Confrontation - 5

The following day troops of anxious fans, shinobi, gamblers and local lords piled into the athletics stadium at the center of the village, eager for the highlighted matches of the final rounds of the Chunin Exam. It was only early morning, however, and none of the participants had yet arrived.

Naruto was seated at Ichiraku Ramen enjoying his breakfast by himself. Ayame had been troubled when neither of his friends had been with him.

"Tell me about it!" The blonde groaned at her, exasperated, "Haku-kun tells me he'll see me in a little while and then he just totally disappears! I don't even know where the heck Gaara-kun is and-!"

To his surprise, Gaara walked in at that very moment. At the sight of him, Ayame hurried to fetch him something to eat. He took a seat beside Naruto silently while the boy blinked at him curiously. He looked nothing short of atrocious. It had been a while since Naruto had ever witnessed his friend in such a state of dishevelment.

Gaara rubbed his temples absently, and Naruto did briefly wonder what could possibly be ailing him just a short time before the final rounds.

The red haired boy spoke in a low voice, "…where is Jiraiya-sensei?"

"He went off again peeping before I could talk to him yesterday, that pervvy bastard!" Naruto glowered at the thought, "Are you okay, Gaara-kun? You didn't come home last night. Where were you?"

Gaara knew there was no way he could fully explain what had happened. He had combed the majority of Konoha just looking for their jounin instructor, and had found no sign of him that night. The rest of the time that had spanned between then and the current moment were intervals of searching and resting, with the fierce policy of not drifting to sleep.

In short, it had been a nightmare.

His body was not used to a lack of rest at present, and his energy reserves were waning after the long night he had spent keeping Shukaku at bay. Gaara stared at Naruto for a moment, wondering if he'd be able to take all of the news in at one sitting. So he decided to just sum it up, which would be just as effective.

"My seal has been malfunctioning." Gaara admitted quietly, not wanting Ayame to overhear as she hovered nearby, 'As if she'd even understand…' He scoffed in his own mind.

Naruto said nothing for a minute. His eyes narrowed in understanding, and at the time he hadn't even bothered asking what exactly had gone wrong. He was fully aware of what toils Gaara had been enduring, and feared them nearly as much as his friend himself.

"How are we gonna find him then?" Naruto hissed as Ayame offered Gaara a bowl of steaming ramen, on the house, "The exam starts in an hour!"

Gaara tried to think of a solution but he could think of nothing. From here on, he knew, only luck could draw in the elusive sage, "If he's anywhere, chances are he'll end up at the stadium. We'll look there first."

Naruto pushed his bowl nearer to his friend, "Right, now eat something! Maybe it'll perk you up if have something in your stomach."

Highly doubtful that it would help, Gaara started slurping down the noodles.

*

Shortly after they set out together and Gaara looked no better than he had earlier.

The stadium, to Naruto's amazement, was nearly packed to capacity. The many people in the audience that would be watching only added to the pressure of the current situation.

Naruto scratched his head, distressed, "I think Haku-kun's gone missing…I lost track of him this morning."

Gaara only gave him a sideways glance at the news. Even if Haku was one of his least favorite people at the moment, he couldn't help but wonder if Orochimaru may have had something to do with it. He decided it would be better not to alarm Naruto and see how things worked out.

Haku was fairly reliable. He wouldn't let himself be victimized too easily, and Gaara figured that he would be relatively safe with so many people suddenly occupying Konoha.

"I can't believe what nasty luck we've got today…" Naruto grumbled, folding his arms, "First your seal, now Haku-kun. What else can go wrong?"

"It would be better not to explore that," Gaara said bluntly, and nodded his head towards the entrance of the stadium, "Hinata's team is here."

Naruto's eyes brightened, "Great! Let's go!" He ran ahead to meet up with the Hyuga girl and her teammates and Gaara followed slowly behind, searching for signs of his brother and sister.

"Have you guys happened to see Ero-sensei or Haku-kun by any chance?" Was Naruto's opening line and Hinata gave him a small smile as he and Gaara approached.

"If by that you meant your instructor and teammate, then no, we haven't." Shino answered. He never had understood why Naruto and his team so often addressed their mentor informally.

The blonde boy scratched his head, frustrated, "Hm, didn't think so."

