(Naruto POV)
Naruto was making his way to the barbecue restaurant, he and others decided to get together and eat out. He walked into the restaurant and spotted his friends.
"Oi! Naruto, over here!" Ino hollered.
"Coming!" He made is way over the table and sat next to Sai. The blonde looked around and saw Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune and the other jounin sitting at the table in front of them. 'Seems like Tsunade-baachan is taking a break from hokage duties.'
"Alright! Let's EAT!" Choji shouted.
"Man, we have the two biggest eaters here. I'm not paying." Shikamaru sighed.
"Don't worry. We're all splitting the pay!" Tenten said.
"If these pigs eat too much. They'll have to pay the extra stuff themselves!" Kiba laughed.
"Oh come on guys! Give me a break!" Naruto whined.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Troublesome."
"I wonder how Sakura is doing?" Tenten asked.
"Oh! I talked to her last night!" Naruto said while chewing his food. Everyone looked at home in disgust as food flew out of his mouth.
"You talked to her?" Kiba questions.
The kyuubi swallowed and grinned. "Yep! She said hello back!" He took out the pink chakra crystal necklace out from under his jacket and dangled it in front of the others. Everyone at their table stared at the necklace for awhile.
"I forgot about that..." Neji said while he took out his necklace and observed the pink crystal. Everyone had done the same.
"I-I also said hi to her l-last night." Hinata stuttered and raised her hand.
"Of course I would say hi to Forehead! She's my best friend afterall!" Ino raised her hand. She smirked at Naruto while he glared back. They both were glaring at each other as if they were having a battle over the "best friend" title. Everyone sweat-dropped.
"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru sighed and raised his hand. The two blonde rivals turned and glared at him. He groaned and facepalmed. Soon Sai, Kakashi, and Tsunade raised their hands as well.
"Awhhhh man! I thought I was the only one!" Naruto complained.
"Wait! You guys all gave her a signal and didn't tell us?! How un-youthful!" Lee cried.
"Well, how about we all send her a signal now? Since we're all together." Shizune suggested.
"That's a great idea! Let's do it!" Everyone clutched onto the necklace and flared their chakra a bit. They waited for a response, none came.
"That's weird..." The kyuubi's eyes narrowed.
"She's probably busy. We'll send her another one later." Sai said.
"Yeah... Maybe you're right. Okay, let's eat!" Everyone began eating their food. Naruto sat quietly with a troubled look. Somehow, he couldn't shake off this dreadful feeling he had. He hoped his pinked haired teammate was safe. Everyone was having a great time, chatting, laughing, and smiling. Choji, Kiba and Naruto were fighting over the last piece of meat. While others were staring at them in amusement. Tsunade and the other adults smiled and stared at the young shinobi.
"They sure have growned. Especially Naruto and Sakura." Shizune smiled.
Kakashi chuckled. "Yeah, Naruto has grown in height... Can't really say the same thing for his maturity..." The white haired nin thought about the time when the blonde had shown his sexy jutsu and him being beaten to a pulp by his pink haired teammate. "He's still the number one knucklehead ninja. Sakura on the other hand... I'd say she's grown the most."
"Of course! She's my prodigy apprentice after all." Tsunade grinned and took one last shot of sake and got up.
"Alright kiddos. Hokage duty calls."
"T-Thanks for coming, Tsunade-sama! Shizune-san!" Hinata smiled.
"Awh! Baa-chan, you're leaving already?!"
"Yeah, I have a load of paperwork waiting for me."
"Have fun with that..."
"You'll be doing the same once you take over your father's position, Nara."
"What a damn drag..."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, have fun, kids." The blonde Hokage and her raven apprentice waved at them and exit the restaurant.
"Bye!" Everyone waved back. They resumed to what they were doing. They had almost missed the glowing necklace.
"Hey look! Sakura's communicating with us!" Kiba held out his necklace. Upon seeing the bright glow, everyone quickly grabbed theirs and stared at the pink crystal in awe.
