A/N: Sorry for the wait (assuming some of you were waiting). I wasn't able to finish up this chapter before school started so it got pushed back a bit.
NOTE: I heavily suggest taking a bit of time to watch episode 86 of Naruto, which can be found on YouTube. Even only watching Part 2 would be very helpful in understanding some of this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did. But I don't.
------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto slowly sat up, stretching his arms and yawning. The sun shone brightly through the wide window in his bedroom.
"Ah, finally, back to the missions. Tsunade-no-baachan better have something good for me."
Naruto quickly dressed and made and ate his breakfast, which naturally consisted of milk and ramen. Grinning, he tied his forehead protector to his forehead and burst out the door, running down the streets as fast as possible, heading towards the usual meeting spot for Team 7. Several people yelled at him for disturbing their peaceful thoughts as he ran by, most though just ignored him. A few minutes later, he was panting while leaning over the railing on the wooden bridge.
Neither Sakura nor Kakashi were at the spot yet, not surprising Naruto much. Sakura was probably hesitant in returning to the field and Kakashi was…well he was Kakashi. Naruto smiled as he wondered what half-assed excuse the silver-haired Jounin would use this time.
Naruto lost track of time as he stared into the clear blue water. He sighed, looking past his reflection, losing himself in his thoughts. Images passed through his mind; images of Sasuke when they were both little kids, of all his friends at that age, of when they were all Genin, of when he had come back from his two years of training, and of the memorial for all of them. Sakura appeared but she was too far away.
'So far away…' Naruto thought to himself, confused as the figure began to shift. He recognized the figure it shifted into instantly.
'Ino…'
"Hey." The soft voice broke him out of his reverie. He jumped back from the railing, looking to his left at Sakura who looked back at him. His face was uncertain. Hers was soft but didn't show any other emotions.
"Hey."
Silence settled between them. Her gaze continued to linger on him and he stared nervously at the ground, shuffling his feet awkwardly. After a minute or so, she turned, leaning on the railing and looking out at the scenery.
"You know, I never noticed how beautiful this place is." Naruto looked up at her, his mouth slightly agape. "It's not full of flowers or anything. But it's nice and peaceful. Wouldn't you agree?" Naruto closed his mouth, his lips curving in a very small smile. Somehow, it was happy and sad at the same time.
"Yeah, I would."
------------------------------------------------------------
A poof two hours later signaled the arrival of Kakashi, who grinned sheepishly at their angry faces.
"Sorry, I was coming to meet you two when I ran into this young girl who claimed she had orders from the Hokage to go see her about an urgent matter and it turns out that the young girl is going to be the third member of Team Seven. Temporarily of course."
Sakura rolled her eyes and Naruto cocked an eyebrow. But both their mouths dropped a few centimeters as a girl with bleached blond hair and pale blue eyes stepped out from behind Kakashi, smiling weakly.
"He's not lying – "
"Ino?" Sakura asked incredulously. "Ino is going to be on our team? But what about her team?" Meanwhile, Naruto was silent, trying to look like he was in deep thought despite the lack of thoughts going through his mind.
'…Ino...On Team Seven……Ino?'
"Well unfortunately, with Chouji out and Shikamaru in a mentally unstable condition, the Godaime decided that for now Ino should come with us. Kiba was the first choice but seeing as Akamaru hasn't fully recovered yet, he wasn't really an option."
Sakura opened her mouth but then closed it, unable to think of anything to say. Naruto continued to be silent as well and the four stood on the bridge, an awkward silence between them. Ino shuffled her feet and stared at the ground while Sakura resumed looking at the scenery. Naruto simply stood there, looking somewhat clueless.
Kakashi cleared his throat. The three Chuunin looked up at the Jounin expectantly, though not exactly sure of what to expect.
"Now the mission," The girls kept their expectant looks and Naruto grinned.
"We've been assigned to go to Takuyo Village and investigate a series of robberies. They have been occurring over the past few weeks and have been increasing in intensity steadily. The village is a good week away, so you'll need to go home and pack some clothes and other necessities."
The three nodded and turned to leave.
"Oh and by the way," They stopped, keeping their backs to him. "There have been some rumors of high-class ninjutsu and genjutsu being used in some of the robberies. This is a B-Rank mission. Team Gai will be coming with us. We'll meet at the gate in an hour."
