*I apologize for this being SO late. I just got finished with school and moving. I shall be updating more frequently so you all enjoy the new chapter! PS: I think I'm gonna include a sneak peak at the next chapter from now on at the end to build suspense. Depending on how you all react to this one.*

How she had envied that boy. The boy who himself had once jumped between her and death, just to prove a point.

"Until I become Hokage…"

How he smiled at death, like the Kage before her had…

"I REFUSE TO DIE."

She dropped her glass of sake so she didn't break it as her fist clenched with all her strength. Even though it hurt her that he had left, she never cried over that boy. She felt that if she did, she had totally lost hope that he would return.

It did not help, however, seeing the pain in others over Naruto Uzumaki going rogue. Her apprentice, Sakura Haruno had come to her the evening that the retreval team had returned, almost begging for the Sennin to teach her. In the pinkettes eyes she had seen the look of determination that she had had herself when she was her age. She understood what it was like to lose a teammate.

"Lady Hokage!" The voice of Shizune shouted into the room following the sound of the door swinging open.

Tsunade turned from her view of the village to her assistant's worried face.

"Shizune?"

"We have an urgent problem."

"We'll camp here for the night." Shikamaru Nara said as he dropped his backpack and sat against a large boulder, beginning to remove a splinter from his right hand.

"Sakura and Ino check everyone's status. We need everyone healthy 24/7." Sasuke Uchiha stated as he dropped his backpack as well and looked over the group. "Choji, after you are checked go off for firewood. Lee, you get first watch."

"Sir!" Rock Lee said saluting before jumping up into a tree and looking out into the forest.

"We'll switch out every two hours." Sasuke added as he took a seat.

Sakura and Ino set up a tent and began looking over the rest of the group, Ino looking over Choji who rolled his eyes to every comment she made about how he shouldn't be eating during a physical. Sakura looked over Hinata, who had been silent since the group had left the village.

"How are you Sakura?" Hinata asked over her shoulder as Sakura checked her heat beat from her back.

"Couldn't be better." Sakura said, attempting a smile as she wrote a small note after removing her stethoscope from Hinata's bare back.

Silence came between the two as Sakura checked Hinata from top to bottom.

"Well, you look good. Be sure to stay rested so you don't get exhausted tomorr-"

"How do you feel about Naruto?"

Sakura stopped, her eyes having widened and the words coming from her mouth freezing on her tongue. Hinata blushed and scratched the back of her neck with a nervous look.

"I apologize Sakura… I shouldn't have… I mean…" Hinata began and mumbled uncontrollably. "Its just he was your teammate and while Sasuke has shown he wants to bring Naruto back no matter the cost I just have wondered…"

"I…" Sakura began, turning away from Hinata and thinking as she removed her gloves. "I mean, I'm not offended by the question." Sakura turned back to face Hinata as she crossed her arms and looked down. "Naruto and I weren't really friends I guess. I mean teammates yes, but… I never saw him as more than that. Like that little brother who wanted to be bigger…"

"He cared about you." Hinata said, playing with her fingers as she lowered her head. "A lot."

Sakura bit her lower lip. It was no shock how Hinata felt about Naruto. Everyone except the knucklehead himself had seen how she felt toward him since the days of the academy. Though for years, Naruto himself had chased after Sakura. It had always confused Sakura why Naruto had wanted her of all people, the one who showed more than anyone of how she felt about the blonde idiot.

"I suppose the jokes on me, huh?"

Hinata lifted her head, her eyebrows curled with a confused look to Sakura.

"He wasn't that bad." Sakura said with a light smile.

"Naruto?"

He looked over his shoulder to his voice being said, his legs crossed right at the edge of the small creek Fox had camped beside for the night.

"Karin?" He replied with a grin, the red head squinting her eyes and walking toward him.

"Why aren't you sleeping? You said we have to leave at dawn…" Karin said as she sat right beside her leader.

"I couldn't." Naruto grunted as he looked down at the water. "The fox doesn't let me sleep when he doesn't want me too."

Karin lowered her head. She knows he was prone to nightmares. There where many nights they had spent together where he would shake violently in his sleep, mumbling words with his teeth barred as his muscles tensed. No matter how many times she tried to hug him or cuddle up to him would it work, her always being pushed back and even one night getting pushed off the bed.

"You know you could sleep with me…" Karin said lowly, Naruto shrugging and moving his look to the moon.

"Do you love me?" Naruto asked, his face emotionless has he continued to glare at the moon.

"Of course I do." Karin said with a slight smile, moving a hand to hold his bicep. "You're my fox boy…"

"Don't call me that." Naruto grunted, Kushina removing her hand and placing it in her lap. "They used to call me that…"

"You said the villagers never told you-"

"They called me it behind their back. My name did not exist to them." Naruto said with his nose wrinkled. "Naruto… it represented nothing but disappointment to them. But now look at me."

Karin looked up to Naruto who smiled at his own reflection in the creek.

"What do you want your name to represent…?" Karin asked, though she had known the answer.

She knew everything he felt in his heart.

"Dispair."

"Here."

Sasuke looked up, giving a small smile to Sakura and sat down the Kunai he was sharpening.

"Thanks, I'm famished." Sasuke said as he took the bowl of rice Sakura had prepared for him as he had took watch. "You should get to sleep, we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. From what Shikamaru and me have found, we could reach one of Orochimaru's hideouts by noon." He continued with a mouth full of rice.

Sakura sat beside Sasuke her eyes trailing off as he spoke.

"We're getting close…" Sasuke muttered as he held the now empty bowl.

"Sasuke, about what you said at the gate…"

"I'm sorry. I was just stressed… I mean I still am and…"

Sakura silenced him by kissing his cheek. The instant cure for a closed mouth Uchiha.

2 Years earlier...

When she had opened the door, she couldn't believe it.

"Don't you see Sakura? Granny fixed him up!"Chuckled the blonde beside her.

She wanted to thank this granny person. But she didn't care right then. All that mattered was he was ok. His eyes open for the first time in over a week.

"Sasuke!" She cried as she ran to where the Uchiha boy had sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

She wanted to thank Naruto for having had saved him. But she didn't care right then. She put all the power she could in hugging him instead.

"So, how is the puppet boy's replacement doing you?"

"He's a total pain… hmm…"

"You've got shit problems compared to mine!"

"It is not his fault you allowed your arm to be lost to the Jinnchuriki…"

"Silence. We have a pressing matter to speak of."

"Uchiha has brought us some very interesting information…"

NEXT TIME: Naruto's plan moves into action as the retrieval team move closer to their goal. With the two groups paths get closer and closer will their be a collision? Also the one searching for Naruto continues his search as he runs into an old foe! And Konoha learns of the coming threat.

NEXT CHAPTER: The Encounter of Old Friends