A/N: Sorry that it took me so long to update. Life happens. I will try to update sooner.
Kidnapped
Chapter 7: Joining Forces
"Oh great…"
Sakura looks up from the cook fire. "What is it Kakashi-sensei?"
"The cavalry is arriving."
At that moment, 2 green blurs come rushing into the campsite. "That was a great run, Lee. You are really improving!"
Tears stream down Lee's face at the praise from his hero. "Thank you Gai-sensei!"
Gai rubs his chin, "Although, we didn't make it here in our prescribed time. We should train ourselves harder to be able to go faster."
Lee strikes the "nice-guy" pose. "Not a problem Gai-sensei. I will do 10,000 pushups while doing a handstand. If I fail, I will do 20,000 upside down crunches from that tree."
"That's the spirit, Lee. But being your sensei, I should set the standard. I will do 15,000 of your pushups!" Gai strikes a nice guy pose as well.
Sasuke looks over to Kakashi. "Should we inform them of what we know?"
Kakashi sighs and goes back to reading his Bleach manga. "It won't do any good. We'll just wait for them to finish."
A half hour later, the other three shinobi bound into the campsite. Seeing their teammate and their sensei training, Neji and TenTen just shake their heads and join Team 7. Neji looks to Kakashi. "Who wants to go first?"
"What do you know already?"
"All Tsunade-sama told us was that Naruto was in a lot of trouble and that we needed to join Team 7 in aiding him. She is sending out ANBU to aid in the search, but they are looking closer to home and in the opposite direction."
Kakashi snaps his book shut. "Naruto has been captured."
Neji and TenTen just stare in confusion. Neji breaks the silence. "How, and by whom? Has Akatsuki reformed?"
Sasuke joins in. "We think that it was Kabuto. He most likely is looking for a way to perform Orochimaru's experiments and gain some measure of power from Naruto. Or it could be for some other reason that I haven't puzzled out yet."
TenTen joins in. "That's strange. We were attacked on our way out here by shinobi from Amegakure. We assumed that Naruto was in trouble with them."
Team 7 looks at each other in confusion. Sakura is the first to speak. "Has Kabuto joined forces with Amegakure? That doesn't seem like him?"
Sasuke shakes his head. "It doesn't make sense. Kabuto wouldn't subjugate all the power he gained from taking over the Sound for an alliance with Amegakure. He might do it to survive if he was threatened, but I'm not sure."
A thoughtful silence envelops the group, punctuated by the occasional grunt or motivational comment from Gai and Lee.
Kakashi breaks the silence first. "Well, we have to assume the worst. Kabuto has formed an alliance with Amegakure and they are restarting their plan. Naruto was the last Jinchuuriki (demon container) for Akatsuki to take. And we never found where they had the bijuu (demons) stored. "
Sasuke stands. "Well, what are we waiting for? Naruto's in trouble and we need to find him!"
Sakura stands next to her teammate and Sai follows her lead.
Neji, ever the pragmatic one, throws the proverbial bucket of cold water on their hopes. "Do you have any idea where to go?"
Sasuke, not one to be defeated, stares defiantly at the Hyuuga prodigy. "We have to go with our leads. They used a jutsu that Kabuto would not have shared with Amegakure. We have to look for him with the Sound."
Neji nods and Sakura shares Sasuke's determined look. Kakashi pulls a map out of his ninja pack. "Show us where to look."
Sasuke opens the map and everyone gathers around. Using a pebble, Sasuke marks several places on the map.
"This is where Naruto was captured. Here are the 5 closest hidden hideouts. It would make sense that they would take Naruto to the closest one, here. But it isn't as well equipped as this one. It is only a few miles further away. I say, we go to the one that is better equipped."
Kakashi scratches his chin through his mask. "A good assessment. You are the expert, Sasuke. We will follow your lead on this."
The two teams make an inventory of their ninja gear. TenTen passes out more scrolls that have extra weapons stored in them.
Kakashi looks to Sai. "I want you and Sasuke to take one of your birds and scout ahead. You can handle that?"
Sai nods and draws a bird on his scroll and places two fingers in front of his lips. "Ninpou: Choujuu Giga." A bird lifts off the page and Sai leaps onto it.
Kakashi looks to Sasuke. "Let us know everything that you see. I would send Neji, but you know the layout better."
Sasuke nods. "I won't let them hurt him. He didn't give up on me."
Kakashi nods and Sasuke leaps onto the bird.
Sasuke nods to Sai and they takeoff.
Sakura walks up to Kakashi. "Don't worry, Sakura. We'll find him."
Sakura only nods and maintains her silence.
Gai and Lee join the group. "So, what's up?"
Kakashi just puts his face in his hand and shakes his head.
Sai and Sasuke soar a hundred feet over the treetops.
"You are worried."
It was a statement. Not an accusation or a question.
Sasuke keeps staring at the treetops. After a moments silence, Sasuke answers, never taking his eyes off the treetops.
