Heh heh. I see that Bloodroses23 has entered herself into our little
competition with her absolutely wonderful 3 kb review (response is at the
bottom), and I might have to agree with The La/=/er's views on cheating,
however, AkaNoShika's last review was 14kb... but when it's separated into
the two reviews... it becomes approximately 8kb and 6kb, which was beat out
by only 1kb. The La/=/er's last review was 9kb. So based on technicalities,
AkaNoShika won, but I have a feeling this little competition will be going
on for a while, so I'll just keep you two updated until the last chapter.
You know, you two don't have to compete for every review. I'm just happy that you two give me my two best quality reviews. You have no idea how insightful you two are in your reviews. I've had to either change my ideas, develop my ideas to the max or add more ideas to my story at least a dozen or so times so far because of something either of you has said.
Thank you both a lot. Sure, you two give me the longest reviews, but you also give the best.
Oh, and I'm sorry for traumatising you AkaNo... you know what... I'm just going to call you Aka from now on... less typing.
Chapter Title: 45. Lost and Found
Neji was sitting comfortably on the ground, with his back pressed against the tree, watching the remnants of the sun setting. He had been watching Sasuke pace back and forth in front of him, but after a while it became boring and redundant. It wasn't that the tense boy had said much of anything, but the stress was rolling off of him in waves. Most had taken Sakura's advice and stayed away from him, for fear of their lives. Kiba had learned his lesson the hard way.
The canine fiend had been getting really pissed off with Sasuke's lack of interest in their training and his constant pacing, so he went up to him and asked what was on his mind.
"Kiba, just leave him alone!" Sakura called out to him as he walked up to the stoic boy.
"Why the heck are you still pacing, Uchiha?" He asked, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. Akamaru barked in agreement from his perch on Kiba's head.
"Don't touch me." Sasuke hissed under his breath, just loud enough so the dog-boy could hear.
"Woah, no need to get defensive." Kiba exclaimed and pulled his hand from the Uchiha's shoulder. "We are on the same side, after all."
"Hn."
"Well, what's the problem? Why are you being such a jackass?" He asked, walking at Sasuke's side as he paced, his voice making the insult sound more like the truth than the offence it was.
"I don't need to tell you."
"Fine then. You're just going to piss off everyone else. I was just trying to help." Kiba patted Sasuke on the shoulder and was about to walk off when the Sharingan-eyed boy's arm shot out to grab the offending appendage. "What the hell?!" Kiba yelled in surprise. The group went quiet as they watched the scene.
"I told you not to touch me." Sasuke growled and within seconds Kiba was out cold on the dirt floor. Without a second thought Sasuke continued to pace.
Neji smirked to himself, almost sure why the Uchiha was being so uptight. He looked around to the rest of the boys who'd been on that mission six years ago and they all seemed to have the same idea. Except Kiba, who was sitting to the side, nursing a few bruised ribs. Sasuke had gone a lot easier on him than he obviously could have. Shikamaru stood up and voiced the question that Sasuke seemed desperate to know the answer to.
"Where's Naruto?" He wondered, looking back and forth between the other jounin teachers. Kurenai shook her head and looked to Asuma, but the man knew as much as she did. Kakashi looked up from his book and shrugged.
"He should have been back, but I'm not surprised. It's only been an hour since his shift ended." Sasuke growled under his breath, attracting all eyes.
"I bet him he would not only be late, he wouldn't even show up. That should have been enough incentive to get him here and on time, if not early." Sakura nodded and stood up from her seat beside Ino. The two girls had been chatting and catching up. In the last years they'd both been on a number of different missions and hadn't talked in a while.
"Naruto only had the Konoha meat vendor to check out and he was free for the night, ne?" She looked to Sasuke who nodded.
"Then he should be back." Kakashi stated. "I don't keep tabs on him everywhere he goes. He's a grown up young man. He should be able to take care of himself. Or have you forgotten that the raids aren't anything more than a couple of genin and chuunin."
"What if something happened?" Choji spoke up, stuffing away his packet of chips. "We all know he's strong, but there are some things even he can't go up against." Sasuke frowned and looked to the ground. Kakashi was silent for a few minutes before picking up the sign-in sheet.
"Naruto hasn't even signed out for the night." He muttered to himself. "We'll wait a little bit longer, before anything is done. He might just not want to come to training this week."
"Even I know Naruto's not that much of a slacker, Kakashi-sensei." Neji spoke up finally. "Shikamaru-kun, maybe, but Naruto lives for training. It is his destiny to be something great." Sasuke turned around to study the face of the new voice. Even after more than half a decade, he still didn't know where Naruto stood with the broken Hyuuga.
"How would you know what his destiny is, Hyuuga?" He wondered. "I thought you stopped believing in that destiny crap years ago." Neji shrugged as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.
"His eyes say it." He replied. "He believes he will be, and in his eyes you can see the determination that will strike down anything that gets in his way to his dreams. He shapes his own destiny."
