Hey Readers! So, it took me longer to finish this chapter, but it is twice as long as the previous at a little over 20,000 words, so I hope that makes up for a longer wait :D I really enjoyed this lighter, fluffier chapter and look forward to more in the future.

No one has mentioned this to me yet but I would like to say it now before I get questions on the matter. I have decided to leave Sai out of my story. I am still following the flow of canon, but I feel that Sai is not really a necessary character for the story to go on, as he can easily be replaced with either Yamato or Kakashi on missions, and I don't feel that he adds much to the story, especially so since my version has the Ino-Shika aspect to it.

Also, thanks to one of the comments I realized in the last chapter Sakura never gave Naruto his orange jumper back. Thanks to that comment I had a good idea on how to start this next chapter though - so thank you again! I've tried a lot harder not to miss small details like that in this chapter and the ones to come.

This chapter is heavily written more on my ideas than what actually happens in canon so I would love to know your opinion on the scenes I have created as well. Creating scenes in the Naruto-universe is still new to me - not completely confident/ sure what I'm doing yet.

Anywho, if you find any mistakes, as always feel free to let me know.

Signing off, Cherry is typing...

Sakura woke up before sunrise. It was just bright enough now to see the surrounding area. She got around 5 hours of sleep, which was pretty good for a ninja. As she rubbed the morning gunk out of her eyes, she slowly got up and neatly folded her sheets. Being careful not to wake the others, she took a step towards the opening of the large tent.

"Hey, where are you going so early, forehead?" Ino whispered, she had one elbow up supporting her upper body as the other hand rubbed her eye.

"Shut up, Ino-pig. Why are you always up when I am?" Sakura put her finger to her mouth as to shush the blonde as she whispered harshly.

Ino shook the sleepiness away and had a better look at her pinkette friend.

"I'm a sensory type ninja, I sleep light. But that doesn't answer my question." Ino grinned, now sitting up fully.

Sakura put a hand to her hip and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I was planning to go clean up by the river before it gets overcrowded if you must know." Sakura explained in a hushed tone.

Ino nodded. She tilted her head to the side, putting a questioning finger to her chin.

"I didn't notice last night in the dark, but you look good in orange." She smiled innocently.

Sakura blushed lightly at the comment. Her temper got the best of her and she, quietly, stormed out of the tent. Leaving a silently giggling Ino inside. With everything that happened last night, she had completely forgotten that she went to sleep wearing Naruto's jumper.

Hinata laid on her side facing Tenten who was sprawled across the floor sleeping soundly. Only the occasional 'Scroll of…' or 'Neji that tickles…' sounded from the girl's mouth. As for Hinata, the truth was she had been awake when Sakura came in the tent late last night and had awoken again this morning when Sakura did too. After all, she was a sensory-type ninja as well. Hinata felt a pang of guilt for eavesdropping on a clearly private conversation, but she couldn't help herself when it came to Naruto. She thought over the words she heard from Ino and Sakura's conversation.

'I saw you and Naruto walk off together, you two took an awfully long time for just two containers of water.'

'It's okay to move on...Shikamaru is my teammate too.'

And, the most recent addiction.

'You look good in orange.'

Hinata had her eyes closed tight as to give off the appearance of sleep, but anyone could piece together the meaning behind Ino's words to Sakura, and there was only one man that was known for wearing orange. It was obvious that something more than friendship was developing between Naruto and Sakura, and Ino was clearly encouraging her to go for it. Hinata felt her heart drop as her thoughts rolled over in her head. She squeezed her eyes tighter together. Jealously was a difficult feeling to overcome.

'Should I try harder to talk to Naruto-kun? But I'm still so shy...I'll probably just stutter something stupid anyways...or worse, faint again.'

'Maybe this is a sign to give up on him, he never was that interested in me anyway, and he clearly has a better bond with Sakura-san...'

'He'd always ask Sakura-san out on dates, too...'

'But I've loved him since we were children! That's got to count for something!'

'Ah but...we're not children anymore, people change. That doesn't make sense either.'

'Should I confess my feelings to him before it's too late?'

'But what if he rejects me? Then things will be awkward between us. I don't want that either...'

'Does Naruto-kun like confident girls like Sakura-san?'

'I wonder what Naruto-kun thinks about me.'

'I wonder what Naruto-kun thinks about Sakura-san.'

'I wonder if he loves-'

Hinata opened her eyes wide. Her thoughts were running at a thousand miles per minute. She breathed deeply and attempted to calm herself down. Hinata was unsure of what to do. She liked Sakura-san and wished her all the best, but she also had the biggest crush on Naruto for the longest time, and she wasn't ready to give up on him so easily.

Hinata sat up and rubbed her injured leg. She knew at some point today she'd have to drop by the medic cabin to get it checked but dreaded seeing Sakura-san there. Hinata decided to push away the inevitable and get a few more minutes of rest to clear her mind.

...

Sakura felt grungy. She hadn't had a proper shower for at least two days now. She walked down the dirt road mixed with tents and wooden houses that surrounded the area. Reaching Lady Tsunade-sama's tent, she took a peek inside. Shizune was fast asleep in a cross-legged position next to the unconscious Hokage, and two leaf shinobi stood guard inside. She nodded politely to the guards as they did the same. As she poked her head back out of the tent, she said a silent prayer wishing for her mentor to quickly get better. Sakura continued on her walk looking up at the dark sky, watching as it went from a dark blue to purple. Sakura looked down at her hands which were completely covered by the long orange fabric.

'It's warm.' The tips of her mouth turned upward involuntarily at the thought.

She made her way to the same river she and Naruto visited just a few hours ago. It almost felt like a dream to her, as if the tender moments they shared were too unreal to have happened. As she neared the spot they had sat in the night before, the slightly flattened grass confirmed that it wasn't just a dream.

Sakura walked down the river bank where she knew the river dropped off into a small waterfall and pond. Once she arrived, she neatly removed her clothes, including Naruto's jacket. Sakura hoped that no one else had decided to wake up at 5 am for a cold shower. She decided to keep on her bra and panties anyway, feeling a little too exposed already. She first scrubbed her clothes clean, wringing them out and hanging them on a low-hanging tree branch along with Naruto's jumper.

Sakura shivered as she stepped into the cold water, but started to warm up slightly as she stayed in the miniature lake for a few more minutes. She swam slowly towards the waterfall, the ground was high enough for her to stand, the water reaching up to her knees. She used the waterfall as a natural shower, rinsing off all the dirt and muck in her hair. She closed her eyes and let the small streams of water hit her face. For a few seconds, her mind was blank. It was blissful until of course, her mind started to turn its gears again.

Sakura first thought back to last night. The image of Naruto's face in the moonlight seemed to be engraved in her brain. Her heart began to beat a little faster as the memories from the night before were replayed in her head like a play.

'Damn it! Why is my heart racing from just thinking about him? Is it because of the secret promise I made about him?'

Sakura scrunched her hair with her fingers in slight frustration but quickly relaxed again. Her lidded eyes opened slightly as Naruto's bright smile in the moonlight flashed through her memories. She bit her lip, trying but failing to suppress a smile at the image in her head.

'Or…am I actually starting to have feelings for UzumakiNaruto...?'

Sakura's thoughts were cut short from the sound of a loud twig cracking.

She spun around, looking towards the direction of the sound. She squinted her eyes and spotted a small glimpse of blond hair poking out from behind the tree where her clothes and Naruto's jumper were hung.

"Who's there?! Come out so I can kick your ass, pervert!" Sakura yelled with her fist clenched.

No reply.

She ducked into the water as to cover herself up using the small body of water. She neared the edge of the water and asked again.

"I know your still behind that tree." Sakura spoke loudly, starting to get annoyed by whoever dared to peep at her.

Naruto gulped and wiped away a small stream of blood that had escaped from his nose. He came out awkwardly from behind the tree, waving at Sakura nervously.

"Y-Yo, Sakura-chan. Funny finding you h-here...it's still pretty early, dattebayo..." Naruto stuttered, sweat dripping from his forehead as he expected to be pummeled to death.

But Sakura didn't get mad this time. Instead, she blushed heavily, dropping her face deeper into the water.

'Of all people...!' She thought.

She shook herself out of the embarrassment and tried her best to return to her usual self.

"W-Well, don't just stand there, idiot! Turn around!" She spoke louder than she meant to, as she tended to do when nervous.

Naruto sighed deeply and spun around, thankful that he wasn't rocketed across the forest. He couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't unconscious yet, as an accident like this usually only went one way with Sakura.

'She probably doesn't want to get out of the water and risk any more exposure…what a shame.' Naruto thought, a tiny bead of blood starting to form from within his nose cavity again.

"And close your eyes!" Sakura added as she watched the back of Naruto's head, if she had lasers for eyes there would most definitely be a burn mark engraved into his skull already.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Naruto replied stiffly, shutting his eyes tightly together.

'So even her underwear is pink...'

He shook his head quickly and snapped his hands behind his back. He started to whistle as to distract his mind from going any deeper with the lewd thoughts. Naruto could hear Sakura come out of the water.

He continued to whistle, louder now.

Sakura laughed to herself at the blond-haired boy. She removed her underwear and ringed them out as much as possible, using her inhuman strength to squeeze almost every drop of water out of the material. She started to get dressed again.

Naruto could feel her presence to his rear, flinching as she reached over to the clothes that hung on the branch behind him.

"D-Did you sleep well, Sakura-chan?" He decided to end the awkward whistling with some equally as awkward small talk.

"I did, actually. I'm sorry I took your jumper with me, I forgot I was even wearing it." She replied as she also squeezed the life out of her pink hair.

"It's okay, you look good in orange, dattebayo." Naruto gave a quick thumbs up to her without moving the rest of his body, eyes still firmly shut in place.

Sakura stilled for a moment; her mind flashed back to the smug look Ino shot her earlier this morning.

Naruto not hearing any response hastily added on.

"I-I m-mean you always look good, Sakura-chan, great even! Really, really pretty!" He flared his hands on either side of him, his jazz hands only needing some music now.

Sakura smiled.

'He's cute…'

Sakura grabbed the orange jumper from the tree branch and swung it over his shoulder from behind. Naruto flinched slightly.

Before telling him it was okay to turn around, she took a second to look at his back. He was now wearing a plain dark blue t-shirt, his shoulder blades stretched the top of the material slightly, but it fit loosely around the rest of him. He still wore his usual orange pants that had his weapons belt attached to one leg. His shoes were the same as everyone else's, except for the colour which were black sandals that made for easier chakra control and mobility. This time his matching black headband was strapped around his forehead again, the fabric flowing behind his head in a knot.

'When did he get so tall?'

Sakura tapped the boys back, "Okay, you can turn around now."

Naruto turned to face the shorter girl. He made eye contact with her shiny sapphire eyes and gulped.

"So, why are you here so early?" Sakura questioned with a raised eyebrow and hand on her hip.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Oh, well, the same reason you came here, I guess." He stated a bit awkwardly.

"You shower?" Sakura teased.

Naruto pouted, dropping his shoulders.

"Awww, come on Sakura-chan, I'm not that bad."

"Your stench says otherwise." She replied, pinching her nose with a slight look of disgust.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto moaned in defeat.

Sakura laughed. The sound of her laughter perked Naruto up, and he shot an innocent smile at her.

"You know, Sakura-chan, about that date…" Naruto was pointing his fingers together nervously, the goofy smile he usually sported making a comeback.

"Oh…you want to do that already? I mean, I thought you might want to wait until things got back to normal a bit more." Sakura replied a little surprised he had asked about hanging out with her so soon.

Naruto shook his head from side to side quickly.

"Sakura-chan, I wise woman once told me yesterday to not wait until it's too late, dattebayo." Naruto huffed slightly, clenching a large fist up dramatically.

Sakura sighed with a small smile, internally laughing at his odd phrasing. She couldn't help but feel a little excited too.

"Well, we do have a lot to catch up on. I haven't heard the full story of how you resurrected the dead."

Naruto nodded, slower this time. His smile lessened for a moment but bounced right back as to not worry the girl in front of him. Naruto didn't like the idea of adding any of the stressful weight he held onto Sakura, but he also felt slightly relieved he had someone willing to share it with him.

"I'll probably be at the medic cabin for most of the day, so I'll be counting on you to swing by tonight and sweep me away from work." Sakura moved so that she stood beside him facing the other way. She put a firm hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed.

"Don't be late." She smiled both innocently and menacingly at the same time.

