Wow. I didn't expect anyone to enjoy this so much! I'm glad I've managed to spark some interest. Well, stick with me on this one and I'll keep it as interesting as possible. This is turning to be bigger than I expected; I've already had to add two extra chapters to the orginal target number. I plan on updating as fast as possible without quality suffering for speed. Anyways, thanks for the review and keep them coming .Remember to spread the word, the more input the better!
Xoni Newcomer - I hope you like the next few chapters then. Kabuto is going to make his intentions known.
Jewel Song - You're wish is granted. As I said above, I will update as soon as possible.
TrigunChic - You'll enjoy the later segments in the manga series, it sets up to be one epic story I WISH I thought of.
kira-924 - Yes, I did mean to base it on the events of the manga, but the managa got ahead of me. I knew Naruto and Sasuke were fighting, but I didn't realize until just recently Sasuke got away. The idea for this was already in my head before then, but I figured "ah hell with it, it'll just make more sense now."
casablanca - Thanks for the words of encouragement. I hope you find the rest of the story as intersting.
R Junkie - I'm glad you found the story so refeshing. Don't worry about Sasuke, this isn't a bash-fest on the young man (even if he DOES get on my nerves sometimes), so keep reading and see what's going on with him. I like your insight on the charcters (I'll keep things in mind as the scondary charcters make their apperances), however I disagree about Ino. I've noticed throughtout the series and the manga that Ino seems to put up a front. She doesn't seem to be mean to Sakura outright, she only trades insults with her because of their crush on Sasuke. In fact, during the Chuunin exam, it seemed to me that Ino has a soft spot when it comes to Sakura despite Sasuke and their rivaly. It appears more friendly than anything. Sure, she's a bit bossy and vain, but from the flashbacks and her actions, Ino has a pretty big heart (just don't tell HER that ). Of course, i could be missing the whole point, but those are my ideas on it. Thanks for the advice!
And now, on with the show!
Chapter 4 - The Reason
The jungle was thick with an eerie mist that rose up to the treetops. The surrounding area was inhumanly quiet, save for the screeches and wails from animals indigenous to the jungle itself. It didn't look like a place anyone would willingly inhabit, yet there at the bottom of the hill, was a fairly large encampment. The inhabitants of the camp counted on area's remote location to keep away people. However, four ninjas were observing the camp from their vantage point in the threes on the hill.
Shikamaru looked through his binoculars at the group of buildings in the clearing blow. There were several guards wandering the grounds and they all looked experienced. "How Troublesome." He thought as he mentally counted the visible guards. He didn't expect they would have reinforcements here.
Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata and Kiba had been tracking a group of bandits for the last four days. The Wave Country hired them to find out who was stealing from their treasury. They had chased off the bandits when they showed up in the village, but they weren't able to capture them. The thieves on the other hand, managed to escape with the last of the Wave Country's treasury. Shikamaru's team had tracked the thieves to their camp in a jungle. At the moment, the rest of his team was perched on a nearby branch. Kiba was scouting the area while Hinata stuck close to Naruto. The blonde boy was leaning against the tree, his mind clearly not on what he was supposed to be doing. Shikamaru sighed. Naruto has been a bit of a problem recently. Not his usual problem of being too loud or two hyper, but not listening to anything anyone told him. He never seemed to listen to anyone during training other than Kakashi-sensei and Shikamaru thought it would be problem while they were on the mission. So far Naruto hadn't done anything wrong other than act like he didn't care if they succeeded or not. At the moment, Shikamaru had been content to let Hinata tend to the blonde's needs; at least he seemed to be less of a hassle when she was around.
"So what's going on down there?" Naruto asked silently. It made Shikamaru uneasy as to how quiet Naruto had become. It used to be that everyone had to tell him to be quiet, but during this whole mission Naruto rarely made a sound, something Shikamaru thought would be impossible. He even managed to sneak up on him a few times. "The boy is getting frightening. I wonder when he got that way?" The chuunin pondered.
"There are more bandits down in their camp. We'll wait until nightfall to try to sneak in." He told the boy. Naruto sniffed and turned away from him.
"I think we should go in now and get them when they least expect it. They wouldn't think someone would strike in broad day light."
"The point of sneaking in is not to be seen at all," Shikamaru said. "If we wait until nightfall, there will be less of a chance we'll be spotted." Naruto simply shrugged.
"Do what you wish, but I'm going to look around the perimeter of the camp." The blonde genin was gone before Shikamaru could protest.
