The Search
A small dog along with several others appeared out of the smoke, the small one stepped forward he was wearing a navy blue vest and a Konoha forehead protector. The small dog looked up at Kakashi and said,
"Yo Kakashi, what's up?"
Kakashi looked down at the dog "Pakkun I need you all to search the surrounding area for Naruto; we were fighting enemy ninja and they rigged the bridge to explode, Naruto was caught in the explosion."
The dog named Pakkun looked at Kakashi shock clearly written on his face "Say no more we will search for him when do you need us to report back?"
"Meet us back here within three hours, that should be enough time for me to patch these two up and recover, "Kakashi replied while signaling for the rest of his squad to follow.
"Roger," Pakkun replied before he walked over to the other dogs, moments later they all took up different directions and went off.
Daisuke looked around at the damage done to the bridge "Well I guess I will need to return to Konoha for now."
"I'll need to get a new group to escort me the rest of the way." He said while looking at the collapsed bridge.
Sakura walked over to Kakashi, "Kakashi-Sensei." She asked,
"What is it?" Kakashi replied.
Sakura began looking over to the bridge and said,
"Is there any way we can all go out and help look for Naruto, rather than sitting here and doing nothing." Kakashi looked at Sakura before sighing
"Look It's not because I don't want to let either of you search for him; it's just that I can't let you or Sasuke go, both of you were heavily injured because of that fight, if there are any more assailants out there you two would be easy to take down."
Sakura turned around and lowered her head to silently cry, as she started pacing around.
As the group was waiting for any word on Naruto, Kakashi said,
Sakura started setting up camp and Sasuke you start patrolling the edges of camp!"
Sasuke looked over at Kakashi and glared "And what are you going to do?" Sasuke retorted, Kakashi looked back at Sasuke and did what could be taken as a smile.
"Me, well I am going to be writing a situation report; that will be asking for immediate assistance on searching for Naruto if Pakkun and the others come back empty, that's what I'll be doing, Sasuke" Kakashi replied.
*Three hours later*
Pakkun and the rest of the hounds jumped into camp; they walked over to Kakashi.
"We followed his scent downstream, but were only able to find his headband and the body of a woman; who we assume was one of your assailants, she died of asphyxiation." Pakkun briskly said
Seconds later a large black pit bull walked up from the back and dropped a badly damaged forehead protector onto the ground in front of the group.
Sasuke looked at Pakkun and said, "Death by asphyxiation isn't uncommon for someone who was under water." Pakkun looked up at Sasuke
"Yeah except for the fact that she was strangled by ninja wire," Pakkun replied, this fact shocked the three ninjas.
Pakkun said, "When we investigated the corpse and the surrounding area, it seems like the woman was alive when she made it there; and from what we could discern she was fighting with someone, as the surrounding area was damaged from fire and earth Jutsu's being used."
The whole group was a little surprised by this, Sakura spoke up "What does the fight have to do with Naruto though?"
"we don't know, what we do know for one thing is there was a puddle of blood that we assume was Naruto's; but the reason two ninjas were fighting near him is a mystery," Pakkun replied
Another dog walked up to Kakashi and said, "I searched a little bit into rain country but when I got there I found several dead shinobi piled into a mound seems like your assailants were not from rain country in the first place."
"I had a suspicion of that." Kakashi thought as he turned his attention back towards the hounds
Kakashi asked, "Alright thank you, Pakkun can you deliver this message to Tsunade."
Sasuke and Sakura began asking several of the hounds what they found, none of them found any traces of Naruto other than where the unknown battle took place.
Kakashi yelled out "Alright everyone we are going to have to head back to Konoha without Naruto." Sasuke and Sakura went wide eyed while Daisuke was indifferent. Sakura yelled
"We can't just leave him out here you saw the blast he was caught in!"
"Look I understand how it feels to lose a comrade, it makes you feel powerless and insignificant; but right now, we need to escort Daisuke back to safety," Kakashi replied,
Sakura glared at Kakashi for a moment before she snapped "How could you understand how I feel?" Finally, she started yelling,
"Naruto sacrificed his life for me because I was too weak to watch over myself; you know nothing of how I am feeling, I might as well have been the one to kill him!"
