Chase

I can't find it.

What am I supposed to be finding?

I can't find it.

I can't find myself.

"You're late." Sakura grit out as she fumed. They had all been instructed to meet inside one of the empty Academy classrooms, but…! Naruto just had to go and take his time. The wound from the last mission hadn't been all that serious, so why…?

"Sorry!" Naruto grinned like a reckless fool once more, but somehow couldn't find it in himself to keep on doing that. "Uhm, Sakura-chan…?"

"If it's about a date, I can't help you!" Sakura growled, but then at his shocked expression, calmed down. "Sorry, Naruto, what were you going to ask?"

"One thing: Why the heck are you both on the ceiling?" Naruto's neck craned back so far it hurt.

"Training, dobe." Sasuke snorted, before taking out a kunai and dropping it where Naruto's face was. The blond nearly had his a kunai speared into his nose and forehead had he not fell down onto his back by accident and rolled away at the last minute.

"WHAT THE HELL, TEME?!" Naruto pointed a finger angrily at him. "WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!"

"Well," Sasuke retorted, before he released the chakra on his feet and flipped before landing easily on his feet, a smirk on his face. "It's good to see the idiot is still there."

"WHAT, was that?" Naruto grit out.

"Naruto, if you hurt Sasuke-kun, you'll answer to my fist…!" Sakura warned.

"BUT SAKURA-CHAN!"

"Now, now," Kakashi coughed and Naruto just realized that the man had just appeared behind him, and that Sakura already back on the ground. "No fighting. Now, the reason I've brought you all here today is to give you several choices, and you will all have to make a decision."

"You're LATE!" Naruto accused but Sakura for once did not join in.

"A decision?"

"One of us…" For some reason, the entire atmosphere changed. "…has to leave Team 7 by the end of the day."

"What? Why, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, surprised, hoping it wasn't her or Sasuke-kun who had to leave. Sure, Naruto was a a nice guy and all, and it didn't really matter much if he were a moron as he did well on missions, but Sakura didn't want to be separated from Sasuke-kun. 'Well,' She reassured herself. 'If Naruto leaves, then he'll probably get a sensei who'll actually teach him…but…' "That's not really being fair to us, Kakashi-sensei."

"What she said." Sasuke actually looked annoyed for once. "What gives, Kakashi?"

"Maa, you'll all being so scary..." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, complementing how to tell them all. "It's…a…kind of a long story."

"Long story meaning he'd rather read his stupid, perverted book than teach us." Naruto whispered to the only person who would actually listen. No one. But he whispered to Sasuke, so did that count?

Sasuke ignored him.

"OI!" Naruto hissed. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, TEME!"

"Oh, sorry, were you talking to the tree?" Sasuke stepped back. "There, you can go hug it."

"Why are you being a bastard?!" Naruto growled, grabbing the front of Sasuke's shirt. "I outta kick your high and whiny Uchiha ass, you prick!"

"Naruto, let go of him!" Sakura exclaimed, tugging his hands away. "We shouldn't be fighting right now!" She turned to Sasuke, wringing her hands. "And, er…you too, Sasuke-kun. Kakashi-sensei, what was it that you wanted to talk abou--?"

She stopped, and all three Genin of Team 7 stared at the blank spot where Kakashi used to stand.

And all of Konoha heard her next words.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

"Ow, ow, OW!" Naruto nursed the bumps on his head. "Why'd you hit me, Sakura-chan?!"

"You let Kakashi-sensei get away before we could ask him about what he meant!" Sakura chided him. "Geez, pay attention next time, Naruto!"

"I couldn't help it! I wanted to see Sasuke get scolded for once!" Naruto whined. "And why am I the one getting hit?! Sasuke-teme is as equally to blame! If he hadn't--!"

"Pfft, it's your own fault for responding." Sasuke drawled out as they leapt off another roof in their search formation, his eyes shifting left and right for a familiar physical appearance of their sensei. "Anyway, keep in mind that Kakashi might be using a Genjutsu or maybe even a transformation to look like someone else."

"Alright!" Sakura looked determined. Naruto, not so.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He scowled as he looked down at the villagers below, his eyes scrutinizing each and every one of them. "Has it occurred to you that Kakashi-sensei might actually just dress up as someone else? You know, without any chakra?"

