Following You

And here comes another chapter! I think this one is slightly longer than the last…? Anyways, on with the story progression!

Warning-Lemon later, rated M, be patient, everything I said in the first chapters warning. This is inclined narusasu but they will have an equal relationship yadda yadda- more of what I said in the previous chapter…

Disclaimer- no, (sigh) I do not own Naruto, and whoever thinks that I do has some serious probs and should b checked out… Naruto is property of Kishimoto im just another fangirl…

Following You

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The wind hit his face as he leaped from branch to branch. He had left the confines of Konoha hours ago, and the sun was just making itself known on the horizon, dusting the sky one shade of blue lighter. They would figure out he’d left soon, or maybe they’ve already found out. He left his apartment unlocked so they could get in and see that he’s gone. He didn’t leave a note explaining his leave behind, and he felt like a jerk for it. But it would have been much harder than it already was saying goodbye on a note he knows all of his friends would read. Even if they haven’t found out yet, he needs to keep moving. So when they do, he’ll be long gone. Naruto’s thighs lightly burned, but he knew he could go another few hours. He’ll camp out and sleep once he’s at least a day or two away. If he can even sleep that is. Hopefully he will be so exhausted he wont be able to think when he lies down, he’ll just fall into a dreamless sleep.

-----In Konoha------

An alarm clock rang as the long hand hit 6AM.

Ring

Ring

Rin-

SMASH

The ringing was silenced as a delicate but strong hand mashed it into a nightstand…

“Nghhh… not another one…” a voice came from under the covers, “my mom is going to kill me…” A pink head of hair poked out from under the fluffy down feather comforter. Sleepy green eyes glared at the pile of metal that was once her new green alarm clock. Damn, she liked that one too. It was the last green one, all other clocks were either black, blue and orange.

Black was boring. Blue she’s had before. And orange, well, who the hell likes orange?

…Oh yeah. Dumb Naruto, how does he even do missions with bright orange everywhere? The pink head snickered sleepily. Eh, he always takes care of them better than anyone else could. Even if his methods are insanely unorthodox for a ninja…

She slowly lifted herself from her bed, dreading going out into the world, and just wanting to relax. She didn’t have the energy for a mission today… Wait a second. That’s right, she had the week off. She quickened her movements as the weight of work was lifted off her shoulders for a day. That means she could probably go back to-

“Sakura! Are you up? Breakfast!” A woman’s voice called from downstairs. She smelt pancakes and eggs. Ok, maybe she would get up.

After breakfast, she put on her casual village clothes and set out into the streets with her mom’s homemade bread rolls for everyone they knew. It was no special occasion. He mother just liked cooking. Some for the Yamanaka family, the Hokage, Shisune, and Sakura grabbed a few for Naruto as well. After dropping off some at the flower shop, Naruto’s apartment was next. She knows that he will want to walk around with her, even if doing errands like this. But she’s become used to his loud mouth over the years, and its much more amusing than being alone. She knocked on his door a few times, and waited. And waited. And waited. Her patience started to run low.

“Naruto? It’s Sakura! Are you awake?” She pounded on the door a few more times. It’s been minutes, she’s going in. She turned the handle, expecting it to be unlocked because he never locks his door. Reckless. It opened, she inhaled to start speaking, but stopped when one glance around the room told her he wasn’t there.

“Oh… he must already be out.” She left the rolls on his kitchen table and walked back out. “Maybe I’ll run into him…”

Hours and many more chores later, Sakura had yet to see the energetic blond. She had been everywhere around the village and didn’t see him once. Was he assigned a mission that she wasn’t? That would be strange. She walked up the Hokages tower to ask her sensei if he was put on a mission, but when she got to the door she heard the muffled sullen tone of Tsunades voice.

“I don’t know what to do about this one, Shisune… they said if I don’t sign it within the next week, they will take forceful measures…”

“But Tsunade-sama, you cannot allow this to happen…” Her assistant and friend, Shisune answered. They both sighed deeply. What were they talking about? She decided to go in before she was accused of eavesdropping. She shut the door behind her.

“Good day Tsunade-sensei” She greeted with a smile.

“Ya, I wish…” she mumbled…

“Is something wrong?” Sakura was really curious now.

“No, just regular boring Hokage things that I hate doing, as always. Why are you here Sakura? You have he week off.” She straightened up in her chair.

