Yippee! Chapter two. All right, now there really is a poll up on my profile. I need votes or I'm just going to decide what to do on my own. If you want a say on how far Naruto goes back and how old he is, please, please vote!
I don't own Naruto, and I never will. I make no profit what-so-ever from this.

He's Gone

Chapter two

People inside the Hokage monument were nervous. The explosions had stopped long ago, but they had no idea if it was safe to come out. Eventually, even the ANBU, who were extremely unhappy with their Kage's decision to fight alone, grew restless.

One ANBU slipped out of the entrance. He was shocked by the havoc that had been wrought on the village. 'But,' the man noticed, 'it could've been a heck of a lot worse. Like after Pein's attack…'

The ANBU—whose mask was that of a bird—carefully checked the village for any signs of life. He found none, other than Sasuke's dead body in the middle of a huge crater. He vaguely wondered if this was the site of the explosion that felt like an earthquake.

Bird quickly sealed the body away and headed back to the safe-house. The all-clear was sounded. His superiors asked if he'd seen the Hokage or any trace of him. Bird told the truth.

"The only traces were his Hiraishin kunai and the devastation from his battle."

Sakura sat atop the Naruto's head on the Hokage monument, watching the sun set. 'Three days,' the obviously worried girl thought, 'three days since Naruto disappeared. Three days until he is declared KIA. Naruto, please, please come back. Please, we all need you. We need our Hokage back!'

She felt someone behind her and turned to see Lee, her husband, looking at her like a lost puppy. She waved him over and he complied, sitting down next to her.

"Do you think he's alive? Will he come back?"

"Sakura-chan, Hokage-sama is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. His youthfulness is much too strong to have been killed by Sasuke. He is our Hokage. Believe in him more!"

Sakura smacked Lee on the head.

"I hope so, Lee. I hope so…"

Tenten threw another kunai and five more shuriken. They hit their targets dead-on and went through, a scary thing. 'You baka! Where are you? Konoha needs you more than whatever crusade you went on this time! And you know a heck of a lot better than to leave those kunai sitting around! What the heck is up? Baka baka baka!'

"Tenten, destroying the targets isn't going to help. Come to bed. You're scaring Takeshi."

"Neji, where'd he go? He knows better than to leave those kunai sitting around. He was OCD about making sure he always picked them up after we spared, and now he just leaves them while he goes on some magical adventure when Konoha needs him? Something's not right here!"

"While I do agree with you, I can tell you're about to fall over from exhaustion. Come get some sleep before we start doing missions."

"Fine, but just for the record, I'm not happy about it!"

Neji just snorted.

Ino sighed. She couldn't get this darn bouquet to look right! 'Naruto, you clumsy fool, where'd you go? You're not this stupid, are you? Did we make a mistake in making you Hokage? Show us we were right and get back here!'

"God darn it! Where is he?" And, with a frustrated shout Ino hurled the vase of flowers at the wall. It hit the wall and shattered with a loud crash. She could here Chōji running to the room. She collapsed to the floor with her head held in her hands, sobbing. "Darn it, Naruto!"

"Ino, I think you should head to bed. I'll make some tea to calm you nerves."

Ino nodded and shakily rose to her feet. She wandered to the bedroom. She wouldn't sleep for awhile…

Hinata stared at the picture in front of her numbly. He couldn't be gone. No! She refused to believe it! He was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, the Hokage, for Kami's-sake! Her tears started to flow again.

"Babe, calm down. He might be Hokage, but he's also Naruto. We have no idea if this is just a really bad prank!"

Hinata just cried more.

First, Naruto was just a crush, but they quickly figured out that they just weren't meant for each other. But, she still loved him, so now, it was like losing her brother.

Kiba sighed. He had a long night ahead.

Konohamaru stared at a picture.

In the picture there were three boys and a girl. They were all dressed up as a different Hokage. The tallest and obviously oldest boy in the picture was dressed as the Yondaime Hokage, village savior.

The eldest boy needed little for the costume. Konohamaru was still unclear as to how Naruto had gotten his hands on suck a realistic cloak, let alone the kunai. Not for the first time, Konohamaru wondered about his 'Boss'. 'Naruto-nee-sama, you can't be gone yet. You have too many secrets you haven't told me, and you've taught me so few jutsu. You'll come back, right Boss?'

Konohamaru felt tears slip down his cheeks. He paid no mind and continued to look at the boy in the picture.

Kakashi sat at the memorial stone, deep in thought. He held one of Naruto's kunai in his hands. Again, he tried to activate it.

The seal on the kunai hummed, but nothing happened.

'Naruto, if you're dead, be sure to say 'Hi' to everyone for me. Then play a prank on us from heaven, or wherever people like you go… Because we sure as heck need it.'

Yay! Chapter close. Yes, it was just a little filler sort of thing, but no one has voted yet. I probably will give the poll to the end of the week. If no one votes by then than I get to go free-for-all and you have no say in what direction this story takes for that part of the plot.
Oh, can someone tell me what's the difference between visitors and hits?

Please review! They make my day!
(LOL. The scroll bar at the side of the screen is all screwy. That was random... I should just go now...)