Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own all the new characters in this story.
Chapter Two
Sakura sighed, bored. She was with Sasuke, waiting for Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. She looked over the side of the small bridge that they were on. She then looked at Sasuke, who was deep in thought.
"Sasuke, do you know where Naruto is? He's late, and he's never late." Sakura asked. Sasuke looked about, as if aware of his surroundings at last and he shrugged.
"I dunno."
Just then, they heard the sound of toenails against wood and they turned around to see Kanzuho approach, but Naruto was not with him. The wolf came and sat beside Sakura. He looked about and asked,
"Where's Naruto?"
"I was about to ask you the same question." Sakura replied. Kanzuho scratched his ear and said,
"I went out early to hunt, and Naruto was asleep when I left."
Silence.
Where was he? Sakura thought angrily. They were meant to go on an A-rank mission. Naruto would never miss an A-rank mission!
"Where's Naruto?" Asked the voice of Kakashi-sensei from behind her. She jumped and turned to face him,
"We don't know, he hasn't even turned up yet."
Kakashi frowned and said,
"Sakura, you go look at Naruto's place. Sasuke, go look at Ichiraku's and I'll look about the city. It isn't like Naruto to be late for a mission like this."
They all nodded and went their separate ways. Sakura ran on her way to Naruto's apartment, with Kanzuho. When they were halfway there, Sakura accidentally ran into Hinata. They fell to the ground; Sakura quickly got up and helped Hinata to her feet.
"Sorry, Hinata, but I'm in a hurry."
Hinata shook her head and said quietly,
"It's ok, don't worry. What you in a hurry for? I heard you had a mission today."
"I do, but Naruto didn't turn up. We think he may be missing or something, coz he never misses a mission."
Hinata gasped, her eyes going wide. She grabbed Sakura's arm and asked,
"Can I help, please!"
Sakura, too surprised to answer, nodded.
Hinata felt confused and worried. What if something bad had happened to Naruto-kun? She had to help Sakura. They came to Naruto's apartment to find the door open. The black wolf, Kanzuho, sniffed at the door and growled softly.
"What is it?" Sakura asked, her voice worried. Kanzuho continued to sniff around the door.
"Something isn't right. I smell unfamiliar Ninja's. They are powerful, but I cannot place them. Normally, different villages have a distinct smell to them. I cannot place the smell of their village. They must be missing Nins."
Hinata's covered her mouth with her hand. What if they had taken him? Where was he? Kanzuho carefully walked into the apartment. It was messy, but there was no hint to say there was a struggle. It was dark as well, so she couldn't see very well. Sakura opened one of the curtains and some of the sunlight came in, lighting up the room. Hinata looked about the room, getting more worried by the second.
She went into the kitchen; again, there was no hint to a struggle. Then something caught her eye. On the table was an envelope, with the words 'To Kakashi' on it. She went to the table and picked it up. She frowned; it was not Naruto-Kun's handwriting.
"Sakura-san!" She called. Sakura came up to her and Hinata gave her the note. Kanzuho came up and sniffed the letter,
"It smells of those Ninjas I was talking about. We should call Kakashi, now!" They went outside the apartment, closing the door behind them. Sakura turned to Kanzuho and asked,
"How are we meant to call Kakashi?" The black wolf chuckled.
"Like this." He replied. He lifted his muzzle and howled a hair-raising howl that made Hinata shudder.
Kiba looked in the direction the howl was coming from, and frowned. Akamaru barked. Shino looked at them and asked,
"What's the matter?"
Kiba listened a moment and said,
"Something's wrong, terribly wrong, if I'm hearing right."
Kakashi, who was with Sasuke at that moment, cocked his head at the sound of Kanzuho's howl.
"Come, they've found him."
Kakashi and Sasuke raced through the village to Naruto's apartment. When they got there, they found Sakura, Kanzuho and, strangely, Hinata. But there was no sign of Naruto.
