Sakura sat idly on the bridge that was a common meeting place for her and her team, waiting with her comrades for their leader to arrive. The silence between the three was nothing new to her any more, after having been introduced to her new teammate a little more than three months ago.

Sai was a strange and quiet fellow. His skin was as pale as paper, his eyes black and hollow. He was as far away from Naruto as one could get, and while one would have figured that Sakura would have appreciated the change, it was something she disliked more than she ever spoke about.

With Naruto gone and replaced by his polar opposite, the dynamic of team seven was changed entirely. There was no rivalry between the two male members, no strange love triangle between two hopeless romantics and a stoic. They trained, completed missions, and did almost everything in near silence.

Sai was too polite, too quiet, too obedient, and just too much of everything that disturbed her.

She began to think back on the last mission that their team had been on with Naruto, the mission to the Land of Waves. After the mission, there had been no change in attitude, no goodbyes or anything to act as a prelude to his disappearance. It almost saddened her knowing that he didn't even talk to his teammates before he left.

Sakura couldn't very well blame him, however. Sasuke, though he held some respect for Naruto, always looked down at him and hardly treated him as anything more than a teammate. Sakura wasn't any better in that regard. She pushed him and pushed him until there was nothing else to push, not giving him any slack or praising him for how far he had come since their days in the academy. Of course, she herself had come far, and none of her friends or teammates praised her for it, but Naruto did not have parents to return to, no warm meal ready for him as he stepped back into his home after a long day. Sasuke, though also an orphan now, was taken care of by the council and the people of the village, constantly reminding him of his talents and accomplishments.

On the other hand, Naruto never had those kinds of people in his life. Nobody ever came to pick him up from the academy, treated him after his accomplished. He always went to that little ramen shack, but she believed they enjoyed him more for his business than his company.

If she were going to be honest, she didn't know for sure if anyone ever actually saw Naruto in a friendly or familial light. She had never bothered to learn about his activities outside of team meetings and missions, but she did recall a strange lady sometimes being around when Naruto was in the vicinity. Maybe she could ask Kakashi if he knew who she was. She never knew what Naruto enjoyed doing, other than following her around and eating ramen all of the time. It was a shame that she could now never find out more about him, and could have been one of the reasons that he had left Konoha in the first place.

She looked to Sasuke. He seemed to have been doing better off without Naruto, but she could tell that he wasn't how he used to be. He felt no challenge against Sai. Sai simply gave Sasuke the space that he believed he needed. There was no clashing of horns, no snide remarks to one another when they finally decided to work as a team.

Everything was too perfect and she hated it.

She wanted her dysfunctional family back. She wanted the gears in their clock to be mismatched but still end up working by some miracle; she wanted problems to face both internally and externally.

"You guys can cover for me, right?" Sakura suddenly spoke up, gaining the attention of both of her silent teammates. "Kakashi isn't going to be here for a while and we all know it. I'm going to be right back."

Nodding Sasuke sighed and waved her off. After Naruto had left, she seemed to be stumbling out of her crush on Sasuke. Of course, the signs of her attraction to him were still there, but to a lesser degree. Naruto's very presence urged her to be more affectionate towards Sasuke so Naruto would hopefully get the memo, but the two of them both knew that he was never going to learn.

Sakura walked away from the bridge and back into town. Today was Tuesday, which meant that Ino was not at a team meeting, and she was not on a mission. Given how close she was with her teammates, she was either at one of the barbecue restaurants around Konoha or tending to the store that her family ran. If not, anyone from those mentioned locations would be able to point her in the right direction.

If anyone was going to help her get information on anyone, it would be Ino. She was a gossip queen with a network of friends that picked up information like flies flying into a silk web.

Though Choji had certainly been to one of the restaurants that day, none of the workers had seen Ino eating with her teammates. Sakura used her 'brilliant' skills of deduction and began walking to the Yamanka flower store, where she normally worked when not training or doing missions.

The Yamanaka flower shop was owned by the clan itself, and what's more was owned by Inoichi himself, Ino's very own father. He had grown up in the business like Ino was, and had even married their top employee at the time.

As to be expected, Ino's mother was at the register when Sakura had walked in, smiling and greeting her politely as she looked around.

