Child of the sea (Neji X OC story)

Chapter Twenty Three ~ The End

~Kakashi~

I'm worried, Umiko hasn't come home yet and i had the feeling something bad had happened, i summoned Pakkun "What's the matter Kakashi?"Pakkun asked "Umiko hasn't come home and i'm worried, track her down will ya?"i asked him "Sure thing"the pug said and started sniffing out Umiko and i followed him.

Pakkun found Umiko outside near the gates laying on a bench with a note, i noticed she had hastily wrapped bandages around her chest that were soaked in blood deciding not to question it for now i picked her up and rushed her to the hospital.

Fortunately i had found her before the wound had gotten infected and now she was being treated, she was still out of it so questioning had to wait that and i had a quick mission outside the village, just as i was leaving for that Neji barged in, i had sent Pakkun to inform him "Is she okay? What happened?"he asked clearly worried.

"Relax, she's fine, she's still out of it though so i don't know what happened either"i told him, Neji sighed clearly relieved and walked over to Umiko "Thank you for letting me know Kakashi-sensei"he said, i smiled a bit, it was clear as day this boy truly cared for Umiko, i smiled under my mask "You're welcome"i told him before leaving for my mission.

~meanwhile~

~Tsunade~

"We found this with Umiko"Pakkun said giving a note to me, the note said Sasuke Uchiha had chosen revenge and went to find Orochimaru for power "Kakashi thinks Umiko wrote this before hand, she had really thought this one through since they were a bunch of other ones like this one with different scenarios but this was the only one on her"Pakkun told me.

"Thank you Pakkun you can go now"i said and the pug disappeared in a poof of smoke, i bit my lip damn Orochimaru he had already made his move, i couldn't dwell in that much longer and called in Shikamaru.

~in the hospital~

~Neji~

I had a chair next to Umiko's bed where i was sitting and just holding her hand while watching her, time seemed to fly by and there was a knock on the door "Come in"i decided to let them in, Shikamaru with Naruto came in "Ah Umiko"Naruto said coming over to her and frowned looking at her friend "So is this just a visit or are you here for something else?"i asked.

"A little bit of both, i'm here to ask you to join on a mission and he's here to visit a friend, though he's joining on the mission too"Shikamaru said "And what is this mission?"i asked.

"We're gonna bring Sasuke back!"Naruto yelled a determined look on his face "Keep it down idiot this is a hospital"Shikamaru told him "Right, sorry"Naruto said "I'm in"i told them and joined on the mission, i looked at Umiko as we were leaving, don't you worry i'll give Sasuke a punch for you.

~skip~

~Third~

The team consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Naruto Uzumaki, Neji Hyuga, Choji Akamichi, Kiba Inuzuka and of course Akamaru had been formed and was gathered at the gate, Shikamaru explained the formation to his team.

Kiba and Akamaru were in the lead, Shikamaru was next then Naruto and after him was Choji, bringing up the rear was Neji who would keep an eye on their back with his Byakugan, Shikamaru then checked their gear.

"Since no one else has anything to add i saved the most important thing for last, for as long as i've known him Sasuke and i haven't exactly been close buddies in fact i don't really like him at all, all the same Sasuke is a ninja belonging to the hidden leaf village he's a comrade and i'll put my life on the line to help him, that's the way of our village, i know i seem like a lazy guy but not today cause now i'm responsible for your lives too"Shikamaru said.

With the grand speech out of the way the team moved out.

~skip~

~Neji~

"Go on you guys i'll take care of him"i told the others looking back at the spider guy, "What's wrong buddy?"Kiba asked Akamaru before the puppy crawled into his jacket "It seems this guy is stronger then that big guy we fought before, much stronger"he said  "We're gonna have to go one on one to have any chance for success, isn't that what you said?"i asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah, that's what we agreed"Shikamaru said "And besides if we all stay here we won't have a chance to catch up to Sasuke"i said "But Choji hasn't come back"Kiba said "We all embarked on this mission to find Sasuke and bring him back home to the village but that's not the only reason we have come"i said.

"We are on this mission to protect a fellow shinobi, to defend the bond of the hidden leaf village, at the third hokage's funeral when Iruka spoke do you remember his words?"i asked them, of course they did "Listen Sasuke's out there right now heading towards Orochimaru, we can't allow such evil to take someone from our village that's not our way, what's more"i said and turned to Naruto.

"Naruto sometimes your eyes are even better then mine, wherever he is Sasuke is in the darkness, now get going i'll be right behind you, one more thing though, when you do find Sasuke give him a punch for Umiko"i said turning back to the spider guy "Alright let's do this" Shikamaru said "When you catch up make sure to bring Choji too"Kiba said "Of course i will"i said before the others left.

~skip~

~Umiko~

I groaned coming to "Welcome back"i heard, looking over it was Tsunade, well i should start calling her lady hokage, anyway "What happened?"i asked, she explained everything i sighed a bit "I see, knowing Naruto he's in a bit of a slump but cheering him up can wait, i want to see Neji"I said, lady hokage nodded "Follow me"she said, i grabbed the iv and put on slippers following her out and over to where Neji was being kept.

Tsunade had told me he had went with the team to recover Sasuke and got pretty hurt, he'll recover though, i smiled glad to just see Neji, i kissed his cheek before turning to Tsunade "Now to get that knucklehead"i said, she nodded and took me to Naruto.

Naruto was already conscious and like i had though looked as depressed as a dead flower "A frown really doesn't suit you"i told him, Naruto looked over a spark in his eyes "Umiko"he said smiling a bit, i smiled at him "So did you at least get a good punch in for me?"i asked, he nodded  and then frowned again "But i couldn't bring him back"he said.

"So what? You get stronger and try again right? And don't you worry i'l help out this time too"i said, Naruto grinned as he nodded "You're right, i haven't given up and i never will, i will bring Sasuke back!"he said a fire of determination burning in his eyes.

"That's the spirit"someone said, looking over it was master Jiraiya "Pervy sage, what are you doing here?"Naruto asked the old man "Never mind that, listen up Naruto, i have an offer for you, as soon as you get better i'm taking you on a trip, it'll take three years or so but during that time i will train you to become stronger, so how about it?"Jiraiya asked him.

"Alright! You bet i'm taking that offer"Naruto said grinning, Jiraiya then turned to me "How about you little lady? I'm sure i can teach you a few things too"he said "Thanks but no thanks"i simply said "Aww come on Umiko it would be so much more fun with you"Naruto said.

"I'm sure you can manage, besides i've got Neji here, speaking of i'll let you two work out the little trip details i'm gonna go see him"i said waving them off as i walked out and went over to Neji's room, sitting down on the chair i held his hand and just stayed there as he had for me.

~skip~

Naruto healed amazingly fast as always, i was out of the hospital but taking it easy as was Neji, i was without him at the moment though as i was at the gates saying goodbye to Naruto, he'd be going on his three year training trip with master Jiraiya.

"I can't believe i'll actually miss you"i said, Naruto just chuckled making his goofy grin "I'll miss you too but hey i think three years will go by before you even know it, maybe i'll be taller then you when i get back"he said "Yeah? We'll see about that"i smirked a bit before smiling, i then hugged him "Good luck out there"i said, he hugged me back "Thanks Umiko" we then separated as it was time for him to go.

I waved him off as he waved back to me and pretty soon he was out of sight, i went home and dug up that scroll again using the jutsu on it i ended up in a house and there were tons of cats and my father with Itachi just sitting there "I'm ready to start training"i told them.