Story set very shortly after the end of the series

Story Birth: 8-4-12 [Saturday]


* Note *

This is not a BL (boys love) story.


"What do you suppose that is?"

"Is this some kind avant-garde art?"

"How interesting.."

More murmurs of curiosity echoed throughout the crowd as a little girl with large amber eyes cautiously approached the object in question and jabbed it with her stick.

"AOW! Hey, watch it!" Naruto cried, struggling against his bonds.

"WAAAAHH! MAMA!" The little girl ran off in tears to her mother as nearby pedestrians, now with terrified expressions, continued to whisper amongst themselves.

"Naruto, this is all your fault," Kiba sighed in annoyance as he hung helplessly adjacent to the transgendered blonde.

Naruto cast him an irritated glare as far as his peripheral vision allowed him to. "Shut up! I can't concentrate!" He turned to the crowd surrounding them – their whispering wavering his tolerant temperament. "All right already!" he bellowed. "There's nothing to see here! Get lost!"

A couple of "how rude!" comments were heard amongst the elderly women while others seemed agitated by his outburst and glowered at him. Some lingered for a moment longer before dispersing with the rest of the pack.

"Can't blame them for staring," Shikamaru muttered as he gazed up at the sky from his position. "We look ridiculous."

Indeed, they were a sight for the books. Naruto in Sexy Jutsu form encased with Shikamaru and Kiba in a blonde hairball with the lazy genius lying on top facing the sky whilst the other two buried deep on adjacent sides. Only their heads and a few limbs stuck out of the mess leading back to Naruto's transfigured head. Disoriented, Akamaru whimpered helplessly as he tried to decipher between the new found ball and his master trapped inside of it.

Fifteen minutes had passed since their unification started by Naruto perfecting the allure of his Sexy Jutsu form. After being intrigued by a story Sakura told of a princess with hair golden like the sun and longer than the height of a tower, Naruto's curiosity increased and began his experimentation. It would only be moments later that Kiba, racing with Akamaru, would stumble over the locks spread about on the ground and tumble down a hill into a blonde ball while capturing a snoozing Shikamaru in the process before crashing into Naruto.

"Naruto, hurry up and get us out of here!" Kiba bellowed as Akamaru curiously sniffed at their bindings.

"Cool your jets!" Naruto hissed. "I'm working on it – GAH!"

The three shinobis began to rock back and forth with their cage as Akamaru gave in to temptation and pounced, pawed, and gnawed at it with interest.

"Oi! Akamaru!" Kiba called. "Stop doing that! Down boy!"

But the overgrown canine was too delighted with his find. He lunged forth with a great pounce and sent Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba rolling into the forest.

"AHHHHH!"

"DAMMIT AKAMARU!" Naruto cursed as said dog chased after them excitedly.

"If we die, I'm gonna kill you, Naruto!" Kiba yelled as they tumbled down a slanted fallen log, increasing their speed even more.

"I think I'm going to be sick...," Shikamaru muttered, repressing the urge to barf.

A cliff's edge came closer into view. Horror filled Naruto's face as he realization dawned upon him. "SHIT! Shikamaru, DO SOMETHING!"

"LIKE WHAT?!" Shikamaru yelled helplessly as they were launched into the air, the leaf village just under them.

"GYAAAAHHHH!"

XXX

"Lady Tsunade, here are the files from the hospital."

The Goddaime grimaced as Shizune dropped another stack of papers onto the already cluttered remains of the desk. The sannin poured herself another cup of sake as she rubbed her temples. Just a few more signatures then soon Kakashi would officially take on the honor of Hokage and the burden of paperwork.

"Thank you, Shizune," Tsunade sighed. "Kakashi, any news on Sasuke?"

"Not since his last report," Kakashi replied. "No word yet on when he plans to return."

Tsunade glanced at Sakura standing next to Shizune and grinned. "Well, he will come back eventually. What's another few months of waiting?"

Sakura blushed profusely, noting the hidden comment towards her.

The fifth hokage laughed at her flustered pupil. "Time sure flies by," Tsunade said with a reminiscing tone. "It seemed like it was just yesterday all of you were just annoying kids. Well, you still are, but now you've all grown –" Tsunade stopped herself short after seeing the dumbfounded expressions on her accompanies' faces. "What's wrong?"

