A Possible Future by Jason Corley

Chapter Twenty Six

Raion stared into Sasuke's eyes as slid her under the overhang of one of the large rocks he had been running along. Sasuke commanded her "Don't come out till dawn."

Sasuke turned to leave but before he could Raion tugged on his shirt and questioned in a worried tone "Master?" Sasuke turned back to Raion and smiled then leaned down and kissed her. When he broke the kiss he shoved Raion deeper under the overhang then quickly began running again. He only slowed to make sure the team of stone ninjas were following him. As Sasuke ran he pulled off his backpack and rummaged through it. When he found what he was looking for he tossed the pack aside.

Hebi hissed at him "It'ss a good thing I wassn't in there." Sasuke didn't respond, he just made sure to put distance between himself and Raion before he decided to stand his ground and fight. Sasuke strapped a pouch onto his belt then strapped a case to each leg. Hebi rested easily on Sasuke's shoulders as he ran. Eventually Sasuke stopped by a tree and Hebi laughed "Sss sss sss. Let'ss see how they like thiss" Sasuke only smirked.

The team of stone ninja stopped when they found Sasuke leaning against the tree catching his breath. One of the stone ninja tossed a kunai at Sasuke's back and the Jounin yelled "No don't!" But it was too late, for the kunai imbedded itself into Sasuke drawing from the wound a stream of smoke. "Get down!" yelled the Jounin to his subordinates. The Jounin pulled two of the others down with him when he dove to the ground as Sasuke's body exploded sending balls of fire in every direction. One of the stone ninja was caught in the blast and burned alive as he stood there. The body of the stone ninja dropped to the ground. The female stone Genin cried out her fallen comrade's name. While the other Genin called out to Sasuke to quit hiding. Sasuke smirked before pulling on a wire. The Jounin threw the two Genin away from the trap that Sasuke had sprung. The group of kunais that had been launched impaled the Jounin but as Sasuke had expected, had no effect since the Jounin used a replacement technique. Sasuke let loss a group of shurikens as he ran to his next vantage point. The shurikens crossed back and forth causing the two Genin to freeze up in indecision. Sasuke was sure he had them but to his amazement the Genin that he had hit earlier was the one who came to there rescue not the Jounin as he had anticipated. The chard Genin cut the lines that Sasuke had been using to control the shurikens and with them cut the shurikens whizzed harmlessly into the forest. Sasuke quickly altered his direction and found it was the right choice since he just missed being nailed by a pair of kunai. Sasuke jumped in the air performing a lazy flip allowing him time to form hand seals. He completed the jutsu by saying "Katon" and he let out a burst of flame upon the 3 Genin. When Sasuke finished his move he found a rock had appeared out of the ground to protect the Genin. Sasuke threw a kunai with a line attached to it at the rock and started performing hand seals. At the moment the kunai hit the rock, Sasuke flicked the line and performed half of the rat seal, which sent vibrations into the rock causing it to rupture sending shards of rock flying in every direction. Sasuke clapped his hands together forming the serpent seal allowing him to be protected but he saw the stone Genin weren't so lucky. Sasuke immediately dove to the side avoiding the sink hole that formed under him. Sasuke looked around, his Sharingan active but he had still not been able to locate the Jounin. When Sasuke saw one of the stone Genin start to form seals, Sasuke rapidly formed a set of his own and when he landed from his dodge he slammed his hands into the ground causing spikes to shoot up from the ground around the stone Genin. Sasuke saw that the female stone Genin had a stalagmite sticking through her leg and arm. Sasuke was surprised when a foot connected with his face sending him flying into a tree. Sasuke didn't bother looking because he knew the Jounin was descending upon him so he rolled 3 times and launched himself backwards away from the fight. This allowed him time to view what was going on but an instant before he felt a fist plow into his abdomen. As Sasuke fell to the ground, he felt a blade sliding out of him. When he hit the ground he looked up to see a point protruding from the stone Jounin's hand. Sasuke gritted his teeth at the pain but he knew he had to move or he would be killed. Sasuke tossed a handful of dirt into the air followed by performing a sequence of seals ending in the horse seal. When the Jounin saw Sasuke performing hand seals he jumped back but it was too late the dirt that Sasuke threw in the air flew at him and molded around him, dragging him to the ground. Sasuke was up in a flash and running towards the 3 stone Genin. Sasuke let loose a hail of kunai. The female stone Genin wasn't paying attention due to the distraction of the pain in her leg and arm, which was almost severed. She didn't even see the one kunai aimed at her. The other two stone Genin didn't get the chance to be stunned from seeing there teammate fall limp from the kunai imbedded in her chest since when they thought there were safely hidden behind the stalagmites, they weren't expected the kunai to shoot at them as they went by. One of the Genin cried out as a kunai plunged into his arm and one into his side. When he looked over to his teammate he saw him collapsed on the ground with a kunai sticking through his neck. Sasuke having finished the move he learned from watching his brother continued to charge in to make sure they were down but he had left his back turned on the Jounin for too long. Sasuke found out what it was like to be on the receiving end of the stone spikes. His shoulder was impaled on one and his leg had been caught by one. His right arm hung limp while his left leg would spasm. As his blood pulled on the ground Sasuke began writing the script for a scroll on both the spikes jutting through him. When the Jounin approached Sasuke drew a line of blood through the text of both and they disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a pair of snakes. One slithered out the back of his leg while the other dropped from his shoulder. The two snakes seeing an unknown person attacking the only person in view that could summon them decided to attack the unknown person. Both the Jounin's arms formed shield on them to defend him from the snakes but he was not prepared for the snake that bit down on his neck from behind. From the attack the Jounin allowed his arms to fall, opening himself to the two larger snakes in front of him. Sasuke was glad he didn't stay conscious long enough to see the snakes finish off his opponents. Sasuke didn't wish more pain on them than necessary so he hoped that all of them were dead before the snakes got to them.

