Hey everyone and welcome back to Wolf's Mate.

To the following reviewers:

Princess Merleen, Kafuka Megumi, kagomee14, uchiha hinata21, roboguy45, June Jarvis, duhcommonsense, Guest, Snowangel701, nominatosay, Shadowdarts24, CodenameMise, 14, Liddo-Obession, KitsuneLuvr88, UzuHuu, YaoiWolf34, MichikoMichiyo29, PrincessMoni, IchigoPudding, DugeYBL, Lexi100531, Guest, Sinfully Addictied, and to NaturesBeast.

THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! ^_^

I don't own Naruto

Wolf's Mate

Chapter 9

Naruto climbs the ten foot ledge that separated the village from the cave that lead out to the outside world. He was just a few inches from reaching the top of the ledge and then being able to pull himself up. He had to leave, now or never. The blonde reaches up, taking hold of the edge and then, deciding to be daring, starts to swing his right leg over, so he could get a start of rolling upwards into the cavern. When he did, and his foot was over, it not only felt uncomfortable, but awkward. He shuts his eyes for a moment and using all of his muscle control to pull himself up.

His goal succeeded, and he pants heavily after managing such a task. He grunts some, wondering why, such a normal and easy task for him in the past, would be so difficult for him now.

Not thinking too much into it, he sits up, and forcing himself off the ground. He didn't care if he had dirt covering him; all he worried about, was running as far away as he could before that wolf found out he was out of the village. The teen starts running as fast as he could before running into another dirt wall, that was about twenty feet from the ground this time. He gulps a bit, wondering how he would be able to climb it, without the chance of falling. He looks up, noticing that it was not only narrow, but also against another wall. Naruto grins, knowing that he could easily climb it now with a bit of balance, and charka control.

He starts by climbing up at least five feet before he even had a chance to start his jumping. Remembering from what he's learned from watching others in the village, he starts to jump over to the other wall, which was, at least, three feet apart. Once he had his first jump, it wasn't hard to keep a rhythm going, and before he knew it, he was at the top and all he needed to do was jump on the ledge and his ticket to freedom was a stone's throw away.

Naruto jumps! His feet land on just at the edge of the ledge. The teen almost loses his balance, having to swing his arms frantically and trying not to let go of the ledge. Using pure instinct, he shifts his body weight send, which meant that he fell forward, but he didn't fall twenty feet back to the beginning.

Feeling his heart still racing, he felt very lucky and like he wasn't going to die at the moment. He gets up and feeling a lurching sensation in his stomach, making him a bit woozy. He was took that as simply adrenaline rushing throughout his being.

He felt like he needed to hurry though, because if Sasuke were to find out that he was gone, he could have easily shift into his wolf form and chase after him. Naruto rushes out of the cave and within ten minutes, he felt the cool air of the forest. The morning light cascaded through the vibrate green leaves. Nostalgia went through him as he felt happy once more. All he wanted to do was to spin around, being his old, care-free self once more. However, he wasn't freed from the Wolf's hold just yet. He needed to get to his village or somewhere far from where he now was.

Listening to the winds, he turns to his left, seeing the leaves after the path. As in his village's beliefs to follow the winds of faith, so was his. He heads off, after the winds of destiny.

The war was brutal, this was the only thing Sakura Haruno knew from healing the injured. She's seen everything from torn limps to blood and guts. In her field of practice, she is to heal and to save as many lives as possible. She scrubs her hands in the warms of the creek that lead away from her home village. Her eyes read of exhaustion, with those dark eyes that hung from her jaded eyes. A guard is with her, standing watching. He holds a sword in his hand, his guard up. The reason why she needed one was that because she was so vital. She saved lives and only a few people in the village knew of this art and could do it very well.

"Haruno-san, we must hurry." The guard informs her.

She turns, nodding to the man and getting up from the cold ground. Her hair pulled back, and her clothing garbs were still covered with blood.

The young medic was also in mourning. Not too long ago, she had received word that the latest battle with the Oto, there was no survivors. And her fiancée, Lee, fought in that battle.

She hadn't said anything since she'd found out about his death.

Before that, she had lost her best friend, Naruto, to a raid from the Oto village. Her heart was breaking from this war, and she wanted to end. Not just the war, but all the pain that the war had brought her.

"Sakura."

The pink haired girl looks over and sees Iruka. He had recently volunteered to help in the struggle. She knew this wasn't a place for a kind hearted man, especially for one who was able to bare children, like Naruto could. No one else knew of his secret, because around the time when his generation's list was posted, it was immidently destroyed due to an attack from outsiders. She was aware of how much his heart must be in pain, because he looked at Naruto as a son.

"What can I do for you Iruka?" She asks causally. As a medic, she had to keep up appearances because she couldn't allow her emotions to take control of her. More lives could be lost due to that one weakness.

"They're looking for you in tent five. Some new injured just arrived from the south." Iruka says. She nods and heads off that way. The young man could only watch as she was keeping herself numb. He wished he was a strong to do that, but that was why he was here. To forget about his heart-filled pain.

The sky was turning lighter and brighter, but this didn't mean much for those in battle and for those who died. He looks towards the forest over to his right. It would just easier to just run and get away from everyone and everything. He knew though, that they would eventually find him. The soldiers would shake him down from a tree if he were to hide in high trees or yank him from the soil if he tried to hide underground.

He was better off where he was, and nothing would be able to change this...

Over a few yards, an exhausted blonde teen rushes out from the dark trees and into plain view for everyone to see. Never had tents been more of a welcoming for the sixteen year old. "Thank god! I'm free!" He says as he just wanted to lay on the grass and have the golden rays shine down on him, making him glow in new-found glory. He couldn't though, and he needed to find someone who knew him and where he know he was safe.

He looks over and standing in the middle of the camp, was his mentor, Iruka. Fate was now on his side, as he rushes over to the tanned man.

"Iruka Sensei!" The teen was never more happy to see him in his entire life. The ninja looks over and couldn't believe it.

"Naruto?! My kami!" He says, going over and when the two met, they collided, embracing each other so tightly. "I thought you were dead! What happened to you?" Iruka asks.

"I was captured my the wolf and then..." He started to repeat the word 'then' and started to sob in his sensei's chest. Iruka brushes his fingers through the dirty golden locks and lifts him up.

"Okay, well let's get you somewhere to lay down, you look like you've been through hell and back." Iruka says, walking towards his tent. Naruto continues to hold tightly to his sensei as if his lift depended on it. He felt very weak and exhausted and for someone who ran on pure energy, this was pretty bad.

Gaara had shifted back to his human form and lowers his mate's head down so he could stretch some. He steps out of the small hut and starts cracking his joints. Looking over, he spots the villager leader, Sasuke, and was raised with questions. The Uchiha looks up and starts jumping up, facing the red-head. "Have you seen my mate?" Sasuke asks him.

"Do you mean the blonde that was with you?" Gaara asks, even though he didn't get a good look at the Uchiha's other.

Sasuke merely nodded in response. Gaara shakes his head no. "I've been here with my mate."

"If you see him, let him know that I'm looking for him." The wolf says and as he jumps off the ledge, he shifts into his wolf form and started running off through the village, hoping to see him somewhere before thinking the worst case scenario.

He starts sniffing around, catching the dobe's trail, and starts following it. As soon as he got to where he found Lee, at the entrance of the village, Sasuke swore all the swears man kind had ever heard or, in this case, thought of.

Okay this was a short chapter. I know it but I hope you all enjoyed.

I have a FictionPress account with the same name as this account. I have my story on there and I would really appreciate it if you guys checked it out and let me know what you guys think about it.

Thank you all for reading ^_^

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