"A Missing Leaf"
by Coded
Chapter 5: The First Failure
' ' = Thoughts, " " = Speech
Naruto paced, barely hearing the things Tsunade was trying to tell him. Details about what had happened. Naruto didn't process any of it. Only one thing mattered. Sasuke was missing, and apparently of his own free will. Naruto's ex-teammate had become a missing-nin. Naruto came to a sudden stop and turned to look at the Hokage. Choosing his words carefully, he finally spoke up.
"Tsunade-sama..I understand Sasuke is missing. I understand what it means. I even understand why you would feel it important for me to know. What I DON'T understand is why I have been summoned here to your office. Why my other teammate or my sensei aren't here to hear what you're telling me. Nor do I understand why you're telling me as much as you are. I don't understand half of it. A bent and broken forehead protector, Sasuke's foot prints leading away from it. People that saw him last. That he may be headed towards the Village of the Sound. Why am I being told this."
Naruto inhaled deeply, refilling his lungs with air. He didn't like speeches and that certainly seemed like one to him.
Tsunade, the 5th Hokage of Konoha sighed to herself. She knew he was going to eventually ask, she also knew he probably wouldn't like the answer.
"Naruto, you're being told all of this for a very simple reason. If you are to be the one hunting Sasuke down, you need as much information about his departure as possible."
"WHAT!?" Naruto exploded, causing Tsunade to wince, "Why in the hell am I going to be the one hunting him?! Send some ANBU, thats their job!"
Tsunade made soothing gestures with her hands, trying to calm Naruto down abit. "Naruto, you know you're the best hunter-nin we have not at the ANBU level. No other chuunin has your ability for tracking and bringing down targets. We can't send ANBU, the village doesn't have enough to spare. You must be the one to do this."
"I'm not the best tracker! What about Kiba?!" Naruto shot at his leader, he knew he should have been showing her more respect, but right now he didn't care.
"Kiba is nowhere near as strong as you. Nor does he know Sasuke as well as you do. It has to be you, Naruto. Nobody else is as highly qualified as you. Nobody else knows more about Sasuke than you do, besides maybe Kakashi, and he's busy with another mission right now."
Naruto pondered her words, finally coming up with a suitable response. "What about Sakura-chan? She knows more about Sasuke than I do, and she's gone with me every other time I've gone out on missions like this."
The Hokage shook her head, causing her long blonde hair to sway, "Sakura is training to become a medical-nin. She would be more of a hazard than a help on this mission. You may have to fight Sasuke with everything you have, and how could you do that knowing that Sakura may be in danger? I don't think you would be able to. Besides, I've decided to make Sakura my student and teach her what she will need to know to become a medical-nin. I don't know how long this mission will take, but I fear she will lose out on important training should she accompany you. As much as I don't like it, Naruto, this responsibility rests upon your shoulders alone. I expect you to bring Sasuke back as soon as possible. Dismissed."
Naruto's growl was heard well outside the Hokage office as he turned and strode out the door without so much as a word. 'I suppose it's fitting that it will be me who brings his sorry ass back. If she wants him back so badly, I'll get the bastard back. Uzumaki Naruto doesn't fail missions.'
Back in the Hokage office, a figure stepped out of the shadows behind Tsunade's desk. Stepping forward to stand behind the Hokage, the figure looked down at the leader of the Leaf.
"What would you have me do, Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade hated herself for having to do this to Naruto, even if he wasn't aware. "Follow him. Keep an eye on him. Make sure he actually brings Sasuke back and doesn't beat him to a pulp out in the forest. You know Naruto, he can get very emotional.."
The figure nodded and disappeared out a window, not waiting for any more instructions.
Uchiha Sasuke, now the talk of the village, was jumping from tree to tree through the forest in the northern part of the Fire Country. Not once had he looked back since he left his home village, 2 days past, for he no longer considered himself part of that hell hole. 'They'll pay,' he thought to himself as he blurred past a small, non-ninja community, 'they'll all pay. Itachi. Naruto. Sakura. One day I'll kill them all.'
He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, where Orochimaru's cursed seal had begun to surface, sensing its host's lust for power. Grunting in pain, Sasuke dropped down into a clearing in the forest. Deciding it was time to stop for a rest, he propped himself up against a tree and dozed off. Never a thought in his mind that the Leaf would send atleast one shinobi after him, let alone his former teammate.
While Sasuke stopped to rest, Naruto was trying his best to catch up. He had returned to his apartment immediately after his meeting with Tsunade and had begun packing. Once finished, he stopped by Sakura's house to explain the mission and why she was not going to accompany him on this one. After giving his Sakura-chan a tight hug and a kiss goodbye he had turned and ran, trying to forget the worry in Sakura's green eyes.
Now in the forest, following Sasuke's trail, Naruto growled to himself. Observing signs of his ex-teammates passage, Naruto followed the trail as fast as he could without wasting precious energy he might need once he met up with the Uchiha.
'Damn him!' Naruto thought. 'Always making me go out of my way, I swear he does this just to piss me off..'
