A/NSame old song and dance, the disclaimers in the first three chapters. I'll have to apologize for the long wait, I've been a very angsty mood and I didn't really want to turn this into an angsty fic, so to compromise I've given one more character some angst to deal with so that I could just write this thing and get on with the story. Hopefully during the wait you enjoyed the two one-shots I put out, if not check 'em out. Also thinking about creating a NaruIno website…what do you guys think?

Shino, Chouji and Sakura were rather easy for Naruto to locate, mostly because they were exactly where he'd left them forty-five minutes ago. They hadn't been surprised to find out Naruto wanted to leave in the morning, as Shino had so eloquently put it "We've waited to long already".

That left only Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba and Lee for Naruto to locate. He was pretty sure where to find them, their routine didn't differ much from the day to day.

However unbeknownst to Naruto, Lee was in the middle of having an epiphany. Not that he was quite certain of what an epiphany was, but nonetheless.

In so far as he could tell the only thing Gai-sensei had even been wrong about was love. This was a tough conclusion for the young nin to come to. After all, Gai-sensei had never been wrong about anything before, and yet on this most important issue following his advice had failed him again and again. Declarations of love were only returned with withering glares and any prolonged time spent in his presence seemed to annoy the object of his affection. Knowing these two things he'd finally decided to do the one thing the desire of his heart had requested of him, he would leave her alone. The thought of doing this broke his dedicated and youthful heart, but he was going to have to put her eternal happiness first and figure out a way to fulfill his vow to protect her with his life from afar.

"This day will forever be known in Konoha's history as the day Rock Lee gave up his youthful aspirations of winning the fair Haruno Sakura's heart." Lee screamed this last part out as Naruto arrived in the clearing.

"I don't think you should give up."

"Why?"

"Because she's going to need you, we're going to get Sasuke."

Naruto had listened to Lee cry over his dilemma for a few minutes before he had to leave him, sending him to search out Gai for advice. The day was getting later and he still had three ninja's to track down.

Naruto knew there were some days that were good days and there were some days that were bad days, and today was one of the latter. He'd been fighting with Ino, Lee had chosen this very inopportune time to gain a back bone, and now as he approached Neji and Tenten he knew his day was going to get worse. He could overhear them arguing and he couldn't help but overhear what they were arguing about.

"You can't agree to go on this mission" Tenten was yelling loud enough that Naruto was sure the half deaf woman two streets down could hear him.

"I most certainly can" Naruto had to listen carefully to hear Neji's reply; well he supposed this probably did count as eavesdropping then.

"It's too dangerous, he's not worth it"

"It's not about him, it's about Konoha. It's my duty as a ninja"

"What about your duty to me?"

"This isn't the first mission I've gone on that's been dangerous and it won't be the last"

"I know you take dangerous assignments, I do too…but now…if you leave now and something happens…"

"They'll take care of you; Hinata won't leave you out in the cold"

"Can't this wait until after? Can't someone else do this?"

"This can't wait, and it's my mission. WE failed, and now we're going to go and set things right"

Naruto would have loved to walk away and pretend he'd never heard them, and even more nosy part of him admitted he'd love to sit and hear them finish the conversation but unfortunately time was of the essence and he didn't have enough of it.

"Neji. Tenten. Good Afternoon"

That had been messy, and he'd escaped after informing Neji of their departure time with a few inches missing off of his hair where he ducked when Tenten had thrown a kunai at his head.

Finding Kiba had been easy, and telling him had been even easier; he'd been training in the woods with Hinata and they both seemed to be expecting the news that he'd carried.

Finding Shikamaru unfortunately hadn't been quite as easy, after all there were a lot of grassy knolls in which to find a lazy shinobi, but once found his only response had been very typical.

"How troublesome…"

If Naruto was having a bad day, Ino's was worse…

She'd confronted the Hokage.

The Hokage gave her a mission.

She'd reconsidered ever demanding anything from the Hokage again…