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~ [Disclaimer!] ~
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I really, truly,DONOTown Naruto! ~ _ ~ Though Idoget the feeling you already knew that...
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~ [A/N] ~
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An ultimate mission for the ultimate couple. NaruSaku 4 life! *whispers*Pass it on. ^_~ Enjoy!
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The Ultimate Mission – Chapter 1 – Team Gai?
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Both Naruto and Sakura's minds were racing, trying to think of a way out of their current predicament; they were forcibly held hostage by a single ninja warrior.
Naruto's eyes scanned the window, pondering whether or not he was daring enough to make a break for it... He knew that if he failed it would mean his life.
Sakura had sweat visibly forming on her skin due to her racing heart, her eyes rapidly, yet discreetly, trying to find an exit.
"What's wrong, kids?" The kunoichi holding them hostage chuckled, her large, brown eyes holding some devious intent still unknown to Naruto and Sakura.
Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat, finally having the courage to speak, "Just what exactly do you want from me?"
"What do I want from you?" The kunoichi smiled innocently, her luscious lips curving into a smile before being replaced with a bottle of sake. After chugging a bit of it, she slammed the bottle down, "What, ever, gave you the impression I wanted something from you?"
"Umm..." Sakura spoke up, her voice trembling ever-so-slightly still, due to fear, "You didorder us to your office..."
"Yeah, and right as I was about to start my promised vacation, too!" Naruto took a step towards the seated Hokage. "Just tell us what it's about already so we can get it over with!"
The curvacious blonde said nothing, but got up from her desk and walked over to the window, gazing out as if detached from the world, perhaps from emotional torment she was unwilling to show. "I have a mission for you two..."
"A mission?" Any fear that was in Sakura instantly vanished and it was replaced with that of determination. "What kind of mission, Lady Tsunade?"
"Why just us?" Naruto huffed, crossing his muscular arms across his broad chest, "I'll bet Kiba and everyone are already out enjoying their vacation..."
"It... It had to be you two. I just, I don't know who else I could trust with such a task... I'm truly sorry about you losing your vacation..." Tsunade's voice shook with incredible sadness, sounding on the verge of tears.
This made what annoyance was in Naruto instantly vanish. He had almost never seen the incredibly strong Tsunade looking like she was about to break; this had to be something huge.
"I need you two to deliver a very important letter to someone living on an island Southeast of Haha Island." Tsunade's voice had only slightly recovered its composure as she spoke.
"Haha Island?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that off the Southern coast of Tea Country?"
"A letter! Just how important is this 'letter'?" Naruto huffed, sitting in a chair. "Can't you just send it by messenger hawk?"
" No." Tsunade spoke firmly, making both wonder which question she was answering, "It's veryimportant."
Realizing she was responding to his question, Naruto's eyes, went wide at her answer, "Veryimportant?"
"Extremely important." Tsunade responded, looking to Naruto with sad eyes.
"Extremely important?" Naruto was leaning in further, on the edge of his seat, excited in the moment. He felt like Tsunade was entrusting him with an extremely large burden.
Tsunade huffed at this, and Sakura was quick to approach the blue-eyed blonde and smack him in the back of the head; the smile she gave the Hokage had never faltered.
Naruto yelped at the unexpected smack and began rubbing his head, looking to Sakura with pouting eyes, his voice matching. "That hurt, you know... Just cause you're absolutely gorgeous, it doesn't give you the right to go around smacking people..."
Sakura closed her eyes while muttering under her breath, "Idiot."
"Enough, you two!" Tsunade interrupted the two bickering ninja, drawing their attention before shifting her eyes to a lonely, sealed letter on her desk. "That's the message that needs delivered; I trust you two will be able to handle it... Oh, when you get to the Island, the letter is to be delivered to Daisuke."
Both nodded their heads, repeating the name 'Daisuke' to themselves silently to remember it. Naruto got up from his chair and cautiously approached the harmless-looking letter on the desk. He reached out with a trembling hand and carefully picked the sealed envelope up between two fingers, careful not to hurt it. The task assigned to him was greater than anything he had ever done before, he was convinced. This was no 'great' mission, it was straight epic.