"Hello, Sakura." The older woman leaned forward ever so slightly toward Sakura. "Looking for more of those roses for that Sasuke boy?"

Sakura smiled meekly and looked down, her cheeks glowing as she shook her head. "No, not today Miss Yamanaka." She responded. "I'm actually looking for Ino. Have you seen her around?"

Her pale hand reached up to tap her chin, looking around the shop before looking to the door that led out behind the store. "She should be in the green room."

Sakura nodded and bowed before walking over to the door in the back of the building, turning just as she heard Ino's mother continue.

"And when you're done, please tell her that lunch will be ready soon."

"Will do, Miss Yamanaka." Sakura smiled and walked out the door back outside, looking around for the barn sized green room that held a vast majority of the plants that the flower shop sold.

Inside, Ino was tending to some flowers of her own, the room was so quiet and uneventful that she was able to recognize Sakura just as she came in.

(song begins: clubbed to death - Matrix soundtrack)

It was no surprised to Ino what Sakura had come in to talk about. Naruto had been the talk of the town ever since he had been confirmed missing, and the case only gained interest, and intensity, as time passed. There had been a few people here and there who had come out as those who sympathized for Naruto, whatever their personal reasons for doing so may be. As always, there were those who had a distaste for the boy, and heavily disliked those who wished to give Naruto pity.

The dispute between the two groups had simply started out as arguments, one not understanding the reasons of the other. Time did not heal the wounds between the factions. It hadn't become a full out war just yet, but Ino could tell that it was only a matter of time before the attacks would not stop between the two. Interestingly enough, most of the supporters consisted of ninja and other similar workers, while those who were against Naruto were mainly civilians.

Some of those who had spent putting all of their being into acting as if that boy did not exist, and even attacking him outright in certain conditions and situations, wished to repent, and felt guilty for doing such a horrible thing to a child for so many years.

However, Ino did not know where Sakura stood in this situation. Of course she still had an attraction to Sasuke, just like Ino did but to a much smaller extent than before. She simply saw Sasuke losing his drive and motivation. Of course, he was still on a hunt, but there was not a single person to measure him and balance him along the way now. Without Naruto, he was just there.

Ino, in all of her gossiping glory, was not too horribly effected by the absence of Naruto. She never really knew him, and though she did wish that they had had the chance to properly meet beforehand, it didn't hurt her inside to know that she was never a friend to him. As far as she could remember, she didn't treat Naruto like Sakura did, mainly because he wasn't infatuated with her.

"Ino." Sakura broke the short silence and looked at her friend, standing in the doorway and watching Ino continue to care for and cultivate the plants around her.

"Billboard, what did you want to know." Without Sasuke taking up a good portion of her life, she seemed to mellow out some, despite being only twelve. Her rivalry with Sakura for Sasuke's heart had ended, and thus, so much stress she once had no longer existed. She now had so much more time for other things, and she was genuinely happy with how things had proceeded.

"Anything and everything leading up to Naruto's disappearance." She could hear Ino chuckling to herself only a few feet away.

"Okay, and what are you going to do with this information, Problem Sleuth?" She asked jokingly before raising her hands to the sides of her head and wiggling her fingers. "Go and track down his mysterious kidnappers? Bring him back so things can go back to how they were?" She laughed once more before going back to work. "Thanks but no thanks. I like life how it is."

Sakura groaned and took a step forward. "So you're telling me you're okay with Naruto being out there, somewhere? Doing god knows what because we all pushed him away?"

"What's this we? I wasn't the one who hit him on a regular basis. I'm not the one who turned him down every waking moment and stomped on his accomplishments while praising Sasuke for mediocre tasks." She didn't stop in her work, but her hands slowed down as she looked to the pink haired girl that edged ever closer. "I never knew Naruto. His leaving doesn't hurt me like it hurts you, and because of him being gone, I got to take time to understand what I wanted to do. Because Naruto left, I'm doing better in my ninja duties, I have time to balance work and fun. I left that sorry excuse of a cult you call a fan club. Can you say the same?" Ino's words were careful and soft, as if she had been practicing in the mirror to not explode to Sakura when she would eventually stumble back into her life to try and make things like they once were.

