Review. Please. If I don't get… twenty more reviews I won't update. Not really. But that works for other authors. I just can't do that. I like writing too much. I'd like to, but review anyway and I'll update anyway. Still, I like feedback and pretending I got a lot of emails. So. Yeah… Now to the stuff that is far more important than my rambling… (14 days left of school! Summer is nigh!) Yay! 124 people on Story Alert!
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"What happened?" Sakura asked, frightened, but she managed to stare accusingly at her crush.
"I didn't… she just fainted." Sasuke said, stuttering slightly.
Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder to assure him. "It's no one's fault. Come on, she's just fainted." He made a shadow clone and sent it to get a cold cloth.
"What do we do?" Sasuke asked, panicking.
"She's fine, we just need to wait for her to wake up, calm down." Kakashi told him, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder but the Uchiha shrugged him off, glaring at him.
"Can't we do anything? Don't we need, ice, or water, or do we need to slap her cheeks? Should we get smelling salts? Do you know where there's a medic nin? Was she hurt? Why'd she faint? Is she-"
"Sasuke, I can tell you're worried because that's the most I've ever hurt you say of your own free will, but she's going to be fine. Just sit down." Kakashi said.
Sasuke's Sharingan eyes flashed, but he was actually reassured. However, he sat down right next to Naruto, and proceeded to move her arms and legs out of the awkward positions they were in.
"Don't move her head." Sakura advised him.
Sasuke looked up at her, his eyes questioning, and said, "Hn?"
"My mom faints all the time, whenever she's worried about my dad or eaten something that gives her heartburn. She has extremely low blood sugar… and kinda likes the attention. But you're not supposed to move their head." Sakura explained.
Sasuke began, "Naruto-chan wouldn't do this for-"
"…the attention." Sakura finished. "I know. I know we're not the best of friends, Sasuke-kun, but Naruto-chan is my teammate. I know something must have spooked her."
They both looked at each other for a long moment with questioning eyes, since neither one of them could figure out exactly what it was that had spooked her.
"Sensei…?" Sakura asked, connecting her eyes with Kakashi's only visible eye.
Kakashi took a deep breath, and his clone came back with the damp cloth. Stalling, he placed the cloth on Naruto's forehead, and gently moved her braid so that it was draping over her shoulder. "Naruto…" He began, but he stopped himself. Some kind of moral dilemma was obviously playing about in his head, and he appeared to struggle with it for a long moment.
The deciding factor seemed to come when his eye once again came down on Naruto's still form, and he nodded to himself. "Do not mention the traitor Mizuki to Naruto's face ever again." He said.
The other two genin started, Sasuke's eyes widening, and Sakura gasping as she brought her hand up to her mouth.
"Wh… what…?" Sakura stuttered.
"Mizuki Touji betrayed the village. He committed several crimes that did not reveal themselves until he defected from the village, attempting to steal a valuable scroll from the Hokage." Kakashi said.
"He did?" Sakura wondered.
"What does that have to do with Naruto-chan?"
"He used Naruto-chan to take the scroll. She was the one who took the scroll from the Hokage's chamber, he met her later in the forest and attempted to take the scroll by force and kill her." Kakashi sighed. "He used severe manipulation to get her to do that, since he knew she was the only one who could. Naruto was friends with the Hokage, and she frequently went to the tower to visit him. Besides that… The name of that man is taboo on our squad." He decided.
"But that wouldn't…" Sakura began, but she stopped.
Sasuke, however, finished what she was saying. "Naruto-chan wasn't upset when we fought that other ninja, and it didn't bother her enough to make her faint. Naruto-chan wouldn't faint at the name 'Jirobo' why would she faint at our old teachers?"
"He raped her." Kakashi said bluntly.
There was no noise in the clearing for a long time. Sakura sat back on her knees and stared into space with a terrified expression. Sasuke's hair fell over his face, and it was impossible for you to see anything.
"And his name is never to be mentioned here again, and if it slips there will be severe punishment, understand?" Kakashi asked them.
"Ye… yes." Sakura stuttered, dropping her head into her hands.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi pressed, staring down at his raven-haired student who didn't say a word.
