Author's Note: kidloco: Yajai was mentioned in Chapter 3. He is the antagonist of this story.

Everybody was lost in their own thoughts. Naruto was angry because he had let the masked man get away. Sasuke had mixed emotions from his confrontation with his parents. Sakura was mad because she didn't get to pummel the genjutsu zombie. Kakashi was the only calm one. He analyzed the situation and was the first one to break the chain of thoughts from his team.

"Guys," Kakashi said, snapping his fingers in order to get their attention. It worked. "We'll worry about Yajai later. Right now, the boy is our main priority."

"And his mom," Sakura added. Kakashi nodded. He beckoned the team to follow him, and they did as he ordered. When they reached the mother-and-son, Kakashi bent down to check on their condition.

"Are you two alright?" Kakashi asked the two. Weakly, the boy nodded. However, the mother looked like she was deep in thought. Kakashi gently shook her shoulder to get her attention. She screamed when she felt him touch her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kakashi said, bowing his head low, "I wasn't trying to be perverted, I swear!"

At first in shock, the mother slowly turned to face Kakashi. As their eyes met, she started crying. Sakura was the first one to speak up, kneeing next to the weeping mother.

"Are you alright? Why are you crying?" Sakura asked with sympathy.

"That…man…" the mother said in between sniffles, "he…he was the one who killed my husband!"

The team was shocked to hear it, but they expected as much. Why would a man send his demon minions just to capture a random mother and son? Naruto was deathly silent when he heard it. The sound of the woman crying started something in him. Without a word, he turned around and started walking towards the opposite direction; into the trees.

"Naruto! Where are you going?" Sasuke asked him.

Naruto turned into his Bijuu form, and without a single word, he disappeared. Everybody was surprised at Naruto's sudden move. It was enough to stop the mother's crying.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled out. She started to run towards the forest but was held back by Kakashi.

"Stop it, Sakura!" he told her. "Let him be."

"But what if he—"

Kakashi placed both his hands on her shoulder and said, "Sakura."

Sakura looked up to her masked sensei, her tears starting to come out.

"He's a Sage, remember?"

**Naruto**

"YAJAI!" Naruto yelled. He was back in his normal form, leaping from tree to tree. "You wait right where you are! I'm coming to kick your sorry ass!"

**Team 7**

"For now," Kakashi said, "let's take these two and get out of here."

It was Sasuke's turn to worry. "But what will Naruto do when he gets back? We can't trust that baka to find his way to us, can we?"

Kakashi took his hands off of Sakura and raised an eyebrow at him. "Worried about him, are we now?"

Sasuke reddened by the sudden answer. "Not in a million years. I could care less if he came back or not."

Sakura played along, temporarily giving up her depression. She gave Sasuke a devilish smile. "Admit it. He's like a brother to you."

"I'm going." Sasuke stated, completely ignoring her.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Kakashi asked him.

"Do you?" came the reply. Kakashi's mask hid his expression, but Sasuke could tell that he was blushing.

"Er, I was going to just walk forward and…you know…go from there."

"Uh-huh. All hail our sensei." With that, Sasuke started moving towards the trees. To the whole team's horror, there was a call for help from the distance. A call from Naruto!

"AHHHHH! KAKASHI-SENSEI! HELP ME! YAJAI—"

Then there was silence. Sakura was the first to react. "Naruto!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She started to sprint towards the call, with Kakashi and Sasuke right behind her. Kakashi looked back at the mother and son and gave them a grim smile.

"Stay right there! We'll be back!" he told them. The mother wasn't thrilled by the idea, but nodded in agreement.

'Naruto,' Sakura thought to herself, her eyes swelling with tears at the thought of her friend dying, 'you better be in one peace when we find you."

"That fool! He HAD to chase Yajai down by himself, didn't he?" Sasuke said angrily. He sounded angry, but he was torn in the inside. There was a chance he'd lose his closest friend, his brother…

"Have faith in Naruto, guys," Kakashi reassured them, a grin forming on his face. "He's Jiraiya's prodigy, remember?" He spoke brave words, but he too was caring for his student. The thought of Naruto's outgoing personality gone forever hurt him.

They were all hurt, but none of them were as hurt as Sakura. 'Naruto, you have to be alive. I...I haven't told you how I feel yet…'

They ran so fast that dirt was pumped into the air by their footsteps. They ran for a decent amount of time, but they didn't slow down in the least. Their worries for Naruto were the only thing in their minds right now.

Just then, a voice called out from beside them. "Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei?"

That voice belonged to Naruto. They spun around to see their blonde friend giving them a confused face.

"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you guys supposed to be taking care of the mother and her son?"

The team seemed to have ignored the question completely. Sakura ran up to him and hugged him so tight he could've sworn he saw death's white light.

