Chapter 4

A/N: Heyo! It's time for another chappy! So here I ammmmm!

So I wanna say thanks to all the people who have been reviewing! Man you guys make my day with your compliments! I hear you all and I'll make this story even better, well I'm trying lol….

Alrighty go on ahead and read me friends! Oh and there's a pokemon pun somewhere in between, can you spot it? Of course you can, it's more obvious than Jiraiya's pervyness or Tsunade's excuses to get out of paperwork lol.


"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT*

"EW! Forehead! Keep your snot rockets in check!" Ino exclaimed in disgust.

"Ino, give her a break…" Sighed Choji while Sakura wiped her nose dizzily.

"Troublesome… it doesn't matter, we're finally here so focus on the positive." Said Shikamaru lazily as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The small group of Konoha nin had finally reached Sunagakure, the Village Hidden by Sand in the Land of Wind after many hardships mainly the snow but let's give the poor ninjas a break. In front of them was the gate of the aforementioned village and they could see the sandy village past it.

"YEAH!" Yelled Naruto enthusiastically slinging an arm around Shikamaru and Sakura.

"If I wadn't do dizzy, I'd hid you Narudo!" Sakura mumbled while said boy sweat-dropped.

"Are you going to stand and chat at the gate or are you finally gonna grace us with your presence." Another voice interrupted.

The Konoha nin looked to see a ninja around their age in all black and makeup on his face.

"Kankuro!" Exclaimed Naruto in surprise.

"The one and only!" The boy said.

"Alright!" Said Naruto as he high-fived the Suna nin.

"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT*

Everyone cringed except Naruto while Sakura tried to wipe the dripping strings of mucus from her nose.

"What's up with the pink freakshow here?" Dead-panned Kankuro. Ino snorted while Choji looked guilty, Shikamaru shook his head and sighed in exhaustion and Naruto bristled.

"HEY!" Said Naruto in anger, but before he could say anymore Choji spoke up,

"Uh it was kind of my fault, Sakura fell in a frozen river of sorts when I startled her. And now she has a bad cold." The fa- uh chubby oh wait I mean very healthy boy said (runs away screaming as Choji chases me!). His explanation was backed up by poor Sakura sneezing again.

"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT*

"Wow that is a nasty cold!" Kankuro said as he cringed again.

"Ok can we stop talking about Forehead's disgusting cold and go in and get something to eat?!" Ino said in exasperation as her tummy rumbled in agreement.

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Said Naruto in a whiny voice.

"I could eat a whole elephant!" Exclaimed Choji.

"No doubt about that…" Mumbled Ino.

"Same…" Said Shikamaru.

"Ok then, come with me and let's get something to eat!" Announced Kankuro.

"YEAH!" Exclaimed everyone before following the puppet ninja.

"ACHOO!" Sakura sneezed.

*SPLAT* Fell a huge blob of mucus.

"EW!" Exclaimed Ino in disgust.

"INO!" Yelled everyone with an annoyed look.

15 minutes later… At a ramen stand in Suna.

The six ninjas had sat down comfortably on stools after a heated debate between Naruto and Choji about eating ramen or barbecue. Somehow Naruto won.

Now they sat in a line with Choji, Ino and Shikamaru being on one side of Kankuro and Naruto and Sakura on the other side.

"This is good! But not as good as back at home!" Said Naruto enthusiastically before downing two bowls.

Ino looked at the orange goofball in amazement, "Why do you like ramen so much Naruto? It's so unhealthy and not at all good for your figure!" Said Ino as she slurped on the noodles.

Naruto stopped for a second before answering, "Because it tastes better than disgusting veggies Ew." He said while Sakura who was balancing her dripping mucus, trying not to let it fall in the bowl and eat at the same time, heard in her head,

'Because all shopkeepers gave me rotten vegetables and fruits at ridiculously high prices and kicked me out of their shops yelling at me. I could barely get fresh bread. Only the old man at the ramen shop let me eat for free. Of course you'd never believe that.' Naruto's voice floated in her head before it sighed sadly.

In her shock, Sakura forgot about her nose and looked at the orange clad goofball through the corner of her eye. Big mistake… A blob fell in her bowl snapping her attention towards the bowl where now a small string of clear sticky liquid was dancing in the broth.

"Just great…" She groaned as she smacked her head lightly on the counter.

Naruto had eaten four more bowls by that time. He looked towards Sakura as she groaned in frustration before getting distracted by Choji.

"I gotta say ramen really is tasty. But it could never beat barbecue!" Choji said.

"No way!" Yelled Naruto getting fired up.

"Woah calm down fattyboy and ramenboy." Kankuro interrupted. Shikamaru and Ino scooted away from Kankuro as did Naruto and Sakura.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me?" Said Choji enunciating every word in a dangerous voice as a red fire seemed to envelop him.

"Uh… fatty-

"DON'T!" Everyone yelled well… not everyone…

"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT* Right in the ramen bowl… oops?

"Sakura-chan! How could you?! A perfectly good ramen bowl ruined!" Cried Naruto in distress as creepy rivers of tears started flowing from his eyes.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Shud up you idiod!" She said as she punched the goofball on the head. But before Naruto could say anything the huge red fire of rage enveloping Choji grew bigger as he glared at the puppet ninja.

Kankuro had sweat pouring down his face in nervousness, "Now, now, I didn't mean it! There's no reason to get so angry heh, heh." He finished laughing nervously.

"Choji don't be so troublesome and eat, we're not here to create a commotion." Shikamaru interjected calming the boy. Just as Shikamaru had finished talking, a shrill scream filled the street.

Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Kankuro whipped around to see Naruto trying to stifle his laughter while Sakura looked horrified as her nose dripped. In front of Sakura was a little covered in snot. She was looking at the pink haired kunoichi with big brown eyes swimming with tears. It seemed like the girl had appeared at the wrong time and had become the victim of Sakura's sneeze attack.

"I-I-I'm s-so sorry! I didn't uh- I am- I just – oops?" Sakura gave an uneasy smile but at the exact moment Naruto burst out in laughter resulting in the little girl to burst in tears.

"Nononononono! Do-don't cry!" Sakura said in panic before turning towards Naruto and giving him a death glare. "My foot. Your ass. In fifteen." She enunciated every word perfectly despite her stuffed nose. Naruto abruptly stopped laughing.

"Sorry Sakura-chan! But can I uh can I say something, it's funny really." Said Naruto while Sakura glared at him with narrow eyes.

"Fined…." She sighed.