"Naruto?" Sakura questioned.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?" Naruto eagerly awaited for his idea to be called genius.

"Shut for a while, will you?" She asked, not to be rude, but to get him to focus at the task on hand. "We have to concentrate, remember?"

"But--!"

"We're trying to find Kakashi, not forming theories as to why and how a Special Jounin would run away and hide himself from his own team." Sasuke snorted. "Don't be a loser and mess this up, dobe. Just keep your eye out. Times like these we need more of a pair of eyes than an extra mouth."

Naruto glared heavy daggers at him, but he sighed, and said to Sakura, "Fine, but only because it's you, Sakura-chan."

"Right," Sakura murmured, not really paying attention as she spotted someone will silver hair amidst the huge crowd in the marketplace. "THERE! Down there!" She pointed, but almost immediately the figure started running and she had to move her finger so that it followed him. "He's got to be a shinobi to run that fast at this time in the market!"

"He's fast!" Sasuke commented as they rushed after it. But no matter how fast the three ran, the figure always seemed to be at least ten meters away from them. "Sakura, keep an eye on his positioning! Naruto, go with Sakura and make sure he doesn't get away!"

"Hai!" Sakura ran ahead, even though her stamina was lessening. She was still determined to catch their sensei.

"Alright, now let's see my awesome—" Naruto had been ready to jump right into action by jumping down, but Sasuke pushed him back.

"Don't bother, you'll only cause a disturbance." He said dryly. "I'll get him." Sasuke wound several ropes from his pouch and flung it down, his eyes calculating exactly where the figure would head. Without a moment's hesitation, he pushed off the roof and bounded off another, before jumping forward into the air and flinging the chords at the figure.

The weights at the end of the chords shifted in mid fight and Sasuke tugged several to the side with his other hand as he landed, before pulling back. The result was that the counterweights slammed into the figure and wrapped around the torso, before getting pulled back at a 45 degree angle into the air and towards Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura noticed this and skidded to a stop before running back towards the two.

Sakura pulled out several chords of her own and flung them around the man, before pulling towards the direction she was running, helping to guide the smooth accent. "Naruto!" She yelled, "CATCH HIM!"

Naruto obliged without another word, creating the seal in his hands and shouting, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones were created into existence, and all together, they ran forward and skidded under the man to catch him. "OOF!" Naruto pushed the man off and groaned, his clones popping. "I feel hurt all over."

"That's what you get for not being careful, Naruto!" Sakura chided him gently, undoing the chords around the man. "Err, Sasuke-kun? We've caught Kakashi-sensei. Do you think we should interrogate him now or something?"

Sasuke stared long and hard before undoing his as well at the surprised looks of Naruto and Sakura, shaking his head. "Whoever this is," He said, easily undoing the tangles in the chords and placing the chords back in his back pouch. "he isn't Kakashi. His movements may be that of a shinobi, but at best I'd say he's Genin level. Chuunin, at the very least, would've created some traps along the way."

"Wow, how'd you figure that out?" Naruto asked. The man stayed quiet.

"Judging from his running," Sakura bit her lip, "He hasn't really been trained as a shinobi. More or less, he's been given pointers, however. He's had to have known that we would be the ones to follow him, or at least he's had to have had some heads up to run away. I mean, ninja come every time, and there's no point in running if you're innocent, right?"

"Speak." Sasuke had a kunai pressed against the man's throat. "Did Kakashi put you up to this?"

"Hey, what are you doing to him?!" Naruto was just about to knock the kunai away before Sakura pulled the man's hair—er, wig off as well as his mask and hitai-ate, to reveal someone they didn't know. "Oh, hey, that's not Kakashi-sensei!"

"No duh, Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes. "So who are you?"

"The one who is leaving," The man spoke in a clear voice, as he rubbed at his upper arms to regain circulation from the chords that had captured him. "is the one who proved the least helpful in this pursuit. Uzumaki Naruto, you are charged." And then he popped out of existence.

"What the…?" Sasuke's facial features hardened. He hadn't expected the man to be a Kage Bunshin, as they tended to pop upon hard contact, judging from how Naruto did it. But from this… "Kakashi must have done it."

