Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related.........damn it.

Chapter 1

He knew what he had to do. He wished it didn't have to come to this, but he had to find the answer by himself. He didn't know how long it might take him, but he won't go back to his past until he finds the answer. Naruto Uzumaki knew he was making a choice that would effect everyone in the village. His friends, the villagers and even the Godaime. But he just had to know.

Pain. The one thing he knew very well. Ever since he was born, he knew what pain was. He knew he was not the only one who knew pain. Everyone experienced pain in their lives. He wasn't referring to the pain of wounds or the pain of battle. He was talking about the pain that significantly attacked the heart. Not the kind of pain that was caused by a disease or wound to the heart. But a pain where everything you hoped for and dreamed of is crushed. Naruto Uzumaki was talking about a broken heart. A pain full of sadness and he wanted that pain to go away.

Naruto took one last glance at the place he called home from the entrance of the village he sworn to protect. He dreamed of becoming Hokage of the village, just like his father. But he had to put it on hold for a while. He knew once he left the village, Sakura would be the first to find out. The young kunoichi he fell in love with. But if it wasn't her to first find out, then it would most definitely be one of his friends. And when Tsunade finds out, she would immediately send ANBU Black Ops after him. He knew he couldn't return until he found his answer. But he also knew he won't be welcomed back and probably put in prison for running away from the village. But he had to find his answer.

What made him decide to take this path? It was the conversation with Nagato. His past left Naruto to think about all the decisions he made and he needed to find an answer that will help him decide what to do next. He wanted to know if what Nagato's world was really going to lead the Ninja World to a golden age. He needed to know if the world he viewed was real or not. Naruto knew he wouldn't find the answer immediately and it might take him years. But, looking down at the destruction Pein caused, he almost didn't want to leave. But something kept driving him to make this decision. He wasn't sure what, but he wasn't go to dismiss it.

He closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh. He looked up toward the starry sky and opened his eyes as a tear rolled down his cheek and onto the ground. He turned around and sadly walked into the deep forests that surrounded the Village of Konoha.

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It was morning in Konoha and the villagers who had to stay at the safe houses behind the Hokage Face Mountain began waking up one after another. The villagers who were helping with the reconstruction of Konoha, began making their way back toward the rubble that used to be a great and powerful village. After the Akatsuki Invasion by Pein, everyone lost their homes, many lost their businesses, restaurants and no one really thought the invasion was going to be this destructive.

Not only did the invasion cause destruction but deaths as well. Many shinobi died fighting to protect their village. They were all given funerals and were mourned in front of the many survivors. Many of them cried for the loss of family, friends and even lovers. But the will of fire that many Konoha shinobi believed in was alive and it was not going to be extinguished after all the villagers have been through. The invasion caused by Pein was not the end. It was only the beginning.

Sakura Haruno, a young pink haired kunoichi who specialized in medical jutsus and had god like strength, began treating one patient after another. She treated them for wounds that they suffered during the invasion. She began to think back on everything that happened. From the moment Pein invaded Konoha, to the moment Naruto returned form where he went to confront the real Pein, and everything in between. She frowned as she remembered what Hinata did in order to help Naruto. She knew what she did was really reckless. But when she heard her say 'I love you' to Naruto it made her understand why she did it. She did of love and wanted to protect the person she loved. After all, people do crazy things when they were in love.

She didn't know why but she always frowned when she played back the memory in her head. The same three words kept repeating in her head, which made her frown even deeper then the memory did. She didn't know why. She began thinking about Naruto and then went back to Hinata confirming her love. It didn't help one bit and she wished this feeling would just stop. But everything she did made her return to that same memory. She finished treating one of the patients of his wounds and immediately went to the next, still thinking about everything that happened. She just couldn't get that memory away from her head.

'Could it be that I...' She shook her head to get rid of such a thought and went back to concentrating on the patient. But no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't shake away the feeling. Her thoughts however were soon disrupted when the Hokage called her from across the room. Sakura looked up to see Tsunade looking at her and knew what her stare meant. She finished healing the patient before standing up and walking over to Tsunade.

"Yes Tsunade-sama?" She asked looking at the Fifth Hokage and tried her best to not look like she was deep in thought.

"Yes, can you round up these list of people and bring them to the top of the Hokage Mountain, there is a matter we have to discuss with them all." She frowned at her before handing her a paper with a list of people. Sakura took it and read over the list before looking back at Tsunade and bowed her head.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" With that, she ran past Tsunade and out of the room. Tsuande watched the young girl leave with a frown on her face and sighed. She looked at the amount of patients in the room and then turned to leave.

'She is not going to like the news...'

