Chapter Six
Over the course of the couple months, all the genin have been training hard whenever they weren't on missions. Naruto has been hard at work trying to figure out how to use the chakra chains. It isn't easy without a proper teacher, but Kakashi revealed he knew the blond's mother and has been helping him out with it. Naruto managed to finally manifest a single chain so far. He has also been working on his taijutsu with Hinata as well. She has been able to develop her own version of the Gentle Fist to suit her better. It was Naruto's idea and it seems to have been paying off. Along with taijutsu, Hinata has been learning medical jutsu since team seven is already an offensive powerhouse. Sasuke has been more concerned in mastering his sharingan and learning all the fire jutsu that the Uchiha clan knows. To the delight of the rest of his team he has been more open to training with them and occasionally accepts the invitation to hangout with them, although he immediately denies it whenever it involves Anakin coming along.
Speaking of which, Anakin has been very busy. He is still relearning all he knows about the Force and progress has been very good. He is now at high padawan to low knight level. Like his distant Uchiha cousin, he has also been learning all he can about the sharingan from Kakashi and has unlocked a second tomoe. Anakin has also finally had some luck when it comes to jutsus. He has learned the basic academy jutsus and a couple of D-rank fire jutsus. Sasuke asked why he doesn't just copy jutsus which protemped Anakin to say that he won't be copying any jutsus that an ally can teach him. The raven-haired boy just simply scoffed at the answer. Though along with learning, Anakin has also been teaching. With Naruto, he has been helping the boy to not get caught up in his anger. It hasn't been easy since the blond fights with emotions and a certain fox is always trying to sway him into using his negitive emotions. Nevertheless Anakin is not ready to give up on his friend with the work half done.
Shifting to a different hair color, his progress with Sakura is the most surprising. Whatever happened between her and Sasuke that day must have flipped a switch in her head. She's nowhere near Naruto's level of work ethic, but she is a fairly quick learner and has been soaking up any information about training as she can. Her Shii-cho is still far from proficient, but Anakin noticed something after their first couple spars.
"Hey Sakura, tell me your opinion about your moments." He tells her.
Sakura looks thoughtful for a moment, "Hmmm. If I had a complaint, it's that it doesn't feel right when I'm holding this. I know swords are meant to be held out in front, but I can't seem to get comfortable with it."
Anakin just nods, "Just what I suspected. I could also feel the awkwardness in your swings when we crossed hits. I don't think this is going to suit you very well."
Her eyes go wide, "What?! Does that mean you won't keep training me anymore?!"
"That is not what I'm saying. I'm just thinking we are going at this all wrong." He assures her. Anakin ponders for a minute. Let's see, holding a sword upright isn't suiting her. Even if she manages to get it to a passable level, anyone with experience can quickly take advantage of her awkwardness. What if I try looking at it like a ninja instead of a Jedi? Well one of the most important tools ninjas use are kunai. Kunai are meant to be used in a reverse grip, not upright like a sword. Since she has been training as a ninja all this time then she is used to holding weapons like that. This is tricky since all the forms I use won't fit her needs. Wait, what am I doing using my own styles as a reference? There is a lightsaber form that is made just for this sort of thing! He looks back to her, "I figured it out! There is a form that I think will suit you just fine."
"But didn't you say I needed to start with Shii-cho before I move on?"
"Usually I would, but I think this requires something unorthodox and luckily there is an unorthodox form to fix your situation. One of the lightsaber forms is Form V Shien/Djem So. What we are more interested in is the Shien part in particular because there are very few users of it that uses a reverse grip when fighting. I'll admit I don't have any experience with it, so I'll be mostly relying on memories back in the Jedi Academy for this." He explains, "Now let us begin, turn your sword like you would a kunai."
It went like Anakin expected. Sakura was way more comfortable fighting with a reverse grip. She has had an easier time learning to use a sword after that to the point where she blew past the progress she made with Shii-cho in a matter of days, though Anakin still had her learn the previous style to give her more of a range of options in fights.
