A New Hope
Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, cause if I did this would be the new version.
So I know this chapter is long over due, but heads up, if the fight scenes aren't to your satisfactory, well it's cause I didn't want to make anyone too OP or have them give away their moves. You might see more skill and jutsu in the next chapter.( Which will not take nearly as long as this one did.)
Minato, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were all huddled together near the entrance for the Forest of Death a.k.a the second stage of the chunin exams. Anko had just explained how they would be spending several days in the forest, while trying to get the opposite scroll they have in their possession. Once they had both scrolls, they would make their way to the tower for their next set of instructions.
" Thanks again Nii-san, for saving me from that freaky lady's kunai." thanked Naruto.
" No problem Naruto. I highly doubt she would have killed you, however you need to be more alert. Just because she would not kill you, does not mean that others wont, that goes for all of you. In there, there are no cameras, no monitors, and no referees to make sure no one plays dirty, if you aren't ready to act at a moments notice it could be fatal. Since there are four of us we need to be in pairs if we separate, no one goes off alone. I'll keep the scroll sealed inside my containment scroll, the seal wont be marked, so even if an enemy got their hands on it, they would not be sure which seal contained the scroll." everyone nodded at Minato's words.
Sakura was glad she brought her usual pack as well, it contained some water bottles, rice balls, and granola bars for later, it wasn't a lot, but it would prevent them from having to settle near water and keep them out of sight for a day or two. With that, her medical kit, and some extra weapons placed in by Minato, they should be able to survive a few days, before reaching the tower.
After a couple more quick words, the bell went off signalling for the guards to open the gate doors. All teams rushed into the forest at scattered off.
" Neji, should we set up traps and wait or go and look for our opponents?" questioned Tenten.
" We should go in a little deeper and I'll do a scan with my byakugan, if the area looks good then we'll trap it, if not keep moving. We don't want to get caught ourselves." he replied, to which Tenten and Lee nodded.
" Do not worry guys, our youth will see us through!" shouted Lee.
" Not if you keep yelling, so quiet!" hissed Tenten as they began to speed through the forest.
" What's the plan, Shikamaru? asked Choji, between bites of potato chips, however Ino answered instead.
" Were gonna lie in wait and attack the team that comes by, easy peasy."
Shikamaru sighed." There are too many flaws with that plan. For one, if no one comes by then we miss out on a chance to advance to the next stage, for two if we do fight with a team and win, there is a possibility that the scroll they have is not the one we need, and for three if our attack fails, which they most likely will, we'll be dead before we could run away."
" Well, if your so smart, you think of something! I can't not make it to the next stage, what would Sasuke-kun think of me, if Sakura passed, but I didn't?!"
" This is such a drag." groaned Shikamaru in response.
" Alright guys, let's go kick some foreign ninja butt, then head for the tower!" announced Kiba.
" B- but Kiba-kun, w- we don't know where the other c- competitors are." stuttered Hinata.
" Not to mention, who has what scroll." added Shino as he adjusted his glasses.
Up in the trees, three older leaf genin were watching them.
" Che, kids hiding in plain sight." mocked one.
" Yeah, let's get ready to -?!" the second shinobi was cut off, when he felt something on his neck, sucking out his chakra. When his teammates turned to him, all of a sudden many slugs started raining down on them.
" AHHH~!"
Their screams were heard on the outside of the forest, by the gate guards.
" It's started already." commented Anko.
" Listen up Reika, you send a few butterflies out to scope the area, while I connect to the trees to try and sense any near by groups." commanded Kazune.
Reika nodded and created three butterflies, sending them off in different directions.
" I hear a stream not too far ahead of us. We can set up there and go looking for teams afterwards." announced Shiro.
" Sounds good, let's move." agreed Kazune.
" Don't forget to watch out for wild animals as well." reminded Reika.
" Got it."
" Ah." responded Shiro.
" I gotta pee."
" Thank you, for announcing that Naruto." replied Sakura in a flat tone.