"But, wait! Kage Bunshin have to look like you!"

"Idiot." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I bet you that Kakashi-sensei made his Kage Bunshin transform into some guy so that we'd relax our guard." Sasuke grunted. He didn't like to be reminded that. Naruto smirked at him, but Sakura hit him on the head. "Naruto, concentrate! Why would Kakashi-sensei have us do so much just to catch one bunshin?"

"Besides," Sasuke spoke up, staring at where the bunshin had been. "The Bunshin held back and didn't fight the chords. It was as if he wanted us to catch it."

"Hey, guys," Naruto asked, "We're near Chuunin level, right?"

"I'm overqualified for it." Sasuke snorted, but Sakura seemed interested enough.

"Except for Sasuke-kun, we're not, but maybe we're getting close. What about it, Naruto?"

"Did you notice that no matter how fast we were running, he always seemed to be JUST out of range for close combat?" Naruto asked. "It's as if it was told not to attack and only to lead us to somewhere or something before Sasuke or Sakura reacted to its actions or something…"

The realization dawned upon the other two. "Naruto, you're a genius!" Sakura whispered.

"I am?"

"Actually, it's completely a fluke." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "But that's the first good thing you've thought of since you were born. Good for you, dobe."

"OI!" Naruto glared, but then he realized what they were up to. "Oh…! I see."

"We'll catch him," Sasuke smirked as he looked down at the marketplace. "Here's the plan…"

But, for some reason, neither of the three could wipe it from their minds what the Kage bunshin had said.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are charged."

What did that mean?

Finally, Kurenai-sensei was back. Hinata couldn't help but feel a great deal of pain having been lifted from her shoulders the moment she saw her scarlet-eyed and ruby-lipped Jounin sensei. "Ah! W-welcome b-back, K-Kurenai-sensei!"

"Why, thank you, Hinata." Kurenai looked surprised. "What have you been doing while I was away? Speak to Naruto?" She edged on. But she stopped short at Hinata's crestfallen face. "Did something happen?" She asked softly.

Hinata wanted to shake her head and say, 'No, it's all fine', but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her head was lowered so that Kurenai-sensei wouldn't be able to see her trying to hold back her tears, like the sky yesterday, which seemed to hold back its rain. Yesterday, it wasn't until she had entered the house and entered her sanctuary of a room that it started to rain.

The sky started to cry once she was in a place where she could cry herself, the last place where she could be in a refuge.

"Hinata…"

"Huh?! You're back, Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba's loud voice came over as he came into view with Akamaru in his jacket and Shino coming in behind him.

"Good morning, Kurenai-sensei." Shino nodded.

"Good morning, the two of you." Kurenai replied before looking at Hinata. "Hinata, I'll speak to you after…?"

"Please, Kurenai-sensei. I don't…want to talk about it."

It took Kurenai a couple of seconds to realize that Hinata hadn't stuttered at all.

"Alright, Hinata." But her eyes still held defiance as well as confusion. "But we'll need to talk about it later."

"H-Hai, Kurenai-sensei."

It was only a D-rank mission. They were only supposed to be taking care of babysitting. So how did it turn out like this?

How the HELL did a FIVE YEAR OLD get his hands on a SCROLL and actually PREFORM an A-rank Fuuton Jutsu?!

"Hinata!" Kiba shouted over the roar of the wind as it whipped around them, preventing their movements from becoming too subtle. Each movement used all strength, and the whipping wind prevented them from communicating. "Kurenai-sensei! Shino! Where are you guys?!"

Akamaru barked and whined inside Kiba's jacket.

"Calm down, Akamaru!" Kiba's voice shook as the wind attacked from all sides. "This jutsu's gotta let up soon enough, right?" He placed his hands over Akamaru's poking out head and made the dog turn around to burrow further into his jacket. "Be strong!"

"K-Kiba-kun! Shino-kun! K-Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata's voice came out.

"Hinata! Where are you?!" Try as he might, he couldn't move. That was, until Akamaru bit him right on the palm and he found himself staggering. "Akamaru, what-!"

That was when he noticed that Shino was before him. "Get up, Kiba. It's only a Genjutsu."