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Almost an hour later, Kakashi stopped the practice. Even he had to agree that something had happened to the blond. He just didn't miss training altogether that way, and no matter how late he was, he would always get there at a reasonable hour, not like Kakashi's old habits. After a quick check with the night patrol to see if anyone had reported seeing him, Kakashi gathered everyone together.
"I just checked with the jounin guards, and he hasn't signed out, and nobody's seen him on their route. I even checked with the kunoichi who does his route after him and she hasn't seen anything of him at all." He sighed and looked from face to face. Many of the young genins and chuunins, who had been in the academy, had begun to ignore what their parents were telling them about the demon child, and followed their own opinions. There was the odd student, who still didn't like the blonde, and there were those that outright couldn't care less about him, and Kakashi wished sorely that the other children in the village weren't so hateful of his student. Those that knew nothing about Naruto were the worst towards the young man. He nodded to Shikamaru.
"Take another chuunin with you and search the area. I want a report when you-" He was interrupted when the kunoichi he'd been talking to before ran into the meeting.
"Please excuse me for interrupting the meeting, but I just remembered something odd from my route." Kakashi nodded for her to continue. "It might not have anything to do with the missing man, but I remember that the meat shop was still open when I walked near it. I don't normally go near it because it's a little too far from the rest of my route, but I check near the area for anything odd and then go back to my route."
"Get to the point!" Asuma exclaimed. She nodded and bowed in apology.
"Well, as I said before the meat shop was open. I know that the man usually likes to close down a few minutes before the young man before me goes past there, but I could see all the lights still on from inside. I didn't think of it at first, because it was completely quiet, and I assumed that the old man was just doing some late night work or something."
"You assumed?" Kurenai spoke up, shaking her head.
"Yes. But when I heard you were looking for that boy, I figured it might help you in the search." Kakashi waved her off.
"Go back to your route and don't go near the shop, just in case. We'll check it out." She nodded and returned to her patrolling.
"Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru spoke up. "Do you want me to check that place out instead of doing the entire route?" The silver-haired jounin nodded solemnly. "Take another chuunin with you and search out the area. I want to know if Naruto is there, or if there's any clues as to where he is." Shikamaru nodded and looked to Neji, who walked forward. Neither of them needed a word to be said between them.
"I think I should be the one to go!" Sasuke objected. "I know the dobe the best! What if something happened to him? Don't you think he would need someone he trusts?"
"My decision is final." The lazy chuunin frowned, understanding what Sasuke was going through. He knew he'd be a wreck if his best friend, Choji, was in the same position. He went over to Sasuke before they headed out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"He's my friend too. We'll bring him back." He said, finding anything else would be too bothersome to say. Sasuke nodded. Neither of them needed fancy words.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Shikamaru and Neji headed out to the meat vendor's in the darkened night. The air was stale and humid, and the silence was so uneasy that they were continuously scuffing their heels in the dirt or clearing their throats to make it somewhat bearable.
"So how's Ino?" Neji spoke up.
"She's Ino." Shikamaru replied. There was a few minutes more silence.
"What's going on between Sasuke and Naruto?" Shikamaru wondered. Neji shrugged.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Small talk."
"Right." Shikamaru frowned when his question went unanswered. He tried another.
"Do you think Sasuke knows what he's doing with Naruto?"
"No. I don't even think he knows the truth himself. You've seen those looks he gives me." Shikamaru sighed and silently agreed with Neji. "I think it's more than just hormones, though." They both nodded.
"It's always been more than hormones between them. More like adrenalin." Shikamaru remarked. "Ever since the academy they've been at each other's throats."
"Yeah." Neji agreed. "So you're okay with it?"
"With what?" They were nearing the meat shop. "With Naruto and Sasuke eventually becoming a couple?" Neji nodded. "I suppose it's alright. So long as neither one of them outright kills the other."
"True."
"Are you okay with it?"
"Sasuke and Naruto?" Neji stopped in his tracks for a moment to think. "I suppose so, but I don't like the way Uchiha handles his emotions." He replied. "I'm not sure I trust him as much as Naruto does."
"Jealous?"
"Why would you think I'm jealous?" Shikamaru smirked, before replying in a serious tone.
"Oh, I don't know. Something about your eyes screams 'jealous lover!' to me." Neji shoved his friend away and they peered into the shop, shoving away all signs of their earlier banter. They were on a mission and didn't need to mess it up with carelessness.
They opened the unlocked door and walked in slowly. Neji hung back to secure the door open, just in case they needed a quick exit. The place was completely quiet and even the upstairs apartment the vendor shared with his wife and daughter was quiet.
"Watch my back." Shikamaru ordered, pulling out his weapons. Neji nodded and pulled out a few shuriken of his own.
"Always." They stepped deeper into the butcher shop, Neji and his eyes covering every place Shikamaru wasn't looking. His eyes caught a change in the pattern on the floor.