Though one thing both teams except Anakin noticed is how often Sakura is around him. Rather it be training, shopping, trying to get Hinata and Naruto together, or just sitting around the pair has been seen everywhere to the point it is rare to see one without the other. What they don't know when they are trying to play matchmaker is that a certain Hyuga is doing the exact same thing to them.
Meanwhile a tick mark appears on the young Aburame's head as a bug bites Anakin. "Ow! Hey Shino, control your bugs. One of them just bit me."
Shino recalls the insect back to him, "Well maybe next time you could include me in your thought summary."
"Hey no fourth wall breaks! The author isn't creative enough to make this work." Anakin yells.
Sakura looks confused at her two teammates, "What the hell are you going about?"
"Um nothing Sakura-chan. Let's just get to camp before Master Kurenai begins to think Master Kakashi has been rubbing off on us with his punctuality." Anakin tells them.
Team eight have been sent out to investigate a strange disturbance fifteen miles from the Hidden Leaf village. The disturbance itself varies from different sources. Claims range from a ghost, a floating ball of light, a reflection of themselves, and so on near a mountain wall. A Hyuga was already sent to see if they could trace the source, but didn't detect any chakra that wasn't already a part of nature. Other sensors were sent as well but ended up finding nothing. Though the shinobi found nothing, civilians kept claiming to see things. The Hokage decided that perhaps this investigation required someone with an outside perspective from the ninja world, so team eight were asked to check it out or more specifically Anakin was. They are on their last night before calling it quits.
Kurenai is sitting by the fire when her genin returns. "Ah did you guys see anything in the forests?"
Anakin shakes his head, "No everything as far as we can tell is the same. Though the Force can be very helpful in connecting with nature, I'm perhaps outside my area of expertise here. I'm better with technology, my older brother is the one who can be one with nature."
"Well your brother didn't get reincarnated in our world, so we have to make due with you." Sakura tells him.
"I didn't know you have a brother," Kurenai says.
"He does, though that was in his previous life" The pinky one said.
"Did the author just call us pinky?!" Inner pinky shouted in pinky's mind.
We are not doing this stupid fourth wall break gag so shut up! Sakura thinks back.
Kurenai smirks at her and Anakin, "Oh? So you two know are comfortable enough with each other for you to be able to tell others about himself?" The two in question's faces go red and the jonin just laughs at them. "You both need to relax. If anything I'm all for my students growing closer to each other. Though don't get too caught up with yourselves and forget Shino here."
"Actually I'd like to not get caught up in their lover duo." Shino says making the red faces blush even deeper.
"H-hey… we aren't…" Sakura trails off.
Kurenai tilts her head, "You're not? Everyone has assumed by now that the two of you were already an item."
"Wait EVERYONE?!" Anakin asks.
"Well yeah, you've both been the talk of the town. Ever since you reclaimed your Uchiha name the eyes of the village fell on you and anyone you hang around with. You can't be shocked that people would assume you both are dating since you two are very rarely without one another." She explains. If blushes could go any deeper, it could appear on their faces. "Have you both seriously not even discussed the possibility of going on a date?"
"Well there are factors to be involved before-" Anakin starts.
"What factors?" Their sensei cuts off. "It's totally obvious to everyone that the two of you like each other. Hell during team training you both spend more time looking at each other than actually training. How the hell have neither of you two noticed yet? And you call Naruto the oblivious one."
The two just look at each other. They both knew how they felt about the other, but couldn't see if the feeling was returned. Though they had to admit that they spent so much time together over the last couple months that anyone would come to such a conclusion. They both hesitate talking to each other.
Kurenai sighs watching them, "I swear to Kami if the two of you do not set up a date instead of looking into each other's eyes then I'm going to trap you both in a genjutsu while Shino's bugs tie you upside down over a damn cliff!"
They snap out and Anakin is the first to speak, "Well… um… S-sakura-chan?"
"Y-yes!" Sakura squeals out. Kurenai watches the two with an evil smirk while Shino shows no emotions, but if one pays attention they could hear a low buzz of bugs in amusement.
