Authors Note: I forgot to add the disclaimer in the first chapter… ah well I think its obvious I don't own Naruto :-p but anyway. Thank you everyone for your reviews :-D 'happy' now on to chapter two! Oh and when there's a --- it means solid change of perspective and/or location.
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It had been a week since Naruto and Kakashi saved the fox, and Naruto always visited the fox at the end of the day after team seven had split up. Kakashi watched Naruto walking towards the lake carrying two bowls of ramen. The Jonin couldn't help but feel that something was slightly wrong. Naruto had heard the fox when it far away enough to be out of normal hearing. He couldn't help but wonder if the demon fox might have had something to do with it. Raising a hand he lifted his head band from over his Sharingan eye, and looked down at Naruto. Nope, nothing but Naruto. Kakashi shook his head and put the head band back in place, Naruto probably just wants a pet or something, he thought to himself, it's not like there was anything strange about that fox. That decided Kakashi leaped down from the roof top and headed home, taking his time as always.
Kakashi reached home about half an hour later, looking around he sighed at the mess. He needed to clean up in here, his place was beginning to look just as bad as Naruto's. At least he didn't have cartons of milk way out of date sitting around; well… he was sure he didn't. He sat down on his bed and picked up Make out Paradise from his bedside table, despite the fact he was home by himself he still didn't remove his headband or mask. He fell asleep reading the book, forgetting to set the alarm on his clock to wake him up in the morning beforehand.
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Naruto walked into the kitchen tossing the empty bowls of ramen into the bin. It had taken Naruto awhile to notice that the fox was incapable of eating the noodles and could only lap up the broth. Undaunted by this Naruto tried to help by whirling the noodles onto his fork then placing them into the foxes open mouth. The carnivore's teeth weren't quite capable of noodles, but it managed somehow none the less. Naruto had then stayed to play before leaving the fox for the night. He left each time looking back over his shoulder to look at the fox sitting watching him leave with sad eyes wanting to come with him which always caused Naruto to try and think of a way to sneak her back home. But he knew that if he ran into Kakashi on the way back, the Sharingan wielding Kakashi would see through any illusion instantly, which left very few other options. Naruto got into his pajamas and climbed into bed and set his clock before curling up under the blankets, it was unusual cold for the end of spring.
As Naruto entered the dream world he found himself lying on a grassy plane looking up at a clear blue sky. He felt like he was waiting for someone to arrive, so he stayed where he was rather than explore like he usually liked to do.
"Hello Naruto." A soft female voice seemed to call from close beside him. Sitting up he looked around to see a woman sitting on a rock about six feet away from him. She had long yellow hair that stopped just above her waist, the ends of her hair had black tips like she had dipped the ends in ink. She wore a simple cream tunic and a pair of dark rust colored pants. She had light colored skin, almost as if she didn't venture out into the sun too often. However the most unusual thing about her appearance was her eyes. They were as yellow as her hair and almost seemed to be glowing.
"Hello" Naruto managed to reply his throat feeling a bit tight. Something was strange about this woman, he could almost see an aura of charka around her, shifting and dancing. The woman smiled and stood up walking over on bare feet to sit down in front of him.
"My name is Tao, it's nice to get to talk to you." Naruto nodded not sure what to say. Nice to talk to me? Why not nice to meet me or something… it's not like we've met before or anything. Naruto scolded slightly, this was a boring dream, why couldn't he dream of becoming hokage or defeating Sasuke or something like that.
"You want to become hokage?" Tao asked looking at him curiously. Naruto blinked taken by slight surprise.
"You better believe it, I'm going to be hokage and everyone's going to have to accept me and respect me!" he said grinning at her.
"Then I shall help you." She stated simply in an almost a-matter-of-fact tone.
"What?" This dream had gone from boring to confusing.
"I can help you become the hokage of the Hidden Leaf village." She extended her hand as if to seal it with a handshake. Naruto looked at it then extended his own hand. Aw heck it's only a dream, he thought to himself as they shook hands. He felt a small shock run though his hand almost as if he'd gotten a static shock from something that extended through his whole arm.
"Alright then Uzumaki Naruto, shall we start with Ninjutsu Genjutsu or Taijutsu?" As he looked at her blankly she giggled. "So I guess we'll start with the definitions hm?" Naruto grinned a bit embarrassed and nodded.
Naruto woke up the next morning a minute before his alarm was about to go off. Feeling oddly awake for this time of day he turned off the alarm and got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After he'd showered and dressed he went through the kitchen as always looking for breakfast. He gave a small sigh then looked at the table to see if he'd left anything there. Four rice balls sat on a plate in the middle of the table with a small bottle of soy sauce next to them.
"Alright! Time to eat" Naruto sat down and immediately grabbed one of the rice balls and began to eat not really caring how they got there, he just assumed master Iruka left them there for him. He finished one and was reaching for a second when he found he already felt full. Huh… they're not that big, oh well. He thought as he picked up the last three and wrapped them up taking them with him.
As Naruto ran up to the bridge he was surprised to find that he was the first person there. Usually he was the last one to get there, or second to last if you counted Kakashi. Naruto sat up on the railing of the bridge swinging his legs back and forth slightly looking around wondering when the others were going to show up. Sasuke was the first one he saw coming, walking casually head downcast slightly in thought.
"GOOD MORNING SASUKE!!" Naruto yelled loud in hopes of surprising him. Sasuke's head snapped up and looked up at Naruto.
"So what are you doing up so bright and early in the morning?" Sasuke asked when he was close enough to not have to shout. Naruto chuckled happy that he surprised Sasuke. He gave a simple shrug in reply still grinning
"I dunno" he replied simply as Sasuke rested his back against the railing crossing his hands over his chest and said nothing more. Naruto continued to sit swinging his legs still in an energetic and happy mood. He was starting to wonder if the rice balls were seasoned with sugar instead of salt when he saw Sakura coming.