"Look Sakura don't assume I know nothing of what you are going through; I have lost a lot of friends during the last great war many of them I had to watch die, where." Kakashi snapped.
"The way I see things an unknown ninja has taken possession of Naruto for unknown reasons, we do not know if he is dead or alive nor do we have the manpower or a sensory ninja to initiate a proper search." Kakashi sorrowfully said.
Pakkun could you deliver the message to Tsunade and get her to get assign some units to search for Naruto." Pakkun nodded and started running as fast as he could, moments later all the hounds disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving the remaining members of team seven mortified by the death of Naruto and Kakashi's decision to go back without him. Kakashi finally decided to break the silence
"We need to get going both of you, I know how much it hurts to lose a comrade right in front of you; constantly replaying the events that led up to his death over and over, but we need to think of how Naruto would want us to carry on."
Sakura with tears still in her eyes nodded and got up. She looked over at Sasuke who was walking over to the ledge where the bridge once stood when he made it he was just staring at the spot where Naruto was killed at, just as she was about to say something he turned around
"come on, let's just go."
*Outside Konoha's north gate, eight hours later*
Pakkun had been running continuously for the last eight hours, when he finally reached the gates of Konoha it was around dusk and many stores were closing down for the night,
Pakkun was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he was rushing towards the Hokage's office; it took Pakkun another ten minutes to reach the Hokage's building when he did he attempted to go in but was told she was busy with a meeting. Pakkun yelled, "Come on I need to get in there; a life is on the line!" The clerk gave Pakkun a stare before he nodded and walked over into a side office.
Moments late Shizune came walking out with the clerk she looked at Pakkun and
walked towards him
"Hello Pakkun, what are you doing here instead of Kakashi and the rest of team seven?" Her voice filled with surprise.
Pakkun was out of breath from his long journey but managed to say,
"This letter here is for Tsunade detailing the events of the mission, it involves Naruto and rouge ninja so we should discuss the contents elsewhere." Shizune's face changed to shock for a second before she regained control of her emotions.
She reached down and grabbed the letter that was fastened to Pakkun's back and stuck it inside her kimono, Shizune turned around shortly after and motioned for Pakkun to follow. It only took them thirty seconds to reach Tsunade's office, when they arrived Shizune ran up to the door and opened it and yelled
"Lady Tsunade." Just as Shizune entered she took notice of Kurenai and her Genin team.
Everyone's attention turned towards her as she entered. Tsunade was annoyed by this interruption for a moment, Tsunade looked at Shizune
"What is it Shizune, can't you see I am busy?" Tsunade demanded as her brown eyes narrowed at Shizune.
"I have an emergency report from team seven!" Shizune said as she pulled the scroll out from her kimono and started rushing towards Tsunade.
Tsunade eyed the scroll in Shizune's hand. When it was within reach of her she snatched it out of her hand and began reading the report.
Tsunade's face annoyed face turned into shock, she put the paper down and looked towards Shizune.
"Get me several Anbu units immediately!" Tsunade said as Shizune was turning around to leave the room. Tsunade's attention went towards Pakkun she looked down at him and said,
"Can you give me any more information than what was inside the scroll?"
"Well we know that he is missing and heavily injured, but we do not know if an enemy ninja has him alive or not," Pakkun replied as Tsunade looked at the members of team eight
"I need the four of you to prepare for a new mission," Tsunade said as Kurenai looked at Tsunade confused for a second before she regained herself.
"What is our new mission Lady Hokage?" Kurenai asked as she stared at Tsunade.
"As you all can tell that letter is a mission statement detailing the events of the mission," Tsunade said, as everyone's attention was on her.
Kurenai interrupted "Do we know if the enemy planned to capture Sasuke or not?" Which earned her a glare from Tsunade,
"Actually, Naruto is the one who has been captured," Tsunade replied as she looked over at Hinata who seemed to be going paler by the second.
Hinata's was shocked by Tsunade's words, she finally managed to bring up the courage to looked up at Tsunade and say, "Lady Hokage do we know if N…Naruto okay?"
Tsunade turned her attention to Hinata and smiled.
"I am sure Naruto is fine, nothing is going to stop him from achieving his dream!" Hinata's expression brightened up at these words and smiled.
