“Where has he gone?”


Sasuke’s voice seemed to fade away as silence dominated the room.


Sasuke had come back from the Village Oto after going through some specialized training there that could only be done there. It was to help improve his fighting skills, and many other skills that would be necessary in any job that he was looking for: fighting. Many were of the opinion that he didn’t need to go, but he didn’t feel like he was competent yet. So, he had come back to Konoha as soon as the course was finished, and had graduated the faculty there with record flying colours.


“Where has he gone?”


Sasuke repeated the question, demeanour dark and ominous. He often glared without intending to, it just seemed to settle on his face. Now however, it was purely intended.


Naruto was gone. He couldn’t be, he was as much a part of Konoha as the century old buildings, and he had told Sasuke himself that he should come back.


‘Bloody hypocrite,’ Sasuke thought darkly as he looked at the four people that were assembled along with him, inside the Hokage’s Tower. This wasn’t how things were supposed to turn out. He was supposed to come back and smirk at Naruto as he showed him all that he had achieved in such a short amount of time. Only, there was no Naruto to show the certificate to, no one to smirk at. His already dark demeanour fell down some more.


“Well, he was going to stay. He didn’t plan on going, if that helps,” Iruka started as he thought back to the offending date.


“But Sasuke, you have no right to be feeling anything remotely resembling anger at the moment. You hadn’t seen how much he missed you, or how hard he worked to afford those postcards and letters he sent. How he saved up enough to go and see you, but was turned away at the gates. You have been gone for three years. Life is different now from what it was, and you didn’t tell him anything, when you would be back, what you were doing, nothing,” Tsunade cut in calmly, eyes icy at the boy who had returned.


“All of his real friends were really upset at the change in Naruto, and so eventually they managed to get him to get over you and your actions. Three years is enough. You can only work part time jobs for so long, and the stuff that the Academy give you isn’t enough to live off. Naruto was doing very badly in regards to income, and wouldn’t take anything from any of us.


“It was a decision that was decided quickly. Gaara came here from Suna, and everything changed quickly. Naruto and Gaara have always had a lot in common, and after a rough start, they have become very close,” Tsunade broke off, with a smile on her face and a gentle sparkle in her eye as she thought of the troublesome boy.


“Where the Hell did he go? What had this got to do with anything? When is he coming back?”


“That’s it, Sasuke. We have no idea if they will be coming back, almost all of the people that you graduated have already gotten jobs, here or around. Naruto and the others that stayed with him have left and didn’t tell us anything, though I don’t think they plan on coming back at all. When Gaara came over, he was on a ship, and he was planning on going out and fighting Pirates and Navy vessels that are breaking the laws.


“When they got onboard that ship, they all became pirates. They wanted to make names for themselves, as they knew that graduating from Konoha Academy wasn’t enough. There isn’t anyone left that graduated with you Sasuke, they have finally all moved on,”


When she finished Tsunade grinned and stood up, as everyone else copied her motion.


Sasuke remained silent.


“You have my permission to leave. You may stay in Konoha or go as you wish. We can’t help you, I’m sorry,” Tsunade continued, the ending rather insincere and everyone knew it.


Sasuke walked slowly and softly towards the door, but paused in the doorway. He turned and looked at the assembled people: Tsunade, Iruka, Kakashi and Jiraiya. His Sharingan flared as he ingrained their faces into his memory.


All four of them shuddered as the Uchiha Family’s specialty ran over. Fear penetrated all of them, even Tsunade who was the Hokage. Sasuke had changed a lot during his time in Oto, and they all wondered just how much about him had changed. He had discarded white and blue for black, and two swords were strapped to his back.


He left.


He didn’t say anything since Tsunade had explained everything to him. The silence affected them more than anything else could have. They stood standing long after the door was shut, silence completely unbroken since the boy had left.


For all their experience, they had no idea what to say. They definantly didn’t know what to do.






Sasuke stormed out of the tower and didn’t look back once. He picked up all his gear, which was enough to comfortably carry and immediately left Konoha City. Crowds of people parted and gave the boy a wide berth, simply for the feelings that covered him like a blanket. It would make soldiers shiver in their beds.

Sasuke exited the gate even at the late hour and continued down the path that he had come from, but turning towards a different direction at the crossroads.


‘We don’t know when he’s coming back…I don’t think they plan on coming back at all…they have all finally moved on,’ Tsunade’s words were broken down into unmanageable parts that echoed inside his head like an empty mausoleum.

‘When they got onboard that ship, they all became pirates,’


Sasuke headed towards the sea with former thoughts of the past gone.


