Thanks for all the reviews ... I'm well on my way to get a hundred reviews by the time I submit I'll post the 30th chapter... so thanks once again ... This is the final chapter before the Jounin Exams start ... yeah ... I promise ... so this chapter is mostly about Naruto and all of his friends at Konoha as they bond ... Let's just say that Naruto and Sasuke are both now 17 and Sakura's only 16 ... Her birthday will take place during the Jounin Exams ... and by the way ... Naruto and Sakura are in a healthy relationship ... so their both still chaste ... yeah ... anyways ... here comes the story ... yeah ... so here we go ...

Spring of Youth

The next day:

Naruto and Sakura sat at Ichiraku eating Ramen.

Kakashi had shown up half an hour or so earlier, and told them that they had the day off to do whatever they wanted. Naruto took this well, and had chosen to bring Sakura with him to Ichirakuku.

More like Naruto eating Ramen, and Sakura smiling as she watched her boyfriend. Sakura sighed. As much as she loved Naruto, she had to admit that he was clueless. She had been watching him for the last ten minutes, and all he did was eat the Ramen like a hog. (With ... failing table manners.)

After eating his ... tenth? ... ramen, Naruto finally looked up with the BIGGEST smile on his face. "HI SAKURA-CHAN!" he yelled. "'I'M FULL!" Naruto burst out laughing when he saw Sakura's face. She jumped back like something had exploded.

Sakura's face grew "cold" (like annoyed cold). "NARUTOOOOO!" She began to raise her fist. Naruto's eyes shrunk.

"Uh-oh," he whimpered before disappearing in a cloud of dust. "YOU ARE SO NOT GETTING AWAY!" Sakura began to chase after him.

Naruto hid behind one of the buildings, and put his back to the wall. DAMN, SHE'S FAST!

He started to huff, "Geez. You'd think that after a guy has faced ninja from Akatsuki and defeated Orochimaru, he'd be invincible. Sakura's scarier then any ninja when she's mad at me..." He received a tap on his shoulder.

"Ahem..." a voice coughed, with a hint of laughter and annoyance. Naruto froze, and he slowly turned his head to see a mixed expression on Sakura's face. "You idiot! I waited for ten minutes while you ate, and all you did, after you were done, is say 'I'M FULL!'" She raised her fist.

Naruto sped right behind her, and grabbed her from behind. "You knoooow," he cuddled his face in her hair, "you're super hot when you're angry."

Sakura blushed against herself. "Shut up, loser." She turned to face Naruto. "You're only saying that to calm me down."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah ... I am ..." They started to lean into each other...

Sakura took a deep breath, as she blushed. Sakura said, "Like I always say... Shut up : more often..." They were really close to each other now ...

"Oyyy! NARUTO! SAKURA!" a voice yelled from down the alley. "GO GET A ROOM!"

Naruto and Sakura quickly jumped back from each other, blushing brightly, and looked towards the sound of the voice. Ino stood there smiling widely. "INOOO!" Sakura began to chase after Ino, while Ino just ran around in circles laughing.

Naruto began to laugh as well, as he noticed the rest of the Rookie 9 joining them. Then he saw Team Gai. "Sup you guys," he yelled out. Sakura stopped chasing Ino and looked around.

"Hey," she said as she waved. "So everyone's here. Cool." Naruto looked around, as if expecting something.

"What is it, Naruto?" Hinata said, confidently. She was holding hands with Kiba.

"I don't know," he said. He put on his suspicious face. "Was this just a coincidence ... oooooor ... is there some mission oba-chan wants us all for?"

Sasuke laughed. "No, dobe. It was coincidence." Everyone joined him, except Shino and a smile broke Neji's lips, and Naruto eventually did, too.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Naruto asked. Everyone began to think, when Lee suddenly burst out of nowhere.

"EEAHHH!" everyone fell down. "LET'S ENJOY THE SPRING OF YOUTH!"

Naruto quietly asked Neji, "He's growing more and more like Gai each day. How much time do they spend together?"

Neji shook his head. "Unfortunately for us, he's practically a miniature Gai, now. And they spend A LOT of time together. I'd guess that they probably spend about 10 hours of their awake hours with each other, just wasting time."

Everyone laughed, once again except Shino as Neji smiled. "Fine, Lee. Let's enjoy the spring of youth. How do you propose that we do that?" Naruto asked, smiling widely.

This was going to be fun, even if he had to follow Lee all day. Who knew? It might be fun. (Yeah ... right ...)

And so they all followed Lee to the park, and soon enough, they were having fun as they all sat down in the fields admiring nature's beauty and cracking jokes.

Sasuke and Claire were holding hands. Claire had returned earlier that day, and they were already making out a bit behind the rest of the group.

