"…I'm pretty sure this is a strip club…"

And it did appear to be one. The bright flashing lights and the signs with scantily clad women on them seemed to suggest so. However Kakashi seemed to be appalled at Sakura's notion.

"Sakura! How could you even…! I would NEVER! I-I-I…" Kakashi spluttered, trying to grasp what his female student had suggested. "This is a perfectly fine establishment, which has a unique catering style! And besides…" Kakashi said as he made his way to the entrance of the…restaurant… "…the strip clubs don't open until 9."

Sakura's left eye twitched as she watched the retreating back of her perverted sensei. Naruto let out a gleeful giggle from behind her and pranced after Kakashi. The young pinkette shuddered… this was going to be a very long night.

She felt Sasuke move next to her. She turned her head slightly to gaze at his expression. Sasuke was scrutinizing the restaurant and let out an audible groan. He was just as reluctant as Sakura to go in.

"Let's get this over with." he grumbled. Sakura nodded once in response and the two uncomfortably followed their excited team mates.

"Hey, hey! Sakura-chan, teme! Over here!" Naruto called, waving like a madman from one of the booths closest to the bar. Kakashi was seated beside him, observing the waitresses who were wearing…well more like not wearing much clothing at all.

As Sasuke and Sakura made their way to the booth, many of the waitresses' eyes landed on the young Uchiha. Now this is a very common event, so it went unnoticed by the young man. What also went unnoticed were the eyes of the male patrons landing on Sakura.

"Move over, Naruto." the disgruntled medic shoved over her blonde team mate and snatched up one of the menus that was lying on the counters and hid her face behind it.

"This is a wonderful place isn't it!" Kakashi said giggling at one of the waitresses who had sent a flirtatious wink in his direction.

Naruto grinned at his surroundings and at the women who were busy serving other customers, "Yeah… it's pretty cool…"

"They sell ramen." Kakashi added without taking his eyes off the pretty ladies.

"Alright!" exclaimed Naruto fist pumping the air, he turned to his other male team mate, who had taken a seat next to Kakashi, "Enjoying yourself, teme?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows. The Uchiha just grunted in response and fixed his gaze at the clock on the wall.

The blonde leaned over and whispered in Sasuke's ear "Reckon you can find a Mrs Uchiha here?"

Sasuke stiffened and promptly reached across and slapped Naruto over the back of his head. The blonde let out a startled yelp and attracted the attention of one of the waitresses.

The woman scanned the booth that team seven were seated in. Her gaze turned sultry when she laid her eyes on the irritated Uchiha boy…just like every other women who's come across him…

She flicked her long brunette hair over her shoulder and sashayed her hips towards the booth.

"Well hi there handsome, what can I do for you today?" she placed her elbows on the table in front of Sasuke and propped her head up with her hands, giving him the perfect view of her already exposed cleavage.

Sasuke just grunted and turned to face away from her. He was a gentleman after all.

Kakashi and Naruto on the other hand were simply beside themselves with glee. Finally, an attractive woman interacting with them…sort of. Oh the perks of having Sasuke Uchiha on your team.

"I'd like a teriyaki bento please." Sakura's voice came from behind the menu where she was still hiding.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get right to you sweetheart." the brunette said, waving her hand dismissively at the medic. 'Right after I get the number of Mr Tall-dark-and-handsome here' she thought.

Yeah. Like that was going to happen.

Sasuke snatched one of the other menus off the table and mimicked Sakura, hiding his face so he wouldn't have to endure the persistent waitress's lusty gaze.

Really, the man possessed the immense power of the Sharingan, yet he couldn't hold the gaze of a (kind of slutty) waitress. Heir of the almighty Uchiha clan, right here people.

"Make it two teriyaki bento's and a water." he muttered, never removing the menu from his face.

The young brunette woman sighed, finally taking the hint. "Alright then, what about you two?"

Naruto placed his arm on the table and leaded towards the waitress "I'll have you babe. What say you and I cook up a storm…if you know what I mean" he said with a wink and letting his eyes roam over her figure.