Sakura was silent, repeating the words just sent to her in her mind so that she could fully wrap her mind around what was going on. Ino was much calmer than she had ever been before, taking less time on making sure that she was as pretty as possible and spending more time with her team and training. She was even beginning to develop solid muscle as a result.

She was sure that Hinata was saddened by the disappearance of Naruto. Though just about everyone knew of it, she still considered her crush on Naruto a secret. The heiress had always been somewhat of a recluse, even more so without the blonde around. The entire team was shrouded in mystery as to how they reacted to the news, but if anyone knew the information, it was going to be Ino.

"Please, just tell me what you know." She pleaded.

With an exasperated sigh, Ino smiled and patted the ground beside her. If Sakura wanted the information, she was going to have to work for it.

Sakura took a seat next to her old friend and began working quietly, potting the flowers from the soil into the pots on the large wagon behind them.

"So, people think something is up with the Hokage." Ino stated flat-out.

"The Hokage?" Sakura echoed. "What does he have to do with this?"

Ino groaned and sneered at Sakura. "Just let me talk, okay, stupid?" Her cool tone edged on Sakura, letting her know that it was her turn to shut up so Ino could lay out the information.

"So, as I was saying, the Hokage's been acting a little weird. After one week of going AWOL, the Hokage is supposed to announce a ninja as a rogue-nin, in the event that their body cannot be found. Whether or not they are actually alive or not once they leave the village doesn't matter. It's been three months and the Hokage still has yet to bring the verdict on Naruto, not labeling him dead or as a rogue nin. The same goes for another ninja that disappeared around the same time."

"There were two disappearances?" Sakura asked. "Why hasn't the other one been brought up anywhere? If there are tw-"

"Forehead, shut up! I'm getting to that!" Ino barked, getting Sakura to quickly and quietly obey to her commands. "Now. The reason she isn't talked about is because she, like Naruto, was living in the Red Light District. People didn't like her either, just like how they didn't like Naruto, but arguably, she got the longer stick. People tolerated her at least, and she was even the second best in T&I."

Ino had many contacts in many circles all over the village, ranging from the middle class, to the low class. The Red Light District was no different to her. Smiling, she continued once more after allowing the information to sink in for Sakura.

"People say that Anko, the lady that also disappeared, was pretty close to Naruto. Like a sister, something that is more than can be said for almost everyone in the village save for three other people." She chuckled darkly to herself before clearing her throat. "Anyway. Those two were close, but none of my contacts say that she kidnapped him. They saw two people enter Naruto's house that night, and four people leave. Nobody knows what happened in that house, but a person just doesn't magically sprout to help in a kidnapping."

Sakura realised what Ino was implying, a fight had broken out. There was no other explanation as to why another person just magically appeared. It could have been that Anko woman, but wouldn't Ino's contacts have seen her enter as well? What if she was waiting in the house for the other two to come in before starting the kidnapping? Maybe they were just two different cases and were really coincidental?

Obviously, the Hokage knew something. He had to have. There was no other way that he would hold out on labelling the two as rogue unless he had explicit knowledge of what was happening.

"Is there anything else to add, Ino?" Sakura asked politely. "Anything that will help me out?"

Ino shook her head and dusted off her hands. "Nope. I asked Anko's friends if they had any idea as to what was going on; they say she just up and left. She's actually a friend of Kakashi and Kurenai, did you know that?" She smiled at Sakura's surprised look, laughing as she had no words to explain her thoughts.

"I-I had no idea..." She said simply. "He never tells us anything about his life so we never know. And I don't know anything about Hinata's teacher..." With her work done, she stood up and glanced to the door. "Well, I should be going now." She stated meekly before bowing to Ino. "Thanks for the information." In an act that surprised them both, Sakura hugged Ino tightly before departing, leaving the platinum blonde speechless as she sat there in the greenhouse.

Sakura knew where she had to go now. She needed to go to the Hokage's tower and ask for answers, because it sure didn't seem like Ino had done that yet.

It didn't take long at all for her to reach the Hokage's tower. After a short and polite chat with the secretary, Sakura continued up the stairs to the office to wait until the Hokage was done with whatever he was doing at that time.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Sakura could see the door to his office open just a crack, and decided to take a peek as to what important business their leader was up to today.

