161 The Flight - 7

The following morning Naruto's frantic cries woke Gaara up. The red haired boy tossed his blanket aside and rolled out of bed sleepily. He stepped outside of his bedroom to see what had the blonde boy in such a tizzy.

Naruto ignored the fact that Gaara was shirtless, once again, "He's not back yet!"

"Nm…what?"

"Haku-kun! Remember last night we got home and he didn't show, and you said he'd probably be turning in late or something?" Naruto reminded him, "Well he never got back! I checked his room and everything! There's no reason for him not to come home…something's wrong."

Gaara stared at him for a long moment. Suddenly Naruto's panic was beginning to rub off on him. Not because he had made such a fuss, but because something was genuinely out of place. Haku had assured them he'd be back before midnight and now, at seven in the morning, there was still no sign of him.

"If there's trouble then we'll have to tell Tsunade-sama first before we go look for him," The red haired boy began to dress quickly, "Bring some weapons with you. I think we'll need them."

*

At the Hokage's office they were surprised to find that Tsunade was also up quite early (for her, at least) and had her office bustling with ninja coming and going, all awaiting orders.

Naruto was certain by the expression on her face something was already very wrong and it had nothing to do with Haku.

"Can I help you boys?" She didn't try to hide the bottle of sake on her desk. Her nerves were shot.

"Haku's gone." Naruto replied quickly, "He didn't come home last night!"

She sighed, rubbing her throbbing temples, "I was afraid of this after I'd looked over the reports," Noting their confused faces she decided to elaborate, "I think you two would like to know that I've received intelligence that Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura have also disappeared, and have been filed as nukenin."

Naruto's mouth hung open in shock in response to the news.

"Since these cases are related I suppose it'd suffice to say that Haku has also fled from Konoha, as they have," Tsunade concluded darkly, "Orochimaru is responsible for this, and that being the case, I've sent as many teams out to search as possible…but right now Konoha's short on man-power so it's unfortunate that something like this had to happen now."

Naruto wasn't listening to her, though. He was watching Gaara walk back to the office door, silent as a ghost, knowing that the mere mentioning of Sakura in danger was enough to mobilize him, "Wait, Gaara! You can't just-!"

He watched his sand obscure him from view and then disappear, much to his disgruntlement. Naruto was about to give chase to his rash friend before Tsunade called to him, "Hold it right there, Naruto! I can't afford to lose any more shinobi at the moment!"

"But if he goes out there on his own then he might-"

"Let him go for now. I think he'd be more helpful searching on his own anyway." The Godaime overrode him, "For now I need you here. You're close to Sakura and Haku so I need you to tell me what you can about-"

"It doesn't make any sense!" Naruto answered immediately, "I don't see how they'd leave like this! It isn't something they'd do! Maybe they were forced to, or…something! I don't know."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "As the case may be the odds are stacked against them. There was no evidence of a struggle that was discovered, Naruto. They left of their own free will."

The blonde boy shut his eyes, refusing to open them until the door opened again and Shikamaru entered. The chunin vest he wore had greatly changed his appearance, "You sent for me, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade briefed him on the situation as she had with Naruto, all the while the Kyuubi container remained quiet, trying to calm himself down.

"This sort of mission should only be handled by chunin and jounin…" Shikamaru pointed out.

"I know. This is not something I'd normally ask and I'm sorry to say there are no more available ninja at this time I can send on this mission. I want you to collect as many shinobi as you can in 30 minutes and organize a search for Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Haku, understood, Shikamaru?" Tsunade wrapped up the mission briefing, "I know it's a lot to ask of a freshly-promoted chunin but I was out of options."

Shikamaru's face offered little by way of expression but he took the task appointed to him very seriously, "Understood, Tsunade-sama. After I've picked my team we can leave immediately?"

"Yes, and try to be quick about it, since you have your first team member standing right beside you." Tsunade answered and Shikamaru glanced over to Naruto, surprised that he had remained silent the entire time, "Dismissed!"

*

"You want Chouji to come with us?" Naruto inquired as they walked down the street, near the Akimichi's residence, "Are you sure that's a good idea if Ino isn't around for you two?"

"Of course. Besides, he's more reliable than Gaara, I'd say," Shikamaru replied and the blonde boy scowled, "Maybe if he had waited up he'd be helping us out, huh?"

"He was worried…" Naruto said feebly but knew that the Nara had a point.

He watched curiously as Shikamaru opened a bag of chips and began munching, not going any nearer to the house. He offered Naruto to help himself so he didn't bother to argue, though he did ask, "Aren't you going to see if Chouji's home?"

"I am. He'll come out-"

Rather abruptly Chouji had rushed up to them (Naruto had never seen him move so fast) and snatched the chip from Shikamaru's hand, claiming it for himself. After a moment's pause the Nara finished his sentence, "-when he sees this is the last one."

Naruto wore a baffled look and Chouji shrugged, "The last chip is always the best."

He left it at that and followed Shikamaru and Naruto as they walked.

Shikamaru briefed Chouji in on the details of the mission and he immediately agreed to join, most especially since Shikamaru was the one leading the team. After a short walk down the next street over Kiba seemed to meet them head-on, looking frantic.

Akamaru whimpered from his place nestled in the Inuzuka's coat. Kiba stopped in front of Shikamaru, anxiety clearly visible on his face, "Tsunade-sama told me already! I'm definitely going!"

Suddenly Naruto understood Kiba's plight, 'Man! He must be having a bad day right now! His team just up and left him! Sasuke and Sakura…I can't imagine what Kiba's feeling. Well, sort of…but I know Haku-kun would never abandon us! He isn't like that!'

Naruto kept his thoughts to himself, understanding that now Kiba didn't want anyone's sympathy; he wanted to retrieve his teammates before tragedy struck.

Kiba was also helpful to Shikamaru in that he knew who was and wasn't available, "Shino is on a mission with his dad and Sato may have taken a mission to secure the borders of the village, so he could be anywhere…"

"We don't have time to waste," Shikamaru would've liked to have had Shino or Sato's tracking skills on hand to support Kiba, but they couldn't afford to go look for them, "How about Gai's team?"

Their search brought them to the Hyuga compound where they were lucky enough to spot Neji. They neared the porch he was resting on with his cousin and Shikamaru again described the mission they were entrusted with.

"I will do what I can." Neji agreed, standing and giving a long look to Naruto, sensing his immense worry over Haku.

"And Lee and Tenten? Where are they?" Shikamaru was not pleased to hear that they were still due to return from a mission in Tanzaku Quarter, only another delay, "Fine then, this team will do…"

"I…I wish to go as well!" Hinata stood up and raised her voice, determined to help them in their endeavor.

"This is a no-girls sort of mission, Hinata…"

"Then how come you wanted Tenten to come along, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked in a whisper.

"Skills like hers hardly make her anything like a girl. She practically is a boy, the way she fights!" Shikamaru was silenced by a very, very aggravated glare from Neji, and he admitted that he wasn't being completely fair to Hinata.

"Hinata-chan should come with us!" Naruto protested against Shikamaru's hesitation, "She can help track them down just as well as Neji can, and her shadow clones will definitely help!"

Neji, unexpectedly so, agreed, "Naruto is right. It would be foolish to leave Hinata-sama behind when we are seeking three fugitives. The more people on the team the better."

Hinata looked to her cousin gratefully and then turned her gaze to Shikamaru, who was scrutinizing her as if he was having an internal argument. After a long moment he sighed, knowing he was outnumbered on the matter, "Fine. She comes. But women can be so troublesome, sometimes…"