"Well, we should hurry and reply back!" Ino grinned.
"Wait... Something doesn't seem right." Neji's brows furrowed.
"What do you mean, Neji?" Tenten questioned.
"Usually, inserting a bit of chakra would cause the crystal to flicker, but the crystal is glowing... Brightly."
"Okay? Which means...?"
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "Which means... She could be in battle. With the way the crystal is glowing, she's using her chakra at full force. This must be a pretty intense battle then again it can be just a large group of bandits. Something she can handle I'm sure."
(This was when Sakura was fighting Suigetsu in chapter two.)
"Oh no! Sakura-chan is in trouble!"
"Calm down, idiot. I'm sure she's fine. Forehead won't be taken down easily. She's way too stubborn for that."
"Y-Yeah. I guess you're right."
"If anything... We'll just have to watch the crystal and wait."
Everyone continued to what they were doing but kept a close eye on the crystal. It's been twenty minutes and there was no change. They began to worry.
"Okay. It doesn't take that long to beat a group of bandits."
"Maybe they're shinobi."
"I-I hope Sakura-san is o-okay..."
"Don't worry, Hinata! Sakura-chan is strong!" Naruto grinned. Deep down he was worrying for his teammate. He looked down and clenched his fists.
"She has to be okay..."
Hinata glanced at the blonde. She knew he was extremely worried for the rosette. "Naruto-kun..."
Lee stared at the crystal. "Come on, Sakura-chan! You can do it, my youthful blossom!"
"You better not get seriously hurt, forehead!"
"Wait, what the?!" Tenten gasped.
The glowing crystal was starting to dim, and fast. Everyone eyes widen as they stared into the crystal that was now dead. Minutes passed, no one dared to speak.
Shikamaru spoke, breaking the silence. "There's no light in her crystal which means she's been knocked out or..."
"... Dead." Shino finished his sentence.
"N-No! She can be!" Ino's eyes started to water.
I'm A bang startled them all. They turned their heads to the source of the sound. Naruto had slammed his hands into and table and stood up. He clenched the crystal tightly, eyes red and furious. He put his money on the table and quickly left.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata called. Neji grabbed onto her wrists and shook his head.
"Leave him... If anything, he's most likely on his way to the Hokage's tower right now."
"Hey where did Kakashi-sensei and Sai go?" Choji asked.
Everyone looked around and saw that Kakashi and Sai disappeared. Shikamaru sighed.
"Most likely on their way to the Hokage's tower too. We should also go... Tsunade-sama will mostly likely summon us."
Naruto ran as fast as he could. He knew he had a bad feeling, he should have known. Now his teammate was hurt or worse... Dead. That very thought made him furious. The blonde gritted his teeth, eyes burning red. If he found a single scratch on the rosette, hell would break loose. Just then, two people appeared beside him. He turned his head and saw Kakashi-sensei and Sai running along with him. They faced him and nodded. They all had the same goal... Go to the Hokage's tower, and save Sakura. They were out for blood.
"Baa-chan!" Naruto burst through the door.
"Naruto you really need to learn to knock first..." Kakashi sighed.
"I don't care about knocking! We have a problem-ACK!" The blonde suddenly fell on the floor.
Lady Hokage had thrown a book in the kyubi's face. She then sat back down and growled. "Shut up you brat! Kakashi is right, you need to learn to knock first before you enter my office!"
"Told you so..." Kakashi shook his head.
Naruto recovered. "But Baa-chan! AH!" The blonde fell again.
Tsunade had thrown a bigger book at the jinchuriki. "And quit calling me that!"
"Baka..." Sai muttered
Naruto's foot and hands twitched. "Urgh..."
The older blonde sighed. "I assume you're all here for Sakura. Yes?"
Naruto quickly stood up. His face still red from the books. "Baa-chan you knew?!"