"I need to go." Sasuke said. He stood up abruptly and ran in the opposite direction, disappearing at once into the trees as Sakura watched him go with large eyes.
"Sasuke?" She called after him softly, but her eyes connected momentarily with her sensei, and Kakashi shook his head to stop her from chasing after the Uchiha. "Why is he leaving?"
"Likely to destroy something." Kakashi answered her.
And the copy-ninja was proven correct when a large 'bang' and a giant fireball appeared somewhere far in the distance.
Naruto's eyes blinked open, and the harsh sunlight made her squint. She lifted a hand to her face to block out the light with her fingers, and she saw two blobs, one gray and one pink, bob their heads.
"She's awake." The gray blob informed the pink blob.
"Naruto-chan, how are you feeling?" The pink blob asked her, a beige arm reaching down, removing a cool cloth from Naruto's forehead.
"Fine, blobs, how are you?" Naruto mumbled, closing her eyes to block out the sun.
Kakashi blinked, scratching the back of his gray mane in confusion. "Did she just call us 'blobs'?"
Sakura shook her head and her pink hair flew about her face. "She's disoriented after her faint, she should be coming around soon."
"Sheeee'll be coooming rooouuund the mooouuuntains wheeeen she cooooomes." Naruto sang, "She'll be coooming rooouund the moouuntains wheeen she cooomes, she'll be coooming rooouund the mountain, she'll be cooooming rooound the moouutain, she'll be coming rooound the moountain when she cooooooooomes."
"Oookay. How many fingers am I holding up?" Kakashi asked, waving his hand in front of her face.
"Four." Naruto replied. "One's a thumb."
Sakura held out her arm in front of Naruto, and Naruto grabbed it. The pink-haired girl pulled her friend up to a sitting position, and Naruto tucked her feet under her legs. "What happened? Did I get hit?" Naruto asked.
"You fainted." The copy-ninja informed her.
"Oh." Naruto said, blushing.
"Who knew you had crazy blood pressure, eh?" Sakura smiled.
"I don't…" Naruto began, but she stopped, catching sight of Sakura's face. "Were you crying Sakura-drone?"
"No." Sakura said quickly, bringing up her elbow to cover her eyes. She stood up quickly, turning around so fast that the flap of her dress nearly slapped Naruto in the face. "I have to go, see you tomorrow, sensei!" Sakura yelled, running away while lifting one hand over her shoulder to wave goodbye.
"Bye…?" Naruto wondered. She looked over at Kakashi, confused. "What's up with Sakura-chan? And where's Sasuke-kun?"
"I told them."
Naruto, instead of screaming or jumping up in terror, simply looked away from him, focusing her gaze on a tree. "You did?" She asked.
"Just enough to tell them the traitor's name was taboo. Not about Saru, or the kitsune." Kakashi informed her. "And I think Sasuke-kun burned down half of the forest." He sighed, standing up. He looked over at a long trail of smoke to the east of the training grounds, and he sighed. "If he keeps this up, it'll spread and there won't be enough for the exams…"
"Exams?" Naruto wondered.
Kakashi waved his arm dismissively. "It's nothing to worry about." He said. "We'll meet here at the normal time tomorrow, and go back to missions 'till Thursday when we'll try the tree climbing exercise again, how's that sound?"
"Fine…" Naruto said warily.
"How about you calm down, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked.
"What?" Naruto stood up, yelling, "You just said he burned down half a forest!"
"Did I?" Kakashi wondered. "Hm… I guess I did. But I have something important to do…"
"Read porn?" Naruto guessed vehemently.
"Not everything I do is related to porn, Naru-chan." Kakashi pouted, while Naruto fumed at the nickname. "But…" The copy-ninja admitted, "Yes. Porn. Ja ne!" He brought two fingers up to his nose and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving an indiginant and slightly confused Naruto behind him.
"You'll never get a girlfriend, sensei!" Naruto yelled into thin air. However, she could faintly hear someone call back, saying something along the lines of You'd be surprised.
