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The Canalized River	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 944 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Chapter
Seven: It's about the Uchiha Boy

Again
Naruto did not tell anyone that his last kagebunshin had vanished,
nor what it had seen. He did not want to admit that in spite of his
Jounins' admonitions there had still been some of his shadow clones
around.

They
had returned to scanning the area in teams, that is, everyone would
be teamed with one or two dogs, except for Naruto, who was again with
Yamato and Hinata, because he was the Jinchuuriki and had to be
protected.

It
was all so useless. He knew where they had to go, but he could not
tell. All that remained to him was trying to point them gently to the
correct direction: „I think it is a good idea to look a bit
further to the right!“ or „I have a gut feeling that we
should go South!“

Yamato
did not give in, however, but insisted on scanning the area
systematically as Kakashi had instructed them, and not go straight
into one direction.

Hinata
could sense chakra, and the dog should have picked up Sasuke's scent
by now, but neither of them spoke, and Naruto did not dare ask them.

In
the evening he confided in Sakura.

„You
know, some of my kagebunshin have been around until today.“

„What?
Did our senseis not tell you that this is far too dangerous?“

„They
were around anyway, so why should I dissolve them? And, what I wanted
to say, the last one found Sasuke.“

„He
did?“

„Yes.“

„So
why did you not tell?“

„Because
I don't want another lecture.“

„But
this is important!“

„Maybe.
For me it is. But is it for them?“

„It
is! How can you doubt it?“

„All
this meaningless, thoughtless scanning of the area: check every inch
of the Fire Country, until we have found a trace of him, and if we
don't find him here, then go to the Wind Country, or to the Earth
Country, and continue the search in the same systematic, mindless
way. Even if we were looking for a corpse, this would be really slow,
but Kakashi calls it a plan. We are ninjas, for hell's sake.“

„What
would you have done?“

„I
would have looked for information! Gone to the towns and listened to
rumors! That's how Jiraya does his spying. Sasuke has not tried to
hide the fact that he has killed Orochimaru! He is not trying to keep
himself hidden! And even if it is impossible to find any information
about him, we might find some about Itachi. He's a member of Akatsuki
– there have to be some rumours about him. Why haven't we tried
to infiltrate the bounty stations?“

„I
don't know. Listen, you should speak with Kakashi-sensei about this.“

Naruto
shook his head. „No. We have been extremely fortunate that we
have found him even once – and now, instead of trying to pick
up the trail that we have lost we are returning to our former stupid
way of looking for him!“

Only
while he was speaking he got aware of the full extent of what he was
saying.

„And
why did you tell me about all this?“ Sakura asked. „What
do you want me to do?“

„You
are on your own! The dogs won't ask any questions if you tell them to
go South. Maybe you are lucky and find his scent again.“

„I
will try“, she answered.

They
were not lucky. Sakura did not even get the opportunity to go and
look for Sasuke. Instead their Jounins told them that they were to
interrupt their search and refill their supplies in the next town. It
turned out, however, that the true purpose of this detour was that
Kakashi and Yamato wanted to meet their contactpersons while the
young people did the necessary shopping.

When
in the evening they assembled in the backroom of the inn where they
were staying Kakashi had some announcements for them.

„Jiraya
is in mortal danger. Tsunade has written that he has gone to the rain
country to confront the leader of Akatsuki. He insisted on going
alone, as he, one of the legendary Sannin, was the only one who could
take the risk. She gave in, but after he left she got worried, and
now she is sending us, together with several other teams, to back him
up.“

They
were silent. Naruto was the first to speak.

