to be over a hundred yards in diameter. And at the center there was body. It appeared to be male and was it's hands and knees and was trying desperately to stand. It was slow but the boy finally made it to his feet… then Lee saw just how bad this boy's injuries were.
Cuts, bruises and burns ran up and down his body. Some of the cuts had stopped bleeding but others still oozed blood. His left arm looked like it had gotten caught in between the gears of a machine. It had simply twisted it around until even the skin was beginning to tear and the bones splintered. His right leg was apparently badly injured, possibly even broken by the way the boy favored it. Lee ran to his side and the boy looked up to him with his eyes slightly glazed and spoke through the blood that slipped from the edges of his mouth.
"My name is Shugojin Ryu… Please tell me… do you know…" He paused here for a moment to catch his breath before continuing.
"Haruno Sakura or Uzumaki Naruto?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Yes I do." Lee said quickly.
"Take me to one of them… Hurry." He muttered. Lee quickly untied the bandages on his arms and wrapped the boy's worst wounds and using what was left tied the boy to his back. With that he quickly removed his training weights and ran quickly to the top of the crater jumped into the trees, before long he crossed paths with Neji.
"I'm going back to Konoha." He said quickly before rushing at top speed leaving Neji wondering what in the hell was going on. He followed Lee but didn't even try to catch up.
Haruno Sakura was sitting in her usual position at the very top of Konoha's gates only a foot or so from Hinata Hyuuga. After Sasuke and Naruto left Sakura hadn't had many people to talk to on her afternoons when she wasn't training with Tsunade. She'd decided to spend her time at the gate and watch the forest. It was a peaceful place to think and she soon found herself sharing it with a companion.
Hyuuga Hinata was not normally a person to just suddenly do something like sit next to someone she barely knew. But Hinata didn't say a word to Sakura and that suited them both just fine. In fact it suited them just fine the day after, and the day after that too, but on the fourth day when Hinata had joined Sakura on the top of the gate Sakura's curious finally overcame her want for silence. Hinata blushed a little bit and looked away but answered.
"I… I think were both w-waiting for someone… a-and…" Hinata stopped there not knowing what to say next.
"Well, it's nice to have some company." Sakura had replied.
After that the two girls had become friends. Hinata always listened to Sakura no matter how long she talked of Sasuke and she could talk about Naruto with Hinata.
That's where the two of them were when Lee came out of the forest carrying a horribly injured boy. Lee called up to her and she looked down. Seeing that he was carrying someone who was obviously injured she quickly jumped down thinking that she might be able to help. As soon as she got a good look at him though she knew that she'd need Tsunade for someone this badly injured.
"Are… are you… Haruno Sakura?" She nodded quickly wondering how this boy knew her name.
"Good… I was sent… with a message from… Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura's eyes widened as she heard his name, and suddenly he had her full attention. The boy coughed a few times and continued.
"He wants you and Uzumaki Naruto to meet him… In one month from… tomorrow… at the Valley of the End." With those words he smiled and finally allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness.
"Lee, get him to the hospital quick. I'm going to try to get Tsunade." Sakura said. Lee nodded and took off again carrying the unconscious messenger.
Hours afterward Ryu's body was wrapped in so many bandages that he looked like a mummy, but his head was free of them. The boy was rather handsome from what she could see. He still hadn't woken up his heart was beating and his breathing was regular. Sakura looked into the window at the boy and let her mind wander back and forth from him and back to his message. She'd told what Ryu had told her Tsunade who's only reply had been to tell her that Naruto was likely going to be back sometime in the next few days.
This boy was certainly strange. With the horrendous wounds he'd suffered he should have been dead but instead he was healing at a rate that rivaled Naruto's own healing abilities. Tsunade had said that if he continued to heal at this rate he'd be back on his feet in only a day or two.
As she watched him his eyes flickered open. He looked around for a moment with a slightly bemused look on his face. He slowly sat up and winced in pain just a bit. Sakura walked into the room and smiled at him.
"Hello." He said pleasantly. "Um… where am I?"
"In Konoha hospital." She answered as she pulled up a chair.
"And um… who are you?" He asked slowly. She looked at him slightly confused.
"I'm Sakura, remember? The girl you brought Sasuke's message to?" She said coaxingly.
"I don't… those names seem familiar but… I can't remember anything… except." His hand suddenly went to his chest and his eyes widened suddenly.
