A moderately tall figure stood atop the highest building in a busy and bustling village. He took in the sights below him from the bird's eye view his vantage point provided. A presence let itself be known right beside him and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You finished reminiscing yet, brat?" came a deep voice that belonged to the hand. He gained a chuckle for a response and another voice, this one only slightly less deep that said, "Yep! Just taking in the sights Pervy Sage."

This time it was the man's turn to chuckle. "Konoha! Naruto Uzumaki is back!" the voice proclaimed, spreading his arms wide, a giant grin plastered on his face.

A teenage girl was walking through the dirt roads of her village. She waved to various familiar faces and returned smiles as well. She had short, pink hair tied into a spiky ponytail behind her head that reached just below her shoulder blades. Her bright, green eyes scanned faces in the crowds cautiously, flickering to both sides. The last defining feature on her face was the pink lip gloss that covered her lips.

She wore a tight, sleeveless red top that hugged tightly around her bosom. She had black combat gloves with grey elbow protectors. Around her waist, she had a forehead protector with red fabric and the symbol of her village on the metal. It accentuated her curves very well. Along with it, she had tight, black biker shorts that reached her athletic and toned skin of her mid-thigh. Wrapped around her right thigh by bandages rested a shuriken holster. To complete the outfit, she had dark grey knee-high, low-heeled boots.

"Ms. Sakura!" came the cry of a young boy. He had spiky brown hair tied up by a forehead protector with blue fabric. He wore a pale green jacket with a dark green stripe going down the middle and brown ninja pants with bandages wrapped around his right thigh to hold his kunai holster. He was followed by a brown-haired boy with round glasses in a black jacket and a girl with bright orange hair tied into large pigtails and a permanent red blush on her face. She wore a violet t-shirt underneath a sleeveless purple vest and a layered olive green skirt. Both had their hair held up by forehead protectors of the same color.

The pink-haired woman turned around to greet the kids running up to her with a smile. "How are you three doing, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon?" Konohamaru returned her smile with one of his own, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, as were the other two.

"Big bro is returning today!" were his only words before the three zipped past her in a search for their older brother figure.

Black ninja sandals dropped onto the ground lightly, not even kicking up a slight bit of dust nor making a single noise. "Still too loud," came the exasperated deep voice of Naruto Uzumaki.

Two and a half years of training did him good. Not only was his outfit different, now consisting of a form-fitting black jacket with orange on the sides. A red swirl was embroidered on the left shoulder. His hands were wrapped in white bandages up to his mid-forearm underneath his sleeves, only revealing his fingertips. The zipper of his jacket was open all the way to his mid-chest, revealing grey mesh armor underneath and a gem necklace around his neck that rested in the middle of his collarbone. Tied around his right bicep was a Konohagakure forehead protector with black cloth. He wore black, ANBU-style pants with several pockets going down the thigh and reached down to his ankles. Instead of a kunai holster, a small sealing scroll was strapped to his thigh. To complete his look he had black ninja sandals.

His spiky, yellow-blond locks drooped over his forehead and reached his jawline. He had decided to let his hair grow out just like he had when he was a kid. Three, thin lines formed to look like whiskers framed his cheeks, most likely birthmarks. He stood at 5'9, gaining a massive growth spurt from a change in diet and a strict training regimen. His face was also far more mature-looking, as he had burned a large chunk of baby fat, giving his jawline a more angular look. He absently flicked a blond lock behind his ear, which had a black earring stud pierced in with unintelligible kanji engraved in the center.

He swayed his head from side to side, taking in the sights of his village. Very few noticed his presence, a far too common occurrence, but some had the decency to smile and wave in recognition, which he returned with nods of the head and smiles.

His abs tightened as he felt something collide with his stomach and he looked down to see a mop of brown hair and hear a muffled cry of 'Boss!'

He grinned, showing off his pronounced canines, and ruffled the top of the boy's head. "Hey, Konohamaru, how ya been?" The boy stepped back to take a look at his boss and give him a thumbs up. Moegi and Udon both wrapped their arms around him from the sides and he chuckled. Once he got a look at them he gave an approving nod at seeing their shiny new headbands, snickering upon seeing the fresh scratch marks Konohamaru had garnered from a certain demonic cat. The said boy pouted which only caused Naruto to snort.