" I'll take him." offered Minato as he ushered Naruto out of the clearing.
" Let's take to the trees and see if we spot another group or a place to set up camp." spoke Sakura.
If it was six months ago, Sasuke would have ignored her, however now that he got to know his team better, he realizes that it's easier to agree with Sakura as well as safer." Hn." he answered as he jumped up into the nearest tree. Sakura did the same and after scanning for several minutes Minato and Naruto rushed back into the clearing, carrying an unconscious shinobi.
" What happened?" asked Sasuke, as he and Sakura jumped down.
" This person was about to ambush Naruto, however he did not see me, so I was able to take him out, but he doesn't have a scroll." answered Minato, while Naruto grumbled about not even being able to take a piss in peace.
Minato placed his finger on the ground searching for any nearby chakras and froze when he found one. This chakra was similar to Kabuto's except more malicious. Someone was watching them and Minato was almost certain this person was after more than just a scroll, if his killing intent was anything to go by.
Sakura watched Minato freeze ever so slightly and knew something was wrong. When he locked eyes with each of them, she knew he was telling them to be on their guard.
" Let's move." was all he said as they took to the trees. After a while they stopped, when they reached a clearing and jumped down, however just as they landed a smoke bomb went off. Minato created a strong gust of wind, to clear the area. Minato saw that Sakura and Sasuke were still near him and could sense that their chakra was the same, but when he turned towards Naruto, he quickly threw a kunai.
" Who are you and where's Naruto?" he demanded, pulling out another kunai.
" Fu fu fu, you are a clever little one." said a dark predatory like voice. What was once Naruto, was soon transformed to be a grass shinobi.
Sasuke was now on high alert and Sakura spoke to Minato without taking her eyes off the enemy.
" I'll go look for Naruto and try to get back as soon as possible." she dashed off as the grass nin moved to stop her, Sasuke launch a few shuriken at his feet and appeared between them, so Sakura could keep moving.
" Well, it looks like were gonna battle for each others scroll." he removed an Earth scroll from his robes." With our lives on the line!" he shouted as he rushed Sasuke.
Sakura had run a few meters away and saw the end of a snake's tail. She knew that couldn't be good and followed it, till she saw it was attached to a huge snake, that was about to eat Naruto. " Naruto!" She screamed as she launched several kunai up the snake's back, causing it to hiss in displeasure and face her.
" Sakura-chan, look out!" he called and ten Narutos appeared and jumped on the snake. The real Naruto stood next to Sakura, both had kunai in their hands." Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?"
" There's some creepy person, who tried to masquerade as you, but Minato called him out. However, he has a large amount of chakra and looks to be like extremely bad news, so I came to find you, so we could get back and help the others."
" Alright, let's take care of this thing and then hurry back."
Sakura nodded.
Minato, quickly leap from a high tree and sent a wind cutting jutsu towards Orochimaru. It grazed his right arm and leg, causing him to stop his attack on Sasuke.
' How could I have not seen it before!' thought Minato berating himself from not being able to tell. When Sasuke sent a fire jutsu at Orochimaru, burning off half his face, Minato knew this fight was going to be trouble and wondered how he was able to sneak pass all ANBU, special jounin, and jounin in the area. ' I gotta tell Old man to tighten security and get a new training regime, if S-class criminals are able to walk right into the village and attack children.'
" Hmmm, it looks like your not just a nuisance after all." drawled Orochimaru as he leaped away from Sasuke, who was now next to Minato on the other side of the clearing." It appears that the Uzumaki clan clan are better, than the Uchiha." he baited Sasuke, who clenched his teeth and fist." But, " he turned to Minato." considering who your father was I'm not surprised."
Minato tensed. 'He was somehow able to get into then records! But, he could not have possible been here long enough to check them.' Minato then thought of a different person, whose chakra felt unusual.' Kabuto! He's an info collector and has a Leaf headband, he must have been here for some time and was keeping up on all the important ninja records for Orochimaru.' Now, Minato knows who he's working for and is just glad the Sandiame recorded him as a brother to Naruto and not the truth.
