Mission Gone Wrong
By: Whipped Coffee

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Disclaimer
Sadly, I don't own Naruto…
Never did, never will…

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Chapter 12—All Figured Out

"Shikamaru! Get your lazy butt over here and start working like everyone else here!" Ino shouted to him.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered, as he still laid on the ground.

He could hear Ino's stomping towards him. "Why are you even here anyway? There are no clouds to look at." Ino said, looking up at the sky.

"Just… thinking…" Shikamaru grumbled, closing his eyes.

"About…?" Ino asked softly, as she sat on the ground beside him.

"Stuff…" Shikamaru said, cracking open an eye to look at Ino.

Ino was staring at the sky, and looking off with a weird expression. 'Should I…? Or should I not…?'

'Why is she so silent now…? Did I do something wrong…?' Shikamaru thought, confused by her actions.

Just when Ino was about to say something, Chouji spoke up. "HEY GUYS! STOP TRYING TO DITCH OUT ON THE WORK TRYING TO CONFESS YOUR FEELINGS! AND JUST TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU GUYS, SHIKAMARU LIKES YOU INO AND INO YOU LIKE SHIKAMARU! NOW CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE IT?! I'M GETTING TIRED OF MOVING THOSE HUGE TREES!"

"It's alright Chouji-san! I will move those trees! And if I can't move those, I will have to do 1000 push-ups! And if I can't do 1000 push-ups, I shall do 2000 sit-ups! And if I can't do—"

"WOULD YOU GUYS SHUT UP?! WE'RE TRYING TO HAVE SOME PEACE AND QUIET HERE!!" Ino shouted, nearly making Shikamaru deaf.

It was silent for a few passing minutes. That is, until Shikamaru spoke up. "Ino…? Do you… still like Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked, with his eyes closed.

'Why is he asking that?'

"I… No. Now that I think about it… I don't think that I ever was. It was just his looks that made me like him… and that's probably all that I liked from him…" Ino answered. "Why the questions?"

"I'm… confused." Shikamaru muttered.

"About what?"

"You." Shikamaru said bluntly.

'How can he say this so calmly?' Ino thought, a bit annoyed.

"You know… I had this weird dream." Ino said, thinking about her dream. "It was… about Sasuke… then… this guy appeared, who sounded… like… you…"

Shikamaru opened his eyes to look at Ino.

"And then the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. I was thinking, 'Why would I dream about you?'" Ino asked.

Shikamaru remained quiet, not knowing what to say.

"So… I thought more about it, and thought that… maybe I didn't have a crush on Sasuke… but a crush on… you…" Ino said.

Silence was in the air, with Shikamaru still not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, so I thought that idea was dumb too. I still don't know what I was thinking. Well, let's get working Shikamaru!" Ino said, holding back the tears, even she doesn't know why they were coming out.

"You know why I'm confused?" Shikamaru asked suddenly.

Ino didn't know what to say. She looked around a bit nervously before answering. "Why…?"

"Because… I've known you for a long time, and always thought of you as annoying. A troublesome girl…" Shikamaru said.

Ino nodded, now unable to stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes.

"But… then we became… friends, right?"

Ino nodded once more.

"And then we got put on the same team. And then I thought that you would be even more troublesome. I've always thought of you as a Sasuke crazed girl, and you were. At that time, though. But now… I'm starting to have second thoughts." Shikamaru said.

"Like… how?" Ino asked, the tears stopping.

"You weren't what I planned out to be. I never thought I'd see the soft side of you." Shikamaru said.

"Neither would I…" Ino muttered.

"So… what I'm trying to say… is that I might also… like you." Shikamaru said, now looking at Ino.

Ino just stared at Shikamaru. Then, she threw her arms over him in a big bear hug.

"Don't know why… but I do." Shikamaru said, sighing as he returned the hug.

'Maybe… this mission turned out great after all.' Ino thought as she smiled, breaking away from Shikamaru.

They both lay on the ground, staring at the darkened sky.

"Shikamaru?" Ino asked.

"Yeah…?"

"You're still not off the hook. Now get back to work!" Ino barked.

'Just when I thought she calmed down…' Shikamaru thought with a sigh as he stood up.

-

"Oh wow… Who knew that Shikamaru and Ino would be the one to admit their feelings first…" The white haired sannin said, scribbling down some stuff into his notebook.

