Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

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A/N: oh yeah, the answer to that question, well, in the second round, Gai said that he'd run around konoha, so the watching over naruto part was cancelled. sorry! should've mentioned it!

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Search for Naruto

The real Kakashi and Sakura watched as Gai slouched out of the door. He stopped at the door and looked around at Kakashi.

'How come you're making sure I do it today? You usually don't.' he asked.

'Just as a part of the fun.' Kakashi said, shrugging. 'Besides, my instincts told me that you might not do it today.' Gai fired up at once.

'Me? Ho dare you, Kakashi! When have I, Gai Mite, never kept up my word? I will not sink to a level where I do not keep up the promise with which I fated myself!' he thundered at Kakashi.

'Well, because you haven't eaten anything since yesterday evening.' Kakashi said as Gai's stomach roared.

'Ah... heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh...' was Gai's reply.

'So, I'll see how you keep up your word this time.'

'So what if I've not hogged anything? I'll still never break my promise! Just you watch!' said a fired-up-again Gai. He stomped out of the door and disappeared.

'Kakashi-sensei, how long will it take for Naruto to wake up and what's wrong with him in the first place? Why does the Kyuubi breaking out of him have to do with him?' Sakura asked Kakashi.

'Good question. I don't know myself. But the nearest answer for now would be because the seal is not completely broken. The Kyuubi is trying to escape but cannot. If it was completely held inside, helpless, Naruto would be fine as there would be no chakra inteference. But now, the chakra constantly keeps flowing out of his body without break and out of his control. This blocks his chakra from travelleing all around the body properly. All I know is it could be something to do with it. I may be completely wrong, but this is the nearest answer. I have no idea what the chakra not being able to flow properly has to do with him being unconcious.' Kakashi replied.

'Why can't we just seal it up again?'

'You know what this kind of seal demands. It's already taken two of our great Hokages. Besides, I don't think it would be a good idea to add the same seal on top of the remaining bits of the seal. Who know what effect it might have?' Kakashi said. Just at that moment, the door opened and there was a masked man standing there.

'Hokage-sama has said that Anbu are to guard Naruto. You can leave if you want to.' the Anbu member said.

'Sure. I was getting bored anyway. I'll get some breakfast and get back to visit.' Kakashi said and was about to leave but stopped at the door. 'What about you, Sakura?'

'I'll leave too. I guess we won't be having any missions for some time.' she replied and followed Kakashi out of the door. Just as both of them left, Naruto slowly sat up on the bed again. But the Anbu guy was off his guard, his mind on what a boring mission this was. Naruto silently got out of bed and sneaked up behind the guard ...

Somwhere around the evening, there was a knock on Naruto's door. But there was no reply. The door opened and Sasuke walked in.

'Kakashi? Are you here?' he called. Just as he said that he stopped dead. The room looked red all around. There was a man lying dead on the floor with blood splattered on the wall in front of him and behind the door. Sasuke started shaking uncontrollably ... the scene had a striking resemblence to that one with Itachi ... Sasuke collapsed to the floor. Just then, Kakashi made his entry. With one sweeping, shocked look around the room, he quickly helped Sasuke stand up and supported him outside. He shut the door and put a seal on it. He supported Sasuke all the way upto Tsunade's room where he dropped Sasuke into a chair where he sat limply.

'What happened?' Tsunade asked, looking surpirised and also, a bit scared.

'It's Naruto, Tsunade-sama. He's disappeared. The Anbu member you sent to guard him has been killed. I think you'd better send someone to clean up Naruto's room. But most importantly, we've got to look for Naruto.' Kakashi panted, as he had been dragging Sasuke along all the way.

'You're right. I--' Tsunade started, but the door banged open and a terrified looking Shizune was leaning against the door, sprayed with blood.

'Shizune! What happened? Answer me!' Tsunade shouted, running up to her.

'It's Naruto. Please, follow me quickly.' she replied weakly.

