'NARUTO'S GONE!'
the cry of alarm rang in sakura's ears- she'd never heard sasuke speak so loudly before. but this was certainly cause for alarm. the both of them had shown up at 6 o'clock sharp, as they did every morning, and immediately noted naruto's absence. knowing he wasn't a layabout, sakura went to the ramen shop while sasuke checked the hospital, then they both went to naruto's house when they didn't find him in either place. sasuke's eyes were wide in alarm, noting the absence of naruto's survival gear, and the fact that his bed was still made. he hadn't slept, probably too busy packing for his harebrained mission.
'sasuke, what do we do? he'll get himself killed out there alone!' sakura said, seeing the same clues as her teammate.
sasuke shook his head angrily. 'there's only one thing we can do now,' he growled. 'he's forced our hand. we'll have to go and get him back, and we'd better be quiet about it before anyone else notices he's missing.' he thought for a moment, then said, 'we'll meet back here in an hour with our packs, and leave just after sun-up. they won't expect anyone to sneak out in broad daylight, and we can't let naruto get too far ahead.' sakura nodded, and they both quickly left.
an hour later, sasuke and sakura headed out the main gate of the city, slipping past under the guards' noses. once they were far enough from the village, they left off sneaking and traded it for speed, covering as much distance as they could in as little time as possible. they knew they had to catch up to naruto before someone else did.
Naruto knew someone was following him by mid-afternoon, and he was almost certain he knew who it was, too. he quickly stopped, concealing himself in a nearby tree, and sending his shadow clones after his pursuers. sasuke, knowing they were clones easily, dispatched them with shuriken. seeing naruto trying to jump away to hide, both the others threw a kunai knife, and CHI-CHING! pinned him by his large white collar to the nearest tree, one knife just under either ear. naruto quickly reached to seize the knives and free himself, but CHI-CHING! he was stopped by another set of kunai pinning his sleeves, just out of reach. he struggled, growling and trying to free himself, angry that his teammates could be so heartless as to stop him from saving their sensei!
finally, sakura stepped forward and slapped naruto sharply across the face. 'what was that for!?' he demanded, wincing at the red hand-mark on his cheek.
'what were you thinking, running off like that?' sakura countered. 'you're not going to make it by yourself!'
'yeah? well, you guys weren't going to help me!' he blurted, struggling again. 'you just care about the rules. didn't kakashi-sensei teach you better than that?' he stared at sakura and sasuke in turn, pain clear in his eyes. 'the team matters most to him, and it should to us. what would he do if one of us got sick, or hurt, or captured?'
sasuke met naruto's eye for a moment, then looked away, seemingly guilty. 'he'd come after us, without a moment's hesitation,' he admitted, fists clenching. 'even if it meant breaking every rule there was to do it.' he looked to sakura, who looked a bit worried.
'but it's too dangerous for us!' she objected, almost wailing. 'we're only genin- there's no way we're going to make it!'
'maybe it is too dangerous. but naruto's right- we can't just sit here and do nothing. it's not what sensei would want.' sasuke stepped toward the tree where naruto was pinned and quickly removed the kunai, reholstering his own and holding the other two out to sakura. she took them numbly, putting them away, then nodded, seeming more firm.
'so,' naruto said, moving to take point, 'to the village hidden in the sand!'
