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Chapter 4: Growing list of girls

At Naruto's crappy apartment

Naruto's newly bought alarm clock went off, the sound sent the birds flying away and the people living in the next building (Nobody wants to live in the same building as Naruto so they all moved at least one block away from him.) to wake up. The sound lasted for 3 whole minutes but Naruto still slept soundly, until the alarm lock fell off the table next to his bed and hit the floor with a smash. The sleepy blonde finally got up when a battery hit him on the forhead and lazily and went to the bathroom.

He washed his face and brushed his teeth. He then took a shower (with the stuff Jiraiya mentioned). After that he went back to the only other room in his apartment and changed into the fresh clothes on his table (his orange jumpsuit) and looked under his bed for some food, but after looking for a while he found nothing. Sighing, he pulled his wallet out from under his pillow and looked at the contents inside it. He had enough for two bowls of ramen the rest would be used for other purposes.

He left his apartment, not bothering to lock his door since nothing in there was worth much and no one other than him lived in this building anyway. Naruto zoomed off to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand to have his breakfast.

Training grounds

Neji was sitting in the shade of a large tree watching his teammates doing their training. Lee was currently doing push ups, about halfway through his goal of 400. The Hyuuga watched as Lee went on and on, with no sign of tiredness on his face, while Tenten was a few feet away from him practicing her with her kunai and shuriken. Neji observed her for a while and noticed something strange, Tenten's kunai and shuriken were whizzing through the air, striking the tree but almost all of them missed the target stuck on the wood, some of them hitting the trees nowhere near the target while most of the metal bounced off the trees harmlessly. Neji decided to go and see what's going on.

"What's bugging you Tenten?" said Neji walking up to the girl and crossing his arms. He started feeling annoyed when Tenten continued to chuck her weapons carelessly at the direction of the tree ignoring him as if she was in a trance. Neji sighed and spoke again

"Tenten what's bugging you?" he asked again. When he received no response he walked in front of her targets, thinking that she would stop and notice him now. He was wrong because Tenten still chucked stuff at his direction. Shocked that the girl still didn't notice he was there, He didn't react fast enough and was hit by one of the kunai.

"TENTEN!" The girl snapped out of it and looked blankly at Neji, who was clutching his bleeding shoulder with his left hand, looking very annoyed. Then Tenten realized what had happened and rushed up to him, apologizing.

"Sorry Neji! I was thinking about something and didn't see you." she said and handed him some bandages.

"What's bugging you?" asked Neji for the third time while cleaning his wound with some strange white stuff. He glared at Tenten who blushed a bit and replied "Nothing important."

"Yeah, and that unimportant thing distracted you so much you hit your own teammate with a kunai." said Neji sarcastically. He finished cleaning the wound and wrapped bandages around it, tying the knot carefully. "So, what happened? You missed the meeting yesterday and turn up today looking like someone who saw Lee naked in the shower." Tenten, who had zoomed away again, only caught the words "saw Lee naked in the shower"

"What? You saw Lee naked in the shower?" she asked surprised, making Neji extremely annoyed. "No I didn't see Lee naked in the shower and I was asking you why you are so distracted today." Tenten was about to answer when Lee walked up to them, having finished his pushups. "What are you two talking about?" he asked, looking from an extremely annoyed Neji to Tenten who was … 'Blushing?' Lee thought. 'I've hardly ever seen Tenten blush before, something strange must have happened.'

"So what's going on? Did Neji just confess his undying love to you or is it the other way around?" he asked the girl. Tenten's blush disappeared as she snorted.

"As if he ever will. I think he's gay." she said.

"I'm not!" Neji shouted defensively, almost too defensively, she ignored him and continued.

"I was just thinking about Nar…" she stopped herself from saying the rest of the sentence, but the other two took a guess.

Neji smirked and said "Ahh… of course, you were thinking about Naruto. Then I assume that you didn't show up for the mission because you two were too busy making out in a dark alleyway or something." he joked, but was surprised when Tenten blushed a deep shade of red. He looked shocked.

"...You two were really making out somewhere weren't you?" he accused. Tenten blushed even deeper and looked anywhere but at Neji's pale eyes.

"Well… not exactly, we just bumped into each other pretty hard and tumbled into this alleyway with some torn blankets in it. We got stuck and it took us a long time to get out and we were pressed into each other and…" her voice faded into nothingness as her face got even redder than possible, pressing two of her fingers very much like Hinata.

Neji was about to ask her why she liked the idiot Naruto and not him when Gai appeared in a puff of smoke standing on a large red turtle, doing a pose with his teeth gleaming.

"Good morning my dear pupils! Today is the day we go on a mission to the Sand, and we shall complete the mission with our flames of YOUTH with our other teammates!" he shouted doing a second pose his teeth gleaming again!"

"Gai-sensei you are so hip!" shouted Lee tears streaming down his eyes hugging his sensei.

