Hello all : ) I have quite a few babysitting jobs this week, so I had more than enough time to get this bad boy out! Seriously who babysits late on a Wednesday night? (Apparently this girl). And sadly, this chapter would have been updated sooner, but I've been sick for the past three days. Normally that means I could update more, but this one had me down and out with a severe migraine and flu-symptoms. Hopefully you are all staying healthy out there in the fanfiction universe!

Shout out goes out to AOHAD who sent me a message saying they loved many of my stories : ) it makes me so happy that you like to read more than just one of my stories! Thank you for your awesome compliments! I hope you continue to enjoy my stories as I update them!

Suggestion for a stories to read: Cabbage Patch by paws-bells. An adorable little (non-massacre) story about a young Sakura and Itachi. Sadly, it is not finished, and doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon (or at all really), but it is still amazing and deserves some recognition! I am NOT Going Through Puberty Again! By EvilFuzzy9 has been a story I have recently found as well. It's severely amusing! I would suggest reading it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 51: Who knew getting hangry is actually a thing?


Xx Sakura xX

Sakura sat mildly concerned as she watched Naruto-kun press chakra into a rubber ball as he tried to master the second step of the rasengan. She understood that he was using both hands to help find the right concentration of chakra that he needed to perform the jutsu, but if he continued to practice the way he was, his hands would eventually get to be so sore they would be useless.

"I think it's time to feed Little Sasuke," Sakura called as she ate the lunch Jiraiya-sama had brought them. It was basic ramen, which she was soooo excited about, note the sarcasm, but it was warm and food, so she would deal. "He hasn't eaten since yesterday, right?"

"Don't neglect my God-fish Dobe," Sasuke said from his spot beside Sakura. He too was taking a break from his training.

"Coming coming!" Naruto yelled as he dropped the ball where he had stood. He saddled over to the three of them- four if the fish counted- and sat down with a heavy sigh.

"Thanks for making sure I don't neglect Little Sasuke, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said with a slight grin as he took some fish food out of his kunai pouch. He pulled Little Sasuke's bowl over to him and slowly shook some fish food flakes inside. "You're the best Godmother a fish could ask for!"

As the fish flakes fell inside of his bowl, Little Sasuke glared at them before he ate them. "I still can't believe you still have Little Sasuke, Naruto-kun," Sakura said with an exasperated shake of her head. "I figured he would have passed already, especially after all the walking we do on our journey."

"He's my Grandfish Sakura-Chan," Jiraiya said with a grin. "Of course he's resilient."

In reality, it had almost been a full week and a half since Naruto-kun had won the fish. Just as he had predicted, Naruto-kun had given the rest of the fish away to some children who had been all too happy to take them. Jiraiya-sama had said that he could only handle one Grandfish, and apparently, Little Sasuke was too amusing not to keep. He really did remind Sakura of their sometimes-grumpy, raven haired teammate.

Silently smirking to herself, Sakura took another bite of her ramen. Sasuke-kun must have caught her smirk, because he glared at her.

"I don't know what you're thinking Sakura," Sasuke said with an unamused look on his face. "But I don't like that smirk on your face."

"What smirk?" Sakura tried to ask innocently as she brought the chopsticks up to her mouth to hide her reaction. Damn Sasuke-kun and his innate ability to read her mind. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"How's the training going?" Jiraiya asked amusedly as Sakura watched his eyes scan the three of them. Sakura sighed before starting.

"Naruto-kun is getting better with the rubber ball," Sakura said as she tried to summarize how they were all doing. Jiraiya-sama would know more, though, if he would actually help them train more. He had said they would be better off on their own, though, but Sakura refused to believe it. "He's able to make some of the air jump around in the ball with his hand… I'm afraid he's expending too much chakra though."

"Hn," Sasuke continued without a beat. "And Sakura is able to make water spout upward in a lake or pond. She is also able to feel the water below the ground, but has not put enough force into the water yet to make it crack the earth."

"And Sasuke-teme has been able to mix his lightning chakra into the water balloon," Naruto continued on. Sakura realized the three of them were spending way too much time together if they were able to accurately describe each of their abilities, and finish each other's thoughts. "He's been working on adding his lightning chakra to kunai, but hasn't been able to do it consistently."

