Chapter 6- The Quest
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Man, this took FOREVER to put together. It's only the bridge to keep everything running smoothly but I don't want my readers to get confused by being vague about how I envision this to play out lol. Anyways, I don't own Naruto or the characters I hope everyone loves this chapter. Thanks to everyone who is reviewing (shout out to kyoko minion and crystalthrone), and following me (one more shout out to Angelstar989, ChocolateXMint, Meati, Tyz-bw, eaie, kctheartist, mrcdztrn):D you guys give me motivation to finish my chapters sooner.
-KIVA
"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S WORK HOURS OR IF THIS IS MY 7TH BOTTLE, I SAID BRING ME MORE DAMMIT!"
Was the words that echoed throughout the Hokage tower as the sound of breaking glass and inanimate objects flew into the walls. Shizune let out a sigh of relief that she had missed a majority of flying projectiles but winced as a book bounced off her rear and sent her stumbling a few extra feet forward.
"Dammit Lady Tsunade, we're all trying." Muttered Shizune as she started walking to the nearest bar to get more sake for the Hokage.
It had been 9 days since Sakura had taken off that night to head to Suna. 5 days would have been acceptable to understand taking her time. But 4 days extra without word from Sakura or at least the Kazekage recognizing her arrival was a little off putting. And the only message from Kage of the Sand Village was asking if his requested kunoichi had been sent out on her mission yet. They have yet to send a reply for both Tsunade and Shizune heard how the ex-Jinchuriki held a soft spot for the villages little cherry blossom.
It also wasn't helping that half of the rookie 9 were barging into the Hokage office demanding the whereabouts of Sakura every 4 hours. At first it was just Naruto after day 2 of Sakura being gone. They tried to pass it off that she was probably holed up in her apartment with some time off from the Hokage. It was 10 minutes after Naruto left with a frown that he came roaring back in with Hinata, Ino, a half awake Shikamaru, and a frantic Rock Lee. The hermit excuse Tsunade made up for Sakura didn't fall through due to the still broken down and damaged front door to her apartment. Fearing the worse they bombarded the Hokage with shouts and worry and concern that their missing friend and teammate had been kidnapped only to be given a half truth that she was simply out on a mission and should be back within 3 days time. After 4 days had passed from morning till night Naruto would come running up the Hokage tower only to be knocked out its window or wall after a shout of "GRANNY TSUNADE-". Her desk was littered with request from the Uchiha brat to meet with her to discuss the whereabouts of her pink pupil, but because of his arrival in the first place, Tsunade wanted nothing to do with him at the time, nor would she even give him a passing glance when she would pass by him from the front doors where he constantly was on the verge of attacking the ANBU that was there to restrain him if he tried to get out of line.
Once word got around of the disappearance of Sakura many of the rookie 9 would offer to gather a search team, but Lady Tsunade would always put it off knowing that if she agreed to send them out, it would only feed her fear that Sakura would be-
"Lady Tsunade, there is an urgent message from Suna." Said a shinobi of jounin level who worked in the message tower.
Before the messenger could even take a step forward and show the letter he turned look at his hand and it was already gone. Looking at the Hokage with a confused look he could see she was already reading over the letter with eyes bright but then turned to a quick frown. Not wanting to be the new practice dummy for the Hokage's temper pitching practice he was out the door and down the hall with Lady Tsunade slamming her hand down on her desk.
"Dammit, I was hoping this was a message that she made it or that they found her." Said Tsunade as she rested her head on her hands with elbows leaning on the desk.
Letting out a small hiss as she could feel grains of sand press into her elbows, she subconsciously swept the sand off her desk to the ground before the thought could fully hit her.
"Oh shit."
And with that last word the room was caught in a mini but violent sand storm that Tsunade only had enough time to cover her eyes and mouth before the wind settled. Peeking out from behind her forearm, she came face to face staring into hazy sky blue eyes staring right back at her.
"Well Gaara, I can't say this sudden visit isn't unexpected."
"My apologies Lady Tsunade, but going for a week without any word from your village on the whereabouts of my requested employee seemed quite impolite."
"Yes, well about that,"
"I pray the news you are about to tell me are at least that you found your kunoichi and she fell deathly ill on her journey so she is unable to tend to her mission because she is here, safe, in this village, restricted to bed rest."
"We still don't know where Sakura is."
At the release of the word "don't" the sand storm resumed and double the force. Taking cover under her desk Tsunade could hear Gaara letting out a frustrated growl, even though the Sand demon was removed from him a few years ago, Gaara still had a nasty temper and his attack on her office started eating away at the furniture and walls and anything else that he could take his anger out on.
"GAARA, STOP THIS TEMPER TANTRUM. WE'LL FIND HER AND SHE'S TRAINED UNDER ME! SHE'S STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD HER OWN!"Shouted Tsunade through the roar of rushing sand.
