::Last chapter ended with a twist that left a few readers confused. Sorry about that, but I can be a little too ambitious with my writing. Also, if anyone would like to beta read, please say so. I'm not very good at finding mistakes in my own work::
Naruto woke up with a pounding headache. He rolled over and rubbed his eyes. "—awake!" Sakura said. Naruto's eyes opened and focused. Sakura was sitting beside his bed in his new room. He looked around as he oriented himself and saw the woman he knew cleaned the Academy come in with a tray. Sakura picked up the glass and held it out to Naruto. The boy sat up slowly and took the glass. He ignored both of his caretakers as he drank it all down. He could taste other things in the water, and something that reminded him of copper, but trusted these people to know what they were giving him.
"Ah," Naruto set the glass back on the tray and rubbed the back of his head. "So, uh, Sakura-chan, how was Sasuke's last fight?" She tilted her head down, her eyes cast in shadow. Naruto got a sinking feeling. "Was it bad?"
Sakura's hands curled into fists in her lap, then she forced herself to relax and met Naruto's eyes. "Naruto, Orochimaru followed us here. He—"
Naruto's eyes went wide and he jumped out of bed. "He took Sasuke didn't he?!"
Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and pitched him back onto the bed. "No! You're not running off until I've explained!" Naruto blinked. Sakura looked furious. Then her eyes filled with tears and she fell back into her chair. "Orochimaru wasn't here for Sasuke. He took Kurai-sensei… And everyone ran off after him!" She got up and started pacing. "First Kakashi-sensei, then your father and mother took off after him, and Sasuke disappeared from his room that evening."
Naruto pulled his knees up and leaned his arms on them. "Sakura-chan, how long ago was the tournament?" he asked quietly.
She looked at a clock. "Yesterday, eighteen hours ago." Naruto sighed. Eighteen hours was a long time. Even one of Kakashi's wonder dogs would have a hard time following. Still, it didn't feel right that he should stay when Sasuke and even his mother had gone. What is going on? Why would mother go after Kurai as well? She was only just starting to act normal yesterday morning… He sat up and threw a leg over the edge of the bed.
Firey blue met green and Naruto said, "We're leaving—now." He stood and Sakura took a step closer and raised her hands as if to stop him, then paused.
"We can't follow them now."
Naruto gave her a small smile right before he walked through the doorway. "We don't need to. We just need to make it back to Konoha."
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Suzaku looked at his wife with concern. Her pale hair and eyes were looking blank. She was staring into the darkness of the forest at something he couldn't see. These periods of withdrawal had decreased in number and length with Naruto's return. Tonight was the second of their pursuit, and Suzaku knew he had to stop when his wife did because she was the one who 'knew' where Orochimaru was. She was the one Orochimaru had approached all those years ago, when she was newly orphaned.
Her eyes always returned to that day. She would grow quiet and replay the promise. Then she would skip forward a few years and see the theft. The rest of her life was paler than these interactions with Orochimaru. "I'll give you back your mother and father if you promise me one thing. See it as fair trade. It's just that you get two lives and I will get one…"A terrified girl's agreement. A life with the walking dead on the edge of the village until the day she sent them out into the storm and she ran to her best friend, Suzaku. Their discouraged marriage and the birth of Kurai. Terror. Seeing Orochimaru waiting upside down outside her window as she went into labor with Naruto. The Fourth hokage had come and taken the boy, but not before Orochimaru had made it clear that the child would never be returned. 'Mine.'
Uzu shook his wife's shoulder. "Get some rest quickly. We need to move soon." She nodded and numbly leaned back and fell into a blank sleep.
~1 week later~
Naruto and Sakura looked up at the gates to Hidden Leaf Village and each let out a little sigh. This was home. Sakura's thoughts were filled with her friends and family, Naruto was thinking of the Hokage. Can't wait to drop in on the old man. Isn't he going to be surprised! It was only when they started to part ways inside the wall that they realized they weren't on the same wavelength. Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand. "Wait! We can visit later. First we need to talk to the Hokage!" Sakura hated to admit it, but Naruto was right.
"Yes, I just really wanted to see my parents and tell them I'm okay," she said quietly, casting a look down the street she'd headed for before turning and going the other way. Naruto watched her a minute, then look down the other road. Should I let her go and just report in myself? I would probably miss my family too— Ah, but he had one. Naruto caught up to Sakura before she could complain, but his mind lingered on his new family. Mother, father, sister, all met and lost in a month. He hadn't caught a sign of them for a whole week, but he didn't feel lonely for it. If anything he missed Sasuke and Kakashi's company.