"We have a lot of ground to cover, Naruto." Sakura let out an accepting sigh, "Just put the thing away and lets get going..."
Naruto nodded and said a quick response, placing the letter in an inside coat pocket as the two headed towards the door.
"There's more, you two," Tsunade stopped them, both looking back to see her at her desk, glaring up at them with one of the most serious expressions they had ever witness. "If you two can return here alive, you'll both be Jounin."
"Me! A Jounin!" Naruto bounced excitedly, smiling his big, toothy smile. Just then, he stopped and was dumb-struck while thinking over what she just said.
"What do you mean, 'If we can return alive'?" Sakura was worried over it, so much so that she didn't even bother smacking Naruto for getting so excited. "What kind of danger will we be facing, apart from the regular bandits?"
"That letter will ultimately determine the destiny of the village..." Tsunade closed her eyes in thought, "Its successful delivery could be our very salvation; you see, the village is suffering financially and the person you are delivering that letter to may just be able to help..."
"I see..." Sakura was a little unsure of herself as the overwhelming burden was fully recognized, though she was too strong to ever show her insecurity to the world. "We'll do our best to make sure it gets there safely."
Naruto simply got his determined look on, stiffening his back and standing tall.
Like hell he was going to let anyone take that letter from him; Naruto worked best under pressure.
As the two proceeded to leave her office, Tsunade's large, devious grin reappeared on her face before mumbling to herself, "You two will thank me later..."
...
"What! It's really that far!" Naruto had his hands placed behind his head as the duo continued walking at a steady pace down the dirt road. He then let out a sigh and his voice shifted to something of a whining tone, "Granny Tsunade couldn't have made it further if she wanted to."
The air smelled somewhat like dirt, which both blamed on the occasionally passing trading caravan, the wagons and accompanying persons stirring up the dirt. It was around 3 p.m. and the sun was still rather high in the sky, its rays incredibly bright and intense, warming the travelers effectively... Perhaps too effectively... Wind was nonexistent apart from the unpredictable breeze that lightly kissed their skin, carrying with it a surprisingly fresh scent compared to that of dirt.
"Naruto, have some respect!" Sakura growled at him, raising a fist which made him cower in fear. Just then, Sakura dropped her fist without even hitting him, her voice came out quiet and somewhat shaky. "It'll take a while, that's for sure... it isn't the journey I'm worried about, though..."
The kunoichi then began walking again, leaving a stunned Naruto watching her retreating figure... Was that really Sakura? After a moment, the number one, knuckle-headed blonde decided to jog and catch up.
"Oh?" Naruto slowed to a nice walking pace next to her, looking ahead and squinting slightly while shifting his off eyes to the side to catch sight of his traveling companion. "Then what are you afraid of?"
She laughed for a moment before smiling an entirely fake smile at him, "Nothing at all," Sakura put on a painfully obvious, worry-free facade, her voice dripping of sarcasm and a very small amount of panic. "I'm definitely notworried about the massive number of ninja, who have ever been an enemy of the Leaf, and would see this as a goldenopportunity to kill off the entire village at once! That doesn't worry me at all!" She waved her arms around a little for effect before returning them to her sides, keeping her pace.
"Okay..." Naruto lowered his eyes to his feet while walking, earning an annoyed huff from the pinkette.
He wasn't sure what he should say or do in this situation... Could saying anything even help her relax a little? If he told her what he immediately though: that she shouldn't worry, that he'd protect her with his life, would it come off as stupid and make her dislike him more? If he decided to tease her and lighten the mood with a 'Yougot nothing to worry about, nobody would ever want you', would she actually take it personally and be hurt?
He somehow found he's always like this around her. So speechless, never having anything smart or witty come to mind... Therefor, he simply continued to watch his feet as they walked in silence.
…
The two ninja had started their trek in the afternoon, and now, a few hours later, it was rather dark. The sun had just vanished below the horizon, leaving a small part of the sky still glowing orange and pink, the rest rather dark.