Orochimaru, summoned a large brown snake, that launched at Minato and Sasuke.
" WIND STYLE; WIND SLICER JUTSU!" the snake was decapitated, half way towards it's targets. The three on the ground looked up to see Naruto standing on a large tree branch.
Orochimaru hissed in annoyance." Great, another one." He needed to get his prize soon.
Just then, several senbon shot at him. He dodged most, but did get a few cuts on his arms and legs. He was now on the left side of the clearing, with Minato and Sasuke to his left and Sakura and Naruto to his right.
' This is taking too long, if I don't get what I came for now, I'll never be able to. By now those weak jounin might have picked up my chakra, I need to finish this up.'
Orochimaru did a few quick hand signs and opened his mouth, out of it a dark purple haze began to flow and cover the area.
Sakura, upon reading many medical books recognized the smoke." Guys, don't breathe this in! it's a paralyzing miasma and will render you unconscious!" however, it was too late for Naruto and he was already falling towards the ground. Sakura quickly caught him and began dragging him into a thick bush, near a few trees and away from the smoke.
Minato did not like this, he could not see anything or anyone. He decided to jump into the trees, but even when out of the smoke, he still breathed in some of it, causing his vision to blur slightly and his body to sway before catching himself. He started flying through had seals for a strong wind jutsu, when a scream rang through.
" AHHHHHHH!"
Sasuke.
Minato completed the seals and got rid of the miasma. he saw Sasuke on the ground clutching his shoulder and Orochimaru a few meters away from him, chuckling.
" With that mark, he'll seek me out for power. It won't be long, until the surviving Uchiha is mine." he smiled wickedly as he disappeared.
' Dammit!' thought Minato.
They were now far away from the battle site, in a smaller area with plenty of trees. Sakura, had put a wet cloth on Sasuke's head and applied some ointment, using a cotton swab, on his mark. But, what Minato didn't tell her was that, while she was busy digging through her bag, he preformed a few hand signs and placed a lock seal on the mark. It was not super strong, but it would lessen the pain and chance of it activating, if Minato wants to create a proper seal he would need to study the mark and know what Orochimaru did to Sasuke. As for Naruto, he was just asleep, thanks to the poison, but she was currently crushing some vitamins and a few herbs, that she had in her kit, and was putting it into their water bottles. That way, when they woke up, they won't feel so weak and sore. She looked up at Minato, with worried eyes. Ever since they left the area he seems to have been beating himself up.
' Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I should have told them to run, I should have used my Thunder God technique, I should have been more careful! What's the point in being here, if I can't prevent things like Sasuke getting the curse seal? Maybe, I was better off dying, at least then I could have died with Kushina.' Minato, then pictured what Kushina would say to him if she were here.
' How can you just give up like that?! You know that even if you told the kids to run, Orochimaru would have just chased him, since he was obviously after Sasuke. And if you had used your technique he would have figured out who you were and then where would we be?! Bad things happen Minato, the only thing you can do is work with what you got and learn from you mistakes, dattebane!'
' I know your right Kushina, but what if I make things worse?' " What if I am causing more harm than good?" he unconsciously said out loud.
" Your not Minato and you shouldn't beat yourself up for things you can't control." answered Sakura.
Minato looked up, a little startled.
" I know you've been blaming yourself, however you didn't know that one of the contestants was a powerful ninja. You never lead him to us and allowed him to attack us, you did your best to fight with Sasuke and allowed me to get to Naruto, he would have been swallowed by a snake, if I hadn't made it in time."
" But -" she cut him off.
" I know how you feel Minato. Most of the time during the academy, I felt weak and useless compared to everyone else who were from a clan and had people that could help train them. But then, you came along." she smiled at him." You didn't even really know me and yet not only did you help me, but you became my friend when I have no one." she blushed and looked down." I know it may not seem important to you, but it meant a lot to me. You were training me and Naruto and we grew to be great friends and I know that means the world to him. He was always lonely," here her eyes became sad as she looked at him." even when we trained together sometimes, I could tell he felt alone. The villagers weren't welcoming to him and I never understood that, There was nothing I could do to help him and it hurt."
