CHAPTER 9
After an hour Neji had hurried to the Hokage's office. He raced past the unguarded entrance and burst into the room! Kakashi was in there already.
"HOKAGE-SAMA!" Neji exclaimed. "We have a big problem!" He felt as if he couldn't speak all of a sudden.
"Yes?" Tsunade asked. "I hope it is important, Kakashi is missing a student."
"It wouldn't be Naruto would it?" Asked Ino who came in after seeing Neji enter. Kakashi turned to the two in surprise.
"Actually it would." He said. "He disappeared during training." Ino suddenly had a guilty look on her face and so did Neji. Neji sighed.
"I lied." He said quickly. He closed his eyes in shame. "I lied about Naruto."
"WHAT!" Kakashi shouted as he stood up. "Why would you do that?"
"I thought he was strong enough to handle whatever he was feeling." Neji said. He proceeded to reveal what he had seen that night when on watch. The Hokage was furious.
"You thought he was going to handle it on his own?" She demanded. "He was hurting himself! That should have proven that he couldn't!"
"It won't matter until we find Naruto." Kakashi said. Neji nodded.
Naruto looked at the village from the gates and wished that he had another choice. He couldn't turn back now. He had changed too much and so had the others. He turned and walked, limping because of his injured leg, out into the area beyond.
"What are you planning to do?" The Kyuubi asked. He already knew though. Naruto was broken up over what Sakura had said. Why did he ever hope she cared?
"Please don't do this." The Kyuubi yelled. "Just forget about the girl!" Naruto didn't listen. He continued limping away. He couldn't hear anything but Sakura's voice.
'I don't know why I even consider you my friend!' After an hour he leaned against a tree to rest. He hadn't made it too far. The others could make the journey in half the time.
"Listen to me…" The demon said. "Life goes on… people deal with heartbreak every day."
'I doubt that…' Naruto thought back. 'If more people felt this way then the world would be a lot different.'
"Not everyone feels it like this, although some do." Kyuubi responded. "You never had anyone for your entire life… no one to lean on. No shoulder to cry on. So you felt alone and avoided talking about your problem. Now look where it has gotten you! Pull yourself together and go back!"
Naruto looked at the sky. He knew that Sakura would tell Kakashi she'd seen him. Kakashi would dismiss them, not wanting to disturb Naruto. Kakashi had lost his best friend and frequently visited that memorial so he would understand. So they would all go home… No one would realize it if he didn't return. Not until tomorrow…
They searched frantically, Neji using his Byakugan. In fact the other teams had been informed, of everything, and were searching too. Rock Lee was furious with Neji saying that if he had found the "Springtime of Youth" he wouldn't have lied. And he told Ino that she'd get over Sasuke if she found the "Springtime of Youth". Neither really cared for what he was saying and hurried to search. They all met up near the gates of Konoha.
"Where the hell could he be?" Kakashi said. He was very worried. Sakura and Sasuke had been sent to wait at the Hokage's for Kakashi to return. He didn't want anything worse to happen. They decided to check outside of the village and after half an hour Kakashi couldn't help but ask to no one.
"Where is he?"
"What is this about Hokage-Sama?" Sakura asked. Tsunade didn't feel that she should know yet.
"You'll find out when the others bring Naruto." She told them.
"Last I saw he was at that memorial stone." Sakura said. "He went there instead of training! But you called us here before I could tell Kakashi-Sensei."
"If he is there then he'll be found." Tsunade said. She was worried. It had been over an hour since they started looking. She was feeling uneasy about this. What if they were too late?
Naruto lay there looking at the sky. He felt more alone than he had ever felt. More alone than he could have imagined. He believed that no one was looking for him. His only company was the demon sealed within him. And that demon wasn't helping by telling him to forget Sakura. No one knew where he was…
"Please don't do it kid." The demon said. "You only have one shot at life." Naruto ignored him and had used his right hand, the only arm that would move now, to pull out his kunai. His eyes clearly relayed his decision…
"Do you think we'll find him?" Tenten asked Rock Lee. Lee frowned then struck a 'nice guy' pose.
"YES! WE SHALL FIND NARUTO-KUN AND WE SHALL HELP HIM!" He shouted. "WE SHALL HELP HIM FIND HIS SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!" Kakashi sighed. So much for keeping quiet in case Naruto was trying to run. He called Neji over to him.
"Scan the area over there with your Byakugan." He told him. Neji nodded and ran in the direction Kakashi had pointed. After five minutes his voice came back.
"I think I found him!" The voice shouted. Kakashi raced over to Neji who pointed at the area Naruto was. "Over there."
Sakura groaned in boredom. She could be going somewhere with Sasuke right now! She felt angry that Naruto would avoid people like this. Why did he have to impose on their time? Didn't he care about them? Weren't they a team? Those thoughts raced through her mind as they waited. Sasuke didn't care much. He just sat there thinking. Suddenly Akamaru flew into her window! The little dog carried a note and leapt back out to inform Kiba that the Hokage had received it. Tsunade opened it and her eyes opened in shock. She fell back into her chair.
"They've found Naruto." She said.
"Is something wrong Hokage-Sama?" Sakura asked. Surely finding Naruto was a good thing.
"Yes…"
Amazingly there is no question I can really answer. So this author's notes will be really blank...
Questions you might want answered:
(1) Why Rock Lee?
Because it was my last chance to add anything that might make people smile. The next chapter is really not going to have any of them.
(2) Why did Sakura act that way to Naruto? Isn't she smart?
Yes but she was also walking around in the rain for about an hour before she found him. She could be at home and dry or somewhere with Sasuke and dry. So she was angry... very angry.
As for this chapter, Sakura is adding her anger from before onto the fact that she's been waiting in the Hokage's office for a while when she could be somewhere alone with Sasuke.
Thanks for the reviews! I'll update as soon as I finish the next chapter.