Sakura had been mentally cursing herself over the past few hours over being so hard on Naruto... Maybe he takes the things she says and does personally... Sure, she had never really lovedhim or anything, but she does enjoy his company. Besides, he's been the best teammate she could've asked for; they're practically family! She would never dream of doing something thatactuallyhurt him... She had been trying to come up with a way to apologize without coming off as too pitiful... The words have yet to come.
Naruto's eyes finally left his feet and glanced to the sky, having given up on trying to think of a cool way of saying 'I'm sorry I'm such an incompetent loser and never seem to know the right words to say around you.' …A fruitless campaign, to say the least.
Naruto got lost in the sky. To the horizon, a brilliant orange glow appeared at the top of the distant mountain range, the orange glow dispersing to a portion of the sky, turning into a soft, transparent pink. It reminded him of Sakura's hair and he had to let a small smile show on his lips at that.
Meanwhile, Sakura was taking in the same sight. The sight of the brilliant orange glow creeping over the mountains made her mentally giggle, physically letting a smile cross her lips. It had always been Naruto's favorite color, and she felt she would forever be reminded of him at the sight of it.
Both of their minds trailed off to the realization that it would soon be pitch black and they needed to stop soon to set up their tent and start a fire to keep the animals away through the night. They were both also feeling quite hungry at this point; not to mention the endless thirst that the relentless sun had been instilling in them throughout the day.
"We should probably st-" Both stopped mid-sentence, noticing the other was saying the exact same thing. After a second of silence, they both began again, "We need to stop soon and set up camp."
Having gotten it out, the duo stopped walking and faced each other, both looking somewhat confused as to why they kept saying the same things.
Almost afraid to even try and speak again, Sakura broke the silence, "Okay, that was weird..." She giggled a bit, somewhat happy he didn't say it, too.
Naruto let out a large sigh of relief before giving her his trademark, toothy smile. "You're telling me; I thought I walked into a Genjutsu or something!" He chuckled in relief, "Since when have we thought alike?"
"I guess since now," Sakura returned his smile, happy that she didn't feel pressured into apologizing anymore. At least he didn't hate her enough that they couldn't still laugh together like this. "Kind of scary, huh?"
"Way scary!" Naruto continued laughing. He felt a bit better about himself now and somehow thought getting closer to Sakura wasn't such an impossible task, after all.
…
Naruto and Sakura were both laying inside their tent with the small fire they had previously been sitting by, just outside. Despite the incredibly hot sun during the day, it became quickly apparent that Summer wasn't quite there, for the nights were still rather cold. Both ninja were kind of chilly in the tent, having grown used to the warm aura around the fire; however, due to insects launching a full-scale attack, they could no longer enjoy its heat.
Neither said a thing, just lay side-by-side, looking up at the thin material which made the tent's ceiling. Their eyes were open, both in deep thought.
Naruto was busy thinking about the possibilities of what could happen with them being so close and alone.
Sakura, on the other hand, was thinking of something else entirely... She was still trying to figure out how to apologize to Naruto in a way that would be sincere, but not too corny...
Reaching her wit's end, she gave up and struggled to get the simplest words out, "I... I'm sorry, Naruto." She instantly regretted having said it; what would he think? She closed her eyes tightly as if it would hide her from a question she knew was coming.
Naruto was shaken from his thoughts at his teammate's voice and looked over to see her eyes closed tightly, her arms over her face as if trying to shield herself from his wrath. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle at her childishness, "Sorry' for what?" Naruto got out before returning to laughing at her.
He was laughing? Why the hell was he laughing? Apart from that, he asked the very same question she knew he would... Sakura knew she shouldn't have said that; now she has to finish what she started... "I-I..." Sakura trailed off for a moment as she lowered her arms and opened her eyes, looking over to the blue-eyed Genin beside her, the most dazzling smile on his face she had ever seen as he continued to laugh.
The words left her; why did she suddenly get the urge to say 'I love you' instead? Having gotten lost with what she was going to say, her mind rushed, trying to remember what she had to tell him. Surely she likes him as a teammate, and even as a friend... But lovehim? No way.