"Um…" Anakin shyly says, "W-would you possibly like to, let's say, go on a d-date?"
"W-well…," Sakura nervously starts.
What the hell is this showing?! Inner Sakura asks. With Sasuke you would go up to him every day with confidence, ask him out, and get rejected. With Naruto you would quickly reject every time he asked us out. But when Anakin finally asks us, you become a carbon copy of the old Hinata! Move the fuck out the way, I'll answer for us!
Shut up inner me! It'll be a cold day in hell before I let you answer this! Sakura tells herself. She takes a breath in. "ThatsoundsgreatAnakin-kun!" She quickly stammers out. Snickers of laughter come from the direction of the two onlookers.
Anakin blinks for a second before smiling. He wraps her in a hug, "Thanks! Oh man I never believed it would actually play out this way."
Sakura returns the hug, "Of course it would baka. Once I got my head out of Sasuke I noticed there's an even better guy already right beside me!" They stay like that for a few seconds before Shino coughs and they break apart blushing.
"While it's good you two have finally cleared that up, I'd suggest waiting until we finish our mission before you start pushing kids out." Kurenai spits out the water she was drinking after hearing what Shino says.
"Shino, that's terrible! But I love that sense of humor of yours. You really have started to open up after joining this team." Kurenai turns to the two new love birds, "And you two, I'd suggest heeding Shino's advice. I will not allow a sandal to appear in my genin team when you all have only graduated from the academy not even a year ago." The two nod their heads in agreement. "Good now let's sleep for the night. I'll take first watch."
Anakin takes the last watch after Shino. Kurenai, even after her coating for Sakura and him to get together, has made sure their night watches weren't after the other. Though there is a mission to complete, Anakin's mind is anywhere but focused on it. He has a date to look forward to and plan. What is he going to wear? What will they be doing? Will it work? Would she be interested in going on another afterwards? Will she become his girlfriend? He has previous experience of girls with Tahiri, but would that work here? Too many questions, too many possibilities, too many worries.
Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it), something grabs Anakin's attention away from his thoughts. He turns to the direction of the source and sees nothing, but the Force is tugging on him to go that way. Against his better judgment to leave the team, he heads that way. Once his campsite is no longer in view, a ball of light is illuminated and seems to want to lead him somewhere. He follows the ball of light to a clearing within the forest. It hovers its way to the middle then sinks downwards to a rock in the middle of it. Curious, he walks over to it and examines it. Nothing out of the ordinary can be told just by looking at it, but he can feel the presence of the Force coming from the rock. He touches it and channels the Force through it and the rock begins to move upwards. He jumps back and watches as the rock turns into a massive boulder. When it stops he goes back to it. Other than rising above the ground, it didn't do anything else. He channels more Force energy to it, but it remains unchanged. He then decides 'what the hell' and channels chakra into it. It appeared to have worked since now part of the boulder cracks open revealing a stairway leading down.
He walks inside and the entrance closes behind him. Though instead of being pitch black inside, a faint glow can be seen towards the end of the staircase. Anakin reaches the bottom and comes into an empty room with the previous ball of light in the middle of it. It shines lighter and blinds Anakin for a moment until it dies down. A ghostly man stands before the young Jedi. However the man is not like how his grandfather appears. Where Skywalker's Force ghost is blue in hue, this man retains his original color but somewhat transparent. He wears light brown robes and has a gray top knot.
The man smiles at his visitor, "Welcome Anakin Uchiha, son of Leia and Han Solo, grandson of The Chosen One Anakin Skywalker."
"Wait, how do you know about me?" Anakin asks.
"With myself almost fully one with the Force, I am able to keep up to date with all that happens around it. I've been waiting for you, young one." The ghost man explains.
"You were waiting for me?"
