Obito was gone, Rin was gone, Sasuke was gone, and now Naruto was gone. Kakashi was starting to feel more than a little paranoid. Granted, Tsunade's and Jiraiya were feeling the same way at the moment, as they kept losing people to. A small part of him almost felt bad for Sakura for all the attention she was getting now. But that part as so tiny it swallowed up in guilt and grief that he didn't even realize it was there. It hadn't been so bad, when Naruto first disappeared, yes, he had worried, but there had been no panic really, Naruto as a good ninja, and he'd just come back from a rough mission. Naturally, he'd want some alone time. So no one had worried, not really.
But then, he didn't come back. A whole day, and there was no sign of Naruto, not at the ramen shop, not on the monument, the training grounds, even the surrounding forest. He just…vanished. There was a mutter or two from the council about Naruto becoming a missing nin, but even they didn't seem convinced, but it was better than the alternative.
Just Twenty-four hours after Naruto had gone for a 'walk' the search parties from Leaf and Sand were out looking for the Akatsuki. Five days later, they found them; or at least, some of them, where they had taken Gaara. It was not pretty. The two members they had found had been ripped up and then crushed when boulders from the decrepit roof of the cave collapsed. It was amazing that any of the reconstructed ceiling was still up by the time Kakashi had arrived with the rest of team seven.
Even then, he had had hope, they all had, really. Who couldn't? It was obvious that the Kyuubi's chakra had been too much for the Akatsuki to handle. The whole cave reeked of demon-fox after all, and there were the remains of two members. They were all sure they'd find Naruto nearby in need of help, since the bodies were only hours old. That wasn't what they found, however. What they did find was Naruto's Hai-ate, half buried under the remains of a statue in the middle of the cave. The band was no longer black, but deep red, as were the rocks and the mud around it. Even Kakashi, who was no medical Nin, had no need to look at Sakura for confirmation; there was just too much blood. He just held her as she screamed for her friend.
When they hadn't found his body, it had almost been a relief. On the one hand, it would have been more than any of them could have handled to see his body mangled. On the other, it meant the either Akatsukitook it, or that the Kyuubi's chakra burned it to ash. Gaara accompanied the group back to Konohana with his siblings, despite his council's protest. After much debate, Jiarira went ahead, after all someone had to tell those left behind in the search, the hope they would have felt, seeing the whole group come in, would have been unbearable for the 'rescue' party to face. The funeral wasn't a big affair, though many people attended, but that was how his friends in Konohana whished it. For them, mourning would have to wait, revenge took precedence.
Sasuke heard of Naruto's fate a week after the funeral after crossing the Naruto Bridge. He had been thinking about both the mission he had been on a child all those years ago, and of course, revenge on his bother. His new team had known better then to interrupt, but mostly, Suigetsu was swinging his new sword and keeping the others distracted. It was Karin who saw the sign.
"Naruto Bridge, dedicated in memory of Uzumaki Naruto. Friend, Ninja, Hero. May your memory live on." She adjusted her glasses, "Huh, that's odd, isn't it Sasuke-kun? This bridge is dedicated to someone who has the same name as that boy on your old team…Hey!" Karin yelped as Sasuke pushed her roughly out of the way to read the inscription himself.
"This has got to be a trick. I saw him a few weeks ago, he was his normal dumb self…" the normally stoic Sasuke muttered, heading towards the house he had stayed in during the mission. He knew it was a lie, since Naruto was Naruto after all. If Orochimaru couldn't kill him, hell Sasuke had even failed to do that, than he was sure nothing short of the end of the world would. It was one of his constants, like fan-girls and revenge. Life was simple for Sasuke, he'd kill Itachi, revive the clan, maybe start his own village since he was still a missing Nin…and eventually, Naruto would catch up, they'd fight while Sakura yelled at them, and maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would allow Naruto to buy him ramen to smooth over their friendship, and Naruto's ego, when Sasuke beat him.
One look at Inari's face, so much like his had been when he had lost his family, and he had known it was true, no questions asked. His revenge on Itatchi would be tenfold for ruining his plans.
"Kakashi-sensi, can't we keep going?"
"No, Sakura, we need to take a rest," the silver haired joinin said for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'm just as eager to catch them, you know that. But it would do us no good to push ourselves to the point of collapse finding them. We would lose."
"I know, Kakashi-sensi, but…"
"Sakura-chan, I understand what you are saying," interrupted Sai, "I as well hate the thought of those people breathing after what they did, but Kakashi is right." Sai settled in t lean against a tree and pulled out his sketchbook. The last dozen or so pages were filled with Naruto. Sai was afraid of forgetting his friend's face, like he had forgotten his brothers.
Sakura sighed in defeat as she looked around at the group she was in. It consisted of Sai, Kakashi, Yamato, and Neji. There were a few other leaf-nin groups out there, consisting of the rest of the rookie teams, their sensei's, Jiraiya and Tsunade's. Gaara was also reported to be out with quite a few sand ninja. It made her very happy to think about that. Naruto would have been touched….and there was no way Akatsukiwas going to survive.
"Kakashi- sensei," started Neji, " We have been on the move for weeks now, is it possible that the others beat us to them?"