Kurenai walked over to Tsunade's desk
"Excuse me Tsunade, but what are the events that led up to Naruto going missing?" Kurenai asked curiously, Tsunade turned her attention back to Kurenai and passed the scroll over to her.
"Team seven was to escort a high valued VIP to rain country where they would meet up with foreign shinobi who would escort the VIP the rest of the way," Tsunade replied as she started looking through several notebooks.
"Assassins were disguised as rain ninja and attacked them as the handoff was happening, the rest you can read from the report." Kurenai was looking through the scroll seconds later she placed it down.
"Lady Hokage, we will need more squads to search for Naruto properly," Kurenai stated as she began thinking about the mission details.
Tsunade took a deep breath and closed her eyes, after a few moments she opened her eyes.
"The four of you are charged with the mission of searching for any suitable ninja who you believe can carry out a search and rescue mission," Tsunade ordered.
"you all have ten days to find Naruto before we label him as killed in action and hold a formal funeral for him." As Tsunade was finishing her sentence several Anbu units walked into the room followed by Shizune.
"I went and fetched your personal Anbu," Shizune said as she began walking towards the exit, she was stopped when Tsunade yelled
"Shizune you will assemble a team for yourself and will be leading the search for Naruto and keep this mission on the down low." Shizune nodded and started heading out the door. Tsunade looked down at Pakkun and sternly said,
"I need you to go with them and help locate the area where you lost Naruto's scent." Pakkun glanced at Tsunade
"Roger," Pakkun replied as he rushed out the door to catch up with Shizune. Tsunade sat back in her chair and thought to herself
"Come on Naruto please be alive I know you are."
*Five hours later, outside the northern gate of Konoha*
Team eight had split up throughout Konoha to find shinobi who would both be useful and willing to help in a search and rescue mission for Naruto. They managed to gather Choji, Neji, Tenten, and Asuma.
All of them were waiting at the north gates for Shizune who was going to be leading the search.
Five minutes later Shizune and Pakkun appeared followed along by two others who jumped down in front of them. Among Shizune, there was Shikamaru Nara and Genma Shiranui. They all stood there for a minute before Kiba yelled
"Well, when are we leaving that loser isn't going to find himself you know, I would like to do other more important missions too; you know!" He was about to say something more but he was cut off when Shizune gave Kiba a glare and said,
"We are waiting for the Anbu squads to meet us here, after that I will debrief who goes on what team and what areas we will search. Any questions?" When Kiba finally calmed down and no one else said anything Shizune simply said,
"Good."
After about three minutes of waiting three Anbu squads jumped down in front of Shizune, Shizune looked at them and then said,
"Okay everyone is here, now I can begin." Shizune pulled a map out of her pocket "I need all of the Jonin and Anbu captains to join me over here." They all did as she commanded and walked over to her.
They began speaking about squad formations once they all walked over to her. Shikamaru was walking over to the other Genin but was stopped when Shizune yelled
"Shikamaru you to, your strategic mind is important and will be needed for this mission."
Meanwhile, the genin were talking with each other about the mission. Tenten looked at Neji and said, "Do any of you seriously believe that Naruto was killed by a simple explosion?" Choji nodded in agreement
"Yea I have to agree with Lee, Naruto is too strong to be killed off, he still has to become Hokage!" Neji, who had his eyes closed and was intent on listening decided to speak up
"don't ever say never, I never planned on losing to Naruto during the tournament but I did; a well-placed trap can kill even the strongest of Ninja, that is something we have all been taught from the academy."
At those words Hinata tensed up she was about ready to start crying over the thought of Naruto dying, seconds later Shino placed his hand on her shoulder which kicked her senses back in; Shino said,
"Don't worry about the outcome of the mission at this point it is too early to worry he could still be alive Hinata just focus on finishing the mission." Hinata was about to say something else but Shino interrupted her.
"find out what happened to Naruto before you give into your emotions, you may disrupt the efficiency of the search if your judgment is too clouded." Hinata nodded a bit before she focused on what everyone else was talking about.
Shizune yelled, "All right everyone let's move out." They all jumped into the tree line and started heading towards the border.
*Various Search groups one hour later*
Shizune looked behind her to the groups following her and yelled:
"all right when we make it to the gorge we are going to split up into our individual groups until then we will stick together; also remember to be fast and trust the sensory ninjas in your group."
