Naruto began to scream.

"Lies! You're lying!" she screamed and thrashed against her binds. Sasuke held her still and she glared.

"Why would I make up such a lie? Why would a Country leader go out of his way to find some girl?" Sasuke made her look him in the eyes.

"Money!"

Sasuke scoffed. He let her shoulders go and began to laugh. "Money?!" His laugh sounded unnatural and Naruto cringed.

"Money…huh?" Sasuke managed to sober up after a few moments. "Oh, Naruto, the Country of Fire is drowning in money. I didn't even ask your father for money!"

"That Hokage isn't my father… Orochimaru was his name…" Naruto argued weakly. "You've got to be lying."

"Naruto, I'm not. Orochimaru kept you sealed within that village, never to leave. Your blood is laced with some power he wanted. I'm sure he left Konoha to be able to achieve this. Don't tell me you never saw the scratched Konoha headband in a box under the fifth from the left's tatami mat. Why would a powerful person like him leave? Because the Hokage wouldn't let him continue his work. His work involved your blood to make him invincible," Sasuke said.

"That doesn't prove anything," Naruto said, looking at her feet.

"Then what does a clean line through a city symbol mean to you? Loyalty?" Sasuke arched a brow.

Naruto didn't respond. This…this means Uchiha Itachi killed him with a justified cause…tou-san really was a monster…

Tears rolled down Naruto's cheeks and Sasuke frowned at this. He knelt beside her and wiped the tears off her cheeks. When tears still flowed down like twin streams, Sasuke took her in his arms and let her cry silently on his shoulder.

"It's okay. This is why I agreed to bring you to Konoha," Sasuke said softly and smoothed out her short blonde hair.

"Naruto!" Haku yelled.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya hollered. He sighed. "It's already dusk. Let's stop for now."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama," Haku said resignedly and sat down on bench.

They had noticed Naruto was gone when Haku had finished up looking and eating at the shops and went looking for Naruto. When she was nowhere to be found, Haku looked for Jiraiya, who was drunk beyond any point Haku had seen him.

After looking around every place Naruto could've been in the town, they searched around it, looking for any sign, for three hours. And this is where they stopped, at a bench.

Leaves crunched in a rhythmic pattern in the shadows, outside the circumference of the lamp above the bench where Haku and Jiraiya sat. Jiraiya was slouching on the bench, his arms spread across the back of the bench and his neck on the back of the bench with his head parallel to the ground. His black eyes looked down, which was to look in front of his and Haku's bodies. Haku peered into the darkness.

A figure, unsteady on their feet, swayed from left to right with each step forward. A hand held the other arm, as if a cut was there, or as a stance of hurt or needing comfort. Lastly was the torso and head, blonde hair cascading down from it.

"…" the soft feminine voice made a small sound. Another figure behind her stepped into the light. This time, royal clothes and a very high quality sword were strapped to his side. Naruto's sword was also on her person.

"Who are you?" Haku asked, trying not to let an edge of anger in his voice. Naruto was a dear friend! Was he the one who took her away?! Did he hurt her?!

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said. "The Hokage wanted my help to find his daughter."

"But, it's been thirteen years. Are you sure Naruto is this girl?" Jiraiya asked.

"You must be Jiraiya," Sasuke said. A nod in confirmation. "Well, I was given a photo. I'm fully aware that thirteen years changes a person, but whisker marks like this are unique. I'm positive this girl is the Hokage's daughter."

"I see," Jiraiya said. "I'm assuming the Hokage wants her back as soon as possible, yes?"

"Yes," Sasuke almost rolled his eyes. That was so obvious!

Sasuke and Jiraiya and Haku met up with Sasuke's advisor.

"Where is Gaara?" Sasuke asked the advisor.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-sama, but he's gone. He left, saying he didn't want to deal with this situation anymore. I tried to stop him but he insisted on going," the advisor said. "However, I have prepared a meal for the five of us. Please enjoy."

Sasuke, Naruto, Haku, and Jiraiya stepped into the tent. It was brightly lit with delicious food steaming hot on the table. Once everyone sat with chopsticks in hand and dug in. It was so good that everyone had ended up eating every last morsel, with Sasuke and Naruto fighting over the last piece of yokan, thick blocks of jellied red bean paste.

"Let's take this outside," Naruto said quietly, her eyes fiery. Smirking, Sasuke returned the glance with an equally fiery look in his eyes, something easily attainable given the fact his eyes were orbs of black darkness, going on seemingly forever.

Sasuke and Naruto stood, their swords' hilts wrapped with their eager hands. The other three people went outside to watch.

"Begin," Jiraiya said. With that, the two teens charged at each other their swords parrying, dodging and their swords clashing violently. More often than not, they would be still, the swords almost shaking from the amount of pressure behind them to knock the sword out of the opponent's hand.

Naruto blinked. She was on the ground with Sasuke's body above hers, his head turned downwards to smirk at her. His sword's blade was at her neck and her sword was on the ground, a couple feet away.

"I win," Sasuke said simply and stood. He held out a hand for her to get up with. She took it and was surprised how strong Sasuke's arm was. He lifted her with ease and she even jumped a little; he'd pulled her up hard.