She gazed into his sapphire eyes deeply when it hit her. "I'm sorry... for treating you the way I always had, Naruto... You deserve better, really. I mean, you've always been a great teammate, and an even better friend... Whenever I need you, on or off the battlefield, you always seem to come running."
Naruto was struck dumb with her words, looking deeply into her bright emerald gems. He was sure he heard Sakura apologizing to him, but he couldn't seem to accept it. Did he even deserve it? What's more, why was his Sakura apologizing to begin with? The Sakura he knew would never have doubts about her behavior or anything else she deemed to be absolute. So, why was she questioning the treatment she gave him? It's true she sometimes got a little violent, but it was always in a playful manner, and he knew she would never seriously hurt him... Was it her words that she's apologizing for? Her words hadn't hurt him, either; not really. Well, that's what he told himself anyhow. In truth, he knew he was cut inside every time she rejected him or drooled over Sasuke. He just kept telling himself she'd grow into the idea and let Sasuke go. That's it, she must be apologizing for the emotional torment she caused him... But, why? Was she so worried about the mission it caused her to doubt herself?
Sakura watched as Naruto removed his coat and lay the blanket of warmth over her. She was looking into his face all-the-while, expecting some sort of 'I can't forgive you that easily' speech... But, she got nothing.
Naruto lay back down after putting his coat on a confused pinkette; he rolled over to face the other way and closed his eyes in preparation to sleep. A smile appeared on his sleepy lips, his voice happy and delightful, "Don't say such strange things, Sakura... Goodnight."
What just happened? She wasn't sure. Was this his way of forgiving her, or rejecting her apology? It sounded like he was happy... She suddenly came to the realization that maybe she had never hurt him to begin with and was just over thinking things. She let out a sincere smile, feeling much better as she lay down and closed her eyes, pulling Naruto's jacket up tightly by her chin. "Goodnight, Naruto..."
Though never moving, or even opening his eyes, Naruto heard the happiness in Sakura's voice. Knowing Sakura was at ease instantly brightened his smile and lifted his soul as he peacefully drifted to sleep.
…
The next morning, Naruto had woken up at the first hint of the sun and glanced over to see Sakura sleeping like a baby... She must have had a rough day at the hospital before being sent on this mission... Naruto smiled and, as gently as he could, picked her up bridal style, his coat still laying over her sleeping form. He somehow managed to get outside of the short tent through a combination of crouching and walking on his knees; once outside, he was able to stretch his legs and found a nice, flat spot to lay her.
Naruto proceeded to quickly pack up the tent before sealing it in a scroll and placing it in his pants pocket. Looking over to Sakura, he noticed her still snoozing away; he laughed silently to himself at that. Was she ever going to wake up? She looked so cute laying there asleep; he didn't want to move her again and risk waking her, but alas, they had to continue their mission. Therefore, he picked her up just as gently as the first time, causing her to stir a bit in his arms, snuggling her face against his bicep for heat in her sleep. Naruto couldn't help but blush at the contact and could feel his face burning up.
Sakura's consciousness slowly drifted from her sleeping state to reality, yet she felt so comfortable that she told herself she'd just rest her eyes a little longer, and before she knew it, she was back in a deep sleep...
…
Upon waking up, Sakura moved around in Naruto's arms before gazing up at his slender face, which soon turned to her and smiled.
"Looks like the sun finally decided to wake up and brighten my day." Naruto chuckled a bit while walking, partially due to how corny what he said was, but mostly due to Sakura's confused face and messy hair. "You want down?"
Sakura was trying to precess all that was going on around her... She was in Naruto's arms and the sun seemed rather high in the sky; she would've guessed it was around noon. Where was he carrying her? How long had he been carrying her? Wait, he asked if she wanted down, she should probably answer in case he's tired from carrying her.
"Yeah, standing on my own two legs for once sounds nice." She giggled, biting her lip nervously as he gently lowered her legs to the ground and made sure she was steady before releasing her. "Umm, Naruto... How long have you been carrying me?"
