This chapter was pretty fun for me to write although I don't know what you will all think of it. Sorry for the wait too, never got around to clicking the post button. Anyways, I've been having an idea for another fanfiction that I think is interesting. Basically, Naruto fails at stopping the Akatsuki, and while they are extracting Kurama from him, Kurama uses a secret technique. Kurama, in this story is originally from the Black Clover verse and gets dragged into the Naruto verse. So, Kurama uses a jutsu to send Naruto to the Black Clover verse as a new person, loses memories and stuff, and by doing so also blows himself up so the Akatsuki fails. Naruto will have a five-leaf clover thing for his grimoire although it's empty. So, no chance his demon tries to take over although it would've been Kurama. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but users of five-leaf grimoires can use both their own magic attribute and their demon's magic attribute. So, his magic attribute is yet to be decided, but his second magic attribute from having a five-leaf clover will be fox magic. He will be friends with Asta as I want the basic plot to closely follow the original story. This also means that Naruto will join the Black Bulls. Give me your opinion on this idea.
"Hey, I hope you don't take what they said too hard," said Kakashi as he sat beside Inari. "It's just that they both faced several hardships in their life. While I am not in a place to tell you the specifics, neither of them have a family. Sasuke has to face higher expectations that other people because he is labelled as a prodigy and Naruto is or at least was hated throughout the village. Now, he isn't hated as much but he still is disliked." Kakashi stood up and left leaving Inari to think about what he had heard.
'What caused all of this destruction?' thought a black haired girl as she walked through the forests. She was out collecting herbs only to find large parts of the forests burned, obliterated, and cut apart. She noticed there were two main centers of destruction and she chose to go to one of them to find a black haired boy asleep on the ground. 'The Uchiha Zabuza mentioned!'
The girl approached Sasuke when he started to stir and found himself staring into the eyes of the girl. "Hello? don't you know you shouldn't take a nap in the forests? You'll get sick!" said the girl as Sasuke blinked a few times.
"I'm fine, and who are you?" asked Sasuke as he rubbed his eyes.
"Ah, where are my manners? I'm Haku, and you?" replied the now identified Haku.
"I'm Sasuke. What are you doing out here?" answered Sasuke as he finally took the time to look over who he was talking to. She had long hair that was gathered in a white bun holder, while two locks of her hair fell loose framing her face, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends. She wore a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to her ankles. Around their waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and she wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps.
"I was out looking for herbs only to find parts of the forests destroyed so I went and decided to see what caused it," responded Haku. "I certainly didn't expect to find a teenager at the center of all the destruction. Now what are you doing out here and why were you sleeping here?"
"Oh, sorry about that," said Sasuke. "I was training and blowing off a bit of steam and I fell asleep when I got carried away. Didn't mean to possibly destroy and ruin you getting your herbs."
"Oh, it is fine. I can go search for them somewhere else," said Haku. "Now I would like to ask you a question, why do you train?"
"What do you mean why do I train? I train to become stronger, what else?" asked Sasuke, confusion evident on his face.
"I meant why do you want to get stronger," said Haku with a slight chuckle.
"Oh," said Sasuke as a slight blush plagued his face. "Some time ago I would've said for revenge against him. But now, revenge is at the back of my mind. If I had the chance, I would take it but I am more focused on things like helping out my friends. Although technically it should be friend singular and not plural but, maybe that will change."
"Then I think you will grow strong. I believe that the only way for someone to get true strength is to fight for someone else. Someone they consider precious," said Haku as she put on a small smile.
Sasuke simply nodded showing that he could find some truth behind that statement. "Do you have someone precious?"
Haku also nodded in return as her smile got slightly larger. "Yes I do. They were someone who saved me and were there for me when I had no one left. They are someone who I would give my life to protect."
Sasuke was about to say something before he heard a familiar voice, "Hey Sasuke!"
"Hello Femboy," said Sasuke with a slight sigh.
"Oh shut up Ducky. Anyways, who is this girl?" asked Naruto. "Did you get a girlfriend?"
Sasuke turned red at that as he began stuttering, "Wh-what? N-no! Why would you assume something like that?"
