Hey, hey! This is Drunkdragon12888 with another installment! I want to thank all of the people who gave me reviews. You are the inspiration as to why I am posting this chapter today rather on this coming Friday. But first, I've got to answer some questions.
S-Wanderer999: To your question about the Ninja ranks, Konoha was unable to have any chuunin exams for the past two years. If your village was constantly under attack, do you think they would have the time or the ninjas to be able to hold an exam? Plus, like the first time, the Sound could attack from the inside of Konoha during the exam. I hope this clears things up a bit.
This chapter has some humor tossed in, but towards the end, it's all serious business. It's not over-the-head humor, such as Naruto doing crazy things, but more like a subtle humor where you need to think a bit deeper to see.
Chapter Two: DAMN YOU ERO-SENNIN!!!
A resounding explosion was heard. As the four teams headed back to Konoha through the treetops, they turned back to see the complex up in flames. Shikamaru looked back at Naruto.
"So were you able to weed out any information?" He asked.
"Yeah, the security was pitiful. You?" Naruto inquired. He pulled out several scrolls and tossed them to Shikamaru, who caught it with his graceful hands.
'If only he would use those hands in a more romantic manner.' Thought a certain blonde kunoichi.
"We didn't get much from the guards patrolling. But we still got some." Naruto turned and faced the direction of the Konoha. Thanks to Shikamaru's great plan, which he seemed to have many of, none of them had been hurt. They continued on their way to Konoha. 'Tsunade will be pleased with the information we have.' Shikamaru thought.
Tsunade's office"Well done you twelve. That was a difficult mission. I think you guys deserve a two-week break. You can do whatever you guys want: train, rest, have fun, etc." Sakura cut her off.
"But Tsunade-sama! We are shinobi of Konoha! This village needs us!" Everyone murmured in agreement.
"I don't care. I, Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of Konoha, order you twelve to take a break! You are dismissed." They all left the Hokage's office pretty angry. What the hell was she thinking allowing them to take a break when Konoha needed them most? And when did she treat herself as almighty?
"Stupid obachan." Said Naruto. Everyone nodded in agreement, though only to the stupid part. Though they all knew that Tsunade used genjutsu to make herself look younger, they all also knew better than to refer to her as obachan. They all left to go to their homes, leaving Naruto with his teammates. "Hey, since we're on this break thing, we may as well make the most out of it." He turned to Sakura.
"No, sorry Naruto, but I won't go out with you." Sakura didn't even let him finish. "It's just that I have some personal affairs to deal with today. Don't take it the wrong way." She left towards her house, leaving the two guys.
"Man... I'm bored. So what are you going to do, Sasuke? Want to go catch a movie?"
"Actually, I'm kind of busy today, also. I've also got some... um... personal affairs. Yeah, you've got to hate those personal affairs." Naruto could have sworn that Sasuke had just blushed. 'Damnit! All these years with Kakashi-sensei and I still can't come up with a good lie!'
"Since when did you have personal affairs Sasuke? ... Hey, are you blushing?"
"N-no, I'm not blushing, I-I'm just being my good old self. What makes you think I'm blushing?"
"I think you are blushing."
"I am NOT BLUSHING!!! Stop asking me questions!" Sasuke then left in a hurry to his house. Naruto simply shrugged and shot a look at his watch. It was 12:45 pm.
"May as well get some ramen." He began to walk down to the Ichiraku Ramen shop. It was his favorite place to hang out in. Sure, they served his favorite food, but what nice is that it was almost like a bar, minus the alcohol and drunkards. People would go there and talk and rumors would fly around the room. It was a place to gather information. Plus, every so often, he would meet his friends there.
Today must have been one of those every-so-often days.
A man was sitting down who looked awfully familiar. He had his hair up in a pineapple fashion and had black clothing with a chuunin vest. He had a scar across going sideways across his face. He had a forehead protector on his forehead, because that's where they belong. It was the man who first acknowledged him.
"Hi, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called out to him. Iruka looked up from his bowl.
"Hey Naruto! You know that you don't have to call me sensei anymore. It makes me feel old, you know?"
"Yeah well, you'll always be sensei to me." They sat and talked for three hours, catching up on old times, talking about their troubles, etc. When they stopped, Naruto had ten bowls piled up. Iruka sweatdropped as he the shop manager gave him the bill. Though he enjoyed these times with Naruto, the bill always took a large chunk out of his wallet. And being a teacher didn't really help much with paying for it either.
Iruka began to reach for it when it suddenly vanished before his very eyes. Confused, he saw Naruto taking out his frog-shaped wallet, filled to the brim with money, and paying for the both of them. "Since when did you have so much money?" 'He's getting fast. I didn't even see his hand reach for the bill!' Iruka thought.
