heres chapter 8 hope you all enjoy

i dont own Naruto or playstation vita


"Shinboi-san, wake up."

What?

Who's that?

"Wake up," the voice said a little louder.

Naruto felt someone gently nudge him, but he didn't open his eyes yet.

"Shinobi-san, wake up," the voice repeated again. The voice was soft, and sounded very kind; the voice was definitely feminine, and it was as beautiful and crisp as a crystal lake. Naruto groggily opened his eyes, and he was met by the sight of a beautiful brunette in a pink kimono.

"Good morning Shinobi-san," the girl said in a chipper voice, "you shouldn't sleep outside, you might catch a cold."

Naruto looked around the clearing where he lay, and the events of the early morning training came roaring back to his memory, they didn't even check up on me?

Naruto remembered the brunette sitting next to where he lay and said, "Thank you for waking me Miss…?"

"Haku," the girl said.

"Thank you for waking me Miss Haku, my name is Naruto Namikaze," Naruto said as he held out his hand for a handshake. Haku knew the boy was from the squad the had fought Zabuza,

She considered killing him, but quickly dismissed the thought from her mind when she noticed how peaceful he looked as he slept. She was slightly taken back when she heard his last name.

Namikaze? Why does that sound familiar…

Haku shook Naruto's hand with a firm grip, "Nice to meet you Naruto-san."

"Nice to meet you to Haku-san," Naruto said, "If I may ask, what are you doing in the woods all by yourself?" Naruto asked while giving Haku an appraising look, "Yesterday, me and my friend were attacked not far from here."

"Really? Did you get hurt?" Haku asked.

"No, but it would be a shame if you did," Naruto commented, "The only reason we weren't hurt is because we're ninja."

"I could tell from your attire that you were a ninja," Haku stated, "Are you a strong ninja?" Haku asked, trying to get any information from the boy.

"Not really," Naruto started in a disappointed voice, "I graduated from the academy in Konoha a few weeks ago, and I've come along way since then, but I'm still relatively week. I need to become strong so I can protect my home, my friends, and defeat someone very powerful."

Naruto noticed Haku's interest seemed to have spiked when he mentioned his friends, "You don't have any family?" Haku asked.

Naruto was taken back by Haku's question, she probably doesn't know who the Namikaze's were.

"No, they died when I was young," Naruto said in a quiet voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Haku said quietly.

Trying to get the conversation back on a pleasant note Naruto asked again, "So what are you doing out here?"

"I'm collecting medicinal herbs for a sick family member," Haku said as she motioned towards her basket, which contained a good amount of herbs and flowers.

Naruto nodded in understanding when Haku mentioned to her basket, "Sorry for holding you back," Naruto said as he got up from the ground; the headache he got when he stood up would have caused a lesser man to pass out.

Yo! Fox, what gives?

It's only a minor headache, to regular people it is a common occurrence.

It feels so painful because you've never experienced one before.

But can't you heal it?

Yes, but I see no reason to, this is a growing experience for you, you should become familiar with different types of pain so if you come in contact with them, they wont hinder your fighting ability.

After the fox gave his little speech, he forcibly cut the communication.

Haku was about to tell Naruto it was ok, and that he wasn't slowing her down, but when he stood up, she noticed that for a split second, his beautiful magenta eyes switched to blood red.

"I-its ok Naruto," Haku said, slightly disturbed at what she saw.

What were those eyes?

Naruto then turned to face Haku, "Well, I really need to get back to the house before I get in trouble, it was nice meeting you Haku, perhaps we'll see each other around town."

"Perhaps," Haku said as she walked in the direction opposite of where Naruto was walking.

I only learned his name.

Naruto walked through the forest at a leisurely pace, he could always tell them that he was training, and that wouldn't be a lie.

He came to the end of the woods in the back of the house, and calmly proceeded to the front door.

He raised his right hand, and knocked on the door. In the blink of the eye, Riku answered the door, and gave Naruto a bone-crushing hug.

"What were you doing! Do you know what time it is! Are you hurt!"

All of the questions were asked so rapidly, it was a wonder that Riku didn't get tongue-tied.

"R-Riku, I think y-you're g-gonna break s-something," Naruto wheezed out.

Realizing she was suffocating him, Riku reluctantly released him, but faced him with a glare that could make a man wither.

"Where have you been?" she asked in a commanding tone while looking him in the eye.

"Could I get inside the house first?" Naruto asked, half seriously, half sarcastically.

Riku stood to the side, and waited till he entered the house.

"What time is it?" Naruto asked when he noticed no on else seemed to be awake, or they had already left the house.

"Its 6:00, and you need to answer my question, where were you?"

Naruto looked her in the eye with an uncaring disposition, they silently tried to stare down each other, violet clashed against magenta, Riku would have won the stare down if she didn't have a blush that was quickly developing over her face.

Naruto donned an amused look when he won the stair down, and Riku looked away blushing, "are you feeling ok, Riku-chan? You're turning a little red," Naruto teased.

Riku regained her composure so quickly, it would have made Hiruzen proud, "I'm feeling fine Naruto-kun, but you still haven't answered my question, Where-were-you?"

"I was out training," Naruto lied smoothly.

