Chapter 1

The sun was shining on the roofs of the buildings in the Leaf village. The people were going about on their own business; some were standing in front of the fifth hokage being assigned a mission, some were already on their way out of the village to do their mission, some were training hard or competing with each other, some in the library reading books and doing research on random things and some were mucking about causing trouble.

Shino, Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata were in front of the hokage, who was explaining the details of the mission they were to go on.

"Understand?" said Lady Tsunade.

"Yes, Lady Hokage." said Hinata.

"We're all ready." said Kiba, and Akamaru barked.

Shino nodded politely.

"Alright, meet Kurenai at the gate in exactly two hours."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." and with that they all turned to leave.

Shikamaru, Eno and Choji were on their way out of the Leaf village with Asuma sensei as their captain for the mission. Choji was crunching on some potato chips.

"Choji, don't you ever stop eating?" Eno complained.

"I told you already, I need it to keep up my strength." Choji said between a mouthful of chips.

"You two at the back, stop complaining." Asuma sensei said loudly, "Choji you had better eat however much you want on the way there, and save some for the way back. They won't let you eat there, I mean your mission is to be fill in tutors, so you can't eat in front of the students. Understand?"

"Yes, got it sensei." Choji loudly yelled back, making Eno annoyed. And with that they all continued to make their way to their destination, which was a school in the Sand village.

Sakura was training. She was learning to be a medical ninja. Currently, it wasn't going anywhere since she was thinking about Naruto and Sasuke.

'Naruto, Sasuke.' she thought as the images of the two shinobi lit up her mind.

She shook her head to get rid of the images, but however hard she may try, she could not help but think about the curse mark that Urochimaru had given Sasuke some weeks ago. She'd seen what Naruto hadn't seen, so had Eno, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji and TenTen. Lee might've also seen it. She didn't want that to ever happen again. She didn't want to see Sasuke like that again. She didn't want to be a burden and she wanted to be of some important use to her comrades. She didn't always want to rely on Sasuke and Naruto for everything.

'That time will come when I can do something important. Something important for Naruto and Sasuke that only I can do. I have to become stronger no matter what!" and with those thoughts in her mind she concentrated on her training.

At Lee's dojo, Neji and TenTen were sitting down at one side, breathing hard while Lee did push ups with his thumbs, circled the dojo with his hands, around Neji and TenTen and jumped up and down as if skipping with an invisible rope.

"Just where do you get all your energy from Lee?" TenTen said between gasps.

"You know, it's really creepy when you see Lee like this. It almost reminds me of Naruto." Neji said, also between gasps.

"Yeah, no kidding." TenTen supported his comment.

And with those words replaying in their minds, they continued breathing hard, while getting tired again just by watching Lee.

Sasuke chased Naruto all the way around the Leaf village then straight back to the hokage's mansion, stopping a few times to catch his breath, all the while Naruto ran ahead of him. It wasn't exactly a chasing game. They were racing to the mansion, and so far it looked like Naruto was winning.

Sasuke had often wandered where Naruto's energy came from.

'How come I'm losing to this idiot?' Sasuke thought. Then an idea came to him.

He transformed himself into Sakura and called out Naruto's name. Upon hearing Sakura's voice, Naruto turned around.

"Sakura, what're you doing here?" Naruto shouted, hurrying to the place where Sasuke stood.

"Naruto…" Sasuke spoke in Sakura's voice as Naruto reached him. Only when Naruto stood exactly in front of him, he changed back into himself and ran past Naruto, surprising him.

"Hey Sasuke, that's a dirty trick." Naruto shouted angrily as he also started running.

"Hm, loser." Sasuke murmered.

"What was that?" Naruto shouted.

"I said you're a loser." Sasuke said in the same calm voice he always used, it annoyed Naruto so much, it made him want to smash something.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran harder, trying to catch up with Sasuke.

They ran and ran until they both reached the mansion at the same time.

"I win!" both of them shouted at the same time.

"No, Sasuke I win. Don't lie!" Naruto yelled.

"Who's the liar?" Sasuke said.

"You!"Naruto replied in a matter of fact voice.

"Hmm." They both glared at each other.

"I'm going to Imer, at least she doesn't cheat!" Naruto shouted.

"No need."

Naruto and Sasuke both jumped at the sound of Lady Tsunade's voice.

"Grandma Tsunade? What are you doing here?" Naruto sputtered.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that!"

Naruto started counting on his fingers and stopping at one he said, "Uh, I lost count. How many times was it again."

"Naruto!"

"I…I'm sorry."

"Hm, anyways, Naruto, Sasuke, meet me inside." And with that she turned to go inside