This is my first posted story. Let me know what you think.
AFTER THE PAIN.
Naruto bounced from tree to tree, his strong legs worked tirelessly. The leaf-nin wasn't in any real hurry. He was on more of an errand then a mission.
Tsunade had gotten tiered of him asking when she was going to retire and appoint him as Hokage. To the young man it seemed pointless to wait; he was twenty five and one of the top Jonin of Konoha. He had served six years as an ANBU and the last year and a half as Tsunade's right hand. He knew everything there was to know about being the Hokage. But still Tsunade insisted the time wasn't right for him to take her place.
Uzumaki knew of course what she was waiting for.
The Hokage felt he needed to settle down and raise a family.
But Naruto knew what the old lady refused to accept. There wasn't a woman in Konoha that would accept him as a suitor, not since the truth about the nine tailed demon fox inside of him became public knowledge.
Before the announcement Naruto had dated Hyuga Hinata for a time, but the two of them quickly realized that they were more friends then anything else.
And they still were, even though Hinata was now married to her old teammate Shino.
Most of his old class mates accepted him regardless of the demon inside of him.
But being friends and lovers were two very different things.
'I wonder when Granny Tsunade is going to figure that out.' the blonde mused.
Sure, Naruto had his share of female fans. Not unlike the ones his best friend Sasuke used to have. But they were more interested in have sex with him for the bragging rights then to have an actual relationship.
In the beginning the young man had enjoyed the attention but he quickly realized that none of the girls he dated were interested in more then just a quick fling. So now he ignored them completely.
Realizing he was dwelling on a pointless topic, Naruto changed his train of thought to something a little less personal.
Like why the hell Tsunade had sent him to retrieve some crop reports from the far side of the land of fire when there really was no hurry for them.
FLASH BACK
"There really is no hurry Naruto-kun, take your time. I just prefer you be the one to retrieve those reports for me." Tsunade explained to her frustrated apprentice.
The truth was the Hokage didn't need the reports at all, but she needed to get the boy out from under foot for a wile.
She hoped that with a little time to think about it she could come up with a way to talk her blonde haired protégé into finding a nice girl to settle down with.
The dear boy was far to work orientated in her opinion. And up till now he had shown no interest in having a family of his own.
She sighed heavily and Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.
"Don't the reports usually come with the farmers that bring us grain every year?" He asked. Completely oblivious to the thoughts running threw the Hokage's mind.
'The boy learns to fast.' Tsunade mused, but luckily she had been expecting the question.
"There is a possibility that we will not be receiving any product from the towns in that area this season. So I want to make sure we get the report regardless"
She smiled as Naruto shook his head and opened his mouth to protest.
Raising a hand she cut him off.
"Just think of it as a working vacation, take your time and enjoy a little R&R. Believe me, you need to have a break, your not Hokage yet you know."
"Fine." Naruto conceded. He knew better then to argue with his superior over such a thing. It only succeeded in getting her irritated and the last time he had pressed his luck she had sent him on a recon mission for a month and a half.
Tsunade beamed at him. "Good, good. Now remember to take some time to enjoy yourself." She told him as she took the papers out of his hands and shooed him out of her office.
'Now to come up with a plan other then ordering him to marry someone I choose for him.' She told herself. "Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll fall in love with a girl while he's out and about." She commented hopefully to the empty office.
She shook her head. "I haven't been that lucky in years"
She muttered as she returned to her pile of paper work.
Naruto's love life would just have to wait.
END FLASH BACK
Naruto came to a sudden halt. He smelled blood, and a fair bit of it too.
By his calculations he was about a day and a half away from his destination.
He shrugged; he had no timeline for his arrival so he could afford to take a detour.
Sniffing the air with his sensitive nose he soon pinpointed the direction the odor was coming from. Without hesitation he followed the trail.
After about a hundred yards he paused again, balancing on a tree branch. The scent was stronger now and it was distinctly human.
Pulling several shuriken from his weapons pouch he proceeded at a slower rate. His brow furrowed.
'Something about this scent is familiar.'
But try as he might, he couldn't place it.
Five minuets later he found the source of the blood.
If the smell hadn't led him to the body he probably would have missed it.
Hidden under a pile of leaves, all that protruded was part of a delicate white hand.
After checking for traps the blonde leaf-nin jumped down from the trees and landed in a crouch beside the pile.
"You want to come out of there?" He called gently, The smell of earth and rotting vegetation made difficult for him to decipher the bodies scent, or even if the person was alive or not.
No answer came so he stepped closer. He was about to nudge the hand with his foot when a multitude of scents stung his nose. He nearly sneezed from the sensory over load.
Female, Fear, Blood, Damp earth and...Sex.
Kneeling down he quickly started digging threw the leaves, but he already had an idea of what he'd find.
The first thing he uncovered was a bare shoulder and a tangle of blonde hair. There was no movement from the woman as he continued to pull away the debris covering her body.
Brushing the leaves off her back he discovered that her back and what was left of her clothing had been cut to ribbons. It looked like she had been flogged.
He didn't need to uncover the rest of her body to know what had happened to her.
His nose told him the story. Beaten and raped, she had been left for dead...only she was still alive. Barely.
As carefully as he could Naruto placed one hand on her shoulder while the other supported her head and he slowly pulled her over onto her left side.
Repositioning him self so his left arm would support her shoulders he pulled her the rest of the way into his arms.
Her head flopped like a rag dolls, facing away from him.
The right side that he could see was beaten and bloodied beyond recognition.
Trying to asses the full extent of her injuries Naruto's eyes quickly scanned the rest of her body. The front of her clothing had been ripped away, but because of all the dirt and blood he was unable to tell what other injuries she had.
"Your one hell of a fighter to still be alive after all this woman." He muttered as he moved his attention back to her face.
Grasping her chin as gently as he could, he turned her face towards him to asses the damage on the other side. Only a few bruises and a cut along the cheek bone marred that half. Thus allowing the young man to recognize her.
"GOOD GOD." He gasped in horror. "Temari!"
So there you have it.
My first ever posted chapter, Let me know your thoughts. I'm not going to bother posting any more if no ones going to read it.