I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Naruto and Sakura ran through the dense forest, using what little power they had left to get as much distance between them and the three-rouge stone ninja who still held a grudge against Minato. The two dropped in a small clearing that had a rock formation at the edge. Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him behind her as she quickly lead the way to take cover behind the rocks. Once there they both dropped to the ground breathing hard for only a moment before they were back on alert for any signs that the stone ninja had followed them this far. After several minutes of nothing but the sounds of nature, the two leaned back against the rocks with a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we out ran them." Sakura said softly. She and Naruto had only just begun to be sent on missions alone as ambassadors to the other countries as Naruto had a tie with each one. They were only seventeen but they were considered two of the best ninja there was since their performances in the war only a year ago. "We should be able to rest a while before we need to move again. Let's take count of what we have incase we're cornered." Naruto nodded and the two took their bags off and set them in front of them, carefully going through, and considering the items they had left.

After they sat back and silence surrounded them, Sakura glanced at her teammate, hearing his voice. "Sakura-chan." he said not looking at her. "They are after me for revenge against my dad. You should go ahead and get to the Village so you're not hurt. You're not part of what they want-."

"No." She cut him off sternly making his blue eyes snap to her fiery green ones. "Don't you even try to tell me to leave you to face three of those guys alone when both of us barely got away from them. We're a team and just because these guys are after you doesn't mean I should run away. If that were the case I would always be running away." She rolled her eyes.

"But Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he moved in front of her. "We're only at the boarder of grass. We still have to make it through grass and all the way home hoping that those guys don't follow and find friends along the way. You-."

"Don't." Sakura cut him off again as she sat forward with an angry look. "Don't you even try it Naruto. We've been on the same team before the war and we're on the same team now. We have to stick together or one of us will get hurt." She explained.

"Sakura…. I…" He paused taking a minute to gather his thoughts before looking at her so determined. "I can't have something happen to you." He blurted out coming to stand on his knees. She paused, shocked at his intense look, at what he had just told her. She knew he cared for her but he was telling her to run, to find safety while he stood alone to face certain death. She was not going to have it. She felt her temper flare as she leaned up onto her knees nearly matching his height, angry that he would even think this would be okay with her

"Like I can just go find somewhere safe to sit and wait to find out if they killed you or not? You really think me running away and sitting somewhere with no way of helping, with no way of knowing if you're alive or hurt, or if you're dead? I refuse to be sent away like some random comrade, as if I can't take care of myself. I can help you fight and stay alive, I've been doing it for years, and now you want to send me away because you don't want something happening to me. Did you ever think how hard it was for me to watch you get hurt and nearly killed all the time?" She started to raise her voice; once it started to flow, she could not stop all the words rushing from her mouth. "I can't stand seeing you in the hospital, I can't stand seeing you bleeding, and hurting, I can't stand to have something even worse happen to you. Especially when I could have stopped it." She blurted out with tears in her eyes as Naruto paused looking at her stunned. After a minute, she looked down away from his bright blue eyes. "Naruto I don't care who is after you or who we are fighting. Don't do it alone. I wouldn't be able to…" She trailed off as a tear trailed down her cheek as she closed her eyes.

Sakura jumped slightly as she felt warmth on her face making her look up to find Naruto gently wiping the tear away, closer than he was a minute ago. "Don't cry." He said softly. "I won't fight alone. I won't let anything happen to me. I promise." Sakura gave a small smile as she felt relief come over her. "Um… Sakura-chan?" He asked making her look at him confused. "What do you mean by all that?" Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"Naruto, you're such an idiot." She said before she moved closer and he felt his heart skip a beat. "It means I'm sorry for hurting you last year. I shouldn't have tried to manipulate you into not going after Sasuke, but…" She looked into his clear blue eyes. "I wasn't lying. I promise I wasn't lying about that."

"You mean?"

She nodded her head with a small smile. "I love you Naruto." Naruto paused only for the briefest of moments before he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer as both her hands went to his face and they kissed. He had to brace them on their knees with his free hand on the rocks behind Sakura as they started falling back. He could not believe what was happening.