Time slowed down as he took in the sight of the girl in front of him. She had flowing indigo hair that swayed in the wind and the most beautiful, pale, and unscathed skin. He locked gazes with the lavender pale-eyed beauty and clicked his teeth. She strode towards him and froze the second he spoke.

"It's not nice to torment fellow ninja with genjutsu," she said in a flat tone. He ignored the pout from the girl as she began to fade away, only to be replaced by the sight of Sakura who had her arms crossed and huffed.

"Who knew you'd be so good at disrupting genjutsu?" she joked. Naruto snorted.

"Who knew you'd actually be so bad at casting them?" he put a finger to his chin in thought, ignoring the slight furrowing of her brow. "Guess Kakashi was wrong when he assessed that you would be adept at the art." Konohamaru and his crew were outwardly giggling as they saw Sakura deflate comically before she righted herself and strode towards Naruto, stopping once they were chest to chest. She smirked, the tiniest flush on her face.

Feigning surprise, she said, "You've changed. I never knew you would look like an actual ninja! Or like a man..." she whispered breathily. "Not to mention I actually have to look up at you to see your face." Her head was tilted up so she could meet him eye to eye while he only slightly inclined his head to look at her.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Sakura," he stated, making no visible reaction towards that one comment. She giggled at his mockingly hurt tone and stepped back, twirling so that he could get a full view of her. She stopped to strike a pose.

"So, what do you think? Have I become more womanly?" she asked in a shy yet pleading tone. Naruto hummed in thought. He stalked forward with a finger underneath his chin in a thinking pose causing her to shiver in delight expression, circling her like a predator did his prey, at the looks he was giving her. Her lips formed into a smile as backed up with his hands in his pockets and he grinned.

"Nah, you look just the same!" he declared with a thumbs up.

Her mouth formed into a thin line and she held a finger up to protest but said nothing. Naruto snickered.

"Well, it was nice seeing you guys, but I gotta meet up with a certain big-breasted granny. Later!" he said with a two-fingered, disappearing without a trace. The only thing that signified his departure was the gust of wind left in his wake that blew everyone's hair back as they shielded their eyes from the force.

"Boss is so cool," Moegi said with stars in her eyes, an action quickly replicated by her two friends. Sakura had a small frown on her face and she unconsciously gripped her ponytail.

"Man! I didn't even get to show him super new Sexy-" Konohamaru quickly ceased talking to slowly turn around and the sight he saw would scar him for ages.

An angry Sakura and Moegi, both with equally evil auras surrounding their bodies, shadowing their faces, causing their pupilless, furious eyes to bore into his soul.

"...Jutsu..." was all he got out before breaking into a dead sprint.

Naruto grimaced. It seemed no matter what kind of training he did, hugs from a woman with super strength and suffocatingly enormous breasts still hurt. Bad.

"Granny, you can let me go now," he said in a strained voice, grimacing slightly. He loved Tsunade but this woman must have been trying to kill him. Did she know that he'd already been here for a day until he made his presence known when he shouted?

"Naruto, it's wrong to be so mean towards your worried old Granny," she planted a wet sloppy kiss on his cheek that caused him to struggle even more with slight fright. She whispered in his ear, the breathy words sending a shiver down his spine. "It's not nice to keep people waiting now, is it? Na-ru-to?" he paled at the way she pronounced every syllable in his name. She knew.

"Well, you see, the thing is..." he started with a nervous grin before Tsunade found herself hugging air. In her arms was a cloud of smoke. Tsunade pouted childishly.

The real Naruto appeared in front of her, scattered the foot-high stack of papers on her desk upon his entry. He aloofly had an arm rested on Shizune's shoulder and a bored look on his face, causing the black-haired assistant to chuckle at her master's expense. The pig in her arms squealed while Naruto scratched her head with a smile.

"Yo, Granny! Missed me?" he asked with a shit-eating grin. Tsunade scowled at the mess he created but she couldn't help the smile that crept upon her face soon after.