"Well someone like you, but I'm glad it is you who found this place. After countless generations of being bound to this place, I began to doubt anyone could ever be able to open my dwelling. Before you ask another question, I will explain why I am here and why I was waiting for someone like you." Ghostman clears his throat. "Well to start off, I am (or was) a Jedi of the Republic though not the one you know. I'm sure you've heard your uncle speak of Yoda being over nine hundred years old, well I knew him when he was only over two hundred. It should give you a general idea of my age.
"Moving on, I was a Jedi zoologist and had a ship full of a wide range of creatures in my studies that I developed a bond with. The Council didn't want me to have them running around the temple, so I had to get a ship for them. Something went wrong with my hyperdrive and I ended up all the way on this planet far from the one we know with all my creatures. I was baffled at first by how different this world is. I'm sure you can agree that even among our home galaxy, this world is totally different from anything we had in those thousands of star systems.
"Anyways here we were a Jedi, few civilian researchers, and dozens of creatures in a world we didn't belong. My main concern was where to keep my creatures' friends safe. This is a world where proud Bijus and shinobi reside who would like nothing more than to test their might against them. Luckily a man who goes by the name of the Sage of the Six Paths appeared to investigate not long after we crashed. He was a fairly good guy who could have been a great Force sage in another life. Well he told me about the summons they had here. Numerous types of chakra using animals in their own secluded place, but can be called forth if needed! He offered that to the creatures with me and they accepted and made me the first and sole contractor."
Anakin raises his hand, "Um… Master this is all interesting, but I kind of left my team without telling them. Could you move on to the part that involves me?"
A lightbulb goes off into Ghostman's head, "I do apologize. It's been centuries since I had someone else to talk to. Do forgive my weakness of craving conversation. Well the Sage made the summoning contract for them special. Like the others you need to use chakra to summon, but you also need a connection to the Force to channel as well. Well sadly for me, I don't have any chakra within me because of the whole legend of how chakra came to be in this world. It was an oversight the Sage didn't realize before it's too late. And before we came, the Force was almost nonexistent here, so Force sensitives never came to be. So this contract has been in a very bad predicament. The people who had chakra here couldn't use the Force, and outsiders with the Force don't have chakra to mold. My hope would be that the presence of the civilians with me would mingle with the natives so that eventually someone would come along able to use both. I bound myself here until such a time where someone will come along to do just that. Took a lot longer than I hoped, but here you are!"
Anakin just stands there processing the information. He's heard of summons before, the Three Sanin of Konoha are all summoners and briefly heard that Kakashi can summon dogs. It did grab his attention, but he didn't think anyone would be interested in letting sign one. Yet here is one with possibly all sorts of ones that he already knows about. The Six Path Sage did mention he should explore powers of this world, perhaps this is one of them. He shouldn't let this chance fly past him!
"So you are looking for a successor for it and would be willing to let it be me?" Anakin asks hopefully.
Ghostman nods, "Of course! I know they are probably dying to get out into this world." He pulls out a scroll seemingly out of nowhere and unravels it. It's mostly blank other than one name. "Just bite your thumb and sigh with your blood and fingerprints." Anakin follows his instructions and the scroll closes afterwards. "Great! I only know the basics of what I seen from others, so bear with me for the instructions. Let's see if I remember correctly… Ah yes! You bite your thumb, or if you're already bleeding you wipe some on your thumb, and use your blood while saying 'Summoning Jutsu'. You then channel your chakra and Force into it and one of my friends should appear. Depending on how much you channel, different ones will appear. What all are within the summons I'll let you find out. I would like you to try it out now so I can explain the situation to one of them. Though don't put too much into it, this room isn't big enough to fit one of my larger friends in."
Anakin does what Ghostman told him, "Summoning Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke appears and it clears to reveal what looks like a small yellow ball of fire. But at closer expectation it is actually a bright yellow winged humanoid species. It is small enough to fly onto the palm of Anakin's hand.
"A Wistie? I heard from my parents and uncle about them and the Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor, but never in my life would I think I would see one." Anakin mentions. The wistie dances around on his hand making him chuckle a bit.
