As Ryo followed Gamakichi to sensei's location with Sakura on his back, he noticed something out the corner of his eyes.
It was Sakura's left hand. It began to move and her fingers started to stretch themselves out, almost causing her to slip from Ryo's back. He had them clamped together around his neck. This could only mean that they were really getting closer where Naruto currently was. Otherwise, Sakura wouldn't be coming to life again like this. This could only happen within the five mile radius of Naruto's current location.
"….do it toget…Huh???" Sakura said, finishing the thought she could not a week prior, only to find that she was not in that hotel room anymore but on Ryo's back.
Gamakichi, hearing Sakura speak, stops and heads back to where Ryo was letting the pink hair Chunin got on him.
"Where are we, Ryo? What are you doing here, wherever here is exactly, Gamakichi?" Sakura confused.
"Hey, Sakura, it's been awhile. As for what I am for what I am doing here, it's…." Gamakichi said before Rin covered his mouth after seeing Ryo motion her to do so from behind Sakura.
"My head feels funny. I am think there's something I am forgetting," Sakura said to herself out loud, rubbing her nose with her fingers only to see the injuries to them (she refused to think of it as damage as she was not a thing but a person).
"What happened to my hands, and for that matter, where is Naruto?" Sakura asked. She could not see him anywhere around here
"Come on, Sakura. I'll explain on the way to where we are going," Ryo explained, hoping she would not get too mad.
Nodding after healing her hands, she followed after him and came up to Rin who was traveling on Gamakichi's back.
"Hello there. My name is Sakura. Who are you? I am sure I haven't seen your face before," Sakura asked as she ran next to Gamakichi.
"Huh? But we…" Rin began to say but the red toad shook his head no.
Sakura's titled her head to the left a little as she wondered why Naruto's first frog summon shook his head.
"My name is Rin and I owe Ryo and you my life," she said but she wondered why she did not remember meeting before back at the hollowed out tree.
"I see. Well, I also owe my life to someone," Sakura said. She still did not seem to remember what happened between Naruto and her a week ago nor was she wasn't questioning why they were out here.
"I am…am…going to beat the living hell out of that guy!" she yelled as she remembered what happened before she reverted to inanimate puppet.
"However, before that, you are going to tell me what's been going on since he left," Sakura said, going through the motion of cracking her knuckles.
"Umm…Gamakichi, Naruto is in that direction, right?" Ryo asked and the toad just nodded his head.
"Well, Rin, I'll see you when you get there," he told her as he dodged some iron sand that would capture his ankle.
"Get back here, you stupid turtle, and tell me what has been going on!" Sakura yelled as she began chasing after him.
"Let's go. Hopefully, she will not do anything like that once she sees Naruto," the frog summon sighed. Rin was just confused at what had just happened.
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"Well, here we are, the Land of Vegetables" Gamakichi said as he walked along a pathway leading to the border of the country.
"I heard of this place back in the academy but have never actually been here myself. Though I thought there be more vegetable fields around here," Rin said as her mental picture of this country was dashed by the reality.
"You really should not judge a country but its name. That would mean the Land of Fire should be full of fires but it's not," Gamakichi pointed out.
"I was only four at the time and did not know that, okay?" Rin said, defending herself. She had been there for more a war torn time when the age of academy students was then four instead of six.
Gamakichi just sighed as he made his way to their destination, though after awhile, something that had been bothering Rin got to the point that she could not keep it in anymore and had to ask the frog summon.
"How come nobody is paying us any attention? You'd think a girl travelling on the back of giant frog would grab people's attention," Rin asked Naruto's first summon (with his own charka not kyubi's).
"Well I've been around here a few times before. Both Jiraiya and Naruto are good friends with the daimyo of this country," he told her.
Thirty minutes later….
The two had finally caught up with Sakura and Ryo where the latter was currently arguing with the guards while Ryo was on the ground behind her, black and blue. It appeared that he had been dragged here.
"What do you mean I cannot come in? I am Naruto's friend and teammate. If he is in there, then I should be able to go in too!" Sakura yelled.
"Miss, we can not just let anyone claiming to be the friend of Naruto-sama into the daimyo's castle," said the guard.
"Most certainly not one carrying a kid they that appears that he been beaten pretty badly, surely you understand this", a second guard said.
Sadly, Sakura did not. Her mind was not all there at the moment, being angry. Now a sense of anxiety clouded her judgment and common sense. The anxiety came from the fight Naruto had surely gotten into since he was go to fight a Sanin, a Jonin level ninja (since Kabuto was said to be a strong as Kakashi), and possibly even Sasuke all on his own.
"No, you do not understand. Naruto is in there, I know it, and you two are going to tell me see him!" Sakura yelled as the little bit of common sense and rational judgment she had left, which is what was preventing her from simply going over the wall and finding Naruto herself.
"Gamakichi, you tell these guy who I am," she said as the green eyed teenager noticed him coming towards the gates.
"She really is Sakura Haruno and this how she gets when she angry and worried about Naruto," Gamakichi told them.
"Okay then, you two can pass, but what about the kids with you?" the first guard asked.