*Team Seven, Three Hours Later*
Team seven had been walking the entire trip back to the village the team was quiet and depressed because of the mission, this depression and silence were unnatural for everyone there.
Sakura would occasionally make remarks that were meant to set Naruto off but remembered that he died, thoughts of the explosion that killed him and how she was too weak to be able to do anything about it started to overwhelm her. Tears began to run down her cheeks
"I miss Naruto, why did he have to die?" she said somberly, Kakashi looked at Sakura sorrow was written on his face
"No matter how hard you train or the mastery over Jutsu's you obtain, you will lose comrades in the line of duty; the only thing you can do in these situations is to prepare yourself for when it does happen and keep living your life in memory of your comrades," Kakashi replied, as he seemed to be drawn into his own thoughts and emotions.
Sasuke who was silent the whole trip said,
"Kakashi-sensei did you ever lose any comrades in the same way as this?"
Kakashi looked up into the clear blue sky and gave a deep sigh
"Yes, I lost some during the third shinobi war, and I was even acting how you are now Sasuke." Kakashi began walking again, while he was walking forward he thought to himself
"I'm sorry Sensei I failed to protect your son."
When they all made it to the front gates of Konoha they were greeted by the eternal Chunins, they both looked at them and said
"Hey Kakashi what happened to Naruto, don't tell me you left him behind?" Sakura started crying and instantly ran off to her home, Sasuke just started walking towards the Uchiha district with an even more gloomy face than he normally wears around if that was even possible.
One of them looked at Kakashi and said,
"Whats with them?" Kakashi walked forward and frowned,
"Naruto is not here because he was killed or captured during the mission," Kakashi replied as he started walking towards the Hokage office leaving the two Chunin shocked over this news.
*Two hours later, Hokage's office*
Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all stood before Tsunade there was a moment of silence between the four. Tsunade finally spoke up.
"with the recent loss of your team member, I have been thinking about putting you all on medical leave to sort through your emotional issues." Just as she was about to continue Sakura interrupted
"We would like to continue searching for Naruto" Tsunade looked at Sakura questioningly
"What if he is dead, what if he has been taken as a prisoner; can you look me straight in the eye and tell me you're your better judgment would not be affected?" Tsunade said, her tone harsh and cold, but still filled with care.
Sakura's head dropped down in depression but moments later Sasuke looked up at Tsunade with a fire in his eyes.
"Even if he is dead we owe it to him gather his remains I was powerless when my clan was slaughtered off and I was powerless to save Naruto from that explosion I... No, we owe it to Naruto to recover his remains." Sasuke replied, his response gave Sakura more than enough courage to look deadest on her team's decision.
Tsunade looked at them all and sighed,
"fine then I won't stop you all but looking for Naruto cannot come in between the missions you need to complete if there is a lead that the Anbu has picked up you will be informed, dismissed."
*one day later, Border between the Land of Fire and Rain*
Shizune and company arrived where team sevens camp was, they quickly set up camp at the bottom of the gorge near the water's surface; shortly after the camp was set up Shizune pulled out a map.
"Alright we only have so many days to finish this mission, so I want the Anbu captains to lead their squads in four different directions; North, West, South, and East."
One of the Anbu captains spoke up "What are our orders if our search leads us into foreign lands?"
Shizune thought about it for a second
"If your search takes you into a different land, I want you to turn around at the first sign of contact with foreign shinobi; or you search within a five-kilometer distance."
Shizune turned her attention towards Kurenai,
"You and your squad are to follow the stream, in case Naruto actually was pulled further downstream; and the hounds were unable to follow his scent."
Shizune turned her attention towards Asuma "Asuma, you and your squad are to check along the Northeast, in case Naruto wandered that way while he was injured." She then looked at one of the Anbu captains
"If you and Asuma's search party have nothing to show for your search within five hours you all should move down to the Southeast." Shizune gave a glance to Pakkun and said, "I need you to go with Asuma's team, and give assistance to them."
Shizune was looking around at everyone, she quickly stood up and yelled
"You all are dismissed, but remember the report says that there were at least two assassins who survived, and one unknown shinobi in the area so be wary of an ambush." With that, everyone disappeared into the trees leaving only Shizune, Shikamaru, and Genma.
