2: Mountain Lilac

Within three days of entering the forty-fourth training ground, a routine began to form. Sakura, knowing very little about camping save for what she had learned during the survival course of academy, maintained the camp while Sasuke and Naruto hunted. The blond proved to be the better of the two when it came to tracking down any sort of prey that was located in the forest, while Sasuke held back and watched his back for large predators.

Tigers were not the only beasts in the forest they needed to worry about. The bears taking up residence in the grounds were well over twenty feet tall when they stood, and ten times more dangerous than a normal one around the village would be.

While checking his snares on the second day, Naruto had the bad luck of running into one such animal that had found one of his traps. Luckily for him Sasuke was with him, and quickly managed to dispatch the beast with demon wind shuriken through the skull. The result was that they had more than enough meat to last them for a while since Naruto placed it in his storage scrolls.

Sakura was quick to learn what herbs and plants were edible when she went with Naruto to forage. She hadn't known it, but wild grown vegetables were easier to find than she realized. On their third day in the forest he showed her a patch of wild carrots, and wild onions. The green shoots coming up from the onion were much more pungent than even a normal onion was, yet much smaller. As were the carrots.

"This is amazing," Sakura said as the two of them gathered the vegetables. "I never knew you could find all of this out in the wild."

Naruto looked over at her with a chuckle, "You'd be surprised." He smiled before moving over to her and digging around a small plant she hadn't noticed. He then yanked it out of the ground, "Look, these are potatoes!" He said, showing her the large brown tubers.

Sakura giggled as she added them to the pile, "So, can you point me toward the plant I can use to wash my hair?" She asked, twirling a few strands through around her finger, "Just kidding. No way there's a plant like...that..."

Naruto had moved away from her and taken out a kunai from his pouch. In front of him was a small hip-high bush with clusters of blue flowers all over it. Grasping a few of the clusters, he cut off a handful of the flowers, and brought them back to her, "You can use these."

"Seriously?" Sakura accepted the flowers, inhaling the scent of the blooms, "Hmm, they smell wonderful; what are they?"

"Mountain lilac." Naruto smiled, and chuckled, "You know, this is the first time I gave you flowers, and you accepted them, huh?" He grinned at her cheekily as she placed the flowers in her basket, giving him a mock frown.

"I'm desperate to wash my hair," she said, turning away from him. Picking up their baskets, the two Genin started back for camp, the rosette casting glances at the blond, "Can I ask you something?"

Naruto looked at her curiously, "Sure. What's on your mind?"

A faint blush dusted her cheeks, "Why...why did you start bugging me to go out on a date with you, anyway?"

His brow rose slightly at the question, "That's kind'a loaded." He said, thinking back on it with a smile, "Honestly, if I really had to think about it, it's because of when we first met."

"Naruto, we met in academy," she pointed out, "I didn't know you before that."

Naruto sighed, "Guess you don't remember," he frowned, shrugging, "Think back to when we were five. It was spring time, and you were out in the part making a flower wreath. I was playing by myself over by the trees, and you asked me over. We spent the whole day weaving flowers, and talking."

Sakura was taken aback by his response. She did remember a day like that. It was the same day that she'd met Ino. It was also when she had been told by some of the other kids that they weren't supposed to hang around a certain blond boy because he wasn't like them. He was different than the rest of them. "You liked me from back then?"

"Sure have," the blond smiled at her sadly, "But I guess something must have happened, because you started hanging more around Sasuke and his little club after that."

Feeling guilty for having forgotten, the girl looked down at the leaf covered ground. Thinking back on that day, she remembered well what had happened. After she had left Naruto in the field, a bunch of kids she didn't know started teasing her about her overly large forehead. Ino had come to her rescue, and the two had spent more time picking flowers. Naruto had disappeared somewhere, and when it was time to go, he had come back. When he called out to her, the parents were quick to shoo him away.

"I always thought that you wanted to get one up on Sasuke," Sakura admitted, frowning, "I guess that wasn't true, huh?"

Naruto shook his head, "Not really, though I did want your attention," he said, smiling at her, "I just...I just kind'a wanted my first friend back."