Naruto shook her head to clear it of whatever dizziness was left from her faint, and she stomped off to meet the enraged avenger, angry that calming the Uchiha was her duty, even after she'd just fainted. Although, her fainting might be the cause of the entire fiasco… She sighed. How's Sasuke going to react…? Oh Kami… I hate you, sensei.
"Sasuke-kun?" Naruto whispered.
Currently in the act of sweating profusely in a clearing, surrounded by a ring of fire, as he threw hundreds of kunai simultaneously at a misshapen tree-target that looked, if you squinted, sort of like a grown man, Sasuke tripped when he heard Naruto's voice, fell ungracefully on his back, and let go of the kunai straight up in the air, so he would have been impaled if not for an orange blur that grabbed him and pulled him out of the way, slamming their backs against a tree to survive the Armageddon of sharp weapons.
Sasuke breathed heavily, and he stared at his savior with large, Sharingan eyes. "Naruto-chan…?" He said softly.
"Hi." Naruto said shyly, blushing profusely. Her demeanor changed immediately as the ocean-blue and Sharingan-red eyes connected, and she stared at him, horrified. "Are you crying?" Naruto gasped.
"No!" Sasuke yelled, turning his face away so he was facing the tree, his skin scraping against the bark in his embarrassment.
"Sasuke…" Naruto said, calmly, brushing her hand against his cheek, but he pulled away from her touch. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, and it's a deal better than blowing up a forest." She grinned softly.
How about doing it and blowing up a forest? Sasuke thought cynically, but he merely said, "Hn."
"Hn." Naruto replied. "Now turn around and let me fix you up or even your fangirls won't recognize you."
"Good." Sasuke mumbled, burying his face even further into the bark. "Go away."
Naruto frowned. "Well, then, Lord Uchiha, I'll just leave you to mope around in self-pity and leave you to destroy public property." She growled. Naruto turned away sharply; stepping away from him, but Sasuke lunged out and grabbed her wrist, forcing her to halt.
"I didn't…" He said, but he stopped, realizing how sweaty his hand was against her cool skin and he blushed.
"Come on, don't act like an idiot." Naruto grumbled.
"What?" Sasuke asked, staring at the back of her head since she didn't turn around to face him.
"You don't want me around now, don't you?" Naruto spat out, trying her hardest not to shake. "You don't care about… Now that you know how I've lost my… How could you like me? How stupid was I, huh? I had you falling in love with me and I just faint, losing it all?" A tear rolled off her cheek, and she did her best to look nonchalant as she wiped it off with her free hand, but she was unsuccessful.
Sasuke's heart commanded action over his body. Before he knew what he was doing, he spun Naruto around with his grip on her wrist, and once her teary face was in front of his he let go of his wrist, both hands blotched the side of her face, and he jammed his lips against hers.
Confused for a moment, Naruto took a long time to process that Sasuke was kissing her, and she took so long to react that his lips had already abandoned hers by the time she wondered whether she should kiss him back.
Sasuke's hands gently abandoned their grip on the sides of her cheeks, and he sighed for a long moment, before he snapped backward, panic adorning his features. "I'm sorry!" He blurted out, bringing his hands up to his face to cover himself. He groaned loudly, and collapsed to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, kneeling down next to his comatose form. Did my lips kill him or something? She wondered.
Sasuke merely groaned louder, clutching blades of grass that had survived his rage, successfully ripping them out of the ground.
"Hey." Naruto said softly, gently rubbing his back like she did whenever Saru got a stomach ache. "It's okay, whatever happened-"
"I shouldn't have kissed you when you just fainted after only hearing that monsters name! Gragh!" Sasuke screamed, muffling his voice with the earth.
Naruto blinked for a moment, something very sweet and tender immediately popping into her head, but she shook her head. For a long moment, she debated whether to say what was on her mind, but then she took a long glance at Sasuke, and she burst into giggles, trying as hard as she could to suppress her full blown laughter.
"Are you…" Sasuke said, shocked. He lifted his face from the earth to confirm that Naruto was indeed rolling over on the floor next to him, giggling at him. "It's not funny! What he did isn't-"
"Kami! Sasuke-kun! You looked so…!" Naruto giggled. After a long hesitation, she calmed herself down enough to say, "You are the Lord of Angst." But then she collapsed back into giggles at the scandalized look on his face.