"I guess since sunrise." He chuckled, scratching his head nervously, "I'm surprised you didn't wake up, really..."
"Since sunrise!" Sakura gaped, wide-eyed, "I'm so sorry... I guess I've been overdoing it too much lately or someth-"
"Hey, hey." Naruto cut her off, smiling sweetly at her while lightly placing his hands on her shoulders, "Don't apologize; I had already assumed you had been overworking yourself... You really need to stop that, you know. It's not good for you..." Naruto laughed, dropping his hands from her shoulders and walking off down the dirt road, calling back over his shoulder. "Besides, you never even got heavy; you must weigh like a feather or something."
Sakura huffed while running to catch up to him, "Next time wake me up... I don't want to be a burden."
"I already said you weren't..." Naruto sighed.
It was around this time she noticed she was still holding Naruto's jacket from the previous night, which caused her to look at Naruto in his skin-tight black t-shirt. He had been carrying her like that! She could feel a blush form on her face and her feet stopped moving.
"Sakura?" Naruto began to turn around to look back and see if she was alright when he noticed his own coat soaring through the air and landing over his head. He didn't even bother moving it, "You okay?"
"Fine." Sakura responded, rushing to get a bit ahead of him, that way if he took if off he still wouldn't see her blushing. "Next time wake me up!"
"Okay, I guess I could..." Naruto sighed, taking his coat off his head, "By the way, you shouldn't throw this. The important letter is in here!" Naruto rushed to try and catch the running Sakura.
"Don't announce it to the world, idiot!" Sakura continued trying to keep her lead so he wouldn't see her face, not sure if the redness in her cheeks had subsided yet or not.
…
"Eh?" Naruto was staring down at a middle-aged man sitting on the road, "You sprained your ankle walking on the road!"
"Yes!" The brown-haired man with matching brown eyes replied with enthusiasm Naruto had seen in very few people... In fact, even fewer would be so enthusiastic over getting hurt. The man then shed some tears, his large smile big enough to be compared to Naruto's, "You'll help me get to Haha Island, right!"
Naruto glanced over to a serious Sakura, looking for an answer.
The pink-haired kunoichi saw this and let out a sigh, looking to the man on the ground, "I guess we could help you until your ankle is good enough to walk on, or you find some friends to help you."
The man threw his fists in the air, "My heroes! I'm Roc-" The man took a moment to think to himself, "I'm Rochelle, nice to meet you!"
The two ninja exchanged a strange glance before looking back to the man, and raising an eyebrow.
"Mmm..." Naruto thought it over, "Isn't Rochelle a girl's name?"
"Naruto!" Sakura glared over at her teammate, "Be more polite! He didn't have a say in what his parents named him!"
"Yes, exactly!" Rochelle dramatically placed one hand on his chest, the other hand out to the side, his voice not even changing from its loud, uplifting tone. "I was shunned as a child due to it. People thought I was gay and picked on me; my parents were so cruel..." He proceeded to drop his head with a dramatic shudder in his neck, only for a moment though, soon to shoot his head right back up with his large, dazzling smile on his face, "But, one day, I found friends who loved and respected me. I came to an understanding that only true geniuses could know how to see the absolute beauty of the name Rochelle!"
Both were stunned beyond words... The guy practically just told them his childhood story. A rather... sad childhood story, at that...
"Ah, I see you two are among the group of geniuses who can see my beauty! You must be stunned by it right now!" The man laughed.
"Umm... I'm Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto continued gaping at him.
"Sakura Hurano," Sakura was doing something of the same thing.
…
A few minutes later, the trio was on their way down the path once more. Sakura was walking with the man, her arm around his lower back to support him, and his arm around her neck. Naruto was casually walking next to them, thinking up ways to sprain his ankle once they get rid of this guy.
"Umm... Rochelle... What exactly are you going to Haha Island for?" Sakura had something of a suspicious tone in her voice.
"It's nice to know you care!" Rochelle tightened his arm around her for a second, giving her a quick squeeze. "I'm a traveling merchant, you see! Perhaps you would like to buy something?"