The past wouldn’t ever come into the present or the future; they were separated because of this. He was a fool to believe that things would just happen of their own accord, those things – Situations and circumstances wouldn’t change.


Sasuke quickened his pace, a foreboding expression on his face, even in the dim light.


To the Sea. Pirates huh? His Family always prided themselves on being able to adapt, didn’t they? He would find him no matter where he went. He would beat him on any terrain: that was the nature of true, dark rivalry, though their bond went a little deeper than that.


Gaara. Tsunade. Iruka. Kakashi. Jiraiya. Sasuke had his list of people, and he knew it would get longer. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. A challenge, at last. This was were it all started. This was were childhood, however obtuse, finished. This was were real life began; this was what he had trained for.


Sasuke looked out along the dark road and laughed.

Naruto leant against the wooden rail and sighed blissfully as he looked out across the sea. It never stopped on one shade, light never hit it at the same place twice, and the creatures in its care always moved. You could look at it for hours.


“You in love with the sea still?”


Naruto jerked himself out of his thoughts and grinned at the sight that greeted him. Gaara.


“Like you and the Sun, huh?” Naruto teased.

Gaara was red. Fully red, almost like a lobster, no wait, a tomato, anyway his skin was the same colour as his hair. Prolonged exposure to the sun had made his skin, normally pale, go red and start peeling like crazy.


Gaara gave him a calm look.


“Not all of us are blessed with your skin Naruto. Is your brain fried by the sun, or is it just a gradual thing?” Gaara mused thoughtfully, pretending to ponder the question. His green eyes sparkled a little bit, before flashing quiet.


“Nah, it’s a Sea thing, I reckon,” Naruto went quiet, refusing to rise to the bait. He was peaceful now, and didn’t want to part from his current state.


True to everyone’s words, Naruto’s skin had gone a darker shade of gold, kind of like a caramel, or a Café Latte. His hair still remained a shocking blonde, though a lighter tone, but his body and spirit remained the same as ever.


“Approaching land,”


The voice of the man on the helm carried out across the deck and everyone immediately turned to look at where he was pointing.


Sure enough, not far away lay land, Port Quelsane to be precise. Their Ship, named Quelled Star by the unanimous vote, had left Konoha over three months ago, and the crew had fought many navy and Pirate vessels in that period of time.


The crew? Well: Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba (of course), Temari, Neji, Ten Ten, Sai, Kankurou, Gaara, Naruto, Shino, Lee.


Sakura had stayed on at Konoha to be with Tsunade, and hadn’t finished training yet, so none of the crew had let her come, but said they would reconsider after she’d finished, if she could find them and still wanted to.


Hinata had stayed for the family duties. Neji had come with the to give her room to grow. In another three months Hinata would try and find them, and if she could, she could stay, but she had a duty to her family.


“Shouldn’t you stay and teach her, Neji?” Naruto asked the question out loud, when Neji said that he was coming.


“I can’t teach her anymore,” Neji stared out the window, watching the clouds form shapers, “I cannot help her anymore, for a month it has been her, and she must do the rest herself. I have resigned from my post, just like the rest of you. I want to learn more, it would be nice to go against destiny for a bit,”
Twelve. That was their crew in number. To say it was hard work would be like saying Naruto was only partial to Ramen. Yeah, that much.


Living together for three months straight was also a trial, though you got to know each other pretty well. Now, however, everyone was looking forward to a break.


“Yatta!!!! I’ll be free of you guys!!” Naruto jumped for joy, shouting and laughing, and grinning like only he could before Kiba hit him in the head.


“OW!! What was that for Dog-breathe?”


“Can’t wait to be free of you either, Blondie,” Kiba glared at him, as they both started to bicker.


Ino stretched as she came out of the cabin and stood next to Neji, who manned the helm and Shikamaru, who were both watching Kiba and Naruto fight in boredom.


“It will be nice to be out of each other’s hair for a while though, and we need to replenish our supplies,” Ino commented casually, as she lent against the rail.


“I would also like a proper bath, and to get some new clothes. It’ll be risky, we might be spotted,” Neji picked at his tattered clothes absently, while he continued to steer the ship its course. While they all used Jutsu’s to turn some of the salty seawater into fresh for showers and drinks, it wouldn’t beat actual fresh water


“It’ll be troublesome,” Shikamaru stretched lazily as well, before settling into a comfortable position, “But it will be worth it, I think. We reserve a break,”


“It’ll be nice,” Ino grumbled, “Much as I like you guys, no offence but you got sick of seeing someone so much,”


Shikamaru arched an eyebrow at her, to which she replied, “Though yes, Shikamaru, you are an exception, I guess…”


He glared at her as she drew that last bit out, and pretended to think too much on it.


