A sweet, soft smell wafted under my nose. Looking up from my feet I searched for the source of the smell. I knew where it can from, but I still wanted to make sure. Ino's flower shop was just up ahead. Beautiful colors of the rainbow decorated the front of her parents shop. But she's running it now, her father caught ill. Tsunade said he'd be fine, but Ino's mother is crazed and made Ino refrain from missions until her father has become healthier. I grinned when I saw her flushed face stomp out of the shop and rearrange the flowers. Kiba was on her tail, he looked worried for some reason. I sped up my feet hoping to hear what he's afraid of.
"Ino, you saw nothing? Felt nothing?" Kiba's voice quivered. His eyes dilated and his face sweaty.
Ino just sighed and swatted him away, "No. Now go away."
Returning to her place behind the counter, she ruffled the papers laying about. Kiba, looking disappointed, turned around in a circle and raked his hands through his hair and caught wind of me. His nostrils flaring for a second and he twitched. His dark brown eyebrows furrowed and a worry line creased in his forehead.
"Kiba?" I asked. Something wasn't right.
He jerked his head in my direction. His face lit up, but not by much. He straightened his back a little and nodded before catching a whiff of something else and cracked his head in the direction it was supposedly coming from.
"Kiba, what's wrong?" I followed. His footsteps were unsteady and faltered at times.
"Naruto's gone and there's a strange scent in the air. Also Akumaru is missing. I haven't seen him since yesterday." His eyes darted towards his feet and his eyes glazed over.
Naruto's gone? I thought. He never leaves without telling anyone that he's leaving.
"When did he leave?" I prompted.
"I told you, I haven't seen him since yesterday" Kiba barked. His hands in fists at his sides.
" I meant Naruto" putting a hand on his shoulder, I stopped him in his tracks. Villagers walked around us like there was nothing wrong. That they didn't sense the weirdness around the village. I looked into his eyes and saw tears stream down his face. He thought for a moment and sighed.
"I saw in around two days ago. He looked fine, but didn't want to eat with the guys and I so we left him alone. No one's seen him since then." He finally said.
Thinking, I remember Naruto looking down, but I never asked him about it. It always seemed to revolve around Sasuke. The one person who will never come back to the village. To come back to our team, the team that was inseparable. The team that was powerful and stuck together...Until he left. Then things seemed to never be the same. The wounds never healed. Naruto knew that best. But, he had to let Sasuke go and realize that he's never going to come back. We've all told him that when he came back with Jiraiya. When we added Sai and Yamato sensei to our team, Naruto didn't particularly take a liking to them. Not like I did either. But they both helped, in their odd little ways. For me anyway. Maybe not for him.
"We need to find him. This isn't like him. And we have to find Akumaru." I stated. I let me hands reside to my hips and waited for his answer.
"Yes. We do." relief washed over him like he was eating his favorite food. A small grin appeared on his face and I followed suit.
"We'll have to talk to Tsunade and see if there's anyone else we can bring with us." I starting walking towards the building I knew Tsunade's in.
"Like who?" Kiba asked behind me.
That I didn't know. But the chakra that was flooding the village was strange and powerful. Something everyone would want to be aware of.
"Sasuke, I don't like this idea." Suigetsu whined. He was sitting in the tree next to mine. We overlooked the village and saw a couple stragglers, but no one else. The same village that betrayed my clan. The village that held distant memories for me.
"Just shut up and do as I say. Got it?" I questioned with authority. Rolling his eyes, he nodded and searched the parameter. With a thumbs up, I jumped onto the nearest building and continued quietly until there were people below and waited till they passed to jump to the next roof and peer up at the building ahead of me. The village seemed to change a lot, but not this one. It was larger than some of the others and was white with an orange fence on top of it. There was a window up at the top that was open, just enough to squeeze a body through. With a quick peek behind me, Suigetsu a couple buildings away from me, and jumped onto the ledge under the window and wedged myself through. Slowly stepping onto the floor I closed the window and locked it. Making sure no one could get in or out easily.
Walking through the halls seemed vaguely familiar. Memories of the Third Hokage came to mind and the chunin exams along with loneliness that began to flood my chest. Keeping all my senses alert, I walked down some stairs and turned into the next hall. The Hokages office was near, but there were voices in the room. Some loud voices.