This time, though, Naruto did not cower away from the fiery pink girl. Instead, his eyes were full of pure happiness, he smiled wide and nodded quickly with a "You got it, dattebayo!"

Sakura let go of her grip and took a few steps towards the direction of the village.

"Well, we've got a lot of work to do back at the village. You should take it easy today, Hero." Sakura winked, both teasing and complimenting her teammate at the same time.

Naruto froze at the word 'Hero', his ears turning red at Sakura's wink.

"I'm heading off first." She spoke as she walked backwards towards the village.

"Ah, and you better be quick, a lot more people are bound to show up soon. See you around, Naruto." She smiled and waved, turning away in a light jog back to the village.

Naruto waved back with a smile. He watched as Sakura's petite back disappeared into the foliage of greenery.

Once Sakura was a good distance away, she stopped for a moment, slapping her hands to her cheeks, making the skin sting slightly.

'That wasn't weird, right?' Sakura asked herself.

'I've got to get a grip.' Sakura tried to regain her composure, her face going red as she thought of how much of herself Naruto might of seen.

Naruto threw off his clothes so he was in nothing but a pair of dark blue boxers that had little orange swirls on them. He dived into the cold water.

He sunk his head down so that only his eyes were visible, a deep blush on his face. The image of Sakura standing under the waterfall with very little on still lingering in his brain.

'I've gotta' calm down...' He thought as he shook his head violently.

Shikaku sat across from five officials of the land of fire. They were all dawned in black cloaks and tall black hats, the clothes were rimmed with white and red. Beside him sat the highest member of the Anbu, a mysterious man with dark brown hair who wore a dog-shaped mask. Beside him was Danzo, who had only one eye exposed as the other was always covered up in a bandage. Beside him were the two elderly council members of the Hidden Leaf. At the head of the table sat the fire nation's Feudal lord. He wore similar clothes to that of the other fire nation council members, except his hat looked like a large fan, with strips of gold strings hanging from it. The symbol for 'fire' marked the middle of the headwear. He was also fanning himself with a simple white paper fan with a black handle.

"...As for the Akatsuki, we the Leaf intend to keep pursuing them with the assistance of our allied nations." The old man from the Leaf's council, Homura, spoke.

The room nodded in agreeance.

The fire council member closest to the Feudal lord spoke. "With everything that has happened to the Hidden Leaf, the Land of Fire will offer our full support." He raised his glasses closer to his nose bridge as he spoke.

Homura nodded in acknowledgement. The glasses-wearing man continued, "First, we need to put together a budget. Then we need to ease the tensions between the other great nations, then-"

The man was cut off as Danzo spoke up.

"More importantly, we need to decide on a new Hokage for the Hidden Leaf." He stated.

Shikaku pinched his eyebrows down at this statement. Just as he had expected.

The Feudal lord spoke up, continuing to fan himself. "Shouldn't we just wait for Lady Tsunade-sama to wake up?" He questioned.

Koharu, the other elderly lady of the Leaf's council chipped in that Lady Tsunade-sama remained unconscious.

"The village is in ruins, and we don't know when she will awaken. We are having a difficult time deciding what line of action to take." The old woman finished.

The Feudal large clapped his fan together, tapping it into the palm of his hand. "I always thought Jiraiya-sama would take over eventually, but he's no longer here. It's a shame, I liked him." He spoke solemnly.

He continued. "So, then, who else is there?" The head of the table asked.

"In that case, I-"

"I think-"

Both Danzo and the Anbu masked man were interrupted as Shikaku sounded his recommendation.

"Hatake Kakashi is my best recommendation, my lord." He spoke confidently.

Danzo sneered at the spikey-haired man silently.

"Oh-ho, the son of the white fang! Yes, why not!" He spoke enthusiastically, unflapping his fan again.

The fire council members discussed the option. Some stating that Kakashi was indeed one of the best ninja in the leaf, complimenting his abilities at such a young age. One member mentioned if he was perhaps too young, as another noted that the fourth Hokage was even younger. Another chipped in that Kakashi was also the discipline of the fourth Hokage, Minato, who was taught by Jiraiya-sannin, who was further taught by the Third Hokage.

"Well then! That seems to settle it, there are no problems here now, right?" The Feudal lord spoke casually, happy that the answers to their issues were easily solved.

Danzo gritted his teeth.

"The Third Hokage's teachings is what lead to the annihilation of the leaf! The Atkatsuki member that attacked the leaf was once Jiraiya's discipline, after all. Their naïve, all of them!" Danzo spat.

"Jiraiya-sannin also had Naruto Uzumaki as his discipline. And he is the hero that saved our village, even convincing the Akatsuki leader to bring back the dead with his Rinnegan." Shikaku added in spite, staring down the one-eyed man that glared back at him.

"NONSENSE!" Danzo erupted, standing up from the table.

"I will be a Hokage like no other!" He finished.

The room went silent for a moment before another council member of the Fire nation spoke up.

"My lord, why don't we allow Danzo to be the Sixth Hokage?" He asked.

The feudal lord seemed to think over the option in his head for a few seconds before nodding.

Shikaku hastily added in, "A ridged one-sided way of ruling is not the way to g-"

He was interrupted as the Feudal lord spoke.

"I've made up my mind. Danzo, I appoint you as the sixth Hokage." He said as he pointed his fan towards the man in question. Danzo had a sinister smile on his face, satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. Shikaku cursed himself internally, wishing he had a chance to speak up more on Kakashi's behalf.

After Naruto finished washing up, he made his way to one of the training grounds within the surrounding forest. He tossed his jumper aside, hanging it on a tree branch to keep it as clean as he could for now. He started with some light workouts, which for a ninja meant three sets of 100's of whatever he decided to do. Naruto started off with one-handed pushups, doing three sets on each hand. He followed with pull-ups using a tree branch, then squats, using a medium-sized rock as added weight. After a few more stretches Naruto's warm-up was done and he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. He continued his solo training by creating two clones of himself. The three of them sat in a line cross-legged as the three Naruto's practiced going in and out of sage mode. This went on for a while, and Naruto being satisfied with his conversion rate, dispelled his clones. Only the original was left now. Naruto looked up to the baby blue sky above him. The sun was fairly high now, indicating it was around noon.

Naruto found a clean spot in the shade and laid back in the grass with one hand on his stomach and the other under his head. He closed his eyes and relaxed, letting a gentle breeze wash over him. His mind was completely blank for a few moments, but then a slow stream of thoughts started as he laid there. His mind went between his fights with Pain, the conversations they had, his sensei Jiraiya and his parents. The image of his mother and father was still fresh in his head. He thought about Sasuke and wondered what he and Orochimaru were doing right now. He thought about Sakura, and how much she probably missed Sasuke. His mind jumped back to Konan's words of advice.

'If there is a special woman in your life, tell her how you feel before it's too late...'

Then to his mother's words.

'Find yourself a nice girl, someone just like me, ok?'

Naruto couldn't help but think with everything that was going on in the world, was he selfish for trying to pursue something more? The Akatsuki are after him and the other Jinchuriki, there are so many people relying on him to find the answer to peace, and Sasuke was still out there, being manipulated by Orochimaru.

'I can't even bring Sasuke back to the village...I don't deserve her.' Naruto thought, frowning.

'Besides, Sakura-chan is in love with...'Naruto didn't even want to finish the thought. He shook his head from side to side.

'No, wait, dattebayo! She agreed to go on a real date with me! Maybe her feelings have changed. And something felt off last night when she asked me about Sasuke. Maybe-maybe I should ask her...how she feels about him...' Naruto debated the topic in his head.

'But I'm the one calling it a date, Sakura-chan is just going along with it to be nice, I bet I'm the only one overthinking all of this, damn it...' Naruto frowned his eyebrows, his eyes closed in thought.

'Why did I even ask her on a date, dattebayo? We're just friends...so why am I so excited...' He smiled slightly, the image of Sakura's smile in the moonlight re-entered his mind.

'Should I ask Ino to help me pick some flowers? I should ask Chojiwhich vendors sell the best food too, he's probably eaten from all of them already. Oh crap, should I change? Maybe Kakashi sensei of Captain Yamato still have something nice saved in the bunkers. No wait, that's too much, she'll think I'm overdoing it and get creeped out. Maybe we should just go find some ramen? AGH! Idiot, she's probably sick of ramen. She'll think I didn't even try to do something special. Maybe I should-'

"Naruto-san?" Lee was standing over Naruto so that when Naruto opened his eyes Lee's face took up most of the view.

Surprised, Naruto scrambled away, shifting backwards with his hands and feet until he his back reached the tree trunk behind him.

"I am sorry, Naruto-san! I did not mean to startle you! I have come to do some training as well. Were you asleep?" Lee stated, bowing slightly as he spoke.

"Ah-ah, Bushy brows, no I was just...thinking." Naruto replied, calming down now that he had his personal space back.

"Naruto-san, if you do not mind me asking, is there something troubling you?" Lee asked, his thick eyebrows bent in concern for his blue-eyed friend.

Naruto sat with his knees up and arms cradling his legs. He frowned with his eyebrows knit down, his eyes slightly squinted.

Lee took this as an invitation to sit and crossed his legs, his back straight and face serious.

"Bushy brows...do you remember, when we were kids, you had a crush on Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his expression the same.

Lee blushed lightly; his eyebrows running up to his bangs.

"Yes, that is indeed true. I was captivated by her beauty." Lee replied.

Naruto gave him a look from the side, clearly annoyed at Lee's reply.

Lee frantically followed up.

"Ah-ah b-but! That was a long time ago! I no longer feel that way for Sakura-chan...actually, there is someone else who has recently captured my heart with her stunning beauty." Lee coughed, the blush on his cheeks growing.

"So...your feelings changed, huh. I guess that's pretty normal 'ttebayo'..." Naruto muttered, looking back at the grass in front of him. A smile crept up on his face as a small glimmer of hope shined through.

Lee clenched an encouraging bandaged fist up, nodding quickly as he realized whatever he had said had cheered Naruto up.

"That's right! It is perfectly normal for feelings to change, Naruto-san." Lee finished.

Naruto relaxed a bit more now, moving a leg down so it laid more comfortably on the grass. Naruto stretched both hands then touched his palms to the ground so that his arms leaned behind him, supporting his weight slightly as he looked up to the tree leaves.

Lee looked at his friend questioningly.

"Naruto-kun, by chance – is this about Sakura-chan and Sasuke-san?" Lee asked.

Naruto gulped. Was he that obvious? Naruto laughed it off however and nodded, it's not like he was trying to keep his crush on Sakura a secret. Naruto was sure that almost everyone he knew had some idea of his feelings towards the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah, you're right. But wait – who do you like?" Naruto grinned mischievously at his green-clad friend.

Lee blushed again and looked away with his nose to the air, crossing his arms he stuttered.

"It-it-it's n-no one! De-definitely not a H-Hyuga or a-anything!" Lee stuttered loudly. He shot up to his feet nervously as to avoid the topic, but his mind flashed to a girl with long dark hair and milky eyes.

Naruto gave Lee an unimpressed look.

'Hinata?' They would look good together, I guess.' Naruto thought as he rose to his feet as well, trying to picture the pair holding hands lovingly made him chuckle a bit.

"Whatever you say, bushy brows. Well, thanks, I think you helped me clear some stuff up." Naruto slapped a thankful hand against Lee's shoulder with a wide grin. Lee returned the smile with an unbelievably larger smile and a thumbs up.

Neji approached the smiling men as he made his way to the same training grounds as well.

'Those two are so much alike, a pair of idiots...'Neji thought, although he smiled slightly as well when he saw the lively pair chatting. They were definitely two of the most stupid – but hard-working ninja's he knew.

"I did not know you two had that type of relationship..." Neji coughed with his eyes closed, walking towards the pair of smiling men.

Naruto jumped back comically in disgust.

"OI, NEJI! Don't get the wrong idea, dattebayo!"

"Yes, he is right Neji! I was just giving Naruto-san some advice about girls, I think!" Lee shouted as well, his last few words coming out more like a question than a statement.

Neji coughed again, his ears turning a slight pink.

"A-and, what have you two learned?" Neji asked, trying to appear nonchalant even though he, too, was interested in receiving some advice.

Naruto and Lee both picked up on this and gave Neji a smug look, smiling devilishly at the Hyuga.

"You know what, never mind. I came here to train!" Neji huffed, embarrassed as the other two laughed at his expense.