Before she could say anything more, they reached the camp where Sasuke was tending to the fire pit. "You two took your time," he commented as he noted the laden baskets they carried. "Good haul?"

"You could say that," the blond said, grinning, "You know you could try to help with the foraging? Just because you provided the meat, doesn't mean you can slack off, you know?"

"Like I'd know anything about edible wild plants," the Uchiha sighed, "You're better at this than I am."

Naruto looked at the dark-haired Uchiha in utter shock, "Huh, must be another sign that the world's gonna end."

"What's that?" Sasuke asked as Sakura set her basket down by the fire.

"You admitting that anyone is better at something than you are." Naruto snorted as he ducked under a piece of firewood. "Ha! Missed!"

Sasuke growled, "Don't tempt me to start using shuriken!"

"Now, now!" Sakura squeaked, trying to quell the brewing fight, "Admitting someone's better at something than you are isn't a bad thing." She said, interposing herself between the boys, "I mean, you're both better than I am at combat and stuff like hunting and foraging!"

"Ha!" Naruto snorted, "At least you're willing to put in some effort!" The blond snapped, pointing at Sasuke, "The only time this guy ever puts in any effort is when we need meat, and we haven't needed that since he took down that bear!"

"Your point?" Sasuke asked.

"You're getting fat just sitting around the fire," Naruto said, and jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow, making the Uchiha grunt and shove him away. "Keep this up, and you won't be mistaking for a chimp anymore, but a fat mountain gorilla!"

"Jackass!"

"Lazy bastard!"

"CUT IT OUT!" Sakura roared, setting a flock of birds into flying off over their heads. Unfortunately, they had also gotten so frightened by Sakura's shout that they relieved themselves just as they were taking off.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes started twitching violently as they were peppered with droppings. Sakura had a look of utter disgust on her face as she shivered from the showering. Looking at the boys for a moment, she then snatched up the lilac Naruto had picked for her, and marched off toward bathing area of the river, "The first bath's mine!"

Naruto grimaced, "Dammit! This is all your fault!"

"My fault!?" Sasuke bristled, "How's this my fault?!"

"If you weren't so lazy about working - !"

"If you hadn't made Sakura shout -!"

"- this wouldn't have happened!" Both boy raged angrily. Unknown to them, however, Anko had been keeping an eye on them. The two of them arguing hadn't been all that surprising.

"Strong and tough they may be," the woman chuckled from her perch in the tree branches high above the little camp, "But they still look like a buch'a dorks, covered in bird crap!" She really couldn't wait to tell Iruka about this one.

Meanwhile...

'Dammit,' Sakura grumbled to herself as she stripped off her all but ruined clothes. 'I can't believe those two blockheads. Arguing like a couple of kids!'

'Cha! It's all that dummy, Naruto's fault!' Her inner voice said, and for once, she found herself disagreeing with it.

She shook her head as she slipped into the cold waters of the stream, 'But I was the one that shouted like that, and spooked those birds,' she sighed as she let herself slip in all the way up to her neck in the water, rinsing herself off thoroughly before ducking her head under water to wash out her hair, 'If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't be in this mess.'

Really, the blond knucklehead had been a great help since they had started this exercise. His knowledge about living wild had been invaluable. True, she hadn't done much herself, but she helped where she could. Sasuke had...well, he had taken down the bear. She sighed to herself as she swam back to shore, reaching for the lilac that Naruto had given her. 'Naruto's right, though, Sasuke's kind of lazy when if comes to anything except for training.' Her inner voice was quiet. Shrugging it off, she wondered how she was supposed to use the flowers.

She settled for wetting them down and scrubbing them between her hands for a few seconds before a soapy lather formed. Delighted that she'd figured it out, she first lathered up her hair and shoulders thoroughly. 'He's not fat, though,' she admitted to herself, 'He'trains each and every morning before Naruto, or me are even awake.' She said, realizing that Naruto had only said such a thing to get the Uchiha motivated. It was also when she realized that insulting someone about something was his way to get them to do something. It had worked several times when she thought about it. When Hinata Hyuga had been more conscious about her developing body, the other girls, and some of the boys had been rude about it.

