Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction. I have read hundreds of these and I wanted to give my idea a shot. I know how to start and I have (what I think) is a unique way to end it. Little torn about the middle though. Honestly, I would love for someone to volunteer to beta this story. I have it about 80% finished on my computer. I really just wanted to see if my ideas are comparable to any of the other amazing stories I have read on here. Fair warning, my story consists of several flashbacks which I have tried to make as short as possible, just to indicate a character's thoughts. My chapters will most likely bounce back and forth from action filled to thought filled. I really hope you enjoy my story. Please let me know how I am doing. Sorry for the long author's note.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1 – The New Mission

Naruto was sweating out of every pore in his body. He had been fighting for hours and had bruises and cuts all along his body. The Kyuubi couldn't keep up with the number of wounds he was receiving and even his renowned stamina was wearing thin. The battlefield was riddled with craters and toppled trees caused by wayward jutsus and powerful strikes that could only be caused by the strongest of warriors.

The orange clad ninja couldn't remember the last time he had been so pressed during a fight. His opponent was incredibly fast and strong. It seemed like every time he successfully blocked one attack, three more were already on their way. He back flipped to give himself a breather. His opponent let him retreat for the moment.

"Tired already, Naruto?" said the other shinobi.

"I still have plenty of fight left in me, Bushy-Brows." said Naruto.

"Then quit resting and let's prove our youth!" Lee screamed as he charged at Naruto once again. Lee threw out a left-right jab combo followed by a sweeper, then continued with a high kick and a swift haymaker towards Naruto's face with each hit being blocked by the blonde shinobi. With each strike, the enthusiastic green shinobi increased his speed, testing the demon container's limits.

He was impressed with how much Naruto had improved in his taijutsu since they began sparring together a few months ago. Naruto was now as fast as Lee with his weights on and improving all the time. Though he wasn't as skilled in hand-to-hand combat as Lee, Naruto had a knack for thinking on the fly and attacking in ways that even the taijutsu master never expected. He really was the world's number one ninja at surprising people, regardless of what he was doing.

Lee spun around and tried to sweep the legs out from underneath his opponent. Naruto quickly leaped into the air to avoid the strike. Lee, expecting the evasion, continued his spin and punched Naruto hard in the stomach while he was still midair. Naruto went flying backward into a boulder, and shook his head as he regained his feet.

Lee was standing in his ready stance, one arm behind his back and one arm thrust forward like a blade, waiting for Naruto to attack. After mentally cursing himself for not seeing that last attack coming, the blond performed his signature jutsu and suddenly there were ten blondes charging Lee.

The taijutsu master smirked and proceeded into a complicated series of kicks and punches that occurred so swiftly and smoothly that the real Naruto could only look on in wonder as Lee destroyed every clone with such precision it looked more like a dance than a heated battle.

Lee took advantage of Naruto's admiration and moved so fast that to onlookers it would have appeared that he simply vanished only to reappear right behind a still stunned Naruto. Lee punched the blond hard enough to send him soaring across the training ground into a tree nearly a hundred feet away.

Smiling at his victory, Lee walked to his friend to make sure he was okay. Suddenly, Naruto disappeared in a flash of smoke. Shocked to find it was a clone, Lee quickly examined the area looking for the real Naruto. The bushy haired shinobi felt a shadow on his back and looked back in time to see his opponenent's foot heading towards chest. Lee ducked quickly, leaving him slightly off balance. The blonde pressed his advantage and continued to keep Lee on the defensive.

Right hook, left jab, spin kick, aerial roundhouse, sweeper, uppercut – The hits just kept coming. Even while blocking and dodging all of these blows and more, Lee had managed to regain his footing. He breathed a inner sigh of relief that Naruto's combo, while catching him off guard, failed. Truly great fights were like music with both sides occasionally reaching crescendos. The blonde's crescendo had already reached it's peak and was now dying off and Lee knew it was only a matter of time before he was able to build his own.