"-nal push. We'll be ready in time."

Sakura could hear the deep and gravelly voice of someone else in the room that was obviously not the Hokage himself.

"I do hope so." Hiruzen's voice spoke up just loud enough for Sakura to hear. "Once everything is in place, I'll have you bring it to them and I can finally stop worrying about this entire situation."

There was a pause between the two, neither of the figures speaking for several minutes. Finally, the Hokage spoke up again. "How is he? Last month's report stated he was doing well."

Another pause, but the second figure spoke much quicker this time. "As can be expected. The rushes are painful, but he does remember you. I just hope when he remembers the village, we will be in the capital by that point."

Hiruzen let out a quiet "Ah," before fully speaking. "His rage will surely end the fighting. My hope is that you can bring him back down once it's over. Please, send Mei my regards."

There was nothing uttered after that, but Sakura could hear the nearing footsteps of what she assumed to be the second person. She scurried away and sat down, making sure that they weren't away that she had been listening in.

When the door opened, she was treated to the sight of the man that Hiruzen had been conversing with. He wore dull black and grey clothing, more utilitarian than anything. He seemed to be a man on a mission. It was only then that she recognized his occupation. He was a messenger ninja, belonging to no nation or village. While their track record was something to behold, their messages were always delivered when they deemed it was on time.

Sakura's head spun with questions as she sat, wondering why the messenger ninja was here, who Mei was, who the unknown pronoun was, and where this capital was. This little bit of snooping was much more than her mother had told her in months. Unless her mother was told to not talk about what happened in the meetings, Sakura was now assured that the Hokage was doing some backroom dealings.

In all fairness, they were ninja, secrecy was something that was used almost all the time, if not all the time. The Hokage had important matters with the rest of the world, and information was usually on a need to know basis, unless you're spying in, of course.

Once the messenger ninja had moved past, Sakura quietly and politely knocked on the door, waiting for the signal from Hiruzen to be let in. Once she could hear his faint, old voice, she opened the door fully and walked inside.

Hiruzen was pleasantly surprised to see Sakura at his door, but he could quickly deduce her reasons for being in the office nonetheless. "Sakura," His old voice rang. "How can I help you today?"

"Um, yes." Sakura stumbled forward both physically and vocally, standing upright once she collected herself. "I wanted to ask about Naruto's status." She could hear Hiruzen's audible sigh, but she continued. "Why haven't any patrols been sent out to look for him? He hasn't been placed on the rogue-nin list or the death list yet."

Hiruzen was quiet. He could understand why Sakura had been asking these questions, but he did not know why she was asking them now. "I've been hoping that he will return on his own." His voice was tired and withered, his eyes looking down at his desk as if there were an infinite expanse in his gaze. "As the Hokage, I have been doing all I can to refrain from labeling him as dead or rogue."

"He is close to me, you know. If he is out there, I don't want to give up." Hiruzen's words were quiet and almost rhetorical. He knew too well of Naruto's current situation, but he still wanted that boy to be safe.

Sakura remained silent. Hiruzen's words made all too much sense, even if she didn't truly care for Naruto in that sort of way. He was her teammate, and one that she pushed away. She felt remorse for not cutting him any of the slack that he had earned for what he had endured. She now felt a little bad for barging in and demanding answers.

Before she could say anything, Hiruzen rose and stepped away from his desk. "I'm sorry, Sakura, but I do have a meeting to attend to. I don't have any more time for questions right now, but you can come back later if you have more."

He left without watching her leave, trusting that the girl would keep her nose where it was and leave with him as well. As he expected, she did as much, and the two walked briefly before parting ways.

Sakura had waited about fifteen minutes outside of the Hoakge's tower before re-entering with the intent of listening in on the council meeting.

Sneaking in through the windows higher on the tower, she snuck past the secretary and surveyed the halls, looking for the council room. Her feet tapped softly against the wooden floor, careful not to make too much sound in the already quiet building. Given that her mother was a part of the council, one would have figured that Sakura should have known exactly where to go to find the room that they all met in. However, she had no idea where the room was, and had to listen in on each door to find the correct one.

