Time Apart Chapter 7

It hadn't been hard for Sakura to figure out from which village Sasuke had been basing his attacks. Really, it was mostly a connect the dots. Once she found a town that had been attacked, she went to the next town, getting closer and closer. It wasn't long until she arrived.

Konoha was surely aware that she had left by now. It had been five days. She was almost sure that Tsunade had figured out where she was headed, and most likely had sent other ninjas to retrieve her. She briefly considered the rampant stupidity involved in the actions she was about to take, but then decided that this would be her only chance to save Sasuke.

She took a deep breath. She was standing in the trees that circled the village where Sasuke was. There were a few Sound ninjas about, but they were visible, and she didn't think she would have much of a problem sneaking in. During the journey, she had removed anything that marked her as a ninja. That way, she could get in and try to blend in with the villagers that still stayed there while she waited. Once she found a chance to speak with Sasuke alone, she would.

Even if he didn't come back with her, she could at least warn him that Naruto was going to kill him. He had to know, so he could flee. Having seen what Naruto did to Kakashi during his Jounin test, she wasn't so sure her hero could cope. It wasn't fair, Naruto had four extra years to practice. With practiced ease, Sakura zipped through the shadows, avoiding detection. Waiting for the right moment, she sat patiently. When the way was clear, she erupted forward. Putting all her chakra into her feet, she scaled up the wall outside the town. In less than three seconds, she was in.

Taking a quick look around, she decided that she hadn't been seen, and walked casually toward the center of town.

Sasuke sat in the town hall, speaking with some of his subordinates. He was making sure that the attacks on the area were going as planned. When Kabuto walked in the door, he waved the other ninjas away.

"Haruno Sakura has sneaked into the village," Kabuto said quietly. Offhandedly adjusting his glasses, the tall silver haired man waited for his master's answer.

"Which one is that?" Sasuke said. If anyone who knew Sasuke had been in the room, they would have noticed that the voice did not match the body.

"The one that chased the previous tenant of that body around like a love sick puppy, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto responded.

"Then we have caught the wrong animal in our trap. The Kyuubi vessel has changed. When I last saw him, he would have rushed right here. Impetuous youth," Sasuke spat.

"She can still be of some use. We could use her to lure the boy here," Kabuto suggested. Sasuke stood up, and wiped his hand across his face. As the hand passed, a genjutsu returned his features to that of his original body.

"Let us pay her a visit then," Orochimaru said.

Naruto smiled at the thought of seeing Jiraiya again. The old pervert was usually fun to be around, but he was rarely ever mature. Hinata and Lee stood beside him as they waited for the innkeeper. First, they needed to get a room so that they could stay for the night, in case he couldn't find the hermit. In a town this size though, he was pretty sure he knew what type of places to look at.

"Will that be one room or two?" the Innkeeper asked. Naruto and Hinata both answered at the same time.

"One"

"Two"

"One," Naruto reinforced. He turned to the side and said quietly, "You have been sleeping in the same tent with us for the last six days, and if the village is attacked in the night, I want us all in the same room. I don't want you to be ambushed all alone and killed while Lee and I sleep quietly."

Hinata nodded. Secretly, she was happy to be staying in the same room, but, as always, if word got to her father it would be scandalous. Even people this far out knew of the mighty Hyuuga clan. In the end though, it wouldn't matter. She had bigger battles to fight right now.

Naruto watched his teammates get settled into the room. "I am going to go look for Jiraiya. You two get settled, and set up our room. If you want to go have a listen around town to see what you can find out about the attacks, go ahead." He walked out the door, Kit trailing behind him.

Once they were out of earshot, Kit asked, "Headed to the hot springs aren't we?"

Naruto smiled, "Yes we are. If I know anything about that pervert, it's that the best place to find him is spying on girls. Research my ass." Hours went by, as Naruto checked every hot spring and bathhouse in the city. Finally he hit the jackpot.

Using some very ingenious ninja techniques, Jiraiya sat in the trees overlooking the girls bath. Naruto considered his options for getting the legendary ninja's attention, and then decided that exposing him would be the best way. Snickering to himself, he stealthily worked his way to the tree. Walking around to the side closest to the bathhouse, he activated his jutsu. The Rasengan cut quickly through part of the tree, causing it to lean precariously. The sudden movement of the tree threw Jiraiya off balance.

Naruto watched with some satisfaction as Jiraiya splashed into the hot bath water. The women screamed and ran about, trying to cover themselves before the lecherous pervert could catch another glance. When Jiraiya resurfaced, his drenched look of embarrassment was enough to send Naruto into fits of laughter.

Unfortunately, his fits of laughter attracted the attention of the women as well.

"There's another one!" one of the ladies shouted. Naruto's laughter cut itself short as a mob of half-clothed women began to form up.

"Let's get out of here!" Jiraiya shouted, shooting out from the water. Leaving a trail of soggy ground behind him, the legendary sennin vanished into smoke. Naruto was not far behind him.