Naruto felt a lot better now that he wasn't the only one with girl trouble. After the tears of laughter had dried up, Naruto said his goodbyes, throwing on his jumper again. He left the two teammates to train and spar with each other.

As Naruto returned to the bustling village, he walked around and saw countless of new faces working hard to put up new buildings. There were people from nearby villages as well that had already arrived to help out. Naruto had also heard that Gaara was sending people over to help, as well as some other places too. The Hidden leaf would be rebuilt in a matter of months at this rate. As Naruto walked, he offered his help to countless of people hard at work, but all denied him. Everyone shooed him away, telling him that he should rest and take it easy. Naruto wasn't used to being treated this way by the villagers, and he also wasn't used to 'taking it easy' too. Naruto gave up trying to offer his help after being rejected a few more times and instead turned his attention to something else. He scanned the village for a purple-dressed girl with long blonde hair.

Finally spotting the girl, who was currently in charge of handing out lunches to people who had lined up, he walked towards her yelling.

"Ino! I need your help!" Naruto shouted.

Ino looked up past the line of people in front of her, then said something to the fellow ninja beside her. The man nodded and Ino removed the apron she was wearing, handing it to another shinobi to take her place. Ino jogged over to the orange-suited man.

"Naruto! What's up?" Ino asked a bit surprised he was looking for her.

Naruto scratched his whiskered marked cheek.

"You won't get in trouble for ditching, right?" Naruto asked timidly.

Ino raised an eyebrow but shrugged.

"If it's you who's asking, I don't think they'll mind." Ino replied, looking in the direction of her temporary co-workers assigned to hand out food to the public.

"What do you need help with?" Ino asked with a hand on her hip.

"W-well, your family had a flower shop, right? I was wondering if you could help me pick out some flowers." Naruto pouted his lips nervously, pointing his fingers together.

Ino shot Naruto a smug smile.

"Flowers? And who are these flowers for?" Ino asked innocently.

Naruto twiddled his fingers in circles now, stuttering that he had a date tonight with Sakura-chan.

Ino's smiled widen as she slapped Naruto on the back congratulating him.

'Alright! Way to go Sakura! She's finally listening to me!' Ino thought as she continued to abuse the boys back.

"Wow, Naruto! Way to go!" Ino encouraged him as he smiled goofily, rubbing his head now with one hand.

Ino put a finger to her lip as she held her elbow with the other hand questionably.

"Well, if it's flowers you're looking for, then I know of a great place to get them. But it'll take at least half an hour there and back, what time is this date of yours?" Ino asked, still smiling cheerfully.

"Well, we didn't really set an exact time. Maybe around six tonight?" Naruto replied tilting his head in thought as he itched his chin.

"Alright, well it's almost 1:00, so we better get going. We need to get something from the bunker that you'll need as well." Ino looked towards the stone Hokage's faces.

Naruto nodded, not questioning what they would need and trusting that Ino knew what she was doing. They walked together towards the staircase that led up to the large rooms behind the cliffside. Before they made it, however, Naruto's stomach growled loudly. They two made a pit stop at a vendor stall that had come over from a nearby town. Naruto purchased a bowl of Yakisoba noodles, which was nothing like ramen but satisfied his noodle needs. Ino watched as the boy slurped down two bowls within a minute. Naruto let out a loud belch, thanking the stand owner with a big grin as he ended up getting the food for free.

'Man, being a hero has its advantages.'Naruto thought, patting his now semi-full stomach in satisfaction.

Ino raised an eyebrow. 'You're going to have to learn how to cook a lot better for this one, Sakura...'

From a distance, Shikamaru and Sakura both stood watching the pair questionably. They both had exited from Lady Tsunade-sama's tent not too long ago. Sakura was there to check on the Fifth's condition. Shikamaru and been temporarily put in charge with logistical manners along with Shizune and Kakashi whiles Danzo and his dad, Shikaku, had already left for the meeting with the Feudal lords regarding the title of the next Hokage very early this morning.

Sakura and Shikamaru looked at each other, then back to Ino and Naruto, with a raised eyebrow. It was strange to see those two together, alone, as they don't really have much in common.

'Wait, yesterday when Naruto got back I could have sworn I heard Inowhisper that she could almost fall for that goofball. I thought I was hearing things. Was she serious?!' Shikamaru thought, his face showing clear annoyance as he watched the pair from afar.

'What the hell is Ino up to now?! And why is he standing so close to her?! You better back off, buddy!'Sakura thought, a small flame starting to form in her eyes.

People walking by started to walk around Shikamaru and Sakura as the two shinobi emanated a slightly killer aura.

"Sakura...did Ino mention anything to you...about Naruto." Shikamaru asked in a hushed tone, embarrassed now that he was asking such a thing in the first place.

Sakura snapped out of her fiery state, looking up at the black pointy-haired man she smirked now.

"Nah, she's all yours, trust me." Sakura now winked, feeling satisfied that it was her turn to tease someone else. Shikamaru blushed lightly and shoved his hands into his pockets. He walked off in the opposite direction muttering 'Women...what a drag...'

Sakura also made a move towards the medical cabin where there were still many injured villagers and ninja alike from yesterday's attack. She pushed whatever was going on with her teammate and best friend to the back of her mind as she refocused on her current duties towards the village.

Ino and Naruto finally reached the bunker. Ino analyzed the room until she found a chest marked 'Yamanaka' on it. Pulling the chest from the shelf of the many boxes and containers the filled the dimly lit room, she dusted it off slightly and opened it up. As Ino was crouched on the floor rummaging through the contents of the chest, Naruto stood behind her, peeking into the chest as well, curious as to what they needed from it.

Ino pulled out a small orangey-brown clay pot. The rim of the pot had a simple design of leaves and veins, and the bottom rim of the pot had the same design, the only difference being that the vein of leaves went in the other direction.

Ino dusted off the small pot and handed it to Naruto to hold. The blonde girl carefully put away her family chest as Naruto curiously examined the fragile flower pot.

As Ino now patted herself down from all the dust she had collected on herself, she started to explain why she was giving away one of her family heirlooms to him.

"This pot, just like the others in that chest, was passed down through generations of my family. From what my dad told me; our family used to sell clay pots that we hand made before we started selling flowers to go with them. I think it'll be a perfect gift for Sakura!" Ino clapped her hands together excitedly, the idea of love also made her giddy.

Naruto examined the small flower pot once more, this time giving it an approving nod.

"Thanks, Ino! This is perfect!" Naruto smiled widely as he started to remove a small scroll from his leg pouch. He laid the scroll on the ground as he knelt down with one knee, placing the delicate clay pot on top of the paper, and with a one-handed ram sign, he sealed it away safely.

Naruto carefully tucked the scroll back into his pouch, but now a question rose to the front of his mind.

"Hey, Ino, I think this flower pot idea is great, but it's pretty small, I mean I think I can only plant one flower in it. Wouldn't a bouquet of flowers be better?" Naruto questioned the purple-suited girl.

Ino had a hand on her hip and shook a disapproving figure at the other blonde in front of her.

"What do you think is better? A single elegant flower, blooming and alive, or a bunch of dead flowers that will rot a lot sooner?" Ino spoke matter-of-factly. She added,

"Besides, haven't you ever heard the saying? When you like a flower, you pick it, but when you love a flower, you water it." She finished.

Naruto nodded slowly, processing this newfound information.

"L-Love...you say, 'ttebayo." Naruto stuttered, blushing lightly at the word.

"Water Sakura...ok, got it. Thanks, Ino!" Naruto finished confidently, trying his best to make sense of Ino's words of wisdom.

Ino laughed lightly and nodded.'I'm starting to understand what Sakura sees in him, I guess he is quite cute...' Ino thought as she made her way out of the room, Naruto tagging closely behind her.

Ino made her way into another room that was filled to the brim with large drawers and dressers of clothes. This room was dedicated to spare clothing for the entire village, it was even organized into sections for men, women, and children. Ino made her way to the men's section as Naruto trailed behind, touching and looking at anything orange as he followed.

"No offence, Naruto, but your usual get-up is not going to cut it tonight. I think you should wear something...I little less flashy, and a little more casual." Ino explained delicately as to not scare the not-so fashion-forward boy.

Naruto huffed, demanding to know what was wrong with his current outfit, but deflated as Ino told him off. He unwillingly agreed to let her pick something out for him.

"Don't worry, Naruto, I'm not going to put you in something you'd never be caught dead in. It's got to look natural after all." Ino explained as she sifted through the shirt section.

Ino finally finding everything she needed, handed a pile of clothes to Naruto and demanded that he try it on right there and then. Ino turned around as she waited for the boy to quickly change into the new outfit.

"Okay, it's on." Naruto spoke, cueing Ino to turn around.

Ino gasped slightly, she wiped away a single dramatic tear from her eyes and clapped her hands together happily. She jumped up and down as she examined her work more up close.

"Do I... look good?" Naruto asked, becoming a lot more self-conscious than he was used to about his looks.

"You look smokin', Naruto! You should dress like this more often. Sakura owes me big time for all this, I wish I could see the look on her face..." Ino trailed off as she noticed Naruto was starting to turn a bright red.

"Y-you think S-Sakura-chan will like this, 'ttebayo?" Naruto stuttered, his nerves getting to him again.

Ino smiled and pushed the boy towards a long mirror at the back of the room. Naruto had his eyes closed, slightly scared to look at himself in the mirror. He never wore anything different before besides the occasional plain black, white, or blue t-shirts.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he could see himself from head to toe, with Ino standing happily in the background pleased with her work.

Naruto wore a plain white long-sleeved shirt that fit a little loose around his wrist. On top of that was a loose-fitted black t-shirt with an orange Uzumaki styled swirl in the front. His pants, however, were almost identical to his own, as they were orange but just a slightly darker shade. He sported the same black sandals as usual. All in all, the look was pretty simple, but was layered stylishly with complimenting colours.

"So, do you like it?" Ino asked excitedly.

Naruto nodded and started to smile; he gave Ino the thumbs up. Naruto changed back into his usual getup and sealed away the outfit in the same scroll he placed the flower pot in. Finally having everything they needed, they made their way out of the bunker.

"Hey, is it okay for me to just take clothes like that?" Naruto asked, the question not occurring to him until now.

Ino shrugged, "The clothes in there are for anyone who needs it. And you definitely need it." Ino replied, putting stress on the word 'definitely'.

Naruto slumped his shoulders down at her reply, slightly offended. He quickly let it go however as he had already decided to trust opinion.

Ino lead the way as they headed towards where the flower patch was to finish off Naruto's romantic gift. They travelled in typical ninja-style, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, making various twists and turns along the way. When they finally arrived, Ino jumped down towards the ground, landing lightly on the dirt ground. Naruto landed not a second later beside her.

Looking around, Naruto scratched his head.

"So, uh, where are all the flowers?" He questioned as all he saw was trees, grass, bushes, and what looked like to be an entrance to a small cave.

Ino didn't reply but instead lead the way inside of the small cave entrance, as they walked in the dark Ino brought out a small flashlight she had concealed in her ninja tool belt. Eventually, the ceiling got so low they had to crouch; Naruto was practically crawling now as he found a new disadvantage to his height.

"Oi, Ino, where the hell are we-"

Naruto stopped in his tracks as Ino now stood tall in a large tavern filled to the brim with different shades and shapes of flowers. He stood next to her now fully upright, the cave wall was so tall now that he looked up and whistled. At the top of the cave ceiling was a medium-sized hole that allowed just enough sunlight to light up the large tavern nicely.

"This place is actually a Yamanaka family secret. The flowers in here are perfect for us ninja's, they don't need much sunlight and water to survive, so they pretty much never die. The cave enclosure also keeps this place warmer and protects the flowers from large animals or strong winds. These flowers are all basically un-killable, so when your away on long missions, you can still come home to a beautiful blossoming flower."

Naruto nodded, still in awe at the large space. It certainly was beautiful.

"To be honest, I wanted to bring Shikamaru here first. But since it's for Sakura, I don't mind." She smiled towards Naruto, then dropped her smile quickly into a serious, almost scary look.

"Which means, Naruto, you better take good care of her." Ino threatened.

Naruto gulped, 'Why are women so scary?'He thought. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead, he nodded vigorously, attempting to shake away the fear she had instilled in him.

The two walked around delicately as to not trample on any of the many blooming flowers, they both examined the different colours and shapes carefully. Ino looked up from the current flower she was looking at to see a very confused looking Naruto scratching his chin in thought.

