Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make a profit from this. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump.
Here is Chapter 7!
Thanks to 25BAM50 and Sakurx for reviewing! Also thanks to everyone who has favorited or followed, it all means a lot to me!
His problems just seemed to keep piling up. First finding out the chakra systems from the nearby towns were being drained. Secondly finding out that none other than the elite guild Akatsuki had something to do with it. Things surely could not get any worse; the last thing this man wanted to deal with was a guild, especially a guild as strong as Akatsuki. He was just starting to plan out his next step when another problem showed up, a hawk carrying a message for him… from theQueen.
'Oh god what is it now?' he thought in annoyance as he went to grab the note from the hawk.
The man started reading the note and was, to say the least, surprised about its contents. He sighed after reading a particular part of the message, a certain part that included a certain Naruto Uzumaki and a princess. Yes things were now getting complicated.
"What is it Captain?" asked a tall man with messy orange hair. He wore the standard knight combat set that most knights wore; same colors as his captain, blue and silver. His weapon of choice, two large fighting gauntlets harder than steel.
"Oi Juugo leave the man alone, can't you tell by his face that he is deep in thought?" said the man to his side with medium length white hair. His outfit matching Juugo's only smaller since he wasn't a giant. His weapon was a massive blade which was attached to his back. "Besides the longer he takes the longer our break lasts," he said as he took a sip of water.
"How professional of you Suigetsu," the red haired woman said sarcastically as she stood up and put her sword back in to her sheath on her waist. On her left hand was a red chakra amplifier, she used her sword in her right hand and magic with her left, "Captain Sasuke, what did the message say?" she asked.
Sasuke thought for a moment then spoke up, "Karin, take Suigetsu and Juugo with you and gather the men up. Ready the horses as well we need to head back to Ame… someone will meet us there," Sasuke said as he grabbed his sword and shield, "Queens's orders," he said as he walked out of the room.
"Ah Karin, if it's a message from the Queen then it most likely involves a certain Princess," Suigetsu laughed, he knew Karin had a thing for Sasuke and he loved to mess with her and mention Sasuke's friendship with the Princess herself.
"Shut up Suigetsu!" she yelled as she fixed her glasses and walked out of the room with a blush on her face.
"You know, if the Captain finds out you are messing with her again he will kick your ass," Juugo said as he admired the nature outside the window.
"Ah the Captain can kiss my ass!" Suigetsu said with a smirk as he finished his water. They both started walking to the door.
"I'm gonna tell him you said that," Juugo responded as he walked out of the room.
"What!? Juugo get back here damn it!" Suigetsu screamed as he followed Juugo out.
Two days had passed since the fight with the poison master and the insane mage and things had been pretty calm. They still found themselves in Tanzaku Gai since Naruto had been asleep since the incident.
Naruto slowly started to open his eyes as he did so he noticed he was back in his room at the inn.
"Oh you're awake," Naruto heard as he glanced to his left to see Kakashi sitting at the table reading his book.
"Kakashi? Man I feel terrible right now… how long was I out?" Naruto asked as he slowly started to sit up.
"About two days," Kakashi replied as he closed his book and walked over to Naruto, "you know you really gave us quite a scare, especially a certain Princess," he said with what Naruto could only guess was a smile under his mask.
"Sakura... how is she?" he asked with some concern, the last thing he remembered was her nearly unconscious trying to heal him.
"She is doing fine don't worry, she is out getting some supplies with Kurama. She hardly left your side you know. She was really worried especially after seeing what you did to Sasori."
"…"
"Naruto how did you do that? I haven't seen green chakra like that before yet you had a lot flowing around you."
"Honestly… I don't know. I remember having a dream and I met someone in it, it all seemed so real. Then I woke up and I had all that power and after seeing Sakura-Chan in trouble I guess I kind of lost it hehe," Naruto responded while scratching the back of his head.
"Well whatever happened I'm just glad it worked out," he said, as he finished Sakura came walking into the room with bags in her hand, Kurama was following right behind with a bag in his mouth as well.
"Naruto you're awake!" Sakura screamed as she ran over to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
"I'm so glad you're ok! I thought after what happened that you might not wake up…" Sakura said sadly while still hugging him.
"Ah Sakura-Chan I'm fine!" Naruto laughed. "By the way as nice as it feels to have you hugging me so closely you're kind of crushing me."
Sakura blushed, "Oh s—sorry," she said nervously.
"Naw its fine, we can always hug more later if you want," Naruto replied while laughing. Sakura however didn't find it as funny as she whacked him in the head.
"Baka!" she yelled as she walked away with a blush still on her face. Secretly though, she liked the idea of being able to hug him and she didn't really know why.
They were both brought from their little chat when they heard Kakashi cough.
