4 days later in the Hokages office.
"Tsunade-hime there is no need to get so distressed. I am sure that Naruto will turn up. He probably had to flee farther to get away from Orochimaru. We haven't found a body, and there was barely any evidence of a major struggle. You know the damage Naruto can cause if he ever gets cornered. I have faith that he has a damn good reason too. Like Naruto would ever give us enough time to get our thoughts straight without his constant yelling in our ears." Stated Jiraiya calmly.
"Jiraiya you don't know what damage Akatsuki could have done to that seal. On top of that who knows how much Orochimaru could have grown. There's a good chance that Naruto could have been cut off from kyuubis chakra or just collapsed from the strain of that day's events and Orochimaru killed him and took the body off for study. I dare say it's not too often he got to study a boy like Naruto." Kakashi replied grimly, Jiraiya and Tsunade could sense the strain of his voice as he thought of losing one of his students all over again to that snake bastard.
"I just don't know what to do. It's just so unlike Naruto for him to up and vanish. Usually there are craters everywhere. You saw what happened when Akatsuki picked him up. The was a crater every 5 miles about half way there until they finally managed to secure him properly." Chuckled Tsunade lightly.
"Yeah, Pakkun told me he didn't even need his nose to follow he just needed his ears it was so loud. But remember, Pakkun did pick up Narutos scent and it seemed like he was heading towards the sound before it disappeared along with Orochimarus." Again Kakashi's voice strained at the unspoken end to Konoha's number one loudest ninja.
"The council is all up in arms over this. They want him found soon and some are even considering naming him a missing nin already. Can you believe that? It took me a whole week to convince the council to name Sasuke a missing nin and then he was only given a B rank. If Naruto gets it he will be made S-class for sure. Sarutobis old team mates want to send out ANBU to hunt him down and then place him under permanent lock down once he does get back. That last stint with Akatsuki was too close for them. They want their trump card safely stowed away until they can use him. To top it all off I still don't know what to do with Sasuke." Tsunades weariness was beginning to overcome her when she absent mindedly reached for her bottle of Sake Shizune left her when she heard Jiraiya was gonna meet her.
"At least you won't have to fight the council over it. Unless you sentence him to death of course. He is the last Uchiha after what happened. How do you think he'll take it when he finds out Kabuto was the one who eventually killed him? Not just that but all he did was stab him from behind during those 3 seconds while he was fighting Orochimaru." Jiraiya was actually finding what Kakashi had just said kind of funny, but he didn't laugh since he too was still kind of worried over Naruto.
"I understand the importance of his bloodline. But it's not like we can just turn him into breedingstock. It's not morally acceptable and no I will NOT turn you into breedingstock Jiraiya so stop looking at me like that. Of course even after his defection he still has a fairly sizeable fan club along with many families who would be willing to do this to get the Sharingan even if they have to raise it out of wedlock. Luckily the council is fractured over this so I have time to consider it. What I am running out on is time to find Naruto. You guys have anymore ideas on what to do?" Tsunade said this with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I...I just can't... just can't afford to lose him again. I can't believe we went through all that just to lose him at the last moment."
"Tsunade-hime, don't worry, this is Naruto we are talking about here. I'll go check out my informants just to see if Akatsuki managed to get their hands on him again just in case. 4 of them did escape. What I think you need is to send a team that is specialized in tracking that can spend more time tracking him down. The ANBU just don't have the man power to stage a search for that long after that battle. we did lose quite a few." Jiraiya replied soothingly, attempting to help her stop worrying.
"Kurenai's old team is available, and Shino did make Jounin recently. What I am worried of is if Naruto has lost control or is being controlled somehow that they won't be able to capture him. Shino doesn't have enough bugs to absorb his amount of chakra and Closing off his tenketsu would not be too effective either. We could send for one of the sands puppeteers and in conjunction with a medic nin they could devise and deliver a poison potent enough to knock him out until we get him back. I would send you Kakashi but I need you and Sakura to keep an eye on Sasuke as I still consider him a flight risk." Said Tsunade.
"Tsunade, what about Asumas old team? Their skills are very well suited to capture and Shikamaru has proven himself a very capable leader in the past. Perhaps we could use this mission to study how effective he would be to become a jounin. You may not have heard of this since it is a sore point for many of the more skilled shinobi, but before Naruto was even a genin he was capable of evading pursuit of many jounin for several hours before he was captured. It was so difficult Sarutobi actually made it an A rank mission after each of his pranks. Thanks to that it allowed Umino Iruka to accumulate enough money to eventually buy himself a house since he usually found him." giggled Kakashi.
"Hm, the Akimichi and the Nara would be useful but not the Yamanaka. If she used her families jutsu on him who knows what might happen with all the trauma Naruto has suffered and not to mention the kyuubi. I could use Neji on this but he is already on another A rank mission involving the sound. With so few Jounin Hyuuga to spare I'll have to settle for a team of Chunnin to find him for now. I would send Shino too but I can't really spare any jounins as it is right now what with the Sound becoming a greater threat and still needing to wrap up any remaining Akatsuki members. I'll make sure to get them a powerful sedative that they can administer to Naruto. That is neither here nor there however so I will send out Kurenai's team immediately then for a purely reconnaissance mission. They will have orders not to engage him at all if they do encounter him. They will be ordered to keep track of him until I can send out a proper rescue team with any information they can offer me. If there are no objections I give you leave to go." "Hai Hokage-sama." Replied the two perverted Shinobi. Tsunade seemed to grow wearier after that and the two shinobi decided that it was time to go. As the door closed the Hokage seemed to visibly shrink upon herself as she laid her head upon her desk and let sleep claim her.
Author's note: Okay I am already started on the third chapter and hopefully it will be out this weekend so keep those hopes up! I appreciate criticism and will respond to your reviews if I can and if it is required or asked. I have nothing set in stone so ideas are welcome as well