Hi! Yet another re-written chapter that isn't much different from the original but hopefully sounds better...not much to say, so just go ahead and read it.

Disclaimer: if i owned Naruto, Naruto would have quite a few more IQ points.

Sakura sat down in her shower. The young kunoichi was struggling to understand the emotions coursing through her body. She had a lump in her throat, and the overwhelming urge to sob every time she attempted to speak. "I've felt this way before." She realized with slight surprise. "This is exactly how I felt when Sasuke left, but why would I have the same reaction with Naruto?" The teen let out a long sigh, there were far to many unknowns in this aggravating puzzle.

Hugging her knees close to her body, she finally let the waterfall of tears run down her face and mix with the water. She went over the entire situation in her mind once more, but the event seemed to make less and less sense. "I don't believe it" She said, speaking to the air. Her mouth stopped voicing her words as her muddled thoughts continued. "There has to be a reason! Naruto's dream was to become Hokage, why would he leave the village like this? He didn't even give us a warning like Sasuke did. Someone would have noticed if he was planning to leave Konoha."

The pink haired teen's memory drifted back to the night she'd run into Sasuke as he was leaving. As she thought about it, she realized that her feelings for the Uchiha had wained over the past three years. The sense of urgency in retrieving him was lost as well. Sakura knew that, thanks to a well-placed punch from herself and Naruto's interference in the Uchiha's path, Sasuke was safe for another three years.

Her memory of the mission pointed her thoughts once more toward the blonde haired ninja. Sakura wished fervently that she would wake up and find it all a dream. She wanted so badly to run after her teammate, but knew that such an action would be futile.

Sakura sighed again as she stood up and turned the water off. She grabbed a towel as she stepped out of the shower. Wrapping her self in the comforting clothe as she looked out the window towards the lively city. "I'm going to find you," she promised to the blonde shinobi she knew was far to gone to here her, "and I'm going to find out why you left. I'm going to bring you back to Konoha, even if it takes years and I have to drag you back 200 miles by your ankles. And I don't care what you, or the council has to say about it."

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Sakura sighed with pleasure as she flopped down onto the hotel bed. "Ahh Bed, sweet bed, I love you so much!"

Sakura had been running almost around the clock for nearly two weeks. Tsunade had sent the kunoichi to gather information in a small northern village near the mountains that bordered the shinobi land.

Having finally reached her destination, the pink haired ninja was ready for some much needed sleep. If only she could fall asleep in the first place, she mused as the insomnia that had become almost routine so many years ago set in.

Her mind wandered to the oh-so-familiar topic a certain orange wearing knucklehead.

"I've been playing detective for three years now!" the pink haired kunoichi thought angrily. "Three years and I have no idea why he left, or even where he is. Why can't I at least track him down?" Sakura had been searching non-stop for Naruto ever since he left.

The search had not gone far, it was as if the hyperactive blonde had only been a figment of everyone's imagination. Grimacing in frustration at the direction her thoughts were taking, she pushed all thoughts out of her mind, eventually drifting off into a dreamless slumber.

Nine hours later a very groggy Konoha jonin stumbled out of her hotel room. Sakura yawned as she straightened up and jogged lazily down the stairs. As the kunoichi stepped out into the open she shivered with the cold. She scolded herself for not bringing warmer clothing.

The rubbed the bare skin on her arms as she focused on her mission. "Okay. The best place to ask questions or eaves drop would I guess is the local club." She looked at her watch. "Two pm. No one interesting should be at a club until about eight, so I have about six hours to do whatever I want." Sakura looked up and down the long narrow road.

People were busy going about their normal business, hustling from one shop to the next. She noticed how different their attire was, they were obviously dressed for the weather. Instead of the long-sleeved shirts under the green vests, people here seemed to wear jackets, coats, and long pants with closed toed shoes instead of sweats with sandals. "Ha, I wonder how obvious it is I'm not from around here? I probably stick out like a sore thumb!" The jonin laughed at herself, as she decided to get some food. After about ten minutes of aimless wandering the pink haired nin finally entered a randomly picked restaurant.

The wind seemed to push her through the door. The kunoichi was greeted politely by a black haired hostess and escorted to a table. She looked over the menu, her eyes lingering sadly on the word 'ramen' before moving on.

Sakura looked up at the sound of rushing wind and the chime of a bell. A man walked casually into the restaurant. He wore a long black coat, with black slacks and a business worthy shirt and tie. The man smiled politely at the hostess and proceeded to the table directly behind the pink haired teen.

"Sorry I'm late." The man said apologetically to the man that had already been seated.

"You better have a good excuse, Auoshi." The sitting man retorted bitterly.

"Unluckily for you, I do." Auoshi stated.

His friend must have made a face of some kind, because Auoshi's response sounded guilty and downcast, "Yup, Fang got us again. The same team as last time too. I've already admitted they're good for discovering our," he paused, as if searching for the right word, "imports, once, but this is getting ridiculous. We need a new plan to smuggle products into Satarima."

Obviously illegal Sakura thought, listening in.

The man let out an audible sigh. "Do we have any of the shipment left, or did Fang get it all?"

"They took it all. It's annoying really, there's only one team that can catch us, but Gyro's getting smart and putting them on patrol more frequently." He stopped. "Are you sure we should be talking about this in public?"

"It's fine, even here, no one has a clue what's to the north. People think it's only wilderness beyond these borders. They've got no idea that if they followed the mountains north for 20 miles or so, they'd run into Fang, and then seven other cities if they kept exploring. So they found all six shipments, huh?"

"Yes." Auoshi regretfully admitted. "Once they ran into the first one, it took all of three seconds to start a search of the area."

"Ever think your men could just be careless, or maybe even stupid?"

"No way in Hell." Auoshi replied, offended. "Every one of those men was picked out and trained by yours truly."

"Then maybe you're a bad teacher." The man replied sourly.

"I am not!"

Sakura could tell Auoshi's temper was rising. He was obviously the type of person who thought highly of himself. If he was willing to admit someone had foiled him, then they'd probably made him look like a downright fool.

Auoshi screamed in protest, "It's that stupid blonde bastard, with the whisker marks on his cheeks!"

The pink haired kunoichi went ridged, eyes wide with the importance of Auoshi's words. Automatically her body put every ounce of its energy into listening to the conversation of the two men.

"For freaking two years, ever since he started missions with Fang he's been a pain in the ass. He saw through my best smuggling pattern! And that stupid fox of his, I swear it can smell contraband from 50 miles away! It's ridiculous, I mean Gyro's bloody wolf girl of a daughter was pretty good, but even she never caught us! It wasn't until she teamed up with that blue eyed, blonde, son of a bitch that our problems started. I don't even think he's human. My men say that when he gets angry the whisker marks get really thick, his eyes turn crimson and his partner has to calm him down!"

Sakura stared at the seat in front of her. It was definitely Naruto they were talking about; there could be no doubt. The teen could not believe her luck. In a matter of minutes she'd found half of the answers she'd been searching three years for. The jounin didn't even bother waiting for her food. All thoughts of hunger had run from her mind.

She raced back to her hotel as fast as her legs would carry her. Bursting through the door she immediately began packing her things. The kunoichi knew exactly what she was going to do. There would be hell to pay for abandoning her mission later, but she had a feeling the Hokage would understand.

Okay, i tried to make that one longer (again, it's still kinda short but oh well.) Anyway, i didn't change much in this chapter, but hopefull it reads a little better.

If you want to, I have no problem with people reviewing.

colonelZ