" However, when you two started spending time together, he seemed to be radiating happiness, true happiness. He didn't feel alone, abandoned, or an outcast, he felt accepted and loved. You may not have been able to prevent Sasuke from getting that mark, but you can still save him. As long as we don't give up Sasuke's not going to leave us and become evil, believe it!" she added with a grin.
Minato didn't say anything. He grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her toward him, hugging her.
" Thank you." he whispered. Even though Minato was not happy about what happened, he knew that Sakura and Kushina were right. He couldn't give up after one failure, especially after he's integrated in and changed things already. As he held Sakura, Minato contemplated what this feeling was. It was different than the friendship and companionship he had with Hiruzen and Kakashi, but similar to the guardianship he had for Naruto and Sasuke. 'Maybe this is what it felt like to have a daughter?' he thought. That certainly seemed plausible, considering he was always happy around her, he doesn't like it when other men are around her, and he enjoys and feels content whenever he's in contact with her.' Yeah, that's gotta be it, she's like my daughter whom I want to protect.' thought Minato, sure that if he looked at it that way everything would be fine.
Sakura was also trying to figure out her feelings, when it came to the enigma that was Minato. Lately, whenever she's near him, she becomes hyper aware of him. Not only that, but she not blind, Minato is an amazing person, who is kind, compassionate, intelligent, and is definitely a looker.
' So will you finally admit finally admit to yourself that you are in love with Minato?'asked her Inner.
' I am not in love with Minato, if anything it's a small crush that will pass if I ignore it!' she replied defensively.
' I don't think so, Saku-chan. Your falling for him and it will most likely not stop. It will be easier for you to admit and make plans to get him to see you the same way.'
' No it won't and I am not falling for him.'
' Then why are you being so defensive?'
' Because, when you say I like him, you remind me of his dozens of fan girls. I refuse to be like them and like Minato in such a shallow way.'
' Sakura your not like them and it's okay to like -'
' No Inner, it's not. if I like him, then I'll ruin our friendship, by making him uncomfortable or pressuring him to be with me. Besides, if I ignore the crush it will eventually fade.' she declared ending the conversation.
Minato and sakura pulled back and smiled at one another as normally as possible.
" You lie down for now, Minato, after all you used several jutsus and fought plenty for our first day. I'll take watch for a few hours, so you can rest."
" Alright." accepted Minato, he was still slightly affected by the miasma earlier. He figured, because Sakura was farther away, she didn't get effected." But, wake me up if you hear anything."
She nodded. Minato propped himself against the tree truck and closed his eyes.
' Now to set up a few traps.' thought Sakura as she pulled out some wire.
" Kazune, were being approached by a team of three." Shiro's voice rang out in the medium size clearing.
" They are not too strong, we can take them." added Reika as she opened her eyes.
" Okay guys, but be careful. We don't know what we are going to face before we even reach the tower, let alone what happens after. We can't afford to be too heavily injured." he reasoned as he pulled out a kunai.
" Well lookie here, a couple of genin thinking they can take us on, K." announced a brown haired grass nin.
" I know J, it looks like we'll need to teach these runts a lesson." sneered K.
L took out an umbrella and quickly launched it in the air.
Team Waterfall scattered.
It was now Morning. Minato had woken up around late evening and after Sakura gave him some food and water and warned him about her traps, she fell asleep against the tree, while Minato scouted the area. He had placed his hand on the ground checking for chakra signatures and found a team moving in closer to where their camp was set up. He had went back to the site and stayed alert, he could not risk leaving the three genin alone and trying to fight in the dark, because one might get past him and attack them. So he's been waiting, it was now 7:00 AM, and the three enemy ninja have been there since 2:00AM just watching.