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Naruto continued to jump from tree branch to tree branch in record time as he was able to pass the Fire Countries borders and enter what he believed to be the Wind Country. It surprised him on how fast it took him, but then again he didn't have Kakashi or anyone else tell him to slow down. This made Naruto to think about his sensei. He couldn't believe he was gone. He knew people eventually die, but he didn't want to believe that it was Kakashi's turn to die so soon. The Akatsuki already took Ero-sennin from him and now Kakashi. It was like every sensei he had ended up dead, except for Iruka-sensei.

He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of both Jiraiya and Kakashi and continued to concentrate in front of him. There were still Akatsuki out there and he knew he was probably the only Jinchuuriki left to get captured. It's ironic that the one with the most tails is always last, but it was still no laughing matter. He knew if he traveled from place to place the Akatsuki won't find him. He also feels that it was his fault that all those people died. If he traveled from place to place before the incident, maybe just maybe the invasion could have not happen. Still he knew the Akatsuki had to be stopped, especially the man his father told him about when he almost removed the seal that held the Kyuubi inside of him.

Naruto sighed as he quickened his pace. There was still a lot he had to know. He had to find the answer of the question that has been repeated in his head ever since he spoke to Nagato. He had to know and nothing and no one was going to stop him no matter who the were or what they did. He had to know and he did not care if he had to attack his own comrades until he found his answer.

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Sakura was finally able to gather the five people, excluding herself, on the list and were now standing in front of Tsunade with confused looks on their faces. They weren't sure why they were here, but knew it was something important. Tsunade looked at the six people in front of her. Shikamaru Naru, a member of the Naru clan who had a look of total boredom on his face. The Jounin Yamato was to his right who had was confused as the others, but didn't show it as he stood with his hands behind his back. To Shikamaru's left was a member of the Inuzuka clan, Kiba Inuzuka, along with his dog Akamaru sitting next to him. Right next to Akamaru was the Byakugan user and a member of the Hyuga clan, Neji who was calm as always. Next to him was the last member Sakura gathered, the black haired and replacement for Sasuke on Team Seven, Sai. Sakura stood next to him as Tsunade looked over at them again before closing her eyes and sighing.

"We might as well get on with it..." Tsunade began, opening her eyes to look at the eyes of some of the toughest Shinobi of Konoha. "...I am here to sent you on an important mission. I don't know much of the details but this mission is even more important then the mission to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru several years ago." Everyone's eyes widened as some of them gasped.

"Just what kind of mission is this?" Shikamaru asked, his facing now turning serious.

"It is similar to the retrieval of Sasuke, but your bonds with this person are much stronger and I trust you won't fail no matter what the reason is." Tsunade responded, which only made them more anxious.

"Come on, tell us already!" Kiba loudly asked, watching Tsunade closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She quickly opened her eyes and looked at all six of them with the most intense glare she ever gave, which made Kiba and even Yamato jumped back in surprise.

"This mission is to find and bring back Uzumaki Naruto to the village!" They all gasped with widen eyes and couldn't believe what she just said. Sakura was the most shock. She couldn't believe it. First Sasuke and now Naruto. Both her teammates ran away from the village. She couldn't take another loss of her team. Naruto was the last person she thought would ever run away from Konoha. First Sasuke, next Kakashi was gone and now Naruto runs away.

"N...nani?!" Shikamaru stuttered still in shock, as was everyone else.

"This is a joke right? That idiot wouldn't run away from the village, right?" Kiba said trying to take this as a joke, but Tsunade showed no signs that it was a joke, since she kept that glare on her face. "Your...serious...." Kiba lowered his hands to his side in disbelief.

"But why would he do something like this?" Yamato asked as Tsunade nodded her head.

"I don't know, I only found out this morning when one of the villagers reported that he saw Naruto leave the village last night." Tsunade replied as Yamato frowned in response.

"Could it be...." Sai whispered, but Tsunade was able to hear him.

"Do you know something Sai?" Tsunade asked staring at him with her brown eyes.

"Well...when he came back from where the real Pein was, he wasn't acting like himself. I read in a book that sometimes people hide their feelings and it just seemed to me that Naruto was hiding something." Sai explained.

"So, you mean it has something to do with his meeting with Pein?" Neji asked as Sai nodded.

"It makes sense, I mean he didn't even answer to the ANBU Black Ops when they asked him about it." Yamato told them. "Even Ibiki wasn't able to make him tell the truth."

"Man, this is so troublesome..." Shikamaru spoke, rubbing the back of his head. "...but he is a shinobi of the village and it is our duty to bring him back no matter what the cost is. Plus this mission would help me forget the mistakes I made during that last mission."

"It may not be as dangerous since I doubt he left with a group like Sasuke did, but this mission is still crucial." Tsunade told them as they stiffened, except for Sakura who was just looking down to the ground, during their whole conversation. Tsunade noticed this but kept quiet and gave the others their next task. "All of you will report to where the front gates were originally were in one hour. Take this time to prepare yourselves. Dismiss!" With that command all of them disappeared except for Sakura who did not lift her head since Tsunade broke the news. Tsunade let out a deep sigh before walking toward the pink haired kunoichi. She immediately stopped and eyes widened when she heard Sakura begin to speak.