Naruto stood up on his stool and smiled brightly at everyone, "Sakura-chan used SNEEZE! Little girl bursts into tears! It was super effective!" Naruto snorted. People around them started giggling and laughing.

Choji fell of his stool in a fit of laughter as Ino snorted and ramen came out of her nose making her laugh harder. The image of Ino with noodles hanging out of her nose combined with Naruto's joke made Shikamaru fall of his stool in laughter as well. Kankuro was laughing heartily without even concealing himself.

Sakura tried to hold in her laughter….big mistake. She snorted and a huge blob of mucous fell to the ground. Naruto smiled proudly.

"NARUDOOOOOOO!" Sakura yelled, her eyes narrowed and a growing tick mark on her head before punching him off the stool.

"Ouch…." The poor boy groaned.

5 minutes later… everyone had composed themselves and now the little girl was crying mercilessly.

"Could this be more troublesome….." Shikamaru mumbled in exasperation.

"Uh I think so." Piped up Ino as she pointed towards a very huge woman coming towards them with a very, very angry expression.

Shikamaru gulped, "This is…. Clearly-

"Going to be entertaining!" Ino interrupted with a giggle while Choji and Kankuro agreed with a sweat-drop.

"MOMMY! THIS PINK FREAK SNEEZED ON ME! AND NOW I'M COVERED IN SNOT!" The girl wailed as she hugged her mom.

'This scene kind of looks like Jerry trying to burry himself in a huge piece of cheese.' It was highly amusing. Naruto snorted as the thought ran through his head.

Well since poor Sakura could hear his thought unbeknownst to everyone, she couldn't resist snorting as well.

"You think this is amusing?!" Yelled the huge woman. She wasn't just fat! She was at least seven feet in height maybe more, towering over Sakura. She was wearing bright red lipstick on her very fat lips. There was no neck visible and her eyes had been reduced to tiny horizontal slits because of so much cheek fat.

"N-no Ma'am!" Sakura squeaked.

The little girl smirked at the ninjas making them drop their mouths. "Idiots." She mumbled but her mother didn't hear.

"It was an accidend Ma'am, I didn'd mean to sneeze on her. I have a very derrible-

"I don't want to hear your excuses you stupid skinny freaky brat! How could you treat my little girl like that?! If anyone deserves to have snot on their face, it's you! With your freakishly large forehead, at least that way your friends won't have to look at that ugly thing!" The woman yelled at poor Sakura who was shocked, all feelings of shyness and self-hate returned full force and she lowered her head in shame. It seemed like quite a crowd had gathered around the ramen shop during the woman's rant.

Suddenly everyone was startled when a stool fell on the ground with a loud sound as someone stood.

"You take that back, you monster truck!" Yelled Ino with a fury in her eyes that was very rare.

"Hell yeah! You have no right to insult Sakura-chan when you look like a bloated pig whose face got stuck in a vacuum cleaner!" Yelled a very annoyed Naruto.

"Yeah! You're what we call God's epic failure! He accidently made a gorilla and gave it your personality! And now look what a disaster we have here." Ino added with a smirk.

"As troublesome as this exchange is, I can't help but agree with Ino, I feel sorry for your husband. To get up every day in the morning and the first thing to greet you is that tragedy, ouch." Said Shikamaru with a lazy smirk.

"Yeah, I'm surprised he agreed to have children with you despite the risk of them inheriting your ugliness." Choji said crossing his arms with an angry expression.

Kankuro was having a tough time keeping a straight face. Everyone had gone all out. He smiled as they all seemed to be glaring at the huge woman. It was pretty cool how tight they all were with each other. And look on the ugly pig's face was priceless. She looked like someone had just told her, no meat for a month only leafy salads.

"You disrespectful brats! I'll complain about you to the Kazegake. My husband and I help him with business that helps our village prosper. So you better pack up and leave." The woman boasted. Her daughter smirked and stuck her tongue out.

Suddenly a new voice interjected.

"Maybe it would be better for you and your husband to pack up. Your work was abysmal. A five-year old could do better business than you."

The crowd gasped as they parted to make way for the new voice. Everyone looked in awe as their Kazekage stood in front of them with his arms crossed and a not very pleased expression on his face as his red hair got ruffled as the wind picked up.

The woman blanched, "L-Lo-Lord Kazekage, you can't mean that."

The red haired Kazekage smirked, "Oh yes I do. You're fired. You should have thought about your job and family before insulting my friend."

"YOSH! Because when you mess with one of us!" Naruto started before everyone joined in including Sakura and you guessed it, their red haired friend Gaara.

"YOU MESS WITH ALL OF US!" Everyone exclaimed with a bright smile.

"We sound so corny." Giggled Ino.

"I don't suppose that's a good thing. It's troublesome..." Shikamaru grumbled.

The crowd around them erupted in applause and cheers. The huge woman and her bratty daughter were booed out of the crowd as the applause died down. After the crowd dispersed Sakura spoke up,

"Thanks you guys… It's nice to know you have my back whenever I get in trouble." She said shyly.

Naruto gave her a foxy grin, "There's no need for you to thank us Sakura-chan, that's what friends are for."

"Yeah, goofball extraordinaire here is right. I may make fun of you from time to time but I'll never let you feel bad about your forehead again, forehead." Ino giggled.

Sakura laughed, "Yeah sure, Ino-pig." Before she sneezed again.

"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT*

Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Gaara! Man, long time no see! And you're already Kazekage! It's no fair!" Naruto whined.

Gaara smiled a little, "It's good to see you haven't changed at all. Still the immature brat we all love."

"The day Narudo changes indo a sensible person wid actual brains willd be the day the world ends." Sakura spoke up with a smirk.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH! Sakura-chan!" Naruto pouted with folded arms.

"I agree." Said Gaara with a smirk as he high-fived the pinkette.

"Heyyyyy….!" Naruto whined. Before he could say anything an unfamiliar feminine voice interrupted him.

"Lo-Lord Ka-Kazekage!" A voice said as Gaara turned to face a girl around their age with short brown hair.

"Matsuri?" Gaara asked in his usual monotone.

"Ah…Um… You wanted to tr-train m-me, bu-but yo-you weren't th-there a-at the tr-training gr-ground." The poor girl stuttered.

Gaara's eyes widened, "Oh yes, my apologies, it slipped my mind when I heard the news that my old friends had finally made it."

"Oh yeah about that, what took you guys so long?" Kankuro asked in confusion.

Naruto sweat-dropped and chuckled nervously as everyone glared at him.

"Naruto got you lost?" Gaara asked with a smirk.

"Yup!" Ino said in a disgruntled voice.