Naruto smiled, and dropped back towards Ino and Sakura. Turning to Ino, he asked, "Can I borrow Sakura for ... " He looked at his watch ... " I don know ... ten seconds?"

Ino laughed. "Sure ... sure ... I'll bet those ten seconds'll turn into ten hours..." Sakura blushed super brightly, and, as dense as he is, Naruto did as well.

Sakura turned, "OH WAIT! INO! I THINK I SEE SHIKAMARU!" It was Ino's turn to blush. She quickly left and ran over to Shikamaru, who didn't say his "catch" phrase : "how troublesome."

Sakura now turned to Naruto. "Why did you need to borrow me?" Naruto pointed at Sasuke and Claire.

Naruto smiled as he said, "Do you think'll we'll ever turn into that?" Naruto's face glowed as he said it. (Innocent yet funny glow)

Sakura smiled. Putting on her (seductive face) "Yep. Pretty soon." She started moving towards Naruto.

Naruto sweatdropped. "Ummm..." He started to move backwards. "Sakura ... are you feeling ok?" He was sweating quite a bit now. He didn't want to get too far from the group.

"NOW!" Ino yelled, and immediately the rest of the Chuunin and Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino burst off, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone with Sasuke and Claire about 30 yards behind them.

"YOU GUYS!" Naruto yelled. "DON'T LEAVE ME WITH HER!" Sakura was practically chasing him, now. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura grabbed him, and pulling him under the grass. After several seconds, he burst up, with a lip mark on his face, yelling, "Guys..." Went back down. Few seconds: "Guys..."

Went back down. Few seconds: "Guys..." Another mark.

Went back down. Few seconds: "Guys..." Each time his cry was getting softer. Eventually, he just stopped, and decided to turn the tables. Putting on his face, he looked at Sakura. "Time to make up for Ino's interuption at the alley." Sakura blushed.

"What do you think we're doing now?" she asked, slightly dazed, but in a good way. They went back down. Now it was Sakura's turn to gasp. "Naruto..." She fell back down as Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. She landed on top of Naruto.

"I love you," he said, and he kissed her.

"I love you," Sakura replied, and she kissed him. They continued to make out, and they stayed down there for a long time.

Later that night with the girls:

Ino jumped over to Sakura saying, "Everyone! Our innocent little Sakura isn't so innocent anymore.."

As much as Sakura liked ( and hated )Ino, this was crossing the line. "INO! I DIDN'T!"

Ino looked up. "Huh? You didn't?"

Sakura said, "No! And we've already talked about this. After marriage."

Claire smiled. "I'm glade that you chose that like me and Sasuke."

Ino asked, "So what did you do?" She was teasing Sakura. She ken

Sakura blushed... "We just made-out..." She began to say before ...

Everyone yelled, "YEAH RIGHT!" Sakura blushed even brighter. Hinata and Ten-Ten smiled.

"Honestly. We didn't do anything other then make out ..." Sakura said. She was so embarrassed. (but just girl-girl embarassment)

"Your lucky your usually honest, fore-head girl." Ino said, as she stuck out her tongue at Sakura so she could see.

With the guys:

Shikimaru jumped over to Naruto saying, "Everyone! Our innocent and pure Naruto over here isn't so innocent anymore.." Sasuke just smuggly smiled as he saw the look on Naruto's face.

As much as Naruto liked ( and hated ) Shikamaru this was crossing the line. "YOOO! WE DIDN'T!"

Shikamaru looked up. "Huh? You didn't?"

Naruto said, "No! And me and Sakura have already talked about that. We'll wait for after marriage."

Sasuke smiled. "Me and Claire decided on that, too." He decided to annoy the heck out of his rival and best friend. After all, not much was happening, and everyone needed something to start up the conversation again.

Sasuke smiled again, as he realized what this would cause. Sasuke asked, "So ... what did you do, then?"

Naruto blushed ... "Umm ... We just made - out."

"Yup ... sure" Everone nodded there heads, in mock belief.

"Really!" Naruto guessed. He was clueless that everyone was just poking fun at him.

"Yup ... sure ... "

The night continued on. Sakura and Naruto were both in situations that were suprisingly similar to them, and everyone went to bed. It was great having a day off just to hang out with your friends, and in certain people's cases, make out with their love interests.

Sorry that the chapter is so short ... but I really wanted to post a chapter quickly for you guys ... so here it is ... I know it's kind of short ... but the next one will be a lot longer ... and the next one might not come for a long time ... cause I think I caught something ... yeah .. anyways ... please review ... didn't get so many reviews for the last chapter .. but its still good ... three more reviews each chapter and I'll have a hundred by chapter 30 ... yeah ... thanks to everyone who did review... desi out