Naruto sprinted down the street, pushing random passer-bys out of the way. Some of them just continued on their way with a frown on their face. While others would shake their fist at him, yelling rather unkind words at the energetic boy. He glanced over his shoulder at one particular elderly old man and called out,
"Sorry! I'm in a hurry!"
The elderly man rolled his eyes and the woman by his side sighed. With a few whispered words, the couple went on their way. Naruto turned his attention back to the scene in front of him. Some little kids were running down the street from the opposite direction. Wide grins were plastered across their faces. One little girl, with her brown hair pulled back into two pig-tails, ran past Naruto. She just barely missed bumping into him. Still, his feet stumbled a bit, causing him to run into a familiar-looking girl with short, pink hair. She managed to regain her balance and turned around to glare at him with her soft green eyes.
"What do you think you're doing, Naruto!" she growled before reached out and grabbing his collar. The rather strong girl pulled him closer, her eyes seeming to shoot daggers at him.
"S-sorry, Sakura! It wasn't on purpose!" he yelled, struggling to get out of her grip. With a sigh, the suddenly-calm ninja let go of his collar. Naruto sighed in relief before excitement was once again shining in his eyes. He dug in his pockets and brought out a slightly crumpled scroll of paper. It was tied together by a piece of string.
"Yamato wanted me to give this to you." Naruto said, his hand holding out the scroll for her to take, "What do you think its about?"
Sakura didn't say anything in response. Instead, she reached out for the scroll and untied the string. With a quick flick of her wrist, the paper unrolled to show only a few sentences. Lady Tsunade's signature was easily seen at the bottom. Naruto tilted his head to get a better view of the message. Sakura just turned away from him so he couldn't read it. Her eyes quickly scanned the words. The green orbs then grew wide.
"She can't be serious!" the kunoichi muttered, her fingers clenching tighter around the edges of the object of her anger. Sakura quickly rolled up the scroll and turned around to the confused blonde-haired boy.
"We have to go find Sai."
"Why?"
"Just follow me!" she growled, turning around and then started at a fast pace. Naruto followed close behind. What was in that message? Why is it making Sakura so angry?
After a few minutes of dodging the crowds and searching the town, the pair soon found the artistic boy that they were looking for. He was sitting on a bench in the park, a journal of some kind in his lap. A sketch of one of the blossoming trees around him could clearly be seen on the page that was open. Sai looked up from his drawing as they approached.
"Yes?" he asked, that strange smile now on his face. Sakura clenched her fists, the scroll being crumpled in the process. She stiffly held out the paper to Sai, who took it and unrolled it, trying to straighten out the crinkles. He looked up at his teammates before reading over the message. No emotion stood out in his features.
"Oh, I already knew of this. I had mentioned the problem to Yamato in the first place, after all." Sai murmured.
"Why you-"
"Wait a minute!"
Sai and Sakura turned their gaze to the frustrated Naruto, who now had his arms crossed across his chest.
"Whats going on? I should know."
Sai looked down at the message again and started to read out-loud,
"Yamato has informed me that Team 7 hasn't been getting along recently. I have also noticed, myself. Bickering teams will be of no help to our village. For that reason, I will take action. From here on until Team 7 starts to cooperate with one another, you three will be assigned to babysit the younger members of our village. No other missions will be given until this has been accomplished. You will meet at my office around 5 o'clock for your first assignment."
A few moments of silence followed after Sai finished reading. Naruto then balled up his fists,
"What!"