Disclaimer: in no way shape or form to I own Naruto (duh)

A/N: This is the re-written first chapter of my first every (and for the moment only) fan-fic. Hope you enjoy, review if you feel like it.

Sakura stared blankly back at Ino. "What?"

Ino sighed sadly. Why did she have to be the one to tell her? "He's gone Sakura, Naruto's gone. The council says they caught him leaving during the night, they couldn't stop him."

Sakura stared back at Ino as her body shook with the sobs that threatened to spill out of her. It wasn't possible; Naruto would betray them. It was Naruto for heaven's sake. It wasn't right, there was something she wasn't being told, there had to be. He must have just gone of some super secret mission or something, he would pull a Sasuke, would he?

The medic nin desperately searched Ino's expression for any hint that this might just be some cruel joke, for any sign that what she'd been told wasn't true.

Ino looked back at her sadly; a few tears of her own spilling down her cheeks.

The pink haired kunoichi was openly sobbing now, mostly out of anger that Naruto would just up and leave, and also out of sadness for the realization that had just started to hit home. All hope of Team 7 returning to normal was gone forever.

Ino was frantically trying to calm her friend while keeping her own despair at bay. She had grown fairly close to the blonde knuckle head since he'd returned from his training trip six months before. The news of his departure, she refused to except it as betrayal, was hitting her just as hard as it was the rest of the their friends.

"There's something else, Sakura. The council has overruled Hokage-sama's desire to send out a retrieval team. They say there's too much risk of it turning out like the one sent after Sasuke. They're saying the village is safer with him gone anyway, Hokage-sama said to tell you there's nothing she can do."

Sakura's fists curled into balls. She breathed deeply, trying to regain her composure as anger over threw her despair as the dominant emotion. She didn't care if she had to go and find him herself. She would bring Naruto back to Konoha. Angrily she whipped the tears from her eyes. It didn't make sense. Naruto would never leave Konoha in his right mind, something was wrong, she was sure of it.

Ino watched her friend's reaction warily; ready to move out of the way if the young kunoichi decided to unload her frustration on the table they were sitting at. The platinum haired florist couldn't help but feel waves of sympathy towards her friend. Aside from the cherry blossom, Shikamaru and Chouji were her best friends. If either of them left her, well, Ino didn't know what she would do.

Sakura stood up abruptly. Ino searched her face to see if she needed to move, but the kunoichi's eyes were hidden by her bangs.

"I'll talk to you later Ino, but I need to do something real fast." The rosette said as she stepped out into the streets of Konoha, quickly disappearing in the crowd.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Chouji asked, appearing a few steps behind Ino.

"I hope so." Ino said, as she looked worryingly after her friend. Ino didn't believe it either. She just couldn't fathom that Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja would simply up and betray Konoha. "What are we missing? I know there is more to this. For Sakura's sake there has got to be more to this"

I hope you enjoyed it, At this point the next chapter is already up ( I know because i'm just re-writting this one so, yeah) Review if you feel so led)

Colonel Z