"Shikamaru!" He exclaimed, pointing to the spot. His partner knelt down to the liquid and frowned deeply.
"It's blood."
"You're kidding." Neji replied, sarcastically. "Naruto's or the old man's."
"Wouldn't know. It might have even been some animal's." Neji scratched at it.
"Well it's been there long enough for it to have been the man's last job for the evening." Shikamaru stood up and went towards the back. He paused at the door. "Neji, stay here and make sure everything with the man's family is alright. I'm going to go back there and see if I can find anything. If I call your name then go as fast as you can to Kakashi to get help. If I just scream for help, then come and help me, okay?" Neji nodded and continued looking around.
Shikamaru slipped into the back room and was assaulted with the horrible smell of rotting meat.
"How can someone work with this every day?" He muttered to himself. He figured the man had forgotten to add the preservatives to the meat before he turned on the cold air for the night. He frowned and went over the thought again in his mind. The room not only reeked, it was warm and sticky as well. Not even on an off day would the old man forget to turn the refrigeration system on at night.
"Naruto?" He called softly. He'd figured that from the lack of noise, if there was anyone waiting to ambush him, they wouldn't have waited so long, and they'd have been making a lot more noise. "Ji-san?" He called out, but neither answered his calls. He kept on his path, holding his kunai ready for any signs of attack.
He had to watch his steps as the trail of blood droplets that had started in the front became larger and thicker spots and puddles until he came upon the purely white body of the old vendor, hanging upside down in the same fashion as his own meat, the last of his blood dripping down his face and onto the floor. Shikamaru took a shaky breath and shook his head. Things had just become a lot more dangerous.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Neji surveyed the room for anything more that seemed out of the ordinary. He took a few tentative steps towards the door, prepared to check the outside for clues when a soft gasp caught his attention.
He stopped, frozen in place. Crossing the room in a couple of quick, silent strides, he slowly peered over the counter to find the old man's wife and daughter dead on the floor. He winced and turned away. Not only had they been skinned in the same manner as the butchered animals, small pieces of them had been hacked away.
Neji squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could without giving himself a headache. The gasp was the daughter's final breath and he'd been too slow to save her life. He rested a hand on the counter and tried his hardest to steady his breaths.
"Fuck." He breathed out, disgusted by what he'd just seen. He assumed they had heard the intruders and came down to see what was going on; why that little girl's father hadn't closed up for the night. Neither mother nor daughter had been a shinobi. This was the first time a raid had taken such a nasty turn. This was the first act of war. Unfortunately, Neji knew, it would take a lot more before anything was resolved. There would be more innocents brutally murdered before the villages had satisfied their thirst for blood.
In that moment Neji questioned his choice to become a shinobi. In that moment Neji knew exactly why he'd become a shinobi.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Shikamaru kept going. He knew he had to. The old man was dead, and nothing he did at the moment would change that, but there was a chance Naruto was there. A chance the boy was still alive. He had to keep searching until he found him. He sighed to himself, seeing the back wall of the room just ahead and realising that Naruto wasn't there.
Apparently, the man had run into the back to try and throw off his attackers and escape when they were far enough from the door, but he'd been caught. Shikamaru sighed again when he realised that his failure to find the blonde meant that he hadn't been caught. He nearly smiled at the thought.
He moved around another hanging animal when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and cursed himself.
"Where's a fucking block of wood when you need one!!" He yelled to himself, seeing the blond hanging in the same manner as the old man. He only difference was Naruto was right way up and gagged. But the blood was the same. It was everywhere. Naruto had suffered through cuts to his face, shoulders, neck torso, legs, and places Shikamaru couldn't even see from the ropes. His body was suspended from a hook that was connected to the ropes around his chest, but even without Neji's eyes, Shikamaru could see the ropes slipping closer to the boy's neck. He struggled to force his limbs to move, but all it got him was a stirring of his stomach in the worst way. He tried biting on his lip, and forcing the bile back down his throat, but one more look at the torn body crushed his defences and he turned away, heaving.
Never before had he ever felt so sick at the sight of blood. In fact, he'd never been one to get uneasy around blood and gore, but something about the handful of kunais sticking out of his friend's side and the rough angry slashes down his face chilled him to the bone.
He brought the back of his hand to his lip and brushed away some of the bile, standing back up to face his friend. He knew he didn't have enough time to get cold feet. Not with the rising and falling of Naruto's chest threatening to cease. He fought down his nausea and threw a shuriken at the rope holding up the limp form.
Naruto groaned softly when he felt his body drop from its hook and into the waiting arms of his friend.
"Itai..." He mumbled, trying uselessly to move into a more comfortable position. Shikamaru took the hint and laid they young man down on the floor to inspect all of his injuries.
"Where are you hurt?" He asked, unzipping what was left of the orange jacket. In a flash, Naruto's hand had caught his.