"They with us and they're okay. Each one them is connected to Naruto in some way," he told the guards.
"Are you okay, Ryo?" Rin asked from her place on Gamakichi.
"Sure, I am fine," the green hair boy informed her, though to her, he looked anything but fine. If it was not for her charka system being so screwed up that she could not walk, she would have attempted to heal him.
The five of them (Sakura, Ryo, Rin, Gamakichi, and one of the guard) then entered the castle, and when they made it close to the stairs, they could see two more people having a small argument.
"Lady Haruna, please! You do not have to take this to him yourself. I could do that," a maid said.
"No, I will take Naruto the ramen I made for especially for him to him myself," Haruna said.
"Ahhh…Your Highness, the group that Naruto-sama has sent Gamakichi out to find have arrived," the guard that brought them this far said.
Asking her maid to hold her ramen, Haruna when over to Sakura and looked at her. Being around the same age (maybe two-three year different tops), the two of them stood at about the same height so they facing each other eye to eye.
"Let me guess, you must be Sakura. I am Haruna, the daimyo of the Land of Vegetables," Haruna said, holding out her hand which Sakura shook but other thoughts were going though her mind at the moment.
Sakura though was just in shock over what was going on here and really wanted to bring a hand up to her heart or actually to where her heart once resided, regardless of it not psychically being there anymore. The feeling of her heart being pinched at way she simply said Naruto's name and want to give him ramen was clear.
'Naruto never told me he knew a female daimyo that was our age. Why did not he tell me about this? It's not like he is not friends with other daimyos (that were older then him of course), so why didn't he tell me about this one?' Sakura thought. He told her everything, even when she did not want him to after almost every mission he took before finally leaving on his training trip with Jiraiya, which according to her sensei, was just a way of keeping him busy. She was told that if Naruto wasn't kept busy, he would try to go after Sasuke on his own like she had tried once, but ended up going with Naruto and Jiraiya instead.
"Yes, that's right. I am Sakura…Sakura Haruno, his teammate and his friend," Sakura told her.
'So this is the one that Naruto made that promise to,' the brown haired daimyo thought. She had always wondered who this Sakura person he told her about before leaving looked like and what kind of person she was.
"So where is Naruto? Why, may I ask, is the ruler of the country going to serve him ramen personally?" Sakura asked, not really liking this feeling she was continuously getting from Haruna. It evaporated all her anger over being left out on helping keep Sasuke from having his body taken by Orochimaru.
"Naruto saved my life and helped me to become the person I am today. I was doing what I can to repay the favor," Haruna responded.
"Is that so? Well, where is Naruto? He has some explaining to do," Sakura said.
"Right this way. I was just going there myself before you four appeared," Haruna said and Sakura followed after her.
Gamakichi, Ryo, and Rin just followed after them, noticing the looks Sakura was giving Haruna while Sakura was wondering why Naruto went without her, despite telling him that they were going to get save Sasuke together and why he never told her about his mission the Land of Vegetables. He had told her about all the others he went on, so why did he leave out this one?
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Upon entering the room and seeing the condition that Naruto was in, all Sakura could do was stand there staring at him.
"Sakura…Hey, Sakura, say something," Naruto asked worriedly.
"Naruto, what happened to you? Why are you covered in bandages? Did Sasuke do this to you?" she asked. She did not understand how Naruto could be hurt this badly. Sure even though he was merged with Kyuubi, that did not make him invincible. But still, according to Ryo (who had been healed by Rin and his own fast healing ability), it had been a week since then so most of his injuries he got should have been healed by now unless he had something that would have been fatal for a normal person.
"Sensei, is this why you never came back after leaving?" Ryo asked.
"Well, actually, I spent about a day or two just trying to find where the snake bastard and Sasuke were exactly, which was hard even with my current abilities," he said.
"So what happened? Did Sasuke or Orochimaru give you these injuries?" Sakura demanded since she wanted to know who did this to her teammate.
"Orochimaru actually got a taste of his own medicine. He was the one that was absorbed into Sasuke, not the other way around," he told them.
"Then how did you get like this? Was it this Sasuke person?" Rin asked, making her presence know. She was also curious as to why he looked so much like her sensei and what happened to him and Kakashi, but that would have to wait. Just knowing Kakashi was alive was enough right now. Ryo and Sakura should hear how their friend and teacher gotten in this condition in the first place.
"That's a long story and it's going to take awhile to explain fully," Naruto said. Everyone, even Haruna, gave him their full attention. Gamakichi was the only one that already knew what happened, but he was still around because Rin had not recovered enough to walk on her own again.
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I would like to thank:
King Hawke, RANMACAT, QueenThayet12990, DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs and Demon95 for reviewing my story
Flair the demon dragon king, xoSophox, foxg2rl7, and Demon95 for adding this story to their Story Alert List
Red Spirit Dragon, Irememberurface, DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, oroage26, and Demon95 for adding this story to their Favorite Story List
Foxg2rl7 and Demon95 for adding me to their Favorite Author list
Ericting and Demon95 for adding me to their Author Alert list
