Sixth chapter. A little dark. And I introduce you to my OC! But there is a corpse here. And a bit of blood. And Naruto truely comes back in the next chapter. If I don't do that, you will have the right to... send Sasuke to torture me.

I don't own the serie Naruto nor it's characters. And Sasuke belongs to his fanclub. But my OC and the plot has my name written all over!

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It's been another five days. No sign of Naruto, no news from Tsunade, nothing.

But even more creepy, yesterday Sakura didn't come to practice. Kakashi decided to give me a break, since I'm the only one of the team left.

It's the middle of the day. Tsunade sent someone this morning to summon me to her office.

Guess she found something interesting. I exit silently my mansion and I walk in direction of the Hokage tower.

I wonder what it is she wants to talk about.

¤¤¤¤¤

I enter the office. Tsunade is behind the desk. I am a little surprised to see that the piece of fourniture doesn't break under all those papers.

But something in the shadow of a corner of the room is taking attention.

"Hello, Sasuke." sighes Tsunade. I focus my attention back to her. "You're just on time."

"You found something about Naruto?" I ask.

"Sorry, but no. We found no trace of Naruto." says the fifth Hokage, a little sad. "But I want to talk to you about something more important. We inspected Naruto's appartment. Apparently, Naruto is the one who killed those four men. I don't know what they were doing there or who they are. And I have news about Sakura Haruno. She is on your team, am I correct?"

"Yes. But I didn't see her yesterday or today."

"That's to be expected, since she's in the hospital."

My eyes widden. "What?"

"You heard me. She was attacked by something in an alley and when we found her, she was in a deep coma. But her state is stable."

"What happened to her?"

"We don't know for sure."

"I keep telling you it was a werewolf." says a voice coming from the dark corner.

"Oh! Sasuke, I introduce you to Yuki. She's a nomade ninja from the village hidden in the mist, but she's not with them anymore. She is a specialist of strange things." says Tsunade.

A young woman steps out of the shadow. Dark red hair, dark green eyes, and black trench coat, t-shirt and baggy cargo pants. Her hair are tied up in abun with a navy blue ribbon. She looks approximately my age. "Hi." she says dully.

"Uh... hi." I reply.

"I put you two in a teem to investigate on what has been happening lately." says Tsunade.

"There has been more happening?" I ask stupidly.

"Murders, in general." answers Yuki. "The victims are found in pools of blood, just like the four men in your buddy's appartment. All in small alleys. I can show you if you want."

"Why putting me in this mission?" I ask to Tsunade.

"Simply because Yuki here doesn't want a big team, with girls or with old geezers, like she said. And you're the only male Gennin left in Konoha, the others are already on missions outside town."

"He'll do." says Yuki.

Somehow, I sense this mission will be really weird. Maybe because the girl I'm paired with IS weird.

"Can you wait outside, Yuki?" asks Tsunade.

"Sure." And the girl leaves.

"Does this mission suit you, Sasuke?" asks me Tsunade.

"Not really." I reply francly.

"You want more information about Yuki, is that it?"

"It would help."

"Her full name is Yuki Suikitsu. She comes from the village hidden in the mist. After some problems with the principals of her village, she left it. She doesn't want to wear the sign of her village now because of the problems she had. She's a mercenary but we can trust her. She is not in a gang of any sort. She travels from land to land to help random ninjas and villages."

"Tough life."

"She's a good girl. I already asked her to do some things and she did them."

"Do you know anything more about her past or her origins?"

"Nobody knows about that. Except her and some people in the village hidden in the mist."

"Okay, I accept the mission."

"One more thing." she says as Iam about to leave.

"What?"

"She needs somewhere to stay while she's here."

I sigh. "I'll take her to my house." I start back to the door but I stop just in front of it and turn back to Tsunade. "Just so you know, I'm gay. And with Naruto."

Her eyes widden. "That's new."

"You... think he's okay?"

She seems startled by my question, but she quickly get over it and smiles warmly at me. "I'm sure he'll be alright when you'll find him."

"Thanks. I needed to hear that." And I exit her office.

¤¤¤¤¤

I took Yuki home, and now she's leading me to one of the most recent places she saw corpses.

