He walked along,his dark ebony locks flowing along as wisps of wind blew through the silent darkness. His onyx eyes staring blankly ahead. He held firmly to his left arm, it had been dislocated at the shoulder. Blood seeped from the wound to his stomach, causing him to wince every time he took a step. He stopped at the top of a hill overlooking a village, small and quiet. Walking slowly he made his way down the hill, entering the unknown village. He hid his face form a few on lookers, he entered a vacant hotel room, locking the door. He didn't know where the village was located but didn't care. He had gotten away alive and thats all that mattered now. He sat down on the small bed, grabbing his shoulder. He bit down into his lip as he pulled his shoulder up briskly and back into place, a sickening cracking sound filled the room. He inhaled sharply, ignoring his own pain. He slowly moved his shoulder, testing its flexibility. He snickered, impressed with his work. He pulled off his blood soaked shirt, throwing it to the ground. His wound was deep, ripping into his muscles and still bleeding. He took out a medical wrap, wrapping it around his stomach tightly. He winced again as he pressed his hand over the cut, stopping the bleeding. Once he finished he stood, replaying the nights events in his head. He had escaped from Orochimaru's layer after killing his right hand man, Kabuto. Orochimaru had sent his ninjas after him, he took them out easily. Orochimaru then attacked him himself, he had taken him down, earning hi numerous cuts and bruises. He unstrapped his katana from his waist, sitting it against the wall. Stretching his shoulder once more he layed down on the hard bed, pulling the thin sheets to his shoulders and shut his eyes. The 17 year old soon found himself asleep, dreams turning to nightmares of his brother, Uchiha Itachi.
Meanwhile:
The pink haired kunoichi rose briskly from her seat, sending papers flying in all directions. She yawned, her once sparkling jade eyes dull from exhaustion. She had been working at the hospital for two days straight. Sleep had finally caught up to her and she had succumbed to it without an argue. She had bee woken by her sensai's yelling,
"Sakura!"the older woman yelled again, stepping into the cluttered room.
"what are you sill doing here?" the blond asked.
"g-goman-nasai, Tsunade-shishou"Sakura bowed.
Tsunade shook her head,
you spend too much time here, go home, I'm giving you tomorrow off"
"b-but Tsunade-shishou the patients nee-"
"Sakura"Tsunade said sternly.
Sakura nodded, gathering books and scrolls from the floor. She gave one more quick nod before hurrying out of the building.
She walked along the dark quiet streets, sighing to herself. It was only a short distance to her apartment. She opened the door, flipping on the light, revealing the tidy space. She took off her boots, throwing her books on the floor next to them. She lazily wandered to here room, not even bothering to change, she flopped on her bed and falling asleep.
The next day
It was noon in konoha, a fiery young blond ran through the street. His eyes resembling the ocean as blue as they were. He had a smile plastered on his face as he hopped onto a rooftop. He inhaled deeply, the scent of Ramen filling his nose. His smile widened into a grin, he hopped off the roof, wandering into the small shop. He sat down at a stool, winking at the young brunette behind the counter, she looked away, blushing.
"hey there Naruto" a man his age said, coming into the shop, his arm around a blond.
"hey Kiba,Ino"Naruto replied.
The two sat down next to each other, the brunette boy turned to Naruto,
"so anything new today, any good missions?" he asked curiously.
Naruto shook his head,
"nothing good, all the missions have been taken by the new gennin"He sighed then grinned,
"I can remember when we first became gennin, and had to go through the chunnin exams" he slightly laughed at the memory.
Kiba nodded,
"thats when you kicked the snot outta me and Gaara"he laughed.
Naruto laughed along with him. Ino only shook her head,
"it wasn't all that fun for me, I had to fight Sakura and my hair got cut" she wined. Kiba chuckled putting his arm around her,
"yeah but thats when I first noticed you" he said sweetly. Ino blushed,
"hey guys I just thought of something"Naruto interrupted.
Kiba and Ino turned to him, questionable looks on their faces.
"where is Sakura? I went into the hospital today and she wasn't there"Naruto said, mostly thinking out loud.
"I don't know, I noticed that too"Ino said.
Naruto stood quickly,
"we have to find her"he said running out of the shop. Kiba and Ino followed.
"hey you ramens here!!!"the girl behind the counter yelled after them.
Sakura was just waking up from her well needed slumber. She sat up, stretching her arms out, everything was fine until she heard the all-too-familiar voice of Naruto yelling for her. She grumbled, standing up and going to her window. She looked out, seeing Naruto running around franticly in search for her.
"Naruto!"she yelled.
He turned, looking up at her,
"there you are!!"he grinned, jumping up to her window.
"what is it that you want Naruto?"she asked angrily.
He didn't want to admit to her that he thought she was in trouble, she might take it wrong, like he was saying she was weak or something, so he lied,
"uh..you..wanna...train with me?"he asked.
She looked pensive, as if she didn't believe him, but she smiled,
"ok I'll be down in a bit"she said then shut her window on him, he fell back onto the ground.
