Chapter 2

The two rivals checked out Sakura's house, but found no one. Sasuke was on his way out, but Naruto was lingering in the pink-haired girl's room. Everything was cute and sort of fluffy in the ordely room, except for some shiny metallic thing that had fallen on the floor. It was two rings with tiny spikes all around it. They looked like little suns and they apparently were supposed to be attached together with the string that was lying next to them. The curious boy picked them up and negligently scraped his fingers with them. Sasuke standing outside, arms-crossed, heard him yell. He ran in and saw Naruto smiling excitedly holding the rings out for him to see.

" Here! Here, see! It's written 'Naruto' on this ring and 'Sakura' on this one! Oh! Oh! She was going to surprise me with this gift! A sure sign of her admiration for me."

Back at training ground, Kakashi announced that he would start teaching them how to send messages by birds even though Sakura did not show up. Disappointment showed on both his students' faces. The teacher was holding a tiny bird in his skilled hands. The docile creature had a paper stuck on his back. As the white haired copy ninja was about to give his instructions, Naruto was thinking about flying on Temari's fan and Sasuke was nodding, having guessed what his teacher was about to say.

Suddenly, out of the smoke appeared Iruka. He spoke in a low, urgent voice to Kakashi and vanished. While Kakashi was reflecting upon Iruka's message, Naruto was excitedly speculating about future action that might result from the sudden news.

Kakashi sent Sasuke and Naruto to go collect information on the whereabouts of their team mate. He told them to go separately, but added that it was still teamwork because they had to send eachother any information by means of the birds.

"Sakura could be in danger. Rumors of the presence of a suspicious group near our village have been circulating. So be quick and effective." Kakashi teleported.

"Sasuke, if you happen to find Sakura, by any chance, don't forget to tell me. I really don't want to be searching the whole day and waste the possibility for actual training." He continued, sighing, "Ah Sakura! If you were here, I might have learnt something more... powerful today!"

Sasuke smiled, satisfied by his teacher's decision to initiate him to more powerful sharingan techniques.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm heading to the ramen shop!"

"..."

"I figured that since I'm hungry now, Sakura might also be hungry right now. So, Sasuke, don't go look for her there."

"..."

Sasuke found Ino gathering provisions with Choji. Ino beamed of joy and ran towards her dream boy, leaving her partner alone with his precious food.

" How can I help you, Sasuke!"

She was feeling great until she heard the name of her rival: Sakura.

"I haven't seen her at all. I've been preparing for my new mission with Choji. I think they'll send us somewhere quite exotic. But, obviously, I should be looking for Sakura with you!"

"I think that it's highly probably that she has been captured by this new clan."

"Oh, don't worry. She's a tough girl. We can take our time..."

This is the greatest opportunity I ever had to be alone with Sasuke! I can't believe Sakura is the one offering it to me!

"We need Kiba," the once arrogant Sasuke said.

Ino growled interiorly.

Kiba was proud to be of help. Akamaru and himself lead the way. They soon arrived at a part of the village where there were less habitations. A pale green meadow stretched out in front of them and they could not perceive any hiding places.

"Are you sure Sakura has been here?" Sasuke asked, still in his deep mature voice.

"Let's have a picnic; it's pretty here!" Ino exclaimed, her eyes glowing.

The two boys did not answer. They were deep in their reflections. The dog bounced through the land and started barking. It seemed as though Akamaru could not detect Sakura's scent any further than that point. When the three approached, they realized there was a small stream flowing towards some rocky patches in the landscape where the woods took over.

" She did not cross over, she walked on water maybe," Kiba said.

"It doesn't look like it's easy to walk on that fast flowing stream... or even in the stream. And I don't think she went swimming in there," Ino added, dying to stare into Sasuke's wonderful eyes.

"She was probably carried by some high rank ninja..."

Sasuke stepped onto the water and fell on his ass. He continued calmly: " I guess they went that way. It would be too forceful to go upstream."

They ran towards the woods while Akamaru joyfully floated down the stream. The forest was dense and the trees were only as high as a house. Ino, Sasuke, Kiba and his trusted friend were jumping swiftly and silently from branch to branch, searching for suspects and any sign of pink.

Sasuke felt a projectile coming towards him. He ducked. Another one targeted him, but hit Ino's head first. The first projectile turned around and flew back at the astonished Sasuke. He caught it in his palms. It was a bird carrying a message from Naruto. The second bird poked Ino's forehead and left its droppings on her shirt.

"These beasts should really be used as weapons!" cried Ino.

Sasuke unsealed the papers and read:

" Hey bastard! Did you receive this message? Kakashi-sensei's explanations were so unclear!"

He opened the second one with lower expectations.

"It's me again. Sakura is NOT in the ramen shop. Also, Pervert Sennin is NOT the one who kidnapped her. He beat me up for asking."

" What useless information?" Kiba laughed.

Another flying creature ended its travel almost dying on Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto had chosen a really ugly looking, handicapped bird. His third message gave a bit more information to the exasperated Uchiha.

"Sasuke-chan, hello. I heard that a jounnin team was not searching for Sakura but for a small group of unknown individuals that will supposedly disturb the village's peace in an upcoming surprise attack."

"Have they no name?" Kiba asked, frowning.

"We will soon find out," whispered Sasuke as he blended into the shadows.

He saw a man wandering around coming in their direction. He was wearing a red outfit with unknown symbols on the back. His long spiky hair was held back by a golden head band. The three circled him. He seemed surprised, but looked quite enthusiastic.

"Who are you? Who are you working for? Are you from Konoha?" Sasuke interrogated.

The stranger remained silent; it seemed as though he was thinking hard.

"Hum. I don't know? Do I know you?" he asked in return.

He observed them questioningly.

"Tell us where you come from!" Kiba pressured as Akamaru walked around the man, growling.

"All I know is that I have been walking from... that direction." He pointed to the East. "And don't ask me anymore questions. I am myself looking for the Truth. I am mesmerized by this beautiful nature, and my spirit will become united with it and it will guide me towards my purpose."

The weird man seemed amazed by his own sincere words. He walked past the trio, smiling and saying: "I am free now! Free!"

"He is so completely nuts!" Ino spoke their thoughts.

"Maybe the 'suspicious clan' people have been talking about are actually just a bunch of people escaped from an insane asylum. Then I'd understand why he was so happy to be free," Kiba hypothesized. He soon felt eerie chills because his theories actually made sense.

"I see... So Sakura could have been mistakingly (or not) taken into the insane asylum. She does look crazy sometimes, you agree Sasuke?"

"Yeah... uh... well, let's go see if Kiba's correct. Stay on your guards."

"Follow me!" Kiba leapt forward with Akamaru in his coat.

The moment he jumped over the intertwined branches, a net slapped him and wrapped around him.