Naruto had just waltzed up and told the girls to stop being so jealous, and the boys to just plain grow up and stop ogling Hinata. It hadn't ended quietly, but the blond had been backed by Kiba Inuzuka, how quite obviously had a crush on the Hyuga girl, much the same as Naruto did on herself. Of course, everyone knew of her own crush on Naruto. Except for Naruto himself, that is. Sakura's heart went out to her, but thinking back on how long Naruto had liked her, she couldn't help but feel a little ashamed for having forgotten...as well as flattered.

'He does look handsome,' she sighed to herself, leaning back to float, 'And he's skilled, I guess...but Sasuke...' she ducked under the water and came up shaking her head, 'Why am I even having to think about it?' She wondered, smacking herself in the cheeks, 'I like Sasuke, and that's that!'

As she moved over to the shore to start cleaning up her outfit, she felt something brush against her leg, and squeaked in alarm as a sharp bite hit her lower left shin. And that bite grew into a horrible pain!

If Sakura's shout had frightened a flock of birds away, her scream would have scared them to death as she howled in pain, and hurried to the bank of the river. By the time she reached it, Naruto and Sasuke had come streaking through the bushes to see what was wrong. Sakura didn't even care that she was naked when they arrived because the pain was only getting worse as she hauled herself out of the water.

She looked down at her leg to see what had a hold of it, and found a large, brown...creature clinging to her.

"Leech!" Naruto shouted as he skidded down on his knees, "Sakura, don't move, it'll only make it mad!"

"Get it off me!" She cried weakly. "It hurts!"

"Sasuke, help hold her leg while I pry it off!" Naruto commanded, taking a kunai from his pouch.

Sasuke had other ideas, though, as he formed a tiger hand seal, "Just let me burn the thing off!"

"Don't, it might be poisonous!" Naruto warned, but the Uchiha didn't stop.

"MOVE!" Was all the warning Naruto got before Sasuke let out a blast of fire toward the creature. It wasn't a full sized Fireball jutsu, but it was just right for burning the large leech off of Sakura's leg.

It shriveled, letting out a high pitched screech before expelling some sort of green liquid from its mouth, and fell off. Sakura shivered as greenish vein started running up her leg. Naruto had been right.

"Gods dammit, Sasuke!" Naruto roared, shrugging out of his jacket and wrapping it around the girl, "I told you not to do that!"

Sasuke frowned, not willing to admit his mistake, "I-it would've sucked her dry before we got it off of her!"

Naruto turned to the Uchiha with a look of cold fury, his eyes no longer their blue hues, but red, and slit like a cat's. "Just shut up!" He snarled, showing off four sharp canine-like teeth. Sasuke took an involuntary step back in fear as he took the girl in his arms, "We need to get her to a hospital, and now! I don't know any herbs that could help with this!" He pushed passed his teammate, and made for the gates.

(*)

Konoha Hospital...

The leech, as it turned out, was a highly venomous species that lurked either in streams or dropped from tree branches to latch on to its intended victims. When its prey thrashed, it released a low dose of its venom to immobilize it until it was done feeding. If it latched onto something smaller than the creatures living in the Forest of Death, I.E. a human, the victim would be dead within moments if they didn't get it off.

That being said, trying to remove the leech would force it to release more of its toxins. When Sasuke had burned the creature to death, it had released all the venom it had stored up. Thanks to Naruto's speed, Sakura reached the hospital just in time.

Now, both young men waited outside the Operating Room, Naruto pacing back and forth agitatedly. The door then opened to reveal the medical shinobi that had been on had.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Naruto asked as soon as she came out.

The woman nodded, "She'll be fine. Barely. The poison was very close to reaching her heart. If it had, she'd have been in much greater danger." She said, pulling off her mask, "You were very fortunate to have gotten her here so fast."

"Good," Sasuke found himself nodding to himself, "That's good."

The doctor smiled at both of them, "We're about to move her to a room, and you'll be able to see her this afternoon," she informed them, "Until then, I've sent for your sensei. She'll be here in a few minutes."