"I told you it was the snow! Not my fault!" Naruto whined.

"Can id!" Sakura growled as she lightly punched his arm.

"A-are they the gr-group of Ko-Konoha nin-ninja that Temari-san mentioned." Asked Matsuri.

"Yes." Gaara said simply.

Shikamaru gave a yawn and Ino rolled her eyes at Shikamaru.

"This is getting way too troublesome, can we get to what we came to do, so that I can finally do some cloud watching?" Said Shikamaru in annoyance.

"Yes of course, let's go to my office." Gaara said motioning for them to follow. "You too Matsuri." He said with a side glance to the girl making her blush and look down. "Y-yes Kazekage-sama."

"Hehehe, it looks like Gaara has a girlfriend!" Naruto whispered in Sakura's ear making her snort. But of course someone as loud as Naruto didn't know how to whisper and everyone heard him.

The red head turned and gave them a glare effectively shutting them up as Team 10 members snickered at the two team 7 member's expressions while Matsuri rivaled a tomato.


The snow crunched under his feet as he came to a stop. Looking around, there was nothing except snow covered trees, snowy bushes and the snowy ground.

Sasuke sighed as another gust of clod wind blew making him shiver. "Damn this cold." He mumbled as a certain memory came to him.

A memory of Team 7 on a D-rank mission to shovel snow last year in December. He chuckled as he remembered the dobe shivering because he thought the cold couldn't defeat him and Sakura had punched him for being such an idiot before taking off her gloves, muffler and cap and shoving them in his face saying something along the lines of not wanting a useless popsicle for a team-mate making him and Kakashi chuckle. It was completely obvious that Sakura cared, because her face was pretty red and both he and Kakashi knew it wasn't the cold.

Suddenly he was jerked out of his memories as something cold hit him in the head. He turned his head to glare at the offending idiot of a person only to be hit again from the other side.

He whipped his head forwards again and saw his team-mate standing in front of him with a smirk with a snowball in her hand. She peered at him through her glasses as her red hair flowed in the wind.

"Is wittle Sasuke afraid of the cold." The girl teased.

Sasuke bristled, this girl was sooooo ugh! He wanted to pull his own hair out. He had dealt with tons of fangirls. He knew how to act with girls fawning over him but he had no idea how to deal with someone… like her. This red-haired nerd liked to make fun of him! The great Sasuke Uchiha! And dare he say it, but this girl kind of reminded him a lot of Naruto. The same idiotic tendencies, energetic nature and loved to irritate him. There was only one difference between the two, Karin seemed to have a brain that as Sakura had pointed out a million times Naruto lacked.

"What is your problem red?" He glared at her.

"Oh nothing, it's just, I feel so, so complete when I manage to make you look like a complete doofus." Karin smirked.

Oh how Sasuke wanted to wipe that smirk off. But it was rude to hit a girl. Or whatever she was, Sasuke thought in annoyance.

"If you weren't a girl, I would have killed you by now." Sasuke said stoically.

"Does the great Sasuke Uchiha have a soft spot for me?" Karin questioned mockingly.

"You're an idiot." Sasuke said in annoyance.

"You're an asshole." Karin retorted.

"Touché." He replied with a smirk.

Well you might, maybe say that Sasuke kind of liked this banter between them. She was so weird that Sasuke didn't know what to think sometimes.

Another snowball hit him in the face.

"Stop spacing out duck-face, and stop looking at me like that!" Karin yelled at him.

Sasuke was ready to kill her for the duckface insult but the second part of the sentence intrigued him, so with an inward smirk he said,

"Like what?"

Like he had anticipated Karin faltered, "Li-like you w-were analyzing me or something! It-it feels weird." She stumbled on her words with a blush that was starting to bloom on her face.

Sasuke smirked openly, he hadn't expected her to stutter, this was double victory for him and the blush on her face was a triple victory.

"How would you feel, if I look at you with my sharingan!" Sasuke smirked.

Karin blushed even more, "D-don't you dare!" She warned him but of course, no stupid warning from a girl would stop him.

Turning on his sharingan, he looked at her with a smirk. Karin started backing away as Sasuke kept coming closer to her.

The poor red head bumped into a tree with Sasuke right in front of her. Only a few inches separated his smirking face and her blushing one.

Suddenly Sasuke just took of her glasses surprising her and then put them on.

"Wha-?" Karin questioned.

"Your eyesight is terrible!" Sasuke exclaimed lowering the glasses as he peered over them.

"Give em' back, duckface! You can't just take off someone's glasses like that! Don't you have any manners O' Great Uchiha?" Karin questioned sarcastically.

Sasuke glared at her, "A boy only needs to show manners in front of a lady. I don't see a lady anywhere, do you?" He smirked.

Karin wanted to punch the dark haired boy so much, the urge was almost overwhelming! But curse the god of looks, the boy was cute, and messing up his face would be a disadvantage, she blushed as this thought went through her head.

"You're a jerk you know that?" Karin huffed.

"You flatter me red." Sasuke said with a smirk. This witty banter with Karin always made him excited, (Not that kind you perverts!) "If you want these, you're just going to have to take them from me by force!" He said.

Karin glared at the boy. When they had met for the first time, they had been of the same height, unfortunately she must have pissed off Kami somehow, and Sasuke now had at least one and a half inch over her and he was going to keep growing…. Damn puberty.

No wait damn the duckfaced Uchiha! The stupid jerk had just took off with her glasses! How the heck was she supposed to catch him when there was a 100% possibility of her bumping into a tree. Not only was the boy blessed with good looks but he had smarts too! Karin blushed again, not believing her own thoughts

"Alright you two, stop goofing off…. Really Sasuke, I didn't peg you for someone fond of….. Goofiness." Another voice interjected making Sasuke stop in his tracks.

Karin looked at his blurred back in confusion. And her confusion increased even more when Sasuke suddenly shoved her glasses back in her hands without looking at her and walked ahead.

Kabuto stepped out of some bushes and pushed his slipping glasses back. "You do remember what we came for, don't you…. Sasuke?" His snobby voice said annoying Karin.

"Yeah, I do…. Let's get moving…. No stops, we will complete this mission." Sasuke said stoically, all emotion absent.

"Yes that's the spirit. This is the only way to get stronger." Kabuto said with a smirk.

Karin didn't really understand why Sasuke was going to such lengths, but maybe if she had been in his situation, she would understand? Right? (A/N: Ok before I'm bombarded with insults, that Sasuke is very very very OOC, I'd like to say, that please be patient and don't be upset with a slight change in his personality. He is still the same cold, emo, duckface we all love. I don't want to portray him as an evil crazed villain, that's Orochimaru lmao. Well, sorry to stop the flow of the story, go on and hate me lol.)