Tsunade's eye twitched. "I told you to not-urgh! Nevermind. Yes, brat! I have the necklace too you know."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?! We have to save Sakura-chan!"
"No. We wait until tomorrow."
"Wait what?! But Sakura-chan could be hurt or...!" He paused and looked down.
The Hokage stared at the blonde and sighed. She knew he was desperate. He didn't want to lose another important person. "She's not dead, Naruto. Look at the crystal closely. There's still some light in it. It's low but she's alive. Most likely asleep."
Naruto stared at the pinked crystal. It was true. There was a tiny glow, he let out a big breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "Thank kami." Just then a knock interrupted them.
"Enter."
The rest of Konoha 11 came in. Shikamaru and Ino had to drag their complaining teammate. They both were panting and sweating.
"Why couldn't you just use your jutsu to control him?!"
"Even if I did... I wouldn't be able to control him for long. You know how he gets when food is around... " Everyone pitied the two. They all knew about Choji and food.
"Alright back to business. As you already know Haruno Sakura ran into some trouble. She's alive but unconscious. I will put some of you in a team and you'll go and meet with her..."
"Why tomorrow? We should go now!" Naruto yelled.
"Quit yelling! Sakura is a smart girl. As soon as she's away from danger she would send a message and report everything that happened. I need to know who we're dealing with. Even if she's okay, I'll still have some of you go on this mission."
Kiba spoke. "Wait why? If there's no serious threat then it's fine right?"
"..."
"Tsunade-sama..?"
"...Here read this." The older blonde handed Naruto (since he was the closest) a black book. Everyone gathered to see what was inside. Naruto opened to the page that had the bookmark in it. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw a photo of a familiar pink haired woman.
"A-A bingo book?" Hinata questioned.
"Wanted Alive. Turn in at Kumogakura or Kirigakure to claim prize." Neji read aloud.
"Why does Kumo and Kiri want Sakura-chan?!"
"Naruto... You're not the only one whose wanted. Sakura is my prodigy apprentice, she's called 'Tsunade Two' for a reason. Being one of the top medics in the world... No doubt people want to get their filthy hands on her and her skills. On top of that being the Hokage's apprentice, she knows secrets and sensitive information. I wouldn't be surprised if the Akatsuki chase after her as well. They can use her skills, gain info about Konoha and use her to lure you, Naruto."
"Do you think she'd really give out important information...?"
"No... But she'll do anything to keep you all safe. Especially you, Naruto."
At that, everyone looked down. They knew what the slug sannin said was true. The rosette would do anything to protect them all, even if it ends up killing her.
"Who's going on the mission...?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well, as you can see not all of you will be able to do the mission. I need some of you here to protect the village or for other missions. The people who are going are Kakashi, Shikamaru, Neji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, and Sai."
"Wait, why aren't I going?!" Naruto shouted.
"The Akatsuki are after you. It would be safer to have you stay here."
"NO! I need to go! I need to see Sakura-chan! Tsunade-sama please!"
Tsunade's eyes widened. Naruto doesn't usually call her by her name. He was desperate. She looked at him and saw that he was trembling, face held many emotions... Concern, anger and distress. It looked like he was going to lose control and break down any second. She frowned, she hadn't seen him like this, not even when Sasuke left. She sighed. Even if she refused, she knew the blonde would sneak out of go.
"Alright... You may go just don't do anything stupid."
Naruto smiled. He ran up to the Hokage and gave her a bone crushing hug. "Thanks Baa-chan! I won't I swear!"
"Yeah, yeah... Now get off. I want you all to report to my office tomorrow. Get everything ready, tonight."
Everyone nodded.
"Now get out!"
Soon, everyone left and went home. Tsunade stared out her window, deep in thought.
"Be safe, Sakura."
A/N: Hi again! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though it was a pretty short one. Next chapter we'll go back to Sakura. Review, follow, favorite! See you all in the next chapter! Bye!