Flee into the Dunes!

[Naruto Uzumaki]

***

They didn't talk much after that, making the rest of the trip in awkward silence. Once they finally reached the vendor, Ayla had Naruto wait outside while she looked around for the parts she needed. The place was about the size of a corner store, at least it looked to be about that size to Naruto. Figuring he was going to be waiting a while, Naruto decided to take a break and sat down on a nearby bench and began to drift to sleep. During his travel between the sleeping world and waking world, Naruto couldn't help but overhear parts of a nearby conversation;

"A battle? Out here in the dunes?"

"Yeah! It was those New Babylon people against-..."

"LAW? The hell kinda name is-..."

"...-ound to be plenty of stuff around there that we could salvage! Let's go man!"

"Are you listening to yourself? This is New Babylon we're talking abou-...."

"...-It's not like that Uchiha kid is there."

Naruto's muscles went stiff when he heard that name. Could he have heard that right? Uchiha?
Whatever sleep that had overtaken Naruto earlier disappeared in an instant, he jumped off the bench and spun around to face the two men. "Uchiha? Did you just say Uchiha?" he asked with eagerness in his voice.

"Huh? Yeah, Sasuke Uchiha. Why? Ya looking for a bounty on him or somethin'?" one of the men said.

"That doesn't matter, do you know where he is right now?" Naruto asked, going straight to the point.

"Ehhh, not really, no. Last I heard he was somewhere in the desert heading away from New Babylon."

"Good enough for me!" Naruto yelled, before taking off in the opposite direction, heading back to the vendor Ayla was at. "Sasuke's here too! Which means Sakura, Kakshi-Sensei, Lee, and maybe even Iruka-Sensei might be here!" he thought as tears began to well up in his eyes. He wiped them away with his sleeve and continued on, "Everyone...Wait for me!"

***

"Alright, we're all done here. Let's head back Naruto." Ayla said as she walked out carrying two large boxes. "...Naruto? Where the heck did he go?" she said. Ayla set the boxes down and looked around, finally spotting Naruto running towards her. He looked oddly happy, more than when she last saw him. She waved to him and, just as she was about to yell something to him, felt something push against her side. Ayla fell over, hitting her head against the wall. In a daze, she looked up saw a person dressed in black running off with something...something familiar. She turned her head to her left and saw that one of the boxes she just brought out was missing, and so were the credits she had sitting on top of them.

Naruto finally arrived and helped Ayla up, "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'll be fine...But that guy, he stole the stuff I need!" She said, still dizzy from the hit to the head.

"Stay here! I'll get them back!" Naruto said before chasing after the thief.