CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Our benefactors Part-5

Two days later

The town of Konoha had still not recovered from the news of the capture of Uzumaki Naruto during the Rinne festival. A sour mood could be felt all over the population, losing their jinchuriki in such a manner led a lot of people to question how safe they really were. Kakashi had declared a Kage summit which led him to discover that killer B, the jinchuriki of the eight tails was attacked by the same pair of Otsusuki mere hours before Naruto's abduction. Lucky for him, he managed to escape yet again using a clever substitution with a tentacle from the eight tails and was safely back home. The 5 Kage decided to place their villages on lockdown till they could come up with a plan to defend against any further attacks from the strange invaders.

That afternoon, Team 4 stopped by at the Hokage's office to sign off on a recently completed mission: escorting a diplomat to the land of woods. Usually, they'd grab lunch or dinner at Ichiraku immediately after but that day, they couldn't bring themselves to visit their favourite spot…..it reminded them of Naruto's absence. The team had tired their best to cope with the loss of their former sensei and friend, but his abduction kept haunting them days after. As Hanabi bid her farewell and made it back home, she paused at the entrance of her estate. She recalled the nights she'd spend hiding behind the gate to spy on her older sister as she said goodbye to Naruto after a date. Usually they'd share a hug or kiss, and Hanabi would make sure to pester Hinata to insanity with embarrassing questions as soon as she entered inside. But now Hinata was distraught, even as she tried her best to carry out her everyday duties, anyone could see the obvious change in her demeanor. Hanabi tried her best to comfort her sister but she herself was also depressed. Naruto was more than her sister's lover. He was once her sensei, and nowadays Hanabi could even consider him her friend.

And now he was considered dead.

Hanabi wiped a tear from her eye and went straight to her room without even replying to greetings from her clansmen. Collapsing on her bed, she fought back sobs as she removed her headband and tossed it on a nearby table. Catching the sunlight reflect off it, she couldn't help but remember the day she officially became a chunin of Konoha. Naruto had told her about the potential he saw in her, and eventually she grew to understand why him and her sister appeared particularly harsh on her early on in their training.

What use is all this power if I can't even protect anyone?

She thought as she finally gave in to the tears she had held back for so long.

"You've improved, Konohamaru"

Naruto's protégé bowed respectfully to the elegantly dressed figure in front of him.

"Thank you Enma"

The monkey king Enma gave him a sagely nod and disappeared in a puff of smoke, his summoning justu released.

"A being of few words as always" Konohamaru said under his breath as he left his family's training ground and headed inside his house. After a quick dinner, he decided to pay a visit to the home of his friend, Moegi. The two had agreed to visit Sakura Haruno that evening to discuss future training exercises. A few minutes later, Moegi and Konohamaru found themselves at Sakura's front door. Konohamaru was about to knock when Moegi opened the door and stepped right inside.

"Moegi learn some manners" he scolded.

His teammate ignored him and moved further indoors, looking for Sakura.

"Sakura-sama!" she called to her mentor but no reply came.

"Maybe she went out?"

"Whatever Moegi, I need a drink"

Konohamaru took a look in her fridge and found a substantial amount of leftovers inside.

She's barely been eating? He thought, noticing the food looked mostly intact. Reaching for a bottle of what he hoped was orange juice, Konohamaru walked up to Moegi and pulled her to the corner.

"Sakura hasn't been eating much"

Moegi sighed and rubbed her hands. "It's probably because Naruto is…." She looked to the side, unable to finish her sentence.

The sound of the door opening startled both teenagers who quickly discovered that Sakura had returned.

"What's all this?" the medic asked, looking around her living room and refocusing on the two people standing in a corner. "Why are you here?"

Moegi stepped forward. "We were supposed to train yesterday but you didn't show up, so we decided to stop by and pay you a visit"

Sakura placed a bag of groceries on a table. "Oh, right….sorry about that" she laughed nervously.

Konohamaru wasn't very good at reading emotions but even he could sense something off about Sakura's composure. He noticed how stressed she looked and the dark rings under her eyes led him to consider that she had been crying a lot recently.