Before Naruto realized it, night was upon him. He briefly thought of setting up camp for the night. Thinking quickly, he discarded the idea. After all, there was no telling if Sasuke was stopping to rest or not, and he was already hours ahead of Naruto. Naruto mentally adjusted himself. Drawing forth some of the Kyubi's chakra, he pushed it towards his eyes, causing the iris to change to red, the pupils becoming slits.
Naruto had learned long ago how to control the chakra of the Nine Tails, however he had also made some discoveries on his own, without the aid of Jiraiya. This was one of them, focusing the Kyubi chakra into his eyes warped them somehow, changing them to mimic the real eyes of the Kyubi, greatly increasing his sight. Sighing to himself about not being able to tell if he was catching up or not, he continued on through the night.
Naruto had run himself to near exhaustion. It had been 3 days and he still hadn't caught up to Sasuke, and he began to wonder what would happen if he didn't catch up with the Uchiha before he made it to Orochimaru's compound.
'I suppose I'll just have to go in there and drag his sorry as out, thats all,' Naruto thought stubbornly as he stopped on a branch for a quick breather. Grinding he teeth he set off once again, increasing his pace.
Suddenly Naruto saw a streak of black over to his right. A streak that didn't fit into the sparse forest at noon on a sunny day. Changing his direction, Naruto veered off to his right in the direction of the streak. Narrowing his eyes in determination of catching up with that streak, he suddenly burst out of the forest, finding himself near the edge of a cliff.
Surprised at the sudden change of scenery, Naruto dropped to the ground, catching himself on all fours before sweeping his eyes from side to side. His eyes locked onto that black streak he'd seen in the forest. His prey. The person he'd been hunting for days, and the person he'd been charged to bring back to the village. Uchiha Sasuke.
"Well well...I never expected them to send the Dead Last after me" Sasuke said as Naruto slowly stood, his eyes never leaving the dark haired ninja.
"What can I say?" Replied Naruto in a tight voice, "I AM the number one ninja in surprising people. But down to business. You can come back with me quietly, or this can get rough. Personally I don't care either way, I'd actually prefer if you put up a struggle. I've been looking for an excuse to beat your ass."
Sasuke laughed contemptuously, much like Orochimaru would, and turned his head to spit. "You? Kick MY ass? Looks like passing the chuunin exam went to your head. In your dreams, loser. Now I've wasted enough time here, I'm leaving." and with that Sasuke turned and began walking away.
Sasuke had only walked several paces when he was flattened by a kick square between his shoulder blades. Sliding afew feet, face in the dirt, Sasuke swore. 'I never even felt him move...his speed is like Kakashi's' Sasuke grunted to himself and rolled over, flipping back up to his feet. Naruto stood in the same place he had when Sasuke had turned away. Arms crossed, a slight smirk on his face, it didn't even appear Naruto had moved at all.
Tilting his head slightly to the side, Naruto grinned widely at the bewildered look in Sasuke's eyes. 'Thats what the bastard gets for thinking I haven't gotten any stronger in the last year.'
"Like I said, Sasuke" Naruto spoke up, "You're coming back with me. Whether you walk, I carry you back unconsciously, or I bring you back in a body bag, you ARE coming back to Konoha. After all, I promised afew people I'd bring you back, and you know I don't go back on my word."
Sasuke shook his head to clear the thoughts of Naruto resembling his former sensei. 'That stance...he looks so like Kakashi when we were first genin...no! He's NOT Kakashi, he's nowhere near that strong. I'll show him a thing or two before I go on my way.'
"You're making a big mistake, Naruto, trying to fight me...but it could be interesting, I'll show you something you've never seen before. Some people in that pathetic village call it a 'cursed seal' but myself? I like to refer to it as my salvation." Sasuke grinned wickedly as his cursed seal surfaced and spread, covering his entire body in it's black, tattoo looking marks.
"The hell..?" was all Naruto got out before throwing up an arm to defend a kick thrown by Sasuke, aimed at his head. Grunting with effort, Naruto heaved Sasuke's leg back and dropped low, sweeping his leg at Sasuke's feet, attempting to trip him.
Naruto sighed to himself as his sweep hit nothing but air, and he heard a voice ring out behind him. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke cried out as he finished the seals for his jutsu. Sasuke smiled triumphantly as his fireballs slammed into Naruto's back. 'I knew that little shit was all talk I sure showed...huh?' Sasuke's mouth dropped open as Naruto burst in a puff of smoke.
Naruto sat on top of a rock to Sasuke's left, juggling some stones. "Not bad, Sasuke," he called, "considering that was a clone and everything. I half expected him to beat you."
"Afraid to fight me yourself, Dead Last?" Sasuke called out, trying to anger his opponent into rushing in blindly. Naruto always was hot tempered. Sasuke's comment didn't have the reaction he was expecting. Not even close.
Naruto fell off the rock laughing as Sasuke scowled at him, anger heating him up. "You think I don't want to fight you myself, Sasuke? Man, that was a friggin clone and you barely dodged that sweep. Don't try to deny it, I was watching the whole thing from here. Guess your little tattoo isn't as nice as you thought it was, eh?"
