Sakura stood in front of her master, Lady Tsunade, irritated by the woman's laughter and apparent inability to take the situation seriously

Sakura stood in front of her master, Lady Tsunade, irritated by the woman's laughter and apparent inability to take the situation seriously.

"I don't see what's so funny about this, it's serious there is an enemy in the area, if we don't act soon then-"she was cut short by Tsunade.

"Stop Sakura please, just don't say anything more" the woman let out a chuckle "I think I know who this 'enemy' is"

"You do?" asked Sakura surprised "then why hasn't he been caught yet? Why aren't we out there-"

"Just listen okay; you said he used a clone jutsu, right?" Sakura nodded "Well then I'm guessing it's your other partner on your mission in a few days, he was probably testing you. That shadow clone jutsu is one of his signature moves" said Tsunade sighing "I can't believe he's done it again though and being careless enough to get caught…I'm going to have to punish him later"

"Tsunade… exactly who is this guy? I mean you said he'd met the Kazekage, that he was more suited for higher level work…And now this?" asked Sakura perplexed. She really wanted to know, for this person to have such high favour in the Hokage's eyes, he had to be something special.

"He's just some blonde haired brat, about your age, he's Jiraiya's apprentice, you've met Jiraiya before haven't you Sakura?" said Tsuade casually, knowing full well the impact her words would have on Sakura, after all her old friend Jiraiya was pretty well known. Sakura of course new who Jiraiya was, the great toad sage, one of the legendary Sanin, like Tsunade, he was a legend among the villagers. It had even been said that he was he first person, to be requested as the Hokage, Tsunade had been their second choice. To be such a great master's apprentice, this person would have to be a truly awe inspiring ninja of unimaginable prowess.

"I see.." said Sakura, her eyes glowing as she imagined such a great person, he would be a handsome tall blonde, she decided, with chiselled features ,a person with an air of mystery… "But what about him meeting the Kazekage?" she asked.

"He met Garra at the Chunin exams a few years back, they fought against each other, you were there at the same time weren't you?" she asked smiling, already knowing the reason for Sakura's lack of knowledge.

"You know I failed in the first round of the fights…" she said quietly, her head bowed down in shame. Sakura looked over to the clock on the wall, it was getting late, she should probably be heading home.

"You can go now Sakura" said lady Tsunade, having noticed Sakura's sideways looks at the clock "I'll see you in two days time, Friday five o'clock, for your mission briefing" Sakura, taking this as a dismissal left the room leaving Tsunade supposedly on her own.

"You're a sneaky little brat aren't you" she called out, to the seemly empty room "So tell me kid" she said smiling as the blonde dropped down from the ceiling "What do you think of my student?"

"Well she's pretty hot" the blonde boy said smiling.

"You idiot! You know that's not what I meant!" said Tsunade slapping the boy across the face.

"Your only say that cause your Jealous, old hag" these daring words were followed by a loud crash and bang.

"So you were saying Naruto?" she said, her evil smile chilling every bone in Naruto's body.

"Easily swayed, naïve, family issues, likes the dark brooding type, uses Neiva shampoo, trains after school everyday, likes the colour pink, uses pink hair dye, good observance skills… Oh and I think she can be a little arrogant" said Naruto, listing all the things he had found out about Sakura over the last couple of days.

"Naruto" said Tsunade quietly,te sound of her voice suggesting that violent thunderstorms were in the weather forecast.

"What old lady?" asked Naruto, oblivious to the on coming storm.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT HER BRAND OF SHAMPOO!!" she screamed "I knew it was a mistake letting that old pervert watch over you! Now you're being turned into some kind of perverted stalker!"

"Don't compare me to pervy sage! I'm nothing like him! Take it back!" he shouted.

"Then what exactly are you? If not a stalker, you've been following her around for the past few days, that's called stalking!" 'Damn it!' thought Naruto 'she's got me there'

"No it's called observing" said Naruto, proud of his comeback.

"You're sounding more and more like him every minute" she said, sighing. "I can't stand this anymore get out of my sight, I don't want to see you until Friday" she was tired of fighting with persistent kids and still had work to do; she didn't have time for this. When she next looked up Naruto was gone, she had to admit, he was good.

Meanwhile Sakura was sitting down doing her homework, thinking about the mystery person on her team. She had forgotten to ask Tsunade who had won out of the match between Garra (the Kazekage) and Jiraiya's apprentice. It must have been Garra, she decided as she put away the essay she had been working on. There's no way he could have beaten the current Kazekage, no way.

The next mourning Sakura managed to get to school early, without, as Hinata would call it, cheating. Once at school she went in search for Hinata, surprised to find her, once again with Naruto.

"Hey Hinata, Naruto" she said smiling brightly as she walked towards the two "what were you two just talking about?" she asked

"Hinata here was telling me about your crush on Sasuke" said Naruto sniggering "I'm not really surprised though all the shallow girls seem to like him"

"Are you suggesting that I'm shallow?" asked Sakura as she tried to keep her voice from rising.

"No he wasn't, right Naruto? I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it" said Hinata timidly in a desperate attempt to stop her friend from losing control in front of all the people around them.

"Yeah, I didn't mean anything by it" he said smiling as he took note of the girls clenched fists, he didn't want to cause a scene and if that girls punch was anything like Tsunade's he'd probably be knocked unconscious. It would be better to not risk it he decided. Just then the bell rang and they all headed to class.

Once in class, after greeting a few of the civilian girls, she sat down. Seeing Sasuke in front of her, she poked him, trying to grab his attention.

"What do you want Sakura" asked Sasuke irritated at being disturbed.

"You know we have that mission on Friday?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Well do you know who our third team mate will be?" she asked

"Some idiot called Naruto, what of it?" asked Sasuke. Naruto, he'd just said Naruto! 'It couldn't be' she thought to herself. Not that Naruto, it could be another Naruto, there was no way it could be him! Sasuke turned away from Sakura back to the front, having gotten bored of waiting for a reply. Sakura just continued wondering whether or not she and Sasuke were thinking of the same Naruto, it wasn't that uncommon a name, though Tsunade had said he had blonde hair… She ended up thinking about it the whole day, in the end she decided to follow Naruto home, to see if he did anything suspicious.

The silently followed him home and even waited outside of his apartment for an hour to see if he would do anything, nothing happened at all. Bored, Sakura went home, Sasuke had probably meant a different Naruto she decided. She got home and opened her door, seeing a slip of paper on the floor she picked it up, it said:

Hey Sakura!

Hope we can have fun on our mission on Friday!

Naruto

P.S It's rude to follow people home :P

'So he knew' she thought grimly, 'he must have left the house when I wasn't looking' she thought, irritated that she had been deceived so easily. She crumpled up the piece of paper, trying to the look on the bright side of things; at least she knew who was on the mission on Friday.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Instead of getting longer my chapters are getting shorter…

I wonder if I should change my summary, I'm not really sure if the one I have up at the moment is any good…

PLEASE REVIEW!!