Chapter II: Departure and Disappearance

Naruto was wearing his penguin hat and pajamas when the alarm went off. He groaned and rolled over, slapped the alarm, and fell out of bed. However, he fell the wrong way, and found himself rapidly falling down to the pavement below.

BOOM!

In a huge cloud of dust, Naruto crashed into the sidewalk. Luckily, his thick skull stopped any major damage. He yawned and stood up, walked out of the crater and right into someone who knocked him over.

"Morning, Loser. What's wrong? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Before he could respond, Sauske walked on, smirking at Naruto. Naruto, on the other hand, walked back into his apartment and put the water on to boil for a cup of instant ramen. Yawning even bigger, he stripped off and took a shower, brushed his teeth, and then plunged his face into a bucket of ice water.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Needless to say, he was awake.

"Wait a minute," he thought to himself. Was that?" Naruto shrugged, chalking it all up to a dream, and went on with life.

After pouring the hot water into the cup, he scrounged around his apartment for a set of clean clothes. Finding one that wasn't covered in blood or caked in mud, he wriggled into that and settled down to eat his morning ramen. He had a set diet, which was a cup of Shrimp Ramen in the morning, three cups of Beef Ramen during lunch, and five cups of Pork ramen at night.

After eating his fill, he jumped out the door, not bothering to lock it behind him. Nothing was valuable in there. Go on, take what you want. After breathing in the refreshing morning air, he jumped to the nearest building and started running to the spot where they met in the morning. However, no one was there. That was strange.

Usually, by the time he got here, Sakura and Sauske would both be here. Kakashi would be late, they all knew that. After a few minutes of waiting, Naruto heard footsteps behind him. Expecting to see Sakura, he turned around, but saw Jiriaya instead.

"Hey! Ero-Sennin! Why are you here so early in the morning? Shouldn't you be at the steam bath? You know, getting the inspiration for your next book?"

"No time for jokes today, Naruto. We have somewhere to go."

Naruto's grin faded somewhat. "What do you mean? I'm supposed to be here, waiting for my team."

Jiriaya shook his head. "Not anymore, you're not. We need to see Tsunade. She'll explain there."

"Cool! Maybe Baa-chan has finally realized my power and gave me a mission harder then walking a dog!"

"Come on, then. Let's find out. Quit yapping and use that stuff between your ears for something other then tasting ramen."

After they got to the Hokage's office, Tsunade gestured them into chairs and told them to ignore the workmen repairing the holes in her office's floor and ceiling. Naruto shot a strange look at Jiriaya, but he ignored it.

"Naruto," She began, but he interrupted.

"Yeah, I know, Baa-Chan. You're going to send me on a good mission! You've finally seen what I can do!"

A vein twitched in her forehead. "If you call me Baa-Chan one more time, I'm going to liquefy your internal organs and drink them like the ramen broth that you enjoy so much every day."

"Ok, whatever, Baa-Chan."

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, before you interrupted me, I was about to say that I am going to send you on a long term mission with Jiriaya here."

"Cool! What are we going to be doing? Killing someone?"

"No, far from it. This is a mission to get you better with your skills. This is a training mission. You're to go with him and only to return when he deems you ready to come back and show us your skills."

Naruto gritted his teeth but kept silent. Any time away from Sauske was good news. "When do we leave?"

"You will leave immediately. Jiriaya has been packing supplies for a while. The sooner you leave, the harder it will be for you to be tracked."

"But-"

"No buts, Naruto. My decision is final." She folded her arms and dared him to argue. Anyone with even a tiny amount of common sense would have known not to argue back, but it was in his blood.

"But-" he tried again. This time, Jiriaya covered his mouth with a massive hand and dragged him up out of his chair.

"We'll be on our way. See you in a while, Baa-Chan."

At this, Tsunade exploded and jumped after the two of them. Jiriaya sprinted out the door and took Naruto with him, who was flapping like a wind sock in a tornado in the slipstream left behind as they fled.

After putting six blocks between them and a shouting Tsunade, he put Naruto down and they resumed a more leisurely pace to the gates of the village. Along the way, Naruto bombarded him with questions, but Jiriaya told him to shut up and save his energy for later.

When they got to the village gates, Naruto saw that there were two enormous carts of supplies. Mostly things like spices and other dried food, through there was some grain scattered among them. Looking for any sign of ramen, Naruto came up empty.

"WHAT? NO RAMEN? DO YOU WANT ME TO STARVE TO DEATH?"

Jiriaya laughed. "We'll be making our own ramen. Now, let's go."

Naruto nodded and walked over to his cart and hefted it. Despite the fact that it had wheels, the thing still weighed a ton. He was just about to take off at top speed when Jiriaya tapped his shoulder.

Looking around for why they had stopped, he saw Hinata standing there, playing with her fingers as usual. When Naruto just gave a confused look, Jiriaya sighed and pushed him over there.

After coming to a halting stop in front of Hinata, who was flame-red by now, he rubbed the back of his head and grinned. "Hey, Hinata! I didn't really expect to see you here at this time of day. Why are you here?"

She blushed even deeper as she said, "I-I-I heard that y-y-you were g-g-going on a m-m-mission."

"You could say that, yeah."

"Wh-wh-when will you b-b-be ba-ba-back?

Jiriaya walked over. "That depends on him, young lady. We could be back in an hour, or never at all.

She squeaked at the prospect of never seeing her Naruto again. However, she maintained a semblance of composure. "I ha-ha-have a p-p-present for you, Na-Na-Naruto."

Hinata reached into one pocket and withdrew a red cloth, imbued with the leaf village's symbol. "Um… do you wa-wa-want me to t-t-tie it so-so-somewhere?"