"What were you doing training at 3:00 in the morning? You weren't in your sleeping bag, and me and Sakura couldn't find you."

Crap! Think quick!

Tell her you were meditating.

"I was also meditating," Naruto said just as smoothly as his other statement.

Riku looked at him long and hard to make sure he wasn't lying, but once again, she looked away blushing when Naruto stared right back at her.

"W-well next time leave a note or something, you had us worried," Riku said, as she noticed how interesting the floor was.

"Ok, I'll leave a note next time," Naruto said, "Why isn't anyone else awake?"

"Cat-senpai, Hana-senpai, Sai, and Tazuna left to go to the bridge, everyone else is still asleep, and I was looking for you," Riku finished as she pointed an accusing finger at Naruto.

"Sorry, but I didn't know I had to leave a note to say I was training," Naruto said sarcastically as he sat down at the table and gave a tired sigh.

Riku looked at him while he sat, his unruly hair was messier than usual, his clothes looked disheveled, he had smudges of dirt across his face and shirt, and he had clearly visible bags under his eyes;

he looked like a mess.

"Are you ok?" Riku asked as she sat down across from him at the table, the concern in her voice was clearly evident.

"Yah, I'm fine, I was training very hard, and have been having a hard time sleeping," Naruto said tiredly.

Ok, enough of these 'learning experiences' this is getting really annoying.

Didn't your Hokage tell you not to use my chakra? the fox asked in an amused tone.

Yah, but it would only be a little, just enough to get rid of my headache; besides, I'm not gonna tell anyone.

Fine but don't come crying to me when you get into trouble.

Riku watched as Naruto went silent for about a minute, but she noticed how much more energetic he looked when he opened his eyes.

"We should wake up Sasuke and Sakura, and go train," Naruto said as he stood up.

"Sasuke shouldn't be training," Riku said in a disapproving tone as she too stood up.

"We could work on his chakra control," Naruto stated.

"I wish I had as much chakra as you to," Riku said.

"I'd rather have as much chakra as you," Naruto said, "there's really no point in having a lot of chakra, if you blow it in two or three jutsus."

"I never thought about it that way," Riku mused aloud, "Once you get it under control you'll be very powerful."

"I need to be," Naruto muttered as he started walking up the stairs.

Why does he need to be so powerful?

When Naruto entered the room that contained Sasuke and Sakura, he was surprised to see Sakura already awake, and doing some minor exercises.

"Good morning Naruto," Sakura said when she noticed him there, she was in the process of doing twenty pushups, not a ridiculous amount, but a very hard task for someone who was rather weak.

"Good morning Sakura, do you want to train with me and Riku?" Naruto asked.

"Yes!" Sakura hastily complied.

I wonder what's up with her?

"Cool, Riku is waiting downstairs, I'll wake up Sasuke."

"Sasuke-kun shouldn't be training, he's still injured," Sakura said in that same annoying, disapproving tone.

"I only want to work on control with him," Naruto said as he waved his hand in a placating manner. The answer appeased Sakura (not that he cared), "Ok, just be gentle with him."

Naruto just rolled his eyes as Sakura exited the room, "Oi! You little bastard, I know you're awake," Naruto said as he threw a pillow at Sasuke.

Despite his injuries, Sasuke merely reached his hand out, and caught the pillow before it hit him.

"Good morning Naruto," Sasuke said in a voice void of emotion.

"What do you mean good morning? You left me outside, I could've been eaten or something," Naruto stated accusingly.

"I thought you would be right behind me, when I realized you didn't come back in, I was gonna go look for you, but Sakura woke up and started reading."

"So? You could've sent a shadow clone to look for me," Naruto said.

"In case you've forgotten, I can barely go to the bathroom without being watched, even when I go to the bathroom Sakura is right outside the door just in case 'something' happens to me. Trust me, I was worried, I stayed up all night waiting for you."

"Oh, I'll forgive you this time," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Like I really care," Sasuke said with a chuckle.

"You know you do," Naruto said with a laugh, "Lets go train and see if you can finally do 'big ball'."

The boys exited the room after Sasuke got all of his gear, Sakura still didn't approved of him training, but there wasn't much she could do about it. It had been three days since his ribs were broken, and he might as well train now rather than later. The group exited the house and walked to the clearing that Naruto and Riku had sparred in, the day before.

Sasuke looked around the clearing and saw all of the destruction Naruto and Riku created, Damn, that must of been a cool spar.

They immediately split up into two groups, Sakura insisted on training with Riku, and Naruto said he needed to work with Sasuke.

To cover them while they trained, Sasuke created a low-level genjutsu that looked like he and Naruto were meditating. The genjutsu wasn't really impressive, but if the girls weren't looking for it, they would probably miss it. Sasuke didn't want to show any one the jutsu unless he was done with it or had it in a workable form.

The two boys sat down on the grass, and Sasuke took out the rubber ball from his pocket, "I think I got it this time," the avenger said confidently.

"Well, lets see it then," Naruto said with anticipation.

Sasuke started channeling chakra into the blue ball, because of the training he did the day before he was confident he could finally do it, it had been a month since he started, and he was damn ready to see some results.

