"Get them!" A shout came from behind Naruto and Sakura as the two of them ran as fast as they could. Naruto running solemnly on his monstrous stamina while Sakura had to enhance her speed with chakra to keep up with her friend. That was an impressive feat for someone still at the Academy; Sakura mentally petted her own back. But apparently the Chunin chasing behind them did not appreciate the girl´s excellent chakra control if the curses thrown at them were any indication.
What they also couldn´t appreciate was the piece of art Naruto and Sakura had made out of the Hokage Mountain.
"Naruto we have to lose them quickly!" Sakura shouted at her blond friend. They were running for half an hour already at full speed and she was starting to notice the strain the chakra enhanced speed took on her reserves and even after years of strolling through the village with Naruto she still didn´t know the streets as well as he did. The boy flashed a grin in her direction and grabbed her hand before diving into the busy streets below. Waving through the people and following Naruto's surprising changes of direction was something Sakura got used to during their escapades over the years.
In an overshadowed ally Sakura thought she had lost him but then he grabbed her and pulled her up where he hang using chakra to stick to the wall. Huddled behind a roadside billboard above some garbage bins the two preteens waited for their pursuers to dash past their hiding place. "Hurry I saw them running in this direction"
Sakura let out a sigh of relief as the danger of discovery was over. The two slid down the wall back onto solid ground. Naruto´s plan had worked; they had painted the Hokake Monument. Slowly her laboured breath and her accelerated heartbeat slowed down to normal again. Of course Naruto had not even broken a sweat. The two children turned to one another looked each other in the eye and burst out laughing. They really did it. They had been talking about doing something big for the end of the school year for ages but never had Sakura imagined it would turn out this big.
Carefully Naruto glanced out of the alleyway to check if the coast was clear and soon the two were wandering through the streets of Konoha still grinning over the successful prank. Sakura looked up at the Hokage Mountain admiring the view. She turned to Naruto and pointed up the Monument now colourfully decorated. Naruto had painted the faces of the first, third and fourth generation with strong colours like stark red or blue but mostly orange while Sakura had only energy for the second who now sported a flowery pink pattern. "That, Naruto, was your best idea so far; a stroke of genius."
Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "And we even got away with it."
"Hell Yeah!" Grinning at each other they high fived.
"I wouldn´t be so sure of that." A very well-known voice behind them made Sakura and Naruto break sweat. Anxious they turned around and found themselves face to face with a very angry Iruka-Sensei.
"Run!" But before they had the chance to get away Iruka had them both by the back of their shirts and dragged them of towards the academy. "You two really did it this time" Defeated they sighed and resigned to their fate.
Why was it that they were able to outwit a great number of active ninja but completely failed when Iruka was after them? Their teacher had always caught up with them.
The first time Sakura had ever gotten into trouble with her Sensei was a few days after she had met Naruto. Naruto had been her first real friend and as she found out later it had been the same for Naruto. They became reliant on one another and with Naruto by her side she became more confident and lost her shyness. Up to that point she had been a quiet strait A student who spent most of her time hiding behind books few children her age could read let alone understand. She had been nervous around other children and often hid behind the blonde boy. But over the first few weeks of their friendship Naruto had coaxed the girl out of her shell.
The day when Sakura started turning from a bookish, shy girl who hid her face into the preteen she was now had started relatively normal.
When Sakura got up at that day her father Kizashi already had left the flat when she came down for breakfast. Her mother was standing in the kitchen preparing Sakura´s lunchbox. "Good morning, Sweetheart."
"Morning Mum", Sakura yawned. "Uhm Mum. Naruto is going to pick me up, so we can walk together." She nearly stumbled over the words while she played nervously with her fingernails. At her friends name her mother stiffened.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" She asked concerned.
But before Sakura could answer it knocked on the front door. Sakura wanted to stand up but her mother was already gone to open the door. "Sakura finish your breakfast." Sakura was anxious. How would her mother react towards her friend?
There was a small commotion in the hallway. But Sakura couldn´t hear what was talked because the kitchen door was closed, no matter how hard she tried.
Then the kitchen door opened and a frightened Naruto was pushed through with Sakura´s angry mum at his back. Naruto was shoved into a chair around the kitchen table and before Sakura came out of her stupor her mother had placed a bowl of rice in front of the boy. What followed was a stunned silence both Naruto and Sakura staring at the dish.
"Eat!" Sakura´s mother snapped at both of them who hastily picked up their chopsticks and didn´t dare to look at something else then the food.
Sakura could hear her mother rampaging through the kitchen opening cupboards and chopping something all the while the woman murmured something in an angry tone. Finally they had finished breakfast in an uncomfortable silence but it didn´t break the tension filling the room. Naruto still looked like a deer caught in a beam of light and Sakura feared breaking the silence would unleash her mother´s fury. They watched each other not daring to look somewhere else.
Sakura´s mother sighed annoyed. "So there you go" and dropped a lunchbox in front of each child. Naruto was now probably completely confused as the box was shoved into his arms and with a smile on the woman´s face the two children were ushered out of the flat. "Now off to school." And then the door closed behind them.
They stared at each other and started to make their way towards the Academy. It took a while before Naruto found his words again. "Is your mum always this scary?"
"Uhm" Sakura was dumbfounded. "Uhm. No, only when something really pissed her of."
"I see." Naruto said deep in thought. Both fell back into an unpleasant silence.
"So what happened at the door?" Sakura broke the silence.
"I´m not sure. It went so quick. Well I knocked. Your mum opened when my stomach growled. I forgot to eat breakfast. Then this neighbour woman said something about begging and brat and leaving. Didn´t catch the gist of what was said. Then your mum got this really scary look in her eyes like - I don´t know – a hawk or something. And next thing I know I was sitting with you at the kitchen table." Sakura knew fully well which look Naruto described having seen it a few times, normally when someone hurt Sakura. "So what does that mean?"
