"The Courting of Uzumaki Naruto"
by the Carpet Shampoo
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
Author's Commentary: To the person who said the last chapter was not very funny, I apologize for trying to incorporate some form of plot in there. The last chapter received hardly any reviews at all, and I realized I'm losing inspiration fast on this story. So, if you didn't catch on with the Sakura and Naruto interaction…this story's going to be wrapping up soon. This here is not the last chapter, but its close. Time to through out the final twist[s].
Chapter 12: Pride
There was a festival in Konoha that night, and Konoha's most eligible bachelor, Uzumaki Naruto, was there.
Alone. As in…he had no date.
But that was all right…Konoha's former most eligible bachelor, Uchiha Sasuke, was also there alone.
Sasuke spoke first.
"So…who are you waiting for?" The two of them stood outside Naruto's favorite ramen bar.
"I'm not sure really…I thought I remembered someone telling me to wait here. I guess its probably Iruka-sensei, waiting to treat me to ramen. After all, why else would I be outside the ramen bar?"
"Why else indeed…" Sasuke muttered, his voice suddenly sounding sulky.
"Sasuke, are you ok?" Naruto turned to him with wide blue eyes, still vibrant, even against the setting sun.
"I'm fine. Whatever. I'm out of this lame festival…" And with that Sasuke sullenly walked off.
"Was it something I said…?" Naruto looked around, one last confused time for Iruka, but the only person nearby was Neji, standing with his silhouette against the setting sun, with a gentle breeze blowing through his hair.
Naruto sniffed the delicious smell of ramen one last time, and then took off after Sasuke.
He raced through the streets, ducking between people and at one point, nearly knocking over Ino. Muttering a quick apology, Naruto spotted Sasuke standing off with Lee. He crept up quietly and ducked down to prevent being seen.
"I don't understand Uchiha. Why didn't you just tell him? I tell Sakura everyday I love her; it's really not that hard."
Sasuke said something, but Naruto had to strain to hear it. He only caught the tail end of it.
Pride.
"Pride?" Lee repeated, "You couldn't handle being rejected by Naruto, because it would be like losing to him and it would hurt your precious pride?" Naruto was thankful Lee spoke loud enough for good spying.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" Lee drew himself up and launched into a Gai-sensei like speech, "Pride and Love should not be on the same scale with each other! Love is above Pride; it scorns and washes away pride. Before the one you love, you are in a state of humility; a state of ultimate respect and pride has no place there. And your love stands before you, in the same state!" Lee pointlessly posed and Sasuke stared at him. He blinked once, then returned to his stoic state and walked off.
Naruto took a deep breath, gasping for air. Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke of all people liked him? And couldn't tell him because of pride?
Now, Naruto had felt he had handled it pretty well, upon finding out that Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, Itachi, Gaara and Orochimaru liked him. Well…at least said they liked him. But there was something different when he heard it from Sasuke. Naruto sat back, trying to think of just what that something different was, when all of the sudden, he felt a cool hand slip around his mouth. Something in Naruto's mind whispered 'snake' and then everything went black.
Akamaru barked suddenly and loudly, causing Kiba and Hinata to jump.
"Akamaru!" Kiba scolded. Hinata trembled and gripped Kiba's arm with a death grip. Loud noises did not suit her well. She and Kiba had run into each other here at the festival and decided to walk with each other. Akamaru had been quietly sleeping in Kiba's hood, or so they thought until he barked.
Akamaru barked again, and then jumped down onto the ground and continued barking.
"Akamaru! You're causing a scene…" Kiba hissed. Hinata looked around and blushed pink, indeed a group of people had gathered around. She noticed among them her teammate, Shino, had slowly pushed his way to the front. With her Byakugan, she could see all the people around her. Ino and Sakura stopped in, but stood a little bit further back in the crowd.
She turned her head and noticed her cousin Neji had chosen to stand in her blind angle. But…Naruto was not there. Hinata glanced around again. She thought she spotted the spiky head of Shikamaru somewhere in the midst, and noticed a bright red spot skulking around near the back, which was Gaara.
"Akamaru…" Kiba whispered, reaching down to touch the puppy.
"Kiba…" Shino had reached the front and made his way over to his teammates, "Doesn't Akamaru bark that way when he senses something bad?" Kiba paused a moment and tilted his head to listen. Suddenly he jumped up and looked over at Shino.
"You're right! And listen! I can hear the other dogs at home barking too."
"That's teamwork…" Kakashi had worked his way to the front of the crowd, followed closely by Tsunade.