The chakra was causing the ball to start to stretch, seeing he was making progress, Sasuke channeled more chakra into his hand and into the ball. The ball was stretched into a sort of oval shape, and was becoming rounder and rounder.

"Come on Sasuke, you got this!" Naruto said excitedly.

I can do this, the ball stretched even more.

I can do this! the ball was almost as round and as big as a beach ball, Sasuke was sweating from the concentration, and chakra he was putting out. Despite his advancements in his chakra, huge amounts were still being wasted, I can do this!

The ball was now stretched dangerously, and looked like it would pop at any given second.

"Come on Sasuke!"

I can do this!

Sasuke pushed more chakra into the ball, while managing to keep it under control, the result was the huge explosion of the rubber ball, which dispelled the genjutsu and blew them both away opposite directions from each other.

Riku was putting Sakura through hell, (that's what Sakura thought) the girl wants to get strong? I'll make her strong!

After Naruto and Sasuke had gone over to train, Riku had started by throwing shuriken at Sakura while she dodged them while standing on the side of the tree. Riku sent another volley at the pink haired girl, they were all dodged but Riku noticed how tired Sakura seemed.

"Hey Sakura, are you already running out of chakra?"

"Y-yes," Sakura choked out, it took every once of concentration to stay on the tree.

"Why are your reserves so small?"

"I d-don't know, I n-never really had a l-large amount of c-chakra."

"Well before we really get anywhere, we need to increase your supply, get down…"

But before Riku could finish, an explosion rocked the area where Naruto and Sasuke were meditating. Naruto was blown right into the tree that Sakura was in, the force of the impact and the sight of the explosion caused Sakura to lose concentration,

The result, was her falling from the tree, and landing next to a dazed Naruto who was sitting down leaning against the tree.

Sasuke was closer to the blast, but the blast was mostly force, and the only thing that it really did to him besides shake him up, was it caused several rubber shards to collide with his skin at blistering speeds.

"OWW CRAP!" Sasuke screamed as he lay in the clearing.

Totally forgetting about Naruto, Sakura got up from where she sat, and despite her exhaustion, she ran over to Sasuke, and began to look him over.

Riku ran up to Naruto, but she relaxed considerably when she noticed that he was alright, her worry was replaced with anger when she noticed the apathetic, and thoughtful look Naruto had.

"Naruto, what the hell was that!" she nearly shouted at him, Naruto didn't respond at first, she didn't think he would, but after a minute of anticipation, Naruto answered nonchalantly.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know! What was that explosion! you and Sasuke could have been seriously hurt!"

"But we weren't," Naruto stated apathetically, truthfully, he didn't know what that explosion was, did Sasuke do the rasengan, but over load the chakra? Did he actually complete the jutsu?

"Naruto, that is not the point, you could've died, and need I remind you that Sasuke is already injured?" Riku said in a scolding tone.

"I know I could've died, but as I said before we didn't, and I truthfully don't know what the explosion was," Naruto said in his apathetic voice, to piss Riku off further, he wasn't even looking at her, but instead he was looking over at Sasuke.

Sasuke was lying on his back in the middle of the clearing Sakura was grilling him over what just happened.

"Sasuke-kun what was that?"

Sasuke didn't say anything to her question, but maintained a satisfied smile on his face.

"Sasuke-kun, please answer my question," Sakura pestered.

"I don't know what the explosion was Sakura," Sasuke lied as he looked her in the eye. Looking Sakura in the eye had the effect that he desired, instead of questioning him further, she looked away while blushing.

"A-are you hurt?" Sakura stuttered out.

"No, I actually feel better than I have in a long time," Sasuke said as he stood up with a grin. He then turned too Naruto who was standing next to Riku, and getting verbally lashed by her telling him he need to be more careful, "Hey Naruto, lets try that again."

"Sweet!" Naruto yelled over to Sasuke, completely ignoring Riku.

Naruto ran over to where Sasuke stood, and waited for Sasuke to start channeling chakra.

What is he doing! Sakura thought with trepidation when she felt the impressive chakra being put off by her crush

Sasuke took a slight crouching position, and he started gathering chakra in his right hand and swirling it with his left hand. After a few seconds of nothing happening, a ball of blue chakra started to form in Sasuke's hand, it wasn't much at first, but after two more seconds, it was the size of a soft ball. Spotting a tree not to far from where he stood, Sasuke ran at it, and drove the blue sphere into the poor tree.

Naruto watched in awe as the tree was pulverized right before his eyes, Sasuke held his right arm out as the ball grinded into the tree; to finish off the jutsu, he decided to overload the chakra in his hand but not to the extent that he did earlier. The result was a contained explosion that blew his hand back, but left him unharmed. The tree was not so lucky however, and the explosion totally destroyed what was left of it.

Sasuke turned to look back at the trio that had watched him do the jutsu. He noticed the varying expressions on their faces, Naruto looked in awe at the power that the jutsu emitted, and he couldn't have been more proud that his father created such an awesome jutsu. Sakura looked frightened, elated, and relief (is that even possible?) that Sasuke knew such a powerful jutsu, and that he was fine. Riku looked frightened as well, but her curiosity got the better of her, and alleviated her fears.