"Where is he?" Kakashi asked. Kanzuho shook his majestic head and replied,
"I don't know. But there is the smell of unknown Ninjas in his house. We don't even know if he is still alive."
Kakashi felt himself go cold at that thought. Just then, Hinata coughed politely and Kakashi drew his attention to the shy girl. She held out an envelope with 'To Kakashi' written on it. It was not Naruto's handwriting.
"I found this in the Kitchen." She said quietly. Just then, Kiba and Shino appeared. They went to Hinata,
"Where were you? You were meant to meet us a while back. Why are you here?" Kiba asked, looked about at the sombre group.
"Naruto-kun is missing." She said in a small voice.
"What?" Kiba asked, looking sharply at Kakashi, who waved a hand to calm down.
"Let me read this, please?" Kakashi asked, taking the note from Hinata. He opened the envelope and took out the note, it read:
Dear Kakashi,
Don't worry; Naruto is still alive…for now. I would suggest that you do not follow me, for I can kill you easily, with the amount of Chakra I had collected over the years.
If you want to know what I am planning, I want to extract all of Naruto's Chakra, even the Kyuubi's. Don't bother trying to rescue him, it would be pointless.
Well, I'll see you soon, little boy.
Love,
Kiyomi
"Dammit!" Kakashi cried out load, punching a nearby wall, breathing hard, trying to calm down, which was very hard for this moment in time. All the genins jumped, startled by his outburst.
"What is it?" Asked Sakura, scared. Kakashi read the note one more time and spun to run to the Hokage tower. Wordlessly, the others ran behind him, worried about Naruto and their sensei's strange behaviour. Kakashi ran to the tower and went to the Hokage's door. He could hear voices inside, but that didn't matter. Without knocking, Kakashi burst into the room and went up to Tsunade's desk. Everyone filed in after him, their faces mirroring their worry for Naruto.
At that moment, Tsunade was talking to Gai and his team. Gai stood up and asked,
"What's the meaning of this?"
Kakashi ignored him and threw the note on the table.
"Read it!" Kakashi ordered sharply, his voice hard and filled with hate. Tsunade and Gai stared at him and then Tsunade opened the letter and began to read, while Gai read over her shoulder. When Tsunade had finished reading the letter, her eyes were angry and she showed amazing self control as she managed not to break anything in the room. She stood up.
"You must go after him. We cannot allow Kiyomi to do this!" Kakashi nodded and turned to genins crowded at the doorway.
"Naruto's in danger, isn't he?" Kiba asked. Reluctantly, Kakashi nodded.
"We want to go!" Shino said quietly, Hinata, who was beside him, nodded urgently. Gai also nodded,
"I and my team will lend a hand, Kiyomi is strong and we will need many to do this mission!" His eyes shinned with enthusiasm for the upcoming rescue mission as he did his 'nice guy' pose. Tsunade nodded,
"I want everyone here to go. This is an A-rank mission, please come back safely."
Kakashi sighed,
"Fine. Everyone meet at the front gate in half and hour, go!"
Every genin left the room, except Kanzuho, who sat near the door.
"There is no need for you to summon one of your dogs, Kakashi. My nose works just as well, and anyway, Naruto's a demon, and I can smell a demon one week after it passing."
"How did you…?" Tsunade asked.
"When Kakashi explained that Kyuubi was dead, and then looked at Naruto, it was easy to figure out that Naruto is host to the Nine tails."
Kakashi sighed again and, with Gai and a farewell to Tsunade, went out to go to the front gate of the village with Kanzuho leading the way.
Sakura's mind was racing as she hastily packed everything she needed for the mission. What did this person want with Naruto? She didn't manage to see the note, but it upset Kakashi-sensei, so it must be bad. She looked at her pack bag and nodded, satisfied. She put the bag on and ran out of the house, calling a brief farewell to her mother.
She ran along the streets to the front gate, to find Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, Kanzuho, Neji and Hinata already there. She stopped nearby and looked about.