"Lee!" Gai shouted back, tears streaming down his eyes too, hugging his pupil back. The scene behind them turned into a view of the sunset.

"Gai-sensei!" (Neji frowned.)

"Lee!" (Neji's scowl became more pronounced.)

"Gai-sensei!" (Neji started twitching.)

"Lee!" (Neji started radiating an uncomfortable aura.)

"Gai-sensei!" (Neji activated his Byakugan)

"Lee!" (Neji prepared to strike the duo with kunai.)

Tenten, who noticed the danger signs (in other words Neji who is preparing to attack.) quickly intervened before Neji could attempt murder. She stepped between her sensei and Neji, holding a certain large pink hammer in her hands. Stepped up to Gai and Lee, raising the hammer. Then, she started whacking the pair of them, shouting "Stop acting so gay for once, we need to go to meet our other teammates for the mission!"

The two green beasts of Konoha stopped their hugging for a moment, looking at Tenten who had the large pink hammer propped on her shoulder, frowning at them. Then, to Tenten's horror, they burst into tears of joy again, once again locking in a bear hug, Gai shouting "Tenten is so youthful! Our team is blessed with youthful members!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted. (Scene changed to a waterfall)

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Neji, who had finally snapped and started chucking his weapons at Gai and Lee shouting "We need to get to the north gate to meet our teammates for the mission you GAY ASSES!!!!"

Gai and Lee looked shocked at the fact that Neji had actually shouted, chucking stuff at them too (All of them missed because Neji was too pissed off to aim.). They stared at the Hyuuga for a while before, once again bursting into tears, this time Lee shouted "Neji is so hip! He too is also burning with the flames of YOUTH!" he shouted hugging his sensei again.

"Our team is blessed with YOUTHFUL members!" Gai shouted before breaking the hug. "To celebrate our youthfulness, Tenten and Neji, please put these on!" he held out two green spandex suits. Tenten and Neji looked truly horrified, and started backing off, Tenten holding up her pink hammer in defense.

"Um…" said Neji, looking around for the best escape route. Tenten continued the sentence for him. "I think we should get going, the others are waiting for us." she said before turning around. She started running to the north gate with Neji desperate to get away from the two maniacs behind them. Lee and Gai followed shouting things about their youthfulness and how the suits would fit their teammates perfectly.

Ichiraku Ramen Stand

Naruto slurped down his fifth bowl of ramen. The old man was not here today so Ayame took care of the store. She gave him bowl after bowl of free ramen just so she could see his cute face longer. Naruto noticed her staring at him and looked up, puzzled. "Any thing wrong? Ayame-chan?" he asked not noticing her blush when he looked at her. Ayame quickly said the first excuse she thought of.

"Just wondering how to explain to my father why you got so many free bowls of ramen in one day." she said looking dreamily into his sky blue eyes, making Naruto getting a bit red in the face. He wasn't used to girls staring at him in that kind of way.

"Um… maybe you could say that you lost some of It." he said lamely as Ayame still stared at him with some kind of emotion he wasn't familiar with.

"But that would be a lot of trouble." the girl said, a sudden idea forming in her mind.

"I guess I could pay for you…" she said a mischievous smile forming on her face,

"But I would want something in return."

"Sure." said Naruto, "What would you like?" he asked.

"A date." she replied, smiling sweetly at him. Naruto, who was taking a sip water, choked on it. He looked up at the smiling girl, blushing. Ayame giggled at his confused look.

"So when do I get my date, Naruto-kun?" she asked happily.

"Um...uh...Maybe sometime after my mission. It lasts for about a month." he said unsteadily. Ayame looked disappointed.

"You mean I will have to wait for a whole month without seeing you?" she said.

"Sorry, but I promise once I get back I'll take you somewhere great!" said Naruto quickly not wanting to see the girl sad.

"Okay…" said Ayame looking slightly happier, "But I will have to take something of yours so you don't forget." she said.

"Okay, what do you want to take?" asked Naruto. The girl smiled mischievously again.

"Lean forward Naruto-kun, and close your eyes." she said. Naruto panicked. 'She's going to take my forehead protector.' he thought as he did what he was told and leaned forward towards her, closing his eyes. Then he felt her hands lifting his face and then suddenly her soft lips were pressed against his, surprising him. After a full ten seconds, he felt her lips leave his and he opened his eyes to see Ayame looking very pleased with a heavy blush on her face.

"There." she said happily. "I stole a kiss and when you come back and take me on a date, I'll give it back." she said giggling at Naruto who was blushing like crazy.

"You should go to meet your teammates for the mission you know." she stated when he didn't do anything apart from blushing and staring.

"Or do you want to have another kiss before you go." she asked hopefully. "Uh…" Naruto said but couldn't continue because Ayame yanked him back towards her and kissed him again.

"There." she said after the long kiss. "You'll be late you know if you don't hurry up."