"Not there." He whispered, wincing. Shikamaru, frowned, knowing there was something under his jacket that he didn't want his friend to see, but he couldn't decide whether it had to do with an injury or not. He sighed and allowed his friend to guide his hands to more important injuries.
"Can you take them out?" Naruto asked, hands ghosting over the handle of a kunai. Shikamaru nodded and slowly removed the blades. After a couple of years, Shikamaru had managed to get weapon removal down to an art. There was little to no pain, and he made sure it made as little damage as possible. He knew a great many shinobi who had become upset with him after taking a couple of unsightly scars from his earlier methods.
"Thank god you're still alive." Shikamaru whispered, more to himself, as he watched some of the smaller wounds heal themselves. He stared at a spot where a small slash had once been, and realised that, however slowly, Naruto's body had been working none stop to repair his wounded body. He shuddered to think of the condition he might have found the blonde if he'd been there an hour earlier.
Once he was certain Naruto would be alright for a moment, Shikamaru stood up to go and retrieve Neji from the front.
"Where are you going?" Naruto whimpered, trying to keep a hold of the olive green chuunin vest the darker-haired boy was wearing. "Please don't leave." Shikamaru stopped for a moment, seeing the fear so clearly in his friend's eyes.
"Naruto... they didn't... did they?" He asked, avoiding outright asking the question. It took a second for the implications of Shikamaru's meaning to set in before he frowned and shook his head avidly.
"No." He spat, and pulled himself up to a sitting position; despite the effort it cost him. "But don't go." He added, trying to look strong.
"I have to, Naruto. You need a doctor, and everyone's worried sick about you." Naruto hesitated before nodding in resignation. Shikamaru walked off, quickly, towards the front room where Neji was. When he was far enough away to make sure the fox-boy didn't get a headache, he called out to his partner, hoping he remembered.
He waited for a second before hearing the familiar chiming of the door opening and closing. He nodded to himself and went back to Naruto.
"What happened?" He asked, getting straight to the point. Naruto looked up at his return and took in a shaky breath.
"It was two sound jounin."
"What?! But nobody's said anything about the raids being more dangerous."
"No, that's because this was the first one." Naruto coughed a little, covering his mouth to hide from Shikamaru the blood that dribbled down his chin. "One of them had an Anbu mask, but the other one was ordering him around. I tried to do what I could to help the old man, but they were a little too fast for me. They did moves I've never even seen before." He took a breath to calm himself, knowing it was stupid to get riled up over one lost mission. "Before I could blink, they had me tied up like a punching bag. That was the last thing I remember before opening my eyes to find you chopping me down."
"You're going to be okay." Shikamaru exclaimed, crouching beside the blonde in his familiar stance.
"What about the old man? He had a family, ne?" Shikamaru nodded solemnly. "He's going to be alright, ne? He's going to live for their sakes, right?"
"He was dead hours before we got here, Naruto." The normally rambunctious teen's eyes glazed over kind of funny and his face lost all expression.
"Oh." He said.
(End of chapter)
Don't ask me why I ended it there. It just seemed... right.
How's that for length? That was just over 3600. Nine pages long. And even then, I had to cut out one scene from the original chapter. It was supposed to end with Neji getting the others, but I need to keep that for the next chapter to make it flow better.
To Aka: sorry, but my reply to your review was too long... do you think I could e-mail it to you?
To Scorn-Silverstar: What stuff were you talking about? Did you mean the stuff in Naruto's apartment? I'm not sure if it will come up later in the story, but Iruka and Sasuke managed to get another couple of days before the landlord started looking for people to buy the apartment. And as you know, Naruto came back pretty quickly, so he was able to get his apartment back with all his stuff secure.
To Bloodroses23: About the mother, she was the lady with Itachi. They both got away, and for now she's this small insignificant character without a name, but I can guarantee later on that she'll have a VERY big role in Sasuke's life.
To lightdragon1987: actually Naruto became a chuunin only in my story. In the anime and manga he hasn't gotten past genin. It was right after the mini war with Orochimaru. No one actually knows about this except Naruto and Tsunade (and now Mimura), and Naruto's reasoning will be explained when everyone finds out.
To The La/=/er: He hasn't really resolved his 'Orochimaru' problem, and the only way he agreed to wearing it was if it was put under his jacket (as well as a lot of badgering by Tsunade). And about the nickname, I really haven't seen anyone else doing it. That's not to say I'm trying to sound egotistical... it just means I didn't go 'oh, this hasn't been done yet, so let's try it'. I think at the time I was trying to fill space. Heh heh... and the 'Sasuke-monster' sort of took over after Mimura started to bug Naruto.
