Legend:

DISCLAIMER: Ok, this is my confession. I killed Kishimoto and altered his last will and testament so now the entire Naruto franchise belongs to me! …Not! (hehe Borat was funny)

A/N: To all my readers; thanks for the reviews! You guys keep me motivated.

A/N: About the vote – Currently NaruHina is leading the race by a large margin. The pairing won't take effect for a few chapters yet, so keep the votes coming.

To anyone who thought the first chapter was cliché… yes, it kind of was. Don't worry though, I plan on exploring new territory with this fic.

"Speaking"

Thoughts / Speaking to inner demon

Sealed demon speaking / Inner personality

"Jutsu"

Chapter 2: Day One as a Missing-Nin

The sun lazily climbed its way through a clear sky over Konohagakure, and shone down upon the inhabitants of the village as they woke up and began their daily routines. As the sun peered in through one window in particular, the pink-haired inhabitant of the room attempted to ignore the yellow glare by rolling on to her stomach and burying her face in her pillow.

"Don' wan get up…"

However, her effort was futile as a cheery voice called from downstairs.

"Sakura, breakfast!"

Dammit Kaa-san, just a few more minutes…

Sakura dragged herself out of bed and wrapped a robe around herself before walking down the stairs.

"W-wha –aaa" Sakura yawned, "what's for breakfast?"

"I didn't have time to make anything special, so it's just instant ramen alright?"

Sakura stared at her bowl. "This cheap stuff? Aww come on Kaa-san, can't I have real food?"

"Sorry, take it or leave it."

With a grumble, the pinkette began to eat; despite her complaints, she was really hungry. Wow, instant ramen for breakfast; so this is what it feels like to be Naruto, she thought to herself with a bit of a giggle. Wait…Naruto…last night…Sasuke-kun!

"Sakura, what's the matter? You're white as a ghost."

"Can't talk now, gotta go." And she dashed upstairs.

Her mother sighed. "What's gotten into her?"

She flew through the shower, partially dried herself, and got dressed before dashing out the door. The walk to Hokage Tower usually took her twenty minutes, but she made it there in eight. Sakura ran through the door, past the secretary, ignoring her exclamations and straight into the Hokage's office – only to find the woman asleep on her desk with a half-empty bottle of sake clutched loosely in her left hand.

Sakura was in too much of a hurry to fear Tsunade's legendary fury upon being awakened. She grabbed the Hokage by the shoulders and shook her. "Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama, wake up!"

Sakura paid the price of her poor judgement when a chakra-powered punch knocked her into the wall, leaving a sizable dent. The blond Hokage stood up and gazed at the girl balefully.

"WHAT the HELL do you WANT?! Some of us are TRYING to SLEEP here!"

Sakura swallowed. She had to push ahead though. "H-Hokage-sama! Sasuke-kun is gone!"

"I know. The report came in last night."

"W-WHAT?! You already knew?! We have to send someone after him!"

Tsunade glared. "Are you stupid, girl? There are three hunter-nin squads currently on the Uchiha's tail. If they can't find him, no one can."

Sakura was calmed somewhat by this. Somewhat. "Hokage-sama, what is going to happen to him when he comes back?"

Tsunade glared again, more menacingly than the first time. "When we drag the missing-nin back by the scruff of his neck, he's going straight to an ANBU prison cell while I decide what to do with him."

To say Sakura was taken aback by this would be like saying that the ocean was somewhat wet. "W-what? But you can't put Sasuke-kun in jail! He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Hasn't done anything wrong, eh? Well, let's see. Abandoning one's village in a time of crisis, defecting to another village, aiding and abetting an S-class criminal, disobeying orders, assault, and attempted murder."

"M-murder?" It came out as a squeak. "No, no no no no no. Sasuke-kun wouldn't try to kill anyone except that Itachi."

"Really? Tell that to your other teammate."

"What's Naruto-baka got to do with this?"

Tsunade lunged forwards and grabbed Sakura by the throat. "That traitorous fool stuck his arm through the gaki's chest! He almost died; as a matter of fact, I don't know how he survived! Don't tell me you haven't even met up with your teammate. He wouldn't even stay for treatment; he insisted that he had to apologize to you first."

Sakura was very quiet while she absorbed this information. "But – why? Why would Sasuke-kun try to kill Naruto?"

"Maybe it was because Naruto tried to stop him from going traitor. You think that might be it?" Sarcasm filled Tsunade's voice.

Sakura huffed. "There's no way Naruto-baka could beat Sasuke-kun."

"You're damn right. And he almost died, because he tried anyway."