Gaara only replied with a louder growl and started picking up the furniture and crushing it in sand coffins as his anger seemed to swell. Then that was when the desk Lady Tsunade was using for cover was lifted up by a hand of sand and Gaara stood over her with an insane look of blood lust in his eyes.
Preparing her fist with blue chakra, Tsunade was ready to hit any and all pressure points to stop the Kazekage from doing something stupid when through all the noise of the sand storm, she could hear the clear voice of a certain hyper-active blonde.
"GRANNY TSU- WHOA WHAT THE HELL GAARA?!"
Before any of them could look in the direction of the voice, 4 clones of Naruto were holding onto Gaara's limbs and the original was landing a heavy blow on the back of the sand Kage's head. At the sudden contact all the sand that was swirling around the room dropped straight to the floor and the stampede of footsteps came rushing to the doorway of the Hokage's office. With Sharingan ready Sasuke was the first one there along side with Kakashi, Sai, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Gai, Ten-Ten, Shizune, and a few ANBU officers.
"Lady Tsunade!" shouted everyone at once when their eyes fell upon the chaos that overtook the once office of the 5th Hokage's, now it looked like an indoor sandbox with a grinning fox and dazed raccoon in the middle of it all with a stressed out slug sannin pinching the bridge of her nose having finally reached her tolerance level. Amongst the babble of why was Gaara in the village, what was he thinking about threatening the Hokage, was it a normal reaction to be surprised at what just happened between the 2 Kage's, what was Sasuke doing in the tower, and why the Hokage was letting this happen and would she know why Gaara acted out like this, Tsunade snapped by punching through the nearest wall and causing it to crumble.
"ENOUGH! EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP AND SIT DOWN! I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S SAND EVERYWHERE AND SO HELP ME UCHIHA AND UZUMAKI, IF YOU COMPLAIN THAT YOU AREN'T CHILDREN I WILL STRIP YOUR TITLES BACK TO THE LEVEL OF A KINDERGARTENER AND DON'T THINK I WON'T."
At that threat both blonde and ebony headed shinobi's shut their mouths with a frown and a plop on the ground. Everyone sat around the Hokage in a semi circle cross legged Indian style. The sensei's and ANBU however were leaning against the walls trying to stifle their chuckling when Tsunade turned to them with eyes full of killer intent.
"I said SIT!"
At that point it was the younger generations turn to smirk but everyone became serious as she pulled out a scroll with the Haruno crest on it.
"I'm sick of being badgered day in and day out from everyone about Sakura. Yes I know she's still missing, yes I know most of you are concerned for her well-being. I was living the last few days hoping to give the benefit of the doubt that she was alright somewhere and that she could get herself out of any situation that would come her way. But thanks to a certain display of affection by a certain duck-haired dick head-"
"Hey! I did not know what was going on!"
"Shut it Uchiha, you certainly didn't do anything to stop it." Retorted Ino.
"Anyways, most of you know that I had sent Sakura out on a mission. Only a few know what kind of mission."
"She was to come with me as an escort among the Kage's to ensure my safety and peace of mind during the trip."
"As what? Your pet? A bed warmer? I didn't think Sakura would be that easy." snorted Sasuke, not seeing any use Sakura could be to a Kage on a solo mission.
"Shut the hell up Sasuke, Gaara would never do that to Sakura. Right Gaara?" asked Naruto hoping to give the benefit of the doubt to both Sakura and Gaara. Gaara had been through so much that Naruto understood even though he was the Kage of his home village now, he still had trust issues with most people. So there must be a viable reason for why he chose Sakura and her alone to accompany him. But he now looked at Sakura like a sister he needed to protect since he and Hinata became an item. So he really hoped that Gaara wasn't looking at Sakura like a piece of ass either.
"No, I would not. And I would kill the first man who looked at Sakura in such a manner." Gaara said with a death threat laced in his voice as a spike-shaped sand weapon started to form and hover in Sasuke's direction, whereas in his response Sasuke started to gather electric chakra in his hand and the Sharingan flashed to life in his eyes.
"Knock it off you two." threatened Tsunade.
"What is this traitor doing in your village anyways, I thought he'd be in a cell rather than being out and about slandering Sakura?" asked Gaara coldly.
"That's none of your business you blood thirsty freak, and what's it to you how I speak of about Sakura? Whether she's being with others or not, it doesn't matter to me because she's done with anyone she could be involved with as far as I'm concerned. She will be my wife and help me with my blood-line to keep going."
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Shouted everyone.
"Like hell you are Bastard. It's your fault that Sakura took off on some random mission anyways. Wait a minute. Lady Tsunade, why is Sakura out on a mission by herself anyways?" asked Naruto.
"Yes Lady Tsunade, all missions of jounin level are done in cell groups of 3." Replied Neji.
"Surely you only allowed our youthful cherry blossom to head out on her own and have her meet up with the rest of her cell group at another time?"Questioned Lee.
