Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters or anything.

This is my first NaruSaku story please review it. More will come soon.

"Rasengan-Chidori!" Naruto yelled. In the palm of his hand a dark orb appeared for the shortest of moments and then sizzled away.

"It still isn't enough," he whispered as the last of the orb disappeared into thin air.

His body began to shake making his sweat, blood, and dirt mix together on him and his clothes. It was hard work training with Jiraiya, but he did not care. He had made progress. His Sharingan faded from his eyes and he fell to the ground.

"My Rasengan-Chidori is...getting there... One more time!" He gasped and stood up. The red returned to his eyes and he began to concentrate, but it wasn't easy. Today was the last day he was going to train with Jiraiya. It had been three years and more than anything he wanted to see Sakura. The thought of her gave him enough energy to try his new move again. He focused all of his chakra on the palms of his hands. In his left a blue orb began to rotate and spin, his Rasengan. In his right the sparks from the Chidori move Kakashi had shown him began to form too. Halfway through he put his hands together and a black orb formed. It steadily got bigger and darker, until finally he had done it.

"Rasengan-Chidori!" The orb hit a bunch of trees and when the fog cleared none of them were still standing. Instead, a mess of wood chips painted the lush green grass.

"Good job, Naruto," Pervy Sage yelled as he walked toward Naruto. He was old and yet full of energy. He wore his sage outfit, including the headband. "Come on, let's get something to eat before you head back to the leaf village. My treat! It's the least I could do after three years of hard work. You have worked really hard and have almost perfected the Rasengan-Chidori move, not to mention all the other moves you have learned. Trust me, the Akatsuki won't know what hit them."

"Thanks, Pervy Sage." Naruto laughed and hit the ground. He was completely out of chakra. Jiraiya looked down at the panting boy. He had changed a lot. He had changed his headband to a black cloth, and he wore black-orange pants and a matching orange sleeveless shirt. More than anything his muscles had ripened. If he was tough to beat before, now he would be impossible to beat.

They went to a small bar where they sat down and then Jiraiya said, "What's wrong Naruto? Usually after a hard day like this you dig in. You've done good. These three years have been hard, but think about how much you have accomplished."

"Well, Pervy Sage, it's just... What if I get back and no one remembers me? I mean, I look totally different, and it could be exactly like when I was there as a kid..."

"Listen Naruto, I think the difference in you is what people will love the most, especially Sakura."

Naruto smiled and thought, Does he know? Is it that obvious? He shrugged off his thoughts and dug into his ramen. It was not as good as Ichiraku's, but it was still delicious.

He got up early the next day to make the long travel back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Was what Jiraiya said true? He might actually get noticed by Sakura? He had wanted that for as long as he could remember. For Sakura, the one he loves, to really notice him.

Thinking of Sakura made him start to run even faster, making him tired, but he refused to quit. He counted the hours he had left;seven...six...five...four...until he could hear the commotion of the leaf village in the distance.

As he entered the village he almost immediately hit Sakura. He stared at her. She was beautiful. Her pink hair was still short, and although Naruto never mentioned it he liked her short hair look. She was wearing a pink short-sleeved shirt, black tight shorts, and a pair of black gloves. Her emerald green eyes stared at his ocean blue ones.

"Naruto." She began to blush as she stared at the young man. His blood hair was spiked and under his leaf headband. He was clearly very muscular.What type of training had he done? she wondered as she admired him. Then she asked, "When did you get back?"

"Just now. It's so good to see you again, Sakura-chan. I have missed you a lot. What have you been up to?"

She blushed again. "Nothing much." She bit her lip. "Kakashi asked me to wait for you. He said you were getting back today."

"It's been a while." He laughed and then looked at Sakura. "Why did Kakashi tell you to wait for me?"

"He said something about the bells...again... Well, let's go meet him." She tried not to admire his body more, but it was hard for her. He had changed a lot.

