I left the hospital half an hour ago and I've come back to my apartment, only to find it ransacked.

Damn, even my apartment's a mess! There's cups of ramen stacked up everywhere, I've got my clothes hanging above everything, and my bed even looks like I've been using it as a treadmill! It's like the turmoil of my mind physically manifested itself in my home!

Then, I mentally sigh. I might as well clean this up now. After all, if I can't take care of a single room, how am I supposed to take care of my mess of a life? I begin to get to work, I'm gonna make my apartment look spotless!

I've been doing the painstaking work of picking up ramen cups and putting them into bags for thirty minutes (I really do eat too much ramen...), and I just realized something.

I COULD'VE HAD A SHADOW CLONE DOING THIS THE WHOLE TIME!

Ugh, whatever! Nothing good comes easy, right? Especially not when I'm an idiot trying to become a genius.

I summon half a dozen shadow clones and they get to work. I strip down and make my way into the bathroom to take a shower.

I don't know what it is about showers, but they really give me some clarity sometimes. Added with my decision to take care of certain urges, I feel like my brain is actually working right.

I can ask Iruka to help me catch up to all the scientific-chakra stuff I missed at the academy.

I can ask Kakashi to help me with my rasengan, just like Jiraiya is.

I can ask Guy's team to show me taijutsu.

I hope Sakura doesn't hate me now...

Wow. Even when I've got so much to do, my mind goes back to Sakura. I suppose it does make sense, though. After all, I do love her.

Maybe if I hadn't disguised myself as Sasuke that day...

Maybe if I'd paid attention to the academy when I was younger...

It looks like I'm back to having to fix my mistakes...

Now I'm depressed again.

Who knew moving forward would be so hard?

I wake up the next morning, brush my teeth, etc.

I think I should take my time before meeting Team 7, however. I know that Kakashi isn't gonna show up until we've been waiting for three hours.

But then again, his tardiness might do me some good, since it'll give us genin some time to talk about the demon inside of me.

I ponder about it as I eat my breakfast ramen (I really gotta buy some other food...).

Eventually, I make up my mind and decide to just go now.

I'm kinda nervous, but I hold out hope that Sakura and Sasuke will accept me.

I walk up to the bridge where Team 7 always rendezvous, and Sakura and Sasuke are already there, waiting for me.

I walk up to them and ask, "What's up, guys? We gonna talk about the whole strongest-chakra-demon-sealed-inside-of-me thing?"

Sakura speaks up first. Since when is she so invested in me? "The nine-tailed fox... Who else knows about it?", she asks.

I scratch the back of my head as I think about it. "Well", I answer, "pretty much everyone who remembers what happened on the day of the attack knows about it. They also somehow know that it was sealed within me."

"Okay.", Sakura replied. "We have a few more questions, if you don't mind. Has the nine-tailed fox made your life more difficult than it would have been otherwise?"

Wow.

I was not expecting that.

Just. Wow.

I suppose it wouldn't be so obvious to her, since she's never been in my shoes, and there is the fact that I've given people enough reasons to hate me. Still, I can't help but feel just a little bit offended by that question.

I feel my eyebrows narrow as I respond. "Yes. It has. People have always looked at me funny and berated me because of the fox." I manage to stop myself from shedding tears. "They've even told their kids to stay away from me, too, y'know."

Sakura lets out a shaky breath, and says, "Just one more question. You defeated Gaara alone, right?"

Why would she wanna know about that?!

I consider lying to her, but I don't think that'd be good for either of us.

I give a nervous glance to Sasuke, who hasn't looked up at me since this conversation began.

He must've felt my eyes on him, though, because at this point, he looks up at me and says, "Just be honest, dope."

I look back at Sakura, and it's clear that she's anxious to hear my answer.

I sigh, and I tell her, "Yes, I did."

She walks up to me, and I instinctively get in a defensive stance, expecting her to bonk me on the head or something.

Instead, she hugs me again. She seems to be doing that a lot, lately.

After a few seconds, she says, "Thank you", and I finally return the hug.

I feel like I should say something in return, but what?