There really wasn't anything more to say. Sakura left the office. She was halfway home when it hit her. Oh Kami… When I saw Naruto last night, there was a huge hole in his shoulder. I was so worried about Sasuke-kun that I didn't pay attention. Sasuke-kun… he really did try to kill Naruto. All because I told Naruto to get Sasuke back. He almost died just because I told him to go get Sasuke back. What…what have I done? Oh Kami-sama, what have I done?!

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and began to sprint towards Naruto's apartment. She didn't have a clue what she was going to say when she saw him, but she knew she had to apologize somehow. It wouldn't be enough – but she had to at least start making amends with him.

Upon reaching the apartment, she ran up to the door and knocked. Strangely, the door swung open when she hit it. He must have forgotten to lock it."Naruto! Where are you? I have to talk to you!"

No answer. Maybe he's still asleep; he's lazy enough for it, she thought. Plus he's hurt, she added as an afterthought. Sakura walked up to the bedroom door and knocked again. "Naruto!"

Still no answer, so she opened the door – and gasped. The room was completely empty; no mess, no clothes, no furniture, just bare walls. She opened the closet to find it half-full of orange jumpsuits; empty hangers told her that he had more somewhere. "Naruto? Where are you?"

A thought struck her. What if he's hiding from me? Did I hurt him that much? Oh Kami, what if I did? What am I going to say to him?

With rising panic, she began to search the entire apartment. It wasn't very large; within five minutes she had determined that there was no one inside. But...where would he go? Is he with someone else? Shikimaru maybe? The two always got along, despite Naruto's boundless energy and Shikimaru's utter lack of it. Well, it's worth a shot.

Sakura left the small building, carefully shutting the door behind her. She started to walk in the direction of the Nara clan compound when she spotted Hinata walking down an adjacent street. Hmm… Hinata's got a massive crush on Naruto; maybe she knows where he is.

"Hi, Hinata-san."

The lavender-eyed girl turned around. "Good morning, Sakura-san." Thank Kami she isn't doing that annoying stutter, maybe it's a good thing Naruto isn't here. Oh well, hopefully she won't pass out when I mention his name.

"Have you seen Naruto?"

"N-N-Naruto-kun?"

Dammit, why does she do that? "Yeah, I'm looking for him."

"He didn't tell you?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly. "He didn't tell me what?"

"Sakura-san, Naruto-kun is gone."

Sakura was stunned. What does she mean, gone? He isn't dead…he can't be dead. Dammit girl, I told you not to hit him, but would you listen? No! …You again? Hell yeah! Inner Sakura is BACK! Why can't you just shut the hell up?! I'm in the middle of something here!

With her inner persona momentarily subdued, Sakura continued questioning Hinata. "What do you mean, he's gone? Where is he?"

Hinata shook her head sadly. "He left, Sakura."

The pinkette was dumbstruck. No way. Naruto left? Yeah right. If I had to use one word to describe the guy that wasn't 'dobe' it would be 'loyal.' Naruto would never leave the village, he loves it way too much for that. But…why would Hinata lie? …Unless he asked her to lie to me!

"Hinata, where is the baka? Truthfully please. I know him better than you do; he would never leave the village."

"Sakura-san…you really don't know him at all."

"Whaddya mean, I don't know him?! The guy's on my team for Kami's sake! He asks me out at least twice a day! Of course I know him!"

Hinata looked her in the eye. Odd, she never had the confidence for that before. "No, you don't. If you did, you'd know that he had a very good reason for leaving."

Sakura grunted. She'd play along with Hinata for now. "So why did the baka leave?"

"Naruto-kun left because he almost died last night."

Sakura winced. "I know about that; he fought with Sasuke and lost."

Hinata shook her head vehemently though. "No, after that. Some ninja tried to kill him late last night. I saw him early this morning all beat up and covered in blood."

Sakura was shocked. He hadn't been in that bad of a state when she last saw him. "Why would they try to kill him? Who tried to kill him? How did he survive?"

"This wasn't the first time, either."

"B-but why? He's just a dobe! Why would people try to kill him anyway?"

"…I think Naruto may have been smarter than anyone gave him credit for."

"Yeah right. Are you saying he's intelligent? The guy failed the genin test 3 years in a row!"

"That wasn't his fault, you know. He can't do Bunshin because he has too much chakra."

"…Really?" That was interesting; now that she thought about it, if someone tried to make a bunshin, supposing their base chakra to be – this wasn't the time. "Whatever. Where did he go?"

"Naruto-kun left the village to train. He told me he's not coming back until he's stronger."

That could take a while. I wouldn't be so sure…Ahh, what do you know anyway? Hey! "I'm not letting him go that easily. What gate did he leave through?"