"Lord of… Naruto-chan! You need to be more serious! This isn't-"
"Rolling around in the dirt! Ha!"
"Are you snorting?"
"The proud, phlegmatic Uchiha-san!"
"Naruto-kun, do you realize how inappropriate this is-"
"Sasuke-kun in the dirt!"
"-for this situation! You shouldn't be-"
"You!"
"-laughing-"
"Are!"
"-like that…"
"So!"
"Naruto…"
"Goofy!"
Sasuke's forehead twitched. Did she just call me goofy? "Dobe." He growled.
"Teme!" Naruto giggled.
"…You snort when you laugh."
Naruto pouted, crossing her arms. "So?"
Sasuke blushed. "It's cute." He informed her.
"Did you notice I used the word 'phlegmatic'?" Naruto asked shyly.
"It's an accomplishment for you, isn't it?" Sasuke guessed.
Naruto rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Well, Shikamaru said you were 'phlegmatic' on the trip… and I looked it up, and then I vowed to use it in a sentence like Iruka-sensei used to assign for homework… and I did!"
"Congratulations." Sasuke whispered, leaning closer to her.
"Uh…" Naruto stared into his onyx eyes. "Thanks, Sa…"
Sasuke silenced her by capturing his lips with hers for the second time that day. He cupped her chin with one of his hands, and used that momentum to slowly pull her lips against his.
Naruto's eyes fluttered, and she leaned closer against his lips, blushing with pleasure as she felt the hot breath from his nose cause stray hands out of her braid to gently tickle her face.
Sasuke, again, jumped back from their intimate contact, horror crossing his features. "I… I… can't b… believe I… twice…" Sasuke stuttered.
"Sasuke, I'm not going to faint." Naruto assured him.
"You're not?" Sasuke blinked at her. "Well…. I…" He struggled to find something to say, and settled for, "Okay."
"Okay?" Naruto repeated.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Good. Now that you're sufficiently calmed down, Kakashi canceled practice for today. Missions tomorrow. Bye, Sasuke-kun!" She said, standing up quickly.
"But… that… I just kissed you and that's all you're going to say!" Sasuke yelled, glaring at her.
Naruto shrugged. "Well, three kisses aren't enough to make me fall in love with you." She informed him in a sing-song voice.
"What is?" Sasuke asked, exasperated.
Naruto shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"
"It's your heart I'm trying to win."
"My head, too." She grinned. "There may not be much in it intellectually, but you'll have to convince me that it's a good idea to fall in love with you before I'll manage."
"And how do I do that?" Sasuke asked.
"Follow your heart." Naruto said, repeating the advice Iruka had given her earlier.
Sasuke glared at her, obviously not understanding, just like Naruto hadn't understood until only a minute ago.
"See you tomorrow!" Naruto called out, waving as she ran away, her braid dancing behind her as her soft footsteps carried her figure out of sight.
Sasuke watched her until she was gone, and then lay back, sighing, on the ground, not carrying about the ash that was currently rubbing into his hair.
Naruto lay back on the stool, content. Allowing herself a moment of reverie, she scrutinized her teammates as their sensei waited for the bill. They were sitting at Ichiruki's, having previously consumed, two bowls for Sasuke, a bowl for Sakura, three bowls for Kakashi, and a grand total of six-and-a-half bowls for Naruto, which had left Kakashi groaning beside her at the anticipated dent in his wallet, Sakura bug-eyed as she contemplated how on earth the orange-clad girl had managed to cause Sasuke to fall head-over-heels for her, and Sasuke smirking at her, while inwardly groaning as he imagined the incredible amount of maintenance Naruto would require if he ever did manage to win her over.
For the past three weeks, her team had been doing D-rank missions, while Naruto and Sasuke worked to master the tree-climbing exercise, both managing in a very short time since they were silently competing with each other in an effort to impress the other, and Sakura mastered water-walking. Sasuke had been showing up to their meetings early, occasionally putting a random flower in Naruto's hair, that he had obtained from who-knows-where, since no rumors of Sasuke buying flowers anywhere had showed up. Their talks had evolved into a continuous flirtatious banter, although Naruto had refused to allow him to kiss her again.
