All Over Again
Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden
No manga spoilers
"This is so stupid!" Naruto shouted. "We're Ninja now! Why do we have to do dumb missions like this?! Is it so hard to order a person whose job it is to paint a freakin' fence instead of making a group of shinobi do it?!"
"Naruto..." Kakashi called.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up." The sensei spoke flatly.
The boy growled. Then, his face suddenly brightened. "I know what I'm going to do! I'm not gonna paint it properly so there's going to be lumps of dripping paint dried at the sides!"
"Ooh. What a rebel." Kakashi mumbled under his breath as he was re-reading his book.
Naruto didn't hear his sensei's comment and looked to his right at Sasuke. He was painting the fence with a blank look on his face. Naruto then turned to his right to see Sakura doing the same thing but less robotically. Something stupid went through his mind then... 'If I insult Sasuke-teme then Sakura-chan will think I'm all cool and powerful and stuff; then she'll definitely like me!'
"Oi, you teme, don't you know how to paint? It's like you're using your feet instead f your hands!" Naruto smirked. Sakura and Kakashi moved t face the two to see where all this was going.
"Your face looks like it had been made with feet." Sasuke cut right back. Naruto got frustrated too quickly and lunged at the Uchiha boy.
Kicks, punches and a lot of violence between the two was exchanged before Kakashi decided to pull the two apart.
"Will you two ever stop behaving like infants?!" Kakashi shouted.
"Humph. He started it!" Naruto yelled.
"I guess not then..." Kakashi spoke with a sigh.
"Hn. I'm done now so I'll be going home." Sasuke spoke coolly but with a hint of slight anger and annoyance in his voice before walking away. His hands buried deep in the pocket of his white shorts.
"I'm done now too Kaka-sensei," Sakura informed the grey haired man before waving goodbye.
"Well then I have to get going now too..." Naruto said and tried to run off.
"No Naruto, finish your work first. You've only just painted over half of what you were supposed to."
Naruto huffed.
"Don't be slow then."
"I'm not slow!"
The sun glowed brightly, mercilessly radiating its heat over the peaceful village of Konohagakure. It was 10am and people were wide awake and out trying to enjoy their time- but the high temperature were making it difficult for them to do so.
Uchiha Sasuke's eyes opened for the first time in eight hours since his sleep. He wasted no time in getting up and ready for the day, not allowing a single second of his time to be wasted by lazing around. He sharpened his kunai and loaded his weapons into his pouch before stealthily heading to the training ground to meet his team.
He was the first there (as always), usually followed by Sakura and then Naruto, and after a few hours Kakashi (finally) arrives.
But this time Naruto came before Sakura.
Whilst the boys were waiting for the rest of the teams' arrival, they argued, fought, and traded insults.
Until long last, their pink-haired teammate came.
"Hey guys," Sakura greeted.
Sasuke's face was turned downwards as usual as he disregarded her, and Naruto looked up with wide eyes.
"Woah, Sakura-chan! You look HOT!" he blushed whilst he oh-so-boldly complimented her.
Due to the extremely heated weather, she decided to modify one of her outfits marginally to suit the temperature change. The red vest top she usually wore was cute so that her flat, toned and ever-so-slight muscular stomach was on show. Her usually netted undershirt was abandoned.
After hearing the praise to Sakura's look, Sasuke raised his head see what was so interesting about her before his cheeks stained red and he 'tched' and tilted his head to look back down.
Somewhere deep, deep, down inside of him, he couldn't help but agree with the Uzumaki...
"Now that we're all here," Kakashi began, "we ca-"
"Sensei, it was you that came last...and late!" Naruto reminded him.
'I wonder where he went,' Naruto thought sarcastically-. He had a few ideas where his perverted sensei could have been...
"Hehe," he giggled creepily before continuing his speech. "We'll do a few training exercises and split into pairs. After that, we will report at the Hokage Tower to receive our new mission!" Kakashi attempted to make the last part sound exciting, but knew he failed miserably when he saw that his team still had uninterested looks on their faces; even the forever- energetic blonde.
"How far away is the target?" questioned Kakashi as he spoke into his modern gadget. It's miraculous that it even exists in the shinobi time period..
"Five meters and closing metres and closing!" Naruto informed. "So... how much longer are we gonna wait?!"
"I'm in position," Sakura spoke.
"As am I." Sasuke added.
"Alright! ...GO!" Kakashi shouted.
All three Genin leapt to catch their target: Tiger the cat.
"Gotcha!" Naruto yelled as he pushed the animal tightly to his chest.
"Remember- the cat that we were sent to find has a tag reading 'Tiger' tied to its right ear."
"Yeah it's the cat all right," Naruto confirmed after unintentionally pulling painfully at the creatures ear, causing it to yelp and claw the young boy in the face.
