Hi. -dodges random projectiles- I had about seventy five percent of this completed, then the idiot who let me borrow her computer formatted my cd. Ack. Anyway, I'm not making this a HinaNaruSaku triangle thingy, rather Sakura realizing that maybe she does like Naruto as a friend, instead of despising him as an idiot and an obstacle in her way of her pursuit of Sasuke. And I have also decided no KakaIru, 'cause it's just easier. If anything, they'll be friends that argue over how to properly train Naruto. Kakashi would be waaaay pissed off at Iruka's death 'cause Iruka was his best friend. Like he was waaay pissed off when Obito was killed by that rock guy. Hee hee, and Obito will have a part in this fic. Somewhere down the line... Totally unfair that he was killed off. -grumble grumble-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

For the Love of my Friends

Chapter Ten: The Adventures of the Raven, Fox, and Squirrel.

by Foxie

"So, you see Sakura-chan.." Naruto said importantly. "It just makes the most sense!" Sasuke gritted his teeth and seethed when he heard the approach of his two team mates. Twisting and turning, tugging and pulling, he simply couldn't free himself. They can't.. see me like this! he thought desperately, but it was too late.

"Sasuke-kun!" he heard Sakura cry. He stiffened and stop struggling, keeping his gaze low, not looking up when he felt Sakura start to dig around him with her kunai.

He was supposed to be Uchiha Sasuke, dammit! Not some fool who was overly cocky and got himself caught in a simple trap.

When Sakura said nothing about his predicament, and Naruto seemed to be distracted by something on the ground, he let out a breath. Maybe they wouldn't say anything... He jinxed it.

Naruto chuckled lightly, slipping something orange and square in his pocket. "Say, how's the weather down there?" he slapped his knee, cracking himself up. It wasn't everyday that his rival was only a head above ground.

Sasuke was far from pleased. After the bruising his ego received from Kakashi's barbs, he did not have the patience to handle Naruto. Especially since Kakashi had a lot more faith in Naruto, of all people, than him to become genin.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura snapped sternly. She had to keep her hands steady, or else she might cut into her crush's shoulder. She had no time for Naruto's jokes.

Nor did Sasuke. Muttering insults and curses underneath his breath, he accepted his pink haired comrade's help out of the hole, but nudged her away when she tried to check for any other injuries.

Too calmly he walked up to Naruto. The blond's laughter died down when he saw the serious look on Sasuke's face.

"I don't know..." Sasuke said softly. Naruto adopted his squinty eyed gaze, the one that always hinted at his confusion. "You tell me." The Uchiha punched Naruto hard in the head, making him face fault into the ground.

"Owie!" was the muffled cry. Sasuke smirked.

"Now that was satisfying..." he murmured. Sakura looked faintly amused.

"Now, Sasuke-kun.." she said admonishing. "Did you really have to take your frustration out on Naruto?" Naruto sat up and rubbed his hurt face.

"Hope that was your version of hello, bastard, or you're gonna be in a whole world of pain..." he muttered. And was ignored.

"He was there, wasn't he? Might as well make some use of him." was the smart ass reply from the dark haired boy.

Sakura explained the idea of their's to Sasuke. He could see the logic in it, having seen Kakashi's strength firsthand, and agreed to their plan after some nagging. But not without pointing out the flaws, of course. Sasuke was a stickler for detail.

Naruto sat in the background scowling and throwing in rude comments directed toward Sasuke, just because he could, and because he knew that Sasuke and Sakura were the brains of their group.

He was just the raw power.

"Naruto and I cannot be seen as a united force." Sasuke said carefully to Sakura. She nodded in understanding. "We have to be seen as enemies, at least to Kakashi's eyes."

"Yeah, so?" Naruto muttered sullenly. "What if Kakashi's watching us now? Wouldn't he see us as a united force already?" Sasuke frowned, concentrating hard.

"I don't sense him. He's not nearby." the boy genius murmured.

