Saving him (Naruto fan-fic)

Chapter 61- Leaving Konoha, Alone

I do not own Naruto

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"Come on, Yuki. I can tell you haven't eaten in a couple of days." Shikamaru sighed beside Naruto.

Stupid blonde used his Uzumaki puppy eyes on me to get me out of the house. Now I was stuck with Shikamaru, and Naruto as Ino and Choji had to leave. I probably woudln't have minded, but they were both trying to get me to eat something.

"I'm fine, and I'm not really hungry right now anyway." I said while pulling my hood up higher. "Anyway, weren't you gonna tell Naruto and I something?"

Shikamaru paused before turning to look at me fully. "How'd you know?"

"Shikamaru, you may be a great friend, and you may have come here to help Naruto and I, but I'm sure there is something else. Didn't... Didn't Grandpa Sage leave some kind of code or whatever with Granny Tsunade?"

Shikamaru stopped walking to look at me. "Tsunade-sama said you left the room in a daze, and you didn't get a chance to even see the code. How did you know?"

"Because, that is something he would do." I answered simply. "Now, are you here to tell Naruto and I that you guys can't crack the code, so you need our help?"

Shikamaru only sighed again. "I forgot how troublesome this can get. Yeah, I did also want to see how you two were doing though."

Naruto remained quiet, staring at me until I looked over at him. Quickly he turned his attention over to Shikamaru. "So, are we going to go look at the code?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, but one one condition."

I raised a eyebrow, "What do you want?"

Shikamaru smirked, "We go get some food afterwards. Like I said, Yuki, you need to eat."

"Whatever." I muttered.

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Naruto and I stood at a table in the library. Naruto had a concentrating look on his face as he had his arms crossed, staring at the picture of the old frog's back. I narrowed my eyes in thought as I stared at the picture.

"Well? You two haven't said anything in a while." Shikamaru said. "Do you two have anything? We went to the fifth, and Kakashi sensei, but they couldn't think of anything. In other words, I have a hunch that Jiraiya-sama left this for the both of you to solve. There must be something in it."

The woman with the big glasses spoke softly next. "If there's anything that stands out to you, please tell us. We're not asking you to decipher the code here on the spot."

"Why is the first character a letter, but everything is a number?" I asked, making Naruto look at me.

"I was thinking the same thing!" He smiled.

Shikamaru and the blonde woman blinked in shock. "What? Where do you see a letter?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto pointed to the letter, making Shikamru look at us like we were idiots. "Isn't that the number nine?"

I sighed, "No, that was something I used to tell Grandpa Sage, but it's the character 'ta'." When Shikamaru looked at me doubtfully I spoke again. "Look, when we traveled with Grandpa Sage for those two and a half years, well fro me more like a year and a half, he wrote all the time. And when he wrote I noticed his handwriting was a little messy. One of the characters he used to write was 'ta', obviously, and it does look like a nine."