------------------------------------------------------------
"Hm, I guess I'll just pack the usual," Ino said to herself, throwing a few sets of clothing into her pack. She had long ago spiced up her wardrobe, throwing in some other colors beyond dark purple. There was still plenty of purple, though now there was some red, a little pink, black and white, and even a bit of orange. Naruto's orange and black outfit coming to mind, she threw in the orange along with some red and lots of purple. Smiling, she turned to grab some kunai and exploding tags. However, she bit her lip at the sight of the ninja equipment.
'What if we don't make a good team? Sure, Sakura and I are good friends but we've only practiced together a few times. And I've only seen Naruto in action in those Chuunin Exams so long ago…'
Ino looked up into her bedside mirror and shook her head, placing a determined look on her face.
'No, we'll definitely get along. We're all Shinobi of the Leaf, not to mention all part of the old Rookie Nine. We're some of the best ninja Konoha has ever seen. We'll make a great team.' She chuckled.
"I just hope Naruto's crush on Sakura isn't as annoying to me as it has been to her."
------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura silently packed her clothes and ninja equipment. Sakura had also thrown more variety in her clothing. There was plenty of red and pink, but she tossed in some black and white and some random casual clothes for no real reason in particular. She tossed in plenty of kunai, shuriken, and exploding tags.
She looked up at her mirror, noticing that her eyes were still a little red from the tears that she'd cried that morning. She briefly wondered if the others had noticed.
'So Ino's going to be on our team for a while. She and Naruto did get along well, and the two of us seem to have finally fixed our friendship. I…I owe Ino so much. This new Team Seven will be a great one.' Sakura sighed.
"Maybe almost as good as the original."
------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto was also silent as he packed for the mission. He threw in some orange and black clothing, putting in some casual clothes as well. He threw in his ninja equipment, more than either of the girls, though he hadn't packed as many clothes.
'Must be a pretty difficult B Rank if we're getting back up from two Chuunin and a Jounin (1). Then again, maybe it's just cause we've been off for a week and have a new teammate. Wonder how that's going to work out…'
Naruto didn't remember much about Ino's fighting style, only having seen it briefly in the Chuunin Exams three years ago. All he remembered was slightly above average taijutsu skills and some sort of mind control jutsu. And that she was incredibly skinny.
'But looks like she's filled out since then,' he thought, thinking back to their walk the day before.
'Mmm, she'd be good to bear my kits.' Naruto stepped back in shock and fell onto his bed.
'Wh-what? Kyuubi, where'd that come from?'
'Eh, forget it, kit.'
Naruto sat in silence for a minute before sighing and standing up. He picked up his pack and looked over at the clock. He smiled and walked out the door, slinging his pack over his shoulder.
"Finally, back to the missions."
------------------------------------------------------------
"All right, let's stop here," Kakashi said, casually tossing his pack onto the ground. Naruto dropped his pack beside him and promptly fell forward onto the ground, smiling into the dirt. Sakura and Ino threw their packs onto the ground and then sat on a wide, flat boulder. Neji set his pack down and leaned against a nearby tree, an indifferent look on his face. Tenten threw her pack down and went over to talk to Neji. Gai and Lee slowly put their packs down before challenging each other to 500 laps around the campground by nightfall. Kakashi put his pack down and sighed at the sight two hyperactive, green ninja.
"And if you fail to run 500 laps, then I'll jump rope 2000 times."
"And if you fail to jump rope 2000 times, then I'll do 3000 punches."
"And if you fail to do 3000 punches, then I'll do 4000 kicks."
"And – "
"If you two don't mind, we'd like to leave by morning," Kakashi interjected, "And that means no exhausting yourselves." Teacher and student looked from Kakashi to each other and then turned and dashed off around the campground. Kakashi sighed again before taking out the latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise from his pocket and began to read.
Meanwhile, Naruto had moved over and was leaning against the wide boulder that Ino and Sakura were sitting on, his head resting between the two pairs of legs. He closed his eyes, a small smile gracing his lips. Ino glanced down at him.
"You're that happy to be back in the field?" Ino asked the blond. Sakura chuckled.
"You obviously don't know Naruto very well. There's no place he'd rather be."
