Naruto breathed out a heavy sigh for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, he was laying down on a small hill as his teammates went about the mission of gathering herbs. His presence here was mostly just a formality since it was close to the border of another village, Yugakure, he was sent to oversee the gathering of herbs.

The irony of the hidden leafs war machine being sent to oversee a peaceful mission on the border of a friendly nation was not lost on him.

"Naruto give it a rest, at least you're in good company!"

A lazy eye swiveled over to gaze at his fellow blonde, Ino Yamanaka with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

"Sorry, you interrupted me while I was counting my blessings"

"This is why you're single." came her curt reply.

Standing up he dusted off his cargo shorts and adjusted his jounin vest.

"Cut me some slack here, I went from fighting aliens and undead warlords to babysitting you," Naruto took a few tentative steps towards her, careful not to invade her bubble. "If you have an idea for some excitement I'm all ears." Inos eyebrows shot up in distaste immediately.

"Wanna run that by me again, pervert?" Naruto could only roll his eyes again as he made his way back to camp to check on Sakura.

"I didn't mean it that way you prude."

"Naruto I don't mean to bring you down but you really don't seem to be adjusting well," the man in question quirked a brow at his teammate and former crush from his seat across from her at the campfire. "Huh." It was less of a question and more of a grunt of confusion.

A coy smile made its way to her lips before she continued. "To be at peace... I know things have been crazy for you. Even before the fourth shinobi war you were being dragged between training with Jiraya and Danzo in secret. But things are different now. It just seems like... You don't know how to relax. It worries me, that's all."

It wasn't often that the elephant in the room was brought up, having been essentially a double agent of two Hokages and Danzo, having been indoctrinated into ROOT at 7. Danzo had got it into his head that he could've used Naruto as a tool, in retrospect anyone that knew Naruto found that pretty fucking hilarious all things considered.

"You're worrying too much, I'm fine."

"So what if I am? Someone has to." Sakura was raising her voice, which was normal. What wasn't normal was her almost teary-eyed expression. Naruto put his bowl of stew down and gave her his full attention.

"Naruto it's been a year since the dust has cleared on everything and you've been miserable this whole time. It's like you can't live without there being someone to fight or some monster to destroy. You've taken care of me for years, without getting anything in return but smacked on the head. Is it really so bad that I worry about you now?"

"Sakura, it's not like you bent my arm or something. I didn't feel obligated to do any of-"

"I know." She interrupted as she stood, putting her herbs and assorted powders away. "I'm being a brat. I just feel bad."

she took a few steps forward and embraced him in what had become a semi-common occurrence after Naruto had almost died fighting pain two years ago. "Can you just try? Get a hobby, get a girlfriend, write a book. Maybe get a side gig in the village? Just something other than training and waiting for the next bad guy to come around."

Naruto awkwardly returned her embrace. "Well I'm not exactly an innocent virgin but I guess I could try something serious." This elicited a bit of a gasp from Sakura as she stepped back and leveled a stare at him. "Who?"

The real thing she was asking was obvious. "Good god, is everyone in this village a prude? How do we even keep our population up!" He finished his mini tirade with an exaggerated flourish of his arms. "A few girls here and there. Is it that big of a deal? We're 18 Sakura."

At the accusatory statement, the woman in question fought down a blush. "Well... No, I guess that's normal. I just didn't expect it I guess... Anyone, I know?"

"Classified. I'm going to go patrol now." A body flicker later and he was hopping through the tree line, disappearing into the distance. Little did Naruto know that he'd soon be the topic of much high-quality girl talk.