"Well, you did say your goal was to revive your clan. Step one is get a girlfriend," answered Naruto with a grin. "So, are you going to introduce us?"
"Yah, Haku Naruto, Femboy Haku," said Sasuke as he grabbed their hands and had them do a small hand shake.
"Anyways, Sasuke we should probably go back," mentioned Naruto. "Kakashi might be getting worried by now." Sasuke gave a short nod as he turned back but not before giving a small wave to Haku. Once they weren't within earshot of Haku, Naruto pulled Sasuke in before hiving him a noogie. "I didn't know you had it in you to get a girlfriend while we are out on a mission. Good job, one step closer to completely your dream in life!"
"I told you, she isn't my girlfriend," responded Sasuke.
"Sure she isn't," whispered Naruto as he was suddenly on Sasuke's other side. Naruto began to flicker as there was suddenly two Naruto's one on either side of Sasuke. "Just tell me what you need, and I can get yall a date together in the forest."
"We aren't dating," insisted Sasuke.
"So? I know you wouldn't mind dating here. I mean, I was only there for a short time and you were more social with her then you were with me the first week we were friends. Now, tell me what you know on her, and I can get you that date," whispered Naruto as Sasuke was getting increasingly red.
"If it'll make you shut up, then fine. From what I know, she likes nature, and she knows something about medicine as she was collecting herbs for someone," said Sasuke with a sigh.
"Ok, give me two days, and collect me a bit more data tomorrow. I'll have it all set up in two days and you just need to hand her a map I'll make you later today for the location," said Naruto as an excited grin crossed his face only for him to fall over as he got punched in the stomach by Sasuke who stormed away. 'Totally worth it!'
"Yes it is, and I can't believe I convinced you to get a date between Sasuke and the hunter nin."
'Look, I have to help out my brothers. Besides, I'm sure we can convince her to join Konoha and convince the Hokage to let her join since I was able to bribe him into letting me be an assassin before I even got out of the academy. Also, I want the money we can get on our based on a true story novel. And we can also tease them with our based-on-a-true-story novel.'
"True, but this'll be fun. Let's start operations now."
'Right,' that was the final thought before he disappeared in a flicker and began sketching out a bird's eye view map of the whole forest. Step two after that was searching for where to place the date. He found the perfect little clearing that he could place a potential date. Now all he needed to do was to actually make it.
Step one on making the date: build table wear and a table. This was pretty quick as all he had to do was create several after image clones and have them all cut down some logs and branches before turning them into planks for a table and a two benches. For someone as fast as Naruto, it was child's play. After the logs, he just got some construction material so it was actually structurally stable. Plenty of random material could be found through out the land though which was quite convenient.
Step two on making the date: make aesthetics. This involved a lot of landscaping as he would dig out and find lots of rocks to make a large spiral around the area. This would descend it height as he was going to turn it into an artificial stream. This stream would also lead into a large donut like area around where the table and seats were positioned so they would be at the center of a ring of water. After that, he had to make sure the water flowed and through a system similar to some of his guns, he was able to make the water go in an infinite cycle around from the donut ring back to the top of the rocks. There were two final steps for the landscaping. Both involved a lot of flowers. Step one of the final steps was digging up bunch of flowers and decorating the ground and rocks with them. The final step was finding vines and creating a large net above the clearing out of them. The net had holes large enough for someone to be able to easily jump through them to avoid suspicion of it being a trap. Then he wove flowers into the net.
Step three on making the date: get a gift. Haku as -she was named- was picking herbs so that was what Naruto would get her. He could luckily tell the difference between poisonous and safe herbs after his experience as an assassin so he wouldn't accidently give her poisonous herbs. He packed all the herbs in a little box that he would give to Sasuke so he would give it to Haku when the time was right.
Naruto flew up through one of the holes and looked down at his handiwork. He felt as if he was missing something but couldn't figure it out until he noticed there was no bridge connecting the donut island to the mainland. Naruto quickly got more wood and supplies as he built the bridge and made sure it could take the combined weights of Sasuke and Haku. Now all Naruto needed to do, was to wait for Sasuke to tell him what type of food she liked so he could prepare the lunch.
