Two hours of sticking to the underside of a merchant caravan along an uneven bumpy dirt road and a painful leg cramp later, Naruto was ready to make his next move.
Being careful not to stop channeling his chakra and becoming unstuck, Naruto carefully pulled out one of his old shirts and tied one of the sleeves to the bottom of the caravan so it would trail along the floor.
After making sure it was tied tightly, Naruto finally stopped channelling his chakra and dropped to the ground before quickly rolling to the right and off the road and instead into a small ditch.
Staying still for several minutes and listening as the caravan's slowly moved away without stopping, the blonde waited until he was sure that no one had seen him, before letting out a slight sigh of relief.
Licking his lips, Naruto stood up and stretched, trying to work the kinks in his body out, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the new compass Itachi had bought him.
Getting his baring Naruto nodded to himself before he turned so he was facing a south easterly direction before he started walking, leaving the road and heading in the direction of the where hopefully the closest port town would be, where he would be able to find a boat that could take him to his destination.
He stayed on the ground for the next hour, slowly walking through the trees and taking his time. At one point he was able to hit a rabbit he saw with his kunai, and after eating its Soul wrapped the body up to cook later.
The sun had long set by this point, and the only thing lighting his way was the moon light that shone through the trees, casting ominous shadows across the landscape.
Once he was sure that there was no possible way for anyone passing by on the road to see or hear him, Naruto licked his lips and looked up into the trees before bending his knees and pouring chakra into both his legs and feet.
With a small burst of chakra that left the grass he had been standing on brown and shrivelled Naruto shot up and into the trees, landing on a thick branch and grabbing the trunk of the tree he had landed on to keep his balance, he turned and looked back at where he had been stood with a frown,
All living things had chakra, even plants. But according to You his chakra held an imprint of death, and it was that imprint that effected the chakra of the living. It wasn't enough to kill people or even animals on its own, but plants and trees were an entirely different story.
Until he had better control his chakra would kill any plant life it came directly in contact with, which was the main reason had walked so far before starting to tree hop.
It was less noticeable then an actual trail of dead footprints.
Naruto's plan was to head to the east coast of the Land of Fire, where he would hopefully be able to take a boat to the Land of Whirlpools, his mother's homeland.
The Hidden Whirlpool Village had long ago been destroyed in the second Great Shinobi War after a joint attack by the Hidden Villages of the Cloud, Mist and Rock , with the island having been abandoned ever since.
Finding a ship that would be able to take him there would certainly not be easy.
...
' Kushina '
As Kushina ran through the wooded landscape of the Land of Fire, she made sure to keep her breathing, even as she followed behind Kakashi, who was in turn following his Nin-dog Summon, Pakkun and the rest of his Nin-dog pack.
They had been following Naruto's scent all night after having found it leading out of the North gate, but now an hour later Kushina was getting worried.
On either side of her were two ANBU, with another two trailing behind her at the back of the group, all of them scanning the surroundings as they looked for any sign of the only son of the Fourth Hokage.
If they followed the scent for any longer Kushina knew that it would not be much longer before they would hit the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice, and if they didn't catch up with the boy and who ever had take him before they hit the border, then they would lose him.
Whoever took Naruto knew how to hide their own scent, but they seemed to have forgotten to or just couldn't do the same for Naruto as they had done for themselves.
Oddly enough though, the kidnappers had been sticking to the road as they travelled, which to the trained Shinobi made no sense if they wanted to avoid being tracked.
Or maybe that was the point; maybe the perpetrators were trying to lead them in this direction so that those who followed would think it was a different village.
In the end though all Kushina could think about though was who took him, and why anyone would take Naruto in the first place.
Considering the direction they were going Kushina would suspect the Hidden Cloud Village, after all they had a history of trying to steal clan members from Konoha, and had not only attempted to steal the Hyuuga Heiress, but had even attempted to kidnap her when she was a child, luckily though on both occasions they were stopped by Minato and the specific perpetrators given swift justice.
But with Naruto's illness he would be no use for trying to start a branch Uzumaki Clan in the Hidden Cloud, they would have taken one of the girls if not both if they had wanted to do that.
The natural Uzumaki abilities, their unique chakra and bloodlines and their natural skill with Fuinjutsu, all of this combined with just how few members still lived made Kushina and her children very tempting targets for one of the more unscrupulous Hidden Villages.
Earth Country was also possibility, The Hidden Rock village hated Minato enough to take Naruto, and had always maintained the believe that Minato had a bloodline not believing that the man had given himself the name Namikaze when he left the academy.
But if it was the Hidden Rock Village, then they were going in the wrong direction, and Kushina didn't even want to think what they would do to him if it was actually them.
But the truth was it could be any of the other Hidden villages, even their allies weren't above suspicion.
The closer they got to the boarder the more Kushina felt the tears building in her eyes try and escape, causing her to blink rapidly to try and stop them.
Then it happened, Kakashi's pack came to an abrupt stop as if they had hit an invisible wall. They all came to a stop behind them, looking ahead in a vain attempt to see if they could spot some sign of Naruto or his captors.
Kushina was able to hold herself together for all of about five seconds before trying to run forward across the border, only for wooden beams to shoot out of the ground and wrap around her like snakes.
Before she could move an inch her arms were held at her side and her feet forced together, there was even a beam around her neck to stop her head moving.
Kushina though didn't seem to care as she desperately thrashed around wildly for several minutes, before letting out a growl when she realised it was no use, and instead moved her eyes to glare at the dragon masked ANBU who had his hands held up forming a Sign.
"Let me go Tenzo!" Kushina spat out the venom in her voice making the other Shinobi around the shift around uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry Lady Kushina, but I cannot allow you to cross the border without first asking the Daimyo for his permission first.
The Land of Rice is currently allied with Earth Country making it hostile territory, entering without the consent could be taken as an act of war." The now named Tenzo said in a monotone voice as he continued to restrain the angry wife of his Hokage.
"I don't care! Let me go!"
As Kushina said that she began to thrash again, an action which caused a loud creaking noise, something which unnerved both Kakashi and the gathered ANBU when they realised that it was coming from the now cracking wood restraints.
Thinking quickly Kakashi ran over and spoke to Kushina, being careful to keep his distance just in case. The woman was known for her fiery temper after all, which when combined with her formidable skills as a Shinobi made her a quite frightening person.
"Lady Kushina please calm down and think! You can't help Naruto by starting the next Great Shinobi War. The trail has gone cold for now, what we need to do is to return to the Village and regroup with Minato.
He can recall Lord Jiraiya and we can start searching again when we get a new trail, so please just stop."
As Kakashi said this he bravely moved in front of Kushina blocking her way, arms held up as he tried to calm the raging mother.
She was still struggling slightly even after Kakashi finished talking, but now it seemed less fierce and more forced.
The tears now streaming down her face were heart wrenching for all those that had the will to look at her face, and when Tenzo finally released her Kushina fell to her knees and sobbed.
Her hear braking slight at the thought of her weak and frail son being taken out into the big and dangerous world by persons unknown.
...
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