Naruto left Orochimarus soon after, having no new information but enough lectures to know she shouldn't race to find Sasuke.
But even through what Orochimaru and Naruto had done together and be apart of together, she couldn't find one solid reason to keep Sasukes disappearance a secret.
But one thing was curtain though.
The five knights.
Luckily the horse Naruto had left tied to a branch, was still there.
She mounted the mare and took hold of its lead once more.
When she entered town again, it was late morning. Right now the families of court and royal families would be sitting and eating breakfast.
Civilians stared as Naruto trotted through the streets on the horse. Some children even pointed at her and shouted things like, "Look mama she's riding a horse!" or "Wow! She's pretty!" or "Can I ride the horse?! Can I?? Can I?!"
Soldiers scattered around the town bowed and-or nodded their heads toward her in acknowledgement. The closer she got to the palace, the more soldiers she ran into.
Naruto arrived in the palace to find nothing but chaos. She grabbed one of the knights collars, stopping them in their tracks and lightly choking them.
"G-general!" He squeaked.
"What's going on?"
"His majesty sent us to look for you. And Sai had reported that his highness was not in bed when he went to wake him up."
Naruto let his scruff go, "Prince Sasuke is in no danger. Tell everyone to stop running around before the guests catch wind of it."
"R-right." He bowed and went to walk away but Naruto stopped him.
"Get me the five new knights on post from last night. I need to have a word with them."
"Of course."
Toji ran to tell the others Narutos message as Naruto herself made way to the dining hall.
When she entered, the quiet chatter silenced and Itachi stood. Clearly relieved to see Naruto alive and well.
"Hey you! Where's Sasuke-kun?!"
Naruto ignored Mitos rude outburst and walked to Itachi.
"We need to talk."
Izumi looked at them worried as Itachi nodded.
Itachi gave a quick smile, "Excuse me."
He followed Naruto out and Minato and Kushina shared a worried look.
Had something happened?
~~**~~
Itachi sat behind his desk, crossed his fingers and stared at Naruto in all seriousness.
"What is it? Has something happened with the defense in the towns?"
"The towns are the least of our worries Itachi."
He stiffened. Naruto never used his first name so informally.
"What happened?"
"I have reason to believe Sasuke was abducted."
"What?!" His hand slammed on the desk, the chair disregarded on the floor.
Naruto went to clarify her accusation when a knock came from the door.
"Come in." She called.
Sai walked in with the other five knights who were squirming and sweating with nerves.
Had they been caught for sneaking out with the younger highness?
"Toji informed you wanted our presence Sir Uzumaki."
Naruto waved a hand, "You may leave Sai. I needn't talk with you; it's the other five."
The five visibly shivered and gulped heavily.
Just this morning the five had heard of what happened to Izumi and Fuji. And could only think of what Naruto would do to them for the neglectfulness of their new job and getting drunk.
Sai bowed and left without another word.
Leaving the other five with Naruto and Itachi.
"These five gentlemen accompanied Sasuke to the pub. I found them in a brothel around twelve:thirty in the morning with Sasuke long gone by then." Naruto explained to Itachi before turning back to the men. "You will tell me what you remember from last night. Beware you only have one more mark before termination."
The five gulped. And forced the oldest one of them to explain it all, Higuchi Kenji.
He gulped and looked at his comrades.
Itachi slammed his fist on the desk, "Speak!"
He jumped and nodded furiously, "I-I was the first his highness ran into..."
~~Down Memory Lane~~
Kenji yawned as he leaned up against the palace wall. The sunset had just fallen from view, and unfortunately, he was left on night patrol for the second night in a row.
He hummed and picked at the knife he was supposed to be hiding against his hip, but one's boredom can get the best of them.
That's when it came; a low whistle.
He ignored it, thinking it was one of the more experienced knights calling for a newbies help.
But when it came again, he looked around, and landed on a light shining against his armor.
Kenji squinted to see who was flashing the moonlight in his face, but couldn't get a clear look until it pulled away.
That's when he saw the younger highness. He was holding a cloth that seemed to be made up in a rope.
"Your new right?"
He nodded, clearly not wanting to upset a royal.
"Good, help me down."
"Uh... for what?"
Sasuke looked at him annoyed, "The pub."
Kenji held his hands up and looked around. "Sorry your highness but the general said none of us were supposed to let you go anywhere without her permission."
Sasuke only rolled his eyes and lowered the makeshift rope. "If you listen to her ass all the time you won't find yourself having any fun. She's just a tight-ass knight who cares too much about what people think."