"Feh. Wouldn't be the first time you were wrong.." Naruto muttered, stretching his senses out as well. Sasuke and Sakura shared a look. Since when had Sasuke's senses ever been wrong? Sakura clapped her hands together, suddenly remembering something from the Academy.

"Hey! Didn't Iruka say that you had pretty good tracking and sensing capabilities when you weren't screwing around, Naruto?" Naruto winced. He remembered that day pretty clearly in his mind.

It must of been the fifth time he painted the Hokage monument. Only, that time he had given the Hokages feminine features that would have made Jiraiya proud. Iruka nearly had a heart attack. Several of the jonins of the village caught up to Naruto, yet when they came within ten feet of him, they were blown away by his famous Sexy no Jutsu, with extreme levels of blood loss due to their perverted minds. Pity all of them were guys.

In the end, he was caught by a sharp eyed, energetic, and almost sadistic female jonin, who he later learned was Anko. He had sensed her bloodthirsty aura from a mile away and had been able to lead her away for two hours, until she tricked him with a bowl of ramen.

"Yeah.." Sasuke muttered, thinking back. "That lady said you were the only ninja that had taken so long for her to capture without her killing him." Naruto laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Anko was the one person he'd rather not cross.

Sakura snapped her fingers to regain his attention. "Yeah, so, you tell us! How far away is Kakashi?" Naruto closed his eyes, and resent out his senses. They watched him, each silently marveling how different Naruto seemed when he was quiet.

Naruto opened his eyes. "About fifty meters east. Tops." he pivoted toward the east and closed his eyes again, his nose faintly twitching. "Facing either north or south. I can't tell." Blinking, he looked toward his comrades.

"Far enough away?" they both nodded.

Well, I guess the dobe had to be good at something.. Sasuke thought, a little peeved.

They ran over the plan again, ironing out the weak points and finalizing everything. Naruto held up the bell.

"He's probably going to go after the bell so.." he tossed it to Sakura. "You'll be the farthest away from him, so you take it." she stared at it for a moment, caught off balance. She hadn't known that he had already had a bell.

"But.. Naruto.." Sakura looked up. "If you have a bell.. didn't you already pass?" Naruto gave her a mega watt grin.

"Just 'cause I got a bell doesn't mean I pass." he turned around, ready to go. "We decided that I'd lose, for the sake of everyone else. And that's how it's gonna be."

Kakashi leaned against one of the three logs in the clearing they started out in, glancing only once at the clock balancing on the top, his nose buried deep within his book. His eyes did not move back and forth, rather fixed on one portion of the page that the jonin didn't see. He couldn't believe what his mind was telling him.

Here he was, within reach of the perfect person to torture, three lunches not all that far away that he could eat, and his favorite volume- Volume Two, of course. The first one had very little action and the third was too racy for his tastes- of Icha Icha Paradise in his hands... and he was bored.

Unbelievably bored. To the point of wishing that Gai would make one of his random appearances and bug the hell out of him.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the newest edition to the Icha Icha Paradise that he had just bought that morning- Icha Icha Paradise IV, Rainy Day Special- had somehow disappeared.

"Ugh.." Kakashi mumbled, putting his book away, pulling a kunai out instead. He tossed the sharp weapon up into the air, and caught it by the handle on the way down. And repeated.

By his fifth throw, there was an alien presence in the clearing with roaring fighting aura. Kakashi made as if to catch his kunai, only to have it snagged by the enemy's shrike, one of the metal stars' points going in the hole at the end of the handle of his kunai. The shuriken embedded itself and the kunai in the log.

Kakashi frowned. That was his favorite kunai. He glanced sideways at his enemy, shaking his head.

"Why are you here, Naruto?" he reached up, freeing his kunai and taking the blond's shuriken as a souvenir. Naruto was stumped. Tapping the side of his face with his finger, he thought hard before throwing out the usual, "Just 'cause!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You realize that since you are insisting on still being in this exercise, you are putting yourself and your bell in danger?"

