-Set at the beginning of Shippuden, Naruto comes back from training, only to find that Sakura has to leave on a mission of her own. In need of a team, he gets stuck with Hinata and Sai. How will this affect the whole series? And will Naruto ever love Hinata?
Yay! A new chapter! Hopefully, this is a bit better than my last chapter, but I seriously doubt that since it's so short and I'm skiping all of the battle scenes because we know what's going to happen and all. Plus, in my version of Naruto, there's more romance and I want to get straight to the damn point unlike the original manga which is going crazy right now. This chapter is really the only one that I will have major skipping in cuz I just don't want to have to type everything up and have everyone else skip over it because they already know what happened.
Also, you peoples are all waiting for Hinata, right? She's coming in the next chapter! So thanks for your patience and please enjoy this short chapter as I work on the next!
Episode Two
~His Fellow Jinchūriki, Her Fellow Medic~
"Eh? That mission…? Gee, no thanks!"
"The Hell?" Tsunade asked, pissed off at the idiot. He was the one requesting a damn mission! He should take a what he could get! "What kind of answer is that?"
Please don't talk so selfishly, Naruto… Kakashi thought, fearful of his life. She'll get angry with me, and I don't want that on my head…
Iruka massaged his forehead. Why was it that Naruto had a set of lungs and not brains? "You haven't mentally matured, have you, Naruto?"
"Sorry, Sensei." Sakura said, throwing Naruto into a headlock. "I'll sort him out!" The Hell is wrong with him? Doesn't he know that Tsunade's terribly horrible whenever someone pisses her off?
"The Third was more sensible…" Naruto grumbled, remembering how the old man had switched missions for him.
"What was that?" Tsunade asked, a bit more annoyed with the knucklehead of a ninja. "What did you say?"
"Oh, he was just talking to himself, shisou!" Sakura quickly lied. It would have been bad if Naruto were to end up dead and by the Hokage's hand…
The doors slammed opened then, and an ebony-haired woman ran in. "Hokage-sama, it's bad! It's really bad!"
"What is it, Shizune?" Tsunade asked, wondering lazily what could be the big bad news her assistant was bringing.
"Suna's Kazekage has been taken by the organization called Akatsuki! We just received the message!"
With that said, everyone in the room just stopped what they were doing, their brains just trying to process what just had happened. Gaara . . . Gaara was kidnapped? And by the Akatsuki? Just what was going on? Weren't they after Naruto?
"Right,"—Tsunade was the first to regain herself—"Team Kakashi, I will tell you your first mission… You are immediately to go to Suna, find out the situation, and relay it to Konoha. After that, follow Suna's orders and back them up!"
✿｡.:**:.｡✿
As Temari stuff herself with a few tasty dango, she stared at the blue sky. She was going home soon, so she might as well rest up. But as she reached for her cup of tea, without even touching it, the cup cracked. Temari stared at the large fracture. She knew it was a bad omen.
I don't believe in this sort of thing, but… She was worried. I've just had a bad premonition… Just what's happened?
✿｡.:**:.｡✿
"Well, off we go!" Naruto exclaimed, happy as ever that he got an A-rank mission.
"Okay, Tsunade-shisou!" Sakura said. "We're ready!"
Tsunade nodded. "Remember to come see me when you've returned, Sakura."
"Right!"
"Do your best, Naruto!" Iruka wished his favorite student the best of luck.
"Yeah, I will, Iruka-sensei! Just leave it to me!"
But before the team was about to set out…
"Yo!" Jiraiya jumped down from wherever he came from. "Going off on a mission?"
"Yep!" Naruto saluted him.
"But more importantly," Jiraiya walked over to the Hokage, "Something terrible has happened. Suna's Kazekage—"
"Yes, I know." Tsunade said. "I'm about to send these guys off to Suna now."
"But," Jiraiya whispered into her ear, "you do know about the 'thing' between the Akatsuki and Naruto, right?"
When Tsunade gave her firm answer, "Yes," Jiraiya called Naruto over to him. "Be careful when it comes to the Akatsuki!"
"Yeah, I know," the knucklehead said. "They've got something against me so, this time, I'm coming after them."
And in a few minutes, Team Kakashi set off on their mission.
"Worried?" Tsunade asked Iruka who continued to watch as the team grew smaller and smaller as the distance between them and the village grew.
"Nah…" the academy teacher answered. "He isn't the kind of weak shinobi that I should worry about. Sakura, too… Maturity is a weird thing…"
"Yeah…"
✿｡.:**:.｡✿
"Temari-san!" Sakura exclaimed as she saw the Suna nin in a clearing in front of them.
"You guys…?" the blonde asked. She hadn't expected anyone within miles of her. "What are you doing here?"
"Didn't you hear?" Kakashi asked.
"Hear . . . what?"
"Gaara was kidnapped by the Akatsuki!" Naruto answered.
"What…? Gaara…" Temari cursed under her breath. "I had a bad feeling…" But for her little brother to be abducted like that…
"It'll take three days to reach Suna from here…" Kakashi explained. "Let's get going…"
✿｡.:*Upon reaching Suna*:.｡✿
"The . . . the White Fang!" the old lady gasped, and she went in for the kill.
But luckily, Naruto fended her off before she could wring her wrinkly hands around Kakashi's neck.
"Why are you going at Kakashi-sensei so suddenly for?" Naruto yelled at her. There was no way in Hell that he'd let his sensei be taken out! And certainly not by the likes of an old hag!
"I remember that time…" the old lady said, ever-so dramatically. "That White Fang…! My son's enemy . . . I will get my revenge for him today!"