"The north gate, but you shouldn't follow him."

"Like I care! Are you coming? We can at least figure out where he might be headed."

Hinata seemed to struggle for a reason not to go along with Sakura; finding none, she sighed and fell into step with the other kunoichi.

The two girls walked out through the north gates. Both had done well in tracking when they were still at the academy, so they didn't expect much trouble finding a trail.

Before they could even begin looking for signs of his passing through, Hinata noticed something. "Sakura-san…do you smell that?"

Sakura sniffed the air and cringed. "Is that…blood?"

"I think so."

The two dashed off in search of whatever was giving off the smell. It didn't take long to find what looked like a miniature war zone.

Blood was everywhere; on the ground, the trees, and all over the bodies of six people wearing Leaf forehead protectors (1). Sakura began to gag. "Hinata, let's get out of here!"

Her companion shook her head. "Don't you want to know what happened here? Whoever did this is obviously long gone."

Hinata activated her Byakugan in order to get a clearer picture. "Ok" – she pointed at a group of 3 bodies close together – "they are lying there like they were teaming up on a single target. That's where we'll start."

"Hinata, this is really creepy, let's just go tell the Hokage."

"Just wait a moment…those three were attacking someone standing here" – she indicated – "and whoever the target was had just taken out that guy." She pointed at a young-ish fellow crumpled at the base of a tree with a shuriken lodged in his neck. "Now he had to have come from over that way," – off to the left of where they were standing – "so the person they were attacking hit him from there."

She walked over to the area in question. Two bodies lay nearby; a woman with a hole in her chest, and the remains of a boy slightly older than they were. His legs were about three metres from his torso; the wound looked very rough, as if it had been caused by an explosion. The bottom half of his chuunin vest was gone. "Now from where they were facing, the person these six were attacking was off to the west."

When the two looked west, one area in particular jumped out at them. A particularly wide tree had blood all over the front of it, and there were kunai thrust into it.

"Hinata…I think someone was executed here. Look; the kunai are where someone's arms and legs would be, and all that blood…whoever was here got tortured before they were killed."

Hinata shook her head. "All the other bodies are right where they fell. Why would this one be different? Why would the person be taken down?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe…" Nothing came to mind.

"I think that the killer was held here."

"No way. After losing that amount of blood?" Sakura indicated the tree behind her. Indeed, it was caked on all over the bark, and had spilled down onto the forest floor, entirely covering a bed of moss that had been growing there. "Who can take that kind of punishment and then still get up and kill everyone nearby?"

"Well it's not like they didn't deserve it; the ninja here had to have been the ones torturing whoever it was."

A slight sound caught both of their attentions.

"What was that?"

Upon closer inspection, they found that one of the ninja presumed dead was still alive; a middle-aged fellow shrouded in a brown cloak. Hinata recognized him as one of the village's genin, relatively well-liked by the civilians. She had always thought he was a bit creepy. And here he lay now, with a massive gash from his right shoulder to his left hip, and his neck bent at a crazy angle.

"Sakura..."

"I'll get a medic-nin!"

"It won't help…he only has a minute or so left." Hinata knelt down and faced the dying man. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"Y-yessss…"

"Who did this to you?"

"…It – it was the demon."

Hinata gasped. Naruto? Why would he do this? Then she remembered the crucifixion setup on the tree and realized exactly what they had done to her beloved Naruto-kun.

Sakura took a step back from Hinata. She couldn't hear what was being said, but suddenly the air was filled with Hinata's killing intent. She had always thought Hinata was a sweet girl incapable of anger, but the sheer animalistic rage pouring off the girl made her change her opinion.

She clearly heard Hinata's next words. "Why?! Why would you do this to him?" The dying man's lips moved. "You wanted some fun?! You thought it would be fun to kidnap and torture an innocent boy who has suffered more than you will ever imagine?!" The man's lips moved again, and his eyes began to close. "I don't care if you found him or not!" Hinata screamed. "You bastard!"

Her blood limit was already activated. She jabbed the man with a Jyuken strike to the heart; he gasped in pain and then went limp.

Sweet Kami…Hinata just killed that guy!"Why the hell did you kill him, Hinata?"

No response.

"Hinata, answer me, dammit!"

The blue haired girl's head slowly came up to face Sakura. Hinata's eyes were filled with a mixture of pain and rage. "They did this to Naruto-kun."

What?! It took a moment for her mouth to catch up to her brain. "What?!"

Hinata started screaming again. "These bastards tortured Naruto-kun!"

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Sakura was shocked. "Why? Why would they do this?" She thought for a moment. "How did he escape?"

