Naruto vs Sasuke: The Aftermath Chapter 59: Sisters Reunited & Never Bet with a Nara, a naruto fanfic

Summary: A little over three years have passed since three of strongest shinobi of the Leaf village left their home and have carved out a heroic reputation throughout numerous and faraway lands in their travels. One of these men has now halfway into his ultimate and final training test. Meanwhile, in Konohagakure the Village Hidden in the Leaves, many people are still waiting and hoping for three of its greatest heroes to finally return home.

Naruto vs. Sasuke: The Aftermath

Chapter 59: "Sisters Reunited and Never Bet Against A Nara"

Five months had passed since Neji and Tenten's wedding, as Tsunade accepted a report and then dismissed the former assistant to her appointed ambassador representing Konohagakure in Sunagakure. Per Councilman Hanshiro Sato's request and with Temari's approval as Suna's ambassador in Konoha, Tenten was temporarily assigned as the new assistant to Konoha's ambassador in Suna. Councilman Sato was fearful if the Hyuga clan discovered Tenten's pregnancy and who the father was, they might make a move against her. And though it had pained him greatly to see his daughter leave, Hanshiro realized it was the best way to keep her and the baby safe.

As Tsunade watched the former assistant exit her office, she now waited patiently, as four members of the infamous Konoha 10 were soon to arrive. The blonde Hokage glanced at a picture on her desk showing a photo of herself, Jiraiya, Naruto, and Shizune they had taken together on their way back to Konoha for Tsunade to take the mantle of Hokage. The Slug Sannin sighed with longing, as it had been over three years since she had seen either the man she loved or her grandson and she missed them both terribly. A knock on her door, brought Tsunade out of her nostalgic memories, as the door opened and in strode Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, and Rock Lee to stand before the buxom blonde Hokage. All of them were quite curious as to why she had summoned them to her office. Tsunade cleared her throat before she addressed the shinobi standing before her.

"Ahem, I've called all of you here for an important task that I'm assigning to each of you. I expect all of you to successfully complete each of your assignments."

"What do wish us to do milady?" Sakura inquired.

"I'm assigning to each of you a protégé from the Shinobi Academy to train to the best of your abilities and help them accelerate their skills to reach their full potential as Leaf village shinobi."

"Yosh, a most noble and youthful mission to undertake and I will get the flames of youth to burn as brightly as possible in the student you have assigned to me!" Lee exclaimed in excited confidence.

"Lee-kun, what have I told you before…..inside voice."

"I'm sorry my cherry blossom." Lee replied, in a softer tone of voice.

"It's sounds troublesome to me." Shikamaru idly commented.

"Lady Tsunade, why have you decided that we four need to be their sensei's?"

"I've chosen you four Hinata, because I believe each of you is the best possible choice for each of the students from the academy. These particular four individuals are the best and the brightest of the academy at the moment. I also believe with each of your efforts with them, they can become highly skilled and useful shinobi in a shorter amount of time then letting them progress through the academy at a normal rate."

"Who are the four students you are assigning to us?"

"Well, first off Sakura, I'm assigning to you Moegi from Team #7 Ebisu's Genin squad or better known by all as the Konohamaru Corp."

"Why do you wish me to teach her milady?"

"Because the girl has the same high chakra control at her age, as a certain pink-haired Genin I once took on as an apprentice had. And seeing how that girl's Medical Ninjutsu knowledge now rivals Shizune's or my own, along with the super strength Taijutsu I taught her. I believe Moegi can be the third generation to carry on that legacy in those skills just as you did." Tsunade answered in amusement.

"Who shall I be turning into a splendid shinobi Hokage-sama?" Lee asked in a subdued voice surprising the blonde Hokage.

"You Lee will be assigned Konohamaru Sarutobi. In testing, he has shown a high potential in becoming a very skilled Taijutsu fighter. I want you to turn him into the second coming of you, if that's possible."

"Yosh, I promise you Hokage-sama, I will not rest until his flames of youth in Taijutsu burn as bright and hot as my own!"

"Lee-kun!" Sakura shouted, scolding her boyfriend again about the volume of his voice.

"Troublesome, am I correct to assume you're assigning Udon to me Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru stated lazily.

"You are indeed correct Mr. Nara, how did you deduce that?"

"Well, since its two of the members of the Konohamaru Corp you've chosen for advanced training. It only stands to reason that the third member of that group would also be a choice by you. What I can't figure out is what you want me to teach him. All of my shinobi skills are clan based and I can't teach him any of those since he's not a Nara clan member."

"I want you to train Udon in the use of his brain."

"Huh?" Shikamaru expressed in confusion.

"We had Udon IQ tested and the kid nearly broke a certain Nara's IQ record at the academy. I think he has the skills and brain power to become a master strategist. So who better to train him than you Mr. Nara?"

"My father!" Shikamaru quickly answered, hoping the Hokage would accept his answer.

"Perhaps, but I need Shikaku on other matters, so the task falls upon you to train Udon."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled, to himself.

"Who shall I be training Lady Tsunade?"

The blonde Hokage exhaled a sigh, before looking Hinata dead in the eyes and saying.

"Your job is to train your sister Hanabi in the advance Hyuga techniques you and Neji have been practicing over the past few years."

Hinata gasped, upon hearing who the Hokage wanted her to train, before she regained her composure and with a bit of sadness to her voice stated.

"I'm sorry Lady Tsunade, but she will never accept me training her as a sensei."

"She won't have a choice, Hanabi might be the heiress to the Hyuga clan, but she is also a licensed Genin shinobi under my command. She will either accept your training or I'll strip Hanabi of her shinobi status. If she gives you any problems, just show her this, as what I just said is repeated in this document."

Hinata nodded her head in acknowledgment towards Tsunade and took the scroll the blonde Hokage handed to her. However, she still remained doubtful that her sister would have anything to do with her, let alone train the Hyuga heiress.

"How come Ebisu-sensei isn't training the Konohamaru Corp anymore?"

"Ebisu has been reassigned Sakura, because I can't afford the luxury of having a Jounin act as a personal sensei and bodyguard for Konohamaru and his friends, as Sarutobi-sensei did. A 'State of Hostility' still exists between the Fire and Rice countries and I need as many skilled and qualified shinobi monitoring and guarding the border between our two nations as I can get."

"I understand milady."

"Now, do any of the rest of you have any more questions regarding your assignments?"

All four members of the Konoha 10 remained silent, before Tsunade spoke once more and said.

"Good, because all of your new protégé's are waiting for you at training grounds 11. One more thing, I want your training of these Genin done covertly. I don't want to hear any complaints from the parents of other Academy shinobi that I'm showing some sort of favoritism. The Leaf village needs highly skilled shinobi and if this helps accelerate those four into becoming that then all the better. Make sure you inform your students that they are not to reveal to anyone that they are receiving this specialized training from all of you. Throw a scare into them if you have to, but make sure they understand that fully. Now if there is nothing else, you are dismissed."

When Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, and Rock Lee arrived at the training ground, they paused a moment to look over and study their new students. Currently, all of them were sitting on a large fallen tree log with Konohamaru trying to get Hanabi to talk to him, as she had her back turned to him. It seems Hanabi had been avoiding Konohamaru like the plague the last few months ever since he had kissed Hanabi in her bedroom and had seen her in her nighttime apparel. Then there were the incidents at the Municipal pool that had placed the Sarutobi heir in the proverbial dog-house with the young Hyuga heiress. Meanwhile, Moegi was fuming at all of the attention Konohamaru was showing towards Hanabi and glaring daggers at the Hyuga girl. Meanwhile, Udon was sitting next to Moegi and would occasionally give a forlorn glance at his kunoichi teammate, before sighing and looking down to the ground once again.

"Kono-kun, I was wondering,…..would you like to take me to the flower show this weekend?" Moegi sweetly asked, trying to divert Konohamaru's attention from Hanabi.

"Huh….what….flower show, nah I don't want to go, flowers are dumb." The Sarutobi heir dismissively replied.

Moegi became crestfallen at her teammates answer, before her other teammate spoke.

"I'll take you to the flower show Moegi-chan."

"Oh shut-up Udon and stop bothering me! Can't you see I'm trying to talk with Kono-kun? You're so annoying!" The young orange-haired kunoichi snapped in angered irritation at her teammate.

"I'm sorry." Udon dejectedly said.

That scene caused Sakura to sorrowfully lament to her friends around her.

"Please tell me I wasn't that bad when I was younger with Naruto."

"Honestly Sakura, you were worse. At least Moegi didn't try to cave Udons skull in when he asked her out." Shikamaru brutally, but truthfully answered.

Sakura's head dropped down in shame and regret, before Lee wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder and said while kissing the side of her head.

"That's all in the past my cherry blossom, you're not like that anymore."

"Thank you Lee-kun."

"Well, let's go meet our new students." Hinata stated with a little trepidation of what was to come.

All four Chunin exhaled a sigh, before they began walking towards the four Genin.

"C'mon my hime, talk to me. You can't still be mad at me that I saw you in your jammies can you?" Besides, I thought your polk-a-dot panties were cute. And I already apologized for what I said about your sister and what I said to you I honestly meant as a compliment." Konohamaru pleaded to Hanabi, who still had her back turned to him.

Hanabi turned beet red in embarrassment listening to Konohamaru and was about to deliver a jyuuken strike onto the young man, when a voice called out that she recognized stunning her.

"It is good to see you again imouto."

Hanabi whirled around to see Hinata standing twenty feet away with three other Chunin she recognized as being her older sisters friends. The young Hyuga girl's eyes narrowed, when she met Hinata's gaze and she coldly replied.

"I wish I could say the same….neesan."

Hinata exhaled a heavy sigh upon hearing the icy tone of greeting from her little sister. It was obvious that Hanabi was going to put up a fight with regards to her being trained by her older sister. However, before Hinata could ponder any further about the situation with Hanabi, Sakura greeted the Konohamaru Corp.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, it's nice to see all of you again."

"Sakura-san!" Moegi and Udon greeted in return.

However, Konohamaru was currently shivering and hiding behind Hanabi and muttered to himself in fright.

"Oh no, it's the psycho pink-haired forehead monster."

"What did you say?" Sakura shouted at the Sarutobi heir.

"Noth- nothing Sakura-psycho…..err I mean Sakura-san."

Sakura was about to march over and remind Konohamaru why he was so scared of the pink-haired kunoichi, but was held back by Lee. It was Shikamaru who spoke up and asked the four Genin in front of him.

"Troublesome, Sakura calm down, now do you four know why you're here?"

"No, all Iruka-sensei informed us was that we were to wait here per the Hokage's orders until contacted." Hanabi coldly replied.

"What a drag," Shikamaru muttered to himself, before he continued on.

"The four of you are here because Lady Tsunade has deemed each of you the top students at the academy with certain highly specific skills and has authorized specialized training from the four of us."

"The four of you are going to be training all of us?"

"No Moegi, each of you has been assigned by the Hokage herself, an individual sensei to maximize the training you are to undergo. For example, I will be teaching you the specialized skills of Medical Ninjutsu, as well as Shishou Tsunade's advanced super-enhanced Taijutsu."

Moegi's face lit up with excitement upon hearing that Sakura would be her sensei.

"Who is my sensei going to be?" Konohamaru shouted out in query.

"Yosh Sarutobi-san, your flames of youth will burn most bright, as you will have the honor of increasing your Taijutsu skills under my tutelage!"

"Really Lee-san…..uhh I mean Lee-sensei, that's so cool. The boss always said you were the best Taijutsu fighter in the world!"

"I thank you for that praise, but the best Taijutsu fighter in the world is Gai Sensei! It will be his techniques as well as my own that will make your flames of youth burn brighter than anyone else's when comes to the wondrous art of Taijutsu." Lee announced with his usual zeal.

"I take it you're going to be my sensei Shikamaru-sama." Udon declared with certainty.

"Hai Udon, but you can drop the sama suffix, Shikamaru-sensei or just Shikamaru is just fine with me."

"Hai Shikamaru-sa…..I mean Shikamaru-sensei." Udon stammered with a smile on his face, thinking about being trained by arguably the smartest shinobi in the entire village."

"No, I refuse to be trained by….her!" Hanabi shouted in protest, as she pointed her finger at Hinata.

"You have no choice in the matter imouto." Hinata sternly declared, before she handed to her little sister the scroll Tsunade had prepared.

Hanabi took a moment to look over the document and her eyes grew wide in concern and disbelief, before she looked up and stammered.

"She, she can't do this!"

"She can and she has, so you can either accept it or give up your shinobi status." Hinata unapologetically stated to her flustered little sister.

"C'mon my hime, give it a chance. You don't want to give up being a ninja do you?"