"Yeah, Sakura-chan's right. Out here you get to prove how much talent you have and how much training you've put into it. And how much you care about your precious people. Fighting to protect others, it's not only the life of a shinobi." Naruto's small smile turned into a wide grin. "It's the life of a hero; those who will protect others at all costs and make the world a better place." Sakura and Ino looked at each other, a bit of shock evident on both their faces. Neither had expected that much from such a simple question.
Ino grimaced. "Life's not a fairytale. The hero doesn't always get a happy ending. In fact, in reality, there's no such thing as a happy ending."
"I'll get all of my precious people happy endings, Ino-chan."
"That's impossible."
"You don't know that."
"I can be ninety-nine percent sure."
"Well then Naruto-kun will be in that last one percent," Sakura said. Naruto twisted to look away from Ino and up at the pink-haired girl who was smiling down at him, his mouth slightly agape. "If there's anyone who can do it, it's him.
"After all, he doesn't give up that easily." Naruto's grin stretched from ear to ear as Ino looked on, a respectful smile on her face.
------------------------------------------------------------
That night, Naruto lay in his sleeping bag, gazing up at the starry night sky. He heard someone turning over beside him and turned over onto his side to see Sakura watching him.
"Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura was silent for a minute and Naruto didn't push her. She bit her lip and looked away, causing Naruto to frown. A second later she looked back, her green eyes betraying the sorrow she felt.
"I…I'm sorry." Her gaze lingered for only a second more before she turned over. Naruto kept his eyes on her for a minute before also turning over, letting himself fall asleep.
------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto yawned loudly as he sat up and stretched his arms out. He squinted his eyes in the light of the sun that was just rising above the horizon. Taking his time, he slowly got up, grabbed a set of clothes out of his pack, and set off to find a secluded place to change. Naruto began to wander off into the forest, yawning as he tried to find an open spot among the trees.
Naruto never heard the sounds of someone else moving around until it was too late. He did, however, hear the high-pitched scream Ino let out as she moved to cover herself up with her arms. Naruto blushed bright red, backing up and away from a furious Ino who was advancing on him. Naruto noticed that she had her bra and panties on, though he quickly averted his eyes to her face, putting his hands up defensively as he tried to save himself from her anger.
"I-Ino-chan, I – I'm sorry, um…really, really sorry!" Naruto pleaded desperately as he felt his back hit a tree. He raised his arms higher and crossed them in hopes of blocking the incoming blow, but he knew it was futile.
"Naruto…" Ino growled in a deep, dark voice. The loud sound of her hand slapping him across the cheek caused several birds to chirp and fly out of the trees.
------------------------------------------------------------
Half an hour later, Naruto returned to the camp, dragging his feet along and letting his body slump over. He hung his head and was rubbing his cheek, which still glowed bright red, almost as bright as his blush had been. The others, with the exception of Ino, glanced at him and grimaced before returning to their meals. Naruto let his eyes roll up and then fell forward onto his face. Sakura looked down at him in a with a concerned expression while Ino merely closed her eyes and turned away from him with a soft, "Hmph." The rest of the team decided ignoring the matter was in their best interests.
Naruto, remembering that Kakashi had told them the night before that they'd be going into the village today for some recon-type work, had chosen some casual clothes. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and a thin black jacket over it. The jacket had a red spiral on the back with signs on the edges of the spirals. Only Naruto knew that the sign was the same as the seal on his stomach, placed on the shirt with a simple jutsu. He'd put on a simple pair of old, loose, faded blue jeans. As long as he didn't go running around yelling at people to direct him to a ramen stand, he'd be pretty inconspicuous.
Sakura was wearing a form-fitting pink shirt and a short red skirt, nothing elaborate, instead very simple. She definitely wouldn't stand out in a crowd.
Ino was wearing a loose, smooth black shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans that looked somewhere between tight and loose to Naruto's eyes, though he didn't look for long, turning red for a second as Ino's figure flashed in his mind in the clothing he'd seen her in earlier. Or lack of clothing. He turned away quickly, praying that she hadn't noticed his stare or his blush.
Kakashi, for once, wasn't wearing his ninja attire. Instead, he'd gone with a tight black shirt and very dark blue jeans. He still wore his mask though and wore a pair of black sunglasses to compensate for his forehead protector that no longer covered his Sharingan.
"Team Gai will be staying behind and training for the day," Kakashi said as he stood up, Ino and Sakura doing the same. Naruto nodded. "Then let's go."
