The early morning sun was rising over the Leaf Village. The sky was still slightly purple from the night, the rim of the morning sun giving the horizon a slight tint of orange. Small birdcalls twittered through the morning atmosphere, and a small white butterfly fluttered about the plant life.
Most of the people that called the Leaf Village home - civilians and ninja alike - were tucked away in bed, still asleep. But not this ninja.
Kakashi Hatake sat on the edge of a clearing near a cliff top; cross-legged and with his eyes closed, he was in a state of calm. The tips of his hair swayed momentarily in the breeze: grey, but not from age. He was only in his mid-twenties.
Further inland, a shadowed figure slipped quietly amongst the buildings. With slightly clumsy hands, the figure opened the window of a small house. He knew what he was doing. Inside the house it was pitch black; a bedroom. On a small bed in a corner, a girl was sleeping with deep breaths.
The shadow crept slowly towards the girl, drawing something out of his pocket. The figure bent down and gently put pen marks across the girl's face. He giggled in anticipation, knowing as soon as she woke up she would be in for a big surprise in the mirror next to her bed. But the girl stirred. The giggle had woken her. She shifted in the bed as the pen was brought backwards. She recognized the dark figure as she sat up in a rush.
Kakashi Hatake heard the yell all the way from the outskirts of the village.
"NARUTO!"
He smiled; Sakura's screech was easily recognizable. Still grinning, he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. It'd be an eventful day…
--
Sasuke sighed exasperatedly as he watched his team mates argue. A sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head as sparks flew between Sakura and Naruto.
"Naruto! You idiot! You snuck into my bedroom!"
Naruto couldn't help but snicker a bit at the thick black lines on Sakura's face. Her normally tiny eyebrows were now covered in thick black ink: she also had lines around her eyes to make glasses. To top it all off, there were several lines on her lower face, creating a curled moustache and goatee.
His snickering stopped after he received a sharp blow to the head from her clenched fist.
"Aaargh!" He cried out as he sank to the ground, a lump forming between a few clumps of his light hair. "Come on Sakura; it was only a bit of fun!"
"A bit of fun!?" Sakura roared, strangling him.
Naruto felt if she shook his neck any harder his head might fall off. He was already turning blue as he tried to fend her off. "Sakura!" He coughed. "Eck! I didn't - choke - mean it - cough - that badly!" He trailed off, no air left in his lungs to continue. He felt like he was about to explode.
Kakashi chose that moment to intervene. He arrived at the space they were training in for the day; calmly and almost happily separating his ninja-in-training. For him, the squabbles were just routine. Sakura still looked livid, continuing her violent swipes toward Naruto, who was clasping his throat and breathing heavily. Kakashi stood between them, a hand on either of their collars. He made sure they were at arms length away from each other.
As soon as he stepped in, Naruto blurted out "Agh! Kakashi you took your time!"
Kakashi smiled from under his mask. "Good morning to you as well Naruto."
Naruto was catching his breath. "Next time, come quicker! Who else was gunna save me?! Him?!" He pointed to Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree looking disinterested. He chewed a grass stem and looked into the distance instead of at his moronic team member.
Kakashi waved it off. "Well; now that I see you're all up and chirpy, you can follow me to the next training session."
With that, he turned on his heel and made his way down the woodland path in the opposite direction. The other three picked themselves up to follow.
Kakashi led the procession happily enough – Sasuke behind him by a few steps and Sakura running after them – Naruto brought up the rear, nursing his throat. Sakura fell into step with Sasuke, looking at him with dreamy eyes. He ignored her completely.
"So, Sasuke…" she began, clasping her hands together and still staring at him. "How are you?"
He sighed, annoyed, giving her a distasteful look. He picked up his pace.
Sakura looked hurt briefly, but hurried up with him again. He noticed and looked away from her.
"I'm fine of course – training and all – gotta keep your mind on it and all," Sakura pushed. Sasuke found something interesting to stare at on Kakashi's back.
"It's good to see you each day too," she went on, to his annoyance. "It's good to be training with you – I mean, you're really good," she blushed. He on the other hand let out air slowly; he already knew he was the best thing that had ever happened to the ninja sensei of Konoha. He didn't need another fan girl to tell him that. "You're an inspiration to train with, Sasuke-kun… I just wanted to tell you that… because; you know… and…"
Sasuke paused his walking to turn to Sakura. She returned his gaze and her eyes shined.
"You do realize you still have the moustache, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow coldly.