She listened in once to confidential Hokage-class secrets, it's go big or go home at this point.

"You have to be fucking joking."

Tsume Inuzuka was the only woman on the Ninja council, but was not seen as the weakest of the group. If anything, most to all of the men in the entire room were afraid of her in some regard. She was as strong as the others and lacked a leash, allowing her mouth to speak whatever her mind conjured up.

Hiruzen sighed lightly. Out of all of the council members, Tsume seemed the most bent on resolving the entire Uzumaki problem. He was the only one who had not only the authority, but the raw power to remind Tsume to still herself. He knew how connected she was to his mother. They were in the same graduating class, and the women of the Inuzuka clan have always had a fondness for bold strays.

"Tsume, I told you last week, the week before that, and just fifteen seconds ago. This is not a joke." Hiruzen had to state it more than once that his current ruling of Naruto's status was not a joke in any way.

The civilian side of the council was angry at the fact that Hiruzen just hadn't labeled him as dead yet, as they all believed that fate had swallowed up the boy by now and left his remains in the void. There was no use in clinging to the hope that he was alive, especially when they had assured themselves that Naruto was dead.

The Ninja of the council were also angry at their village leader for a similar reason. They did not like this waiting around for him to come back. They wanted for Hiruzen to send squads out to go and find the boy, or at the very least, label him a Rogue-nin and assign someone to his capture and retrieval. They knew something was up, there was no way around it. Hiruzen Sarutobi was not one to just make decisions for no reason, and as hopeful as he could be, he knew when to face facts, and how to handle them.

Another one who disliked Hiruzen's current decisions was Hiashi Hyuuga. Because of Naruto's disappearance, and Hiruzen's refusal to do anything about it, his daughter Hinata had retreated even further into her shell. In the brief moments that the two talked informally, Hinata would always make the conversation gravitate towards Naruto, who seemed to be a beacon of hope for the timid heiress.

"There must be something we can do. There is something we could have done four months ago when this problem was still fresh." Hiashi argued and looked at Hiruzen. "Just give me the order and I will have the entirety of the Hyuuga clan sent out to look for him. With our Byakugan, he will be retrieved within a matter of days."

Tsume figured that his motivation for finding the boy revolved around Hinata. Kiba, her own son, was on Hinata's team, and from what he had told her, she seemed very much invested in Naruto, and even stepped up her training in hopes of being deemed strong enough to go and leave the village to find him and bring him home.

After a long pause, Hiruzen sighed and relented, motioning with his left hand for Hiashi to do as he pleased. "Go, send them out and look for Naruto." He instructed, looking at the looks of surprise from both sides of the council. "But you will not cross into the other nations. If you do, I cannot protect you. Leaving the Land of Fire of your own free will states that you are accountable for your own actions there."

Standing, Hiashi bowed. "I will inform them once the meeting is over. I will punish them personally if they pass the borders and cause trouble, but I highly doubt that he would be anywhere but here."

Hiruzen nodded, but even Hiashi must have known that Naruto staying within the Land of Fire was rather unlikely, even if he did go off on his own. They had powerful enemies and friends, all of which who would want to get a hold on the powerhouse that is Naruto.

"Onto our next topic, hopefully." Hiruzen muttered to himself and watched Hiashi sit back down in his chair.

"I would like to put a vote against sending in the Hyuuga to try and reclaim the boy. It's a waste of resources and time." Noroma, a councilwoman in charge of one of the norther village districts, leaned forward in her chair and leered at the lavender eyed man.

"I believe you misheard." Hiashi shot back with fire. His face as as stoic as ever, but one could practically hear the smirk on his words. "I have been given permission to send the Hyuuga out. This is not a mission, the only reward being the boy's return to the village. He did not give the order to send my fellow clansmen, just the permissions for me to do so."

Noroma stood up and spoke louder. "Then I object to that!" The entire room could hear her well, as well as the listening ear on the other side of the door. "Having the Hyuuga out there would be pointless, and if they did find him, he would probably attack them."

Teuchi stood up and looked at all members of the council before staring into Noroma's hazel eyes. "I vote for Hiashi to be allowed to do as he pleases, within the borders of the nation, of course. Anything beyond that and they're on their own."