The taijutsu master blocked a final right punch from Naruto and took the opportunity to grab his opponent by the wrist, ensuring there was no escape. "Konoha Whirlwind!" Lee screamed as he sent his right leg soaring towards the blonde. Suddenly, a hand burst from the ground and grabbed Lee's left leg that was still on the ground and threw him off balance. The green ninja's kick went wide and Naruto punched his oppenent with all the force he could muster. Lee, still shocked by what happened, had no chance to dodge the strike and fell hard to the ground. He continued to lie on the ground, knowing he was defeated, this time.

"When did you create the last shadow clone?" asked Lee.

"Once you were engaged with the other ten. I figured they would distract you enough where I could sneak away a suprise for you." said the blond haired ninja as he helped his friend to his feet.

"I will keep my promise to myself and run 500 laps around Konoha for losing to you!" declared the energetic ninja.

At that moment, an ANBU agent arrived in a cloud of smoke.

"Naruto, the Hokage wishes to speak to you. She has a mission for you. Please head to the Tower as soon as possible. The rest of the team involved in the mission is already there." his message delivered, the ANBU agent disappeared in a burst of leaves.

Wondering what kind of mission awaited him, Naruto said, "Thanks for the sparring match, Lee. I hope one day I will be as quick as you!"

"Anytime, Naruto. I look forward to testing my skills with you another time. Next time I won't lose so easily!" said Lee with a fiery grin.

Naruto walked to his apartment to clean up before heading to the Hokage Tower. He waved to all of his friends that he saw along the way. Nowadays that was quite a few. It had been almost a year since Pain invaded Konoha. Now he was the hero who saved the Leaf. The town had been rebuilt better than it was before, proving the village's will of fire remained strong after the attack. Nearly everyone in the village recognized him and waved, offering their thanks for saving their home and family.

Having been hated since childhood for the demon that lived inside him, he still had not gotten used to all of the positive attention he received since that day; especially from girls. Lately, Naruto had noticed some girls following him around giggling to each other whenever he turned around to stare curiously at them. He knew what they were giggling about. He wasn't that naive anymore. Now he knew how Sasuke must have felt back in the academy.

Sasuke...

Naruto still hadn't kept his promise to Sakura to bring him back. Without a doubt, he still intended to keep his promise, but lately he was getting worried that Sasuke had lost himself completely to the darkness inside of him. He had been so optimistic that if he just encountered Sasuke one more time, he could convince the teme to return to Konoha.

However, after their latest encounter, after the raven haired shinobi had killed Danzo, he saw Sasuke's true heart. He truly wanted the village destroyed. He truly wanted to kill Kakashi and Sakura and would have if he had not arrived when he did. He couldn't believe that Sasuke had fallen so far.

Seeing Sasuke thrusting that poisoned kunai toward Sakura was one of the most frightening experiences of his life. He didn't know what he would have done if he would have arrived a few seconds later. Naruto had loved Sakura for as long as he could remember. He knew that she didn't love him back, but he didn't mind. He was content admiring her from afar, protecting her when he could, and doing whatever it took to make her happy. His thoughts returned to her confession in the land of snow six months ago.

Flashback (manga 469 – Land of Snow: Sakura's Confession to Naruto)

Naruto was speechless. The girl he had loved for as long as he could remember had just told him that she loved him. He had to be dreaming. Or maybe he heard her wrong. Before he got his hopes up to high, he asked, "I don't know if I heard you wrong. Can you say it again? What did you say just now Sakura-chan?"

Exasperated, Sakura said, "What I said, Naruto, is that I love you! I'm saying there's nothing between Sasuke and me anymore! I don't know what I was thinking liking a person like that. I'm confessing my feelings here, so listen up!"

End Flashback

Something hadn't felt right about the confession. He later realized that it was her way of trying to convince him to stop chasing after Sasuke since the Leaf village had decided to declare him a rogue ninja and issued a 'capture or kill on site' order. He often wondered whether somewhere deep inside she meant what she said.

Is it possible that it wasn't just a ploy to keep me from chasing Sasuke? Could it really be possible that Sakura has feelings for me? He smirked to himself, 'Based on my previous experiences, I'm not that lucky. Especially not with women.' he thought.