Naruto and Sakura's relationship had progressed into something slightly passable to friends. Sakura was still bitter over the loss of Sasuke, but she appeared to have warmed up to her. Naruto had the faintest suspicion that Kakashi had had a long talk with Sakura about the subject, however.
Saru's tail had grown to three inches long, and Naruto had grown into the habit of shaving his neck and ears during the three-year-old's baths, while he was occupied with attacking every bubble he could find with a ninja figurine. The child retained his cheery quality, and he was so sweet and kind, except apparently, at the day care where he was terrorizing the children and the helpers by hugging everyone and attempting to eat everything that relatively resembled food, even if it was plastic.
Kakashi had not changed at all. He was the same, perverted, late, and ignorant sensei as ever.
Which was why it was not out of character for him, upon receiving the bill, to stuff in enough money to pay for his and Sakura's meals, hand the rest to Sasuke, and then announce, out of the blue, that, "Tomorrow's the Chuunin Exams. I think you're ready, all you need to do it sign this and hand it to the ninja at the front of the Hokage Building."
"What?" Sakura screamed, staring at their sensei.
"What?" Sasuke yelled, seeing the bill.
"Ramen…" Naruto sighed, still in a blissful, ramen-induced state. Then she caught on. "Wait… exams? Chuunin? Huh?"
"Oh, you don't need to worry yet. They're on Friday." Kakashi informed them.
"Tomorrow's Thursday." Sakura informed him.
"Ah." Kakashi thought for a moment, and then said, "Well then. I suppose I gave you a day to train for it."
"A day?" Naruto yelled. "Sensei! How could you?"
"I got distracted." Kakashi shrugged. He pulled out three crumpled sheets of paper from his jacket and set them down in front of him, leaving his students to reach around him and take one.
"Why do I get the bill?" Sasuke asked, nonchalantly trying to steal his sensei's wallet.
Kakashi held his wallet over his head, and replied, "Because you have to pay for Naruto-chan and your date."
"We're not on a date, you and Sakura are here." Sasuke growled.
"You're sitting next to each other, aren't you?" Kakashi reminded him. "It's a date. Accept it."
"Whose a date?" Naruto asked, looking up from the form she was going to have to fill out.
"Nothing." Kakashi said as Sasuke glared at him. "Friday at ten you all should be at the Hokage Building, just follow the signs we set up earlier for our D-rank mission."
Sasuke frowned. "I don't remember setting up signs."
"Oh." The copy-ninja realized. "I guess we forgot that one." He shrugged it off, "Doesn't matter. Everyone will find the room eventually."
"Brilliant, sensei." Sakura rolled her eyes.
Kakashi nodded, "Aren't I?"
Sasuke left, after a cheery good-bye to Naruto and a halfhearted attempt to kiss her hand that was not done in any attempt to woo her, but an attempt at humor which left Sakura foaming out the mouth.
"Hey, Pudgy-chan, can we talk?" Sakura asked after Sasuke had left.
"Sure." Naruto said cautiously. "There is something I want to ask you."
"'K." Sakura said. "Why don't we just walk?" She started heading down a random road, not giving Naruto a chance to approve or negate her offer, but Naruto didn't mind. "I wanted to ask you about Sasuke-kun."
Naruto froze, her hand still in the air from where she'd been using it to wave good-be to Ayame, who worked at Ichiruki's. "What about him?"
"Well…" Sakura blushed, "Are you going to go on a date with him?"
"I don't know." Naruto answered truthfully.
"What?" Sakura yelled, grabbing Naruto by the shoulders and staring into her eyes. "Naruto! You like Sasuke a lot, I can see that! If you don't encourage him soon, he's going to give up on you, and he'll have any shoulder he wants to cry on, don't you understand?"
Naruto stared back in confusion. "Sasuke-kun has only two shoulders…"
"I meant girls! He can have any girl he wants to comfort him after your breakup!" Sakura clarified.
"We're not dating." Naruto reminded her.
"Exactly!"