"Well if you two love birds are done, what say we plan our next move?" Kakashi asked.
Both got serious as they got together to figure out what they would plan next. Things would still be simple for them if they hadn't found out that an elite guild really was after Sakura. Finding that out had really worried Naruto, he vowed to himself right then that he would not let anything happen to her. He needed to get her to Sasuke.
"Well we need to get to Ame as soon as possible and meet up with Sasuke," Naruto said as he looked at both of them, "Sasuke can protect her, if anyone has the power to do that it is him."
"What will you do after that Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
"I will go to Suna… that dream I had, the man told me someone in Suna could help me and I trust him," Naruto replied.
'Naruto will leave after we get to Ame? I should be happy knowing I got to Sasuke-kun… but why do I feel this way?' Sakura thought upon hearing Naruto's plan.
"Naruto who was this man from your dream? Are you sure you can even trust it, it could have just been your imagination," Kakashi said seriously.
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Ahaha well you see… I can't really remember the man's name; my memory is a little fuzzy at that part," Kakashi and Sakura just sweat dropped from hearing him forget something so important.
"All I know is that it was more than a dream, I know I can trust what I was told and I'm going to seek this person out," Naruto said speaking with determination.
"I guess if you really think it's a good idea than it can't be helped. What will you do after that is done?" Kakashi asked again.
"Go after Akatsuki," Naruto stated flatly.
"What! Why would you go after them Naruto? You know how dangerous they are!" Sakura practically screamed.
"Sakura-Chan calm down I'll be fine… besides… all my life I have dreamed of a better world, one of peace. These Akatsuki bastards are getting in the way of that dream," Naruto answered, "besides, they are after you for some reason and I'm not about to let them get you. It will be safer this way, knowing that Sasuke is with you I can go after these bastards and take them all down."
'Going out of your way to help me… Naruto you…' Sakura thought with a saddened look.
"Hey come on now Sakura-Chan, I won't be alone! I have Kurama with me and I'm sure Kakashi won't mind sticking around a bit as well right?" Naruto said while looking at Kakashi only to see him reading his book.
"What? Sorry I was reading," Kakashi replied with a smile.
"Hey come on Kakashi this is serious! You got my back right?"
Kakashi sighed, "I suppose I can't just go and allow you to take on an elite guild without more help. Sure I will go with you."
"See no worries Sakura-Chan! Everything will be fine!" Naruto said with a huge grin. Though he noticed she was still deep in thought over what she was hearing.
'Can I really just let him go and do something so dangerous? After all the Akatsuki are after me not him.' Sakura mentally debated with herself.
"Sakura-Chan you ok?" Naruto was right in her face now, this caused Sakura to blush and whack him in the head again.
"Ow ow! Sakura-Chan you really don't know your own strength do you…?" Naruto pouted while rubbing his head.
"Well we have a plan so that's a start, why don't we eat something and we can leave for Ame in the morning?" Kakashi suggested. Both Sakura and Naruto nodded while Kurama was asleep in the corner of the room.
The journey to Ame from Tanzaku Gai was a three day trip and each day seemed to go by faster than the last. In a way this made Sakura happy and Sad, happy to soon be able to see Sasuke but sad that Naruto would soon be leaving her for a dangerous mission. She kept bringing her mood down with these thoughts and it seemed Naruto was noticing her mood change, so she decided to push the thoughts to the back of her head till they got to Ame.
The first day of the trip was easy and relaxing as the four of them traveled the road together during day light and making camp at night. They would stay up sometimes and talk by the campfire telling some stories of their past, though Naruto would try to avoid anything that had to do with his time in the Knights. Sakura spoke of her time in the Castle and all the different knights she met and the other nobles she met as well who seemed to always consider themselves higher than the normal person. Naruto would scoff at some of the nobles Sakura would mention and Kakashi would just sigh all the while Kurama just yawned by the campfire while sitting next to Naruto.
The second day was interesting, well about as interesting as ramen could be anyhow. During their travel they came across Ichiraku's, a traveling ramen shop. Naruto seemed to know the two people who ran the shop, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame. Kakashi also seemed to have known them as well seeing as how Ayame would talk strike a conversation with him so familiarly all the while blushing while looking at him. Naruto told Sakura about how he had met them from his days in the knights but wouldn't go into details. Sakura learned that day that ramen truly was Naruto's favorite food as he scarfed down ten bowls in a matter of minutes.