"I just finished an A-rank mission."
"Impressive. Well, I got to go a... file some papers at the Academy... yeah... paperwork. See you later!" 'Even I am a friend of Kakashi, I still can't come up with a half decent lie!' Iruka called out. He stood up and left in a hurry, though not in the direction of the academy. Naruto paid no heed and went off in his own direction. By paying no attention to his former sensei, he missed the part where Iruka got glomped by his girlfriend, Anko.
'I might as well go home for now. The movie doesn't start till later.' He went back to his apartment. He was climbing the stairs when he ran into his rival, Sasuke.
"Hey... Naruto." Sasuke looked dead tired. Panting, he continued. "I... ran over here looking... for you."
"Well, why don't you come to my apartment? We can have a talk there." Naruto led him to his apartment. When they entered, Sasuke was amazed by the messiness of it. There were pieces of paper here and there, scrolls lying about and many, many empty ramen packs.
"I always thought that your apartment would be a mess. But how could it be this messy? Come on, you have to clean up this place every so often."
"Let's not talk about that. What did you want to tell me?"
"Well... promise you won't make fun of me first." Naruto nodded, giving him his word. "Well, how would you tell a girl that you're in love with her, but you want to take the relationship at a slow pace? A lot of girls would probably want to get into my pants on the first date, and I really don't want that." Sasuke was blushing.
'Ha! I knew you were blushing! But I'll keep my word.' Naruto thought. He replied, "Simple: just go out and tell her. If she truly loves you back, she will be willing to wait until you are ready." Sasuke smiled at the simplicity and wisdom of it.
"Thanks dobe, I feel that you're the only friend I can trust with these kind of secrets."
"No problem Sasuk-idiot." Sasuke left the room. 'Well, its about two hours till the movie starts. I guess I'll take a nap.' Naruto leapt onto the couch and fell asleep. Later, he woke up and left his apartment, leaving the door unlocked. He never locked it, since he would always forget where he put the key. Besides, it's not like anyone would find anything to steal in there. Unless you consider a mountain of ramen packs valuable, he didn't have any valuables except for the frog-shaped wallet that he had taken the liberty to called Gama-chan and the necklace Tsunade gave him. He carried those two objects with him all the time.
Naruto began to walk to the movie theater. It was his break, so he might as well take a day or two off before he begins to train. When he got there, a lot of men and some women were dressed in black clothing, mostly trench coats, and had black sunglasses on were standing in line. He took a look at what was playing. He figured out that they were dressed like that to hide their identity.
They had the movie "The Shinobi." But what really shocked him was the other movie. "Icha Icha Paradise 2" Naruto silently swore. The movie had won twelve academy awards, breaking the world record, which was set by "Icha Icha Paradise, The Movie," which had eleven. 'Damn you Ero-sennin!! DAMN YOU TO THE MANY DEPTHS OF HELL FOR WRITING THAT BOOK!' Naruto approached the ticket booth.
"One for 'The Shinobi,' please," Naruto said.
"Here you go, enjoy your movie." The people had begun to act nicer to Naruto. After seeing him beat Neji in the Chuunin Exams, people no longer feared or hated him. They began to treat him as a normal citizen. Some of them had even tried to offer him money and gifts because they were mean to him. Naruto, however, kindly refused.
He took a seat right when the preview started. Luckily for him, there was only one. Sadly, it was for the movie "Icha Icha Paradise 3." 'Damnit Jiraiya!!! I'm going to kill you and send you to hell myself!'
The movie began to start. Within five minutes, Naruto's attention was elsewhere. It's not that the movie was bad. It was very interesting. But what was going on around him was simply so much better at stealing his attention.
Oblivious to each other, there were three couples in the room. Shikamaru was with Ino in the back, holding and kissing her. Neji and Tenten were about ten seats to his left. She was sitting on his lap and Neji was just kissing her neck and hugging Tenten at the waist. She began to blush a light crimson and began to kiss Neji back. But what really shocked him was the third couple.
Three rows down sat Sasuke and Sakura. They were both kissing, paying no heed to the world, the movie, or the fan girls who were crying rivers in the back.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto winced. He knew what was coming next. "I think I'm in love with you. But I want to take this relationship slowly. Is that okay with you?"
"It's more than okay, I would wait forever for you, Sasuke-kun." They resumed to their kissing. But a gust a wind caused them to look up. Three rows up from them and ten to the right of Neji and Tenten was a seat that was slowly bobbing into the upright position.
I'm so sorry!!! I just had to kill Naruto there! Now what will poor Naruto do? Sasuke loves Sakura, and now he's even more alone!!! To all you NaruHina fans out there, there will be some interaction between them in chapter three.