"Ninjas of Konoha, on your guard! I want jounins on patrol; chuunins travel in groups of two at the least. Genins, form a circle in the center here, I want all non-ninjas within there." Tsunade gave her order. "Is anyone missing?" Quite a crowd had gathered now, upon seeing Tsunade.
Kiba and Shino scooped up Hinata and held her up so she was above the crowd. She gave a startled squeak as they did so, but understood there intent. She used her Byakugan to scan the crowd, having Kiba and Shino turn her slightly to check her blind angle.
"Naruto-kun's not here!" She called down. "Uchiha Sasuke is missing as well." Whispers broke out all across the crowd. Tsunade paled slightly at the mention of Naruto's name, but she remained cool.
"All right. Its no matter, they'll show up. Keep on the look out for the criminal Orochimaru and/or Uchiha Itachi, along with their associates. Stay calm, and stay in your places. Everybody, move!"
The genins quickly formed a circle; Shikamaru among them and Kakashi scanned the group of civilians and children with his Sharingan, checking among them for imposters or hidden traps. Nothing.
Shikamaru lead the genins in their circle. Neji and Hinata were positioned on opposite sides, each of their blind angles covered by the other Hyuuga. Sakura was placed in charge of keeping the children in line and calming them and the other people down. Lee and Gaara were also positioned on opposite sides, with Lee's speed he could reach anywhere and defend, and with Gaara's sand, he could as well. The two were ordered by Shikamaru to remain opposite of each other, but patrol slowly.
Iruka waited patiently until Shikamaru had positioned the defense, then grabbed the chuunin, informing him they were going to look for more civilians.
Sasuke had recognized the aura of Itachi before even Akamaru had barked. It had only taken him a few moments to find his older brother…
…walking next to Orochimaru right out of Konoha.
…holding Naruto's limp body between them.
"They're not here Kakashi. You've searched all of Konoha personally. Itachi, Orochimaru, Sasuke, Naruto…They're all gone." Tsunade touched the copy-nin on his shoulder and Kakashi sighed, covering up the Sharingan eye once more, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
Tsunade announced the village was safe again, but kept a fair number of jounins on patrol anyway.
Shikamaru returned to wear the genins were and found them all still there. Shino was rounding up his bugs, who he had sent searching the village. Akamaru, Stupid Mutt, and Kiba were all sniffing the ground, trying to pick up on Naruto's scent. Ino and Sakura were standing around looking worried and Gaara had created a pillar of sand. Neji and Hinata were standing at the top, looking out as far as they could in all directions to try and spot Naruto.
"We're starting a Naruto and Sasuke search party and you're leading it." Ino said to Shikamaru as he showed up, speaking to him in her most bossy voice.
"Too tiresome…Tsunade's going to figure out how to get him back."
"Nara Shikamaru!! I said, YOU ARE LEADING IT!" Shikamaru blinked and stared up at Ino. For a girl, she sure was scary…
"All right. We need a lead first…We had two strangers in here, who at one point found and took Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru, you need to find that different scent. Does anyone remember seeing either Naruto or Sasuke tonight?"
"I saw Naruto and Sasuke…" a tiny voice spoke up. Shikamaru recognized the girl, though he didn't know her name. She worked down at the ramen bar and had been among the group of non-ninjas they were protecting.
"Naruto-san and Sasuke-san were both standing outside. They spoke to each other, then Sasuke-san stormed off. Naruto-san followed a little while afterwards."
"I also saw Sasuke tonight!" Lee interrupted, "We were talking, but then he walked off."
Shikamaru further questioned both and determined that Lee had been the last person to see Sasuke, and the ramen girl was the last to see Naruto.
"But Naruto was following Sasuke, so wherever Sasuke last was, Naruto wouldn't have been far behind." Lee lead them up to the spot where he and Sasuke had been talking and Shikamaru ordered Kiba and Akamaru to search the area.
It wasn't long before…
"Here! This is definitely where Naruto was! And there are two unfamiliar scents around it! It follows a little ways…And Akamaru says he's caught a trace of Sasuke's scent."
"All right. Divide into two teams. One team will follow Akamaru and Sasuke's scent. The other team will follow Kiba and Naruto's. I'm sure we'll meet up on similar trails. Let's go."
Author's Commentary: You guys wanted Itachi and Orochimaru, well here you go! What kind of horrible things do they have planned? How on Earth is this scene leading to the conclusion of this epic story?
BTW, if you want to fully understand the first part of this chapter…re-read the very end of the first chapter. It'll clear many things up.