The third day had been a lot slower but Sakura quite enjoyed it as her and Naruto would just chat while Kakashi and Kurama watched. Kakashi was smiling the whole time and couldn't help but make some perverted jokes about Naruto and Sakura and the huge amount of time they could find themselves in a conversation without getting bored or even stop smiling. Sakura just pondered Kakashi's words; she had never really found it this easy to talk to someone before. She used to think Sasuke was the only one who she could really talk to but the more she thought about it the more she realized he was always more serious in situations like this, while Naruto… well Naruto had a way of making things seem bright and even make you forget about any troubling thoughts. Naruto found himself thinking similar thoughts as the day went on.
Soon the three days were over and the group found themselves outside the gates of Ame. They entered and once again, Sakura found herself with conflicting thoughts.
They walked into the gates of Ame and were all displeased with the weather as it was raining quite hard. They should have known though considering this town was known to unusual amounts of rain each year.
As they neared the center of the town they couldn't help but notice the lack of people present. Kakashi wondered if maybe they were walking into a trap, his thoughts were soon answered as he saw about twenty men knights emerge from the shadows, one knight stepped forward.
"Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake, you are hereby under arrest for the abduction of Lady Sakura Senju. By orders of Commandant Danzo drop your weapons and come quietly," the knight said as the rest of the knights readied their swords.
"What do you mean? I was not abducted by them!? I came of my own free will," Sakura protested, but it was ignored.
"Now now Princess, no need to defend this trash now if you will please come wi—" The knight was cut off.
"This is bullshit! Tell your Commandant that he can shove it!" Naruto yelled.
"Very well if you won't comply…" the knight pulled out his sword, "then we have orders to kill all of you. Men kill all but the Senju; Danzo wants to deal with her personally."
The knight charged at them, Kakashi was about to retaliate when another man jumped in front of him using a shield to smash the knight to the ground instantly.
"Who dares attack a member of Danzo's royal knights!?" the man yelled as he looked up to see who it was.
"Y-You're-"
"Sasuke-Kun…" Sakura finished as all three of them watched more knights follow Sasuke out.
"Men disarm each of these knight's; they attempted to attack people under the protection of Queen Tsunade Senju," Sasuke ordered as his men proceeded to do as he said.
"What proof do you have that these criminals are under the Queens protection!?" the knight growled.
Sasuke just casually called Karin over and she handed him the note he received earlier. Sasuke turned through the pages till he found what he needed.
"Here, official documents from the Queen herself," Sasuke smirked, "seems she saw this coming; tell me, who is your captain?"
"C-Captain Shin!" Sasuke just nodded, he didn't know much about Shin other than that he was one of the Knight Captains who was closest to the Commandant himself.
"Karin, round up the rest of the knights and prepare a carriage to take them all back to the Capital."
"Yes Captain Sasuke!" Karin answered as she ordered the men to round up the knights.
Now that the knights were taken care of Sasuke set his sights upon the group of four adventurers. Sasuke looked at each of them till he started walking towards Naruto.
"Oi teme! Long time no se—" Naruto was cut off as Sasuke gave him a right hook to the face, Naruto came crashing to the floor.
"What the hell teme! What was that for!?" Naruto growled as he got back onto his feet.
"You take Lady Sakura this far from the Capital and lead her to me knowing full well the kind of danger I am in and you have the gull to ask me what that was for!?" Sasuke was screaming now.
"Shut up! I was helping her if you can't see that then you really must be blind! So much for that great Uchiha eye sight your family is so fond of!" Naruto yelled back.
Both men were staring each other down and the tension didn't seem to be dieing down.
"Sasuke-Kun stop! It wasn't Naruto's fault at all; I made him take me with him!" Sakura begged hoping they would both stop fighting.
Sasuke looked at her a bit shocked, never had she went against him maybe there is something more to this he thought.
"Even still, the dobe should have the common sense to make the right decision," Sasuke said calming down, neither Naruto nor Sasuke saying anything else as they looked at each other.
Kakashi took this time to step in and speak, "well since it seems we have all calmed down how about we find some place to talk?"
Sakura agreed hoping everyone would calm down, "I agree, let's go somewhere that we can all talk," Sakura said.
Naruto and Sasuke were still staring at each other but soon Sasuke broke it off.
"Alright then, Karin get us some rooms at the inn; tell the men we will be staying here for the night," Karin nods and looks at both Naruto and Sakura.
'So that's Naruto Uzumaki, the one who has known Sasuke since they were both children… and that's Lady Sakura…' Karin thought the last bit sadly, "right away Captain!" she says as she walks off.
"Well then," Sasuke turns towards Naruto and the others, "follow me; we can talk at the inn."
The three of them nod and follow Sasuke with Kurama following shortly behind Naruto.
'So they met up with Sasuke's brigade?' a man thought with a smile. 'Things should certainly start to get interesting. Maybe I should make my appearance soon?' he wonders to himself with a smile that most would not be able to tell was fake or real.
Well this marks the end of chapter 7.
Thanks again to anyone who reviews!
