I don't own Naruto.

This is my second fic. Please read and review.

Unexpected Departure

A young blonde-haired boy stood in a clearing of a forest with his eyes closed. His clothes were orange and he was covered in dirt.

"Okay, Naruto, you can open your eyes now." The boy opened his eyes revealing two cerulean blue pupils. Everything seemed normal to him at first, but his goggles did seem to feel heavier than normal. It was then that he noticed that his teacher in front of him was not wearing his headband. "Congratulations!" the teacher said, "You pass!"

Naruto was ecstatic. He was a ninja now! He had finally graduated from the academy! This would be awesome! "Thanks Iruka-sensei!" the boy said after a moment, jumping forward to give his teacher a hug. It was then a familiar voice interrupted the moment.

"Hey dobe." The two turned to see another boy standing near them, about Naruto's age, with pitch black hair and charcoal eyes. He was dressed in his usual navy blue shirt and tan shorts. On his forehead was a headband identical to the one Naruto had just been given. "It's you!" Naruto yelled. It was more of an angry statement than a questioning one. "You're that pretty-boy Sasuke, who thinks he's so much better than everyone."

"Sasuke, why are you here?" questioned Iruka. He couldn't remember a time when the boy would speak to someone without telling them to leave him alone.

"I'm here to speak to the idiot there. Well Naruto, looks like you passed after all, not that it matters."

"Hey, just what are you talking about?! 'not that it matters'? I've got the headband, so I'm a ninja now!" the blonde replied loudly. Iruka just stood and listened to the to boys conversation, wondering why Sasuke wanted to speak to Naruto.

"I heard you stole a powerful scroll." he said, motioning toward the scroll on Naruto's back. "You don't seem to like it here in the village, do you? Nobody seems to want you here."

"Just what are you saying, Sasuke?" their teacher interrupted, "There are plenty of people here in Konoha who enjoy having Naruto here!"

"That's not what I've been hearing." Sasuke continued, "Everyone in the village is talking about a punishment for stealing the scroll as we speak. By the sound of it most everyone in the village thinks death would be a fair punishment, while others argue it's not enough."

Naruto looked down sadly, his face covered in shadow. Iruka did the same. He had been afraid the village would react this way. It would take all the influence he had as the boy's teacher just to keep the punishment reasonable. He would be lucky to even keep his new headband.

"Hey dobe," Naruto looked up, his saddened expression immediately faded and replaced with a scowl.

"I have a name! It's Naruto Uzumaki, and don't you forget it! I'm going to become the hokage someday!"

"Whatever. Well, Naruto," he reluctantly used the boy's name, "Why don't you just leave? If you bring that scroll, and keep that pink-haired ninja wannabe away from me, I'll allow you to come with me."

"You're leaving Konoha?" Naruto's curiosity was piqued, "But you just graduated from the academy? Why are you leaving?"

"I have something I need to accomplish, and I'm only being slowed down here. Tomorrow they'll be placing us in three man teams, and I'll probably end up getting stuck with some idiots who rely on me to do all the work. I'd be better off taking my chances with you and that pink-haired girl."

"Sakura-chan is coming too?" Naruto was interested now. He had a crush on the girl, even if she was obsessed with Sasuke.

"I couldn't change her mind, but if you're there, it may help keep her away. I'm also interested in that scroll you have…"

By this time they had forgotten about Iruka, who still stood listening nearby. "I can't let you go! As your teacher I insist you remain here in Konoha, and return the scroll as well!"

"Too bad, Iruka" Sasuke replied, "There's nothing you can do to stop us. It seems you're badly injured, and you seem to have other matters that need attending to." Sasuke motioned his head toward the unconscious form of another academy teacher laying not too far from Naruto's feet.

"Meet me at the gate in one hour." Sasuke added, turning back towards Naruto. "Only bring that scroll and whatever else you can carry on you, in other words, nothing to hard to travel with." Naruto nodded with a wide smile. Thoughts of not having to deal with the villagers anymore swam in his head. He would be free.

The two genin stood at the gate to Konoha. As they each checked through their supplies one last time, a familiar voice called to them.

