Author's Note: Repost due to small site issue. More details about this at the end of the chapter, as well as a small bonus for readers who have already read this chapter and were hoping for something new to read.

"Here you go," Naruko said, handing the three large, manila envelopes over to their designated recipients.

Genma Shiranui gave her a nonchalant and thankful nod as he took his respective envelope off of her hands. "Thanks," he said.

Might Guy grinned excitedly as he enthusiastically took his envelope. "Ah, to be given a special assignment from the Hokage himself!" he cried as he beamed at the sealed envelope in his hand. "This excitement!" He closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and exhaling just as hard, relishing the moment. "This type of excitement can only be compared to those one experiences in their youth!"

Genma smirked cheekily at his passionate teammate. "You would say something like that," he replied.

Guy flashed Genma a hearty grin and gave him an affirmative and acknowledging wink. "What can I say? The best way to live one's life is to live like you're always in your prime!"

Genma returned Guy's bold statements and flashy gestures with an amused chuckle. "If that's what you believe, then more power to you."

Naruko giggled at the two's playful banter. "All this talk about youth," she sighed dreamily as she absentmindedly played with a couple of strands of her hair, "it really makes you realize how old you've gotten." She giggled again. "I guess at this rate I should start preparing myself for my very first wrinkles," she mused playfully.

"Nonsense!" Ebisu said sternly, fixing his glasses with one hand and taking his envelope with the other. "Despite your age, you look just as beautiful as you did years ago!" He fixed his glasses again as he nodded affirmatively at his own statement, smiling proudly at himself for having come up with it for good measure. "If anything, your beauty has only increased as the years have went by."

Naruko released a tiny gasp before giving Ebisu a grateful smile. "Thank you, Ebisu," she said. "That's very thoughtful of you to say that." When she noticed the light blush spreading across Ebisu's face, which he tried in vain to hide behind his hand, disguising his intentions by pretending to be fixing his glasses again, Naruko cocked an eyebrow knowingly and teasingly added, "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were interested in me."

Ebisu yelped as he began to fidget uncontrollably. "N-No, of course not! W-What makes you say that?" He laughed nervously in the hopes of masking his long-time, secret attraction to the Hokage's assistant. "Besides my lack of interest and the obvious tactical foolishness of an active ninja participating in a romantic relationship, the age difference between us is far too apparent!" Ebisu gasped as he realized his fatal blunder. "T-That's not to say that I think you're too old for me or anything!" Ebisu took a moment to think it over for a second. "W-Well, I guess I did kind of say that, but I wasn't insinuating that YOU were too old, it's just… it's just…."

Genma chuckled good-naturedly at his teammate's predicament, much to the chagrin of said teammate. "Smooth man."

Guy placed his arm around the distraught Ebisu's shoulders and laughed heartily. "Come on! No need to take back what you said! Think back to your youth! You know, back when you would take chances, get messy, and make mistakes and just roll with them? Do that!" He took his arm off of his teammate's shoulders and clenched his fist enthusiastically. "Life's much more satisfying that way!"

Ebisu released an annoyed tick at his teammate's annoying, and, in his humble opinion, immature philosophy. "Youth, youth, youth. That's all I ever hear from you, and that's all I ever see you try to embody." He fixed his glasses as he looked at Guy disapprovingly. "Honestly Guy, you should really start acting more your age," he reprimanded sternly.

"Same can be said about you, Ebisu," Genma said, giving his two teammates an amused glance. He placed a hand on his own shoulder and casually rolled his neck. "You act far too old for your age."

Ebisu shook his head and placed his hands on his hips. "It's called displaying behavior befitting of your rank and position." He fixed his glasses again. "Maybe you should try it sometime Genma. It certainly helps one's credibility." He glared at Guy from the corner of his eyes. "Take Guy for example." He gestured towards Guy with his hand. "Despite his talent, no one takes him seriously. Probably because he's always spouting some nonsense about youth and working out in such a grandiose and ridiculous fashion."

Despite the harsh words from Ebisu, Guy seemed completely unfazed by them. If anything, he seemed to take it as a sign that his philosophy was reaching out to people. "What can I say?" Guy asked dramatically. He then struck a pose. "Go big or go home!" He then playfully winked at Naruko and asked, "Am I right Naruko?"

Naruko giggled. "Well, you certainly won't live with any regrets with that philosophy, that's for sure."

Ebisu angrily folded his arms as he looked disapprovingly at Guy. "Guy! That is the Hokage's assistant you are talking to! You must respectfully refer to her as Mrs. Uzumaki!" He shook his head irritably. "Honestly, it's basic manners."

