Boy. Long time has passed. Sorry if you need to reread something. Feel glad anyway. I'm back, and ofcourse is Just Naruto. What really motivated me, or rather helped me remove my writers' block was the review, so keep em coming. Later!

Chapter 10

Finding Sakura

"What?" Naruto found himself nearly speechless. As if a ton of bricks had just crushed him. He couldn't understand it. Sakura had said that she was going to Ino's, but she didn't. Would she lie to him about that, or did something happen to her.

"Why, is something wrong?" Ino asked, clearly scared by the way he had just looked at her.

But he didn't even hear her. Where could she be. His mind went over this over and over. With no clear answer. Before Ino could speak again he spoke. "Ino, I need to go."

"Na-Naruto."

Before he did however he heard a familiar voice greet Ino, following Ino greeting her back. The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Sakura. It was Tenten, and alongside her was Neji. The only thing that actually made Naruto stop was the surprise at seeing those two walking casually together, but he quickly remembered he had more important matters. He began to walk again as he could hear them speak, something along the lines of:

"Hey Ino, I need some flowers."

"Sure, heh, it's kind of weird to give a guy flowers, especially since your with him."

"Oh… It's not for Neji…"

"It's for Lee." Neji finished.

At this Naruto stopped again. He damned his curiosity. Why would Tenten, and even more Neji, buy flowers for fuzzy brows? Apparently Ino thought the same thing, as she asked them why. Only to receive a sadden answer from Tenten.

"He got hurt, bad…"

"What!" Naruto turned and faced them. Both Ino and Tenten looked at him back, as Neji only signed. "What happened to him?"

Before Tenten could answer Neji did. "We don't know. Were going to the hospital to find out."

Then it hit him. The hospital. Maybe Sakura was working there, and had to work late at night and that's why she didn't go over to Ino's. Feeling a little bit more relaxed he decided to go see if she was there, and see Lee as well.

"Chidori!"

The sound of a thousand birds mixed with stone chattering filled the forest as Sasuke was breathing heavy. His body was sore and a bit bruised. But just because he should be seen it didn't mean he wouldn't train. It's not like he's going to let Naruto surpass him.

Sasuke signed. 'Four, four times' my limit. Damn, just like Kakashi.'

Taking a deep breath he shut of his sharingan and sat down on the cracked ground, he had also trained in chakra control. Smiling he just rubbed his face and looked towards his side. "How was that?"

"I'm impressed, thought not too surprised."

As Naruto, Neji and Tenten reached the hospital, Tenten and Neji went to see Lee as Naruto decided to see Sakura first, just to be sure. As he walked towards the counter he spoke to the lady behind it.

"Excuse me, is Sakura Haruno here?"

"Sakura?" The lady asked, knowing he referred to the Third's student. "She was supposed to come today, but apparently she just didn't come. She didn't even called in sick."

The brick breaking feeling came back to him tenfold. Not only did she not go to Ino's, but she missed work, without giving an excuse. This is Sakura we're talking about. She's as responsible as they come.

'Sakura-chan, where are you?'

Neji had just sat on a chair next to Lee as Tenten placed the flowers on a pot. "Lee, oh my God, what happened?" She asked. Rock Lee had looked beaten up before, but now he had a broken leg, three broken ribs, bruises that nearly covered his entire body, a few scattered burn marks, and a deep wound on his chest, barely evading the heart. In short, he looked like shit.

Lee just turned his head and faced her. His eyes beginning to water. "I-I lost… a fight." Both Neji's and Tenten's eyes widened. "A fight! With who? Who did this to you?" Tenten asked, her voice raising itself.

Neji could picture it, Lee was one of the strongest people he knew. True, he could defeat him, but never cripple him like this.

"Who?" Tenten asked again, nearly startling Lee.

"It was… Sasuke."

Both Neji's and Tenten's eyes widened again. "Sasuke?" the both spoke in unison. Sasuke was here, in Konoha. And he crippled Lee?

"I was protecting, Sakura-san."

"Protecting Sakura? From Sasuke?" Neji spoke, now standing up. 'What the hell? If Lee's like this, the Sakura…' Tenten was speechless, as she just looked at Neji who was deep in thought. It surprised her even more the seriousness of this situation to see someone like Neji Hyuga actually startled. Not something you see every day.

He hadn't been able to find her, not matter who hard he tried. She was just apparently hiding somewhere. So he had decided to give it a rest for a while and go see Lee first. But as he stood at the door to open it he heard it.

"It was… Sasuke."

There he froze. Sasuke had hurt Lee so much and had sent him to the hospital. How could Sasuke do that, why? Before he could enter so ask it himself he heard something even worse.

"I was protecting, Sakura-san."

Then his mind snapped. It felt like he had been just hit by an Raikiri empowered One-Thousand Years of Death. Followed by an Odama Rasengan. 'Sasuke, attacked Lee and… Sakura-chan.'

There his eyes opened wide. 'Sasuke!'

Sasuke had just finished his training and returned home. Luckily he wasn't spotted by anyone, anyone who didn't know it was him at least. As he had seen a couple of ANBU around.

Deciding it was time to shower and rest he began to walk to the bathroom, but was stopped by a rather loud knock, or several, on his door.

Releasing it was somebody who knew he was the he just said a 'coming' and walked towards it. The knocks didn't seize however, and he was begging to get annoyed. As he opened the door he spoke. "Take it easy will-"

And was stopped, by a fist in fact, coming directly at his face. Thanks to his chakra, or lack of thereof, he could evade it, just make it for a little lest painful blow. As Sasuke landed a couple of feet back he quickly stood back up, kunai in hand and sharingan activated.

"What the hell?"

Before he could attacked he was shocked to see who it was. "N-Naruto?" It was Naruto, his would-be best friend, who nearly killed himself to try and bring him back, and who had gotten better at punching, looking at him straight in the eyes with his Kyubi-enhanced state.

Seeing him had made him drop his guard, bad mistake since Naruto had quickly grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him up.

"Where the hells Sakura-chan?" Naruto growled.

Sasuke just looked dumb-founded. "Who the hell should I know, you idiot, let me go."

"Liar!" Naruto said even louder. "You nearly killed Fuzzy Brows, and you did something to Sakura-chan?"

"What?" Sasuke had no idea what the hell was going on. "Sakura… and Lee. What the hell are you talking about?"

Naruto was tired of hearing his excuses, so he threw another hit at him. One that Sasuke managed to dodge by slipping out of his shirt and falling back. Naruto rushed towards him as Sasuke grabbed his nearby Katana. 'Looks like I'll have to hit some sense into him.'

As both Naruto and Sasuke charged, one with his claw-like hand, the other with the chakra-enhanced blade, the were both stopped by a forceful push on the chest by none other the their one-time sensei.

Seeing Kakashi made Naruto calm a bit down, as his Kyubi chakra vanished. Sasuke placed the sword at his side and signed. He knew that with his chakra that would have been one battle he would have lost.

"You two don't see each other for nearly three years and this is how you "Hang out"." Kakashi spoke with his visible eye looking from one to the other.

"But Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke nearly killed Lee, and did something to Sakura-chan when she was going to Ino's house during the early morning." Kakashi gave Naruto a puzzling look as Sasuke frowned. "I told you loser, I have no fucking idea what your talking about."

"Sasuke, cut-"

Before Naruto could continue he was stopped by Kakashi. "Naruto, I have no idea what your talking about either, but… Sasuke couldn't have done any of that."

"And why's that." Naruto was getting angrier, was Kakashi going to take his side too.

"Because he has been training with me since last night."

Um... I've got nothing to say.