Missing.
"Damn it...Nothing." Shikamaru said with a sigh
Sasuke looked around as well "It's like they were never here..."
Shikamaru groaned as he walked over to Sasuke "They must have been very cautious to not leave anything..."
Sasuke nodded "Yeah, but what would they be doing here?" He asked "Scouting?"
"Maybe or they were looking for a spot to set traps..." Shikamaru said "I wonder if Lee and Sakura found anything..."
"Right..." Sasuke said "I'll stay here and look over this area again..."
Shikamaru looked at him "Alright what's up with you?" He asked
"Nothing." Sasuke said as he started to walk away
"Sasuke." Shikamaru said "You know that it's gonna be hard to trust you again unless you actually tell us what's going on."
Sasuke sighed and then turned to look at Shikamaru "...It's hard trying to come back from what i was..." He said
"Which was?" Shikamaru asked
"Someone who didn't care for others...A person who cared only for his personal goals..." Sasuke said "...Someone who was naive..."
Shikamaru listened "I only wanted power...Power to kill Itachi...Then i learned the truth about what happened..." Sasuke continued "I hated Konoha after that...Now i'm back here again trying to help protect it."
"That's not all." Shikamaru said "There's something else isn't there?"
Sasuke was silent "It's Sakura isn't it?" Shikamaru asked
"For someone so lazy you sure are smart..." Sasuke said before nodding "Yeah it is..."
"Well what is it about her?" Shikamaru asked
"...I don't understand it..." Sasuke said "I get Naruto being able to trust me, but why her? I would think that she would hate me by now after everything I've done..."
Shikamaru laughed a bit "What's so funny?" Sasuke asked
"Sorry, i'm just surprised that you haven't figured it out yet.." Shikamru said "Come on let's go and meet up with Lee and Sakura."
Sasuke nodded and followed him
"R-really?" Naruto asked
He had been with Hinata the entire day and they finally decided to find a spot to sit and talk in the village "W-well...My father said that if i ever found someone that i fell in love with then he would want to meet that person face to face." Hinata said
Naruto sighed "I see..." he said before he grinned "Well I've faced worst before so this should be easy!"
Hinata smiled at him "Okay then...How about tomorrow?"
"Okay!" Naruto said
"Well now i didn't think i would see you two here." A familiar voice said
Naruto turned around to see a man with brown hair that was in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, the man wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket."Ah! Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka smiled at the two "It's been awhile, how're you two doing?" He asked
"We're doing good." Hinata said with a smile
"Yeah! Everything's great!" Naruto said with a grin
"Ah i see...So i heard you mention something happening tomorrow i hope you have time to see the Hokage inauguration tomorrow." Iruka said
Naruto looked at him in confusion "Eh? Hokage Inauguration?"
"What you don't know?" Iruka asked before his eyes widened "Ohh..I get it...He must have wanted to tell you himself..."
"Wait..What are you talking about!?" Naruto asked wanting an answer
"Well Tsunade has decided that it is time for her to leave her position as Hokage..." Iruka said
"So who is going to be the new Hokage?" Hinata asked
"Kakashi." Iruka said
"WHAAT!?" Naruto yelled in complete shock "A-are you serious!?"
"Y-yes..." Iruka said wincing a bit at Naruto's loud voice
"No way! All he's gonna do is read that perverted book of his!" Naruto said "Plus he's just gonna be late to every meeting or import even too!"
"Sorry i didn't hear that correctly could you repeat that Naruto?" A voice all to familiar said from behind Iruka
"E-eh?" Naruto asked before Iruka moved out of the way to see Kakashi "AH! Sorry!"
Kakashi sighed "Look i know how you feel about this but it's the only way." He said "Plus with what's going on right now..."
"I understand.." Naruto said with a sigh "But then after you i'm gonna be Hokage you got that!?"
Iruka and Kakashi laughed a bit "Of course!" Kakashi said
Hinata smiled at Naruto's determination
"Well then i guess we should leave you two to your date." Kakashi said
Naruto and Hinata blushed a deep shad of red "H-how did-" Naruto was about ask but was cut off
"Oh come on now it's pretty obvious." Iruka said
Naruto sighed as Hinata began poking her index fingers together
"Nothing at all?" Shikamaru asked
"Nope." Lee said
"It's strange...It's like they all just packed up and left...Not leaving a trace..." Sakura said
Sasuke looked around before his eyes landed on a tree nearby before he felt something before turning around "Damn it!" He said
"What is it?" Shikamaru asked before he heard the sounds of many people jumping on the trees in the forest "They're here!"
Just then many hidden rain shinobi surrounded the group "Crap!" Sakura said
"There are a lot of them.." Lee said
Sasuke quickly activated his sharingan "Leave them to me..." He said before he then summoned Susano'o "There's only eighteen of them."
"H-hey should you really-"Shikamaru was cut off
"Go! I'll handle this!" Sasuke said as the armored Susano'o swung it's sword at a large group of the hidden rain ninja that was in front of him
"Okay!" Lee said as he and the other two began to leave
"I'll hold them off...NGH!" Sasuke yelled in his mind as he grabbed his left arm in pain "D-damn it! It's doing it again!..I have to finish this quickly!"
Sasuke then closed his eyes before opening the left one as the hidden rain shinobi began to surround him "Amaterasu!" He yelled causing black flames to appear
"Make sure to try and dodge those flames!" One of the hidden rain shinobi yelled however many of the other shinobi were too late and weren't able to dodge in time
Sasuke groaned as the pain in his arm became worse "N-no...Not...Now..." He said as Susano'o disappeared "There's only seven left.."
"This is the great Sasuke Uchiha? HA!" One of the shinobi said laughing "He's weak!"