The rest of the crew filed out, as Gaara came up to the helm and announced their plans again.


“Okay, we are going to anchor the ship at a bay 3 kilometres south-west of the port. We are going to use Jutsu to get there fast, and to shield the ship from prying eyes. I’m sure you all won’t object, because we all want to get there as soon as we can, but we have to be cautious.


“We are going to disguise ourselves so that we won’t be noticed, and we are all meeting up in a called The Siren’s Howl in case you get lost. Any questions?”


Everyone was silent.


“Let’s get to it then guys!! Come on, I can’t wait to see the back of you,” Naruto grinned as all the crew started working on the sails, to speed there journey.


“Oh, and guys, we will be there for a month. We will leave exactly a month from when we arrive, so if you are not on the ship, we’ll just have to presume that you guys don’t want to continue with us,” Naruto looked around at everyone.


“Which is fine. At this Port, you can teleport back to Konoha, if you want. So just so you know, we don’t want anyone here that doesn’t want to be here because from here on it will be a rough ride, because Gaara and I are making plans. We’ll tell everyone them once we get to The Siren’s Howl. From then on, it’s your decision. We’ll stick to our dates,” Naruto finished.


Everyone was quiet, but Kiba hit him over the head as he cast his Jutsu at the sails.


“We’ll deal with that shit when we get there, Blondie, but we get your message. Now lets get our asses to dry land,” Kiba growled, but grinned at him as Akamaru barked in agreement.


Gaara surveyed the crew, and exited the deck going to his room, and pulled his journal out, beginning to account the day’s events. Beside it was a large map, with two colours: White and red. White, for the course that they had already taken, with flags along it that marked where they had had fights, and with who and the outcome.


The red moved far away, into explored territory. It was the path he and Naruto had planned on taking. The red line moved across the map like a snake and it glared up at him with baleful eyes as its head rested on the location that the ultimately were headed for.


Naruto heaved as he pulled up the back-up sail. He had stripped of his shirt, and his muscles strained as he pulled the enormous weight on his own. While he was doing that, h was also channelling his chakra to the sail, and part of it, along with Neji’s and Gaara’s, was going to shielding the ship from physical and other influences.


He watched as the others began to pack all of their belongings, and Ino began to make a list for Lee and Shino to gather, the supplies for the Quelled Star while Shikamaru was helping Neji get the disguises ready.







Sasuke pulled his blade viciously out of the body, and let it slide uselessly to the floor. Despite how useful he had been, and how interesting an opponent, he had recognized Sasuke, and was therefore a threat.


Sasuke looked down at the man and knew he should feel remorse, but…it was a weakness. That was what he had been trained to think.


The man looked like he was asleep, now that his eyes were shut. Sasuke left him there to be found.


He continued to walk out of the shed, and left it exactly as it was except for the body in the middle of the barn. He walked down towards the house, and quietly entered the man’s room through the open window.


‘For an Ex-Nin, he sure is very careless,’ Sasuke thought quietly, as he carelessly opened the drawer next to the man’s desk. He pulled out the said drawer and tipped the contents onto the bed, scrambling through them quickly, before he found it.


It was an album, and he quickly flipped to a page with a picture of a group of people that had moved into a house called The Siren’s Howl, which they had rented out. He scanned the faces, and immediately his hands shook a little.


‘No way,’ Sasuke thought rationalising it all, ‘this is too easy. It must be wrong. They are Ex-ANBU, some of them anyway. Surely it can’t be this easy, it might be a decoy,’


Then Sasuke let his eyes fall to the face in the middle of the picture. His head was tilted as he had an arm wrapped around the boy to his left, and even through the disguise, the black hair, and the concealed tattoo was Gaara, and he recognized each and every one of them.


Gaara. He was on his hit list already. His face was what drew Sasuke’s attention though, or more specifically, his expression: he was smiling; just a faint tilt of the lips, but it was there, along with a softening around his eyes. Sasuke almost threw the book across the room in anger, but he forced himself to continue studying it. It was the exact same expression he had caught himself using a while ago.


Next to Naruto, on the other side, was Kiba. He had Akamaru next to him, concealed into a Jutsu of a smaller, more vicious looking dog. He was laughing with Naruto, probably at some joke he had made. Lee was waving his arms around madly on the other side of Kiba, clearly involved as well. Neji was on the other side of Gaara, and was talking to Shino, who, surprisingly, had his glasses off. Next to Shino was Shikamaru, who was blushing a little.