*Asuma's search group*
Currently, Asuma was standing upside down on a tree branch looking over the forest floor, he yelled out
"Hey Neji, Choji have either of you got any clues or leads as to where he is?" Neji yelled
"None but there are signs of movement along the forest going to the west should we follow?" Asuma closed his eyes in thought for a moment he finally broke the silence
"No, not yet but we will go that way after we search the limits of our parameters." Suddenly a pair of long stretched legs started shrinking until Choji was at his normal height.
"I could not see any signs of a camp or a place where people could hide, I am sorry Asuma-sensei," Choji said sadly with a look of depression written on his face. Asuma looked straight at Choji and said,
"Don't worry about it Choji, you Shouldn't focus on what you can't or didn't do for him, look at what you did do."
Asuma's group continued Northeast for three hours before Asuma said,
"all right everyone we will turn and head back to camp, okay Neji show us where you saw that trail." Neji nodded and took to the front of the group.
They traveled for about thirty minutes at a fast pace until they got to the spot where Neji first saw the footprints. When they made it to the end of the trail they found an old lodge out in the middle of nowhere.
The outside of the building was in terrible condition, there were holes in the roof and the walls; where there weren't any hole's mold and vines were growing.
Asuma walked up to the door and thought
"The likely hood of someone living here is low but..." Seconds later he yelled,
"Hello anyone home?" his tone was awkward after there was no response for a minute, Tenten looked frustrated and said
"There is no way someone is living in this house" as she was turning the knob on the door. After the door was opened she attempted to enter the building, but she was stopped from moving forward.
There was a clicking sound which forced her to duck to the ground, and everyone else to move out of the way when several shurikens flew overhead; she sighed a breath of relief but as the shuriken stopped coming. There was another clicking sound which forced her to roll out of the way as concealed kunai came dropping down out of the rafters onto where she was once laying.
Tenten was on her back panting a sigh of relief as the adrenaline started to kick in she started laughing for a second but was stopped when she was quickly grabbed by Neji who caught her from falling as two hidden trap doors fell to the sides to reveal a spike pit. Tenten turned her head around she turned back at Neji and gave an awkward look she yelled
"Oh, come on how many traps are there for just one doorway?" Neji looked down at her and said, "There was a sealing tag that stopped me from seeing inside the and outside the house. Neji pulled Tenten up and motioned for the group to follow him
"There are no more traps that I can see inside, but still be careful those traps mean that someone did not want to be found." They all began searching through the house taking their time as to not set off any more traps, as they went along at least a dozen more traps were set off.
As they searched around the building they came to one conclusion, it was completely empty and abandoned; other than food that was stored away, several sets of Shuriken and kunai that was placed in a neat pile next to the fireplace, and a bag of money that wouldn't have been found without Neji's Byakugan.
"This place seems to be used by a ninja, and more than likely rouge ninja by the remoteness of the location," Asuma said as he picked a kunai off the ground and began to inspect it. Tenten was inspecting the inside of the house and found it to be in worse condition than the outside she was pulled from looking around when Asuma yelled out
"Hey, Tenten what do you make of these kunai got any idea where they were made?" Tenten began inspecting the kunai shortly after she said,
"Well by the looks of these they come from all over ranging from Kiri to Kumo." Asuma was taking a quick scan of the room they were in he said,
"whoever was living here wanted this place to seem abandoned." Choji looked at Asuma curiously and said,
"Why would they do that?" Asuma looked at Choji and said
"It seems like this is a hideout they use to stash their loot and emergency supplies." Asuma looked around for another second before he yelled out "Everyone meet me outside we are done here let's meet back at the campsite!"
*Kurenai's search group*
Kurenai was in the front of the group running along the embankment, Hinata was scanning the general area around the group for anything that was hidden from normal sight. Kiba and Akamaru were sniffing around while there was still the scent of Naruto. Shino had his bugs spread throughout the forest looking for any sizable chakras.
Kiba began looking more irritable the further they followed the scent finally he spoke up
"The further we go the scent becomes harder and harder for me to track, and in some spots, the scent just dissipates and we are not even where Pakkun said the trail ended at." Shino turned his head towards Kiba and said,
"Where was all the enthusiasm from before about how easy this mission was?" Kiba looked annoyed for a second but covered it up quickly,
"Well, I didn't think that Naruto was going to be lost this badly!"