Sasuke glared at them "The hell did you say!?" He yelled before feeling the pain in his arm spreading through out his entire body
"Time to die Uchiha!" One of them yelled as they charged at them
Just then the rest of the shinobi were sent flying as the ground in front of Sasuke was destroyed "CHA!" Sakura yelled as her fist connected with the ground causing it to shatter
"What the..." Sasuke said in shock "I thought i told you to...Go.." He said before fainting
Sakura turned around "S-Sasuke!" She said before quickly picking him up and fleeing
A few hours later in the hospital
Sasuke groaned as he opened his eyes "Ngh...Ow..." He said
"Oh you're awake." A familiar voice said, Sasuke turned his head to the right to see that the owner of this voice was Shizune "If you hadn't noticed you're in the hospital.."
"I noticed." Sasuke said as he tried to sit up using both of his arms...However... "W-what the..."
"Oh right...Umm..." Shizune said as her normal expression turned into a saddened one "Your left arm..."
Sasuke looked down at his left arm to see that it was now gone "W-what happened?!" He asked
"Well...We had to get rid of it." Shizune said "When Sakura brought you here we noticed that your replacement arm was acting odd..."
Sasuke paid close attention to what Shizune was saying "When we took off the bandages it we could see that the arm was decaying."
"So you had to cut it off?" Sasuke asked
Shizune nodded "Yes..."
"Tch." Sasuke said in annoyance, although his arm had been acting up as of late it would now be harder for him to train.
"We also noticed that the decaying also affected your chakra flow." Shizune said "But it should be fine now since we removed it..."
Sasuke nodded "Okay...Thanks..." He said before hearing the door open as he finally managed to sit up
"Ah! Sasuke you're up!" Sakura said with a surprised expression on her face
Shizune smiled "Okay then well that's all i had to say so i'm going to leave." She said before she walked over to the door and left the room
When Shizune left the room Sakura sat down in a chair next to Sasuke's bed and Sasuke looked at her before sighing "I'm sorry!" The two said at the same time
Sasuke looked at her "What the heck are you apologizing for?" He asked
"W-well...Maybe if i had paid more attention to what was happening to your arm then this wouldn't have happened..." Sakura said before looking down
"No it's not your fault...I should have came in sooner and told Shizune about it sooner..." Sasuke said "Although i don't think it would've mattered..."
Sakura looked at him "...The Anbu managed to capture some of the ninja that attacked us..." She said "They're interrogating them now.."
"I see..." Sasuke said sighing
"S-so then why were you apologizing to me?" Sakura asked a bit confused
"Well..." Sasuke said before turning his head towards the window to see that the sun was setting, however that wasn't the reason why he turned. "I know i've been pushing you away a lot when you tried to talk to me or when your just trying to help..."
Sakura a blushed a bit "N-no it's okay i-"
"No it's not!" Sasuke said now turning his back to look at her.
Sakura was shocked at Sasuke's outburst but then looked down "Sakura i have something to ask you..." Sasuke said getting her to look up again "How come after all i've done to you, why do you still care for me?"
Sakura's eyes widened a bit before looking down again, however her body began shaking "Sakura?" Sasuke asked noticing that her body was shaking a bit
"T-the reason i still care for you...Is because..." Sakura said before looking up at Sasuke with teary eyes "It's because i love you!"
Sasuke looked at her for a few seconds "Sakura..." He said
"The entire time...Ever since you left..." Sakura said pausing "I...I..."
Before Sakura could continue with what she was saying "Sakura." Sasuke said causing her to look up at him before he tapped her on the forehead...Like how Itachi used to do to him "Thank you..." He said with a smile
Sakura looked at him as her blush increased "S-Sasuke..." She said before smiling.
In the Hokage mansion
"I said this is the best decision!" Tsunade yelled "If you two old fools would just get it through your damned skulls you would understand!"
"Tsunade making him the Hokage is the worst decision!" Koharu said
"Well then you pick someone else! Go ahead!" Tsunade challenged
"What about Hiyashi Hyuga?" Homura asked
"Are you crazed!?" Tsunade yelled "He's still getting over the loss of his own nephew!"
Anko and Shikamaru sighed at the three "Do they always go at it like this?" Anko asked
"Unfortunately..." Shikamaru said looking at the three
"What about Iruka? He was very close to the third and he is known to be a very smart man-"
"He wouldn't be interested." Shikamaru said with a sigh "I asked him before and he flat out said he wasn't interested in being the Hokage."
Koharu and Homura looked at each other "Damn it..."
"There's no way you're gonna change our minds...Kakashi Hatake will be the next Hokage and that is final!" Tsunade said before an Anbu appeared next to her "What is it?"
"We have a problem..." The Anbu said "We have received some missing persons reports, one from here and another form the hidden sand village."
"Who?" Tsunade asked
"The first from this village is Hanabi Hyuga." The Anbu said shocking everyone "But the second is none other than the Kazekages own sister..."
Shikamaru's eyes widened "T-Temari!?" He asked getting up from his seat
The Anbu member nodded "Yes..."
Tsunade looked down "Damn...It's one thing after another!" She said before turning to the Anbu member "I want scout looking all over for Hanabi Hyuga, i'll write a message to the Kazekage and then i will send a squad to the hidden sand village to help with search efforts in that area."
"Alright Lady Tsunade!" The Anbu said before leaving
"This must be one of Daigo's doings..." Anko said
"Right, well then i think this means that this meeting is now over!" Tusnade said getting up "Now you two get the hell out of my office!"
Koharu and Homura both got up before leaving angrily
"Temari..." Shikamaru said in his mind before looking down "Please be alright..."
End of Chapter 14
Please Review!