Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets, whistling softly as he walked down the bustling streets.
"Oh Shikamaru! Where are youuuuuuuu!?" came Ino's singsonging voice.
Naruto stopped in his tracks, looking around. Suddenly, he was tackled sideways into some nearby bushes. When he finally recovered from the landing, he saw Shikamaru crouched beside him, peering through the bushes nervously.
"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru muttered after a moment, sighing in relief as Ino headed away from them in the opposite direction.
"Isn't she your girlfriend?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows.
"It's a love hate relationship," Shikamaru replied, rubbing the back of his neck. He laid down on his back, staring up at the sky. "I need a break."
"Why don't you just tell Ino that?" Naruto asked.
"You know Ino. How do you think that would go?" Shikamaru frowned thoughtfully. "You know what? I haven't done this since I was twelve, but I think maybe we should have a guy's day today, you know? Just the men." He looked up at Naruto. "What do you think?"
"Er...I don't know, I was actually headed to Sakura's house when..."
Shikamaru shook his head disappointingly. "Dude, you're whipped."
Naruto's jaw dropped. NOBODY called him whipped. "I am NOT whipped! Look who's talking, Ino's got you wrapped around her finger."
"At least I'm the one running away from her, instead of heading to her house! How far have you guys gone, then?"
Naruto blushed. "That's...that's none of your business!"
Shikamaru smirked. "That's what I thought."
Naruto growled angrily. "Fine! Where's the rest of the guys? I'll prove I'm not whipped!" His anger faded, and he smiled nervously. "Um...could we be done by five, though?"
"Ugh...stupid Shikamaru..." Ino muttered, plopping down next to Tenten and Hinata, who were sitting at a nearby picnic table.
"What did he do this time?" Tenten asked.
"I think he's hiding from me again."
Hinata giggled. "I can't see Kiba hiding from me."
"Same with Neji. They've both gone to buy us sodas, actually."
All three girls turned to look at Kiba and Neji, who were a few yards away, handing money to a cashier. In a flash, Naruto and Shikamaru were by their sides, and each of them grabbed an arm. Almost as quickly as they had appeared, all four guys were gone.
Tenten scowled in the direction they had left. "Where did they go?"
"I...don't know..." Hinata replied.
Ino stood up angrily. "Shikamaru!"
"Here we are, men!" Naruto cried, leading Kiba to a nearby alleyway, while Shikamaru pulled Neji along. Shino, Chouji, Sai, and Rock Lee were already there.
"What the hell is this?" Kiba asked, looking around at them all. "Me and Neji were on a double-date with our girlfriends!"
Neji nodded in agreement.
"Well, I think you guys are..." Naruto leaned in closer until his mouth was right next to both guys' ears. "...whipped."
Beads of sweat appeared on the backs of their heads.
Neji crossed his arms and glared at Naruto. "What did you just say?"
"We...are NOT whipped," Kiba growled.
"Prove it," Naruto said with a smirk. "Come with us and enjoy a guys' day out!" He cocked his head questioningly. "Unless you're not...man enough."
Kiba stomped out of the alleyway, leading the way. "Let's go."
Naruto and Shikamaru exchanged grins.
"...I think they ditched us."
Tenten frowned at Hinata. "I'm sure they'll be back any minute, Hinata."
Ino sighed and rested her chin on the table. "I don't think so." Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she grinned at them. "I know! Since none of our boyfriends are around, we should have a day to ourselves! Just the girls!"
"But what about Sakura?" Hinata asked.
"Oh, we'll find her!" Ino exclaimed. "She's probably at the hospital, actually. She's almost always working there, when she's not with Naruto. And we just saw Naruto, and Sakura wasn't with him." She stood up excitedly. "Come on, let's go find her! We'll get her to take a break!"
"Where do you think they're going?" Sai asked, watching the three girls run off.
"Who cares. This is our day," Shikamaru told him. "Now, anyone got any ideas about what we should do today?"
"Get drunk?"
"Go to a club?"
"Look at girls naked!"
Heads turned at Rock Lee's suggestion.
"Hmm...not a bad idea. Anyone know where we could do that?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well..." Naruto started. "...Pervy Sage used to always spy on them at the hot springs. Maybe we could go there."