Hinata only looked down for a second in depression but quickly shook it off as she thought about the greatest hope she had Naruto's safe return.
The group had traveled for an hour or two before Naruto's scent disappeared completely, Hinata was searching around frantically for any sign of Naruto; she called out to Kurenai
"Can we slow down the pace, I can start doing more pinpointed searches since we don't have a scent to follow anymore?" Kurenai nodded and they began to slowly walk along the river's surface.
It only took them about forty minutes until Hinata stopped walking as she was intently focusing on her right she finally noticed that a campsite was far to their east. She yelled with excitement
"Everybody quickly follow me I see a campsite it might have a lead on where he is!" Everyone followed behind Hinata who was rushing everyone along five minutes went by and they came across a camp.
Everyone entered the camp but as Kiba and Akamaru attempted to they were stopped dead in their tracks. Kiba yelled out
"Hey guys I can't go any further there is some form of smell that is interfering with me and Akamaru's scent." Kurenai looked at him and yelled back
"Can you ignore it or is it too bad?"
"If Akamaru or I have to stay inside there for too long we will pass out it is a really strong smell." He replied which earned him an understanding nod from Kurenai. Hinata yelled out
"If we find any clue we will bring it to you.
when they entered the camp the first thing they noticed was there was a makeshift tent built around the buttresses of two trees on the south end of camp. there was a fireplace sitting in the center of camp with several logs surrounding it.
On the other end of camp there were several large sacks tied to many of the tree branches and finally, they noticed that there was a roll up bed on the ground next to the fire pit.
There was an ominous silence as the group inspected the camp, Kurenai was the first one to break the silence,
"It seems like this camp has been set up for a while and has seen consistent use." Hinata was investigating around the camp when she went over to the makeshift she noticed that there was a small amount of blonde hair that was laying on the bed. she looked towards the rest and smiled
"I have good news and bad news everyone, First I think this bed might be the clue we have been looking for!" Kurenai looked at the bed she was kneeling next to.
"If that is the case then we need to get this bed over to Kiba if Naruto slept in this bed he and Akamaru might know." They all started moving to where they had left Kiba, when they got there they saw him sitting on a log; he looked up at them and smiled
"you all find something?" he asked as they were walking closer. Shino was the first to speak up
"We may have a clue about Naruto being in the area but we need you to smell this bed before we can know for sure."
Kiba and Akamaru began sniffing the bed after a moment of silence Kiba's eyes shot open
"Naruto was sleeping in this bed at one point!" he exclaimed, which caused everyone to go wide eyed. Kurenai yelled
"Come on everyone we need to report this quickly!" After that everyone began rushing back to their campsite.
*Shizune's search group*
Shizune was looking at a map of the elemental nations along with Shikamaru, she spoke up after a minute of thinking.
"Alright if Naruto can't be found within the search zone, we could look at the possibility that one of the ninjas who survived captured him; if that is the case they have thought about selling him on a black market." Shikamaru didn't like the idea of one of his comrades being sold on a black market
"but if he was captured where could they have taken him, if they did capture him they might even be in different lands by now." Shikamaru replied.
"If that is the case then we would have to have the Anbu black ops handle retrieving him, but I don't think it will come to that," Genma said as he jumped down from a tree branch, Shizune turned towards him and said,
"Why do you say that?" Genma simply pointed behind him as Kurenai's search group jumped out of the trees and into camp
When Kurenai's team jumped into camp she said,
"Team two is reporting in," Kurenai said as she was standing at attention. Shizune turned away from the map
"Okay squad report!" Shizune commanded as Kurenai was stepping forward before she said anything she walked over to the map finally breaking the silence.
"While we were following Naruto's scent down the river Hinata spotted a camp to our east, when we went to investigate we noticed the camp was abandoned but recently used, there was a roll up mat that had Naruto's scent on it so we don't believe he was captured."
just as she was about to continue Asuma's group jumped into camp. She took a moment before continuing
"as I was saying Kiba and Akamaru found Naruto's scent but we were unable to follow it because there was a substance around the camp that rendered their sense of smell useless."
