Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I'm not the owner. I'll say it again: I DONT OWN NARUTO. Third( or fourth I can't tell) times the charm: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (I would go on like this but then it would get repetitive and boring and then I will eventually hate the hilarious disclaimers that are on this site.) I believe this should be the only disclaimer needed for the entire story. Also I do not profit from this fanfic.

Rated: M for mature because I'm one hundred percent certain that I'm gonna have some gore.

Commence Reading...but first to let you know this takes place during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

NOW!

Chapter 1: Stormy Weather

Rain. It was just liquid precipitation. An everyday occurence. Nothing more than condensed water vapor coming from the atmosphere. It was so ordinary. Yet, it was so powerful. The rain effected everything. Rain grew crops that provided food. It caused mudslides that destroyed everything in its path. Rain was life. Rain was death. But perhaps its most powerful ability was something much less tangible. It swayed people's emotions. No matter where you lived rain still had a grip on your emotions.

Tropical rain was feared. Rain meant storms. Terrible storms that lead to things like floods and monsoons. In the desert, rain was hope. It renewed their water supplies that let them live in such a harsh climate. In more temperate climate, rain was gloom. The darkness it provided and the light it deprived. Nothing good ever happens in the dark.

A shrouded figure ran through a dense forest in the midst of the night. The force of the rain hit him as he ran. The slight patch of moonlight peaking through the trees provided a clear view of his face. Hatake Kakashi. Jounin of Konohagakure. Son of the White Fang of Konoha. Captain of Team 7. Anyone who looked upon the Copy Ninja at this moment would see the terror in his eye.

In his arms, a small body lay. An orange jumpsuit marinated in the scarlet blood of the body. Its hair showed no trace of any color but a deep, deep red. A small groan eructed from the throat of the now obviously male form.

As Kakashi sped through the trees he whispered ,"Just hang on a little longer." The jounin worked his way through the trees. From branch to branch, charging within the forest. With a final leap, the ninja clears through the trees and finally reaches his destination. The gates of Konoha. He was finally in a guaranteed safe zone. But, that didn't mean who could slow his pace.

Without stalling for a second, Hatake continued his sprint. Passing the guards of the gate, he ran into the vast expanse that was his village. He ran through the residential and businesses districts, zipping by the Hokage Tower, and making his way to the monument. The hospital, being an important facility, was located in the most secure area as possible. The base of the Hokage Monument.

As he rushed through the front doors of the infirmary, he shouted ,"Get me a doctor quick!" When the nurse at the desk saw the bloodied shell of a human being, she hit a large red button on the under side of the counter.

Suddenly, a group of doctors and nurses came swarming in with a gurney. Working like a well-organized group of insects, they took the figure from Kakashi's grasp and rushed him away into the corridor. The Copy Nin just stared at his hands. Blood. Deep red blood. That was all he saw. But, the man slowly regained his hold on his surroundings. He turned around and ran off in the direction of the Hokage Tower to inform Tsunade of the current dilemma.

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Earlier

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The forests in Fire Country were known for their lush greenery and large amounts of trees. But no forest was as famous as the one that bordered the Valley of The End, where the Shodaime Hokage fought against Uchiha Madara. This forest was created as aftermath of the Shodaime's mokuton abilities. Though several large, but perfectly star shaped clearing occur within this forest because of Madara's Amaterasu attack, an attack that produced a black allows very little, if any, life to grow where it has burned. For this reason alone, the forest was named the Forest of Stars.

It was in one of these clearings that Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee are sitting in a graveyard of bones bathing in the evening twilight. After their fight with the Kaguya known as Kimimaro, they decided to take a small rest. Several minutes passed as the two young shinobi regained their energy, their ragged breaths turned into silent breathing and their overheated bodies had cooled. As soon as they began to get ready to move again, they heard a rustling sound in the bushes just to the east of the clearing.

Though both Gaara and Lee were young, that didn't mean they weren't stupid and naive. They knew that they were in home territory, but the idea of them being attacked by an enemy nin wasn't that far-fetched. After all, they had just fought an incredibly strong Oto shinobi just minutes before. If they automatically assumed that it was an ally they could be caught off guard and killed. There was an old ninja saying that fit their current situation perfectly. 'Never assume anything. It only makes an Ass out of You and Me.' These two, being the well-trained shinobi they were, got ready for a fight. Gaara having his sand loom about the ground around him, and Lee settling into his taijutsu stance.