Ghostman watches with a proud smile, "She sure is something isn't she? As I'm sure you're noticing, they are very fond of laughter. I found her and her sisters on the black-market and I had to save them. They don't deserve to be treated like decorations. The Firefolk are a living sentient species and should be treated as such."
"And we are very grateful for that," the wistie tells the ghost.
"You speak basic?" Anakin asks.
She nods, "We do. As he said, we were on the black-market living as slaves for entertainment. By the way, my name is Issillda. I'm guessing you will be our new summoner?"
"That's right, Anakin Uchiha. I look forward to working with you all." He replies.
Issillda starts dancing on his hand again with excitement, "This is great! Since the ghostman here couldn't summon us, we were all bored out of our minds. Do you know how hard it is to get a nexu? It's terrible! I gotta let the rest know we now have a proper summoner! Please summon me anytime you wish for Anakin! The rest of my flutterglows would love it too!" She disappears in a cloud of smoke.
"Come I'll walk you out. No doubt you want to return before your friends get worried about you." Ghostman ushers Anakin out. They climb, or more like Anakin climbed and the ghost floated, up the stairs. The entrance reopens and they leave the boulder. The boulder starts to crumble and collapses leaving nothing behind but a pile of rocks. Not even the staircase is anywhere to be seen. The ghost turns to Anakin, "Well young Jedi it was a pleasure to meet you."
Anakin bows to him, "It was a pleasure to meet you as well Master."
Ghostman cracks a smile, "With a Jedi like you and my friends with you, the Sith Lord here will never know what hit him. I wish you luck on your quest. May the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you as well." Anakin says as the ghostly Jedi fades away. Anakin sees dawn breaking in the distance and quickly makes his way back to camp.
Explaining his actions to his team went about as well as one would like.
"Not only did you go to take on the mission on your own, but you left us all sleeping and undefended?!" Kurenai scoldly asks him.
"Yes bu-"
"No buts!" The red eyed jonin cuts in. "That was completely stupid of you to face an unknown danger that could have backfired and got us all killed! For all you know that 'ghost' could have been luring you to escape some kind of prison! I've seen the power of the Force from you, and I have no intention of potentially releasing someone with that same power to go on a murder spree!
We are a team and trust is the most important thing. If we can't trust you to watch over us, then how can we trust anything else you do? Listen all you have to do is tell us and we most likely have followed along with you and let everything play out as they already did if not better. I hope you realize I'm not mad with your results, in fact I'm quite proud you managed to solve a mission that more experienced ninja couldn't. I'm mad because you abandoned your team. To quote Kakashi, 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum!' You managed to do both of these things."
Anakin hangs his head down, "I'm sorry Master Kurenai. I realize the potential danger I put you guys in and for that I apologize."
She puts her hand on his shoulder, "Admitting and realizing your faults are the step in the right way to make things right. I can't be too mad since everything worked out alright, but I needed to make you see that the next time might end up as the opposite outcome."
"Again I apologize. As a Jedi I was told to always trust the Force and I was going with what it was telling me. Seems being a ninja is harder than I previously thought." He tells her still looking down.
She moves her hand and raises his face to hers, "I can't even begin to understand the position you are in. To have lived one life then be forced into a new one completely different than anything you knew. But I will fully support you in your attempt to honor and remember everything that made you you. I will also do my best to guide you on how to make it through this world of ours. There will be times that frustrate or confuse you since you were taught differently, this being one of them, but you will hopefully look back one day and pass on what you have learned to students of your own. You already are a very great teacher, Sakura's kenjutsu training and helping Naruto with controlling his emotions being the shining examples of that, so I have no doubt that your own students will become great. But that is still a way out and there is still much you have to learn."
"Yes ma'am," he nods with confidence.
"Good! Now since you are here, I want to see the summons."
Anakin cracks an evil grin, "Oh boy are you guys in for a ride." His three teammates get a worried look as he goes through the summoning process. What awaited them is a swarm of small balls of fire as laughter takes over the camp.