Once they had successfully escaped, Jiraiya slowed down to catch his breath. Turning towards Naruto, he said, "Now what was the big idea there? Who are you and why did you-" Recognition dawned as he saw the whisker marks on Naruto's face. "Naruto?"

"The one and only," was Naruto's reply. Jiraiya whooped loudly.

"I knew you weren't dead! All the others were convinced, but I knew my student couldn't be put down by the likes of Sasuke. Your older than you should be though," Jiraiya said. Many things could be said about Jiraiya, but he was perceptive. "Is that fox who I think it is?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I have a lot to tell you. We are here on a mission."

"I assume you have the Kyuubi under control? It wouldn't be following you around otherwise?" Jiraiya asked.

"Under control? He has no such thing! I come and go as I please," Kit said indignantly.

"Yeah, I got him under control. He has been training me for the last eight years. The others don't know about him though, so keep it quiet," Naruto said.

"Others? You're with a team? Good, I need some backup. Some Sound upstarts have been doing raids all along this area. I was hoping Tsunade would send someone," he paused, "wait, eight years?" The two men walked towards the city, getting closer to the inn as they talked. Naruto explained the Chakra tear.

"I'm leading the team actually. I am a jounin now," Naruto said proudly. "Tsunade said that she hadn't been in contact with you." Jiraiya stopped when he heard that.

"Then my messages are being intercepted. This may be more than just raids," Jiraiya said. "They may be gearing up for something. If it wasn't my message, then how did you learn of things down here?"

"A Council member from the town where Sasuke is leading the Sound teams managed to get a letter out by pigeon," Naruto said. The two had made it to the inn, and Jiraiya was pleased to note that it was the same one he had been staying in.

"Fancy that, our tastes are the same. Anyway, the councilmen couldn't have possibly sent out a letter. The people that escaped that city told me all the council were killed to begin with. The letter was probably a lure. This may be a trap," Jiraiya said. The two men walked up the stairs, and Naruto gave three soft taps on his door.

"Trap or not, we have to try and bring down Sasuke. This is the first time we have a concrete location on him," Naruto said. Hinata answered the door.

"Woah! Naruto, you didn't tell me you were staying with a girl! An attractive one at that," Jiraiya said loudly, eliciting a blush from Hinata.

"I'm not staying alone with her. Lee is here too. This is my team," Naruto said. Seeing that Lee wasn't in the room, Naruto asked, "Where is Lee anyway?"

"He went to talk to the villagers about the attacks. We didn't think you would find Jiraiya-sama so quickly." She bowed deeply to Jiraiya, who smoothly grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Lay off ero-sennin," Naruto said, snatching Hinata's hand from his grip. He put his arm around her and led her to the other side of the room. Not noticing that the contact had made her turn roughly the shade of a tomato, he whispered in her ear, "Pay no attention to ero-sennin, he is nothing but a pervert!"

"I heard that Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted. Hinata was about to faint. Naruto was of course oblivious to the effect of his actions because he was busy yelling at Jiraiya. When Hinata plopped down on her pallet, she noticed Kit from across the room. His eyes had never left her. While the two men were arguing, Kit crossed the room and sat next to Hinata, rubbing against her legs. She sighed as she scratched behind his ears.

"I wonder if he will ever notice me?" she asked quietly to the animal sitting beside her, confident that he could not understand.

Rock Lee was the first person to notice that something was amiss. The town had guards that were supposed to be patrolling the area, but when Lee saw a group of guards headed into the city, he thought they looked strange. Tailing the men, Lee was growing increasingly alarmed as they headed straight for the town council building.

He didn't know much about the guards around the town, but the villagers he had talked to sounded pretty confident in them. While it made perfect sense for the town guards to make a report to the council, Lee couldn't shake a strange feeling he was having about these particular men. While still following the men, he beckoned for a child to come forward.

"How would you like to make some money?" he asked while still walking.

"What can I do mister?" the kid asked, excited at the prospect. Reaching into his pockets, Lee grabbed a handful of money and told the kid the directions to their inn. "Tell the girl named Hinata, and a blond man with a pet fox, that Lee might need their help in the council building. Hurry please." Nodded eagerly the boy took off.

Lee decided it was time to test his theory. Putting on a drunken act, he stumbled into the men. Immediately, there was a flurry of movement from the men, pushing him past them and onto the ground. "Watch yourself!" they shouted angrily. That was when Lee got a good look at them from the front.

He realized why he thought they were suspicious. None of their clothes really fit, and they were torn in some places. One man's uniform was stained with hastily washed out blood in the heart area. These men were not the guards that should be returning. He considered at least waiting for Hinata to arrive, since he didn't know if Naruto was back at the room yet, but then decided that whatever these men wanted in the council building, he wasn't going to let them do it.

Still pulling off the drunken act, Lee hauled himself up from the ground. Stumbling forward towards the men again, he watched as they tensed up. Using the momentum from the stumble, Lee gracefully moved from a drunken stupor, to a lightning swift kick to the face. One man went sprawling as the weights attached to Lee's legs slammed into his face. When he landed, Lee heard the sound of metal on metal as several Kunai and a Sound headband fell out of his cloak.