"Umm... I'm good..." Naruto spoke up, feeling a bit left out of the loop.
"No thanks, we've actually kind of over prepared for the trip." She chuckled, remembering how she yelled at Naruto upon seeing the mounds of dried ninja food he stored away in scrolls.
"I insist, though, I really do!" The man reached back with his free hand and pulled an object from his backpack.
"Buy this!" He stated plainly with his loud, cocky voice. "I guarantee you will need it on your travels!"
Sakura looked at the object before gaping, "Why would we need a-" She was cut off.
"What, really!" Naruto bounced in excitement at the sight of it, "How much!"
"I'll sell it to you real cheap!" Rochelle looked over and gave Naruto a matching large grin.
"Awesome!" Naruto whipped out his bulging foggy coin purse and paid up, snatching the small object from the man's hand. "Thanks, Rochelle!"
"No problem at all." He winked with his dazzling smile on, giving a thumbs up with his free hand. "I always say that if there's a day I can't sell something to someone, then the next day I'll sell five-hundred more! And if I can't sell five-hundred more the next day, I'll sell a thousand more the following! And if I can't sell a thousand more-" The man finally stopped his ramblings when Sakura spoke up.
"Umm... Naruto..." Sakura was glaring at Naruto with a serious expression, her eyebrow twitching as she watched him hugging the small, yellow object. "What the hell are you going to do with a rubber ducky!"
"He's going to be my bath buddy," Naruto grinned largely, still hugging his little ducky, "Aren't you, Ducky?"
Just then, the middle-aged merchant began running his fingers down Sakura's sides, fluttering them lightly against her form and sending shivers through her body.
She instantly threw his arm off and jump away, pointing an accusing finger at the standing merchant, a vein bulging from her forehead, "What the hell are you doing!"
"Eh?" Naruto was pulled from his ducky universe to look at the two, completely unaware of what was going on. Suddenly, something hit him and he instantly mimicked Sakura, the bulging vein replaced by an epic smile, "You're standing, Rochelle!"
The merchant looked around with a bit of confusion before his eyes widened with realization. He instantly fell to the ground, crying out in pain while holding his ankle.
"That's the opposite ankle from what you were holding before..." Sakura hissed in a rather quiet, yet creepy voice. She tugged her glove tighter and started towards him with a fist poised to strike, feeling rather violated.
Sakura was going to kill the man they tasked themselves with escorting. What's going on here!
Naruto jumped in between the two, facing Sakura, ducky still in hand. "Sakura, you can't! He's in pain and can't even run away!"
"Don't tell me you fell for that poor acting! Besides, he deserves it after doing... that to me!" Sakura shuddered at her words, still feeling where his creepy fingers touched.
"'That'?" Naruto raised a confused eyebrow.
…
A few minutes later(It took the dimwit a while to fully grasp what his pink-haired teammate was explaining to him.), Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he turned to the guy sitting on the ground, who was smiling happily now. Naruto returned to pointing his accusing finger at him, a strong glare on his features. "Hey guy, be more gay!"
Rochelle began dramatically crying, tears sprouting like fountains from his eyes, "I told you people thought I was gay, not that I was!"
Sakura huffed, "Lets just leave him." She began away.
"B-But..." The man pouted up at our favorite blonde ninja, his eyes sparkling in the most adorable way he could manage, "My ankle still hurts."
…
The man had re-convinced them of his injury and they were back to traveling now. However, the merchant was now being supported by Naruto, the pinkette claiming to not want anything to do with that 'perverted old man'. Well, when I say he re-convinced 'them', I mean he re-convinced Naruto... The idiotically righteous Genin would never abandon somebody that was injured... Never. Even if that 'somebody' happened to be a perverted, old merchant who was faking an injury...
Naruto huffed, muttering angrily under his breath about having to have met such a perverted old merchant.
Sakura glared back at the two behind her before turning eyes front and continuing to lead.
"You know..." Rochelle adverted his eyes apologetically towards the ground, "All I was looking for was a tissue to blow my nose..."
"What!" Sakura spun around, "Haven't you ever heard of asking!"