"Sasuke!" the pink-haired girl known as Sakura yelled as she raced toward them, waving a hand in the air. "Good thing I showed up an hour early or you would have left without me." she said between breaths, finally having caught up with the two.

Sasuke mentally cursed. This girl was smarter than he gave her credit for. It wasn't until then that she noticed the blonde boy standing next to Sasuke. "What's he doing here?!"

"He's leaving the village with me. Hope you don't mind…" He made sure the last words had sounded as sarcastic as he could make them, in hopes she would stay in Konoha.

"Of course she won't mind." stated Naruto happily, "She would miss me if I didn't come, right Sakura-chan?" This received him a knock on the head from Sakura, and a look from Sasuke that seemed to ask 'Are you really that dumb?'.

It was morning in Konoha. The hokage sat in his office. He had just been informed by Iruka of the conversation the boys had the previous night. He had never intended to punish the boy, but that didn't matter now, he was gone, and he had taken the scroll with him.

"Hokage-sama." A voice interrupted his thoughts as he look up at one of the jounin he had told about the situation. "I think they should now be classified a missing-nins. Once they are, we can send out a team to bring them back to Konoha."

"No." the old man answered, "We can't classify them as missing-nins because they haven't officially become genin yet. They are currently ranked as average citizens, which have the right to come and go as they please. We have no authority to bring them back to the village." With that settled, he brought up another question. "Have you contacted their families?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. As you know, the Uchiha and that kid didn't have families, but the girl's parents have been notified. They were very upset to hear the news, but more so to hear who was with her."

At this moment, a young child rushed into the room, shuriken in hand, and charged toward the Hokage. Halfway there, he tripped on a long blue scarf that hung from his neck, and fell flat on his face. He got to his feet, angry and embarrassed, and rushed out of the room, another assassination attempt foiled.

The two in the room paid no attention to this whatsoever, and continued discussing the subject at hand.

A young girl walked through the streets of Konoha. That morning she was headed for the academy, for an orientation of some sort. Her mind wasn't on he future ninja career, though. She was thinking sadly of the boy who had failed the academy test. As badly as she wanted him to succeed, his dream had been crushed once again as he was denied being a ninja. She was pulled from her thoughts by a conversation she overheard between two jounin.

"Did you hear? That kid finally left, you know the annoying blonde one?" one of them said, carefully choosing his words in an open place such as the street. "He's gone?" the other asked, not a trace of sadness in his voice. "Yeah, he left the village last night through the west gate. By the looks of it, he won't be coming back."

Hinata's heart fell. He was gone. The boy she loved had left and she would never see him again. She would never get to tell him how she feels. Naruto-kun…Why did you leave me? What will I do? I can't live without you! Why didn't you take me with you?

She stopped. That was the answer! If Naruto-kun wasn't here, why should she be? She would be with him no matter the cost. She turned and headed back to her house to gather he things. She had no time to lose if she was going to catch up to him.

"Team 7…" the tired chunnin said as he looked at the room full of academy graduates, "will be consist of…" his eyes seem to skip a few lines on the paper he was holding, and a sad look flashed across his face before he continued. "Inuzuka Kiba, Shino Aburame, and…" He glanced up to the shy girl's seat, but she wasn't there. This wasn't like her. She was never late to an important event such as this, unless… Realization hit him. This wasn't good, she must of heard that Naruto left the village. He would need to talk to Hokage-sama when he was finished calling out teams.

"Ahem, due to an odd number of ninjas this year, you will be assigned a third team member shortly. Team 8…"

Kiba knew exactly what was going on. There were exactly thirty students before the academy test. But that Naruto kid hadn't passed, just like he thought, and now there was one less person to form teams with. He was upset at not having a full team because of that idiot, but still glad he failed. By the looks of things, his team would have been the one to have Naruto on it.

It was noon by the time they awoke. They had spent all night traveling, and were still fairly close to Konoha. The tent Sasuke brought was a large one he found somewhere in the Uchiha house. Sasuke slept at one end of the tent, and Sakura was at the other. She didn't like it this way, but Sasuke had insisted on Naruto sleeping between the two, so she had no choice but sleeping at the far end.

