Naruto:
World Tour
By: Nagi-Oki, The Kabuto no Miko
Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto. The foreigners and weirdoes they meet is another story.
Chapter 3: Without A Trace
Sunlight filtering through the window roused the drowsing Sakura Haruno from her blissful slumber and dreams of romantic missions with Sasuke. She yawned and stretched, she never felt more rested in her life! She smiled to herself, it was the first time since becoming a genin that she had actually gotten a restful sleep AND woke up without feeling groggy. She opened her eyes and almost panicked, she was in the hospital!
She hopped up out of the bed and looked around, surely enough it was the local Konoha hospital. How the heck did she end up here? She tried remembering if she was in a fight. No, there was no fight, at least she didn't think so. She opened the closet to see her black funeral kimono hanging. That's right! She went to the Captain's funeral. Then...then...Maze invited them to his tent for a drink. Did she get drunk and fall into a ditch? The kimono was clean and she didn't have any scratches or anything. What happened?
"I see you're awake."
Sakura spun around to see the familiar masked sensei, Kakashi, standing in the doorway. He walked over to the bed and sat down, "You really gave everyone a scare there Sakura, we thought you might sleep forever."
She tilted her head at this, "Huh? How long was I..."
"Asleep? Oh 7 days."
Sakura facefaulted onto the ground, "7 DAYS? What happened? How drunk was I?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this, "Drunk? According to the doctor you were drugged. Do you remember anything about what happened?"
Sakura plopped down on the bed sighing and rubbing her forehead, "Not a lot, I remember going to the funeral for the Captain. Having a drink with that Maze guy..."
The older ninja nodded, "Nothing after that?"
"Well, I think Naruto and Sasuke had a drink too but I can't remember too clearly. Is Sasuke and Naruto here? I hope I didn't embarrass myself in front of them!"
Kakashi hmmed before getting to his feet, "So you don't know where they are?"
Sakura blinked out of swagger down memory lane. She spun around to face her sensei, "No, I thought they were with you..."
"Afraid not, they never came back. Jiraiya's gone too. It's likely Jiraiya took the boys for training but there's some doubt to that. Especially if you were drugged."
The pink-haired ninja was now feeling pangs of panic in her stomach, her teammates were missing and she was alone. She felt a little shame about letting her friends be taken from her while she was drugged. Kakashi must have sensed her feelings because the next thing she knew, his hand was now patting her head.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find them."
Sakura offered the jounin a small smile, his words did bring some comfort. Kakashi was a man of his word and if he said they'd be found, they would be found.
In the office of the Hokage, Tsunade was going over paperwork. What a time for two of the top genins and her drunken pervert of a teammate to run off to god knows where. TonTon nudging her ankle brought her out of the half blind rage she was in. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she picked up her pet and cradled the little pig on her lap. Her assistant/confidant, Shizune was going over a map of the surrounding areas, checking off the locations that were being searched thuroughly.
Shizune turned to Tsunade, "They're not in the eastern territories or the southern, and the good news is there's no traces of them near the Sound Village."
Tsunade internally breathed a sigh of relief, that was one headache she didn't need. She stroked TonTon's head, "Where would Jiraiya take the boys...? Aside from the local hot springs and strip clubs..."
Shizune eh hehed softly before turning to the incoming reports, going over them as throughly as possible. They had spent the weak turning the village and neighboring villages upside down looking for the missing three but to no avail. They were missing and no trace was left. The visitors from Green Knot left shortly after the funeral, but they searched the ships thuroughly and no traces were found. Tsunade thought long and hard about what they would have to do, they needed to act fast especially with the two most wanted nins in the village gone.
Sakura was just discharged from the hospital and was now on her way home. Her eyes were downcast, worry and dread ping-ponging in her head. She hoped Sasuke and Naruto were ok, she knew that Orochimaru was after Sasuke and Naruto had problems of his own. But if Jiraiya-sama was with them, they would be ok...She hoped. Oh man, her forehead was going to be a roadmap of worry lines at this rate.
"Sakura-san!"
She spun hearing the welcome familiar voice of Rock Lee. He was running up to her with a bouquet of daisies in hand, courtesy of Yamanaka flower shop. Trailing behind him was Neji, Ten Ten, and their teacher Gai. Lee stopped in front of Sakura holding out the bouquet for her, "I'm so sorry I couldn't give these to you sooner, we've been out combing the country side for your friends."
Sakura accepted the flowers from Lee with a smile, "That's ok, I slept for a real long time."
"Actually he kept telling us how he could awaken sleeping beauty with true love's first kiss." Said the ever cynical Neji. His words sending Lee's cute face bright red with embarrassment.
Sakura eh hehed to herself, "That's uh, sweet..."
Lee held up an envelope, "I-I also got you a card and had everyone sign it."
Sakura felt genuinely touched by that, Lee was sweet enough to take time out of his busy life to get everyone to sign a card for her. Lee was definately a good friend, a tear welled up in her eye for a minute.
"What's wrong Sakura-san?"
"Oh I'm sorry Lee, it's just...I'm so worried about Sasuke and Naruto. Fat lot of good I am to them, I get knocked out somehow and poof! They're gone without so much as a goodbye."
Lee awwed, leaning in to try hugging Sakura. But she held out her hand to keep him at bay.
Ten Ten stepped in at this point, "But there is some good news, there's no sign that they've gone near the Hidden Sound Village so they must be pretty safe."
Sakura gave a small smile, but it was half-hearted and weak. Gai stepped forward, giving Sakura a gentle pat on the head, "Don't worry, Team Gai swears that we will not give up until we find your missing teammates! Even if we have to search the four corners of the world! The firey spirit of youth will guide us to your friends!"
With that Gai gave a thumbs up and his glistening smile. Lee mimicked the pose to a T. Ten Ten sweatdropped and Neji considered seeing if the Hidden Sand Village would welcome him there. Sakura stood silently for a moment going over Gai's words in her mind. Would they have to go THAT far in order to find them? Something went off inside her head, she had an idea and knew what to do.
She bowed, thanking the group for their support and ran off towards her home to drop off the flowers and get changed. She had to go speak with the Hokage.
To Be Continued...
How did Sakura get drugged? Where did Jiraiya, Sasuke, and Naruto go? Will Lee EVER get Sakura to hug him?
The answers to these questions in Chapter 4: A Horse With No Name
The next chapter will be posted once I get 10 reviews.
