This was originally gonna be a Christmas update for you all. But it would appear I'm late...crap!

Hope you enjoy this story anyway!

Chapter 9

'Thoughts'

(Change in time or space)

"Man, what a day," panted Naruto, as he jogged along the street of his neighborhood. 'That damn fox really wore me out. He had me making clones until afternoon.'

(Flashback)

"Looks like you have the gist of it," said Shippo, relieved, facing 30 Narutos. "You've finally got control of your clones."

"Yeah…it took a while though, asshole!" panted the original Naruto, hands on his knees.

"It took 20 times or so, you know?" asked one of the clones curiously.

"Something like that," said another clone.

"And now it's getting dark out, ain't it?"

"…Ugh…"

Shippo frowned, as the clones poofed away. "Now, before I go, make those whiskers on your face go away. They make you look conspicuous."

Naruto straightened, nodding wearily and focused. As the whiskers on his face vanished, Naruto was relieved to find that there was no queasiness.

Shippo grinned. "Well, we'll continue tomorrow. Be ready." With that, Shippo seemed to fade away with the wind.

Naruto groaned. "That asshole…"

(Flashback End)

Naruto opened the door to his house, looking around. The walls of the kitchen were covered in fresh paint with no aunt or uncle in sight. He sighed, heading over to the counter where a note was left and picked it up.

The note read "Kikuchi Yosai-sama! There's leftover ramen and curry in the fridge, so eat up, gaki!"

Naruto looked up at the sound of yelling. Through the window, he could see Sakura's family arguing and a frustrated Sakura leaving the room.

He sighed, pulling on a dark orange zip-up hoodie with a red spiral on the back. 'Poor Sakura-chan…'

Naruto went out through the back door, carrying a bag of trash and tossing it in one of the bins, doing his best to ignore Sakura's parents yelling. He heard the door to Sakura's house slam shut, and looked up to see Sakura stalk out wearing her usual green jacket over her clothes from before.

"…Sakura?"

"What?" Sakura snapped, then relaxed when she saw it was Naruto who called her name. "Oh, gomen ne, Naruto. Were you listening to that?"

"No," said Naruto, quickly. "Okay, I heard, but I was just taking out the trash."

Sakura looked down. "I guess you can always hear us."

Naruto shrugged, and said, "Everybody shouts, you know. Even Jiraiya-otooji and Tsunade-shukubo yell at each other."

"They do?"

"Yep. Sometimes Tsunade beats up Jiraiya when he goes over the top."

Sakura smiled. "Now I remember. They did that on a picnic our families went to."

"You remember?"

"Of course," Sakura smiled, touching the red ribbon in her hair.

(Seven Years Earlier)

"Come on, Naruto! Its just a little farther!" said a happy Sakura running up a hill. She was wearing a rich green summer dress with white edges that stretched down to her shins and her unbound hair fell to her shoulders.

"I'm coming! And I'm gonna beat you there, believe it, Sakura-chan!" yelled Naruto, scrambling after her. He wore an orange shirt with a red spiral and blue shorts. He stumbled on the grass and fell.

"You okay?"

"Yeah!" Pouting, Naruto pulled a pair of glasses out of his pocket and shoved them on. "I hate having to wear these."

"Well, you only got them a few weeks ago," giggled Sakura, walking over and offering her hand to Naruto.

Naruto took her hand and got up, then took off running for the top of the hill laughing. "Gonna beat you there! Believe it!"

"Hey no fair!" The two reached the top panting, then straightened, grinning at each other.

"Get over here, you two!" called Jiraiya, wearing a pair of olive pants, a white shirt and red vest. "We have ramen for you, Naruto!"

"Woohoo!" The two kids ran happily over to the picnic site where Tsunade, Jiraiya, Sakura's parents and uncle were sitting on a blanket.

Naruto and Sakura took their food and plopped down next to Sakura's uncle. "So, Sasori," asked Sakura's father, a man with reddish-brown hair and green eyes. "I heard you were close to getting your master's degree soon."

"Yes, and I'm still doing bunraku for younger kids," smiled Sasori calmly. "I must admit, I do enjoy doing the shows for audiences though."

Sakura's mother sighed. "It's certainly good to hear." She had a kind face, mid-length pink hair, and brown eyes.

"Aren't you guys going to be moving, though?" asked Sasori, taking a sandwich.

Naruto froze. "You guys are moving?"

Sakura's young face looked sad. "Yeah. In a few weeks actually."

"…"

"Hey, cheer up, gaki!" Jiraiya chuckled, ruffling Naruto's spiky blonde hair. "You'll probably see each other again. Sakura will probably be a hot piece of ass then, too," he chuckled with a perverted look on his face.

Tsunade, wearing a green jacket over a white blouse and blue jeans, punched him hard in the chest. "Hentai!"

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other, depressed, while Jiraiya was whining about the pain.

"…"

(A Few Weeks Later)

"Do you guys really have to leave?" asked Naruto sadly, standing outside Sakura's house in the suburbs. A moving van waited at the sidewalk, along with Sakura's parents.