Sakura went bright red and rubbed at her face – Sasuke walked on without a backwards glance – Naruto gave Sakura a weird look as he passed: she was vigorously licking her hands and rubbing her face.
Finally, they reached a forest clearing. Kakashi stood at the foot of a small group of trees in full bloom. All were alive with bees.
Naruto sat down on the forest floor. "Phew! Break time!"
Sasuke gave him a disdainful look. Sakura was about to sit too, but seeing the look Naruto received from Sasuke, decided to stand with him.
Kakashi was nodding to himself, peering at the trees and holding his chin thoughtfully. He came to a conclusion as he turned around and started explaining their task for the day.
"Alright guys; your mission – count all of those bees in the tree closest to you without hurting yourselves – or them."
Naruto's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!"
"All of them?" Sakura asked incredulously.
Kakashi answered with a bright smile. "All of them."
Sasuke looked at the middle tree, considering. Naruto had a pessimistic expression as he viewed his tree on the right.
"Is there a time limit?" Sakura was looking at her own tree on the left.
"There wasn't…but now you mention it, it would be a good idea," said Kakashi, turning to view the trees himself. Sakura slapped her forehead for mentioning it. Naruto groaned and Sasuke smirked. He was already running several possibilities through his mind; a time limit wouldn't make it any more of a challenge. He glanced sideways at the other two, who were looking like they were out of their depth; he was sure he'd run rings around them.
"Your time limit is 10 minutes," Kakashi announced. "Begin!"
He clapped his hands together and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The trio didn't need to be told twice. Sasuke bent his knees and vaulted up into the sky, his Sharingan blazing like two red sparks in his skull. Already the bees were thinning out, going under his influence and coming out of the leaves.
Sakura stood under her tree looking with one eyebrow raised at the humming bees. She hurriedly went to her pack and got out a small scroll and pen so that she wouldn't have to count by hand.
Naruto on the other hand wasn't making too much progress. He stood with his hands on his hips at the base of his tree, looking upward and scratching his head. He saw Sakura muttering to herself.
"…the season, the time of day, and the type of pollen bees would be after…"
He couldn't understand it. Even if he studied them, he doubted he'd ever be able to figure out a bee's favourite type of pollen.
"Hn..." he mumbled to himself, struggling with thought.
He leaned forward and saw Sasuke was faring better than they were. Typical.
Naruto sighed, glaring up at the bees. They seemed to be mocking him from their high places; buzzing from flower to flower and being so at ease with his difficult situation. He growled and jumped at the tree.
About 5 minutes passed; Sakura was noting down some estimates on her scroll and Sasuke was nearly enveloped in obedient bees, and Naruto had fallen out of his tree for the sixth time with a lot of bee stings on his skin.
He got up, rubbing his backside and snuck a quick glance at his rival. Seeing Sasuke progressing further made his blood boil. He turned back to the bees and pointed his swollen puffy finger at them.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He yelled angrily.
He could already imagine Sakura's reaction to Sasuke's work when their time was up.
"Oh Sasuke darling! You're so cool! I wish I'd thought of that – you're so smart! You're soooo much better than Naruto at everything! Oh Sasuke honey; Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…"
Naruto could feel his ears burning already. He was just about to attack the bees again but then something clicked in him. He stopped mid-step and nearly overbalanced, slapping himself on the forehead for not realising this sooner.
Honey!
He dashed to his bag and grabbed a pack from inside it, pulling out a small tub of honey and biscuits.
"Can't believe I'm sacrificing my lunch for you guys!" He muttered, opening the lid and using two fingers to spoon it out onto the grass. He stood back and saw already the bees were being drawn out by the smell of the honey. As more of their group came out, more of the other bees followed – two or three were hovering around his hand – he could feel them tickling his fingers. He remembered he hadn't wiped the honey off them yet.
"Aaargh!" He waved his hand around before they could get comfy. "Back off bees!"
He felt pain as an angry bee stung him.
"Ow! You little–" he raved on for a while as a few more bees came to their friend's defence. "Ouch! Oof! Ow!"
"Time's up!" Kakashi declared as he popped up out of nowhere.
Sakura stood up and took her scroll up; Sasuke floated down and walked over without the bees from his tree. Sakura walked into Kakashi's clearing after he did. Their sensei raised an eyebrow.
"And where is our number one hyperactive ninja?"