"Flowers all have different meanings behind them, Naruto. Have you thought about what message you want to convey to Sakura with your gift?"

Naruto thought over Ino's question in his head. Message? He hadn't thought that deeply about it. Naruto just figured giving a girl some flowers on a first date was something standard.

"You know, when Sakura and I were younger, we would pick flowers together and make all sorts of crowns and bracelets out of them. We even started our own secret garden together too. So, knowing her she will definitely look deeper into the meaning behind it." Ino smiled gently as she crouched down, brushing the petal of a white flower softly.

Naruto frowned his brows even harder, racking his brain for an answer.

'A message. A deeper meaning. A flower that represents...trust? That could be good, since I want Sakura-chan to be able to trust me with anything. Or...loyalty? So she knows where I stand with her. Or maybe...friendship? No, wait, no definitely not that, dattebayo.' Naruto shook his head from side to side disapprovingly at the last thought he formed.

Ino watched the boy with pity, sighing, she decided to push Naruto in the right direction.

"You also need to think about what you want Sakura to feel when she looks at the flower. In this case, the colour of the flower is very important." Ino spoke like a true florist, but as she looked at Naruto, she could see the confusion growing on his face. She continued.

"A pink flower, for example, would remind her of herself, which will make her think you picked it out with her in mind. But an orange flower, for example, would remind her of you. That way, when she looks at it, she thinks of you too."

Naruto nodded slowly with his eyes closed, his hand still on his chin as he was deep in thought.

"Then, I want to get her an orange flower, dattebayo!" Naruto planted a firm fist on top his palm, having finally made a decision on something.

"That's a good choice, Naruto. Orange flowers are known to symbolize feelings of excitement and enthusiasm, the colour suits you well. Now that that's settled, you need to pick the type of flower. This is where the meaning comes from, so think again, what message do you want to convey to Sakura?"

Naruto frowned; he was stuck on this part. Who knew a flower could be so complicated?

Ino getting the hint that he needed more help spoke up again.

"Orange lilies, for example, represent confidence, pride, and even wealth. It's a great gift for someone who has just accomplished something, like a graduation or being promoted in their job." Ino turned her attention to another orange flower near her right foot.

"Marigolds represent creativity, passion, and light. Although it's also a flower often associated with spirits and guiding the dead."

Naruto shivered slightly as he listened to Ino's second explanation. He shook his head from side to side, indicating a big no-go on that one.

Ino changed spots, spotting one of her personal favourites.

"This one is a Culip, which is similar to a Tulip except for the leaves on the Culip resemble a heart. Orange Culips represent appreciation between two people in a relationship. It can also mean you feel both physically and spiritually connected to someone. It's actually quite the romantic flower, the name derives from the word Cupid." Ino explained slowly as to not lose Naruto now that they got this far.

"Oh, Cupid! The baby that goes around shooting people with arrows and making them fall in love, dattebayo?" Naruto asked eagerly, trying to make sense of everything.

Ino tilted her head, sighing. "Yes, Naruto, that's right. Well, what do you think?"

Naruto carefully walked towards the flower Ino was currently nearby.

"The orange Culip...that sounds perfect for Sakura-chan, 'ttebayo." He smiled excitedly as he crouched down near said flower. With Ino's careful instruction, he scooped out the dirt surrounding the flower, being careful not to damage the roots. Naruto then extracted the scroll in which the clay pot was sealed away, and with a poof of smoke, it reentered the world. He carefully placed the orange Culip into the pot, packing it with extra soil as well. After dusting off his hands, he resealed the flower into his scroll.

Naruto and Ino made their way out of the cave and began their journey back to the village. As they leap from tree-to-tree Ino couldn't help her curiosity and began to ask Naruto what he planned to do with Sakura tonight.

"Actually, Ino, I was wondering if I could bring her there tonight, dattebayo." Naruto asked in hope Ino was willing to share the secret spot with one more person.

As Ino lead the way in front she secretly smiled to herself. She had hoped that Naruto had been bright enough to want to bring her there. The tavern was especially beautiful at night once the moon aligned with the opening in the ceiling. There were also fireflies that tended to wander in throughout the night.

"Hmmm, well, I guess I'll allow it just this once." Ino spoke as if she was doing Naruto a huge favor, when in fact she was just as excited for them as they were for each other.

Naruto was ecstatic now. He had the perfect gift, outfit, and location thanks to Ino. Now he just needed to seal the deal with some good food for dinner and he was set. Naruto rushed past Ino in excitement, he grinned like a goofball as he thought of the look on Sakura's face once she saw the flower-filled tavern. Ino smiled as he watched the excited boy jump from branch to branch.

Once they returned to Konoha, Ino wished him the best of luck and went on her way. It was already going onto 4:00 pm now since they had taken up quite a bit of time in the bunker and at the tavern. Naruto still had at least two more hours left to find a good place to get dinner for his big date tonight. As Naruto walked the streets of Konoha, he looked between vendor to vendor, trying to decide what Sakura would like best. He knew she had a sweet tooth for dango dumplings so that was definitely on his radar.

Naruto spotted Choji and Shikamaru standing at one of the vendor's stalls eating Takoyaki, Choji holding two sticks of the octopus balls in both hands. Naruto jogged over to them.

"Hey, Choji, Shikamaru! If you were going on a date tonight, where would you take your date to eat?" Naruto asked getting straight to the point.

Both Choji and Shikamaru raised their eyebrows at the question.

"Who...do you have a date with?" Shikamaru asked scratching his cheek, his mind flashing back to earlier today when he spotted Ino and Naruto together.

"I'm taking out Sakura-chan tonight." Naruto replied timidly.

Shikamaru sighed in relief internally, not daring to show his mini panic to the outside world. Both the boys now grinned giving Naruto an approving look.

"Hmmm. That's a good question Naruto. It's tough since all we have right now are the vendors that came to help and the food that the kitchen staff are handing out to the village..." Choji trailed off, taking this food-related question very seriously.

"W-well, you know, sometimes Ino would pack us group bento boxes for lunch when we trained together, those were always really good." Shikamaru coughed, trying his best to pitch in for his friend.

"Eh? Really? Ino can cook? Ah but...I've already asked her for help with everything else, dattebayo." Naruto finished, his shoulders slumping. He didn't want to chase down Ino again after all she's already done to help him.

"Hinata-chan makes really good bento boxes too, I know because I stole-I mean I sampled some of Neji and Lee's lunches before." Choji stated as he finished another stick of Takoyaki.

Naruto's eyes brightened and he asked them if they knew where she would be. After Choji informed him she was helping out as one of the kitchen staff, he jogged off in the direction of the kitchen cabin. Once he arrived, he walked straight in, receiving a few waves and bows as he entered the kitchen. No one questioned why he was there and simply welcomed him in. Another perk of being the village hero, he thought briefly, his nose growing slightly as his ego inflated comically.

As he entered the busy kitchen, he tried not to get in anyone's way as the kitchen staff were bustling around trying to prepare the next meal to hand out for dinner. Naruto spotted Hinata in a corner and carefully made his way over. She was sat on a chair peeling a large bucket of potatoes.

"Hinata! I need your help with something!" He spoke loudly, waving and making his way through the make-shift kitchen towards her.

Hinata was more than startled as she looked up from her current half-peeled potato, almost pricking her finger in the process. She blushed heavily.

"N-Naruto-kun. You were l-looking for me?" Hinata managed to blurt out as she looked up at the blond who now towered over her.

Naruto's smiled widen, he laughed a bit awkwardly.

"Well, yeah. I was wondering if you could help me make a bento box, for two, dattebayo." Naruto requested, rubbing the palms of his hands together in a begging manner.

Hinata thought over the request. Any other time she would have agreed right away, but with the recent developments with Sakura, she couldn't help but second guess herself. In the end, she agreed, as she couldn't refuse a request from Naruto. After getting permission from one of the people in charge of the kitchen, they picked the quietest corner and got to work.

As Hinata helped Naruto prepare the bento box in one corner of the kitchen, she tried her best to investigate without seeming too pushy.

"N-Naruto-kun, how come you want to make bento boxes all of a sudden, are they for anyone in p-particular, I mean." Hinata asked timidly, the blush on her face never leaving.

"Ah, well, it's for someone special, I guess you could say, 'ttebayo." Naruto paused from the little flower-shaped carrots he was cutting, shooting Hinata a shy smile.

Hinata's eyes widen slightly at his reply, she could feel her heart thump as Naruto smiled at her, then instantly sink as the words registered in her head.

'Someone special...' Hinata thought as she cut up more vegetables for the bento box.

Naruto wondered if he should have told her it was for his date tonight with Sakura-chan, but he decided against it. Hinata was different from Ino or the boys. They were childhood classmates and he cared for her, but they simply weren't as close as they were as kids. Besides, Naruto didn't want news of his date spreading like wildfire or Sakura might think he's been bragging about it, which would totally ruin his 'cool' factor. Naruto shrugged it off, it wasn't like he was lying to her and he figured that she would be satisfied enough with that answer.

Once they were done preparing and cooking all the ingredients, Naruto insisted that Hinata go back to what she was doing before he interrupted her. Hinata went back to her bucket of potatoes, but couldn't help but watch as Naruto carefully put together the rice, pork cutlet slices and sauce into the bento boxes. She watched as Naruto placed each vegetable individually into certain spots of the lunch box as if it would be the end of the world if it were not placed perfectly.

Hinata sighed, she thought to herself as she watched Naruto's surgeon-like hands go to work.

'Sakura-csnis one lucky girl...'

Naruto, finally feeling satisfied with his work, looked at the two lunch boxes with satisfaction. On the menu tonight was Tonkatsu, which was pan fried pork cutlets with brown sauce on top. His hands were now covered in small bandages as he had managed to nick every single finger at least once, if not twice. The two boxes were lined with three small colourful cupcake holders on the left side. The top one had a few pieces of steamed carrot slices that had been cut as circles instead of sticks. Naruto had personalized the carrots by cutting small triangles out of the top half of the circle so that the carrot resembled his own spikey hair. The middle one had cherry tomato halves, cut into the shape of a heart. The last one had two strawberries dipped in white chocolate, again shaped like a heart. The chocolate was a hard find but Naruto sneaked around the kitchen like it was the black market to find some. Naruto knew Sakura loved sweets and although Dango dumplings would have been the superior choice, he doubted he would be able to find any with the current state of the village. Even fresh fruit was a hot commodity right now.

The rest of the bento was filled with rice on the bottom and the pork cutlet slices on top, doused in a delicious brown sauce curtsey of Hinata. Naruto also strategically placed the 'flower' shaped carrots cutely around the pork and sauce.

He stacked the lunches on top of each other, using a red and white checkered patterned cloth he borrowed from the kitchen to wrap up the lunches. He whipped out his trusty scroll that held onto the other key ingredients to his date tonight and also sealed away their dinner for later.

As the bento's disappeared into the scroll with a poof, Naruto smoothly slid the scroll back into his leg pouch and walked back over to Hinata, who quickly pretended like she wasn't staring at him the whole time.

"Thanks again, Hinata. I couldn't have made something so delicious-looking without you. I owe you one, dattebayo!" Naruto bent over slightly as he thanked the girl sitting in the chair, giving the girl a friendly tap on the shoulder.

Hinata blushed, not able to help herself as her temperature rose. She nodded, but then she got an idea.

"A-Actually, Naruto-kun. I need to go visit the medic cabin to get my leg checked again. W-would y-you be able to help me get there?" Hinata stuttered, she had put down the peelers and potatoes, and was now twiddling her fingers in circles nervously.

'If I can't have Naruto-kun, I at least want one last moment with him...'Hinata thought. She knew it was selfish to ask a man who was clearly in love with someone else to take care of her, but Hinata decided she would try her best to move on after this.

Naruto smiled and nodded, helping Hinata to her feet. Hinata had a hand around Naruto's back, she clenched the sides of his jumper for support as well. Naruto had his hand around her waist, supporting her as she made small steps forward. Naruto explained that he was taking Hinata to get her leg checked to the staff in charge and they left the bustling cabin. Slowly, they made their way to the medic cabin.

Hinata could feel her heart racing. She looked up out of the corner of her eye, catching a glimpse of Naruto's face. He was looking straight ahead, his eyes sparkled and his cheeks seemed a little flush. He looked excited.

'He's looking forward to seeing Sakura-san...'