They got to the spot where Kakashi had said he would be, but like normal he was nowhere to be seen. They were about thirty minutes away from the village in a forest. The green trees stood like giant guards around them. They waited for what seemed to be forever when Itachi came out into the clearing they were in andover his shoulder was Kakashi, unconscious.

"We have come for you nine-tails jinchūriki. Come with us nice and easy like."

"Does he have to?" Kisame asked as she also stepped into the clearing. "I want at least a small challenge. Come on boy, let's go."

"No, Naruto," Sakura whispered. "We can take them."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know, and I do not want you getting hurt. I'll go." He started to walk but a kunai whizzed past him and hit Kisame, although it was only a clone.

"At least this is going to get interesting." Kisame appeared behind Sakura and hit her into the floor. He then took out his sword and slashed her back.

She stood up and tried to punch Kisame, however he easily doged her and stabbed at her agian. Sakura jumped up only for Kisame to yell, "Shark bomb jutsu!"

Water jumped into the sky adn formed in the shape of a shark, it collided with Sakura, and sent her flying. Naruto caught her and set her on the floor, her blood began to paint the floor.

"Damn you!" Naruto yelled.

Then an all out fight broke out between Itachi and Kisame and Naruto. Naruto would try to slam them inot the dirt, only to have them be clones or jump away. They would counter byshooting off jutsus, but Naruto usually could manage to escape.

"Fire style phoenix flower jutsu!" Itachi and Naruto yelled at the same time. Each other's flames merged and halted the moves. Fog filled the air, when it cleared, Kisame was running up to Naruto.

"Water style, twin dragon jutsu!" The dragos swan through the air, drops of water fell off oof them and stuck the ground every once in a while. The dragons wrapped around Naruto and began to squeeze so hard, he felt light headed.

"Fine... I'll come, just don't hurt Sakura," he pleaded.

"You mean like this?" Kisame asked, punching her hard in the stomach.

"No, stop!" Naruto pleaded. His anger began to boil and he became cloaked in a red chakra. He also turned on his Sharingan, and broke through the jutsu that binded him.

Kisame swung his huge sword again…and hit Naruto's side appearing to do nothing. "Now you'll die!" he yelled and then put his hands together the black orb appeared in his palm and he jammed it into Kisame. "Rasengan-Chidori!"

The jutsu collided with Kisame's skin and cut through it like it was water, even though it was not perfected yet.

"Not so fast," Itachi said. Soon black flames surrounded Naruto and Itachi. It was catching fire and spreading, slowly closing in on Sakura. And making the forest burn faster than any other fire.

"Raaaaaaaah!" Naruto yelled. He quickly did some hand signs, "Fire-Wind Style Dragon Claw." His hand became a giant claw infused with fire and a raging wind. With a simple slash he shot out waves of fire-wind. It shot through the air and cut toward Itachi, he managed to dodge it but his face got a little cut up.

The fire was licking up Sakura's back now.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled.

"Fire Clone," Itachi whispered. The clones collided but clearly Itachi had underestimated Naruto. Three of his clones hit Itachi into the air saying, "Na-ru-to," the real one appearing above him and slamming him down all with a loud, "Uzumaki barrage!"

The pair was still not defeated. They stood up, but when Kisame ran toward Naruto, Itachi yelled, "Enough! Clearly we did not think he was going to be this strong. Next time we won't give up."

"Fine," Kisame grumbled while Itachi sealed his own flames. "This is not over boy." With that he lifted up his sword and swung it at Sakura just has shetried to stand up. She dodged it and returned by punching his sword. It cracked and then Kisame got really pissed off.

"That is it..." Kisame yelled.

"Enough, Kisame," Itachi said.

"Fine, but she cracked Samehada," Kisame barked, but just as he did it healed. "This is not over girl-l-l-l!"

"I'm not scared of you, ugly fish-face!" She made Kisame ignore Itachi and he roared in anger, "Ahhh, you stupid girl I'll show you! Water Poison Needles!" Hundreds of purple needles flew through the air toward Sakura and she let out a big scream, and closed her eyes. It was seconds before she opened her eyes and saw Naruto leaning over her with all of the needles stuck in his back.

