Naruto tries to ignore the pain as he got further away form Konoha. He stops by a stream to rest for a moment and he removes the bandages to wash his wounds in the water. The cold night air blended perfectly with the cool water to numb the pain in his limbs. He continues to move on and searches for a place where he can rest rather than risk being caught in the forest. He sees a twinkling light from afar and heads towards it. After traveling for more than half the day, Naruto comes upon a small secluded and peaceful looking town. As he approaches the area, a tagged kunai lands in front of him.

"What the…"

A figure in a hooded black cloak lands in front of him in a fighting stance. Naruto instinctively kage bunshins and encircles the figure. Screaming, the clones attack on all sides but the figure completely disappears and the clones end up hitting each other. Naruto turns around and finds the figure picking up the kunai. The figure puts the kunai back in his pouch and continues to face Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Who wants to know?"

Naruto watches the man remove his hood that shadows his face and finds himself staring at an adult man who resembles Yondaime.

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Kakashi sits beside Sakura's bed while reading his "Icha, Icha, Paradise" novel.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura mumbles as she wakes up.

The jounin puts his book down and smiles at his student.

"Yo, you're finally awake!"

Sakura smiles back and looks around.

"Sensei, how's Naruto?"

Kakashi's face falls and replies, "I don't know."

"You haven't seen him yet?"

"I tried to see him."

"But…"

"He's not there-"

"What! Was he taken? Was he attacked?" Sakura jolts up from the bed as she says this.

"No." Kakashi sadly answers. "He left."

Feeling a sense of déjá vu, Sakura shakes her head and tries to get a hold of her emotions.

"That's not true! Naruto wouldn't leave!" Cries the pink haired girl.

"Shizune was the last to see him. They were both in this room, and he blamed himself for what happened. We're guessing he left because he feels that he's dangerous—"

"But he's not! We have to search for him!"

Kakashi runs his fingers through his hair. "I've sent my dogs to look for him, but the rain washed away his scent. Godaime-sama has sent Jiraiya-sama to look for him."

"Can't—can't we help look too?"

"Tsunade-sama needs us for other missions. Besides, Jiraiya is best at tracking down people."

After and awkward silence, Sakura mutters, "This feels familiar huh?"

"Get some rest Sakura."

After Kakashi leaves the hospital, he grabs some dango for lunch but is soon disturbed by the entrance of his eternal rival.

"KAKASHI! What is this I hear about another one of your student running away? Really now, that's very irresponsible of you."

"I'm not in the mood for you Gai." Kakashi asserts with irritation.

While making ridiculous gestures, Gai expreses his interest to help, "Well in any case I want to help!" He does his nice guy pose.

"Thanks for the offer but the Hokage has sent Jiraiya-sama for the job."

As soon as he says this Asuma, Kurenai, and Anko enter the shop and Kakashi doesn't feel like hearing anymore about Naruto's disappearance. So, he makes a quick exit while avoiding eye contact with anyone.

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"Yondaime?" Naruto murmurs.

"No." The man simply states while smoothing his medium cut, cropped, and well groomed blonde hair. "He had tiny ears and long spiky hair," nonchalance in his voice. "Just like you."

"I don't have small ears!" Naruto points out.

"I'm right about the hair."

Naruto continues to stare at the 4th's near doppelganger.

"Aren't you going to ask me who I am?" Naruto remains quiet.

With a sigh the man introduces himself, "Very well, I am Denkou Ryo."

"Denkou Ryo?"

"You're probably wondering why I attacked you." Ryo sees Naruto's face become serious. "Don't worry. I promise that I will not harm you. I just wanted to get an idea of what you're like. They say that a ninja's fighting style reflects their personality. Judging from your explosiveness, you are loud, energetic, and very eager. You probably don't get missions that require stealth and a lot of patience."

"Uh…" was all a dumbstruck Naruto can say.

"That's enough talk, why don't we head down to the town andI'll buy you dinner."

"REALLY! YAY!" Naruto jumps up with joy. As soon as he lands he falls down in pain.

"Maybe we should get you checked up first." Ryo helps Naruto to his feet.

"I'm fine. Just need something to eat." Naruto's stomach growls as he thinks of food. Ryo has just earned his trust by buying him dinner.

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"Any news from Jiraiya-sama?" Kakashi eagerly asks.

Taking a deep breath, Tsunade briefly looks at Kakashi in the eye before gazing down her desk, "No."

Seeing Kakashi disappointed, Tsunade adds, "It's only been a day. Jiraiya will find him. That's all what we could hope for right now."

Another slight silence follows before Tsunade speaks again. "On a different matter, I'm assigning you a covert mission."

"Covert mission?"

"You and another ninja will travel to the Stone village. Once you're there I need you guys to steal 3 grey documents. Here are a list of the 3 buildings that are holding each files."

"What's in the files?" Kakashi asks as he reads through the list.

"We believe that they contain something about Orochimaru's plans. As you can tell, these buildings are owned by the feudal lord Tetsu Oriwa. He's buried himself in great debts of money and impossible favours. He's recently been meeting with the damned snake and has most likely made a deal with him. Those grey files belong to Orochimaru and Tetsu is hiding them for him. Our sources in the Earth country have been keeping a close eye on him."

A knock on the door interrupts them. Shizune enters with a dozen files in her arms and places them on the Hokage's desk.

"More Work?" Tsunade exclaims.

"These are the one's from yesterday." Tsunade gives Shizune a puzzled look. "The ones you decided to put off for today."

"Fine. Kakashi, you are dismissed. But before you go, I need to emphasize that Konoha must have no trace with this theft. No one from Konoha was involved."

"I understand." Kakashi exits the office.

Kakashi was about to head home and prepare for the mission.

"Kakashi!" The grey-haired jounin turns around and finds a red-eyed woman leaning against the wall—it kind of reminded him of himself.

"Kurenai."

"I guess you're coming with me to Stone village."

"We leave in the morning." Kakashi does a thinking pose. "Let's say 7."

"Yeah. It's a 3 day trip, so please don't be late." Kurenai pleads.

Kakashi smirks behind his mask before lazily saying, "Sure thing."