02-The Shadow

The next morning was as ordinary as any other day. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke met up with Kakashi to do the morning's missions (which, were now usually a short B-rank), and had the afternoon to themselves. Naruto kept on wondering if the meeting at his house before had actually happened, because no one mentioned anything from that point forward. Kakashi, well, was obviously too busy to stay and chat with him, and Naruto could only wonder how many broken bones he would have if he even tried to ask Sasuke. Naruto had kept Sakura for a last resort. He invited her for a casual lunch at the usual ramen spot, and when she sat down, Naruto instantly ignited the conversation.

"Sakura-chan, have you heard anything about…you know…Itachi-san?" Naruto mumbled under his breath. His mind was screaming at him to stop and run back into his apartment for hiding, but his legs would simply not budge.

"Itachi-san? No, I haven't except for that one night at your place. I see that I'm the only person left to talk to, aren't I?" Sakura smirked as Naruto cringed as he smothered his face into his ramen.

"Well…I guess so, but that damned Sasuke would kick my sorry ass to the moon if I wanted to talk to him about this, and Kakashi-sensei hardly ever appears around Konoha, except for the missions. And even during the missions, we can't even talk to each other because we have to protect and escort some old stupid geezer to his village because he's too freaking scared to go alone!" Naruto slurped up the remaining contents of his ramen, and gestured to the young waitress for another bowl.

Sakura put her chopsticks down and sighed. "Naruto, haven't you learned anything from these past years together? You and Sasuke have gone through with a lot more than just an everyday conversation, you know! There has Haku, Orochimaru, the first and second Chuunin exams, and a lot more! Now you're just scared to have a darn talk with him? What's wrong with you?"

Naruto stared at the floating bits of cooked pork in his bowl. He knew that this was what Sakura was going to say. Indeed, their friendship had surpassed many difficult obstacles, but Naruto still found it challenging to talk to Sasuke sometimes. There was one time when Naruto was caught vandalizing Jiraiya's apartment as a joke by Tsunade and Jiraiya himself, and Sasuke had just appeared out of nowhere in time to kick Jiraiya in the balls and flee with a joyous Naruto. The tense meeting in Tsunade's office had sadly included Sasuke, and they had sat there for hours before Naruto had decided to give up the cold shoulder technique and poured out all of the details. His punishment was to pay off all of the bills of damage done to Jiraiya's apartment, while Sasuke had to earn enough money for the hospital fees that Jiraiya needed. Sasuke was in debt for nearly half a year, and was still feared by Jiraiya whenever he came with Naruto to train with the "legendary" sennin…

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Naruto soon forgot about Itachi. He continued to do his missions, and encountered many interesting things along the way. He usually came home exhausted, and one time he even got a broken arm from a wild animal on a mission. Sakura, using her mastered healing jutsus learned from Tsunade, usually healed them within minutes. Sasuke remained quiet as usual, and Naruto thought every morning about how he was going to have a serious talk with Sasuke, but always procrastinated. One night, after teaching Konohamaru the proper way to use Bunshin, Naruto skipped home with a bouncy and cheerful feeling. Team 7 was being considered for the grueling Jounin test, and Kakashi promised to start training them as soon as tomorrow. As he opened the door to his apartment, a strong gust of wind blew around him. This is strange…such wind like this on such a peaceful day? Must be the beginning of a storm...I suppose. Naruto's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a huge explosion that was very, very close to him. The smoke twisted into his mind and strangled his thoughts. He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for fresher air. His body felt like lead, and therefore he could not even lift up his head to see who had done this. He did see the growing shadow leering towards him, step after step. The figure was wearing what seemed a long cloak of some sort and had no weapons on him. There was what seemed to be a long wisp of hair tucked behind his back…

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Oy! It's me…AGAIN! I was going to put this under Humor AND Drama, but that wouldn't make much sense…would it? Anyway, I'm trying to put a little less seriousness and a little bit more humor in here. AND, making this longer. (sigh) I suppose I'll work a bit more harder over this Thanksgiving break…Also-look for a story about Itachi's past, and how he left everything behind, including his one and only-coming up in a couple of weeks, probably. Another update on THIS will be up in a few days!

…oh, and speaking of Turkey Day-HAPPY THANKGIVING, EVERYONE! HAVE A GOOD ONE! -kennie-