Hanabi blushed at Konohamaru addressing her as his princess once again, which did not go unnoticed by Hinata. After a moment, Hanabi finally relented and answered.

"No, I don't want to give up being a ninja, but my father won't accept this."

"Troublesome, well then it's a good thing he doesn't have to know about it. This is a direct order from the Hokage, none of you are to reveal that you're receiving this specialized training to anyone and that includes your parents. The penalty you will suffer if you do will be quite….severe. Do you understand?" Shikamaru proclaimed with authority.

All four Genin nodded in understanding.

"Good now each of you meet us back here tomorrow after your Academy training has ended. We'll then set up your training schedule for each one of you with assigned sensei's. You all are now dismissed."

Upon Shikamaru's release, Hanabi shot Hinata one final scornful glare before stomping off followed by Konohamaru offering to walk her home. Meanwhile an infuriated Moegi at the attention her teammate was still showing towards the young Hyuga girl stomped off in the other direction. Leaving her other teammate Udon to cast a despondent gaze at Moegi's retreating form, before he stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled sadly off in yet another direction.

At 3:30pm the next day, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and Hanabi arrived at the training field once again to find their newly appointed teachers all waiting patiently for them. Sakura was the first one to greet them, before she told Moegi to follow her, as the young Genin's Medical Ninjutsu training would be done at the hospital. Shikamaru was next, as he invited Udon to the Nara compound, where the Nara heir had set up a Shogi board to test the young boy's strategic skills. Rock Lee then challenged his young student to a race to his dojo, where the Sarutobi heir would be receiving his Taijutsu training. Just before they left, Konohamaru blew a kiss to Hanabi and wished her good luck, which caused the young girl to blush, as she watched her classmate race off with his bushy-browed teacher. It was only after they were out of sight that Hanabi realized she was now all alone with her older sister….Hinata.

Turning around, the young Hyuga heiress glared harshly at her assigned teacher, who merely sighed and said in a strict authoritative tone of voice.

"Genin Hyuga, follow me."

Hanabi reluctantly followed her sister, as they traveled into the forest that bordered the training field. After traversing about half a mile, the forest suddenly opened up into a small field where Hanabi had noticed several pieces of training equipment and target dummies had been placed. As the young Hyuga girl looked around the field, her attention was broken by the sound of Hinata's voice who ordered, while pointing to a tree stump.

"Sit!"

Hanabi did not like the tone of her sister's voice and glared once more at her, before stomping over to the stump and sitting on it in a huff. Hinata sighed once again, before sitting on another tree stump a few feet away from Hanabi who had her back turned towards her appointed sensei. Hinata silently wondered how she was going to be able to complete Tsunade's assignment with Hanabi still being the obstinate and arrogant spoiled brat she had shown to be at the tournament. However, Hinata refused to let Tsunade down and knew the first thing she had to do was break her little sister's obnoxious attitude. Clearing her throat, she ordered with authority.

"Genin Hyuga, turn around and face me!"

When Hanabi merely grunted in a dismissive response and refused to turn around. Hinata rose to her feet and forcibly turned her sister around to look directly in her eyes, while shouting.

"You will do as I command or I will bring you before the Hokage for insubordination where you will be stripped of your shinobi status and be returned to the Hyuga clan as a mere civilian. Do I make myself clear?

"You'd like that wouldn't you!" Hanabi snarled back in reply.

"No imouto, I wouldn't like that, but if you force me to, then I will." Hinata answered in frustration, as she sat back down across from Hanabi.

"This is stupid; I don't want this training and certainly not from you. What am I suppose to learn from you that I can't learn from otousan?"

"I would think your defeat at the shinobi tournament would have shown you that you could learn a great many things from me."

"Shut up, you just got lucky in that tournament, that's all! I underestimated you and it led to my defeat! If we fought again, I know I would win just like I always have!" Hanabi shouted in angered defense.

Hinata stared at Hanabi in disbelief and pity that the young girl was going to force her to do something she took no pleasure in…..administering a humiliating defeat onto her little sister. Hinata shook her head sadly, as she rose from her seat and asked.

"Do you believe that, do you truly believe that your defeat was due to you underestimating me and the skills I possess?"

"Yes!" Hanabi answered with a sneer.

"Fine, I will make you a deal then. If you can land one blow on me within five minutes, then I will release you from having to be trained by me and you will keep your shinobi status. However, if you fail to land a blow, then you will accept being trained by me with no argument and you will follow my orders to the letter. Do you agree to these terms?" Hinata offered up in response.

"I accept those terms."

Both Hyuga girls then dropped into familiar battle stances and shouted.

"Byakugan!"

Hanabi attacked first, as Hinata was already in her field of divination and Hanabi barked with arrogant confidence.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!" (Gentle Fist Style Eight Trigrams 64 Palms of the Hand)

"Two hands, four hands, eight hands, sixteen hands, thirty-two hands, sixty-four hands!" Hanabi cried out as she delivered a series of Jyuuken strikes towards her sister. However, just like in the tournament Hinata was adeptly deflecting every single blow her little sister was throwing. And once again further humiliating to the young Hyuga girl was the fact that Hinata was doing it with one hand. When five minutes had gone by Hanabi jumped back a few feet panting in labored breath from her attacks and screamed in frustrated rage.

"Damn it you bitch, how dare you humiliate me again!"

Being called a bitch had broken any restraint and patience Hinata had been showing to her sister. Lashing out in a blur, she closed off all the tenketsu points in Hanabi's arms, which fell lifeless to her sides. Hinata then grabbed little sister by the hair and dragged her over and sat down on one of the tree stumps and put Hanabi's prone body over her knees, before shouting.

"You've had this coming for a long time imouto!"

SLAP!

"Owwww!" Hanabi howled, as Hinata's first chakra filled hand that slapped her butt was swift and stung like crazy. More stinging swats hit her upturned rear.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

"Owwww neesan, that really stings." Hanabi cried out, as she lifted her head to look at Hinata.

"You will address me as Hinata-sensei and it will do a lot more than sting before I'm done! Now put your head back down."

"Yes, yes neesan." Hanabi stammered, as she lowered her head back down.

"What did I say about how you will address me!" Hinata shouted, before raining down more slaps onto Hanabi's ass.

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP…..!

Tears began to form in Hanabi's eyes, not so much from the humiliation, but from the intense pain in her rear end. Even though Hinata was spanking her through the Hyuga kimono robe she wore, the chakra filled hand smacks were so hard she began to realize that her older sister had been holding back from their earlier fight.

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

"Owwwwwww, please Hinata-sensei, no more!"

However, the young Hyuga girl's pleas fell on deaf ears, as Hinata continued to spank with vigor her little sister's back side. Hanabi kicked and cried from each hard whack of her older sister's hand. The spanking continued for what seemed like an eternity to Hanabi, before Hinata stood up and unceremoniously dumped the Hyuga girl onto the ground landing on her butt, which caused her to hiss in pain. Looking up at Hinata through tear filled eyes, she saw that her sister bore a sad and pained expression upon her face, as she knelt down and reopened the tenketsu points of Hanabi's arms. After Hinata was done, she stood up and in a voice filled disappointment said.

"I'm sorry you forced me to do that imouto, but you will not disrespect and insult me by addressing me as a bitch. You may not love me as a sister as I do you, but you will show me the proper respect I have earned as a shinobi officer of the Hidden Leaf village. Now, you failed to land a blow upon me within our agreed upon five minutes. I expect you to keep your word and accept my training, follow my orders, and show me the proper respect I deserve. Will you honor your word to me?"

"Hai" Hanabi softly said.

"Good, then every-day after the Academy closes, you will meet me here and we will begin your training. As for today, I think its best we call it a day, you're dismissed Genin Hyuga." Hinata calmly stated, before she began to walk away when she heard Hanabi say.

"You're wrong."

Hinata stopped and turned around to ask.

"What did you say?"

"I said you're wrong when you said I held no love for you as a sister because I do love you, but I also hate you for what you did to me."

"What exactly have I ever done to you imouto?"

Suddenly, like a dam giving way to a river, a torrent of tears burst forth from Hanabi, as she screamed in both anger and sadness.

"YOU ABANDONED ME!"

Hinata was taken aback by Hanabi's sudden outburst and seeing her little sister break down crying stung at her heart. She quickly made her way over to Hanabi and knelt down to try and comfort her sister, as she asked in confusion.

"What do you mean I abandoned you?"

"You, you left me, you've left all alone these past four years neesan." Hanabi replied in a choked and stammering voice.

"Hanabi, I didn't abandon you, father cast me out of the clan, I didn't have a choice but to leave."

"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that I was all alone."

"I don't understand, why do you say you were all alone? You had father and the entire clan to watch over you."

"Yeah, watch over me, train me, educate me, do everything they could to drill into me about being the next clan leader. All of those people and none of them tried to get to know me. All they did was strictly out of duty nothing more. You're right, I always had people around me or at my beckon call, but I was still alone. Even worse none of the kids around my age in either the main or branch sides of clan would have anything to do with me. Whether out of fear of father or because of my clan status or because of what you did to me when you were still in the clan." Hanabi sadly stated, as her tears began to ebb.

"I never did anything to you when I was in the clan." Hinata said in bewilderment.

"Liar, it's because of you I'm the way I am with people." Hanabi spat with bitterness.

"I still don't understand, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about all those years you held back and let me beat you in our spars when father was training us."

Hinata closed her eyes and exhaled a sad sigh, before she said with sincerity.

"I told at the tournament that I never defeated you in our spars because I never had it in my heart to hurt you."

"And because you did that, I bought into father's view of my superiority over you and believing that you were weak and inferior, but now I know that was never the case. I remember at the tournament you said that it was a mistake by you allowing me those victories. And you were right, because it turned me into a spoiled, arrogant, and snobbish little…."

"Bitch." Hinata said evening the score of using that term.

Hanabi looked up at stared at her sister a moment, surprised that her once shy older sister would ever say something like that, before she chuckled and said with remorse.

"I was going to say brat, but I suppose bitch is a more accurate term for how I've behaved the past few years. I like to think that wouldn't have become such a bitch, if I still had you in my life these past few years. I've missed you neesan and I do love you. I hope you can forgive me for how I've treated you in my life, you didn't deserve it. "

Hanabi suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug from her neesan and after the initial shock wore off returned the embrace, as Hinata said with tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry imouto; I didn't mean to hurt you by being away. I've missed you to and I've always loved you. You don't need my forgiveness; you only acted that way because of how our father raised you. I always knew that and I never had any ill feelings towards you about it."

New tears welled in Hanabi's eyes, as she heard Hinata tearfully and so easily forgive all the sins she had committed against her. The guilt of those sins eating away at the young Hyuga girl, as she began crying and hugged Hinata even tighter and exclaimed.

"Don't apologize to me, I don't deserve it! You never did anything wrong. You're too nice to forgive me just like that and as much as I want to blame father, it was still me who treated you so badly. Thank you for not hating me neesan. I'm so sorry about everything."

As the two Hyuga sisters tearfully embraced one another, they spent the next several hours reconciling and repairing their once fractured relationship. Through lots of tears, hugs, and talking the two of them had learned much about each of their lives the past few years. After Hinata had finished telling her little sister all about her and Naruto's relationship, she then asked Hanabi a question which caused the young girl to blush a bit.

"So what about you, are there any boy's you like?"

An image of Konohamaru flashed through Hanabi's head momentarily, before she shook it off and answered.

"No, there aren't any boys that I like."

"Really, what about Konohamaru?

Hanabi began to blush, as she stammered in denial.

"Ko-Konohamaru, that stupid jerk, why would I ever like that fool."

"Well, for someone you say you don't like, you seem to blush a lot around Konohamaru just like I did when I was your age with Naruto-kun. You can admit if you like him, there's nothing to be ashamed of if you do."

"I, I might like him a little." Hanabi mumbled, before she exclaimed in frustration about the boy.

"But some of things he's said and done to me just infuriate me at times!"

"Why don't you tell me about you and Konohamaru and what he's said and done to you." Hinata asked in a soothing voice in an effort to calm Hanabi down.

Hanabi exhaled a heavy sigh and then began telling her big sister about herself and the Sarutobi heir. Everything from their first conversation during lunch at the academy, to Konohamaru dyeing their fathers hair orange, finally capturing her first kiss, to even seeing her panties. After Hinata stopped laughing at the image of her father with bright orange hair, she finally calmed down enough and asked.

"So how good a kisser is he imouto?"

Hanabi began to blush again, before she softly mumbled.

"He's, he's pretty good."

"Then I don't understand what the problem you have with him is? It's obvious that he likes you and you like him, so what happened to make you this upset with him?" Hinata questioned in curiosity.