Upon awaking, Naruto sat up and stretched. Naruto placed his hands to either side of him on the bed after stretching or so he thought till he realized one of his hands rested on something softer than his bed. He looked down to find someone in his bed. A sleeping someone lying in his bed next to him. A female sleeping someone with one hand by her head and the other by her side lying in his bed. A female sleeping someone with one hand by her head and the other by her side that he knew lying in his bed. Naruto squeezed his then realized what he did and jerked his hand away. Naruto flattened himself against the wall hoping Sakura wouldn't wake up. When she didn't Naruto looked down at his hand and said to himself "Soft." Naruto then opened and closed his hand several times then said to himself "Real soft." Naruto looked from his hand to Sakura. Sakura choose that moment to roll over startling a already spooked Naruto, who hit his head. Naruto opened his eyes when the pain subsided and was able to see from Sakura's bare back that the sheet had been covering a shirtless Sakura. A trickle of blood started to run down from Naruto's nose. Sakura rolled over again and groaned. Naruto's heart raced. He was sure the beating of it would wake Sakura. The thought of Sakura waking up made his heart race more. Naruto thought he was going to go crazy sitting there watching Sakura sleep. He knew he could stay there forever. She would wake up eventually. Naruto swallowed hard and started to crawl over Sakura to get out of bed. As soon as he was half way over her, Sakura decided to roll over in her sleep, knocking the support out from under Naruto. Naruto attempted to stop himself putting his hand in front of him to stop him from falling on Sakura.

Unfortunately or fortunately for him Sakura reached up pulled him closer and said "Oh Sasuke."

Naruto said in a tone of disbelief "Sasuke?" This was apparently too loud and woke Sakura.

Sakura opened her eyes to see Naruto's face inches away from hers. She asked "Naruto?" As Naruto pushed up Sakura's eyes widened and she looked down at herself then back up to Naruto. Naruto looked down and saw that unlike before his hand was now resting on the bare flesh of Sakura's breast instead of through the sheet. He quickly removed his hand and was for a second able to take in her beauty, right before a fist connected very hard with his head.

Naruto cowered on the floor waiting for the hail of attacks that would befall him. When even after a minute none came, Naruto opened his eyes and turned his head around behind him to see the back as Sakura pulled on her shirt. He let his eyes wonder down her body as he heard a zipping sound to see that she had on her shorts under her dress. She turned around drawing Naruto's attention back up her body. When she sat down on his bed she was in partial silhouette and the words slipped from Naruto's mouth in a quiet sincere voice he rarely used "You're beautiful."

