"WHY CAN'T YOU HELP ME?"

The yell made its way to the ears of passerbys below.

"BECAUSE I HAVE WORK TO DO!"

Shizune passed the office where the yelling was coming from. She shook her head lightly and decided to come back later. The documents weren't that important anyways.

"NOT LIKE YOU EVER DO ANY OF IT!"

"AS IF YOU WOULD KNOW."

"Am I inturrupting something?" Jiraya poked his head into the office, a grin plastered on his face.

"Not at all, the kid was just leaving." Tsunade glared at Naruto who humphed and walked out the door, brushing past the old sage.

Jiraya turned to Tsunade and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"So how have things been? It seems you've got the village running pretty smoothly as of late." He commented, settling in one of the cushioned chairs by the desk.

Tsunade crossed her arms.

"Save the small talk, Jiraya. You never come here without news, so what is it?" She asked impatiently.

Jiraya chuckled at her frown.

"Straightforward as always, eh? Well you're not wrong. Remember that thing you asked me to help you with a few weeks ago? So it turns out the bird that brings the messages isn't actually a bird. Its just an animated clump of chakra that disappears when the caster wills it to. I couldn't track it like you asked, but I've been watching it. I found out that it always circles over a certain part of the village for a bit prior to disappearing." His eyes shifted to stare out the window.

Tsunade turned to see where he was looking, puzzled.

"The First Conference Hall?" She questioned, receiving a nod. "You mean to say the person who has been trying to communicate with me is spying on the elder's meetings?" She frowned in frustration.

"I don't think so. At least, not for the reason you're thinking. If whoever they are wanted to spy on the Council or elders, they wouldn't be taking the time to send you letters. As I'm sure you're aware, controlling something from a distance without direct contact takes a lot of concentration. I doubt they would take time to do that if they were only aiming to spy on the Conference Hall for a few minutes." Jiraya concluded.

"Then why would they be circling the Hall every time they send a message?" Tsunade asked.

Jiraya shook his head.

"I don't know. My only thought was that maybe they weren't looking at the Hall. They might have been surveying something else." Jiraya shrugged, offering everything he had come up with.

"Alright, thanks for the information. You were a big help, Jiraya." Tsunade thanked with a nod.

"Not a problem. I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious in that area." He stood and turned to head out the door. "I'll be back if anything comes up." He waved and disappeared down the hall.

Tsunade sat at her desk, hands clasped under her chin in concentration.

"If she isn't aiming the Conference Hall, then what was she watching...?" The image of the white haired woman was stuck in her mind. Why had she come to her office? Why does she keep sending messages?

"...who are you...?"

Naruto sighed as he wandered the streets near one of the bigger, more popular training grounds. Hinata was still nowhere in sight.

'She usually isn't late.' He thought, staring up at the clouds that drifted across the bright blue sky. The sun was beaming that day, a rare occurrence for being so close to winter. A few other people were training in the area but they were pretty spread out, enough so that no one needed to worry about getting hit by someone else's shuriken.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata waved as she ran towards him. "S-sorry I'm late! I was talking with Neji-san about something important and I got here as fast as I could." Hinata panted, a little out of breath.

"There you are, don't worry about it! I just got here too." Naruto smiled and pulled her towards a more open area of the training field. "Taijutsu only, right?" He asked. He knew she usually liked to work on her strength and speed.

To his surprise, she shook her head.

"Can we do some ninjutsu too?" She asked hopefully.

"Ninjutsu? Sure!" He grinned. He was always up for a change of pace. They both drew their legs back and got into position, preparing themselves for what they knew was coming.

"Ready," He started.

"Set," She said quietly.

"Go!"

Hinata sprinted forwards as both their hands flew through seal after seal. A clone of Naruto appeared and they jumped in opposite directions. Hinata paused and glanced both ways, quickly making a decision to go left. She caught up to him in no time and held a hand to his back. A blast sounded through the field as Naruto crashed through a large group of thin trees. A path of branches littered the ground with Naruto at the end to them. Both to Hinata's dismay and relief, the boy disappeared with a puff of smoke. She whipped around just in time to dodge a sharpened piece of rock, only to see a blur as a wall of wind crashed into her. She covered her face with her arms and desperately jumped out of the whirlwind without paying attention to where she was going.

Hinata opened her eyes when she felt solid ground under her feet. She scanned the field quickly: no one. The grass was vivid under the midday sun and the orange colored trees lay undisturbed. Just when she was about to start searching for him, a tremble in the ground startled her. She instinctively leapt up, landing on a nearby branch. As she turned she caught a glimpse of someone from the corner of her eye, but when she looked in its direction they were gone.