Hinata frowned slightly at the thought. She shook her head from side to side slightly, thinking to herself that she needed to move on. If Naruto was happy, then that's all she needed. Naruto's happiness took priority over anything, she convinced herself.

Naruto could see the medic cabin now; the front of the wooden house was marked with a big red plus sign that indicated it was a small temporary hospital. As they were about to enter, the door swung open.

"Sa-ku-ra!" Ino shouted, surprising her best friend from behind. Sakura stood inside the medic cabin where there were rows on rows of patients with a different variety of injuries from yesterday's attack. She had a white doctor's coat on, and a clipboard and pen in her hands. Ino wore the same get-up, as she was assigned to help out this afternoon as well. As Sakura finished writing down her patient's vitals, she turned to her blonde friend.

"What is it now, Ino?" Sakura replied, annoyed that Ino was interrupting her busy schedule.

"Oh, well, it's about your date." Ino replied innocently

Sakura coughed.

"When did you-" Sakura started, trying to question how Ino already knew about the details of her plans tonight that were just made this morning.

"I have my ways." Ino quickly interrupted as she smiled with her eyes closed and arms crossed proudly.

"Anyways, I picked out an outfit for you earlier today. It's in his scroll, you can thank me later." Ino shoved the scroll into Sakura's leg pouch, not hesitating to invade the girl's private space.

"What- Outfit-when, why-" Sakura stuttered, actually baffled by her friend and at a loss for words. Sakura ended her stuttering with a sigh, as Ino simply winked at her and walked away. She watched as Ino walked up to one of the supervisors on duty for the medic cabin, and after a few words, the glasses-wearing ninja started to walk her way.

Sakura's eyes widen slightly as she looked between the supervisor and Ino, wondering what she said to him to cause him to come over to her.

"Sakura-san, I have been informed that you have important business elsewhere. Don't worry about things here, you should get going. Lady Tsunade-sama needs you now more than ever..." The man finished, a dramatic tear appearing in the corner of his eye.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Ino in the back ground, the blonde simply winked and waved her hand, shooing Sakura away. Sakura bowed awkwardly to the man who was now wiping away his single tear and started to make her way out of the cabin, leaving her clipboard and lab coat behind. She swung the double doors open, deciding to make her way back to her shared tent before returning since this was where she and Naruto had planned to meet up.

As the door swung up, she collided with something orange, flattening the front of her nose.

"S-Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" Naruto asked, panicked. Sakura had bumped into him like his chest was a brick wall, unmoving. Rubbing her face, she squinted and looked up, wondering what had blocked the entrance. She blinked a few times as Naruto's panicked face came into view.

"Naruto! And...Hinata...?" Sakura trailed off, her eyes slowly moving to look at the girl with long black hair. Sakura's eyes followed Hinata's arm which was strapped around Naruto's back, then her eyes zigzagged back to Naruto's arm around Hinata's waist.

Sakura smiled, trying her best to fight the anger boiling up inside her.

"Hinata, how's your leg?" Sakura asked, her tone stern and ridged.

Hinata flushed and looked down to her feet. She quickly removed her arm from Naruto and walked further into the room with a slight limp.

"It-it's not so bad, Sakura-san. Naruto-kun was just helping me out a bit." Hinata explained.

Hinata wasn't sure why but she had felt guilty having been so close to Naruto in front of Sakura. Maybe it was because she could tell that Sakura was jealous, and she herself knew that feeling all too well.

"Oh, is that right? Naruto-kun is so nice, isn't he?" Sakura smiled, speaking in between gritted teeth.

Naruto gulped, he wasn't sure what he did wrong this time but he knew, somehow, he'd already messed up.

The situation deescalated as Hinata was taken away by another medic to get her leg checked, leaving Naruto and Sakura to themselves. They left the cabin, walking down the street together in silence for a bit.

"Naruto-"

"Sakura-ch-"

They both spoke at the same time.

They laughed, the tension between them easing.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, smiling now that he felt a little more relaxed.

Sakura also smiled as her shoulders untensed.

"I was just going to say, I wanted to drop by my tent before we start our...date." She finished, a light blush creeping up her face at the last word.

Naruto nodded quickly. "I was about to say the same thing, dattebayo! I'll meet you on top of the old bag's face, deal?" Naruto said enthusiastically, pointing towards the stone carving of the Fifth Hokage.

Sakura gave him a disapproving look at the old bag comment, but nevertheless, she agreed. She secretly questioned why they were meeting all the way up there away from the village, but shrugged it off and decided to trust that Naruto had something nice planned out. Hopefully, his idea of a date was not racing to see who could run around the village the fastest.

They decided to meet up again in 20 minutes and parted ways.

Sakura entered the large tent she had left early this morning. It was fairly empty with only a couple of sheets and pillows neatly packed away, and around low standing table made for eating in the middle. There was a small clock in the middle of the table which read 6:10 pm in the afternoon. Sakura pulled out the small scroll Ino had jammed into her leg pouch, unravelling the scroll on the table, she made the ram sign with one hand and the clothes Ino had secretly borrowed from the bunker came into view.

Upon first glance, the clothes seemed simple enough. The material and color were the same as the outfit she usually wore, a dark pink that matched her leaf village headband. Sakura got changed into the clothes Ino had picked out, the curiosity getting the best of her. When she was done, she was left wearing a simple plain dark pink dress. The straps were thin and the neckline was straight. The dress fit nicely, not hugging her body too tightly but just enough to allow her slender figure to show. The dress cut off just a few inches above the knee, and there were also two slits that ran down the sides that started on her upper thigh. The dress also came with a pair of short black shorts to wear under it. She started to feel excited as she got used to the new outfit. Sakura wanted to get a better look at herself and scanned the room for anything that could give her a better reflection. Ino's backpack that laid next to her pile of sheets caught her eye. Sakura took a quick look around, confirming she was alone and unzipped her friends' bag. She rustled through it and found a small lilac-coloured pouch. Opening it, she found some of Ino's makeup. Leave it to Ino to bring 'essential' makeup in her mission bag.

The pouch only contained a few items, a light pink blush, some face cream, a concealer stick and a pink lip gloss. Sakura carefully opened the blush compact which thankfully also had a small mirror in it.

She used the mirror to first exam her outfit, and then her face.

'Ino wouldn't mind if I used her stuff. No, I bet if she were here, she'd be insisting I use it.' Sakura convinced herself as she decided to first apply some facial cream. She quickly but gently rubbed the moisture back into her skin. She used a touch of the concealer to brighten up her under-eye area, dabbing the skin colour softly around with the tips of her ring fingers. Then, using the blush and mirror compact, she applied just the slightest of pink to her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Sakura remembered how Ino would do her makeup when they hung out in Ino's childhood bedroom and used that memory to her advantage. Lastly, she applied a light coat of pink lip gloss, giving her lips a soft smack. She eyed her face in the small mirror, moving it around so see every corner of her skin. Sakura felt pretty, she hadn't had the time to feel pretty, to feel like a girl, in so long. She secretly thanked Ino as she shoved everything back into her friend's backpack. Sakura turned to check the time. At least 15 minutes had passed since they parted ways to their respective tents.

Sakura exited the tent, deciding to travel the ninja way by jumping from wooden rooftop to rooftop on the couple of houses that were put up by Captain Yamato. She neared the cliffside of the Hokage's stone faces and started to scale her way up the cliff, running lightly up the wall.

Naruto entered the tent he had shared with Shikamaru, Choji, and Lee. Naruto was the only one in there. Everyone, in some ways, was busy helping the village regrow. Naruto felt a slight pang of guilt for not doing much today in regards to the village, but he brushed the feeling aside as he let himself relax. He deserved a break too, he convinced himself. Naruto quickly pulled out the scroll with his date outfit and got dressed into the layered clothes Ino had picked out. He liked how the black shirt had the swirly-looking orange symbol on it that matched his slightly darker than usual orange pants. He also liked the white long sleeve because he was used to wearing clothes with sleeves. Naruto stuffed the scroll back into his leg pouch that he had readjusted around his new pants. Naruto quickly eyed the contents of the room, looking around for anything that might help him with his overall look. He decided to rummage in what looked to be Lee's mission backpack and found a small bottle of cologne marked 'YOUTHFUL HUSK'. Naruto squinted at the bottle suspiciously but decided to give it a try. He sprayed two squirts of the cologne in front of him and walked into it, not wanting to be doused in the strong scent too heavily. He put back Lee's things as they were and did a quick sniff test of himself before leaving. Satisfied with his smell he exited the tent and made a mad dash towards the fifth's stoned face.

Naruto arrived first, standing on the stone hair of Lady-Tsunade-sama. He paced back and forth nervously, rehearsing what he was going to say and how he was going to present the flower pot gift to Sakura.

'I got you this, it's nothing really just found this flower growing outside my tent.' Naruto said in his head, he had his nose pointed to the sky with his head turned dramatically, his empty palm stuck out in front of him, pretending to coolly hand Sakura his gift.

Naruto shook his head from side to side violently.

'No, no, that's not it. How about...Sakura-chan, my dearest beloved, I bestow upon you not just this flower, but my heart.' Naruto now reenacted a new scene, bending down to one knee like he was proposing, sticking out his open palms again with the pretend gift.

Again, Naruto shook his head violently in disagreeance with himself. That wasn't it either.

Naruto stood with his feet slightly apart, his one handheld his elbow as the other hand was brought up to his chin, scratching it in thought.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura's voice sounded from behind him. The boy jumped so hard he almost lost his balance.

"S-S-SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto blurted in surprise.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, a hand on her hip.

Naruto covered his face with his hands in embarrassment, asking the pink-haired girl in front of him.

"H-How much of that did you see..." He muttered under his hands.

"All of it...I think. Are you practicing for some type of play?" Sakura questioned, genuinely curious as to what her goofball of a teammate was doing now.

Naruto peeked through his fingers.

"Ah...well, no- not exact-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence, he dropped his hands to his sides as he now got a good view of Sakura's full-body, head to toe. He stared with his mouth slightly open as he examined the pretty pink dress she was wearing, down to her regular black sandals. Naruto took a step towards Sakura who was currently stood a little distance away. He looked into her emerald eyes as he neared her, appreciating her smooth and soft-looking skin...and lips.

"You look beautiful, Sakura-chan..." Naruto spoke softly, his face still in a trance, the blush on his face light.

Sakura went even more pink than she already was, she had been checking out Naruto's new look too.

'Ino, you did a hell of a job...'Sakura thought.

Sakura cleared her throat.

"You clean up well yourself, Uzumaki." Sakura teased, giving her teammate a light shoulder nudge with her arm as she moved to stand beside him. Naruto snapped out of his trance and gave her a big grin, rubbing the back of his head shyly, causing his hair to ruffle up even more.

"So, why are we up here?" Sakura asked, looking up at the blond man.

"Actually, Sakura-chan, there's a place not too far from here I want to show you." Naruto replied, grinning with a hint of mischief on his face.

Sakura raised her eyebrows but shrugged, she followed closely behind Naruto as he flickered into the forest behind them. After about 20 minutes of travelling the sun got low in the sky. Within at least two hours more the sun would start to set, turning the sky into a rainbow of colours.

"Hey, Naruto! There's nothing out here but trees and shrubs!" Sakura spoke loudly to Naruto's back.

Naruto turned his head around and yelled back.

"We're almost there, dattebayo!" Naruto replied, sending Sakura another reassuring smile.

Sakura frowned her eyebrows. It wasn't as easy to move around in her new outfit, she was being especially careful not to get the borrowed clothes dirty. A few more minutes passed and Naruto landed on the dry dirt below. Sakura soon appeared next to him, a hand on her hip, her head tilted to the side questionably.

"Just a little further, dattebayo." Naruto entered the small cave entrance. Sakura sighed. She didn't know what to think at this point. She pushed her trust in her teammate to the limit, entering the small dark cave as well.

As they walked hunched over through the low raised hole in the ground, Sakura finally lost it.

"Oi, Naruto! Where the hell are you-" She stopped mid-sentence as she saw a dim light coming through the end of the cave. She watched as Naruto now stood up right. Sakura straightened up herself as the ceiling above her disappeared.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light, widening as she took in the view. Sakura was left with an open mouth as she stared in awe at the large tavern they now stood in. The ground, even the low parts of the surrounding walls, were covered in a variety of different flowers coming in all shapes and sizes. The ceiling travelled high above them, the only source of daylight coming from circle shaped opening above.