Sasuke was the first one awake, who woke Naruto up next. He was proving to be an effective shield against the annoying fan girl. Sasuke was now glad he brought him along, the scroll was just a bonus compared to his ability to repel Sakura.

After the ten minutes it took to wake Naruto up, they each rolled up their sleeping bags. As Naruto went to wake up Sakura with as much noise as he usually used, Sasuke stepped out of the tent to survey the surroundings.

There was a log on the ground that they had used as a bench, and circle of stones surrounding a pit of ash and glowing embers. Scattered around the fire were fish bones and an empty cup of instant ramen.

Hinata raced through the forest, hoping that Naruto had stopped for the night to rest. If he didn't, it would take a long time for her to catch him and she was already tired out from hours of running.

A loud scream caught her attention. It wasn't a scream of fear, it sounded more angry with a bit of surprise. She changed course slightly to head toward the scream, hoping whoever it was might have seen Naruto-kun.

As she came upon what appeared to be a campsite, she saw a figure standing outside the tent, but it was facing away from her, and she was too tired to see who it was from such a distance.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked, causing the figure to turn toward her. It didn't answer. Instead it stuck its head inside the tent.

What Sasuke saw was Naruto, being strangled to death by what he assumed was Sakura. Her hair was extremely messy compared to her usual appearance at the academy. Her clothes were wrinkled and dirty, but what made her so different from the girl he knew was the face. It was a face like a demon's that radiated with killer intent. It…it scared him. He had never seen her angry before, she never acted like this towards him. He almost felt sorry for Naruto, but he had to interrupt her revenge.

"Hey dobe," he said, gaining both their attention and causing Sakura's face to return to her normal calm self, "you have a visitor."

Naruto blinked in confusion, as did Sakura. "What?" Sakura finally asked before Naruto could, "how could he have a visitor in this situation? We abandoned Konoha and are several miles away from the village." Eager to see what Sasuke was talking about, they both stepped out of the tent, with Sasuke in the lead.

When the person had completely entered the tent without a response, the pale-eyed girl approached the campsite, careful to remain at a distance that wouldn't anger the camp's owner. She almost jumped when someone started to step out of the tent. The first thing she noticed about him, was that he wasn't Naruto, but he did look familiar.

"Gomen…" she began, but stopped when another figure stepped out of the tent. This one she knew very well. "N-Naruto-kun!" she said happily as he eyed at her questioningly. "W-Why? Why d-did you leave K-Konoha, Naruto-kun?"

"You're from the academy, Hyuuga Hinata, am I correct?" She nodded to Sasuke's question. "We all have are reasons for leaving the village. What about you? Why did you follow us?"

"I…I h-heard…w-well, I…" Hinata stuttered, resuming her habit of looking down at her fingers as she repeatedly touched her index fingers together.

"It's okay." Sakura said knowingly, "You don't have to say it."

The two boys looked over at Sakura questioningly. Why did she stop her? They wanted to know why she was here!

"Listen you two," Sakura said after noticing Hinata's backpack, "Hinata here is coming with us, and that's final."

"Great!" Naruto said, "Now you just need a codename!" Sakura sweat-dropped; Hinata tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"For the last time," Sasuke replied angrily, "we are not using codenames!"

They had packed up camp and continued traveling shortly after, but Hinata was too tired to go very far. She hadn't got a chance to rest like they had, so they stopped after a few minutes and set up camp again. Hinata tried to apologize for the inconvenience, but Naruto stopped her, saying they could use this time to train. That comment directed Sasuke's attention back to the scroll that Naruto brought.

He opened the scroll as the others gathered around. They were amazed at the amount of high-level jutsu the scroll contained. They each found a lower-level jutsu that they were interested in, and began to clear an area big enough for all of them to train in. The rest of the day would prove to be somewhat chaotic as they each tried to learn a new jutsu…

End of chapter 1

Next chapter: the group attempts to learn new jutsu, which are about chunnin level. Which jutsu did each choose? And will they be able to master them? Other stuff happens too.

I'll try to write the next chapter soon. Please leave a review! Comments, questions, suggestions, and feedback are welcome!