'Byakugan!' The veins around her eyes dilated as her vision suddenly shifted to white and blue. 'Left!' She jumped away just as a stream of fire shot under her. She saw Naruto's chakra flare and a barrage of small fireballs came flying towards her. She grit her teeth and charged straight towards it. She could feel the heat as she twisted and turned, managing to dodge all of the burning bullets. With a silent sigh of relief, she sprinted towards the outline of Naruto, gathering chakra into her hand. The moment she was close enough, she thrust her hand forward, aiming for his stomach.

Naruto was thrown back with a burst of chakra and crashed into a tall tree. He fell to the ground, landing on his feet with ease.

Wasting no time, he pushed off the ground and crouched on a nearby branch. He looked around to see where Hinata had gone. He couldn't see her but he could feel her chakra, the bit that she had failed to conceal was eminating from one of the branches above him.

A rustling of leaves from that area confirmed his thought and in a second, Hinata came tumbling down from the tree.

Instinctively, he jumped towards her, managing to catch her before she hit the ground.

When they landed, he let go of her and took a step back, examining her for any injuries.

"Are you ok?" He frowned, worried that he had done something to hurt her too badly.

"No, I'm fine! I got tangled in a vine and tripped when I tried to move..." Hinata admitted, blushing in embarrassment.

"Oh, that was me." Naruto said sheepishly.

Hinata looked up curiously.

"I just learned a new jutsu and I wanted to try it out... Guess I should've warned you, huh?" He grinned apologetically, scratching the back of his neck.

"No, it's ok." She shook her head, smiling sweetly.

"How about we take a break? I think it's lunchtime anyways. My treat!" He gave her a thumbs up and a bright grin.

Hinata smiled a nodded lightly.

"Let's go!" He grabbed her hand began running towards the marketplace. Hinata's face flushed nervously as she tried to keep up. .

The two sat next to each other at Icahiraku's ramen, patiently waiting for their food to arrive.

"So, Hinata. Learned any new techniques lately?" Naruto turned to her curiously.

"Um, no, not really. I've just been practicing with Neji and Otou-sama. They said I need to work on my ninjutsu so that's why I wanted to practice that today..." She trailed off, face still a little red.

Naruto grinned.

"I'm happy to train with you anytime." He reminded with a thumbs up.

Hinata glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"Um, Naruto-kun, you said your sensei is traveling right? How are you learning new jutsus?" She inquired softly.

He seemed surprised at her question.

"Oh, she left me a really heavy book filled with all types of jutsus! Its really helpful since I can learn by myself. Though I'm sure I could improve a lot faster if sensei were still here..." He thought aloud. "But she'll be back eventually and I'll get to show her how much I've learned!" He added quickly, eyes gleaming with determination. Hinata stared at him, a curious look on her face. He noticed this and turned to her. "Hm? What's wrong?"

She immediately blushed heavily and averted her gaze.

"N-Nothing! I-I just thought it was great that you're so dedicated to your training. I wish I was as strong as you." She stuttered nervously. Her hand flew to cover her mouth once she realized what she had said, eyes wide with embarrassment.

"Hehe," Naruto chuckled lightheartedly. "That's really nice of you, but I'm not that strong yet. I'll keep training so I can get stronger and I'll be able to become Hokage and protect everyone!" He declared confidently.

Hinata smiled at him and nodded firmly.

'I believe you will.' She thought with an unfamiliar resolve.

"Naruto! Wake up!"

A pillow hit the back of his head. The blonde boy rolled away from his attacker.

"Why're you heeere?" He mummbled sleepily, face buried in his blankets.

"You said you wanted to come with us!" Sakura frowned, arms crossed. "Remember? The mission?"

He groaned and rolled towards the edge of his bed.

"Yea yea, give me a minute." He said, sitting up.

"About time. We'll be by the gate so hurry up." Sakura turned and stepped out of the apartment.

Naruto sighed heavily. Why had he wanted to go on the mission with them?

"To find the Akatsuki." He reminded himself. He took a moment to gather enough energy and jumped out of bed, now fully awake and ready to go.

Once he had dressed and picked up the bag he had packed the day earlier, he walked up to his door and stopped in front of it. He stared at it intensely, preparing himself to go on his first real mission. 'I have to find them.' He unconsciously lifted a hand and rested it on his stomach where the seal lay. 'I have to know.' He turned the knob and stepped outside, quickly making a beeline for the village gates.

"There you are." Kakashi waved as Naruto approached them. "Everyone's here so let's go while its still dark, it'll be a mess for me if Tsunade finds out I let you come." With a nod, Naruto and the three present members of Team 7 silently dashed out of the village under the cover of night.