The naturally created room seemed unreal as the colourful flowers and dewy green grass contrasted against the dim brown cave walls. Sakura slowly peeled her eyes away from the stunning room, turning to look up at her date tonight.

Naruto smiled at her with his one-of-a-kind goofy grin and squinted eyes. It felt as if the two of them stood in an oasis outside of reality.

He held out his hand to her, motioning for her to take it. Sakura placed her palm on top of his, her lips still parted in disbelief, as he led her to a spot closer to the middle of the cave. They found a dry spot that was filled with mostly grass, and before having a seat Naruto pulled out a summoning scroll. Sakura watched in silence as Naruto crouched down in the patch of grass, laying down a section of the paper scroll. He formed a ram sign with his hand, and with a small puff of smoke appeared a small beige blanket, along with what looked like a stacked bento box, wrapped in a red and white checkered cloth.

Sakura stood to the side as Naruto put away the scroll in his leg pouch and opened up the thin beige sheet, spreading it across the patchy grass. He picked up the bento boxes from the tie of the cloth, and motioned Sakura to have a seat with him as they sat together in the middle of the field of colours. Naruto placed the lunch boxes in front of them as he sat crossed-legged with his hands stretched out behind him, supporting his weight slightly. Sakura sat next to him with her legs bent to the side, her knees pointing towards Naruto. She placed her hands in her lap as she looked up to the blue sky far above, the hole in the ceiling allowing the perfect amount of light in to set the mood.

"Well, what do you think, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a wide smile even though he could already tell she was in awe of the place.

"Naruto...when, no, how did you find this place? It's beautiful." She replied in a soft voice as she now looked at the flowers surrounding them.

Sakura's eyes went from flower to flower, turning her head slightly as she looked around. It seemed as if every time her gaze moved, her eyes landed on a new blossom.

"Actually, this place, and these clothes...are all thanks to Ino." Naruto confessed, tugging on his black shirt with a one-handed pinch before returning his hand to the ground.

Sakura relaxed her shoulders and let out a breath through her nose.

"Ino's also responsible for this dress." Sakura admitted, looking down for a moment at her outfit with a small smile.

'Ino...! You're a god!' The voice of inner Naruto thought, tears of joy welling up inside of him as he gave Sakura a once over in the stunning form-fitting pink dress.

"D-Don't stare so much, idiot! It's embarrassing." Sakura huffed, nudging Naruto with an elbow to his arm, causing him to tilt over slightly.

Naruto laughed lightly then turned his head to face her. He bit his lip before speaking timidly.

"That dress suits you, Sakura-chan. You're pretty." Naruto spoke with his eyes closed in a squint, his hands now in his lap as his thumbs twiddled around in circles nervously.

Sakura felt her heart thump, she brushed a hand through her hair, tucking in a few loose strands behind her ear.

"T-Thank you, Naruto. For stating the obvious, that is." Sakura said a little loudly, her nerves rising. They both laughed together and the tension eased slightly.

Naruto then reached over to the lunches he had packed, he unravelled the red and white cloth and opened up both bento boxes which were still warm thanks to the sealing power of his scroll.

"Are you hungry?" Naruto asked as he unraveled the food in front of them.

Sakura nodded and as if on cue, her stomach audibly rumbled. Naruto laughed lightly as Sakura put a shy hand to her stomach. As Sakura watched Naruto lift the bento lids off, she first noticed that his fingers were all covered in small bandages.

'He made these himself?'Sakura thought, surprised since she knew all Naruto ever cooked was instant ramen and the occasional eggs on toast.

"Wow, Naruto. I'm impressed, this smells amazing." Sakura spoke with a hint of awe, eyeing the tasty smelling food.

"Actually, I got help with this too." Naruto admitted, scratching the outside of his ear this time.

"I didn't know Ino could cook this well." Sakura replied, taking in the smell once again.

"Actually, Hinata helped me. She's a great cook, dattebayo!" Naruto replied a little too enthusiastically for Sakura's liking.

"A-Ah, is that so...I guess I owe her one as well then." Sakura felt a pang of jealously creep up her throat. She tried to brush away the feeling, however, as she looked at the smiling boy next to her.

Naruto handed her one of the lunches and a pair of chopsticks that were wrapped up with it. As she held the warm container of food, she got a better look at the contents. The main meal of meat, sauce and rice took up the majority of the box. Sakura smiled as she examined the contents of the cupcake liners to the left of the box. She spotted heart-shaped cherry tomatoes and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Naruto had even cutely placed some flower-shaped steamed carrots around the main meal. What confused her, however, were the carrots on the top left of her lunch. They were cut in a strange shape, with half the carrot being round and the top half with spikes.

'Is it supposed to look like a fire?' Sakura thought, poking the little carrots with her chopsticks.

Sakura turned to Naruto who had already taken a big bite out of his meal. His cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.

Sakura smiled, trying not to laugh at the hungry teen.

"Naruto, I get that these are flowers and these are hearts..." Sakura started, using her chopsticks to point at the food as she spoke.

"But, what are these carrots supposed to be?" Sakura finished, poking said carrots with the tip of her chopsticks one more time.

Naruto swallowed with a big gulp, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. He placed his lunch down in front of him for a moment with his chopsticks stuck in his rice. Using his thumb and finger, he picked up one of the spikey-shaped carrots and held it in front of his face so that Sakura had a good view. With his other hand, he pointed at his hair.

"It's me, dattebayo!" Naruto spoke proudly, as he now held the small carrot slice next to his hair for a side-by-side view.

Sakura erupted in a fit of laughter, clenching her stomach tightly as tears formed from that corner of her eyes.

Naruto was slightly taken aback from the sudden laughter but ended up joining in as her laughter became contagious. After the laughter subsided Sakura agreed that the spikey carrot looked exactly like him. Sakura even started to joke around from time to time, speaking towards the carrot slice instead of him, pretending that she couldn't tell them apart.

As they ate their lunch Sakura talked about her day and all of her patients at the small hospital. Naruto listened to the pink girl happily as she spoke. He admired the sparkle in her eyes as she elaborated about all the people she was able to help today. This was another side of her that always enchanted him. Her pride in her work, and the happiness she exuded when she's able to help others, was always something he admired about her.

Once they neared the end of their meals, Naruto picked up one of the strawberries from his bento box.

"Sakura-chaaan...ahhh..." He accidentally jammed the strawberry against the skin next to her mouth, getting a piece of melted chocolate on her face. Naruto froze, afraid he took things too far and set off Sakura's fuse. But to the blondes' surprise, Sakura simply sighed and laughed lightly, taking a bite out of the chocolate strawberry. She felt a small pang of guilt again as she got another close-up look at Naruto's bandaged fingers.

'He did all of this...for me...' She thought, chewing slowly on the sweet and juicy strawberry.

Naruto blushed as he watched her lips move as she chewed.

'It's sweet...' Sakura thought as she watched Naruto finish off the rest of the strawberry she had bit into. She noticed Naruto's face had gone pink and he looked a bit flustered, causing her to go pink as well.

They both finished off their meals, leaving the lunch boxes clean of every last grain of rice. Naruto wrapped up the used boxes and chopsticks back around the checkered cloth and set it aside.

As their night continued and the conversation flowed, the temperature around them started to drop. Before they knew it the sky above them went from a bright blue to a dark purple, a few stars becoming visible now as the sun went down.

Sakura unconsciously moved closer to Naruto's warm body as the air chilled. Naruto, noticing this, decided to use an old classic move on the pink-covered girl.

Yawning, he stretched his hands above his head, then slowly brought down one arm to rest around Sakura's shoulder and back, his hand gently holding her upper arm.

'It's warm.' Sakura thought, easing into the blonde's embrace.

'It worked! Hell yeah!'Naruto screamed internally, as his other hand clenched in a triumphed fist. They sat in silence for a while, comfortable in each other's presence. Sakura decided to break the silence, however, as her mind wandered back to yesterday's tragic event.

"Naruto, yesterday, with Pain...what happened?" Sakura asked, she moved her knees to rest on top of Naruto's leg and noticed his leg twitched.

"Ah...well, long story short, we talked. I asked them, Nagato and Konan, to explain their story to me. I wanted to know more about them, what led them to do what they did..." Naruto trailed off, his voice was low and raspy.

Naruto went on to explain Nagato's and Konan's past. He continued to explain the conversations they had, mentioning Jiraiya-sannin and the book he wrote 'Tales of a Gusty Ninja' where the hero's name was Naruto. He told Sakura how he decided that killing their enemy was not the answer, and in the end, Nagato had a change of heart and used a super powerful jutsu only he could do to bring everyone back to life.

"A jutsu that can bring back the dead...and hundreds of people, at that. It still sounds so unbelievable. It was nothing like what Lady Chiyo did for Gaara..." Sakura spoke in a hushed tone.

Naruto nodded; he went on.

"Sakura-chan, I have a lot of people depending on me now. Kakashi-sensei, Ero-sennin, Nagato and Konan, my parents..."

Sakura looked up slightly at Naruto. He tilted his head towards her as well, smiling.

Thump.

Her heartbeat grew louder.

"Wait!" Sakura exclaimed, backing off slightly from the teen's warm body heat.

"Parents?!" Sakura finished; a look of shock spread across her face.

Naruto placed his fist on top of an open palm.

"Oh yeah! I met my parents, dattebayo!" Naruto added dumbly. Sakura almost facepalmed, wondering how he forgot to mention such an important detail first.

"Naruto! You should have started with that, geez!" Sakura lectured, frowning her eyebrows.

Naruto laughed shyly then went on to explain how his dad was actually the Fourth Hokage, and that he had sealed the last of his and his mother's chakra into the seal so that if the Kyuubi's eighth tail ever appeared, they would too in order to fix the seal. As he explained this, Naruto raised his layered shirts to expose his abs, he closed his eyes and focused, then suddenly the ink seal appeared.

Sakura gasped, she unintentionally reached her hand out to his stomach, tracing her fingers around the seal inquisitively. Naruto blushed heavily as Sakura ran her fingers around the seal. Naruto lost focus and the ink disappeared. Sakura retracted her fingers quickly once she saw the skin go back to normal. She blushed realizing what she had done.

"T-The fourth Hokage! Wow, Naruto, that's amazing. Actually, it makes sense now that I think about it." Sakura followed up, trying to ignore her previous enchantment with his stomach that was now recovered by clothing.

Naruto smiled and nodded, the pink on his face still visible as he avoided eye contact with her.

Sakura regained her composure, returning her attention to this exciting newfound information.

"So, what were they like? Your parents." Sakura asked excitedly.

Naruto looked down to his hands in thought.

"The fourth...my dad...he was tall, strong, smart, but also...gentle. He looked just like me too, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned widely, using a thumb to point to himself.

"He must have been really handsome, then." Sakura said smiling, the words coming out of her mouth before she thought about them.

"S-S-Sakura-chan..." Naruto stuttered; he pressed his two index fingers together sheepishly.

Sakura blushed heavily.

"D-Don't get a big head, idiot! I was complimenting Lord fourth!" Sakura huffed, clenching two small fists to her chest.

'Handsome...she said handsome...' Naruto let the word swirl around his head a little longer.

"What about your mom, what was she like?" Sakura pressed on, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

Naruto tilted his head in thought as he thought back to his mother.

"She was really pretty! She had long red hair, she was nice and she smelled really good. The way she spoke was a lot like me too, dattebayo! But she was super scary sometimes too...kind of like you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto finished with a big smile, but quickly realized what he had said and slapped his hand to his mouth.

"Scary...?" Sakura muttered under her breath, the flames in her eyes growing as she held up a shaky fist to the blond.

Naruto put his hands up defensively, waving them around frantically as he tried to save himself with an explanation.

"I-I mean she was very... strong-willed, 'ttebayo!" Naruto squeaked, cowering under the hot-tempered girl.

Sakura crossed her arms, and looked at Naruto with one eye open, huffing, she spoke.

"Well, I guess I'll take that as a compliment. She was the Hokage's wife, after all. She must have been something special."

Naruto nodded vigorously, thanking the gods above for helping him dodge that bullet.

Sakura sighed, relaxing her body once again. She shivered slightly as the nights' air grew colder. The dress she wore did little to cover her up.

Naruto noticed this and readjusted himself. He still sat cross-legged, but he straightened his back and stretched his arms out to his sides so that his full wing-span showed. With a serious look on his face, he spoke.

"Sakura-chan, I volunteer as your personal heater." He said proudly, motioning for her to sit in his lap.