"Uh-huh!" she exclaimed childishly with her arms outstretched. "Now give your Granny some sugar!" She walked around her desk towards the boy that was a full head taller than her and made a gesture for him to come forward.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Naruto's face. He attempted to back up but found himself pinned against the door. He nervously smiled, waving his arms frantically. Tsunade only grinned wider at his hopeless expression and took joy in the fear she instilled in him. She stopped right in front of his shaking form and he closed his eyes to accept his fate, but all the woman did was stand on the tiptoes of her heeled sandals and plant a kiss on his forehead, sweeping the bangs out of the way just as she had done three years ago. She stepped back with a soft smile on her face. Naruto chuckled. Should've expected something like that.

"Good to have you back, you knucklehead."

"Good to be back," he replied with his signature foxy grin.

The warm reunion was interrupted by Tsunade clearing her throat and donning a serious expression.

"Now, I know Jiraya has kept me updated with your training via messenger toads but I want to make a viable assessment of your skills against one of our own top ninja."

Upon hearing the seriousness in Tsunade's voice, Naruto's back straightened up and he was at full attention right in front of her desk. "So, who will I be testing myself against?" he asked curiously to which Tsunade smirked.

"For one, this will be a team exercise, not unlike the test you took when you became a genin," upon finishing her sentence, a swirl of pink petals materialized to the side of him. Naruto slightly raised a curious eyebrow at the newcomer's appearance.

"Lady Hokage, chunin Sakura Haruno at your service," Sakura stated with a respectful bow. Naruto did not fail to miss the smirk the girl had on her face upon stating her rank. Once hearing she could be at ease she lifted her head and faced forward. Tsunade looked to Naruto who had a slightly incredulous look on his face.

"I take it you've already guessed as to who you will be facing, correct?" Her response was a heavy sigh.

"Well, I thought you would have been more excited to see me, Naruto," came a familiar voice that had a tone of feigned hurt to it. All the room's occupants bar Tsunade and Naruto looked towards the open window to see none other than Kakashi Hatake sitting on the roof, reading his signature Make Out Paradise book. "How have you been, my cute little genin?" the Copy Ninja asked as his eye crinkled into an upside-down 'U' shape to signify he was smiling.

"Oi, Granny, when are we getting started?" Naruto asked, blatantly disregarding Kakashi's presence, which didn't go unnoticed. Tsunade merely told him and Sakura to head over to Team 7's training grounds to which the blond happily obliged, disappearing with a strong gust of wind left in his wake, Sakura following immediately after in her own signature Body Flicker. Tsunade scowled at the paper's which once again scattered all over the place and Shizune sighed. Kakashi, who was still on the roof, closed his book with a snap and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Team 7's training grounds hadn't changed in the slightest. The grass was well maintained and the dense mass of trees that had always been there since the days of the Sannin stood tall in all of their arboreal glory. The final touch was the obvious stump in the center of the clearing that Naruto vividly remembered being tied to for a day.

"Nostalgic, isn't it?" came the soft voice of Sakura that broke Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. Let's just hope things don't remain the same and Kakashi isn't late," he responded sardonically. Sakura chuckled dryly at the joke.

Luckily they weren't left waiting more than five seconds as the silver-haired jonin appeared several feet away from them in the clearing with two familiar silver bells in his fingers.

"Yo!" he said in greeting. The two younger ninjas turned to face their superior and were at full attention. Not wanting to stall any longer, Kakashi immediately stated the rules.

"Everything is the same as last time, the only difference being there's a bell for each of you this time around. Also," he continued, making a small alarm clock appear out of nowhere. He twisted the dial to set a given amount of time and strapped the bells to his waist. "You have..." he looked up at the position of the sun, nodding, "until sunrise tomorrow to retrieve the bells from me. Other than that, you may use whatever tactics, meaning..." he paused for dramatic effect, staring intensely at both genin and chunin, "come at me with the intent to kill."

Naruto's aloof look only changed to that of silent contemplation, which Kakashi noticed. He raised an eyebrow to ask the silent question. The boy's answer caused him to be slightly on edge.

