A/N: ha ha ha was I the b*tch who totally changed to a different perspective to add to the cliff-hanginess from the previous chapter??? yes, yes I was. Sorry beybladingninjaprincess, I have prolonged the inevitable.

And dragongirl5k5 you'll have to wait and see.... :)

Before you read just to clear things up, Itachi took SUIGETSU. Sasuke was left unconcious on the forest floor. I saw a couple of reviews that seemed like Itachi had taken Sasuke; he didn't he took Suigetsu. Although Uchihacest is relatively smexy, I don't think it will be in this story.

Passion and Tears

Shikamaru's POV

It's been a good five days since we started our mission on finding Sasuke, and we had been following a trail based on a hunch from Naruto. So far, it's been nothing but trees and awkward talks with Rock Lee. I mean the guy is okay, but who else seriously thinks that females have penisus? (1)

What a drag...

Currently we were all situated around a small fire Neji had built earlier, eating fish that Naruto and Rock Lee had caught. I sighed and glanced around at the other members of my team. Having already ingested his food, Neji was braiding his long hair; Rock Lee was devouring another piece of the cooked fish; and Naruto was just staring at the ground solemnly. It was silent besides the crackling of the fire and the nosies of satisfaction that came from Rock Lee.

"Naruto," Neji began, "I usually respect your decisions but, we're traveling blind."

Good, at least I'm not the only one who thinks we're wasting time.

Rock Lee agreed with my unspoken thoughts and Neji's point. We all watched Naruto stare into the fire for a while then he looked up at us all.

"...Fine. What do you want to do?" he asked quietly.

"I suggest that we head to the nearest town and find out if they've seen the Akatsuki lately." I interjected.

Rock Lee's eyebrows drew in together creating a monobrow as he gave me a questioning look, "But why the Akatsuki?"

Man, I hate explaining myself....Why won't he shave those things?

"Think about it. Sasuke has always craved more power in order to get revenge on his brother, who is in the Akatsuki. So, if we look for Itachi..." I said.

"We find Sasuke," Neji finished up, "In the morning, I will use my Byakugan to see where the closest town is located."

"We'll have Sasuke in no time. Isn't this great, Naruto?" Rock Lee asked the dejected looking blonde.

Naruto seemed to be in an inner conflict with himself and it appeared he didn't hear Rock Lee at all.

"...Naruto?"

Said blonde looked up in suprise then said loudly, "Yes, it is great! We'll get teme and bring him back! Believe it!"

Rock Lee bought it easily enough with a smile, but I didn't. And one look from Neji confirmed that he didn't either. Something was wrong with Naruto. After we finished eating, Neji put out the fire, while Rock Lee and Naruto found comfortable places to sleep. I jumped into a nearby tree and prepared for my watch. We had worked out a lookout system the day before we left the Hidden Leaf Village: Naruto and I would take shifts one night, and Rock Lee and Neji would do the same on the next night. And we would alternate days.

I sighed and lazily looked over at my team mates who had already fallen sleep. Time dragged by as I sat silently. There were a couple of crickets chirping, but altogether it was quiet. It wasn't that long when I heard some shuffling. My eyes shifted down to my companions and saw that Naruto was sleeping fitfully. He turned on his back and began mumbling unintelligible words. Unconciously, I leaned forward to decipher what he was saying.

"Unnh...d-don't..."

He must be in some sort of torture chamber...

"...mmh...yeah..."

No, probably not. He's enjoying it, so he's eating ramen or it's a...

Naruot let out a breathy moan. His breathing became heavier and he seemed to be grasping for something.

This is definatley an erotic dream. Now, the real mystery is who is he dreaming about?

My answer came not long after when Naruto moaned Sasuke's name clearly.

......I knew I was right. There's no way that 'friendship' is the only driving force behind Naruto's mission in finding Sasuke. Chouji owes me a bag of potato chips.

Naruto's pants became louder and I could tell he was close to climaxing. With a violent hip thrust and another cry of Sasuke's name, Naruto stopped fidgting.

I think I'll just let him sleep I thought while mentaly preparing myself for an all nighter.

-------------------------

The next morning, I didn't speak of what happened, but I knew that Naruto knew that I knew about his secret crush on Sasuke. The fact that I didn't wake him up for his shift and his soiled pants were proof enough.

"There is a town that is near the Hidden Leaf Village, but it is not located on the map. Should we check it out?" Neji asked.

We all turned towards Naruto and he nodded. Neji led us in the direction of the hamlet. The trip there was relatively quick and easy without any problems. We arrived there around noon, which was perfect since we were all hungry. As we walked through the town, people stared at us with blatant curiosity.

They must not get many outsiders.

Unknowingly, we all headed towards a little restaurant. Naruto started to protest against going to the food place.

"Naruto, let's just stop here and rest for a while. We've got a whole month to find Sasuke," I said.

"Yes, I do think that Shikamaru's suggestion is most wise," Rock Lee agreed.

Naruto relunctantly nodded. We sat down at a table and waited for a waiter. It wasn't long when a portly man came up to us.

"Hello there strangers. The name is Tsukio Manchuko," the man greeted, "What can I get for you?"

"Some food," Rock Lee stated.

Tsukio Manchuko let out a hearty laugh. "Alright. Why don't I give you today's special? It'll be on the house since we don't get many strangers here."

"That wasn't hard to figure out from all the staring," Neji commented.

Tsukio chuckled. "Forgive them. The only other foreigners we see are Itachi and Kisame. You should meet ea-"

"Where are they?" Naruto interrupted.

"Oh well they're just down...huh, they must've left as soon as I came to talk to you."

"How many exits do you have?" Naruto asked quickly.

Tsukio was a bit confused and said, "Just one, bu-"

But Naruto was already off, darting towards the exit. I thanked Tsukio and immediately began trailing Naruto. We left the town and we were once again in the forest. In front of me, Naruto was a fast blur that suddenly collided into something....or someone.

Is that...?

A familiar head of pink hair was seen on the ground along with the usual-but-not-recently hyperactive ninja.

Rock Lee, Neji, and I gathered around the fallen Leaf ninjas.

"Sakura?!?" Rock Lee called, "What are you doing here?"

Sakura rubbed her forehead with an agitated groan and said, "I left the village because I wanted to help you all find Sasuke."

"You realize you're considered a missing-nin, right?" Neji asked.

"Yes, but I don't care. I want Sasuke back just as much as Naruto does, and I won't be useless like last time."

Naruto groaned and grasped his head and began standing up again. "You shouldn't have come Sakura, but if you want to help that's fine." The blonde ninja was about to start running again when I called his name.

"What Shikamaru?" he asked impatiently.

"We can't just rush after two Akatsuki members blindly. We need to form a plan," I said.

"...okay," Naruto said, "but we need to hurry. I know Sasuke is close."

A/N: yeah!! another chapter done! Tell me what ya think. And I know I might've gotten a bit sloppy on the ending. Personally, I hate Sakura, but I'm gonna have some fun with her in the next chapter which is why I made her follow Naruto's little team. Sorry for any grammatical, spelling, or sentence structure errors. AND I THANK EVERYONE FOR THE REVIEWS and alerts and etc...

(1) I have a little bro that is three years younger than me so, when I was younger we used to bathe together so I saw his junk. I always thought that I would eventually grow a penis as well. lol, turns out I was wrong. I figured out the truth around age 6 or 7.