Can't I just lie through my teeth and say I do own Naruto? No? Damn!

This is my submission to Perfect Lionheart's 'Missing Hokage' challenge. Hope you enjoy.

Where In The World Is The Fifth Hokage?

Prologue:

Reversal of Fortune.

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The water around them slowly turned red as the blood flowed freely from the hole Sasuke had just driven into Naruo's chest, his Sharingan eyes glinting in victory as the blonde started to go limp, his head drooping down.

"Be honored, dobe. Your death will give me what I need to kill Itachi." He said smugly as he began to extract his hand from the wound, savoring the thought that it would only be a matter of minutes before he'd have his clan's ultimate bloodline.

Or he would have, had the feeling of triumph not been replaced with agony in his left arm as Nartuo's own left shot up to grab the retreating appendage. A split second later, his right came up and impacted with the elbow, sending it into an angle it was not meant to go with a sickening crack. The Uchiha barely had time to cry out before Naruto's left came back, this time catching him between the eyes and sending Konoha's 'prince' tumbling backwards.

As he regained his footing, most of his attention on the now blood-soaked sleeve, he looked to see his opponent wobbling on his feet, orange jumpsuit slowly turning red as well. As he watched, Naruto steadied himself and cough up blood., faint wisps of chakra trailing off him of he stood.

"I'm..through...playing....you son of a bitch!"

It wasn't the sentence itself that cause Sasuke to suddenly feel unnerved....it was what he saw as his teammate lifted his head.

Without another word, Naruto vanished and the world of Konoha's last Uchiha was blanketed in pain.

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"Kami...what's taking so long!?" Tsunade paced frantically around the main gates of Konoha, not caring that she was getting soaked from the rain. The rest of the retrieval team had been brought back at least three hours ago, along with Rock Lee and the Suna siblings. Chouji and Neji had received the worst damage; severe chakra drain ad multiple stab injuries respectively, but thankfully they would recover. Kiba had a knife wound in his side and Akamaru suffered a few torn muscles, both of which were fortunately minor. Shikamaru simply had a sprained finger and Lee was nursing a lump after the sannin smacked him in the head for leaving without her approval.

One person was still missing, however....

"Naruto..don't you DARE be dead..." She thought, keeping an eye on the entrance as she paced.

"Hokage-Sama! There's someone coming!" One of the guards called out, pointing down the road, "There looks to be about four...no, five!" After a moment, the guard yelled again, "It's Uzumaki and some of his clon..." The man barely had time to finish the last word before the woman took off in a dead sprint towards the approaching group.

"Naruto!" She called out, stopping dead in her tracks at the scene in front of her when she reached them. Two clones were helping the real blonde stand, the gaping hole through his chest making her breath hitch in her chest, though the bleeding had stopped, by his tenant she surmised, he still needed urgent medical attention. Another clone was dragging an unconscious Sasuke by his hair. The boy's left arm was still broken and it didn't take much to tell the right had been dislocated. The boys face showed he had beaten to within an inch of his life; a crushed nose, broken jaw and a right eye that had swollen shut were the more visable examples.

"Hey, Obaa-chan..You can tell Haruno we brought back her precious 'Sasuke-kun'." Naruto said weakly, before the clones dispersed and conciousness left him as well, "Sorry, Ojiji..I held out as long as I could.."

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Yes, I'm kinda using my oneshot 'the me behind the mask' as sort of a foundation. It might go good, then again it might not. We'll see what people think.