Hiruzen, silently nodding, allowed the vote to be put, and watched as each member of the council cast their vote in. Of course, Hiashi himself was not allowed to vote, and each of the heads of the ninja clans wanted Hiashi to look for Naruto; the civilians wanting nothing more to do with the boy.

With Hiashi out of the vote, the deciding vote was left to one person.

Mebuki sat in her chair, looking at both sides of the council and the Hokage himself.

"My vote..." She starting, fading off to contemplate the question more. It was obvious that the Ninja and the civilians were divided on the matter, with Teuchi being the only one who stood with the ninja.

She didn't know much about Naruto. Of course, she was not all too happy when the pariah of the village was placed on the same team as one of the best students in the class, and her own daughter, but she did not hate him outright. She knew enough. He held the destructive demon that terrorized the village so many years ago, and, while many people didn't truly realize it, they were at his mercy if he decided to wise up and train with the power of the strongest demon they knew of.

"Will be to allow Hiashi to send the Hyuuga out of the village and find Naruto."

Though shocked, the men and woman of the ninja council nodded in appreciation, though their heads all turned when Hiruzen cleared his throat.

"Thank you, everyone, for allowing me to pass a decision that I was already going to make, regardless of what the vote may have been." his tone, cool and relaxed, betrayed the steely gaze he shot at both sides of his council. The Civilians should have known better, and the ninja should not have indulged them.

The room was quiet, not a single person speaking up to the Hokage's words. After all, the message was clear. He was the one in control here, and though the Civilians still tried to believe the court was theirs, Hiruzen was going to take it all back.

"Now, onto the next, and final order of business." Hiruzen found a sheet of paper right before him on the table and picked it up, scanning over it before nodding to himself. "Noroma, you and the others are dismissed. This is a shinobi topic."

Grumbling, Noroma, with Teuchi, Mebuki, and the others all stood to leave, only to be stopped by Hiruzen one final time.

"Teuchi. Mebuki. You two can stay." He said to the two.

Though surprised, the two sat back down. Noroma, on the other hand, was not too pleased at the revelation.

"Why do they get to stay?" She asked, outraged.

"Because I said so." Was his calm reply. "Good day."

With the others, she grumbled out the door, closing it behind her. The civilians had all left and greeted Mebuki's daughter, who waited politely at the front office for the Hokage to conclude his meeting. Once they were gone, though, the girl seemed to vanish.

Back in the meeting room, the two civilians sat around the ninja, looking at them as they waited for their Hokage to speak.

Neither of them really had the courage to say anything to them. They were almost intimidated by being the only two people without any skill in combat whatsoever in the room.

"Well, now that you are on the leading side of this town, it's time to get to real business." Inoichi looked to Teuchi and Mebuki, watching as the shared a glance in worry and caution.

Hiruzen nodded and shuffled the papers in his hands, the soft rustling echoing throughout the silent room. "Indeed." He nodded once more. "Tsume, how is your investigation going?"

With a grunt, Tsume looked at the Hokage and sighed. "By this point it's pretty much confirmed." She started off. The Inuzuka clan head stood up fully and looked to her brothers in arms. "With Naruto and Anko gone, the complaints on panty theft are little to none. I'm almost completely sure that most of the thefts can be traced back to one of those two."

A sigh of relief came from more than one member of the council, while Teuchi and Mebuki simply sat there, slack-jawed and speechless.

"At least you can stop pressing us on the matter, since you know it was one of them." Shikaku breathed out. He didn't even flinch when Tusme snapped at him.

"I said most of them, that doesn't let any of you off the hook! And until I find out who took all of my fucking drawers, expect for the ones I was wearing that night, none of you are getting away that easily!" Tsume was not a frilly or delicate woman by any means, but that never meant that she didn't enjoy looking and feeling good on her own time. So much money had gone into finding perfect pairs, but she supposed that it could have been worse. Buying panties was much cheaper than buying bras.