"Do you remember neesan that day a couple of weeks ago when the Konoha Municipal pool was closed to the general public and reserved solely for all ninja to use."

Now it was Hinata's turn to sport a fierce blush, as she remembered that day vividly, before she stammered in response.

"Hai, hai, I remember that day."

(Flashback Two Weeks)

It had been hot sweltering summer in Konoha, as many shinobi sought relief from the heat by attending the one day that the Konoha Municipal pool was closed to the general public and reserved solely for all ninja to use. Even Tsunade attended and was sitting in a lounge chair at a 42x84 in. oval cast aluminum long dining table, which was underneath a 10 x 20 eight-legged white canopy to provide ample shade and protection from the sun. Sitting alongside the blonde Hokage at the table were Iruka, Anko, Kurenai, Minato, Temari, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ayame, Hinata and lastly Akamaru who was quietly chewing on a bone, while lying down in corner of the shaded canopy.

"Man this is such a drag, even with this shade I can't believe how hot it is. I haven't felt heat like this since that day we ditched the Academy to go swimming in the river a few years ago Kiba." Shikamaru groused to his friend.

"I remember, we caught hell from you for ditching class the next day Iruka sensei, but I'm still glad Naruto talked us into doing it, because that day was a blast!" Kiba commented in amusement, as he remembered that day, before he received a nudge from his girlfriend Ayame.

Kiba inwardly kicked himself, when he looked over and saw a saddened expression spread across Hinata's face. He and the others had made it a point to try and not mention Naruto's name around the girl, as it always had the effect of putting Hinata into a melancholy state of mind. Hinata missed Naruto immensely and Kiba felt guilty at mentioning Naruto's name and apologized.

"I'm sorry Hinata; I didn't mean to remind you about Naruto."

Hinata looked up and saw all of the concerned looks being directed towards her. Realizing her mood was affecting the people around her, she flashed a small, but albeit fake smile to those who truly know her and said to all of her friends.

"It's alright Kiba-kun, all of you, I'm fine. You can talk about Naruto-kun if you wish."

Admiring the brave front that Hinata was putting up for everyone, for they all knew how much Hinata missed Naruto, but wishing to change the subject. Tsunade openly commented in complaint.

"I don't mind the heat so much, as much as I do mind how noisy everyone is here today."

Instantly, an idea popped into Shikamaru's head upon hearing Tsunade's complaint. Seeing an opportunity and seizing upon the blonde Hokage's penchant for gambling the Nara heir spoke up and proclaimed.

"I can get everyone here go silent for one minute and I won't have to move from my chair or use a jutsu to do it."

"What do you mean Shikamaru, everyone at this table or everyone here at the pool?" Iruka questioned in confusion.

"I mean everyone Iruka-sensei."

Tsunade's gambling urge took a hold of her, as she saw this as a chance to exact a little revenge onto the Nara heir, as she still felt the sting of losing one million dollars to the young man at the Shinobi tournament six months ago. Reaching into her handbag, she pulled out $10,000 ryo and slapped it onto the table and declared.

"I have $10,000 ryo that says you can't do what you boast Mr. Nara. Especially not under the terms you said of not moving or using any jutsu."

A sly smirk spread across Shikamaru's face and he looked around at the other and asked.

"Does anyone else want to wager that I can't accomplish what I said?"

Anko who was sitting in-between Iruka's legs on the lounge chair began reaching for her own handbag, before her husband stopped her, as he whispered into her ear.

"I learned this lesson a long time ago, never make a bet with a Nara and especially not with this particular Nara, as he is the craftiest one of them all when it comes to gambling."

After a minute, Shikamaru saw that he wasn't going to get anyone else to bite on his comment, as he thought to himself.

'Smart move on their part, now if I can just convince Hinata to go along.'

"Since there are no more takers, I guess it's just between me and Lady Tsunade."

"Alright, it's time for you to make this crowd go silent." Tsunade enthusiastically ordered, confident that she would be $10,000 ryo's richer in a few minutes.

"Troublesome, Hinata would you do me a favor to help me win this wager."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't do that; you can't use Hinata to win this bet. You said you could make everyone go silent for one minute without moving from your chair or using a jutsu to do it." Tsunade vehemently complained.

"Actually Lady Tsunade, I said I could 'get' not 'make' everyone here go silent for one minute and I won't have to move from my chair or use a jutsu to do it. So because I said get and not make, allows me to ask for some help if I want."

Tsunade looked around with pleading eyes for someone to side with her, before Kurenai spoke up.

"He did say get and not make Lady Tsunade."

The blonde Hokage slumped into her lounge chair a bit in defeat, before she shot a glare at Shikamaru and said with a hard edge to her voice.

"Fine, you can ask for help from Hinata, but remember you said no jutsu's can be used, so that includes her using any jutsu's either."

"Agreed, but she won't need to perform any jutsu's, now Hinata will you help me?" Shikamaru asked once more.

"Wha-what is it you want me to do?"

"I want you to take off your robe, walk over and take a dive off of the three meter diving board, then get out of the water and dry yourself off."

Hinata began to fidget nervously a bit, as she contemplated if she should do this, before Shikamaru added.

"I'll split the winnings with you 50/50."

This sealed Hinata's decision, as money had been tight for both her and Kurenai since Tsunade had been limiting their missions the past few years because of Sasuke targeting Konoha kunoichi, especially those kunoichi within the Konoha 10. Nodding her head in acceptance, Hinata rose from her seat and stepped out from the shade of the canopy she had been under. Heaving a nervous sigh, she untied the robe and with a shrug of her shoulders the garment fell away from her body. The moment the robe hit the ground and pooled around Hinata's feet, the entire area that comprised the Konoha Municipal swimming pool fell silent and one could hear a pin drop, as all eyes fell upon Hinata.

The Hyuga girl was wearing a light lavender colored two piece string bikini, the top of which was tied at the neck and back. While the non-sliding triangles of the garment gave just barely enough coverage of Hinata's considerable…..assets, as the material strained to keep said assets in place. The bottom of the bikini was tied off at the sides and Hinata wore it high on the hips giving the appearance of extra long, supple, and well toned legs. While the back of the bottoms tapered off into a small sexy triangle highlighting another prominent asset that Hinata had.

Hinata grew a little anxious, as everyone was staring at her, as she walked towards the diving platform. The Hyuga girl noticed that as she walked by the pool, the boys and men quickly sucked in their guts or flexed their muscles in display to her. Upon reaching the ladder of the diving board, Hinata quickly climbed up the apparatus only find a young man at the end of the diving board staring at her with a slight nose-bleed. When Hinata stepped onto the board, he fell off backwards landing in the water in an ignominious splash. Shrugging her shoulders, Hinata approached the end of the diving board and taking a deep breath she raised her arms in the air. A moment later she jumped and bounced off the diving board high into the air, going into a tuck position and rotating forward, while flawlessly executing 2 ½ somersaults in the tuck position, before letting go and entering the water in a perfect vertical position causing hardly any splash to erupt in what professional divers call a rip entry.

As Hinata swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, the water seemed to glisten like diamonds off of her porcelain like skin. When Hinata called out to a pool attendant for a towel is when she felt the ground start to vibrate. Looking over she saw mob of about four dozen men and boys running towards her, all of them with a towel in their hands. However, before the mob reached her, a large white mass of barking, growling, and gnashing of teeth canine fury landed in front of Hinata facing the oncoming horde of male testosterone and scaring the living hell out them, as they all jumped into the pool to escape.

Hinata smiled brightly at Akamaru, before she knelt down and hugged her canine hero, while verbally thanking the dog for saving her from a rather uncomfortable situation. Akamaru licked her cheek in appreciation, before he trotted over and picked up a towel one of the men had dropped in his jaws and gave it to Hinata, as the two of them made their way back to the Hokage's table.

Minutes earlier when Hinata's robe had hit the ground, like every other female at the pool that Tsunade could not believe how pristine and stunning Hinata looked, as her mouth hung open in awe matching every other female present at the pool this day. Meanwhile, every male present had their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets, as they stared at how hot and sexy the Hyuga girl looked. This did not go unnoticed by the three women sitting at the Hokage's table with their respective boyfriends or husband. As each woman gave what they considered a appropriate response by either slapping the back of their boyfriends head, giving a sharp elbow to the ribs, or stomping on a toe.

It was only when a minute-timer bell dinged that drew the attention of everyone at the table and away from Hinata. Tsunade looked over to see a smug smirk plastered on Shikamaru's face, when she realized that she had lost the bet and loudly cursed.

"Damn it all to bloody hell!"

"Lady Tsunade!" Kurenai yelled in admonishment, as she covered Minato's ears, who was sitting on her lap eating a bowl of ice cream happily oblivious to what was going on around him.

"Sorry Kurenai." Tsunade sheepishly replied, before she asked.

"Alright, I have to know Shikamaru, how did you know that would happen?"

"Well Ino told me a few weeks ago that when she and Hinata went shopping for bathing suits she had picked out that bikini for Hinata to try on. She also told me that when Hinata stepped out of the dressing room to show it off to Ino and get her opinion. Everyone in the store froze and gazed in silence at well... how hot she looked. So I took the gamble that if Hinata could have that affect once on people, then she could do it again. I figured she had that bikini on underneath her robe and was just being shy about showing it off."

When Hinata reached the table she saw Shikamaru counting out $5,000 ryo's and when he was finished he looked up with a smile on his face and said.

"Thanks Hinata, here's your share of the money."

"Thank you Shikamaru, but I feel kind of, I don't know...dirty for accepting it."

"You shouldn't Hinata; you didn't do anything wrong or dirty. You have nothing to be ashamed of for being beautiful."

"Thank you Kurenai-sensei."

"Mommy's right awnty Hinata, you look real pretty."

"Thank you Minato-kun."

"The kid's right, you look totally hot in that bikini Hinata." Kiba commented appreciatively, earning another stomp on his foot from Ayame, as Kiba exclaimed.

"Owwwww Ayame-chan, you look hot in your bikini to."

"Do, do all of you think Naruto-kun will like this bathing suit?"

"If he has a penis then yes, he's going to love that bathing suit." Anko cracked in amusement.

"Anko!" Kurenai yelled in admonishment once again, as she attempted to cover Minato's ears, but was too late when her son innocently asked.

"Mommy, what's a penis?"

(End of Flashback)

"Well I was at the pool that day and Konohamaru-kun was talking to me when you took your dive and got out of the pool and he, he said..." Hanabi stuttered, as if repeating what the Sarutobi heir was difficult for her to do, when she heard her sister ask.

"What did he say imouto?"

Hanabi closed her eyes and remembered that day.

(Flashback)

Konohamaru was trying his hardest to sweet talk the Hyuga heiress, as they stood by the pool, when Hinata appeared and strode towards the diving platform. Hanabi couldn't believe how beautiful her sister looked, as her mouth gaped open in awe, while she watched Hinata make a perfect dive and then get out of the pool. The young Hyuga girl felt a bit insecure, as she looked down at her own chest and compared it to her older sister's. It was at that moment she heard Konohamaru exclaim.

"Wow my hime, your sister is smoking hot!"

Hanabi was so infuriated upon hearing that comment is when Konohamaru found himself getting pushed into the pool by the Hyuga heiress, before she stormed off. Coughing and spitting out water, as he swam back to the edge of the pool. Udon reached down and offered his hand to help Konohamaru out of the water who openly asked in confusion.

"What did Hanabi-chan do that for?"

"Well, it probably wasn't the smartest thing for you to say to the girl you like that you think her older sister is and I quote 'smoking hot.' Udon offered up in answer to his friend's question.

(End of Flashback)

"He said to me that you were smoking hot." Hanabi finally answered to her sister's question.

"Oh, I see." Hinata softly replied, a bit embarrassed.

"But that's not even the worst thing Konohamaru-kun said to me that day." Hanabi declared in frustration.

"What else did he say?" Once again Hanabi closed her eyes and thought back to that day, before she started to tell her sister what had transpired next.

(Flashback)

"Stupid Kono-baka and stupid neesan! Neesan gets thrown out of the clan for being weak and somehow ends up being one of the strongest kunoichi's in the village. She falls in love with the village idiot of no clan, only it turns out he's not an idiot and is the son of Konoha's greatest hero. Neesan grows up to be one of the most beautiful women in the village and I'm just...plain in comparison to her. It's no wonder Kono-baka thinks she's smoking hot and that I'm not." Hanabi muttered to herself in bitterness and envy, as she sat at the pools edge and dangled her feet in the water.

"Hey." Konohamaru greeted, as he plopped down next to Hanabi.

Hanabi merely turned her back towards him, before she heard him sigh and say.

