Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Naruto used to wondered what purpose he served in life. That was in the time before he knew what the Hokage was. A time of self doubt and uncertainty. A time when he accepted the prejudice directed towards him.The blonde looked at the piece of paper in his hands, something he had done for the past two days.
Being promoted to chuunin would mean he was one step closer to his goal of becoming Hokage. Still, it seemed so faraway no matter how many times he thought about it.
The blonde got up and looked at the clouds outside, the overcast conditions signaling how cold it actually was out there. He donned one of his older orange hoodies. While they were pretty small, he was just not willing to part with them yet.
Naruto walked out and surveyed his surroundings, wondering which way he would take. At this point, he was unsure of where he wanted to go.
Throwing caution to the wind, Naruto walked on carelessly, allowing his mind to drift off as he contemplated how the next few days could go.
It was a given that he would accept the opportunity to participate in these exams. He could not let something like this pass by while he sat idle. It was also a good way to see how far he had come. Naruto wanted to be able to test himself against the best from other villages.
While Suki was a very good sparing partner, he knew her fighting style. He knew how she moved, how she could shift rhythm at a moment's notice and how her body reacted to specific trends while in combat. He was sure she knew how his own body operated as well and there was the problem.
He wanted something new, something he had never seen before. He wanted to know if he could adapt to certain situations or if he was the type of shinobi who always had to be prepared before hand.
It was during his stroll that he noticed the flower shop in his peripheral vision. Without putting much thought into it, the blonde shifted towards the shop.
Naruto didn't know much about flowers. He was aware of the fact that they were aesthetically pleasing to the eye and the fact that flowers could sometimes symbolize emotions and moods but that was about it. He was blank. He really should have paid attention to that one class or was it kunoichi only? He was not too sure anymore. His memory was failing him.
"Naruto?"
He snapped his head up at the sound of the familiar voice. He dragged his eyes up to meet Ino's, noticing how hers were lighter than his. He wondered what he should say to her. He and Ino weren't really friends per say but that was because he had not taken the time to get to know her.
"Do l want to?" he asked himself.
"Ino, this is a coincidence," he said, not sure if he was trying to convince her or himself about that fact.
"Not really, my family manages this place so l spend a lot of free time here," she shrugged as she walked in, Naruto following suit.
"Oh," was all he managed to say and the other blonde turned to face him.
"Why are you here?" Ino asked him. She didn't think Naruto was a flower guy, unless he was here to buy something for someone. A girl...nah, that couldn't be it.
"I was just taking a walk to clear my head when l wandered by," he told her, eyes starting to drift to all the different bouquets. He wondered how they got so many flowers. He was certain that not all of these could have been in season. One particular one caught his attention though.
It was white and plain looking but it stood out to him. "How much is that one?" it was the only one of its kind inside the shop at that moment.
Ino followed his line of sight and saw what he was looking at. The chrysanthemum flower. She gave a small apologetic smile to him.
"I'm really sorry but that particular blossom is not for sale. The order for this one was placed a few weeks ago by one of our customers," she told him.
Naruto nodded, though he couldn't deny the fact that he was slightly disappointed. He turned to Ino, knowing she would be able to answer his question.
"Flowers have meanings, don't they? So...what about this one?" he inquired and Ino looked thoughtful for a moment, wondering how to word her response.
"I suppose for the chrysanthemum flower, their meaning differs with colour but this one..." she let her hand gently caress the white flower petal. "...It can be a way to say goodbye to those you love. Most commonly, this flower represents death in all its different shades," she replied.
He looked at the flower, then at Ino. He was sure he had never seen her look so calm. Then she frowned at him.
"What the hell do you think you're looking at!" she yelled at him and it reminded him who he was with. Ino was Ino, nothing would change that. She would always be authoritative and confident about certain things. Even if it included calling someone out for something she didn't like.
"Don't flatter yourself," he said evenly as he walked towards the door, ready to leave now.
"Excuse me!" she looked positively furious, ready to blow her top off at a moment's notice. He opened the door, only to come face to face with the person he least expected to see in a flower shop.
Obsidian eyes seemed to bore into his skull and he looked back, not wanting to concede defeat. Suki rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Are you gonna move or not?" she asked evenly, a hand on her hip and an eyebrow raised.
Naruto didn't think it was necessary to bicker with her this early in the morning. Still, his response came out before he could stop it.
"You could ask a lot nicer," he said as he stepped out of her way, if only to satisfy his curiosity on why she was there.
She ignored his comment and walked in before setting her sights on Ino.
"You have my order?" she asked the paler blonde who nodded and directed her to the very flower that had caught Naruto's attention.
Suki took the bouquet and nodded towards Ino before seeing the expression on Naruto's face.
"You were that customer?" he asked the question even though he already knew the answer. Suki didn't get what he meant by that so she raised her eyebrows.
"What's that supposed to mean?" her statement wasn't contentious, just confused and slightly curious.
"Nothing. Just never thought you were into flowers. I guess there may be some part of you that is feminine in there," he said. Suddenly, they were outside the shop walking to together. He was not even sure when they walked out of the store.
He looked at her. Really looked at her as he began to notice a few things. One, her hair was down and he noted how it reached past her shoulders. She was casually dressed in a black t-shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the black. She had white shorts and a pair of sandals. She was more relaxed than usual.
She seemed so normal it was weird.
