Another chapter, my muse just seems to be hitting me upside the head with inspiration. A word of warning, not for this chapter but probably sometime soon there will be major sadness. Just thought to warn you, like I said this really isn't going to be a happy story, I don't even know if it will have a happy ending. Guess you'll just have to stick it out to the end eh? ^-^ Haha. Thank you to all the reviewers who seriously made me remember this is a good story and they wanted it to continue.
Yours Truly,
Timber Delonic
"What do you mean you can't find him?" The calm anger that Sarutobi exuding through that single sentence was enough to put all the ANBU on edge. It had been weeks since the search for young Naruto had begun, but the months that had gone by since he had gone missing did nothing but erase the evidence of his presence. Ibiki had even gotten in on the action knowing how much they all missed Naruto. He was a bright little ray of sunshine that was born under less than ideal circumstances. The ANBU were all scrambling to cover their asses and find him. Usually one of the ANBU would check on him at least once a day, to make sure none of the villagers went too far. As if that wasn't an insult to their profession they were given precise orders from the council not to harm anyone who had touched the boy. They were glorified baby sitters who could do nothing but send the poor boy on his way, it rankled them.
The work the council had sent in previously six months prior had kept them all extremely busy, the Hokage included. Mission after mission and mountains of paperwork as far as the eye could see! They had only just recently gotten a break only to find little Naruto gone. They scoured the streets and forests going so far as to ask the skies for an extreme and impossible flood that would just so happen to send the little child their way, but the skies had been sunny and silent for weeks now much to their irritation. Having no other alternative they asked Ibiki for help, which only dug them into a deep hole when he found out about their incompetence at not checking up on the child. Which they all paid for in blood, sweat, and tears in their new training regime with the lead interrogator.
Ibiki himself had interrogated the woman from the orphanage, but gleaned nothing from her other than the sordid details of Naruto's daily life and how much hatred was shown to the child. It took him everything he had not to rip his kunai into one of her organs where it would do the least amount of damage and the most amount of pain. It was entirely irritating as well to watch the woman crumble and the slightest twitch from Ibiki. She posed no satiation to his blood lust. He couldn't understand the villagers' irrational fear of the child. Yes, he housed a great demon inside of him, but because of him the demon wasn't rampaging through the streets. What did the villagers think? That Naruto was their plan B instead of their plan Z? Naruto's body as a vessel was the absolute last plan they would use and they had to because even their strongest ninja had been unable to defeat the creature.
The ANBU was brought back to the present as he calmly informed the Hokage, "Any sign of his presence has been washed away by the natural elements and other animals. He is no longer in the city, of this we are certain. The time period was simply too long for us to find any sign. Hokage-sama…" At this point the ANBU hesitated to finish what he was saying. Sarutobi clasped his hands together and motioned for the ANBU to come closer. The ANBU stepped closer until he was next to the Hokage speaking in a small and quick voice. "We cannot help but…wonder within the time frame of this incident and the amount of work we were given if this incident wasn't somehow…staged by forces of a…ill persuasion Hokage-sama."
Sarutobi's face turned grim and his anger cold at that thought. It was true he thought, they had been given an unbelievable amount of work six months back. He'd remember thinking it would never end. The council never held any love for Naruto, but to actively seek to push the boy from the village? What were they planning? Sarutobi sighed tiredly and scrubbed his hand over his face. This was why he had never wanted to be Hokage again. It reminded him of just how powerless he was. A figure head with strings attached to each limb with puppeteers steering his every move, unable to find even a single child. A child who was dear to him. How many more people would they drive from this village? Jiraiya, Tsunade, and now Naruto. He couldn't help but hope it might drive him away too, but then who could work within this layer of corruption? Sarutobi held his head in his hands, tears silently streaming down his cheeks as his shoulders shook with the sobs he held in.
Naruto watched from behind the tree with curious eyes. He peeked at the figure in the small clearing of flowers. The light illuminated her small figure and he couldn't decide how old she was. Her small tan hands were weaving a crown of white flowers. Her brown eyes starred unseeing and her white hair kept flitting in her face. She huffed and Naruto had to stifle a laugh. The girl tilted her head to one direction and smiled softly. "You can come out, I won't hurt you." Naruto gasped and hid behind the tree fully, only peeking out after she had gotten quiet. He approached her on all four limbs, careful to be quiet in case this was an ambush by the village children. He stopped in front of her, crouched low to the ground.
"Aren't you afraid of the monster?" He asked softly, afraid to break the atmosphere. The girl's face twisted into an expression of disgust before she settled it into a determined expression. She grabbed his face in her hands, Naruto startled and closed his eyes waiting for pain, but all he could feel was her softly running her hands over his face, tracing his features. When she took her hands away Naruto finally opened his eyes to look at her. What he saw amazed him. She was smiling! At him! "Well, you don't feel like a monster. So I'm going to say you aren't one, okay?" Naruto smile brightly, he felt like a sun had just opened up in his chest. "My name is Yuki, what's yours?" He couldn't believe this was happening, after days and days of wishing, of nights spent starring at the stars, he was finally getting a friend. Perhaps he thought, it was the mysterious presence that hung around him, comforting him, giving him powers to attain food. If so he couldn't help but be grateful, he'd never had anyone give him anything except for Jiji. He resolved himself to thank the presence whenever he saw it, so it would know how thankful he was for it. He turned back to Yuki, drawing closer. "My name's Naruto." Yuki laughed softly before drawing him to sit at her side. "Well Naruto, do you know how to make flower crowns?"