He'd just finished the sentence when a pink and tired Naruto wobbled forward, his right hand considerably larger than his left. Sasuke gave him an unimpressed look; Sakura would have giggled, but this time she had a slightly pained expression.
Kakashi smiled sympathetically at him.
"There he is."
Naruto managed a small salute before falling flat on his face. Kakashi went to help him up.
Sasuke sighed in a bored fashion. "What a loser."
Sakura let a small giggle slip then, but covered her mouth quickly.
"What was your guess, Sakura?" Kakashi stood up with Naruto over his shoulder. Sakura was surprised, but opened her scroll quickly. "I, um, I used the seasons, and the time of day to… and the pollen type," she explained. "There were about 38 bees in my tree, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi nodded at Sakura's efforts. "Smart thinking Sakura; you were the only one to use your brains for the task."
Sakura blushed from the words, unsure if it was praise or a simple statement.
Kakashi turned his attention to Sasuke, who still stood with his hands in his pockets. "Sasuke?"
"My method was to bring out the bees with use of my Sharingan," he said. "The total number of bees was 47."
Again Kakashi nodded. "The Sharingan were an advantage over your team Sasuke. But an advantage well used. There were 47 bees in the tree." He turned back to Sakura, who was smiling proudly at Sasuke's success. "Sakura," he said. She snapped out of her daydream. "You were two off your total number."
"Oh…"
"But your approach to the task was well thought out and applied well."
Sakura brightened when he added that – she was sure that at least was a compliment.
"We should consider heading back now," Kakashi started walking.
"Before Naruto hurts himself again." Sasuke was muttering to himself, but Sakura laughed anyway.
--
Kakashi sat next to Naruto and the healer left the room, leaving some cream for the boy. The bee stings on most of his body were healable – a few had stung him under his top after buzzing up his sleeves – but these and most of his other stings were easy to calm. His hand however, was a different matter, as it had been attacked repeatedly. It was still larger than his left hand, and would be for the next few days. The cream was so that it wouldn't worsen.
Naruto was putting his shirt back on grumpily.
"What do those bees have against me? I never did anything to them! I don't even hate bees like most people!"
Kakashi waited until he was dressed again, sitting at Naruto's bed end with a coy and amused smile. Naruto didn't notice because Kakashi's mask hid it from view.
"What about your results Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto looked perplexed. He blinked. "What?"
"Your method, and how many bees you counted."
"Heheh… right!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and a sweatdrop of embarrassment appeared on the side of his brow. "Well, my method… I got them down with the honey."
Kakashi nodded, waiting for him to go on.
"And…" Naruto looked blank for a second. "Well, judging by the amount of stings I got, there were at least a hundred of them!" He laughed.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Is that your final answer?"
"What? No! No, no – that wasn't. That wasn't my final answer!" Naruto laughed again nervously. "Um… err… hmm…" He pressed his index fingers together and looked at the wall, his eyes narrowing into thick lines as he struggled to think. "Uhh, 50?"
Kakashi's expression was unreadable. Naruto waited.
"You're off." His sensei said.
Naruto felt deflated. "By how many?"
Kakashi shook his head. "A fair few."
Naruto sagged further down. "Man…" he said under his breath. "Sasuke and Sakura got it right didn't they?"
Kakashi shrugged. "More or less."
Naruto leant back with his hands over his face, groaning in defeat.
"Don't feel bad Naruto, you–"
Kakashi was interrupted by a single knock at the door. He turned around as the ward door opened and someone stepped through.
--
Outside the small healer's ward, Sasuke and Sakura sat on two plastic chairs in the corridor. Sakura turned to Sasuke curiously.
"Who was that?"
Sasuke had his arms crossed and his eyes half closed. He didn't bother to look at her when he shrugged his answer.
"He had the same uniform as the Hokage's advisors… what could he be here for?"
Again Sasuke shrugged. "Do I look like I know or care?" He silenced her at that.
In truth, he too was wondering why one of the Hokage's helpers were visiting. Of course he would be after Kakashi; Naruto held no importance. What business did this ninja have with Kakashi?
--
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and got to his feet.
"Akihiko?"
The man in front of them was dressed practically; he was middle-aged, tall and had a look about him that put across authority. His expression looked stern, but when he spoke to them his tone was light, as if his face had simply been aged by years of hard thought and seriousness.
"Hatake Kakashi," he said formally, despite Kakashi's casual recognition of him. "You and your three genin, officially known as Team 7, have been assigned a mission directly from Lord Hokage."