"A what?" Kiba blinked. "Err, Kai!" And just like that, the force against him stopped, and Kiba could see the sun shining and the awfully green grass below him. "Huh? What? Huh?"

"Apparently, that was an old Genjutsu designed to affect the senses. A five year old could use it because the scroll was designed as ulterior protection for those unable to use their chakra." Shino stated before turning away. "Come, Kurenai-sensei is waiting with the child."

"…h-hey!" Kiba stood up. "Where's Hinata?"

"Hinata?"

…

"HINATA, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Kiba yelled out in a panic. "Akamaru! Sniff her out!" And just like that, the two were off into the woods. The sunset gleamed and the waters pulverized the sand like a tsunami. Aka, a disaster to come.

Shino sighed softly. If Kiba had stayed to listen, he would have been reminded that Hinata had been assigned another job within this mission. He brought out a single one of his kikai bugs and gave it the order to keep an eye out on Kiba. Heavens knew the boy would get into more trouble than he was worth.

"Speaking of which…" Shino looked in the direction of the house. "…I wonder what's taking Hinata so long?"

Hinata couldn't believe it.

"Yo," Kakashi waved at her rather lazily, his eye looking through the orange book with lazy ease before he giggled. "How are you doing, Hyuuga-kun?"

"U-Uhm, f-fine, Kakashi-sensei." She bowed before looking at her feet. It just wouldn't do for someone as low ranked as her to speak face to face with a superior, or even another sensei. In fact, it wasn't until Kurenai-sensei specifically ordered her to just relax and think of her as another mother, that Hinata was able to look at her face to face.

"Saa, Hyuuga-kun, what're you doing on a day like this?" Kakashi slouched back against the doorway, glancing up at the work she was doing before back at the book and flipping a page. "Stuck indoors?"

"U-um, o-our client w-was going t-to find a d-document f-for Kurenai-sensei, b-but h-he couldn't f-find it, s-so…" Hinata busied herself with stacking the boxes away and searching in another one, feeling flustered. "…so…"

"…hrm, I wonder how Naruto's doing?" Kakashi wondered aloud, looking at the ceiling and closing his book shut with a snap.

Hinata dropped a box at that, and scrambled to put them all away. "G-gomenasai, K-Kakashi-sensei! I-I'll clean it u-up!"

"I wonder…"

"!"

Kakashi was currently right beside her helping her. Hinata couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Here she was, right next to the infamous Hatake Kakashi, who was so much of a higher rank than her. She didn't have the authority to talk back to him!

"It's alright." Kakashi smiled with his eye, before straightening up. "So, tell me, how are things with you and Naruto?"

"I…i-it…'s…a-ano…" Hinata purposefully looked away, feeling her cheeks rise as she thought about the boy. "…he…"

"You wouldn't believe it. But do you know what?" Not even bothering to hear her answer, Kakashi lazily slouched his way out of the room. "I have orders to kick him off my team. Hrm, I wonder where they came from." And the sliding door shut behind him.

Hinata had her hands placed flat against the stack of books.

…what? What?

"A-ah!" She stood up immediately and ran over, flinging the door open. "K-Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yeeeees?" Kakashi smiled, waving a little. It appeared as though he had positioned himself right in front of the doorway. Hinata nearly had a heart attack, as she started saying incoherent sounds, before… "By the way. Naruto's going to be coming here for a while. If you don't mind, look after him, will you? Ja." He poofed into smoke, leaving Hinata stunned as heck.

…what? What?

"N-Naruto-kun…?"

"Naruto, did something happen while you were in the hospital?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, no, why do you ask?" Naruto looked away. The three of them were sitting on one of the stone benches in Konoha's store district, all currently weary. They had searched for several hours but to no avail. Hatake Kakashi had not left any more clues.

"Sakura, do you think you could get us some drinks?" Sasuke asked. Sakura beamed and nodded, before racing off to find a shop. Sasuke then turned to Naruto. "Okay, what's up?"

"None of your business, teme." Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"Actually, it is completely my business. I'm embarrassed to be called your teammate, and even more so, your 'friend'. You've become so pathetic as to get injured by a cat, and you need our help in getting up on your own feet. What's going on, dobe?" Sasuke looked stone-cold at him.