As the rest of the shinobi in the room started in on the conversation trying to make sense about why Sakura was gone on a solo mission in the first place, the ANBU, Sensei's and Kage's knew why and looking at each other, nodded and decided to break Sakura's promise. The Promise she asked to not be broken until Naruto made jounin. But her life was on the line. It couldn't be kept secret anymore.
"Sakura is an ANBU soldier now." Replied Tsunade bluntly.
The small hum of the conversation amongst the rookie 9 stopped in an instant as they all turned to Tsunade with disbelief and jaws to the floor.
"WHAT?!"
"Sakura had advanced so much in her training with me, and Kami knows that the ANBU needs more medical shinobi's in it's corps." Replied Tsunade.
"She trained with me while Naruto was off getting Sasuke with Jaraiya and she passed with flying colors. As well as flying trees and boulders and other things…" trailed off Kakashi as he remembered when they were training with her ninjutsu she was slightly reluctant to go full out on her former sensei, but after much threats and telling her that to be ANBU there's no holding back when the village needs her most, well, he was lucky she was as skilled as she was with her healing abilities, even with his Sharingan open she gave him a run for his money.
"But Sakura, why didn't she tell me?" muttered Naruto full of sadness not that she had passed him to the highest level of being a shinobi next to becoming Hokage, but that she didn't confide in him enough to even bring it up. He would have only been more motivated to catch up to her and would have treated her to all the ramen she would want as a celebration, but then again he'd probably run a bigger bill than Sakura would.
"Wait, if Sakura is ANBU, wouldn't she have the signature tattoo showing she was one of the elite?" asked Ten-Ten.
"That is true, Sakura had decided to hide it under her arm band until Naruto reached the next shinobi level. If she were to go on ANBU missions, she were to go with Yamamoto and Sai so she could pass it off as a normal mission." Explained Shizune.
"Sai? You knew about this and didn't spill the beans?" shouted Ino as she got dangerously close to Sai's face with a hurt look on her face. Even though the news of Sakura making ANBU, she wasn't gonna let Naruto get hurt with the fact that she knew before anyone else could find out.
"Actually, none of this was brought to my attention either." Said Sai with a blank face. Not that he didn't care, he did, he was still getting used to providing facial expressions.
"Enough. Now that everyone knows what's going on, I guess there's no delaying the inevitable."
Again, the room fell silent as all focus returned to the Hokage as she pulled out some papers and writing utensils. Wait, LADY TSUNADE WAS PREPARING PAPERWORK ON PURPOSE?!
"Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kakashi, Sai, Naruto, Lee and Ten-Ten, you will all prepare supplies for travel within the hour and you are to search for Sakura Haruno as a search and rescue mission. If there are no objections I want you out of my sight and making dust clouds within the next 3 seconds."
"Lady Tsunade-" started off Sasuke.
"Uchiha, I will not be sending you because you are the main reason that Sakura is missing in the first place."
"I've had it you old bat!"
Everyone's face went slightly pale and the last Uchiha's outburst. Tsunade's just started to flush red and her eyes sparked with an ember to become violent at the next wrong word.
"I know that night was a nightmare. I wish things had been different. I wish I had seen the real Sakura before I easily fell for the fake one. I miss her. I really do. Once all obstacles were gone, I just wanted to keep a promise I made to myself… that I would make Sakura mine and mine alone. To rebuild my clan, have a chance at happiness."
"Well what was all that talk about you thinking Sakura was easy?" retorted Ten-Ten.
"Shut it Bun-Bun. No one really stood up for her after the club incident either to help me think otherwise, but I was hoping that she would be the way I left her. Sweet, proper, and still wanting me. I just.. I can't stand the thought of anyone else having her. I need Sakura. I WILL make her mine" at that point he glared at Gaara and Tsunade. "And if you won't let me go on that mission, then I well go on my own and there will be hell for anyone who should stand in my way."
Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke prepared to put up a fight and the ANBU readied their hands over their weapons and scrolls when an arm slung itself over Sasuke's shoulder and turning saw a grinning Naruto.
"Relax Sasuke, we'll get her back. Together. We'll have Team 7 back together in no time. Right Granny Tsunade?"
"~*sigh*~ Fine, Fine. But Uchiha, if you fuck this up and break Sakura's heart more than you already did, so help me Kami, I will personally castrate you and feed your balls to Kakashi's dogs."
"Hey! What did my team do to deserve such a threat of biological warfare?" joked Kakashi with an eye grin.
What made it unsettling was that neither one looked like they were joking at all.
And with that everyone received their proper scrolls and after a few papers written by Gaara as well to send out by messenger bird, he prepared as well to head off with the team to find the missing Cherry Blossom of everyone's attention.
The last one to leave the Hokage's tower with Hinata walking in deep thought about everything that just happened and was said earlier.
"But, Sakura wasn't wearing an arm band on the last night we had seen her." Hinata muttered quietly to herself but shook it off to hurry home and prepare for the rescue mission to bring back home their friend.