Naruto squinted and shook his fist at Kakashi. "You don't scare me, bastard!" the boy shouted. "I still haven't kicked your ass, you know!"

The blonde darted forward, prepared to take on Kakashi single handedly. He was halted by a bluish black blur. Kakashi lazily tilted to the side, kunai whizzing by his head.

"Wha.. Sasuke-bastard! Don't interfere!" Naruto yelled, his face turning red. The Uchiha turned around and faced his rival, a glare marring his perfect features.

"Don't be such a glory hound, dobe." the boy said coldly. "You had your chance, and you fell short. Give up and get out of the way." Naruto started to flail his arms, steam pouring out of his ears.

Amused, Kakashi watched the two bicker, the Uchiha's back to him. Although their arguments were very engaging, one thing failed to slip past Kakashi's sharp eye.

Neither shinobi wore a shuriken holster around their thigh or a kunai pouch on their belt.

Kakashi frowned. What was going on here?

Sakura dug. She cut. She tied. And she did it all over again, going over every one of the simple projectile traps that Iruka had taught them inside of her head. For one of the traps, she had to sacrifice the front-bottom portion of her dress to make a pouch like holster to hold her projectiles in.

Only five meters away, she could hear her comrades bickering like there was no tomorrow, trying to buy as much time as possible for her.

Sweating, she went back to the first trap she set up and loaded it up with the kunai and shuriken from her kunai and shuriken holders, as well as Sasuke's and Naruto's that were hanging over her shoulders.

She frowned, hoping they had taken enough with them.

When she finally ran out, she filled the six or so traps up with sharp edged, small rocks that littered the ground. Realizing there was no more she could do, Sakura knelt on the ground, ready to dart forward and release the traps she had created at any moment. All she had to do.. was wait for the signal.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having the time of his life. Insulting Sasuke was one of his favorite hobbies, and tricking someone was his most favorite. Sasuke looked calm although he was spitting out some of the worst insults Naruto had ever heard in both of his lifetimes.

Oh, gotta remember that one.. Naruto thought gleefully when Sasuke came up with a marvelously creative one. He nearly missed the slight nod the pale boy had given him. He mentally clapped his hands together, prepared to give it his all.

"Yeah?! So what?! All you have to show for yourself is some crummy shirt that is waaaay too big for you that for some reason you think is cool!" Sasuke gave him an annoyed look for that lame barb. He liked his shirt. So did Naruto, but Sasuke didn't have to know about that.. "And your stupid clan symbol?! What the hell is that?! A drooling poke ball?!" he yelled, feeling slightly guilty for ragging on the Uchiha clan, but hell.. Sasuke did give him permission. "Do all of you Uchihas look like a bunch of wussy girls?!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, and let out a low whistle.

Kakashi, who had been relaxed and entertained by their banter, was suddenly alert. And he had every reason to be.

Kunai, shuriken, and rocks seemed to fly out of nowhere. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke tackle Naruto into one of the bushes. He frowned, batting away some of the shuriken and kunai that flew in his direction.

Was it enemy ninjas? Or.. The bush that Sasuke and Naruto disappeared into suddenly started to shake. Suddenly, twenty Narutos and one Sasuke jumped out of the bush.

Kakashi watched them in surprise, not noticing when one of the last kunai that had sailed through the air sliced through the small leather strap that kept the bell connected to his pants.

With identical grins on their faces, half of the Narutos yelled, "Henge no Jutsu!" and changed into ten perfect copies of Sasuke. It was strange to see the dark haired boy have such a gleeful look on his face, even if it was only an illusion. Suddenly, the look dropped, leaving each Sasuke clone and the original one with a blank gaze on their faces.

All twenty-one of the ninjas in front of him darted forward, ready to clash against Kakashi.