"I'm confused." Naruto frowned.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard to understand, Naruto-chan. If you don't encourage Sasuke-kun, someone else is going to snap him up and-"
"Hey! Stop!" Sakura and Naruto froze, neither one of them uttering that cry.
They sprang into action, running the rest of the length of the road and taking a sharp turn, stumbling across an interesting sight. A strange person, wearing make-up and a strange black outfit, carrying an obscure object on his back, and wearing a headband with a symbol Naruto recognized but couldn't place, was holding a young boy with a long, white scarf by his collar, and the boy was hovering a few inches off the ground. Due to the young boy's kicking, screaming, red-face, and cried of 'Put me down, you jerk!', both Naruto and Sakura concluded that the boy was not happy in his current position.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked.
"That's Konohamaru." Sakura whispered into Naruto's ear.
"Who?" Naruto asked her.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "The honorable grandson of the Hokage!" She informed her in a furious hiss.
"No need to but my ear off." Naruto pouted.
"No need to be stupid." Sakura retorted.
"Hey! I don't need help! Especially from girls!" Konohmaru hollered.
Naruto glared at him, placing her left hand on her hip and waving the other hand around in a pose so similar to Konohamaru's own mother that the young boy paled. "What is different about girls?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone. Naruto abandoned her pose without meaning to, when one hand subconsciously abandoned his position to cover her stomach.
"N…Nothing…" Konohamaru said, not afraid of Naruto, but of her pink-haired companion who was currently glaring daggers at him while cracking her knuckles.
"Listen, I'm just gunna treat this little kid a lesson, and then the two of you can fight over me, 'k?" The make-up wearing ninja said smugly, "Guess you've heard of Kankuro of the Sand Village, huh? My fame precedes me."
"Who's 'Kankuro of the Sand Village'?" Naruto asked blankly.
"He's referring to himself, you idiot!" Sakura chided her.
"Oh. Ooops." Naruto blushed, but it disappeared quickly. "We're not fighting over a gay guy!"
"Gay?" Kankuro repeated, blinking.
"Duh. Why else are you wearing make-up?" Naruto caught sight of Kankuro's furious expression, and she apologized, saying, "Sorry. Are you a lesbian? Still, not interested."
"I'm a guy! I'm not gay! Sheesh!" Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, and furiously set his strange backpack on the ground, biting his lip, and then shouting, "This is war paint!"
"Right. Still in denial, I see." Naruto smirked.
"Kage B-"
"Crow I-"
"Stop."
"-unshin…?"
Kankuro didn't turn around, but he let his strange backpack fall to the ground, and he stared at a random point in front of him, terror donning his features. "Gaara-san…?" He whispered.
Naruto's hand subconsciously tightened on her stomach.
Hanging upside-down, covered by the shade of a tree, a red-haired ninja in desert clothing glared at Kankuro. The make-up wearing boy shivered in terror as he stared at his younger. "I was just-" Kankuro began to explain, but he was silenced by a slight grunt from the red-head.
"I told you not to mess with the kid, Kan-kun." A blonde girl with four pony-tails sticking out of her head and a giant fan at her side said, sticking her tongue out.
"Temari nee-chan! I was just-"
Gaara's teal eyes shifted to the blonde. "You did not deter him from his course of action, Temari, you are as guilty as Kankuro. Baki will be informed that you ignored his orders." Gaara informed them. Then, the impassive red-head visibly started. He glanced down at his hand, which was currently over his stomach.
His gaze snapped to Naruto, who returned the gaze. Calculating teal eyes and confused blue eyes met. Gaara's eyes flashed white and Naruto's red. Neither backed down from the tense, gaze, and Kankuro, Temari, and Sakura stared, bewildered, at the exchange between the two as Konohamaru attempted to crawl away from the conflict he'd created.
"Who are you?" Gaara asked.
"Who's asking?" Naruto replied.
Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm, frightened at the sudden burst of killer intent coming from the red-head, and she yelled, "I'm Sakura Haruno and this is Naruto Uzumaki, pleased to make your acquaintance, we'll be escorting the honorable grandson far, far away, bye, hope to see you soon!" She breathed out, nearly faster than anyone could catch. She tugged on Naruto's arm, and the orange-clad obediently followed, although she didn't relent her gaze with the red-haired ninja.