"Yea, it certainly took me by surprise." Another voice said.

"Kakashi?! How did you know I was going to be here?!" Jiraiya yelled, in a hushed tone.

"…It was kinda obvious… Anyway, you're coming back Jiraiya." Kakashi said.

"No! I can't yet! There's more to this volume!!" Jiraiya protested.

"But Tsunade-sama said that if I don't bring you back, she'll burn all my books…" Kakashi said with a whimper.

Jiraiya thought for a moment. A light bulb suddenly went off. "I know! I can get you whole series again!" Jiraiya said, smiling at his so-called brilliant plan.

Kakashi thought about this for a moment. 'Well… this could work out… I can just tell Tsunade-sama that Jiraiya held me captive… but if she finds out… she'll have my head!'

"Okay! I'll take that offer up!" Kakashi said, smiling as he shook hands with the other smiling sannin.

"This plan is brilliant!! I'm going to become RICH!" Jiraiya yelled, not too loudly.

-

"Sakura." Sasuke said, stopping.

"What Sasuke? If we're gonna catch whatever that was in the bushes, we better hurry up because it's getting pretty late." Sakura said.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke blurted.

That caught Sakura by surprise. "Why are you sorry?" Sakura asked confused.

"For… kissing Tenten. I didn't mean anything by it. It was just a kiss that meant nothing." Sasuke said, hesitating a little bit.

Sakura smiled softly. "Sasuke, I already forgave you. Even if you don't apologize, you're forgiven. I can never stay mad at you for long."

Sasuke smiled a bit. "So… I'm wondering… Whatever happened to the –kun?"

Sakura blushed a little. "Missed that?"

Sasuke smirked. "Yes."

'Is he saying… what I think he's saying?' Sakura thought.

'Am I saying… what I think I'm saying?' Sasuke thought.

"Alright Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

'Maybe… Telling her that I like her is a bit too fast. I think that… starting off as friends may be for the best of us.' Sasuke thought.

"C'mon, we don't want to be late, Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura yelled, starting off to run.

Sasuke soon joined her as they ran off into the depths of the forest.

-

"If Shikamaru and Ino made up first… then… Sasuke and Sakura will be second… then Naruto and Hinata… then Neji and Tenten!" Jiraiya concluded.

"Naruto and Hinata? Don't you think Naruto's a little too dense to go before Neji and Tenten?" Kakashi asked.

"Well… now that you mention it yes… but then Shikamaru and Ino got together, and that's surprising." Jiraiya said.

"Well, that is true, but I put my money on Neji and Tenten before Naruto and Hinata." Kakashi said.

Jiraiya sighed. "You're right… But I still choose Naruto and Hinata before Neji and Tenten. It's just… something that tells me that Naruto's going to ask Hinata some dumb questions, and then something quirks Hinata to tell Naruto how she feels, and then Naruto's gonna go into deep thinking, so after that they get together, and then Neji will get angry, so Tenten tries to calm him down, but he can't so Tenten's gonna do something drastic. I have it all figured out… It's a good thing I chose Shikamaru and Ino first!" Jiraiya said as he snickered.

"You really do don't you… How did you know that they were going to admit to each other first anyway?" Kakashi asked.

"Ah, it's called reverse psychology, my friend." Jiraiya said, nodding his head with my eyes closed.

Kakashi stared at him. "Right… and that was the order you put it in?"

"Yes."

"But if you were to change it, how would you do that?" Kakashi asked.

"Ah, you see, there's something I like to call…" Jiraiya paused, looked around them, and leaned closer to Kakashi. "…cheating." Jiraiya said, smiling.

"I see…"

"You saw yourself that we wrote our pairs onto a piece of paper. For me to cheat, I could just find the paper, and change my guesses." Jiraiya said, smiling at his brilliant plan.

"But the paper's in the Tsunade-sama's office."

Jiraiya's smile turned into a frown. "Well, I'll just put some sleeping potion into Tsunade's sake and I will be able to sneak into her office to steal the paper!" Jiraiya said, smiling again.

"That is brilliant Jiraiya! No wonder you're a legendary sannin!" Kakashi said, praising Jiraiya.

Jiraiya smiled and nodded. "Now, help me set the cameras up as they're making the house. I have to get back with something to Tsunade."