Ino was giving Shikamaru a seductive look, as she draped her arm around him. Temari was grinning at the pair, but looking at Ten Ten, in a conversation with Kankurou. Sai was between Kankurou and Lee, and was saying something to Ino and Shikamaru. ‘Rude, probably’ Sasuke reminisced.

Sasuke puled out the entire photo’s that had Naruto and his crew in them and stuffed them in his pockets, before picking up two books that were on the desk. He ran out of the house and down the street to where his men were waiting.


The street was empty at the late hour, which was good, because it meant that they didn’t have to restrict their movements. Sasuke halted just in front of them and selected 5, motioning them forwards.


“You five will go to The Siren’s Howl and scout the place out. Come back to me with a floor plan and observations of 24 hours. You others may return to the hideout. I have other things to do,” Sasuke ordered.


His men dispersed quickly, following his orders exactly.


Sasuke walked quietly down the empty street and pulled his cloak tight around him.


Sasuke took a deep breath of fresh air and released it, as he continued his path towards his own house that he was renting. He tilted his head back and laughed, loud and free, full of abandon.


Everyone who heard it dismissed it as a child playing out on the streets.


What they didn’t know was that the boy was 18, and holding a sword dripping with blood, fresh and sinister. They didn’t hear the insane tilt, because Sasuke was in his lounge room before it became too noticeable.


He threw himself on the bed and drew out a thick, heavy book and put it on the nearby desk. Sasuke just lay on his bed, laughing softly, as he traced patterns into the quilt. He drew one of the photo’s out of his pocket and let his eyes whisper over it, red memorising the photo easily.


“Naruto Uzumaki,”


“Dobe,”


The two phrases that had once been similar in tone and with a similar, slightly positive facial expression where now worlds apart. Where once they insult had been a term of endearment, it was now changed it be accompanied with a much darker tone.


“Dobe,”




Naruto dragged his feet along the ground and moaned.


“Why did we have to come?” He whined. He was sore and tired from last night, with a bitch of a hangover. They had gone out that night, and they were still all expected to come along on this little expedition.


“Because they are your clothes. We thought it would be nice if you got an opinion on them,” Temari replied, snickering a little at the expression’s on all the guys faces.


“Yeah, but its not like it matters anyway. You buy what you want, you don’t really care what we think,” Kiba grumbled, surveying the market.


“Yeah, but we like to give you the impression that it matters,” Ino grinned back, swinging her arms as she walked, a little bounce in her step.


“More like you want to use us as pack horses…” Naruto and Kiba jibed simultaneously before laughing at each other.


Ino, Temari and Ten Ten just grinned back, not denying the truth in their words.


“Troublesome,” Shikamaru sighed, as the boys were at last allowed freedom to go eat while the girls finished up.


Naruto looked out across the courtyard and shut his eyes, tired from a whole days worth of walking. He let the air run along his skin when he felt Neji nudge him in the stomach.


“What?” Naruto grumbled, “Can’t you let a guy sl-“


“We are being watched,” Neji cut him off quickly.


Naruto slowly looked out across the crowd. There. He picked out Fifteen people, shielding their chakra, all of them suspicious looking. They had surrounded them.


“Troublesome,” Shikamaru rolled his eyes.


“To the max,” Kiba added.


“Guess we just have to move this elsewhere,” Shikamaru signed Ino, telling them the situation, and that they would draw them off to a place where they could fight freely.


The boys immediately took off, sprinting out towards the abandoned wharf. Sure enough, their watchers followed, and kept pace with them, and they came to a stop in front off an abandoned warehouse, and turned to face their pursuers.


Naruto and his friends all drew their weapons, when they saw the enemy do so, and they all stood in a clump together. The enemy surrounded them in a perfect circle, and the fight began.


It would have turned out that Naruto and his friends would win, if another fifteen guys turned up and took up their friend’s positions.

“Kusou, Can’t they just give up!” Kiba swore.


Naruto looked around. They were in trouble. It was already midday, and they had started fighting at nine o’clock. They were all exhausted, and there was no way that this could continue.


Then it happened. One of them broke through, on the left side.


Everyone was forced to run, as Gaara broke through their circle in the exact same moment.


Everything was in slow motion, Naruto could see Gaara lead the breakthrough, and he could see all of his crew make it out, as the attackers started closing in. He knew he was last, and just as he saw Shikamaru, who was just in front of him, turn back to look at him, he felt a hand grab his jacket, and another one seal a cloth around his mouth.


From then on, everything went black.


All he heard was someone shouting at him, and someone laughing.


The last thing he noted was that it was a really weird laugh. Psychotic weird, not abnormal weird.