The Two of Us

04 | Them and Him

Kakashi now regrets for letting Naruto pick their final destination for finding Sakura. They were in the east of Land of Lightning and he chose the west of Land of Wind. That takes a week of traveling.

Arriving at a small village at the west of Wind, they immediately looked around and asked anyone if they have seen a Konoha kunoichi with pink locks. Sakura is easy to recognize, she's the only person with pink hair, remembering her wouldn't much be a trouble.

In a inn, Naruto asked the one at the front desk if they've seen her, and he hit the jackpot.

"You've seen her?!" Naruto is ecstatic now, he was right of following his intuition to lead them here.

"Yeah, she wears a red top, doesn't she?" Naruto responded with a nod frantically, he's a step closer to Sakura now. Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai now entered the inn and Naruto alarmed them they have found Sakura.

"Can you tell us if she was with someone? Or some people?" Kakashi asked.

The man nodded and Kakashi continued investigating. "Can you please describe them?"

"She was with 4 other people. A red-head woman with glasses and a little guy with some huge sword. There's this large guy as well wearing a purple cloak and a black-haired guy."

"So she wasn't with Akatsuki." Sai deducted. "Akatsuki? No. This girl was comfortable with the people she was with." the man added as he knows who the Akatsuki is.

"What? She's... comfortable with the people? She wasn't kidnapped?" Naruto was confused.

"Uh, no? She even went outside during the night alone and came back with the dark-haired man."

Team 7 were now looking at each other with furrowed brows. So Sakura wasn't in some lair tied-up waiting for them, she was traveling with other people.

"Kakashi-sensei, does Sakura have some friends outside Konoha?" Naruto asked knowing that they were together for 3 years when Naruto left to train with Jiraiya.

"Not that I know of. As far as I know her training with Tsunade only happened in the village." Kakashi was still thinking hard, trying to remember if Sakura left the village for a long period of time.

"And, why would she go with these guys rather than find us?" Sai asked himself loudly, without looking at anyone.

"Excuse me, but did you notice where they've gone?" Yamato asked the man at the desk. "Yes, I believe they crossed the borders up north, towards the large mass of forest."

Something clicked in Yamato's mind, he knows that place, he scouted there before. Upon this realization he looked back at team 7 to announce the possibility of Sakura's whereabouts.

"Senpai... that's where one of the Uchiha hideout is."

Team 7 were now running in the woods towards the known location of the Uchiha hideout. Naruto was anxious to find out what could be there and he was angry at Sakura for leaving them. If his guess was right, Sakura might've tracked Sasuke alone and he felt betrayed about it. Here they were for 4 weeks already looking for her but she was being selfish.

"Stop!!" Naruto senses a chakra near them and it was Sakura's. "I can feel her chakra, let's go"

Arriving at her location, they saw her on the ground, alone and asleep. They approached her and tried to wake her up but she wasn't waking up. Who left her here? Naruto thought to himself.

Kakashi opened her eyes and realized that she's probably under a genjutsu. Climbing up at a tree until he reached the top, he saw a field of black fire.