First Naruto Fanfic. I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcome!
Naruto had been gone for three years from his village. After going on a solo mission, taking off in a fit of anger having found out that his father was the Yondaime and his mother was the previous container for the kyuubi, Naruto went missing. Several search parties looked for him, the groups consisting of all the chunin he had grown up with and his jounin mentor, Kakashi. However, after six months (the customary time given to look for missing ninja), they had to stop spending resources looking for him and cut their losses, leaving him marked as a rogue ninja. His friends mourned his absence and team 7 refused to give up, looking for any clues on the other missions they took. They were furious that Naruto had left them behind but more hurt by the fact that Tsunade, the current Hokage, had outright banned the village from mentioning his name amongst village members. The pain she felt at losing someone so close to her again was too much for her. The guilt of losing a third person she trusted and respected closed her off from the rest of those who still cared about her. Even Shizune could not get through to her, leaving the village in the hands of a depressed and broken Hokage.
During a mission to escort some well-known business men through the land of fire, team 7 had caught wind of a rumor of a secret ninja village that had been recently established around the same time Naruto had disappeared. The city folk had noticed several groups of ninja traveling to and from the area, but what the village of ninjas was called or who led the group was unknown. Anyone who tried to pry into the ninja village's business was swiftly dealt with. The results were not pretty and after a few brave souls had received their punishment of missing limbs, or worse, not even coming back at all, no one went near the ninja village. Feeling that the whole setup was suspicious, team 7 went on with their mission, making a mental note to scope the area on the way back home to Konoha. Two days later, they returned to the mysterious ninja village, keeping strictly to the perimeter for observation. After three days of intense spying, the three ninjas returned to Konoha to relay their findings to the Hokage.
What they had learned was that the ninja were mostly a group that kept to themselves. Rarely did anyone leave the village, which was highly unusual as most villages required money from missions to survive. This meant the village was either self-sustaining (which sounded highly unlikely) or they had been given funding from a very rich person. They also noticed that the village was extremely small and a lot of ninjas shared housing units. The problem with this observation was there were too many ninjas assigned per house. This led the group to believe underground establishments were at hand, something that was both unusual and suspicious. They also were able to learn that this ninja village was not registered with the list of ninja villages approved by the Daimyo, meaning it was an illegal village. All three observations led the group to believe that the ninjas were hiding something, and team 7 believed it to be Naruto or research that would lead them in the direction of Naruto. However, they needed to convince their Hokage that their conclusions were accurate.
"Hokage-sama, you have to realize where this is going. Naruto could be there right now, and we need to prepare an assault and retrieve him." Sakura pleaded with her leader and mentor.
"Absolutely not. You haven't given me any actual proof that what you are saying is factual. You made a few observations that could point towards that conclusion, but it could also point to several other different conclusions." Tsunade snapped, slamming her fist on her desk, the wood protesting at the force.
"Ma, ma. Would it really hurt to take out the village? It's not registered, so it's not like we are declaring war. We would be eliminating a threat on behalf of the Daimyo." Kakashi argued lazily, although anyone who knew him well could see he was tense.
"We can only do so under orders from the Daimyo himself. Since it's not registered, we can send a message alerting him of the situation and go from there."
"That could take too long. By then, all our clues will disappear." Sasuke answered.
"I can't just send assault teams wherever I feel like. It would send the wrong message to the other nations, making them think we are showing off or trying to provoke them to fight. The council of elders have to approve this whole thing anyway."
"Hokage-sama, forgive me, but screw the council. They don't do anything that doesn't benefit them. And you can't say no. I would think you of all people would want us to get him back. We've waited too long and had next to no luck finding him. What the council doesn't know won't kill them. Like you said, it's unregistered and therefore untraceable and unnoticeable. Cover up our attack, make it look like a mission. We can get in and out before you notice us gone." Sakura pleaded, watching her mentor eye them as she thought over what they said.
The minutes ticked by, team 7 waiting anxiously as Tsunade stood up and faced her window, thinking out different plans, strategies, and consequences. On the one hand, she really couldn't send them out on gut feelings. There was no hard evidence that there teammate was indeed in the village. On the other hand, she knew how they felt, losing someone precious and trying to get them back, no matter what, with no real way of knowing if they would ever succeed. She was torn between her duty as the Hokage and her duty to Naruto. She missed him dearly and she couldn't bear to see him get hurt further. If there was a chance he was alive, she couldn't risk being the reason he died. His blood would be on her hands.
"Alright, you can go. But you have to promise me that no matter what, you three will come back alive. I can't lose any of you. If that isn't possible, then I can't send you." Tsunade said as she faced the team. "And don't give me a bullshit answer that you'll be fine. I need you to seriously consider this."
"We can do it." Sasuke said without blinking an eye.
"Tsunade-sama, trust us. No one is going to try harder than us to succeed at this mission." Sakura answered.
"You have our word." Kakashi stated.
Tsunade sighed in exasperation. "You leave by dawn. The sooner the better. I can't cover for you for very long. Get in, find him if you can, get out and NO CASUALTIES!" Tsunade ordered, watching the team disappear from her office in a swirl of leaves. Sighing, she grabbed a hidden bottle of sake and poured herself a drink, guilt and sadness washing over her as well as a bit of fear at the hope she could sense, the thought of Naruto being alive fueling it by the second. "I hope this isn't going to end up a huge mistake. Please be alive Naruto." She whispered to her empty office.