This fanfic is dedicated to one of my best friends, Crystal. I love her lots and she wanted this for her birthday. Happy bday Crystal!!
The sun was slowly slipping behind the deserted horizon, giving way to a beautiful and purple night sky. Naruto Uzumaki was pulling on his pajama set, which was purple cotton with foxes all over it. This pajama set had always been his absolute favorite. Naruto was preparing for bed early, because he had to wake up early the next morning. He had a meeting the next morning with the Hokage of Konoha, better known as Lady Tsunade. So, with a happy smile on his face, Naruto settled himself into his bed, and was soon succumbed to sleep.
Somewhere on the other side of Konoha, Sasuke was training hard in the backyard of the apartment complex he lived in. With beads of sweat pouring down his face, Sasuke decided that he'd had enough and that it was about time for dinner. Quietly, Sasuke slipped into the back door of the building, and walked slowly to room apartment number eleven. In ten minutes, Sasuke had prepared a supper of a sandwich, and was now sitting on his beat up couch eating it whilst he watched the trees move in the wind outside his parlor window.
Like Naruto, Sasuke too had to go to see Lady Tsunade first thing in the morning. Sasuke, however, couldn't care less about whether or not he got there on time. He assumed it was going to be something stupid again, just like last time when Tsunade assigned him to tutor a kid in the ninja art of transformation. With a small sigh, Sasuke put his empty plate on top of the many in his sink with a small grimace at the sight of the gigantic mess and went off towards the small bedroom. Upon opening the door, the small bedroom was revealed. The bed was in the middle of the floor, a small dresser sat on the wall furthest from Sasuke, and a small desk was located to his direct left.
Shrugging as he did so, Sasuke stripped down to his black and white plaid boxers, and dove into his bed, pulling the mauve colored blanket over his head. Although he knew he was tired as possible, Sasuke still couldn't find the reassurance of sleep. He laid there for hours into the night, until he finally glanced at his bedside clock, which read 3:30AM. Sasuke glared at the clock and flipped over, closing his eyes and finally drifting away.
Naruto awoke at 6:00AM the next morning. He yawned sleepily and sat up in his bed, wiping the sleep away from his blue eyes. Naruto had slept soundly through the night and now couldn't wait to get going. Millions of thoughts were swimming around his head. He wondered exactly what Lady Tsunade wanted from him. It wasn't often that he was called to her quarters for a meeting. As he sifted through all the possibilities, one came to mind. Maybe he had to go through a huge forest or something, and then battle Orochimaru. Naruto liked this idea, for if he were to battle and defeat Orochimaru, he would most definitely become a hero, and legend throughout all of the ninja villages.
With a dorky smile on his face, Naruto quickly ran over to his messy closet and pulled out his usual bright orange outfit and looked at it with distaste. Then, he threw the bright and offending outfit back into his closet and retrieved a pair of worn blue jeans and a black tee-shirt with a fox on it. Getting dressed quickly, Naruto stood before the mirror and quickly messed his bright blonde hair. The blonde wanted to get to Tsunade's office early for once, he wanted to make a good impression, because he knew
something like being late to a meeting would last a lifetime on Tsunade's brain.
Quickly deciding to skip breakfast, Naruto ran out his front door and down the dusty, unpaved road that lead to Tsunade's quarters.
Sasuke, having not found sleep until the early hours of the morning, had only just awoken. He turned to look at his bedside clock which read 8:45 and shrugged in an uncaring manner, even though he was supposed to meet Tsunade in fifteen minutes. With a relatively large yawn, Sasuke sat at the edge of his bed and began to stretch out his aching muscles. He always ached horribly after a full day of training, but this, to Sasuke, seemed like pure torture. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Sasuke stood up and wandered over to his closet, pulling out a pair of blue jeans and white tank top.
Skipping breakfast as he always did, Sasuke walked leisurely out the front door and down the dirt road. In his head, Sasuke estimated it to be about 9:30 AM. With a small smirk, Sasuke slowly entered Tsunade's office and glanced at her, and then at the blonde sitting in the chair across the room.
Naruto and Sasuke both stared at each other and then looked to Tsunade.
"How could you do this to me?! You expect me to go on a mission with him?!" They both said at the same time, glaring daggers at each other.
"Yes, now hush up boys!" Tsunade said in her motherly way. "I know things have been weird since Sakura left, but you two need to just recover and become a duo. Alright??" Both boys just nodded. They'd both tried to forget, they were guilty of that. Sakura had left six months previous to this meeting. She'd been possessed and taken against her own will. Once found, she told them all that she was happy here and wanted to stay. They all knew it was a lie. She was still possessed. But did anyone do anything about it? Nope. So now, everyone tried to forget.
Naruto and Sasuke were both silent for the moment, unable to believe that Tsunade brought Sakura's name into the conversation. Recovering from his unusual silence, Naruto looked up at Tsunade.
"So, what's the deal with the mission, Lady Tsunade?" Naruto asked, actually addressing her properly for a change. Tsunade nodded, having only jus remembering that she had called them here for a reason.
"You two are to deliver a message to the Sand Village." Tsunade said simply, watching them. Both their jaws dropped.
"And you need two of us to do this?!" Sasuke questioned, clearly aggravated with this arrangement.
"Yes. Now don't question me. Please." Tsunade said, dismissing their questioning. "Go get ready, you leave at 6:00 AM tomorrow." Tsunade said sternly. Sasuke snorted and Naruto just nodded. Following this, both boys dispersed, and slowly made their way towards two different parts of Konoha to pack for their oncoming adventure.