"Dang it man! I'm tired, I just want to go home and relax!" Yelled an irked Kiba.

"Kiba-kun…" Hinata mumbled disapprovingly.

"He's right you know, even I'm beat." Tenten spoke up as she stretched.

The sun was setting now. It would be getting dark in sometime, and the six ninjas did not want to be stuck in a forest at night. Unfortunately they had searched all over the village and did not find anyone who knew about this book. Since no one in the village had the book, now the two teams had to scour the forest outside Konoha for travelers leaving the village or coming towards the village as the Hokage believed that they might have the book. So far no luck….

"Kiba-kun! Ten-chan! Please we should not give up! We are youthful ninjas! We will keep searching until we find the culprit!" Lee exclaimed with a determined expression.

"Yeah, and then I'll knock some sense in their head." Neji said stoically.

"Damn straight, that person is gonna have hell to pay! I'll kill em'!" Kiba yelled in anger and Akamaru gave a bark in agreement.

"Well, that seems extreme but sure why not? They are leading us on a wild goose chase." Tenten said with a fiery glint in her eyes.

"I-I-I don't th-think ki-ki-killing them is su-such a go-good i-i-idea." Hinata said quietly twirling her fingers.

Kiba who was already annoyed because of the wild goose chase and the stupid mission felt his temper rise, and before he knew it he was spewing nonsense, oh well…."Why the hell are you still stuttering Hinata?! Get yourself together! It's getting freakin' annoying now!" Kiba barked at the shocked girl.

Everyone fell silent, not knowing why Kiba was so aggravated except Shino since he had been the two's team-mate for two years. Shino sighed, Kiba wasn't a patient person and maybe the poor kid was reaching his limit. The bug ninja was surprised that Kiba hadn't blown up earlier. The boy had been struggling with his feelings for a while now, Shino doubted Kiba even understood his own feelings for their shy team-mate. He sighed inwardly, adolescence was a confusing and frustrating period of time with emotions running wild and rational thought out the window and the brain was only governed with angry teenage hormones. Add ninja to the equation and it equals disaster. It was as simple as 2+2= 4 or as complicated as proving Sin^2A+Cos^2A= 1.

Hinata was way too shocked to say anything. Finally Shino decided to speak up.

"Kiba, maybe you shouldn't have-

"Oh hush up bug creep, I don't need a stupid lecture from you! Ugh, I'm too tired to deal with anything, this stupid mission should just go to hell with that goddamned book, and I don't care!" Kiba yelled before stomping off deeper into the forest as Akamaru cautiously followed his master.

Hinata stood stock still not understanding what was going on with her dog loving team-mate. He had always been so supportive and gentle with her despite his rough personality. Kiba had never yelled at her in anger like this. Maybe only to support her he had but this was completely new and she did not like it.

Shino sighed, "Let's give him some time to cool down." He suggested.

"Yes you're right Shino-kun." Lee said and Tenten and Neji agreed while Hinata stayed silent with a glazed look in her eyes.

Neji and Shino exchanged worried looks with each other, but there was not much they could do.


"Well this was a bust." Naruto sighed.

"Yeah…" Sakura said sadly.

After they had left the ramen stand, they'd gone with Gaara and Kankuro to his office where they got all the details of Saskue's spotting and they learned something new. Sasuke wasn't alone. He had a team-mate. This had confused and hurt both Naruto and Sakura.

After they had the small briefing, the small group of ninjas decided to split up in pairs of two, and look around for their missing friend and ask around. But since they were odd, Choji had to go alone.

Naruto and Sakura trudged dejectedly back to their decided meeting point. Team 10 was already there waiting for them.

"Any luck?" Piped up Ino.

"No." Answered both in unison.

"Same." Said Choji.

"What a drag… it's getting late, we should go back to the place Gaara showed us we'd be staying at." Shikamaru spoke up.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Gaara had specially secured and mended a medium sized abandoned house for them to stay at, since he didn't want his guests to stay at a measly hotel. Sooooo, they had a whole house to themselves with *surprise* *surprise* HOT SPRINGS IN THE BACK!

They were all overjoyed at the news but it was soon diminished when they remembered the reason why they were here in the first place.

"Damn that teme, he's not even here and he's being a buzzkill." Naruto grumbled and Shikamaru and Choji snickered as they agreed while the girls glared at the orange clad goofball.

"Can the crap Narudo and keep walkingn if you wand do remain conscious." Sakura warned the boy.

"Yes ma'am!" Naruto saluted while Sakura heard in her head something else entirely,

'Damnnnnnnn, she's hot and adorable when she's bossy, how is that even possible?! And that cold has her cheeks red and voice all baby like and she just looks cuter than a baby panda cuddling with a kitten.' Naruto's voice said in disbelief making Sakura's already red cheeks redder than a tomato.

Ino gave her an odd look, "You alright Forehead? You look like you have a fever." Ino said worriedly.

"N-no I'm fined!" Sakura said frantically.

"Fined?" Ino raised an eyebrow.

"ACHOO!"

*SPLAT*

Was the answer Ino got.

'Poor Sakura…' Sakura heard Ino's voice say in her head.

'Troublesome girls…' Sakura heard Shikamaru groan in her head.

'Man, this ain't cool, Naruto's got Sakura, Shika's got Ino, Sasuke and Shino are weirdly anti-social, even Kiba has Hinata! And I'm all alone…. All I have for company are these barbecue cheese flavored chips! Oh well…' Choji's voice said dejectedly.

Wiping her nose with her snot filled hanky she thought about what Choji had said. Shikamaru and Ino? Was she the only one missing something? Were they dating? Was she so blind that she hadn't noticed something different about Ino? Ino…. They had kind of resolved their issues after the Chunin exams….but it had been one measly talk, she doubted it had made any difference. The guilt was overwhelming, their friendship had been…. Words failed her, they were best friends! And she threw it all away…. For a boy? What was wrong with her? She didn't wanna admit it, but she missed talking to Ino. Just missed talking and giggling like the young girls they were, talking about boys, going shopping discussing cartoons…. Did Ino miss it? Even with her mind reading abilities she hadn't heard anything related to her. This made Sakura sad, it seemed like Ino had moved on…. Well could you blame her? Why would someone like Ino, an exciting interesting pretty outgoing girl be friends with plain old boring geek Sakura? With a sad smile and lowered eyes she continued walking a little behind her friends as they chatted among themselves happily.

