"A Missing Leaf"

by Coded

Chapter 2: The Flight

' ' = Thoughts, " " = Speech

Three sets of feet found themselves pounding over the forest floor. The ninjas ran in a "V" shape, the oldest in the front, with a body slung over his shoulder. The two younger ninjas, his subordinates were right on his heels, eyeing the surrounding forest wearily. Kakashi was getting tired, not only had he had to fight several Village of the Cloud jounins, but now he was in full retreat, with an unconscious Sasuke resting on his shoulders, a stream of blood dripping from the dark haired genin's head.

Naruto ran easily beside Kakashi, he had used up a lot of chakra while helping Kakashi fight the Cloud-nins, but he always seemed to have endless stamina, whereas it seemed his silver haired sensei was beginning to grow weary. Noticing this, Naruto took the initiative to not rely on Kakashi to sense any impending attacks, and began scoping out the forest himself as they ran. Naruto glanced over at Sakura and winced visibly.

The love of his life was able to run, but barely. Her right arm hung useless at her side, dripping a trail of blood as they ran, the rest of her body wasn't in much better condition, Sakura was far from weak, however she wasn't exactly strong, either..and Naruto had been forced to deal with 2 Cloud ninjas before he could come to her rescue. Naruto's eyes shifted to the unmoving form of Sasuke, half his body visible, hanging over Kakashi's shoulder. Naruto swore mentally. As soon as the battle had begun, Sasuke had seen the number of ninjas that Team 7 had to face on their own, and he had turned and attempted running, Sakura shouting after him before he had been intercepted by a Cloud-nin that appeared to be a jounin. Sasuke had been put out of commission by some form of lightning jutsu, Naruto wasn't entirely sure what it was.

Naruto would willingly tell anyone that was listening he hated everything about his teammate and rival, however he appreciated the fact that in a fight, he could usually count on Sasuke to protect Sakura while Naruto dispatched the enemy. That didn't happen this time, and Naruto hated himself for allowing Sakura to get beat up as much as she had before he could fight his way to her.

Sakura focused her mind on the forest ahead of her, trying to ignore the pain of her arm, which was broken and bleeding freely.

'If it wasn't for Naruto, I'd probably be in a lot worse shape then I am now..I might even be dead..Kakashi-sensei had been swarmed by ninjas, and Sasuke had fled, leaving only us to face all the Cloud-nins...there must have been 15,' Sakura thought to herself with a grimace.

She looked over at her loud, hyperactive teammate. He was currently turning his head from side to side, checking to make sure there were no signs of attack from the sides, while her sensei was watching the front. Sakura examined Naruto a little closer than she ever had before.

'He really IS amazing,' Sakura said silently, 'Naruto fought through 2 ninjas to get to get to me..then took out the 3 that had surrounded me..would Sasuke-kun have done that for me?'

Sakura shook her head angrily, 'No..he showed that all he cares about is himself, and that he's a coward..he ran while Naruto stood his ground with me and Kakashi-sensei against 15 enemy ninjas, and then risked his life to protect me.'

Sakura took stock of the damage Naruto appeared to have suffered. There was a hole burned into the boy's left side, showing where one of the Clound-nins that had been attacking her had punched Naruto with what appeared to be a less powerful form of the Chidori. The blond genin also had a split in his head that was flowing freely, ranging from the top of his left ear to the end of his temple, inflicted by a katana wielded by one of the Clound-nin...Sakura had shouted a warning to Naruto too late to save all damage, however she had given him the time to start the dodge, which had saved him from getting the top of his head lopped off.

Sakura felt a new and strange feeling welling up in her as she watched Naruto running, determination on his face. The determination of a person protecting someone they loved. Thinking of what Naruto had done to save her, Sakura realized the feeling inside her was growing and growing...a sort of warm feeling that started in her toes and was moving its way up through her body. Suddenly, the pink haired girl realized she hadn't thanked Naruto for coming to her rescue, and she felt now was as good a time as any.

"Naruto-kun.." she began, but was quickly cut off as Naruto lunged at her and shoved her to her left, out of the way.

