The Calling

By ShinobiSpirit

A/N: Wow, it's been a long time. I apologize for the long delay. Holidays, finals, and all sorts of other crap sort of slowed my progress down. Not to mention I had a serious case of writers block. Drove me nuts. Anywho, thanks for your patience.

The moment Naruto stepped into the unknown room, he knew he wasn't alone. A feeling in the depths of his gut told him that something just wasn't right. Was he in the wrong to have ventured into the darkness of this room? If he hadn't any doubts before, he was relatively certain he had them now.

One step after another, he slowly closed in on the chakra billowing along his skin, making the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck raise. Whose room could he be in? The chakra was so familiar, yet different, and in a large supply. At some point he wondered if perhaps he wandered into Orochimaru's room, but the chakra wasn't near as evil or dark. In fact, it was somewhat relaxing to his fried nerves, in a strange sort of way.

"S.. Sakura-chan?" Naruto called sheepishly, squinting his eyes in the dark to try and make out the scenery of the room. His vision wasn't near as good in the dark as he'd like it to be, but from what he could tell, he was currently standing just short of a small table situated in the center of the room. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and leaned over to examine the various objects scattered neatly amongst the table.

To his satisfaction, the first object he recognized was a small flashlight standing upright on the far right corner. He reached over and grasped it, clicked it on, and illuminated the table with the soft glow of light. There were several different types of weapons, including three small kunai that appeared to be made of solid gold. Naruto didn't hesitate to start stuffing them into the pouch on his leg until he was startled by the sound of soft whimpering coming from the other side of the room.

Slowly, Naruto brought the light up from the ground and positioned it in the immediate direction of the sound. 'What... is that?'

A snake statue the size of a dragon loomed over the base of a large canopied bed. The snake itself was made of gold—or maybe carved from wood and gold plated, but he couldn't really tell—the bed following the same intricate design, as if it were meant for a wealthy and powerful Lord. But despite the size, there was a small, huddled up shape snuggly bundled under the expensive comforter. Naruto wasn't sure, but he had a sudden brush with the hope that maybe he had discovered the whereabouts of his beloved Sakura-chan.

Hurrying over to the side of the bed, Naruto crawled up onto the enormous mattress. With each movement, he caused the mattress to dip under his weight, but it couldn't be helped—Shinobi don't get taught how to crawl along mattresses without being noticed. It was probably unheard of, and he wasn't about to ask Kakashi-sensei, either. 'Knowing that pervert, he might know how to.' Naruto thought with disgust. Once he was close enough, he reached over and hesitantly grasped the edge of the comforter. With a gulp and a mental push, he slowly pulled the covers down and away, the butt of the flashlight stuck in his mouth to hold it in place.

'What the..?'

"Hurry up!"

"That doesn't go there, pick somewhere else!"

"I've got the printouts! Where do they go?"

"This is certainly a busy place today." Kakashi commented dryly. "I take it the news has spread throughout the village?"

"Like a forest fire, I'm afraid." Iruka responded coyly, looking up at the Jounin. "It should have never happened like this."

Kakashi let out a gentle sigh. He was tired, everything that was meant to happen hadn't, and his team was off stranded in enemy territory with nothing but the items he had requested of them from the start. How did things go so wrong in such a short amount of time? "I believe in my team. I know their faults, weaknesses, and strengths." He said sternly, like consulting someone with a problem only they can fix. "It's true they're merely Genin now, but I have no doubt they'll return alive and stronger than they'd ever be if I were to simply nurture their talents day by day."

Iruka sat up abruptly and slammed his palms down on the table. "They're on an A-ranked mission without any supervision or authorization! Not even Sasuke's extraordinary talents are going to help Naruto and Sakura against a Legendary Sennin officially marked as an S-type criminal!" He clamored angrily, his head bowed in an effort to ignore the Jounin's prying gaze. "They're all unique in their gifts, but they have limitations, Kakashi-san. Especially when it comes to a mission meant for ANBU officials, not three inexperienced Genin."

The Jounin said nothing, for he knew it'd be pointless to argue with facts. In some ways, Iruka was correct to say that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were not qualified enough to be in the position they were currently in. However, at the moment, it'd be pointless for them to send a rescue group out until they had enough information to base their whereabouts on. The Islands weren't huge, but they were large enough that it'd take some time to figure out the details of the situation. And with a rescue mission, everything depends on valid information, as well as time. Unfortunately, they were lacking in both categories.

"You'd be killing them quicker if you give up now, Iruka." Kakashi said, and simply disappeared within a swirl of smoke, never giving the Chuunin the chance to respond.

Naruto gawked at the wooden Buddha laying next to him with an eerie smile the size of a Cheshire cat carved into its face. 'After all that, and it's a stupid statue?!' He thought dejectedly, still trying to get over the shock of it all. But before he could fully recover, he felt an unbelievably hard object slam down onto his head with such force he nearly fell over backwards. "Ne! What the hell was that!" He shouted, the flashlight resting in his lap while his arms locked over his head for protection.

"That'll teach you to come sneaking into a lady's b—Naruto?" The girl stammered, not quite believing it was even possible for the blonde boy to have been sitting there. Naruto peeked over his shoulder cautiously at the familiar voice. "S-Sakura-chan?" He questioned softly. Without the flashlight, he couldn't quite see her, but he was pretty damn sure it was her this time.

Sakura smiled smugly at her teammate. "Yeah." She said. "Are you okay? You shouldn't have snuck up on me like that, baka!"

Naruto grinned and turned around on the bed to face her, the flashlight already in his hand to where he could view her face clearly. "Gomen." He apologized, before his face took on a more serious expression. "Sakura-chan, are you alright? I heard you screaming earlier!"

"Huh?" She blinked heavily in the glow of the flashlight. "Screaming? I don't know what you're talking about."

He looked at her somewhat skeptically. "You don't? But I heard you!" He protested in an effort to convince to himself that he wasn't going completely insane.

Sakura shook her head. "Baka, you must have been hearing things." She brought her hands to her hips and looked down at him cockily. "I've been in this room by myself the whole time." Her head tilted to the side. "Come to think of it, how'd you get in here past the guards?"

Naruto laughed a bit, a faint blush tainting his cheeks. "Uh... well." He began, obviously embarrassed. Sakura looked at him blankly. 'What's he blushing for?'

"Never mind that." He said. "Sakura-chan, where's Sasuke?"

"I..." Sakura looked off to the side. "I don't know. It's like my memory's been erased or something." Though it might have been the case, she was strangely not afraid at all. "Naruto, let's get out of here. Sasuke-kun might be waiting for us somewhere."

Naruto nodded slowly in agreement, but it didn't ease the questions he longed to have answers for. Where was Sasuke? Why was Sakura's memory failing her? And what does it take to get a bowl of delicious miso ramen? He had no clue.

.. Yeah. More to come.

SS