Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Three ❯ chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: you know the drill...

Translations:

matte: wait

onegai: please

kozou: kid (I finally found the right spelling for it, yay!)

Yondaime: The Fourth (Hokage)

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Three

by: Lostlily

Chapter 9

-Konoha Village-

Iruka was walking down one of the hallways of the shinobi headquarters when he spotted Kakashi striding quickly towards the Hokage's main offices.  The chuunin was feeling a bit uneasy since he last saw Naruto a couple of days ago.  He knew something was bothering the boy and he thought he would confide in his former sensei, but he didn't.   Now he was anxious to know how the boy was doing. 

Seeing that Naruto's jounin sensei was just down the hall, Iruka decided to ask him how the young blond was.  He called out as he jogged up to the silver-haired man, "Kakashi-sensei!  Matte!"

Kakashi stopped and watched as the other man approached him.  His visible eye gazed at the chuunin lazily for a moment before he said, "Yo!  Iruka-sensei, what can I do for you?"

Iruka gave a somewhat embarrassed smile then said, "Eto...I was just curious about Naruto.  I haven't seen him since your team returned from their last mission.  It seemed like something was bothering him.  Has he told you anything?"

The jounin just stared at the younger man for a long while, looking almost as if he was debating something in his head.  Just as the chuunin teacher began to fidget under the strange stare, the other man said, "I think you better come with me."

Then the copy-ninja resumed walking towards the Hokage's offices. 

Iruka quickly began to follow the other shinobi.  He felt a knot of worry form in his gut.  Kakashi's voice lacked it's usual lazy drawl, meaning that there was something wrong.  Something the academy teacher was afraid to find out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------

Ten genin, three jounin, and one rookie chuunin were all gathered in the inner office of the Fifth Hokage. 

The jounin stood close to the desk, pondering why their leader summoned them and their teams so early in the morning.  The sun was barely beginning to rise.

Kurenai quietly said, "I wonder what this is all about."

Asuma slipped a fresh cigarette between his lips, but didn't bother to light it, knowing how the Hokage had a no smoking rule in her office.  He grumbled, "Whatever it is, it must be some sort of mission since she requested that we have our subordinates with us."

"Where's that Kakashi?  He's late again!"  Gai mumbled as he glanced around the room, frowning.  The other two jounin just shook their heads and sweatdropped.  (--;)

Shikamaru yawned sleepily, then thought to himself, 'This is so troublesome...'  He let his half-opened eyes slowly scan the room while trying to drown out Ino's incessant chatter.  He was leaning against a wall near a corner with his former teammates standing next to him.  As usual, Chouji was happily munching away at a bag of chips and Ino was complaining about something or other.

Shifting his sights to the left, the young chuunin could see Neji leaning against another wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed.  Standing in front of him was his teammate and supposed rival, Lee, who was cheerfully chatting with the female member of their team, Tenten.

In the middle of the room stood Shino, who was quiet as usual.  Next to the bug user was Kiba and his dog, Akamaru.  Kiba, like Ino, was also complaining, only he was a bit louder about it and his little dog wasn't helping to keep the noise level down either.  Softly trying to calm the loud boy was Hinata, but apparently her teammate couldn't hear her quiet voice over his own loud one.

Finally Shikamaru turned his gaze towards the windows where two people silently stood.  The lazy shinobi thought to himself, 'What's up with those two?'  The two members of team 7 looked like they had been up all night.  Sakura had her hands clasped in front of her and it was clear by the look on her face that she was upset about something.  She kept glancing at the dark-haired boy who stood just a couple of feet away from her.  Sasuke was staring out the window with an expressionless look on his face.  But Shikamaru noted that the young Uchiha's hands were in tight fists.

Shikamaru was arching his brow at team 7's strange behavior when he realized something.  He quickly glanced around the room again to be sure.  It seemed as if a certain loudmouth ninja was missing from the small gathering.  Maybe he with his sensei, who also happened to be absent from the room as well. 

Suddenly, the door to the outer office opened and Kakashi entered, followed by a somewhat worried looking Iruka.  All attention was drawn to the door as the two men entered.  Shikamaru noticed that Naruto wasn't with them.  Where was that baka?

The lazy shinobi wasn't the only one who wondered where the whiskered face boy was.  A few of the other genin expected him to saunter through the door, announcing his arrival loudly, but to their surprise, he wasn't around.  They all watched as Kakashi closed the door, then lead Iruka to the other jounin.

Kurenai and Asuma gazed at Iruka curiously, while Gai smirked at Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, you're late again."