"He killed the other five."

"Wha – but – no, that's – how – I" –

"Sakura, answer me a question."

"W-what?"

"Naruto is really good at escaping; remember his pranks, and how he could avoid ANBU for hours? They couldn't possibly catch him; it was 4 genin and 2 chuunin. They couldn't catch him."

"…I don't see what you're getting at. Obviously they caught him."

"No, they didn't, Sakura. They found him."

"What do you mean, they found him?"

"That man said that they found Naruto-kun unconscious, on your front porch."

Sakura didn't have time to say anything, as Hinata's fist came up and grabbed her by the collar, dragging their faces together. "You are going to tell me exactly why Naruto-kun was unconscious on your front porch."

Sakura gulped.

About half an hour later, an odd sight could be seen near Hokage Tower. A blue-haired Hyuuga was carrying a pink haired girl across her back; the pink haired girl appeared dead, but for her wild eyes.

Flashback Begin

Sakura screamed as Hinata started hitting her. "I can't kill you Harano, but I'm going to take you to the person who can. Until then, I'm subduing a criminal. Two palms! Four palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms!

It kept going long after all of Sakura's tenketsu were sealed.

Flashback End

The Hyuuga carried the other girl up the steps and into the building. The secretary looked surprised.

"Shizune-sama, I must speak with Hokage-sama immediately."

"Uh…very well. You may go in."

Hinata stalked into the Hokage's office, still carrying Sakura. Upon entering, she dropped her in front of the surprised Hokage and began to relate the entire events of the morning, starting from when she saw Naruto staggering home.

With each word, Tsunade's face grew darker.

"That will be 2768 ryo (about 30 US dollars). Thanks for your patronage!"

Naruto smiled at the shopkeeper, who had kindly reduced the price of clothing to a young ninja travelling alone. "Thank you again. If it's not too much trouble, do you mind if I put on my new clothes here?"

The man took one look at the orange jumpsuit and chuckled. "You already know where the change room is. Go for it kid."

"Thanks!"

He got changed as quickly as possible. Finally free of those horrible jumpsuits! Orange is a great colour, but that much of it, all the time? I felt like a brighter version of Lee!

Now clad in some of his newly purchased clothing, he took a moment to admire his new fashion in the mirror. The pants were similar to his old ones, only black. His old sandals were replaced by a set of steel-bottomed getas. White bandages were wrapped around his lower legs, and black cloth fingerless gloves were pulled up to his wrists. But his favourite part of the outfit was his new shirt. It was relatively form-fitting; not enough to restrict movement, but enough that it wouldn't get in the way. It was also black, with the kanji for 'fox' in a dark red on the back. When he had asked the shopkeeper about the odd choice for a decoration, he was informed that in the village, foxes were thought to be good luck, and if you saw one it was a sign that something good was going to happen during the next week.

After exiting the change room, he said a final goodbye to the shopkeeper (and gave him a promise to buy all his clothes here if he came back) and headed outside. There was a weapon shop just across the street, and he wanted his own katana. He had been practicing Kenjutsu for three years now, using sticks that he had carved into the shapes of swords.

When he went inside, he again marvelled at how nice everyone was to him. "Ninja?" the man behind the counter asked. Naruto nodded. "Great, haven't seen many of you coming through lately. What can I help you with?"

"How familiar are you with Kenjutsu?"

"Ah, so it's a katana you're after."

"That, and a tanto as well."

"Fair enough. Do you have a particular style?"

Naruto frowned. He hadn't been expecting that question. "Does it make a difference?"

The man laughed. "How familiar are you with Kenjutsu?"

"I have books on several styles, and taught myself two: Dance of the Hummingbird, and Arms of the Snapper.

"Indeed. Two very different styles, yet used properly, they complement each other nicely. Dance of the Hummingbird; elegant katas, with very quick blows lacking in power. Emphasis on dodging as opposed to blocking. Excellent for overwhelming a weaker enemy or wearing down the guard of a stronger one. Also, due to the rapid movements, it is one of the best styles to use against multiple opponents. And then Arms of the Snapper; that would be what you wanted the tanto for, yes?"

Naruto nodded.

"A rare style that focuses almost completely on defence. Initial attacks are non-existent. The only form of offence is the counter-attack…a dangerous game. Used properly, the enemy will be thrown off balance by the unique method of blocking, and then counter-attacks are focused on critical points. But that's the risk: you have to block whatever they throw at you. Also different in that unlike most styles, where the katana is wielded with both hands, it is held only in the dominant hand and is used exclusively for blocking. All counter-attacking is done with the tanto; it can be used to strike very accurately, but you must first get within range, and that is done via the use of the katana.

