Part 4:

After the match, Kakashi dismissed them and all four of them returned to the academy. Sakura and walking around thinking and waiting for lunch, as Kakashi led the boys to the locker room to patch their wounds. As suspected, Naruto had the most. After being bandaged, Sasuke began to redress as Kakashi finished bandaging Naruto, who groaned a bit from the pressure Kakashi was putting on his bruises.

"I am very proud of the both of you. You fought your hardest today. Good work."

"Sure."

"…"

"Naruto, you should be glad! You didn't lose to your rival in a match, and you certainly have come a long way."

"Yeah, but I didn't WIN, either. I wont stop until I win, for sure. I have to get better. Believe it."
"…Don't be in too much of a hurry to grow up, Naruto. Wait patiently, and you may eventually get what you want out of life."

"Ha, truth is, I will never get what I really want."

"Hm?"

"Becoming Hokage is easy, but compared to that, finding… a companion, …that's harder…"
"Naruto…"

"I may never find one of those…"

"Naruto, there is someone who…"

But Kakashi stopped himself, which made Naruto look back at him in curiosity. He wanted to tell Naruto everything about what Sakura had said, but it was not his job to reveal it. Kakashi was silent for a minute, but then he smiled and slapped the boy's back, hard, which made Naruto cry out.

"Well, you're done now! Get dressed and you can go home, boys"

Kakashi stood up, smiled again, and walked out. Naruto was doubled over in pain and Sasuke was staring at him, uncaring.

"OW…My back…!"

"Wuss. Dobe."

Outside the academy, two dark, young figures stared up at the building. They exchanged glances and smiled deviously- their mist-village headbands gleamed in the sun. They stealthily crept into the building just before Naruto and Sasuke left, unknowingly. Further inside, Sakura was, again, standing in front of Kakashi-sensei's office, talking quietly to herself while waiting for the man to return.

"Sensei is smart... Maybe I should just go and tell Naruto how I feel. I mean, it can't be THAT bad, right? It's just like what I've done to Sasuke, only… this is NOT Sasuke… Oh, man! Okay, I just have to think positively, and this will all turn out okay! And, besides, the worst thing he could do is say no, and if that happens, I can go back to Sasuke and pretend I never even HAD this silly little crush on Naruto! Yeah, that's right!"

Sakura started to laugh to herself. She felt more relieved, as if just standing in front of her wise sensei's office had helped to lift off a great weight from her shoulders. Truth was, the weight was still there, but it was moved aside, and it didn't bother her quite as much. She turned, ready to leave, for she no longer felt the need to speak with her sensei, with a new confidence. She then stopped dead as she sensed something, and then she saw something moving with great haste down the hallway to her left. She walked down the hall, not thinking much of it, but there was absolutely nothing there. Then, she saw it again in another hallway and moved to follow it, but the stern voice of her sensei stopped her movements. Kakashi stopped in front of her, looking around, almost frantically.

"Sensei! What is going on!"

"Two young ninja from the village of the mist had managed to get past the front entrance and I saw them entering the building. Have you seen them, Sakura?"

"I-I think I saw them heading towards the exit, just now!"

"Great, they're heading out into the village! Sakura, wait right there!"
"I will, sensei!"

Sakura waited in that spot and slowly slipped into a defensive and frightened state, being all alone as she was. What was going on? What would happen next? Her heart began to pound faster and harder in her chest, as a bad feeling began for grow. But against the growing fear, a face appeared in her mind; one she wasn't expecting. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sakura, it'll be okay! Believe it!" Sakura, without realizing it, smiled and started nodding her head in agreement with the comforting voice in her mind. Slowly, she started to calm down. Her breath evened out and she was at peace again. However, it was only then that she noticed a high-pitched noise resonating around the academy, that she hadn't noticed before.

Walking down a quiet road in the village, Naruto and Sasuke conversed.

"I'm hungry!"

"You're ALWAYS hungry, dobe."

"Yeah, but after our hard training today, you've got to be hungry, too, huh, Sasuke?"

"…Yeah. Lets go eat."

"Cool! I know this great ramen stand!"

"Is that the only thing you eat?"
"Yeah, mostly! Ramen makes a ninja strong!"

"Whatever."

As they walked near the ramen stand, a loud booming noise echoed through the village. The boys stopped dead in their tracks and were on their guard.

"What was that noise!"

"It sounded like… no, it can't be!"

Moments earlier, Kakashi had chased after, and apprehended the young ninja intruders in the woods just outside the front entrance, along with their rather weak master. He was tying up one of the boys as he decided to interrogate them.

"I don't know how you got into our village, but I assure you, you wont be leaving here for quite some time! We don't take kindly to intruders."

"Big deal. We'll get out eventually!"
"I doubt it. You should be grateful that I didn't kill your lot on sight!"

"Ha. No way. That just means you're weak!"

Kakashi angrily tightened the boy's restraints.

"Ow!"

"Now, boy, enough playing around! I want you to tell me… exactly what you were doing in our ninja academy!"

"Heh… surely nothing you can fix now!"

"What do you mean?"

"You see, we planted a bomb somewhere…"

"A bomb!"

"You're so dumb! I feel sorry for the ninja placed under your care! If you had just let us go and tried to find it, you may have stood a chance! Too bad. Now you have to watch your beloved academy go up in flames… along with all the students inside!"

'No…! Sakura was still…'

"That bomb should go off right about…"

Kakashi's head shot up as the ground suddenly shook and a dark plume of smoke rose from his village.