"Hm," Jiraiya said with a critical look in his eye. "Do either of you have any suggestions to Naruto with the way he's doing training?"

"None that he'll actually listen to," Sasuke said with a slight grunt. "He's been training too hard."

"Speak for yourself Teme!" Naruto said with a slight glare. "How many hours did you practice before taking a break at lunch?"

"At least I took a break," Sasuke muttered. "You're going to ware yourself thin… you'll never be able to beat me in a fight if you stay scrawny like that."

"... Sakura-Chan?" Jiraiya asked while trying to ignore the glare fest between the two boys. Sakura knew the two both thought the other was working too hard; that's the only reason they were glaring at each other so much.

"I've been thinking about this for a little while now, Naruto-kun," Sakura said as her chopsticks rested next to her mouth as she thought. "When you're trying to put the chakra into the rubber ball, where do you exert most of your charka from?"

"Umm," Naruto thought for a moment. "My palm?"

"All over your palm?" Sakura asked as she looked at her own palm.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded intently as he turned to look at her. Sakura had seen Naruto-kun like this quite a few times; it was when he was ready to listen and learn something from her or Sasuke-kun.

"I think you need to focus where you're outputting your chakra from," Sakura said as she pointed to the middle of her palm. "The rasegan Jiraiya-sama was able to perform seemed to be coming out of a small part of his palm. He seemed to concentrate most of his chakra from the middle of his palm outward."

"So I'm forcing out too much chakra into too many different places?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"I don't think it's too much chakra," Sasuke said while adding his own input into the conversation. "But definitely too many different places. The rasengan is a powerful jutsu, so the output of chakra needs to be high. Right Sakura?"

"Right," Sakura said with a nod.

"You kids are too cute," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "Helping each other out like that. What's a good way to focus his chakra output from his palm?"

"Focus on one of his hand lines?" Sakura considered as she looked to her own palm. "Or maybe make a mark to help him focus?"

"Ding ding Sakura-Chan," Jiraiya said with a grin as he flashed the group his hand. Sakura wasn't surprised in the least to see a tattoo on Jiraiya-sama's palm.

"Naruto-kun is not getting a tattoo," Sakura said with a tone of finality. Her mind wandered to the horrible tattoos Jiraiya-sama could possibly make poor Naruto-kun get, and she was slightly horrified.

"I never said it had to be permanent," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. He then turned to Sakura. "Do you still have that ink and brush that we used to practice sealing?"

Sasuke snorted in response. "When doesn't she?"

Sakura ignored Sasuke-kun as she got the brush and ink out of her pack. In retaliation though, she handed off the ink and brush to him.

"You're in charge of it then," Sakura said as she gave Sasuke-kun the responsibility. Sakura watched as Sasuke-kun grabbed Naruto-kun's hand and swiftly wrote something on it in kanji. "You do have the best penmanship out of all of us."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sasuke said with an eye roll as he gave the paintbrush back to Sakura. Sakura's eyes wandered over to Naruto-kun's palm, and she couldn't help but smile at the Strength kanji.

"Enough with the touchy feely stuff," Jiraiya huffed as he rolled his eyes. "Naruto, Sasuke, what are your suggestions to Sakura-Chan while she's training?"

"You're having a hard time focusing on just the water," Sasuke said from beside her. Sakura's eyes turned to Sasuke-kun as he spoke. "You're good at feeling chakra signatures and chakra, but you're having a hard time manipulating it. Maybe you should play around with water a bit more before you try to break the ground?"

"A good suggestion," Jiraiya said with a nod. "But she can't always depend on having water at hand."

"Could you seal some water in a scroll Sakura-Chan?" Naruto wondered aloud as he tried to help. Sakura's eyes widened for a second, and then she nodded.

"I don't think that's very practical, Naruto-kun," Sakura said as a smile graced her features. "But I do have a way to interact more with the water like Sasuke-kun suggested."

"Hm," Jiraiya said. "Let's continue. What kind of suggestions do you guys have for Sasuke?"

Sakura thought for a minute, but before she could speak, Naruto-kun had already opened his mouth.

"Your lightning chakra is kinda like electricity," Naruto said, and Sakura was highly impressed to see that Naruto-kun had actually thought about this. "So it's a current, right? But it breaks whenever you let go of it? Why don't you try to use the ninja wire for now to see if that works?"