"Shit" I whispered through my teeth. Looking down one end of the hall to the other I pushed up one of the ceiling panels and climbed up in and replaced the panel. A musky, damp smell fogged my nose , but the beams were able to hold my weight, making it a lot easier to sneak a peek inside of the room. I don't know how Naruto could get caught when standing on the beams, not the panels themselves. I sighed in frustration and found the vent that was to the left of the Hokages desk. Tsunade's apparently been drinking, judging by all the bottles she's accumulated behind her desk. Her voice and two others clashed against one another it made it impossible to determine the source of the argument.
"It doesn't matter. He'll be back in no time." Tsunade huffed. "Now get out of my office."
"But Lady Tsunade, no one's Seen him. We need to search." a female voice pleaded. One I can identify as Sakura's.
"Plus Akumaru is missing. Missing!" a strangled voice practically cried. Footsteps grew louder and a bang popped in my ear. Shaking my head to clear the ring from my ear, Tsunade exhaled.
"Seems like we have a visitor." more footsteps grew louder and my heart pounded. "Come on out stranger."
Pissed off I couldn't just get Tsunade by herself, I reappeared next to Sakura and saw Kiba's distressed look turn into a growl. I folded my arms across my chest and put most of my weight on my left leg. Since my right one got numb from crouching up in the ceiling.
"Sasuke" Sakura exclaimed.
No shit, I thought to myself. I closed my eyes to steady my hatred for this place and exhaled a frustrated grunt. Opening my eyes, I saw Tsunade back behind her desk with her head atop her folded hands.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned quite calmly.
"I need to talk to you alone." I stated.
"What?" Kiba asked, clearly frustrated himself. "We've been here for hours to get you to let us go out and find Naruto and Akumaru. You can't possibly throw us out to listen to Him!"
"Naruto?" I asked out of curiosity. I didn't intend for it to be said aloud, but I'll along with it. Maybe they know what's happened to him and are a part of it.
"Yes, Naruto." Sakura reiterated. "He's been missing for a day or two and now there's something weird happening out there and Tsunade won't let us investigate."
Bingo. She's partly right.
"He's not missing." I correct her. Forcing myself to look at Tsunade I ask, "Do you know about evil spirits taking over a body?"
Her face scrunched and tilted to the side. Kiba rolled his eyes and hunched his shoulders. He took a seat in the closest chair and looked down at his feet.
"Evil spirit?" Sakura asked. Her face showing clear fascination, I couldn't help but wonder how they don't know.
"Yes, there was a dense fog that surrounded Naruto yesterday and then it disappeared."
I shifted to my other foot and kept my eyes on Tsunade for any sign of acknowledgement. But her face was flushed and tired. Her eyes unfocused.
Refocusing, she stood up and looked between me and Sakura a couple times, once landing on Kiba, but quickly landed on us.
"Then you and Sakura need to talk over what you both know and get your asses moving. I don't care to have a bicker this late at night. I still have paper work to do and I'll overlook this. Find a team and find out what happened to Naruto and why he hasn't returned." She sat back down with a flop. Her back completely against the chair and her hands wiping away sweat from her forehead.
"Thank you Lady Tsunade" Sakura and Kiba said in unison. I turned around and walked out the door without a second look. A team, that's all that we need now.
Finally reaching the cool nights breeze a hand tapped my shoulder. I stopped and waiting for the person to walk in front of me. And of course it was Sakura.
"You know what happened to Naruto?" She asked, her eyes focused on my every move. I twitched a figure to see if she'd notice, and behold: she noticed.
"Yes" I stated.
She squinted at me and looked down at her feet. Her hands were on her hips and she tapped her right foot. Her hair was still the same length as when I saw her last. Almost touching her shoulders and pinker than ever. Maybe it was the moon that made it possible. Her headband gleamed in the moonlight. Proudly showing that she is a ninja of Konoha. A ninja not hunted.
"Then we need your help. We're going to set up a team to retrieve Naruto and find Akumaru. Will you help us?" she asked. But I could tell her eyes said that I was going whether I liked it or not.
I nodded and took a step back. I never liked being so close people. Especially ones I used to know.
"Awesome. Kiba go round up Neji, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Sai, and Lee. Tell them to meet us at the gates in an hour." she ordered and he obeyed with a quick nod and took off away from us. Looking back at me, she said, "follow me, I don't want you running away. Plus I need you to identify the object you saw."
"Why?" I groaned inside. I hated being told what to do. But curiosity was getting the best of me.
She pointed to the library and said, "There."