"You did it!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards his bro. Both girls were surprised by his sudden outburst, which was the loudest they ever heard him speak. Naruto ran up to Sasuke and gave him a man-hug, "dude, that was real!"

"I know right, I knew it was powerful, but damn! That was impressive!" Sasuke said.

"Yo, do you mind if I learn it?" Naruto asked anxiously. Sasuke looked over at his friend, Naruto really didn't have to ask him if he could learn it, it would be like Sasuke asking somebody if he could use the sharingan, but because of their friendship, and their respect for each other, Naruto asked anyway.

"Of course you can learn it dobe,

if you got the skill," Sasuke teased.

Naruto lightly scoffed at his remark, but came back with one of his own, "if you can do it, I can guarantee I can do it!"

"I bet I could learn it in three days," Naruto said confidently.

"I'd be surprised if you couldn't learn it in three days," Sasuke said.

"Excuse me, but, what the hell was that?" Riku asked curiously.

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other wondering what to tell the girls, thinking quickly, Naruto said, "it's a clan technique."

"Then why can both of you do it?" Sakura asked.

"A lot of clan techniques can be used by people outside of the clans, but they are rarely shared with other individuals outside of the clan," Sasuke said.

"Then how come you're letting Naruto learn it?" Sakura asked again.

"Actually, Naruto let me learn it," Sasuke stated.

"Wait, Naruto, you're from a clan?" Riku asked.

"Due to several precautions that my father set up, I am the last of the Namikazes," Naruto said grimly.

"Hold on," Riku started again, "if both of you are the last of your clans, aren't there laws that apply to both of you?"

Both boys nodded there heads grimly.

"What laws?" Sakura asked

"The Clan Restoration Act, it was made to make sure clans wouldn't go extinct," Sasuke said apathetically.

"You two don't seem to happy about it," Riku commented, picking up on the bad vibe the boys were portraying.

"Would you fell all that well if you were ordered to marry three people by the time you were eighteen or your brides would be picked for you?" Naruto asked, "I don't know about Sasuke, but I'm not following that law."

"Naruto! don't talk like that, you know you would do it if the Hokage told you to," Sakura said.

Naruto just looked at her and said, "if it was a couple years ago, yah, I would follow without question, but now, I don't know."

Sasuke looked over worriedly at his friend, ever since he started using the Kyuubi's chakra, he could be pretty testy, but kept his temper under control most of the time. Sasuke noticed the how his friend was starting to get a little darker, but over the mission seemed to be back to his normal self.

Naruto, I hope you're strong enough to do what needs to be done, Sasuke thought.

"Naruto, you really ought not talk like that, if it bettered Konoha, you know you would do it," Riku said in a worried tone, she and Sakura were seeing a side to him they've never really seen before.

Naruto, who had started walking away, stopped in his tracks, and said something that worried the girls even more,

"I do not love the village, I owe the village nothing."

"What about you being Hokage?" Riku asked.

"I'll do it my way," Naruto said.

"You know your statements are borderline treason," Sakura said testily.

Naruto turned around and looked Sakura in the eye, "You know, I don't really care if…"

"Naruto, that's enough," Sasuke said firmly, only the Uchiha noticed Naruto's eyes shifting into a redder color.

"Naruto just looked at Sasuke, and walked off into the forest, "I'm going to go train," he said as he walked off.

"I always knew he was weird," Sakura stated, the combined killer intent of Sasuke and Riku quickly made her backtrack on her statement.

"Naruto has been through a lot, and because of certain events, he's been acting a little strange," Sasuke said.

"Doesn't it worry you though?" Sakura asked.

"More than you know…" Sasuke muttered as he started walking off towards where Naruto went.

Both girls just stood there as their crushes went off to go train.

"Riku, why does Naruto need to become strong?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, you're asking the wrong person," Riku stated as she stared towards where Naruto and Sasuke left.

Naruto was deeper in the forest, and venting his stress by destroying some poor trees. He was working on his punches and kicks, and unfortunately for the poor hemlock, it was chosen.

Kid, I don't get why you get so pissed at the CRA, most guys your age would be rejoicing.

I don't have time for women right now, after we defeat Madara I'll get married or whatever. If the council have their way, I'll have to defeat Madara in four years.

You could always defeat him after you get married.

No, that would unnecessarily put other people at risk, besides, I don't want multiple girls, I only want one!

Why?

Naruto stopped his punches and kicks, his knuckles were bruised, and his legs sore.

I don't want multiple wives because I would hate for one of them to not be given the amount of attention each of them would deserve. I've largely been ignored most of my life, and I would hate for that to happen to someone I actually care about.

I guess I understand, but I have to disagree with you on one point.

Not having any time to be interested in girls, if you go through life with that mentality, you'll never have anytime for girls. Besides, even I can tell that your brunette comrade has feelings for you.

Riku, she's just a fan-girl.

I don't think so, fan girls don't train as hard as she does, most don't have the drive that she does, if you honestly think that she's going to wait for you to 'come around' as you humans say, you are misguided. The life expectancy rate for ninjas is extremely low, in fact you'll be lucky if you reach twenty-five, her teammate before the pink-haired girl was killed right before her very eyes, and at the most he was only seventeen. I guarantee that she will at least talk to you when you finish the mission.