Naruto sat on the ground in front of Sakura's door, shaking his head.
'why does she have to hit me?"he mumbled.
"because you deserve it" Naruto turned, seeing Sakura smirking down at him.
He stood, rubbing the back of his head,
"ready?"he asked.
"yeah, to kick your ass"She laughed.
He smirked,
"no way"he said. They took off heading toward the training field.
They arrived, standing near the three logs that stood up out of the ground.
"ok lets-"Naruto stopped, seeing as Sakura was looking quite sadly at the three logs.
"Sakura-chan?"he asked worriedly, putting his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, she smiled,
"I'm ok"she said, wiping the tears away.
Naruto shook his head,
"your thinking about...him,huh?"he said, she nodded sadly.
Naruto sighed, wrapping his arms around her,
"I can remember when we first became a team"he slightly chuckled.
She nodded,
"hehe yeah" She smiled through her tears.
"and Kakashi used the thousand ears of death jutsu on me"Naruto laughed.
"yeah and when he told us that we all passed"Sakura said, laughing along with him.
They both sighed,
"I just wish everything could go back to normal"she said sadly.
"well we-"Naruto stopped.
"Naruto-san,Sakura-san!"a jonnin came running up to them.
"oi, Shikamaru, what is it?"Naruto asked.
"this is troublesome but,Tsunade-sama sent me to get you two"he said in a bored tone.
"well there goes our training"Naruto laughed.
They hurried to the hokage tower, once they knocked on the door they entered. Tsunade sat at the big desk in the middle of the room.
"what is it Tsunade-baa-chan?"Naruto asked, putting his arms behind his head.
Tsunade ignored his comment and looked straight at Sakura,
"I know I gave you today off but there is an important mission that has just come up,for both of you"Tsunade began, "ninjas in the river country spotted an S-class criminal last night, he went into a hotel and left early this morning, he was headed toward the land of wind, we suspect that he is meeting others there" the blond explained.
"so we have to track him down, and bring him back for interrogation?"Sakura asked unsure.
"close, you have to capture him and bring him back, making sure that any others with him are completely taken out, you will have other assistance on this mission too, I will be sending Sai along to help take them out."Tsunade explained.
"but who is this criminal?"naruto asked curiously.
At this Tsunade's face dropped into a slight frown,
"you know him...Uchiha Sasuke,bring him back"she said.
Naruto gasped, Sakura only looked to the ground, holding back the tears stinging her eyes.
'so...he's close' she thought.
One hour later they were ready, Sai had just arrived. Naruto looked determined, he had it et in his mind that he was going to get Sasuke, finally after four years of searching, he wouldn't let him get away again. Sakura only planned everything out, she wanted everything to go right, she wanted him to come home, back to the village, to Naruto, to her.
"lets go"Sai said.
They nodded once before springing into the trees, speeding towards the wind country. They moved with the speed of a cheetah, jumping from tree to tree, not missing a single branch.
"Sasuke"Naruto growled under his breath, increasing his speed.
Sakura looked at Naruto's back, he was ahead of her, quickly gaining distance from her and Sai. She pushed off the last tree branch hard, jumping up to Naruto's side. He glanced at her, then looking back in front of him.
"Suna isn't that far, if we travel all night without stopping we'll get there about noon tomorrow'"Naruto inferred.
Sakura shook her head in protest,
"I know you want to find him as soon as possible but"she sighed, "I want to find him as bad as you...maybe even more. But we need to stop, If we don't rest we won't stand a chance against the others, not including him"she explained.
Naruto huffed, lightly growling, but nodded in understanding to her words. She smiled, he looked away, glaring ahead of them.
"I'll get you teme"
Once night fell they stopped in a small clearing, next to a creek. Sai was washing off his face and brushes, setting them all up for their big fight. Sakura started a fire and was cooking three fish over it, she glanced over at Naruto, sitting up in a tree, staring out in the direction of the sand village, you could already tell the difference of the area. The ground was not soft, but hard due to the mixture of sand and dirt.
"Naruto"she called, he turned, eyes staring blankly at her.
She cleared her throat,
"your foods done"she said, smiling.
He nodded, jumping down next to her, Sai came over sitting with them around the fire.
"so who is this Uchiha?"Sai asked, fake smiling.
"he was our former team mate when we were gennin" Sakura said, ignoring the amusement in his voice.
"and he betrayed the village?"Sai asked, Sakura nodded, Naruto shot him a warning glare.
Naruto took a bite from his fish, Sakura following suit. Sai looked over their expressions, they looked
pissed, but at the same time, sadness evident in their eyes. He stopped talking, not wanting to get hit by Sakura's super strength.
By the time they got done eating it was late, Sakura pulled off her boots, weapons, and her headband. Naruto and Sai, both pulled off their shoes and layed down on opposite ends of he tent, Sakura sighed, laying down and yawning. Soon she was asleep, her dreams of Sasuke and what she was to encounter meeting him again.