The four had been walking through the forest for about half an hour before Sakura finally gave into her curiosity.
"Naruto-kun, what happened to your cheek?" Naruto and Ino stiffened. "It's been red ever since you got back from getting changed." Kakashi seemed to be ignoring the conversation. Ino had closed her eyes and crossed her arms, an angry look on her face, but Sakura didn't notice as her eyes were on Naruto, whose entire face had just gone an even darker shade of red. He waved his hands hurriedly, smiling at her with his eyes closed. Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"I – I – um, it's nothing, Sakura-chan. Honestly, really, don't worry about it. It's nothing at all, I'm totally fine." Sakura watched him closely for a second before shrugging and turning away, noticing Ino's angry expression.
"Ino? Is…something wrong?"
"Hm?" Ino was silently debating whether or not Naruto deserved for her to tell Sakura when Naruto spoke up for her.
"Oh, Ino-chan's fine. Nothing's wrong with her either. R-right, Ino-chan?" Ino knew she was overreacting to the fact that he had spoken for her but she didn't care much.
"Well nothing except for the fact that you walked in on me while I was changing, you baka!" She yelled at the blond who was backing up in fear of the other blond for the second time that morning. Sakura's eyes widened as her brain processed Ino's statement. Kakashi even looked away from his Icha Icha Paradise novel, glancing at Ino and Naruto with an eyebrow raised.
"I-Ino-chan, I told you, it was an accident. And I'm really, really, really sorry too. Really."
"Oh, and that makes everything okay? What kind of ninja are you anyways? How could you not notice that I was there?"
"It – it was so early and I was so tired."
"That doesn't excuse you from your punishment!" Ino yelled and chased after Naruto, who ran as fast as he could down the path and toward the village. "Get back here!"
"Ahh! I said I'm sorry! Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, help!" Sakura blinked at the scene. Kakashi looked up once again, this time annoyed at having been disturbed from his reading a second time, before returning to the book.
"Ino-chan, don't do that. I doubt he did it on purpose," Sakura said tentatively, trying to calm her friend.
"So?" Ino had cornered Naruto who had his back up against a tree. He cowered as Ino slowly advanced on him, a sadistic smile on her face. She reached into her kunai pouch and extracted a kunai, fingering the blade. Sakura sighed and ran up to the two, deftly snatching the kunai out of Ino's hand. Ino turned around and pouted.
"Aw, come on, Sakura. I just want to – " Sakura crossed her arms and gave Ino a stern look. Ino's face fell in disappointment. "Fine. Be like that." Naruto grinned.
"Yes!" In typical Naruto fashion, he stuck his tongue out at Ino. Sakura grinned and made a quick movement. Naruto froze, feeling the kunai graze his cheek as it embedded itself in the tree behind him. He cracked a weary smile at Sakura's stern look that was now on him.
"Naruto, I don't care if it was an accident, don't ever do it again. Or not only will I not stop Ino; I'll probably help her," Sakura said with just a hint of a threat in her voice, cracking a small, sadistic smile of her own. Naruto scratched the back of his head.
"Hehe, got it. Sorry, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan."
Sakura turned and ran up to Kakashi. Ino kept her glare on him for another second before running after Sakura. Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Women."
------------------------------------------------------------
It was noon by the time they reached the village. Contrary to their expectations, the village was large and had many commercial features. (2) Stands lined the streets, both down the middle and on the sides. The streets were full of people running around, purchasing various goods.
"Kakashi-sensei, how are we supposed to find the thieves in such a busy place?" Sakura asked thoughtfully.
"The thieves always strike shortly after sunset, while the vendors are packing up. Despite increased security, they've been successful every time. Apparently, there are usually twice as many vendors as you see now."
The three Chuunin looked back to the town and noticed that there were plenty of gaps between the stands that could have easily fit another stand or two. They nodded in understanding and the four walked up to the gate to the town.
"All right, you three, I'm going to go look for clues. You three go relax for now." Naruto eyed Kakashi suspiciously. There was something familiar about it.
"Kakashi-sensei, just where are you going to be looking?" Naruto asked as innocently as possible. The silver-haired Jounin smiled.
"Wherever I believe there will be clues." Before Naruto could open his mouth again, Kakashi disappeared in a poof of white smoke. Naruto shook his head disapprovingly.