He arrived at the Hokage Tower and shook his head to clear his thoughts so he could focus on the mission, as a shinobi should. Now wasn't the time to worry about his non-existent love life. After knocking and receiving permission to enter, Naruto opened the doors to Tsunade's office.

In front of her desk stood the lazy genius, Shikamaru, with a bored look on his face. Next to him stood the Hinata, the Hyuuga Heiress. Last, was the girl of his dreams, Sakura. She grew more beautiful everyday. For a moment they made eye contact and Naruto tried his hardest not to blush. To distract him from his thoughts, he said "Well Baa-chan, what is this new mission you have for me?"

Tsunade glared at Naruto as she always did when he called her "Baa-chan." Secretly, she liked that he thought of her as family. After all, she thought of him as the son she never had. Especially since Jiraiya died, she regretted never having a family of her own.

"It took you long enough, baka. Now that you all are here, I will tell you the details of the mission." Tsunade said, looking serious suddenly. "Lately, I have received reports of a group of raiders harassing a village two days away from Konoha near the edge of the land of fire. Your mission is to discover the hideout of the raiders and if possible take them down and into custody."

"Raiders?! you expect me to go chasing down a small group of raiders when Akatsuki is still out there? While Sasuke is still out there?" said the over enthusiastic blonde.

"Naruto, you baka! Quit complaining and do what your told! Sorry, sensei. I'll make sure he behaves himself." said Sakura while bashing Naruto over the head with her enhanced strength.

"Ow! Sakura-chan, you are so mean..." Naruto said while rubbing his head soothingly.

"There are rumors that their leader is a powerful genjutsu user who claims to be able to see the future. So be careful, especially you, Naruto. The person who hired us for this mission specifically requested you lead it." said Tsunade while staring at the blonde.

"How troublesome...come on guys, we might as well get this mission over with." Shikamaru said while exiting the Hokage's office. "I'll meet you by the main gate when you are ready."

Hinata left shortly after Shikamaru with a swift good-bye to Naruto, Sakura, and the Hokage. The remaining pair of Team 7 left the office together, Naruto still rubbing his head. They both already had their gear for the mission so they walked to the main gate to wait for Hinata and Shikamaru.

They walked in silence most of the way, merely enjoying eachother's company. When Sakura could take the silence no more, she said, "Why are you all banged up, Naruto? Yeesh, sometimes you really overdo it, you know that?"

"Sorry, I was training in taijutsu with Lee-san. He almost has as strong of a punch as you do Sakura-chan." said Naruto jokingly.

"At least let me heal you before we leave for our mission." said the pink haired medic-nin. While Sakura was healing him, Naruto couldn't help but notice how close she was to him. He could smell her hair, could see every beautiful pore on her face, and feel her breath on his neck. It took every fiber in his body not to hug her close right then. He sighed, again accepting that it wasn't meant to be, and gave Sakura the best smile he could.

Sakura smiled back at her teammate and best friend. Though she was proud of how strong he had become, she wished he would take it easy every now and then. She knew that he had good reasons to want to be so powerful. After all, she was one of the chief reasons he trained so hard to bring Sasuke back.

She hated when he smiled at her like that. She had known him long enough to know when his smile was real and when it was for show. It was his eyes that gave it away. His eyes always shined when he truly smiled. Now, they were dull with sadness. When she was done healing what little the Kyuubi hadn't taken care of already, she put her hand on Naruto's shoulder, forcing him to look at her, and said, "Just be careful out there, okay?"

He smiled his real unique smile and quipped, "Aren't I always?" At that moment, Shikamaru and Hinata approached the gate. Noticing their company, Sakura smiled one more time and took her hand off of Naruto's shoulder, thrust it in the air and said "Okay gang, let's go find us some raiders! Shannaro!" With that the four teammates left Konoha.

Author's note: Not a bad start huh? please don't forget to tell me what you think so far. I would appreciate any reviews!

Thanks a ton guys!

narp73