"Ah! No," Kakashi said, his hands out in front of him defensively. He didn't blame the lady for confusing him with his late dad, but really! To attack him in the open? Oh god, really? "I'm not—"
"There's no use arguing!"
But at that point, an old man held out his hand to stop all this madness. "Sister, take a good look." he said. "There's a strong resemblance, but he isn't the White Fang."
And then the old hag started crackling! "I was just pretending to be stupid!" she said, leaving everyone to their respective thoughts.
✿｡.:*after Kankuro gets medical treatment because I'm too lazy to type this out*:.｡✿
"I don't think there's any need to worry about his life anymore," Sakura said, wiping her forehead. The jutsu she had used really was something… It had taken almost all of her chakra. "I've directly removed the poison."
Temari fell to her butt and let out a relieved sigh. Her brother was safe, thank god…
"Now I have to make an antidote for the little bit of poison left in his body," Sakura explained, "so we can't relax yet. Please gather the ingredients I say!"
Sakura-chan… Naruto thought, looking at his teammate with new respect. He knew that she had trained under Tsunade, but really . . . You're great!
"You're a lot like that slug woman…" Old Lady Chiyo said. "That a girl like you would come…"
"Well, it's because Tsunade-sama's my mentor." Sakura replied.
"Sister," the old man said, "Time is really flowing by us…"
✿｡.:*Okay we know what happens so let's skip to after Sakura punches the boulder, after the battles, to Sasori's death*:.｡✿
"I won't be able to move much longer," the puppet master said. "Before that, I'll do something pointless for you . . . a reward . . . for defeating me. You wanted to know about Orochimaru, didn't you? Go to the Tenchi Bridge in the Grass Village, at noon . . . two months from now."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"I have a spy in Orochimaru's subordinates… I was . . . supposed to meet him there…"
✿｡.:*To when Chiyo exchanges her life to save Gaara's*:.｡✿
"Bring him back?" Naruto asked as the old woman continued her forbidden jutsu. "Can you really do that?"
"This jutsu is Chiyo-sama's alone…" Sakura answered, her eyes sad.
But in a few seconds, the old woman started trembling. She soon began to cough. "Damn…! Not enough . . . chakra!"
"Then please use mine!"
Her eyes widened at the blonde shinobi.
"Old Lady, can you do that?"
She smiled a small bit before nodding her head. "Put your hands on top of mine."
Naruto did as she asked, and the old lady began taking his chakra to complete her jutsu. "I am glad," she began to say, "that someone like you appeared in this world of shinobi that we old people created. In the past, everything I did was a mistake… But at the very end, it looks like I was able to do the right thing… Suna and Konoha . . . their futures are differing from our past…" She smiled. "What Kakashi said about your mysterious power, that power may change the future… Become Hokage unlike any before…
"And Sakura… Do not risk your life for an old hag next time… Save that which is important to you… You are a lot like me… There are not many women with chivalrous spirits matching those of men. You may become a kunoichi surpassing your own master…
"Naruto, a request from an old hag… You are the only one who knows Gaara's pain… And he knows yours… Help him out…"
✿｡.:**:.｡✿
"Chiyo-sama of Suna died in the line of duty," Shizune said, reading the status report to the Hokage. "And thus, the Kazekage returned safely. Team Gai and Team Kakashi have completed their mission without a hitch and plan to return to Konoha after three days."
"Got it…"
"Anoo…" The black haired woman seemed hesitant to speak. "Tsunade-sama?"
"What is it?"
"Although it worked well for this mission, was it truly a good idea to send Naruto, a jinchūriki, to those people known as the Akatsuki?" Shizune questioned Tsunade's motives. "Even though Hatake Kakashi was with them, why would you take that much of a risk with Naruto?"
"Just that, because he is a jinchūriki," Tsunade answered smugly. "The only person who can understand a jinchūriki is a jinchūriki… Furthermore, he has a mysterious power… Everyone starts to believe in him."
The idiot… She remembered how he got her to believe… He was so reckless… Going up against Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man… How could he do such a thing? And for her? Some old lady? Why, he didn't know who he was lying down the line for! She chuckled at the memory. Sometimes, she wondered if he'd really make a good Hokage someday, always trying to be the hero and saving everyone… Even savying those he didn't know!
"But . . . with that said, the Akatsuki might now know that Sakura was a bond with Naruto…" Shizune said. "And once she returns, the Elders will send her off on that mission. What if the Akatsuki—"
"I only argued with the Elders because I didn't want her to partake in such a mission…" Tsunade explained. "She's so young… For her hands to be bloodied with so many victims…"—she shook her head—"I do not want to see that. However, I do believe that she's strong enough to carry out such a mission. If not, her training was for nothing then… I do not want to see her off, knowing that she'd either die or will be unable to return home until she's finished her mission… She's a like a daughter to me… I'll see to it that she'll be able to return home, regardless of her mission status."
Shizune's worry diminished a bit. She had come to see Sakura like a younger sister. When she heard of the Elder's decision, she was more than shocked—more than worried. But at least, she wouldn't be the only one praying for the cherry blossom…
"But then, what about Naruto's team?" Shizune asked. "He'll need an able kunoichi to assist him."
The old blonde smirked. "That… I'll leave up to Sakura. I think she has someone in mind, a certain Hyuga heiress I believe…"
Thank you for reading this stupid chapter. Please review, blah, blah, blah. And tell me again what I have to improve. I know I'm not descriptive yet, but I will get better. I'm just not going to waste too much time on being descriptive on the parts you guys already know, okay? The next chapter will definitely be longer and more descriptive!
Also, I know the meeting with Kabuto is in ten days in the original manga/anime. But I needed a better time frame for something I have planned, so wait for it, kay?
Thank you and please review!