"Why....why would he....?" Sakura whispered as tears began to stream down her face. Her legs suddenly felt weak and then she fell to her knees. She put an hand on both her arms and began to weep, as tears began to fall freely down her face. Tsunade frowned at the young girl. She knew she had many hard times in her life from Sasuke leaving and Kakashi dying, but for some reason it felt like this crushed her more than the other two times. Tsunade let out a sigh before crouching down in front Sakura and embracing her as she wept onto her shirt. She rubbed her back to try and calm her down, but it took a while before the crying turned into sobs and then stopped completely.

As soon as Sakura stopped crying, Tsunade let go of her and looked into her eyes. Her eyes were now red from all the crying and it saddened Tsunade to see her student in this way. She frowned as she wiped some of the remaining tears off her face. 'That Naruto...he better have a good explanation...' Tsunade thought as she helped Sakura up. "Listen Sakura, go with them and confront Naruto. Ask him why he left and always take no for an answer, understand?" Tsunade told her student in a calm voice. Sakura slowly nodded before Tsunade smiled. "Good, now go get ready." Sakura nodded again before jumping down from the Hokage Mountain. Tsunade watched Sakura the whole time before looking up at the sky. "You idiot..."

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Naruto suddenly stopped and jumped off the branch and onto the ground, sensing something nearby. He slowly began walking toward the direction the strange feeling was coming from. When he arrived at the scene, his eyes widened. There before him, a small village was being raided by what looked like a bunch of bandits. He was horrified when he saw some of the bandits begin to slaughter the villagers. He gritted his teeth and couldn't watch anymore.

One of the bandits was about to strike a young female in her late teens, but Naruto didn't allow the bandit to hurt her. Naruto punched the bandit so hard in the face that he was sent toward a group of his comrades. They all fell to the ground as the female who was covering her head with her hands, blinked and looked up at the man who saved her. "Are you okay?" Naruto asked her as she slowly nodded.

"Who the hell are you?!" Naruto looked away from the girl back toward the bandit he punched. It looked like he was the leader since he was the one who wore more fancier clothes then the other bandits. He had dark brown hair and a scar on his right cheek. The bandit stood up and took out his sword and pointed it at Naruto. "How dare you attack me?!"

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto shouted back, which made him jump a little in surprise. "I don't care who you are! Your going to pay for what you did to these villagers!" Naruto shouted as the bandits gritted their teeth.

"You brat!" The bandit leader shouted as he charged at Naruto with his men right behind him. The woman screamed as she closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was going to happen next. Naruto just stood there.

Before the woman knew it, all of the bandits were knocked out and pummeled to the ground with Naruto standing in the center of the unconscious bodies. She gaped at Naruto and was amazed on how he was able to single handedly knock out all those bandits. Naruto turned to her. "Are you ok?" He asked her again.

"H...Hai." She stuttered in amazement and then nodded her head. Naruto then began walking over to her, eyes still on her. He made his way toward her and passed by the unconscious bandits. The woman slightly blushed at him staring at her with his light blue eyes and he then crouched in front of her.

"Are you sure?" The woman nodded again as Naruto sighed in relief.

"That's great." He replied relieved with a smile on his face.

"Um, who are you?" She asked as Naruto gave her a soft smile.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, what's yours?" He answered.

"M...My name is..." She didn't get to finish as she suddenly collapsed making Naruto's eyes widened.

"Hey, hold it together!" His eyes widened further when he noticed blood beginning to seep through her shirt near her left abdomen section. "Damn it, just hold on!" Naruto shouted a he lifted her up with one arm on her back and the other under her legs. He then jumped off to safer place, which he didn't know where but he knew he had to treat her wound soon.

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After one hour passed, the six members assigned to the Naruto retrieval mission were now in front of the woods where Naruto supposedly left through. Tsunade was behind them with her arms crossed as she watched and listened silently to Shikamaru telling the others the formation they would be using.

"Basically, it's about the same formation we took on the Sasuke mission without Choji and Naruto. Yamato, Sai you two will replace the positions that Naruto and Choji used, while Sakura would be in the middle where we can protect her, since she is the only medic nin on this team. You all understand?" Everyone nodded, but Sakura was the only one to nod slowly as she continued to look down at the ground with a frown on her face. Shikamaru noticed this, but didn't question her, knowing she would follow. He then stood up.

"Well, we might as well stop waisting our time here...Let's go!" Shikamaru ordered as all six of them began their mission, with Tsuande watching them until they disappeared deep into the forest.

'Good luck to all of you...'

To Be Continued....

Well what do you guys think and be brutal. I accept both good and bad comments since they will bot help me write new chapters better. Can't wait for your guys feedback. Bye Bye!!!!