"Just like Ero-sennin…" He muttered under his breath. Ino and Sakura looked at him questioningly.
"Just like who?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing, nothing, nothing at all." Feeling pressure from the females again, he grinned and scratched the back of his head. The three stood in silence for a minute until Ino shrugged and walked away, Sakura following.
"Eh, how bad could it be?" The platinum blond asked to no one in particular. Had any of them looked down the side street they were passing by at that moment, they would've seen just how bad it was as Kakashi walked into the local brothel. (3)
------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto groaned as his stomach rumbled painfully.
"Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, can't we stop for food? Please?"
"We're not going to a ramen stand," Sakura said huffily. Naruto's stomach rumbled again, reminding him that he'd missed breakfast due to his unfortunate encounter with Ino. Ino had calmed down, though she was still ignoring him for the most part.
"Fine, whatever. Can we just get anything? Now?" Neither girl wanted to put up with his incessant pleading any longer and began looking around for a restaurant. Ino quickly spotted a medium-sized barbecue place. She winced and bit her lip hard as she remembered the barbecue restaurant back in Konoha, the one where Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma, and her had always gone as a team.
"Ino? What's wrong?" Sakura was concerned at the sudden look of pain on her friend's face.
"It's…nothing." She smiled with her eyes closed. "Honestly."
'Well what do you know,' Ino thought. 'Closing your eyes does hide the pain…'
After searching for a while longer, the three found a small sushi bar and sat down. They each ordered a small amount of food and paid together.
"Itadakimasu!" They said in unison before eating the delightful food. They ate in peace and quiet and finished fairly quickly.
Naruto sighed contentedly and leaned back, lightly tapping his stomach to express his content. The girls smiled at the sight, happy to see him happy. The three stood up and walked off to look for ways to pass the last hour before sunset.
------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Kakashi had run into a bit of surprise due to the tall, broad, white-haired man that had just walked in.
"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" The Sannin, his face red, opened his mouth to respond but Kakashi cut him off. "Oh well I know what you're doing here, but what are you doing in this town? I thought you were off gathering information on Akatsuki." The other man's face turned grim at the name of the powerful group.
"I was gathering information on Akatsuki." Kakashi's eyes widened in realization.
------------------------------------------------------------
"Where is he?" Ino asked grumpily.
"Obviously you don't know Kakashi very well. He's always late. Very late," Sakura said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah but this is a mission. I thought you two said he was usually more serious on missions."
"Eh, it's just a couple of robbers. There's nothing special about these security guards. It's probably just a couple of missing-nin with nothing better to do."
The three stood on a rooftop overlooking one of the more busy streets of the town. It hadn't been hit in a while so the three had agreed that it was probably a likely target. The three had changed into more appropriate outfits. Naruto was wearing a black, zip-up jacket and smooth, dark pants. Sakura wore short black shorts and a black shirt with a white circle on the back. Ino wore a very dark purple shirt that would've appeared black if not for the moonlight, and loose black pants.
"Still. Asuma-sensei never showed up late. He barely even went off on his own."
"Yeah but he smokes." Sakura, being the second best medic ninja in the world, was heavily against the practice.
"And Kakashi reads an adult novel. Constantly."
"Well that's not going to kill him."
"But it's highly disturbing."
The three froze at the sound of a crash down in the street, followed by several screams. The three Chuunin looked at each other. Naruto grinned and cracked his knuckles.
"Finally, back in action."
------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Well there's another chapter. I believe it's slightly longer than the other two. The fight with the thieves will be next chapter, though some of you might see where I'm heading with this mission now. I modeled the town after the one from episode 86 so again, I highly recommend watching it.
1. Remember, this is a post Time Jump/Time Skip (whatever the accepted term is). Naruto's also passed the Chuunin Exams so Sakura, Ino, Naruto, Lee, and Tenten are all Chuunin and Neji is a Jounin.
2. It's very similar to the city that Naruto and Jiraiya stopped at in the Finding Tsunade Arc, just on a smaller scale.
3. Eh, try to think of this in the most positive light possible. The place I had in mind is actually similar to the place Jiraiya went to in that city (it's what Naruto felt was familiar when Kakashi went off alone). Jiraiya was only seen socializing with the women and that's all Kakashi did as well.
Hope you liked it. And please review. To you readers, you've got to understand that reviews, good or bad, are the lifeblood of us writers.