How would I tell her I have absolutely no feelings to her.

Are you sure you have no feelings for her? the fox asked as he cut off communication between them.

Naruto blinked a few times before he started beating the poor tree again, what does he mean 'are you sure you have no feelings for her'?

Sasuke was up in a tree branch lounging against the trunk of a tree while he watched his friend train, I don't want to go through the CRA because of Hinata, why doesn't he want to go through it?

Dinner that night at the house was a little tense to say the least. Apparently Sakura didn't think much of Naruto's little rant earlier and made a point to bash him in front of Riku whenever possible, Naruto thoroughly ignored her and mostly talked quietly to Sasuke while periodically shooting Riku curious glances.

While the teens were busy amongst themselves, Hana, Cat and Sai were discussing what the plan was for the next few days. It was Wednesday and if Tazuna's estimates were correct, the bridge would be completed on Friday.

"Tomorrow, we should take Naruto and Riku, and leave Sasuke and Sakura," Hana stated, "Sai, have Sasuke's ribs mended?"

"Yes, but he will still have difficultly moving around, but he can do jutsu and fight."

"Good, Zabuza will probably strike on Friday, so everyone will have to come," Hana said.

Cat nodded his head and spoke, "no doubt Gato will bring out all of the stops on Friday in hopes of killing Tazuna, we will have to fight our hardest in hopes of winning."

"I do have some good news, my ningen are fully healed, and all I have to do is summon them and they will be ready to fight," Hana said excitedly.

"Good," Cat curtly replied, "that will definitely help our chances."

At the opposite end of the table, a little boy with a weird hat saw all of the people and noticed how tense they were, they probably know they're gonna die soon.

That night, all of the teens except Sai were upstairs in the room they shared.

Sasuke and Naruto were getting caught up on gaming that they had missed, while Sakura was reading a book, and Riku was writing on a piece of paper.

"Naruto, do you mind turning that down!" Sakura scolded.

Naruto didn't miss a beat, nor did he look up when he replied, "If you actually took time to listen, you would notice Sasuke's volume is louder than mine."

Sakura glared in response and said, "You know, I'm going to tell the Hokage what you told us in the clearing."

Naruto didn't look up from his game and answered. "I would be more surprised if you didn't tell him."

Before Sakura could reply, Riku cut in, "I don't think you would or should get into trouble just because you said you didn't love the village, but you also said you didn't know if you would follow the Hokage's orders. How could you seriously say that?"

"I've been going through some new experiences, and the old man isn't really helping the situation. I think he should leave me alone, and only interfere when it is absolutely necessary."

"Regardless of what you think, its his job to protect the village," Sakura stated.

"Are you saying I'm a threat to the village?" Naruto responded while looking at Sakura with a hard gaze.

"You seem like one to me," Sakura muttered.

"Sakura, I would really appreciate it if you didn't insult my friend right in front of me," Sasuke said coldly as he also put down his game.

Sakura shut up when Sasuke spoke to her, but Riku still had something to say, "What are the new experiences that you are going through Naruto?"

"Me being a jinchuuriki, I don't think its wise for me not to be able to use the Kyuubi's chakra, because who knows when I might need it? If the need arose and I would have to disobey a direct order, I would disobey without a second thought; I know the Hokage wouldn't like it, but I think he would understand," Naruto stated.

"I guess I understand," Riku said, "I would also have to agree with you, if I was a jinchuuriki and I needed to save the life of a teammate, I would disobey the order in a heartbeat."

"I always thought that it was like someone telling me not to work with my sharingan," Sasuke added.

"Its because of the Kyuubi that your eyes are magenta right?" Riku asked.

Naruto nodded his head in response, and eager to get off the current subject he asked, "so what are you writing?"

Riku gave a slight blush because he was interested in what she was doing, "I'm writing to my dad."

Everyone in the room where a little more interested in this news than normal people. Sakura's father had been killed in a mission when she was three, and you all know what happened to Naruto and Sasuke's parents.

"What's it like to have a father?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Its fun, me and my dad don't see each other all that much so when we do see each other, we try to have as much fun as possible. When he's around, I've always got someone watching my back, and giving me good advice. I only wish that my mother hadn't died…" Riku finished quietly.

"But, who am I to complain, I ought to be very thankful that I do have a father, and whenever he visits we always do all the fun things as possible."

"When is the next time you'll see him?" Naruto asked, rather interested in meeting the man Riku talked so much about.

"He said he's coming to Konoha for the chuunin exams," Riku stated happily.

"The chuunin exams are in two months," Sasuke announced, "hopefully Kakashi will get up off his lazy butt by then."

Naruto gave a small laugh in response, "For being a jounin, he's almost as lazy as Shikamaru."

"I know right, I would love to know what he really does on his mornings when he's late," Sasuke mused.

"What time are your team meetings in the morning?" Riku asked curiously.

"We meet at ten in the morning, but somehow Kakashi manages to still turn up late," Naruto said with a slight chuckle.

