Naruto's POV
Naruto, Sakura and Sai were, once again, following a lead on the missing Uchiha.
They've been traveling for three days without break to the spot they thought was where Orochimaru's base was located. It was along Fire Country's border.
Naruto would've kept on going but Sai and Sakura reached their limits. Naruto should've thought about them and felt a pang of guilt.
He was only thinking about Sasuke and wanting to see his face again. He was being selfish.
So when he found a nice little valley with water supply near by, he said to his team, "Hey do you guys want to set up camp here?" "I thought you didn't want to stop until you found Sasuke-kun, Naruto." Sakura said but then smiled with appreciation.
"Finally dickless! You let us rest for once. Not all of us are as abnormal as you and can keep going a whole week straight." Sai said with a usual smart-ass tone. "Shut up baka!" Naruto retorted.
And with that they set up camp in the little green valley.
It actually had a pretty nice view. There was a lake in the north that was a few hundred metres away. Then about a thousand metres away, there was a handful of small mountains with a wide opening between two of them. Since the sun was already setting, it was right between that gap, the last rays illuminating the mountains in pinkish-blue light. The sun's orange reflection was noticeable on the lake, making it a breath-taking sight.
Naruto decided to skip eating, leaving more for the two hungry ninjas and bid them goodnight. They both looked at him in surprise that he actually skipped a meal but didn't say anything seeing the worn-down expression on the usually energetic, cheerful sixteen year-old's face.
The blond nin decided to lay out his sleeping stuff away from Sakura's and Sai's because right now he just wanted to be alone.
How ironic, he thought, I hated being alone. It was horrible. But right now I feel so emotionally drained. What if this is another fake lead? Oh God, even now I'm starting to lose hope. What if he won't even come back? What if he'll finish what he started and kill me completely? Won't make that much difference though, even though I'm so happy on the outside, I already feel dead without him on the inside.
And with that last thought, while watching the sun go down completely, letting the moon take over and give some dim light, Naruto fell in a deep sleep.