"My necklace. Where's my necklace?" He said quickly. Sakura glanced around the room and on the desk there was a necklace made of small chain links, half of which were silver and the other half black. At the end of it there was a pendant with the Yin-Yang symbol on it. She pointed and Ryu snatched it and inspected it for any damage. Sighing with relief he ran his finger across the face of it and it clicked open. Inside was a picture of himself standing behind a beautiful black haired girl with his face beside hers and his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Keiko…" He muttered to himself running a single finger over the picture. He sighed again and closed the pendant before putting it around his neck where it hung down to a few inches below his neck.
"Um... How did I get here?" he asked with a slightly depressed look in his eyes. Sakura wanted to ask who the girl was but she suppressed the urge and answered his question.
"One of our shinobi found you very badly injured. You asked him to bring you to me and after you gave me a message you fainted and you were brought here to be healed." Sakura explained quickly. He nodded but still looked confused.
"Strange. I don't remember any of that." Now it was Sakura's turn to look confused.
"Well, what do you remember?" She asked curiously.
"Not much of anything," He answered sadly, "Just bits and pieces of her." He said and clutched at the amulet again and stared into space.
"Who is she?" Sakura asked.
"Keiko Yamada." He answered quietly a small smile creeping in at the edge of his lips.
"That sounds familiar," Sakura said slowly. "Do you remember anything else about her?" Ryu nodded slowly.
"I think… I think I was some sort of guard… and I know that I love her." He said after a moments thought.
"Do you know where she is?" Sakura asked. Ryu simply shook his head in response. He sighed and leaned back against the mattress. Sakura was quiet for a moment. She'd hoped to find out something about Sasuke but for at least now that was impossible.
"How long till I can get out of here?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"Tsunade-sama says about two days. You're healing almost impossibly fast." Sakura answered with a smile. She was reminded of another quick healer. She got up and turned to leave, but as she started to open the door Ryu said.
"I'm sorry, Sakura." She turned with a slightly confused look.
"What are you sorry for? You haven't done anything to me." She said smiling slightly.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you what you need to hear." He replied quietly before rolling over closing his eyes. Sakura turned and walked out of the room wondering what he was talking about.
A few short hours after Sakura left Tsunade walked in and sat in the same chair that Sakura had previously occupied. Ryu sighed wishing that he'd been able to sleep for at least a moment but questions he couldn't answer had plagued him every time he tried to shut his eyes. He slowly sat up and offered the woman a small smile.
"Do you need something?" He said quietly.
"Yes actually." Tsunade said in a business like tone. "I'm Tsunade, the village's Hokage or leader. I need to know what you plan to do after you leave this hospital." Ryu thought about the question for a moment before shrugging and replying,
"I don't know. I haven't given that particular matter much thought." Tsunade smiled upon hearing this.
"Good. I'm going to offer you a position as one of our ninjas." Ryu looked up, puzzled.
"Why would you do that? As far as I've been told you know little or nothing about me. For all you know I could be a spy for some rival village." He said questioningly.
"True, but we are a little short on manpower at the moment and I believe you've already been trained to fight in one form or another." Tsunade explained.
"How did you know that?" Ryu said surprised.
"Because I do know a small bit about you." Ryu's eyes widened and Tsunade pulled a small book from her back.
"This book contains the knowledge we have about ninjas who are… exceptional. There's a short entry on you on page fifty two." Ryu nodded and as she left the room he opened the book and found the page marked at the top as fifty two. On it there was a small picture of him, although it was a few years old. All the actual information about him such as height, weight were marked as unknown. Only his name and a small report about an encounter he'd had with a leaf Jounin or more specifically the Jounin's encounter with some of Ryu's own handiwork. It read,
"Last week I, four special Jounin and three ANBU members were dispatched to investigate and if possible assassinate the leader of a terrorist group that had been making death threats against several leaders of different countries. We found the location of their camp ten days after we'd been given our mission. When we arrived the camp was completely destroyed, bodies of shinobi littering the ground and in the middle of the camp tied to a large pole was the dead leader of this camp. Underneath him on the post was carved a message. It read "Do not threaten Keiko Yamada." No name was given but later intelligence on princess Yamada reveled that her bodyguard was not present the night before we arrived. We have as yet obtained no more information about her bodyguard other than his name, Shugojin Ryu.
-Elite Leaf Jounin
-Hatake Kakashi
That's all for the first chapter Sorry it's so short (yeah I know that sentence is in everyones first chapter), but I should have the next chapter up shortly, especially if there are reviews hint hint.