"We can work something out tomorrow okay?" the voice of Sakura snapped him out of his thoughts. "Its just that I've been really busy and…" Sakura's voice trailed off.

"Okay, we understand" Moegi replied signaling her teammate to leave.

"Would you two like anything to eat? I haven't got the time to cook much but I've got some leftovers if you're interested"

Konohamaru bowed politely and exited the room. "Thanks for the offer Sakura. Send my regards to Mr. Sasuke"

That night, the two chunins decided to do something for Sakura. They weren't exactly sure what, but team 4 was going to chip in with a gift for her. So they stopped by Hanabi's the next morning to tell her their plan. Eventually their plan expanded to contain Hinata too, seeing as her it was her birthday.

It was decided they were going to help Sakura housekeep for the rest of the week while she faced her duties. For Hinata's birthday, they were going to contribute to buy a gift for her. So later that morning, they stopped by at Sakura's when they were sure she wouldn't be around.

"Does she never lock her door?" Konohamaru asked as he stepped inside after Moegi and set a toolbox on the floor which Hanabi promptly noticed.

"Sarutobi, we're here to clean, not fix. Why did you bring a toolbox?" she asked.

"Well I just wanted to be prepa-" Konohamaru found his mouth covered by Moegi's hand in an instant.

"Someone's here" she whispered to them, focused on the direction of the kitchen. The three shinobi stealthily made their way further inside, past the kitchen and all the way to the backyard. What they came across caused them to stop in their tracks.

"Mr. Sasuke?" Konohamaru caught the attention of the Uchiha who was standing in front of an open portal next to Sakura. Both of them looked like they were prepared for a mission.

"Konohamaru? Moegi? Hana….. what are you doing here?" Sakura's question had an air of urgency to it. Moegi stepped forward to take charge of the situation.

"We wanted to surprise you by housekeeping when you were at work" she paused to look at the portal again. "What's going on here?"

Sasuke walked up to Moegi and stared down at her. "Go back home, you can come later"

"No" the group turned back to see that Hanabi was speaking. "We're not leaving until you tell us what's…." she froze, realization beginning to dawn on her.

"This is about Naruto isn't it?"

Konohamaru's jaw dropped, "He's….he's alive?". His question was answered by Sasuke's nod. "I can sense him in a different time space from here. But it doesn't concern you"

"How can you even say that!" Hanabi snapped at Sasuke.

Sakura was taken aback by Hanabi's words and scrambled for a reply in her mind.

"Hanabi…. Sasuke is right. You need to go". But Konohamaru let his toolbox drop and stepped closer to Sasuke and Sakura.

"If you know where Naruto is then why don't you tell everyone? Why are you going to bring him back alone?"

"Because it's our duty. Kakashi would never let us set out to get him on our own but Naruto is more than our former teammate to us. If anyone has to risk their life to get him back then it has to be us, Konohamaru." Sakura said, turning around to enter the portal.

"Then we're coming with you"

She froze at the sound of Moegi's voice. Turning to face her, she spoke. "It's too dangerous Moegi"

Hanabi reached for her radio from her bag with cleaning supplies and held it up for Sakura to see. "Naruto is family to us too. If you don't let us help to bring him back I will alert everyone to your secret mission"

Sasuke looked at the radio in her hand carefully. He could set it aflame with Amaterasu but something in him held him back. Maybe it was the chance that the black flames would hurt Hanabi too, or maybe it was the fact he was considering allowing team 4 to tag along. He had to admit, he appreciated their boldness.

"Alright, let's go" he turned around and put one foot in the portal. Without even looking back he added, "I am not responsible for anything that may happen to you kids there" and he was gone, leaving Sakura and team 4 dumbfounded.

"I can't get rid of you can I" Sakura sighed and signaled to them to follow her. "Won't hurt to have another medic with us I guess."

"Y-yes Sakura-sama!" Moegi rushed after her mentor excitedly

Konohamaru and Hanabi hurriedly left their cleaning supplies behind and ran up to the portal, but hesitated before entering. Sakura's voice could be heard calling from the portal again.

"Hurry it up will you!"

And with that the pair exchanged nervous glances and walked into the portal.

Into the unknown….