1). Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just my character and the story.
2). This is the third chapter in the Quest For Answers arc. It is also a pretty short and mostly dialouge chapter, it's kind of a filler chapter really.
28. Operation: Shinobi Retrieval!
Tsunade was waiting behind the desk were ninja teams would come to get their missions. To her left sat Iruka, to her right usually stood Shizune but she was not present. Tsunade's patience was running thin, where the hell was Shizune? Tsunade sent Shizune to gather up Naruto and his team almost an hour ago. Tsunade was about to get up and go look for the blonde idiot and his brats when Shizune finally walked into the room.
"Sorry Tsunade-sama, I had a hard time finding them." Shizune said with nervousness in her voice.
Tsunade sighed as Hiroshi, Shiro and Himawari walked into the office. Tsunade looked, but where was Naruto?
"Shizune, where's Naruto?" asked Tsunade.
"That's why I took so long, I can't find him anywhere." Shizune replied.
Tsunade looked at Naruto's students that stood before her. Shiro and Himawari remained calm while she noticed that Hiroshi had a nervous look on his face.
"You there," she said pointing at Hiroshi.
"Hai, Hokage-sama?" asked Hiroshi who was now very nervous.
"Do you have any idea where your sensei is?" Tsunade asked in a deadly tone.
Hiroshi hesitated for a bit, "N-no I don't."
Tsunade could tell the boy was lying right off the bat as soon as he hesitated to answer her question. Hell, it gave him away when he stiffened up with nervousness when she asked Shizune where Naruto was.
Hiroshi wanted her to stop asking questions about his sensei already. He didn't want to tell her, for Naruto's sake, but if the Hokage kept picking the question at him, he'd crack and tell her everything about last night. Hiroshi prayed she'd just drop the subject.
"You're lying; I can tell by the way you're acting." Tsunade began, "Where is your sensei?"
Hiroshi began to sweat, he did not want to tell her what but every time he looked up at Tsunade, she had a death glare that was constantly upon him.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." Hiroshi said finally cracking under the pressure. "Last night, he, he…"
Hiroshi's voice got caught in his throat, he didn't want betray his sensei, but the great venom in Tsunade's voice with what she said next got through to him.
"Where the hell is he?" Tsunade yelled with the venom.
"Last night he left to track down Totosai." Hiroshi said covering his head as if he was going to get smacked upside the head or something to that extent.
Tsunade slammed her fist on the desk which made everyone in the room jump in fear.
"Why that little…He went against my word!" yelled Tsunade who was quite pissed off. She turned to Shizune, "Get me Hatake, now!"
"H-hai, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said obviously quite nervous and scared as she left the place.
"You two," Tsunade began pointing at Himawari and Shiro. "You're dismissed."
Himawari and Shiro turned and ran out of the room just to get away from the 'scary' Hokage. Tsunade turned her gaze to Hiroshi who was staring at the ground and scared of what Tsunade might or might not do.
"As for you, do you know where he was heading?" Tsunade asked.
"No, he did not tell me." Hiroshi replied.
"Why didn't you tell me about Naruto's departure as soon as he left?" the Hokage asked with more anger again.
"I didn't want to get Naruto-sensei in trouble." Hiroshi answered with sadness in his voice and holding his head down the ground.
Tsunade sighed and was about to say something when Kakashi along with Shizune walked into the room.
"Kakashi," was the only thing Tsunade said before the silver haired man spoke.
"Hai, Hokage-sama?" he asked.
"Seems like your ex-teammate decided to go against a decision I made regarding a request he made a few days ago." Tsunade said.
"What do you mean?" asked Kakashi.
"A few days ago Naruto came to me and asked to seek out Totosai." Tsunade explained.
"I guess he wasn't satisfied with leaving Totosai in a bloody mess." Kakashi said.
"Well I told him no, and Hiroshi just told me he left last night to find him." Tsunade finished.
Kakashi's eye widened, "But that's unlike Naruto."
"Yes, it's surprising. Anyways, getting to the point of why I called you here, you and are Hiroshi are to find him and bring him back straight to me!" Tsuande ended the sentence with anger.
Kakashi began to worry and decided to ask the dreadful question, "This kind of situation would call for Naruto to be marked as a missing-nin, have you?"
Tsunade shook her head, "No I am not, I know the baka would return, but I want him brought back before he does anything stupid and I want him brought back to me right away so I can punish him."
"Fair enough," Kakashi said turning to Hiroshi, "Meet me at the gate in ten minutes."
Hiroshi nodded and Tsunade decided to speak before Kakashi and Hiroshi left.
"One more thing, don't tell him about bring him back to me, he'll try to escape." Tsunade said.
Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke as Hiroshi turned around and ran out of the office and get as far away as he could from the Hokage tower.
Ten minutes passed and Hiroshi was ready to go and was at the gate. From stories Naruto told him about Naruto's day with Kakashi, Naruto always complained about how late Kakashi was when they were to meet up with them. Hiroshi was surprised to find Kakashi waiting at the gate.
"You ready?" asked Kakashi.
"Hai, Kakashi-san," Hiroshi said with a nod.
The two began took to the trees and began their quest to find Naruto.