Naruto paused outside the building the Hokage's office was in and grinned. "Hey, Sakura, how about sneaking up on the geezer?"
The pink-hared kunoichi didn't look particularly thrilled with the idea. "Naruto, the Hokage is our most highly respected elder and the best ninja in the village! We can't do that! Besides," she crossed her arms, "it's childish."
Naruto considered being sheepish and letting Sakura's 'childish' comment get to him, but shrugged it off as quickly as the idea had come and grabbed her around the waist. "Come on!" He leapt for the roof as Sakura whined.
They silently snuck across the tiles until they were right above the window into the Hokage's office. Naruto grinned his foxy grin and leapt down, swinging into the open window and shouting. "Hey old man!" When he looked at the desk he froze. Sakura entered behind him quietly and also froze. A woman with brown eyes and blond hair who looked misleadingly young was looking at them blandly. She set her pen down and leaned her elbows on the desk.
"I assume you've been gone for a while?" she said. Her eyes flickered up to their forehead protectors, then to their faces. Before entering Konoha the two chuunin had put on their leaf protectors to ease their entry. The woman sat back. "If you have the energy to try sneaking across my roof then you can leave the same way—"
"Whoa, Lady! Where's the Hokage?" Naruto asked.
The woman looked Naruto in the eye. "He retired once Jiraiya dragged me back. I am the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade."
Sakura blinked. She was looking at one of the three legendary senin. Naruto scratched his head. "I guess that means we have to talk to you now," he said.
"About what? You certainly aren't on any mission I was informed of."
Sakura stepped forward. "We were sent with one other genin and our instructor to Hidden Snow Village. Now we need help to get Kurai-sensei back."
Tsunade blinked, then started flipping through pages upon pages of papers. She left the desk and started zipping around the office in her search as she mumbled, "There was something about a Snow Village…Didn't make much sense when I read it…Aha!" She slammed a drawer shut and it made a disturbing 'bang' noise. Sakura winced at the sound.
Tsunade sat on the corner of her desk as she skimmed the document in her hand. "An Uzu Kurai came and called upon the Hidden Leaf to make reparations for the abduction of one Uzumaki Naruto… A whole team?!" She looked at the two chuunin in surprise. "So Kakashi was sent with you as protection. He hasn't returned, you know."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, we know. He stayed with us a while in the village as he tried to convince Naruto's father to let us return to Konoha." And I have no doubt to also spend time with Naruto's sister.
The Hokage clearly was confused, so Sakura and Naruto gave her a full recount of their time away. When they got to the abduction at the arena, Sakura said, "Then Orochimaru jumped out and—"
"Orochimaru!" Tsunade's eyes flashed and her eyebrows turned down in a frown. She spat the name like poison. "What was he doing in this village?"
Naruto answered, Sakura looked a little pale. The trip is catching up with us, we'll need to rest soon. "We think he followed us, but aren't sure. Father hates his guts, but no one could tell us why he took my sister. After the second round of the chuunin exam we all thought he was after Sasuke—but he just passed over him and grabbed Kurai." Then he put on his thinking face and said, "Maybe he just really hates Kakashi-sensei and wants to get back at him."
Sakura sat up. "Naruto! What if it's a trap to get Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto blinked.
Tsunade shook her head. "I don't doubt Orochimaru hates Kakashi, but I do doubt he took this Kurai to get back at him for something. Why don't you two get some rest and return here tomorrow morning? That will give me time to consider your proposal." Sakura blinked.
Proposal? We aren't trying to hire anybody! We can't pay! Tsunade was continuing.
"It sounds to me like this village isn't serious with its ninja training and will require our better nins. That is why you came, isn't it? Because Hidden Snow can't handle this themselves?"
Naruto snorted. "My father can handle himself. They aren't push-overs, even if it's a basic thing."
Tsunade shrugged and shoved a pile of papers aside. "Then I recommend for the time being you wear your Snow Village protectors with the same pride you would a Leaf. You are still Snow nin. Sakura, you may return home for now at least. And Naruto—Um. Sakura do you think your parents would be able to accommodate him for the night?"
Sakura stood. "I'm sure they would."
::Okay, done with this chapter. Please review and tell me what ya think thus far of the plot, characters, etc. and whether they're slipping::