Sakura was slightly amazed Naruto-kun had come up with that himself; it seemed Jiraiya was equally as surprised.

"That's a good idea Naruto," Jiraiya admitted. "I'm kind of impressed you thought of that."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a sheepish chuckle. "Little Sasuke and I talked last night about different ways to help everyone out, but I wasn't quite sure how to explain the idea I came up with for Sasuke-teme so Little Sasuke helped me work it out."

"Hn," Sasuke said with an amused smirk. "That's one smart fish."

"I can't believe you talked-" Sakura didn't know whether to be amused or exasperated; she decided on being a little bit of both. "No, I totally believe you talked to Little Sasuke about that."

Sakura finished her ramen and started to clean it up before she looked to Jiraiya-sama. The white haired Sannin appeared to be more than content to lay against one of the trees. "Have you found anything else on Tsunade-sama, Jiraya-sama?"

"Nothing substantial," Jiraiya said with a deflated sigh.

"How can it be so hard to find some old lady?" Naruto asked while he patted the top of Little Sasuke's bowl. Sakura had told him Little Sasuke wasn't a dog, and probably didn't like to be patted before, but Naruto-kun had refused to listen. "She's gotta be ancient like you Pervy Sage, right?"

"You little-"

"Tsunade-sama has been traveling for over half of her life," Sakura said while she tried to diffuse the fight she knew would start between Jiraiya-sama and Naruto-kun. Fights led the group nowhere, and Sakura really didn't want to deal with Naruto-kun's whining when Jiraiya beat on him. "She's obviously very skilled at it."

"And she uses a jutsu to conceal her real age," Jiraiya said with a wistful sigh. "She sure was pretty back in the day."

Sakura's eyebrow rose at that last sentence. She heard Naruto-kun chuckle, and knew whatever was going to happen next would not end well.

"So you looooooove her, huh Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked with a Cheshire-like grin.

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto," Jiraiya said with a stern look before he sighed. "Of course I love her… Even after being apart from her so long, I still consider her my teammate. It would be like if you, Sasuke, and Sakura-Chan no longer were apart of team seven. Would you still love them?"

"Psh," Naruto said with a wave of his hand, and Sakura looked to the blond curiously. "I would never let Sakura-Chan or Sasuke-teme leave me. That's just plain crazy talk."

"Hn," Sasuke said with an agreeing smirk. "The Dobe would be way too annoying to ever let us leave team seven."

"We'd never hear the end of it," Sakura agreed, and she felt a hint of warmth consume her. Sasuke-kun and her maybe joking about Naruto-kun not letting them leave team seven (or not), but after everything that their team had been through, Sakura could never imagine herself leaving team seven either.

Xxx Sakura xxX

Sakura had seated herself in front of a self-created pond. After listening to Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun's suggestion, Sakura had decided to use what she could do as an advantage.

She had done the sticky water jutsu that Izumo had taught her, and she was now concentrating on making the sticky water rise. It was a little harder than making regular water rise from a pond or lake, but it was still easier than making the water rise from underground. She had been mildly successful thus far.

The sticky water held a different consistency than regular water, so it had taken Sakura a few days to understand the feel of the water. Now though, Sakura could make the water spike upward from even ten feet away.

It felt good to be accomplishing something, but then again this was only the beginning steps to the jutsu. She still hadn't been able to summon any water out of the ground like Jiraiya-sama had been able to, but then again it seemed her teammates were still struggling with their own jutsu.

Sasuke-kun was having a hard time stabilizing his lightning chakra enough to send it through the chakra wire. He currently had the chakra wire coiled around his hand, and appeared to be trying to rethink his strategy on infusing his chakra into the ninja material.

Naruto-kun was also having a hard time, but he was at least producing more results. Seven rubber balls lay scattered around his feet; all seven were popped, but they hadn't exploded like Jiraiya-sama's had. Each rubber ball only had a small hole out of one of the sides of it; Naruto-kun hadn't been able to focus his chakra enough on the small kanji that was still written on his hand.

Both of the boys were getting low on chakra, Sakura realized as she turned to the two. If they continued to train like they were doing, both boys would end up passing out. Sakura had been doing a good job at making sure the boys didn't train to that severe a degree, but both boys were stubborn.

