Check187: I don't think I need to say anything.
ummm Enjoy the chap.
With Sakura...
Sakura was thinking about Naruto. He was so strong. She remember he didn't cry during the funeral. She remembered the sad embrace with him. She looked ahead infront of her and saw Sasuke.
"Hey Sasuke-kun." Sakura said.
"Hn" was his response. He never did show many emotions.
"Hey Sasuke-kun you wanna get some lunch?" Sakura asked with a smile.
"No." Sasuke said.
"Um Sasuke are you mad or something?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke didn't respond. He walked away without saying a word. Sakura felt dejected again. She knew she liked Sasuke. She just had to find a different approach.
With Naruto...
Naruto was feeling better, but he felt like he needed to keep his distance from Sakura. He saw Tazuna walking by with some tools.
"Hey Tazuna need some help?" Naruto asked.
"Oh hey there Naruto. Yeah I could use the help." Tazuna said.
"Ok what can I do?" Naruto asked.
"Well you can-" Tazuna began explaining what Naruto could do to help. Before Naruto knew it, the day had gone by. The sun was setting and Naruto was tired. He didn't use any clones. He had not thought about them. He was thinking about other things at the time.
Night fell and Naruto didn't go back to Tazuna's house. Instead, he took refuge in the forest. He had to get serious about his ninja career. He went to sleep thinking about what he wanted to be since the beginning.
'The Hokage.'
The next day (Same day the clone reached Ino)...
With Naruto...
"So Kakashi-sensei, feeling better?" Naruto asked. Kakashi was still suffering some wounds from the battle.
"Yes Naruto, but can you help Tazuna rebuild the bridge instead of checking up on me?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah ok. Hey have you taught Sakura how to do those exercises you told me about?" Naruto asked.
"No. I haven't had a chance to talk to her. The sooner we help Tazuna, the sooner I can get to it." Kakashi said.
"Alright geez... Good for nothing pervy sensei ... huh! where did that come from?" Naruto asked himself as he left to look for Tazuna.
Walking along the path he saw Inari. Inari was playing with a bunch of kids that now admired him for his bravery. They were playing a game and all the kids wanted him on their team. Naruto kept walking passing by the villagers who seemed relieved to get their life started again. Everyone was doing their part to help each other. He finally reached the very end of the bridge to see Tazuna taking a break.
"What's up old man. Any thing I can do to help?" Naruto asked.
"Little brat. Here help get these beams to this side over here." Tazuna said. Naruto summoned up some shadow clones to help him.
With Sakura...
Sakura was looking at Sasuke. He wasn't doing anything productive. Sasuke was looking at the lake with a far away look. He was so close, but still so distant. Sakura was trying to find a way to approach him.
"What do you want Sakura?" Sasuke said.
'Ok... think. What are his interests? He wants to get stronger. He wants to train to become stronger. I can help with training.' Sakura thought.
"Um I could help you with your training if you want." Sakura said.
"No thanks." Sasuke rejected.
"B-but-"
"I don't need your help Sakura. Go help Naruto or something." Sasuke said standing up and leaving. 'Why do you like him.' She remebered Naruto saying. Sakura looked down at the floor. She didn't like feeling hopeless.
"New plan. What can I do to make Sasuke like me? Hmm..." Sakura pondered.
With Naruto...
Naruto was feeling very exhausted by the time the sun had gone down. Rebuilding the bridge had gone slightly faster with Naruto's help.
"*Pant* Ok I think its *pant* time for some rest. Kai!" Naruto dispelled his clones.
"How about another rou-"
"-ound" Naruto said, his face completely flushed.
"Huh. What was that Naruto?" Tazuna asked.
"Oh nothing." Naruto said seeing images of Ino pinning him down. It was strange seeing that side of her, but it was hot.
"Alright then." Tazuna said packing up his things.
"What was that?" Naruto whispered holding his head. He reached up to his headband and took it off. He looked at his reflection through the metal on his headband. His cheeks were red and his hair shadowed his eyes. He looked at his lips and saw his tongue slip out from one side to the other.