“Well that’s what I’m asking about. Naruto supposedly also has the week off too right? But I cant find him anywhere so I was wondering if you assigned him a separate mission” She questioned. She didn’t miss the look in Tsunade’s eyes when she mentioned Naruto. What was that about?

“No, I haven’t. He’s not in his apartment?”

“No. Not his apartment, the training grounds, ramen bar, or anywhere. I’ve been up and around since 6, its now 4 and I haven’t seen one sign of him.” Tsunade tapped her fingers once on her big wooden desk, looking tense.

“Sakura… I want you to go back to his apartment and check his belongings. If anything seems missing, out of place, anything out of the ordinary, report it to me” She bit the nail of her right thumb.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. But, is there anything happening I should know about?” Her instincts tell her yes. But they also tell her Tsunade will deny it.

“No Sakura, just precaution. He’s probably playing a prank for all we know” Her instincts were correct.

“We know he doesn’t really do childish things like that anymore Tsunade-sama. He’s grown up a lot.” Admiration shone in her eyes at the growth of her friend. The Hokage looked up at her, how proud she was of Naruto showed on her face. But in her eyes, there was a… sadness?

“He sure has.” Sakura nodded and disappeared to Naruto’s apartment.

It’s like Tsunade knew something would be wrong. Slight panic rose in Sakura’s chest as she checked Naruto’s apartment. Some of his clothes, and shoes, were gone. Most of his weapons were gone. His fridge barely had any food in it, and his ramen stash in his cabinet that was always full, was almost completely depleted. What alarmed Sakura the most was what no longer resided on his nightstand. Every time she was there, it would be sitting in the exact same place. A line of dust even marked where it used to be. The group picture of them. Team 7, Naruto himself, her, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. All as one, in the very beginning of their assignment together. Was gone, and not in sight. She ran out of his apartment back to the Hokage tower. What the hell is going on?!


Tsunade listened to her report like she had heard it all before, but in the end she cursed, loud.

“FUCK!” She yelled at she slammed her fist down on her now cracking desk. “I was reckless! But those old jaded bastards got me so worked up I just couldn’t- I didn’t sense him around! DAMN IT!” She shoved herself out of her seat and began pacing, Sakura watched, unable to contain her question any longer.

“Tsunade-sama, what is going on with Naruto? Why is he not here along with half his stuff!?” He voice elevated along with her sensei’s. Tsunade slammed two hands down on her desk and faced Sakura, looking her in the eyes intensely. She gave an annoyed sigh.

“Well, if anyone else is to know. It would be you.” She concluded.

“Know what?”

“Sakura, you know full and well what Naruto is don’t you? And what is sealed inside of him?” Sakura’s heart skipped a beat and proceeded to slowly pump faster. The nine tailed fox? Oh gods, what’s wrong with Naruto and the Kyuubi?!

“Is Something wrong with Naruto and the Kyuubi?! Has something happened to him?!” She attempted to keep her voice steady, remaining professional. But she failed as it spiked up an octave.

“No, not yet… But the elders think something will…” As Tsunade explained an overview of the situation. Sakura’s eyes became wider and wider. When her eyes couldn’t open any more, her mouth opened. She couldn’t believe this. They wanted to lock Naruto up?! For something he hasn’t done but could possibly do in the future?! Anger seethed under her skin. This was BULL. They cant possibly do that! But no, they’re the elders, the higher ups, they can do anything. Even if he Hokage is against it.

“So, right now I’m guessing Naruto heard the whole conversation. And has… run away. As childish as that sounds. Sakura, you cannot let anyone find out about this yet. This will be between me, you and Shisune. If the elders find out… it will not be in Narutos favor…” Sakura nodded, afraid that is she said anything, not very lady like language would spew from her mouth about the elders.

“As for Naruto… We have to start tracking him down. Or, he’ll become a missing-nin. Just like Sasuke did” She said in a low tone. Naruto ran away just as Sasuke did. How cynically comical… Team 7 is just a screwed team isn’t it?

-----Outside Konoha------

He rolled over and a rock punctured him in the side.

“Ah-!” Naruto quickly rolled back, shifting his weight off of the offending pointy stone. He slowly lifted out of slumber. Since when did he bring a rock into his bed? …And since when was his bed so lumpy and hard? His eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring at a lizard, only a foot away, cocking his head at the blond.