The woman chuckled uneasily. She was used to this kind of behaviour, it came with the job. But that didn't stop it being annoying and not to mention creepy. Sometimes she wished she could reach across and slap the stupid idiots in their smug faces.

Today was the waitress's lucky day because today…Sakura was here to do the slapping for her.

THWACK!

"OW! Sakura-chan what was that for?" he yelped rubbing his head where she had hit him with her rolled up menu.

"Don't be a douche Naruto. Stop being rude to the poor girl." Sakura scolded, unrolling her menu.

"Aw shucks Sakura-chan, I just want to show this sexy lady a good time" he said turning his attention back to the waitress and wiggling his eyebrows seductively.

WHAM!

There was no rolled up menu this time. Just Sakura's chakra infused fist. Naruto yelled in shock.

"NARUTO!" Sakura barked "What did I just say! You will treat women with respect do you understand me!"

He nodded meekly and shielded his head from anymore of Sakura's attacks.

"Now apologise."

"Eh!"

"Now!" she hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously

"I'm sorry…" Naruto mutter shamefully.

Sakura turned to the stunned waitress. "I'm sorry about him. He's always acting like a child, but he needs more telling off than any child does."

The brunette chuckled lightly "It's alright. So it was two teriyaki bentos and a water, I'll have them too you shortly." she turned to head to the kitchen, but not without sending a quick grateful smile towards the pinkette.

"But-but..." stuttered Kakashi "…she didn't take my order."

"Me neither!" whined Naruto.

"Serves you right." Sakura huffed and turned to stare out the door. She should have stayed at the hospital for a couple of more hours.

"But Sakura-chan! All the other guys were hitting on the other girls!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean you have to!" Sakura snapped "That poor girl has probably had hundreds of assholes leering at her, she doesn't need another creep. I can tell you that half these girls have this job because they really need the money, not so they can be hit on by sleazebags."

"But-but- heaps of girls hit on Teme-"

"And you know how much that annoys him, Naruto." she said in a gentler voice "I'll tell you this, pickup lines never work on women unless they are either very stupid or very drunk. And girls talk to each other. Don't get the reputation of a douche bag by pissing off just one girl. Word spreads fast."

Naruto sighed, "Your right…but…why don't you ever go off at Sasuke's fan girls like that?"

The medic laughed, "What? You want me to beat the crap out off all Sasuke's fan girls?"

…that didn't sound like such a bad idea to the Uchiha boy.

The brunette waitress suddenly returned with their order in her arms. She placed a glass of water and one teriyaki bento in front of Sasuke and placed the other in front of Sakura, along with a strawberry milkshake.

"Oh, um.. I didn't order this." Sakura said pointing to the delectable looking drink.

"It's on the house sweetheart." the waitress replied with a smile.

Sakura blinked in surprise, and then flashed the waitress a grin before slurping some of the strawberry milky goodness.

"And I'm really sorry... for before" Naruto piped in sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with an apologetic smile on his face.

The brunette smiled "Apology accepted. Besides, I've had worse." she turned back to the young medic "Wow, that's quite a turn around you managed with him. You must really have a way with children." the two women shared a laugh, while the words of the waitress rattled around in Naruto's head.

You must really have a way with children…

Quite a turn around you managed with him…

Way with children…

handling infants…

way with children…

candidates…

Each candidate must…Have great skills at handling infants and children… (and Naruto)!

Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat as it finally hit him. He rummaged out the folded piece of paper from his back pocket and poked Kakashi in excitement as he pointed elatedly at the eighth requirement on the list.

Kakashi's visible eye widened in surprise before it crinkled in amusement as a smile spread under his mask. Their little Sakura had done it again. Two requirements in one day, if she kept going at this pace, Kakashi's dream of green-eyed, black-haired godchildren would surely come true.

What surprised Kakashi though was that Naruto had picked up on trait. Maybe all the punches to the head he got from Sakura were actually doing the boy some good…

Sasuke turned, eyebrow raised, to see what Kakashi and Naruto were giggling about this time. He stiffened when he realised what they were pointing at. 'The Hit List'

Sasuke shuddered. He couldn't believe he just called it that. He leaned over and hissed at them, "You can't be serious. Put that away idiot!"

