"Speech" Thoughts Flashbacks

Chapter 8

Naruto grumbled and sank further into his sleeping bag, away from the light and the noise. Sakura growled and picked up the other end of the sleeping bag, dumping an unhappy Naruto onto the cold hard ground. He winced.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, that hurt." He murmured, covering his eyes against the rising sun. He rolled over and winced again.

"Itai...why does it hurt so bad?" he said getting to his knees. Tsunade yawned and knelt down next o him.

"It's a side effect of the jutsu. Unfortunately, for the next two or three days, the pain will increase, reach its height, then recede again. You're in for a rough few days." She yawned again.

"As for me, I think I'll just go home and sleep for the next few...years..." Naruto chuckled lightly. He knew she must be exhausted. They both stood. After a short breakfast, they departed, Tsunade, Jiraiya and the ANBU headed back toward the village, and Team Seven kept on their original course.

Naruto was getting increasingly sore with every passing hour. Suddenly he tripped and fell flat on his face. He picked himself up and brushed off his clothes.

Sasuke smirked and said, "Idiot."

"Don't call me that, jerk."

"Dobe"

"Dumbass"

"Dimwit"

"Failure"

"Geek"

"Prick"

"Dweeb"

"Asshole"

"Dead-last"

"Dork"

"Hentai"

"Hentai?"

"Yes, hentai"

"Butt potato"

"Short stuff"

"Closet hentai"

"You can't use hentai again, moron."

"Liar"

"Jackass"

"Duschbag"

"Dipstick"

"Bastard"

"Why you-! Take this!" Naruto preformed his Ninja Harem flawlessly and in seconds there were naked girls hanging all over Sasuke. The said Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

"Really mature, dobe." Sakura had her mouth hanging open in horror, and then she glared at all the bunshins, looking like she was about to kill each and every one of them for touching her Sasuke. HER Sasuke! Kakashi sighed and turned around.

"Don't you guys ev-"he stopped and his eyes bugged out. A dark liquid began to drip through the mask. Blood. "WOW-Naruto...WOW-clever-that was...clever...," and with a loud thump he passed out from blood loss. Sakura sweat-dropped.

"What a pervert," she mumbled agitatedly. Naruto dropped the jutsu and was left hanging off of Sasuke neck. Sasuke stared down at him, eyebrow still raised. Naruto blushed and hastily let go [1], wincing as his feet bore the weight of their owner again.

They stood there for a minute, thinking about what they should do. Their perverted teacher was down and out for the count at the moment. They couldn't leave him there, but waiting would set them behind their schedule. Then again, it wouldn't be like Kakashi wouldn't be able to follow their trail if they were to leave him.

"This is all you're fault," Sakura said angrily to Naruto. Naruto, not one to go down without a fight said, "It's MY fault?! How is it my fault? I can't help it if he's a pervert!"

"Yes, well, if you hadn't started that argument with Sasuke-kun, this never would have happened!

"HEY! He started it, not me! He called me an idiot!"

"You are an idiot!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned back to the fallen Kakashi. What to do. He bent down and tested Kakashi weight. Not too bad. He could probably carry the man for a few miles of someone carried his pack for him. He took off his pack and threw it at Naruto, yelled and rubbed his arm furiously where it his.

"DAMN IT! That hurt, teme!" Sasuke tsked impatiently.

"You need to carry that so I can carry Kakashi. We are not loosing time just because of your idiotic pranks." With that, he managed to sling the teacher onto his back. It was awkward because of how tall his sensei was. Sure, he'd grown, but the copy ninja was still taller than himself.

They set off again. Naruto got progressively quieter as they went. Sasuke was starting to get suspicious and looked over at him, only to notice that the blonde had started to fall behind. He stopped, and Sakura came up beside him to wait for the other boy to catch up. When he reached them Sasuke noticed that his face was red and his skin shone with sweat.

"What did you do now dobe?" Sasuke asked, irritated. Naruto looked up at him, breathing heavily.

"I...just...ache...really bad...all over." True, Naruto did look in pain, and exhausted, at that.

"Well," Sasuke said, "No use going on much further. Kakashi is getting heavy anyhow. Lets find a place to make camp. Then Sakura, you go find us some wood, and Naruto, clear the ground so we can set up our stuff, and I'll start to prepare the food."

They moved off the road a bit and Sasuke laid Kakashi down on the ground, then stood up and starched out. The man had gotten heavy. Naruto began the task of clearing the major rocks and other debris from the ground they would sleep on. Suddenly, Kakashi sat up and stretched.

"Thanks for the ride, Sasuke." He said, and then got to setting up his bedroll as if nothing had happened. Sasuke and Naruto sat there staring at him. Sasuke broke the silence first.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked angrily, a slight flush staining his pale cheeks. Kakashi looked thoughtful.

