THE FUTURE OF THE LEAF

CHAPTER 13 : UNEASINESS

𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲

As shikamaru goes through the contents of the letter, his jaw drops and his skin turns pale....

Shikamaru replies with a worried look, " Nar... Naruto and Gaara hav....have been kidnapped"....

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁

As Shikamaru let this new information sunk in, Temari asked him hesitantly and with concern, "what Gaara was kidnapped, how, when?".

(can't blame her, she is Gaara's older sister, so showing concern for Gaara is expected).

Shikamaru replies, "seems they have been missing since yesterday, anyways we need to act quick. We will need some backup too, go and inform lord 6th about this ASAP", he ordered the chunin who had delivered the missive to him.

"Right", replied the chunin and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I better getting going too", said shikamaru as he placed his oversized coat on.

"I'm coming too", declared Temari, "I can't just sit around doing nothing when my younger brother's in danger".

"No", Shikamaru said with authority, " You shouldn't. Remember Gaara is the Kazekage, he is not weak and he has Naruto with him. Everything will be alright. We shouldn't jump at conclusions and act irrationally. It's best if you would let us handle it".

"But I" shikamaru cuts temari off, "trust me Temari, we will save Gaara and Naruto, I promise".

Temari let's out a sigh, "well alright then, good luck. And you better hold onto your promise"...

Shikamaru replies, "yeah, yeah, this is turning out to be such a drag" and rushes over to the Hokage tower.

Temari watches him jumping over the rooftops with a worried look, "I can't help but shake this feeling of UNEASINESS off, I hope everything goes smoothly".

𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸

"Yes, who is it" asked a certain man.

"Lord 6th, I came here bearing a missive from Mr. Shikamaru. He wants to have an audience with you".

"that Shikamaru, I told him, we would talk about the time travelers later when Naruto gets back home, but he isn't the type to make decisions spontaneously either. Something else must would have happened. I wonder what it could be. Well no point in just brooding over it now" thought Kakashi to himself...

"um... Sir. Excuse me" the chunin said.

Kakashi snapping out of his thought process, "oh, sorry about that. Let's go meet up with Shikamaru then".

"Right" replied the chunin and they started moving through the village at a very brisk pace.

As Kakashi and the chunin were sprinting past the townspeople at a very formidable pace, a certain blonde woman couldn't help but wonder as to what was going on. She started following them and eventually she caught up to them.

"hey Kakashi, what's all this ruckus about so early in the morning" enquired the lady in question.

"lady 5th" replied the chunin with a surprise.

"well I'm not sure, but it seems Shikamaru needs my help with something" kakashi replies... " I hope she won't catch a wiff of the time travellers" thinks Kakashi in his head.

"Well anyways, we should hurry" suggested the chunin who was feeling quite out of place running around the village with the famed Slug Princess, Lady 5th and the famed Copy Ninja, Lord 6th.

With those words the 3 of them picked up the pace and finally arrived at the hokage tower.

Inside the hokage tower as Shikamaru stood there waiting for Kakashi to arrive, he had already set into motion a search party consisting of some Ninja hounds from the inuzuka clan.

Thanks to all the ruckus outside in the hallway, the time travelers got anxious and quickly disguised themselves before setting outside to see what this whole commotion was about. They met up with Shikamaru and asked him about what's going on. He hesitated to give them a suitable reply and before he could say anything Kakashi and Tsunade arrived at the scene as well.

"Good, you are finally here and lady 5th too" shikamaru exclaimed, "well the more the better, the situation is quite troublesome, so we would be requiring as much help as we can".

Shikamaru quickly dismisses the chunin.

"oh, you haven't changed much, have you, Tsunade. Though I guess, your chest has blossomed a bit since the last time" said the disguised Jiraiya with a zeal.

"Why you insignificant" Tsunade yelled at him and was about to smack him hard when Minato throwed himself in front of Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Tsunade not wanting to hit this random stranger stopped and asked them as to who they were...

Shikamaru realising that it can't be kept a secret from her anymore, decided to come out clean with the truth. He asked them all to move inside a private quarter where there was no chance that anyone could eavesdrop on their conversation. Once Shikamaru made certain that no-one esle was around he instructed the time travellers to drop their transformations.

As the smoke cleared from the dispelling of the Jutsu, Tsunade was taken aback. She expressed shock and surprise on her face and fell down to her knees. Jiraiya rushed over to her and took her in his arms. Tsunade didn't say a word as she began tearing up and sobbing in Jiraiya's arms. After a few minutes, Tsunade finally calmed herself and asked Shikamaru about what was going on. As Shikamaru explained the situation with the time travellers to Tsunade, Kakashi wondered why he ran into so many shinobi's on his way here to the Hokage tower.

Kakashi (adult) : Hey Shikamaru, what's with all the commotion outside, and why did you needed me.??

Shikamaru : oh crap, how did i let myself get carried away. It's awful, Naruto has been kidnapped.

Everyone : 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧!!!

As their voices echoed throughout the Hokage tower the scene shifted to the sand village.

With the first stroke of dawn, some movements where visible in the sand village.

Kankuro had riled up his group and successfully put together a rescue party. It was a four man squad with Kankuro as the leader and Omoi as the 2nd in command. The other two members where of the special anbu black ops from the sand, specialising in search operations.

Kankuro : alright then, let's go everyone.

Omoi : Right, we will definitely save Master bee and the others. I so hope atleast.

Kankuro : better stay focused and concentrated. Move out everyone.

With those words the 4 set out in search for Naruto and the Others.

(sorry I hadn't updated any chapter recently at all, and honestly speaking, it was mainly beasuse of these two reasons. First of, I had been super busy lately, which was the primary reason however there's another reason too - the second reason and that's just that I lost the drive to keep on writing. However I will try to give my best and provide new chapters quite often now.
And thanks for Reading, my friends.
I highly appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day!!!)