Sakura nodded. "My parents have to do their jobs somewhere else," she said softly. Her eyes and cheeks were red, and there were tear stains on her cheeks. "I don't want to go."

Naruto's eyes started to get watery, then suddenly he smiled. "Wait right here Sakura-chan!" He then ran into his house, which was across the street. He came back clutching something in his hand.

"Here," Naruto said, handing Sakura a red cloth ribbon.

"What's this?"

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, your hair is always in your face, so nobody really sees how cute you are. So you maybe could use this to keep your hair back. Believe it!"

As her parents drove Sakura away, following the moving van, the two kids sadly waved goodbye to each other.

Sakura stared at Naruto, surprised, then smiled. "Arigatou, Naruto." She hugged a surprised Naruto for a few seconds, then ran over to the moving van.

(Flashback End)

Naruto smiled at the memory. "I remember I used to say "believe it" all the time. It was a pretty stupid phrase, now that I think back."

Sakura grimaced. "Yeah, I used to smack you if you said it too much."

"…Oh, yeah…The ribbon I gave you back then…it's the same one you're wearing now, right?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, still fingering the end of her ribbon. "I've basically worn it to hold my hair back ever since then."

"…It looks good, Sakura."

"Thanks. You can still call me Sakura-chan, you know."

Naruto smiled at that, then frowned. "Listen…about today, the thing with Neji…"

Sakura sighed, walking over slowly to Naruto. "You really freaked us out, you know."

"Gomen ne, Sakura-chan. He doing ok?" Naruto put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

Sakura waved it aside with a small laugh. "He's just glad you didn't give him a black eye for graduation."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two of them for several seconds, then Sakura asked softly, "So where are you going after you graduate?"

Naruto pondered for a few seconds while Sakura walked up to the fence separating them. "…I don't know…I, uh, wanna move into the city. You know, Konohagakure." Naruto walked up to the fence, putting his hand on it. "Maybe get a job as a photographer. Use the money to work my way through college."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully at that, then Naruto asked, "How bout you?"

"Headed for Konoha too," said Sakura, biting her lip, then sighed. "Can't wait to get out of here. Maybe learn some medical stuff. And I wanna…" Sakura then looked down, blushing slightly.

"What?" At Sakura's embarrassed silence, Naruto grinned. "Oh c'mon. Try me."

"…I wanna…act. On stage."

"Really?" exclaimed Naruto, grinning widely. Sakura nodded, a little confused, and Naruto said, "Well that's perfect. You were awesome in all the school plays."

Sakura grinned, surprised and pleased. "Really?"

"Yeah! I cried like a baby when you did Cinderella."

Sakura frowned slightly. "Naruto, that was fourth grade."

Naruto grinned again. "Well, even then. Sometimes…even if people haven't seen each other for awhile…they know each other. You can just see what's coming."

This made the rosette smile, and she asked gently, "What do you see coming for you?"

Naruto's expression grew distant. 'What's coming for me…definitely a lot, with all the so-called training Shippo has for me.' "…I don't know. Whatever it is, it's something I've never felt before."

Sakura hesitated, looking a little shy. "And…what for me?"

"For you? You're gonna light up Kabuki-za."

Sakura stared at him. Kabuki-za was virtually the theatre on the entire continent. She blushed, touched by his confidence in her. 'Now that I think about it…he's really grown…' She took a step forward. "You know…you're taller than you look," she said softly.

Naruto's face turned pink. "I-I hunch."

"…Don't." Sakura smiled. "You're taller than me now."

The two looked at each other in a comfortable silence, Naruto's heart thumping loudly in his ears as he stared at his childhood friend, now an amazing beauty. 'Oh Kami…the way she's looking at me…'

The two were startled by the sound of a car pulling up and by the sound of Neji, calling out, "Hey, Sakura. Check out my birthday present."

Sakura and Naruto looked down the alley between their houses to see Neji standing in front of a new car at the sidewalk.

Sakura looked over at Naruto apologetically. "…I've gotta go."

"…Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Naruto sighed as Sakura hurried off to the car. 'Figures…Sakura would never like me in that way…'

Naruto did not see Sakura, however, put a hand to her red face. 'What was that?' she wondered to herself. 'I don't think I've felt like this before with just a conversation.'

Her attention was caught by the expensive and shiny car that Neji looked very proud of. "Oh Kami, it's gorgeous!" she said excitedly.

Naruto watched Sakura giddily get into the car with Neji, who warned her not to scratch the leather. 'She likes guys with cool cars huh…?'

Then he grinned. 'Cool cars? That's it!'

(Inside Naruto's room)

Naruto flipped through a recent newspaper, scanning the car articles and offerings, the faint whiskers on his face now visible. 'No…too expensive…too expensive…way too expensive…'

He came to a column of used but stylish cars. 'Okay…this is a little better, but still too expensive…too expensive…too expensive…'

Naruto nodded to himself when he saw a car being offered for 259,800 ryo. 'That's more manageable…but how will I get the money?'