' Most likely waiting for me to let my guard down.' thought Minato as he looked down at Sakura. Sometime after he came back from his scouting, her head had fallen against his shoulders and she cuddled up against him. Minato didn't mind, cause she was most likely seeking warmth. So, he rested his head against her's, while waiting for the enemy to move.' She smells so sweet, but in the ninja world scents can be dangerous. I'll have to warn her about it next time.' he thought as he inhaled her scent for what must have been the 50th time.
" Squeak squeak!"
Minato turned his head to see a squirrel running in his direction, he threw a kunai before it could trip he trap a meter in front of it, causing it to shriek and scamper off. The noise from the squirrel, caused Sakura to stir.
" Mmmm. Minato, what time is it?" she asked as she stretched and yawned.
" Early." he said quietly, then he sat in front of her." Sakura, there's a team of three on the other side of the clearing. They've been here for a while and now I think they are going to make their move."
Sakura nodded and slowly pulled out a kunai. It was time to start the plan.
" So, you guys know were here." came a cocky male voice.
" Not that it makes much of a difference." add a snarky female voice.
Minato and Sakura, turned around to see a boy with gravity defying hair, a tall girl with long black hair, and a boy covered in bandages.
" Were not here for your scroll," he announced in a deep voice." were here for Sasuke. Hand him over."
" What are you going to do with him?" questioned Sakura as she moved next to Minato, who was in front of the boys.
The three chuckled." Why kill him, of course." the bandage guy answered as he and his team moved forward.
" We were wondering if you had seen the explosive tag on the squirrel, but then we realized -" however before the boy with gravity defying hair could finish, a dozen weapons were launch at the team. They jumped around to avoid them and the hole in the ground that they knew was there. However, that's what Sakura planned on as she cut a thick rope, causing a chopped off tree truck to come flying their way. Both males were able to twist out of the way, but the female was not in a good position to dodge and got hit in the stomach, causing her to fly backwards. She was barely able to twist and land on her feet, while clutching her stomach.
" Kin, are you alright?" called the guy in bandages, he landed on the right side of the hole in the ground.
" I'm fine, Dosu." her teammates could hear the strain in her voice. Although the log didn't break any ribs, it most likely bruised some and knocked the air out of her.
" You bastards!" shouted the guy with gravity defying hair as he moved forward.
" Zaku, stop!" called Dosu." We must be careful, obviously they set a fake trap that was easy to spot. However, there must have been a trip wire a few feet before it, causing the weapons to launch at us, and lastly while we were vulnerable in the air, they sent a log. They are obviously a bit more capable than we thought."
Team Ten, just had a run in with Team Gai and were wondering around, when they heard voices.
Shikamaru, the real observant one, put a hand on Ino's mouth to stop her from talking and signaled for Choji to stop eating, which he did. The group slowly crept near a huge bush and ducked behind it. They moved a few leaves and saw Team seven, though Sasuke and Naruto were asleep, and a Sound team, that were talking to each other.
" Dosu," spoke Kin." Let us take them, while you watch, if need be warn us of potential attacks." Dosu nodded, as Kin and Zaku stepped forward.
Minato and Sakura, moved in front of their teammates and squared off against their retrospect gender. Minato had sensed three new chakra signals, but he knew they belonged to Team Ten, so he was not worried about them. There was a short pause, before Sakura and Kin both launched senbon at each other, some colliding others going past. Sakura dodged and then engaged in a taijutsu spar with Kin. After trading a few blows back and fourth for several minutes, Sakura was hit in the face sending her to the ground. She rolled out of the way to avoid Kin's foot aimed at her head, then twisted her leg around and tripped her and tackled her, so that Sakura was on her back, where she hit a pressure point in Kin's neck, rendering her unconscious.
With a third enemy ninja and it only being day two in the forest, Sakura did not want to exhaust herself fighter her first opponent. Plus, Minato always said not to let your enemies see all your tricks, surprise them and take them out as swiftly as possible.