Naruto looked over himself. "I guess…" He held out his left arm, and she stepped forward with trembling fingers and tied the cloth around his arm so that the symbol was visible.

After she finished, she started to sway, and Naruto looked as clueless as ever. With a final sigh, she passed out and leaned forward into him. With a confused expression on his face, he carried her over to a nearby bench. On a whim, he pulled off the necklace that Tsunade had given him and slipped it around her neck. Writing a brief note that he put in her hand, Naruto left and went back to Jiriaya, who shook his head but said, "Well, let's get going."

With the creak of wood, Jiriaya and Naruto pulled their carts out of the village and headed toward the distant mountains. Hinata woke up just in time for her to see them running into the sunrise. She stood shakily and waved a good-bye to them. It may have just been her, but she swore that Naruto waved back.

Little did she know at the time, this would be the last time she would see him for seven years.

Three Months Later

Tsunade was at her desk, being bombarded by paperwork as usual. It was another boring day. Since Naruto's departure nearly three months ago, the village had quieted down significantly. Without Jiriaya's daily peeks into the steam baths, the women slowly returned.

The Rookie Nine, with the exception of Naruto, of course, had passed the Chuunin exams with flying colors. However, something would come that day that would shatter the peace and give them a whole new set of fears.

Just before she snuck another swig of sake, a frog jumped in through her open window. She turned and took the message from its back, unrolled the scroll, then spat her mouthful of sake onto the frog, which croaked indignantly.

Oh, no. How could this have happened?

She quickly summoned everyone who knew Naruto on a close level. The Rookie Nine, Gui's team, Kakashi, and a few others were all invited. By the time everyone crammed into the room, it was uncomfortably crowded.

Kakashi, who was still reading 'Make Out Paradise' didn't really seem that concerned. "Hokage, why have you called all of us here?"

Tsunade, who was already in a bad mood, slapped the book out of his hands. "Quit reading that book! And in any case, that will be last one in the series."

Kakashi snorted. "That's hardly likely. This is the newest book, and it ends on a cliffhanger."

Tsunade shook her head. "No, you misunderstand me. There will be no more books for you perverts, since the author is now dead."

A second of stunned silence, then Kakashi and Hinata both started to sway and then passed out cold. Tsunade was not surprised. Kakashi was in love with those books and Hinata was in love with Naruto, who was with the late Jiriaya.

After they both came to, Tsunade began to read the letter.

Baa-Chan

If you are reading this letter, then I am dead. I knew that my death would come soon, and I wanted to get as far away from the village as possible. Naruto is fine, so don't worry about him. However, he cannot return to the village until he finishes all of the tasks that I have set him to do.

The time that he returns to the village is determined by him. All of the tasks that I have set him are within his power. I have also told him secrets that he will put to good use. Do not mourn me, do not mourn my memory. The world has enough sadness as it is.

Jiriaya

P.S. Tell Kakashi that I am sorry that he will not be able to find out how my books end. However, tell him that Naruto will bring back something when he does, if ever returns.

Tsunade rolled up the scroll and handed it to the waiting people so that they could read the letter for themselves. She closed her eyes and thought, trying to repress her feelings. She had known Jiriaya for years. His death struck at her core, but there was still some hope. As long as Naruto was still alive, there was always hope.

Everyone was shocked at Jiriaya's death, as he had been one of the three legendary ninja. They were the best in the world. For one of them to be killed so easily… whoever did this had to exceedingly powerful.

With a sudden bang, Hinata rushed out the door, her eyes filled with tears. Everyone looked at each other, and Sakura ran after her. Everyone else just stayed where they were, with the exception of Kakashi. He was sniffling and wiped his nose with a tissue that he put behind his mask.

"There, there, Kakashi. You heard what Jiriaya said. Naruto will be fine."

"It's not that… I just really wanted to know how the series ended!"

Everyone face valuted at that. Tsunade was the first to recover and kicked him under the chin, the same way she had done with Jiriaya so many months earlier. With a resounding smack of flesh on mask, he went flying through the same hole that the workers had just finished patching up.

As Kakashi came back down, a wind started to blow, and it blew him ever farther from the fountain. With a resounding crash, he went through the ceiling of another establishment. He looked up to see two people looking at him with shock. He was in the kitchen on Ichiraku's ramen.

After a few seconds, Kakashi smelled something cooking. "Mmm… What's that flavor of ramen? Whatever it is, I have to get a bowl of it later."

The two people simply stared at him, and after a few seconds pointed to what he was sitting on. Kakashi looked down and saw that he was sitting on a lit stove.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With a scream, he catapulted back through the ceiling and flew toward the fountain. From a distance, Kakashi could pass for a firework being fired off from cannon, albeit during the day.

Hinata cried as she ran to the training grounds. She knew that something was wrong when he had seen Naruto leave on his last mission. But she hadn't thought it would be the last time ever that she would see him…

When Sakura finally found her, she was sobbing into her hands, her entire body shaking from grief. Sakura sat down next to her and patted her shoulder.

"There, there. Naruto will be fine. He knows how to take care of himself."

Hinata slowly stopped crying, though she still shook. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small necklace. Having nothing else to remember him by, she had taken to taking it around everywhere that she went.

Smiling, she looked Sakura in eye and nodded. "Thank you, Sakura."

Author's Note:

Heyo!

Hows everyone doing? if you live in the eastern US, then good luck with the massive cold snap.

Anyway, sentiment over.

Chapter II is up, (Duh) and hope you enjoy it. i mean, its only the beginning, so dont get anything up. the origional plot is next. i plan to have it up tommorow, providing my internet doesnt go down again. im currently working on chapter IV, so it should be up in less then a week.

Until then, this has been a Xingster/DDRMSTRPRO prodution.

Regards,

Xingster