'Lead the way!' Tsunade said. She followed Shizune outside. Kakashi went after her too. But Sasuke just laid there, shocked that Naruto would do something like that. But wait, it wasn't Naruto doing it by his own will, but it was because of the Kyuubi. And from what he had come to know from Jiraiya (though not directly), Akatsuki were after all the nine Bijuu. And wouldn't now be the perfect time for them when it was almost loose? But he had to do all he could to stop it from escaping. And thinking of that, he got up at last and ran outside, following the path that had just been taken by Kakashi.

He reached a clearing in the forest outside the village where there was a Konoha Outpost. But he saw the same scene there too. He concentrated with all his might to prevent himself from collapsing again. To distract himself, he walked up to Kakashi and asked a question though he already knew the answer:

'What the heck happened here?'

'Naruto's what happened here. The Kyuubi's getting out of hand. And on top of all that, Naruto's disappeared. We've got to find him quickly.' Kakashi replied. He turned around to see two more Anbu and -- Shikamaru.

'Wh-What in the world happened here?' Shikamaru asked in total shock.

'We'll explain later. First gather all the Anbu and Jounins in the village and take whomever you feel trustworthy who can protect themselves and set off to look for Naruto. I'll explain when you're back here with them all. Go quickly!' Tsunade ordered. Shikamaru ran back into the village but the other two Anbu stayed behind.

'Why did you have to leave him of all the people to guard him, Tsunade-sama?' one of them asked.

'Because he was not an Anbu. He was one of my suspects. I believe he has recently joined Akatsuki and was ordered to release Naruto from that place so that the higher members can capture it. He was merely a pawn as no one from Akatsuki could get in here without the slightest notice. Not that he succeeded very much, but he didn't stand out as much as them. Jiraiya was the one who told me about Akatsuki having a new member. However, he joined the Anbu too recently, just about a week before he joined Akatsuki. That was his mission from Akatsuki.' Tsunade said.

'But couldn't you devise a method that wouldn't include the Kyuubi escaping? Why did you have to make him guard it? Wouldn't it only make it easier for him to let it escape?' the other one asked.

'Yes, but if anyone else was on guard at that time, they would be killed. As for the Kyuubi escaping, even I wouldn't be able to stop it if I was on guard.'

'Then why do we need to pursue it if we can't stop it?' he asked again.

'Because we've got to save Naruto.' Sasuke said suddenly.

'But we can't possibly do that! The Kyuubi is in control of Naruto's body! How can we extract him from the depths of the Kyuubi's power?'

'There is one way to stop it permanently. But this will lead to the loss of another life. The only other person who can do the Seal which sealed the Kyuubi years ago is somewhere I don't know. But if we find him and he agrees, then we can stop the Kyuubi escaping.' Tsunade said.

'But that's another impossible task! Nobody can convince somebody to throw away their life like that! The Sandaime and Yondaime did it by their own will. We can't force or even beg somebody to do it.'

'There is another way.' Kakashi said just as suddenly as Sasuke. 'There is one forbidden seal which my father knew and told me about. That can hold back the Kyuubi for some time until Tsunade-sama discovers something to do. But is this seal is performed perfectly, it even closes up whatever is open in any other older seal. But this seal is very draining and in the worst case, I can die. But I'm ready to do it. Maximum, it can hold the Kyuubi back for another year or so. Now, let's find Naruto.'

'You sure Kakahsi?' Tsunade asked.

'Of course.' he replied just as Shikamaru returned with all the forces Tsunade had called for.

'Kuchiyose no Jutsu!' Kakashi said, biting a cut in his finger and laying his palm flat on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared and disappeared, leaving Pakkun in its midst. 'Lead the way to Naruto!'

'Sure!' the pup replied and started sniffing away. Tsunade just finished explaining the situation to everybody when the dog said: 'I think I've found him. Follow me!' and it ran off. Kakashi followed and the whole army-thingy disappeared.

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A/N: i'm extremely sorry for the lack of updates! but my fanfic account just wasn't opening! it said "invalid password" all these days though it was correct.

Note: oh yeah, about Sasuke still being with them after Tsunade's Hokage and all that, I'm just assuming that in the fic, he never went to Orochimaru. Whatever deviates from the actual story, well, I;m just assuming that deviation... whatever it is, and there are many of them.

Well, review people!

Kai Hiwatari II