Sasuke was about to open his mouth to shout a response when Naruto shot off the rock, barreling straight at him. Throwing his hands up to block, Sasuke had time to gasp slightly before Naruto jumped and twisted in mid air, the blond's foot connecting with the back of Sasuke's head, sending him sprawling.
'Damn! When did he get so fast?!' Sasuke raged inwardly as he picked himself up from the ground and quickly activated his Sharingan before throwing himself at Naruto.
Naruto side-stepped easily, defending each of Sasuke's attacks as he did, never moving back, always to the side. Suddenly he attacked. Throwing a punch he knew Sasuke would dodge, he used his momentum to hand plant and throw a kick at the back of Sasuke's legs. Sasuke fell forward with a cry of pain as Naruto's foot crashed into the back of his knee, causing his leg to give out.
When Sasuke jumped to his feet again, what he saw confused him. Naruto stood in front of him, holding what appeared to be twin balls of chakra. 'Something is weird about those..' Sasuke took a closer look and realized that the chakra in the balls were spinning wildly in all directions. 'What the hell? I've never even HEARD of anything like this..'
"I was working on this when you went into your coma, and only perfected it two months ago, so I haven't had a chance to show you. I suppose this works just as well though, this way you get to be on the receiving end, rather than just watching." Naruto smirked as he saw Sasuke squint, staring at his Rasengans. "Pointless to try that, Uchiha. Not even your precious little eyes can emulate this jutsu."
Again Naruto rushed Sasuke before he had a chance to retort. Sasuke growled slightly, he ALWAYS had the last word! His growl was cut short as Naruto was upon him before he had a chance to set himself to dodge or defend. At the last second, Sasuke braced himself for the impact and abuse he was about to receive. Gritting his teeth, Naruto slammed his hands into Sasuke. Left hand connecting with right shoulder, right hand connecting with left torso.
Sasuke couldn't even muster a scream of pain as Naruto's jutsu hit him. It felt like he was being ripped apart, the sides of his body being forced in opposite directions before he was sent flying, spinning madly, finally slamming into a boulder and slumping down to the ground. Sasuke breathed heavily as he fought off unconscious. Grunting in pain as he pushed himself up with his left arm, his right one didn't seem to work when he tried to move it.
Looking down, Sasuke saw his shirt was ripped to shreds, and his torso had a spiraling pattern on it, overlapping his own cursed seal. 'Damn it! DAMN IT!! Why am I so weak?!! Why!! I need more power! MORE!' Sasuke screamed silently as his cursed seal...changed. The marks slowly changed from smooth, sweeping marks to hard, jagged lines as Sasuke shook, and chakra was released from his body in waves.
Naruto frowned slightly to himself as he observed Sasuke's change. 'What the hell is going on? His power just increased exponentially, hm, oh well, he's half dead anyway, I'll beat on him alittle more, then take him home.' Naruto nodded to himself, silently agreeing with his old idea when he realized Sasuke wasn't at the boulder anymore.
Naruto had no warning before a kick to the side of his head sent him sprawling. It was only instincts and quick movement that saved him from another series of kicks and punches. It was all he could do to defend. 'What the hell did that thing do? Sasuke is nowhere near this strong!' Grunting as one of Sasuke's blows connected with his stomach, Naruto flipped away, trying to pause the action for a breather.
Apparently Sasuke wasn't tired. He rushed the Leaf chuunin and in quick succession landed kicked to Naruto's knee, gut, and finally throat. The final kick sent Naruto staggering back, clutching his neck and gasping for air. Grinning evilly, Sasuke began performing seals, his hands moving too fast to keep track of. Finally he slapped his hands together into one final seal and let loose the name of his jutsu. "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"
Red flames spreading from Sasuke was all Naruto saw before they engulfed him completely, without a way to defend, Sasuke's jutsu had done its work. Sasuke moved over to the fallen form of Naruto and placed a foot against his chest, still feeling the heat from his own jutsu. "You see, Dead Last? This is the difference between us." Sasuke sneer victoriously as he lifted his foot and positioned it over Naruto's solar plexus, preparing for a killing blow.
Before Sasuke could stomp down on Naruto, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye. Blinking suddenly, he looked down to find Naruto gone. Looking around for where the boy had gone to, Sasuke could find no sign, just scars from their battle. Growling at losing the chance at killing his former teammate, he shrugged and again sped off towards the Village of the Sound. Towards Orochimaru.
Meanwhile, a shrouded figure laid Naruto to rest on a tree branch, examining the damage done to the boy. 'Well..atleast he isn't going to die immediately...not much I can do for him here, gotta get him back to the village as soon as possible..good thing Tsunade-sama sent me after him. Bah, why did I have to be the one? I don't even like this kid! Although he IS kind of cute..' Shrugging to herself Tenten lifted an unconcious Naruto and set off for Konoha as fast as she could go.
Author's Notes
My apologies for how long it's taken me to update, I had a slight medical emergency arise that I had to have taken care of, and the fight scene was intimidating to write, hope I did a halfway decent job on it. Once again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter