Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Finding a Broken Star

The Journey to Amegakure was a silent one; no one knew what to say. What could they say; a situation like this had never happened before. Everyone hoped they weren't too late to save Naru, but the time lapse between the time she left for her mission and when they received her SOS was worrisome.

The time-inconsistency left plenty of time for the enemy to find Naru or worse; no one wanted to say it, but the chances of her being found alive weren't good. It was a difficult prospect to consider, but one they had to prepare for.

In the shinobi world, you could die at any time it was part of the job description, but that fact didn't seem to apply to Naru. The girl was like the sun she might fall, but she always rose again, and now it seemed the world was reminding them that no one was exempt from the reaper's hand, and didn't know how to handle it.

As the shinobi made their way, several were thinking about the situation.

Neji Hyuga was silent as he focused on the road in front of him, but inside, however, he was a raging mess. Naru had been the one to save him from himself, to save him from the darkness that consumed him all those years ago when his father died; the girl had literally beaten sense into him and made him realize he had the power to fix his clan.

The girl who had been the deadlast of her class had beaten him, the prodigy of the Hyuga clan, and set him free from his cage. So why was he now on his way to save her? He couldn't understand how this situation happened, or why. To betray a comrade in such a manner was not only dishonorable, it was punishable by death in the Hidden Leaf.

Naru was the strongest kunoichi he knew. Naru falling in battle was something he couldn't envision, and honestly, he didn't want to. As to the matter of someone sending her into enemy territory without proper backup, it bothered him; he couldn't phantom such betrayal.

He knew some shinobi villages practiced killing their comrades for the sake of the village, but Konoha was not one of them, or at least he'd believed until this moment they didn't.

Now, though he didn't know, he knew one thing though; Naru better be okay or he would personally find the person responsible and bring him to justice. Not revenge, justice, he wasn't Sasuke.

Shikamaru sighed from his spot next to Neji.

The situation was a real drag. First, someone sends Naru on an unauthorized mission and then Naru sends out an SOS; the whole deal was so messed up. Honestly, he didn't know what to make of it.

What he knew was that Konoha had a traitor somewhere that purposefully sent comrade and friend into enemy territory, fully knowing he was sending her on a suicide mission. It was ridiculous! Not to mention disastrous for the village.

So why would they do it? What did they gain from this?

The village was a safer place because Naru was there in Shikamaru's mind; so again, why would anyone want to take her out? Unless someone reasoned that by getting rid of Naru it took the threat away from Konoha, but that would leave the village vulnerable, wouldn't it?

Ugh, he was getting a headache thinking about it; he knew one thing though, Naru had better be okay or he wouldn't stop until he found the bastard responsible.

Sai worriedly jumped through the trees, making his way to Amegakure.

The emotions he felt were overwhelming since he had never felt them before; emotions like worry, fear, and anger were new to him. He guessed he had Naru to thank for that.

The worry stemmed from the belief that his master (Danzo), was behind this whole fiasco.

Sai didn't want to believe it, but he also wouldn't put it past the old war hawk to do something like this behind his back, which he didn't know how to feel about. He loved Naru as his sister, and he didn't want to see her get hurt.

Honestly, he didn't know what he would do if it turned out Root was behind this; He just prayed his friend was alright.

Kakashi was ahead of the group, jumping faster than any of them.

He might be silent on the outside, but on the inside, he was a torrent of emotions.

Kakashi's mind kept repeating the same thing, "I should have seen this coming, I should have seen this coming," he had worked with Danzo once, and the old war hawk had tried to have him killed for his Sharingan, so how had he not seen this coming!

He should have known the moment Tsunade announced that the Akatsuki were going after Jinchuriki that Danzo would see Naru as a loose end to be gotten rid of.

Ugh, it didn't help that Naru and he had formed a relationship outside a student-teacher one; not that he regretted it. After Naru had dragged him back from what was supposed to be a suicide mission, the two had come to terms with their feelings for one another.

He refused to lose another important person; he refused to lose Naru.

The group had been traveling for about two hours when Sai noticed something out of the corner of his eye; alone ninja heading towards Konoha and from their headband, it appeared they were a Leaf Shinobi, although Sai had never seen him in the village before.

He quickly signaled to the others before jumping down to confront the lone shinobi.

Sai landed a few feet away from the man who was obviously not expecting to run into any ninja, especially Leaf Shinobi.

The man stared at Sai who returned his stare with a smile, "Why hello there, you might help me, have you seen Naru Uzumaki by chance," he asked.

The man smiled back, "I'm sorry but I'm just returning from an extended mission, I can't help you," he said.

Sai sighed, "I see that's too bad, I was hoping to do this the easy way," he said before kicking the man into a tree trunk. Shikamaru than restricted the man using his Shadow Possession jutsu so he couldn't escape.

Sai then leaned down, so he was face level with the man, "You see I think you're lying, so talk," he ordered as the entire team revealed themselves.

Kenshin swallowed.

Authors note: This Chapter is a two-parter so please know Naru will hopefully be found in the next chapter; and yes more reactions will be shown.

I hope everyone is having a great week. Love Nerdzone6.