"I really..." he began, the ominous tone in his voice causing Sakura to reflexively pull down her gloves and Kakashi to straighten his posture, "...don't think you want that, Kakashi." The look on Naruto's face hadn't changed at all, in fact, he had a small smile on his face, which unnerved the join slightly if his one visible eye-widening by the smallest fraction wasn't any indication. His eye then smiled.

"I'm glad you have that much confidence in yourself, Naruto. It shows how much you've grown; I just hope it isn't misplaced," he stated, raising one hand to lift his headband and reveal his hidden eye.

Sakura chose now to speak up. "So you're finally taking us serious, huh sensei?" she asked with a cocky smirk. Kakashi didn't answer, instead choosing to analyze the two with his Copy Wheel Eye.

"Well it seems you're both ready... so..." Sakura tensed up while Naruto put his hands in his pockets, causing the girl to scowl. "Begin!"

Shizune was currently helping her master pick up the fallen pieces of paper to reorganize them. They were in silence until Shizune decided to ask a question.

"Milady, how do you think they'll fare against Kakashi?" she asked curiously. She hadn't been informed of Naruto's growth for the past year and a half but her master had, so she would be able to provide better insight. Tsunade hummed in thought.

"I think it's more of a question how well Kakashi will do against them, don't you think?" she asked, not giving a hint of any bias in her tone. Shizune raised an eyebrow, causing Tsunade to chuckle. "Have more faith in Kurenai's student, Shizune. And don't think I didn't teach her a thing or two either," she said, smirking. "Oh, and Shizune, fetch me Jiraiya."

Rather than leaping back to create distance, everyone in the clearing stood stock still. The only sound was that of the gentle breeze flowing by. Each side was taking in any muscle movements or tenseness that would provide a clue as to who would move first.

Kakashi saw Naruto's brow furrow the slightest bit and took the opportunity to close in. Sakura noticed this and immediately raised her foot upwards to smash it on the ground. Once her heel made contact, the ground in front of her was uprooted, causing chunks of dirt and grass to break apart and a crater 30 feet in diameter to form. Kakashi had to quickly sidestep and jump to the side to avoid getting engulfed by the attack.

Good. She took in the fact that I revealed my trump card immediately and went on the offensive to give her and Naruto time to think. I still don't get why he hasn't moved from his spot, though. Kakashi thought, eyes narrowing.

"Naruto! Don't just stand-eek!" Sakura was cut off when Naruto took the chance to grab her by the waist and hoist her onto his shoulder with one arm, jumping into the brush without a trace. Kakashi let out a small breath at the disappearance of his students. Making sure he was in the clear, he lowered his headband to conserve chakra and stood in the center of the clearing, leaning against the stump in the middle.

Now's a better time than ever, he thought before whipping out his favorite orange book and immersing himself in the world of smut, giggling perversely all the while. This should rile them up a bit.

"So how well do you think Naruto himself fares against Kakashi?" Tsunade asked her perverted teammate. The white-haired man didn't even spend a second to think of his answer.

"It's over."

"What?"

With Naruto & Sakura

"You can put me down, now," Sakura growled, her face flushed with anger and embarrassment at being manhandled so ungraciously. Naruto shrugged and dropped her to the ground unceremoniously, causing the girl to rub her aching backside as she stood up, getting in his face.

"You can get that finger out of my face, Sakura," Naruto said in a flat tone as they had a staredown. "And now's not the time to be arguing anyway." Sakura sighed at the fact he was right and slumped her shoulders before looking alert, looking in every which way to make sure they weren't in danger. She reached for a kunai in her pouch and held it in a firm reverse grip in her right hand.

"Ow!" she said when she felt her forehead get flicked. "What's your issue?!" she hissed, rubbing the spot with her free hand. She hated to admit it but that flick really hurt.

Naruto blinked owlishly at her before stating, "We won." Done nursing her forehead, Sakura gave him a blank stare, looking up into his blue eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean 'we won'?"

Naruto pulled one hand out of his pocket to reveal two silver bells, not unlike the ones Kakashi had on his waist. Sakura's mouth hung open and she struggled to make any words come out. The blond decided to elaborate.