Before Riku could ask another question, Sakura cut in, "its ten at night, I think we should get some sleep, we still need to train, and who knows what's going to happen at the bridge." Both boys just grunted in response, as they lay down in their respective sleeping bags, Riku hastily finished up her letter, and climbed into the bed where Naruto used to sleep.

"Good night all you happy people," Sasuke quipped.

"Good night jackass," Naruto responded, which got Riku to giggle.

"Love you too Naruto," Sasuke said, getting the final word in.

After an hour of waiting, both boys waited till the girls breathing became more regular, and simultaneously they whipped out their Playstation Vitas and started to game, after all, sleep is overrated.

Then next day everyone woke nice, refreshed, and ready to train. When they all got ready and exited the bedroom, they were surprised to see everyone down stairs eating breakfast. They all took a seat, and listened to the plan for today.

"I hope you two," Hana pointed at Riku and Naruto, "didn't have any plans for today, because we will be guarding Tazuna. Sai, you will finish healing Sasuke by taking as much lactic acid from his system as possible. Sakura, you can either train or come to the bridge, its your call," Hana finished.

"I'll stay and train," Sakura said.

"I wish I could go," Sasuke muttered.

"You could knock out Sai and come," Naruto suggested quietly.

Before Sasuke could respond, "Oi! What are you two scheming about over there?" Hana asked.

"Absolutely nothing of importance," Sasuke lied perfectly. Hana was rather skeptical but thought, they wouldn't do anything to compromise the mission.

"Do you seriously think I should do that?" Sasuke whispered to Naruto.

"I wouldn't risk it," Naruto said aloud.

"Well, If you wouldn't mind, I would prefer if we get to the bridge sooner than later," Cat said as he entered the room. Everyone that was going to the bridge finished eating rather quickly, and speedily helped Tsunami clean up the mess they created. By the time they arrived at the bridge, it was nine in the morning, Tazuna immediately started to work with the remaining workers, while Naruto started working on the rasengan. He was still on the first step, which was bursting a water balloon by swirling the water on the inside. He was currently sitting on the side of the bridge while Riku was observing what he was doing.

"So your dad created this jutsu?" she asked.

"yah, but he died before he could finish it," Naruto said while concentrating hard on the task he was doing.

"Why did you let Sasuke learn it?"

"Because he's my friend," Naruto said nonchalantly.

"That's a good reason," Riku said with a light chuckle.

"Hold on!" Naruto said excitedly, the water in the balloon was swirling rapidly, and the rubber in the balloon was starting to stretch dangerously.

Come on! Almost there!

Naruto pumped more chakra into the balloon while doing his best to keep it under control. The blue rubber on the outside of the red balloon had become a pinkish color because of how much it was stretched.

Just a little more… Naruto poured a little bit more chakra into the balloon, and the results were instantaneous. The balloon burst with tremendous force, and sent the water, and shards of the balloon flying in all sorts of directions. Naruto was thoroughly doused in water from the explosion, and some of the water splashed onto Riku's pants.

"I did it!" Naruto said happily as he did a small dance.

"Yah, you did it, but you managed to get yourself and me soaked," Riku said glumly.

"Oh, sorry," Naruto said as he calmed down, "Here, let me help, this might mess up your hair though," Naruto said.

Naruto did some hand signs, and whispered, Futon: wind stream. Instead of being a raging torrent of air that proceeded out of Naruto's mouth, a small stream, more powerful than a hairdryer, but not as strong as a leaf blower was blown from Naruto's mouth. He blew himself down, then gently blew down Riku.

"Thanks," Riku said when Naruto finished blowing.

"Don't mention it," Naruto responded while looking at her. Riku's hair was thoroughly messed up, but instead of freaking out, she drew out a sealing scroll, and summoned a comb.

"It pays to be prepared," Riku said with a slight blush when she noticed Naruto was curiously looking at her.

"True," Naruto mused as he started doing some push ups.

Back at the house, Sai had already done his healing session with Sasuke, and was currently training with Sakura while Sasuke rested. Sai dodged under a kick that that Sakura sent at him, but he wasn't given any time to recover when Sakura sent punches and kicks his way. Sai dodge all of the attacks, and jumped back to get some room. The duo were in the clearing in the woods, and had been at this for ten minutes. Although she was still rather weak, Sai noticed how much stronger Sakura had gotten, and how much she drove herself to be strong.

Sai was getting rather bored of the spar and wanted to end it quickly so he could go back to painting, he rushed at Sakura with his ninja-to drawn. He was twenty feet from Sakura when the girl cried out: Doton: earth wall jutsu!

A wall of dirt and rocks burst from the ground fifteen feet in front of Sai. The pale faced boy kept running, but before he could jump over the wall, Sakura punched it.

In the blink of an eye, after Sakura punched the wall, several segments appeared in the wall, before they were blown towards Sai at alarming speeds. Because of how close he was to the wall, Sai was hard pressed to dodge all of the segments. Six of them were sent his way, he jumped over the first one, sidestepped the next two, then ducked under the fourth, dodged the fifth, but was hit by the sixth.

The stone hit him square in the chest, and knocked him back ten feet. When he got up, Sakura noticed that Sai actually had a noticeable grimace on his face.

I hit him!

