Gone

Author’s Note

Woohoo! Five reviews within the first 24 hours! Better than my YYH story! xD

I’m not going to lie to you guys. I’m an egotistical person, and reviews make me happy. Which is why I’m updating this one so fast because I got five reviews within the first 24 hours of the story being up and it gives me enough of an ego boost to write more. ;D

With that said, I’m thinking of a new wardrobe for Sasuke. I haven’t decided what it is yet, but as I’m probably including him in this chapter, I’ll probably be forced to come up with something on the fly. :D

P.S.

After this chapter, I’m updating my YYH ‘Forgiven’ story. Then I’m updating all my old Naruto ones, so look out for that! Okay? Okay!

Kura checking out!

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


“Naruto, you’ve been gone for three years. Not one month.”

Naruto looked stunned. He tried to smile, but the corner of his mouth kept twitching as if he were trying to keep a smile when he wanted to cry or something else “S-Stop kidding around Sakura-chan! How could I have been gone for three years! It’s only been a month! Did I make Sasuke mad, is this a joke?” Sakura shook her head and said “No, it’s not a joke Naruto, it’s really been three years.” Naruto shook his head in denial “But- I,- But what about Sasuke? If it’s really been three years, he must have been mad!” Naruto fell silent. After a few minutes of thought, he said in shock and horror “Oh god, our one year anniversary! I missed it!” Naruto looked up at Sakura, panic and confusion in his voice as he asked “I don’t understand. How could this have happened?” Naruto looked down at the food in front of him, and suddenly, all the hunger he had felt on his way to Sakura’s apartment was gone. All that was left was the feeling of numb shock.

As Naruto stared at the food, he decided that he had to try and eat. He tried to eat the sandwich in front of him, but he managed to barely get the sandwich down, even though he was still starving. Sakura watched Naruto as he digested this information and tried to eat. ’This has to be hard for him to hear’ she thought. Sakura had been surprised and worried when Naruto had vanished after the mission. The Elder’s and villagers, as well as other Nin in the village that didn’t know Naruto had all been screaming that he had defected and kicked up a fuss. Sakura sighed, but that hadn’t been the worst of it. This was going to be hard to tell Naruto.

Naruto stood up suddenly, interrupting Sakura’s train of thought. Startled she looked up at Naruto as Naruto said “I-I gotta go see Sasuke! He’s gotta be upset!” Naruto moved to leave, but Sakura got up and moved to get in front of Naruto.

She said calmly “Sit down Naruto. I’m not done talking yet.”

“But! I- “

“Sit down Naruto. If you go see him now he will kill you.”

Naruto reluctantly sat back down and said “Why would he kill me Sakura-chan?” Sakura stared at Naruto and said with a sigh as she sat back down in her seat across from Naruto. She said softly “It’s a long story Naruto, and I can guarantee that you won’t like it, but I’m going to tell you the story anyways. But, you have to promise that you won’t interrupt me until I finish. Okay?” She said. Naruto looked a little annoyed, but he agreed, albeit reluctantly “Fine. Just, tell me what’s happened with Sasuke!” Sakura sighed and said “This is going to take a while to explain. So be quiet until I’m done.”

“When you didn’t come home the day before the anniversary, Sasuke was worried, but he thought you were just late. So, he set up everything for your anniversary, knowing you’d be coming home in time. I had to help Sasuke cook since he didn’t know how to cook ramen.” Sakura smiled at Naruto and continued “I found out later that the noodles we used were all handmade. Sasuke had gone to the Ichiraku ramen store and asked them to teach him how to make their noodles. He’d learned from them and made the noodles to put in the ramen. He also learned the recipe to make it at home for you. So, I helped with everything else. When the dishes were done, I went home since he didn’t want me to stay out any later than I had to.” Sakura sighed, and said “I didn’t find out until he was gone that he’d waited at the table all night. He’d covered the ramen and left it out. He waited for you all night, drinking tea and staying awake to wait for you.

When you didn’t come home by morning, he grabbed his pack and left. He told me he was leaving. I tried to stop him since he was still under house arrest, and the threat of Anbu killing him was there. He didn’t listen, and left anyways.” Sakura fell silent, and a look of sorrow came onto her face. Hesitantly, Naruto asked “Then what happened Sakura?”