Hiashi, as stoic as he was, was no exception to the blushing men of the council. Silently, he vowed to take further precautions in hiding his ill-gotten paraphernalia. The lead safe that he used kept it safe from Hyuuga eyes, being a dense and rather uncommon mineral in the world, but now he would have to consult people that were gifted in the art of hiding things from ninja to further keep his...belongings, from being seen or found, especially since he had the rarest, and most prized, collection in Konoha, which included Tsume, Kurenai, and even Anko's prized panties, the last one had had to be bought through a shadowy figure Hiashi had never seen before, nor since. Little did the man know that the pair from Anko had been sold to him by Naruto himself using a henge, Anko knew nothing of this of course, and was quite pissed at never finding out who stole her limited edition Icha Icha panties, and signed by the author of the series no less, making them priceless!

He was a widower, she scared her husband away. It was up in the air.

"You kept us in here to talk about panties?" Mebuki asked rather dryly, wondering if they were just kept around to be some sort of a bad joke. "I have heard about the incidents as well, but does it really need to be brought up here?"

Teuchi looked to his fellow civilian and nodded his head. "Of course it does. It does revolve around the object of our attention as of late." He shrugged and looked to Tsume and the blushing ninja. "Of course, it doesn't do much of anything in terms of telling us why he left or where to, but at least we know what he was up to before he left."

Looking to one another, the council silently shared ideas with one another. He could have left after realizing that he would eventually be caught, and be hunted down by a large number of strong and imposing kunoichi.

Tsume sat back down in her chair, muttering to herself as she waited for the next topic to be addressed, as close as she had been to the boy's mother, she knew that, if Naruto had been the Mysterious Panty Thief of Konoha, then Anko was no doubt responsible for telling him to do so.

"Well, I suppose that the next order of business is the only logical one at the moment; that being Hiashi." Hiruzen looked to the Hyuuga and nodded, allowing him to take the floor.

Hiashi stood up as elegant as ever. "The search parties will be sent in all directions, teams consisting of twos and threes." He explained his plan to the council. "I will inform them that they are only protected within the borders of the Land of Fire, and anywhere else they will be on their own without the promise of backup. However, I, myself, and two other Hyuuga elites will be patrolling..." He faded off, looking to Hiruzen for a silent answer of any sort.

Hiruzen nodded, which brought looks from both Teuchi and Mebuki.

"I will be traveling to Uzushiogakure myself, looking to find any traces of the boy or of any recent struggle." He announced. His announcement did not go without looks of worry and surprise, especially from Tsume herself.

"You're sure this is a topic to be addressed here?" Shikaku asked out in the open. Hiruzen and Hiashi both nodded, observing that the topic was comfortable with the people in the room.

"They proved their worth. They deserve to know at least something." Hiruzen relented. His old and wise smile shown at the two civilians, looking at one another and their Hokage with looks of confusion.

"Uzushiogakure?" Mebuki asked, too young to remember the village, and never having studied ninja history.

"It's in ruins now." Hiashi answered. "But it once served as the primary location of a very important family in forgotten Konoha history; the Uzumaki clan."

Mebuki looked down in thought. Of course, due to Naruto, she knew the name, but not the history behind it. It was funny in an ironic sense. He had always been spouting about becoming a Hokage, which in and of itself would create a clan, but there was already one waiting for him.

"Who removed it from the history books?" Asked Mebuki, curious about its removal. She was only twenty two when the Kyuubi had attacked, and she had not yet earned her place on the council. "If they were such an integral part of Konoha's foundation, then we need to remind people of our origins."

Mebuki was never a ninja. She never had the history classes that her daughter had, nor the real desire to find out why and how Konoha was what it was. She was raised in a small family, taught at home, and that was really the extent of her life. She wanted the best for her daughter, and though she was initially unsure about placing her in the ninja academy, she was glad that she had made that decision.

The clan heads all looked to one another, even Hiruzen. None of them had taken their seats yet either, so they could only assume that the previous generation of councilmen were to blame.

Mebuki sat in silence, waiting briefly before choosing to speak up once more. "Then why don't we put it to a vote?" There was a sly smirk on her face, worn with pride as the others caught onto her suggestion.

Nodding, Hiruzen smiled all the same, raising his hand and watching as every man and woman in the room raised their hand and agreed on the vote.