Parting the two looked at each other, still only inches away in each other's arms, both boring their eyes into the other. Sakura could not believe she had just poured everything out and admitted her feelings to Naruto in the middle of a mission, in the middle of trying to get away from the enemy no less. Naruto was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had just kissed Sakura, and she had kissed him back. She had told him she loved him. A small smile started to form on his lips before it split into a wide grin. Sakura gave him a smile before they both started to laugh. The sun started to sink behind the trees as Naruto kissed her once again.

"We should get ready to start moving as soon as we're able to." Sakura told Naruto. She did not want to leave his arms but she knew the sooner they were out of harm's way the sooner they would be able to relax together. Naruto nodded and slowly loosened his grip and started to pull away before she grabbed the front of his jacket pulling him back to her for a deep kiss. "Let's go home together." Naruto gave a small smile before they moved back to gathering their gear, ready to move as soon as they could or at the first sign of danger.

Sakura saw Naruto's head snap back the way they had come. "Are you able to move now?" He asked softly.

"I can go if we need to." She told him. They heard a quiet thud seconds before a second and a third. The two looked at each other, they did not know if they had it in them to get away a second time. They could hear the three moving closer and all they could do was look at each other. As Naruto closed his eyes, Sakura tried to get a look around the rock. Suddenly everything went light and she jumped back to find Naruto using Kurama's help. "Naruto…"

"I have just enough left to get you and Naruto out of here." She heard Kurama say as he crouched. The three ninja were on them in seconds but Kurama was fast, he was used to these fights, he and Naruto trained and Kurama knew how important the people around were to Naruto.

"So you think you can use some jutsu you learned in the war to get out of this?" one ninja asked as he moved closer. "There's no way out. You're going to pay for what your father did to us." He ground out before Kurama was off sending the one ninja to the right back into three trees.

"Sakura." Kurama called over his shoulder as he swung his chakra out to knock the one to the left away as the leader charged. Sakura blocked a kunai as she ran in front of him. The ninja narrowed his eyes at Sakura as he took aim for a fast jutsu. Kurama grabbed Sakura and took to the trees, the jutsu only scraping Naruto's arm as he came back to the front as they sped through the trees.

After an hour and a half, Kurama needed to rest. They stopped for a moment to take in their surrounding only to find they were only a few hour walk from the village. "I don't think they followed us this time." Naruto said as he held his arm.

"I don't think they could." Sakura gave a small smile. "Let me see that." He moved his hand to show her the raw skin where it had been burnt. "I'll heal it a little bit and then we'll start walking to the village." She told him. He nodded in agreement, as if he had a choice in the matter. Sakura eased the pain and tried to heal the tender skin a bit before they were off, deciding the run so they would finally be home.

They landed and made their way to the Hokage tower where they found Tsunade, still not completely healthy, behind the Hokage desk with Sai, Kiba, Akamaru, Kakashi, and Yamato standing in front of it. "Naruto, Sakura. I was just about to send a team looking for you. What happened?" Tsunade asked sitting forward in her chair.

"It looks like Naruto made some new enemies." Sakura said as she walked closer to her old teacher while Naruto followed rubbing the back of his head.

"When doesn't he?" Kiba scoffed.

Sakura shook her head as Naruto came to her side. "They were rouge stone ninja who still had something against my dad." He explained. "Guess it's not so quiet now." Naruto chuckled as Sakura gave him a small smile.

"It was bound to come out sooner or later." Kakashi told him making him nod. "At least you can get it out in the open." He smirked as Naruto grinned and chuckled.

"Wait. Who's your dad?" Kiba asked confused.

"Naruto is the son of the fourth Hokage." Sakura answered and watched, as Sai looked curious as Kiba's mouth dropped open. "The fourth still has enemies and Naruto was safe until they started finding out about who his parents were. Now they are out looking for revenge and since they can't take it out on the fourth they are going to the closest one to him." She looked back at Naruto who smirked making her roll her eyes.

"Was your mission a success?" Tsunade asked, breaking the discussion. The two nodded. "Good. I will send word to the Tsuchikage about the missing-nin he has roaming around. You are all dismissed until farther notice." The group nodded and left together talking and laughing.

"The guys are getting together for another round, you in?" Kiba asked Naruto.

"No." They heard Sakura say as she moved closer. "You need to get your arm cleaned up and then we need to talk." Naruto looked at her only a split second before he grinned.

"Maybe another time, Kiba." He smiled before he walked off with Sakura beside him to have her heal his arm at his apartment as they discussed what this new relationship meant.