Chapter 1 Where is Naruto?

Disclaimer: I do Not own Naruto or any of the characters within this fan-fiction. The Naruto-verse was created by Masashi Kishimoto and I'm only borrowing it for this story.

Thoughts

Normal Talk

Kurama Talking

The End...

As the fight drew it's last breath everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Bodies littered the battlefield around the remainder of Team Seven as they stood, entranced by the swift movement of their unspoken hero. His figure could be seen, darting through the air, no movement wasted. As with his father, his teleportation technique astounded the three companions as they stood by and watched the final minutes of the intense battle before them.

"Amazing," Kakashi said and his breath failed him in his attempts to regain composure from his failed attempt to aid his former student. The masked ninja was staggering beside the remnants of his former Team 7. His chakra was nearly depleted and as a result his body could hardly stand. His many attempts to aid the young hero of the leaf were futile since the battle had taken on the nature of a battle between deities.

'What can I do to help him?' Kakashi asked himself as he felt his power nearly drained.

"What should we do?" Sakura questioned as she looked at her teammate as the battle continued. "We can't keep up with his stamina, and we are no match for Madara in this form."

"We have no choice but to watch at this point," Sasuke simply snarled as he sat beside his former teacher and comrade, his strength continuing to fail him as he attempted to stand beside them.

As the group stood, transfixed by the fight before them, they didn't notice the gen-jutsu had been released on the remaining Allied Shinobi Force.

Moments seemed to pass like hours as the trio stood unnerved at the fight going on around them. The air radiated with the scent of scorched earth and blood, dust had covered most of the bodies of the fallen and those who remained at the battlefront.

"W-w-where is Naruto-kun?" a soft, wavering voice pierced the entranced shinobi. Upon hearing this, Sakura and Sasuke spun quickly in the direction of the voice, only noticing then that the blue haired girl had materialized immediately beside the two as soon as the enemy's jutsu had been released.

Before Sakura could give any sort of reply, a blinding white light lit up the earth around them. A distinguishable groan from the surviving ninja behind the Konohoa group reiterated the massive attack that had suddenly appeared before them.

As Sakura's gaze quickly regained the last place she had seen Naruto and Madara, she found the source of the light. A powerful orb of chakra had formed from the combination of two attacks. Her mouth dropped open as her mind was filled with fear for her teammate.

When Hinata noticed her friend's gaze shift away from her back towards the source of the light, she immediately activated her visual dojutsu, with a quick word and a few hand seals. Her limited strength greatly diminished her extraordinary vision slightly, but she could see them nonetheless as they came together in an earth-shattering explosion.

Naruto's Wind-style Rasenshruiken had evidently overpowered Madara's attempt to block it, and the two were sent in opposing directions violently. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata screamed, as she witnessed the explosion. It seemed as if it were in slow motion. The look of horror on her already pale face displayed the emotions she had felt tearing her heart apart. Before she could even start running towards the last place she had seen Naruto, she felt Sakura's hands on her shoulders, restricting her from running out into the middle of destruction plaguing the earth in front of them.

"We have to find him!" Hinata screamed as she was held in place by the medic-nin.

"We will, Hinata," Sakura cried with emotion, attempting to calm her friend. "Naruto will be ok, but we need to be sure that Madara is finished. If he isn't then nothing else will matter."

'The way she looks now, as when she fought Pain, Hinata loves Naruto' Sakura thought. 'We will find him...'

A look of determination from the pink-haired kunoichi calmed Hinata a little before she fell to her knees in defeat. She knew Sakura was right and for that she couldn't help but to briefly shrink back into the shadow of doubt that had once overwhelmed her strength.

'I'm too weak to save him this time.' At this thought though another resounded deeply within her mind. Back to when Naruto first entered the battle.

Flashback:

Naruto sensed her thoughts as he stood before her in Kurama's cloak. "You are not weak. Stop thinking that. You have already saved me twice. Don't risk your life like that again.

End Flashback

In remembering that statement, Hinata regained some of her composure. 'How could I doubt Naruto's strength. He wouldn't fall to someone like Madara. I believe in him. He will be ok.' With that thought, her strength was renewed and the momentary relapse had all but vanished from her mind. 'I'll wait for you Naruto. Come back to me.'

By this time, Kakashi had regained some of his balance and stood firmly beside Sakura and Hinata. With his ocular power he could see the outcome of the last attack and couldn't help but stare as he had seen Madara's body being dismantled within Naruto's powerful jutsu. The light began to fade so that the entire remnant of the Allied Shinobi Forces could see, from their limited perspective, the body of Madara falling, in pieces, quickly to the debris of rock below, where it remained motionless.

The remaining shinobi could only hope that what Naruto had done had finished the juubi jinchuriiki. From where they stood, they could only look on with hope that the war was finally over.

Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura looked towards the fallen foe as if they were expecting him to revive and continue his assault on Earth. Moments passed as though they were weeks at a time. The release of the infinite tsukuyomi had been a sign that the caster's power was diminishing or focused on something else that required intense chakra control.

As the impact of his body hitting the earth took most of their attention, Hinata alone looked for Naruto. His chakra signature disappeared as he was sent miles through the air by the explosion.

Minutes passed like years as the sudden realization had hit the entire military force at once: the war was over.

The sound of cheers and screams of joy dismissed the intense aura of fear and defeat that had previously occupied the air around the troops.

"Where is Naruto-kun?!" Hinata screamed as the remaining forces had dropped their guard in relief. Her words pierced the hearts and minds of everyone around her and sent a wave of panic momentarily back into the crowd of shinobi. At Hinata's words, everyone's attention had been brought back to their young hero.

"Did anybody else see his chakra disappear?" the blue haired kunoichi asked anyone and everyone around her. Their looks said it all. Many had looks of confusion and sadness. No one else had noticed the events surrounding Naruto's disappearance with the exception of her.

As the confusion grew amongst the survivors, many medic ninja and others started organizing the treatment for the injured. 'The end has come at last to the war,' Hinata thought, 'but what happened to Naruto?'

Sakura, Kakashi, and Saskue still stood beside Hinata, motionless. They had no idea what had happened. One thing that they did know was that the war was finally over.

"We will find him Hinata," Kakashi said calmly. With a smile he quickly added, "He has survived so much thus far, I would hardly imagine an asshole like Madara would be able to kill an unpredictable ninja like him."

Although Hinata knew he was right, her concern for the blonde ninja didn't cease. Until she could see him, put her hands on him, feel his breath, know he was safe, she would not stop worrying.