The silver-haired man just gave a light shrug towards his green clothed rival.  Gai gave a disgruntled snort.

The door to the Hokage's private sitting room opened, drawing everyone's attention.  The younger shinobi lined up in four rows behind the jounin as Tsunade stepped out, followed by Jiraiya and her personal assistant, Shizune. 

Tsunade moved behind her desk, her companions flanking her on each side.  She slowly regarded the shinobi standing before her.  Noticing Iruka, she sent a questioning glance towards Kakashi, who in turn, just shrugged and said simply, "He deserves to know."

That statement caused several curious glances to flicker towards the copy-ninja.  Shikamaru frowned as things started to click in his genius mind.  This meeting just became more than troublesome...it was downright bad and a certain blond appeared to be right in the middle of it all.

The Fifth Hokage closed her eyes for a moment and sighed before opening them again and saying, "You are all probably wondering why I summoned you here so early in the morning."  Everyone was quietly listening as they all felt a strange sense of foreboding that seemed to permit the air around them.  "There is a dangerous situation that needs to be taken care of before it becomes too much for us to handle.  It's a situation that doesn't just affect us, but other hidden villages as well."

Iruka didn't like the sound of Tsunade's statement.  The knot in his stomach seemed to increase twofold.  He looked towards Kakashi and noticed the expressionless look on his face.  He had asked the jounin about Naruto and he was brought to this meeting.  Did that mean...?  Looking towards the legendary kunoichi, he nervously cleared his throat and stepped forward, "Hokage-sama...may I ask you a question?"

Tsunade had a good hunch about what the chuunin teacher was going to ask her and she knew he wasn't going to like any answer she could offer him.  Letting out another sigh, she nodded. 

"Does this..." Iruka paused, glanced at the young genin who were watching quietly, then stepped closer to his Hokage and whispered almost hesitantly, "Does this 'situation' concern Naruto?"

Several feet away, standing behind Kurenai, Kiba arched a brow.  His clan was known for their more developed senses and he used his heightened sense of hearing to satisfy his curiosity on what Iruka was whispering about.  He frowned a bit as he heard the chuunin's question.  'Did he just say Naruto?  What does that baka loudmouth have to do with anything?'  He glanced around at his fellow genin, 'Where is he, anyways?'

Tsunade gave a curt nod in response to Iruka's question.  The shinobi's face paled a bit, making the scar across the bridge of his nose stand out more.  His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out.  Finally, he managed to ask hoarsely, "Did the seal-"  The kunoichi shook her head before he could finish his question.

Neji studied the man standing before the Hokage.  Even if he couldn't see his face, he could tell by the older man's body stance that he was agitated about something.  The genin also remembered the look on the chuunin's face when he first entered the room.  This was starting to become a very interesting day...

Not knowing what to say anymore, Iruka moved back to stand by Kakashi.  Tsunade glanced towards Jiraiya, who gave a small nod, then she looked back to the group standing before her, "I'm going to have three teams go on three different missions.  The first team will be Ino, Chouji, Shino, Hinata, and led by Asuma."  She gestured for the bearded jounin to step forward, then picked up a scroll from her desk and handed it to him, "Your mission is to deliver this scroll to the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village." 

Several eyes widened with surprise.  Although the Hidden Sand was their ally once again, there was still some hostility to be felt between both villages.  Hinata and Shino both felt especially disturbed as they remembered the red-haired genin from the sand who killed so easily during the second part of the Chuunin Exam.  Now their Hokage wanted them to venture into the home turf of that certain ninja?  They could only hope that they didn't run into him there.

Asuma nodded, then stepped back, the scroll clutched in his hand.  Tsunade continued, "The second team will be Kiba, Sakura, Lee, Tenten, and will be led by Kurenai."  She picked up another scroll from her desk and handed it to the female jounin, "Your mission is to deliver this scroll to the Raikage of Hidden Cloud Village."  Kurenai nodded.

Sakura couldn't help but stare at the Hokage with shock.  She was being sent to the Hidden Cloud on a mission?!  What about Naruto?  She wanted to go with Sasuke to go find their missing teammate.  She opened her mouth to protest, but Tsunade firmly said, "You all are to leave on your missions in one hour.  It is important that you deliver those scrolls to the kages as soon as humanly possible.  You two teams are dismissed to go pack for your missions."  The shinobi from both teams nodded respectfully before heading for the door.  Sakura gave one last worried glance towards Sasuke before she walked out.  'Onegai, Sasuke-kun....come back safety...'

