Chapter 4

Sakura ran through Konoha, after informing Naruto, seeking any information she could about Hinata or Hanabi. There is no way, I will find anything by running around, she thought, I' ll ask some shopkeepers.

Going inside one of the shops, she quickly asked for any useful information.

"Excuse me sir, but have you seen Hyuuga Hinata or Hyuuga Hanabi, lately?"

Luckily the Hyuugas were well known in Konoha so many knew who they were.

"Hyuuga Hinata, um...sorry miss but I haven' t seen her or her sister. The last time I saw them was almost two months ago," replied the owner.

"Thank you for your help," with that, Sakura left going back to her search.

Being the last person to be informed, Naruto was rather annoyed, mostly at Neji for not trusting him. Who does he think I am? I' m a Jounin not a young child. I don' t just go blabbing things out. Damn him, he was thinking. Another part of him was frustrated at the kidnapper for taking Hinata (who he thought of as a good friend or maybe even more).

Like Sakura, he too was running around, asking for information. Coming to a halt, he spotted a couple of villagers walking towards a park. Catching up to the closest person, "Hey you!" he called out. "Have you seen Hinata-chan?"

The person who was surprised by the question replied, "As in Hyuuga Hinata?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Have you seen her?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"I don' t know, but I don' t think so. You see I have a problem..." the person continued talking about himself, but Naruto being a not so kind person, interrupted telling him, he had to go. Once saying this, he quickly ran off leaving a confused villager.

This is going no where. I will never find any clues as to where Hinata-chan could be. Please let her be okay. It's nearly noon and I won't have much more time, he thought, but he continued with Neji's order and carried on.

Lee on the other hand, wasn' t having a problem getting information. A whole group of people was surrounding him throwing all their knowledge of Hinata and Hanabi at him.

Flashback

Walking through a crowded street, Lee had a problem looking for people to question. But soon an idea came to him.

Shouting at the top of his lungs, he yelled, "Has anyone seen Hyuuga Hinata or Hyuuga Hanabi?" many people were staring at him as if he was crazy but ignoring them he continued, "If you have, please come forward to Rock Lee, this is a request from the Godaime!"

Not sooner, a group of people surrounded him giving him information.

End of Flashback

While Lee was busy listening to the villagers, on the other side of Village, two other Jounins were continuing with their separate searches.

Tenten had been running for a while, now. But nothing came up from her search. The shopkeepers weren' t much of a help and nor were the villagers. I' ve been searching for a long thing and not a single thing has come up, she thought. Maybe I' m just looking from the wrong angle. The others are probably having more luck than me.

She was about to give up hope when she couldn' t help overhearing a conversation between two middle aged ladies.

"Yesterday when it rained so hard, everyone was looking for shelter. The winds were so strong and the rain fell down like rocks. But from the place I was sheltered; I could hear a ninja' s fight was going on near the forest. The weapons made all these noises, loud enough to be heard against the wind," said one of them.

"Kids these das, all wanting to become strong ninjas, not even caring about themselves," was the others reply.

"From all the commotion, I would say there were more than two people, probably five or six," the other one stated.

A fight near the forest? It couldn't have been Neji and me. The lady mentioned five or six. Maybe someone else was training, but who, Tenten thought. Walking up to the two, she quickly asked about their conversation.

"Sorry, but I couldn' t help overhearing you talking about a fight."

"Well, I' m not absolutely sure but it was defiantly a match. Somewhere there," one of them answered, pointing over to the forest.

"Thank you, and sorry for the interrupting your conversation," apologised Tenten

"Don' t worry, dear." they replied, smiling at her. Both noticed that Tenten wasn't a ordinary villager but a ninja. "Hopefully we were some help to you."

"Yes and thank you," Tenten said briskly to them and with that, she headed towards the forest.

Once arriving, she decided to search for traces of where the fight was. But the rain had caused a lot of damage, leaves, branches and logs were scattered all around the forest floor. This is such a great help, she thought sarcastically to herself. The floor was covered up in leaves, all dull and damp. Everything was camouflaged but suddenly her eyes stumbled along a dark, murky, coloured cloth that was torn, with a senbon imbedded unto it. Moving away the scattered leaves and branches, she uncovered more weapons, some imbedded into nearby logs.

There has definitely been a match here and judging from the weapons, they aren't rusty or anything almost new. I would say that the fight happened very recently, She thought.

Just then, one of the nearby bushes rustled and Tenten being on her guard, immediately reached for a kunai.