"Your highness I think she-"
"What?" Sasuke rested his arm on the sill and raised an eyebrow, "What do you think?"
"I think the general just cares for your well being." Kenji answered honestly.
What he hadn't expected was for Sasuke to bark a laugh and smirk.
"Your a fucking idiot than."
Kenji watched as Sasuke climbed over the window sill and began to climb down the palace wall. In utter awe, he didn't realize as Sasuke tore the rope from wherever it was being held and hid it in a bush.
"Well."
His eyes snapped back to Sasuke.
"Are you coming or not?"
"Huh?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Naruto will only make you a shell of what you are. Before that happens, I'll show you what fun means."
"Wha? But my post."
Sasuke shrugged, "No one will find out."
And so, Sasuke carelessly walked with Kenji following. And collected four other knights who seemed bored from their guarding duties.
"So... where are we going?" Hiroshi questioned, not having really listened but followed because he was told to.
"The pub idiot."
"We should go to a nearby one. So we can get back before anyone notices." Ren suggested.
Sasuke scoffed at such a thing, "What the fuck are you talking about? Naruto will be on our asses in—" He looked around, "—an hour. Going to the nearest pub will make it too easy for her to find us."
"Wait... she'll be onto us?" Asahi looked around mortified.
"Well she is my knight."
"I thought she was the general."
Sasuke glared at Sora, "She is dumbass. But she's also my personal guard and my personal knight."
"So she wasn't following you around all day because?"
Sasuke growled and held Soras collar, "Keep asking and I'll personally get Naruto to kick your ass out of the knight program."
Sora gulped as Sasuke let go of his collar and kept walking.
"We're going to one of the worst pubs in Amaterasu. She won't look there first."
The knights looked at each other but decided to stay quiet. In fear of being terminated by Uzumaki Naruto.
~~End of Memory Lane~~
Itachi and Naruto shared a look.
"That's all you remember?"
Naruto looked at him in disapproval. That was only how Sasuke escaped, not what they last remembered.
"W-well no." Kenji murmured.
Naruto thrust her fist onto Itachis desk, breaking it in half and looking back at them with blazing red eyes.
"I told you to tell me what you remembered! Not how Sasuke just fucking escaped!"
The five jumped in fear of Narutos anger.
"One of you will tell me what happened in that pub before you are all terminated! I don't need incompetent fools who skip around the bush in my knight hood!"
They pushed Sora forward this time. And he gulped, shaking under Narutos rage.
"W-well."
"Well? It shouldn't be that fucking hard to spit the truth."
He shook, looking at Itachi for help, but there was no remorse in his coal eyes. He gulped again, but louder and heavier.
"W-when we got there. H-his highness immediately began to order whiskey with rocks from one of the woman bartenders..."
~~Down Memory Lane~~
"Ugh. It smells terrible in here."
Kenji shrugged as they sat down at one of the tables. "Smells like any other pub."
"Well excuse us for not being in a pub before."
Kenji rolled his eyes and called one of the waitresses over.
"Yes?"
"Five beers."
"Beer?" Sora scrunched his nose in distaste.
"It's the cheapest and our income isn't very high right now."
He huffed and looked at Sasuke in envy. The woman talking to Sasuke smiled and slid the glass to him, her breasts flirtatiously pressing together.
"He's a pig." He murmured.
Ren shrugged, "He's the Prince. I'd probably do this if I was the prince."
"With general Uzumaki on your ass?"
Ren chuckled and shook his head, "No, probably not if the general was my personal guard."
Three hours later
"I win!"
Sora slammed his jug on the table and the others groaned. He laughed and slid the silver coins his way.
"That's five great meals thanks to you lot."
Kenji grumbled and laid his head on the table as Ren stood to get another round. Hiroshi and Ao were long gone, dancing like drunken people on the dance floor.
They were drunk.
Sora looked for Ren as he finished stuffing the money into his pouch when his eyes landed on Sasuke.
Three men were surrounding him as they kept buying drinks and tempting Sasuke to drink more and more.
He couldn't get a clear image of the men but that didn't matter when Ren slammed three more jugs of beer on the table.
"One more round."
~~End of Memory Lane~~
Itachi looked at Naruto before looking back at the men.
"You didn't see who those men were?"
They shook their heads.
"You didn't care to check?"
Again, they shook their heads.
Itachi looked at Naruto who was tapping her foot on the ground, hiding her face as she probably thought.
"Get Shisui in here."