"Dammit!" he cursed out loud. "I knew he was going to be trouble!" He glanced over at the remaining members of the team. Kiba's expression matched Shikamaru's anger and Hinata looked off in the direction that Naruto went in. "Anyone else want to join him?" he asked dryly.
"He will be back soon, I'm sure of it." Hinata said to reassure them, however, she didn't sound very convinced herself. Shikamaru wasn't about to go chasing him down. "Let the idiot go on his own, see if I care if he dies."
So the team waited until nightfall. Surprisingly, Naruto did not come back. They had waited four hours in the same spot, but Shikamaru felt they couldn't wait for him any longer. "Damn that Naruto, he's put us in danger." Shikamaru grumbled to his teammates. "We can't for him anymore. We're going in now. Naruto will have to take care of himself until we can look for him."
"Maybe we should give him a few more minutes." Hinata suggested. Shikamaru just shook his head.
"We've given that idiot enough time as it is." He explained. "I'll have to say something about his insubordination to the Hokage once we get back to the village. For all we know, he could have been captured already and compromised the mission." Hinata sighed as she followed him and Kiba down through the trees. They crept along silently, careful to avoid the lit areas near the buildings. Shikamaru found a vantage point on the ground where they could see most of the camp without revealing where their position. Once in position, the chuunin scanned the camp ground. He only counted four guards around the camp, two in front of the largest building in the encampment and the other two walking around the middle area. The number of guards was considerably down from earlier in the day, which was a good sign to the ninja team. Shikamaru would have bet his mission's pay that the stolen money was housed in the building with the two guards.
"Security's lax now, so we will try to sneak inside the main building without being seen." He told his team. "Hinata, scan the house to see if anyone is inside." Hinata nodded to him, her expression growing serious as she began the jutsu to release her bloodline ability, Byakugan. Her eyes grew whiter and her veins around her eyes began to pulse as she released the chakra in her eyes. Once ready, she scanned the build carefully for chakra signatures.
"No one is in the building, but there is a locked chest upstairs." She told Shikamaru.
"Bingo! That's our target." The chuunin leader actually grinned. At least something was going well. "We hit the building fast, in and out in two minutes; no more, no less, got it?" His other two teammates nodded in approval. Shikamaru made a motion towards the building and turned around to lead them.
Something he sensed, however, stopped him from taking more than two steps.
What was that? Shikamaru thought as his senses began to go insane. Someone was watching them now, and he couldn't figure out where that person was. His two teammates sensed it as well, as Hinata began to look around nervously and Kiba's hair started to stand up on end.
"You won't be going anywhere, ninja" a voice bellowed at them. Shikamaru's reflexes reacted on impulse to fling his body towards his two other teammates. He pushed them down to the ground just in time to see a kunai fly over their heads. "Damn, we've been spotted!" The three of them instantly scrambled to their feet, backs to each other, kunai in hand and at the ready.
"Hinata, where are they?" Shikamaru asked quickly. She was already scanning the area with her for their attackers.
"Six of them all around us, mostly in the trees."
"They've got us outnumbered!"
"Dammit, we could use Naruto right now. ."Kiba complained. They all tensed up and moved closer together, readying themselves for any attack that might come their way. They did not have to wait for long, for one of the bandits appeared above them. He fell towards Hinata, knife clutched above his head at the ready to strike. Hinata's eyes grew with panic. He's too fast, it's all over for me," she thought, her fear keeping her feet firmly planted in the ground. The only thing she could do was close her eyes and await death.
But death it never came.
She heard the sound of blade tearing flesh, but she did not feel any pain. She hesitantly opened her eyes, shocked that death did not come. Hinata's white eyes were met with a sight she could not believe. Her attacker's face was mere inches from her own, but his eyes were vacant. Her eyes looked up a bit more to see someone holding her attacker up by the stomach. A guttural sound came from the bandit, and Hinata's savior allowed him to slide down to the ground slowly, giving her a clear view. Her guardian held a bloody kunai, and the hand holding the kunai was attached to Naruto Uzumaki.
"N-Naruto-kun?" she hesitated, not believing what her eyes was telling her. Naruto glanced over his shoulder momentarily as if answering her before flicking his kunai to fling the blood on the person it came from. The bandit was still groaning from the pain of his wound.