This time Itachi grabbed Kisame and they ran through the forest. "We must get back to Pain. He did not want us to be out this long. He said if we couldn't do it now to wait till later. Now we're late."

"Yeah, yeah." Kisame ignored him.

"Sakura was still wo confused at what had happened, her medical side began to kick in and she examined herself for any injuries, luckily Kisame's sword had not cut anything too deep. All she had were small cuts, which would heal given time.

"Naruto! Speak to me, Naruto!" Sakura yelled and then remembered Kakashi. She went over to him and untied him. Afer a while he opened his eyes sat up. He looked around a confused look on his face and then gasped, "Where am I? When did Naruto get back, and what happened to him?"

None of his questions were answered as Sakura began to cry as she cradled Naruto's head. Kakashi came over and quickly scooped him up and they ran to the village.

"Sakura, I need you to tell me what happened," Kakashi began as they continued to run toward the village.

"Well," She paused to push back her tears, " When we got to where you said you would be, you were not there, we thought you were just late... As always. Eventually, Itachi and Kisame, I think his name was, came out and they had you over thier shoulder. They wanted Naruto... But I would not let them just take him... So we fought... the next thing I remembered, was waking up and Kisame attacking me. I dodged and hit back, that just made him more angry. He shot some poision jutsu at me, and Naruto jumped in the way... That poison is one that even I do not know of. Maybe Lady Tsunade might know it and can help him." She could not bring herself to think about what would happen if Tsunade could not help.

"Alright, lets just get back and hope she can then."

"Hmm, this is tricky," Tsunade admitted while she stared at the boy on the bed, "and he was attacked right when he got home from training with Jiraiya?If you ask me they planned this all along. Damnit, why did we not see it coming?"

Minutes passed. Sakura examined Tsunade. She had worry written all over her young-looking face. Her hair seemed to darken just because of the situation. Even her green robes seemed to be off from their usually cheerful color, although Sakura was sure that it was just her imagination. Many more minutes passed before Sakura quietly asked, "Can you save Naruto? Please tell me he will be alright."

"Sakura... I do not know. He is in critical condition. Even with the nine-tails in him... I think if he makes it 'till tomorrow he'll be ok, but if he makes a turn for the worse I do not think that I can do much."

"That's not good enough! Why should someone like Naruto, who all he ever does is protect the ones he loves, have to die like this... No, I know he'll be ok."

"No one ever said he was going to die. Time is the only thing that can tell."

With that everybody but Sakura left. She stayed through the night even when her parents begged her to leave. She could not help but think this was her own fault. If she could have only moved out of the way of those needles… "Am I still so weak that I put all the ones I love in harm's way?"

"Do... Do not... Do not blame yourself for what happened... Sakura, it's alright," Naruto said has he woke up, barely conscious.

"Naruto, you always seem to know what I'm thinking. Thank you," she said and then she bent forward and kissed him on the cheek. He then tried to sit up but she forced him down. "No you can't yet. It might make you take a turn for the worse."

"Then you...lean down... I need to tell you…something." His whisper was barely louder than the silence around. She was hesitant but then she leaned over. Her mouth was a few centimeters away from him, then he leaned up and kissed her on the lips. It only lasted a couple of seconds before they both pulled away. Then Naruto drifted back into sleep, right after saying, "I've…wanted...to do that..."

She was left with the desire for a longer kiss. She had been certain that she liked him but she was not sure if she was ready for love, especially after Sasuke's death. She looked at Naruto long into the night, how his chest compressed and expanded, and how his yellow hair made him look energetic and headstrong.

Around seven o'clock in the morning Ino came in and saw Sakura still awake.

"So, the town's number one hyperactive ninja is already in the hospital, and just when he got back. Sakura, why are you sitting by him? What did he do besides get in the way? That is why he is here and you are not. Come on, let's go do something."