My eyes meet Sasuke again, and I remember his advice.

Just be honest.

I stop thinking about what to say, and decide to just say something.

I come up with, "I'd give my life to protect you, y'know?"

Sakura immediately breaks off the hug and has a horrified look in her eyes.

Her emerald eyes pierce mine, and she begins to develop a look of anger on her face.

"Don't say that!", she scolds. She grabs my head and makes me look her right in the eyes. "Don't even think about dying before you become hokage, Naruto! Understand?"

That's... quite the bombshell.

Does Sakura actually believe that I can become hokage?

Only one way to find out.

I ask her, "Sakura, do you actually believe that I can become hokage?"

She says,"No, I believe that you will become hokage!"

I state at her in bewilderment for a few seconds as my mind begins to shut down.

I stutter, "Wha- how- why-when"

Sakura lets go of me as she cuts me off with an eager look in her eyes. "Remember when Ibiki gave us the tenth question at the chunin exam? You looked like you were losing your mind, and I couldn't bear to see your dream get crushed, so I was about to raise my hand to give up until you made your speech." My eyes widen at this, as do Sasuke's.

Sakura continues to speak. "It was then that I realized, I want to see you become hokage. The fact that you were willing to risk staying as a genin forever made me realize, in addition, that I should believe you'll become hokage, because you'll refuse any other outcome and you'll just do it anyways." She puts a hand in my shoulder. "You may not have the respect of the village, but you have my respect, and I know that you'll earn all of the villagers' respect one day, too, just by being you."

I feel absolutely elated now that she's told me this. A feeling of pride and duty washes over me, too. If Sakura believes that I'll be hokage, then there really is no obstacle that I can't overcome!

I chuckle a bit, and tell Sakura, "Since we're sharing secrets and stuff, I think you should know something."

"What is it?", she asks.

I answer, "On the day that we were assigned to Team 7, I tied up Sasuke in his house," - Sasuke scowls - "disguised myself as him, and I made my way to you. You were sitting on a bench, and I told you that 'Your forehead is so wide and charming. It makes me wanna kiss it.', then asked you what you thought about me."

Sakura turns red in anger as she punches me, making me fall to the floor.

"YOU IDIOT!", she yells. "I WAS ALMOST READY TO GIVE UP ON GETTING SASUKE'S LOVE BY THAT POINT, UNTIL YOU CAME ALONG AND DID THAT!". She then asks, "WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO OBVIOUSLY RETARDED?!"

I look up at her and respond, "Well, aside from the fact that I am retarded, I knew you wouldn't even give me the time of day if I talked to you as myself."

Sakura seems to calm down a bit at this, and I catch a hint of sadness on her face as she facepalms at me.

It's then that Kakashi poofs onto the bridge, and I frantically get up and grab his flak jacket.

"YOU,", I beckon, "You have got to teach me how to properly form a rasengan!"

Kakashi looks at me, puzzled. "First of all," he replies. "I thought you and Sakura would bitch about me being late again." Sakura and I frown at this.

"Second,", he continues, "I thought you already learned the rasengan, Naruto."

I then tell him, "I learned it, but I can only form it with the help of a shadow clone."

Kakashi adopts a face that shows equal parts surprise and pride.

"Wow." he says, "that's somehow impressive and disappointing at the same time. I've never felt this way before, Naruto."

I step back and roll my eyes as I sarcastically reply, "Gee, thanks for the confidence boost, sensei."

Kakashi then addresses all of us. "Now," he says, "I've realized that I haven't trained you kids all that well."

"You haven't trained us at all. Even with the tree-walking, Sakura taught me more than you did.", I interject, catching the proud look on Sakura's face.

Kakashi sighs. "Yes, I suppose that's my point. I wanna earn my pay, so I'll actually begin training you from now on."

This time, Sakura interjects. "Actually, sensei, you'll have to hold out on that. I've got an announcement to make!"

We focus all our attention on Sakura, who's beaming with delight.

She looks at everyone with her beautiful smile and excitedly squeals, "I'm gonna be learning medical jutsu from Lady Tsunade!"

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