The man thought for a second, smiling back to her, "You seriously think a merchant as legendary as I, could go around 'asking' for things he needed? It's unheard of!"
"Legendary!" Sakura let out a short-lived burst of mock laughter while turning back around. "The only thing 'unheard of' here, is you!"
"Sakura's body has been violated..." Naruto cried quietly to himself, "and it wasn't by me..."
Sakura had been leading the gang down the road when she heard a loud shriek from her blonde teammate. "Naruto!" The pink-haired kunoichi quickly spun around while slipping a hand into her weapons pouch, gripping a kunai.
Behind her, she relaxed, seeing only the blonde idiot and the strange merchant.
Naruto was a few steps away from Rochelle, who happened to be standing up by himself again. The blonde was currently shaking in horror while rubbing his hands all over his torso, "M-Make the creepy feeling go away, Sakura-chan!" Naruto pouted, feeling just as violated as Sakura.
She already had a good idea of what happened, but decided it best to confirm. "What happened?" She glared at the merchant, "Needed another tissue?"
"I feel so violated!" Naruto cried out, still running his hands over various parts of his body, trying to make the creepy feeling go away, "Sakura-chan, he just felt me up; there's something strange about this guy!" Naruto then shot a glare at the innocent-looking merchant, pointing his accusing finger at him once more, "Hey, guy, be less gay!"
The merchant chuckled, "Sorry, I was just wanting a blank scroll so I could write down an idea I got, honest!"
…
It took a while to start up again, but the trio was back in motion with Naruto and Sakura at point and Rochelle, accompanied by a Naruto clone, taking up the rear. Every so often one of them would glance over their shoulder to make sure the creepy merchant wasn't making any more advances. Both still had the lingering feeling of where his masculine fingers softly fluttered over their skin.
It went on like this for quite a few hours with relatively little action. Just a few fights between Sakura and Naruto about leaving the 'old pervert' behind.
…
Come nightfall, they had decided it was time to rest and found a nice spot off in the woods to set up.
"Still a ways 'til we reach Haha Island, huh?" Naruto used a stick to poke at the raging fire, the old merchant messing with things in his backpack directly across from him.
"Yeah," Sakura spoke from within the tent, the thin material that made the entrance completely zipped up. "Probably take us at least a few more weeks at this pace."
Naruto just silently nodded and continued to poke at the base of the flame.
"Sorry I'm such a burden." Rochelle spoke up, sounding almost sad. However, he sported an entirely too large grin on his face that told otherwise.
"Nah, you're no burden." Naruto giggled, the orange glow lighting up his dazzling white smile.
"Really!" Rochelle was overcome with excitement, his eyes lighting up.
Sakura's groan could be heard from inside the tent, "Just creepy."
Rochelle's smile instantly fell at that, causing Naruto to laugh more.
Soon, Naruto decided it time to turn in and started for the tent... only to look over and see Rochelle heading towards it, too.
"Dude, no way!" Naruto paused in his tracks, back to pointing his accusing finger at him, "I don't want to be raped in my sleep!"
A look of false hurt overcame the middle-aged man, "What? I'm hurt; I would never!"
"'Never' my ass!" Naruto continued, "Next thing I know I'll wake up to you hovering over me doing god knows what! No, man! Hell no!"
"How about I promise to leave youalone?" The man grinned.
The pinkette took that as her cue to speak up from inside the tent, "If you're sleeping in here, I'm going out there."
"Fine, fine..." The merchant let out a sigh, finding a nice place to lay down, "Just don't make so much racket together that you keep me up all night. I need my sleep if my ankle's going to heal."
"'don't make too much racket'?" Sakura repeated to herself while laying down, gazing up at the thin, see-through material that was the ceiling of their tent. She soon felt her face burning up at the realization of what he meant.
Naruto soon unzipped the door and crawled in through the small opening; she caught full sight of his bright red blush, making it painfully obvious that he had caught on as well.
Sakura wrapped her arms tightly around herself, not sure if she would even be able to sleep in such conditions. She had a hott blonde next to her and funny thoughts running through her head, sparked by the creepy merchant currently snoring away just outside their tent.