Eleven Sasukes and ten Narutos.. hm. This calls for the process of elimination. was the gray haired jonin's lazy thought.

Three Narutos reached Kakashi first, pinning his arms to his body and his legs together. Kakashi shook one of them off, grabbed him by the wrist, and smashed him against the other two. All three exploded into smoke.

Three down and eighteen more to go..

Sakura began pacing near her spent traps. Come on, you guys! she thought, her head turning to where she heard the sounds of battle.

"Goal one has been met.." someone said behind her in a tired voice. She turned, her eyes lighting up when she saw her two team mates. Sasuke had pulled one of Naruto's arms over his shoulder and was dragging the boy along with him.

"The dobe collected chakra wrong and it exploded right in his face." Sasuke said, annoyance coating his every word.

"Ooo, pretty colors.." Naruto mumbled, his eyes all swirly. Sasuke dropped the confused boy on the ground, ignoring Naruto's sounds of protests.

"And instead of giving himself time to recover, he bounces back up and tries it again!" Sasuke muttered, nudging the blond with his foot. "I'm surprised that his kage bunshins didn't turn out having extra ears and noses."

"Wahh.. Sasuke-chan is so mean.." Naruto muttered, gathering his wits to him. A vein throbbed in Sasuke's head.

"Don't call me that!"

"Then what do you propose I call you then?" Naruto said, bouncing to his feet.

"Sasuke-sempai." Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto flailed his arms.

"'Sempai', my ass!" Sakura stood between the two, trying to stop them from fighting.

"Stop you two! We need to look for the bell, without drawing any of his attention." she looked at the both of them, willing for them to stop acting like children. "And Kakashi isn't giving us a lot of time." The three peered past the clump of trees that hid their position to see that there were only three Narutos and four Sasukes left.

"Shit." Naruto muttered. "Henge no Justu!" A poof of smoke and Naruto was no longer there. Instead, there was a small tan fox with huge blue eyes in his place.

Sakura's eyes morphed into huge hearts. "Kawaii!!!" she shrieked, hugging the adorable fox. The fox struggled, then gave an annoyed look at the amused Uchiha. Sasuke coughed.

"Uh, Sakura.." he said. "We need to get the bell.."

Yeah! Stop glomping me! Naruto thought, not being able to speak in his animal form. Damn.. I should have changed into a frog.. He himself was surprised that he wasn't enjoying the attention he was getting. Now if it was Hinata-chan instead... he started to daydream.

"Right." Sakura said, getting her bearings together. Sasuke nodded, then performed the jutsu, changing into a sleek black raven. Hopping twice, as birds weren't the best of walkers, he scratched out a crude and simple map with his talon.

Sakura almost converted from her love of furry things to birds, because Sasuke made the raven look so cool.

A peach colored squirrel joined the ranks of the fox and the raven. The raven looked up and pointed one wing at the fox, tapping on the left side of the map. The fox barked then slinked off, disappearing almost immediately in the bushes.

The raven looked at the squirrel, then tapped on the right side of the map. She nodded, but gestured to him with her paws, wondering where the raven was going to go. The raven tilted his head to the sky as the answer.

The fox was already on the prowl, his small tan body blending in just fine with the dirt. He circled the logs in the center of the clearing twice. Where the hell is it?

The raven took to the skies, secretly enjoying the feel of the wind through his feathers. Focus, Uchiha. he thought, his gaze drifting downwards. He had an eagle's eye view of the entire clearing, ready to dive down at the smallest flicker of light hitting metal.

The squirrel darted around the clearing, frowning when she couldn't find anything. She saw her fox comrade only a few meters away. She ran up to him, only to see him chasing after a grasshopper.

She picked up a small rock, one that was almost as big as her head, and threw it at the fox, chattering angrily. The fox gave her a guilty look, then resumed his search. Satisfied, the squirrel turned away... and ran into something huge and orange.

She stared at the strange thing, confused even more when she saw that it was connected to a gigantic foot.