Naruto ducked his head, clasped his fingers together and sighed hugely. If Sakura had been here, she'd probably have pestered him to answer quickly. In a way, he was grateful for Sasuke sending Sakura away on an errand, but…he couldn't…

"Well…it's a long story. And you wouldn't understand anyway."

"Give me the gist of it. We have no time to listen to long stories. Besides, if it's something you know, what makes you think I don't know it?"

"Fine." Naruto snapped, wearily glaring. "So, tell me Mister Uchiha Sasuke, have you ever fallen in love?"

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"That's right, in love." At the stunned look on Sasuke's face, Naruto snorted and rolled his eyes. "See?! I told you."

"Shinobi don't fall in love. We're tools and we don't have even a right to."

"I know. But, have you?!"

"…no."

"See?!" Naruto threw his hands up in the air. "You can't help me if you've never fell in love, never had an attraction for anyone-!"

"Who did you fall in love with?"

"Someone."

"And why are you so messed up because of this…someone?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow.

"SHUT UP! I'm not messed up, I'm only…" Naruto sighed. "I'm scared I'll hurt her. She's a good friend, and she probably doesn't think of me any more than that, but… Still, I can't help but think that I need to do something more…something else."

"Just be yourself."

"Right, how helpful." Naruto quipped, "Just be yourself. Oh, how hard can that be, especially when I don't even know how myself used to be."

Sasuke stayed silent for a moment, before looking up into the sky. "Did you see…the storm clouds yesterday?"

"Yeah, so what?" Naruto scowled.

"They were holding back for someone, dobe. By their own strength, they tried to hide away their tears and all their hurt. But it rained in the end, didn't it?" Sasuke turned to him, his eyes narrowing. "They weren't strong enough to hold back the rain. They weren't strong enough in the end. No one is completely strong enough. In the end, you'll fall apart like those clouds did, until you become a bloody mess of a person."

"How does that help?! I asked you for advice, not a life lesson, teme!"

"Don't hold everything back, Naruto." Sasuke stood up, his hands in his pockets, purposefully facing away from the boy. "You'll become like me. An avenger. I could've lived to be naive, carefree and all, but after…" A heavy atmosphere fell upon them. "…after that, well, it just didn't matter for me anymore. I had no more reason to live."

"No more reason to live than me, eh?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "How angsty." But his tone of voice was light.

"Actually, that event made me realize. What the hell was my purpose to exist? A purpose to exist here—is that only a dream? Or are we really all placed in life for a reason?" Sasuke sighed before looking back at Naruto. "I hate you, Naruto. I won't even care about existence anymore after I kill that someone."

"So it's down to I hate you, you hate me, and then what happened to the first question?" Naruto smiled.

"…" Sasuke sat back down and looked straight ahead. "What are you going to do now? Have you calmed down enough so that I can, without embarrassing myself, call you my teammate?"

"I think I could be called your 'best friend ever' without you have your mind embarrassed to bits now, yeah." Naruto grinned. "But I still has heck don't know what to do now…"

"I don't know, idiot," Sasuke casually eyed behind him in a glance that went unnoticed by Naruto to a figure hiding behind a tree. He stood up. "I'll go check up on Sakura."

"Huh? Okay, I'll come too—"

"No," Sasuke said firmly. "You'll stay here and wait."

"Huh?! BUT WHY?!"

"Just talk to her for a bit. And then probably you'll understand better." Sasuke left Naruto standing looking confused. "And when you two are done, come find me and tell me what you've found out about all this leaving Team 7 nonsense."

"What?" Naruto heard a snap of a tree branch and turned around to look, but the figure was already running away. "Hey! Wait!" Fast as the figure was, Naruto soon caught up with them in time and grabbed them back by the arm.

Only when the person turned around to look frightened at him, did he realize who it was.

"Hinata…chan?"

Sorry, not really that much NaruHina. When I look back on this story, I find myself overwhelmed at what I did. Why did I do that?

Maybe it's development, or maybe my ability to make the character completely in character is disappearing. I don't know anymore, and I still think to myself that Naruto has fallen too quickly in love.

Maybe it's something, but I want to hurt him, I want to make this story a little more realistic. Thanks for reading, anyway. Hopefully, I'll get my mojo back soon so I can type a better chapter for you all.