"Did you guy's try to see if his scent was anywhere within a five-mile radius of the camp?" Shikamaru said Shino shook his head
"We would have but it was getting dark and it would be easier to do the tracking in the morning when all of our members can see, also we thought it would be more useful to organize the search groups around that area; rather than continuing in the current search pattern," Shino replied casually as he shifted his arm upwards which released several beetles from his coat.
"Besides I have most of my swarm searching the areas for any sizable sources of chakra."
Shizune nodded and said,
"Alright then everybody rest up we will be waiting for the rest of the squads to meet back up here to debrief them and then we will move out at dawn!" They all nodded and started to relax around the camp, Shikamaru yelled out to Kurenai,
"Can you tell me and Shizune a bit more about the camp you guys discovered? Maybe with the information we have, we can discover who might have Naruto." Kurenai nodded and began to tell them about the camp.
"Shizune looked over at Asuma and said,
"We will need a report from you as well." Asuma only nodded as he sat down under a tree.
*Various search groups dawn of the next day,
Shizune was looking at the map, she had decided that they would all search the areas surrounding the camp. As they were all getting ready to leave Shizue yelled out
"Tenten change of plans you are going to return to Konoha, I need you to send word that we need more Inuzuka's for this search to go more smoothly." Tenten nodded and yelled
"Yes mam, I'll be back with reinforcements shortly!" Lee jumped out of sight into the tree line and headed towards Konoha.
Shizune turned her attention to the groups
"In the meantime, I want everyone to continue the search, if anyone finds a trail to follow, fire off your red flare and a team with a sensory ninja will come to assist, fire a green flare if you find Naruto, and fire the white flare if your life is in danger and everyone will come to assist."
Shikamaru looked over at Kiba and said,
"Look I know you won't like the idea of this but you and Akamaru need to be split up until we get more Inuzuka's to help on the search." Kiba looked outraged at first but calmed himself.
"Fine whatever I don't like being split up with Akamaru for too long but if this is the only option right now I'll do it," Kiba replied.
"We are also going to need you to circle around the camp until you find a scent out of here, you are dismissed meet up with your squad and tell them the current plan," Shizune said as Akamaru began walking over to Shikamaru as he was muttering.
*Hokage's office, one day later*
Tsunade was reading through a stack of papers when a man came into Tsunade's office he said,
"Lady Tsunade, Tenten is here to see you." Tsunade looked up from her paperwork
"Send her in." She replied as she was setting the stack of papers she had off to the side. Tenten had entered the room a minute later.
"What is the situation on the search?" Tsunade said, Tenten was hesitant to speak to someone who she idolized most of her life, she finally worked up the courage and said,
"Well we were unable to find Naruto but we found a campsite that was a mile away from the river, in that camp was Naruto's scent." Tsunade seemed pleased by how this conversation was going but was stopped short when Tenten continued.
"But Kiba was unable to follow it because there was something in the air that was messing with his sense of smell, Shizune is requestioning more Inuzuka's to be assigned and several more days."
Tsunade stood up and walked over to a filing cabinet and grabbed a large notebook out from it. She opened it and said,
"Alright I will assign you every available Inuzuka we have, and the timeframe will be increased indefinitely since you found a trace of him, I will have the Inuzuka's meet you at the North gates within the hour."
*Various search groups, two hours later*
Kiba, Akamaru, and Pakkun were all circling around the camp looking for any sign of Naruto's scent, they could not find any traces of him surrounding the camp, so they moved their groups out more. After about two hours of this Pakkun finally picked up his scent, he yelled out
"Shizune I found it!" Shizune's group came rushing over to him Shikamaru looked skeptically at Pakkun
"Are you sure it is his?" Pakkun gave an annoyed look at Shikamaru and said,
"Positive, and by the way who is the one with the heightened nose?" Shikamaru sighed and pointed at Pakkun, Pakkun smiled for a second. Shizune pulled out her red flare and fired it.
Moments later Asuma's group showed up, Shizune looked at Pakkun
"Lead on Pakkun." Pakkun lead the group for what seemed like hours until they finally came across another campsite, the group casually observed it for a moment before Neji said,
"There is a problem here!" Everyone looked at Neji questioningly
"What is it?" Choji replied as he was about to take a bite of a potato chip. Neji quickly grabbed it away from him and said,
"Be quiet, there is a dead shinobi over there behind the bushes!" Asuma looked around and said,
"I'll check it out." Asuma moved out of the bushes and into the campsite after about several moments he motioned for everyone to come over.