"Look my hime, I just wanted to say I'm sorry to you about what I said about your sister."

"Why, do you think she isn't...smoking hot now?" Hanabi spat back in scorn.

"No, your sister is pretty, when I said what I did, I wasn't...I didn't mean...umm...I wasn't." Konohamaru stammered trying to figure out what to say.

"Just say it!" Hanabi snapped in irritation.

"What I said about your sister I meant, but I also think you're...hot as well."

Hanabi turned back around to face Konohamaru and looking him directly in the eye said.

"Liar."

The Sarutobi heir was taken aback by this and stammered.

"I'm, I'm not lying my hime, I think you're real pretty."

"Stop lying Konohamaru-kun, I'm nowhere near as pretty as she is and I know it." Hanabi stated with sad remorse.

"Why do you say that? I think you're one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen." Konohamaru declared with sincerity.

Hanabi looked at Konohamaru's face and wanted desperately to believe him, before a saddened look spread across her face, as she mumbled to herself.

"B...o...o..bs"

"What did you say?"

"Boobs,...I said boobs! Neesan has them and I don't and I've heard how boys talk about boobs, I know how much boys like them."

"Pfft, is that what's bugging you, that's silly. I don't think a girl is pretty just because of her breast size. A girl is either pretty or she isn't and it's got nothing to do with that. And you're a pretty girl just the way you are."

"R-really Kono-kun, do you mean that?" Hanabi stammered in hopefulness.

"Of course I mean it my hime, I don't care about your boob size, it's your butt that I like!"

And for the second time that day Konohamaru suddenly found himself being launched into the pool once again and coming to the surface of the water and seeing Hanabi stomp away once again. The Sarutobi heir spit out some water and sputtered to himself in confusion.

"What, what did I say now?"

(End of Flashback)

Hinata did her best not to laugh, but was unable to do so upon hearing Konohamaru's compliment of her little sisters...backside. Hanabi glared at her laughing sister, before she could take it no more and vehemently declared.

"It's not funny neesan!"

"I'm, I'm sorry imouto, I don't mean to laugh, but I have to disagree, it is a bit funny."

"Stupid Konohamaru-kun, I can't believe he said something so, so...impertinent to me."

"Don't be so hard on him, boys your age are prone to say stupid things, but you have to understand they don't even realize most of the time that they're doing it."

"Did the Namikaze boy ever say anything stupid to you?"

"Not often, but every once in awhile he did, but I always forgave him because like I said he didn't even realize it at the time. Now as for Konohamaru-kun, which you've been calling him for the past few minutes. Hinata said to her sister in amusement.

Hanabi started to blush after realizing that she had been adding the suffix kun when referring to Konohamaru. Hinata then went on to ask a question that made Hanabi blush even further.

"I think Konohamaru truly said that as a compliment and besides, would you rather than he didn't like your...butt?" (giggle)

"I guess not." Hanabi sheepishly replied.

"So if you like him, then just forgive him already imouto and get together with Konohamaru. He's a nice boy and he must like you a lot or he wouldn't have continued to chase after you these past few months. If he makes you happy, then treasure the time you have with him, because one day he might not be around." Hinata advised her sister in a wistful tone of voice.

"You miss Naruto a lot don't you neesan?"

"Hai, but I know one day he will return and I just have to keep praying to Kami that day will be coming soon."

(Time-skip 4 Months)

When Moegi didn't show up at the hospital for her specialized training Sakura grew concerned. Leaving the hospital to search the village for the young girl, it took the pink-haired kunoichi an hour before she found Moegi sitting in a swing at the academy school yard softly crying. Sakura walked over to the swing next her weeping apprentice and sat down in it, before asking.

"Moegi-chan, what's wrong, why are you crying?"

"I'm, I'm sorry Sakura-sensei, I don't want to talk about it." Moegi stammered in a choked voice.

"Are you sure, it might help to talk about whatever is bothering you to someone and I'm a pretty good listener."

Moegi sniffled a bit, as she thought about what her sensei had just said, before she sniffled once more and wiped her tears away and said.

"O-ok."

"Good, now what happened to make you so sad?" Sakura asked in voice filled with genuine concern.

"It's about Kono-kun."

Sakura inwardly bristled, as she knew of Moegi's unrequited love of the Sarutobi heir. It seemed that the love-triangle curse of any Genin team assigned the number id seven was continuing on into the next generation. Sakura had observed Moegi's interactions with Konohamaru and Udon and it tugged at her heartstrings, as it so reminded her of her own interactions with Sasuke and Naruto when she was Moegi's age. The pink-haired Chunin was determined not to let the tragic fate that had doomed every team seven going all the way back to Tsunade's team happen again. In a calm and comforting voice Sakura then asked.

"What about Konohamaru has upset you?"

"I love him Sensei, I really do, but then he started going out with that stuck-up Hyuga bitch and now he doesn't even notice me anymore. It hurts me so much and he doesn't even care."

"Moegi, I know you're hurting right now, but Konohamaru isn't purposely trying to hurt you."

"But why can't he love me like I love him?"

"You can't control who the heart loves no matter how hard you try. I think Konohamaru does love you Moegi, but only as a..."

"Friend!" The orange-haired kunoichi spat with disgust.

"Yes, as a friend." Sakura softly agreed.

"But I want something more; I want Kono-kun to look at me like, like..."

"Like he looks at Hanabi."

"Yes,... like he looks at her." Moegi softly answered, as fresh tears began rolling down her face.

Sakura exhaled a mournful sigh, as she understood Moegi's pain. She had wanted Sasuke to notice and acknowledge her for so long when she was younger. Sakura wanted to kick herself, as she thought about how desperate she was back then for Sasuke to show her anything but indifference, but he never did. Sakura also felt some pain, as she now realized how much Naruto must have yearned for her to look at him the way Moegi wanted Konohamaru to look at her now.

'But I never did and then when I finally recognized what a fool I had been by not doing so, I had lost the boy who once loved me with all of his heart to another. I can't and won't let Moegi make the same mistake I did so long ago.' Sakura silently thought to herself, before saying.

"Moegi, let me tell you about another girl who was in a very similar situation, as you now find yourself in. This girl...thought she was in love with her teammate much like you. He was smart, strong, and handsome just like Konohamaru and was everything she believed she wanted in someone to love. So she focused solely on trying to get this boy to see her the way you want Konohamaru to look at you, but he never did."

"Did this boy only love her as a...friend like Kono-kun views me?" Moegi asked in curiosity.

"No, the boy only viewed the girl as an annoyance and looked down upon her with nothing but disdain and indifference. That's where you're lucky Moegi, because even though Konohamaru doesn't love you the way you want, he still holds a different kind of love for you. That's something this other girl never got from the boy she loved. And she would have climbed the highest mountain or fought a thousand battles to receive love of any kind from him, even if it was just the love as a friend. Because if she could have at least gotten that, it would have been a sign that the boy at least acknowledged her in some way, but he never did."

"That's so sad, this boy sounds like a complete jerk, what did this girl do?"

"You're right, it is sad, because the girl foolishly continued to pursue this boy, still believing in her heart that one day he would come to love her the way she wanted. And because she was so...stupid in continuing to chase after a boy who would never love her in any way. She ended up losing the one boy who truly did love her the way that she wanted."

"Who was this other boy Sakura-sensei?"

"The other boy was her second teammate who was deeply in love with her, but because she only had eyes for her other teammate, she cruelly ignored and belittled him and treated the boy as badly as she was being treated by the teammate she thought she was in love with. What's tragic is if she had just opened up her eyes, she would have seen that the love she so desperately wanted was there all along with her other teammate. And by the time she had realized this, it was too late."

"Why was it too late?"

"It was too late because by the time she was ready to accept his love, she had lost him to another girl who had recognized how truly special the boy is and who had loved him for a very long time. So instead of accepting the numerous times the boy had offered up his heart to her only to be rejected time and time again, eventually he gave up and offered his heart to this other girl. So, because this girl was stupid enough to still chase after a boy who never gave a damn about her, while continuously denying the boy who did care for her. She lost out on gaining the true love of a wonderful boy she had always dreamed of having."

"What happened to this girl, did she end up all alone?"

"She was lucky, for there was another boy who loved her as much as her teammate had and though it took some time, she accepted this other boy's love and is now very happy that she did."

"So what are you trying to say Sakura-sensei?"

"What I'm saying Moegi is that I know it hurts that Konohamaru doesn't love you the way that you want, but there might be someone out there who does. All you have to do is open your eyes and see him."

Moegi nodded her head in understanding, as Sakura hopped off the swing and asked.

"Are you hungry?"

"Hai."

"Well let's go get something eat, my treat. Where would you like to go?"

"Ichiraku Ramen please Sakura-sensei!"

'I should have known, after all they are Naruto's unofficial team.' Sakura thought to herself, as she smiled and nodded her head in agreement, before the two kunoichi's began their trek to the ramen restaurant.

Upon reaching Ichiraku's, Sakura was surprised to see Shikamaru and Udon sitting at a table. Spying the pink-haired kunoichi Shikamaru motioned for them to join them. Sakura took a seat next to the Nara heir and Moegi next to Udon and they ordered their food. While the group waited for their meals to arrive, it was Sakura who spoke up and asked.

"So what brings the two of you here Shikamaru?"

"It's troublesome, but I told Udon here that if he could take me to over 100 moves at Shogi then I would take him out to eat at whichever restaurant he wanted. Being one of Naruto's student's I should have figured that he would choose here."

"So how many moves did he take you to before you won?"

"155." Shikamaru mumbled under his breath.

"What was that, I couldn't hear you?"

"155 alright, there's no need to make a big deal out of it!"

"Wow, that very impressive Udon, you should feel very proud. It's not often that anyone can give your sensei a run for his money at the Shogi board."

"Thank you Sakura-sensei."

"Yeah, that's really good Udon-kun."

Udon's eyes widened a bit upon hearing Moegi add the suffix 'kun' to his name. She had only ever done that with Konohamaru before. However, before he could ponder this unique development further, their food arrived and everyone began to eat. All throughout the meal Moegi seemed to be in deep thought and would steal glances towards Udon from time to time. Both Sakura and Shikamaru took notice of this, while Udon seemed blissfully unaware. Sakura decided to help things along by asking.

"Moegi, is that a new skirt you're wearing?"

"Hai Sakura-sensei."

"It's very pretty, don't you think so Udon?"

"Huh, oh yeah it's pretty, but Moegi-chan is always pretty no matter what she wears." Udon absently commented, not even realizing the compliment he had just paid, as he went back to eating.

Moegi began to blush upon hearing that and stammered in response.

"Th-thank you Udon-kun."

Udon stopped mid-slurp, the noodles hanging out of his mouth, when he heard Moegi address him again. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at what was going on between Udon and Moegi and looked over Sakura who lightly kicked his shin to convey that the two Chunin should leave.

"What a drag." Shikamaru muttered as he stood up and pulled some ryo's out of his pocket and Sakura did the same, as she said.

"Well, I've got an early shift at the hospital tomorrow, so I've got to get going. Udon, could you please do me a favor?"

"Umm, sure Sakura-sensei."

"Could you be a dear and please walk Moegi home? It's kind of late and no girl should have to walk the streets unescorted.

"Umm ok, would you like me to walk you home Moegi-chan?"

"Hai, that would be sweet of you to do Udon-kun."

As the four shinobi left the restaurant, both Sakura and Shikamaru held back a bit as they witnessed Moegi nervously grab hold of Udon's hand with her own, as they began walking away. Sakura had to stifle a squeal of delight after seeing this, while Shikamaru commented in amusement.

"So am I to take it that playing matchmaker for your student is one of your jobs as her sensei."

"I'm just trying to prevent the girl from making the same mistake every other kunoichi has made that has been assigned to Genin team number seven."

"Well, I'd say you're off to a good start even though you just made my life more difficult in training Udon now."

"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned in curiosity.

"What I mean is Udon's not going to be able to concentrate as well as he has been, if he ends up getting a girlfriend. Especially when girls are the most troublesome at that age just like you and Ino were."

Shikamaru suddenly found the air filled with killing intent and heard the distinctive sound of knuckles cracking, as he looked over to Sakura whose eyes appeared glazed over white and with a wicked smile plastered on her face. The Nara heir grew even more worried when he heard Sakura declare in a malevolent tone of voice.

"Let me show you how troublesome I can be at this age!"

The Nara heir gulped nervously, before he said three words and took off running with Sakura hot on his heels.

"What a drag."

"Shizune, I don't want to be disturbed for the next hour and lock the door behind you as you go." Tsunade sternly ordered to her first protégé and assistant.

