Chapter I: Recovery

Chapter I: Recovery

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Kakashi Hatake said quietly as he kneeled over the injured boy. "Where is Naruto?" he asked.

"Naru...to…" Sasuke stuttered as his eyes opened briefly and closed.

"He needs medical attention…I don't have the time to look for Naruto" Kakashi said as he turned to look to Pakkun.

"I'm sorry Kakashi. I've got no time either. I don't know what those boys did, but I'm completely drained. I'll see you next time…" the small dog said in his abnormally deep voice as he faded into vapor. Kakashi signed in resignation as he picked Sasuke up, and began his trek back to the village.

"Sasuke!!" Sakura cried as she leapt onto Sasuke's hospital bed, his wounds theoretically healed. "I would have come sooner but they wouldn't let me!" Sasuke reeled in pain, but let it slide. He looked at Sakura, and then away, ashamed of what he had done to his only two friends. "I'm so glad you're alive! I'm going to go check on Naruto now, but I'll be right back, I promise!"

"Wait, Sakura, did you say Naruto was here?" Sasuke looked at her puzzled.

"What do you mean? Didn't he come back with you and Kakashi sensei?" Sakura said quizzically. She paused at the door, looking at Sasuke as he sat up.

"No, he didn't, Sakura. I never found Naruto." Kakashi said as he appeared in the window of the room.

"What…That's not possible…he promised me, that he would bring Sasuke back, and he'd come back safe too…"

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I never found him. I don't know what happened to him. Lady Tsunade is putting together a group to find him. Sakura, you should join them. Sasuke, you need to stay here and continue healing.

"I think I know what happened to Naruto…" Sasuke said with a sigh, as his head hung low.

"You do?" Kakashi and Sakura said simultaneously.

"Yes…Before I blacked out, and before you found me, we were fighting…"

"That much I knew, Sasuke." Kakashi said, wondering where Sasuke was going.

"Yeah, well…We met in combat, one last time…His Rasengan, against my Chidori…"

"That kind of power being unleashed against each other isn't good… no wonder your arm was so messed up. What were you boys thinking?"

"It doesn't matter…What does matter, is he won…I was lying there, fading in and out of consciousness, and I saw him standing over me. His eyes were full of shock, and horror. I blacked out as he leapt away from me. I think…I think he thought he killed me." Sasuke finished.

"So, what your saying is…Naruto thinks he's a rogue ninja?"

What did I do? Naruto thought as he lay awake, staring at the stars, just a few days after his encounter with Sasuke. His wounds had healed naturally, thanks to the fox, which he was becoming more and more familiar with. You defended yourself…He was going to kill you, so you killed him first. It's all very simple. You did the right thing, Naruto. The fox entered his thoughts once more, though they did nothing to comfort him. I promised her…I promised to Sakura, that I'd bring him back, and I killed him! On top of that, I killed a Leaf Village Shinobi! I'm a rogue ninja…His thoughts went back to Kakashi's occasional reference to the bingo book, that book in which every wanted ninja's name and face were placed. Will I go in there? With those kind of people? He imagined Orochimaru, Kabuto, Zabuza…all the rogue ninja he had encountered in his brief life as a ninja. Of course you will… They will want you dead, which is why you can never go to the Hidden Leaf Village again. The Anbu Black Ops will definitely try to hunt us down…The fox's voices resonated inside Naruto's currently fragile mind. Us? What do you mean, us? Naruto questioned the fox as he sat up on the tree branch he was perched on. He imagined a very clear image of the fox before him, sitting there, talking to him.

"We are one, Naruto…You would not have survived the battle with Sasuke without me, nor would you have survived through the injuries. We are one being now, no matter how much I dislike being prisoner inside you. I'm sure that fool Jiraiya told you, that I can no longer exist without you?"

"Yes, he did, which is why you help me fight, right?"

"Right…So, now you see I need you," the Fox swallowed the words as if they had a foul taste. "And you need me. We will become one, Naruto Uzamaki, and perhaps, one day, when we are as strong as the three Sanin, we will begin our own Hidden Village, and we will be Hokage. That is what you want, correct?"

"Hokage…" The fox's voice oozed into Naruto's mind like a vile poison, convincing him of the ideas the fox had placed before him. "Hokage." Naruto said as he stood up and leapt to the road. "What do we have to do? We are one, and we will be Hokage."

"You might need a new Ninja way, as well, Naruto. Yours is not very fitting of a rogue ninja. Perhaps, 'by any means necessary' would be more fitting for you, now?"

"By any means necessary…" Naruto repeated as the fox's image dissipated and Naruto walked slowly down the starlit road.

"Lady Tsunade, we have to go find Naruto now! He may think he is a rogue ninja!" Kakashi shouted as he ran quickly into the Hokage's chamber.

"You can't just run in here like that, Kakashi!" Shizune yelled as she followed him into the room. "Lady Tsunade, I'm sorry I couldn't hold him behind the doors!"

"Forget it, Shizune. You couldn't stop Kakashi from getting in here even if you had a full squad of Black Ops with you."

"I appreciate the praise, Lady Hokage, but there are more important things to tend to than flattery."

"I understand that, Kakashi. I've already dispatched someone to put together and appropriate group. Unfortunately, it will be composed of Genin, and once again led by Shikimaru."

"Let me go with them! Naruto is my student, and I need to find him, before he makes mistakes based upon his assumption! He may think Sasuke is dead!"

"Technically, Kakashi, Naruto is my student. I'll help the kids find him, don't worry." Jiraiya said with a big smile as he stood on the windowsill behind Tsunade.