Naruto's end wasn't much better. He lay there with wide eyes, looking to the ceiling as he entertained appealing ideas about Sakura, and sadly, unappealing ideas of a certain old, perverted merchant.
Needless to say, it took a while for sleep to overtake them, even in their exhausted states. However, with time, both ended up fast asleep.
Naruto was snoring loudly on his back, Sakura sleeping silently on her side with a small amount of drool leaking from her mouth to her arm.
Just then, the tent door slowly unzipped and in came a shadowy figure. The shadowy figure crawled over to the sleeping Naruto and slowly unzipped his coat, his hand then slipping in, finding the letter in the inside pocket, removing it with utmost care.
However, it wasn't careful enough; Naruto's eyes slowly cracked open to see the figure on all fours above him, one hand placed gently on his chest, easily felt through the thin material of his shirt.
…Their eyes met, both having a look of shock in them...
"Oh my god! What the hell are you doing to me, you perverted old guy!" Naruto exploded like a bomb going off, causing Sakura a startle and ultimately jolting her awake.
"Oh, shit..." The merchant mumbled to himself before turning and taking off out of the tent, letter in hand.
Catching a glimpse of something in the pervert's hand, Naruto quickly felt his coat pocket and discovered the absence of the letter, "He stole the letter!"
"Dammit." Sakura groaned, both jumping up and crawling out of the tent in pursuit of the happy, energetic, old guy.
They caught sight of him back out on the road, sprinting away in a strange manner with a large grin on his face. His movements were fast... too fast... They had seen few ninja move like that, never a civilian. However, luckily for them, this guy was making zigzags down the road, never running in a straight path for too long.
"Witness the power of the merchant!" The merchant leapt into the air and did a few twists before continuing his facade.
…
Seconds later, the merchant lay lifeless on the ground, apart from the occasional twitch. A very pissed-off looking Sakura stood above him with clenched fists.
Naruto easily snuck up and removed the all-important letter from the merchant's hand, sliding it back into his coat pocket.
"What do we do about the perverted thief?" Naruto's voice was uncharacteristically serious as he gazed down at him.
"Just leave him..." Sakura turned away, "You should of listened to me the last hundred times I told you to do so."
"Fine, fine..." Naruto groaned unwillingly before catching up with his hot-headed teammate. Just then, he took notice to the feeling of when the merchant had his hand pressed up against his chest while stealing the letter; the creepy feeling of being violated instantly returned and he began running his hands over his muscular chest, "Sakura-chan, make the creepy feeling go away!"
…
That night, the duo came to the conclusion that it was just a random thief, the fact that he patted both of them down, in search of things to steal, was proof. Perhaps, by some miracle, the information hadn't been leaked... That's what they told themselves, anyways.
...
Elsewhere, the creepy merchant stood in the middle of a complex diagram on the ground, standing at the three points of it was: A stoic-looking man with long, black hair, a woman with a large scroll on her back, and a middle-aged man in green tights. They all formed hand signs before pressing their palms to different parts of the diagram, the merchant in the middle becoming engulfed in blinding light.
Once the light cleared, the merchant was revealed to actually be Rock Lee, not Rochelle... He wore green tights, matching those of his sensei, and sported a large smile.
"Well, there's our part done..." The stoic Hyuga's cold eyes glanced to his teammates, secretly happy to get their 'assignment' over with.
"You didn't have to feel up Sakura, you know." Tenten shot Lee a deadly glare, her hand grasping the nearest weapon on her person.
"Beautiful acting, and even more beautiful was your quick thinking!" Gai grinned brightly, sending his student a thumbs up, "Good job, Lee!"
Lee's smile grew larger than anyone else had ever witnessed, his hands curling up excitedly by his face, his voice taking a high-pitched, fan-girlish turn, "Gai-sensei!
…
~ [A/N] ~
…
Alrighty! Seems like a good enough place to break it off to me... I'll get the next chapter up asap! . Also, remember to review. It will definitely work for motivation. =P \/ Clicky button!