Someone to prove something to
A NaruSaku Fanfic by Blanketman
Author's notes
I don't own Naruto etc etc…
This is my first fanfic ever! I have read a few though.
'How long has it been again? Oh yeah, two and a half years! No way… could it possibly be … that long?' Sakura found herself thinking about Naruto for some reason. It's been happening a lot lately, and she wasn't sure why. It couldn't be… did she miss his crazy antics and pervy jutsus? 'Nah, it can't be… can it? NO! There's no way. I do not miss him! He irritated me so much!', she tried to convince herself. But as much as Sakura tried to stop thinking these thoughts, she couldn't help but wonder where he was now and what he was up to.
She had been doing a lot of missions lately, and had little time to herself. Every time she felt like she had some time off, Tsunade-sama would call her in and send her on some mission. Usually they weren't that challenging for her, especially when taking into consideration how much she had improved since that old lady took her as a student. They weren't the old "go and find some old lady's crazy cat before it kills someone" missions anymore, but they weren't too hard on her. She had just been doing so many that she hardly had time to train or socialize or even sleep. Even her friendship with Ino had been going backwards. They barely talk anymore. The only time Sakura has time to think about, well, things, is those few minutes right before she falls asleep, whether it be at home or in a tent while on a mission. And somehow, in those few minutes, even though she's usually completely exhausted, her thoughts are controlled by Naruto.
It was another average day in Konoha. Shikamaru was trying to beat his dad at shogi, Kiba and Shino were training in the woods with Akamaru, Hinata was trying to hold her own against Neji and Lee was doing one-fingered pushups in his dojo, waiting for someone challenge him. But, Lee had created quite a name for himself as a taijutsu expert, so almost no-one ever challenged him. This didn't deter him though. He even kept a small bottle of sake in his pocket in case Neji challenged him. But enough about Lee. Kotetsu and Izumo were manning their usual post when suddenly, out of nowhere, some rogue water balloon popped right in front of them, soaking them completely. Izumo got such a fright that he shot straight through the the roof of the guard house falling head first on Shizune who was walking by."Eeeehhh!!!?? What is your problem BAKA!!" Shizune screamed at him. "Were you aiming at my breasts?! And why are you all wet you perv?" The poor guy scrambled to his feet and started throwing one apology after the other until she calmed down.
"KONOHAMARU!!!" Kotetsu was standing outside the guardhouse now, still completely soaked, screaming at the person he thought was the perpetrator. But what he didn't know, was that Konohamaru and his team were out on mission. He looked around, trying to spot that little retard. Oh how he wished he had Byakugan right now… But what he saw instead surprised him, resulting in him completely forgetting about his anger. He saw a wide, retarded looking grin with the hand of the grin-bearer scratching the back of the head of the grin bearer. This could only be one person. "Naruto!! Welcome back you baka!" Suddenly, everyone who saw or heard the commotion gathered around them forming a small crowd. This drew even more attention, causing the crowd to grow. Naruto was suddenly surrounded by a hundred people all greeting him and asking him why he stayed away so long. The whole gang was there. Lee was asking him for a quick fight, Hinata was blushing uncontrollably and saying "Naruto-kun" a lot, Shikamaru told him how troublesome it was when he was away, Chouji offered him some chips and many more people tried to get his attention.
After he finished dealing with the crowd he decided to take Iruka and Kaka-sensei for a quick meal at Ichiraku's, which would, of course, eventually be paid for by one of them. "Ne, Kaka-sensei! You still reading Icha-Icha paradise? Because I can pull some strings, or hair, to get Erro-sennin to give you his latest edition to the series". Kakashi quickly left the stand and disappeared. Naruto and Iruka-sensei weren't puzzled in the slightest when they heard some whoops and yahoo's coming from above the stand. Kakashi returned to his seat shortly after, clearing his throat and saying "Arigatou, Naruto. I would appreciate that". They could easily spot, from looking at his closed eye, that he was smiling hugely under his mask.
Naruto was chatting to the two Jounin about his training when a thought suddenly hit him: He hadn't seen Sakura-chan yet. He stopped mid sentence, got up and left, shouting thanks to Kakashi for paying for the meal. In a poof, he also disappeared with a childish smile on his face, leaving Iruka cursing loudly. "Kuso!!! How do they always get away with this?!". He then took a look at the bill put down in front of him and saw that Naruto wolfed (or foxed ^^) down 5 bowls of ramen, which lead to even more "Kuso!"-ing and "bakayaro!"-ing from his side.
