Naruto followed Sakura's lead through the rest of the area. She no longer held the stuffed fox. Naruto had sent a shadow clone to return it to her apartment. Sometimes his techniques worked outside of his missions, just as well as they did during them. They walked by a booth that Kurenai was running. It was just something to impress the younger children, but it was getting a lot of attention. The next booth the passed was run by Anko. This one definitely caught their eyes. It was a simple target game. Through a ball and sink it into a basket on the first try, and win a prize. Naruto laughed since most of the prizes were throwing weapons. Anko obviously didn't know how to set up her booth to catch the villager's attention. Shinobi on the other hand were trying their best to get the ball into the target basket.
"Well Naruto do you want to try your skill at this one?" Sakura nudged his side. Edging him closer to the booth. Naruto shied away. He didn't want to go anywhere near Anko's booth, he was still scared of her from the incident at the first chunin exams they attended. The snake user had a reputation of liking to draw blood. Naruto had seen it first hand on a mission he'd gone on. Anko had been flirting with Iruka-sensei the entire time. When Iruka had finally shown interest the kunoichi had thrown a kunai right at him. The image would shock Naruto for a long time to come. Especially since Iruka and her were dating, and going strong.
Anko caught sight of the blonde jinchuriki. She liked the boy; he was brash, spunky, and extremely confident in his own abilities. Her boyfriend Iruka had commented that Naruto was probably the best catch the entire village had to offer. Anko had to disagree; her Iruka-kun was the best catch. Only a man like him could handle the stress of teaching at the academy, and go out on b class missions. Let alone handle her desire for midnight dango runs. Or her penchant for classic movies. Not many people could understand that her life as a ninja was different than her life as a woman. Iruka was different, and from what she had seen, Naruto was the same way with his girlfriend.
"Step up kid, try your best and win a gift for pinky there!" Anko smiled at the couple. She knew that her statement sounded confrontational, but she couldn't help it. Standing there was uncomfortable for her. "All you have to do is get the first ball in the basket, and you can choose one of the big prizes." Anko pointed to a wall adorned with katanas, and small axes. "Get it in on the second and you can pick one of the smaller prizes." She then pointed to the other side of the wall where knives of all different types were placed. She definitely felt out of place. She was on display in front of the villagers, many of whom still thought of her as Orochimaru's apprentice.
Naruto noticed her discomfort, but said nothing. It wasn't the time or place to bring it up, let alone the fact that she scared the hell out of him. He handed Anko some coins and took his first throw. The ball went into the basket, and bounced out. Not to be beaten he tossed the second ball. It circled the outside of the basket and fell to the floor. He couldn't believe it; this game was a lot harder than it looked. "Give me another round." Naruto paid Anko again. He was going to sink the ball into the basket. He threw the first ball, and watched as it bounced out again. He threw the second one, and watched as it too bounced out.
Sakura was giggling. Her boyfriend was getting frustrated, and it showed on his face. She was going to let him try one more time, and then she was going to take a swing at the game. Besides she saw a nice looking short sword that would look nice hanging from Naruto's shoulder, or even his hip. She watched as he threw the last ball. He obviously didn't understand the point of the game. It wasn't about getting the ball to go in the basket directly. One had to let the force of energy dissipate off the back of the basket before the ball could hit the bottom, that way it wouldn't bounce out. Naruto visibly gave up; she knew because he dropped his shoulders and looked at the ground. His slumped posture made her laugh a bit.
"Let me try Naruto!" Sakura put some of her coins on the counter and took the first ball. She tossed the ball in a low arc towards the basket. The ball hit the back of her target, and sunk into the basket. She squealed, she had guessed right, the game wasn't about power, it was about finesse. "Look I got it; I got it on the first try!" Sakura grabbed Naruto and jumped on him, wrapping him in a big hug. She was going to get him the sword she had eyed.
The Sword was simple in design. It had a short black blade, no longer than Naruto's forearm. The handle had what looked like a knuckle guard which could be used to punch opponents. The entire thing was ended with a round bottom, definitely made to hit an adversary in the head with. "Umm Anko, can I have that black short sword there." Sakura pointed to the weapon.
Anko was shocked, that sword was a very nice piece. She hadn't expected the pink haired medic to spot such a practical weapon. "This one." Anko grabbed the sword and handed it to the medic-nin. "You have an eye there pinky. This one is small enough to be wielded one handed, but big enough to cause major amounts of damage. It's also made of chakra enhanced metal, so it'll harden if you run your own chakra, or elemental chakra through it. So you want me to wrap it for you, or are you just going to hang it on a wall?" Anko chuckled as she teased the younger kunoichi.
Just give it to Naruto, I won it for him. He'd get more use out of it. "Sakura sneered a bit at the older female. She knew Anko was just joking around, but sometimes it got really old, really fast. "Besides I'd rather use a scalpel or kunai to deal with my adversary. There's grace behind a small blade." Sakura turned to Naruto and smiled. "Besides, he'd know how to swing that thing around, and cause more damage than I even could." Sakura handed the blade to Naruto who had a smirk on his face.
He had learned some ken-jutsu while on his training trip with Jiraiya. So this new weapon wasn't going to take him long to use, if he could actually use the thing. "Hey Anko, is this thing battle ready, or is it just ornamental?" The blonde looked at Anko just in time to see her slip a kunai into her hand. "Hey wait it was a simpleā¦" Before he could finish his sentence Anko had loosed the kunai from her hand. Naruto raised the sword and blocked the incoming projectile. He sighed as the adrenaline in his system dissipated. He looked back up at Anko and smiled wide. "You didn't answer my question!" Naruto started laughing hard as he saw Anko get red in the face. He knew she hadn't expected the quick remark, let alone for him to block such a close ranged throw.