"I knew it!" Lee shouted, already defending himself from the other two mens attacks. The one he had kicked was slowly getting to his feet. Lee was a whirlwind of movement as he caught or avoided kick after punch. His own counterattacks were like surgical strikes, darting out only occasionally, but always hitting their marks. Alone, it was all he could do to keep the three men occupied. Thankfully, he noticed more of the town guard arriving at the scene.

Sadly, since the three men were wearing guard uniforms, the other guards thought that Lee was the attacker, and so targeted him. All of Lee's attacks were cut short, as the extra men would occasionally dart in with long spears. The Green Beast of Konoha became a green blur, as he deftly dodged every attack thrown in his direction.

He couldn't last long in this kind of situation. That is why he was glad that his team showed up at that time.

"Stop it, you idiots, the green one is a Ninja from Konoha, the other men are the enemy!" Jiraiya said, stepping into the area. With a few quick blows, he had stopped anyone of the guards that were trying to get in some potshots at Lee.

Hinata didn't waste any time getting into the combat. Hardly breaking her run, she slid in between Lee and one of the three Sound Ninjas. Stopping the mans attack cold with a block from her forearm, she darted her other hand underneath and punched him hard in the stomach. The man let loose a shout as he clutched his gut, moving backwards. Hinata smiled grimly with satisfaction as the man threw up. Moving her leg upward, she ended his involvement in the battle with a snap kick to the back of his head.

On the other front, Naruto had intercepted one of the ninjas from Lee's area. It was almost comical watching him block the other mans attacks without hardly any effort. When Naruto was done playing with the man, he grabbed him by the wrist, and with a sharp twist, broke it. Swirling around behind the man, he locked his leg around him and forced him to the ground. Within seconds, Naruto had the man at his mercy, arms behind his back and bound.

Free of his other two opponents, Lee was ready to cut loose. He turned the tables on the Sound ninja, moving into attack instead of defense. The man was able to defend himself for a few seconds before being overwhelmed by Lee's attacks. Once the last opponent was down, the Konoha ninjas took stock of the situation.

"Weren't very good were they?" Lee said.

"No they weren't." Hinata answered. She was usually winded after a battle, but this time she barely had to do a thing. These men were mid to high level Genin, no better.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked, viciously twisting his captives arm behind his back.

"We are just messengers!" the man shouted pitifully. "Please don't kill me!"

"Pathetic," Naruto said. Jiraiya was busy telling the crowd what was going on and keeping their attention off what Naruto was doing.

"Whats the message?" Hinata asked, walking up to the struggling man.

"A photo. Orochimaru-sama said it was for someone named Naruto!" the sound ninja said.

"Orochimaru?" Jiraiya said, walking in on the interrogation.

"What about Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Is he still in the area." The Sound ninja laughed.

"Yes, just look at the message. It is in my front pocket," the sound ninja said. Naruto held him up while Jiraiya went through his pockets. Getting out the picture, Jiraiya's face fell. He flipped it over to show Naruto.

"Sakura!" Naruto said. The picture showed her, tied up and obviously abused. She had large bruises on her face. Anger flared up in Naruto like he had rarely felt.

"Orochimaru said he would kill her if you didn't come," the Sound Ninja said. With a vicious punch, Naruto silenced the man. A hot rage burned through him.

"That wasn't necessary," Jiraiya said.

"Yes it was," Hinata answered for Naruto, calming him down a little. "He deserved it."

"What's the plan now?" Lee asked, also obviously perturbed by the photograph.

"I'm going." Naruto answered without a pause for thought. "I'm going to save her and make them pay. I may not be as powerful as Orochimaru by myself, but I have a certain advantage. I also have to pay back Sasuke."

"Now wait a minute! This is an obvious trap!" Jiraiya said.

"I don't abandon my friends. I don't know what she was doing there, but I have to save her. You guys don't have to come," Naruto said.

"I'm in!" Lee shouted. "Sakura-san needs saving, and the Green Beast of Konoha cannot simply allow her to suffer!"

"I'm going. A ninja doesn't abandon her teammates, even if they are marching into a trap," Hinata said. Jiraiya sighed, defeated.

"Well I can't let you kids go alone. If Orochimaru is really there, you will need me anyway," Jiraiya said, resigned to the fact that he couldn't convince them not to go. "However, we are going to get some sleep right now. Lets tie these guys up and turn them in. We can leave early in the morning."

Author's Notes: Wow, I bet you thought it would never come out! Sorry about the super long wait for this chapter, and sorry it is kinda short. Things have been crazy with me since the birthday. Sometimes real life gets in the way of our hobbies :( Anyway, chances are chapter 8 or 9 will be the last chapter for this story, depending on how long the final fight and epilogue end up being. The wait for chapter 8 won't be as long I hope.

So here is hoping everyone enjoyed chapter 7, and now we are in the final stretch of my very first fan fic!