"What
does Lee have that I don't?" Naruto started, running his hands
through his blond hair as he stared at himself in the foggy
mirror.
"Youth, apparently." Sai answered as he came out of
the shower.
"Screw youth." Naruto shot. "I have fox
powers!"
"You're not even straight, Naruto. Why do you
care?"
"Because he's a dip-shit. No WAY is he cool enough
for Sakura."
"And you think you are?"
"…go to hell,
Sai."
32. Lust
"So, let me get this
straight… lust is a deadly sin?" Naruto inquired curiously as he
perusing through a scroll on religion.
"It is if you do it
right." Jiraiya answered nonchalantly, earning him a swift kick in
the groin from Tsunade.
"Naruto," she started, thrusting more
appropriate reading material at the genin. "You should know
better than to ask Jiraiya ANYTHING like that."
33. Meet the Uchihas
Tears streamed down Sakura's face as
she read the scroll.
It was a letter from Itachi.
Written to
Sasuke.
And it was heartbreaking, to say the least.
She never
would have even guessed that the Uchiha clan had been capable of true
evil.
Or that Itachi was trying to protect his little brother from
his own clan.
The letter began:
'If you are reading this,
otouto-chan, then that means you have already killed me. And by doing
so… you can live the way that I never could...'
34. Live
"I only lived to kill him. He's dead,
dobe'."
"But you're not! Get over yourself and come
home!"
Sasuke merely smirked at his self-appointed savior as he
untied his robe to reveal the gaping wound in his stomach from his
battle with Itachi.
"I will go home only to die there."
"No."
Sakura whispered from behind him before she knocked the boy
unconscious. "Sasuke, you will go home to live."
35. Run
"Run and cling to your pathetic existence."
The
thought burned in Sasuke's mind, and tortured his very being. He
keeps running, going, until he can find Itachi, and bury his cold
steel into his heart.
But someone else runs behind Sasuke. And
always will be, clinging to Sasuke's pathetic existence, and stop
him from running once and for all.
36. Sunrise
In
the evening, Sakura still isn't asleep, worrying for her best
friend and wondering why she hadn't gone with him. Lee does his
best to comfort her.
At midnight, she stands at the gates of
Konoha because of a nightmare.
At sunrise, she discovers that her
nightmare and dream had come true.
Naruto is alive, but barely.
He
stubbornly carries Sasuke in his arms, limp and unmoving.
"Please,"
Naruto says, meeting Sakura's unwavering gaze. "I brought him
home. You, bring him back."
37. Modern
'Modern
technology sucks.' Naruto thinks as he flips through the TV
channels. '100 channels, and nothing to watch.'
"We could
put in that movie Kiba gave us."
"It's probably porn."
"No!
It's a horror movie. Ino said she's seen it."
"Why would
you watch a movie Ino recommends anyway?"
"Because…"
Sakura glared at Naruto. "She keeps up with those things. She's
modern, unlike SOME people."
"She's stupid," Naruto
murmured as he continued flipping the channels.
"Yeah…and
that's why she used to date you."
38. Haunting
Most
of the village tended to simply ignore the Uchiha massacre, leaving
the property untouched.
But soon, the property became surrounded
with stories about the spirits of the undead, who search for
revenge.
And, like most scary stories, it is believed to be
bullshit.
But Sakura began to believe in the stories when a man
entered the hospital screaming and insane.
His eyes had been
ripped from his head and from his waist down, his skin had 3rd degree
burns.
He was entered into he psych ward after he healed.
No
one dared search for the friends he claimed accompanied him on that
night.
39. Chibi
"Man, Sai! Why did you have
to draw me like this? I look retarded!"
"Aw! It's chibi! How
cute!" Sakura gushed. "I never knew you could draw something this
cute! Could you draw me next?"
After a while, Sai temporarily
resigned from missions. He really didn't need the money anyway.
He
never knew that he could make such a profit from people in this
"chibi" way. Everyone seemed to want his or her chibi portrait
drawn.
He smiled.
And to think this all started just as a way
to piss Naruto off.
40. Artwork
"Buuuut
Sakura-chaan! I HATE museums!!"
"Shut up and stop whining!
This is for Sai's birthday!"
"But can't we just get him
some kunai or a gay porn magazine for his birthday?"
"NO! I've
had this planned for a LONG TIME and we're not going to screw this
up!"
Sakura drug Naruto through the museum, until she came upon
her prize.
Today, the museum was holding a sale auctioning off
different pieces to benefit local artists. Sakura knew about the
auction ahead of time and anticipated this sale for several months.
She was so thankful that she had saved up enough ryou to buy Sai's
favorite piece.
Often, when Sai wanted to think, he'd run off to
this museum and stare at this painting for hours.
And, as Sakura
paid the man and took the piece from his hands, she realized why.
It
was his piece.
And he had titled it 'Friends'.
It was the
first painting he had actually titled, and it was about their team.