Kakashi was silent for a moment, "No, I don't think so. Atsuki's got to know we're on to them, so I bet they're in hiding again. Remember, they were never very easy to track to begin with." He sighed, "No, we'll find them soon. I'd be a little worried about Jiraiya, but the others are about where we are. Get some rest team."
Hours later Yamato sensed something in the woods and signaled the others. Silently, the group prepared for attack. The group was hopeful that it was Itachi, since they'd been trailing him for a while, albeit unsuccessfully, but at this point, they would have settled with any Akatsuki member. They were greatly surprised by the appearance of Jugo, who, from the standpoint of the group, was a strange looking tall fellow, who they'd never run into before. His was immediately classified as an enemy, as he came out swinging. Before the Team Revenge 1 (Sai's idea) could attack in return, Suigetsu jumped out of the woods as well.
"You Jack-ass! We're not supposed to attack them. Jeeze. Now our fucking cover is blown." He snarled, standing between his large friend and the leaf ninjas. "And what the fuck was with that attack? That was stupid, what are you some stupid Whiny-bitch? Karin could have done better, and she's a who..." Karin came out of nowhere and clocked him one upside the head.
"I'm a what?"
"A stupid Whore." She hit him again. Harder. "OW! OW! Nock it off already, you crazy bitch!"
Meanwhile, the leaf ninjas were just staring at these three in total disbelief. Not only where they fighting amongst themselves, they seemed to have forgotten that the others were even there. Normally, they would have taken advantage of this fact, but, honestly, they were just to confused. A second ago they had been under attack, and now they were being ignored.
"This is really weird, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered, "They move like trained ninja, but they're behavior…"
"Keep your guard up, Sakura." Came the reply.
Neji whispered, "There's one more in the trees. This might just be a distraction."
"Can you tell who it is?"
"No, they're very good at hiding."
"So, what's the plan, Kakashi-san?" Yamato asked, "Do we try and take down these three, or to we wait for the one in the trees?"
"Might I suggest silencing these ninja? They are giving away our position."
"Sai's got a point," Neji added, "we can not ignore that, even if this is a type of trap."
"Right. Sai, on my mark, you, Sakura and I will go after these three. Sakura, focus on the big one. Yamato, you and Neji are best at long range. Go after the guy in the trees. NOW!"
Just as Team Revenge 1 sprang into action, the ninja hidden in the trees cam out. All were very surprised to see it was none other then Sasuke.
"Can't you guys even follow simple directions? I said stay hidden!" He snarled at Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo. The three of them looked contrite, though Karin's was a fawning apology. "Kakashi-sensi, Sakura" he nodded to his old team members, "Sai, Neji, Captan Yamato. Sorry about that." He didn't sound sorry at all, "I suggest we all forget that this happened." He turned to leave, the rest of team snake in tow.
"What exactly," called Kakashi, "did happen?"
Sasuke paused, "Our camps were close together. We thought you were perhaps Itachi. You obviously are not. So we will be going."
Sakura was torn, she was happy to see Sasuke well, and obviously snake free, but at the same time, she was very sad. She owed it to her fallen comrade to bring Sasuke home, but she had to get revenge. She wondered, briefly, if this was the way Sasuke felt. Then she wondered why Sasuke assumed they would just let him go. It was possible, and she felt a pang in her heart at this, that he thought Naruto was lurking in the woods to ambush him. Just before her old teammate vanished into the forest she called out to him.
"Sasuke! Wait a second!" He paused, but didn't turn to look at her. "You should….come back to the village." Tears formed in her eyes, "Naruto….he….he wanted you to…you should at least come and say goodbye!" she cried, unable to voice the truth. "He'd've wanted to know you were all right." She finished in a whisper.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, still not turning, "I cannot go back till I've killed Itachi."
"Sasuke," interrupted Kakashi, "there's something you should know…"
Sasuke sighed, "I know that Naruto isn't waiting in the woods for me to try an ambush." The group gasped, "Itachi will pay for that, I swear. But first, I need to find him." He turned finally to look at his old team. "I will say my goodbyes after that." He said, tactfully stating he'd return home.
"You're not the only ones searching for Itachi," Neji warned, "If we find him first, We'll get Our revenge."
"Then I better find him first." Replied Sasuke before disappearing.
After a moment of silence Sai was the first to speek, "Well, that went well."
The very next day Team Revenge 1 was in for a shock. They were once again looking or Itachi when they felt a strange chakra burst nearby. Naturally, the group went to investigate. Neji confirmed that there were five people near the site of the chakra explosion, and it wasn't one of their teams. With speed only a ninja could pull off, the group raced towards the spot. Arriving, they saw only two of the five people at first. One was tall-ish, slender, and had dark hair. The other was taller, blue-green, and had a decidedly fishy face.
"Kissame!" Snarled Kakashi, seeing red.
Kitsune here with some info. Ok, this is part filler, but its important that you know what's been going on while Naruto has been gone. Its not as detailed as it could have been, but thats a whole separate story, and I wasn't in the mood for too much depressing stuff. The next chapter is done, and I'll upload it in a few days. I'm not sure I'm happy with the ending of it. We're maybe 3 chapters away from the end (I hope). Anyway, please review. Keep in mind that this is at heart a Crack-fic when you review. Suggestions welcome, as is constructive crit.
