"Sasuke's been kidnapped!"

Naruto could not believe his own ears. Sasuke gone? No, that could not be right. Kidnappings just did not happen to the people you knew. He regarded Kiba with suspicious eyes.

"You can't get me to apologise to him. It's too embarrassing. I called him a fag!"

"What?" Kiba asked in incredulity, momentarily forgetting why he was there. He knew that Megumi had turned into Sasuke, and that that event had caused the end of the...relationship...the two had had, but he did not know the entire story.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I called him a fag." This time the confession was softer, as if Naruto thought the lack of volume might snatch the insult back from the air and everyone, especially Sasuke, would forget it ever happened.

"Well, I got that part of the story, but why would you do that? The only time I heard you talk about Sasuke would be when there were positive things to say. Now you're telling me that you called your childhood friend gay?"

Naruto glared defensively. "I didn't mean to, it just sort of slipped out. I mean, I liked Megumi a lot. We both know this." Kiba nodded in agreement and the blond continued. "And when she turned into Sasuke, I still had feelings for 'her'. In fact, they had only increased. I was confused and so I decided to blame her...him...whoever for making me feel like a faggot."

Kiba shook his head and Naruto huffed despite himself.

"So you felt gay...and you decided to call Sasuke gay?" The brown-haired boy asked slowly, not really understanding his friend's logic. Before Naruto could answer though, Kiba shook his head again, this time to clear his head of the recent exchange. "Look, Sasuke's been kidnapped. Are we going to do anything or not?"

Kiba's expectant look caused Naruto to deflate and he wearily dropped into his couch.

"There's nothing we can do, Kiba."

"What are you talking about, Naruto? We can look for him! We can-"

"And what do we do when we find him? Kakashi told me what Itachi's capable of. There's no way we can beat him if he's got a hold of Sasuke."

Kiba hesitated. To tell the truth, while they were extremely good ninja, better than excellent, neither were the best when it came to ninjutsu. Certainly not good enough to face off against the older Uchiha brother, even with the two to one odds. He sat down heavily next to his surprisingly quiet friend and sighed. "Naruto, we can't just sit here and do nothing. You already told me how you felt when Sasuke disappeared the first time around. You're really going to let him disappear again?"

Naruto exhaled and fixed Kiba with saddened eyes. "He hates me anyway. Why bother?"

Kiba narrowed his eyes, a reaction the blond was not quite expecting. "Naruto, I can't believe you! You're always telling me you want to be Hokage, but you don't want to save your friend because you think he hates you?"

Naruto could not back down. If he found Sasuke...well, there was no way he would win against Itachi. "I just...I'm scared. What if he doesn't accept my help?"

Kiba smiled softly, putting his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Naruto, it's time to live by your own words-the same ones you constantly tell people who are in the same situation you are right now. Don't you see? It doesn't matter that Sasuke may still be angry at your words. What matters is that he's in trouble. He needs you, Naruto. Are you just going to mope around here, waiting in fear, or are you going to do something to save Sasuke's life?"

Naruto gradually returned the smile.

"Where are we going to look for him first?"

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

It was officially four months after Sasuke's disappearance and Naruto spiraled deeper into depression.

"Faggot!"

Why had he said that and then had avoided the raven like he could not stand the sight of him? Nothing could have been further from the truth...!

Naruto no longer gazed into mirrors, knowing he would be disgusted with the boy in the reflection.

"Sasuke's been kidnapped!"

It was his fault. Naruto was not exactly sure yet how he was responsible, but he knew he was somehow. 'And now I can't even find him. How incompetent am I?' His depression crushed him....

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Days became weeks, weeks turned into months and soon three years had gone by. Naruto watched as his new friend Hinata became engaged to Neji. He was happy for them, and no, he wasn't thinking about Sasuke. He did not want the others to worry about him, but he needed to know Sasuke's whereabouts. If he could only know the Uchiha was still alive....After all, when three years go by without a trace of the missing person, Konoha considers that person to be...Naruto did not want to even think about accepting that truth. There had to be another; if only he could find it!