To Yasai-chan: Please don't get scared off by Aka and La/=/er's competition. Length has never been something I needed. Nor do I care if you just bump my review count. I just have fun reading the reviews, especially if someone's personality shines through it. I'm glad that you just like it. Oh, and criticise me as much as you'd like. I'm always trying to improve my writing. Of course... if it has to do with spelling and such... that's my fault. I haven't invested in a beta reader yet. I don't know where I can find a good one... no worries. I seem to be muddling through on my own. :D
On to the next one!!!
You know, you two don't have to compete for every review. I'm just happy that you two give me my two best quality reviews. You have no idea how insightful you two are in your reviews. I've had to either change my ideas, develop my ideas to the max or add more ideas to my story at least a dozen or so times so far because of something either of you has said.
Thank you both a lot. Sure, you two give me the longest reviews, but you also give the best.
Oh, and I'm sorry for traumatising you AkaNo... you know what... I'm just going to call you Aka from now on... less typing.
Chapter Title: 45. Lost and Found
Neji was sitting comfortably on the ground, with his back pressed against the tree, watching the remnants of the sun setting. He had been watching Sasuke pace back and forth in front of him, but after a while it became boring and redundant. It wasn't that the tense boy had said much of anything, but the stress was rolling off of him in waves. Most had taken Sakura's advice and stayed away from him, for fear of their lives. Kiba had learned his lesson the hard way.
The canine fiend had been getting really pissed off with Sasuke's lack of interest in their training and his constant pacing, so he went up to him and asked what was on his mind.
"Kiba, just leave him alone!" Sakura called out to him as he walked up to the stoic boy.
"Why the heck are you still pacing, Uchiha?" He asked, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. Akamaru barked in agreement from his perch on Kiba's head.
"Don't touch me." Sasuke hissed under his breath, just loud enough so the dog-boy could hear.
"Woah, no need to get defensive." Kiba exclaimed and pulled his hand from the Uchiha's shoulder. "We are on the same side, after all."
"Hn."
"Well, what's the problem? Why are you being such a jackass?" He asked, walking at Sasuke's side as he paced, his voice making the insult sound more like the truth than the offence it was.
"I don't need to tell you."
"Fine then. You're just going to piss off everyone else. I was just trying to help." Kiba patted Sasuke on the shoulder and was about to walk off when the Sharingan-eyed boy's arm shot out to grab the offending appendage. "What the hell?!" Kiba yelled in surprise. The group went quiet as they watched the scene.
"I told you not to touch me." Sasuke growled and within seconds Kiba was out cold on the dirt floor. Without a second thought Sasuke continued to pace.
Neji smirked to himself, almost sure why the Uchiha was being so uptight. He looked around to the rest of the boys who'd been on that mission six years ago and they all seemed to have the same idea. Except Kiba, who was sitting to the side, nursing a few bruised ribs. Sasuke had gone a lot easier on him than he obviously could have. Shikamaru stood up and voiced the question that Sasuke seemed desperate to know the answer to.
"Where's Naruto?" He wondered, looking back and forth between the other jounin teachers. Kurenai shook her head and looked to Asuma, but the man knew as much as she did. Kakashi looked up from his book and shrugged.
"He should have been back, but I'm not surprised. It's only been an hour since his shift ended." Sasuke growled under his breath, attracting all eyes.
"I bet him he would not only be late, he wouldn't even show up. That should have been enough incentive to get him here and on time, if not early." Sakura nodded and stood up from her seat beside Ino. The two girls had been chatting and catching up. In the last years they'd both been on a number of different missions and hadn't talked in a while.
"Naruto only had the Konoha meat vendor to check out and he was free for the night, ne?" She looked to Sasuke who nodded.
"Then he should be back." Kakashi stated. "I don't keep tabs on him everywhere he goes. He's a grown up young man. He should be able to take care of himself. Or have you forgotten that the raids aren't anything more than a couple of genin and chuunin."
"What if something happened?" Choji spoke up, stuffing away his packet of chips. "We all know he's strong, but there are some things even he can't go up against." Sasuke frowned and looked to the ground. Kakashi was silent for a few minutes before picking up the sign-in sheet.
"Naruto hasn't even signed out for the night." He muttered to himself. "We'll wait a little bit longer, before anything is done. He might just not want to come to training this week."
"Even I know Naruto's not that much of a slacker, Kakashi-sensei." Neji spoke up finally. "Shikamaru-kun, maybe, but Naruto lives for training. It is his destiny to be something great." Sasuke turned around to study the face of the new voice. Even after more than half a decade, he still didn't know where Naruto stood with the broken Hyuuga.
"How would you know what his destiny is, Hyuuga?" He wondered. "I thought you stopped believing in that destiny crap years ago." Neji shrugged as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.
"His eyes say it." He replied. "He believes he will be, and in his eyes you can see the determination that will strike down anything that gets in his way to his dreams. He shapes his own destiny."
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Almost an hour later, Kakashi stopped the practice. Even he had to agree that something had happened to the blond. He just didn't miss training altogether that way, and no matter how late he was, he would always get there at a reasonable hour, not like Kakashi's old habits. After a quick check with the night patrol to see if anyone had reported seeing him, Kakashi gathered everyone together.