"How long have we been traveling?"

"About five hours."

"Then I was awake for four hours and forty-five minutes," he declared. Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"You could have said something," he ground out.

Sasuke seemed to have that amazing ability to make words coherent through his clenched teeth. Sometimes Naruto wondered how he did it. At that moment Sakura came back with an armful of wood for the fire. She dropped it when she saw not only Kakashi up and about like normal, but to see Sasuke glaring daggers at the man, and Naruto just sitting there looking sort of stunned, and a bit agitated.

"M-master Kakashi! You're awake!"

Kakashi glanced over at her and his eye curved up to show that he was smiling.

"Hello Sakura. Did you happen to see a river nearby?"

She nodded. "About quarter of a mile in that direction," she said, pointing. "But Sensei, are you sure you feel alright? I mean you were out for a while!" Kakashi just grinned some more and silently left. She looked as Sasuke.

"What did I miss?"

Sasuke seethed. "He was awake almost the whole time I was carrying him." After that, he went about preparing food in a rather bad mood [2]

Kakashi came back with his mask dripping wet.

"Had to clean it off." The faintest of fait blushed could be seen above the mask line. Naruto snorted. "Pervert," he mumbled to himself. "Because of you I had to carry stupid Sasukes pack that whole way. That thing got heavy."

"Oh please, Naruto, it couldn't have been that bad. And you know what they say; No pain, no gain." Kakashi said now that he was done setting up his bedroll. Naruto face contorted in anger.

"Well, it would have been different if I hadn't felt like someone dropped me off the Hokage monument to begin with!" he yelled, losing his temper slightly. He crawled into his bedroll and left his back facing the group.

The next morning Naruto didn't feel compelled to move. He ached all over, inside and out. Places he didn't even know he had were aching. He yelled when something was brought violently down onto his head. Sakura was standing over him with his pack in her hand. He assumed that that was what she had hit him with. The girl raised it again, threatening the boy.

"No, please don't!" he said, gasping somewhat. Damn. It hurt even to breathe! She huffed and dropped his pack next to his head, leaving him to crawl out of his bedroll, shielding his eyes from the light.

Kakashi was "cooking" breakfast. Sasuke wasn't going to eat it. Again. He didn't trust Kakashi cooking at all. He could have sworn he had heard an animal choking last night. He would bet money that it had tried to eat Kakashi's food, too.

Naruto half stumbled half crawled over to where food was. He gave it one look then turned around.

"Master Kakashi, I respect you and all, but when are you going to realize that you cannot cook?" he murmured. Now that he thought about it, his stomach probably couldn't handle anything right now. He grimaced and returned to his fallen pack, rummaging through it until he pulled out his water canteen. He drank some, but it made his stomach hurt even worse, so he stopped. Kakashi dished out whatever it was that he cooked. His fellow Genins looked skeptical. When a plate made itself around to Naruto, his stomach churned. He turned away, silently refusing the food.

Kakashi looked mock offended.

"Not hungry? He asked. Naruto shook his head "no".

"My stomach hurts, just like everything else," he said with a rather blunt tone.

"Ah, yes, that reminds me," Kakashi said. Uh-oh. This couldn't be good. He didn't like that tone his sensei had used.

"I'll be carrying you today."

Narutos jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!" he yelled, "No way! I can walk myself!" Kakashi eyed him up, was silent for a moment...then...

"Nope. You need rest right now. We'll be in the village by the end of the day. Working yourself to death wont help. I'm afraid you'll have to put aside your "dignity" for the time being."

Naruto scowled, but wasn't feeling up to complaining at the moment, not to mention Kakashi was still holding whatever it was he cooked right under his nose.

Fifteen minutes later, they were walking, an unhappy Naruto getting a piggyback ride from a very cocky Kakashi.

"You're enjoying this way too much," Naruto said.

"Shut up and go to sleep or something." Naruto was about to argue, when he realized that he did indeed feel very tired. Reluctantly, he laid his head down on Kakashi shoulder, and drifted into sleep.

"Psst! Wake up!"

He groaned and carelessly waved his hand, as if to swat away a fly.

Great. Now someone was prodding him as well. He cracked open an eye. Then eh gasped. They had arrived at the village, and what a beautiful village it was.

Sorry if it was a little rushed at the end, but I'm pressed for time at the moment. See you guys when i get back from camp at the end of July! Write me a letter!!!

[1] THIS IS NOT YAOI!!! This is NOT going to be a yaoi story. Sorry for those who wanted it to be, but it's not going to turn out that way. NO M/M pairings. I'm sorry. Actually, no pairings at all.

[2] Heh, I rhymed!