Footsteps were heard stipping towards the door of Naruto's apartment with a jolly hum. Pink hair could be seen swishing behind the culprit, bright teal eyes glimmering ahead towards the destination. Yes, it was none other than Sakura Haruno happily making her way to Naruto's ex-residence with a book in her arms that she had borrowed from Naruto a few days prior. Stopping in front of his door, she gave a gentle to knock to it. "Na~ ru~ to!" She sang in between syllables as she knocked. "I've come to return the book I borrowed!" Sakura called out again, silently waiting with a smile on her face. After waiting for 5 minutes, however, that smile began to slowly fade. "Naruto..? Are you there?" Sakura questioned with another knock, this time using more force.

Another 5 minutes passed, there was still no answer.

Sakura's previously smiling face had been taken over by a look of immediate worry. "Naruto? Naruto!?" She quaked, knocking a few more times before slamming the door open and rushing into the apartment. She searched the apartment from head to toe, however there was no sign of the jolly spiky headed boy. Sakura was about to leave and search elsewhere for him when a small, folded piece of paper caught her eye. She stared at it for a moment, her eyes trembling as she slowly approached the note, fearing what might be inside. She delicately brought the paper into her hands, unfolding it and carefully scanning over it.

The more she read, the more her eyes widened and jaw fell. As she completed reading over it, the paper fell from her hands as she stood there, petrified.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto sneezed and wiped his nose quickly, catching the attention of Hinata. "Naruto, are you alright?" She asked, concerned. Naruto on the other hand shook his head quickly and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" He answered, waving his hands in front of himself. "We have been running for a while now.." Hinata brought up, gazing into the forest ahead of themselves as they ran. "Maybe we should take a break?" She suggested, turning towards Naruto who, in turn switched his gaze over to her. He pondered for a moment before nodding his head, feeling slightly worn out himself. "Maybe that'd be best..." His voice trailed off as he brought himself to a halt, Hinata doing the same.

He sat down and dug into his bag, getting out a bottle of water and a candy bar, then tossing them to Hinata. "You're hungry right?" Naruto chuckled slightly with a tilt of his head as Hinata's belly softly growled. Her face flushed over as she puffed her cheeks out. "O-Only slightly!" She argued, much to Naruto's amusement. His laughter echoed throughout the area as he brought himself a bottle of water from his bag and chugged some of it down. "You know, if you were hungry you should've said so sooner." Naruto laughed, wiping a bit of water from his lips. Hinata didn't respond, her blush only went deeper as she took a bite out of her snack.

For the next couple of minutes, there was a silence between the two as Naruto looked up at the sky and Hinata enjoyed her food. As the sunlight filtered down through the trees and hugged the ground, cicadas distantly chirped, reminding the two of the summers they spent at Konoha with their friends. Naruto brought his arm over his darkening eyes as he finally spoke out,

"I wonder... if anyone's noticed we're gone yet.."

"Lady Tsunade!"

Sakura's voice echoed throughout the room as she bursted the door of the Hokage's office open. Her eyes shimmered with a sense of utmost urgency as she grasped the note in her shaking hands. "What is it, Sakura?" Tsunade inquired, standing up and noting the urgency in Sakura's expression. "It's.. It's Naruto and Hinata.." Sakura answered, walking towards the Hokage and mournfully handing her the note.

Tsunade glanced at Sakura for a moment who gave a soft nod. She quickly and carefully opened the note, reading through it, her eyes widening more and more with each word she read. Sakura's eyes trembled as Tsunade's face darkened. "L-Lady Tsunade..?" Sakura quietly called out, worried. Tsunade drummed her fingers on her desk for a moment before speaking out.

"Get Kiba, Kakashi and Shikamaru in here. Now."

** Later **

"Th-This is..!" Kiba's voice trembled as the three gathered shinobi read the note left by Naruto and Hinata. "Yes, I'm afraid so." Tsunade said with a nod of her head. "The two of them were last seen yesterday evening at sunset, if I recall correctly." Tsunade stood up and walked around the table to stand directly in front of the shinobi. "Meaning if you set out now on a recovery mission, you just might catch up with them." Tsunade closed her eyes as she spoke. "Kiba and Kakashi can track them down and Shikamaru can capture them with his shadow possession jutsu."

The three of them nodded before Kiba spoke up again, "Why would they want to leave the village though? They seemed so happy..." Shikamaru exchanged glances with Kakashi before adding in his own input, "Who knows.. if I had to make a guess, I'd say something in Hinata's family provoked them. From what I've heard about the Hyuuga clan, they sound like they have very, very troublesome ways." Shikamaru sighed and slouched a bit while Kakashi glanced at the two of them before switching his gaze onto the Hokage. "Whatever the reason, we understand the mission Hokage-sama. We'll retrieve the two of them and bring them back safe and sound."

Tsunade just smiled when she heard Kakashi's input before her voice boomed throughout the room, "Failure is not an option! Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" The three responded with confidence before heading out on their mission. Sakura clutched her chest as she watched them go, bringing her head down and trying to fight back tears. "Please..." She silently begged. "Please succeed... Please bring them home.."

"Now then.." Naruto softly spoke out, standing up and stretching. "We all ready to set off?" He smiled at Hinata who gave a sunny smile back. "Yes!" She chimed with glee, dusting herself off as she stood, grabbing her things.