"ITAI!"
"Here." Naruto said in a half pissed off and half sulking fashion before handing the kitty to its rightful owner.
"Oh Tiger my baby! You had mummy worried sick about you!" Lady Shijimi declared as she squeezed the poor cat to her chest.
"If I was him I'd runaway too..." Naruto whispered to his fellow Genin teammates- who couldn't help but nod slightly in agreement.
"Here's your pay," the lady told them before dropping a few silver coins into the Genins cupped hands.
The Uzumaki couldn't help but glare ungratefully at the small amount of money in his hands. It's tantalising gleam mocking him. 'This is it?! That bitch of a cat clawed my face REPEATEDLY and all I get is a few coins!'
Before he could verbally voice his opinion, Kakashi spoke, already aware of the kind of words that were about to spill from the boy's mouth. "Thank you Shijimi-sama, I am sure my team is grateful for your kind pay," the grey-haired man meaningfully looked at the blonde.
After the cat and its owner left, Naruto finally blew up...
"Why do we get such stupid missions for? It's not fair! I try so hard every day on these easy D-Ranked missions and I can't do it anymore! Give me something challenging!" Naruto ordered.
"Naruto! We will not have you speak so disrespectfully to Hokage-sama! Watch your tongue or we'll ban you from doing any mission at all for a while. Then you'll learn to appreciate what you've got!" Iruka, who was seated next to Sarutobi (the third Hokage), scolded him.
Just as he was about to continue his lecture, the Third rose his hand, signalling him to stop talking. "The boy is right," his authority filled voice spoke. "We'll give him a taste of a C-Rank mission which is usually meant for Chuunin." Disbelief flashed across the Genins ex-sensei's face. "You will escort an important person home. You must make sure that they're well protected during the whole of the journey." The Hokage explained.
"Cool!" Naruto jumped and punched his fist in the air. Sasuke gave a small smirk whilst Sakura smiled casually, attempting to block the feeling of déjà-vu from her system.
"So who are we guarding?" the curious Uchiha boy questioned.
As soon as the last syllable escaped from his lips, the wooden door creaked open.
"These runts are going to protect me?! Ha! They're little snot nosed brats! Especially that midget over there... he's got the face of an imbecile." A middle to old aged man (known as Tazuna) toppled in, carrying a near empty bottle of sake.
"Midget? Which midget? Hehehehehehehehe..." Naruto giggled crazily as his head repeatedly turned left to right, to look at Sakura and Sasuke.
The girl and boy stepped forward to stand directly next to Naruto so that they could compare heights. Naruto was clearly the shortest as Sasuke stood tall next to him and Sakura was only a bit taller than Naruto himself.
"He's talking about you, Dobe." Sasuke told him.
"What?! You just wait old man!" Naruto jumped in Tazuna's direction to attack him but was roughly pulled back from his collar by Kakashi.
"Naruto, you're supposed to protect Tazuna-san, not the opposite," Sakura reminded him.
"Humph." Naruto folded his arms across his chest childishly.
"I can't believe that we're finally going outside of the gates! I've never left the village before," Naruto shouted in pure excitement.
Sakura smiled at his enthusiasm.
Kakashi spoke "okay, now that we're all ready, le-"
"Let's go!" the eager boy ran forward.
"AAAARRRGH! Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke-teme's hitting me again because he's anti-social and won't accept it!"
"Are we there yet?"
"I'm tired!"
"I wanna some Ramen!"
"Hehe Sakura-chan's so pretty."
"Ugh! We've been walking forever!"
"What does the fox say?!" "Tch. That's so old, Dobe."
"I hate life right now!"
"Sasuke you're such a bastard!"
"My legs acchhhheeeee!"
"Carry me Kaka-sensei!"
The numerous complaints were all uttered from the same mouth: Uzumaki Naruto's. The many smacks on the head he received (courtesy of a certain Uchiha boy) and glares.
"You know what?! I can't take this crap anymore!" Kakashi massaged the side of his head. He had lost all patience with the knuckle-head Nin. "We're camping here tonight," the older Sharingan wielder notified.
Coincidentally, they were at a perfect spot to stop for the night. It was an average sized clearing with a bit of parched land and grassy outline, surrounded and concealed by dark, towering green trees.
"YAAAAAAAAY!" Naruto celebrated. He instantly dropped to the ground and pulled his zip open, only to remove a dozen pots of 'Insta-Ramen.' He looked up and stared at the other four people with a cheesy grin before ripping one of the pots open and then realising that he forgot he needed heated water.
"I think there's a small river that's about a ten minute walk away," his Sensei told him. "It's East from here."
"Okay!" Naruto immediately turned West and was then grabbed by the shoulder and turned 180 degrees.