'How could I not have said hi to her yet? C'mon Naruto! How can you forget about the girl you've been in love with your entire life!', he thought to himself while running to Sakura's house. He knocked on the door, waiting anxiously for a response. Nothing. He knocked again, this time almost breaking the door. After he got no response again, he went up the window of her room to check what was going on. Nothing there either. 'Hmm… where could she be?', he thought to himself. He raced to Tsunade-no-baachan's office to ask her where Sakura was, since she was her sensei. Well, come to think of it, he hadn't said hi to Tsunade either, so he could do that now as well.
"Tsunade-no-Baachan!!", could be heard echoing through the halls of the building. She sat up straight immediately, pretending to have been wide awake. "Huh?? What? Who's that? I wasn't sleeping!" 'Hmm…', she thought to herself, 'There's only one person who calls me that'. "NARUTO!! You're back!" She refrained from hugging him, trying to act civilized and like a hokage should. "Ahem", she said, trying to get her act together. "Good to see you, you goofball! I trust your training went well with that old perv? You know, this town hasn't been the same since you left. It was missing a bit of, well, silliness." "It's good to be back, Baachan. I'm actually here to ask about…" "What? You're still calling me that??" She said, interrupting him in mid sentence. "Well, you know, old habits die hard", Naruto said with his usual goofy grin. "Baachan, I'm actually here to ask about Sakura." "Ah yes, I was wondering when you'd ask about her. I sent her out on a mission. If I knew you were coming back today I wouldn't have. Sorry about that. She'll be back tomorrow. I'm just not sure what time tomorrow though." "Arigatou Baachan", he said, slightly disappointed. "Naruto, please come and see me first thing tomorrow morning." "Will do! Cya around baachan!" And with those words he was off with an orange flash.
Naruto decided to use the rest of the day to get back on touch with his old comrades. He stopped by Lee's dojo to see if he was there. "Konoha Sempu!" suddenly echoed through the air as Lee tried to take Naruto out with one of his favourite, yet outdated, moves, as he came in through the doorway. Naruto had to jump into the air rapidly to avoid the pain, but that didn't help him because he was immediately hit in the stomach by a second kick from Lee. He crashed through the wooden wall of the Dojo and luckily for him, his flight was broken by a huge tree. "Eteteteee…" Naruto said as he pulled his but from the tree, rubbing his back. "Still as fast as always, eh Lee? You really hit me solidly there… hehehe" "Good job dodging my first kick there, Naruto-kun. Few people manage that. I even got Gai-sensei the other day. So, you here to challenge me, huh? Well get ready for…" "NO no fuzzy-brows, it's nothing like that", Naruto quickly said, cutting Lee's sentence short. "I'm just here to do some catching up with one of my old friends!" "Ah ok, sorry about that kick then. But you know, as I always say; there's nothing as good for your awareness as a sudden kick to the gut!"
After spending some quality time with Lee, he went over to see Chouji. When he got to Chouji's residence he saw Ino and Shikamaru were also there. 'They were always such a tight-knit team, these guys. And they still seem to great friends now', he thought to himself. Suddenly, he thought of his old team and of how Sasuke abandoned them to gain power. He thought of the promise he made to Sakura those years back to bring that idiot back. In a way, he actually missed having Sasuke around. They were rivals and all, but they were also best friends. These thoughts mulled around in his mind for a while until he realized that he was still standing in the doorway of Chouji's house, with three of his old friends staring at him. "Naruto!", they chorused. "Oh hi guys. Thought I'd drop by to say hi". Chouji's mom came in with some snacks, which were quickly dispatched by Chouji and Naruto. Shikamaru didn't even try to reach over because he knew that by the time his hand reached the bowl all the food would be gone.
As Naruto was chatting with Shikamaru, Ino caught herself staring at him. He had really grown and become quite the handsome young man. But the thing that attracter her to him most was his eyes. She had almost forgotten how unbelievably blue is eyes were. She always knew they were blue, but not this blue. 'Man, he really was gone for a long, long time…', Ino thought. She was still thinking of Naruto's beautiful eyes when she tripped over the coffee table and hit her head on the hard floor. What she hadn't realized was that she was actually walking forward while she was staring at Naruto. She immediately got up and straightened her hair, trying to pretend as if nothing happened, but when she looked up they were lying on the floor, laughing so hard they could barely breathe. One problem was that Naruto really wasn't able to breathe, because he had choked on a chip he was eating when Ino tripped. The word "troublesome" could only faintly be heard as Shikamaru moved over to Naruto to give him the Heimlich.