"This is a dead mist Anbu, he seems to have had his throat slit," Asuma said as Shizune was walking over. "Shikamaru sighed
"I guess things just got more complicated huh." Moments later Pakkun yelled
"Naruto's scent is on this tree trunk and this cut wiring." Which caused several of them to move over to it.
"So, Naruto was captured by mist Anbu and then somehow was set free?" Asuma said as he was inspecting the wire.
"I know we are not supposed to do this unless it is an emergency but I think we should use the white flare and gather everyone here if there are mist Anbu traveling around the area," Neji said Shizune sighed
"I don't want to give the other groups a scare like that but fine." Moments later the white flare was launched into the sky. It only took about thirty minutes for every group to show up.
It seemed like Kiba was annoyed by the lack of eminent danger in the area when he was about to speak Kurenai cut him off
"What did you need us for?" Shizune pointed over to the body of the dead mist Anbu which caused respective nods from all the group leaders.
"Also, we found his scent and the direction it is heading in!" Choji said enthusiastically. Shizune moved so everyone could see her.
"From here on out we are all going to travel as a group unless the scent is lost, be careful and keep your eyes out we don't know how many of the enemy Anbu are roaming around!" she commanded, everyone simultaneously said,
"Yes mam!" as they were traveling along the scent they came across a whole mess of shuriken lodged in the trees and the ground, there was also considerable damage done to many of the trees in the surrounding area.
Hinata and Neji had their Byakugans activated the whole time keeping a look out for anything suspicious.
After a while of following the trail, they came across a cavern. Kiba yelled out
"The scent goes in there!" Shizune turned around and said,
"Alright, Neji Hinata what can you see in there?" Neji and Hinata were looking intently at the cave
"Well I can see that there is a lot of traps set up, there is also a campsite inside the cave that seems to have been abandoned," Neji replied, Shizune turned around and looked at the group.
"We do not know what to expect so be careful we only have two Hyuga's so there will be a lot of traps that we will run into." As they entered the cave they saw there were a lot of scorch marks along the walls and the camp was rummaged through.
After the first room, they were in was inspected fully they moved into the passage, where they walked for a minute before they came into a large clearing. When they all entered the room, they noticed it was a large dome-shaped cavern.
After they moved further in they found two more bodies one was decapitated and the other was being hung up by earth spikes that protruded from his entire body. Hinata looked at the bodies
"How horrible." She said. As Shizune walked over to the remains of the two Anbu after a minute of inspecting them she said,
"Something does not add up about this, Naruto at his current skill would never have been able to defeat these Anbu."
"And even if he could the way these two died says that someone else killed them," Asuma replied as he was looking at the decapitated Anbu.
"Neji yelled out
"Everyone come over here!" when everyone did they saw that there was a stone tablet that had a tattered orange jumpsuit on it, Hinata noticed a bit of text under it, she removed the jumpsuit and saw that the tablet said,
"Rip the Konoha genin." After she saw that her mind started traveling a million miles per second, after a few minutes of processing it she said aloud
"Naruto is dead?" Before she collapsed on the floor unconscious. Almost everyone yelled out to her. When she awoke, she was inside the cavern by a camp fire. She instantly shot up and asked,
"What happened, Is Naruto truly dead?" Kurenai looked at Hinata, pity, and sadness was in her eyes as she knew how Hinata felt about Naruto.
"We thought about digging the grave up but Neji said there was nothing under the surface." Hinata looked happy for a second but she quickly lost that and said,
"Then where is he?"
"We don't know probably captured by the ninja who killed all these Anbu," Kurenai replied.
"Everyone except team eight went back to Konoha to give a mission report after we were done investigating; there was no tracks or scent that we could follow!"
"Come on we need to return to Konoha Hinata." Hinata only nodded and followed behind Kurenai and the rest of team eight followed behind, the group completely discouraged by the failed mission.
If anyone has any questions about the chapter feel free to ask me, also don't forget to leave a review whether it is about my grammar and punctuation or the story itself!