Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Ch. 1- Ice-skating
Sakura shivered in the cold as she waited for her teammates outside of the school under a tree. It never gets this cold in Konoha… she thought pulling her jacket tighter around her body. It was only a couple more minutes until…"AGH!!! It's SO COLD!"
Sakura spun around and saw Naruto running like mad towards her. Sasuke was right behind him walking as briskly as ever. They stopped in front of Sakura.
"It seems as if Kakashi is late as usual." Sasuke said. Naruto was jumping up and down beside him.
"Must keep moving. Must keep moving." Naruto turned a full 360 degrees and continued his dance. Sakura shook her head and bent to pick up a small bag.
"I made you guys some hot chocolate." She said smiling. Naruto stopped. He grinned.
"You're sooo nice Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. Sakura pulled out a thermos (yes a thermos.) and handed it to Naruto. He unscrewed the top and started to gulp the hot chocolate down.
"Be careful, it's very-" Sakura started. It was too late.
"HOOOOOTTT!!!!" Naruto screamed. His face had become extremely red and he started to run around again just as before. Then out of nowhere, a bucketful of water spilled over Naruto's head. Ice cold water. High up in the tree, the bucket dropped onto the grass making a soft clanking sound.
"Yo." A familiar voice said. The three looked up to see their sensei crouched up on a branch waving innocently. Naruto glared daggers.
"Why did you do that?! And.... Why are you late?! Again?!" Naruto yelled. He pointed accusingly at Kakashi. Kakashi gave Naruto the whatever you say look and threw him a towel.
"Well it would kind of strange if Kakashi arrived early." Sasuke pointed out. Naruto pouted. Sakura stared for a moment unsure of what was going on then pulled out another thermos.
"Do you want one, Sasuke-kun?" She asked. Sasuke shook his head.
"No thanks." He said. When he saw the hurtful expression begin to form on Sakura's face he added, "After the mission I'll drink hot chocolate with you." Sakura brightened instantly.
"Really?!" She said excitedly. Sasuke nodded, uncertain. Sakura squealed. "Yay!!!" She scurried over to Kakashi. Sasuke ran his hand through his raven hair and let out an exasperated sigh. I don't like....sweets, he thought. He went to join his team.
"What's the mission?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi smiled under his mask.
"ICESKATING?!" Naruto's jaw dropped. "Why? It's so...so...so girly." He said without thinking. Sakura whacked him across the head and he fell face first onto the ice.
"Girly, huh?" Sakura growled. Naruto sat up and blushed slightly.
"Sa-Sa-Sakura-chan... I didn't mean it that way..." He said nervously holding up his hands defensively. Sakura glared at him.
"Quit talking out of your ass!" She said. She turned her head away from Naruto. He stretched out his hand as if trying to reach out to Sakura but dropped it back down.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined.
"Hmph!" Was his answer.
He tried to stand up but slipped and landed on his butt. He slid further onto the ice.
"AH! Help!" He struggled to get back to the snow. "It's trying to eat me!!!" He yelled. Several ice skaters on the ice stopped and stared at him. He continued to slide until he stopped right in the middle of the ice. The ice skaters snickered and giggle as Naruto tried yet another futile attempt at getting up.
"Someone get me off of here! My butt's getting numb!!!" Naruto cried. Sasuke shook his head and moved forward.
"Idiot." He stepped carefully onto the ice to retrieve Naruto. He slid his feet beneath him cautiously and inched closer. He had his arms stretched out and his feet apart. Just a little more, he thought. As he got closer, his feet slipped and he fell sliding over to Naruto. Naruto stared at him and gave him a thumbs up.
"Nice rescue." He said sarcastically. Sasuke shot him a withering glance.
"Shut up! You're the one that got us stuck out here in the first place." He fired back. Naruto pouted for the second time that day.
"You didn't have to come rescue me y'know." He said. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"Well, you looked pathetic sitting out here, screaming for help." Sasuke said. He folded up his arms and legs. Naruto seethed and motioned to strangle Sasuke.