The doctor moved off, leaving the two boys alone.

Naruto stayed on his feet, glaring down at the Uchiha, who kept his head down, not willing to look at the blond. When he did raise his head, however, "Naruto, I'm - "

CRACK

Sasuke was sent sprawling across the floor with a hard right hook to his face. He looked up at the blond in anger, but was stopped when he saw that look in his eyes once again. Those piercing red eyes bored a hole right through him. "I warned you, Sasuke," he growled out, snarling. "But you just wouldn't listen, would you?!"

He reached down and hauled the Uchiha to his feet, "This isn't the fucking academy, Sasuke!" He roared in his face, "We don't have a nurse or doctor on hand if we get hurt! What you did nearly got Sakura killed!"

"It still would've killed her if we waited to just pry it off!" Sasuke defended himself weakly.

"And that makes this better!?" Naruto hauled back for another hit.

But just as he was about to throw his punch, two massive snakes coiled around both teens, wrapping them up tightly. The two snakes hissed menacingly at the teens, flashing their fangs at the boys, preventing them from moving.

Anko appeared at the blond's shoulder, her eyes narrowed, "Do I need to have my little friends here put you in the hospital with Sakura?" She demanded angrily, walking around to the side to face both of them, her hands on her hips, shaking her head, "When I heard that I'd be taking you two on as students, I thought that at least you could try to work together." She said, shaking her head again, "I don't see a pair of shinobi in front of me...all I see is a pair of rabid dogs!" She snapped her fingers and the two snakes disappeared, making the two boys drop to the ground. "Did it occur to either of you that I was watching? Well I was!" She snapped, glaring at Sasuke, "Naruto was right to warn off burning that leech off. Not all of them are poisonous, but they will regurgitate the contents in their stomachs when burned, making it almost bad as venom. But you, of course, being the smart little fucker you are, didn't listen to your teammate's warning, when you readily admitted that he was better at foresting than you!"

She then turned to Naruto, "Naruto, I know your heart was in the right place, but getting that leech off should've been the first thing you did when you came upon Sakura, not that you did anything wrong, but you spent too much time talking, and less acting. Leeches that size can drain a human of blood in two minutes. Next time, move your ass." She said as the blond nodded shamefully.

She stepped back, "What was the worst part of that whole debacle was that you both spent time arguing while Sakura left to take a bath." She frowned, "You'd all been doing so well until then. But instead of going to watch her back so you could've gotten to her sooner, you spent the whole time bickering." She said, driving her point home with a cold glare that froze both of them in place, "Sakura was just trying to keep you from each other's throats, and you just kept on going at it like the rabid dogs that you are, and it nearly cost her her life!" She snarled, "Naruto was right; this isn't the academy anymore, even on training exercises like this one, especially considering where you were, your choices could and will draw a very fine line between living and dying. Now, this whole rivalry BS stops, and it stops right now, or so help me, you will both be expelled from my team, and never allowed to be shinobi again, am I making myself clear!?"

She released them from the Paralysis Jutsu, and both of them nodded furiously.

"Good," she snapped, looking to Sasuke, and took a scroll from her trench coat, "Sasuke, this scroll is filled with books about everything you need to know about surviving in the wild, including various flora and fauna located in the Forest of Death; read it all. You have three days." She commanded, handing him the scroll as the young Uchiha nodded.

As he took the scroll, she turned to the blond, "Naruto, your temper raises certain chakra levels inside you." She said, giving the boy a look as he flinched, "You know what I'm talking about. Now, unless you want everyone to see those puss-peepers of yours, go home, clean up, grab a bite to eat, and calm the fuck down. You get enough flack from the civilians, so don't give them any more ammo to use, alright?"

Naruto nodded, knowing without looking that his eyes had changed since leaving the forest. He rose, and moved passed her, his shoulders slumped. Anko reached down to help Sasuke up. "Sensei, what made his eyes change like that?" The young man asked, just short of demanding, "And...he had fangs! What the hell is he?"