Naruto whistled appreciatively. He expected the man to know of the Dance of the Hummingbird; it was one of the most popular Kenjutsu forms due to its versatility and effectiveness. Much less know was Arms of the Snapper; very few still used the old style. It was, however, the perfect counter to Dance of the Hummingbird, as it used the opponent's own speed and strength against them.

The man spoke again, "Now, with that said, different blades suit different forms. You've made a good choice, though, because both styles you mentioned use a slightly shorter, lighter blade with a longer handle for increased grip and manoeuvrability. Something like this one." He reached up and took a sheathed blade down from a storage rack, and handed it to Naruto.

It was quite the blade; a little less than three feet long not including the hilt, which was about a foot long. It was perfectly balanced. The hilt was black leather with a red strip twining through it. The blade design was simple, but for an engraving of a fox's head on both sides just above the cross-guard, which looked almost like the Kanji for "Complete." (2)

"Wow."

"That's one of the finest swords I've ever seen, kid. It was the last sword that the forger ever made."

"How much is it?"

"Before we worry about that, let's you and I head out back and see if it suits you."

Naruto chuckled, a little embarrassed by this mistake. "Right."

"You have, without a doubt, the most bizarre talent I have ever seen."

Naruto looked at the weapons merchant. "Uh, was that a compliment?"

"You know both forms very well, that's obvious. How long ago did you start training?"

"Um…about three years?"

"Well, kid, it takes most people over six years to master as many katas as you went through here. I've never met anyone who I would say was born to wield a katana, but you're probably the closest I've found to someone who deserves that title. What I want to know is this: since you obviously know your way around a sword, why does this one – something feather-light, compared to most of the others on the market – seem to throw you off-balance? You could be far faster and more accurate if you weren't overshooting your targets like that."

"Eh, he he he…well, to be completely honest… I've never used a real sword before."

The man's jaw dropped. "Huh?"

"Well…you see, back home I…wasn't able to buy a sword."

"What? Why is that?"

"…It doesn't matter. The point is that I trained with wooden swords I made myself."

The merchant thought about it, then nodded. "I can see where the problem came from then. You're going to have an interesting time re-learning all of the katas; you have to, if you want to fight effectively."

Naruto nodded. "I'm not worried about that; the whole reason I'm here is to prepare for my training trip."

"Not satisfied with your current strength, kid? Got something to prove?"

"…Yes, you could say I have something to prove…"

The man seemed to notice that it was a sore subject.

"Fair enough. So, I think that one would suit you rather well, let's go see about that tanto, shall we?"

About half an hour later, Naruto exited the shop with a smile, giving the man a cheery wave when he left. He had found a tanto that he liked, scabbards for both his new acquisitions, and had been given a fifty percent discount, just because "if you're going to be gone indefinitely, you could use the money."

He headed back to his hotel, gave a wink to the girl at the front counter – Is she blushing? He he…I really do look good, don't I? – and headed up to his room on the second floor. He stayed there just long enough to drop off the rest of his new clothes and then headed back out. He had spotted a clearing just outside the village, and intended to train until dark.

Day one of my life as a missing-nin…so far, it's been pretty good!

Upon arrival, he smirked. His shadow clones were the be-all and end-all of training, with their ability to give the user any gained knowledge and skill.

Time to get started. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Chapter 2, complete!

This was originally going to be around 4000 words, maybe a bit less...but there was just so much I wanted to put in! So I went over a little.

I realize that this focuses a lot on Sakura...that won't be the case in the chapters to come. She's going to be more of a minor character, thrown in occasionally when I feel mean and want to take it out on a particular pink-haired banshee.

To anyone who requested that Hinata beat down Sakura...that little scene was for you. More on how that gets resolved next chapter; also, I'm introducing Jiraiya!

If anyone thinks that me giving Naruto a sword is overused... I like swords, and the katana is the only weapon beyond unarmed martial arts that I have any formal training in. I learned the basics of its use through Hapkido, which I did for several years. So yeah, it's not very original, but I can relate better and write better training / fight sequences.

With a little luck, I will be able to update a few more times before I really have to start cracking the books. I can't support myself off writing; I can support myself once I get my degree. So that takes precedence.

Hope you guys enjoyed it, now remember to review!

Because every time you read and don't review, Sasuke-teme uses a Katon jutsu on a puppy. Please, think of the puppies!

(1) If anyone remembers the proper name for them, please let me know.

(2)If you watch Bleach, think Tensa Zangetsu, with a shorter steel blade (i.e. not black) and no chain.