"It was when he strapped the bells to his waist," he said, shrugging, before putting the bells back where they resided. The pink-haired girl felt her eye twitch at the lack of a proper explanation. "You look like you want to hit me," he stated, picking at his ear. Sakura followed through and did just what he thought she would, but recoiled when she felt her hand hit something that felt like titanium.

"What the hell!" she half yelled half-whispered. "I knew you were hardheaded but why does my hand feel like it's broken?!" Naruto yawned at the jab towards his stubbornness and squatted down to sit at the base of a tree.

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling sleepy, so..." he drawled out before slumping over unconscious. Sakura resisted the urge to shout lest she reveals their location but instead kneeled in between his legs and placed a hand underneath his chin to lift his head. She turned it every which way, looking for any sign he was faking it, and sighed.

"Now what?" she asked herself. "Should I just give sensei the bells and be done with it or should we wait this out and play with our food?" She scratched her head in thought before deciding to hop onto the branch directly above Naruto and use it as a perch to scout any danger. "It's more fun this way," she mused.

Kakashi liked to pride himself in being able to enjoy a book several times over but he was getting tired of reading as of now. It put him on edge to know that 6 hours had passed and it was well past evening with no sign of Naruto or Sakura.

He sighed, placing his book in its pouch and taking off into the thick brush. Not many minutes later he found Naruto resting at the base of a tree snoring loudly with no Sakura within sight. He resisted the urge to frown. Where was the teamwork? Cooperation? Kakashi thought Sakura had grown out of her phase of simply spiting Naruto but it seemed she truly had left him to the wolves. Unless that was their plan? To lull him into a false sense of security and get the drop on him? No matter. It was time to give Naruto a proper wake-up call. He deftly retrieved four shurikens from his pouch, spinning them on each free finger, causing a low whizzing sound to be emitted. Naruto began to stir.

Too late. Kakashi thought disappointedly. Truly the boy had become overconfident.

Jumping in the air to reach a branch across from the blond he let the shuriken loose at blinding speeds... for them to miss their target and make 'thunk' sounds in the bark behind Naruto's head.

The blond calmly stood up, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck before raising a hand to bat away the gloved fist that came flying towards his face. He opened his eyes to see a roundhouse kick flying straight at the left side of his face and caught the offending foot with one hand. Kakashi was stunned.

How was he able to catch my kick so easily? It was chakra enhanced too so he should have felt a little backlash! Naruto capitalized upon his sense's moment of weakness and spun his body around to slam the jonin into the tree behind him, causing splinters of wood to fly about and a huge dent to be engraved in the tree.

"Replacement, huh?" Naruto asked no one in particular. His back was turned and thus unguarded to the hail of shuriken that came directly after a cry of "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!" The throwing stars flew at him well into the hundreds, only to meet air and plant themselves into the grass below.

"Where'd he go?" Kakashi thought aloud. He quickly revealing his Sharingan, the three black comma-shaped marks spinning wildly to assess the situation. It was already too late. Naruto's fist made solid contact with Kakashi's cheek, right in his blind spot, making the silver-haired man fly off of the branch he was previously perched on and into several trees on the way down. He fell face-first into the dirt until he skidded to a halt, uprooting grass before he got a hold of himself and tried to get up.

"I let my guard down," he said as he stood up, dusting himself off and searching for his perpetrator. He found himself in the center of the clearing again but this time he was greeted by his two former students, one sitting on the stump with her legs crossed over each other and chewing lazily on a stick of dumplings while the other was standing, lazily twirling two bells attached by a string around his fingers.

"Yo," Sakura said in between mouthfuls. Kakashi patted his hip only to be confused. He heard the jingling of bells and lifted his hand to see, in fact, two bells in his hand.

"I don't..." he began before his eyes widened. His realization came too late when the bells dispersed into a cloud of smoke and revealed Naruto's knee making contact with the man's chin, causing him to stumble back and become subdued by a sea of black. Well done, Naruto, Sakura, was his last coherent thought.