Breathing heavily, sweat dripping down his face as he sat under the tree, the man looked as he had been traveling non-stop for weeks and it was only the middle of the day. The man put his hand through his blonde hair taking out most of the sweat and began to drink water like if it was all he had left. The man began to cough as he stupidly drank to fast and ended up choking on it, wasting a good portion of it. The toad beside him shook his head at the man's stupidity.
"Naruto, slow down, you're going to waste all the water if you're just going to choke on it," the toad said.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment and chuckled nervously, "Gomen Gamakichi, I guess I was really thirsty."
"No worries, well we have been traveling non-stop since early this morning. It was about time for a break." Gamakichi said.
Naruto nodded and looked to the sky. Telling by the way the sun was positioned in the sky, it was about after noon. The two had been traveling non-stop since their little break at dawn. Much to Naruto's dismay, he wanted to be at the Valley of the End already.
"I never realized how far away this place actually is." Naruto said.
"Well you been there once, how could you not?" asked Gamakichi.
"Well that time I really wasn't paying attention to the distance, I had other things on my mind." Naruto replied.
Kakashi and Hiroshi continued to hop through the trees at top speed. Hiroshi was having a hard time keeping up with Kakashi. When Kakashi finally noticed Hiroshi was falling behind he slowed a bit to Hiroshi's speed and the two kept up that pace. To be honest with himself, Kakashi had no idea where Naruto was headed. If Naruto left a few days after Tsuande denied his request, it only meant Naruto found out where Totosai was hiding before leaving. Kakashi had to admit that was smart of Naruto if he done so since Naruto had a bad reputation of charging into things without properly thinking.
"Kakashi-san, do you have any idea where we are going?" asked Hiroshi.
"Not really." Kakashi replied, "But I think Naruto knew where he was going."
"What do you mean?" asked Hiroshi.
"Well think about it, he left a last night as you told Tsunade, and Tsunade denied his request a couple of days ago."
It clicked.
"Oh ok, I get it." Hiroshi said.
Naruto and Gamakichi had been resting for a good hour now and Naruto thought it was time to hit the trail once again so they could be at the Valley of the End by at least late afternoon. The blonde and the toad took to the trees again and continued their journey.
"Do you think they found out about your departure?" asked Gamakichi.
"I have a feeling they do, and if Tsunade found out too, she probably already sent Kakashi-sensei after me." Naruto said with a sigh.
"You know you really took a risk going against your Hokage like that, something like this could brand you as a missing-nin." Gamakichi said.
Naruto smirked, "If anything, I'm going to get a good yelling, beating and then probably a long suspension."
"It seems like you know her well." Gamakichi said.
"It may not show, but deep inside she cares about me deeply." Naruto said with great seriousness.
Naruto picked up the pace while Gamakichi was starting to struggle to keep up with the blonde.
'I thought I was supposed to lead him, yet he's been leading me the entire way.'
It already had been two hours since Kakashi and Hiroshi left to find Naruto. The two were now taking a break, mainly for Hiroshi to catch his breath. Kakashi, however really wasn't that tired. Stuff like this didn't really face the sliver haired Jounin.
"Naruto should train you guys in stamina." Kakashi said looking at his former students own student.
"That was next on his agenda, but then this came up." Hiroshi said.
"You know, I've never seen anyone to care so much about their student's well being as Naruto does." Kakashi said, "Risking getting into major trouble for going against the Hokage's decision just to kill one man for the sake of his student."
Hiroshi smiled, "You make it seem like a bad thing, Kakashi-san."
"It's not; I'm just saying I've never seen anyone go so out of there way for people in all my life." Kakashi explained.
"Ever since I found out my parents were killed, he's been almost like a father to me now. After we got back from the Wave, he taught me the Kage Bushin just in case I ever went up against Kami again." Hiroshi said.
Kakashi did his famous eye smile, "Naruto is one unique being; he can make friends almost instantly. I truly believe he'll become Hokage, and when he does, he has to power to change our world for the better."
"What do you mean?" Hiroshi asked with great curiosity.
"He could very well unite the Five Great Shinobi Village." Kakashi said, "Which could end all possibilities of war."
"Well I one too believe he'll become Hokage." Hiroshi said with a smile.
Kakashi nodded, "Very well, are you rested enough?"
Hiroshi nodded and Kakashi signaled them to begin trekking through the forest once again. They took to the trees and began their journey to find Naruto once more.
Tsunade sat in her office sorting out paper work and drinking down a bottle of Sake. This turned out to be a more stressful day then planned. Shizune walked into the office and quickly narrowed her eyes when she noticed the bottle of alcohol on her desk.
"Tsunade-sama, I thought we agreed, no Sake when you're…"
"I don't want to here it right now Shizune." Tsunade interrupted her. "Today's been too stressful so far."
"It's about Naruto-kun, isn't it?" asked Shizune.
"Of course, he's one big pain in the ass." Tsuande said getting angry. "I told the baka he couldn't go after Totosai or anyone in the Tatsumaki until we know exactly what doing."
Shizune smiled a bit, "I think you're more worried than mad at him going against your decision."
"No I am not worried, he can take care of himself." Tsunade said, "He disobeyed an order, if the council finds out about this you'll know what will happen."
"What they don't know won't hurt them." Shizune said reassuringly.
Tsunade again, "I guess you're right, but I am still going to beat the snot out of that brat!"
Until next time, see ya.