"Shut it brat, the blade is battle ready. You can use it in battle; just run your chakra through it. Oh and treat it with respect, that's a good blade there." Anko turned her back on the couple and waited to see if another group would come over. She listened as the two began to walk away.
Naruto looked at Sakura and decided that carrying the blade around all night was a bad thing. He made a shadow clone and sent it on its way towards his apartment. Once the clone was out of sight it turned and made a straight line for Anko's stand. When it got there the clone was shocked to see that Anko looked depressed. "Hey Anko." The older female turned to see the blonde without his girlfriend.
"What do you want brat?" She was taken back that the blonde had come back without his pink haired piece of arm candy. "Where's the girlfriend? Did you let her go off on her own?" Anko was truly surprised; Naruto was always with the pinkette whenever she saw him outside of missions and training. So why was he here now by himself?
Naruto's clone knew what Anko was thinking, he decided not to play with her and just say what he came to say. "Anko, I'm not Naruto per se. I'm one of his shadow clones. He wants to know if you could teach him how to use the blade, and maybe help with his form." The clone didn't give Anko the chance to respond, he also had one more thing to say to her. "He also wants you to know, that there is no reason for you to continue hiding who you are. If we can get approval from most of the village, than you can too. If you need to talk to anyone about it, we're always here for you. Iruka can always help out to. He may not look it, but that guy is filled with good advice." Naruto winked at the Kunoichi, and took off without letting her reply to his face.
Anko watched as the blonde jonin took off down the street. "Hey brat, just name the time and place and I'll help you, and thanks for the advice!" Anko shouted in front of a crowd of people, and she didn't even care. She turned back and looked at the crowd she couldn't hide it right now. The kids words made her feel so good about herself, and she was going to be damned if she let the stares from the villagers take that feeling away from her. "Alright, come on step up and try to win a piece of personal protection." Anko started to get into her role as a booth operator.
Naruto was walking closer to the main stage with Sakura at his side. His clone dispelled, and the memories flooded his mind. He smiled as he found out what the clone had said to Anko. That woman really needed to open up, and Naruto knew he could help her, even if he was terrified of what she might do to him. He couldn't help but shiver at his current thoughts. He looked at Sakura and hoped she didn't feel him shake. His prayers were unanswered.
"Naruto, what's wrong, why did you shiver?" Sakura looked worried at her companion.
"Oh my clone dispelled, and on his way back to my apartment he ran past Lee and Tenten making out. It kind of disturbed me and I didn't need the mental image." Naruto laughed and thanked whatever deity gave him the ability to quickly think up such an excuse. Unfortunately his clone did catch sight of Tenten and Lee making out. "Besides I have no clue what to do next. I kinda want to find something that we can do together without winning a prize."
As luck would have it the two happened upon Sai's booth. Sakura couldn't believe the luck. Hopefully Ino had found him and explained the situation to their socially inept friend. "Well, we could get a picture drawn up here by Sai." Sakura pointed the booth out to Naruto. He wasn't too fond of the idea; Sai had a bad habit of making comments that weren't proper, especially ones about his anatomy. He went along with it though since Sakura seemed so energetic about the idea. "Hey Sai, Do you have any customers right now?" Sakura waved to her usually quiet friend.
Sai looked at his teammates. The sight of the two made him smile. These two had a habit of making him show emotions, and he enjoyed being around them. "Hello Bitch, hey dickless." Sai smiled brightly as he watched his two teammates fall to the ground.
"Sai!" Sakura grabbed her upper arm as if she was about to punch her teammate. Naruto held her back; he had expected Sai to greet them in such a manner. He wasn't surprised however to see Sakura punch Sai upside the back of his head. It made him laugh a bit.
Sakura leaned in next to Sai's head and began whispering. "Sorry to hit you, but did Ino happen to find you."
Sai Nodded. If what Ino had told him, he was about to be a part of Sakura's gift to Naruto. All he had to do was paint a picture of the two. Nothing major. "Yeah she was here about twenty minutes ago. I'll make sure the painting looks good; just make sure he doesn't know what's really going on." Sai smiled at his pink haired teammate. This was going to be fun, he always wanted to help with these type of things, and what better way than to use his ninja talents.
"So Sai what are you doing here?" Naruto looked around at Sai's booth and saw sketches of couples, friends, and single people dressed up in formal attire. He truly had no clue what Sai would be doing here.
"Ah, Naruto-kun, I'm doing sketches of the festival goers, and couples that want to remember tonight." Sai grabbed a camera from the table next to him. 'If you guys would like I can make one for you, it would be a great way to remember the night, and keep something to remind you of your time at your first festival."
Authors notes. First thing. i have to say this. Everyone needs to stop assuming things about what i'm going to write. i haven't set anything in stone, the truth is i type up a chapter in about 5 hours and finish it a half hour before i upload it to . the story is in my head, and i'm not going to deviate from it one bit. Also i know there is a bunch of stories that have Sakura dumping Naruto for Sasuke. Everyone needs to stop assuming thats what i'm going to do, because it's not. The answers to their break up will be coming in the next couple of chapters. Also most of what i write has a plot device for another part of the story. the chapter i'm going to write about Naruto' jonin exam will explain the tension between Kakashi and Naruto.
Above all I am sorry that this post was over 12 hours late. wasn't working right this morning, so i had to wait till i woke up to post.