After a few hours, way past midnight maybe around 6 or 6:30 AM…

Sakura flipped through the "borrowed" book as she lay on the bed on her stomach. She was happy that Gaara made them stay at this wonderful house. It had two floors! Of course on the ground floor, they had a living room, a kitchen and dining room. It was so spacious Sakura and Ino didn't wanna leave the living room! But she was glad they did, their rooms were even better! They were big rooms with a bed beside the wall and a bedside table of course, and they had their own bathrooms!

Sakura would have gone out and scoured the village but, a strange headache had been troubling her ever since midnight. It had kept increasing in intensity without a pattern. It didn't feel like a headache brought on by a stuffed nose though. She kept flipping through the book, reading about sealing and extracting techniques when suddenly the pain intensified tenfold. Sakura gasped and clutched her head and started writhing in pain as if someone was torturing her.

The pain was unimaginable, she had dealt with a lot of migraines but this one took the cake! It felt like something was pounding against her skull, the cold was making breathing harder for her. The combination was not good. She wanted to scream out loud because the pain had just increased even more. Now it felt like her head was going to explode from pain, her vision had gone blurry. She knew she had to keep quite or the others might hear her. She had no explanation for this head splitting headache.

Despite trying her hardest, a few whimpers escaped her, her breathing was ragged and it felt like she was about to die or something.

.

.

.

Naruto yawned as he made his way back towards his room. For some reason he had felt thirsty, so he had gone to the kitchen and gotten a glass of water. He passed by Ino's room which was next to Choji's. The upper floor was kind of like a hallway with doors on either side. Opposite to Choji's was Shikamaru's room and next was Sakura's room and lastly it was his room on the other side.

He passed by Sakura's room while he yawned again, but paused mid-way when heard a whimper from her room. Naruto looked at the door in a mix of surprise, worry, curiosity and concern. Thinking that maybe he was hearing things, he decided to go back to his room and get another hour of sleep but a few more whimpers floated through the closed door followed by a painful groan.

Now Naruto was full out worried. Gulping a little he twisted the doorknob and opened the door a crack to see his pink haired friend squirming in bed with the most pained expression he had ever seen on her face.

Naruto gasped lightly before making his way to her side. It seemed like she hadn't sensed him yet.

"Sakura-chan?" His voice sounded like a ghostly whisper.

Sakura sat up in surprise but threw herself towards the wall as the pain made her jerk side wards. Her back was against the wall now and Naruto could see her face contorted in pain, her eyes were closed tightly obstructing her bottle green eyes from his view. She still clutched her head trying to ease the pain.

"Sakura-chan?" He whispered again extending his hand and lightly touching her arm. Sakura seemed to jerk at his touch.

Sakura gasped, as soon as Naruto touched her, the pain increased another tenfold if it was possible. She whimpered again and this time a few tears fell from her eyes.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that Sakura was in more pain now. And it was because of him!

"S-sorry Sa-Sakura-chan! I-I-I didn't mean to!" Naruto said frantically and tried backing away.

But as luck would have it, Naruto stumbled and somehow ended up on the bed, his one leg between Sakura's and the other one on the other side of her leg. In his haste Naruto had extended his hands to prevent himself from falling. But what he managed to do was that, his hand landed right smack dab in the middle of Sakura's forehead.

Naruto paled as he realized what had happened, but he was even more shocked when he realized that Sakura wasn't moving anymore. Her hands lay limp on her sides, her squirming and writhing had stopped. Now she was just staring at him with blank eyes.

Naruto gulped. A fleeting thought crossed his mind that he might have killed her but he quickly shook his head to rid himself of the evil thought.

When Naruto's hand had made contact with Sakura's forehead, she felt the pain vanish suddenly as she felt herself being pulled inwards in some kind of darkness.

.

.

.

She continued spiraling slowly through the darkness until she actually landed on a carpeted floor with books strewn across it.

Confusion clouded her mind, where was she? It seemed like a library of sorts with millions of bookshelves surrounding her. They seemed to keep going on and on ending only in darkness. The only source of light in this large dark library was a huge window on her right. Outside there was a standard scene of a bright blue sky with soft clouds that reminded Sakura of cotton candy and luscious green grass seemed to cover the ground as it swayed in the slightly cold breeze that was blowing. The window was open and the cool wind brushed against her face, ruffling her hair.

Where did the headache go? She wondered as she looked around, not able to see a lot because of the limited illumination. Her eyes roved over the books strewn haphazardly around her. They all had weird titles. One book said: "Cherished memories", another said "Idiotic moments", "Embarrassing moments", "Sad memories", "Happiest memories", "Conflicting feelings" And so on.

'What in the world?' She thought not understanding what was happening, so she did the best thing a person could do, she picked up one of the books and flipped it open. It was the Embarrassing moments one.

As soon as the book opened to a specific page, a frame of pictures started playing in front of her eyes like a movie. Sakura's eyes widened as she watched the scenes in front of her. This was… the day… a few months ago just after the failed Sasuke retrieval mission, Naruto had somehow convinced her to come to his house for a surprise at night. It was a little late but she was curious enough to sneak out. Well she had to admit the surprise was pretty good. Naruto had caught two glowing jellyfish! On one of his training sessions with Jiraiya, he had come across said jellyfish, what made them so unique was that one of them glowed pink while the other glowed orange. So strange…

A dark blush started to illuminate her cheeks as the scenes progressed and she remembered what had happened after a few minutes of fawning. Apparently the two jellyfish caught by the idiot were adults and… it was mating season for them. A simple comment from Naruto regarding how the two jellyfish represented them because of their colors had instigated a bunch of weird feelings she still didn't understand.

Even Sakura had agreed with Naruto until…

(Watching the scenes…)

"Uh… what are they doing? It… kind of looks like they're wrestling or something…" Naruto trailed off.

Sakura stopped fawning for a second and observed the jellyfish before turning red, "They're uh… they're wrestling alright but in a… different sense…" Sakura tried to explain.

Of course the oblivious Naruto didn't get it, damn him.

"What do you mean? It just looks like they're playing with each other… Oo oo, we should too! You know like a wrestling match or a tickle fight!" He said enthusiastically with his cute foxy grin.

"KYAAAAAAAA-!" Sakura exclaimed in shock and embarrassment. Her heart started fluttering and her throat had gone dry. A dazed feeling took over her mind and her cheeks became red prompting Naruto to ask the dreaded question,

"Sakura-chan? You ok?" He asked snapping Sakura out of her daze a little.

"Naruto you idiot! They're not playing with each other! They're "PLAYING" with each other!" She emphasized the word playing with air quotes.

Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Huh?"

Sakura resisted the urge to smack her forehead but instead did a crude gesture to show him what she meant.

Naruto immediately went beet red before smiling pervertedly, "Way to go jellyfish me! You're getting some from jellyfish Sakura! Now if only the human us could do it too…" Naruto snickered, "Oh dang, Sakura-chan, jellyfish you seems to be enjoyi-

"NARUTOOOOOOOO! YOU PERVERT!" Sakura interrupted Naruto before punching the poor boy which accidently sent him stumbling into the tank of water. It toppled over drenching both genins, but if that wasn't enough both the jellyfish landed on Naruto's head.

"AHHHHHH!" Both of them screamed.

"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" Naruto yelled as the squishy jellyfish moved on his head.

"You really need to get these off! They could be poisonous!" Sakura yelled trying to help Naruto pry the things off.

They both stumbled and slipped around trying to get the two jellyfish off.

"Ouch! Sakura-chan! My hair!" Naruto whined as Sakura continued pulling the jellyfish off.

"Ugh, these things are really stuck!" Sakura exclaimed. For maybe 15 minutes they continued to struggle. Sakura was now sitting on Naruto's bed with Naruto in front of her as she kept pulling. Finally the two jellyfish came off, but taking the force of Sakura pulling in account, it was only natural that Sakura fell back on the bed with Naruto on top as the jellyfish flew out the window.

Naruto groaned and mumbled, "Finally."

Sakura lay pinned on the bed by a boy who was her friend and team-mate, right? Just a friend and a team-mate? But then what was this powerful feeling? It's only Naruto… she thought with wide eyes, she had a sneaking suspicion that Naruto could hear her heart trying to beat its way out of her. Of course instead of acting like a decent human being and apologizing and getting up he had acted like a complete pervert prompting Sakura to pummel him with a pillow.

The jellyfishes on the other hand fell from Naruto's window and ended up on Kakashi's face who had been taking on patrol with Gai. Oops?

(End)

Sakura sat there cross legged, confusion evident on her face. It seemed like the book had just showed her a memory of her own.

"What in the world is going on?" She mumbled.

Suddenly she heard a familiar voice give her the answer, "These books are called memoirs, and they have different types of your memories stored in them up till now, so basically they are like your life story."

"Oh thanks, I guess that makes sense…" Said Sakura still in a thinking daze before realizing that a strangely familiar voice had spoken to her and she had replied without thinking.

She snapped her head up with lightning speed and gasped before tumbling backwards and smacking into a bookcase in a mix of shock, fear and curiosity.

In front of her stood a larger than normal fox with orangish red fur, red eyes with black outlines, sharp teeth and many other things that a normal fox possesses. But that wasn't the fear instilling part, no the fox seemed to have nine tails protruding out instead of one.

Sakura gulped in fear, the demon fox that had attacked Konoha 14 years ago was standing at least 7 ft. tall shorter than his real size, over her and had a smirk etched on his face. It felt absurd, surprising, shocking, and weird, she had many words to describe how she felt but they still won't be enough to grasp the situation. She had seen a picture of the fox in the book, but seeing the real thing was way different, like meeting one of the three legendary sanin and finding out that one of them is a more perverted version of Naruto, the other one has temper issues with a stupid gambling habit and the third one is a twisted evil psychopath….

"Wha-? What, h-how, huh?" Sakura stumbled trying to understand what the hell was happening.

The fox chuckled, it was deep rumbling that felt like a vibration in her head.

"Judging by your reaction, I assume you know who I am?" The fox asked.

Sakura gaped, the fox's voice… was eerily similar to the second voice she kept hearing from Naruto… wait… Sakura realized it wasn't eerily similar… it was the same voice! But why was she hearing the Kyuubi's voice from Naruto? She gulped having some-what of an idea what the answer was…

Something must have shown in her expression because it prompted the fox to ask, "I am guessing you've figured out my connection with the kit haven't you?" He asked in a serious voice.

Sakura swallowed before replying, "Ma-maybe…" She stuttered. "Bu-but I don't get it… it seems impossible…"

The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here? I thought the Yondaime killed you…" She asked cocking her head to the side in question.

"Not really… instead of killing me, he sealed me in a new-born baby…" Said the fox.

Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, the passage about Jinchurikis from the "borrowed" book coming to her mind. Tailed beasts were sealed inside new-born babies since it was easier for the baby's chakra coils to grow around the demon's chakra. This helps them get accustomed to having another chakra. But a disadvantage to this was that, if the tailed beast was ever extracted from the Jinchuriki, they would die because their chakra coils are so entangled that the loss of the Biju's chakra is too much for their body to withstand. Sakura shivered slightly, that had nothing to do with the cold breeze wafting in from the window.

"Wh-what day was it?" Sakura asked tentatively already dreading the answer like she always dreaded the day they got their results. The anticipation was making her more nervous than she had ever been previously.

The Kyuubi simply looked at her and answered without a hitch, "10th October."

Sakura looked down at her crossed legs and played with the end of her nightgown before letting out a quite whisper, "No way…"

The fox looked at her sympathetically, "Apparently… yes way." He said.

Sakura didn't understand…, "Why?" She asked simply, "I don't understand… why he sealed you in Naruto? It doesn't make any sense!" Sakura yelled the last part.

The Kyuubi sighed, "Minato or the Yondaime thought, that by doing this not only will he save the village, but Naruto would be treated like a hero. The one who defeated the demon known as Kyuubi and the people would come to respect him."

"But instead of that… the opposite happened." Sakura said sadly as she remembered a few instances from her childhood. Suddenly a particular memory of Naruto saying something like, "He's not even from our village and you want to play with him, but you all still look at me that way!" And walking away came to her. It finally made sense. He must have been referring to the hated glares everyone threw his way when they were younger though it wasn't any better now, and the poor kid didn't even know why the villagers hated him. She was surprised when she heard herself sniffle.

"I can't believe how blind I've been these past few years. I never noticed the villagers' behavior towards Naruto and try to figure out why everyone looked a Naruto the way they did, and it's all my fault, I never even gave him a chance even after we were put on the same team. It's so ridiculous you know…." She smiled a little, "I kept on pining after Sasuke-kun while he kept calling me annoying and not paying attention to me, and I hated it… I only wanted him to acknowledge me... to accept my love. I never understood how he could act so cold and mean to someone who only wanted to get close to him, when I was doing the exact same thing to Naruto. I am a horrible, terrible, mean, stupid person! I am such a hypocrite." Sakura finished her rant as she put her head in hands in shame.