"Jiraiya…" Shizune stuttered…" Oh, I give up!" and with a huff she walked out.

"Jiraiya, you have more important things you could be doing, and so do you, Kakashi! " She grasped a pamphlet in each hand, and handed one to each of the ninja. "There are your missions. I expect them to be completed in a manner that befits ninja of your caliber. Now go, Naruto will be found, I have complete confidence in Shikimaru's leadership. He is brilliant, and gets more so every day." Her head dropped back into paperwork, and Kakashi and Jiraiya stood there. Her eyes lifted quickly to see them still there. "GO!!" She hollered, surprising the two ninja. Kakashi took several steps back in shock, as did Jiraiya. Unfortunately, Jiraiya was on a windowsill, over a 50-foot drop. He shouted and fell with eyes wide, then summoned and landed upon one of his signature massive toads.

"Give a guy some warning next time you do that!!" Jiraiya shouted, but it landed upon deaf ears. He grumbled incoherently, sat cross-legged on his toad, and went to his mission. Kakashi offered a short bow, and vanished from the Hokage's sight.

Tsunade sighed heavily. "Men…"

"Listen Sakura, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can use you. Stay with Sasuke; just make sure he gets well. I'm sorry, but this is a search and possibly rescue mission, and you don't have any particular skill in either of those areas." Shikimaru shook his head as he continued his walk around the village, piecing together his team. He was permitted to take any genin he wanted, and wasn't going to take any unnecessary people to risk injury. He knew he wanted Neji and Shino, both were excellent at finding people. Kiba was also a natural choice, with Akimaru's super sense of smell. Ino was a solid choice too; she could capture someone's body if needed. Choji was still injured from their last mission, but was expecting a full recovery. Sasuke's sharingan would have been nice, but he too was injured. Sakura…well, Sakura wasn't much help either. She could barely heal a fish with her medical ninja training, and it would be better for her to do some training.

"I have to come…Naruto needs to know Sasuke is alive!"

"I'll give him the message...Please Sakura, just train hard to be a medical ninja. Maybe next time I'll bring you along. Again, I'm sorry." Man, what a drag…

"Of course I'll come with you, Shikimaru! I'd be happy to track down Naruto!" Ino said as she hugged Shikimaru tightly. She's been getting awfully touchy feely.. Does that mean she's moved on from Sasuke? What a drag…

"It would be an honor, Shikimaru. Our last mission together was very…enlightening." Neji said in his typically plain tone as he shook Shikimaru's hand.

"Shikimaru, I'm glad you chose me to join you. Will Kiba or Hinata be joining us?" Shino said as he adjusted his glasses with his index finger.

"Kiba yes, Hinata, no. She is training with her father. From what I can tell, she's been getting quite strong fairly quickly. Something inspired her, I think."

"Quite probably. I'll be ready soon." And Shino closed the door behind him.

"Yeah, Shikimaru! Obviously I'll go with you! It'd be a thrill to knock that knucklehead down a peg! I never got him back for what he did at the Chunin exams!"

"Thanks, Kiba. It'll be good to have you along again."

"So why am I the last you decided to ask?" the young blonde woman asked Shikimaru. Great…I've got no chance of getting out of this unscathed. Women…what a drag. Shikimaru thought to himself.

"Well, honestly? Because you were the farthest away". It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was fearing some sort of retribution because I haven't talked to you since you saved my ass on that last mission…

"Oh, well since that's the case, and your not hiding from me because you've avoided me since that last mission, I'd be happy to come along. Call it a done deal." Temari smiled wide, then leaned over and planted a kiss on Shikimaru's cheek. "I'll see you at the gate" she said as she went back into her borrowed room in the village. What is with women? Ever since I became a chunin…Man, what a drag…

"Lady Tsunade, this is the team I've put together. I know you said I could take whoever I wanted, but I felt like I should submit the group for your approval." Shikimaru stood before the Hokage a step ahead of the line of his comrades.

"Fine… Neji Hyuga, Shino Abarame, Inuzuka Kiba, Ino Yamanaka, and Temari…I'm sorry I don't know your full name." Tsunade said after perusing the scantily clad young woman.

"It's fine. Temari is what everyone calls me. Don't sweat it" and she put on a big grin.

"Alright…and led by Shikimaru Nara. Your mission, as I'm sure you all know, is to discover what has happened to Naruto Uzamaki. This is a fairly high priority mission, but should by no means be out of your skill range. If he is alive, then bring him back that way. If he isn't…well, you get the idea. You're dismissed." The Hokage waved her hand, and the squad all bowed, and disappeared.

"Welcome back, Kakashi." Tsunade said before the smoke had cleared, and Kakashi appeared in the room. He placed a paper on her desk.

"My mission is complete, Lady Hokage. May I follow the squad you sent…"and before his sentence was complete, another pamphlet was in his hand. Kakashi sighed, bowed, and disappeared.

"Alright team, you heard her. We bring Naruto back to the village, safe and sound." Shikimaru said as his team stood at the gates of the village. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Now, we need to get to the waterfall where Naruto and Sasuke fought. I've been given detailed directions, but for those of you that joined me last time…you know it will take us some time at a walk. From here on out, we run till dusk, sleep, wake at dawn, and run some more, got it?" Again, everyone nodded. "Let's go!" he shouted as he turned and leapt off into the trees. The others followed him, easily keeping pace. Ino and Temari often made brief attempts at conversation with Shikimaru, but he merely pressed on. I've got two fawning women following me, and I have to go rescue Naruto…I just hope they don't notice each other…What a drag…