"You guys are NINJAS!!!" Sakura's voice was heard in the distance. Naruto stopped. "It can't be that hard to get off of a frozen pond!!"
"She's right!" He said. Sasuke shrugged and the two helped each other up. "Alright, on three." Naruto said. The boys dug their feet into the ice so as not to slip.
"One," Sasuke said.
"Two." They bent their knees to get ready to leap.
"THREE!" They were about to bound off when someone tapped on Naruto's shoulder. They faltered and slipped, falling on their faces.
Shikamaru and Chouji stared down at them. Chouji munched on a small bag of chips.
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked. "How come you don't have any ice skates on?"
"Ice skates?" Naruto asked as he sat up. Sasuke looked over at Kakashi, who was holding up two pairs of ice skates.
The ice skaters had continued to ice skate. Snow surrounded the edges of the ice and dead trees dotted the background. Naruto shivered.
"Kakashi-sensei is a bad teacher." Naruto said to himself in a shaky voice. "When I have kids, I'll make sure they don't have him for an instructor." He tied the laces and stood up. Shikamaru was observing him.
"You tie your laces like a five year old." He said cocking his head to the side.
"Shut up, pineapple head!" Naruto growled. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Sasuke and Sakura had seated themselves on either side of him and were looking at Kakashi, waiting for instructions.
"Today's mission..." Kakashi started.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy..." Naruto stared anxiously up at Kakashi. Kakashi held up a gloved finger.
"Is ice hockey." He finished. Naruto frowned.
"That's not a mission!" He yelled. He leaned over to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, what's ice hockey?" He whispered. Kakashi folded his arms across his chest.
"Ice hockey is a game played on the ice using those ice skates." Kakashi produced a long stick that curved and widened at one end. "This is a hockey stick." He held up another object. This one was black, circular, and slightly flat. Shikamaru and Chouji stood in the background looking somewhat interested. Ino and Hinata wandered by and stopped.
"What's going on?" Ino asked peering at the scene.
"Kakashi's explaining how to play a game called ice hockey to his team." Shikamaru said. "Sounds troublesome."
Kakashi continued as he pulled his skates on.
"All you have to do, is hit this puck into a goal. Like this," he stepped onto the ice and maintained perfect balance. He set the puck onto the ice and positioned to hit it. The puck soared across the ice into a goal. By now a group had formed around the back of team 7: Kiba, Shino, Lee, Ten-Ten, and Neji were now standing or sitting behind them.
Kakashi skated over to the goal and picked up the puck. "So who wants to play?"
"This is stupid." Neji said instantly. He started to leave when Ten-Ten grabbed the back of his collar. She dragged him back.
"Come on, Neji! You need to socialize more." She said. "And besides, it'll be fun."
"Cool, I wanna play!" Kiba said. Shikamaru shrugged.
"Why not?" He said. Lee had also decided to play as well as Hinata, Shino, and Ino. Chouji had decided to stay out because he was too busy eating.
"Hmmm..." Kakashi counted who was playing. "Looks like we're uneven. Either Chouji plays or one of you sits out."
"I'll sit out." Neji said quickly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Whatever," he said. Neji walked to a nearby tree and sat under it. Ten-Ten glared at him. Jeez, such a loner. Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Let's get into teams now. One will be team blue and the other team red."
"I wanna be on Sasuke's team!" Sakura said. She ran over to him with Ino trailing after her. Or Sasuke's Team and Naruto's Team… Kakashi thought.
"I'll be on Naruto's team then." Shikamaru said. Avoid women at all costs… especially those women, he thought glancing at Sakura and Ino. Kiba, Hinata and Shino had also decided to join Naruto's team leaving Lee and Ten-Ten with Sasuke. Naruto grinned at Sasuke.
"Ha! We'll beat you for sure." Naruto said. Sasuke returned the grin.