Sakura almost choked when she held back a giggle at how easily Kakashi was taken down. Naruto dropped the bells into her lap and watched as his clone propped up Kakashi against the wooden post, tying him up in ninja wire before dispelling. The pinkette raised an eyebrow. "I know you're not dumb enough to think a jonin isn't able to escape from a genin tying him up in ninja wire?" She hadn't meant for it to come off as scathing but merely doubtful. Naruto snorted.

"Rank doesn't matter in the real world. It's just a title. Besides, wasn't it a genin who single-handedly took down a jonin with no help?" he bit back. Sakura made a 'tsk' sound, hopping off the post and dropping the bells on the unconscious man's head.

"Watch how you talk to your superiors genin Uzumaki," she teased, flinging the now empty stick at his head which he impressively caught between his teeth. She snickered as he began to walk away, ignoring her. Seeing that it was fairly early and the sun was just setting she decided to ask, "Naruto, you wouldn't want to go for ramen right now, would you?"

Naruto didn't acknowledge he heard her and continued walking. Just as she was about to ask again he turned to her, causing her to stop mid-stride.

"You buying?" were his only words. She mulled over it and scoffed.

"With your appetite, you'd run me dry, so... no thanks," she responded to his question. Naruto shrugged and continued to walk away with his hands in his pockets.

"Then, no," came his curt reply. Sakura frowned and hurried to step in line with her former teammate. She turned to look at him and he saw her looking at the corner of his eye. "What?" she blushed, realizing she was caught staring, and turned to look straight ahead, mumbling a small 'nothing'.

They walked around aimlessly in comfortable silence before Naruto was the one to surprisingly break it. Surprising to Sakura because of how distant she felt he was being.

"So am I the only genin out of all our friends?" he asked. Sakura looked to see if he felt annoyed by it but couldn't tell from his eyes so she answered.

"Yep, everyone except Neji, Hinata, Kankuro, and Temari are chunin," she replied. Naruto gave a gracious nod, smiling upon hearing Hinata's name and promotion. Sakura ignored his reaction. "And Gaara..." she continued, her words hang.

"Is Kazekage, right?" Sakura pouted upon hearing the surprise being ruined. She hoped to crush his spirits once he heard of his friend's promotion to the highest honor but he seemed to not care at all. "I already knew," he said upon seeing her expression. "When we kept contact with the Sand it was through my and Pervy Sage's messenger toads. That's how I found out. Didn't know about Temari though," he said offhandedly. Sakura nodded at his explanation. She then realized they had stopped and just where they stopped.

"I thought you didn't want ramen?" she huffed. Naruto chuckled.

"You didn't want to waste any money on me so I decided I'd just pay out of my own pocket," he said, grinning. The old chef at the counter and his daughter Ayame beamed at the sight of their favorite customer who sat down immediately. "What's up old man Teuchi, Big Sis? How's it been?" he asked with a grin so wide his eyes looked shut.

Teuchi laughed heartily and reached a hand over the counter to ruffle the boy's hair. "It's good to have you back, Naruto! The business has been pretty boring without you to liven things up. And good evening to you, Ms. Sakura," he greeted the two teens with a warm smile. Sakura simply smiled and waved to both employees.

The brunette chef squealed upon seeing Naruto and leaped over the counter to envelop her brother in all but blood in a bone-crushing hug that he gladly returned.

"Wow, you've grown so much!" she gushed, still holding him tight. He laughed and she stepped back behind the counter to get a good look at him. "You've grown into a handsome young man, Naruto!" she said in her regular cheerful manner. Naruto scratched the back of his head at the compliment and thanked her by quickly asking for 10 bowls of miso pork ramen. Sakura stated she wouldn't be having anything. The two chefs readily complied and went to the kitchen with a spring in their step.

Sakura leaned over the counter and rested her chin on one hand, looking intently at Naruto. She found herself doing that a lot lately. "So, Naruto, you haven't told me. What have you accomplished through your training? You took out Kakashi-sensei really easily so I was just curious." Naruto smirked.