Gaara didn't say a word, and he didn't move anything but his eyes as Sakura dragged Naruto over to Konohamaru, where she picked the young boy up by his scarf and then proceeded to drag the two out of sight.
What was that? Temari wondered, but she didn't say it out loud. She had learned long ago, that in the case of her younger brother, the best thing to do was ignore him and not ask questions.
"What was with that?" Sakura hissed, still holding onto Konohmaru's collar even though the young boy was whimpering and crying.
"Strong lady, please, let me go, I didn't-"
"What was what?" Naruto asked.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "You were ogling that red-head from Suna! No offense, but you have Sasuke-kun eating out of your hand right now, and that red-head was the creepiest thing I've ever seen." She looked back to make sure the Suna nin weren't following them, and then tugged on Konohamaru's collar, making her way to the Hokage building, where she was going to drop off the trouble making nine year old.
"Don't hurt the kid, I got him." Naruto told her, ignoring the question. Konohamaru tried to make a dash for it when Sakura let go of him, but Naruto scooping him up in her arms and draped him over her shoulder.
"Hey! I'm nine years old! You can't do this to me!"
"Yes, I can." Naruto said in a final tone. "And I don't like that Suna nin, Sakura-chan, but it was like… de'ja vu. I know I've seen him before… or something. And it's not like I don't like Sasuke-kun."
"Wow, that's all you can say? It's not like I don't like him? What kind of confession is that? I've seen the way you blush when you're around him, and I've heard you two flirt, so don't act like it's nothing." Sakura growled.
Naruto sighed. "Yeah."
"Wait, Sasuke Uchiha, Sasuke?" Konohamaru asked.
"Be quiet, annoying little child." Sakura hissed, cracking her knuckles.
"I will be quiet." Konohamaru agreed.
"Well, I'm just not sure I should have a relationship like that now. When we're thirteen." Naruto explained.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "We live in a ninja village, we are ninjas. Our average life expectancy is twenty-four years old. Your life is over half done." She reminded the blonde.
"I will not die that early! I'm going to become the greatest ninja there ever was! And you better believe it!" Naruto yelled.
"Sheesh! Keep your voice down, you're attracting a crowd!" Sakura reminded her.
The orange-clad ninja shook her head. "Nah. The fact that it looks like we're kidnapping the Hokage's grandson is what's drawing the crowd."
"Can I speak yet?" Konohamaru asked.
"No." Sakura said.
"Yes." Naruto said. Sakura glared sharply at her, but she rolled her eyes and said, "Just let the kid speak, Sakura."
"Thank you! What are your names? I'm Konohamaru! I'm gunna be Hokage." Konohamaru boasted, waving his arms around exuberantly, or as best as he could since Naruto was still carrying him over her shoulder.
"Going to be Hokage." Naruto corrected.
"You're not my mom!" Konohamaru pouted.
"Say it." She demanded.
"I'm going to be Hokage." He reluctantly admitted.
"Good boy."
"Are you gunna be in the Chuunin Exams?" Konohamaru asked.
"Wow, everyone knew about this but us, huh? Stupid sensei." Sakura growled.
"Yes, we are. We'll be the team that whoops everyone else. Look for us, 'k?" Naruto growled.
"Sure!" Konohamaru promised. "Just don't get eaten in the Forest of Death!"
"What forest?"
"Oh, don't tell anyone I told you that."
"What forest?"
"Can you set me down now?"
"What forest?"
"Oh, look, it's Sasuke Uchiha!"
Naruto turned, her grip slackened, and Konohamaru struggled out. He managed to break out of her grip, and he cheered until gravity came into play and he fell down flat on his face.
"Ha!" Sakura laughed. "You are so, totally enamored with Sasuke-kun! Admit it!"
"No!" Naruto cried out.
The honorable grandson was left to nurse the growing bruise on his face as Naruto ran away, followed closely by a girl who had recently become her friend, and who was attempting to beat her to a pulp to make her admit that she was in love.
