Chapter 1
Weeks after finally retrieving Sasuke from Orochimaru everything in Konoha returned to normal. Sakura started hanging around with Sasuke like she used to back then. Sasuke didn't mind having her around but like back then he had no interest in her.
Then one day while Sasuke was walking with Sakura in busy streets of Konoha he asked Sakura, "Sakura have you seen Naruto lately?"
"No" replied Sakura confused as why Sasuke would be asking about Naruto.
"I haven't see him this past few days…why do you ask Sasuke-kun?" said a now worried Sakura.
'That's strange usually he is always causing a commotion, or be fighting with me." Sasuke said in serious tone.
"Sasuke-kun…do you think we should go see him?" asked Sakura.
"Why not." sighed Sauske.
They started walking towards Naruto's apartment when they noticed Ino yelling at them from her family's flower shop to come over.
"Ino-pig! Why do you have to be so loud" Sakura scolded angrily. Sasuke ignored the two girls fighting before Ino finally stopped her arguing with Sakura and put on a serious face.
"It's about Naruto" she said in a worried tone. This quickly grabbed Sasuke's and Sakura's attention.
"What about Naruto?!" They both quickly asked Ino.
"He's been acting different lately" answered Ino.
"Yesterday he came with a sad look on his face to buy flowers" Ino said.
For some reason Sakura fell a rush of jealousy and quickly asked Ino, "Do you know for who were the flowers?"
"Getting jealous are we?" mocked Ino.
Sakura quickly replied with an angry scream, "Shut the hell up Ino-pig!" At the same time Sakura was thinking why she felt jealous after all she just saw Naruto as a friend, even though he was the closest friend she had during the time Sasuke was gone with Orochimaru.
Sasuke finally cut in an said, "But you said he had a sad look on his face."
Ino stopped her arguing with Sakura and said' "Yeah…he said that the flowers were for all those precious people he's lost, and after buying the flowers he left with the same sad look on his face."
Sasuke and Sakura both thanked Ino for the information and quickly headed to Naruto's apartment.
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Naruto was in on top of the Hokage monuments looking down on Konoha. After retrieving Sasuke lots of things changed. First of all Sakura didn't hang around with him anymore, she was always with Sasuke and even though he knew that Sakura loved Sasuke he couldn't help but hope that one day she would love him instead, but deep down he thought that was never going to happen.
In a way Naruto now felt useless. He bought flowers yesterday from Ino tp place for the Third Hokage who was one of Naruto's most precious people. After thinking for thses past few days he thought it was best to leave Konoha to train and at the same time keep Akatsuki from hurting his friends.
He wasn't wearing his traditional clothes that consisted of black and orange attire. Instead he was wearing a long cloak kind of like the one Akatsuki uses but instead it was white, underneath he was wearing his ANBU clothes, he had been promoted straight to ANBU by Tsunade after retrieving Sasuke.
He took one last glance at the village that lay below him and in a low voice said, "Farewell" and in an instant he disappeared leaving a trail of smoke behind.
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When Sasuke and Sakura got to Naruto's apartment they were surprised to find the door unlocked they walked in to find the place clean but they knew something was wrong when they saw that Naruto's old clothes were neatly folded laying on top of the bed. There was a scroll on the bed and Sasuke got it and started reading what it said out loud so Sakura could also know what it said.
If you are reading this I'm probably already gone. Sakura gasped as she felt something ripping her heart.
Please don't send anyone after me or I will fight, respect my decision for I know is the right one. Sakura if you are reading this know this, that I love you but you love another and I can't stop you from loving him and I kept my promise to bring him back to you and the only thing kept me here was you. Now that I've fulfilled my promise there is nothing holding me here. Finally tell Tsunade that I appreciate all that she did for me and tell Ero-sennin thanks for training me.
-Naruto
After Sasuke finished reading it he found Sakura sitting on the bed crying. He tried to comfort her and told her that they had to report this to Tsunade. Sakura overcome with tears just nodded and both headed quickly towards the Hokage's building.
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"What?!?!" yelled Tsunade with anger and sadness while Jiraiya examined the scroll.
"So the kid is really gone" said Jiraiya after reading his student's note.
Tsunade told Sasuke and Sakura who was still crying to find Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba and Chouji and tell them to immediately come to her office. They each gave a nod and disappeared in a puff smoke.
Finally they came to the office and asked what was the reason she called for them.
Tsunade cleared her throat and said' "I'm sending you all on a mission to bring back Naruto." Everyone was stunned and Jiraiya quickly added, "But he said he wanted no one to be sent after him and…"
"I don't care!" yelled an angry Tsunade
Everyone was startled and Neji quickly asked what happened to Naruto. Tsunade quickly pulled herself together and started to explain.
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The team led by Sasuke consisted of Sakura, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji were standing in front of the Konoha's gates.
Shikamaru started to speak, "How troublesome"
Sakura looked at him and asked why.
He responded by saying, "This is almost exactly like the time we went to rescue Sasuke and that didn't end well." Everyone remembered that day especially Sakura.
Flashback
"Please bring him back Naruto!"
"You really love him don't you."
'I know how it feels to love someone but be rejected."
"Don't worry I promise that I'll bring him back" he said with a smile on his face
End Flashback
I'll be posting the next chapter in about a week until then please review and tell me what you think.