Naruto looked over as he said this, leaning forward on the bunk he was sitting on. Kakashi kept eye contact with Akihiko. Or at least tried to while the man read out the summons.
"The nature of the mission will be revealed, for security measures, only if you choose to accept it. The only information to be released is the fundamental description. This mission is of a ranking C, and it's time is estimated to amount to four days at the longest.
"It is recommended that you take time now to discuss your decision with your team – choose wisely; based on the facts and how well into training you are – I have been instructed to await your choice for three minutes. Any longer and I shall assume that you are not prepared for this, and assign another team to the mission."
Akihiko nodded once at Kakashi; his first hint of emotion since he had come in. It was short-lived. He turned on his heel and, much like the march of a soldier, paced evenly out as fast as he had entered, leaving Naruto stunned.
The pink-handed boy turned to his sensei. "Who is that guy?"
Kakashi looked down at Naruto. "That was Akihiko Ginjiro. We used to know each other while I was training to be a genin trainer."
Now Naruto really looked aghast. "Shouldn't he at least have said HI!?"
Kakashi laughed and patted Naruto on the head. "It was a long time ago Naruto," he said with a smile. "Besides; all Hokage assistant ninja have to act as formally as he did."
"You mean they're all that uptight?" Naruto looked back to the door with a slightly pained expression. There was no way he could imagine a job that serious.
He noticed that Kakashi was heading towards the door too.
"Hey! Where are you going??" He slid off the patient's bunk. Kakashi turned around, holding the door half open.
"To get the other two of course," he said with a small grin. "You can sit down; how else are we going to decide whether or not we'll be taking that mission?"
Naruto sweatdropped in embarrassment, hopping back onto the bunk and laughing awkwardly.
"Oh… right! Heheheh…"
--
Sasuke and Sakura entered after Kakashi stuck his head out the door to them. Sakura looked sympathetically in Naruto's direction for barely a second, her face showing a look of unimpressed pity.
"We've kindly been offered a mission," Kakashi began, folding his arms and looking down at them with calm awareness. "C grade – we have four days on it. How 'bout it?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke looked disinterested, but that was his normal look. Sakura was about to say something when Naruto jumped off his backside and grinned keenly.
"Of course we're going!" He said. "We wouldn't be proper ninja if we didn't!"
Sakura gave him a brief glare but agreed with him. Kakashi nodded with a smile. "I like your enthusiasm, Naruto," he said.
As soon as they had met their client, Tazuna the bridge builder, the mission was explained further. It didn't take long for them to be off again, Naruto leading the way and eager to be heading out, all thoughts of the bee incident leaving his mind. He had a new task to concentrate on now. No matter what was in their way, he was determined to do well now that they had a proper mission to contend with.
Sakura walked a little ahead of Sasuke, figuring for once she'd give him some space. She walked in Naruto's wake, shivering only slightly as she realized they were walking through a patch of fog. The lower temperature and visual clarity didn't seem to bother Naruto.
Sasuke was oblivious to the drop in temperature, walking ahead of his sensei and after Naruto and Sakura – he noticed the mist, however.
Their sensei walked behind them, hands in his pockets, looking half-asleep as usual. He had his head tilted slightly backwards as he went, as if contemplating the sky or some deep thought. But then for no apparent reason, he stopped dead in his tracks.
The other three walked on, undiscerning for a minute. They had only moved away by a few metres before they noticed Kakashi wasn't following.
Sasuke turned back, then Sakura a bit later, and finally Naruto, to see where their sensei had gotten to.
He stood in the middle of the clearing, sweeping the immediate area with his eyes only, hands in his pockets still. To the unobservant, he would look casual, but the three ninja with him could tell. They knew something was up.
Sakura looked worried, her eyes shining as they searched their surroundings. Sasuke put a hand on his kunai and Naruto bit his lip and glared around them, awaiting something miraculous to happen.
There was quietness for a while as they all stood on their guard - the mist around them making the situation even more unnerving - a small breeze went past and Kakashi's hair fluttered briefly in it. He seemed to hear something with a microscopic pitch; as the other three completely missed it. But his eyes shifted to his right, looking at a particularly tall tree. It took all the strength in Naruto's eyes to judge from their distance whether there was anything in it to be worried about.
