Naruto looked at his newly bandaged arm. It felt wierd having "it" back after a few weeks. That also meant that Sasuke had been away for a little longer than that. Naruto was told to take it easy with his new arm and that it would take some time for it to be like his acutal arm again. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Naruto trying to eat or write with his new arm.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, "it is a lot harder than you'd think!" Sakura gave him a look that said "uh-uh" leading Naruto to continue.

"It's like..." Naruto wiggled the bandaged fingers a bit, "It's like its my hand, but not..."

Sakura just continued to laugh, "its not your hand, dummy!" Naruto pouted before sticking his tonuge out at the pinkette. The duo continued to the Dumpling Stand. Sakura was excited while Naruto tried to use his recent surgery as collateral for Ramen.

"Nope!" Sakura grinned as she popped the 'p' while Naruto groaned, "You said you would take me out for helping during your procedue. I want Dunplings!"

"Sheesh Sakura-chan, quit being a child."

Sakura continued to skip towards the stand, humming to herself a little victory tune. Naruto told Sakura to grab them a seat while he paid for their food. It felt odd for Naruto to be able to carry things with two hands again. It wasn't like he was used to only one hand for that short time.

"Naruto, I need a favor." Sakura just blurted out, she couldn't wait any longer.

"S-Sure. What's up?"

Sakura fiddled with her fingers, not sure how she should approach the rest if the conversation. Sakura just looked Naruto in the eye and just said it, "Naruto. I want you to be my date for Kakashi's Inaugration!"

"Like a date, or a date date?"

Sakura giggled, "Like a date date." Naruto eyed her carefully before agreeing. They continued to eat before heading to the Training Grounds.

Once they arrived, Sakura slipped on her brown gloves while Naruto tied his headband on. "Naruto tap out if anything feels weird or your arm hurts."

"Okay."

'I'll only lend a little bit of Chakra.'

"Thanks Kurama."

Sakura got into a fighting stance before Naruto dashed towards her. It was amazing how fast Naruto had become over the years. Naruto swung his right fist at Sakura. The pinkette dodged it as it glowed orange like Naruto's chakra cloak. A gust of wind exploded behind Sakura, "No Sage Mode!" Sakura smashed the ground under Naruto's feet.

"I'm Sorry! Kurama a little less!" Naruto started to panic and ran from Sakura. Sakura chased Naruto all over the training field until he tapped out. It wasn't very long...

'You better not tell anyone that I am sealed within you!'

Naruto chuckled, "Relax Kurama. Its not a serious fight or anything."

"Your just saying that because you lost!" Sakura mocked Naruto even more. Naruto rolled his eyes as Kurama continued to scold the teen about how they, together, were the strongest ninja now.

Naruto got up and dusted off his pants before heading home to shower, "Sakura you want me to walk you home?"

"Nah that's fine. I have to stop by the Hospital first." Naruto nodded before he and Sakura left their separate ways.

X

In a forrest on the boarder of the Leaf and Sand Villages a battle had commenced between the last of the Foundation and Sasuke Uchiha. The Foundation had mostly split up after Danzo Shimura's death. Sasuke had been following this particular group for the last few days.

Clangs of Sasuke's sword and the kunai of his enemies rang out in the mostly silent forrest. One of the ROOTS ninja tried to escape with a scroll, but Sasuke used a jutsu like Shinra Tensei to free himself of the swarm of ROOTS crowding him. The Uchiha then threw a kunai before switching places with it.

The ROOTS Op fell back as Sasuke glared with his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and Rinnegan. The shinobi knew he wouldn't make it away. Like Danzo did before, the ninja released a Forbidden Seal. The rectangle seal started to grow like the Curse Seal Sasuke once had. The ROOTS Shinobi's chakra was growing out of control and in the last few seconds Sasuke replaced the scroll woth his sword and dash out of the radius as fast as he could.

The four seals shot out before making a black sphere of chakra. The other ROOTS member were caught in the Reverse Four Symbol Sealing, trapping all the secrets of the Foundation they had. Sasuke used Amaterasu to get rid of the body before anymore ROOTS or other Organizations to get their hands on the Reverse Four Symbol Sealing technique.

Once he was sure he was alone, Sasuke opened up the scroll. Even with the Rinnegan he couldn't break the code that held the information he needed. On the other hand it did lead him to another small group who had another piece to the puzzle. Sasuke's only problem was it was in the heart of Orichimaru territory.

XX

Sakura was fidgeting with her fingers while outside Tsunade office. The Fifth Hokage was supposed to be clearing out her desk when Sakura finally knocked on the door, "Thank Heavens! I mean-" Tsunade cleared her throat, "Come in."

"Tsunade-sama do you have a moment?"

"Of course Sakura. What's the problem?"

"Y-you miss Master Jiraiya, right?"

Tsunade got serious. Sakura didn't ask serious questions unless it was a true ordeal. "Yes, of course I do. Is there a greater meaning?"

"Y-yes! I don't want to drag up any pain, I promise, but..." Sakura trailed off knowing Tsunade's full strength and has also seen Naruto go over this line once before. "I want to know if you regret not returning Master Jiraiya's feelings."

Tsunade was quiet, too quiet for Sakura's personal preference, but she needed to know. Moments that felt like days passed in Sakura's mind. She even imagined "Inner Sakura" waiting just as impatiently.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, but when Dan came into my life Jiraiya did what he thought was best. Just like Naruto does for you, Jiraiya was the best friend I will ever have."

"But the bond me and Jiraiya shared was not like the one you share with Naruto."

Sakura felt like she forgot how to speak. She had been thinking about her feelings for the Knuckleheaded Hero recently. When she wanted to go with Sasuke, Naruto pushed her (literally) to follow the one she liked. But whenever she thinks about confessing, the Haruno can only think about the time she confessed her love to save Naruto.

But in the end Naruto still saved her, Like always.

"How to I get Naruto to forgive me?"

Tsunade hugged Sakura as the pinkette was crying without realizing it, "He'll forgive you. Trust me."

XXX

It had been a few days since Naruto had seen Sakura after their littlw sparring match. He was taking on mission after mission with Sai while Sakura was stuck in the Hospital for rounds. Naruto pulled his "Granny Tsunade" card with the exiting Hokage to find out when Sakura got off for the weekend.

Sakura was leaving out the back door of the Hospital when Naruto appeared upside down in front of her, "Hey Sakur-"

Sakura yelped before punching Naruro in the face and sending him into the tree across the road. "N-Naruto?!" She ran over to the blonde to see if he was okay, "D-Don't scare me like that!"

Naruto laughed, "Well it wasn't like I was trying to. Ah crap the snacks!" Naruto scrambled for the bag that went flying with him. There was a box of different fruits and candies in it but half were spilled out.

Sakura noticed Naruto picked her up all of her favorite snacks, even the one from her diet craze that she really didn't like. Sakura thought this was cute but wondered how Naruto could still like her...

"Hey Naruto... we need to talk."

"Well isn't that what we're doing?"

"I mean seriously, Dummy!" Sakura tried not to laugh because she had been distraught over this for awhile. Naruto picked both himself and Sakura off the ground before taking Sakura to her house. The walk wasn't long enough for Sakura. How was she going to go about this? Was her mother home? Where did she leave that dirty laundry?! Sakura felt her Inner Self start to rise again for the first time in a long time.

"Wait right here, Naruto!" Naruto stood on Sakura's front stoop puzzled as the pinkette dashed in the house. Naruto heard Sakura stumble before reopening the door, "y-you can come in now!" A stray hair waved in front of her face as she tried to blow it out of her eyesight.