„So,
what about our search for Sasuke?“

„We
will have to give it up. At least for the moment.“

„You
don't mean that!“

„I
do. You heard it yourself: It's an order from Tsunade.“

„Meaning?“

„That
we have no choice. We are Ninja, we serve Konoha and the Hokage, and
this has to take priority over all our personal aims. We must obey.“

„But
you promised me... you promised me that this time we would bring him
back.“

„Don't
be childish. I have certainly never promised it. No one should
promise such a thing. One can only promise to try.“

„But
we are not even trying any more!“

„You
heard it: It's an order“, Yamato intervened. „No arguing
any more.“

The
boys had made a habit of visiting the girls in their room when they
were not camping outside but staying in some inn. Their senseis
turned a blind eye to it, knowing that besides being elite ninjas
they were still teenagers. They knew as well that not much happened
during these visits, except for some dirty jokes, some flirting and,
if the boys were extremely lucky, for some hugs from Sakura –
in friendship of course; her heart still belonged to Sasuke.

This
time however, when Kiba and Shino had already gone back to their own
room, Naruto stayed behind, pretending he had to follow a call of
nature. Then he returned to the girls' room.

„What's
the matter?“ Sakura asked.

„I
want to talk.“

„Now?“

„Yes.
- I am all confused. I feel dead and numb inside, and at the same
time restless and upset.“

„What
about?“

„Sasuke
of course. Abandoning our search.“

„You
heard it. It's an order from Tsunade. We cannot do anything about
it.“

„But
– how can we give it up?“

„We
have to.“

„Don't
you long for him any more? What about the promise we made to each
other?“

„We
will find him and get him back. Just not now. Helping Jiraya is more
important. Don't you care for him?“

„I
do.“

„He's
in more immediate danger than Sasuke. We will continue our search and
bring him back another time.“

„Yes“,
Naruto answered. „I will go and try to sleep now.“

„Have
a good night!“ Sakura said, reaching out to pat his hair. „We
will help Jiraya and then we will retrieve Sasuke.“

Naruto
took a deep breath after having shut the door to the girls' bedroom.
It had been a mistake.

In
his daydreams about Sakura, in the evenings before falling asleep,
she was all sweet and tender and understanding and wise. She would
listen to him when he tried to explain his chaotic thoughts and
feelings, she would help him find clarity and come to wise decisions,
and after talking, she would draw him into her arms and kiss him
gently and caress his hair and then his cheeks and his neck and his
collarbone, slowly opening his sweater... He did not dare to dream of
her breasts, as he dreamt of Hinata's.

But
neither did he dream of her repeating the exact words of their
Jounins when he came to her for advice.

Be
rational, be sensible. He knew he had to, and still – even
thinking of abandoning their search for Sasuke caused him pain, a
pain as intense as if it had been a real, physical pain.

He
found himself outside the kyuubi's cage.

„Long
time no see“, the demon-fox said.

Indeed
they had not seen each other after the encounter with Sasuke in
Orochimaru's lair. There he had decided not to see the nine-tail
again, but to rely only on his own strength.

„So
what is it this time? Who is causing you pain? Whom shall I kill?“

„No
one. I am not in danger. I don't need you. Go away.“

„But
you are hurting all over.“

„It's
not the kind of wound that you can heal with your chakra.“

„Indeed
not. If you are going to rip out your own heart, no amount of chakra
can make it grow back again. However, I can tell you that it hurts
only for one moment, and after that, you will no longer feel any pain
at all.“

Naruto
did not answer. He wondered what the Kyuubi was trying to tell him.

„It's
about the Uchiha boy, isn't it?“ the demon-fox broke the
silence.

„How
do you know?“

„It's
not that difficult. I live inside you, remember?“

Naruto
sighed. There was no privacy with the nine-tail inside him.

„I
warned the Uchiha boy, and I warn you as well: Don't rip out your own
heart!“

Cage
and demon vanished, and Naruto was back again in front of the girls'
bedroom. The kyuubi's words resounded in his head: „It's about
the Uchiha boy, isn't it?“

How
many times had he spoken like this to Rock Lee, when he seemed in a
dark mood: „It's about Sakura?“ or to Shikamaru when he
was nervous and fidgeting: „It's about Temari?“ or to
Choji when he was trying to bury his sorrows under a heap of food:
„It's about Ino, isn't it?“
- 6
- 7
- 8
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The Canalized River