To say the Third Hokage seemed to age even more after hearing the report from Team Eight's mission is an understatement. Learning that Anakin is not the first Force user in this world isn't too hard to take in after meeting the boy. But it's the fact that the original Jedi and those with him made it possible for future generations to possibly use the Force. The only reason why previous generations haven't discovered it is because they already have power of their own and no one ever knew how to even tap into said Force. So it basically was one big "sleeper" power that people could have had. He begins to wonder how much the world would have changed if the ninja world discovered the Force by the time of his sensei, the First Hokage. Though Anakin has told the Council that Force sensitives are rare even by galactic standards; so there is a good possibility that even if they knew about the Force, they couldn't even use it. The Hidden Leaf Village is extremely lucky Anakin ended up here instead of the other hidden villages like the Hidden Stone village. They may have used Anakin to their advantage to finally get revenge from what the Fourth Hokage did to them in the previous Ninja War. If that wasn't enough to process, said original Jedi had got the literal Sage of the Six Paths to create a summons of all the creatures brought along with him. And now Anakin is the sole summoner of yet another unknown power. Again, just to show how lucky the Leaf is that they now had another thing going for them.
He sighs, I'm getting way too old for this shit. What I wouldn't do to find a new successor so I can go back into retirement. But what options do I have before me at this moment? He pounders for a moment. Danzo would take it in a heartbeat, but I would be dead before I gave it to him. Which also brings in the situation with Itachi. If he wasn't sent to kill his clan and take the blame of 'traitor', I may have eventually made him a candidate to become Hokage. Sadly his younger brother wants nothing more than to kill the only reason he is alive. I wish I could tell everyone the truth and welcome Itachi back in, but even then I'm sure people wouldn't trust him so easily. Danzo really has my hands tied behind my back and I really regret letting him and the civilian council have so much power over the village. It's also another reason why I hope to find a worthy successor. They would be able to regain the powers that I have lost. There are also my students to consider for it. They are Sanin after all and the village respects the two. But getting them to become it is another challenge altogether. Tsunade is still troubled by her brother and lover's deaths to even step foot in the village. Jiraiya still at least stays in contact with me and works for the village, but after seeing his student die as Hokage he probably has his own quarrel to become one.
He walks to the window in his office and watches the trio of friends that he has watched grow over the years with their new pink hair member. Naruto is laughing as Anakin attacks the boy with new wistie summons with Hinata and Sakura next to the boy they each adore. Of course we also have the new generation of ninja. Naruto possesses the Will of Fire Hashirama-sensei had and the effect on people the blond can have would make him a great Hokage. It's his goal and in his blood after all, but the boy still needs to grow more and gain some experience before I consider passing him the hat anytime soon.
That leaves the wildcard, and oh boy he is truly such a wildcard. Ever since meeting him in that hospital after the massacre he has done nothing but surprise me. People who know Naruto will speak of how he affects people, but the same is true for Anakin. He is the one who brought Naruto and Hinata together and they've changed so much since then. Anakin also has such wisdom not seen in anyone else his age. He's what I would call a hidden prodigy. Nothing was given to him when he first came here but a new life and a roof over his head from me, but has worked so hard to be probably the best in his age group. Sure he isn't a rookie of the year, but the test at the academy could never truly gauge his abilities. He has been trained all his life as a Jedi, not a ninja. He has the making of becoming the first Uchiha Hokage. But like Naruto he still needs experience. Anakin only knows of his village and what the history book says, what he needs is experience of this world. He chuckles to himself. The Third sits back down and lights his pipe. If Naruto wants to become Hokage one day, he has a serious competition from his friend who doesn't even know he is in the running.
Anakin ventures through the village when he stops at a familiar flower shop. He knows Inoichi owns it, but never went inside before. Mostly because he had no reason to. If Anakin needed Inoichi then there are easier places to find him, well at least to him. But today is different. He has a date tonight and if there is anyone who could give him advice, it was him. One doesn't own a flower shop and not learn a few things about romance. He steps inside, but finds the clan heir instead of the head. Well a girl's opinion might be better anyways.
Ino spots him, "Welcome! Oh Anakin? I haven't seen you since the academy, how have you been?"