When the blonde Hokage heard the distinctive click of the lock tumbler, she quickly scanned the room to make sure she was completely alone. Then grinning deviously, she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a very recognizable book from the Icha Icha series. Publically, she would deride her teammate's novels as pure smut, but secretly over the years she had enjoyed reading them very much. And this particular book held a special place in her heart, as she remembered the day its publication was first made known to her.

(Flashback 11 Months)

Tsunade was just finishing hearing the report of the latest mission she had assigned to Kurenai's team. It had been a medical mission to a village within the Fire country, but also near the Rice country border. And because of the continuous raids Sasuke had been making within the Fire country and of him specifically targeting Hinata. The blonde Hokage had felt extra security was in order and for the first time in a long time former Genin Team #8 was reunited to complete the mission. Hinata had successfully stemmed an outbreak of cholera within the village and the team hadn't encountered any trouble while they were away. Tsunade was greatly relieved they hadn't run into any problems, as Hinata had only recovered a few weeks from her near death experience after finding Naruto's bloody jumpsuit. Just as she was about to dismiss the team, Anko burst into her office and said with excitement.

"Lady Tsunade, I've got important news you need to know about!"

"It had better be for you to burst into my office unannounced like this! Kurenai, you and your team are dismissed." Tsunade shouted in response at the Snake Queen of Konoha.

"Umm Kurenai, Hinata, you two might want to stay as this news concerns the two of you as well."

Both women looked at Anko with curiosity, before Kurenai nodded her head to Shino and Kiba to leave. After the door had closed behind the Inuzuka and Aburame heirs, Tsunade, Kurenai, and Hinata stared at Anko, before the blonde Hokage finally asked.

"Alright Anko, you said you had important news that involves all of us, what is it?"

"Oh it's nothing much, just confirmation that a certain blonde gaki and his two perverted teachers are alive and well."

"What!" All three women exclaimed in unison at the purple-haired kunoichi.

"How do you know this Anko?" Kurenai asked with hope in her voice.

"Because of this." Anko then threw onto Tsunade's desk three Icha Icha novels.

"What's this?" Tsunade questioned.

"Those are the three latest Icha Icha novels that your Sannin teammate writes so well. They just came out this week and all three of you should take a close look at the covers."

All three women then examined the covers of the novels and were surprised at what they saw. One cover showed a picture of a well-endowed blonde woman in the arms of a husky looking older man who bore a striking similarity to one white-haired Sannin. The second cover bore a picture of a silver-haired pirate wearing an eye-patch swinging on a rope with his arm wrapped around the waist of a tall lanky brunette beauty with crimson colored eyes. The final cover depicted a tall muscular young blonde man who was kissing the neck of a indigo-colored haired pale skin princess. One could not tell the eye color of the woman, as her eyes were shut, because of the obvious throes of passion she was experiencing shown by the fact that she had raised one leg to wrap around the blonde man's waist showing a great deal of thigh. Hinata began to blush, as she picked up that book and read the title out loud.

"The Princess and the Peasant Prince."

Kurenai followed next and said.

"The Pirate of Love."

Tsunade grabbed the final novel and announced.

"The Captain Conquers the Gambler."

"What the hell is this?" Tsunade groused in confusion.

"It's actually quite ingenious Lady Tsuande, as what you're looking at is the first book of a three-part series. The first book involves a pirate Captain named Raijiya who comes to the rescue of a gambling parlor and bar owner named Nadetsu. The villain of the story is an evil businessman called Marouchio who through nefarious means is trying to force the beautiful Nadetsu to sell her business to him. The hero Captain Raijiya along with his First Lieutenant Kaishka and Second Lieutenant Arunto and the rest of the pirate crew battle against the dastardly forces of Marouchio to save Nadetsu and her adopted daughter Zuneshi. I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just say Captain Raijiya gives up being a pirate at the end, which leads into the second book of the series."

"And what is the second book about Anko?" Kurenai asked in curiosity.

"The second book involves the continuing pirate adventures only with Kaishka now assuming the role as Captain with Arunto moving up in rank as his First Lieutenant. It involves a noblewoman named Renaiku, who is about to be married to a nobleman named Musaa. Kaishka plan is to kidnap Renaiku and ransom her back to Musaa. Once again, I don't want to ruin the story for you Kurenai and all I'll say is that Kaishka and Renaiku fall in love, culminating in an epic battle at the end between Kaishka , Arunto, and the rest of the pirate crew against an army of mercenaries hired by Musaa to rescue Renaiku and kill Kaishka."

"And the third novel of the series is about?" Hinata hesitantly questioned.

"Oh, the third book is maybe the best of the bunch; it's certainly the hottest in my opinion and considered the best novel of the series by many critics. It involves Arunto, who has given up the pirate life and is now working as a simple blacksmith in a kingdom called Gyhua. The ruling family has a daughter named Princess Nathia who they are going to marry off to the prince of another kingdom in a political marriage to strengthen their own land. Princess Nathia doesn't love this prince named Kassue, but feels duty-bound to fulfill her family's wishes. That's until one day her carriage breaks down and she goes to the local blacksmith to get it fixed and she meets Arunto. I won't reveal the rest of the story, but you should really enjoy chapters 14, 22, 33 if you know what I mean Hinata." Anko explains with a wink of her eye at the Hyuga girl, who blushed even more.

The room fell silent for a minute, as Tsunade, Kurenai, and Hinata attempted to process what they had just learned. Suddenly, an ominous feeling filled the air and Tsunade rose from her chair and with a hardened edge to her voice openly asked.

"You mean to tell me that perverted, idiotic, hack of a writer teammate of mine, wrote three of his smut-filled novels and based the women in them off of myself, Kurenai, and Hinata?"

"Ummm, yeah I think he did Lady Tsunade." Anko hesitantly answered.

"I'LL KILL THAT LEACHEROUS OLD FOOL THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM!" Tsunade shouted in a rage, before bringing her fist down and smashing her desk into pieces.

(End of Flashback)

'He, he, I went a bit overboard yelling and smashing my desk like that, but I couldn't let Kurenai, Hinata, and Anko know I've been a fan of Jiraiya-kun's novels for years.' Tsunade thought to herself, as she flipped open the Icha Icha book and began reading.

A few minutes later, Tsunade was reading a particular steamy scene involving Captain Raijiya and the beautiful blonde bar owner Nadetsu.

'Oh so you'd like to do that to me would you Jiraiya-kun. Well if you play your cards right when you return I just might let you.' Tsunade mused perversely, as her hand began to slip downwards towards the waistband of the dark bluish-greypants she wore.

However, before the hand could travel any further, there was a sudden banging on her office door startling the buxom blonde Hokage. Who quickly removed her hand from its present location and shouted in angered Irritation.

"Damn it Shizune, I told you I didn't want to be disturbed!"

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but this is an emergency!"

"It had better be,…..enter!"

The door flew open and Shizune rushed in with a message in her hand and quickly handed it to Tsunade, as she said in a panic.

"We just received this a few minutes ago from Sunagakure."

Tsunade quickly scanned the message, before her eyes grew wide in alarm, as she ordered.

"Shizune, I want shinobi Might Gai, Kurenai, Anko, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Rock Lee, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Ino in this office immediately! Also contact Ambassador Temari and have her here as well."

"Hai Lady Tsunade, I shall summon all of them at once."

Fifteen minutes later all 10 shinobi that Tsunade had requested along with Temari were standing before her. Clearing her throat, the blonde Hokage began to explain why she has requested their presence.

"Ahem, before I begin, Temari I must warn you to brace yourself for what I'm about to say. We just received a message from Sunagakure requesting our immediate aid. It appears that two members of the Akatsuki organization has attacked Suna and captured Kazekage Gaara."

Temari's gasped in distress, as Shikamaru put an arm around her for comfort and support, before he looked over to Tsunade and asked.

"What is this Akatsuki organization Hokage-sama?"

"What I'm about to tell all of you is rated with the highest security classification and is not to be spoken by any of you outside this room once you leave. The Akatsuki are a criminal organization comprised of S-rank missing nin and is the most wanted group in all of the shinobi world. Their main goal is to collect all of the tailed beasts for their plan of world domination."

"You, you mean like Naru-kun carries within him." Hinata stammered in concern and fear.

"Yes, but all of you don't have time to dwell on that right now." Tsunade answered, before she continued on.

"Temari, I also need to inform you that your brother Kankurou followed the two Akatsuki members and engaged one of them in battle identified as Sasori of the Red Sand. It was a fierce fight according to the report, but unfortunately Kankuro fell in battle and was severely poisoned."

"Is he going to be alright?" Temari hesitantly asked.

"Lady Chiyo is currently working on an antidote and although I know how skilled that old crone is, I've still got doubt she'll be able to save your brother in time."

"What do you wish from all of us milady?" Sakura questioned.

"I need all of you to form a unit and meet up with the Suna pursuit team trailing after the Akatsuki members and help them to rescue Gaara as soon as possible. I also need a unit to travel to Suna and assist Lady Chiyo in saving Gaara. Sakura I believe you should be in that unit, as you've had more medical preparation in dealing with poisons from your training with me than Hinata has had to save Kankurou."

"Why have you requested so many of us for this mission Lady Tsunade?" Ino asked in curiosity.

"I've requested so many of you because I believe the combined effort of all of you is the only chance we have for victory over these Akatsuki members to rescue the Kazekage."

"They're that strong and skilled!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Yes, they are, their power level and skills can rival even a Kage's, as shown by their capture of Gaara."

"Yosh, how do we identify our dastardly enemy and how you want this unit set up Hokage-sama?"

"You can identify an Akatsuki member by their clothing, which consists of long, dark cloaks with red clouds, a red interior, and a chin-high collar. As for the structure of the unit, I'm not sure Gai, Shikamaru what do you recommend?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes and proceeded to move his hands into a particular pose, as he pondered the blonde Hokage's question. After a minute, his eyes snapped open and he replied.

"I believe a single unit is counter-productive to what we are trying to accomplish. I think we should set up three separate units with Gai-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, and Anko-sensei as the leaders."

"Interesting, why do you suggest this?"

"I calculate Lady Tsunade that this gives us a better chance to not only locate and save the Kazekage, but it also allows the unit you wish to go to Suna unimpeded to aid Lady Chiyo in saving Kankurou."

"How would you set these three units up?" Kurenai questioned in interest.

"I believe the first and second unit should be combat and rescue units. One unit comprised of Gai-sensei as commander with myself and Hinata backing him up. The second unit comprised of Kurenai-sensei as commander with Kiba, Shino, and Ino backing her up. The final unit which I'll call the medical unit heading to Suna should have Anko-sensei as commander with Sakura, Rock Lee and Temari backing her up."

"Why this configuration of the teams?"

"It allows a shinobi with Medical Ninjutsu skills to be on each team. Hinata for Team Gai, Ino for Team Kurenai, and Sakura for Team Anko. Also Kiba and Shino are use to working with Kurenai-sensei in combat situations. And Gai sensei has worked with a Hyuga in the past in similar situations. While Anko-sensei, Rock Lee, Sakura, and Temari are some of the quickest shinobi and can reach Suna the fastest."

"Shikamaru, I'm not nearly as skilled at Medical Ninjutsu as Hinata or Sakura." Ino stated with a bit of remorse.

"You know enough Ino to get the job done if needed." Shikamru quickly replied with assurance and confidence in the blonde kunoichi.

"It's a good plan Shika-kun, but I noticed it leaves Team Gai a man short were you to run into the Akatsuki that took my brother. So I'll be accompanying you on Team Gai." Temari stated in a stern tone.

"Are you sure Mari-chan? I know you're worried about Kankurou."

"I'm also worried about Gaara-kun and if my going with your team helps increase the chances of rescuing him, then it's the best and most logical course of action."

Shikamaru couldn't argue against what his girlfriend had said and nodded his head in acceptance. Seeing that Shikamaru had given his approval, Tsunade authorized the mission and sent them out to complete it. After they left, Tsunade went out to her balcony gazed out over the Leaf village, before closing her eyes and saying a silent prayer to Kami for all of them to come back safely.

Tsunade was surprised when Hinata, Ino, Shino, and Kiba had arrived at the gates of Konoha with some critically injured Sunagakura shinobi a three days later. The Suna ninja's owed their lives to the medical skills of both Hinata and Ino who were nearly exhausted of chakra in their efforts to keep them alive, until they reached the Leaf village. A day later Gai and Kurenai arrived at the Leaf village and after checking on the status of Hinata and the others, they were immediately ushered to Tsunade's office for a report on what had happened on the mission.

"Kurenai, Gai, please report on what transpired on the rescue mission."