"Naruto. We have girlfriends. It's wrong," Neji said.
"Yeah! I can't spy on other women!" Kiba told him. "I don't care how many times you say I'm whipped. I won't do it."
Shino's face was expressionless, but everyone could tell he agreed with Kiba.
"Fine," Naruto told them, crossing his arms. "You can watch the rest of us do it, then."
They headed to the hot springs, basically divided into three groups.
First, there were the ones who didn't really want to participate. Kiba, Neji, and Shino fell into this category. Next came the ones who didn't really care: Chouji and Sai. Shikamaru, Naruto, and Rock Lee were the three that were actually eager to participate, although Shikamaru and Naruto were only doing it to prove they weren't whipped. Basically, that left Rock Lee as the biggest perv of them all.
"Alright, who's going first?" Shikamaru whispered as they arrived at a fence that surrounded the women's area. A tiny hole was drilled into the wall, probably by Jiraiya, and it was perfect for looking through.
"Me!" Rock Lee said, moving to the hole and pressing his eye to it. He pulled away quickly, a blush covering his cheeks. "They're naked!" he whispered.
Kiba rolled his eyes. "I'm engaged, for God's sakes! What the hell do these idiots think they're doing? I mean, maybe when I was younger I would have done something like this...but we're eighteen. They're just being stupid."
Naruto giggled and moved to look through the hole.
"What's going on here?" came Tsunade's voice. All eight boys jumped a foot in the air, turning to look at the Hokage.
"L-Lady Hokage," Rock Lee stuttered. "We were just...um..."
"Look, I don't even want to know. I left my office and searched the whole village for you all. Luckily, you're all together. Listen, I have witnesses that heard strange noises coming from the hospital last night. I want all of you to go check it out. It could be serious, as I have reports that none of the nurses came home that night. I'm far too busy to check it out myself, so I'm sending all my best available ninja in, a.k.a.: you. The girls were already headed there when I talked to them, but Sakura was inside the hospital last night. I'm worried about her." She sighed. "Just make sure you figure out what's up, okay?"
Naruto looked at her nervously. "Do you think Sakura's alright?" he asked.
Tsunade shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know." She hurried away in the direction of her office.
"Well, I guess the guys' day out is ruined," Neji commented almost happily. "We should head to the hospital."
Sakura glared at the man sitting across from her, struggling against the ropes binding her. "What the hell are you doing here?" she growled, but was unable to hide the fact that she was shaking nervously, still slightly in shock from the sight of all the dead nurses.
Sasuke sat back in his chair, letting out a relaxing sigh. "What do you think?"
Sakura leaned forward as far as she could. "You have serious problems. And to think...every day Naruto and I visited your grave. And you weren't even dead. What exactly do you think tying me up will accomplish?"
"Naruto will come here, looking for you." He looked at her. "Aren't you interested in how I survived?"
"Not really."
"Hmm...I'll tell you anyway. There was no real me in those fights. Gaara killed a shadow clone."
"I figured as much." She sighed. "So, once Naruto gets here and kicks your ass, I can go?"
"I've gotten stronger."
"So has he."
Sasuke crossed his arms. "We'll see who's stronger, eventually. I'll draw it out for all of you, though. I do enjoy games of cat and mouse, actually."
"You sound just like Orochimaru."
"Good for me." Sasuke sat up suddenly. "Oh, they're all here. Let the fun begin." He leaned forward and kissed her before she could do anything. "I love you," he whispered with a smirk, before making a few hand signs and disappearing.
Almost immediately after he was gone, the door to the room she was in flew open, and Naruto hurried in, followed by all of their friends. "Sakura, are you okay?" he asked, untying her. "We were walking down the hall, and we saw bodies..." He shivered.
"All of the nurses are dead," Shino cut in.
"I know," Sakura said, standing up and looking around at them. "Sasuke killed them."
There was a moment of silence.
Finally, Ino gave her a sympathetic smile, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, somebody awful did do this, but it wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke's dead. Gaara killed him, remember?"
"He's not dead," Sakura told them, willing them to believe her. "He's back."
