Here is another chapter! I hope you guys are liking the story so far.
Please review, it gives me motivation to continue writing this story when I know I have readers.
Enjoy! :D
-Namikaze
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, all rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
A Pure Cause : Chapter 3
Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi sat in silence. The gennin had grown tired and lay back down in their respective futons, as they knew Itachi had finished the conversation. The hooded Akatsuki member had his head tilted down as if he was sleeping. Sasuke turned to Naruto and got his attention by punching the blonde's side. Naruto grimaced and turned to Sasuke, ready to hit him back, but he saw the Uchiha's serious expression and decided against it. Not trusting that the hooded man was asleep, Sasuke resorted to sign language taught to them by Kakashi, for situations like this.
'You don't actually trust him, do you?', the raven haired boy signed.
'Of course I don't', Naruto signed back.
'Then why are you acting like you do?'b
'We could gain the advantage.'
Sasuke stared at his friend, confused.
'And how is that?' He signed. Naruto glanced over to Itachi to make sure he wasn't looking their way. As soon as he confirmed that the hooded man was not aware of their actions, he turned back to Sasuke.
'If he thinks we trust him, he will be more careless. As soon as his guard is down, we attack and run. So I suggest you start acting like you trust him too.' He signed. Sasuke smirked, he knew that Naruto was much smarter than everyone thought he was. Sasuke noticed that the teachers in the academy were sabotaging Naruto's development, so the blonde played along.
'There's a problem with your plan there, Dobe.' He signed. Naruto looked at him curiously, ignoring the insult,
'And that would be?'
'First off, we have no idea what his skill level is. Judging from how fast he would have to be to save us, and get out of the valley, before any Konoha nin arrived, he's probably jounin or maybe ANBU level even.'
Naruto nodded, he had a point,
'Second,' Sasuke continued, 'There is the problem of his partner. We don't know when he arrives, or how strong he could be. And finally, we don't know where in Kumo we are, or how many allies they have around the area.' The gennin finished. Naruto stared at Sasuke for a few seconds.
'Good point' he finally signed. Naruto wasn't fond of the situation either. He'd been captured by an Akatsuki member, and was probably going to have the Kyuubi extracted from him. Resulting in his death.
'So then, what do you suggest we do?' Naruto signed to Sasuke. The Uchiha paused for a moment, before signing,
'Wait it out. Wait for the perfect moment to strike, so that it doesn't matter how skilled he or his partner are. Besides, if he wanted us dead he would've killed us already, or left us to die in the Valley.'
Naruto nodded, and turned back over in his futon. He fell asleep, and started to dream about Konoha.
Naruto jerked out of his futon as a result of a backpack being thrown onto his face.
"Wake up" Itachi commanded, before turning to his younger brother and throwing a similar backpack onto the boy's stomach. Naruto stood painfully, as he had not completely healed from his fight the day before, as Sasuke jerked up in his futon. The Uchiha growled at Itachi and stood also.
"What's with the backpacks?" Naruto asked.
"They contain clothing that you are required to wear for our journey."
"What's wrong with my clothes?" Naruto said, looking down at his bright orange and blue jumpsuit. Sasuke and Itachi stared at Naruto.
"Are you serious?" Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto.
"Too much attention." Itachi stated bluntly.
"And you look absolutely stupid" Sasuke added. Naruto hung his head and sighed, defeated.
"Wait, why are we going on this 'journey' without your partner?" Naruto asked, adding in air quotes on the word, journey.
"He has decided to meet us at our second destination, a few things came up that needed taking care of."
Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other suspiciously.
"Change into your clothes so we can get going." The two boys nodded and opened up their backpacks.
A few minutes later, and both boys had changed. They both wore a long sleeved black shirt, with pants the same color, and a gray vest over the shirt. They also had gray metal protectors on their forearms, and shins, with black ninja sandals. Overall the outfit looked very similar to an ANBU uniform.
"Matching outfits, great." Naruto stated with sarcasm. Sasuke didn't exactly like the fact that he had to wear the same clothing as Naruto but brushed it off. Itachi tossed them two black cloaks and said,
"Put those on, then we can get moving." The boys did as they were told, and then followed the man through an opening in the wall, and into a set of corridors. The passages were extremely confusing, and if you ever lost your way, you were done for. As the trio, winded through the halls of the mountain, the gennin were starting to think that Itachi had lost his way. They had been walking for around twenty minutes now and Sasuke decided to speak up.
"Are you sure we are going the right way? I mean, we've been walking for a while now."
Itachi said nothing and just kept on walking. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, and Naruto shrugged. After another ten minutes, the hooded man finally stopped at a dead end. Naruto sighed and Sasuke growled in annoyance, but then Itachi slammed his hands on the floor and the wall in front of them crumbled to reveal a vast mountain range. Naruto whistled at the amount of snow tipped mountains. The blonde was about to step forward when he was stopped by Itachi who stood next to him. Sasuke tensed and Naruto was ready to attack until the hooded man pointed down. The boy looked down and saw that the opening they were standing in was about half a mile high from the base of the mountain.
"T-thanks" Naruto said, and Itachi nodded. He then spoke,
"Do as I do."
Itachi then infused his feet to the side of the mountain using chakra, and started to walk up it. Sasuke followed, and Naruto did the same. It took only a few minuts to reach the top of the mountain. They could see for miles from their hight and could see Kumo only a few miles away. Itachi turned east and pointed to where they could see a small village.
"That is Kutei, a small village supported by The Hidden Cloud, for refugee's from the civil war in Kirigakure. In exchange, the refugee's supply Kumo with crops, and money made from it's trade business." Itachi told them.
"It is also our first destination." He said. The gennin nodded, as they gazed at the small town.
"So we are going to hike then?" Sasuke asked, and received a nod from the hooded man.