"Yosh, we began the mission with the flames of youth burning bright within all of us and…"

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, as she was in no mood to listen to one of Gai's enthusiastic reports and held up her hand to interrupt the green-clad Jounin and said.

"Gai, why don't you let Kurenai give the report if you would please."

"As you wish Hokage-sama."

"Please Kurenai, tell me what happened?"

"There's really not that much to tell Lady Tsunade. After a day and half of traveling west towards Suna to link up with their retrieval squad, we found them in the desert. Apparently, they had caught up with the two Akatsuki members and had engaged them in battle. Unfortunately, they were defeated, with only a few of them barely clinging to life."

"Slaughtered would be a more accurate term." Gai grimly interjected.

"That's true, from the survivors we got confirmation that it was indeed Sasori of the Red Sand, a Sungakure S- rank missing nin, was one of the Akatsuki members that had captured the Kazekage. They were also able to identify the second Akatsuki member, as being Deidara, an S-rank missing-nin from Iwagakure. They were able to point in the direction where the Akatsuki were heading. We then decided to take three courses of action."

"What did all of you decide to do?"

"First we decided that since we knew the direction where the Akatsuki were located, the chances of Sakura running into them were relatively low. So she was sent with Rock Lee escorting her to get to Suna as quickly as possible. The last we saw of them Lee had scooped Sakura up in his arms and was racing to the Sand village in a blur. The second action we took was to ensure that we could still save the lives of the surviving Suna shinobi. And since the Leaf village was closer for the medical aid they needed. We decided to send Hinata and Ino back to the village with Shino and Kiba escorting them. The final course of action we took was for me, Gai, Anko, Shikamaru and Temari to proceed, locate, and engage the two Akatsuki members to rescue the Kazekage."

"Hmmm, just the five of you against these two Akatsuki members."

"I know it was calculated risk reducing our numbers that were to face the two Akatsuki in battle. However, Shikamaru surmised that if five Jounin level shinobi couldn't defeat them, then having any additional forces such as Hinata, Ino, Kiba, and Shino would have only slightly increased our chances of victory. Also the situation dictated the splitting of our forces to ensure that the surviving members of the Suna retrieval team still had a chance to live with medical aid from the Leaf village."

"Alright, I can understand that, please continue."

"Well the five of us pressed on and soon we discovered the bodies of two men wearing the Akatsuki robes you described, but they weren't Sasori or Deidara. We don't know who they were, but we moved forward until we discovered a large cave. When we ventured inside we discovered hundreds of destroyed puppets within the cave. Until we came upon the broken body of Sasori of the Red Sand who Temari had identified from photos she remembered seeing of him growing up. Apparently, Sasori had tried to cheat growing old by transforming his body into that of a puppet, as he appeared no older than a teenage boy."

"What of his partner Deidara and of the Kazekage?"

"There was no trace of either one of them or no clue where they had gone or who had killed Sasori."

"That is most disturbing, what did you do next?"

"We decided Lady Tsunade that Anko and Shikamaru should escort Temari back to Sunagakure, while Gai and I headed back to the Leaf village."

"Why did you decide to do this instead of investigate where Deidara or the Kazekage might be?"

"As I said, we had no clue where the Kazekage might be. And it was because we had no idea or clues where Deidara might be as well that we decided to return to Konoha. We were fearful that perhaps Hinata, Ino, Kiba, and Shino would need our aid if they had into the Akatsuki member on their way back transferring the wounded Suna shinobi."

Tsunade sat silent in her chair, as she pondered everything she had just heard, before she said with great annoyance.

"So basically you're telling me that Sasori is dead, killed by some unknown person or persons. His partner Deidara is either alive, dead, or missing. And that Kazekage Gaara is either alive, dead, or missing. Does that about sum it up?"

"Hai Lady Tsunade, it does." A grim silence fell over the room, as everyone present felt disconcerted about not knowing about what had happened. It was then that Shizune rushed into the room and exclaimed.

"Lady Tsunade, we just received this message a few minutes ago from Anko in Sunagakure."

Tsunade grabbed the scroll Shizune handed to her and studied the message, before a smile spread across her face and she said.

"Kazekage Gaara is alive and so is Kankurou."

"Yosh, that is most excellent news that the flames of youth still burns in both of them!" Gai proclaimed in happy excitement.

"That is good news Lady Tsunade, what else does the message say." Kurenai asked I curiosity.

"Well according to Anko, as reported to her when she, Shikamaru, and Temari arrived at Suna. The Kazekage was delivered alive to the front gates of Suna by three men wearing dark grey cloaks, but before the Suna shinobi could question the men they disappeared. Anko says one Suna shinobi reported that one of these men appeared to be injured, as he was being supported by one of the other men. Shortly after Gaara's arrival, Sakura and Lee arrived. Sakura was able to remove the poison from Kankurou's body and with the help of Lady Chiyo they were able to synthesize an antidote to eradicate any trace elements of the poison left in his body."

"Does Anko say anything else?"

"Only that when questioned about who had rescued him, the Kazekage would only say that it was three men in grey cloaks and that they had interrupted the bijuu extraction process and killed Sasori and Deidara. The Kazekage still retains the one-tailed Shukaku demon within him thanks to these men in grey. Anko makes note that upon further questioning, the Kazekage could or would not provide any more information about his rescuers. She suspects that he knows more than he is letting on, but for some reason is refusing to reveal anymore than what he has."

'Men in grey cloaks.' Tsunade thought to herself, before Kurenai's voice broke her thought.

"Lady Tsunade, is there anything else?"

"No, no there's nothing else other than she, Sakura, and Lee will be returning in a few days. Shikamaru has requested some vacation time to spend in Suna with Temari. Thank you both for completing your mission to the best of your abilities. The both of you may take the rest of the week off."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Both Gai and Kurenai said in unison, before they exited the office.

After they had left, Tsunade opened a concealed drawer in her desk and pulled out an Anbu file which was titled 'The Grey Men.' Opening the file she examined the single page of paper within it.

Subject: The Grey Men

Gender: Male

Number: Three

Clothing: Unknown, other than the dark grey cloaks they wear.

Age: Unknown, but estimated between the ages of 16-55 among the three men according to witnesses.

Country Affiliation: Unknown

Village Affiliation: Unknown

Skills and Abilities: Unknown, however all three have been rumored to possess the power and skills to rival any Kage within the Elemental nations.

This assessment has yet to be verified or confirmed by any known reliable source.

Achievements: Unknown, however through whispers and rumors from travelers coming from the faraway western lands. These men have been rumored to have saved the lives and prevented the destruction of a village from a flood by magically summoning monsters and the instantaneous assembly of a dam. These men are also rumored to be wanted for crimes against a village or land called Amazonia. They are also rumored to have in the span of two days overthrown a warlord in a kingdom called Tyrannia freeing its people.

These achievements have yet to be verified or confirmed by any known reliable source.

There is no further information regarding these 'Grey Men' available.

Tsunade snapped the folder shut and put it on her desk, as she silently mused to herself with concern.

'This is all Anbu intelligence has been able to gather about these "Grey Men" for the last two years. And the majority of the information is just innuendo, rumors, and whispers coming from the west. I was beginning to believe that they were nothing but a myth or fairy-tale. However, now it appears they really do exists and have made their way into the elemental lands. But are they friend or foe? They saved Gaara, but for what motive or reason? They killed off two Akatsuki members, which is a plus, but what if they turn out to be a bigger threat than the Akatsuki? They may just be eliminating the competition or those they think are a threat to them. Damn it, there are too many unknowns about these men and I just pray to Kami that they are not a danger to the Leaf village should we encounter them in the future.'

It was a cool night in the land of wind, as Sakura and Lee walked hand-in-hand through the courtyard of the main palace where Kazekage Gaara and the rest of his family resided. The young couple stopped to sit on a bench to gaze up at the stars in the nighttime sky. A chilly breeze swept through the courtyard causing Sakura to shiver, before Lee wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm and asked.

"Are you cold my cherry-blossom? We can go back inside if you wish."

"Thank you Lee-kun, but I'm fine and very comfortable just the way we are." Sakura lovingly replied, as she snuggled her body deeper into her boyfriend's embrace.

Lee smiled and kissed Sakura's cheek before saying in loving admiration.

"I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but your flames of youth never shone more brightly than they did yesterday when you saved the life of Kankurou."

"That's sweet of you to say, but Lady Chiyo helped as well."

"Yosh, that is true, but you did all the heavy lifting." Lee replied in amusement.

Sakura giggled at Lee's response, before she stated.

"Lee-kun, you say the funniest things sometimes, it reminds me of Nar….."

"It reminds you of Naruto." Lee commented, when Sakura paused in her statement.

"Hai, it does." Sakura softly answered.

"You miss him a lot don't you my cherry-blossom."

"I do, I never realized how important his friendship was to me until it was gone. I hope he's found it in his heart to forgive me for all I've done to him when he returns. I really miss having him as a friend and I pray he will allow me to truly be his friend like I should have been years ago. "

"Don't you remember what Naruto said to you before he left?" Lee asked his pink-haired girlfriend.

Sakura thought back to that night in her hospital room and remembered.

"Sakura, I want you to work on regaining the trust and friendship of our friends first while I'm gone. When I get back, if I see that has happened that will go a long way in proving to me that you've changed and have redeemed yourself not only to them, but to me as well."

"Hai, I remember."

"Then you've nothing to worry about, as you've regained the trust and friendship of all of your friends and when Naruto sees that, I'm sure he will have forgiven you cherry-blossom."

"I hope so."

"Naruto is one of the most forgiving people I have ever met. He will see that you have changed for the better and if he does not, then I will have to show him that your flames of youth burn brighter than they did before he left!" Lee declared with zeal, while pumping a fist in the air.

Sakura giggled once more at her boyfriend's antics, before she stated.

"Lee-kun calm down, you should be putting all that energy into something more constructive."

"Like what my cherry-blossom?"

"Like kissing me you silly wonderful boy." Lee smiled and leaned his head down, while Sakura cupped his cheek in one hand, as their lips met in passionate love.

Unbeknownst, to the young couple, they were being observed by a young man wearing a dark grey cloak. He stood rigid and in silence, as he watched the two Leaf shinobi share a loving embrace with one another. A moment later a slightly larger older man wearing the same colored cloak appeared beside him and gazed upon the scene the younger man was watching, before he said.

"It hurts doesn't it?"

The younger man merely dropped his head breaking eye contact of the young couple below, before he sighed and answered.

"Yeah, it does a little. I don't know why it hurts as much as it does. I mean I've got a great girl waiting for me back home that I love more than anything else. I should feel happy for bushy-brows and Sakura-chan that they found one another and part of me is happy for them, but another part of me feels kind of sad. It's just seeing the girl I loved for so long and always dreaming and wanting her to kiss me like she is now with Lee. I guess a part of me will always love Sakura-chan."

The older man put his hand on the shoulder of his comrade.

"I understand your pain. No matter how hard you try, you can never rid yourself completely of the love you felt for the first girl you tried to give your heart to."

The younger man merely nodded his head in agreement, before the older man said.

"Come on; let's leave these two alone, besides the Kazekage wishes to us."

A second later both men disappeared from the rooftop in a swirl of leaves.

Gaara walked into his office and flopped wearily into his chair, as he rubbed his forehead seeking comfort for the headache he was experiencing. It had been an exhaustive past few days for the Kazekage for many reasons culminating in nearly losing his bijuu and his life at the hands of the Akatsuki. In fact if it hadn't been for the timely intervention of his only friend and his teachers, then Sunagakure would undoubtedly be seeking a new Kage to lead them. A moment later, two of the people he had been thinking about appeared in his office. Giving a tired yet sincere smile at them, Gaara greeted the new arrivals, as they removed their grey cloaks.

"Naruto, Jiraiya-sama, thank you for coming."

"It's no problem Gaara, anything for a friend." Naruto warmly answered.

Gaara smiled a bit, before a pain shot through his temple and he winced, which Naruto noticed, as he asked in genuine concern.

"Are you alright?"

The Kazekage shook his head in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain, before he replied.

"Unfortunately, I am not. You've already done so much for me by saving my life that I find myself embarrassed to ask for your aid once more, but I feel as if I have no choice."

"What is it, what can we do for you?"

"Jiraiya-sama, am I to understand that you are a Master in the art of Fuuinjutsu (Sealing) techniques."

"Actually Kazekage Gaara, both myself and Naruto are quite adept in that art. I've been training the little gaki in it for well over three years now and he's got a natural affinity to it just like his father did." Jiraiya announced with pride.

"That is good to know for I must ask if the two of you will call upon your expertise and take a look at the seal that locks away the one-tailed demon Shukaku within me."