Sai looked at Sakura with his fake smile quickly replacing the grimace, "Sakura-san, I do not think it wise to continue our spar, I must commend you though, that is an interesting jutsu," Sai said as he started healing his chest.

"Thank you Sai, but I really think I got lucky with that last jutsu," Sakura commented as they exited the clearing.

"You ought not put yourself down," Sai said, remembering something Danzo told him, "Only berate yourself if you truly deserved it, or you failed.

You have gotten stronger over the mission, but you still have ways to go before the chuunin exams in a couple months."

"Thanks Sai," Sakura said as they walked at a leisurely pace.

"I have to ask though," Sai started, "why are you training so hard all of a sudden?"

Sakura slightly paused before she continued walking, "I'm doing it so I can impress someone," Sakura said quietly.

Sai nodded his head in understanding, but didn't say anything else till they got to the house. they entered through the front door, Tsunami was busying herself cleaning up the house, Inari was brooding on the couch, while Sasuke was 'sleeping' upstairs.

"Hi Tsunami-san, is Sasuke-kun asleep?" Sakura asked.

"He should be," Tsunami said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "He keeps playing those pointless games, they're such a waste of time. I hope Inari doesn't play them when he gets older."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement, and walked upstairs to check on Sasuke. Sasuke was lying on his bed, but he wasn't asleep, and he wasn't playing his Vita.

"Hello Sasuke-kun!" Sakura chirped when she entered the room.

"Hi," Sasuke said apathetically.

"Are you ok?" Sakura asked.

"Yah, I'm just tired," Sasuke said.

"Ok," Sakura said as she pulled up the chair next to his bed.

"Are you sore?"

"A bit," was Sasuke's blunt reply.

"I was training with Sai, and I got him to call off the spar before one of us was seriously hurt," Sakura said proudly.

Sasuke looked at her with a raised eyebrow, neither he nor Naruto really knew of Sai's full power, and yet sakura had at least drawn with him in a spar, "Good job," Sasuke said.

Sakura beamed at Sasuke's praise, and she desperately wanted to continue talking to him, but Tsunami called from downstairs asking for help in preparing dinner.

"See you at supper," Sakura said as she exited the room.

At the bridge, Naruto and Riku were having a pretty swell time. They told stories, jokes, and basically talked about themselves.

"Then he goes, 'did you hear about the newest pirate movie, its rated aaaarrrrrggghhh!" Riku said while laughing.

Naruto burst out laughing from the bad joke, "That's terrible," he choked out in between laughs. "Ok you two, its time to head back to the house," Hana said. The sun was starting to set, Tazuna had put away most of the tools, Cat was around the bridge somewhere, and everybody was hungry.

Despite being rather happy nothing happened on the bridge today, everyone was slightly nervous about tomorrow, if Gato was going to strike it was going to be on Friday.

I should try to finish the rasengan, Naruto mused as the group walked back to the house.

You know, your father meant to add his chakra element to the rasengan, but I attacked before he could finish.

What would happen if I added my element, or if Sasuke added his element?

Most likely you would create some sort of wind rasengan, while Sasuke would create some sort of flaming rasengan, which sounds epic.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the demon, the fox was a bonified pyromaniac, and greatly enjoyed anything fire related, a fire rasengan does sound pretty sick though…

Riku was going to talk to Naruto, but she noticed how deep in though he was, and how his eyes took on a slightly redder hue, I wonder if he can talk to the fox?

They arrived at the house just as soon as Tsunami and Sakura finished setting the table.

"Hi Dad," Tsunami said when they entered the house. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and turned to everyone else, "Hello everyone, go get cleaned up so we can eat." Nobody had to be told twice to get cleaned up, after about five minutes everyone was seated at the table (except for Cat) and were hungrily digging into their meals.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said as he swallowed some rice, "What did you do today?"

"Nothing much, Sai did this weird thing to my chest, and it hurt like hell," Sasuke replied, "How was it at the bridge?"

"It would have been really boring if Riku wasn't there," Naruto said, Riku was deep in a conversation with Sakura about training, and didn't notice Naruto talking about her, "I also finished the first stage of 'big ball'," Naruto said with a smirk. Sasuke gagged on his rice, he's already done with the first stage!

"I watched what you were doing wrong when you first started training, and learned from your mistakes," Naruto said, "from some weird reason, the jutsu just seems to come naturally to me."

"Your dad DID create the jutsu," Sasuke mused.

"true, I'm still in awe about how powerful it is," Naruto said.

"I would hate to be on the receiving end of it," Sasuke said.

"Well lucky for us, we're the only one in the world who know the jutsu," Naruto stated.

Sasuke let out a small laugh, "Hopefully we'll never have to use it on each other."

"Yah, that would suck."

That night, after everyone else had gone to bed, Naruto was preparing himself to go train on the Rasengan. He had 'borrowed' a bouncy ball from Inari, and was getting his gear ready to go train. He was tiptoeing towards the door to the bedroom, when a stupid floorboard gave an obscenely loud creak, Damnit!

Naruto heard some stirring from the side of the room where Riku slept; from his experiences with her, Naruto had deduced that Riku was a rather light sleeper. Go back to sleep! Go back to sleep! Go back to sleep!