"Naruto!" she cried as her hug became tighter. "I'm so glad you're okay! We heard a scream that sounded like you and thought something terrible had happened!"

Naruto was sure he was on the verge of death, but he let her continue. Her embrace might have been tight, but her warm body gave him so much comfort. He hugged her back, taking his time to breath in the smell of her hair.

But when they saw the rest of the group stare at them, they released each other and looked down at the ground, a slight blush appearing on both their faces.

Sasuke came up to the blonde and smacked him on the back of the head. "Baka! You look fine to me! What's with the unnecessary call for help?"

A mischievous smile grew on the blonde's face. "You were worried about me, weren't you?"

"Sock it, and stop denying the frickin' question."

"The question?" Naruto pondered. "Wait, you guys heard me cry for help?"

Kakashi went up to him and stared at him. "You look fine to me."

"Maybe that's because nothing happened to me."

There was a silence.

"Wait, what do you mean 'nothing happened to me'?" Sasuke asked him. "You screamed 'KAKASHI-SENSEI! HELP ME! YAJAI!'"

"No, I didn't," Naruto answered. "I was running nonstop since I left."

"Than…who called us?" Kakashi asked him.

"And more importantly, how did that person imitate your voice so well?" Sasuke added.

Sakura's eyes bulged out as a possibility popped into her head. "You…don't…think…"

"…that…this is…" Sasuke continued.

"Part of Yajai's plan to get to the kid?!" Kakashi finished. The team was too shocked to move.

"We don't have time to waste here," Naruto yelled. "Let's go!"

"You don't have to say that twice," Sasuke agreed. "Lead on!"

The gang started to run back to the mother and son but got lost halfway there.

"Fuck! We don't have time for this! There are too many goddamn trees here!" Naruto cursed.

"No worries," Kakashi told him. "Summoning Technique: Ninken!"

In front of Kakashi, eight dogs appeared in a cloud of smoke. As usual, Pakkun was the first to speak.

"Oh, hey boss," Pakkun plainly said. "It's been a while since you summoned me. Whatcha need?"

"It's good to see you too, Pakkun," Kakashi replied. "Listen, is it possible for you to find and follow our footsteps? We're trying to backtrack our way to somebody."

"No problem," the pup replied. "Where's the track?"

"Right here," Kakashi said, pointing to the left. There were a few visible footprints, but most of them were lost.

"What would you do without me, eh boss?" Pakkun bragged.

"You mean without us?" Shiba, another dog, said.

"Well, yeah, but mostly me."

Naruto didn't have the patience for this. "Look, Pakkun. It's good to see you and all, but we are in a critical emergency!"

Kakashi nodded. "The boy is right, Pakkun. I'm afraid we don't have time for pleasantries."

"Understood. Follow us." All eight dogs started to walk with Team 7 following them from behind. They walked for a considerable distance, in which the group came to the conclusion they were lucky that Kakashi summoned Pakkun and his pals. Otherwise, they'd be long lost.

"Up there," Pakkun said, pointing ahead. "I'm guessing you don't need us anymore?"

Kakashi grinned at his dogs. "You guys have been a big help."

The dog scoffed. "More than a 'big' help. See ya around, boss." And with that, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Come on fellas!" Naruto shouted. "They're up ahead!"

When they exited the forest, they saw something that was expected but yet shocking all the same. The mother was stabbed, blood still dripping from her stomach. The blade reached through her back, which showed how painful it must've been for her.

The boy too looked dead. He wasn't stabbed. It looked like he was beaten to death, beaten by a strong man…or thing.

Kakashi fell to his knees. He was shaking and tearing up at the same time. "We failed…"

Sakura tried her best to hold in her tears and went over to the bodies. She tried to tend to the mother to no avail. The woman was dead.

Sasuke also seemed depressed. "We don't deserve to call ourselves shinobi…I don't have any right to call myself General of the ANBU…"

"Do you think it's any better for me?" Naruto asked him softly. The shock buried his anger. "I'm…a Sage…one of the Legendary Sannin's apprentice! And I failed a mission of this caliber."

They were all grieving with themselves until they heard Sakura scream.

"Sakura! What's wrong?" Naruto asked her worriedly.

"Guys…the boy…" she said, stuttering in between each word. She was shivering really badly, her eyes were bulging out. The team went over to her and tried to see what shocked her so badly. What they saw was the pinnacle of their failure. This mission was S-rank, but it was more important than that. This is why the Hokage entrusted the mission to them.

The boy's left eye had been cut out, blood oozing from his eye socket. Looking at his right eye, they summed up the importance of the mission.

The boy they were supposed to protect wielded the Rinnegan.