"What's going on Gaara is the bijuu bothering you?"

"In a sense Naruto, yes it is. Before the Akatsuki attack, the tanuki demon had been slowly putting pressure on the seal in an attempt to break it. Since the attack it has increased its efforts and I'm fearful that the seal might not hold. That is why I humbly ask if the two of you could examine my seal and see if there is anything that can be done to strengthen it or help me to control my bijuu more effectively."

"Sure, we'll take a look, like I said before we'll do anything to help a friend."

"Where is the seal located on you Kazekage Gaara?"

"It's on my back and you may refer to me as just Gaara if you wish. It's the least I can do to repay the help and kindness you are showing me."

Gaara took off his shirt and laid face first on the couch within his office, before he sent a small wave of chakra into his back to make the seal appear. Both Naruto and Jiraiya examined the seal for a few minutes in silence, before they rose up and Jiraiya said.

"You may put your shirt back on Gaara; we've seen what we needed to."

"What is the prognosis Jiraiya-sama?"

"It's not good; the seal used on you is very weak in strength and is deteriorating. I'm surprised you've managed to keep the Shukaku from breaking out this long. Who was the idiot who applied this seal onto you?"

"That idiot would be Lady Chiyo." Gaara answered.

"Hmph, I should have suspected. People always think that if someone is adept in the arts of Medical Ninjutsu, then they are equally as good in Fuuinjutsu."

"In all fairness to Lady Chiyo, she did argue vehemently with my father that her knowledge in sealing techniques was not sufficient and was opposed to the sealing, but she was given no choice by him and had to obey his orders. I'm sure she did the best that she can." Gaara offered up in defense of Suna's honored elder.

"Well whatever, the fact is she screwed up and to help you, Naruto and I are going to have to either rebuild and strengthen the current seal you have or construct for you a brand new one to apply. Either way it's going to take some time to do."

"How long do you estimate it might take?"

"Perhaps three to four months." Jiraiya grimly answered.

A despondent visage spread across Naruto's face, which did not go unnoticed by the Kazekage. Gaara knew how anxious Naruto was to return home and knowing his trouble with his seal would be delaying his only friend's return he said.

"That's too much time to delay all of you returning to your home and loved ones. You both along with Kakashi-sama have already done so much for me. I cannot ask you to make such an additional sacrifice just to help me further."

"You don't have to ask us, we're offering to help you. Sure I'm bummed that I won't get to see my Hinata-chan as soon as I had hoped. But what kind of comrade would I be, if I deserted a friend in need just for my own selfish desires. I've been gone for over three and a half years; a few more months being away from home won't kill me." Naruto stated with conviction.

"Thank you Naruto."

"No problem Gaara." Naruto replied with his trademark grin before adding.

"Besides, according to Lady Chiyo, it's going to take at least a month for Kakashi-sensei to recover and regain his chakra to full strength. When Deidara tried to suicide bomb us and take everyone out, he used his Kamui technique to send Deidara and the explosion into another dimension. Unfortunately, to contain that explosion, Kakashi-sensei drained just about all of his chakra to protect us."

"Kakashi-sama will receive the utmost care for his sacrifice in saving me; I can assure you both of that." Gaara stated with no uncertainty.

"He's got his pervy book with him, so he's happy." Naruto remarked in amusement, before he was scolded by Jiraiya.

"Gaki, how many times do I have to tell you it's not a pervy book, but a novel of fine quality literature!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Naruto scoffed dismissively.

Gaara actually smiled as he watched this exchange between the Toad Sannin and his friend, before he spoke up and asked.

"I thought I should inform you that Anko, Sakura, and Rock Lee will be returning to Konoha tomorrow. Are you sure you still do not want to alert them of your presence?"

"No, since we're trying to keep our return on the down low if you know what I mean. Plus since we can't return until we get your seal fixed up. Its better that they don't know were here. We'll see them and everyone else soon enough in a few months." Jiraiya replied.

"I do not understand this down low expression you use, but I shall abide by your wishes and not reveal your return to them." Gaara politely replied.

"Thanks Gaara, we appreciate it."

"Think nothing of it Naruto, now it's late and all of us are in need of some much deserved rest." Gaara stated, before he escorted Naruto and Jiraiya to the rooms he had prepared for them.

It was the middle of the night, as Hinata sat on a couch in the living room of the apartment she shared with Kurenai. Currently the Hyuga girl was struggling to tape and glue the pages into well-worn binder of a certain novel call the "The Princess and the Peasant Prince." Cursing softly to herself, she suddenly heard a floorboard creak and quickly hid the book, tape, and glue behind her. A moment later, Kurenai stepped into the living room and was startled to see Hinata in there, as she quickly hid what she was holding behind her back and stammered.

"Hin-Hinata, what are you doing up so late at night?"

"I, I couldn't sleep and thought a breath of fresh air from the balcony might be refreshing."

"But the balcony door is closed." Kurenai questioned in confusion.

"Oh so it is, ummm, so what are you doing up so late Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata quickly replied, before attempting to change the subject.

"Oh, I, ummm couldn't sleep either." Kurenai hastily answered, before she made her way over to the desk and began opening drawers looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"It's nothing, I just need the tape and glue for uhhh,….something, have you seen them?"

Hinata hesitantly pulled both items out from behind her back and placed them on the table, before a surprised Kurenai who asked.

"Why did you need the tape and glue?" Hinata blushed a bit, before she pulled out the well used Icha Icha novel and placed it on the table as she stammered in explanation.

"I, I was trying to repair my book Anko-sensei gave me."

"Hinata!" Kurenai exclaimed in shock.

"Hinata noticed that her teacher was still keeping something hidden behind her back and asked in curiosity.

"Why did you need the tape and glue?"

Now it was the Genjutsu Mistress time to blush, as she tentatively pulled out from behind her back an equally disheveled and well worn novel titled, "The Pirate of Love." Kurenai heaved a defeated sigh and sat down next to Hinata, as they both looked at the mess of their books. After a moment, Kurenai commented in sorrowful anguish.

"They've been gone for almost four years and I really wish the both of them would return soon. Because I don't think these books can survive much more…...examination from the two of us."

Hinata still blushing, nodded her head furiously in agreement.

Little did both women know that the very next day in the middle of the afternoon. Three men wearing dark grey cloaks would reach the summit of a hill that looked over Konohagakure and paused to gaze at the village fondly, before the youngest of the trio announced to his comrades.

"We're finally home."

Author Note: Well not exactly a cliffhanger, but the ending should make a lot of you very happy. As for this chapter, you can see it was a mix of drama, suspense and humor throughout it. It proved to be more of challenge to write than I was expecting. I was stunned when I finished and saw the final word count total of the actual story was over 17,000. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but man it was also a lot of work as well.

Now I'm sure many of you are wondering why I had Gaara retain Shukaku the Ichibu (One-Tailed Demon Tanuki) in this story and didn't have Lady Chiyo sacrifice her life to revive him. Well I did it for a variety of reasons. One, because I wanted to, lol. The second reason is that's what happened in the canon and I wanted to do something different. The third reason is that canon scene has been regurgitated in hundreds if not thousands of other stories on this site and as I said I wanted something different. The final reason is one of the things that bugs me about Gaara in the canon is the following.

Gaara was a extremely powerful shinobi capable of amazing feats when he held the Shukaku within him, as all the Jinchuuriki are. Why, because they draw off and use the demonic chakra that is within them to do those amazing feats. So what bothers me in the canon is that when Gaara had the Shukaku extracted from him, he shouldn't have been as powerful as he had been when he held the one-tailed demon within him, yet he still was. Don't get me wrong, I like the Gaara character, but I always considered that a plot-hole that Kishimoto never addressed properly in my opinion. So I wanted Gaara to still be a kick-ass and powerful shinobi in my story, hence why I did what I did.

I've placed into this chapter another subtle homage to what I consider one of the funniest movies of all time. It could prove to be a challenging one to identify or not. Now, the pool scene with Hinata diving was inspired from a similar scene in this movie. Just name the movie where I got the inspiration for that scene from. I'll give you a hint in the form of one of my favorite quotes from the movie.

"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."

Once again, a cyber-cookie and milk or a cyber-beer and mozzarella stick's your choice if you can name the movie. All I ask is don't write a review just answering the question, but please also say something about the chapter as well.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I'm anxious to see what your reviews will be for it. I do wish to thank everyone both old and new readers who took the time to review my last chapter. For those of you who did review, you all had a lot to say about it and I'm pleased that this story has such a strong fan base with readers who actually write out well thought-out reviews. Because of that, I enjoy reading many of your reviews, so please leave lots of them, as they do help a writer get a sense of the thoughts and opinions of the fans of a story. They also can help lift the spirits of an author as well. Also, to any readers who are staff members to any C2 communities, please feel free to add my story to your community if you feel it is worthy of it. I won't mind, I swear. I'll even pinkie swear if I need to?

News:

In 2010, my fellow author brown phantom initiated a poll asking the following question.

Who is the best Naruto fan fiction writer on this site?

Upon completion of that first poll I finished a very respectable 8th to which I thank all of you who voted for me on that poll very much for making that happen. Now brown phantom has decided to run a second poll asking that same question. So I humbly ask if you feel I'm worthy of being one of your 10 author picks to please place a vote for me on brown phantoms second poll. I thank you in advance for your support and normally I would provide you the links to the profile pages for brown phantom for you to use. However, one of the "oh so wonderful" changes FFnet has recently made is making it more difficult to list a link anywhere even if it's a link on their own freaking site. So just do a quick search for the author, brown phantom. As I said I finished 8th on his first poll and I would be ecstatic if I could improve on that showing, but I will need all of your help to achieve that.

End of News:

Shout-outs:

I'd like to give a couple of shout-outs to some people.

My first shout-out goes to my reader the ariesricebooks. Who is this you ask? Well, he is the reader who left the anonymous review under the name Angry Fan that I commented on last chapter. Now you're probably wondering why I'm giving him a shout-out. I do this because he felt so badly about leaving that review that he actually created an account on this site just to identify himself and apologized to me several times for his anonymous review as Angry Fan. I have to give him props for manning up and doing that. He didn't have to and just could have stayed hidden under the guise of the Anonymous Review, but he didn't. So I appreciate that he did that and I welcome him as a fan of this story.

My second shout-out goes to my reader Bowtechsniper. He has been a longtime supporter of this story and though there are times that I question his sanity given some of the reviews he has left, lol. I've no doubt that he is a big fan of this tale I write. So I was pleased that it was one of my longtime readers that gave the 4000th review on Naruto vs. Sasuke: The Aftermath. Although I wish the historic review had been more substantial, he did admit that he was leaving it off of a I-phone. So I understand what a pain texting can be, as I'm probably the worst at texting in the entire world, lol. I want to thank all of my readers who have left a review on this story and help it reach such a milestone. I appreciate it very much, as I never even imagined this story reaching such heights when I started writing it over five years ago. My eternal thanks and gratitude to all of you.

End of Shout-outs:

Now, onto everyone's favorite section Kingkakashi's rants on the manga yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

I have very few negative things to say about the following issues of the Naruto manga, except for issue #619 where I have A LOT of negative things to say!

*Warning I do give away some spoilers in my rants, so read at your own risk.

#615 – I'm sure most of you are looking forward to seeing my thoughts on this chapter. First off, it was STUPENDOUS! The best Naruto/Hinata interaction Kishimoto has done in the series. Hinata providing the inspiration and pep-talk to Naruto after they watched Neji die was fantastic to see. I especially enjoyed the bewildered look on Sakura's face, as she watched the conversation. One could almost see the gears turning in her mind as she thinks "Uh oh, I think I just lost my back-up boyfriend in case things don't work out with Sasuke-kun" that was beautiful, lol. This chapter also had a pretty cool attack on the Juubi by Killer Bee/Hachibi. The end of the chapter, when Naruto takes Hinata's hand into his own and he powers the both of them up was just awesome to see. Now several people pm'd saying that with this chapter Kishimoto finally addressed Hinata's confession of 177 issues ago. Well I'm here to say, NO he hasn't as far as I'm concerned. To me addressing the issue is Naruto talking to Hinata about the confession. Also, it's too early to tell with Kishimoto of what he's thinking. So, while I'm not popping the cork on the Champagne just yet, it is a promising turn in the manga without a doubt, that maybe Kishimoto has finally decided that Hinata is the girl for Naruto. Overall, this was definitely one of the best chapters in the entire series.