"Good morning Sakura-Chan!" he called out, not as loudly this time but still waved his arm around frantically nearly causing himself to loose his balance and fall off the bridge.
"Eh? Ah, Good morning Naruto, you're here early aren't you?" Sakura asked looking at him as if she were wondering if he was feeling alright. Naruto nodded as Sakura stood in between Naruto and Sasuke.
It was nearly noon and Kakashi still hadn't shown up.
'WHERE IS HE?!' Sakura's inner Sakura screamed as she slid down to sit on the ground with a sigh. Sasuke was starting to get annoyed, not just at the fact that Kakashi was late but also because Naruto was still sitting swinging his legs looking around like he had been doing for over the past five hours, how did he still have energy?
"I wonder where Kakashi is." Naruto wondered aloud glancing up as if he half expected to see the Jonin appear from nowhere like usual.
"I don't know but I'm hungry." Sakura whined, her stomach rumbled in reply as she placed her hands over her stomach as if to keep it quiet. Naruto looked at her and then thought for a moment then remembered the rice balls he had grabbed before he left.
"Hey I've got food." He said jumping down from his seat taking them out of his pouch he unwrapped them and offered them to Sakura.
"Ah! Naruto you're the best!" she said taking one eating it happily. Naruto didn't even manage to mumble a reply as he tried not to blush at the first complement Sakura had given him.
"Hey Sasuke," Sasuke looked at him out of the corner of his eye to find him offering him one of the two remaining rice balls. "Might as well make it even and fair." The blond said looking away. Sasuke gave a small nod of thanks and took one and the three of them sat down to eat.
"Hey these are good, did you make them Naruto?" Sakura asked looking at him. Naruto shook his head, mouth full of rice.
"Naw, I fink mawster Irukaw lefft tem fow me."
"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Sakura scolded smacking him lightly upside the head.
"Ow, sorry" Naruto said swallowing. Looking up he saw Master Iruka walking up towards them.
"Team seven?" The three stood up dusting themselves off slightly.
"Hey master Iruka, do you know where Kakashi is?" Naruto asked looking up at him. Iruka gave an irritated groan.
"He was called into see the hokage this morning and was assigned to a level A mission, but he given time to dismiss you beforehand. I guessed as much, so that's why I decided to head down to see if you were all still here waiting for him."
'You Jerk Kakashi you ditched us!" Sakura's inner Sakura yelled "Well that's understandable, a level A mission is important." She said out loud. "How long is the mission going to take?"
"Hokage didn't seem too sure about it, but he did say that the three of you would get the day off today and that I would be your sensei starting tomorrow until Kakashi completes the mission." Iruka explained.
"Hey, do you know what kind of mission?" Naruto asked excitement shining in his eyes. But Iruka shook his head then excused himself. Once he was gone Sakura turned to look at the other two.
"Well that was rude of him! So what do we do now? Most of the days gone anyway…" The three of them thought for a moment, while they sort of wanted to go home they also wanted to do some training of some kind after sitting for so long. A few minutes passed before Naruto thought something up.
"Hey, why don't we do our own 'capture the bell training'?" he offered.
"With what bell and with whom?" Sasuke asked coldly giving the distinct impression that the idea was a bad one.
"Aw come on, just trust me." He said as he began to walk away waving them to follow him. "Come on, it's not like we really have anything better to do." Sakura looked at Sasuke who just shrugged and followed after Naruto, Sakura following right behind him.
It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the other side of the lake. Sakura was scolding at Naruto while Sasuke remained quiet while wondering what the mischievous Naruto was up to. Hearing something in the bushes beside him Sasuke turned hand moving instinctively to the shuriken on his belt. But it was only a fox, and a pretty messy looking one at that. Sasuke was half tempted to pick it up and throw it into the lake.
"Hey there you are." Naruto said running over to the fox who seemed happy to see him.
"Is this the fox you told us about Naruto? The one you and Kakashi saved from under a tree?" Sakura asked crouching down next to the boy and the fox. Naruto nodded and then removed his headband and tied it around the fox's neck. It looked ridiculous wearing it but the seemingly wild animal simply sat there as if not minding its new accessory in the least. He then took a handkerchief out of one of his many pockets and laced it through but didn't tie it off so that it could be pulled free easily.
"Instead of 'capture the bell' we shall train with 'capture the handkerchief'!" Naruto said standing up throwing his arms out in triumph.
"You've got to be kidding me, you really are a dunce." Naruto lowered his arms and looked a bit depressed. The fox looked at Sasuke then walked over to him. Sasuke looked down at the fox as if to ask what it wanted. The fox then reared up on its hind legs to bring its face level with Sasuke's. Before the boy could react the fox nipped Sasuke on the nose before bounding off a few paces out of reach.
"Are you alright Sasuke??" Sakura asked looking at him kind of worried, Naruto was just laughing himself silly. Growling slightly Sasuke darted forward to grab the handkerchief, but the fox darted to the side leaving Sasuke's hands grabbing at air. Sakura, now behind the fox, tried to sneak up on it in hopes of helping Sasuke. But the fox simply jumped out of reach again. Naruto was now grabbing his sides trying not to laugh so hard. The moment he calmed down enough he joined in with the other two as the three of them now tried to use teamwork to get the handkerchief from the fox.
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This chapter was a bit tricky, I hope I did ok… sorry if it's a bit short. I also hope I didn't confuse people with all the talking going on. More exciting stuff will happen soon I promise, so please stick with me and R&R till then :)