'Those guys are all still pretty much the same', Naruto thought as he left Chouji's house. 'Chouji still eats like a pig and Shikamaru still thinks everything is troublesome. But that's how I like them. I'm glad things haven't changed too much in the time I was gone. Except for Ino. She doesn't usually embarrass herself like that. I wonder what's up with her… Guess I'll ask her next time I see her.' He decided now would be a good time to head home, as it was getting pretty dark. After eating some cup-ramen he prepared for himself, he was off to bed. As per usual, Naruto rolled off his bed in his sleep and woke up when he hit his head on the floor. When he looked up, rubbing his head, he wasn't very happy to see a huge hole in his apartment wall. "Aw man! Not again", he said out load. This had happened quite often on his training as well. You see, Naruto wasn't the quietest of sleepers. A habit that he had was to put a rasengan right through the wall while he was still in his sleep, which, of course, had cost Jiraya quite a lot of money at all the places they stayed. "Oh well, guess that will let a nice breeze in."
Sakura was glad her mission was finally over and she was on her way back to Konoha. She was sent on this mission alone because it was simply a recon mission to find out about some of Akatsuki's activities. All she had to do was stop at some of the smaller towns in the River country to ask about any reported Akatsuki activities. Most of her leads had turned up dry, but she did get enough information for the mission not to be a total waste. They had been spotted in one town in the area asking for information concerning the four-tails jinchuuriki. This was enough for her to return home. 'I really wish Tsunade-sama would give me some time off after this mission so I can get some proper rest. All these missions are tiring me out. I fact, I think I'm gonna tell her that I need some time off and she's going to give it to me whether she likes it or not! Aw man! Who am I kidding! I can't just walk up to that Slug-lady and demand time off. She'll murder me! Ok, maybe not murder me, but just make my life horrible'. Sakura was still arguing with herself when she noticed that she was almost home. The great gates of Konoha were clearly visible as she reached the crest of the last hill.
It was about five in the afternoon when Sakura stepped into the gates of Konoha. She glanced over to Izumo and Kotetsu as if to say hi to them. Both of them glanced over to the side as if to point to something. She looked to over to where they were glancing and saw someone sleeping on the grass next to the gate. "He's been waiting for you since early this morning", Kotetsu said. "Guess he couldn't stay awake while sitting still for so long". Sakura took a few looks and some serious analyzing to realize that that person, sleeping over there on the grass, was in fact Naruto. In the end it was the orange jump-suit and the spiky blond hair that gave it away. She could barely recognize his face, because this young man lying here is, well, handsome. She moved up quietly to him and sat down next to him on the grass, taking a long hard look at him while he was still sleeping. He looked so peaceful. "Hmm, Sakura-chyan", Naruto said with a slight giggle in his voice, as he reached over to grab her around the waste. "Eeehh?? What do you think you're doing baka!", she shouted with a blushing face, throwing him off of her violently. It was only when his face struck the ground that he woke up.
"Huh? Sakura-chan? …" He got up and dusted the dirt off of his face, taking a while to admire Sakura. She had taken good care of herself. "Hi Sakura-chan! I've been waiting for you to get back." She was tempted to walk over to him to hug him, but well, he was Naruto, and, come to think of it, they never hugged back then. "Hey, Naruto. I'm glad you're back. I… this town has really missed you. You add a certain… flavour to this place." They just stood there in silence for a while, with Naruto smiling widely while scratching the back of his head. Sakura was also smiling. Eventually Naruto decided that the silence was getting uncomfortable. "Sakura-chan, um, I can carry your stuff to your house for you, if you want." "Yeah, thanks Naruto. That'd be really nice of you ", she said handing him her backpack.
They walked together slowly to her house. Somehow Sakura felt uncomfortable, which was strange, because she never felt uncomfortable around him before.'He was always just Naruto, the stupid boy that irritated me to no end, but now he's become Naruto, the handsome young man that makes me blush', she tought. Naruto wasn't that comfortable either. He had always had a huge crush on her, and he still did. He decided to break the silence. "So, Sakura-chan, how's the training been going with Baachan? I can imagine that she's been pretty tough on you. I just can't see her as someone that'll make training enjoyable for anyone…" "Sakura giggled a bit at this comment simply because it was true. Tsunade wasn't the easiest person to have as a teacher. "Well, you know", she replied. "It's actually been going really well. My medical jutsu skills have really improved. I sometimes wonder if I'm not close to her level yet." She realized that she was sounding a little too boastful, so she quickly added "But you know, every time I find myself thinking this, she shows me some other technique that's just way above my level, bringing me back to size." "I can imagine", Naruto said. "She quite something, that old lady. She used to really scare me sometimes. In fact, I think she still scares me". They both laughed at this for a short while.
