Chapter 19 – My Heart is Set! Helping Our Friends in Need!

Greetings, Naruto.

…zzzz…

Naruto! Get off your lazy ass!

zzzzMmmph…wha……AAHHH! Old Man Hokage!

You were expecting someone else, Naruto?

AAAAHHH, YOU'RE BACK FROM THE-

Cut it out!

…dattebayo.

How are you doing, Naruto?

Wha?

I mean your missions…how have they been? Satisfied?

Oh…hell no! Granny Tsunade gives me the easiest crap…Hey, did you see my mission where I wiped out the Kurosuki family? Pretty awesome, huh? Hehehe-

No, but I was watching your Bikouchuu trip.

……okay, that was a rare lapse of judgment. I'm really far stronger than that.

I know, Naruto, of course I know. But are you strong enough to help your old teacher?

Huh?

IRUKA-SAN!

Oh…duh I want to see him again! I'll do anything, even if I have to fight to get him back!

So you believe in his innocence?

YES!

Good, good. Now Naruto, I'm not here to tell you what to do-

zzzzzz…

Fine, FINE! You have to get Iruka-san out of jail in fifteen days. You know why right?

Uhm…the Chuunin exam?

Exactly. This Pervert Ninja will no doubt strike again, and at the worst time.

Haha, you underestimate me, old man Hokage!

…?

I'm gonna get him out tonight!

Easy, Naruto. I know you're going to ignore this, but my advice is to take it slow.

Of course I'm gonna ignore it, dattebayo! Especially when some wrinkled old man-

Naruto…Have you ever been punched by a Hokage before?

Sure! Granny Tsunade's got me plenty of times.

Then you won't mind this-

-SMACK-

"Wha? WHAT? OWWW!"

Naruto bolted upright, rubbing dust out his eyes. A soccer ball rolled to a halt beside him.

"Eww, a hobo-nin!"

"Hey, ugly…yeah you! Give us back the ball, retard!"

Naruto turned around. A group of angry-looking young Academy students was heading towards him.

"Ugly, huh?"

Out of intuition, he picked up the ball, threw it back as hard as he could at a certain sensitive spot, and ran for it.

He stopped five minutes later after seeing his reflection in a puddle. The Naruto staring back looked disheveled and, as the kids had told him, somewhat like a hobo. Better get into some clean clothes, he thought to himself. And considering he hadn't washed his jumper or anything underneath in, oh…nine months, it sounded like a pretty sensible idea.

Shortly thereafter, he arrived at his apartment. At this time, all of its residents had either left for work or the Academy, so the halls would be completely empty. With brief hesitation, he undressed completely and tossed his clothes into the dryer. Hey, feelin easy and breezy's pretty good, he thought to himself. With renewed vigor, he walked up towards his room on the third floor.

Meanwhile…

Sakura and Hinata sat patiently outside of room #314.

"Do you think he'll come?" asked Hinata timidly.

"Oh, definitely," replied Sakura. "He'll be looking for comfort, and we need to tell him that we're on his side."

As usual after every Naruto-related sentence, Hinata blushed. I hope he's not in a bad mood, she thought hopefully.

Footsteps around the corner answered her wish.

"See!" Sakura grinned. "I told you he'd come. Hey Naruto! It's you isn't it?"

The footsteps froze asa shaky voice answered her.

"W-whosat?"

"It's me and Hinata-chan, we're here to support you, Naruto!"

Silence. Followed by what sounded like a tree collapsing.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" screamed Sakura. "Do you need help-"

"NO NO NO NO NO! Stay back! I'm fine, perfectly fine…I just…tripped…"

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Ninjas don't trip Naruto, even loud-mouth hyperactive ones."

"Seriously Sakura-chan! Everything's OK, I promise! Just leave and let me get to my damn room!"

"S-Sakura-chan," Hinata trembled. "I…we shouldn't be bothering Naruto-kun if he doesn't want us to…"

"Oh, bullshit!" Sakura hated it when Naruto refused help. "Quit stalling, I'm going to take a look…come on Hinata!"

"W-wait Sakura-chan!"

10 minutes later…

"Why didn't you tell us you were naked?" Sakura grimaced. She still had one hand plastered to her eyes, but she was in better shape than the unconscious Hinata.

"Like you would believe me, dattebayo!"

The three of them were in his room (Hinata had to be dragged inside), and thankfully, Naruto had finally put his clothes back on.

"Just forget it," Sakura answered. "What can we do to help? You're still trying to recover over what happened yesterday…right?"

Naruto paced back and forth. Suddenly, he stopped and gave her a thumbs up.

"I've got it! We break Iruka-sensei out of jail in two hours!"

Sakura groaned and slapped her forehead.

"Naruto…you're planning to break Konoha law and free a convicted criminal, and you plan to do it in broad daylight? At least do whatever you're going to be doing at night like a real ninja!"

"Stupid Sakura-chan…if I do it in broad daylight, it'll be completely unexpected!"

"...You didn't think this over very well, did you?"

"Shut up."

"Okay, okay…it's not like you'd want advice from an incredibly intelligent and attractive Chuunin anyways…"

"FINE! What's your brilliant plan, know-it-all Sakura-chan?"

"First, I want to know if you're really going to try and break him out."

"OF COURSE, DAMMIT!"

"Whoa, calm down Naruto…I guess I'll be going with you then, if you want to have any chance at succeeding."

"Me too," whispered a now conscious Hinata. "I believe in you, Naruto-kun!"

"Then it's settled. Naruto, Hinata-chan, meet me at Ichiraku at 6 o' clock tonight."

"O-okay."

"Dattebayo, Sakura-chan!"

"And one more thing, Naruto."

"Eh?"

"Don't forget your clothes this time, unless you want to kill Hinata-chan."

Next Chapter: ReturningOld Favors! The Super-Dynamic Explosive Conclusion to Part II!

Note from writer: Midterm week, woohoo. I have a couple of exams that I need to "attend to", and some I don't. Part II will be finished and put up on Saturday...thanks to all you readers for putting up with this crap