Sakura raised her eyebrow questionably. The corner of her mouth twitched to smile, but she held it back. Instead, she upheld her stubborn look, turning her nose up to the air.

'He's cute!' Inner Sakura almost exploded from Naruto's adorable gesture.

"Hmm, well, I guess it is a bit cold." She replied coolly as she moved closer, settling her bum into the space between his legs. She slouched down comfortably into him so that her head rested against his shoulder and neck. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, further enhancing his heating abilities. Sakura noticed he had a nice, and somewhat familiar, scent about him.

"Don't you dare try anything funny, got it?" Sakura barked loudly, tilting her head back to look up at him. They locked eye contact at that moment, the pair both had a light pink adorned on their face. Sakura snapped her head back, instead deciding to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding flower field they sat in. She restarted the conversation as to ease the tension.

"I'm happy for you, Naruto. I'm glad you were able to meet your parents, even if it was for a short time." Sakura spoke more gently.

Naruto let out a soft breath, his eyes lit up as he reminisced about the family reunion in his head. A sudden thought entered his head, however, as the topic of family was discussed.

"Sakura-chan, I just remembered something, dattebayo." Naruto spoke, she could feel his breath against her ear, making her heart jump once again.

Sakura replied with a hum, encouraging Naruto to go on.

"Yesterday...my memory is a little foggy from what happened before I lost control of the Kyuubi, but..." Naruto muttered.

"Spit it out, Naruto." Sakura pushed him to speak.

"Well, first, Sakura-chan. I want you to know that I think you're crazy strong, dattebayo. I never thought of you as any less." Naruto spoke seriously, trying his best to reassure Sakura that she was never 'behind' him or Sasuke like she had said.

Sakura bit her lip, trying not to smile too widely at the teens encouraging words.

Naruto continued.

"But...what I wanted to know is, what you meant yesterday when you said, if I were gone...it would be like being alone." Naruto frowned now, looking down at the pink hair directly in front of him.

Sakura's heart almost bounced out of her chest and ran away. She relived the moment in her head for a split second.

'I've always had family, had friends...but if you're gone, Naruto...to me...it will be the same as being alone.'

Sakura could have sworn her heartbeat must have been loud enough for Naruto to hear by now. To be honest, Sakura wasn't exactly sure why, or what she had meant by that, either. It was just something that had spilled out of her in the heat of the moment.

"Sakura-chan...?" Naruto spoke again, awaiting a response from the girl in his lap.

Sakura coughed, which turned into her trying to clear the lump in her throat.

"Um, well, what I meant was...uh-" Sakura stuttered; she had no idea where she was going with this.

Naruto didn't help, however, as he just replied with an eager 'mhm?'

"I meant...that...I don't want you to leave me..." Sakura spoke slowly, trying to carefully place her words as to not give away her inner feelings too much.

"Leave...you?" Naruto repeated the words curiously.

There was a short silence between the two before Naruto spoke again.

"Sakura, does this have anything to do with Sasuke? If you think I'd ever abandoned the village I would n-" Naruto began to speed up his words but Sakura shifted and turned to look at him, more serious now. He stopped mid-sentence as her emerald eyes locked onto his.

"What I said has nothing to do with Sasuke-kun." Sakura said seriously, even surprising herself with her own tone.

Naruto stared back into her determined green eyes. His mind started to go blank, the world around him seemed to slip away as he looked into her eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dark.

He was snapped back into reality, however, as Sakura moved her gaze from his eyes to the ceiling above them. She smiled a little wider as she pointed with a delicate finger towards the opening above them. He tore his eyes away from her and turned his gaze upward.

The moon had perfectly aligned with the opening above, letting in a new wave of moonlight. Not only that but now a few fireflies had emerged, buzzing around quietly from flower to flower. It was quite the view.

Sakura stared at the beautiful scene before her, the wonders of the tavern casting a spell on her once again. Her eyes shone in awe as she happily enjoyed the scene and the company.

"Naruto...thank you, for taking me here." Sakura hummed softly. She was happy to have stirred the conversation away from her slightly embarrassing statement from yesterday as she now admired the truly breath taking view.

Naruto shook his head from side to side. He voiced in polite disagreeance with a soft 'mm-mm.'

"Thank you, Sakura-chan...for being here...with me." Naruto finished slowly, his arms tightening around the smaller girl unconsciously. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back as he breathed.

Thump.

Sakura wasn't sure how much more her heart could handle. They sat in silence for a long time after Naruto's last words, enjoying the view of the bright white moon and the fireflies dancing around the colourful field of petals.

After a while, Naruto interrupted the silence.

"Um…Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered deeply, slightly surprising Sakura who had begun to nod off. It had been a long day after all.

"Hmmm?" The sleepy girl replied softly.

"T-There's something else I-I wanted to ask you." Naruto stuttered out, his nerves rising.

Sakura shuffled in her spot so that she now sat sideways, allowing the pair to talk more comfortably. The curiosity waking her up from her tired demeanour. She gave Naruto a look as to go on with his question.

"W-Well, you know…when we were kids…Bushy brows had a huge crush on you!" Naruto blurted out. He internally cringed at himself as that was not where he was planning to go with this.

Sakura simply raised a questioning eyebrow, now crossing her arms in front of her skeptically.

"Yeah…so what?" She added on to her confused look.

"Uh, well, you see, Bushy brows likes someone else now. He told me his feelings changed." Naruto still had an arm around Sakura's lower back but the other hand nervously pinched the orange fabric of his pants near his knee.

Sakura pouted her lip slightly, tilting her head to the side. She put her hand to her chin in thought.

"Mmm. Really? Well, good for him. Do you know who it is?" Sakura questioned, still not following where Naruto was going with this analogy.

"Uh-no not exactly, dattebayo. But that's not important. What I mean is...I was wondering if...maybe..." Naruto fumbled around his words even more now, looking off to the side, unable to make eye contact with the girl's dazzling bright eyes.

"Naruto!" Sakura voiced loudly, lightly slapping the sides of Naruto's face with her palms, forcing him to look her in the eyes and spit out whatever he was trying to say.

Naruto gulped. After making direct contact with her clover-coloured eyes, he closed his own eyes shut, and with Sakura's soft hands pressed against his cheeks, he spoke loudly.

"Are you still in love with Sasuke, Sakura-chan!?" Naruto finally rolled out the question he has been dying to know the answer to for the past three years, ever since Sasuke left the Hidden Leaf.

Sakura's hands slide down Naruto's face and onto his chest. Her eyes widen and her lips separated just enough to let in a sharp breath of cool area. How did she not see that coming? Now it made sense to her why Naruto was rambling on about Lee-san and his feelings for her changing.

'Ah...So that's it. He wants to know if my feelings have changed, just like how Lee-san's feelings for me changed.' Sakura thought to herself, watching now as Naruto held his breath and squinted with one eye open to take a peek at her.

Sakura couldn't help herself. She burst out into a fit of laughter. She had one hand firmly pressed against the blond boy's chest as the other hand was balled up in a loose fist, banging against his right pec as she hollowed in laughter, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Naruto now had both bright blue orbs open wide in confusion. His hands had dropped to the ground with his palms spread out, taking on the light beating to his chest.

"S-Sakura-chan...what's so funny? You're scaring me..." Naruto asked slowly, the raspiness in his voice growing. The look of confusion and fear on Naruto's face just made Sakura laugh a little harder.

After a few more seconds the pinkette's laughter died down. She moved her hands from Naruto's chest to her eyes, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of her dark lashes. Naruto simply watched dumbly as he waited to hear what Sakura had to say.

Sakura reached out to Naruto's nearby chest again, this time gripping the black fabric with both fists. She pulled him even closer towards her so that they were mere inches from each other's faces. She looked into Naruto's ocean-like orbs and smiled. Closing her own eyes, she bumped her forehead against his. She could feel a mixture of his skin, messy hair, and the metal of his Leaf headband against her own bare skin.

Naruto's heart was running faster than his legs could ever take him. His face was flushed and his mind was blank. He couldn't think, all he could do was take in whatever was happening in this very moment. His eyes were still large as all he could see was a mass of pink and fair light skin.

"Naruto...you really are an idiot." Sakura spoke softly, her eyes remaining closed and the smile never leaving her face.

She lifted her head away from his, her hands still gripped around the front of his black t-shirt. As Naruto looked into her eyes wide-eyed there was a moment of silence that was only broken by Naruto's loud and nervous gulp.

"What's funny is...your question, Naruto. Because...there's also someone else that I like now. And I think it's obvious who." Sakura's grip loosened from around Naruto's shirt but she still held on so that she was leaning against his chest with the palms of her hands as her fingers clenched the dark fabric. Their positions had changed during the commotion so that Naruto's legs were now spread out with his knees up, his palms still on the ground behind him supporting his weight. Sakura was knelt with her knees to the ground, leaning herself into him.

The gears in Naruto's brain finally started to turn as Sakura's words entered through. Frantically, he thought to himself.

'Someone else, dattebayo?! WHO?!' Naruto's mind raced through the list of potential candidates that Sakura could be interested in as he looked into the spring-filled eyes Sakura was piercing him with.

Naruto shifted his gaze to the side, a sad smile creeping up his face.

"That's great, Sakura-chan. That you moved on. I hope...whoever the lucky guy is, treats you right, 'ttebayo." Naruto finished, unable to look at the pink girl's face that was inches from his.

Sakura's head dropped in defeat. Naruto shifted his gaze again questionably to look at the top of her head. He felt her hands on his chest tighten slightly again and looked down to her hands, then back at her fallen head.

"Naruto, you idiot...do I really need to spell it out for you..." Sakura muttered under her breath as her hair covered her face and she had a good view of her knees and Naruto's crotch.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto voiced dumbly, he began to raise one hand towards his chest, as to loosen the increasingly tighter grip Sakura had on his shirt. As his fingers came up to cover her left hand, Sakura jolted her head up to face him. Naruto snapped his hand back to the ground, surprised by the sudden movement. Sakura's face was full of determination, her cheeks and nose were flushed from more than just the makeup she had on. In one swift movement, she tightened her grip hard around his shirt, pulling Naruto towards her once more, planting a firm kiss against the very edge of his lips so that she just missed the deep pink skin. Her eyes closed shut as she laid her lips against his fair but lightly tanned face.

Naruto froze, every being in his body wanted to scream and jump for joy, but he couldn't move. Instead, he sat there, dumb folded, and eyes large. When Sakura pulled away, she looked off to the side, her face bright red as her hands pulled away from his crinkled shirt. She used one hand to rub her elbow as the other hand squeezed the pink fabric on her opposite thigh. Shy was an emotion Sakura wasn't used to expressing. Along with embarrassment, nervousness, fear and excitement. Especially not around, or because of, Naruto.

Finally, being able to move a limb, Naruto raised his hand to the spot next to his lips where Sakura's soft touch once was. He blushed even harder as he took in the full sight of the cherry-coloured girl in front of him. A smile crept up on Naruto's face, slowly turning into one of the biggest, most blinding smiles Sakura had ever seen. All at once, Naruto jumped up to his knees, towering over Sakura slightly and gripping the sides of her shoulders with both hands.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto half-yelled, half squealed happily. Sakura still had her hand turned to the side, only her eyes faced forward to look at the beaming blond in front of her.

"So, the person you like is..." Naruto trailed off, now loosening his grip on her shoulders. Sakura nodded slowly, her head still turned to the side, biting her lip softly as her temperature rose. Naruto jumped up to his feet. He threw his head back and pumped the air so fast he created a breeze. The current causing Sakura to shiver and her hair to whip around her face slightly. She smiled again however as she watched the energetic teen celebrate with an elaborate show of limbs punching and kicking the air, a series of 'HELL YEAH''s and 'WOOHOO's sounding off as he celebrated his victory. Sakura smirked as she thought to herself how he wasn't even this happy yesterday when the whole village had acknowledged him. Her heart swelled as her mind came to the realization that her acknowledgement meant more to Naruto than anyone else's.

"Narutooo! Are you done? You're going to trample the flowers!" Sakura pitched in playfully, smiling wide as she spoke. Naruto stopped mid-air fist pump to turn to the beauty sitting below. He quickly grabbed both of Sakura's hands and pulled her up to her feet. His large, rough hands cupped around her smaller, softer ones so that their hands formed a ball. Naruto stood tall, looking down into Sakura's bright green eyes. The moonlight only accentuated her fair skin and glowing green eyes. Naruto could have sworn her eyes were like a forest he wanted to get lost in forever.