"I've been good thanks for asking," Anakin replies.
"So I've gathered. An Uchiha uh? Never would have guessed it. Even Shikamaru with his high IQ didn't see that coming. Everyone in class always knew there's something different about you, but apparently that was an understatement."
"Yeah a lot has happened since then," he agrees as a small light comes out from behind.
Ino goes wide-eyed at it, "What is that?"
Anakin offers his hand to the wistie, "This is Issillda. I got a summons now and she is one of them."
Issillda bounces off his hand and starts flying around Ino making her laugh. "Gosh, hehehe, she is, hahaha, tickling me a lot."
Anakin shrugs, "Wisties love laughter."
Ino raises her hands up, "Okay okay, hahaha, I give up. I still have a job to do." Issillda stops her antics and goes back to sit on Anakin's shoulder. "So how can I help you? You wouldn't come into a flower shop without the intention of buying them. Unless it's because of me? Which I'll have to stop you there since I have my eye on Sasuke-kun and I can't lose to that pink forehead of a teammate of yours." She flatly tells him.
"No, I am not here for you. I'm actually here because of said teammate."
"Um… what?" She asks.
"I said I'm her-"
"Yeah I heard what you said. I just want to hear a clarification of it."
"She and I have a date tonight."
Her head shoots back, "Huh?! How did this come to be? Last time I saw or heard of her was a couple months ago and she was still very head over heels for Sasuke-kun."
"Well your information is outdated. Master Kurenai says the whole village already assumed we are dating, but it seems to not have crossed your mind." He says.
Ino is trying to wrap her head around it, "Wait, the whole village thinks you both are already dating and me being the gossip queen didn't even hear about it?!"
Anakin scratches his head, "Well from what I was told, Sakura-chan-"
"SAKURA-CHAN?!"
"And I barely ever leave each other's side." He finishes.
Ino bangs her head on the counter, "How did I not know this?! I'm the Yamanaka Clan Heir, well known for information gathering, and I didn't know something the rest of the village knew? I'm a failure." She bangs her head for a few more moments before stopping. Renew fire coming from her, "This is great! If your date with Forehead goes well, then I'll have no rival for Sasuke-kun's heart! Sit down Anakin, I will tell you everything I know she would love to make sure your date becomes a permanent thing. I'll even throw in the flowers free of charge for removing the biggest obstacle I have."
Anakin sits for what feels like forever listening to Ino while also soaking in everything he can. He wants to make sure it goes great and who better to tell him how than the childhood who is a florist? Seems he actually lucked out to find her here instead of her father. When she is done she goes through the shop looking at flowers trying to find the best one. During which a man steps in the shop.
"I suggest primrose princess." The man says. "It represents youth and love and I can't think of a better choice for the two young, would be lovers."
"That's an excellent idea Daddy," she collects the flower in question and wraps it up for Anakin. "Here you go. All joking aside, I really do hope it goes well. Not just because of leaving Sasuke-kun for me, but because I would like to have my friend back. We broke off our friendship for him, and if you two become a couple then there's a chance we can be friends again. So I'm rooting for you."
"Wow, no pressure now. It's not like I have other people's hopes on my shoulders now." He says.
Inoichi laughs, "Don't let my daughter get the better of you. You just go and do your best to have fun. I've known her since she was a small girl, so I know she'll be good for you if you play your cards right. Just don't do anything stupid, got it? She's like a niece to me, so I'll have no one treating her badly." Anakin nods, "Wonderful, now get going. You don't want to be late now."
Later that evening Anakin is walking to Sakura's house. He has a nice black dress shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and a pair of dark blue jeans. He's planned the night out (taking a few of Ino's advice in it) and prays it goes well. He knocks on her door and out comes the girl he's here for. She wears a cream color sundress, sandals, and pink lipstick. He's just bewildered by her and grows with a blush. She sports one too of him staring at her.
"Um…" Sakura shyly starts, "Do I look okay?"
