In Which:
There is a "fight"- The plan is started- The pervert gets a shock.
Naruto took a deep breath. Once again, the Rookie Nine were in training ground 31 eating lunch. And it was time to get things rolling.
He rose from his seat on the far side of the clearing, walking casually over to sit beside Sakura. Knowing that at least two of their friends were watching, they conversed in low, important sounding tones for several minutes. (Actually, they were talking about the weather and trying to hold back laughter. This was going to be fun…)
Sakura shifted slightly to the left, and Naruto took his queue. Abruptly, he straightened his back, allowing his face to go absolutely white, and stood. His metal lunch container clattered to the ground. The sound attracted more attention from the other Rookies.
"You…" Naruto willed his voice to quaver slightly, " How could you say…." He modulated the hurt and pain in his face and voice abruptly to rage. "You have no right to say that to me! You weren't there! You didn't see it! How dare you!"
Sakura's face, which had been an artful blend of surprise and guilt when he started, change to match his. She too rose, facing him squarely. "How dare you! You aren't the only one who has seen, you idiot! I have every right-"
"You have no right at all! Even if you had seen what I did, it's clear you have no idea what it means!" They were nose to nose now, shouting at full volume. The other Rookies watched, wide eyed, as they went at it. None of them had seen either of the two this angry before, and certainly not at each other.
"How the hell would you know?! You're just a –" Sakura stopped speaking, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Naruto…"
He starred at her, face white and eyes starting to bleed to furious red. "You bitch." Naruto's voice was low and rough with emotion. "You absolute bitch."
"Naruto…I-I swear I didn't mean-"
"You meant every word, and you know it. I thought you were different!" His voice rose almost hysterically, but he closed his eyes and visibly reigned himself in. "I'm going to leave now. Haruno, you are not going to follow me. Or talk to me. Or come anywhere near me. You've made yourself clear."
He jerked away from her, turning his back on the group. Shoulders hunched, head down, he seemed very small as he walked away. The group watched in silence.
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For a long moment after Naruto had faded from view, there was silence. Sakura took a deep breath, knowing that her acting now would make or break the ploy. So she did the only thing sure to deter question about the fight: she burst into tears.
Sakura let out great, heaving sobs that shook her frame and buried her head in her hands. This spurred the rest of the Rookies into action, Ino sitting down on one side and Tenten on the other. They rubbed soothing circles on her back while Hinata brought her some water and the boys stood in awkward silence.
She let the sobs slowly diminish into pitiful sniffs, lifting her head out of her hands to reveal red-rimmed eyes and a tearstained face. Sakura didn't look at any of the others, simply staring vacantly at the ground.
Finally, Ino could take it no longer. "Sakura, what the hell was that about? I've never seen the baka so angry!"
Sakura hunched her shoulders, looking miserable. "I…. said something I really, really shouldn't have. I-I just wasn't thinking, I guess. I know he hates talking about-" She stopped, shook her head, and stood. "I'd better go home."
The Rookies watched her walk away. Then Ino turned to face the others, frowning. "Does anyone else find this whole thing more than a little confusing?"
"It doesn't make sense." As one the Rookies turned to Shinkamaru, surprised. "Obvoiusly, Naruto has a secret that Sakura knows. Did you notice she cut off what she was going to say? But what could Sakura say to make Naruto that angry at her?"
"Well, let's find out what this oh-so-important secret is then! It's not like Naruto has ever been able to stand up to direct questioning. It'll be easy!" Ino exclaimed, Kiba nodding his agreement.
"I…do not believe that is a wise idea." Neji grimaced as they turned their attention to him.
"You know what he's hiding." Shinkamaru's voice was sharp, and he watched the white-eyed ninja closely.
"I have a suspicion. And if what I suspect is true, then it is a secret that I believe Naruto, among others, would literally kill to keep." Neji met the genius' eyes steadily. "Do you remember the chakra he manifested during the chunnin exams?"
Shinkamaru's eyes narrowed, then widened in realization. "It can't be! He's the-"
"I watched him for quite some time after I realized. He is still Naruto. It could not emulate human patterns so easily. He is the contained. And this is not our secret to tell!" Shinkamaru slowly sat back, considering. Finally, he nodded.