Minato, was currently dodging Zaku's sound attack. Anytime he tried to get close, Zaku would quickly turn in his direction a launch a huge gust of wind, that would send him back.' How do I get close to him?' thought Minato as he dodged another attack. ' If I come at him on any of his sides, he will quickly counter. So how can I...That's it!' Minato jumped into the trees and quickly created a shadow clone out of view. He sent his clone towards Zaku, while he himself, went under ground.
" Ha! Face it, there's no way you can get to -" he was cut off, when a hand grabbed his ankle and roughly tugged him down. Zaku was now neck-deep underground and in an extremely tight space, he could barely twitch his fingers. Minato, appeared out of the ground as his clone poofed away.
" Your jutsu is definitely a good offense and defense, but you need to pay more attention to your weaker points. Otherwise, you end up like this." Minato gestured towards Zaku's head, much to said boy's anger.
' They took out Kin and Zaku, with so little as a scratch. I'll have to take them out quickly or else our mission will be a failure.' thought Dosu as he unwrapped the bandages around his arm. Before Minato knew it, Dosu appeared near Sakura and pointed his right arm at her.
" Sakura move!"
" Too late." he smirked under his bandages." Take this, Sonic Wave!" A piercing sound met Sakura's ears, causing her to scream and dropped to her knees. Dosu, took that moment to kick her in the stomach, sending her skidding across the clearing, gasping for air.
Dosu was about to double in on her, but a flash of green appeared and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air and his chest hurt. He back flipped and landed in a crouched position, while looking up at his attacker.
" YOU SHALL NO LONGER HARM THIS FAIR MAIDEN! IN THE NAME OF YOUTH, I CHALLENGE YOU!"
' Lee?' wondered Minato, who had Sakura in his arms. He had quickly moved next her and picked her up bridal style, all set to move her out-of-the-way and then attack the bastard that hurt her, when Lee appeared out of nowhere, with...a squirrel on his shoulder. ' I don't think even Gai ever made an entrance like that.'
" Great another one I'll have to take care of." grumbled Dosu as he turned to look at Sasuke, but when he did he froze. Purple chakra seemed to be leaking out of the boy's neck. Not a lot, however Dosu was no fool and knew that that chakra could only belong to Orochimaru. However, for Sauke to have it, it meant only one thing.
Orochimaru gave Sasuke the curse mark.
' Dammit! So, he was gonna use us as sacrifices to test out his newly acquired specimen?!' seethed Dosu. For a moment, he thought about actually trying to kill Sasuke just to spite the snake, but with both his teammates out of commission and two fully capable ninjas ready to take him on, Dosu knew it would not end well, plus there was a possibility of Sasuke awakening and going on a rampage.
Dosu appeared by Zaku, who had finally managed to break free after several attempts to blast his way out of the ground." Zaku, get Kin, were leaving." he ordered.
" What?! How can we leave when we still need to -"
" Zaku, it was not a request. I will fill you and Kin in once were away." he turned to Minato, who had positioned Sakura behind him, so he could protect her and still fight. She was currently trying to heal her ears." You Leaf nin are stronger than anticipated." he pulled out his earth scroll and placed it on the ground." A peace offering, for now. But, the next time we see each other, it will not end this smoothly." By the time he finished talking Zaku had grabbed Kin and they jumped off, into the trees.
Minato took the scroll and placed it in his pouch, then turned to Lee.
" I appreciate you trying to defend Sakura, but should you be leaving your own team like that. Plus, where did you come from."
" He took off after that squirrel appeared, with an explosive tag on it's back." answered a female voice.
Minato, Lee, and Team Ten looked up. When they did, they saw Neji and Tenten looking down at them.
" Ah! Tenten, you know that a knight must rescue a damsel in distress."
" Thanks Lee, but I don't appreciate being called a damsel in distress." said Sakura as she sat up, looking as if she never got hit by Dosu.
Minato walked over to her." Are you alright?"
" Yeah, though there is still a slight ringing in my ears from his sound attack, my stomach no longer hurts."