"N-Naruto, what are you doing up?" Riku asked groggily.

Crap, "I'm going to meditate," Naruto lied.

"You know you're a terrible liar," Riku said as she glared at him in the dark.

"I always seem to convince people even if it's a lie, as I recall, I lied to you earlier a couple days ago," Naruto said with a small smirk. Riku was slightly peeved at being lied to but continued on anyway, "I knew you went out with Sasuke instead of meditating." Before Naruto could ask how she knew, Riku stated, "you talk a lot in your sleep."

"Oh," Naruto said rather lamely which caused Riku to giggle. Their conversation had caused Sasuke to be slightly roused in his sleep, "Naruto sucks, don't talk to him anymore Hinata-chan," Sasuke said in between snores.

Sasuke's sleep talking caused Riku to giggle even more while Naruto mused aloud, "I'll have to ask him about his dream later." Naruto started walking towards the door, but Riku interrupted him again, "So are you going training?"

"Yah, I'm only going to be gone a few hours," Naruto said as he turned to face the brunette.

"Stay safe," Riku said quietly, "and make sure you come back before sunrise," Riku said teasingly.

Naruto slightly blushed and asked, "so you know that I hit my head?"

"Yah, you kept muttering something about stupid trees and dumb headaches, so it was pretty easy to figure out what happened."

Naruto gave a small laugh, "See you in a couple hours Riku-chan."

Riku blushed when Naruto called her Riku-chan, "bye Naruto-kun."

Back in Konoha

It was Friday morning. Hiruzen was on his was on his way to the end of the week council meeting. He stood outside the doors to the council room, the old man took a deep breath, I'm getting to old for this…

He flung open the doors, and confidently strode into the room. All of the clan heads were there, quietly discussing matters among themselves, and the civilian council members were loudly discussing matters among themselves.

Everyone quieted down when the Hokage entered the room, Hiruzen took his seat facing everyone on one side sat Homura, and on the other side sat Koharu, Danzo was conveniently absent.

"Good morning everybody," Sarutobi said.

"Good morning Hokage-sama," everyone in the room said.

"I hereby commence this meeting," Sarutobi said as he hit his desk with the hammer thing that judges use. As soon as he started the meeting, the civilian council was in an uproar.

"Why are genin on an A-rank mission?"

"What happens if the Namikaze and Uchiha heirs are killed?"

"Why has no backup been sent?"

These questions and many others were yelled out in a short period of time. Sarutobi sighed in annoyance, this is exactly what I don't need right now.

"Silence," Sarutobi said and he backed it up with some killer intent. This shut the civilian side right up, but not everybody.

"Hokage-sama, is it wise to allow such important assets to the village to continue on such a dangerous mission?" Councilwomen Misaki Miyu asked.

"The genin are all under the command of Hana Inuzaka, I think they are in good hands," Sarutobi stated.

"But Hokage-sama…"

"Are you implying that Tsume's daughter's leadership is not good enough?" Sarutobi rhetorically stated. Tsume slightly growled at the councilwomen.

"An ANBU has been dispatched to help in the mission," Sarutobi said, one of Danzo's root nin.

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi started, "You dispatched an ANBU?" he asked incredulously.

"To be precise Inoichi, I did not send an ANBU, it is one of Danzo's Root nin, but he is assisting the miss Inuzaka and the genin."

"Is it wise to let the chuunin and genin stay with one of Danzo's men?" Hiashi asked.

"From what I could gather from the letter Hana sent, they don't even know he's not a village ANBU, as soon as they return to the village the Root nin will be apprehended," Sarutobi said.

"And why would you apprehend the Root nin?" Takahiro Takumi asked.

"For impersonating a Konoha ANBU," Hiruzen said, "Hopefully we can get some solid evidence on Danzo, and force him to shut down Root."

Danzo had been in control of the Root for many years now, but no matter all of the effort Hiruzen put into finding solid evidence, everything came up empty. Sarutobi used his most trusted jonin, which included Kakashi and his own son Asuma, on raids and interrogation on various places in the village. Once they actually captured a Root nin, but when they went to interrogate him, he started convulsing, and he died right in the interrogation room, it was later determined that the ninja had seals on his heart that stopped his heart when he started talking about Danzo. If they caught this nin, they would detain him until the seal master Jiraiya cold disable all of his seals.

"Hokage-sama, why don't you let the Root nin operate as normal nin under Danzo's control," Takahiro suggested.

"Absolutely not," Hiruzen said vehemently, "who knows what Danzo would do if he was allowed to operate in the open."

"What I don't understand is, why are they continuing the mission," Sayuka Haruno stated.

"I thought over the matter a great deal," Sarutobi started, "I came to the conclusion that your daughter and the other genin were in good hands, and that this mission would open their eyes to goes on outside of the gates of Konoha. Is their anything else to discuss?" Sarutobi asked getting rather bored of the current subject.

"Hokage-sama," One particularly fat councilman began, "Denizens in sector…"

But Hiruzen wasn't really paying attention.

I need a vacation…


hope you all enjoyed, i'll try to have the other chapter up in about a week and a half, please review it really means alot to me, friend me on psn: rychussnik

if you havent already, check out playstion vita