She couldn't blame them though. All three of them had been incredibly lucky with their natural ability to comprehend and perform jutsu as of late. It seemed unreasonable to think that they were incapable of performing a jutsu, even though it was a complex jutsu.

Sakura sighed as she stood from her position. She watched Naruto-kun pop another rubber ball and decided it was time the three of them went to find Jiraiya-sama. Sakura knew nothing good could come from the silver haired Sannin being gone for so long.

"I think it's almost time for dinner," Sakura mused as she walked closer to her two boys. "We should find Jiraiya-sama and see if he was able to uncover Tsunade-sama's whereabouts."

Sakura noticed Sasuke-kun's brow furrow in concentration as lightning flickered across his fingertips. The lightning flickered one more time before it ebbed out, and Sasuke's eyes opened. "He probably hasn't even been looking for her. We've been out here for two weeks already."

"Give Jiraiya-sama some credit," Sakura huffed with a sigh. She herself could think of previous instances that would probably prove Sasuke-kun right, but Sakura knew Jiraiya-sama was at least getting some results. He couldn't randomly be leading them around the Fire Country could he? Nah.

"Come on," Sakura said while she stood in front of Sasuke-kun. "I know you're hungry. I promise we'll get something other than ramen."

"Aw, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto let out a pouty lip, and Sakura was glad to see he was no longer practicing. Sakura's responding grin to him was enough to prove that no amount of pouting would get Naruto-kun what he wanted. "But I really wanted to-"

"No pouting Naruto-kun," Sakura said with a sigh as she walked back to her training spot. She grabbed her pack and slung it over her shoulder before turning back to the two with a raised eyebrow. "Now I'm hungry and tired from training all day. Are you guys coming, or do I have to drag you there?"

"You get so grumpy when you get hungry, Sakura-Chan," Naruto complained while he grabbed his pack and Little Sasuke.

"It's called being 'hangry' Dobe," Sasuke said as he too grabbed his bag. "It's a combination of being hungry and angry at the same time."

"And it increases when I'm tired," Sakura said knowingly as she started to walk towards the village. She knew both boys would be following if they knew what was good for them. Grinning, Sakura enjoyed the fact that she knew the boys so well, and could at least manipulate them a little bit.

Both boys increased their speed until they were walking beside her, and Sakura let herself relax a little bit. She still was tired, and hungry, but at least Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun were listening to her. Kami knows she would have been even more irritated if the two chose not to.

"Can you sense where he is yet?" Sasuke asked her from her right. Sakura closed her eyes for a second, and tried to feel Jiraiya-sama's charka; the bright beacon flashed strongly somewhere to her east.

"Yep," Sakura said with a nod. The three of them had been working on sensing chakra in their down time; Naruto-kun had been surprisingly good at it. "Can you Naruto-kun?"

After she had explained how to sense chakra signatures, and Naruto-kun actually took the time to try to sense them, Naruto-kun seemed to get the concept of sensing other people. He had a knack for it if she was being honest.

"Pervy Sage is in that direction," Naruto said while pointing toward the east. Sakura hmmed her agreement while the three of them subtly moved to head in that direction.

"Do you think we should be helping the Old Pervert out?" Sasuke asked from his spot beside Sakura. Sakura looked to the raven haired boy in question, and he continued. "We could ask around the village just like Jiraiya."

"But who would want to tell kids things?" Naruto asked out with a frown. "There's no way anyone would want to talk to us about things like that."

Now that was something, Sakura thought to herself. If they were able to speed up the process of finding Tsunade-sama, then the journey would end quicker, and Konoha would get the help that they needed. It was a long shot, and the group of three were tired yes, but they still had plenty of chakra to do what she had in mind.

"…What if we weren't kids?" Sakura asked as a plan came to mind. The plan was ridiculously tricky, or even hard, but it was something they would be able to do with minimal chakra. "Has Jiraiya-sama seen your Sexy Technique, Naruto-kun?"

"Ehehehe?" Naruto said with bright red cheeks. "I thought you'd forgotten about that jutsu Sakura-Chan."

"Are you seriously suggesting we do that?" Sasuke asked with an eyebrow raise. "I mean I know adults are weird and all that but seriously? Ask about Tsunade while flashing a little female-Naruto cleavage?"