#616 – This chapter starts off with the emo-Uchiha, Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Juugo arriving at the nearly deserted Konoha. By the way, has anyone else noticed the absence of Anko? I mean the last we saw of her, Juugo was carrying her when Sasuke revived Orochimaru and they all took off. Is this just an oversight on Kishimoto's part and he keeps forgetting to draw her, or is it something more sinister? Anyway, all four of them feel Naruto powering up from a great distance away. This bothers Sasuke immensely and he wants to continue on immediately for whatever purpose he has in mind in the Leaf village. The chapter then cuts back to Naruto and thanks to a Shikaku Nara strategic plan. He starts distributing a portion of the Kyuubi's chakra into all of the Alliance shinobi. Obito attempts to stop this by having the Juubi attack, but the attack is stopped by a Kyuubi enhanced Hinata. Which prompted Madara to say the following, "Looks like the little Missus got a nice power-up thanks to Naruto." Madara calling Hinata that was classic and I just loved it. Obito has the Juubi attack again, only this time the Akimichi clan steps up and stops the attack. The next few pages are a flashback of Shikaku and Inoichi saying goodbye to Shikamaru and Ino. Then the Nara clan cuts loose and immobilizes the Juubi using their jutsu. The end of the chapter wafts into a philosophical discussion between Obito, Kakashi, and Naruto. This chapter was very good, as it was full of a lot of angst, emotion, drama, and action.

#617 – This starts off with Rock Lee mourning Neji and remembering their time together, before Naruto powers him up with some of the Kyuubi's chakra. The next few pages go into the explanation of how Naruto is able to portion off the Kyuubi's chakra into all of the Alliance shinobi. Now the battle kicks up a notch, as the Kyuubified Alliance forces launch an all-out attack on the Juubi. Obito has the Juubi counter-attack and seemingly traps the entire Alliance army inside a giant cage composed of the Juubi. The Kyuubified army led by Naruto surges forward to attack and breaks through the cage inflicting serious damage onto the Juubi, Obito, and Madara. This was a great up until the end where we get Naruto spouting off about never breaking the bonds he has made and how he hopes no one would sever the bonds they've made with him and we see a picture of Sasuke, (gag!) It's only a matter of time, before Sasuke goes from heel to baby-face to use a professional wrestling term and comes riding in on a white horse to help Naruto defeat Madara.

#618 – This chapter starts off with Sasuke, Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Juugo arriving at a broken down Uzumaki Temple at the far outskirts of the Leaf village. Orochimaru retrieves a mask and then the four of them (still no sign of Anko anywhere) go back into Konoha. Where they travel to the Uchiha Nakano shrine, which is seemingly destroyed, but Sasuke removes a giant slab of granite revealing an underground chamber. They enter the chamber where Orochimaru puts the mask on and we learn that it's a variation of the Shiki-Fuujin, a Fuuinjutsu technique and the Snake Sannin calls forth the Shinigami or (Death God) to possess him. Orochimaru then prepares to call forth four people using the Edo Tensai technique, but first he reveals that Obito had placed six white Zetsu's inside of Sasuke to act as spies. Using Sasuke's curse seal he's able to pull the Zetsu's out and use them as sacrifices to the Shinigami to call forth the four people he wishes. The four people or the "ones who know it all" turn out to be the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Hokage's ending the chapter. This chapter was alright, but it focused solely on Sasuke and nothing else.

#619 – As much as I liked chapter #615, I got so pissed off about this chapter after I read it. I'll explain why, after I describe this atrocity of a chapter Kishimoto dumped on us. This chapter begins as the Hokages have been revived and they realize it was Orochimaru who resurrected them. Then we get Kishimoto basically portraying the First Hokage Hashirama Senju "The God of Shinobi" as a buffoon. One small point that we learn is that when alive, he spoiled his granddaughter Tsunade rotten and that she picked up her gambling habit from him. The Second Hokage Tobirama and The Third Hokage Sarutobi then question Orochimaru about why he has resurrected them. Orochimaru informs them that the reason is because Sasuke Uchiha wants to question them. I still can't figure out why Orochimaru is being so subservient to the emo-Uchiha?

Anyway, when the second and third Hokages see Sasuke, Tobirama makes a comment that it's just like an Uchiha to keep such company as Orochimaru. Hashirama scolds his brother for spewing bigotry as he called it, which Tobirama dismisses as his brother as being too compassionate. It was at this point I started to get a disturbing feeling about the direction this chapter was taking. So, Sasuke then asks Sarutobi why he ordered Itachi to do everything he did. Sarutobi confirmed everything about Itachi ordered to eliminate the Uchiha sparing Sasuke and becoming a Leaf village spy within the Akatsuki. Tobirama comments that he's not surprised that was the fate of the "damned Uchiha clan" for planning the coup and that he knew they would eventually rebel, as Madara's will was shared by quite a few Uchiha. Orochimaru then goes into this diatribe blaming the Second Hokage for strengthening that will in the Uchiha clan by forming the Konoha Military Police Force and putting the clan in charge of it, which Tobirama scoffs at.

Orochimaru continues to push the blame by stating that Tobirama by doing that "those who keep the peace are often viewed with vitriol and that absolute power corrupts absolutely." The Snake Sannin goes on about the location of the Police HQ being placed on the outskirts of the Leaf village at a location that once served as a prison further alienated the Uchiha clan from the rest of the village. At this point the First Hokage admonishes his brother once again saying he told him numerous times to stop persecuting the Uchiha's. Tobirama once again dismisses his older brother by saying that he only gave the Uchiha clan a duty they could excel at nothing more. And that he shouldn't be blamed for doing what he did after what Madara pulled and Hashirama should recognize that the Uchiha are a "cursed clan."

Sasuke didn't like that and asks Tobirama, "The Uchiha, what are they to you?" The Second Hokage answers that the Uchiha and Senju clans are mortal enemies, which Sasuke says he already knows. Now we start getting into the utter crap that Kishimoto is attempting to get us to swallow. Tobirama then goes on to state that "Public perception is that the Senju valued friendship and love over jutsu and that the Uchiha place absolute value on jutsu alone." He then says "But in actuality… this is false." And then the bullshit from Kishimoto starts to get real deep. Tobirama goes on to explain that "The Uchiha are the ones who valued friendship and love above all else." And that because of that, "They deemed it necessary to seal them off." Sasuke questions what he means by that and Tobirama explains further.

He states that "When an Uchiha comes to know those strong feelings….it's as if a torrent is unleashed within…..and it awakens something even greater than what the Senju know." (Of course because the Uchiha are just so superior even to the Senju, gag!) Suigetsu pipes up and asks why the Senju and Uchiha can't get along since they both share "all this lovey-dovey crap." Tobirama says it's because the Uchiha's feelings are too powerful and if unchecked. He states that when an Uchiha has known such strong feelings and loses them, those feelings turn into an indomitable hatred that consumes them. The Second Hokage goes on to say that he's seen it happen countless times and without a fail a symptom always follows. Oh man, the BS is starting to reach drowning levels with what Kishimoto comes up with next.

Tobirama explains that when an Uchiha experiences the loss of their love and friendship feelings. That the anguish and despair that proceeds from experiencing such a loss causes their brain to release a "special" kind of chakra that affects their optic nerves creating the eye that reflects their feelings the mirror eye or better known by all…. the Sharingan. The Sharingan mirrors those feelings of anguish and despair and gives the user a considerable boost in power. Tobirama goes on to say that the Uchiha are very impressionable and all those who come to experience those strong emotions invariably become consumed by a depraved path. The further an Uchiha falls down that path the more powerful their eyes become and the harder it is to reason with them such as the case with Madara.

I'm sure Kishimoto wanted all of us to be shedding tears for the poor Uchiha at this point.

Anyway, Tobirama then states that he tried to channel that power of the Uchiha clan into something that could benefit the village such as the Konoha Military Police Force. But it seems that the Uchiha used their power to destroy one another and for the sake of the village no less. His final comment was "At least in the end their power served the greater good." Once again Hashirama shouts and scolds his younger brother by saying he's being disrespectful to the last pure Uchiha child. To which Tobirama answers that all he ever cared about was the good of the village and that Hashirama already knows this. Sasuke comments that he's neither pure nor a child and then asks Hashirama two questions finally ending this farce of a chapter.

"What is the legacy of the village? And what purpose do the Shinobi fill?"

Ok, where do I even begin? First, I guess I can start off with Kishimoto's explanation of how the Sharingan is created is a complete contradiction of what he originally said going all way back to the earliest issues of Naruto. Where it was told that the Uchiha unlock their Sharingan in battle when their lives are in danger. That's what Sasuke did and I don't recall him losing feelings of love and friendship early on with anyone and then suffering any anguish and despair over it to unlock his Sharingan. Second, how about Kishimoto now portraying the Uchiha as suffering and oppressed by the mean old bigoted Second Hokage. I mean its bad enough that Kishimoto constantly gifts the Uchiha with amazing powers, skills, and jutsu's. But now we're supposed cry a river for them, as in actuality they were truly the lovey-dovey hippie clan of the Leaf village, give me a break.

Third, how about now were supposed to give a pass to Madara and Sasuke. Oh you poor Uchiha, it's not your fault that you went down an evil path gaining your Sharingan's. It was the feelings of anguish and despair you felt at losing your feelings of love and friendship that caused all of you to become evil douche-bags. For anyone who doesn't realize this yet. This chapter cements for me that Kishimoto is going to have Sasuke come riding in on a white horse to save the day and help Naruto defeat Obito and Madara thus becoming the hero once again. The only solace I take from this happening is that I also believe as I've said many times before that Kishimoto will then pair up Sasuke's #1 fangirl Sakura with the repentant Uchiha, which hopefully will lead to the official girl for Naruto that the majority of people want for him is Hinata.

My overall view of this travesty and ridiculous fairy-tale of a chapter Kishimoto is attempting to feed us is this. I said earlier that chapter #615 was definitely one of the best chapters in the entire series. I can say with equal confidence that in my opinion this chapter is definitely one of the worst chapters in the entire series, if not the worst one…..ever!

#620 – This chapter starts off with Sasuke telling the First Hokage that depending on his answers to his questions will decide whether or not he takes revenge on the Leaf village. Tobirama response ot that threat is to say that Sasuke is also possessed by the Uchiha's evil and he moves to attack Sasuke. However, Hashirima releases a massive amount of chakra pressure and orders him to stop. Truthfully, out of all four of the Hokage's, I think I now like Tobirama the best. Anyway, Hashirama then acts like a buffoon again and says he can talk to Sasuke about the Leaf village, but that it will be a long story. Orochimaru tells him they don't have the time and informs the revived Hokage's that Madara has also been revived and has started a war to wipe out all shinobi.

The four Hokage's then feel the combined chakra from Naruto and the Kyuubi, as well as Madara's chakra. They want to go and help fight the elder Uchiha, but Orochimaru refuses to release them from his Edo Tensai. Tobirama attempts to break free, but Orochimaru has strengthened the restraint of the Edo Tensai by using cells of the First Hokage. Hashirama then states that he will answer Sasuke's questions before anyone tries to leave. He doesn't want to create a new Madara by not answering the questions. The chapter then flashes back to Hashirama versus Madara fight for control of the Leaf village and Madara is using the Kyuubi no Youko in the battle and this is where the chapter ends. This chapter was ok, but really not much of anything happened in it. It basically was just a filler chapter and nothing more.

Yes, I'm still thoroughly disgusted that Kishimoto hasn't done anything yet with Hinata's confession to Naruto now reaching 183 freaking issues!

Now I'd like to give a shout out to a couple of stories of quality work that I recommend. I urge all of you to check-out these fine works when you have the time.

Recommendations:

"The Fox and the Lioness: A Naruto FanFiction" by KittyKatChan96: This story is just a solid, cute, and enjoyable NarutoxHinata pairing story. It's only four chapters in so far, so catching up on it won't take anyone forever. Because of that, I won't go into any details about the story, but if you're a fan of NarutoxHinata then I'm positive that you will enjoy reading this tale.

"Bugging You" by Seriously Nuts: This is probably one of the funniest and romantic NarutoxHinata stories I've come across. The essential plot is what is Naruto to do after everyone convinces his girlfriend Hinata to go on a seduction mission? That's easy; make their life a living hell till her return. He does this in spades to all of the other characters and the ending of the story will both surprise and amuse you. So, if you're looking for something fun and different in a Naruto story, then this is one you should checkout.

Now please be kind and leave precious valuable reviews on these stories.

As always, if anyone wants to discuss my story in greater detail, just shoot me a PM. I enjoy talking about the story with any readers who really have an interest in it. I'll try to respond back to you as quickly as I can.

Take it easy and be good!

Kingkakashi

School Time:

Ignominious

Definition: Marked with or characterized by disgrace, shame, or infamy.

Etymology: Latin to late Middle English 1375-1425a.d.

Part of Speech: Adjective