Anakin shakes off his daze, "You look beautiful Sakura-chan."
She blushes deeper, "Thanks. You look great as well."
"Oh thanks. Um… Here," he hands her the flowers he got earlier, "these are for you."
She takes them, "Thank you, they look great." Anakin offers his arm and Sakura wraps hers around it. "So where are we going?"
"Well first I figure we can go grab something to eat."
"Sounds good!" She says.
Meanwhile a bit of a way away there's a group of shadows watching onward.
"This is troublesome. Why you dragged Choji and I along with you to stalk their date is something I don't understand." One says.
Another takes a bite of chips, "I don't mind, I was offered food to come so it works for me."
A different shadow barks.
"Shh!" The leader of the group hushes them, "Anakin and Forehead will hear us if you keep making noises. Also Kiba, when did you and the others get here?"
"What do you mean? Naruto, Hinata, Shino, and I saw you three creeping along and wanted to know what you guys were doing." The shadow replies.
A pale eyed shadow speaks up, "Anakin and Sakura are our friends and we want to make sure everything goes well." The other two nod in agreement.
"Ugh fine, just keep quiet and hidden. Let's go then." The leader tells her shadowy squad.
Anakin and Sakura make it to a restaurant and take their seats. They talk for a bit about mindless things. After a while they get their food. They then get close to leaving when Anakin addresses the elephant in the room.
"So how long do you think the rest of our rookie teams will follow us?" Anakin asks his date.
The date tilts her pink head, "Hmm, hard to say. I don't expect Naruto and Kiba to stick around long after we get our food. Hinata will probably go where Naruto goes, but she's surprisingly a romantic type so there's a chance she'll stay a bit longer to take notes for when she finally wins Naruto over. Shikamaru will find it troublesome and break away from Ino eventually with Choji. Finally Ino will leave when she sees something interesting to her."
"Well how about we speed things up and show them something interesting so they'll leave." He suggest.
She gains a smirk, "If it is what I'm thinking then I'm going to enjoy it."
They both lead into each other and press their lips together. The shadowy onlookers get red faced instantly, though Shino is more of a light pink color.
"Oh my gosh they kissed already! They aren't even done with the date and they pull out the first kiss card already!" Ino shreks.
"W-well they h-have had feelings for e-each other for a long time now. I-I'd say they are p-passed due for one." A stuttering Huyga tells the leader.
"Really? How passed due?"
"I'm not s-sure about Sakura, but I noticed Anakin has had a crush on her since before he even realized it from the academy." She answers.
Shikamaru shakes his head muttering, "Troublesome girls and their obsession with love gossip."
"I think I've seen enough mushy love stuff to satisfy me for a while." Kiba leaves with Akamaru barking in agreement. The rest of the group follows his example while the couple is still left to enjoy their kiss.
Author's Note:
Well I have so say that this chapter turned out so much better than I expected. Anakin and Sakura are now an official couple! I didn't want to drag the "in love with Sasuke" and "when will they get together" part too long. I know when I read other people's fanfics that I'm always asking the latter part. What? I'm a guy who's a sucker for reading romance, sue me. And before anyone asks, yes the ghost Jedi and the summons is my creation. I always planned on Anakin getting a summons, but couldn't decide which one I like/makes since. Slug is out since he's not going to be a medic. Snake is a no as well just because I don't plan on him joining Orochimaru or train under Anko. I played with Toads in my head, but I didn't want to take it away from it being Naruto's thing and Jiraiya probably wouldn't take on a second apprentice at the same time. There are other minor ones, but they aren't used much for me to feel comfortable using on the off chance I screw them up. Anyways the summons contain tons of Star Wars creatures such as Anakin's main summon, Issillda (pronounced Is-sill-da) the wistie. Honestly the Ewok movies and lore doesn't get enough love and there's so much great lore about the forest moon of Endor. (Hint hint nudge nudge for a couple other possible summons.)
DS2010: Love reading you liking what I've been doing so far. Thanks!
Anyways that's all from me. I'll talk at y'all later and thanks for reading!