Sato stood beside Hinata with his hands busied in his jacket pockets. He observed Gaara with a skeptical look for a long moment and then chuckled, "Wow, you look like shit, Gaara-kun…hey! Maybe I'll actually beat you!"

Gaara answered him with a noncommittal glare that lacked its normal threat. He seriously doubted that his opponent could even come close to such a goal. The silver haired boy looked hopeful though, as if he had some sort of half-baked plan he intended to use.

The redhead snorted at the thought and turned his gaze to Hinata, who was quietly scolding Sato for his rudeness.

Naruto was still distracted with other issues, "Look this is important, if we don't find Ero-sensei soon…" He gave a short glance to Gaara, "Gaara-kun won't be able to fight!"

Gaara gave him an annoyed look. Things weren't that serious, in his opinion. Sato, in contrast, looked relived in that moment.

"We'll help you." Hinata said encouragingly.

Sato turned to her, whining, "Sunshine, please…this is my golden opportunity!"

Shino overrode him, "We'll split up and meet back here."

Upset that he couldn't have been given a free win even by his own teammates; Sato trudged after Shino in aggravation, heading towards the East wing. Hinata stayed behind with Naruto and Gaara at the blonde boy's request. Her Byakugan would certainly come in handy.

They headed in the opposite direction of their auxiliary and headed up to the second level. Their searching persisted for a long while, and at one point, Naruto had nearly mistaken someone he spotted in the crowd for Haku.

Hinata corrected him that it was actually Tama, grinning and talking to other members of the audience excitedly. She was eager to see Sato's match. Gaara frowned at the information. He wouldn't delight in crushing her fiancée in front of her, but it couldn't be avoided.

While traversing the upper level Hinata noticed, much to her fright, her father and sister entering the stands. She stifled a small whimper. She had been expecting them to arrive so they could watch Neji's match, though the sight of them made her spine go rigid.

Hinata glanced towards Naruto; glad he hadn't yet seen them. He was muttering something to Gaara in annoyance and her eyes scanned along a nearby stairwell. She was afraid, but not mainly for Naruto, she knew well that he was more than prepared to face her cousin.

Her thoughts probed into the future, and what the results of the match would be. It also worried her of what an uproar the rest of the Main Branch would be in if Neji became a Chunin under such circumstances.

'Naruto-kun…please, don't ever doubt that you're strong enough. Neji-niisan needs to learn that he has to think of others.' Hinata looked to Naruto again as he was asking an ANBU guard if he had happened to see his missing teammate, 'You've helped him once...you can do it again.'

Finally, Naruto turned to her, motioning to Gaara to come down from his perch on a nearby rail. He looked to her and his eyes spoke of frustration.

"Hinata-chan, we'll keep looking, but you better go back and tell Sato and Shino," He sighed and then said, "It's kind of my fault that Haku's missing. Don't worry, okay?"

She shook her head weakly, "There's still time…"

"No, there isn't," Gaara's voice softened at the sight of her troubled expression, "Go now. If he isn't found by the end of Naruto's match, then I will keep looking until my own fight."

"I'll tell them." Hinata nodded, her pearly eyes narrowed slightly. She had a fervent urge to hug Naruto right there, even with Gaara watching, but relented after seeing that he was upset and anxious. She knew it would mean less to him than it would if he was merely uneasy and looking for reassurance.

Naruto noted her stare and felt his face heat up, 'Does she think I'm totally pathetic for letting Haku-kun disappear?' It didn't look like it. She'd stuck with him this far and she'd been great. Now he had to take matters in to his own hands

"Good luck, Naruto-kun..." Her voice was quiet and sweet and she then waved goodbye to Gaara before leaving, appearing very nervous.

Naruto watched her disappear down the stairs before turning to his remaining friend, his face grave, "Listen, if we can't find Ero-sensei and the matches start, I think you should withdraw."

"I have no reason to," Gaara folded his arms, quite insulted, "He's no threat. I'll defeat him quickly." And anyone else he would be pitted against, his mind added, though he wasn't very certain how he would react if he had to fight Naruto.

"This isn't about that!" Naruto's voice was something akin to a bark, "Sometimes you lose your cool in fights! I've seen it! This isn't the place for that."

Briefly, Gaara recalled the massacre he was responsible for on the bridge in the Land of Waves. His memory was still terribly foggy on the event, but the killing that had ensued was still prominent.