"So?" Naruto grinned as Sasuke was picking up her sword. As he turned around, she ran to the tent with Sasuke following behind quickly, two swords in both hands. She had the last piece finally in her mouth when Sasuke tackled her, anger almost in his eyes.

"You play unfairly," Sasuke said smoothly. The fact he was above her again and how she couldn't get the rectangular piece of her mouth to respond since her hands were pinned under his made her nervous. His neck dipped down and he bit off half of the piece, the other half in her mouth. In doing so, he kissed her.

Naruto reddened immediately. She chewed the other half and swallowed.

"T-that…" Naruto could barely speak. That was my first kiss!

Sasuke actually didn't want to kiss her, but he also didn't not want to. He just did so in impulse. It somehow felt right. However, being the leader of a Country, he couldn't admit weakness so easily to a commoner, a commoner who happens to be the one who is…stunning. He also couldn't admit weakness after winning a fight but then losing half of it to a girl, a girl, who didn't follow the universal rules of 'if you win a fight, it's winner takes all'.

"Yes?" Sasuke forced a smirk as his heart was pounding. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and feel her heartbeat on her wrists, as her face was slowly becoming redder and redder.

"I…you…why…" Naruto still couldn't form sentences. The whole concept, the whole situation was so confusing and sudden and somehow…nice.

"Why?" Sasuke repeated. He leaned down again, his lips next to her ear. She shivered as his breath carrying his words came. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Naruto asked. "I know…why…"

"Why?" Sasuke asked, wanting to know, truly, why he kissed her. She paused and soon that pause began to stretch into several moments and her eyes began to close and soon, she was asleep under him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked. He heard his words sound slurred.

"I see the drug has worked smoothly," a voice purred. Sasuke moved slower than he thought he moved and as he was falling over, he saw the advisor smiling at him.

"You…" Sasuke growled as he felt himself fall on top of Naruto and slip into unconsciousness.

The air felt damp and there was a scent of almost decay. Light began to focus and it was dark, only a few cracks of light from the other side of the small space. A harsh bump caused reconsideration; perhaps it wasn't a room.

Naruto blinked. She tried to move but felt chains bind her tightly.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked into the darkness, noticing pale skin. She squinted and recognized the bare outlines of his face. Breathing a sigh of relief, she kept trying to wake him up. Finally, after whispering his name next to his ear, he flinched awake. Sasuke thanked whatever god it was that it was dark and Naruto couldn't see his blush.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "Where are we?"

"I'd say we're in a cart," Naruto said. "What happened last night?"

Sasuke's mind went to the kiss. "Oh…well…"

Naruto gasped. "We…kissed."

"Anyway, we were drugged by my advisor and I can't feel my sword on my side," Sasuke said, his voice edged with anger.

Before more words could be spoken, the cart's motion stopped and the door slammed open, revealing a huge burst of light. Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads away, trying not to be blinded by the light.

"Oh, she's hot," a husky male voice grinned. "I'll give you 10,000 ryo."

"I'm sorry, the girl is not for sale. She's going to be one of my experiments," the advisor replied. He undid Naruto's chains and dragged her out, throwing her at the men. She yelped.

In a flash, her kimono was at her feet and another man was holding her arms back. Her bare skin was an almost porcelain white, something highly regarded in these times, in the sun for all to see. She flushed in embarrassment and squeezed her eyes shut

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, angry and thrashing against his chains.

"I'm afraid only Sasuke-sama is allowed to do that. His clan possesses a power similar to the girl's and I want them to be bred to give me an ultimate power. In the meantime of their offspring, you can beat Sasuke-sama all you like, but please do not harm him in a way that will hinder future offspring and don't kill him," the advisor said. "Let the girl go."

Grumbling in anger, Naruto was let go. She fumbled with her kimono and eventually got it tied around her body once again.

"Kabuto!" Sasuke yelled.

"Oh, I'm flattered you called me by name," the advisor grinned. "Yes, Sasuke-sama?"

"I thought I trusted you! And what do you mean, 'bred'?" Sasuke yelled. His chains clinked in a way that indicated he was straining against them, trying to get close to Kabuto to choke him.

"Sasuke-sama, how naïve of you. As for breeding, I mean I want to experiment on your child with Naruto. I did say both of you come from clans, and both of those clans are ancient powerful ones," Kabuto said. "Villagers, I'd like some alone time with these two. Please go back to your homes."

The men sighed in disappointment and went back. Once they were gone, Kabuto walked over to Sasuke and undid his chains.

"Run, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. Kabuto whirled around and saw Naruto running through the fields towards the tree line. Kabuto smirked.

"What? What did you do to her?" Sasuke asked.

"You'll see," Kabuto replied.

Sasuke peered into the distance and suddenly, Naruto dropped to her knees, screaming in pain. Her body thrashed.

"What did you do to her?!" Sasuke tried to grab Kabuto in a chokehold. However, he was stopped as his body exploded in searing pain. He gritted his teeth and glared at Kabuto from a kneeling position.

"Now, that's better hierarchy, don't you think?" Kabuto smiled as he went to grab Naruto from the field.