Sakura turned to Ino and that is when she saw how her face was darkened by the lack of sleep and how her eyes were red from crying about him all night. "No, Ino, for your information, he..." She began to cry again. "…jumped in the way of an Akatsuki's poison needles and saved me..."

"Oh... Sakura... I'm so sorry..." Ino said and had newfound respect for Naruto. "Well, since you were here all night does that mean you confessed your love for him?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

It was true. Ever since Naruto had left three years ago she had wanted to tell him she had liked him, so much that she was going to leave with him on his training trip with Jiraiya, but she truly did not know if she could love him like she had loved Sasuke. But now Sasuke was dead.

"No Ino... I do not know what you are talking about," Sakura said, trying to cover up the obvious.

"Sakura, you're such a bad liar. Just tell him! It is so obvious that he likes you back... Well, I have to go. I am going to see if anyone else is doing anything... come talk to me sometime if you need to OK?"

"Sure."

"And if you do love him... just tell the truth..." She left before she could respond.

If she did tell Naruto now things would be going too fast, but if she didn't she might never work up the courage again. Oh, why is love always so complicated? she thought.

Later that day Tsunade announced that Naruto would be ok and that he would be good in a couple of days. Sakura insisted that she stay with him until hegot out because she claimed that it was her fault, but she really was hoping she could tell him her feelings.

It was not until around one o'clock that Naruto woke up again and Sakura was sleeping, her hand on top of his and her head on his chest. "Um, Sakura-chan? What are you doing?" he asked and then began to stroke her pink hair. It sure is good to be back and to have Sakura so close to me, hethought. The truth is he loved her more now than when he had left. Then Sakura moved and sat up. She blushed when she noticed what had been going on.

"Sakura-chan, have you been here this whole time without going home and without sleep?"

"Yes."

"Even the same you look as beautiful as ever."

Her face turned completely red and then she spoke. "Actually, Naruto, there is something I want to tell you..."

"Sure Sakura, is there something you want me to do? I'll leave now and do it."

"No, no it's just that... Naruto, I... I have liked you...ever since three years ago when you left... That was a hard day for me, ask anyone... I wanted to come to you and admit it but I thought you would...just laugh at me"

This time Sakura did not push Naruto down as he sat up. Then he pulled Sakura closer and kissed her. This time the kiss also lasted longer, and when they pulled away from each other Naruto said, "I have liked you too, and I would never have laughed at you in that way. I don't think I know how..."

If Sakura was going to fast with Naruto by already kissing him, she did not care. She had not ever even felt this way around Sasuke. Naruto was so different than him, so kind and protecting and so much like her. She still was uncertain if they should date though.

The next day Sakura was forced to go home; her parents thought that spending so much time with a boy was not a good thing, and truthfully it probably was not. Tomorrow Naruto would be able to get out of the hospital and speak to the girl who had just confessed her love for him. He laid in his bed all day, almost always thinking about Sakura, and when he did he ended up thinking about the day he left to train with Jiraiya three years ago.

Flashback three years ago:

Naruto was in his apartment thinking a lot about the lovely Sakura. He had a choice to make: either go with Jiraiya and become stronger, or stay here and be with Sakura. She never knew how much he liked her and he never had any idea that she liked him back.

"You coming, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, a bit impatient.

Naruto did not know what to think. The question of should he stay or should he go had haunted him all week. Truthfully, he tried to put it off as long as long as he could and now his time was up.

"Come on, Naruto! What are you thinking about? Let's go... I'll teach you a new move, lots of new moves... Come on, let's just go already."

Naruto was struggling now. "Well, what does it matter?" he asked himself ignoring Pervy Sage. "She likes Sasuke. Well, what if I just ask her out? No, she will just laugh at me... Fine, I guess there is only one thing left to do. Coming!" he yelled.

He now realized how stupid he had been. "Sakura had probably got her heart broken again when I left... I need to ask her out as soon as I get out of this dumb hospital."