"Not sure. But I think mum likes you." Sakura grinned and Naruto grinned back as they entered the Academy. He and Sakura walked down the corridor towards their classroom.
Curious he peaked into the bento. Mebuki had packed them her special riceballs. "Wow, your mum really put effort in this."
"You know, Sakura, I really wish I would know what it is like to have a mother. I mean I don't even know who she was or what she looked like." Naruto said looking at the riceballs that had a smiley on them.
"I'm sorry, Naruto." Sakura looked to the ground a little embarrassed.
"Mhmm. It is not important. Never knew what it's like to have a mum. So it's nothing I can miss." But Sakura had the feeling that behind his grin Naruto hid an enormous amount of sadness.
"You don't even have pictures of your parents?"
"No. I was found orphaned the day of the Kyubi-Attack. They probably just made my name up on the spot. I even got that date for my birthday." At that Naruto had a solemn look in his eyes. But that got Sakura thinking.
"Well, we could find out about that." She slowly said still deep in her thoughts. That got Naruto's attention and the glance he threw her was curious and filled with interest.
Staring into space Sakura continued "You see, there must be some kind of registry where every citizen of Konoha is listed. And if we found that we could, you know, look you up."
"That's a great idea, Sakura! And I know where we should start!" And already Naruto had turned on his heels taking Sakura's hand and dragging her away from the Academy into the direction of the Hokagetower.
"Naruto, what are you doing? We still have school." The girl protested angrily. "Do you even know where you are going?"
"Come on Sakura. This is far more interesting than Sensei Iruka's lectures." Naruto replied so enthusiastic that Sakura forgot about it long enough for them to reach their destination.
They got inside really quickly and now they wandered through the hallways as quietly as possible since both were quite sure that what they were doing was forbidden. Sakura could feel her heart beating painfully hard against her rip cage. It was her first time inside this important building while it seemed that Naruto was here far more often by the way he moved around the corridors. They met no one while they tiptoed through the hallways.
They found the room with the civilian registry they were looking for, checked if the coast was clear and entered quickly.
"So let's go" Sakura whispered walking up to the folders with the names beginning with U. Uzukaze, Uzuki, Uzumaki. There they could start. "Naruto, found you."
Carefully together they pulled out a folder marked with Uzumaki Naruto. Leafing through the pages they came across a picture of Naruto, a long list of misdeeds he had done in the past, his school records and finally Naruto's birth certificate. "Looks like your name wasn´t made up on the spot. Here's you mothers name. Uzumaki Kushina. The name sounds nice. But it looks like your father's name isn't listed." Where normally the name of Naruto's father would have appeared was now a black stripe. Perhaps that meant he was born out of wedlock but Sakura wasn't sure.
"Great! Let's look her up too." That proved a little bit difficult since Naruto was the only Uzumaki in the entire archives so they needed another plan of action. Naruto sat down on the floor cross-legged and cocked his head in thought.
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"There is another place we could look but I don't know exactly where it is." At Sakura's questioning look he continued. "I know that the Ninja registry is somewhere in the ANBU archives."
Sakura's euphoria on finding the name Naruto's mum was still high so she suggested. "Then let's check there next."
Naruto grinned. "Yeah"
However when they left the Hokagetower they were greeted by an annoyed Sensei Iruka who hauled both of them off back into the classroom. Sakura had tears in her eyes as she was faced with the wrath of the academy teacher. How Naruto just laughed it off was something Sakura couldn't phantom. He seemed to didn't care for school at all.
"Don't pull that grin with me it is bad enough that you skip lessons but now you drag Sakura into it as well. And Sakura you are such a good student I expected better from you." At that Sakuras face burned red. They received their lecture in front of the entire class.
It ended with Iruka Sensei giving them detention after class.
As it turned out they weren't the only ones stuck in the academy after lessons. They were joined by Shikamaru for sleeping in class, Choji for eating during a lecture and Kiba for skipping school alltogether.
Her father had been furious and had promptly forbidden her from ever seeing Naruto again and had send her of to bed. Her mother had come into her room sometime later. Kawako had listened to her story what had really happened. She had smiled, tussled her hair and kissed her forehead. Then she had said that Sakura was on the right way to become a great ninja. "Just don't get caught the next time."
They tried to follow the advice and they were getting better but escaping Iruka sensei was downright impossible. He had to be a sensor or something.
It wasn't the first time that Iruka Sensei lectured them in front of the entire class but it would be the last time, so Sakura felt a little bit nostalgic. Naruto ever the class clown irritated the Sensei again which earned them all a revision for next day's graduation. Transformation wasn't a problem for either Naruto or Sakura. They messed around with it too much. But using the Sexy Jutsu in class against Iruka Sensei was really over the top. Poor Iruka Sensei was probably dying of blood loss right now; Sakura shook her head until her brain kicked in.
"Naruto! Never use that against an allied shinobi again." She yelled hitting Naruto over his head. Everyone looked at her most likely thinking she would chastise Naruto for that major offence; the girls in particular were scandalized about this form of Transformation.
"Only use that against enemies!" She could hear the outrage of their classmates.
AN: Thanks for your reviews, roooll, miletta101, Kairan1979 and Idjes.
I can't believe that I actually wrote a second chapter so shortly after the first on. But I still don't have a story line in mind. If you have any ideas you are welcome to write them in a review. I'll be writing when inspiration hits but I can't predict when or if it happens so I can't make any promises. But I think the first few chapters may be in the same style as this one.
I hope you had fun reading.
Have a nice day.