Sakura was lost for words as time seemed to have stopped as Naruto's horrified transfigured head, along with a frightened Shikamaru and Kiba still entrapped in their hairy cage, sailed across the window behind the perplexed goddaime. A trail of unraveled blonde locks was the last glimpse of the attraction Sakura could see before they disappeared. Tsunade turned her head to follow their gaze but saw nothing. "Why are you guys staring at the window like that?"

Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Nothing, Tsunade-sama. I was just thinking that they still have a little growing to do."

XXX

"Sakura-chan help!" Naruto cried as they flew past the hokage tower, but his cries proved to be futile.

"We're gonna die!" Kiba cried as the ground came closer and closer to view. "Naruto, do a clone or something!"

"My hands are tired up!"

Suddenly, a thick strand of loose hair caught the corner of Kiba's eye. "Oi, Naruto! I think this thing is falling apart! Try and dig a way out!"

"Got it!" Naruto gritted his teeth as he struggled to move his arms. He could feel the hair loosening around his hands. Naruto bit and gnawed at the follicles in attempt to slice through. Finally, he could feel his body slipping through the hair.

"Dammit! That's the last time I make the hair so thick! Hey, Kiba! Can you get free yet –?" Naruto turned his head and, instead of seeing his ball mate, he saw Lee in a defensive position, with his legs posed ready to kick, in front of a perplexed Tenten. "O-Oi! Lee, WAIT!"

But his warning came too late as he felt a sharp pain to his abdomen from Lee's foot. Once again, Naruto found himself soaring back into the skies.

"What was that?" Tenten asked, looking around in bewilderment.

Lee blinked. "I don't know...," he said slowly. "I just did that out of reflex. I thought I heard Naruto's voice. Kiba, what are you doing?"

He and Tenten looked down at Kiba laying flat on his stomach. The ground around his body was cracked, molded to his shape.

"I got free from Naruto," Kiba sighed in relief.

"Eh? Naruto?" Lee looked around. "I don't see him anywhere."

"That's because you just kicked him across the village," Kiba thought to himself.


Sasuke stared up at the sky. His expression remained stoic while the gatekeepers, Izumo and Kotetsu, were perplexed. There was no mistake that the three of them saw the same thing.

"What the hell was that?" Kotetsu said.

"It looked like Naruto," Izumo muttered.

Sasuke continued forth to the hokage tower. It shouldn't have came as a surprise to him, but that was the last thing he expected to see upon returning to the village after months of being gone. The image of Naruto surrounded by a mass of hair soaring through the sky was still haunting his mind. Sasuke sighed.


"Hinata-neesan, what is that?" Hanabi asked.

"N-Naruto-kun, are you all right?" Hinata stared helplessly at the beaten orange and black blob of Naruto sprawled out on the pavement.

"Aa...," Naruto croaked out. The sexy jutsu had dispersed after the he crash-landed in the courtyard of the Hyuuga estate. Naruto was relieved to finally be safe on the ground. He sat up and scratched his head then grinned up at the two females. "Sorry for dropping in like that. Hanabi, you've grown taller since the last time I saw you!"

But the young Hyuuga merely stared at him and thanked him in a monotone voice before heading back inside. Naruto shifted awkwardly to her response then turned to Hinata. "I guess she still doesn't like me?"

Hinata smiled at him brightly. "She's warming up to you. Would you like to come inside?"

"Sure!" Naruto dusted himself off and looked around. He felt uneasy until something clicked in his mind. "Hey, where's Kiba?"

"Kiba was with you?" Hinata asked.

"I thought he was..," Naruto muttered. He folded his arms behind his head and followed Hinata inside. "Ah well! But I feel like I'm forgetting something else..."

XXX

"Damn you, Naruto..."

Shikamaru mumbled more curses under his breath, flinching occasionally as Sakura tended to his wounds with Temari and Sasuke watching close by. Temari struggled to keep a straight face as Shikamaru continued to vent.

"You're lucky I was there to save you," Temari grinned, suppressing the urge to laugh. "I never expected to see you fall out of a hair ball in front of the hokage tower. I mean, I knew clouds fascinated you, but..."

Shikamaru scoffed and averted his eyes away. A blush tinted his cheeks.

"Honestly, what is Naruto thinking?!" Sakura sighed heavily.

Kakashi smiled to himself as he laid atop a nearby roof, reading his book and listening in on the conversation below him.

"Ah, to be young..."

- End -

Edited 6-12-15 (Saturday)

~ PetitePatisserie