With speed you'd miss if you blinked, Kakashi shot towards the tree and leapt easily up into its taller branches. There was another whoosh of air as a dark shape flitted straight upwards from the tree. Naruto saw Sasuke send two kunais after the figure, which flipped in the air to avoid them both. He was about to add his own into the fray to help his sensei, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to hit such a fast target.
He only watched as Kakashi tried to catch the spy – whoever they were – he had a horrible feeling they were one of Orochimaru's accomplices. With a growl, he stepped forward next to a stunned Sasuke, his fist raised and his eyes narrowed on the mysterious figure.
"COME ON KAKASHI! I KNOW YOU CAN GET THAT GUY!" He yelled at them.
Kakashi was concentrating on taking down the other ninja; he barely heard Naruto's voice as he charged after the spy. He let loose four kunais towards the swift ninja, who managed to evade them all; but they weren't quick enough to avoid Kakashi as he grabbed them mid-air. But all he felt was wood.
In a puff of smoke, the figure vanished and dropped to the ground a few seconds before Kakashi did. It was a log: a substitution jutsu. His eyes widened as he realized this fatal mistake and the figure appeared in front of him as he landed. Faster than the speed of light - they were off again, elbowing him in the side and bringing down their fist into his back - winding him. He did his best to get up again, but for once, he had met a ninja quicker than him. Naruto watched in horror as his sensei had his arm twisted behind his back and the assailant kneed him in the same place, holding him down, Kakashi's masked face just inches from the ground in front of him.
"No…" Sakura whispered, terrified. Naruto was astounded; this was the first time he had seen his sensei go down. And so quickly!
The figure bent down towards Kakashi; Naruto couldn't see what they were doing to him, but he knew it was something bad. "No!" Naruto shouted, running straight at the figure. He couldn't; wouldn't watch it happen.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried, running after him to try and pull him back.
"Naruto! Get back here!" Sasuke roared.
Kakashi looked around to see his three trainees approaching, but yelled out an order for them to run while they could still get away. The figure stopped what it was doing and looked up – Naruto saw they had a mask covering half their face like Kakashi's own. And those eyes…
It was a woman!
Now she became clearer Naruto could see she had her honey blonde hair tied back; a few loose ends waving across her ears and framing her face. Her eyes were deep shades of green.
But the ninja didn't try and stop him or take Kakashi hostage. Instead, she raised an eyebrow in a perplexed expression.
"Whoa!" She said from behind the mask. She pulled it down and shook her hair loose promptly. "Kakashi! You got kids!?"
Kakashi looked shocked for a second; he looked up and saw her face closely for the first time. Kakashi's expression was suspicious at first, but upon seeing her face he showed complete astonishment: a rare thing to see coming from him. Now it was his turn to exclaim.
"N-Nariko?!"
She looked back down at him with her eyebrow still raised. "Took you a while to figure it out!"
She let him up with a grin and he still looked amazed. She laughed at this and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. The two of them embraced with big smiles, while three faces dropped their jaws behind them.
"What the hell just happened?" Naruto muttered sideways at Sakura. She was still in a state of disbelief; she made a few squeaky noises but nothing came out that made sense, so she looked to Sasuke for help. He wasn't much use either – he was staring in incredulity at Kakashi and his friend – he was still amazed that his kunais hadn't even managed to get within a centimeter of this woman.
Kakashi finally stopped hugging the ninja and acting hyper.
"Oh – guys, I want you to meet someone. This is Nariko Jia-Feng – my best friend since we were kids."
Trying still to recover from when they first saw her, the three of them looked up at Nariko, Sasuke managing to shut his mouth and look a bit less astounded.
"Nariko, this is Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi nodded at each of them, smiling.
"Hey," Nariko greeted.
"Hi…" Sakura said uncertainly.
"Uh, hiya," Naruto added.
Sasuke didn't say anything.
"Wow; tough crowd," Nariko rubbed the back of her neck with a small smile. She then nudged Kakashi. "What happened to the kid's hand?"
"Oh, Naruto?" Kakashi shook his head. "Bit of a run-in with an angry bee hive," he said as Naruto glanced down at his swollen right palm.
"Ah, I see…"
Sasuke broke in. "Where's your ninja headband?" He asked bluntly. Naruto and Sakura noticed then too.
Nariko looked upwards towards her bare head along with Kakashi, who then looked down at Sasuke as Nariko coughed and looked over to her right.
"Let's save the questions for later, shall we Sasuke?" He said evenly.
Sasuke looked put out – he was still unsure about this woman – but he had brought up a fair point.