"It is… ironic… I find myself saying since I have no idea what to do in such a situation, but isn't this the part where you humans need false validation to feel better despite deserving every terrible thing you're feeling?" The Kyuubi said with a smirk as he looked around the library.

Sakura stared at the fox in shock, but he did make a good point. People sought comfort in every situation… the fox had said it in a cruel way and it did hurt but it was the truth. Denying it would be foolish.

"You're right… I deserve every terrible thing that's waiting in store for me. After all it's basically karma isn't it? What goes around, comes around… right?" Said Sakura with a sigh and a small but sad smile.

The Kyuubi looked at the pink haired girl in shock. According to what he had perceived about human nature, a comment like that should have made the girl fly off the handle and defend herself saying all kinds of nonsense like, you're a demon what do you understand about human emotions? Or, what are you talking about you monster? Or, you're a demon and demons don't have emotions so shut up! Humans never accepted their mistakes and gave stupid justifications for their actions and it pissed him off…..The only other human who had defied his perception was none other than the kit.

A question from the girl snapped him out of his musings, "What is this place? Where… are we?" Asked Sakura looking out the window as another thought plagued her mind, she couldn't hear the Kyuubi's thoughts, was it because he wasn't human?

"Ahhhh… I was wondering when you would ask that. You see, we are inside your mind." The fox explained with a smile.

Sakura blanched and if she had been standing she probably would have lost her balance because of the shock overtaking her brain. "My mind?! Wha-?!" She exclaimed in shock.

The Kyuubi nodded, "And if you're wondering why it's a library… well the fact that you're a geeky nerd… I think that answers that." The fox chuckled making Sakura glare at him.

"Hey! That's mean!" She pouted like a child. "But wait… how did you-?"

The fox thought a little about how to phrase it before finally explaining, "I normally can't do things like these, but it was easy to do so because….

Reason no.1- Since you've healed Naruto a few times before using your chakra, his body including me are familiar with it, and my chakra and Naruto's accept yours without a problem so it was easy to push mine in your body although only a very minute trickle, too much can be poisonous.

Reason no.2- You have an inner conscious, it's very unusual but very useful. Not only does your body need to accept my chakra, your mind also needs to accept me which was easy to do with the help of Inner Sakura."

Sakura's mouth fell open, "Inner Sakura helped you? But how?" She asked in confusion.

Suddenly another voice interrupted her, "Well, you know how we've been listening to other people's thoughts… This new ability kind of establishes a mental link to people's minds in such a way that only we hear their thoughts while they remain ignorant. But Kyuubi here could hear me and I could hear him. We don't really know how though. And so we started communicating without you or Naruto knowing. " The voice said coming out of the shadows and standing beside the fox.

Sakura gasped… it was her! Or well… her inner self. They looked identical expect for the fact that Inner Sakura had Inner Sakura literally written on her head in Japanese.

"Woah! That's possible?" Sakura asked finally standing up.

"Yeah I guess so, it was shocking for me at first too, but I got over it due the fact that I was now friends with an immortal being." Inner Sakura said with a smile.

"But… that doesn't make any sense… if my inner self knew about you the demon Kyuubi, she also knew that Naruto is a Jinchuriki while I didn't! We're the same person!" Sakura exclaimed clearly perplexed.

Kyuubi interrupted Inner Sakura wanting to explain it himself, "At first glance you are the same person, but your inner self is a completely different conscious, she's not a sub-conscious….because she has her own thoughts and way of thinking, so even if she knew about me and talked to me you could never had known unless she told you herself."

Sakura looked at them weirdly, "So…. You've been talking and neither Naruto nor I knew about this?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"Correct!" Said Inner Sakura enthusiastically.

"The kit wouldn't have known, since he can't hear Inner Sakura, and I can just shut off my mental connection with him while talking to Inner Sakura." Kyuubi explained.

"Wow, this kind of sounds like a weird affair you two have been hiding from us…. What made you guys finally tell me?" Sakura asked eagerly.

Inner Sakura and Kyuubi exchanged looks.

"Well, you were coming pretty close to finding the truth anyway by reading the "borrowed" book, so we decided to speed things up and because Kyuubi wanted to meet you in person." Inner Sakura explained. "Oh and his real name is Kurama." Inner Sakura added.

Sakura adopted a thinking pose, "Huh… fitting…" She mumbled.

"But you can't tell Naruto." Kyuubi warned her in a serious voice.

"Wha-?! I know he might think I hate him or something if I told him, but that is not the case! On the positive side, it will even ease his burden!" Sakura exclaimed outrageously.

"All good points, but the answer is still no. You and I both know this is a crucial time with you both on a mission to find the Uchiha brat, Naruto is focused on bringing him back and fulfilling his promise to you. If you tell him you know then it will mess up his thinking making him vulnerable and emotionally fragile. Plus he would be filled with questions leading to your secret abilities getting uncovered and the truth about your second conscious." The fox told her calmly.

Sakura paled as she had a flashback of Naruto making the promise. That damned promise…. Oh why had she begged him like that… thinking back to the moment always made her feel pathetic. While Naruto had put his life on the life to bring their mutual friend back she had only sat in corners and weeped like a damsel in distress. If this vomiting thought wasn't enough, the fact that her weird freaky abilities might get revealed, it was scary. A flashback of her reading that cursed page in the bottle came to her. It had plagued her mind everyday whenever she was idle even for a second. And messing with Naruto's feelings? Making him emotionally vulnerable at such a time? It was certainly a stupid thing to do.

They had just reached Suna today and started searching for Sasuke right after having a talk with Gaara in his office not leaving any time for her to research on this phoenix. She had badly wanted to go to the library, she could have gone tonight, but her damned cold made her feel dizzy and it was hard for her to stand straight for five minutes without stumbling. Unless she found more about this…. stuff she wasn't ready to reveal anything.

"Yo-you're right…" Sakura trailed off, "I won't say anything to him." She stated firmly knowing that she was acting like a coward, but…. Nope she didn't have a good enough reason.

"Alright… let's finish up and go our separate ways then." Said Inner Sakura clapping her hands together.

The Kyuubi nodded, "Yes and before the kit panics and does something stupid like jump out a window, thinking he killed his 'precious Sakura-chan'."

Before Sakura could ask Inner Sakura was already on it, "You're not in control of your body since you've receded into your mind so you're probably just staring ahead with a blank look not moving at all." She explained.

"Woah, really? But we've been here for quite a long time…." Sakura trailed off.