"I'd like to see you try." He said. Kakashi threw up the puck and the game started.
"Score!" Ino yelled. She did a leap of joy and gave a high-five to Sakura as she skated by. Naruto leaned on his stick in the middle of the ice. Shikamaru skated over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"The score's 5 to 1." He said. Naruto's head hung. 5 to 1…that's not good… He looked up and called a time out. He and his team huddled together and he explained his plan.
"Are we allowed to do that?" Kiba asked. Akamaru was huddled against his neck shivering.
"Well, there's nothing in the rule book that says we can't." Shino said. Naruto grinned. It'll work. He thought.
"Alright then, let's play." Kiba said. Sakura and Ino stood side-by-side watching the enemies discuss a plan.
"I doubt they'd have come up with a plan to beat us." Sakura said observing the huddled group carefully. Ino looked doubtful.
"You never know," she said. "They do have Shikamaru on their team."
"Yeah, but Naruto's the team captain." Sakura said. They laughed and skated back to their positions: Sakura was defense and Ino was offense.
"Time in," Kakashi called. The huddle dispersed.
Naruto looked back at his team. They looked confident enough, even Hinata. Shino, Hinata, and Kiba formed a large triangle, with Shikamaru in the middle of it. Naruto stood at the half-point facing Ino.
"Just like we planned!" Shikamaru said.
"Alright!" Sasuke shouted from the goal. He threw the puck into the ring and it landed in front of Naruto. Perfect. He seized the puck before Ino could reach and juggled it until he reached far enough into the opponent's side, then he performed a hand seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Four Narutos appeared and headed straight into the first line of defense: Ten-Ten. Ten-Ten became confused as the original Naruto swerved pass her and the four Narutos held her back.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three more appeared and retained the second defense: Sakura.
"Naruto! That's cheating!" She screamed as she tried to pry herself from the Naruto barrier.
"Says who?" Naruto replied. Sakura let out a scream of frustration. Naruto skated on with the puck still in his possession and smiled.
"You'll never get pass me." A voice said. Naruto stopped in front of the goal and faced Sasuke. Sasuke smirked and held the hockey stick in front of him. I'm confident, he thought.
"Kage Mane no Jutsu!" The black shadow stretched out across the ice pass the other opponents and bound itself to Sasuke. He felt himself lose complete control of his body as the shadow wrapped around his.
"What the--?!"
Somewhere on the other side of the pond, Shikamaru was grinning triumphantly. Kiba, Shino and Hinata were guarding him as Lee and Ino tried to stop Shikamaru. Though, now, they could only watch helplessly as Naruto got ready to hit the puck. Shikamaru moved to left and Sasuke moved to the left, leaving a wide-open space for Naruto to score. Kakashi sat down on a rotting log looking interested. Neji raised his eyebrows and Chouji continued to eat.
"Looks like I just passed you." Naruto said. He brought his stick back and swung as hard as he could. The puck whizzed pass Sasuke's face into the net. Shikamaru released Sasuke's body and the guards skated away. The Narutos disappeared in puffs of smoke and the team got together to briefly celebrate the success of their plan.
"Naruto-kun… you…you were great…" Hinata said softly. She blushed furiously. Naruto smiled at her.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan!" He said.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!!!!!" Sakura yelled. She pointed at her teacher. "Isn't that cheating?! Why didn't you stop them?! You're a bad referee!" She threw down her hockey stick. Kakashi had his face buried in a book only this time it wasn't Icha Icha Paradise.
"It doesn't say that we can't use our ninja skills!" Kiba argued, skating in front of Kakashi. Shikamaru decided not to argue. Arguments were too troublesome. And Hinata and Shino remained silent near the goal.
Kakashi held up the book, 'The Rules of Ice Hockey' and nodded.
"Kiba's right." He said. "Nothing in here that says you can't use ninjutsus." Kakashi laid down the book. Naruto laughed.