"That, my pretty pink friend, is a trade secret," he said cryptically. Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're free to tell me what you've been up to though," he said in a more interested tone. "That genjutsu you used earlier was pretty convincing. If it had been anyone else their head would've been rolling off their shoulders within a split second." Sakura's face heated up at the praise.

"It was nothing, really. I've actually been working a lot with Kurenai and Kakashi-sensei to work on my field of genjutsu." Naruto crossed his arms and nodded at the sound reasoning. "I also spent the first year and a half under Lady Tsunade studying medical ninjutsu, its practical and combative usages, until I switched to an apprenticeship under Shizune where I learned about poisons and antidotes." Naruto's eyes actually widened a bit at this information. So Sakura had been rotating between several different sensei-that was unexpected. He could tell by the super strength she used during the bell test she was training under the Hokage but not to what extent. He was glad Tsunade did him that favor.

"And also," Sakura continued before sticking her tongue out, revealing a senbon needle hidden underneath. She then shifted her tongue around and grinned.

"So you can do tricks with your tongue?" Naruto asked, feigning an innocent expression. Sakura's face reddened and she told him to shut up, causing him to laugh.

Naruto was then faced with five bowls on the counter with steaming hot noodles in them. Taking a whiff of the immaculate scent, Naruto breathed a sigh of contentment. He then put his hands together and shouted his thanks before eagerly grabbing his chopsticks, his eyes shining with childlike glee. "Oh, ramen, how I have missed thee!" he said with a forlorn expression. Sakura giggled at the display until her mouth gaped at how refined Naruto was eating his ramen. It seemed he lived up to his reputation as the most surprising ninja. He hadn't dug in in a pig-like fashion, no offense to TonTon, but rather ate with such poise but at a rapid pace that it was almost enthralling. It was like a more controlled vigor. Soon enough, five bowls were empty and another five were placed in front of him while the others stacked up. Once he was done he left the required amount of money on the counter and a large tip as well, just for his favorite restaurant. Teuchi and Ayame gave their thanks which he waved off with a smile. With that, he and Sakura were off once again.

"Would you be down for a spar when we have the chance?" Naruto, who was walking with both arms behind his head turned to look at Sakura. Seeing the determined and fiery look in the girl's eyes he couldn't refuse. With a grin, he accepted the challenge and offered to walk the girl home.

"Can I ask you a question?" Naruto hummed to confirm he was listening. Sakura bit her lip. "Why have you been acting so..." Naruto stopped walking, causing Sakura to become confused until she saw where they were-her parent's apartment complex.

"Here's your stop," he said, facing forward with his head not turned to her. Annoyed, Sakura moved to walk in front of him. When their eyes met, he shut his eyelids. This was the last straw.

"Like this! Cold! Distant! Like you don't want to talk to anyone!" she yelled. She didn't care if anyone heard her, she felt like venting her frustrations and she needed to make sure he was listening to what she had to say. "It's like you don't want to talk to me... You don't want to be friends... I..." she looked down, her voice lowering considerably as she stared at her feet, shuffling in place. Naruto chose to open his eyes and observe the now meek girl. Feeling his eyes on her she looked up. His eyes held no emotion at all and so she decided to finish her question. "I said I was sorry all that time ago. Is it... that you don't forgive me?" she asked peering into his eyes to see if they told her anything. She felt her own eyes stinging but chose to ignore the sensation in favor of getting an answer.

They stood in silence for a full minute before Naruto exhaled sharply. Removing one hand from the back of his head, he placed it on top of Sakura's pink locks. He made a mental note that they didn't feel soft nor glossy. Good on her.

"Good night, Sakura."

The pinkette stood still, her hands balled into fists and her body trembling ever so slightly. Her eyes became teary as Naruto removed his hand and walked right past her, the sound of the gravel and dirt crunching underneath his feet fading into the dead of night. She stood there in front of her porch listening to the sounds of the crickets chirping for who knows how long. Using the back of her forearm to wipe the tears that refused to fall, she stomped up the steps and opened the door, slamming it behind her with a loud bang.

Naruto's ears twitched as he walked down the path to his own apartment complex. He stopped once he saw the building and sighed. "There's no place like home... I guess."