"It should be right behind that corner." she says, pointing at a turn in the alley.

We walk to it and I look at the scene.

A body half-eaten by something big and lying in a pool of dried blood.

The stench is horrible, but it doesn't seem to touch Yuki.

"That's the most recent one." she says. "It was a young ninja. Probably a Gennin of around our age."

"A gennin?" I repeat. "You know who it is?"

"Nope. And none of the teams reported a missing member. Yet."

"What do you mean "yet"?"

"Well, none of the teams reported at all. So I figure that maybe one of the teams is all dead and this is one of their members. But your Hokage says it is improbable."

"Are you sure this a Gennin from Konoha?"

"Yep. I found the headband on the body." Then she points at a forehead protector that has been washed to see the sign on it. And it is Konoha's leaf.

I gulp. "You know who it is?"

"Nope. But Tsunade didn't see this one yet. I suppose this Gennin has been killed during the night."

"And the others?"

"The other corpses? Same state. But we could figure out their identity. Simple villagers."

"How was Sakura when she was found?"

"She was unconcious and she had many wounds. I think she escaped and crawled until she lost her conciousness."

"For how long have you been here?"

"A week or so. The sun is about to set. We'd better get back home and continue the investigation tomorrow."

I look at the sky. It is a beautiful orange color. "Maybe you're right... let's go."

And we head back to my mansion. As we walk, I decide to ask her a bit more details about herself.

"What are you doing here exactly, usually?"

"Little works for Tsunade. Nothing much."

"Did you face a situation like this one before?"

"Kinda. While I was walking in the forest, I found a team. They were all in a state like the body you saw."

"You have an idea of what kind of people did this?"

"It isn't a human, you can be sure of that. It was something else."

"You know what we have to face, then?"

"Yeah. But Tsunade wants proofs. So I can't claim that it is a werewolf for now."

A werewolf? No... Naruto, are you the one who did this?

"You seem to have something on your mind. Want to share it with me?"

I look at her. Her cold features have melted and now she's looking... kind.

Well... she's human after all. She's not a monster.

"No. It's okay. I'm just a bit worried for my teammates."

"It's normal. Hey, I'm sure they'll be okay."

It seems like almost everybody has a heart, after all.

¤¤¤¤¤

I wake up in the middle of the night. I'm all alone in my gigantic bedroom. Yuki is sleeping in another room.

I get up and walk to the window.

The stars are twinkling and the half-moon is shining on the dark blanket that is the night sky.

I sigh. I miss him more every day.

I go back to my bed and try to go back to sleep.

As I slip into deep slumber, I hear a noise outside, passing by the open window.

The howl of a wolf or something like that.

But I hear it too late and I fall asleep before even getting the chance to wonder what it could be.

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No. I don't plan to put Yuki and Sasuke in a couple. Maybe in a sequel to this fic, but not in here (except on request).

Yuki: (cold stares and smirk) Next chapter'll be fun.

Me: Yep. You'll love it, Yuki. A hunt and what happened to Naru-chan.

Naruto: Who was that Gennin, anyway?

Me: I don't know! I didn't think about who it could be!

Sasuke: Couldn't you have killed Sakura?

Me: She's in the coma. You should be happy to not having her around for a while.

Naruto: Him? Happy? If you ever see him smile of happiness, I swear I'll kiss Yuki!

Yuki: (offended) Hey!

Me: (smirks) Watch what you're swearing, Naru-chan. Because it could happen.

Sasuke: If you do that, you're fourth on my list of priorities to kill. Itashi, Orochimaru and Sakura coming first, of course.

Me: Great! I do a little moment between Naru-chan and you and that's how you thank me? Watch it 'cause I could end up killing you and putting Naruto and Yuki in a couple. And Sakura pregnant of you. (evil smirk)

Sasuke: You wouldn't!

Me: Stop it or that's what I'll do.

Yuki: Review, people! Say suggestions on who could be that murdered Gennin, too. Nyx takes every kind of reviews and will give you cookies for it.

Me: You said it! (whispers to the readers and reviewers) Just between you and me. I won't put the threat I did to Sasuke. Except if you request it, of course.