Sasuke was nervous. Today was the day of the arranged date that Naruto made. Why Naruto helped out so much? Sasuke had absolutely no idea but he still had to thank him either way. Naruto seemed pretty excited and already dropped of the prepared food at the spot and now Sasuke just had to make it there with Haku. Why did he even agree to have a date with Haku and why did she accept? They had literally just met each other.
"Oh hello Sasuke," Sasuke heard as he turned to see Haku. She had switched out the pink kimono she usually wore for a light blue one.
"Hello Haku, you're looking good today," he replied as he tried his best to sound nice. He hadn't had much experience with social confrontation as the only person he regularly talked to was Naruto.
"Thank you, you too," responded Haku as she had a little smile form on her face. "Well, we should go to the spot now." Sasuke gave a quick nod as they went off to where the date Naruto set up was. Neither knew that Naruto was watching from afar in the trees. He had a notebook that he was writing down in and Korosensei was recording everything that was happening so they could draw down the important things later for the book.
When Haku and Sasuke made it to the area, they both had their breath taken away. They hadn't expected something like this. Naruto definitely put too much effort in this. The place was way above both of their expectations. It seemed so perfect with everything there. The duo took a second to take in the surroundings before they paid attention to what was at the center of the clearing. They walked over to the bridge and each sat on either side of the table. On said table was lots of seafood, just like Sasuke told Naruto.
The date was going fine as they just made a bit of small talk with each other. "So where are you from?" asked Sasuke.
"Oh I was originally from a small village in the mist before I left from the civil war there," answered Haku.
"I see, do you have any favorite hobbies?"
"Yes, I happen to take time studying herbs and medicine. The art of healing is an incredibly interesting topic," replied Haku.
"Really? I've never looked into, I probably should for some basic first aid. Have you ever considered being a shinobi? You could definitely become a good medic nin. I mean, you are interested in healing already and have knowledge on it. You also are able to incredibly quiet when you want," questioned Sasuke.
"I'll take that as a compliment and I have thought of possibly becoming a shinobi at times, but I most likely won't." replied Haku. "Although you've spent time questioning me, I think it is time I ask one. Is there anything that just makes your day better?"
"Oh yah, I always feel better whenever I can feel that I've become stronger or better. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction and it makes me know that what I'm doing is actually helping. I also like seeing Naruto's reaction when I call him femboy."
Up in the trees
"Ducky, I'm gonna fill your house up with ducks," muttered Naruto as he heard Sasuke's comment. "When this books is released, you won't be laughing, Mwa- I mean uh I can't evil laugh or they'll hear me." Naruto got back to writing down what was happening at the date before he heard Sasuke managed to make Haku laugh. 'Yes, you're doing Sasuke. Soon enough, you'll have gotten a girlfriend!'
"I remember back when I was just coming out of my shell of being rude and arrogant and only believing in myself, I went and had a spar with Naruto. He completely disregarded the man code of no low blows bellow the waist. I have to say, he is cruel and will go to dirty lengths to score victory," said Sasuke as Haku chuckled at the story. They continued talking and eating until their date lasted for about forty minutes.
"Do you want to experience something only a shinobi would ever?" asked Sasuke.
Haku simply raised an eyebrow before nodding. Sasuke grinned as he grabbed and carried Haku bridal style before jumping up the trees and pulling out a few kunai and shuriken connected with ninja wire to swing the along. Haku had gone at higher speeds than this but wasn't expecting what Sasuke was about to do next as he flung them at the donut shaped ring of water around the island. Water splashed everywhere as they both couldn't help but laugh at that. They climbed out before standing up and shaking to dry themselves slightly.
"That went pretty well," said Sasuke in between his chuckles. "Want to do this again sometime."
"Sure," replied Haku with a grin before it became slightly saddened. 'If only we could, if only we could.'
"Something wrong?" asked Sasuke when he noticed her change in facial expression.
"Huh, oh no, just thinking of things," responded Haku.
Hopefully, I didn't make the date that bad. I acknowledge I most likely horribly wrote it bad, but it was my first time, I expect it to be bad.