"No."

Naruto should have been used to the word by now, but it still damaged his spirit every time Tsunade gave him the answer. In fact, she was so used to the routine that she didn't even bother to look up from the paperwork she was pretending to do. God forbid Shizune walk in and find her asleep again. She couldn't remember the last time she had been without a bottle of sake that long.
"But grandma-,"
"I said no, Naruto."
Naruto clenched his fists and cast his gaze to the floor. He couldn't understand why she was being so damn difficult.

"You old hag! Why won't you let me go? How am I supposed to bring him back if you won't even send a squad after him?" Naruto had fixed his gaze on Tsunade now and his face showed emotions mixed between confusion and anger.
Tsunade sighed as she stopped doodling on a trade license request and clasped her hands together. Sympathetic hazel met cobalt as she turned her gaze towards her former teammate's most recent pupil.
"Naruto, with the Akatsuki actively hunting down jinchūriki, I take a risk of sending you out of the village as is."

"I'll be-,"

"One of them was able to take down Asuma, a jonin rank ninja."
"But-,"
"Besides, do you even know where he is?"
"Well..."
She was right; he had no idea as to even where to start looking for him.
"As I thought. How do you expect to bring Sasuke back without even knowing where to look? We don't have ninja to spare to go on a mission destined to fail."
Naruto stayed silent and the anger fell from his face. He just returned his gaze to the floor, only this time it was in defeat.
Tsunade knew she was being hard on the kid, partly to protect him, but also because he needed to forget about Sasuke. At least until the Akatsuki problem had been dealt with. Then she'd think about letting him go. She understood the pain of being betrayed by a teammate who had deserted the village.
"Now speaking of missions," Naruto perked his head up in curiosity, "you, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato will meet at the gate tomorrow morning for your next mission. Nothing major. Just a simple C-ranked escort mission." Normally she would have briefed the team all at once, but since Naruto was already here, she might as well do it now.
Naruto looked at her with a look as if to say, Come on! I can handle more than that!
"I know what you're thinking, and I wouldn't have sent you in the first place if you specifically hadn't been requested."
Naruto started to ask who, but was interrupted.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Tsunade said as she turned back to the trade license request she was 'signing', "I have important work to do. Oh, and pass the mission details on to your team. I don't feel like explaining it again."
Naruto mumbled something about her 'not explaining crap' as he made his way to the door.
Tsunade looked up. "You say something, brat?"
"It was nothing, granny."
Naruto ran and ducked as the paperweight flew over his head and embedded itself in the wall.

"Now let's see…"
Sakura always hated this time of year. It wasn't the weather or anything like that. No, it was a perfect day to relax, but ever since she became Tsunade's pupil, she was given the 'privilege' to hand out renewed trade licenses. She opened up the large bag and looked around for a scroll labeled "Ichiraku Ramen".
"Where is it…?"

Sakura stopped paying attention to where she was going and focused fully on finding the elusive license.
"Aha-,"
Her victory, however, was short lived as the precious scroll was knocked from her hands as she collided with an oh-so-familiar hyperactive ninja.
"Oi! Watch where-," Naruto fell silent when he noticed it was Sakura he had bumped into. She had a distraught look on her face.
"Gah, Naruto! You idiot! See what you made me do?"
Sakura quickly located the scroll and dusted herself off.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan!"
Naruto flashed her one of his wide, contagious smiles and she couldn't help but smile a bit to herself. Just a bit though.
"So, Sakura-,"
"As much as I'd love to stay and chat Naruto, I have twelve more of these stupid scrolls to deliver before I'm done for today, so if you'll excuse me…"
Sakura started to make her way past Naruto but stopped when he grabbed her shoulder. She turned around with an eyebrow raised, looking expectantly.
"Eh, Sakura-chan, I was just going to tell you we have a mission tomorrow morning. We're meeting at the gate. Tsunade said it was an escort mission or something."
Sakura's inner self cheered as she took in the news. She honestly didn't care who or what she was escorting, as long as she was getting out of delivering these stupid licenses.
Despite her mentally doing back flips in joy, Sakura composed herself and simply responded with an "Okay" before once again making her way towards Ichiraku.
"Oh and Sakura-chan," Naruto called out, "can you pass it on to Yamato and Sai, I'm, uh, busy."
Busy being lazy, that is.
Sakura turned around long enough to give Naruto a nod and continued on her way, never fully stopping.
"Great…," She mumbled to herself, "Now I have to track down Sai and Yamato and deliver these stupid licenses."
Sakura suddenly stopped in the middle of the street and looked at the ground.
You can do this, Sakura.
You can do this!
Sakura brought her head up with determination plastered all over her face.
"I can do this! YEAH! Here I come, Ichiraku Ramen!" Sakura fist pumped with the scroll.
Nearby, a little girl clung to her mother's side in utter fear of the pink haired kunoichi screaming at the empty space in front of her.

Family was something Naruto never had the chance of experiencing. That is why he valued his friends more than anything. They provided him with a sense of purpose. They were the constant trial in his life, providing him with comaraderie, family, and in Sasuke's case, rivalry.
Naruto pondered all of these things as he sat on his bed, knees brought to his chest, and with the old framed picture of the original Team Seven. He focused on one face in particular, his best friend.
"Sasuke...," Naruto whispered with a blank expression as he aimlessly outlined the picture with his fingers. It had become commonplace for Naruto to sulk in this manner after having his mission request denied time and time again. Yes, he understood it was hazardous, but well worth the risk. It just wasn't possible to get the mission approved. At least not for him.
Naruto sighed and traced the frame of the photo once more before placing the photo back on the bedside table. No sense losing sleep prior to a mission the next morning.
Naruto fell asleep with a certain defected ninja's retrieval in mind.

Andddddddd finished. Sheesh. That was fun to write.
Anyways, I've been sort of playing with this story idea in my head a while and decided to give it a go :3.
Tell me what you think so far!:D
-KTK