A Thousand Years

The Goodbye

Naruto stared at Sakura in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" He asked, hoping that his ears had tricked him.

Sakura gave him a concerned frown.

"Yea, I heard it from Kakashi-sensei yesterday. Are you ok? You look a little pale." She said.

"No I'm fine." He quickly shook his head. "I was just thinking of something. Anyways, I gotta go. See you later Sakura!" He called back as he hastily headed in the opposite direction.

Naruto shook his head. That couldn't be right. She must've gotten something wrong, maybe she got mixed up? Yea, that's it...

It was the third day after the attack and repair was still underway. Naruto was again helping his friends clean up the rubble left by the bombings. Nina had cancelled training again today, it was a little odd as this was now the third day in a row but he figured that maybe she was helping clean up somewhere in the village too. After all, there was still plenty to do and most businesses were still closed.

Twelve people sat around a large oval table. Papers that showed graphs and statistics were spread out in front of them.

"The Investigations Branch has not found anything on the Akatsuki's movements or activities. They seem to be laying low until this all blows over." A man in his forties started, staring at a file that held information gathered from around the Land of Fire. "How are we to track them down if we don't know where they are?"

"That's what we've been asking for years." An elderly woman commented bluntly.

"Yes, but now we have something new that could lead us straight to them." Danzo, one of the men seated next to the Hokage, stated.

"You're talking about the woman who fought them off." Tsunade mused.

"Whoever she was, she had a reason to engage with the Akatsuki. It's clear that she was not one of us, meaning she had some other connection to either the village or the Akatsuki. If we're lucky and it turns out to be the latter, investigating her identity could give us valuable information on the organization." He explained. It didn't take long for everyone to nod in agreement. Everyone, that is, except a young man with bright green hair.

"But we then have the same problem. Where do we start in finding her? She could be anywhere by now, not to mention we still don't know what she really looks like." The man said, furrowing his brow in frustration.

"Chances are she's probably very close. Maybe even in Konoha." The head of the interrogation squad thought aloud.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"And why would she stay when she knows we're looking for her?" The young man challenged.

"Well, my theory is that she has some connection to both the village and the Akatsuki. If she didn't have a history with both, she probably wouldn't have interfered in the way she did. If that's true, she would probably want to stick around until she's sure the village is back to normal and running smoothly. If I'm wrong, then there's no doubt that she's already long." She concluded bluntly.

There was a moment of silence.

"What does that mean for us?" Tsunade questioned with a frown.

The woman leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, shrugging.

"It means that we'll either find her in the village or we won't find her at all. Simple as that."

Everyone's expressions deepened.

"We must organize a search." One man said.

"And tell all leaf shinobi to report anyone who seems out of place."