"As it is; we're on a mission," Kakashi said brightly to Nariko, putting his hands on his hips.
"You don't say?" She grinned. "Where to?"
"We've gotta escort some guy back to his fishing village," Naruto said. "No big deal."
Nariko grinned. "Of course not! Judging by the looks of you guys I'd certainly think twice about challenging this group!"
This cheered Naruto – he went slightly pink from the praise and rubbed the back of his head bashfully – Sakura smiled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Nariko leant down so that she was closer to their level. She covered her mouth with her hand and said to the three of them, "I'll bet you're the ones rescuing Kakashi all the time, hey?"
They sniggered at that. Even Sasuke caught himself smirking.
"That's enough from you Nariko," Kakashi bent down too, giving her a disapproving look and a small sweatdrop appearing on his forehead.
Nariko was laughing but held a hand to her face to stop herself from continuing.
"Stop undermining me in front of my students," he said slightly grumpily.
"Sorry Hatake," she said with a broad grin.
"I'll have to keep you in check for the rest of the mission won't I?"
This time instead of it just being three astounded faces, Nariko was a little bewildered too.
"The rest of the mission?" She asked, perplexed.
"The rest of the mission!?" The other three echoed.
Kakashi never lost posture for a moment.
"The rest of the mission," he beamed.
Three jaws dropped again and Nariko blushed slightly.
"Wow: are you sure?" She looked unsure of herself for a moment. "I wouldn't want to interfere with your task," she added, turning to look at the three confused faces behind her.
Sasuke frowned and went to open his mouth.
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Kakashi cut across before he could say anything. He turned around to the genin; "Would you?" He asked brightly.
"Uh… I guess not," Naruto said, slightly dumbstruck. Sakura looked at Sasuke to see what his reaction was. He obviously didn't want her company. She looked back up to Kakashi and went to try and say something, but she felt her eyes drawn to Nariko.
She was just behind Kakashi and looking a little embarrassed that the kids had been put on the spot for her sake. She smiled at Sakura sheepishly, knotting her hands behind her back for something to do other than fidget. Sakura recognized warmth in those green eyes. She couldn't help but smile back at that warmth.
"I wouldn't mind," Sakura said.
Kakashi beamed. "It's settled then," he said.
"Are we going to get moving again or what?" Asked Tazuna grouchily.
No-one seemed to be too angered at the rude and impatient bridge builder. Kakashi started heading off in a westward direction, looking very pleased with himself. Sasuke followed.
"You didn't have to do that, guys," Nariko said to Naruto and Sakura. "On a mission, the last thing you need is an unwanted tag-along."
"Nah, no way!" Naruto grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "You're no tag-along. We could use extra help for this one anyway. It's a long walk." He started off towards the west. "And who else is gunna help save Kakashi when he gets captured?" He added with a grin.
"I heard that," came Kakashi's voice from up ahead. Naruto sweat dropped and picked up his pace.
Nariko and Sakura both grinned at the response, bringing up the rear of the party. Nariko pulled her mask back into position.
"He did have a point you know." Sakura said as they walked.
Nariko looked down at her curiously.
"Well; you do have a lot of speed," she added, going slightly pink. "And that'd be good for if we got into trouble or something."
Nariko smiled. "Thanks Sakura," she said. "But it takes more than speed to get you out of most tricky situations," she finished, looking ahead of them.
She didn't look as if she was about to elaborate any further, so Sakura gave a quick bow and went to catch up with Sasuke. Nariko watched her go – that girl had a lot of potential – if only she'd use it on things other than boys. But then she smiled; the girl needed to enjoy her youth.
After all, she thought, looking ahead at Kakashi; we were all young once.
She grinned to herself.
Sakura fell into step with Sasuke again. He looked up briefly, but upon seeing who it was hung his head again, frowning darkly. Sakura didn't notice.
"So Nariko's pretty nice, huh?" She asked.
Sasuke just grunted.
Sakura looked concerned. "Sasuke?"
"Leave me alone," he growled, shoving past.
Sakura looked upset, holding her hands against to her heart and watching him walk on behind their cheerful sensei.
"Don't worry about him." Naruto had become level with her. He spoke in a knowing tone. "He's just grumpy because she dodged his kunais like they were snail paced."
Sakura started walking again after Naruto had passed by. Despite Naruto's words, now she was feeling regretful of her impulse choice on accepting Nariko.
None of them noticed the unfamiliar ninja watching their progress closely from the trees.