Sakura looked up expectantly at her longtime friend and teammate. As she watched him, his smile softened.

Thump.

"Sakura-chan...can I ask you one last thing?" Naruto raised their hands up to his mouth, whispering into the small exposed skin of her hands that he held. Sakura nodded once, her smile turning into a curious one again as Naruto raised another question.

Naruto lowered their hands to the side, he squeezed hers gently and took a deep, calming breath. Gathering all of his courage, he spoke again.

"Sakura-chan...will you be my girlfriend?" Naruto managed to ask without stuttering or fumbling over his words for once. He even managed to look Sakura dead in the eyes, unblinking, trying his best to show her how serious he was.

Sakura, however, blushed again and looked away to her side, pinning a particularly red-coloured flower into her field of vision as she looked down.

"Isn't that obvious, you idiot." Sakura muttered under her breath. Before she knew it, she was pulled into a tight, lung suffocating hug that lifted her off her feet and into the air. Naruto spun around in the spot they stood in a few times as he hugged the smaller girl before stopping and putting her down. Once released, Sakura gave Naruto one of her signature annoyed looks after she was relieved from the bone-crushing hug. Naruto laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he bowed his head a bit apologetically. Sakura laughed soon after, causing the pair both to laugh together into the night. They sat down again for what felt like forever, simply enjoying each other's warmth and company as they watching the fireflies buzz around them.

Deciding that it was getting late they packed up their things, Naruto sealing away the bento boxes and picnic blanket into his scroll. They carefully made their way back out from where they came.

Naruto, noticing that the sleepiness from early had hit Sakura again, offered that Sakura rode on his back as they travelled back to the village. Sakura denied however as she thought to herself that she didn't want to take advantage of her newfound boyfriend so soon. They made their way back until the pair landed where they first took off, on the tops of Lady Tsunade-sama's stone carved head.

"We should do this again sometime soon." Sakura stated as the pair looked down over the now quiet village.

Naruto nodded, smiling gently. He yawned causing Sakura to yawn as well. Sakura looked at Naruto from the corner of her eye as she stood beside him.

'He looks cute when he's tired, too.' She thought.

"Sakura-chan, I'll walk you to your tent." Naruto spoke, turning to face his girlfriend. Sakura nodded and started to walk off to go down into the streets of Konoha when Naruto suddenly halted beside her.

"I FORGOT!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand to his forehead so hard it made a loud slapping noise.

Sakura paused as well, turning to look at the blond with a questionable eyebrow. Without saying another word, Naruto pulled out the same scroll that held their lunch from earlier. He laid it on the ground in front of him, kneeling down on one knee as he formed the ram sign with the other hand. Sakura bent forward at the hip, tilting her head to the side as she peered down at what he was doing.

With a small puff of smoke, a small, orangey-brown clay pot came into existence. The rims of the top and bottom of the pot had a simple design of veins and leaves running horizontally across. Inside of the pot stood a single, blooming flower. The petals were a bright orange, the middle of the flower a deeper almost red pigment. It stood fairly tall, about 6-7 inches. The steam of the flower was a dark green, as per usual of any plant, but the two leaves that were currently attached to the flower were cutely shaped like a heart, fanning out with the round sides out. Naruto picked up the flower pot, tucking his scroll back into his leg pouch.

"My belove - no uh, Sakura-chan! I picked out this flower for you, 'ttebayo. I got it earlier when I went to the flower cave with Ino." Naruto stood ridged and tall; both of his hands extended out fully supporting the small clay pot, presenting it to Sakura.

Sakura blinked; a bit taken aback but took the flower pot in her hands regardless. Smiling, she lightly brushed the orange petals.

"It's a Culip..." Sakura whispered softly; the meaning of the flower being well known to her.

"Orange Culips represent a good physical and spiritual relationship between two people." Sakura added on, smiling fondly at the flower in her hands.

Naruto coughed, putting up a fist to his mouth.

"The word Culip comes from the word Cupid, the arrow shooting love baby, dattebayo." Naruto spoke knowingly, undoubtedly trying to impress Sakura with his flower knowledge.

Sakura laughed, holding the Culip pot with both hands in front of herself. Her memories jumped back to the ridiculous poses she witnessed Naruto doing earlier in the same spot they stood in now just before their date began.

'Was he practicing how to give this to me?' Sakura thought, smiling to herself.

"It's beautiful. I'll take good care of it. Thank you, Naruto." Sakura flashed a rare bright smile at Naruto, causing the boy to go beat red. Naruto felt as if the steam coming off of him must have been visible with how fast his temperature rose from the sight of Sakura's smile.

The pair walked the dirt path back towards their respective tents together. Naruto had an arm around Sakura's shoulders, keeping her warm in the chilly night's air. She held on to the small clay pot with both hands as they walked. There were only a few guards roaming the streets now, as the rest of the village had already retired for the day. The few shinobi who were up, however, had made eye contact with Naruto, giving the young boy the thumbs up of approval as he walked with Sakura around his arm. Naruto tried his best to return the thumbs up with a nod or wink without Sakura getting too suspicious of his actions.

After a while, they found themselves alone in front of the tent Sakura was residing in with a few of the other girls from the academy days.

"Well, I guess this is it for the night, Sakura-chan. I'll see you in the morning, 'ttebayo?" Naruto stated and asked at the same time. He stood in front of Sakura shyly, feeling a little out of place and unsure of what to do with himself.

'Am I supposed to kiss her goodnight? What the hell do I do with my hands?' Naruto thought to himself, getting a little flustered as he's never been on a date, or ended one before.

Sakura nodded with a smile.

"You're not going to say something cheesy like' Have sweet dreams about me, are you"? Sakura teased, smirking up at the taller teen.

Naruto blinked dumbly, snapping out of his flustering thoughts.

"No, why would I say that? Don't dream about me, just get a good night's rest, Sakura-chan."

Thump.

Sakura blushed heavily at the simple statement. Naruto had spoken so casually; it had surprised her how sweet he naturally was without even realizing it.

Sakura took a step forward, then reached up on her tiptoes so that she could reach the side of Naruto's face. Naruto stood frozen as she had suddenly moved forward without a word.

"Goodnight, Naruto-kun." Sakura softly whispered into Naruto's left ear. She pulled away just as quick as she had come, and with a few smooth movements, she slipped inside of the girl's tent.

Naruto was still stuck on pause, the steam from his extremities whistling as he felt his body temperature reach an all-time high.

'Goodnight, Naruto-kun.'

'Naruto-kun.'

'Naruto-KUN.'

Naruto slapped the palms of his hands hard against both sides of his face, forcing himself to cool down and his legs to move. He walked zig-zagged towards the boys' tent he shared with his friends, ready to collapse in his cot as the world around him kept spinning in circles.

'Sakura-chan called me Naruto-kun...'

Naruto found himself changed and tucked into his makeshift bed of sheets and pillows inside the boys' tent. He was careful not to wake the others, but the giddy boy couldn't help but smile and mumble to himself before falling into dreamland.

Sakura slipped inside of the girls' tent. As she quietly zipped the flap of the door closed, she exhaled deeply. She tip-toed to her corner of the tent, quickly getting changed into something more comfortable and laying down in the comfort of her blanket and pillow.

'Was that weird? I mean he always calls me Sakura-chan. It's kind of cute if I use kun sometimes too, right?' Ah, whatever, Naruto is Naruto. I'm sure he doesn't care...Hinata calls him by Naruto-kun and that never seemed to bother him!'

Sakura rolled around in her cot. Shaking her head from side to side, she decided to try her best not to think and just get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day after all, as no one knew of her newfound relationship with Naruto yet, except for maybe Ino who had set them up. Soon enough Sakura let the fatigue of the day hit her, drifting off into a deep night's sleep.

"OI! What if that rock you threw hits a boulder and crumbles, and the falling rocks hit a bigger boulder that causes an ever bigger rock slide that falls right over the Hidden Leaf and destroys it?" Omoi, a ninja with medium-dark brown skin and contrasting white short hair rambled on to his teammate. Omoi had his hidden cloud headband strapped securely to his head, he wore a light grey hooded outfit with a sword strapped to his back. A few moments later, Omoi, his teammate and Captain all arrived on the ridge of Konoha, overlooking the huge dust bowl and little remains of the Hidden Leaf village.

"No way...It can't be! I didn't mean to do this! How could a small rock of that size do this?!" The teammate, Karui, exclaimed in tears. She had long, dark red hair the flowed down to her waist behind her. Her hidden cloud headband tied around her forehead keeping all of her hair out and away from her face. Her eyes were a pretty golden colour, complimenting her dark complexion well. She also had a similar sword strapped to her back and wore a sleeveless, pale green ninja outfit.

"K-Karui...what have you done?" Omoi spoke dramatically, squinting his dark black eyes at her.

"There's no way that's what happened here. Anyway, let's look for someone." The captain of their three-man squad now spoke. The woman had a short, pale blonde bob cut, fair skin and complimenting pale teal eyes. She had a comparable bust to that of the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade-sama.

"HEY! You three! Who are you?" Two Leaf shinobi shouted, coming up to the three Hidden cloud ninja.

"We come from the Hidden Cloud with a massage from our Lord, the Raikage. I am Samui, and this is Omoi and Karui." The busty captain spoke, gesturing to her two subordinates.

The Leaf shinobi nodded and went on to explain what had happened to the Hidden Leaf. They escorted the trio down into the rubble of the village, making their way towards the Fifth Hokage's resting tent. When they arrived, the trio was shocked to learn that the Hokage was currently in a coma as Shizune explained the Fifth's ongoing condition. Not long after, Danzo and two Anbu standing guard beside him entered the tent.

"I am the new sixth Hokage. Allow me to read this letter from the Raikage." Danzo spoke proudly, motioning for the blonde woman of the hidden cloud to pass on the scroll which contained the Raikage's message to him. After a silent moment in which Danzo read over the lengthy letter, he spoke again.

"I see. So that's what has happened. Sasuke Uchiha..." Danzo muttered with his exposed eye closed, gripping the paper tightly in front of him with one hand. Turning to the Anbu behind him he voiced in again.

"As the Sixth Hokage, I hereby declare Sasuke Uchiha as a Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Leaf. I give permission for him to be hunted down." Danzo turned again to look at the Hidden Cloud Trio who stood slightly behind their Captain. The two subordinate's faces hardened now; their fist clenched at their sides. The two looked at each other and nodded, the silent happy approval of this decision being recognized.

As the discussion ended the two leaf shinobi from earlier who had waited outside of the Fifth's tent escorted the trio of the hidden cloud towards an unused tent, giving them a space to rest tonight in the village. Once the three entered, they discussed.

"Finally...we can finally go after that bastard for kidnapping Killer Bee-sama." Karui spoke through clenched teeth, her golden eyes sharp and harsh as she spoke.

Omoi nodded in agreement, cracking the knuckles of both hands as he rolled his neck from side to side.

Their captain, Samui, frowned.

"Calm down, you two. What's the plan here? Do you plan to take down a foe who even Killer Bee couldn't handle? Besides, we don't have enough intel yet on this Sasuke Uchiha, or the Akatsuki he seems to be involved with. Where do we start?" The blonde woman eyed her two subordinates, but they both dropped their gaze, staring hard at the tented ground under their feet.

The captain spoke on.

"First, we need to gather intel and analyze it. That comes first. Then we must take whatever intel we've gathered directly to Lord Raikage-sama. Get some rest, you two. We'll start gathering what information we can in the morning, someone here is bound to know more about the Uchiha."

Karui and Omoi nodded reluctantly, the energy and anger from earlier dissipating slightly.

'Tomorrow.' The pair thought, stooping down to lay on their backs and get some rest.

OMG! Naruto and Sakura are boyfriend and girlfriend now?! I wonder how this will change their dynamic...

Sasuke is also finally making an appearance, GASP.

Please let me know what you think in the comments! The next chapter is going to be a bit more canon-focused as to follow the storyline and progress the story a bit more. But I will definitely be doing more non-canon-related chapters or 'filler' chapters like this in the future. It was really fun to write.

Not sure when I'll be done with the next chapter as it's been taking me a lot longer to be satisfied these days, but for now I'll give myself about a month or so.

-updated- fixed a couple of spelling/spacing issues

Next Chapter 7, Sasuke? Killer Bee? The Raikage?!...