"He never gave up on me. Everyone else did. Well, maybe not Sakura and Kakashi, but no one cared more about me than Naruto."
Sasuke takes another moment. "I was in my own hell that I created. He lead me out of the darkness. If it weren't for Naruto, I would have died there. If I wasn't killed by another shinobi, I would have taken my own life."
Sai stares at Sasuke at that proclamation. "Suicide?"
Sasuke nods. "I killed my brother. He didn't do the crime that I was lead to believe that he did. He protected the Uchiha name at the detriment to his own. He was a hero of Konoha, who will never be acknowledged as one. I killed him. I didn't deserve to live. I tried to cut all ties, but the teme wouldn't let me cut his."
They continued on in silence. Sasuke never let his eyes come off the forest. Sasuke clenches his fist. "I won't let the bond be cut."
Team 7 and Team Gai are bouncing from tree to tree with Kakashi and Neji leading the way. Gai and Lee tried unsuccessfully to convince Kakashi to allow them to sprint to the next location, but Kakashi would have none of it.
"We are looking for stealth. If we can catch them off guard, then we have a better chance of finding Naruto alive."
Gai pouted but fell into place behind Kakashi.
TenTen is in place next to Sakura. "Okay, cut the silence. I can't stand it."
Sakura awakes from her reverie. "What? Did I miss something?"
TenTen shakes her head. "No, what are you thinking so hard about? You look like you are gonna bite through your bottom lip."
Sakura shakes her head. "It's nothing."
"Bullshit. You've been quieter in the last hour than you have been in the last month."
Sakura giggles. "You got me. I'm just worried about Naruto. We'll find him."
TenTen nods. "How are you and tall, dark and emo?"
Sakura giggles again. "We are fine. I think that I can start to trust him again. But it will be a while before I can fully."
"Well, if you are going to make a move, you better do it quick. There are about a thousand girls back in Konoha that are restarting the Sasuke Fan Club."
"Well, they can have him. I will be happy with friendship."
TenTen gives her a glance and raises her eyebrow. "Really?"
"Really! I'm not 12 anymore. I don't think that I could ever like him in that way again."
"But have you caught a look at his chest in the gi? HOT!"
Sakura giggles. "Of course I have. And yes, he is hot, but I can't do that again. That part of my life is over."
"Too bad Ino is dating Chouji. She would have an easy shot at him then. HAHAHA!"
"She is happy with Chouji. He treats her like a princess. She wouldn't dare leave that for any handsome guy."
"I know what you mean. She adores him. At least someone convinced her to come off of her perpetual diet. HEHEHE!"
Sakura grins. "Only Chouji had the ability to show her just how beautiful she really is. She is lucky."
TenTen get a mischievous grin. "What about you?"
"What about me, what?"
"Do you have any love interests?"
Sakura blushes. "When do I have time? When I'm not on a mission, I'm at the hospital. When I'm not at the hospital, Tsunade-sama is beating me to death at the practice fields. When do I have time to meet a guy?"
TenTen giggles. "There is always Naruto."
Sakura almost misses the next branch. "WHAT?!"
"Well, you do spend a lot of time together. I think that I even saw you two at Ichiraku a couple weeks ago."
"Huh? We had just finished a mission and were starving."
"So, there are a thousand restaurants in Konoha. And you chose to eat ramen. Not exactly your favorite food, is it?"
Sakura laughs. "No, but it was on the way."
TenTen shrugs but leaves it with one last thought. "Suit yourself, but he has followed you your whole life. I wonder if he will ever notice the fact that Hinata has a crush on him."
With that, TenTen leaps ahead, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.
"Naruto and Hinata?"
For the first time ever, Sakura contemplates what it would be like to not have Naruto near her.
Orochimaru looks over the report that was handed to him.
"They are on the move again. And it seems that Sasuke-kun remembers where our hideouts are located as well."
Orochimaru licks his lips with that long purple tongue.
"How delicious."
A/N: Alright, I know it was a little on the short side. This was an incredibly hard chapter to write. Part of the reason why it was so late was because I kept putting it off. I had no idea how to put this on paper. Any criticism is welcome. I need it! LOL.
This was my first attempt at "girl talk." Being a guy, I have limited experience with that. LOL. I know, this is a dark fic. I hope that I don't get flamed for not keeping it dark all of the time. I thought that this would help develop the characters a little. Hopefully it was a good chapter.
Also, I always like to give props to those who take the time to write a review. I would like to thank Reidluver, Narutoboyluver, Yuffie's Ninja Insanity and PirateQueen12! Thank you very much for the reviews. I want to give you guys the best story possible. I am not above begging for feedback!! LOL.
One last thing. I wanted to mention that the Chishio Bunshin no Jutsu (Blood Clone Jutsu) wasn't my creation. I stole, erhm, I mean was inspired by Xavon Wrentail's story "A Growing Affection." The main idea is the same, but our Blood Clones are a bit different. Give that story a try. I loved it!
Thank you for reading. I really hope that you take a moment and review. Hopefully, I will have another dark chapter up soon.