"Isn't it stereotypical to say that liking flowers is feminine?" she posed the question, eyes forward on the road. All around them she could see kids happily playing and running around. She chose to ignore the looks thrown at Naruto, though she couldn't help but wonder.
"What's up with that?"
"That's the way it's always been in your society," he said as he put his hand behind his head. Suki wondered how he was fine walking like that.
"Naruto, have you decided on whether you're going to enter the chuunin exams?" she actually looked at him for this one. He shrugged off her concern, or whatever it was. He was not really sure with her.
"It was never really a decision l had to make. This is something I have to do if l want to be Hokage someday,"
"You're still stuck up on that?" she sounded strangely amused.
"Have your goals changed?" he asked in turn and he thought he saw her eyes flash red for a moment.
"That option was never there. Every thing has already been decided," she said as her grip on the flowers tightened, but not enough to harm the flowers.
He closed his eyes and felt really sorry for whoever it was she planned on killing. He came to realize it wasn't him, which was a relief but the way she openly spoke about it was kinda creepy.
Suki stopped walking, causing him to stop as well. "What?"
"Someone is following us?" she sounded very calm about it, though he supposed there was not much to worry about within the village walls. The anbu were always watching.
They turned to see the odd square looking rock that seemed to squirm under their gaze. It took only a few more seconds before the perpetrators emerged.
"Konohamaru?" Naruto had not been expecting the boy. It had been a while since they last met. Suki looked rather unimpressed and her presence seemed to intimidate the poor boy. It was then Naruto noticed that Konohamaru was not alone.
"Boss, I knew you would see through our brilliant disguise. You're as great as ever," the young boy praised while Naruto sweatdropped. Suki held back a snort.
"Brilliant disguise?"
"Who are your friends?" the blonde asked as he peered at the two figures behind the young boy.
"These are my friends, Moegi and Udon. Together we are the Konohamaru corps, dedicated to serving your awesomeness!" he declared as all three stood in some weird pose.
Suki was not sure how she felt about this whole exchange. Kids were cute and someday she would have her own but there was a point when they were just annoying. Painfully so.
They looked at her more questioningly, as if assessing who she was. No, that wasn't it. They knew who she was, most in the village did. They were assessing who she was to Naruto, she realized. That made her frown almost immediately and Naruto wondered why.
Konohamaru looked at the two teens, then he looked at the flowers in the Uchiha's hands before he seemed to realize.
"Ah, very smooth boss. Why didn't you tell us you had a date?" he wiggled his eyebrow suggestively at the blonde.
Suddenly, Naruto was sweating profusely, his eyes slowly dragging over to his female teammate. He was expecting her to be angry at the insinuation but she looked on calmly and for some reason, that scared him even more.
"Smart kid you got here Naruto. l think he can do great things if he learns to keep his mouth shut, ne," she smiled at him and he gulped. She opened her eyes and tilted her head towards the kids, the red irises grabbing their attention.
"That's just playing dirty," he frowned at her. Naruto was sure she would never harm the kids but that didn't stop him.
The kids nodded even though the comment had been directed at konohamaru alone. Her eyes shifted back again, something the kids thought was pretty cool.
"Now you're just showing off," he threw a pointed look at her and she shrugged. The look she gave back was clear.
"If you've got it, flaunt it,"
He wanted to refute when he froze up, his stomach churning suddenly. He toppled to the ground in pain, a hand on his midsection.
Suki was suddenly at his side. The flowers had been handed over to Moegi and she looked at him in confusion.
"What the hell was that?" she kept her voice down so as to not worry the kids.
"I'm not sure. It just..." he stopped again as he felt it. He grit his teeth and tried to steady himself. His ears picked up on the sound of footsteps and he forced himself to look up. Suki followed his gaze.
They didn't know who he was but instantly, the two genin didn't like him. His red hair was unruly and his teal eyes were uneasy. His eyes focused in on them while their eyes turned to the suna symbol he sported.
The slight pain Naruto had felt increased and he had to have Suki steady him. The Uchiha heiress narrowed her eyes at him.
"He's probably here for the chuunin exams. Still..."
"I've finally found you,"
"Aren't you a little eager. The exams don't start till tomorrow," she raised an eyebrow at the redhead, almost inciting him on.
"Mother doesn't like you," he said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Naruto looked up at him and glared.
"What the hell do you want?" Naruto was tired of the growing silence. It was becoming oppressive.
The redhead raised a hand at them, palm outstretched, fingers at the ready. Sand swirled around his hand and the duo tensed.
"Gaara!" the redhead stopped and looked over his shoulder. They saw the dirty blonde haired girl run up to him.
"What?" he sounded annoyed.
"Please, it's only for a few more hours, then you can do what you want," she pleaded with him.
He dropped his hand and turned his back to them. Temari wasn't sure what had caused her brother to go off like that but she was glad she had gotten there in time to stop him. Things would have gotten ugly if she hadn't.
The two members of team seven looked at each other and Naruto could see Suki wanted some answers, answers he didn't have at the moment. They had to watch out for the redhead.
"What just happened?" they heard Konohamaru ask but truthfully, they had forgotten the kids qere even there. The chuunin exams had just gotten interesting.
This chapter is done. Also, I would like to thank the guest reviewer who brought to my attention the errors I was making. I'm sorry to all those reading about the inconsistencies in the story. I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Thanks for your support.