Naruto was startled to hear Sakura's voice as they ran. Even more startled by what she had said: his name. Naruto. No..there had been more. Naruto replayed the sound in his head several times before he realized what it was. Sakura had called him Naruto-kun. Much the same way she had always refered to Sasuke..she didn't yell it, and her tone wasn't aggravated..if anything, Naruto would have called the tone of her voice soft, and kind. If the genin didn't know any better, he might even call it...loving?

Naruto had been looking off to his right, away from Sakura when she called his name, and upon hearing it his head turned to look at her, to his left and a little behind. Naruto's eyes widened suddenly as out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the remaining 3 Cloud shinobi that Team 7 had left alive when they fled. Judging by their speed, and since Naruto hadn't noticed them until now, he judged they were overtaking the four Leaf ninjas.

Suddenly the lead Cloud-nin began performing seals, then raised his hand to his mouth. Naruto was too far away to hear the name of the jutsu, but he saw the effect. A bolt of lightning shot out of the chuunin's hand and was barreling straight at the person he'd turned to look at; Sakura, the love of his life. Snarling silently Naruto acted without thinking, he lunged at Sakura, knocking her over, which he regretted, but she was safely out of the way of the Cloud-nin's attack, which Naruto now took full out in the right side of his chest. The jutsu sent waves of electricity through Naruto's young body, causing all his muscles to seize up as he hit the ground and rolled several feet until he came to a stop, unmoving. Several smoke trails rose from his body and his mind reeled in pain.

Never before had Naruto faced a chuunin, or at least never had he sustaining a direct hit from a chuunin level jutsu, and he didn't like it one bit. Try as he might, Naruto couldn't move, the electricity had paralyzed his entire body, as well as adding another hole in his favorite jump suit, plus a nice little hole in his chest that was currently bleeding liberally. Naruto's thoughts were moving slowly, but even so, all he could think about was the status of his pink haired teammate he loved more than life itself. Naruto knew Kakashi-sensei wouldn't leave them behind, even in his weakened state. But thinking along those lines brought Naruto to a conclusion: Kakashi wouldn't be able to carry both Sasuke AND himself, nor could Sakura carry him and still keep up with Kakashi-sensei. Naruto's decision was made in a second, and he slowly began forcing the muscles surrounding his jaw open followed by slow, jerky words.

"Kaka...shi-sensei...t-t-ake..Sa..k-k-kura-chan an..d go-o-o.." Naruto inwardly sighed happily, he had gotten out what he needed to, he lay on his back staring up at the trees, unable to move his paralyzed body anymore. He wondered how long it would take before the Cloud-nins came back to finish him off. The blond had been prone for several minutes before the ringing in his ears had subsided, and several seconds after that revealed footsteps coming closer.

'Ahh..' thought Naruto, 'finally..looks like this is where it end..'

Naruto mustered the last of his strength, again forcing words out of his unwilling mouth.

"Ha...ha...at..least..you..bastards didn't get S-s-sak..ura-chan..d-d-do your worst..I'm ready..to die, knowing that Sak..ura-chan..is safe from y-y-y-ou." Naruto finished his statement with contempt oozing from his jerky voice, as he awaited the jutsu that would shortly end his life.

Only...it didn't come, but what did surprised him. Sakura's face appeared in his field of vision, tears streaming down her dirtied face. The blond's first thought was that the Cloud-nins had caught up to Kakashi-sensei and Sakura and had captured his Sakura-chan, the thought alone was enough to incur his rage, which overrode his paralysis enough so he could turn his head to the side, where he spotted the bodies of the enemy shinobi, with Kakashi slowly striding towards Sakura and himself. Naruto forced his head back up to look at Sakura, confusion having a firm grip on his mind until she spoke.

"Naruto-kun..you..stupid, loud, hyperactive ninja!" Sakura's face broke into a smile as she laughed through her tears and slumped down and hugged Naruto tightly as a smile formed on the young boy's face and he slipped unconscious.

Author's Notes

Hope you enjoyed chapter two, there is much more to come..I'm still trying to get used to the system here and how to post and such, so please forgive me if it doesn't look as visually appealing until I get more of a feel for it.

I want to thank Lost Dream for commenting on my paragraph size..I didn't even realize they were so big, and I hope they're better sized now.