The Flower at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 8: Mission

[ Authors Note: Very sorry for the lack of a recent chapter, I had to move houses and had to help a friend through their breakup. Anyways into the chapter! ]

Ino walked up the steps to Naruto's, "Why does he have to live in the top floor." Ino said mumbling the complaint as she got to the top of the stairs.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
There was silence until Ino heard the tumbling of many objects inside. The door opened as was greeted by a sweating Naruto who was only in a singlet and boxers.

"Hey Naruto! What are you doing back there?" Ino said glancing over his shoulder to see scrolls, furniture and other miscellaneous items scattered on the floor.
"Oh you know... reorganising..." Naruto said giving an awkward smile.
"Naruto you never reorganise and you also went shopping today! You're acting weird, is something wrong?" Ino said grabbing his hand and walking inside.
The two blondes sat in silence for a minute before Naruto broke the silence.
"I'm just worried... Gaara was attacked by the Akatsuki and I've been told by granny Tsunade I can't leave to go find them or even go see Gaara. I feel like leaving to go find the Akatsuki members who put him in such a state." Naruto said with tears welling in his eyes.
"Naruto you can't leave! You've been told by Lady Tsunade that you can't and I won't allow you to leave either!" Ino said wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him closer.
"But, Ino, I have to do this. I can't just cower in fear because of the stupid Akatsuki, I need to show the village I don't need to be protected and I need to show the Akatsuki not to mess with Naruto Uzamaki." Naruto said hands on Ino's shoulder pushing out of the hug and staring directly into her eyes.
"It's a big favour Ino but I need you to keep this a secret." Naruto said, his expression was dead serious like the great stone heads.
"I want to come with you Naruto, I want to help you however I can even if that means sacrificing myself for you." Ino said slightly sobbing.
"That's why I can't let you come Ino. If something were to happen to you... I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Naruto said the putting his head on top of hers.
"I can't let you go Naruto there's no w..." Ino said before being cut off by soft lips against hers.
The two held the kiss for quite some time before releasing for air.
"I'm sorry Ino, I won't let you get hurt because of me." Naruto said still blushing from the kiss.
"Promise me you'll come back if you're in danger." Ino said, she realised Naruto wasn't going to let her come with him.
"I promise."

Naruto just exited the gate sometime at midnight when familiar white hair came into view.
"I know I can't stop you Naruto, but that's why we've decided to help you." The book reading sensei said.
Three more figures came out from the bush, one of them was Sakura and another was a man who looked around Kakashi's age with brown hair, a ghoulish face and a forehead protecter that also covered the sides of his face and another with shiny black hair, who looked around Naruto's age, wore a shirt that cut off before his naval and bearing a short sword on his back appeared behind Kakashi.
"This is Yamato." Kakashi said pointing to the brown haired man.
"Hello Naruto." Yamato said bearing a creepy smile.
"This is Sai, he's a member of Root a more advanced Anbu if you put it simply. He will be the new Team 7 member." Kakashi said pointing the the black haired boy, he just waved and smiled.
"And you already know Sakura." Kakashi said.
Sakura couldn't really look at Naruto after what had happened.

The four of them arrived outside Sunagakure, the guards had let them in and told them to head to the Kazekage building.
It was the middle of winter so Suna wasn't as hot as it usually is but it was still hot regardless. The five of them arrived at the Kazekage building and a man led them towards the private hospital on the 4th floor.
They opened the door and were met by Gaara, Temari and Kankuro all talking about what had just happened.

"Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and comrades, welcome." Gaara said.
"We heard what happened, how are you feeling?" Kakashi said.
"I'm stable, Shukaku healed my wounds alongside the doctors." Gaara said.
He was covered in burn marks from explosions it seemed.
"Gaara we need information about these Akatsuki, Naruto here wants to track them down." Kakashi said pointing to Naruto.
"I'll avenge you Gaara no need to worry!" Naruto said grinning.
Temari pulled out a map, it showed a predicted path of how they made it to the village based off where scouts had been killed or reported missing.
"We sent out scouts immediately after the attack to track them down we lost them around here it seemed they were fleeing to the southern part of the Land of Rivers." Temari said.
"Thank you, any chance you have a copy of that map for us?" Kakashi said.
"We do." Temari said as she handed over a scroll.
"We weren't expecting you to come, the Hokage sent no message of it." Kankuro said.
"Thats because the Hokage doesn't know of this mission." Yamato said.
"Naruto decided he was going to head off on his own to avenge you Gaara, we would never be able to stop him without locking him up and that's just cruel. So I decided to gather up the rest of Team 7 and an old friend." Kakashi said.
Gaara chuckled.
"Typical Naruto." Gaara said.
"Thank you for your help Gaara! I promise to beat the Akatsuki into the ground!" Naruto said smiling putting his fists together.
"One more thing Naruto. The one I fought used some sort of detonating clay that can take the shape of animals. He has two mouths on his hands to chew the clay into shape, so try to make him use his arms or even better remove them... All we know about the other one is he uses poisons but he didn't participate in the fight he only eliminated the guards." Gaara said looking a little worried.
"Thanks Gaara." Said Naruto as the five started to leave.

Back at Konoha, Tsunade was starting to suspect the five of them have run off to find the Akatsuki.
"Ugh. That damn brat, he can't keep still even if his life depended on it." Tsunade said slamming the desk.
She sat in silence deep in thought for three minutes until someone knocked on her door.
"Come in." Tsunade said.
Ino walked into the room.
"Hey Lady Tsunade, have you seen Sakura around anywhere?" Ino said.
"No I have not, I would think you'd know considering you're Naruto's girlfriend and he's ran off with Sakura, Kakashi and two others." Tsunade said giving Ino a stern look.
"Wait, Naruto's gone as well! We had a date!" Ino said trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"Ino it's alright I know that he told you his plans last night, all I need are the details of what he's doing." Tsunade said still giving Ino a stern look.
"He said he needed to prove to the world he isn't a kid that needs to be protected and that he's strong now... He's after the Akatsuki that hurt Gaara." Ino said, she felt bad that she broke her promise to Naruto but Tsunade would've used force if she didn't say anything.
"Thank you Ino, well he has Kakashi and Yamato he'll be fine." Tsunade said this time without the stern look.

Meanwhile a snake that looked like Orochimaru lay cut in half in Orochimaru's bedroom.
A certain Uchiha exiting the hideout setting out to gather a team for his next mission.
"Itachi I will get my revenge. Then I can finally get rid of that yellow haired loser." A cold voice said.

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Hey guys! It's been a while but I have exams coming up very soon so I will be really busy but I will try to get out at least 1 chapter a week maybe 2 depending on how much time I have.
As always see you guys next time and I hope you all have a good day/night.