Chapter Three
"Huh?" Sakura scrutinizes the training field where her teammates usually trained. "I thought Naruto said he would be here today..." Frowning, she grumbles, "Great, I need to talk to him! Hm...little moron is probably at Ichiraku's with Iruka Sensei, knowing him..." With a weary sigh, she turns back and heads toward the village.
xXx
"Iruka Sensei!" Sakura calls, waving at him from across the street.
"Oh, hi there Sakura." The academy teacher greets, happily. "How are you?"
"I'm good, Sensei, you haven't seen Naruto around have you?"
"Nope, not since yesterday. Why, did something happen?" The expression on his face was one of growing concern for his student.
"No, no nothing like that. I was just curious because he didn't show up to training today." She tells him.
"Hm, that's strange." Iruka remarks.
"Yeah, totally not like him..." She agrees.
"Normally I would suggest checking the ramen stand but I was just there, and he wasn't."
Sakura nods. "Well if he's not training and he's not eating..."
"Then he's sleeping."
Sakura and Iruka laugh and say their goodbyes. She thanks him for his help and hurries off to her friend's apartment. Where, surely, he'd managed to over sleep.
xXx
Knock, knock, knock...
Sakura shakes her head, her arms folded. She'd been waiting for him to answer for the door for ages. Where was the little dooface?
A slight smile finds her lips when she pictures her overly-energetic, loud-mouthed best friend sleeping peacfully in his room. I almost feel bad for waking him on his day off...She smirks again when she decides, But I'm sure my news will cheer him up! After all, it's not everyday we're asked to help with demonstrations at the academy...he'll probably end up making it a "date" in his mind. She laughs.
And with that, the rosette pushes the door open, knowing he leaves it unlocked for occasions such as this. Outside light floods the dark hallways, casting eerie-looking shadows across the walls. The floors are littered with their usual trash and filthy, old clothes. The smell of mildew was nearly overwhelming. I thought I told that knuckle-head to clean this place up! He's gonna end up getting sick if it stays like this...or at least he'll break his neck falling over all this junk!
"Naruto!" Sakura calls, annoyance evident in her voice. "C'mon, wakey wakey sleepy head!" As soon as she opens the door to his bedroom, she knows she was wrong about him having simply over slept...
xXx
When that door creaks open, a sudden chill runs down Sakura's spine. The room was dark. And empty. The sheets on the bed had been ripped off and strewn across the floor. There were scuff marks on the floor and even a few on the walls...
She instantly recognized it as a sign of a struggle. And it was right then and there, she knew. Naruto wasn't simply missing from training. He was missing from the village entirely.
Naruto was gone!