Author's notes:

I am sorry ahead, minna-san, because this chapter of this story of mine turned out to be somewhat short, but I hope it will be somewhat counterweighed by the fact that I wrote it very quickly, in only five days, in fact. The next chapter of this story of mine will likely take me much more time to write, though…

Anyway, before starting this chapter of this story of mine, I again would like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter of this story of mine, namely: chm01, JovianShe-Wolf, Animal Comunicator and MistressBlossom. Domo arigato gozaimasu, thank you very much!

Yes, I know I really took my time updating this story of mine, chm01, sorry about this again. I hope that coming up with this chapter of this story of mine in such a shot time will somewhat make up for the delays with the previous chapters of it. Oh, and Naruto will be pretty much what I believe he would have been if he didn't have Kyuubi sealed in him (and in a reality without ninja techniques too, though without nearly infinite supply of chakra Kyuubi grants him, Naruto probably wouldn't have all that much success in executing such high-ranked techniques as Shadow Clone Technique or Rasengan anyway): a more or less average-level fighter, neither really weak, but nor on the same level as Konoha's Five or Sakura (who, with her great strength and quick mind has much more potential as a martial artist then Naruto, I believe; in fact, if you have read my "The Path of Her Own" story, you have probably noticed that I have Sakura leaning towards Taijutsu/Martial Arts in that story of mine as well). Even so, Naruto WILL have his moments (at least one), though for the most part, his fighting skills will pale next to those of Sakura and some other fighters.

And, JovianShe-Wolf, I am glad the previous chapter of mine evoked so many questions from you. I like to add little mysteries into my stories, and when they leave the reader wondering about what is going on and what is going to happen, I take it as they served their purpose. With that being said, a few (but by all means, not all!) of your questions will likely be answered in this chapter of this story of mine.

Chapter Four

Shizune Sou was just as Sakura remembered it: a small inn on the outskirts of Tokyo. Though quite a long way from all the major shops and such, Shizune Sou was a perfect place for Sakura to stay, not only because it was mere thirty minutes of walking away from Konoha High School, but also this particular inn's owner wasn't going to take rental fee from Sakura, and money was something she was short on. Shizune Sou stood empty most of the time, but it didn't seem to concern its owner Shizune much, as she worked as a surgeon as her main job, and was in fact quite renowned as such, making certain that her work was paid very well. Keeping an inn was more like a hobby then a source of profit to her.

"Alright, thanks for walking with me. Until tomorrow, Naruto," Sakura said, turning her gaze from the inn to her childhood friend, only to catch his surprised gaze.

"What are you talking about Sakura-chan? I am living in Shizune Sou too, didn't you know?"

"Oh!"

Now Sakura remembered it, and as two friends made their way towards the inn, she wondered if living together was such a good idea. Of course, there wasn't really anything going between them, and it wouldn't be the same thing as living in the same house, Shizune Sou was an inn, after all, but still, living together with Naruto, almost all by themselves…

"Ha-ha-ha, I won again! Want a revenge?"

Both Naruto and Sakura were surprised when they heard a loud voice coming from Shizune Sou's common room, which obviously didn't belong to Shizune.

"Oh no, I know this voice!" It was Naruto who was the first to recognize this particular voice.

"Hiccup, I'll wipe this grin off you face! I am not going to lose this one!"

"Oh no, I know this voice!" This time, it was Sakura who was the first to recognize the second voice.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances before they asked in unison.

"What the hell are they doing here?!"

And as Naruto and Sakura hurriedly opened Shizune Sou's doors and rushed into its common room to confirm their worst suspicions, a rather undignified picture opened before them: an obviously intoxicated older man and much younger-looking woman were sitting at the table, with deck of cards between them, and quite a few already empty bottles of sake scattered around the table. This alone wasn't so bad, but what made the picture worse, or better, depending upon the observer's point of view, was the fact that the woman barely had any clothes left: only a very light sleeveless vest and underwear. The game the two were playing was apparently a strip poker, and from the look of things the woman was losing hopelessly.

"T-Tsunade-sensei?!" Sakura was the one to raise the voice at the scene opened before her eyes, while Naruto was silently enjoying the view; he wasn't a pervert, not really, but being a normal teenage boy he still found it difficult to tear his eyes from what he was seeing, as despite her actual age, the woman called Tsunade looked young and very, very beautiful.

"Huh?" The woman called Tsunade turned away form her opponent to look at two visitors, "Ah, Sakura-chan! I see you are back from school already."

"Hai, Tsunade-sensei," upon catching Tsunade's glance, Sakura bowed politely, though it was mostly done in order to hide disapproval written all over her face, "Please, allow me to be of assistance here."

With that being said, Sakura left her school bag at the doorway and strode into the room, taking place beside Tsunade at the table. Sakura felt more then a little discomfort at sitting beside her teacher in the state of undress the later was currently in, but she decided that she could bear with it: for the greater good and the victory over the perverts of this world!

"Hey, not fair!" Naruto's school bag quickly joined Sakura's near the doorway, as the blond teenager also rushed into the room and took the seat beside the older man, "Don't worry, Jiraiya-jichan, I am on your side!"