"Sorry I'm late, but I had to follow the scum to see what they were planning." He explained with a smug confidence in his voice. "Besides, the hero has to wait until the last minute, right?" If not for the total shock of the situation, Hinata would have smiled. Naruto, the boy whom she had loved for as long as she could remember have saved her. The blonde genin never looked as heroic to her as he did at that moment. Her other teammates shared her shock; Kiba's jaw appeared as if it threatened to fall to the ground and Shikamaru rubbed his eyes. Their attackers were equally shocked, totally not expecting a cavalry for their intended victims. However, they quickly regrouped.
"One more ninja won't help!" a gruff voice shouted from the trees. The four ninjas looked up to see two more bandits coming from the darkness surrounding them. They were all ready to counter them, but Naruto was the first to act. He flashed his trademark grin at the men before moving. The young ninja's movements were so fast that he appeared to vanish from sight.
"I don't take kindly to people trying to hurt my friends!" Naruto shouted once he appeared behind the two men. They weren't able to respond to his little taunt, however, has he slammed their heads together. They were both knocked out before landing harmlessly in front of Naruto's three other teammates.
By this time, the remaining bandits made themselves visible. Instead of going for the group, they went for the biggest threat; Naruto. Genin was already waiting for them, as he again used his speed to render their attacks useless.
That looks. ." Thought Shikamaru as Naruto sent the first assailant flying into a tree.
". . just like. . ." Hinata wondered as the next bandit crashed head-first into the ground.
". . .Lee's speed technique." Kiba pondered after Naruto made short work of the final bandit. Indeed, the entire time Naruto was in combat, he only appeared to flicker around his opponents. Never once did anyone see him make one full moment, only flashes and blinding motions their eyes couldn't keep up with. Regardless of what they were seeing, one thing was clear to the three of them; this wasn't the same Naruto Uzumaki they had grown up with.
The young genin in question stood with his back to his teammates, looking down at the last person he had defeated. He allowed himself a slight grin, but was careful not to show it to his teammates. He was pretty pleased with himself and as much as he would have loved to have paraded around in triumph, technically they still had a job to do. However, Naruto wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't allow himself a word edgewise.
"Well, looks like this mission will be over soon," the blonde boy said. "Shouldn't be too tough from here." He turned around to face them, expecting praise and adoration for this performance. Naruto had not intended to use his new abilities, but when he realized his team was all in trouble, he had to do something. Kakashi-sensei would have understood that at least. Hinata was all smiles, and Kiba gave him a thumbs-up. However, Shikamaru did not look the least bit pleased.
"You idiot! You could have gotten us killed!" He whispered harshly at Naruto.
"Hey! Without me, you all would be dead meat!" Naurto defensively said.
"You put us at a serious disadvantage when you left earlier! We didn't know where you went or what you were doing. For all we know, you're leaving compromised our position and allowed them to find us!"
"I was following THEM!" Naruto's voice was growing louder.
"It doesn't matter! You disobeyed a direct order!"
Naruto said nothing more. Instead, he slid his hands into his pockets and lowered his head so that his hair fell in his eyes. Shikamaru stood there, glaring at the genin while the Kiba and Hinata waited for someone to respond. Finally, it was Naruto who broke the silence.
"We might as well finish the mission then. . . sorry about earlier." He grumbled. Naruto's statement seemed to defuse Shikamaru enough to drop the whole thing. Hinata noticed Naruto had adopted the same look in his eyes that he had when he was training. Gone was the liveliness in his eyes, now replaced by a cool and almost metallic presence. "He's hurt again" The young girl thought. "And all he was doing was trying to help."
"Let's finish up and get home. . I'm tired." Shikamaru said, straightening himself up. They all nodded to each other and moved behind him as he led them towards the main building. As they walked, Hinata glanced over to Naruto, who was looking less than happy at the moment.
"I thought you were great back there, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered to him. Naruto looked up at the young girl and noticed her slight smile. He couldn't but smile at her in return, which actually felt some of his anger leave him. At least someone appreciates me. The young genin thought.
Despite Naruto's initial impression, Shikamaru was very impressed with him. Inwardly, he wanted to praise the genin for saving them, but the fact remained he left them alone when he said for him to stay. His duty forced him to reprimand the blonde boy, but it didn't keep him from silently thanking him. However, he wondered how Naruto was able to move so fast. He only knew two people able to move with that kind of speed; Lee and Sasuke. Apparently, Naruto was becoming much stronger than anyone could have believed. The genin hadn't shown any signs of such ability during their training, so it was a total surprise. Naruto, whatever you've been doing, keep doing it. Shikamaru thought to himself. How did he get so powerful? Is he holding back on us?