"Okay!" He idiotically repeated in the same cheery tone.
Sasuke then left to fine some wood to start a fire with.
"Hurry Naruto because I want to have a quick bath before we eat and settle for the night," Sakura explained to him.
"Okay!" he once again spoke in the same fashion, earning him a whack on the head by Tazuna.
"You're such an annoying pest," the man mumbled.
"O-"
Before he could finish the 'word' that everyone now hated, Kakashi pushed him away and sent him of.
"R-A-M-E-N, ramen ramen...something something! Ya-Hey!" Naruto sung as he poured the boiled water into his pot.
Everyone but Sakura was sitting around the fire, quietly (except Naruto) enjoying the heat radiating from it.
"Hey, where's Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked out loud.
Kakashi knew where she was but couldn't be bothered answering so he pretended he didn't hear him and continued reading his new edition of Icha Icha Paradise.
Tazuna just ignored him and sat with an uneasy look on his face.
'...he's probably just constipated,' Naruto thought.
"Teme?"
"Hn?"
"Do you know where Sakura-chan is?" he asked again.
"No. She was here before I went to go collect the firewood..." He replied.
"Hmmmm..." Naruto said, rubbing his non-existent beard with his index finger. "Let's go find her!"
"Do what you want, as long as you don't wonder of too far and return in one hour latest," Kakashi told them.
"Come Sasuke!" Naruto jumped up. Ramen noodles were hanging from his mouth and the liquid it bathed in was dribbling down his chin.
"...how about I go and you stay here and eat your ramen?" Sasuke said in an unquestioning tone.
"Go east!" his sensei shouted behind him. "This should be interesting..." Kakashi whispered to himself before smirking.
The dark haired boy obeyed his sensei and headed east. It took him approximately ten minutes before he sighted crystal clear water.
'This is pathetic. Why do I have to waste my time by finding Sakura? It's her own damn fault for getting lost. If I never agreed to go find her I bet Naruto would have thrown a fit!' Sasuke mentally spoke to himself.
His sensitive ears picked up a gentle splashing sound. He instinctively craned his neck to look but was more than surprised at what he saw... A gorgeous, cloth-less, body danced in the water. Her hair soaked and darkened and body glimmering due to liquid droplets reflecting the moons light.
No matter how hard the Uchiha tried to look away, he just couldn't. His body just wouldn't allow it and he hated himself for that.
Luckily for him though, her back was facing him and her lower half was underwater- but not entirely concealed. He could make out a nice rounded shape above a pair of long legs.
His cheeks were inflamed the moment he caught sight of the beauty. He awoke from his trance when she suddenly (to him) turned to face him. He quickly turned around and squeezed his eyes shut.
'I am not a pervert.'
He knew it was Sakura. He recognised her frame the moment his eyes landed on her.
He walked away and then shouted her name and walked a bit forward so it looked like he had just come and had not seen her.
"Eeeeeep! Sasuke! Don't come any closer!" Sakura screamed. "I was supposed to be having a quick bath but I think time slipped my conscience."
"Hn. Hurry, I've already wasted enough time." He stated.
"Hai!"
All four members of Team 7, and Tazuna sat by the campfire.
"Let's sing a song!" Naruto suggested.
"No." Kakashi spoke on behalf of everyone else. "How about we go through the sleeping arrangements? Okay. Naruto, you sleepwal-"
"I do not!" he cut in, embarrassed.
"Let me start again- though this time it would be nice to not be interrupted. Since someone sleepwalks, he'll be staying in the same tent as me and Tazuna. I'm sorry to say that we don't have more than two tents and I'm sure Tazuna wouldn't like to share a tent with two kids."
The group split up and formed their tents before getting inside and preparing themselves for the night.
'Tch. This is going to be so annoying. I think I'd rather have shared a tent with the Dobe instead of this giggling fangirl.'
A/N Sorry for the long wait guys! I don't really have an excuse- unless laziness counts as one? :p
So we are now going to the Land Of Waves :D There wasn't really anything about Sakura in this chapter but we'll go back into her head next time and see what she's thinking ;)
Oh and have you guys seen the new opening? I LOVE it xD My brothers think I'm sad because I'm constantly listening to it :3 If that makes me sad, then I'm happy c: And don't you agree that the fillers are just taking the piss now? I wasn't going to watch this week's episode but on the preview Itachi was their (even though its kid Itachi) and I just felt like I had to watch it!
I hope you have a good Spring Break in America or happy Easter Holidays in the UK! I've only got this week left and then I'm breaking up for Easter xD
Oh yeah...I've got another story on my head :p I wrote the summary down in-case I don't forget it. I don't know when I'll start writing it though- it could be out real soon or maybe in forever xD
I hope I don't take so long with the next chapter! ;)