"I just checked with the jounin guards, and he hasn't signed out, and nobody's seen him on their route. I even checked with the kunoichi who does his route after him and she hasn't seen anything of him at all." He sighed and looked from face to face. Many of the young genins and chuunins, who had been in the academy, had begun to ignore what their parents were telling them about the demon child, and followed their own opinions. There was the odd student, who still didn't like the blonde, and there were those that outright couldn't care less about him, and Kakashi wished sorely that the other children in the village weren't so hateful of his student. Those that knew nothing about Naruto were the worst towards the young man. He nodded to Shikamaru.
"Take another chuunin with you and search the area. I want a report when you-" He was interrupted when the kunoichi he'd been talking to before ran into the meeting.
"Please excuse me for interrupting the meeting, but I just remembered something odd from my route." Kakashi nodded for her to continue. "It might not have anything to do with the missing man, but I remember that the meat shop was still open when I walked near it. I don't normally go near it because it's a little too far from the rest of my route, but I check near the area for anything odd and then go back to my route."
"Get to the point!" Asuma exclaimed. She nodded and bowed in apology.
"Well, as I said before the meat shop was open. I know that the man usually likes to close down a few minutes before the young man before me goes past there, but I could see all the lights still on from inside. I didn't think of it at first, because it was completely quiet, and I assumed that the old man was just doing some late night work or something."
"You assumed?" Kurenai spoke up, shaking her head.
"Yes. But when I heard you were looking for that boy, I figured it might help you in the search." Kakashi waved her off.
"Go back to your route and don't go near the shop, just in case. We'll check it out." She nodded and returned to her patrolling.
"Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru spoke up. "Do you want me to check that place out instead of doing the entire route?" The silver-haired jounin nodded solemnly. "Take another chuunin with you and search out the area. I want to know if Naruto is there, or if there's any clues as to where he is." Shikamaru nodded and looked to Neji, who walked forward. Neither of them needed a word to be said between them.
"I think I should be the one to go!" Sasuke objected. "I know the dobe the best! What if something happened to him? Don't you think he would need someone he trusts?"
"My decision is final." The lazy chuunin frowned, understanding what Sasuke was going through. He knew he'd be a wreck if his best friend, Choji, was in the same position. He went over to Sasuke before they headed out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"He's my friend too. We'll bring him back." He said, finding anything else would be too bothersome to say. Sasuke nodded. Neither of them needed fancy words.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Shikamaru and Neji headed out to the meat vendor's in the darkened night. The air was stale and humid, and the silence was so uneasy that they were continuously scuffing their heels in the dirt or clearing their throats to make it somewhat bearable.
"So how's Ino?" Neji spoke up.
"She's Ino." Shikamaru replied. There was a few minutes more silence.
"What's going on between Sasuke and Naruto?" Shikamaru wondered. Neji shrugged.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Small talk."
"Right." Shikamaru frowned when his question went unanswered. He tried another.
"Do you think Sasuke knows what he's doing with Naruto?"
"No. I don't even think he knows the truth himself. You've seen those looks he gives me." Shikamaru sighed and silently agreed with Neji. "I think it's more than just hormones, though." They both nodded.
"It's always been more than hormones between them. More like adrenalin." Shikamaru remarked. "Ever since the academy they've been at each other's throats."
"Yeah." Neji agreed. "So you're okay with it?"
"With what?" They were nearing the meat shop. "With Naruto and Sasuke eventually becoming a couple?" Neji nodded. "I suppose it's alright. So long as neither one of them outright kills the other."
"True."
"Are you okay with it?"
"Sasuke and Naruto?" Neji stopped in his tracks for a moment to think. "I suppose so, but I don't like the way Uchiha handles his emotions." He replied. "I'm not sure I trust him as much as Naruto does."
"Jealous?"
"Why would you think I'm jealous?" Shikamaru smirked, before replying in a serious tone.
"Oh, I don't know. Something about your eyes screams 'jealous lover!' to me." Neji shoved his friend away and they peered into the shop, shoving away all signs of their earlier banter. They were on a mission and didn't need to mess it up with carelessness.
They opened the unlocked door and walked in slowly. Neji hung back to secure the door open, just in case they needed a quick exit. The place was completely quiet and even the upstairs apartment the vendor shared with his wife and daughter was quiet.
"Watch my back." Shikamaru ordered, pulling out his weapons. Neji nodded and pulled out a few shuriken of his own.
"Always." They stepped deeper into the butcher shop, Neji and his eyes covering every place Shikamaru wasn't looking. His eyes caught a change in the pattern on the floor.
"Shikamaru!" He exclaimed, pointing to the spot. His partner knelt down to the liquid and frowned deeply.
"It's blood."
"You're kidding." Neji replied, sarcastically. "Naruto's or the old man's."
