I'm already dressed for my date tonight - in a blue shirt, jeans, and my brown shoes at the door - so I've been sitting at home, playing cards and video games with some clones for about 2 hours now.

I sent a bunch of other shadow clones to the library to read up on chakra natures and stuff like that.

I also kinda feel bad for blowing off Asuma like that... I vented out my frustration at myself onto him. Why is it that I keep coming back to being so stupid? I could've just listened to Kakashi and I'd probably be riding unicorns made of wind or something right now...

I hear a knock on the door and I go to answer it. It's Kakashi!

"What's up, sensei?", I ask.

"Listen, Naruto.", he says. "I just hope you understand that it's not my intention to neglect you or your training..."

Of course I understand that... But I keep making it look like I don't! Why do I do that?! I should have my clones pick out some self-help books too...

I tell him, "I do understand, sensei. It's just... I don't really know where my life's going right now... And that bothers me. I keep telling myself that I have to learn some more jutsu to pass the chunin exams, but what if I do that, and it doesn't satisfy me?"

Kakashi kneels to get to eye level with me. "Naruto," he states, "take it from me - you have to sort out your problems. Understand what's wrong in your life, and fix it. If you don't, bad things will happen. Think about that on your vacation."

I look at him in surprise. "You mean, you approved it?"

He smiles at me. "I did. Now just remember what I said, okay?"

I smile back and tell him, "I will, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you."

Kakashi ruffles my hair and leaves me be.

I go back to continue playing with my clones, and a few minutes later, the clones I sent to the library dispelled.

It seems that one of my clones shared my line of thinking about the self-help, because it read a book about being more mature and dealing with your feelings in a more adult-like manner. One of the things it said was to try and sort out some of the physical stuff of my life - keep my house neat, organize my workspace, get a healthier diet, etc. I can get Sakura to help me with the diet thing, although I am gonna need a lot of food - I need to gain weight.

I've also learned some cool stuff about nature transformations. Because I'm Kakashi's student, the librarian allowed me access to an otherwise-classified document about Kakashi's chidori.

He wrote a report about it to his sensei, the fourth hokage! He never told us that!

Apparently, Kakashi tried to add his lightning nature to the rasengan, but when that didn't work, he developed some hand signs that would channel his chakra into lightning nature, making his chakra a form of electricity that he can use through his hand.

Another clone read up on the rasengan. It requires chakra to flow in all directions - I already know that, it's what I have my clone do.

Another clone read up on nature transformations - shinobi can take a jutsu and add their nature to it by conforming the chakra flow to their nature.

Is it really impossible to add chakra nature to the rasengan, then? It'd be like looking left and right at the same time... I keep thinking about it.

I continue playing cards with my clowns for a while longer as the thought lingers in my head... Something about it just makes sense, but I need to figure out just what it is!

My clone wins the game that we were just playing.

Kinda funny, isn't it?

I won, but I also lost at the same time.

It's like a metaphor for my life.

It's also funny how it was technically me seeing the cards, but it was just me looking at my own cards too. It's like... Looking left and right at the same time! I got it! I can use a shadow clone to form the rasengan and another to add the wind nature!

I excitedly tell my clones about it and they all congratulate and hug me.

Then, I hear a meek voice call out to me. I forgot to close the door!

"What're you doing, Naruto?" It's Sakura!

She's wearing a beautiful white shirt, with pink pants, black shoes, and a red skirt.

And she's caught me in an awkward situation...

I quickly dispel my clones and nervously laugh. "I hang out with my clones, y'know?"

Sakura looks at me with a face of pity(?) and says, "You don't have to do that... You have friends! You can call us and we might hang out with you!"

I sheepishly look at the ground. I rub my arm nervously and explain, "I don't think anyone would wanna hang out with me..."

Sakura kicks off her shoes, walks up to me, and grabs the sides of my face in her hands, then pulls me in close.

Her eyes peer into my soul as she tells me, "Whether or not you know it, Naruto, we care about you. If you need companionship, at the very least, we'll consider granting it to you. Please, just reach out to us, okay?"

I feel like my eyes sting. No one's ever said anything like that to me before...

I manage to say, "O-okay...", as I involuntary let out a tear.

Sakura lets out a few tears of her own and she hugs me again, rubbing my back to ease me.

I eventually return the gesture, letting myself be enveloped in her embrace and vice versa.

Sakura tells me, "You don't need to be lonely anymore, Naruto...".

We stay like this for a few minutes, and the way that her body rhythmically rises up and down as she breathes makes me feel... Comfortable. I hope she feels the same way.

We break off the hug at the same time, and hold each other's arms as we gaze into each other's eyes again.

I speak first. "So... Where're we going for dinner?"

Sakura smiles at me and then looks down (she's so cute!).

She says, "You said you didn't want ramen for once, so I thought we could go to a nice salad bar."

"Yes!", I exclaim. "Salad will perfectly balance out the ramen I ate today! I think...", I add.

Sakura chuckles a bit, then holds my hand and leads me outside my apartment after we put on our shoes.

I remember to close the door this time.

We're walking back home, holding hands after our dinner date, and there's a great thought running through my mind:

Salad tastes pretty good!

I ate it pretty fast, but I made up for my time by eating a few more bowls. Of course, I wanted to pay, but Sakura insisted that we split the bill, so I only paid for most of our meal.

As we walk, I tell Sakura, "If I knew salad could be this awesome, I'd have started eating it years ago!"

Sakura laughs and draws herself closer to lean on my shoulder.

She really does love me!

But why?

I look at her and ask, "Sakura, why do you love me?"

She looks back at me and says, "Because even though you're loud, brash, and kind of an idiot, you're kind, selfless, and hardworking. I can see that you feel like there's something wrong with you, but you try and fix those things. And even though I love you just the way you are, I can't help but gush over your self-improvement. "

I didn't expect her to be so straightforward... I blush and look back down.

"So," she asks, "Why do you love me?"

I think about it for a second.

I think about everything that's great about her - her beauty, her charming forehead, her determination, her intelligence - it's as if she's as perfect as anyone can be.

I tell her, "Because you're you. You're smart, you're kind, you're determined, and you're beautiful. I'd have to be even more of an idiot to not love you!"

She smiles and sweetly sighs, and we keep walking like this until we reach my apartment.

When we reach my apartment, we come across Jiraiya standing at my door.

"There you are, kid!", he calls. "I've got a mission for ya!"

:-)