Once the door was closed again, Tsunade turned her attention to the remaining shinobi lined up before her.  The two genin and one rookie chuunin gazed at her expectantly, though Sasuke already knew what their mission was to be.  The weary kunoichi sat in her chair and rubbed her temple.  Shizune laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.  Slowly, Tsunade studied each boy, her gaze lingering on Sasuke a bit before she finally said, "You three will be the last team, lead by Kakashi and Jiraiya." 

Neji and Shikamaru both lifted a brow.  They were going on a mission with one of the Legendary Senin?  Even Iruka was surprised to hear this news.  The single question that ran through their minds was: Why?

As if hearing their unvoiced question, Tsunade said, "Your mission is to retrieve Naruto and bring him back home safely.  He left the village about four days ago with two others, but Jiraiya has a good idea where they will be heading.  This is classified as an A-rank mission.  It's imperative that you reach Naruto as soon as you can.  There are those out there that are after those three.  And I'm sure you're wondering why Jiraiya is part of your team.  He is going with you because..."  She trailed off as she stood up and moved to the window, staring at the awakening village.  She wanted to tell them the reason why, but just the thought of something going horribly wrong just made her feel queasy inside.  Jiraiya moved from behind the desk and stood before his newly formed team, deciding to just tell them himself why he was going along.  "I'm going with you because you're not powerful enough to beat them in a fight."

Both Sasuke and Neji scowled darkly at his words, while Shikamaru continued to stand there silently agreeing with the big man, then he asked, "Who are these 'others' that are with him?"

"Gaara of the Sand and the Raikage's daughter, Yuri.  They might have met up with other shinobi or they might not have, I'm not too sure at the moment."

"Why did they kidnap him?" Neji wanted to know.

"They didn't kidnap him...he went with them willingly," Jiraiya stated grimly, earning himself startled glances from the three boys.

"Why would he want to do that?  They're both nin from two different villages.  Maybe they used some sort of genjutsu on him," Shikamaru said, not wanting to believe that Naruto was in his right mind when he left.

"Iie, that brat knew what he was doing.  He left a note for me saying that he was going to go train with Jiraiya," Tsunade quietly said, still staring out the window.

"Even if he left on his own, why would we have to worry about fighting them?  I've fought against that girl and she was a poor fighter.  Gaara's strong, I admit, but he's not unbeatable.  Naruto beat him when the Sand attacked last year and that dobe wouldn't even think of attacking us with bad intent.  I know him and he wouldn't do something dishonorable like that," Sasuke reasoned, though he wasn't too sure if he believed his own words. 

Tsunade turned from the window to pin  the young sharingan user with a sharp gaze and said sharply, "Do you know him?  Really know him?  I can tell you this right now, kozou, there's a lot more to him that you don't see.  You don't know the boy behind the mask and it's no use pretending that you do.  You don't truly know him."

The boys were taken aback by the fierceness in the kunoichi's words, while the adults just exchanged worried glances with one another.  Their Hokage was taking this matter very personally.  The boys had no idea of why she did.  What was Naruto's connection to the great leader of their village?

Pushing his hesitation aside, Neji quietly asks, "You mentioned that there are other people after Naruto and his...companions. Why?"  He paused for a moment, then, "Is it because of that strange chakra he used during the Chuunin exam?"

It became very silent in the room.  The adults knew what Neji was talking about and the two others were curious to hear the answer to the Hyuuga boy's question.  Everyone stared at the Hokage.

Tsunade turned her head slightly to stare at the five portraits on the far wall.  The Hokage portraits.  Steadily, she gazed at the photo between her own and her old sensei's.  Softly, she murmured, "Gomen ne, Yondaime."  Then she moved next to Jiraiya and faced the boys, "Since this is such a dangerous mission, it's only fair that you know what you will be going up against.  It's time that you know the truth about Naruto..."

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A/N: Gomen, gomen...it took me forever to update.  apparently, the school youkai sank it's fangs into me and sucked all the creative brain power out.  I feel like I'm all tapped out.  *sigh*...this chapter was boring, I know and I would've added more, but whenever I tried, it just didn't turn out right.  well, as soon as I get this pile of homework down to a minimum, I'll finish the next chapter...I already have the first part down, I just need to finish up the rest of it.  it'll be mostly about our three lil youkai, so don't worry about them not being in this chapter.  oh, and I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed.  it brightens up my day whenever I read them, so please keep reviewing.  let me know if I got any of the characters too ooc, ne?  til next chapter, ja ne!