No, he wasn't a pervert, not really, but male solidarity didn't allow Naruto just stand beside while his former sensei would have been hopeless outmatched two to one. And besides, Naruto was forced to admit that he rather liked what he was seeing. Now he was itching to see how much Sakura "grown" since he last spied on her over four years ago. Well, he will find it out soon enough…


An hour later…

"Ano, don't you think that it has gone far enough, Tsunade-sensei?" Sakura asked weakly, starring into her hand as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"No, no, no, we have only started!" Came Tsunade's much more cheerful reply, "You haven't seen anything yet, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blushed bright red at Tsunade's last sentence.

The reason behind Sakura's embarrassment was plain to see, for while Tsunade was back to her clothes, their opponents' appearance was far less decent: both Naruto and Jiraiya were already out of their shirts, undershirts, boots and socks. As of now, Naruto still kept his pants on. Jiraiya didn't.

Luckily for Sakura, Tsunade last sentence also turned out to be the last blow Jiraiya's pride was able to take, and with a shout "It is not fair! I can't take it anymore!" he hastily ran out of the room in nothing but his underpants.

With the game between the four of them clearly ended with Jiraiya's hasty departure, Naruto took this as an opportunity to begin collecting and putting on the pieces of clothes he lost during this game; he wasn't all that self-conscious about somebody, particularly Sakura-chan, seeing him in the state of undress he was currently in, but it all had its limits.

Making a point of not looking in Naruto's direction, Sakura meanwhile asked a question she wanted to ask ever since she first saw Tsunade and Jiraiya in Shizune Sou, "Ano, anyway, Tsunade-sensei, why are you and Jiraiya-san here? I thought you sent me here to live on my own."

"Well, I did, but then, when I accidentally mentioned to Jiraiya that you are moving to Tokyo, he decided to come here as well; to check on you, or so he said. And naturally, I had to follow him; with Shizune busy most of the time, I couldn't let you live with two perverts…"

"I am not a pervert!" Naruto called out as he was putting his shirt on, but Tsunade paid him no attention.

"…Could, I?" Tsunade finished.

"Who will have to watch over who is a question though," Sakura thought, "And I feel like I already know the answer."

Tsunade was anything but stupid, but her passion for any kind of gambling coupled with her impulsiveness and hot temperament made it relatively easy for somebody like Jiraiya to trick her into various questionable activities, like today's strip poker game.

It wasn't that Sakura minded Tsunade's company or the show of concern on her part, far from it. It was just that Tsunade's following Jiraiya was more likely to further complicate Sakura's life then not. And that to top it all, it was merely an addition to today's troubles in school and uncertainty in her relations with that Yamanaka Ino girl.

Sakura sighed.

"The only good thing about this situation," she thought resignedly, "Is that things just can't get any more complicated… Can they?.."


The next morning…

Although most people were still sleeping in their beds at the time as early as this, the trio who were sometimes called behind their backs as the likeminded of the Five were already in the middle of their morning fighting practice. Although at this precise moment, they were making one of their short breaks…

"I still can't believe this!" A brown-haired teenage girl said with a hint of anger in her voice as she was wiping dirt off one of her throwing knives, "Yamanaka Ino, one of Konoha's Five, picks a fight with some newly transferred girl, and looses to boot! It's a disgrace! Yamanaka Ino is unreliable and irresponsible, plain and simple!"

"Enough, Tenten," one of the brown-haired teenage girl's friends, who was in fact none other but Hyuuga Neji, said, "It is true that Yamanaka Ino can be a little irresponsible at the times, but all in all, she is an excellent fighter and she is definitely an asset to Konoha High School and the Five. And also, she is much smarter the she lets it show, and I am not sure if what she did yesterday was done on a whim. Remember, Yamanaka Ino is rather close to…"

"I know, I know," Tenten didn't wait for him to finish, "But still, we of the Five have a reputation to maintain, and things like that don't help it in the least." Tenten paused, then looked at her other friend who was uncharacteristically quiet today and asked, "Hey, what do you think, Lee? You are uncharacteristically quiet today."

For a few seconds, the mentioned person, another teenage boy with shiny black hair and dark eyes didn't reply; instead he was just looking ahead of him, almost as though he didn't hear Tenten's question. And when he finally spoke, it had nothing to do with the question Tenten asked.

"A girl who could defeat Yamanaka Ino?"

Both Neji and Tenten visibly cringed when they heard this, and for a good reason too: as Lee spoke, his eyes had a certain gleam about them, which indicated that their friend was likely going to prove that Ino isn't so irresponsible after all. In comparison, that is.

Author's notes:

Some of you have probably noticed, that although Sakura's fight with Ino technically ended in a tie (they both ended knocking each other out, just as they did during their fight during the Chunin Exam in the original Naruto animated series), about everyone talks about Sakura defeating Ino or Ino losing to Sakura. This is because Ino is a renowned fighter in Konoha High School and one of the Five, while Sakura is an unknown newcomer, and because of it, Sakura's ability to end her fight with Ino in a tie is viewed as a victory for Sakura and a defeat for Ino.