"Naruto!"

The addressed blond turned to find his ex-girlfriend, Sakura Haruno, running toward him. Confused, he masked this feeling with a welcoming, albeit forced, smile.

"Well, hi Sakura!" He grinned and placed a hand behind his head.

"Look!" She cried, holding up her left hand to his eye level.

"Huh?" Naruto's arm came away from the back of his head in surprise. His startled gaze fell to Sakura's ring finger where a huge diamond smiled up at him.

"Lee proposed!" She chirped, wriggled her fingers in Naruto's face. The blond's heart dropped into his sandals as he realised he was the only one of his friends who remained single (with the exception of Kiba, who was still trying to win Gaara back). Seeing her blond's sorrow, Sakura tried to put a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, but the ring weighed down on his body and only reminded him of his loneliness.

"Oh Naruto," she sighed. "It'll be alright. You'll find Sasuke alive, well, and wanting to come home and be your wife."

Naruto blushed, but pushed Sakura's hand away and forced another smile so the pink-haired woman would not worry about him so much. Though, all that afternoon and the rest of that night he poured over her words.

'Oh Sakura, if only it were that simple.'

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Naruto finished his acceptance speech when he became Hokage, puncuating the end of it with a cheer and a fist in the air. The crowd erupted, crying loudly for their newly named village champion.

Looking around, Naruto was not that surprised that everyone had fallen for his splendid acting. Everyone except for Sakura, and it had not been long for her husband of four years to pick up on her suspicions. Now they were both standing behind him on the balcony in the Hokage's tower, and the three exchanged looks.

They all knew who Naruto wished was in the crowd at that very moment, looking up at him with the same happiness the new Hokage should have been feeling.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

When Naruto came back from the kitchen, he saw Sasuke already awake and sitting up, a hand pressed to his forehead.

"Good mor-" the greeting died in his throat as he finally noticed the look Sasuke was giving him. "Come on Sasuke, you're not still mad at me, are you?" The glare did not recede, so Naruto cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm glad to see you're awake. You hit your head pretty hard, so I was...starting...to...to...worry...Sasuke? Where are you going?" While the Hokage was talking, the other man had obviously gotten it into his head that he wanted to walk away! "Hey Uchiha, I'm talking to you-" The raven turned his back to the front door so he could face the blond idiot, the famous Uchiha glare turned on full blast.

"Let's get this straight. I may not have left Konoha willingly, but I never came back, did I? In fact, had I known you were Hokage, I'd have never set up a meeting with you about dropping the charges against Itachi."

"Your brother? But didn't he-"

"Kidnap me? Not really...that was...oh, never mind! You wouldn't understand anyway!"

"Well maybe if you just talked to me-"

"Oh, so now you want to talk? Where was that little decision seven years ago?!" Naruto could feel his rage bubbling up rapidly.

"Listen Uchiha, I didn't know you would turn into a guy when I first starting talking to you. If I had, I would've never-" A door slam cut off his rant.

'I would have never freaked out the way I did....'

But Sasuke was gone, and if Naruto ever wanted to make him his, he needed to come up with a plan by the time Sasuke came back (because he would come back). One that would not only make the Uchiha fall madly in love with him, but would also keep him bedridden until the raven had completely healed.

He had a lot of work ahead of him.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A/N: Oh, Naruto has no idea. Anyway, what do you guys think his plan's going to be? Review and let me know! XD

Now then, the past to present chapters are done and you've had a glimpse into what happened before the actual sequel took place. The rest of the chapter should be Fall into Darkness! Yay, I'm so excited! Let me know how I did and I promise, the fifth chapter will get out to you sooner than if you don't.

And that's where I'll leave you for now. Please review!

A demain!

~theflawintheplan