I still do not own Naruto.

Here is the next chapter. Thanks to all of you who checked out the last mini chapter. I know that there was not much to it but I promise that this one will have more substance. Enjoy

The Date

The date so far had been a major success. After arriving at Ichiraku's, which had expanded its store to include more of a dining area; Naruto and Sakura were seated at a table looking out at the Hokage statue. While they were both waiting for their food Naruto decided to try and make his move on Sakura.

"So Sakura, how has working at the hospital been? I know that Granny Tsunade has been having you work pretty hard." Sakura finished drinking her water and smiled at Naruto. She knew what he was trying to do and she found it cute.

"Well things have been pretty busy since we had that land slide outside the village. There were many people injured and I have had to work overtime three times this week." As Sakura was talking Naruto could not help but notice the way that her eyes shined as she spoke about her work. He knew that even though she talked about how hard her job was, she truly loved what she did. "Naruto? Are you ok?" Naruto realized that he had been staring at Sakura the whole time that she had been talking.

"Sorry Sakura, I just spaced out that's all." Soon their food arrived and they both sat in silence for what seemed like forever for Naruto. He knew what he wanted to tell Sakura, but he could not think of the proper way for him to tell her how he felt.

"Is everything ok Naruto; you aren't being your normal hyperactive self. I know that I usually give you a hard time about how you are always being loud and obnoxious, but I have realized lately that your constant optimism is one the things that I love about you."

Did she just say love? Naruto could not believe that he just heard the girl of his dreams had just said that she loved something about him. "Did you just say that you loved something about me?" This caused Sakura to smile and think to herself that it was about time that Naruto knew the truth.

"Well, I guess that I did. The truth is Naruto that I have been keeping a secret from you for a while now…" Sakura paused for a second; she knew, like Naruto, what she wanted to say, but she did not know how to say it. The truth was that she had started to realize that she cared for Naruto more than she did for her other friends. This feeling made her want to be with him when he went out on dangerous missions so that she could protect him. "Ever since you defeated Pain I have wanted to tell you that I…"

Suddenly the ground began to shake and screams could be heard nearby. "What was that?" said Naruto. A column of smoke could be seen near Ichiraku's. Suddenly a member of the Anbu appeared in front of the two Konoha ninja, his wolf mask hid his face from view, but both Naruto and Sakura both could tell that he was on edge.

"The Hokage has requested your presence in her office immediately" said the Anbu

"What is going on? What was that explosion?" questioned Naruto. At this point he was starting worry since the explosion was so close to where they were.

"There is no time; you must get to the Hokage now." In a puff of smoke the anbu disappeared.

"Come on Naruto we should get to Tsunade-sensei, maybe she knows what is going on." They both leapt out of the dining area and started to run along the roof tops. As they were running Naruto looked over at the column of smoke and he could not help but notice that a figure within the smoke.

"No. It can't be." Within the column, was Sauske!

Well I hope this is a descent cliff hanger. I decided to add some action to this story and the villain is going to be Sauske, because he is a douche bag. (Sorry for any Sauske fans out there). Please review since this is my first story in a while. Hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter.