Tunnel of Destined Love
CHAPTER 6: FLAWS
Later that day, after everyone had left the food court, Naruto walked home that night with his head held low thinking on what Anko had said.
NARUTO'S FLASHBACK:
Anko: I bet Naruto and Sakura are going together...
(Everyone goes quiet. Naruto and Sakura look down sadly)
Sakura looks up with a sweet smile at Anko
Sakura: Actually, Im going with Sai.
Naruto's eyes flinch slightly from Sakura's words
End Flashback
Naruto remained as quiet as he was then, his head slightly aching from his thoughts of his past with Sakura. "...I use to like her...i use to...love her" he said to himself in a low depressing whisper. "Do I still love her?...Do I love Hinata?" Naruto's headache began to take full strength as his mind stormed thinking about the two until a voice called out from behind him.
"Naruto..." Called a girl's voice sounding low with a hint of depression in it.
Naruto's eyes shot open as he turned fully around and saw none other than Sakura walking up behind him with her hands to her sides and a semi smile on her face.
"Hey Naruto..."
"Sa..Sakura-Chan.. What are you doing here?" he asked Sakura. "Your house is the other way, isnt it?"
Sakura responed, "Yeah...I just wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have time?"
Naruto looked on at Sakura with a confused surprised face then changed to warm smile, "Sure" he answered the pink haired kunoichi.
Sakura returned his smile with a sweet smile of her own and made her way to the side of him and they both began to walk slowly along each other.
"So, Sakura-Chan, Whats the matter?"
"...Nothing. We havent had time to talk much since the mission with Kakashi and Sai. Just the two of us" Sakura said with a smile.
Naruto gave a smile, "Yeah.." Naruto said nodding his head. "So, excited about tommorow?"
Sakura's smile never faded "Yes, I can't wait. Its going to be great. Its even better now since Tsunade moved the park's opening time from 10pm to 11:30am. It was originally going to be an all-night kinda deal but she thought it would be better this way."
Naruto smiled to her once more, "So...are you going on Ero-senin's ride? Thats the big attraction that everyone is dying to go on"
"Well...Im not sure. I don't really know about the whole destiny thing. And besides, what if you wound up with a person that you do not expect. Or what if you end up with another guy. Arent you curious about that even alittle?" asked Sakura
Naruto placed his hand on his chin and looked up in thinking on what she said.
NARUTO'S THOUGHTS:
Naruto sits in the boat in the dark waiting for it to coast on into the moonlight
Naruto grins and waits as the boat gets even closer to the light.
Naruto gulps in nervousness waiting to see who is sitting next to him
The moonlight shines on the person sitting next to him revealing...Gaara sitting with his usual posture
Naruto: OO screams in fear
Thoughts end
Naruto snaps back to reality shaking his head in disgust. "I see your point." Naruto said looking to the ground. "But..." Sakura looked to the side of her at Naruto who suddenly lifted his head up smiling, "Itll be fun to know who I am destined for...even if it is someone I am not expecting." He said grinning looking up at the stary sky.
Sakura looked at him closely as he looked up. In that short a time, she began to remember all the times they spent together. The time when she helped the girls beat him down for being the first to kiss Sasuke; the time when she threw the kunai to catch him from his fall; the time when she cheered for him against his fight against Kiba; the time when he cheered for her against Ino; the time when he saved her from Gaara; the time when she cried for him when they infiltrated Orochimaru's stronghold; and finally the time when she found out about the Kyuubi inside of him and how worried she became for him.
Her stare at him never left as she finally remembered the moment when her and Yamato were talking about her feelings toward Naruto. She didnt hear him finish his sentence but she knew he was going to say that she loves Naruto that day. She smiled at Naruto then looked down. Naruto's glare at the stars ended as he looked forward seeing his house finally. Naruto and Sakura didnt say anything after that moment until they reached Naruto's house.
"Wow Sakura-chan, it feels like we just came back from a date or something" Naruto said laughing with his hands behind his head as they finally reach the front of his house
Sakura gave another sweet smile and looked on at Naruto after stopping and turning to face him. "Yeah, it...does kinda."
Naruto grinned big, "Well I guess I'll see you tommorow at the festival" he said to her as he turned and placed his hand on the door knob.
"Yeah...goodnight...Naruto." she said with a smile.
Naruto opened the door and took one step in then turned to face Sakura.
"Wait...I should walk you home. Its not safe to be by yourself at night." Naruto said with his usual face and tone.
"No, I'll be fine. Really dont worry about me. The moonlight is enough light for me to get home." she said with a reassuring smile.
Naruto's expression changed to a smile. "Okay... I guess I'll see you tommorow then." said Naruto
"Yeah... See ya... Naruto" she said slowly. She quickly gave him a sweet smile and turned around and began her journey home.
Naruto looked on at her walking for a moment and smiled then closed the door. After he locked the door, he flipped up the light switch and turned around...
"NARUTO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"
Naruto jumped up and his eyes shot open with suprise. "ERO-SENIN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!"
Jiraiya's expression was a goofy mad face. "ITS 12:50AM! YOU HAVE A CURFEW! REMEMBER!"
"SINCE WHEN! AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, GIVING ME A CURFEW? ERO-SENIN, YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY!" Shouted Naruto in a goofy rage facing the goofy raged Jiraiya.
"NARUTO DONT BE SO RECKLESS! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT THE AKATSUKI ARE AFTER YOU STILL? THEY COULD HAVE EASILY CAPTURED YOU WHILE YOU WERE WALKING HERE ALONE!"
Naruto snickered and threw his hands behind his head once more, "heh, i wasnt alone, i was with Sakura-chan"
Jiraiya crossed his arms and looked at Naruto with a calm face, "Sakura is strong, but it would have been useless if Itachi or the others had shown up. Most likely, they would have killed her and taken you hostage." Jiraiya explained.
Naruto gave a quick look to Jiraiya and walked passed him and sat down in a rocking chair and began rocking back and forth. Jiraiya gave out a sigh and walked over to Naruto and sat on his couch. "So, all that aside, I hear from Tsunade that you are going to the festival tommorow. Who are you taking? And are you going on my famous tunnel ride?"
Naruto gave a smirk to the sanin, "Yes I am going on the ride and I going with Hinata."
Jiraiya gave a smile, "So, she finally got up the courage to ask you, huh? Thats great. Shes seems like a nice girl."
Naruto smiled, "Yeah she is. I like her."
"Good for you, Naruto. Oh, I guess i should tell you about the flaw in the tunnel of destiny."
Naruto became confused from the statement, "Flaw?"
"Yes, the issue of the person who you are destined for, if they don't get on the ride...thats the flaw. Surprisingly, I havent considered this problem back when i made the ride."
"So wait... whats the flaw?" naruto asked
Jiraiya answered, "Well, after some research and some past experience with it, ive found out that if a person where to ride the tunnel ride..and their destined lover wasnt on the ride at all, that person would..."
Naruto sat up in suspense, "that person would...what?"
".Whoever ended up sitting next to you...their destiny would be forcefully connected to yours in a way that has nothing to do with love."
Naruto's eyes shot open once more. "Stupid Ero-Sennin! How could you have not thought of this before?" Naruto continued on yelling at Jiraiya in a goofy rage.
"Calm down Naruto, It has been taking care of already. Remember that package that your team delivered during your last mission? Well that was a secret forbidden scroll. Its called the Destiny Limiter. It contains a jutsu that I made a couple of weeks ago that wont allow a person to get on the ride if their destined lover isnt getting on it at all. Tsunade kept this confidential because any jutsu that has the power to alter destiny in any way, shape or form is strictly forbidden.I had you Tsunade give it to your team specifically to deliver to a good friend of mine named Hiroshi. He specializes in these types of things so i needed him to check on a few things and work out the small problems with it before i use it tommorow"
Naruto snapped his fingers, "I see. Thats why we ran into so many ninjas trying to get the package...they wanted the Destiny Limiter scroll."
"Yes, how they found out about it is beyond me...hold on...what village where the ninjas from?"
"The sound village...why?"
Jiraiya's eyes shot open as naruto's did before "Orochimaru.. he knows about it. He must of sent a spy here and spied on me and Tsunade when we were discussing it. Its quite possible that he sent his best ninja to spy... and only one ninja under Orochimaru is that good to spy on us and not be detected...
Naruto shot up in shock "...Sasuke" he said slowly.
Jiraiya thought for a moment and leaned back onto Naruto's couch kicking his feet up, "Yeah i was thinking Sasuke as well. Its quite possible he may show up during the opening time of the ride when I go to use the scroll. It may be possible that Orochimaru plans on invading Konoha that night as well. Im going to need you to be on guard just incase anything happens"
"Okay. I will. You can count on me Ero-sennin!" Naruto said as he pointed a fist at Jiraiya and smirked at him.
Jiraiya returned the smirk and layed down completely on the couch. "Well Im just going to sleep here for the night, this couch of yours is just so comfy. Good night Naruto" he said quickly then went silent.
"Hey! Who said you could sleep on my..huh?" Naruto's yelling was seized as he saw Jiraiya already sleeping and snoring loudly. He gave a small smile to his sensei and put a blanket over him and tucked him in quietly. "good night, Ero-sennin" said naruto silently then went to bed.
The next morning, Naruto awakened upstairs in his room wearing his usually doggy hat and pajamas. He jumped out of bed and glanced over at his clock. "Its 10:33am." he said to himself. "The park opens at 11:30am and the tunnel opens later at 10:00 tonight. I gotta hurry up and get dressed" Naruto said to himself as he jumped in his closet and got dressed, wearing his new black shirt with the changing color swirl on the front. Suddenly, his door bell rang once. "hmm...wonder who that is..." he said to himself putting on his pants "Well theyre going to have to wait, im putting my clothes on." he said not botherin to run downstairs to get the door. Suddenly, the door bell stopped and Naruto suddenly began to smell something...someone was cooking...
sniff "smells like...bacon...eggs. and toast Naruto said to himself as he marveled at the smell of food. "But wait..who?" he asked then quickly ran downstairs now fully dressed and saw to his amazement what was going on. Jiraiya, wearing an apron that says 'Kiss the Chef please' and a chef hat, holding a spatula, was cooking breakfast.
"What the? Your still here?" he asked Jiraiya
"Yeah, I thought Id cook you some breakfast..." Jiraiya said as he flipped the eggs and checked the oven for the toast.
"Oh...who was that at the door?" Naruto asked then suddenly came another voice behind him.
"Hello...N-Naruto-kun"
Naruto turned around and again to his amazement saw a beautifully dressed Hinata wearing a white shirt with pink and purple designs on it. Her hair long, straight and purple. Naruto looked on at her with practically his jaw dropped. "You look great, Hinata" said Naruto walking over and giving her a hug. Hinata blushed as she always did but maintained consciousness this time. Hinata gave him a nodd and a warm cute smile for thanks.
"Come on you two, time to eat!" called Jiraiya as he put food on the table for them and himself. All three of them sat down and began eating, talking, and enjoying each other's company.
After breakfast, Naruto rose from the table and grinned. "Thanks Ero-senin," he said to him grabbing Hinata's hand and began running toward the door. "We gotta go, See Ya!" he yelled out to him. Hinata, now blushing, gave a quick wave at Jiraiya.
"Dont forget about what we talked about Naruto. Stay sharp and be aware just in case..." Jiraiya said quickly to the rushing Naruto. Naruto gave a nod and left dragging a blushing Hinata to the Konoha park.
At the Konoha Park front gates, Naruto and Hinata both stood in a long line waiting to get into the park. "This is going to be fun" said Naruto.
Hinata nodded, "Y-yeah...Oh look, theres Kiba and Ino" she said pointing. "and theres Shikamaru and Temari. Anko and Gaara are over there as well." she said pointing to them.
"Cool. Lets go talk to them. Plus I want to see who wins that bet with Gaara and Anko" Naruto said laughing. And with that, Naruto and Hinata met up with the others and talked.
Unknowingly to everyone, lurking in the shadow of the leaves of a nearby tree, was Sasuke Uchiha wearing his sound shinobi attire. "Soon..." Suddenly, Orochimaru instantly appeared beside Sasuke with a smirk on his face, "Yes, Sasuke. Soon, that scroll well be ours.." he said as he then started to chuckle maniacally, feeling the air with a foreshadow of something bad to come.
And thats Chapter 6. I felt i had to fill in some loose gaps by having Jiraiya explain things to Naruto. Well I hope you guys liked it. I figured Id throw a twist into it with the appearance of Sasuke and the plan of Orochimaru. Please Review. Thanks alot.