"Wouldn't know. It might have even been some animal's." Neji scratched at it.
"Well it's been there long enough for it to have been the man's last job for the evening." Shikamaru stood up and went towards the back. He paused at the door. "Neji, stay here and make sure everything with the man's family is alright. I'm going to go back there and see if I can find anything. If I call your name then go as fast as you can to Kakashi to get help. If I just scream for help, then come and help me, okay?" Neji nodded and continued looking around.
Shikamaru slipped into the back room and was assaulted with the horrible smell of rotting meat.
"How can someone work with this every day?" He muttered to himself. He figured the man had forgotten to add the preservatives to the meat before he turned on the cold air for the night. He frowned and went over the thought again in his mind. The room not only reeked, it was warm and sticky as well. Not even on an off day would the old man forget to turn the refrigeration system on at night.
"Naruto?" He called softly. He'd figured that from the lack of noise, if there was anyone waiting to ambush him, they wouldn't have waited so long, and they'd have been making a lot more noise. "Ji-san?" He called out, but neither answered his calls. He kept on his path, holding his kunai ready for any signs of attack.
He had to watch his steps as the trail of blood droplets that had started in the front became larger and thicker spots and puddles until he came upon the purely white body of the old vendor, hanging upside down in the same fashion as his own meat, the last of his blood dripping down his face and onto the floor. Shikamaru took a shaky breath and shook his head. Things had just become a lot more dangerous.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Neji surveyed the room for anything more that seemed out of the ordinary. He took a few tentative steps towards the door, prepared to check the outside for clues when a soft gasp caught his attention.
He stopped, frozen in place. Crossing the room in a couple of quick, silent strides, he slowly peered over the counter to find the old man's wife and daughter dead on the floor. He winced and turned away. Not only had they been skinned in the same manner as the butchered animals, small pieces of them had been hacked away.
Neji squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could without giving himself a headache. The gasp was the daughter's final breath and he'd been too slow to save her life. He rested a hand on the counter and tried his hardest to steady his breaths.
"Fuck." He breathed out, disgusted by what he'd just seen. He assumed they had heard the intruders and came down to see what was going on; why that little girl's father hadn't closed up for the night. Neither mother nor daughter had been a shinobi. This was the first time a raid had taken such a nasty turn. This was the first act of war. Unfortunately, Neji knew, it would take a lot more before anything was resolved. There would be more innocents brutally murdered before the villages had satisfied their thirst for blood.
In that moment Neji questioned his choice to become a shinobi. In that moment Neji knew exactly why he'd become a shinobi.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Shikamaru kept going. He knew he had to. The old man was dead, and nothing he did at the moment would change that, but there was a chance Naruto was there. A chance the boy was still alive. He had to keep searching until he found him. He sighed to himself, seeing the back wall of the room just ahead and realising that Naruto wasn't there.
Apparently, the man had run into the back to try and throw off his attackers and escape when they were far enough from the door, but he'd been caught. Shikamaru sighed again when he realised that his failure to find the blonde meant that he hadn't been caught. He nearly smiled at the thought.
He moved around another hanging animal when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and cursed himself.
"Where's a fucking block of wood when you need one!!" He yelled to himself, seeing the blond hanging in the same manner as the old man. He only difference was Naruto was right way up and gagged. But the blood was the same. It was everywhere. Naruto had suffered through cuts to his face, shoulders, neck torso, legs, and places Shikamaru couldn't even see from the ropes. His body was suspended from a hook that was connected to the ropes around his chest, but even without Neji's eyes, Shikamaru could see the ropes slipping closer to the boy's neck. He struggled to force his limbs to move, but all it got him was a stirring of his stomach in the worst way. He tried biting on his lip, and forcing the bile back down his throat, but one more look at the torn body crushed his defences and he turned away, heaving.
Never before had he ever felt so sick at the sight of blood. In fact, he'd never been one to get uneasy around blood and gore, but something about the handful of kunais sticking out of his friend's side and the rough angry slashes down his face chilled him to the bone.
He brought the back of his hand to his lip and brushed away some of the bile, standing back up to face his friend. He knew he didn't have enough time to get cold feet. Not with the rising and falling of Naruto's chest threatening to cease. He fought down his nausea and threw a shuriken at the rope holding up the limp form.
Naruto groaned softly when he felt his body drop from its hook and into the waiting arms of his friend.
"Itai..." He mumbled, trying uselessly to move into a more comfortable position. Shikamaru took the hint and laid they young man down on the floor to inspect all of his injuries.
"Where are you hurt?" He asked, unzipping what was left of the orange jacket. In a flash, Naruto's hand had caught his.
"Not there." He whispered, wincing. Shikamaru, frowned, knowing there was something under his jacket that he didn't want his friend to see, but he couldn't decide whether it had to do with an injury or not. He sighed and allowed his friend to guide his hands to more important injuries.