"Haaa! See?!" He stuck out his tongue at his opponents. They all glared at him.
"Enough!" Sasuke yelled from the back of his side. "That just means that we can use ninjutsus too."
Sakura thought about it.
"Alright." She said. "We have the Sharingan on our side!"
"Is that a threat?" Shikamaru asked stepping up to her. Naruto pushed Hinata forward.
"We have the Byakugan!" Naruto sneered. Hinata blushed.
"Like the Byakugan can do anything!" Ino blurted out. By this time Neji had appeared on the ice.
"Are you saying that the Byakugan is useless?" Neji growled angrily. He towered over Ino. Ino back away.
"Well, I mean…it's not like it can be used in a game of ice hockey…" She stammered. Neji snatched her hockey stick away, his Byakugan slowly creeping into his eyes.
"I'll show you." He said.
Hinata had decided to watch the game seated next to Chouji. The score was tied: 12 to 12, and the sun was dropping slowly behind the hills.
"Okay, whoever makes the next shot goes home the victor." Kiba said tiredly. The teams agreed and they played on.
"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke spilled the fire out onto the ice and created a giant hole in front of him.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto, the new goalie for his team, created a human barrier.
Kiba had the puck this time. He rushed through the crowd.
"Oh no you don't!" Ino ran forward and threw a kunai. Kiba dove to the side and lost the puck to Ino who passed it to Sakura. Sakura passed it to Lee.
"Make the shot, Lee-san!" Sakura shouted falling back.
"What a dangerous game of ice hockey," Hinata said pulling her knees up to her chest. Kakashi looked over at her.
"Ah, but it's not just ice hockey." He said. "It's training." Hinata felt him smile underneath his mask. "It's better to have fun while training. But don't say anything." He held his finger to his lips and they continued to watch.
Lee zoomed through the maze of Narutos. He put up a strong barrier, Lee thought. He kept the puck in his sight. Ah! It was the light at the end of the tunnel. The barrier had stopped and there stood Naruto, alone and ready. Lee smirked. Time to end this, he thought. He hit the puck. It all happened in slow motion. Naruto stretched out his stick to block the puck as it soared. It was a centimeter above his stick but it was enough. The puck landed into the goal with a loud thunk. The Narutos disappeared.
"YES!!!! WE BEAT YOU!!!!" Ino shrieked. She held her stick high above her in triumph.
"Go Lee!" Ten-Ten shouted.
Naruto dropped his stick onto the ice. "We lost…" He stepped out of the goal to meet his team. He smiled. "Well, there's always next time!" He said happily. His teammates smiled, all except one.
"What's the matter, Neji-san?" Naruto asked. Neji had that painful look on his face.
"I couldn't…" He started. His teammates stared at him. "I couldn't… I COULDN'T PROVE THAT BYAKUGAN COULD BE USED IN ICE HOCKEY!!!!" He roared. His teammates stepped back. They gasped, not at the fact that he didn't prove something, but more of the fact Neji had actually yelled like that. Hinata, who was starting to walk over to them, stopped in mid-step at the sound of Neji's angry voice. She grimaced.
"Wh-What's going on?" She asked shakily as she approached them. Naruto turned to her and waved his hand.
"Ah ha ha! Nothing, nothing." He said. Hinata stayed beside Naruto, feeling a lot safer. Shikamaru had taken off his skates and was walking with Chouji.
"Hey," Sasuke called. "Let's go! We're gonna go eat out on Kakashi!" Naruto and his teammates ran after them. Their skates hung over their shoulders.
"All of us?" Naruto asked swinging his stick over his shoulder with his skates.
"That's what he said." Sasuke replied. Naruto stretched one arm up.
"Then I'll have a couple bowls of ramen!" He said as the large group set off toward Konoha.
-end of chapter one-
So? D'ya like it? It's a lot longer than most of my other stories. Actually I only have two stories out but who tha hell cares. Review please!
-Poochie-Oochie