The Child Of Prophecy (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

"Oh...no, you didn't say anything." Gaara looked up at Naruto, surprised that he was worried.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Well, you're the first person who hasn't ignored me and I just remembered that you won't be here for very long. So we won't be able to play after you leave."

"Oh is that it?" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "That's no big deal. I'll just come the next time our dad's get together, or you can come to my village next time! And we can send messages to each other, ya know. It's not like we'll stop being friends just because we won't be in the same village."

"Yeah, okay." Gaara quickly wiped his eyes and smiled at Naruto as they continued to play. "Hey, I know where there's a swing. It isn't too far."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Then let's go!"

Both Gaara and Naruto ran to where the swing was hanging in a tree. Gaara sat down and Naruto stood up behind him on the swing. They continued to swing and laugh for what seemed like forever to them. They figured out that they both had a lot in common. They were both five, their dad's were both the leaders of the villages where they lived, and they both lost their moms when they were born. They felt like they were meant to meet each other and become friends.

"That was so much fun!" Naruto was bouncing up and down as they were getting ready to head back. "I wonder if our dads are done talking yet?"

"Probably not. They probably have a lot to talk about." Gaara just shrugged his shoulders. "Dad is gone almost all of the time."

"Yeah, mine too. He usually doesn't get home until I'm already asleep, and he leaves super early in the morning. That's why I was so happy that he brought me with him this time." Naruto still had a smile on his face. "But I'm getting hungry, so let's head back anyways and see if we can find something to eat."

"Sounds good to me."

As they were just about to start walking away, both of them suddenly heard footsteps coming towards them. They looked towards each other with worry in their eyes when they heard a voice speak up. "It's getting a little late for kids like you to be out alone, isn't it?" The voice was deep, and they knew it didn't belong to anyone they knew.

"W-what do you mean, kids like us?" Naruto spoke up, trying to be brave like his dad and to distract the guy in any way he could.

The man just laughed at the question as he continued to walk forward. "Well the sons of the Leaf's Hokage and the Sand's Kazekage of course." As he spoke, three more men walked into view. "They'll fetch a fair price, don't you think?"

"I sure do."

"Same here."

Two of the other men spoke up in answer to the question with a sinister and playful tone to their voices, while the last one spoke up sternly. "Stop playing around. We need to get out of here before anyone comes looking."

Naruto and Gaara looked between all of them before looking back at each other. This time, the fear in their eyes was clearly visible. They could tell that these men were obviously ninja from another village, and that they were no match against them.

"What do we do?" Gaara whispered to Naruto.

Naruto shook his head slightly. "I don't know." He closed his eyes as he thought of his dad. Please help us dad.

* * * * * *

"So, you're all set to host the upcoming chunin exams, correct Minato?"

Minato turned towards the Kazekage. "Yes, I believe so. When are you planning on arriving in the village for the exams, Rasa?"

"Most likely I'll arrive just before the Final rounds." Rasa looked out of the window as he spoke, suddenly noticing that the sky was already getting dark outside. "Minato? How long have we been working?"

Minato looked outside at the question. "Oh, I'm not sure. I didn't realize it had gotten so late."

"Minato?" Rasa suddenly got a bad feeling as he looked out the window. "If we spent such a long time talking. Where are the boys?" He turned back to see Minato wide-eyed, realizing that they should have been back by now.

"Perhaps they went and got something to eat?"

"Lord Kazekage! Lord Hokage!" Suddenly ANBU guards rushed into the office, and they were out of breath as they spoke. "Lord Gaara and Lord Naruto are missing! We can't find them anywhere!"

"WHAT?!" Both Rasa and Minato jumped up from their seats with terror in their eyes.

"Where were they last seen?" Minato didn't waste any time before walking out of the office, immediately starting to gather as much information as he could while Rasa followed, listening intensely.

"We have some witnesses that reported seeing them around the small play area that we have, Lord Hokage."

Minato flinched when he heard the word "witnesses". It made it sound like Naruto and Gaara were gone for good, and he didn't like that. "Please take us there."

Without any more words, the ANBU took Rasa and Minato to the place where Naruto and Gaara were last seen headed. When they got there, they all tried calling out to the two boys, but were only greeted with silence. The area looked totally undisturbed, but as they continued to look around, they noticed a small teddy bear that was lying on the ground by a stone, half covered in sand.

"This is Gaara's." Rasa picked up the teddy bear, holding it close to his chest. "Where did they go?"

Minato was still looking around the small playground. There were multiple sets of footprints, but only a couple that were those of a child. He wanted to try and find any proof that Naruto was here. Please let there be something. Naruto is smart, he would have left something.

"Have you found anything, Minato?" Rasa spoke up to get Minato's attention. "We can't waste much more time here. We have to find the boys."

"I know. I just need a little more time." Minato started searching quicker, intent on finding anything related to Naruto. Even more time went by, and he was starting to lose hope that he would find anything, but as he started to turn back towards Rasa, the moonlight glinted off something buried in the sand.

"What did you find?" Rasa asked as he saw Minato rush towards the sand and pull something out.

"This is..." Minato was staring in astonishment at a simple ring in his palm. "This was Kushina's ring. Where did Naruto find it?" As he held the ring in his hand, he could feel the hum of chakra going through it. This is Naruto's chakra. "Release." As he released the seal that was on the ring, a small note unfolded itself in his palm.

"What does it say?"

"Ninja, lots, scary, help. That's all it says." Minato felt as if his heart had just been pulled from his chest. He had tears forming in his eyes as he gripped the small note and Kushina's ring.

"How did he write that while surrounded?" Rasa was astounded that Naruto could do something like that.

Minato chuckled slightly at the question. "Well, he has always been good at being sneaky." He did laugh louder at that. "And being a troublemaker. He got that from his mom."

"I see. Well, let's be thankful for that this time. Now, what do you want to do Minato?"

"Naruto, Gaara, just hang in there." He turned to face Rasa with determination in his eyes. "Let's go save our sons."

Without wasting any more time, Minato and Rasa raced off, tracking any amount of chakra that they could sense from Naruto and Gaara, hoping that they wouldn't be too late.