"Gaara!" the voice of a young woman shouted out from behind the foliage. Gaara, instantly recognizing the voice of his elder sister, halted his sand from attacking the forms that were emerging from the bushes. Temari stood there, slightly beaten up, but not gravely injured. Next to her the boy that Gaara recognized as 'Nara' was seen, in a slightly worse condition. The sand-user noticed the boy had a splint on his hand.

"YOSH! Nara-san and Temari-san! It is good to see the two of you are alright!" Lee shouted at the top his lungs. Temari, not used to the loud antics of the green spandex shinobi, had to cover her ears.

"It's good to see you too, Lee, but when did you get here? Weren't you recovering in the hospital?" Shikamaru asked the Gai-clone.

"Hai, but I couldn't help but feel useless as my youth-filled comrades went to retrieve Uchiha-san who has strayed from his path of youth!" the boy said with a burning passion in his eyes. All Shikamaru could do was groan and mumble a small 'troublesome'.

"Temari, you should remember to be more quiet in an enemy infested area. You could get yourself killed," Gaara said while giving a slight glare at his sister.

"H-hai!" the girl said in embarassment. She couldn't believe she could make such a simple mistake on such a serious mission. She was quite unused to feeling worried about her little brother. The girl had always cared about her youngest sibling, but her fear of him had gotten the better of her. The reason for her preoccupied manner was she had always believed the redhead to be invincible. He was an indestructible force of nature in her eyes, but when he was defeated at the hands of Uzumaki Naruto she realised that he wasn't immortal or indestructible. He was still human. He even began to change after his defeat. He no longer threatened her or Kankuro and he hadn't killed anyone since, excluding Kimimaro.

"Where's Sasuke and Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

Lee answered, "Uchiha-san ran off to the north and Naruto-kun followed after him. We should hurry and see if he needs any help in catching Uchiha-san."

Shikamaru gave an agreeing nod at Lee's plan and the two Suna and two Konoha nin took off towards the Valley of the End. Just three minutes into their run it began to rain. It took a total of one hour to finally reach their destination. But, what they saw was not what they expected.

Sasuke, was laying on a raised platform of rock in the center of the river surrounded in a pool of blood. Naruto was nowhere in sight, and that was what worried Shikamaru.

"Uchiha-san!" Lee shouted as soon as he saw the body. He jumped from the cliff, straight to the platform and flipped over the form that was Uchiha Sasuke. What was seen there would plague the group's dreams for years to come. A comrade. A classmate. A friend. Uchiha Sasuke layed there with his chest torn open and his heart visible. His left lung and stomach were completely destroyed. The right lung was deflated and his digestive tract was spilling out of him. The blank stare of his eyes felt like it cut into their very souls, his sharingan still activated. Not an ounce of warmth was left in his corpse.

Suddenly, without warning atleast ten Oto shinobi appeared at the other side of the Valley. Their weapons drawn and poised to fight. Seeing their obvious disadvantage Shikamaru gave an order to retreat. Lee began to pick up Sasuke's body, but as soon as he touched it a kunai came sailing down at Lee, but with his quick reflexes he caught the kunai.

"Lee, I don't think they'll let us take the body. We should just leave, we can't fight them right now," Shikamaru said.

Lee furrowed his mega eyebrows. 'How unyouthful of them,' the taijutsu specialist thought. As the retrieval team left, they said one last goodbye to their fallen comrade. As they reenter the forest Temari speaks up, "What about that Naruto? Where do you suppose he went off too?"

Gaara was the first to answer her. "My guess is that Uzumaki-san is dead or unconscious. He isn't the kind of person to leave a comrade's body wherever it falls. If he is unconscious he probably, washed downstream and died anyways," the sand user said keeping a straight face.

Temari was about to comment, but she decided Gaara was right. Even if the boy had survived, he was the type to have helped his friend even if it killed him. The group then began their long journey back to Konoha.

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Short chapter I know. If there is anyone who is interested in beta-ing for me plz contact me. I'm socially awkward. That doesn't mean i bite. But, if you make me angry, then I'll bite.

plz review as brutally honest as possible but most of all

plz review. For Pete's sake REVIEW. DO IT FOR PETE. IF U DON'T I WILL KILL HIM!!!

Signed your slightly insane author,

E-GzorZ-The-Oddity

UPDATED: 8/9/09