"Where is everyone?" She asked. Kanzuho chuckled,
"Give them time. Hmm, Kakashi, I'm going out to pick up the scent, so we don't lose time either." Kakashi nodded sharply, staring off out of the gates. Sakura frowned; she had to know what was in that letter.
"Er, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi looked around at her, and she gulped. Ever since reading that note, he seemed a different person. The others noticed this as well as they exchanged glances. Sakura drew in a breath and asked,
"What was in that note?"
His reaction was just as she predicted, his eye hardened and he looked back out into the forest again. Gai shifted and also looked out into the forest, his face worried.
For a while, Kakashi didn't say anything, then,
"An S-class missing Nin has him."
"What?" Sakura asked, letting her own worry colour her voice. Hinata and Neji looked sharply at the white haired man.
"What does this person want from Naruto?" Neji asked. Kakashi sighed and said,
"For his age, Naruto has an enormous amount of powerful Chakra. This person, by the name of Kiyomi, wants this Chakra. She has devised ways of extracting chakra from a person and absorbing it into herself. That's why she is after him."
Sakura stood, open mouthed, lost for words. She knew that Naruto was strong, but…
"W-what will this Kiyomi do to Naruto once she has absorbed his chakra?" Hinata asked urgently.
Silence.
"She will kill him." Kanzuho, who had just returned, said simply. Sakura gasped and she looked about, wishing the others would hurry up.
Eventually, the others started to appear, and Sakura quietly informed them what was happening. When they had all gathered, Kanzuho had informed them that he had picked up Naruto's trail and they all ran out of the gate.
As Sakura raced along, she wished that they could find Naruto, and soon. She did not want to lose him, he was like a brother to him. She looked over at Hinata, who face was sad and worried, but that expression was on everyone's face, so she didn't take much heed to it.
Kanzuho lead them off the path and into the forest and into the trees. They travelled as fast as they could, following Kanzuho, who seemed to know where he was going.
Kiyomi chuckled to herself as she jumped from tree limb to tree limb. She had the boy in her grasp, and even the rescue team that would be sent would not stop her. She looked over at the boy, tied to the back of Daiki, his eyes closed. Kiyomi stopped on a tree limb on the edge of the clearing and looked down at it. Her servants stopped as well. She smiled as a thought came to her.
"Takeya, are we being followed?" One of the men, hidden in the shadows of a tree, cocked his head for a moment and he nodded.
"Eleven, if my hearing is correct."
"Hmm, such a large number to rescue a single ninja."
She looked over at the sleeping Naruto and then his forehead protector. She smiled. She went to his and removed it from his head and threw it down into the clearing.
"That might confuse them a bit. Shinji, Stay here and delay them for as long as you can."
And with that, she sped off with the other two close behind.
As Kakashi raced along behind the Demon wolf, his thoughts raced about what this female would do to Naruto. He hoped that Naruto would be safe and that they would be able to find him soon. Suddenly, Kanzuho stopped. They had been travelling all day at a rapid pace, and it was now sunset and Kakashi saw that they stood at the edge of a clearing. Kanzuho was sniffing about,
"Naruto's scent is strong here."
Kakashi looked down at the clearing as the others stopped around him. Kakashi shifted slightly and something glinted in the clearing. Curious, he jumped down with Kanzuho and approached the object that had reflected the light at Kakashi. It was a Konoha forehead protector. He bent and picked it up. Kanzuho came over and sniffed it,
"It's Naruto's" He said quietly.
Kakashi felt his insides go cold as the others landed beside him,
"What is it?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto's forehead protector. Dammit! She's playing games with us!
Without a word, Kakashi gave Sasuke Naruto's forehead protector. Sasuke took it and stared at it fro a long time. Hinata gave a soft sob.
Just then, Kanzuho growled a deep menacing growl. Kakashi looked at the wolf and it snarled,
"There is an enemy nearby, ready yourselves!"
R&R!