Anko shook her head, "That's something you'll have to take up with him," she said, shrugging, "But I will tell you this. The Hokage has a law out about his condition. Anyone that speaks of it is immediately put to death, unless Naruto himself is the one willingly speaking about it. Ask all you want, but still, he's the one that has to do the answering. Anything else might get someone killed."

(*)

Naruto did exactly what Anko asked of him. He went home, bathed, got a fresh set of clothes, and went to binge on ramen. And still he felt utterly furious. Now he was walking the streets of Konoha, hands stuffed in his pockets to hide his claws, his eyes cast down so he wouldn't frighten anyone, heading for home.

"You seem deep in thought for one so young, Naruto," the wizened voice of Hiruzen said as the boy walked along. Startled out of his thoughts, the boy turned and saw the man walking alongside him as if he'd been their the entire time. "A fine day such as this shouldn't be spent with a heart full of anger."

Naruto sighed, "Hey, Old Man," the blond sighed, frowning, "Aren't you supposed to be hip deep in paperwork?"

Hiruzen chuckled, sticking his pipe in his mouth, "Well, you see, I figured that an old man such as myself should enjoy his possibly last doddering years a bit more than I have been, so I created a few Shadow Clones to fill in for me." He said, "Besides, I wanted to see how my pseudo grandchild was doing after he graduated in such a manner." He said, referring to the theft of the Scroll of Seals.

Naruto frowned, returning his gaze to the ground, "I honestly thought I was doing good," he sighed, his eyes beginning to return to normal, "But...Sakura got hurt...and I wasn't fast enough to help. And Sasuke made it worse, and I -"

"You lost your temper," the Hokage surmised, sighing, "this has been a problem with all the previous bearers of your particular burden, my young friend."

Naruto looked at him in interest, "Really? How did they deal with it?"

Hiruzen chuckled, "Well, I can honestly say that you did everything they did, save for getting sauced off your ass," he chuckled, remembering one such incident with Mito Uzumaki-Senju. That had been a hell of a night, especially for poor Hashirama. He noted the grimace on Naruto's face, and laughed harder, "Oh, don't worry my dear boy, I'm certain you won't have to go that far!"

"Did any of them have someone the love hurt right in front of their eyes?" The blond asked, frowning.

"Several times," he nodded, puffing out a ring of smoke, "We shinobi are those who endure, but that does not mean enduring is easy." He said, "Life is made up of meetings and partings, that is the way of it." He said, "But to endure those meetings and partings is what it means to be a shinobi. Not to endure pain or suffering, but to accept those meetings, and endure the partings that are certain to come."

"I'm not ready to part with anyone," Naruto sighed, thinking back to that horrible moment when he saw Iruka shielding him from a giant shuriken, the weapon stuck in his back. And the moment when he saw Sakura growing pale with blood loss, and poison rushing through her veins.

"No one ever is," the Hokage smiled, "I was not ready to part with my beloved wife, nor was I ready to part with many more when their time had come." He took another long drag of his pipe, letting it out in a long stream, "And I can assure you that I will not be ready when my time comes, though I will accept it as it is, and pray that I have done all that I possibly could for this village when my time comes."

"So tell me," he said, looking up at the tall blond, "Does Sakura mean that much to you?"

Naruto nodded, "It's strange, now that I think about it," he relented, "Aside from when we were kids, she's never treated me kindly, or anything like that. But still, I want her to look at me more than I want the people of this village to stop treating me like a ghost." He said, "I want to feel what it's like to hold her, and be held by her. People tease her about her forehead, when I think she's fine just the way she is. She's tried makeup on to make herself look pretty when I always thought she was beautiful without it. And I've looked at other girls, but none of them..."

"None of them have the draw you feel for Sakura," Hiruzen nodded, smiling slightly, "Biwako was much the same with me when things started out. Gods that woman could give out a tongue-lashing like a whip," he chuckled fondly, "She was also the smartest kunoichi in my graduating class if you can believe it, much like Sakura was."

"She didn't have a crush on an Uchiha, did she?" Naruto asked with a deadpan.