"Uh okay." was all Naruto managed to say before standing up, "Um… see you when I get back, bye." he said before setting off. Leaving behind a very happy ramen girl who sat behind the counter staring dreamily at Naruto's slowly disappearing form, thinking about the date she'll get when he gets back. She didn't even notice the woman who had just entered the store.

"Naruto is so sexy isn't he?" the woman asked.

"Who cares?" replied Ayame dreamily not realizing who it was. "I like him because he's Naruto-kun, not because he's sexy. But he seems even more irresistible lately." she admitted. This made Tsunade grin.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but you are going to have a lot of competition." she said knowingly. Now that caught Ayame's attention.

"What!" she said her head turning to Tsunade so fast that it was quite alarming.

"Yep!" said the hokage.

"Many women have started to notice Naruto. Actually, I just met one at the office who has a crush on him for a while already. And even if he doesn't realize it, he'll be flocked by girls soon enough, so you better try hard or he'll be taken soon.

"I won't lose to anybody!" She said loudly, flames in her eyes. "Naruto-kun will be mine!"

"Well good luck then, said Tsunade. "Now if you would kindly stop dreaming about the boy please get me a bowl of miso ramen." Ayame blushed and quickly started work.

In front of the north gate

Sakura and Sasuke stood in front of the gate waiting for the others. Sasuke was brooding as usual and Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to go on a date.

"Oh come on Sasuke-kun, a date wouldn't hurt wouldn't it?" she asked hopefully. Sasuke ignored her. Sakura nagged him for another five minutes before giving up. It was almost seven a.m. and she was about to explode from boredom when she saw Tenten and Neji running towards them at high speed.

"Quick! Hide us now before Gai and Lee find us!" said Tenten panicking. Then they heard Gai's voice along with Lee's. "Too late!" she said.

"There they are! Our youthful teammates are with Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san!" shouted Lee, running towards them with Gai close behind.

"Where're our last teammates?" asked Gai, finally putting the spandex suits away. Tenten and Neji relaxed a bit.

"Yeah, where is the idiot?" asked Neji. Tenten looked puzzled.

"We're doing the mission with you guys?" she asked. Sakura nodded.

"That means our teammate is …" she stopped abruptly at the sound of screaming. She turned around just in time to see an orange blur zoom past her, jumping into a tree near them. She saw the reason a few seconds later. A huge group of girls ran up to them panting.

"Hey have you seen a hot sexy blonde guy running pass?" one of them asked. The six of them just stared dumbly back. "I guess not then." another one said and they ran off to find 'the hot sexy blonde guy.' after they left, Naruto emerged form his hiding place and walked up to them panting hard.

"Those maniacs started chasing me when I walked by, what's wrong with them?" He asked. No one answered. He looked at the group, confused.

"What?" he asked but then Tenten flung her arms around his neck squealing. Surprised at her actions, Naruto lost balance and fell to the ground with Tenten on top of him.

Sakura, Sasuke, Lee, Gai and Neji stared disbelievingly as Tenten clung to Naruto saying "Yay! I get a mission with Naruto-kun!" Naruto, who was blushing red, said

"Um Tenten-chan, we need to start the mission soon so would you mind if you got off me?"

Tenten realized what she had done and let go of him, blushing red she reluctantly got off the blonde. Naruto got back onto his feet, a bit unnerved at the stares he was receiving (Neji was practically glaring).

"So when do we leave for the mission, Super Fuzzy Brows-sensei?" Gai cleared his throat.

"We leave right after the briefing and when our medic arrives." he said taking a scroll out from his coat while looking at Tenten, who was clinging to Naruto's arm which was making Neji glare. Lee on the other hand was hopelessly trying to answer some questions asked by Sasuke and Sakura.

"Now listen up!" Gai said, catching everyone's attention. Tenten let go of a confused Naruto and looked at her sensei.

"We will travel to the Sand to get some scrolls that will arrive soon. We will stop at villages along the way and help clear out bandits. We will stay at inns during the mission so I hope no one brought tents. They all shook their heads.

"Good and our last teammate just arrived too." he said. They all looked around to see Shizune running towards them, dressed in her usual clothing.

"Sorry I'm late." she said bowing. "I forgot to get the information from the hokage so I needed to go to the Hokage's tower before coming to meet you guys."

Naruto looked delighted.

"Yay! I get to visit Garra, Temari and Kankuro with Sakura-chan, Fuzzy Brows, Super Fuzzy Brows-sensei, Tenten-chan, Neji, Sasuke-teme and even Shizune-chan!" he said all in one breath, jumping around happily, making the others sweat drop, apart from Gai who did a pose saying "That's the spirit!"

While Lee said "Naruto-kun is burning with the flames of youth!" doing the same pose of his sensei.

Neji said "Let's just start the mission shall we." Then the group heard loud laughter. And a load voice rang out.

"Naruto! This is your lucky day! I, the legendary ninja of Konoha shall accompany you on your mission!"

With a loud puff of smoke a figure appeared in front of them. Slowly the smoke cleared, revealing …

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