When they reached Sakura's house she unlocked the door and stood there wondering what to do next. "Would you, um, like to come in Naruto?" "Yeah, sure. Why not.", Naruto replied. Suddenly Sakura realized that she needed to go and debrief with Tsunade. "Naruto, I quickly need to go and see the Hokage about my mission. Make yourself comfy. I won't be long!" So he went into the house and sat down on the couch. It wasn't too long before she returned. When she came in she walked straight to the kitchen. "Would you like something to drink Naruto? I've got juice, tea, coffee and even sake if you want". "Whaaat?? You have sake?", Naruto exclaimed. "Oh please Naruto", she said with a slightly naughty-looking smile. "It's just for special occasions! Would you like some? I mean, this is a special occasion after all?" He thought about this prospect for second. In his training with Jiraya, alcohol and women in the same room usually only meant one thing for Jiraya, which is why Naruto usually took that time to take walks and naps. And obciously, with Sakura being a girl this the thought of what could happen later if they had some sake hadn't crossed her mind. "Um… I'd rather have some tea, Sakura-chan. But thanks for the offer." "OK sure, then I'll make us some tea!", she replied.
The two of them sat there in Sakura's living room, enjoying their tea and each other's company. Slowly but surely they became more and more comfortable as they talked about what had happened with each of them in the last two years. Soon it was like old times, and they really enjoyed each other's company. They were chatting happily about the old days when Sakura suddenly mentioned Sasuke's name. The conversation halted immediately with the mention of his name. "So,um, you still think about him a lot, don't you Sakura-chan?" "Well, no Naruto, not really. He kinda, well, disappeared from my thoughts lately. My mind has been more occupied with… other things." Sakura was just dying to say "you" instead of "other things", but she thought it would just sound too corny. "Really?" Naruto was trying to conceal his excitement, and decided to do so by saying something else. "Just remember about the promise I made to you back then. I will bring him back, Sakura-chan. A promise is a promise, anf keeping my promises is my way of the ninja." Sakura couldn't help but smile at this. He was still the same old Naruto.
"Well, I think it's time I went home, Sakura-chan. I've been here for quite a while". It was already past 10 in the evening, so he had really been there for quite a while. "Are you sure you don't want just one more cup of tea? I mean you've already had 4, so one more couldn't hurt", Sakura replied. "Nah I'm good. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Tsunade-baachan told me to go and see her first thing. She probably wants to find out how my training went" "Really?", Sakura asked. "She told me the same thing! I'll guess I'll see you there then." He got up and walked to the door, with her following closely behind him. As he walked out he thanked her for the tea. "We should do this again sometime, Sakura-chan. I think we still have some more catching up to do. But anyway, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Sakura-chan!" And with that he was off. "Good night, Naruto-kun" she said softly into the night air.
She stood there, outside her door, for a good 5 minutes, just enjoying the cool night air, her thoughts occupied with Naruto. She thought about everything that happened that evening. The things they has spoken about and about how much she enjoyed spending some time with him again. He had not given her one reason to hit him through the wall, which was weird. It seems that during the past two years he had lost most of his bad habits and kept the good ones. 'He has really become mature', she thought. And with that she decided that it was now a good time to go to bed.
Naruto was up bright and early the next morning to go and see the Hokage. He quickly had some cup-ramen for breakfast before heading off. He stepped into her office and saw that Sakura had actually beaten him there. She smiled and motioned for him to come and stand next to her. "Ohayo, Sakura-chan, Tsudade-Baachan!", he said cheerfully. "So, can we begin with whatever it is you called us here for?", he asked. "No, we're still waiting for two more people, Naruto". Just then Gai and Kakashi walked through the door. "Ohayo Kaka-sensei, Gai-sensei", Naruto said as they came in. "Ohayo, Naruto", they said. "Wow, I'm surprised to see you up so early, Kaka-sensei", Sakura said. "Oh, by the way Naruto, Kaka-sensei is still the same as he was back then; always late. I'm really surprised to see him here so early! Must be important." "You're exactly right, Sakura.", Tsunade said. "This is a very important mission. I want you four to go out and track down those members of Akatsuki that you found out about in the river country. You are to set off as soon as possible, and remember, these guys are dangerous, so don't take any chances. If you see an opening, take them out!" "Yes ma'am!", they all said together. "Alright team Gai! We all meet at the gate in one…" "Hold on just one minute Gai", Kakashi interrupted him. "When did we decide that we're gonna be called 'team Gai'? "Well, I just thought that, since I'm the superior ninja in this team, that it was the most fitting name." "Well I'm sorry, but that's not an option", Kakashi replied. "In fact, I don't think we even need to name our team anything". "I've got it!", said Naruto. "How about the Uzumaki squad! Cool name eh guys?" They all burst out laughing. "Hahahaha!! Good one Naruto!", Gai said. "I almost thought you were serious there for a second" "Ok, let's get serious guys", Sakura said. "Let's all meet at the gate in one hour". And with that they all went their homes to pack.
To be continued…