Upon their arrival in the clearing, Sasuke scoured the canopy instantly, his hands shielding his face. The last thing he wanted was a henged leaf to the eye. Sakura, on the other hand, actually did her job without any fear for her dignity. If Naruto was going to pop out of nowhere and make her scream, then he was going to pop out of nowhere and make her scream even if she tried to avoid it. Naruto was gifted like that.
To the pink-haired girl's disdain, there was no Naruto on the ground or in the bushes. To Sasuke's relief, there was no Naruto in the upper branches of the trees waiting to strike him. They exchanged these conclusions after about three minutes of searching the area, and Sasuke was just as ready to go back to the house and tell Kakashi that the idiot had just upand ditched them when Sakura flung something at his face.
Whatever it was, it smelled bad. A mixture of sweat, blood, dirt, and crushed grass. Undeniably irritated, Sasuke peeled said object off his face to identify it, only to find himself queasy.
In his hands, he held Naruto Uzumaki's filthy bandage, which looked like it had been torn off.
"This is-," Sasuke trailed off, confused as hell,"-Where did you find this, Sakura?"
"Over there," she replied, pointing to a spot of grass that was still slightly pressed from Naruto having laid there for nearly twenty-four hours straight. Her face was uneasy, but when Sasuke's face held a hint of fear when he absorbed this information, it took a great deal of self-control not to appear terrified.
The amount of knowledge Sasuke and Sakura had on Naruto's personality was extensive, but they knew very little of his physical condition. Had they been informed that Naruto was, in fact, a container for a tailed-beast, there would have been a lot of angst. Still, they would have at least been able to draw a conclusion that wasn't as flawed.
"Who would take him?" Sakura asked quietly, suddenly suspicious of everything that moved.