Sakura looked up at Naruto and said quietly “He was gone for a year. When he came back, Sasuke had changed. He was an avenger again. Only, this time, he was more rational about it. He knew you loved Konoha, and if he leveled it, you would be upset. He considered leveling the whole village just to get you to come back, but he didn’t because he wanted you to come home to him. So, he went about things differently. He joined Anbu.” At Naruto’s dark look, Sakura snapped “Don’t do that Naruto! He had no choice. He joined Anbu, and fought his way to captain in less than a year. Well, actually, any Anbu captain he found, he killed. That forced Tsunade to make him a captain. But, what she didn’t realize was that a month later, he was her best and strongest captain.”

Naruto grinned with pride and said “I knew he would! He’s always been that good!” Sakura shook her head and said “That’s not all he did Naruto. After he became captain, he laid low as captain. Then on the day of what would have been your second year anniversary, he confronted Tsunade for the position of Hokage.” Naruto looked horrified. He said numbly “He lost. Didn’t he? They killed him for being a traitor after he lost didn’t they?” Sakura shook her head. She said “No. He won. He beat Tsunade. But, they fought for a long time. When their fight was over, both recuperated in the hospital. Tsunade, when she was awake that evening, asked me to get the Elder’s to come talk to him.” Naruto frowned and said “I bet they gave her hell when they found out.” Sakura shook her head and said “They didn’t Naruto.” Naruto looked surprised “They didn’t?”

Sakura nodded in confirmation and said “They didn’t. When I went to go talk to them, the room was horrible!” Sakura looked sick as she said “They were all gutted and hacked to pieces. The Elder in charge of the council was the worst of all. Sasuke hung her and cut her limbs off. On the walls, in dry blood, he’d written a message ’Vengeance’. I saw it with my own eyes Naruto. It was bloody, and it was terrible, but Sasuke had gotten his way he was, and is Hokage. He’s a good Hokage. He’s never around in public anymore, but he’s a good one.”

Naruto was silent as he mulled over all this and asked quietly “What happened to everyone else then?” Sakura smiled at Naruto and said “Well, Tsunade wanted to leave since she was no longer Hokage and had no reason to stay, but Sasuke wanted her to stay. So, he made her the administrator of the hospital, forcing the original one to be a regular doctor again. Neji, he made Anbu captain, and his advisor.” Sakura smiled and said “And he made anyone and everyone that was considered a friend of yours stay in the village. He gave them missions, but would not let them move out of the city, not that any of them did.”

Naruto said hesitantly “So he did a lot of good then?” Sakura nodded and said “Yes. He has been doing a lot of good. But, he’s closed himself off from anyone. If you look at the ninja he has at his beck and call, there are no blondes there. He was approached by a nin that was reminiscent of you, and Sasuke nearly killed him for having your face and trying to seduce him and take your place. Sasuke withdrew into himself, and he never left the tower, working day and night.” Sakura smiled weakly “He didn’t bother hiding his anti-social behavior. Even at meetings with the other hokage, Sasuke kept his distance.”Sakura said softly “He’s really missed you Naruto.”

Naruto looked at Sakura and said sounding determined, “I’ll go talk to him and fix things.” Naruto got to his feet and said “I’ll go knock some sense into the teme!” Sakura got up and said “You can’t Naruto! He’ll kill you!” Naruto shook his head and said “You can’t stop me. I’m going to talk to Sasuke and make him see reason!” Naruto left, slamming the door behind him. Sakura sighed. Not bothering to clean up, she left to go spread the word that Naruto was back. At the same time, find someone who could stop Naruto from walking to his death.

Naruto got to the tower before Sakura could get anyone to stop him. Knocking on the door of the Hokage’s office, he waited for the other to acknowledge him. A cold voice that stirred the warmth in Naruto’s body at the familiarity said “Come in.” Naruto opened the door and walked inside, the door clicking shut behind him.

Author’s Note

Okay, so I didn’t introduce Sasuke this chapter! But I couldn’t think of Sasuke’s new outfit. With that said, I’m updating again next week. I need time to sit and mull over Sasuke’s new outfit, soooo…. Enjoy? I may update earlier, but until I get an idea for Sasuke’s new outfit, I won’t update. DX

Suggestions are always welcome.