"Not to worry…. No time would have passed in the outside world… it's one of the mysteries of the conscious world." Kyuubi said in an assuring tone

"Oh, I guess it's not so bad then. Let's go then and you know…. For a demon you're a pretty sweet furball." Commented Sakura causing Kyuubi to roll his eyes and Inner Sakura to exclaim happily, "That's what I told him the first time we met!"

"Alright close your eyes and count to three, you'll be back in your body." The fox told Sakura and she did as instructed.

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.

.

Naruto looked at the pink haired girl in front of him as he retracted his hand back from her forehead. Why did she have such a blank look on her face? Did he accidently put her in a coma or something? How would he wake her up? As if they didn't have enough problems….

Maybe it was like of the fairytales he had heard as a kid. Maybe he had to kiss her to wake her up. Naruto swallowed as his cheeks flushed. What was he thinking?! Kissing his Sakura-chan….? He gulped, she would kill him if she heard his thoughts! But it was a perfectly good opportunity, and damn it! He wasn't going to pass it up. He leaned downwards, slowly closing the distance between them. Just an inch remained between them. He gulped again.

Sakura chose that moment to wake up. Her blank look vanished, only to be replaced with utter shock and something akin to panic as she stared into a pair of cerulean eyes that were so close, she could feel the brightness emanating from them. Naruto stared back in fear but he didn't move back. Her eyes were enchanting and he was captivated. His eyes flicked to her lips for a second before staring back into her bottle green eyes. Sakura felt her heart beat faster at the small slip as her face heated up. Her body temperature rose a few degrees. The adorable blush on his face was not helping her predicament.

She didn't know what made her eyes flutter close but it seemed like something was screaming inside her to just lean forward. And she almost did, had it not been for her feeling a hand slip in her night gown, touching her navel snapping her out of whatever daze she was in.

Her face turned even redder from a mix of embarrassment, shock and ANGER.

"NARUDOOOOOOOOOO!" She yelled in anger, her scream resounding in the whole house.

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Choji had been digging in the fridge for food at that moment and accidently ended up slamming the door on his hand as he started at the terrifying scream while Ino accidently spilt hot chocolate all over herself in shock.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Yelled Choji holding his red swollen hand as tears rolled down his chubby cheeks in a comical way.

"Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hottttttttttt!" Yelled Ino as she danced around like a monkey in pain.

Shikamaru had been sleeping peacefully when the offending scream had startled him and he rolled out of bed in shock and smacked his nose on the floor causing a little blood to flow out.

Naruto whimpered and sweat started pouring down his face as Sakura growled in anger and pulled her hand back and prepared a deadly punch.

'SHANNARO! KILL HIM!' Yelled Inner Sakura making a punch in anger.

"Narudo you are so dead!" Sakura exclaimed before bringing upon him the punch of doom.

"Sa-Sakura-ch-chan! You got it all wrong, there was an ant! I-it was insi-

"Oh shut up! You act all innocent but I know what goes on in that perverted mind of yours, as if you weren't perverted enough, the influence of Lord Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei have completely messed up your remaining innocence!" She yelled at him with eyes red with fury.

Naruto whimpered as he turned white, but before she could hit him, the door to her room crashed open, and in the doorway stood their three friends in varying states of well….um… you know….

Sakura and Naruto looked at them with wide eyes. The three looked at them in shock. On the bed Sakura sat with her back to the wall in only her nightwear and Naruto hovered over her only wearing his…boxers. What. A. Predicament.

"Jeez Forehead, Naruto's gotta be real good to make you scream like that." Ino smirked not passing up an opportunity to embarrass her friend.

Choji and Shikamaru snorted as Naruto and Sakura blushed fiercely.

"Come on guys let's leave these two lovebirds alone." Choji giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, try to keep it down though, it's troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled before winking at Naruto and walking away with a huge yawn and was followed by his two giggling team-mates.

As they left Sakura heard Naruto in her head, 'Oh Ino, she would be 10 times louder if I were to teehee you know.' His voice giggled.

"Kit, your delusional thinking amuses me…" The Kyuubi chimed in.

'Shut up furball!' Naruto's voice exclaimed.

Sakura had heard enough, "Narudo…." She growled and said boy could swear her eyes were glowing red before he was punched into oblivion.

"Pervert…" She mumbled as the sun finally shined through her window before she jumped of the bed in fright as she felt something creeping up on her body. Quickly lifting up her nightgown she flailed about in a comical fashion trying to get the offending creature off. Finally, her eye caught a black dot on her stomach which she flicked off.

"Uh oh." She mumbled as she realized Naruto had been telling the truth. She sweat-dropped and laughed nervously,

"ACHOO!" A dreaded sneeze came after some time.

*SPLAT* Of course.

"Oops….?"


A/N: Welllzz…. This chapter got out of hand, lol my bad. I hope y'all are enjoying this story… and approve of Karin's little change. And I hope the Kyuubi scene didn't seem too weird. Fun fact: That scene was the first thing that came to my mind which lead to this story.

Another fun fact: This story was supposed to be a one-shot.

About the Hinata and Kiba scene, don't worry there isn't going to be any petty drama, Kiba is just frustrated. There will be some fluffy KibaHina moments soon. And I know I haven't really put a lot ShikaIno moments, forgive me for that, I'm working on it. Oh and I wanted to ask but kept forgetting... Do you people prefer LeeTen or NejiTen? Or NejiLee lol? Or perhaps GaiLee? Lmao. Also I'm also gonna show some GaaMatsu moments, hope y'all approve.

And the thing about jellyfish, almost all jellyfish reproduce externally i.e. the male and female release sperm and eggs in the water and they get fertilized outside the body of females. So this would make my little inclusion invalid, but I researched and found that there is a species of box jellyfish that reproduces externally called Copula sivickisi by entangling their tentacles, but they are only active at night, hence the odd time Sakura visits Naruto. So we assume that the jellyfish Naruto caught are Copula sivickisi.

Alrighty boys and girls, please review and make me happy, I swear I once whooped out of bed when I read someone's review lol. I think it was Gabby, yeah it was. And JintoLin my man/wo-man (whichever you are lol) your reviews really make my day. And I just got a review yesterday, and I just wanna say, I heard you and I'm definitely gonna try putting more moments where Sakura hears Naruto's romantic thoughts. And you JintoLin, you awesome person told me that you approve of Karin's change and I'm glad you do, I hope you were satisfied, perchance if you weren't, then you can tell me how to improve. Me want reviews! Or I'll send Choji to your house and have him eat everything, so you'll starve! MWHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem….Cough…Cough…. I've most certainly gone crazy…. Excuse me lol.