"No, he was a Nara," Hiruzen frowned, deadpanning right back. It took all of a moment before both of them started laughing about the whole thing. "But, even with the war raging, I kept in touch with her as much as I possibly could, speaking to her when we met, bringing her flowers when she was feeling ill, or sad, and bringing her chocolates when she was angry with me."

"Sakura was bitten by a poisonous leech," the boy said, frowning, "I guess I could bring her some flowers, and some chocolates, huh?"

Hiruzen smiled, "Quite a good idea." He said, moving along down the streets, "I hear that the Akimichi have a very fine chocolate shop just beside their clan compound if you happen to head that way. And I know that Inoichi's wife runs a flower shop just by the shopping district."

Naruto smiled at the man, "Thanks, Grandpa, I needed that," he said, referring to their talk, "I'll see you later, okay? Make sure my team's first mission is something really awesome, alright?" He said, taking off down the streets.

Hiruzen gave him a small wave as he went, "I'll be sure to do that, just as soon as the Fire Daimyo's wife visits. She frequently loses something precious to her whenever she's in the village, and sometimes even when she's not, and it normally winds up here."

"Cool, we'll take that one!" Naruto called back over his shoulder.

Hiruzen nodded, and smirked, "Sucker."

"Now that was totally mean of you, Lord Third," Anko said from above the man as she perched on the roof of a building, her legs crossed and a huge amused grin across her face, "tricking him into asking for the old "Catch Tora" spiel like that."

"It pays well for a D-rank mission," he shrugged simply, "And I figure poor Sakura will need something easy since she's likely to be weak from the poison for a short time, and catching Tora is...moderately easy."

Anko snorted, "If catching that cat is anything like catching is mama, then you and I have very different views on easy," she said, thinking back to her days catching Tora the First, and shivered, "Very different."

(*)

The next day, Sakura awoke to find herself, not on her bedroll in the forest, but on a bed, not much softer than the forest floor she had nearly gotten used to sleeping on. "What...am I..." she wondered quietly as she took in her surroundings. She was hooked up to an IV drip, and she felt horribly weak. She noted that her skin was also paler than usual. And it was then that she remembered what had happened in the forest. "A leech...I was almost killed by a damned leech!" She bemoaned, covering her face in shame, "I really am weak!"

A giggle sounded from the doorway, "Well, anyone would feel weak after losing nearly three pints of blood to one of those bloodsuckers, even a small one like the one that attacked you."

"That thing was small?" The rosette frowned, "What's a big one look like?"

"A brown, striped tortoise," Anko supplied, making the girl blanch. The one that had bitten her was only a quarter of that size! "But what very nearly did you in was the poison it released when Sasuke burned it off. Naruto would've scraped it off easily with a sharpened kunai, but our little talking chimp got impatient, and forced it to empty its venom sacks. You would've ended up in the hospital either way, but with less to worry about if Naruto had had more time to work. I gave them both a talking to, so things should get better from this point on."

Sakura looked at her sensei, "You mean we still get to be a team?"

Anko giggled and sauntered over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed, "But of course, my dear little pinkie." She smiled, patting the girl's hair, "The three of you have so damned much potential, it's actually frightening. You and Naruto especially, Sakura. I see you becoming a fine kunoichi, even capable of rivaling Tsunade. And Naruto's well on his way to becoming a tracker if his skills in the forest were anything to go on."

Again, Sakura felt a pang of guilt. "I've been horrible to him."

Anko smiled and pointed to her bedside table, "Well, our little blondie doesn't seem to think so," she said, and Sakura turned to see what she was talking about. On the table she found what looked to be the Akimichi's finest box of molten core chocolates, and a small vase of familiar flowers.

"Mountain lilac."

I'm glad for the reviews from the previous chapter, and I hope this story takes off better. Anyway, Team Seven isn't doing too good, but not too bad either with their learning curb as Sakura gets a nasty surprise while Sasuke's impatience puts her life in greater risk, and catches a glimpse of something he shouldn't have as Naruto's inner demon comes to the front.

I hope you all liked this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review and tell me what you think.