"Tenten, it' s only me," stated a voice, that to her was very familiar.

Realising the person' s chakra was indeed familiar, she lowered her weapon. Stepping out from the bushes was Neji.

"You' ve found something," was all he said, keeping his face unreadable.

"There has been a fight here, very recently too," she informed him, pointing to the piece of torn fabric and weapons.

Bending down, he quickly scanned the things before turning to Tenten, "It' s almost noon, go back to the Hyuuga Manor and bring the others back here. And find Kiba and his dog. Bring them here too,"

"Okay," replied Tenten, heading back to where they first started.

Arriving, she found Sakura shaded into the corner while Naruto and Lee, were once again, arguing.

"SAKURA-CHAN DEFINATLY LIKES ME MORE THAN YOU, FURRY EYEBROWS!" Naruto yelled out.

"SAKURA-SAN'S HEART WILL BELONG TO ME. NARUTO YOU ARE TOO ANNOYING FOR SOMEONE AS PEACEFUL AND CALM LIKE SAKURA!" was Lee' s extra loud reply.

All that shouting was giving both Tenten and Sakura a headache. In a flash Tenten flung two kunais at them, stopping their shouting. Sakura gave Tenten a thankful look before returning to her usual self.

"Neji wants us all to gather near the forest, something has been found but before that, we have to find Kiba and Akamaru and bring them there as well," Tenten finally managed to say, after her anger at Lee and Naruto subsided.

Lucky for them, they didn' t have to look for Kiba at all, since he was walking near the Hyuuga Manor, looking or Hinata.

"Oi, have any of you seen Hinata?" he asked them.

Giving each other an eye contact, they remembered the fact that they had to keep their knowledge of Hinata, a secret.

"No, but you have to come with us," stated Tenten, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to the forest, with the others (and Akamaru) following slowly behind.

Once arriving, Kiba who was very annoyed, yelled out, "What was that for?"

But to his surprise the others were circled in a group whispering to each other, discussing about their recent problem.

"Hey you guys! Were you even listening to me? You drag me here for no reason and if you don't hurry up and explain then I'm leaving," Kiba announced with Akamaru barking trying to get their attention. That worked because not sooner had the group turned to face him.

"Sakura, explain to him," Neji said.

So Sakura walked forward and started with the explanation. A few minutes later after Kiba was informed, Neji walked up to him asking a question. "Join me on this mission; we would need your help."
Kiba, who was surprised by this, quickly replied giving Neji a positive answer.

Neji called his team forward and together they discuss about what they had discovered of their search. Kiba who was new just listened, with Akamaru seated next to him.

"Did anyone find anything useful?" Neji asked, "Sakura?"

"Not much, the people I asked all gave me similar answers, saying they either saw Hinata or Hanabi but a long time ago," Sakura reported.

"Hn," was the reply she got from Neji, "Naruto?"

"One lady told me she remember seeing them walking to the forest, but she wasn' t exactly sure," was Naruto's report.

"Lee?"

"I found WONDERFUL information. One old man said that Hinata and Hanabi were training together," reported Lee.

"Hn," was Neji's reply, "Tenten?"

"Well, Neji, you already know what I found but for the others. I overheard two ladies talking about a fight that happened near the forest. She said there were probably five or six people. I found a piece of torn fabric (she pointed to it) and weapons scattered along the floor," finishing off, her report.

"We need Kiba and Akamaru here, to see whose clothes that piece of fabric belongs to," stated Neji, turning his attention to Kiba, "Get Akamaru to smell who it belongs to, it might be a familiar scent."

While Akamaru was sniffing at the fabric with Kiba concluding that the scent on the fabric definitely belongs to Hinata. For the next couple of minutes, the group decided to take the fabric and head back to the Hyuuga Manor to discuss their next moves.

While they were discussing their plans, the village of Karo was under attack.

"AAAHHH!" screamed the villagers.

"Pathetic village, boring, power will not come from here," said Sasuke, sneering at the villagers. Even if the small village provided no power to him, he continued through the streets, killing anyone at sight. It was something he enjoyed to do.

Not much longer later, the scene of the village was not longer filled with peace and happiness but with flames bursting from the roof tops and deadly silence filling the air. Blood was scattered onto the floor where dead corpse laid. Leaving the village, the image of it quickly erased itself from his mind. Hmm, where to next? Life is never entertaining without death, He thought. Heading in an unknown destination, he walked where ever his feet carried him.

A/N: Another chapter done! I'll try and update as fast as possible. Hopefully you've liked it so far. Thank you!