"Can you take them out?" Naruto asked, hands ghosting over the handle of a kunai. Shikamaru nodded and slowly removed the blades. After a couple of years, Shikamaru had managed to get weapon removal down to an art. There was little to no pain, and he made sure it made as little damage as possible. He knew a great many shinobi who had become upset with him after taking a couple of unsightly scars from his earlier methods.
"Thank god you're still alive." Shikamaru whispered, more to himself, as he watched some of the smaller wounds heal themselves. He stared at a spot where a small slash had once been, and realised that, however slowly, Naruto's body had been working none stop to repair his wounded body. He shuddered to think of the condition he might have found the blonde if he'd been there an hour earlier.
Once he was certain Naruto would be alright for a moment, Shikamaru stood up to go and retrieve Neji from the front.
"Where are you going?" Naruto whimpered, trying to keep a hold of the olive green chuunin vest the darker-haired boy was wearing. "Please don't leave." Shikamaru stopped for a moment, seeing the fear so clearly in his friend's eyes.
"Naruto... they didn't... did they?" He asked, avoiding outright asking the question. It took a second for the implications of Shikamaru's meaning to set in before he frowned and shook his head avidly.
"No." He spat, and pulled himself up to a sitting position; despite the effort it cost him. "But don't go." He added, trying to look strong.
"I have to, Naruto. You need a doctor, and everyone's worried sick about you." Naruto hesitated before nodding in resignation. Shikamaru walked off, quickly, towards the front room where Neji was. When he was far enough away to make sure the fox-boy didn't get a headache, he called out to his partner, hoping he remembered.
He waited for a second before hearing the familiar chiming of the door opening and closing. He nodded to himself and went back to Naruto.
"What happened?" He asked, getting straight to the point. Naruto looked up at his return and took in a shaky breath.
"It was two sound jounin."
"What?! But nobody's said anything about the raids being more dangerous."
"No, that's because this was the first one." Naruto coughed a little, covering his mouth to hide from Shikamaru the blood that dribbled down his chin. "One of them had an Anbu mask, but the other one was ordering him around. I tried to do what I could to help the old man, but they were a little too fast for me. They did moves I've never even seen before." He took a breath to calm himself, knowing it was stupid to get riled up over one lost mission. "Before I could blink, they had me tied up like a punching bag. That was the last thing I remember before opening my eyes to find you chopping me down."
"You're going to be okay." Shikamaru exclaimed, crouching beside the blonde in his familiar stance.
"What about the old man? He had a family, ne?" Shikamaru nodded solemnly. "He's going to be alright, ne? He's going to live for their sakes, right?"
"He was dead hours before we got here, Naruto." The normally rambunctious teen's eyes glazed over kind of funny and his face lost all expression.
"Oh." He said.
(End of chapter)
Don't ask me why I ended it there. It just seemed... right.
How's that for length? That was just over 3600. Nine pages long. And even then, I had to cut out one scene from the original chapter. It was supposed to end with Neji getting the others, but I need to keep that for the next chapter to make it flow better.
To Aka: sorry, but my reply to your review was too long... do you think I could e-mail it to you?
To Scorn-Silverstar: What stuff were you talking about? Did you mean the stuff in Naruto's apartment? I'm not sure if it will come up later in the story, but Iruka and Sasuke managed to get another couple of days before the landlord started looking for people to buy the apartment. And as you know, Naruto came back pretty quickly, so he was able to get his apartment back with all his stuff secure.
To Bloodroses23: About the mother, she was the lady with Itachi. They both got away, and for now she's this small insignificant character without a name, but I can guarantee later on that she'll have a VERY big role in Sasuke's life.
To lightdragon1987: actually Naruto became a chuunin only in my story. In the anime and manga he hasn't gotten past genin. It was right after the mini war with Orochimaru. No one actually knows about this except Naruto and Tsunade (and now Mimura), and Naruto's reasoning will be explained when everyone finds out.
To The La/=/er: He hasn't really resolved his 'Orochimaru' problem, and the only way he agreed to wearing it was if it was put under his jacket (as well as a lot of badgering by Tsunade). And about the nickname, I really haven't seen anyone else doing it. That's not to say I'm trying to sound egotistical... it just means I didn't go 'oh, this hasn't been done yet, so let's try it'. I think at the time I was trying to fill space. Heh heh... and the 'Sasuke-monster' sort of took over after Mimura started to bug Naruto.
To Yasai-chan: Please don't get scared off by Aka and La/=/er's competition. Length has never been something I needed. Nor do I care if you just bump my review count. I just have fun reading the reviews, especially if someone's personality shines through it. I'm glad that you just like it. Oh, and criticise me as much as you'd like. I'm always trying to improve my writing. Of course... if it has to do with spelling and such... that's my fault. I haven't invested in a beta reader yet. I don't know where I can find a good one... no worries. I seem to be muddling through on my own. :D
On to the next one!!!