His eyes drifted to the small article underneath it and widened. 'Amateur wrestlers…300,000 ryo…for 3 minutes in the ring…? Awesome! I can do that with the power I've gained!'

Naruto read the next line under it and his eyes narrowed. 'Colorful characters a must…'

Then he imagined himself driving the car in the newspaper and Sakura's excited face. Naruto quickly took out a notebook and a pen, flipped it open, and quickly wrote "Costume Possibilities".

He quickly sketched drawing after drawing, but nothing seemed to work. 'Nah, not spandex, that's not my style…nothing shiny…not a utility belt…nobody should know my identity.'

Minutes turned into hours as Naruto sketched but he still came up with nothing, tearing out the used sheets of paper. 'What should the symbol be…? Definitely something to do with the kitsune or its tails…but what?'

He leaned back in his chair, frustrated, then caught sight of the spiral on the back of his hoodie with the mirror.

An idea struck Naruto's mind and he quickly sketched a thick black spiral with nine squiggles reminiscent of fox tails around it. 'Now that's more like it,' he thought, grinning, then frowned. 'Ah, crap. What about the actual costume?'

An image of a grinning Shippo flashed into his mind. 'Okay, maybe the costume should kinda look like that guy, but I don't want it to look furry. Aagh, I'm missing something.'

Naruto's eyes traveled around his room. He had a poster of Bruce Lee on his wall, another of Astro Boy, and his pride and joy, a well-detailed action figure of Son Goku from the Dragon Ball series. The character was an inspiration to Naruto and was, undoubtedly, to him, the most amazing hero that ever existed, in both fiction and non-fiction.

Then inspiration struck Naruto like a bolt of lightning.

Naruto started sketching like mad, and a powerful figure began to take shape on the paper. Naruto grinned as he pulled out colored pens and started to color the design, imagining Sakura being near him. 'For once I'm glad I took that sketching class!'

Two hours of careful sketching and coloring later, Naruto looked with pride at the finished design.

The figure wore a tight black top with long sleeves that reached all the way to the wrists and up to the neck. The muscles were very visible through the shirt. The undersides of the arms from the wrists up to the armpits and the hollow of the neck upward were white. The figure wore brown leather gloves and a mask that covered his entire head.

The lower half of the mask was white with three lines on both cheeks, with a black line along the bridge of the nose. The upper half of the mask was orange, with the areas outside and under the eyes being a darker orange than the rest of the upper half of the mask. The eyes themselves were slightly larger than a human's and were completely white. On top of the mask was a pair of small fox-like ears, complete with black tips.

The figure also featured a dark orange sleeveless gi, with a black obi around the waist. On the lapel of the gi and around the figure's neck was a small amount of white fur. The front of the gi revealed the pectorals of the figure, upon which was a small orange version of the symbol Naruto had drawn earlier.

The figure was wearing dark orange combat trousers with a black stripe along the outer side of each leg. The pant legs were tucked into black military boots, which went up to the character's shins.

To top it off, the heroic figure was drawn in such a way that it looked he was about to jump right out of the paper.

Naruto glanced at the corner, where he had drawn the back of the gi with the symbol on it, then back at his costume's design.

The teen smiled in satisfaction. 'That's it. This is the one.'

Gomen ne: I'm sorry

-shukubo: aunt (I think)

Bunraku: puppet theatre, one of the principal forms of drama in Japan

Arigatou: Thanks

Kabuki-za: main theatre in Tokyo for the Kabuki drama form. Broadway would not exactly work in the context of the story so I did my research and this is what I came up with.

Conversions from ryo to dollars: in my experience, whenever a mangaka comes up with a type of currency for their story, it's usually linked directly to yen. So 1,000 ryo would probably equal 1,000 yen. 1,000 yen, in turn, would convert to 1 dollar. So, 259,800 ryo would equal $2,598, which is the actual price for the car in the movie.

Gi and obi: typical martial artist gear. Son Goku, for example, wears a gi throughout the Dragon Ball series, and starts wearing an obi (sash) starting from the Android Saga. If you have no clue what I'm talking about (and I pity you if you don't know what I'm talking about), read some martial arts manga.

Why are Goku's clothes influencing the design of the costume? Simply put, because Goku's design and personality heavily influenced Naruto's design and personality. Kishimoto stated it himself. Besides, Goku is my favorite hero of all time.

You like the costume design? Yes? No? I'm gonna see if I can try to get the design of Naruto's costume up, though I can't promise when it'll be up.

And hey, Naruto saying "Believe it!" so much in the early episodes of the series really was annoying.

Yeah, yeah, I know the concept of Sasori being related to Sakura has been used before. But, I thought it was fitting, seeing as you see in the last moments of his second life, you see he's not so bad. Who knows, maybe I might use him, Itachi, and other Akatsuki members later on in the story.

Also, if any of the Japanese language that I am using is wrong, please let me know.

Not quite too sure when I'll have the next chapter up. Hopefully within the month, if college isn't too strenuous.

See ya later!