When Sakura turned her head aside with a blush across her face he realized what he had said and stood up in shock. The sweat poured from him as he eyed the door and he wondered how fast Sakura had gotten. Seconds stretched on to minutes and the minutes ticked off on the clock. Naruto stood there ready for whatever Sakura was going to do. Drenched in sweat Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Sakura beat him to it when she said "Don't worry Naruto. It was my fault." Sakura paused a moment before continuing "I was just a little surprised that's all." She then looked to Naruto and smiled. Naruto let out a huge sigh of relief and dropped to his knees letting his head hang there. Sakura cried out "Naruto!" as she jumped up and ran over to him. She knelt down next to him and asked "Are you alright?"

Naruto looked up and chuckled "Heh heh."

Sakura tensed and struck Naruto on the head as she said "Idiot." Then when she realized what she just did she covered her mouth with her hands and said "Naruto, I'm sorry."

Naruto just rubbed his head and smiled as he said "It will take more than that to hurt me."

The two of them then shared an awkward silence as they sat there on the floor. Eventually Sakura said "I'll leave now." Sakura stood up and headed for the door. She stopped with Naruto called out to her.

"Hey Sakura." Naruto then paused building up his courage to ask "Would you like to have breakfast with me?"

Sakura turned around to see the expression on Naruto's face and smiled after saying "Sure."

"I apologize for troubling you with this Miss Hinata." Tora said Hinata.

Hinata shook her head "Its no trouble."

After a moment of silence Tora asked "When do you think Master Sasuke will be come back? He's been gone a long time."

Hinata shook her head but didn't say anything. They continued to walk in silence but when Hinata saw a familiar face she quickened her pace. When she got closer she called out "Kakashi."

Kakashi turned around holding a book close to his face and said "Hmmm..."

Hinata asked "Have you heard any news about Sasuke?"

Kakashi closed his book and said "We haven't received any reports since he left. But considering the type of mission he is on it is not surprising."

Hinata looked down in defeat.

Kakashi seeing her downcast appearance said "I am sure he will return. And when he does I am sure he will be glad to see you."

Hinata looked up to Kakashi and smiled.

Even though you couldn't see his face you could still tell that Kakashi smiled back before saying "If I hear anything I will let you know."

Hinata said "Thank you very much. I won't take up any more of your time." Kakashi nodded and watched the two girls walk away. He took note of the Uchiha symbol on the back of the kimonos that both the girls wore. Kakashi smiled at seeing this. He then opened his book and resumed reading as he walked in the general direction of the Academy.

Kakashi looked up from his book when he thought he recognized someone he had not seen in a long time. He was interrupted from his thoughts when Gai jumped in front of him. "I finally found you. You have been skipping out on our matches again Kakashi, my rival. I shall beat you today and show you that I am better than you." Kakashi only have listened as he read his book. He knew that eventually Gai would set the rules for this match of theirs and he would play along with it.

Before he knew it Kakashi heard Gai say "You lose. You have to walk around Konoha 100 times."

Kakashi looked up from his book and said "I guess it's a good thing I brought another book today."

When Gai saw the second book that Kakashi pulled out to show him, Gai clenched his fist in front of him and said "Darn you Kakashi and your coolness. I will...Hey! Where did you go." Gai then looked around and saw Kakashi walking off. Away from the academy to walk around Konoha 100 times.

After walking a ways Kakashi looked up from his book and saw Shikamaru sparring with Asuma. He paused to see that Shikamaru seemed to be getting into the fight more than he usually did. Even though he had rarely seen Shikamaru fight he knew that Shikamaru preferred to use his head instead of his fist. To see him actually fighting and working up a heavy sweat was out of the ordinary. Kakashi walked over to the two and asked "You seem really into it today."

Shikamaru didn't respond and just continued to fight but Asuma said "I'm not sure what it is. But something has lit a fire under his butt to make him want to make Jounin."