"Why did he have to come with us again?" Sasuke mummbled. The sun was now high in the sky and they had just crossed the boarder between the lands of Fire and Earth.

Kakashi chuckled at the murderous aura that rolled off the Uchiha. Behind them, Naruto pranced happily, ooing and ahing at everything he saw. His feet carried him left and right, over and around to look at anything that caught his eye.

"He's just excited to see whats outside the village. Give him a break." Kakashi was much less agitated at the boy's unending fascination than his two students. "Besides, Souichi is injured so we can use the extra help." The fourth member of Team 7, Souichi Nara, had hurt his ankle last minute and was subsequently unable to come.

"Shut up!" Sakura yelled for the twentieth time that day.

The blonde came to a halt and apologize sheepishly. No more than five minutes later, though, he was up and running again. It seemed Naruto wasn't too keen on keeping his commentary to himself.

"Ooo! Sakura-chan look at that old building over there!"

"Kakashi-san, when are we gonna get there?"

"Hey Sasuke! That bird's butt looks like your hair!"

"There's a pond over there, can we take a break?"

The two teens sighed and looked to Kakashi for help.

"Sounds good, we've been running for a while anyways. Let's rest for a bit." Kakashi agreed quickly before his two pupils could begin contemplating murder.

"Yay!" Naruto dashed for the small pond and flopped onto the ground once he reached the edge. "Ahh..." He sighed in relaxation, closing his eyes and moving his hands behind his head.

"We should be nearing the area where the Akatsuki were recently seen. We're here right now," Kakashi drew a rough outline of the lands of Fire and Earth in the dirt, then made a small circle near the boarder. "The forest where we think their base is," He drew a line to the north of the circle. "Is located here. It should take no more than four hours to get there." He crossed his arms and leaned back.

"How big is the forest?" Sasuke asked, staring at the map drawn in the dirt.

"We're not entirely sure. There's only ever been two missions to that area and none of them have mapped the forest." Kakashi explained.

Sakura frowned a bit.

"So we don't know how long it'll take to search through it?" She asked.

"Unfortunately. But we've been instructed to look through all of it so that's what we have to do." He sighed. "We should have a few hours of sunlight to search when we get there. They've given us a limit of four days there so we'll have to ration our time or there'll be a rescue team coming f-." A loud snore interrupted him. "-or us."

All heads turned to Naruto who sleeping soundly.

"Tsunade would kill you if she found out he was with us." Sasuke commented distastefully. "This is an A-class mission after all."

The silver haired man sighed.

"He would've kept bugging me if I said no. Besides, you can understand why he wants to come, right?"

The two remained silent, agreeing wordlessly.

"If we find the Akatsuki, we can help him get some kind of closure. However," His voice lowered. "if we do encounter one of them, you two must protect him. He doesn't have the skills you do, he wouldn't be able to defend himself. I'm counting on both of you to make sure he makes it out alive."

A line of trees came into view, they were barren and stood on a ground of fallen leaves.

"We're here."

The songs of birds could be heard throughout the forest, but other than that, it was peacefully quiet.

"We will split up, I'll search the north, you three stick together. Stay on guard." Kakashi instructed swiftly before taking off towards the opposite end of the forest.

"Let's start while its still light out." Sakura stated, turning and beginning to scour around the trees and bushes. There wasn't much to search for, the leafless skeletons wouldn't be able to hide much, not to mention they didn't know what they were really looking for.

By the time the sun set, the three had searched miles and miles of the forest with no luck. They now waited for Kakashi at the designated spot.

"I didn't sense anyone." Said Sasuke as he carried a small stack of branches.

"Neither did I." Sakura agreed, picking up a stack of her own.

Naruto remained silent as he brought the last of the firewood. All of them dropped the branches in a pile and sat around it. Sasuke raised two fingers to his lips and blew a tiny breath, a small stream of fire shot out and touched the pile of branches and twigs, successfully creating a small, bright fire.

"Where do you think Kakashi-san is?" Naruto asked suddenly.

The two others realized this as well: he should have been here by now.

There was a moment of silence.

"He's probably on his way, he's always late anyways." Sasuke dismissed, crossing his arms and leaning back to rest against a tree.

"I hope he's ok." Sakura said worriedly. Both she and Sasuke knew that Kakashi wasn't ever late for regroupings on missions, especially not on ones as important as this.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon." Naruto said in an effort to comfort her.

The three again fell into a silence, each staring at the fire, waiting something to be said.

The sun was nowhere to be seen now. The stars were invisible that night too, covered by clouds; dark and heavy.

The moon was the only light that shone down on them, glowing through the blankets of clouds that drifted and changed through the sky.