Considering the situation, Shikamaru figured he would hold off telling the Hokage about Naruto's insubordination.
Sakura stood in front of the memorial stone, fiercely practicing her jutsu technique. The last few months working under Tsunade had seen a lot of progress for the pink-haired girl. She was finally able to hold her chakra scalpel without any problems, and she was starting to learn a few new healing techniques. What shocked her even more was how efficient fighter she had become due to her training. The preciseness of medical jutsu not only made her more careful, but it made her more aware and technical as a combatant. She could now seek out vital points on the human body and know precisely how to disable them. She first noticed just how much progress she made during one of her team training session. Sakura had been able to render Ino defenseless by temporally cutting the nerves in her arms. Even Kakashi had been amazed at her control and accuracy. However, she still didn't have the stamina to be effective as a medical-nin in the field. She suspected that was the reason why she had been left off the last mission assigned to the group. Instead, Hinata was sent along due to her surprisingly quick grasp at healing techniques. Needless to say, it made Sakura a little jealous that Hinata was considered more useful than she was despite having a considerable head start on the girl.
This was why she was training so hard now. Night had already come and her training for the day was long over, but Sakura wanted to make sure she knew each jutsu motion to the point they were second nature. In just a few hours, she was able to do the jutsu finger movements one after another without stopping.
"You've gotten much better with those." Someone said from behind her. Sakura spun on her heel to face the direction of the voice. Immediately she was in defensive position. She was greeted to the face of her teammate Naruto.
"Oh, Naruto, it's you." Sakura relaxed when she realized who it was. "I didn't know you were back already from you're mission. So did everything go alright?"
"Yeah, I guess." Naruto said sullenly. Sakura noticed Naurto's wasn't quite as upbeat as he normally would be after a successful mission.
"What happened? No one was injured, were they?"
"No, everyone is fine." He proceeded to tell her about the mission and his disagreement with Shikamaru.
"Well it's great that you were able to save everyone, but you really shouldn't have your team alone." Sakura told once Naruto was done with his story. "Shikamaru was right to get on you."
"Yeah, I realize that now. But he made me feel like I didn't do anything useful at all."
"That's not true, Naruto. From the sound of it, you were great. However, you do tend to exaggerate." Sakura gave him a sly smile and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oyi! Everything I said was true!" Naruto said defensively. Sakura giggled at him and he only stared at her in confusion.
"I was only kidding, Naruto."
"Oh." The young man said sheepishly.
"Naruto, you've gotten a lot stronger lately. I've seen it in your training. You're also more mature than when I first met you. So you should be proud of what you've done."
Naruto's face was full of disbelief. It was rare that Sakura gave him a true compliment. He was truly moved by her words.
"Thanks Sakura-chan. It means a lot to hear you say that."
"See, there you go right there."
"What?"
"The old Naruto would have said something goofy right then. I told you that you've changed." Naurto couldn't help but grin big at Sakura. It was his normal, goofy grin he gave when he was proud of himself. Sakura could only shake her head, some things just couldn't change. But then, Naruto just wouldn't be Naruto if he changed too much. Naruto thought about her words and he immediately thought about his promise to her. As he looked at his friend, his expression in his eyes turned serious.
"Sakura-chan," he began in a much more serious tone. "You've been a good fiend to me, and I intend to keep my promise to you." Sakura smiled solemnly at her teammate.
"I know you do." She told him. "That's why I've been training so hard. I shouldn't have let you hold the burden all on your own. That's why next time you go after him, I'm going to be there with you. We'll do it together."
"I'd like that, Sakura-chan."
"So would I. In fact, I wouldn't have it any other way." The two friends smiled at each other. There was a mutual realization of just how much they depended on each other. Naruto and Sakura had become much more than teammates, they had become friends; true friends. Now they shared a common goal and that goal their bond stronger than either thought possible. It was the same bond which they hoped would help them bring back their lost friend.
-Notes and Stuff-
Ah, this chapter's finally done I'm glad because it was tough to write. I wanted to rush through it SO bad, and it turned out much longer than expected. But I kept pacing myself and going over the draft as I wanted the quailty to be there. I debated weather or not to push the last segment back or make it as a seperate chapter, but I felt it needed to stay here where I orginally placed it. What's become a side project to cure my writer's block for my orginal work has become a labor of love and priority project. Please keep checking up for this, as I'm looking over the outline and planning some big things for this story. Until next time (already working on Chapter 5 )!