So he sat there thinking of how to best tell Sakura he loved her and to actually officially start dating. Maybe, he thought to himself, I should just sweep her off of her feet and ask, or maybe I can just drag her around town and act like it is a date... No that is a bad idea.

That is when Kakashi walked in. He was reading the newest book of Make-Out Paradise, and he seemed to not even care that Naruto was there. He still had his silver-gray hair up in a mess and he wore a bored look on his face. The headband covered his Sharingan eye, and he wore his normal Jouninclothes.

"So, I heard you got into trouble with some Akatsuki. Sorry for not being able to help."

"It's ok, Kakashi. I think I did ok," Naruto grumbled.

He is acting like he did not almost die, like he is fine. Could Sakura have done something to make him feel better? he asked himself, and thenspoke to Naruto. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing. I'm fine, Kakashi."

"Are you?"

"No," Naruto admitted. "It's just that life has hit me very fast. I thought there was no way Sakura would love me. That's why I left with Jiraiya. Then I found out she liked me this whole time... Then she kissed me and we both admitted we like each other, and now I have no idea where I stand and if I should ask her out or even how I should ask her."

"Naruto, you were attacked by the Akatsuki. Isn't that a little more important than talking to Sakura about love?"

"Kakashi, you were young once. Weren't you ever in love? You might know what I'm going through... I do not care about the Akatsuki. I can make them run away again..."

"Naruto, you may be right, but what if you aren't? Well, if you want my advice, this is it..." He thought for a second about how he was a father figure for Naruto and then said, "Well, just do not give up...ok?"

Then he left and Iruka sensei walked in."Aww. Naruto, sorry I did not come here earlier I've been busy. Anyway, what's going on?"

Naruto told him all about the Akatsuki attack and how he jumped in front of the needles and fell unconscious.

"Is it me or is that not what you're sad about?"

"Can everyone see through me?" Naruto then explained the same thing he had to Kakashi.

"I see. So, I think you need advice; be headstrong like you always are and go after her...if that's what you want."

"Thanks Iruka... so what have you been up to?" Naruto asked trying to change the subject.

"Nothing much... I was picked to help with the chunin xams this year... I will be planning and giving test two. It is a lot of work, but it is going to be fun."

"Yeah?"

"What about you Naruto... You know, before you got back to the town."

"I trained with Jiraiya. Everyday for those three years, it was very hard, but I leaned a ton of new jutsus and even made my own one."

"Maybe after you get out of here you can show me it."

"Sure!" Naruto yelled a smile across his face.

"Well, Naruto I have to leave. I will talk to you later."

"See ya."

Iruka then turned to leave, but first he gave some food he had gotten from Ichiraku's ramen stand to Naruto.

"Thanks!" Naruto yelled. He ate the ramen right away.

That night:

"Where am I?" Naruto asked. He was in a dark room with nothing but walls around him. Suddenly, Sakura and Sasuke appeared. Sasuke then drew his sword.

Naruto yelled, "Sakura, watch out!"

No use. She could not hear him. He tried to run to her but found that he could not move no matter what he did. Then he heard the raspy voice of Sasuke. "It is your love for me that blinded you. Now I'll see you in hell!" The sword seemed to ring as it swept through the air and collided with Sakura's neck.

Blood filled Naruto's eyes. For what seemed like years he could not see. Then it cleared and Naruto could feel him become cloaked in the nine-tails'chakra. He jumped, breaking loose from the spell that seemed to have held him in place, and he sliced through Sasuke. He was dead before he hit the ground.

When he woke up he was gasping for air. The dream seemed so real, yet it wasn't. He calmed himself down then he gently went back to sleep, this timewith gentle thoughts of Sakura flowing through him.

The next day he was released and he immediately went to Sakura's house and she answered. She looked completely refreshed and her emerald eyes were so bright that Naruto was certain he could find them standing out in pure darkness. She wore a pink dress that ended slightly above her knees.

"So, Sakura-chan, I have been meaning to ask... Do you want to go on a date with me?"