"Well, as we just saw with the vote on the Hyuuga rescue teams, our votes outnumber theirs, and since they aren't here to outright deny, it looks like important history is going to be reintroduced into the academy." Teuchi smiled to himself.

Back outside of the council chambers, Sakura sat against the door in shock. She couldn't believe what her ears had just heard. Slowly, she stood up and left the building without a word, many thoughts floating through her mind.

The entire time, the spy had no idea of the other spies.

Sakura left the Hokage tower to sift through the library in Konoha. She needed to look through the history books, the ones that were dated before twelve years ago. Anything after the Kyuubi event would most likely have any traces of the Uzumaki clan written out if it really did exist.

Unfortunately, her search came to a sad conclusion. The library no longer held any history books marked before then. It was rather strange for a building that prided itself on the collection of history and knowledge would not have any history books that were created before the event.

She couldn't go to the Hokage with questions. If he knew that she was listening in, then she could easily be charged with treason. She needed to find the information on her own, and as helpful as Ino was, there was little doubt in Sakura's mind that Ino didn't have the information that she was now looking for.

Where else could she turn to on her hunt for the truth?

"Hello there." A calm and dry voice shocked Sakura out of her thoughts. She jumped in surprise, turning to look at the figure that was standing behind her in the library.

Slowly, she turned around to see who spoke to her. She looked up at the familiar ninja uniform, instantly recognizing the face of the man speaking to her.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She cried out silently. "Why did you do that?"

He chuckled, his single eye closing as he shared a smile with his student. Before he could say anything, two other familiar people standing behind him stepped aside to reveal themselves. Alabaster skin on one, and the other having just slightly lighter skin than what many would consider a normal complexion.

Kakashi pointed back to Sasuke and Sai, his head nodding in their general direction. "I'm normally the late one, but it seems like someone was busy. What were you doing all morning?"

Sakura stammered, unable to form words as fear overtook her body.

Kakashi shook his head, sighing as he looked into her eyes. "You could just ask, you know. The fourth Hokage was my sensei a lifetime ago. Anything you wanted to know, I'm sure I could have provided." He sighed once more and looked around. "No need for eavesdropping."

He supposed that there was little use in trying to hide the information now. The law was just passed by the council, and the information about the true history of Konoha was going to resurface.

A grunt escaped his lips as he sat down on the ground, patting the area around him to get them to sit as well.

"Okay kids, it's time for a history lesson."

And so Kakashi told them all about the true origins of Konoha and the founding of the hidden villages. He told them the stories of Mito Uzumaki, who was married to the first of Hokage in a continued act of keeping good terms with the hidden village, not to mention how much the two had loved one another. He told them of the devastating power that the Uzumaki held inside, and how it took the combined forces of two hidden villages and multiple other smaller groups to decimate them until there were only trace amounts left. Naruto's mother, Kushina, was one of the last, and one of the strongest connections to Mito that remained. He did happen to leave out who Kushina had married before she died, and left at least a little something for his student to continue chasing after.

His plan was crumbling.

That boy wasn't even here anymore and he was still taking apart his plans.

Danzo, sitting by himself, looked down at the report that appeared before him. Silently, he took a look at it and was not pleased. The council had just turned over the laws set in place that were supposed to erase the Uzumaki from Konoha history, and now the Hyuuga were being sent out with their near perfect vision to hunt for the boy and bring him back.

He needed to turn this back into his favor, he had to. He could speak with his associates, but nothing could be confirmed just yet. With Hiashi leaving for Uzushio, there was no doubt in his mind that Hiruzen was trying to take back all of the powers and positions that he had lost.

Of course, the ROOT agent that had been watching the council meeting was also the one to write and deliver the report, and was readying himself for another secret meeting soon.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest installment of the Ice Fox of Kiri! Now, this chapter takes away from the general setting and brings us back to Konoha, where Sakura is doing a little investigation of her own in wake of Naruto's disappearance. We will return to your regularly scheduled program shortly, but first, a word from out sponsors.

I'm happy to announce the return of Raising a Fox! Of course, AOYCR will be continuing as well, and the two will have many parallels after having stemmed from the same idea, but now we will be managing four stories altogether. It might be a little slower than the others, but it is being continued.

Please remember to read, rate and review!

Until next time!