"Alright. We won't interfere." He turned his gaze on their baffled audience. "None of us will. Understood?"
Kiba looked like he was about to protest, but to the whole group's surprise, Hinata interrupted.
"U-understood, Shinkamaru-san, Neji-nii-san. No snooping."
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While the other ninjas their age discussed, Naruto and Sakura met in a secluded clearing to set the second step of their plan in motion.
"Damn, Sakura! That was awesome! "
"Why, thank you Naruto. Not too shabby yourself. The red eyes were a nice touch, since both Neji and Shinkamaru suspect. It certainly was convincing." He grinned, sitting down on the soft loam.
"Thanks! Right, back to business, here's what we do next. Since our little fight has made us avoid each other like the plague, no-one should think to go to you for a least a week after they realize I'm gone, and by that time you'll be gone too."
She nodded. Naruto rose, pacing, and continued. "We'll both throw ourselves into training, apparently broken up over the fight, and disappear erratically, sometimes for hours and sometimes for days. Our schedules can overlap slightly, but not too much or the Hokage will get suspicious. Make sure you let the others find you training sometimes, and-"
"Okay, okay, stop. We've gone over the plan before, Naruto. Let's get to it." She grinned at him and he grinned back, then both disappeared into the foliage.
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Naruto stood alone beside a lake not far into Konoha forest.
After the 'fight' with his teammate, he had gone to Tsunade-baa-chan's office with an angry but tearstained visage, and asked to be taken off the mission register for a few months so he could train. He had nearly blown everything when he had heard that Ero-sennin had offered to take him out of the village to train.
Luckily, his quick thinking had blown that out of the water, and actually improved their ploy. Naruto was only sarcastic when he was truly upset and off balance, so his comment of "right, 'cause being alone with only the pervert will really keep me safe!" had fit right into his persona and made the Hokage reconsider.
The plan was going well. Both he and Sakura would disappear into the forest for varying length of time to train, occasionally letting others see them. And they did use that time to train. After all, they would be no use to Sasuke if they were weak.
And training was what Naruto was starting now. He had purposely picked a relatively open place and an exercise that took a lot of charka. Jiraiya had recruited most of the other Rookies to go find him, so it was the perfect way to get "caught".
The exercise was one of his own inventions, a version of the water-walking that would improve his balance, control, arm strength, and focus.
He water-walked to the centre of the lake, and then focused as much chakra into the tip of one finger as he could. He allowed a controlled amount of the chakra to escape and shaped it into a point, then put the point on the water. He then did a one-fingered handstand, and began bending and straightening his arm.
Naruto was doing one-fingered pushups with his whole body held up vertically and he was expelling a constant, focused stream of charka through his finger to stay on top of the water. It was extremely difficult, and if he lost focus for even a second, he would plunge into the water.
On his sixty-third push-up on his second arm, he became aware of his audience. He split his focus between the exercise and peering at the Rookies and sannin standing on the shore. He nearly lost control when he saw their expressions: bulging eyes, slack jaws, and very clearly in shock.
Finally, he completed his one-hundredth push-up, his whole body trembling under the strain. Slowly, he lowered himself into a standing position on the water. Staggering slightly, he became aware of exactly how tired he was. His body ached more than it had after the fight with Sasuke, every limb was trembling, he was soaked in sweat, and he was almost out of chakra.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he made his way across the lake to where his friends, the Hokage, and Jiraiya were standing. Finally putting both feet on dry land was an amazing relief. His smile as he looked at the group was barely a shadow of his usual grin. "Hi, guys. What'cha doing?"
Tsunade snapped her jaw close. "Naruto…where the hell did you learn that?!"
He blinked at her, his tired mind taking a moment to register the question. "Didn't learn it anywhere. S'my own invention. I do it every day. Really hard, but I'm already stronger and I have way better control. Just…really tired. M'going home."
As he shuffled away, he could hear Jiraiya's voice rise incredously. "Every day? His own invention?! Jeez, Tsunade! The kid's crazy-strong already! He doesn't need me to train him! If we leave him to his own devices, he'll be stronger than me in a matter of months!"
Naruto smiled to himself, and staggered his way home.
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Well, there you go. Sorry for the delay, I didn't have access to a computer. Longer than the others, I am proud to say! Review, please. -Heliotropic