"Isn't this the most beautiful squirrel you have ever seen, Gai-sensei?!" The effect his voice had on her ears was the same if he had taken a mega phone and talked right into her ear when she was normal.

Chittering in agony, she covered her ears with her paws and tried to run away. The mysterious ninja knelt down and picked her up. She got a good look at her captor and nearly fainted. Ahh! Someone save me! Her chattering became high pitched.

The strange boy with those huge eyebrows and the dorkiest haircut she had ever seen, frowned and tried to calm her down.

"Lee-kun, just put the squirrel down." a girl said. The boy, 'Lee', struck a pose.

"Never! This squirrel is in need!" he said passionately. "I cannot battle someone when I know such an innocent creature is in turmoil!" The 'innocent' creature bit down on his hand. "Ow!!"

The raven finally saw his comrade was in trouble. Shoving the mission in the back of his mind for the time being, he swooped down on the strange thick eyebrowed menace.

Pecking and cawing at the intruder, the raven willed Lee to let her go. About to swoop in once more for the kill, he was caught by another pair of hands.

"Hmph. Birds who wish to stay free should keep out of danger." A white eyed boy muttered, holding the raven out in front of him, making sure to keep his distance. The raven cawed in anger, and tried to wiggle his way free.

The Hyuuga rolled his eyes and was about to say something else when a tan blur head butted his shin. Staggering slightly, he looked to see what it was only to see that it had already started to attack Lee.

"These animals are possessed.." the girl murmured, picking the fox up and facing him away from her, as carefully as the Hyuuga. The other boy nodded.

"Neji! Tenten! Understand what my Lee does!" their sensei struck a pose. "These animals are not strange! Just misunderstood, like the youth of today!" Lee hugged the squirrel. She screeched in horror and tried to get away.

"Nope, definitely possessed." Tenten muttered underneath her breath. The Hyuuga looked over.

"Who? The animals or those two?" he said in a monotone.

Her would-be-sarcastic reply was drowned out by the sound of Gai's loud voice. "Great rival Kakashi! How dare you disrupt the sanctuary of these poor creatures homes with a battle!" Kakashi was down to one Sasuke and one Naruto, of which he was almost completely sure were the originals. The three stopped fighting, and gave bewildered looks to the four ninjas who interrupted their training.

"Hey..." 'Naruto' mumbled. He pointed a finger at Lee. "Fuzzy Eyebrows.." his attention then swerved to Gai. "Super Fuzzy Eyebrows!" he started cracking up. Lee's face turned crimson.

"Don't diss Gai-sensei!" the boy screeched. 'Sasuke' rolled his eyes.

"Gai.. why are you interfering? I'm trying to hold an exam here." Kakashi said, a sigh escaping his lips. Gai struck a pose and grinned at his befuddled audience.

"Great rival Kakashi! Youth is both sweet and sour, as my team wanted to battle yours, and yet you never pass one! So, I, like the great mastermind I am, came up with a solution. Why not let my team fight yours before you fail them?!"

"Ugh.. real encouraging.." 'Naruto' muttered.

Kakashi brought a hand up to his mask, pretending to be deep in thought. "Gai, you know what?!" the jonin mocked the green beast's attitude, his voice all light and cheerful.

Gai bounced up and down like a bunny hyped up on sugar. "Yes, rival Kakashi?" he said, voice full of childlike glee and hope.

"..No." Kakashi said bluntly, drifting back down to a more monotone drawl. "I'm trying to.." His gaze fell to the three animals that Neji, Lee, and Tenten had in their grasp. He looked at the two boys in front of him, then looked at the animals once again.

Rolling his eyes when it all started to click, he grabbed the heads of the two boys in front of him and smashed them together, not at all surprised when they exploded into smoke.

Ignoring the shock he saw in various degrees from the other team, he said "Kindly unhand my students."

Until I can fix whatever the hell is wrong with my compy, expect these long update absences.