Naruto was walking through the forest with Shikamaru and Kiba. Tsunade had appointed them a mission, under Shikamaru's lead because he was a higher rank than the other two boys. Naruto and Kiba were good friends, however they did tend to have frequent disagreements. Ambushes were probable on their mission to deliver a scroll and they had been walking in a single line formation for about and hour. Suddenly Kiba, who was as the front, stopped. Naruto smacked straight into Kiba's back and caused them to both fall over. "Ah, how troublesome. Naruto, could you please get off Kiba's back? We need to keep moving. And Kiba, Don't stop like that." Shikamaru said. Naruto grumbled and climbed off Kiba. "Sorry. Why did you have to stop so suddenly?" Akamaru jumped off Kiba's head and began barking madly.
"Yeah, I smell it too Akamaru." Kiba said to his loyal friend. Shikamaru walked over to Kiba. "What's going on?" Kiba pointed northwest.
"Akamaru and I can smell a strong scent of blood not too far away in that direction. I don't want to alarm you, but I think I can recognize the smell." Kiba looked nervously at Naruto. "What? I may not be as clever as Shika, but I want to know what's going on!" Naruto snapped. He knew Kiba knew something and only seemed to want to tell Shikamaru. Kiba looked down. "Naruto, I really need to tell Shikamaru something." The serious look on Kiba's face told Naruto it was important.
"Yeah, alright. I'll be over there." Naruto muttered walking off. Kiba turned to Shikamaru. "Akamaru is sure the smell is… Sasuke." Shikamaru paled. No wonder Kiba didn't want to tell Naruto. "And you can smell blood, correct?" Kiba nodded. "Obviously, whatever we are going to do, we have to act now." Shikamaru said.
"We can't… I mean… he tried to kill Naruto… and then left the village. He betrayed everyone for power, especially…" Kiba glanced over to Naruto who was pacing around, obviously bored. Shikamaru sighed. "Well, the answer is we stick to our mission and deliver the scroll. I would have thought Sasuke would classify as a missing Nin now, so… then again we did have that mission to retrieve him. So perhaps… what would happen if we brought him back?" Kiba bit his lip then replied.
"Well, the same thing that would have happened if we had managed to bring him back the first time-" Naruto bursting into the conversation cut off Kiba.
"Look. Why can't you tell me? I'm not that annoying am I?" Shikamaru nodded at Kiba. "Alright." Kiba began. "Don't freak out or anything, but I can smell someone's blood in the forest. Naruto, its Sasuke." Blue eyes opened wider in shock. Naruto couldn't move and he felt like he was going to be sick. Sasuke. Blood. Sasuke. "We…we have to help him!" Naruto managed to croak out. Shikamaru nodded.
"Kiba and I have decided even though he is a traitor, Sasuke was wanted back by Tsunade and bringing him back now shouldn't be too much different from when we were told to before." Naruto swallowed hard and followed Kiba who was leading the way with Akamaru. Why would Sasuke be in the forest? He's been gone for nearly a month now, what happened? That teme better be okay.
Kiba lead them straight to Sasuke. He was sprawled on the floor, several kunai lodged in his back. Naruto ran over to Sasuke immediately and was thankful to see that he was still just conscious. Naruto quickly pulled the kunai from Sasuke, noticing that there was something wrong with his neck and shouted for Kiba, who was probably fastest out of the three, to go back to Konoha and get help that can meet them halfway. Kiba nodded and set off with Akamaru. "Its okay, Kiba has gone for help. Were going to take you home and meet the medic nin halfway." Naruto picked Sasuke up and he was surprisingly lighter than he remembered. Sasuke had dark circles round his eyes. Ignoring this Naruto began the journey home with Shikamaru. Suddenly Sasuke went stiff in his arms. "Huh? Shikamaru what the fuck are you doing to Sasuke?" Naruto shouted.
"This could be a trap from Orochimaru. Bringing him into the village is a great risk anyway, but at least this way sasuke can't attack us." Shikamaru had used the shadowbind technique on Sasuke. Naruto was outraged. "What the hell? Can't you see he's wounded? And why would Sasuke attack us?"
"He tried to kill you before. I'm sorry Naruto, but as leader it's my responsibility-" A sudden noise make Naruto and Shikamaru stop arguing. "Sasuke?" a sharp glare made Shikamaru remove his technique. Sasuke was groaning and bleeding more than before. "Shika, what's wrong with him? Sasuke, can you hear me? Sasuke?" Naruto didn't know what to do. Neither of them had any medical training. "Hey!" Naruto and Shikamaru looked up. It was Kiba and sakura. Sakura formed several seals and began healing the now unconscious Sasuke. "Is… is he going to be okay?" Naruto asked quietly. The bleeding began to stow down until it eventually stopped. Sakura was shocked as she saw several vicious cuts to Sasuke's neck but she bandaged it up and answered Naruto. "Yes, but we need to get him back, the middle of a forest isn't exactly the most sanitary place." Naruto picked Sasuke up again and they all raced back to Konoha.