Naruto lay on his bed in deep thought, his mind was both scattered and unrelenting. Hinata floated through his head, her gentle smile and glossy, long dark hair gently ebbed at subconscious, but every now and again that dark hair turned into short pink lock, and that gentle smile turned dazzling as it graced the lips of the rose haired girl with sparkling green eyes that blazed their way into his thoughts until the former disappeared. That's when he consciously shut down his thoughts, whenever she popped up, he closed his thought off to her. He wouldn't allow himself to think of her that way anymore. He chose to let her go so that she could be happy pursuing Sasuke.
Naruto eyes traced his ceiling as he lay on his back. The soft cushioning of his bed brought him back to reality. He sat up from the pillows he rested on.
She was happy pursuing Sasuke right? He had stepped back from the situation and tried to stop looking at her romantically and more as just family but it didn't seem to be working. 'Guess you can't just change your feelings that easily'
He was deep in thought when someone rapped at the window, he scooted over to it and pushed back the curtains. Shikamaru, the laziest ninja he ever knew, was perched on his roof looking back at him.
"Shikamaru?" Naruto called in confusion "whaddaya doing here this early".
The lazy ninja just smirked "hello to you too, and by the way it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Anyways, Kakashi has called us for a mission."
"Alrightt!" The exuberant blonde shouted.
Shikamaru plugged his ears at his loud gesture "are you always this loud?"
Naruto, who knows he's used to his antics, only smiled as he jumped through the window.
They then leapt off across the roofs of the Konoha residence on their way to the hokage's office.
They reached the entrance of the building before almost running headfirst into Hinata and Ino. The two small groups looked in shock at one another briefly before heading up together.
Shikamaru and Ino went up first with Hinata and Naruto close behind. Hinata sent a small smile his way and he couldn't help but return with a bright one of his own. A squeak escaped her lips before she clumsily took the stairs by twos. Her hands covering her reddened cheeks.
Naruto smirked inwardly 'she's too cute' He followed her up the steps careful to make sure she didn't pass out or fall, by the way she was heading up the steps he knew he would probably end up carrying her the rest of the way.
They were all present in front of the large desk in Kakashi's office. The once cramped room was remodeled and made bigger. Naruto, Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru lined up in front of their hokage. No papers surrounded his desk nor was his assistant in the office at the moment.
Ino spoke first, "Good afternoon Hokage-sama."
Kakashi waved off the hokage-sama "The formality is not necessary."
"You aren't used to being called that yet" shikamaru yawned bringing his hand to his mouth.
"Used to it? I don't think I ever will be," his eye crinkled as he smiled wearily at them
"Well, what are we here for " Naruto was getting impatient, they were obviously not here to exchange pleasantries. "We were told it's an emergency"
Kakashi cleared his voice "yeah sorry, we have urgent news, and it needs to be taken care off, right now." Looking at the ninjas he called on today, he knew they were fully capable shinobi he could count on. "This pertains to a leaf shinobi who is now missing according to the Cloud village's Raikage, I need you to find that person and bring them back."
Naruto frowned, a missing ninja usually wasn't urgent business, unless they were sent on an a-rank mission or higher, he also felt a little wary knowing that sakura was sent on a mission to the cloud a little while ago. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, it's not sakura is it, Sakura's not the missing person right?"
Silence echoed through the room, Kakashi folded his hand in front of him and exhaled. "I had wanted to keep who it was, a secret a little longer but I guess you should know." Kakashi looked straight ahead "Yes, Sakura had been reported missing, the mission I sent her on has now come back inconclusive and her whereabouts unknown"
The room turned static as the shock of what Kakashi said was digested. Naruto stood there silently, disbelief and anger was clearly registered in his eyes. Yet he said nothing.
Ino's breath hitched as his words rang through her. She clasped her trembling fingers together and stepped forward. "Do you have any leads on her whereabouts prior to going missing?" she bit her lip to stop herself from shaking.
"Yes, somewhat. Sakura's original mission was to aid the cloud village with its attempts to establish a new hospital in one of its neighboring villages in the Land of Lighting" Kakashi paused, "several days ago The cloud sent us a message saying that the village where sakura was helping at was attacked and sakura has yet to report or be found"
Hinata spoke up then " Do we know if she was targeted or if it was just a regular attack, y'know ninja against ninja"
Kakashi sighed "That's where the holes in the clouds story comes in. From our knowledge we know that there have been several attacks on those smaller villages in these past months, but the cloud village specified that sakura is the only ninja unaccounted for."
Naruto clenched fist, "what exactly have they been doing about it? Sakura was sent on that mission several weeks ago, why are they just saying something now!"
Ino nodded in agreement and crossed her arms, the entire situation was absurd, anger had overtaken the worry she felt. "Have they at least been looking for her?"
"Calm down you guys" Shikamaru butted in "why do you think we're here, obviously something is up with this and it's up to us to find out."
Kakashi nodded " that's exactly why I called you in today, your mission is to go directly to the cloud village and find out what they're hiding and what happened to sakura." Kakashi's calm facade slipped as sakura flashed through his mind "I want a report on everything, leave no gaps. Leave immediately, you're dismissed."
They filed out the room, but Shikamaru hung back. Once the rest of them were out of the room he spoke to Kakashi. "There's more to this isn't there"
Kakashi huffed. "Most likely, it seems targeted. Sakura was the only ninja unaccounted for in that village. Not that there are usually many ninjas in regular villages but the very fact that only she was taken tells us enough."
Shikamaru lifted his brow in confusion "what does that tell us?"
"That Sakura was more than likely sold out" Kakashi's voice was steely and quiet. This was the last thing he wanted to think of but it was a factor he couldn't just dismiss.
Shikamaru's eyes widened at his statement. Sakura being sold? It didn't even sound right in his thoughts. Sakura was like the princess of Konoha these days, everyone who knew her loved her and wished her no harm, so why would anybody take her?
Kakashi nodded as if he read Shikamaru's thoughts " It gives them all the more reason for someone to want to kidnap or sell her off. Sakura is a disciple of the previous hokage, hero of the 4th great shinobi war, and a hero to the sand village, not to mention the health clinics she's been establishing. Unfortunately, it makes sakura a prime selection"
"But if The Cloud had anything to do with it then they know that we wouldn't just quietly allow this to slide. Even if she was a normal citizen, we wouldn't let them go that easily." Shikamaru let out a sigh and shifted his weight onto his other leg.
Kakashi clasped his hands in front of his face. "Which is why I'm sending you guys to the Cloud village first instead of the village Sakura was last seen in. I want to be sure that they had nothing to do with this, I don't want to accuse them, but she was in their village."
"Ah what a drag" shikamaru grumbled. "We leave in the next hour."
Kakashi just nodded, dismissing him from the room.
Kakashi sat there staring at the documents in front of him. A growl escaped his lips, if only he wasn't strapped to the hokages seat, He would have gone to search for her himself. Sakura was missing, kidnapped, gone, she was like his very own daughter and not being able to do anything was pissing him off.
Shikamaru's team left a while ago and now he was about to meet with several other platoons and then the elders of the leaf village. There was a knock on the door before two teams stepped through the door. He flipped through his paperwork before turning his attention to the ones who just entered. "You'll be backup for a mission I just ordered stay on standby and get ready to move out at moment's notice."