Naruto just chuckled before grabbing his own bag and tossing it over his shoulder. He was about to start running before he caught sense of the familiar chakra of Konoha shinobi. Glancing to Hinata, his eyes narrowed and they exchanged nods, pulling out kunai and staring daggers in the direction the chakra was emitting from. "Show yourselves!" Naruto called out, clenching his teeth tightly.

For a while, there was silence. Unbearable silence. The kind of silence that you feel is endless, like a void. Not even the cicadas dared to chirp, nor the wind dare to blow. As each second inched by, the couple tensed more and more, preparing for whatever may jump out at them.

Finally, the silence was broken.

"My, my.." A familiar voice called, stepping out from behind the trees. "To detect my chakra... you really aren't the little brat we all knew a few years ago.. are you, Naruto?" the voice taunted. "Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto confirmed, slightly dropping his arm that held the kunai- but not his guard. "What are you doing here?"

"To take you back, why else?" Another voice called from behind the trees. Hinata's eyes widened as she saw her old teammate step forward along with Shikamaru. "We have direct orders from the Hokage to bring you back, even if you have to drag you by your toes." Kiba stated, stepping closer to the two, causing them to tense up more.

"Hah, and you expect us to just get up and go with you?" Naruto forced a laugh as he spoke, stepping backwards and using his free arm to shield Hinata. "No, in fact that's the very last thing we expected." said Shikamaru in response, his face as blank and bored as ever. "We'll just rough you up a bit and drag you home." Shikamaru shrugged and looked at the two of them who were staring at them all as if they had just murdered their first born.

"Look, Naruto, Hinata.." Kakashi attempted to reason before getting cut off by Naruto. "Shut up, Kakashi-sensei! We're not going back to Konoha, and you can't make us!" Naruto growled, raising his kunai once more. Kakashi just sighed and lowered his shoulders in disappointment. "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, Naruto..."

Kiba and Shikamaru quickly turned their heads to the Jonin who was pulling out a kunai of his own. Naruto just gave a smirk in response. "Wanna fight?" He jeered, slightly raising his kunai more. "Not in particular," Kakashi explained with another sigh as he walked closer. Naruto shifted himself in front of Hinata in attempt to defend her as the Jonin came closer, narrowing his eyebrows. "But you leave me no CHOICE!" Kakashi forced his kunai onto Naruto's and sparks flew as the metal clashed. Naruto's kunai proved superior, however, causing Kakashi to fall back.

"You've gotten better, Naruto." Kakashi pointed out with a stoic tone. Naruto beamed when he heard his old sensei compliment his skills. "Naturally." He said in response in a low, jovial growl.

They stood there frozen for a moment before Kakashi jumped out again, this time with more force. Kunais clashed into kunais with immense speed and precision. "He's completely focused on Kakashi-sensei.." Shikamaru thought to himself. "If I'm gonna do it, the time is now.." He confirmed in his head, beginning the process for his shadow possession jutsu.

Shikamaru's shadow sneakily extended itself in front of him, making it's way towards Naruto's in stealth. Just as it was about to make contact, Hinata caught sight and gave a warning cry to her mate. "N-Naruto! Below you!" She yelled out as quickly as she could. Anything to save him from the grasp of that terrifying jutsu..!

"What-? Ah!" Naruto glanced down, his cheek catching the graze of Kakashi's kunai, but his shadow escaping the grasp of Shikamaru's jutsu. Jumping back, Naruto clutched his bleeding cheek and his body meeting the worried hug of Hinata. "Damn. Just a second more and I would've got you." Shikamaru commented, biting his lip and slouching. Naruto smirked and turned towards Hinata, who still happened to be clutching onto Naruto. "Thanks, Hinata. I owe ya!" He gave her a genuine smile before turning back to the three shinobi who seemed determined to bring them back to Konoha at any cost.

"I've had just about enough of this, though." Naruto's voice turned into that of a hiss as his eyes became even darker than the blackest of midnights. With a single hand sign and a mutter of a jutsu, the forest was filled with an ocean of Naruto.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Kakashi, Kiba and Shikamaru looked around desperately, trying to figure out which one was the real Naruto- but unfortunately he was not among them. Instead, Naruto had fallen back quite a few feet from the battlefield. "Alright, that should keep them busy for a while." He said, turning to Hinata and giving her a wink. "We should try and get as far from here as we possibly can."

"You're right.." Hinata agreed. "I only hope it'll keep them off long enough for us to successfully escape..." She trailed off, looking back at the clones. Her expression darkened as she turned away and stood up straight, ready to set off.

"Hey.. it'll be alright!" Naruto reassured her, grabbing her hand. Hinata's face flushed into a deep shade of crimson as Naruto spoke, his usual grin sending her heart aflutter. "We'll get away from here and we'll have it! Our perfect life!" Naruto's grip on her hand tightened as Hinata smiled back at him, closing her eyes and tilting her head with a giggle. "Yes!"

And with that, the two were off into the forest once more, this time determined to get away.

HAW HAW HAW, and you people thought i was incapable of acceptably sized chapters. well THINK AGAIN

im not really sure if i like this chapter? but boy, did i have fun writing it! :-D and thats all that matters

next chapter hopefully coming soon!