"Quit your bitching teme, look Sakura-chan's got another one of the qualifications." he giggled at the end. He pointed to the piece of paper.

8. Have great skills at handling infants and children (and Naruto)

Well, he supposed it was true. Sakura was always good with children, and she worked with plenty of sick infants at the hospital. And Sasuke had to admit, no one could handle Naruto better than Sakura. Sasuke probably would have ended up ripping the blonde's irritating head off if the pink haired medic wasn't around to smack Naruto on the head.

But that wasn't the point. "Moron, put that away before Sakura sees!" he hissed. Their female team mate would kill them all if she found out what they were doing.

Naruto seemed to realise that too as he hastily stuffed the list back into his pocket before Sakura noticed. Luckily she was too absorbed in the conversation she was having with the waitress to notice the exchange of words between her three companions. Once the waitress left Sakura turned her attention back to her delightful strawberry drink. God if she could, she would marry the milkshake.

A loud rumbling bought her attention back to her team mates. Naruto chuckled guiltily and rubbed his stomach. "She still didn't take my order…" he muttered.

Sakura sighed, feeling sorry for the boy she pushed her bento towards him, "Here you can have half of mine…"

Naruto's face brightened "Thanks Sakura-chan! You're so awesome!" he said before he began munching on the food.

Kakashi laughed awkwardly and turned to his dark-haired student. The waitress hadn't taken his order either…

"H-hey Sasuke…"

Sasuke just grunted in response and pushed his bento towards his grateful sensei.

Team seven enjoyed their meal with Naruto chirping bits of uninteresting titbits into the conversation and Sakura grumbling for him to shut up and eat.


By the time team seven finished eating it had gotten dark outside. They were about to head home when a deep voice stopped them.

Three guys were leaning against the wall outside the restaurant when one of them called out to Sakura, "Hey there sexy, how's it going." His companions snickered in delight.

Sakura rolled her eyes and ignored them and began walking home.

Her overprotective teammates weren't as civilised as she was. Kakashi had to place his hand on Naruto's shoulder to prevent the blonde from ripping the intoxicated men's faces off. Sasuke's sharingan had activated automatically.

What…? He felt that it was a…necessary precaution.

The three drunk men were either incredibly stupid or pissed of their faces because they didn't seem to notice the murderous intent of the three ninjas.

"Hey babe, why don't you ditch these losers and come have some fun with me and my buddies?" the guy said, strutting over to Sakura.

Oh Naruto was so ready to pounce.

Sakura groaned… this guy was getting on her last nerve.

She felt his alcoholic breath on the back of her neck.

Alright, that was it.

She spun around and gave him a swift knee to the groin.

The man doubled over in pain and clutched his family jewels. His buddies retreated, shocked and the young woman's strength.

Sakura straightened and turned to face her stunned teammates. "And that boys, is why you never hit on a woman like a douche bag. I'll see you tomorrow at training." And with that she turned and began her way home.

"Wow…" muttered a dazed Naruto, "Sakura-chan's really strong isn't she?"

Sasuke and Kakashi nodded.

"She can really handle herself in tricky situations…" he continued

Two more nods from his team mates

"But we're still going to follow her to make sure she gets home safe, right?"

The three men glanced at each other and nodded simultaneously and headed off into the night after their precious pink-haired princess.

…over protective dimwits…


Hello there readers. This is Cap'n Jackelback. I would just like to take a moment to thank all those who have been reading and reviewing. Every single review is appreciated. I love you all!

I would also like to ask you for a quick favor.

It would be much appreciated if you read my other story Locked In and reviewed that as well. The first three chapters are by my friend Ryoko101; I took over the story after she left FanFiction. It would mean a lot to me if you guys could review and point me in the right direction and give me your opinion. It would be much appreciated. Thank You.

Much Love, Cap'n Jackelback


Naruto© is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. No infringement of copyright is intended