“Gah!” He shot up and the little creature scurried away. It flooded back to him. This wasn’t his bed, nor his room, nor Konoha itself. Konoha was a figment of the past that he couldn’t return to. A deep wave of depression hit him as he remembered everything. There was no turning back now; he had traveled for 3 days until finally resting. They’ve found out by now, and who the hell knows what they’re doing about it. The elders probably know, meaning Naruto is an even high threat to them now. He’s most likely been labeled as a missing-nin… There was only one thing to do. Keep running and search for Sasuke.

Naruto raised himself, and his backpack off the ground, just in time for his stomach to make a tremendous growl. Which made him realize how dry his mouth was. He zipped open his pack and pulled out an energy snack bar and a bottle of water. He guessed he had at least enough food to last him a week or two. After that, he had money to last him a month. And after that… well he’d just have to hunt for his own food at that point. No missions, no incoming salary…

He slowly chewed on his bar and took long gulps of water, readying his body for the running to come. He finished both the bar and his water, and set out on his way. He probably wasn’t even in Fire country anymore. Maybe in Wind. He leaped from branch to branch. Where could Sasuke be? Is he stationed in one place? Or moving around like Naruto? This would be a long search. Naruto knew Orochimaru was dead. And he knew that Sasuke killed him. So Sasuke was roaming around on his own free will. Now Naruto is somewhat grateful Sasuke never came back to Konoha earlier, or he would have had to leave him behind as well.

There was something about that concept, which tore at Naruto’s heart more. He surely wouldn’t be willing to come with Naruto if he’d asked; not that he would actually ask. Would Sasuke try to stop him as he did to Sasuke?

Naruto bent his mind around the thought. The thought of Sasuke chasing after him, caring for him enough to want him to come back home.

Naruto’s troubled mind found some rest in the idea, so he lingered on it as he sped though the woods.

The sun once again began to melt down the sky, it would be dark in two hours. The sunset reflected orange off of Naruto’s face, and pink stretched in the sky. Another day of traveling, another day with no traces of Sasuke. He had spotted a small stream in the woods hours ago, and has been traveling next to it since. He wished to fill up his water container, but the stream was so small, and ran so slow, that it was probably not very clean.

He had followed it for hours, hoping that it would expand into a small river, one with cleaner looking water. It had been slowly expanding as he traveled further down the bank. The trees were thick surrounding the body of water, but were clear around the water itself. The sun could fully shine though, causing the waters surface to glitter bright orange, yellow and pink, which would catch your eye from every direction.

The stream became increasingly wide all of a sudden, until it was a full-blown river, with a slow, but adequate flow of water. Naruto edged up and bent down to the sunset-coloured surface of the water right before the river bend and filled up his bottle silently. It was quiet except for the babble of running water.

Just then, Naruto heard the clacking of soft armor, and careful stepping of footsteps. This whole journey he had been masking half of his chakra, so he masked it fully as he whipped out a kunai. The sound came from around the river bend. He swiftly leapt around the arc, staying low in the trees and bushes for cover. He made no sounds. The blond slowed his breathing to that of what could be an animal and peered though a thick bush to the open body of water again, over to where he assumed the sounds were coming from.

The first thing he spotted was a heap of red and black cloth resting on a bolder further away from the river bank, closer to him. Spiking a memory of red and black clothing, his clear blue eyes bled into an orange as his glance darted over to a shock of black nearing to the waters edge.

The back of the raven hair pointed upwards in a cockatoo style. Black pants were tucked into high sandals with a purple sash draped around the waste, held up by a purple bow.

A white loose shirt hugged around a muscular, agile frame. Nestled between the shoulder blades of the shirt, was an embroidered Uchiwa Fan. Naruto’s eyes grew wide as he tried to keep his breathing under control. He clenched his trembling hands together into tight fists.

No way.

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Oooo Narutos finally getting somewhere! Even I can’t wait to type what happens next, its like reading someone else’s story or something! Weird man- anyways. Hope this isn’t too boring right now, but it will get better. With them meeting and all! It might not be what you expect though… (chuckles)

OK I NEED HELP! aff isnt accepting my .doc, or .docx, formats when updating this story. I tried .txt but them all the 'o's started looking weird. i end up having to manually copy my text into the text box when adding a chapter but that gets rid of all my slanted words! which is when they are suppost to be thinking to themselves damn it! What do you guys do? does it do this to u too? i really want my slanted words/thoughts back man!