"Oh?" Kakashi questioned shifting his gaze to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru stopped attacking and answered between heavy breaths "He says...that the only thing...I'm lacking...to make Jounin...is my ability to fight." Before Shikamaru could say anything else he found himself blocking with a kunai to avoid Asuma's attack.

Kakashi said "Good luck" then walked away reading his book.

At a later point in Kakashi's walk he over heard Tora say "Thank you again for coming with me. This made the shopping much easier."

Hinata responded "You don't need to thank me so much."

Kakashi watch the two girls walking away from the market place and towards the Uchiha manor with a bag of groceries in each arm. Kakashi then resumed walking as he read his book. While Kakashi continued he failed to hear "That's the third time he's walked by here since we've been here." Ino complained to Chouji. Chouji only grunted in reply as he continued to stuff his face. "Are you even listening to me?" Asked Ino. Once again Chouji only grunted. Ino sighed in frustration then used her chop sticks to stick a peace of steak in her mouth. Chouji looked up and stared at Ino. When Ino finally noticed she asked "What?"

Chouji said in disbelief "That was mine." The wind swirled a group of leaves around outside the window where Ino and Chouji sat as they stared at each other. Ino gulped and a bead of sweat rolled down Ino's face. Chouji continued "That's the first time you've done that. Do you know what this means?" Ino shook her head without taking her eyes off Chouji. Chouji's eyes filed with determination as he declared "This means war!" Following this Chouji began grabbing food from Ino's plate as fast as he could.

Ino screamed "My food." I vein bulged on her forehead as she scrambled to eat her food before Chouji could it but when she noticed that he was eating more of hers than he was of his she began grabbing more of his food. Chouji seeing the change in Ino's tactics began grabbing some of his own food then but still stone some of Ino's. The other people in the restaurant watched as Ino and Chouji fought over the food at their table. All the while Kakashi continued walking as he read his book.

Sakura sat staring at the bowl in front of her. She then looked over at Naruto who was sitting at the table in a white t-shirt and blue shorts eating a bowl of instant ramen. Inner Sakura screamed to her 'Does he eat this every morning!' Sakura decided to politely ask "Hey Naruto." When Sakura saw she had his attention she asked "Do you eat ramen every morning?"

Naruto grinned and said "Yeah. Its the best. I eat it with milk instead of water though. It taste better."

Sakura glanced down at her bowl and said "Is that so." She paused then asked "Would you consider eating something else for breakfast if someone else made it?" Naruto stopped mid bit to think about Sakura's question. When he came to a decision he nodded with ramen noodles hanging from his mouth. Sakura turned her attention back to the bowl of ramen then began to eat it. Breakfast past with a certain amount of tension between them along with unsaid words on the part of both parties.

They both stepped outside and Naruto locked the door. To his surprise Sakura grabbed his hand as they walked. Naruto was not concerned with where they were going as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand and grinned a huge grin that was plastered to his face. Sakura didn't seem to notice or perhaps she was just acting casual but either way she too was smiling as she lead the way, pulling Naruto along.

"I am here to make my report." Lee declared somewhat loudly causing both Tsunade and Shizune to cringe in pain. Lee noticed and asked in the same tone "Are the two of you alright?"

They both cringed again and Tsunaded asked "You don't happen to have it in written form do you?"

Lee replied "No. I apologize. If you would like I will do so."

Tsunade thought about it and said "If you would."

Lee replied "Yes mam." He then turned to leave, closing the door a bit too loud which caused Tsunade and Shizune to cringe. The door opened and Lee poked his head in to say "Sorry about that." He then closed the door, once again too loud.

Shizune glared at Tsunade and said "It's your fault I feel like this. I never go drinking."

Tsunaded argued back "Who's the one that kept asking for more?"

Shizune put her hand to her head and answered "I don't remember that."

Tsunade looked at a scroll on her desk and said "Wasn't Kakashi suppose to be coming in this morning."

Shizune nodded and replied "He's late as usual."

Kakashi stops walking to look at the academy, the place where he was suppose to meet the 5th hokage to report his findings. He closed the book he was reading and stuck it into his pouch. When he withdrew his hand he had in it the second book he had brought, which he opened up to read as he resumed walking around Konoha.