"Hmm Ino is really starting to rub-... is starting to um have an effect on me." Naruto said tying his headband on his head.
"I don't understand. How am I able to see what the clone did?" Naruto said standing up.
"What are you on about?" Tazuna said.
"Um its not important. Ready to go?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. Lets go." Tazuna said.
The following days had gone by much quicker. Kakashi had ordered Sakura and Sasuke to help with anything they could. After a day or two, Kakashi joined them. They finished the bridge a day after half a week. They said their goodbyes and went home.
With team 7...
"Sakura." Kakashi said.
"Yes sensei?" Sakura said.
"I need to talk with you for a bit." Kakashi said.
"Are you kidding me? Lazy bum." Naruto whispered knowing Kakashi had not made an effort to teach Sakura.
"Hmm?" Sasuke pondered who Naruto was talking about. Sasuke was waiting for a declaration of competition. He wanted to beat Naruto at something, at anything. It didn't matter what it was, Sasuke only wanted to prove his strength. And if Naruto was talking about him, then he would surely put him in his place.
"Huh... oh I was just thinking about those... ghosts." Naruto said.
"Ghosts?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah. Those lazy bums heheh." Naruto chuckled nervously. He was excited about going home. He didn't want to go on a hard mission like that for a while. He wouldn't take D ranked missions for granted any more. If anything, they were boring vacations that needed to be appreciated.
"Since you have progressed much more than your own teammates Sakura, I'm going to teach another method you can use to manipulate your chakra." Kakashi said.
"Oh that's pretty cool." Sakura said.
While Kakashi taught Sakura, Naruto was having a staring contest with Sasuke. Sparks flew in every direction, but they seemed only visible to Naruto and Sasuke. They reached their destination and got out of their boat.
"Well I think we should set up camp." Kakashi said.
"C'mon sensei. I bet we could make it to Konoha before the sun goes down." Naruto said.
'We're so close. I just can't wait to see Ino." Naruto thought.
"No Naruto. We need to rest." Kakashi said.
"Rest? What do we need rest for? We've been in a boat for a long time. We don't need to rest. We should take a quick stretch and start racing to Konoha." Naruto said.
"What's the rush loser?" Sasuke said.
"No rush. I just wanna prove I can totally beat you." Naruto said.
"Dobe."
"Teme."
"Ok that's enough. Do you really wanna race?" Kakashi said.
"Yes!"
"Hnn"
"Um What about me?" Sakura said.
"You can use chakra. I believe you can control your chakra enough to enhance your steps as you run." Kakashi said.
"Hey that's not... well yeah Ok I guess it is fair." Naruto said.
"Whatever." Sasuke said.
"Ok then I guess I'll start the count down." Kakashi said.
"Go for it Sensei." Naruto said.
"Yes well... Ahem Ready-" Kakashi said.
"Set-" Sakura said joining in. Everyone had gotten ready to run.
"GOOOoo!" Naruto yelled and they dashed towards Konoha.
Several hours later with a very tired team 7...
"*Pant* So *pant* who won?" Naruto asked as the passed the gates and the small verification booth.
"Oh sorry Naruto. I wasn't paying attention." Kakashi said.
"But how can you read a book and run at the same time sensei?" Sakura said catching her breath.
"Oh its not that hard." Kakashi said.
"That didn't answer-"
"Whatever" Sasuke said going to his home.
"I guess I'll do the mission debriefing alone. You guys can go home." Kakashi said walking towards the Hokage tower and reading his orange book at the same time.
"Well I'll see you later then." Sakura said.
"Yeah later... Hmmm Ino thinks I'm arriving back in three days. I'll get some rest today and surprise her tomorrow." Naruto thought out loud while he saw Sakura leave. Naruto walked towards his home. He was glad to be back. He had to think of something to surprise Ino, but he'd rather just go to sleep.
'Ino.' Were his last thoughts as he hugged his pillow
End... for now.
Check187: I hope you enjoyed that chap.
Seriously if theres any grammar errors, tell me. I don't like reading grammar errors in fics, but I usually just read through it.
Anyways please review.