Stripped Bare (kakashiXsakura)

chapter 22

Naruto ran fast as his body could carry him, ignoring the burning in the muscles of his legs as the tall grass on either side of him flew by in blurs of brown and green. His incredible stamina was the only reason he had been able to keep up such an intensive pace for so long. Although he could keep running like this for hours, fueled by anxiety and adrenaline, fatigue was beginning to show in his teammates who weren't so lucky as to have the energy stores of the Kyuubi inside of them.

"Come on, we're almost there," the blond called impatiently to the shinobi behind him, desperate to get to Sakura as quickly as possible.

"Naruto," Yamato said sternly, speeding up so that they were side by side. "Rushing in recklessly won't help Kakashi or Sakura, and at his rate we'll be too exhausted to help once we get there. We need to slow down."

The whiskered man practically growled in frustration.

"But she could be in trouble, and we—"

"And we'll be too tired to help her if we drain our chakra reserves before we get there," Yamato finished, placing a hand on his shoulder and forcing the ambitious shinobi to slow down.

Sasuke and Sai were both panting hard, almost at their limit after maintaining such a grueling pace for most of the day. But neither complained, wanting as much as Naruto to get to Fuzen Machi. The two had been surprisingly well behaved during their journey, exchanging their usual stream of insults for stubborn silence. It seemed the haughty Uchiha and antagonistic artist were more concerned about their teammates than they cared to let on.

"We should arrive within the next hour or two," Yamato said, noting how the sun was starting to sink below the horizon. "We'll check in at the club and decide how to act from there and we will be subtle about it considering they are undercover. That especially goes for you, Naruto. Until then, we maintain a moderate pace. We've pushed ourselves too hard to go any faster."

Naruto nodded grudgingly, clearly not happy with Yamato's decision but willing to obey it anyway. He hoped that this whole mission would turn out to be a false alarm and that both of his friends would be perfectly fine. Maybe they would be proceeding with their mission, unaware of the worry they had caused in Konoha. And maybe if he was lucky, maybe he'd even be able to glimpse Sakura dancing at the club. The thought was so enticing that it almost took the edge off his worry, but then his mind snapped back into focus and he berated himself for thinking such things when Sakura might be in trouble.

They continued to race forward, passing by the towns that lay few and far between in the endless sea of grass, the swaying green stalks almost as tall as the people traveling through it. Soon, the rippling fields would give way to the harsh neon of the city which would mark their arrival to Fuzen Machi. While Yamato hoped to find his sempai safe and sound, his gut told him that Kakashi a been gone too long on a mission of this nature for things to be going smoothly.

XXXXX

Climbing the small mountain that housed Iyashii's mansion with Dajaku in tow had taken longer than Kakashi had anticipated. By the time he had hauled his captive over the first two gates encircling the manor, the shadows were beginning to lengthen in the golden light of the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky. The shinobi realized that he would be able to move with more ease and stealth if he left the club owner behind.

"You stay here, I'm going ahead," Kakashi whispered as they came to what seemed to be an expansive garden of immaculately maintained roses. Tall hedges surrounded either side and Kakashi knew the walls of foliage would need to be scaled if he wanted to continue.

"Stay here?" Dajaku squeaked, silvery eyes darting around nervously. "You're leaving me?"

"I thought you'd be happy considering you didn't want to come in the first place," Kakashi said coolly, checking his surroundings carefully for possible surveillance equipment or security guards.