" Good." he stated as he helped her up.
" I think it's time we woke up Naruto and Sasuke, they've been asleep for 12 hours." Minato nodded and walked over to his 'brother', while Sakura went to grab the water bottles, she had prepared last night. The two were practically ignoring the others, but there was no real reason to talk to them at the moment.
Neji was observing Minato. He saw the blonde move almost too quickly to catch, in order to protect that pink-haired girl. That speed was close to Lee's own, with weights on. Not to mention, there is something off about the Uchiha. Neji contemplated using his Byakugan, however his thoughts were interrupted, when Tenten tapped his shoulder.
" Were ready to leave." she announced.
Neji took one last look at Minato and Sasuke, before nodding and taking off, closely followed by his teammates.
" Sasuke, please wake up, it's not good to be asleep for so long." spoke Sakura as she shook said boy's shoulder. His hand shot out and grabbed Sakura's, but she did not fight it. Minato had told her it was a basic ninja reaction and that if she tried to pull away, one might get paranoid and attack before coming to their senses. Slowly, Sasuke opened his eyes and groaned.
" Here, drink this, it'll help." said Sakura as she pushed the water bottle up to his lips. His arm slowly came up and took it from her grasp.
" Sasuke-kun are you alright?!"
" Ino!" hissed Shikamaru as he chased after her, dragging Choji by his scarf.
Ino was about to jump on Sasuke and hug him, but Sakura got in front of her.
" Move out of the way Forehead! I wanna hug Sasuke-kun."
" In case your blind or just stupid, Sasuke is hurt. Meaning, if you hug him, it will only hurt. So, back off and let him awaken without being assaulted."
Before Ino could start accusing Sakura of wanting Sasuke to herself, Shikamaru covered her mouth again and replied." We understand. We were just passing by when we stumbled across the scene and were just leaving." he sent a pointed glare to Ino, to keep her quiet.
Sakura nodded." Good luck." she called after them as they walked away. She turned and saw Minato trying to wake Naruto up, to no success. He sighed, before speaking.
" Naruto, Hokage-sama is creating a petition to ban ramen from Konoha."
Naruto shot up." Has the old man lost his mind?! Ramen is the holy food that must flourish through -"
" Yeah, Naruto I was just kidding." interrupted Minato as he tossed Naruto the special water bottle.
" Nii-san, how could you be so cruel?" whined Naruto as he caught the bottle." And why is the water green?"
" I filled the water with vitamins and herbs, so that it would lessen the effect of the poison, plus a few aches and pains." responded Sakura.
As both boys were drinking their water, Minato decided to speak up." While you both were unconscious a sound team appeared, they were after you Sasuke." both boys froze." Sakura took out the girl, I got one of the guys, and Lee showed up ready to take on the third. However, after the guy saw your mark, Sasuke, and that it would be two on one, he decided to give us their scroll in exchange for their departure. We now have both scrolls needed and after we eat, we will make our way straight to the tower. There we will be able to rest for two days, until the rest of the genin show up, alright?"
All three nodded in acceptance. They did not want to have to go through anymore than they already had, in the last 24 hours.
" Good."
Wow, I made Shikamaru a bit more active than canon, but oh well.
First, about the MinaSaku relationship, I never planned on them getting together before the time skip. Minato is still slightly hung up over Kushina, plus Sakura is only 12. However, this will only be temporary and I will still try to add moments between them in part one.
Next, I looked back at BNB and noticed my timeline, characters ages, and a few other things were off, so I'm putting the story on hiatus(WHAT?!) and will most likely be editing it. I originally planned to have it run to Naruto's teen years, but realized that would be stupid, so once I edit it, it will most likely be AU, with some canon plots or events.
Now, on the other hand I still think there is not nearly enough MinaSaku and am thinking about posting a new one. I have several ideas, but nothing is sticking, so if you have an idea PM me and I might choose to write it.
Finally, thanks for reading, sorry for the wait, and please review!