"Well we'll have to get Tsunade-sama's picture from Jiraiya-sama somehow," Sakura said with a shrug. "But I think that's all we'll need Naruto-kun's jutsu for. After we distract Jiraiya-sama then we can use the transformation jutsu to turn into some unassuming adults who just want to ask some people a few questions. We can start gathering information that way."

"So it'll be like intel gathering," Naruto said with a grin as his eyes gleamed at the thought. Sakura found herself nodding.

"Hn," Sasuke said with a gleam in his eye. "We'll have to get Sakura some dinner first… Wouldn't want her to get anymore hangry."

"How absolutely thoughtful of you Sasuke-kun," Sakura said as she cuffed the back of Sasuke's head.

Xxx Sasuke xxX

Sasuke couldn't help but watch Naruto in slight amusement. After Sakura had eaten, she had gone more in depth into the plan she had come up with earlier, and once again, Sasuke had found it to be a pretty convincing plan.

First Naruto had to sneak his way into the establishment Jiraiya had decided to drink inside. It seemed the last time they had dragged Jiraiya out of the bar hadn't been enough to convince him to actually put forth effort into actually trying to find Tsunade. And they couldn't let the Dobe go into an unknown situation alone…

Sasuke sent Sakura an amused look from across the table the two were currently leaning against. The two had transformed into a pair of 'unassuming' adults like Sakura had suggested, and they were currently watching Naruto flirt shamelessly with Jiraiya.

Naruto had transformed into his normally curvaceous form, but Sakura had suggested he change his hair color and facial features as well. Naruto now had red hair, and his face was much thinner and void of whiskers. Sasuke highly doubted Jiraiya would really look at Naruto's face when he looked like that, but Sakura wanted to cover their bases.

Now, Sasuke could watch in mild disgust as well as amusement as Naruto's female form patted the top of Jiraiya's chest amorously. Oh, he would so never let the Dobe live this one down.

"Do you think he's enjoying himself?" Sasuke questioned as his sharp eyes caught Naruto's hands go inside one of Jiraiya's pockets.

"If Naruto-kun heard you say that he'd probably hit you," Sakura said, though Sasuke could tell she was at least a little amused by their current situation.

"I'd like to see him try," Sasuke said with a snort. "I doubt he'd be able to-"

Sasuke was abruptly cut off as he was slapped in the back of the head; a picture was placed neatly on the table in front of him.

"I heard that Teme," it felt weird to hear 'Teme' being said in a voice that was so high and feminine.

"You found it," Sakura said while grabbing the picture. She held the picture up for Sasuke to see as well, and Sasuke observed the pictured woman with mild interest.

"She definitely does not look as old as the Pervert," Sasuke said while scanning the picture. "This has to be old."

"But Jiraiya-sama said she uses a special technique to appear young," Sakura supplied helpfully as she swirled her glass of water. Naruto chose that moment to raise an eyebrow at the drink in Sakura's hand.

"It's only water, Dobe," Sasuke said with a sigh. "Like I would actually let Sakura order something alcoholic."

"Like I would actually want something alcoholic," Sakura said with a stern look at Sasuke. "Do you know what alcohol does to your brain? I like my memories where they are thank you very much."

"Careful Sakura-Chan," Naruto said with a slight smirk. "You're starting to sound hangry again."

"Oh shut up," Sakura said as she cuffed the back of Naruto's head. "Sasuke and I are going to see if we can find anything on Tsunade-sama. Why don't you go back and keep Jiraiya-sama entertained?"

"Don't leave me with him," Naruto started to whine, and Sasuke could only laugh at the blond's expense.

"She's only joking Dobe," Sasuke said as he stood up from his leaned position. "Though Jiraiya will probably be disappointed you left."

"Serves that bastard right!" Naruto said while the three of them left the bar. "He tried to touch my butt! Do guys really do that, Sakura-Chan?"

"Don't look at me," Sakura said with a shrug. "Guys haven't ever really hit on me."

"Good," Sasuke and Naruto both agreed as the nodded to each other. "We'll keep it that way."


Random Poll (to be answered in your review or through a message): This story is getting ridiculously long. After a few more important plot points (probably at least fifteen chapters maybe less, maybe more), do you think I should post this story as complete and then continue on with a "sequel" of sorts? The story would be focused on team seven as a whole; much like this one is turning out to. Let me know your opinions please!