-

"Without your Byakugan, we're screwed!" Tenten yelled, as she and Neji were back to back, fighting off 4 bears.

"And without your weapons, you're screwed." Neji retorted, eyeing the bears.

"Shut up Neji! Now… what to do!?" Tenten said asked. "If we stand still, do you think they'll go away?"

"Not likely." Neji said.

Tenten grumbled. "And how do you think we're going to get out of this?"

"I have ways…" Neji said, getting ready to attack.

"Don't you dare Neji! Don't hurt those poor animals!" Tenten said, restraining him from charging into the bear.

"And how do you suppose we get out of here? The only way is to attack them." Neji said.

"There must be some other way to get past them!" Tenten said.

"Like?"

Tenten started walking in between two bears, and walked out of the circle that the bears were in. "You just walk past them! They won't hurt you!!" Tenten said, smiling at her plan.

Neji looked unsatisfied. He followed what Tenten did, and exited between the same two bears. "Wasn't that easier than all that blood, Neji?" Tenten asked, smiling at her work.

Neji grunted, and glared at the bears that were leaving in the opposite direction.

"The bears didn't do anything Neji! You were the one who entered their habitat." Tenten said, laughing at the memory.

"If I could remember correctly, you were the one who found it, and told me to check it out." Neji said, looking at Tenten.

"That is true, but how many times have you ever listened to me?" Tenten asked.

Neji grunted again, knowing the answer is 'not many'. "C'mon, we need to get going."

-

"Hinata-chan, did you find anything?" Naruto yelled.

"Nothing, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied back.

"I'm not really sure if there is anything here!" Naruto yelled, exhausted.

"Hopefully they have a house and a fire back at the campsite…" Hinata said, also tired.

"We should get back now, right Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"B-But we didn't find anything…" Hinata said, not sure if they could go back.

"That doesn't matter anyways! Neji said if! He didn't say we had to! There's a loophole in it, so we can just go back without him killing us!" Naruto said.

"Okay…" Hinata said, still a little unsure.

"C'mon, Hinata-chan! We did the best we could, and I don't think that anyone else found anything anyways! Let's go!!" Naruto yelled, grabbing Hinata and running off.

-

Everyone met up at the same spot. Some looked at the house. The rook of the house was made of big leaves, and the sides were held up by the tree trunks. The walls were made up of more tree trunks and sticks.

"Hopefully this house last through the night." Chouji said.

"So, did you find anything?" Ino asked.

"No…" Everyone replied.

"We should let it go…" Shikamaru said, sighing.

"But I know there's something here… I felt like we've been being watched all this time while we're here…" Tenten protested.

"Let's get into the house and talk." Kiba said, beckoning them to go into it.

-

"Alright, so what were you going to say?" Kiba asked Tenten.

"Well… don't you guys feel like you've been being watched here?" Tenten asked.

"Well… now that I think about it, I have been getting the eerie feeling…" Sakura said.

Hinata nodded in agreement, and so did everyone else.

"Why did our senseis put us here anyways?" Naruto asked.

"To… bond?" Ino suggested.

"Not likely." Neji said. "It's not like we're on the same team, though our teammates are here. I have a hunch that this little, 'experiment', is for their own amusement."

"I agree with the Hyuuga. Why else would our senseis lure us here, in the middle of nowhere?" Sasuke said.

"But if they are… how are we going to get out?" Tenten asked.

"The person in the bushes… that has probably be one of our senseis." Shino said.

"Yeah… and because of the explosion our previous place we were living at… our senseis must've lost the connection to the cameras out here, and they sent the person in the bushes to put more cameras back up." Sakura said, concluding everything.

"So… how are we going to get out of this one then?" Ino asked.

"Find the person in the bushes." Shino said.

-

One thing ran through Jiraiya and Kakashi's minds.

'Shit!'

:D Harrrrr I finally update:D I'm so happy that I updated!!! Yay!!

Okay… I have some bad news and some good news… The bad news: The story's coming to an end sooooon! Like, two or three more chapters… D: That is soo sad! This is my first chapter story that I'm going to finish! Now that is the good news! Well, good news for ME anyways. Lawls!

Okay!! So please review your little butts off, and help motivate me:D

Please Review:D

Edit: Oh wow. This one didn't have many mistakes…