"Oh, I don't mind," Naruko quickly reassured him. "If anything, it makes me feel young again, being referred to by my first name."

Ebisu winced before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "W-Well, if that is how you wish to be referred to, then I have no choice but to -"

"Hey Naruko," Genma interrupted, feeling that he had had enough of this particular conversation for one day and holding his envelope up, looking at it curiously, "what is this exactly?"

Naruko smiled at him. "Like Guy said, it's a special assignment given to you by the Hokage."

Genma nodded understandingly. "I see." He looked his envelope over for a moment and asked, "So, how 'special' are we talking about?"

Ebisu eyed his envelope gravely. "Obviously it's a top secret mission of the greatest importance." He held his envelope up. "Why else would the Hokage assign us these tasks in such a manner?"

Genma frowned. "Because we're grown men with our own schedules who will open our envelopes the moment we have the time to look at them?"

Ebisu was evidently taken by surprise at his teammate's logical conclusion. "W-Well, yes, but why else would he seal our important tasks in these envelopes?"

"Well, he can't exactly send all of our tasks in the same envelope, right?" Guy said. He shook his head disapprovingly. "Now that would just be inconvenient."

Ebisu heaved an exasperated sigh. "That's not what I meant," he muttered under his breath.

Naruko giggled. "I doubt that they're anything too special," she reassured them. "Otherwise, he would've sent the Anbu to go fetch you."

Genma smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right about that." He then proceeded to nonchalantly open his envelope.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?" Ebisu demanded, horrified that Genma had the gall to open his envelope here of all places.

Genma looked at Ebisu and gave him a few confused blinks. "I'm opening my envelope," he answered simply.

"Don't open them here!" Ebisu hissed. "Think of the consequences!"

Genma let out an exasperated sigh at his teammate's antics. Honestly, despite all of Ebisu's talk against Guy's enthusiasm, in his opinion, Ebisu was just as bad, if not worse. "I thought we already established that these things aren't that important."

Ebisu fixed his glasses stubbornly. "As a ninja, you can never be too careful! For all we know, this is a genius plan made by the Hokage to relay important assignments to us!" When Genma gave him an exasperated look, Ebisu quickly added, "At least have the decency to look at it in private!"

"You go look at it in private," Genma countered. "I'll take my chances."

"Hmph," Ebisu said, tucking his envelope under his arm and began to walk away from the group. "Suit yourselves." He gave Naruko a quick farewell bow. "Naruko."

Naruko returned his gesture. "Ebisu." She, along with Guy and Genma, watched as Ebisu walked all the way towards the door of the Hokage's office, stopped, sheepishly looked at his envelope, situated himself besides the door, and began to open it.

Genma smirked. "Wow, didn't know that that was considered 'private'."

Ebisu scowled. "Notice that I am not listening."

Genma looked at Naruko and smiled before indicating towards Ebisu with his thumb. "This guy," he good-naturedly scoffed. "You know what I'm saying?"

"Aw, I think it's actually kind of cute," Naruko said, causing Ebisu to jerk suddenly, which, in turn, caused him to quickly do his best to cover it up by standing stiffly and forcing himself to regain his composure. It didn't work, though it did earn him an amused giggle from Naruko, so he at least had that going for him.

Genma whistled amusingly. "Kind of cute, eh?" He shook his head disapprovingly with an amused smirk on his face. "Man, I'd hate to know what I'd be attracted to once I'm your age."

Naruko giggled. "Let's just say that you start to appreciate all of the little things."

Genma chuckled. "I'll take your word for it." He looked at Guy and held his envelope up. "You want to do this together or what?"

Guy smiled brightly as he too held his envelope up. "I thought you'd never ask!" He took a deep breath in order to savor the moment and then placed his hands on the envelope flap. "Are you ready?" he asked, smiling excitedly in anticipation.

Genma nonchalantly followed suit. "Ready as I'll ever be," he answered. The two opened their envelopes, only to find that their envelopes had been filled with various papers, which they both took out and studied carefully. Looking past them, Naruko could see that Ebisu had done the same.

After waiting patiently for a couple of minutes or so, Naruko curiously and anxiously asked, "Well?"

Genma looked up and gave Naruko a reassuring smile. "Like you said, nothing major," he said.

"Ha!" Guy cried. "Speak for yourself!"

Naruko and Genma's eyes both widened in surprise. "What do you mean?" Naruko asked.

Guy smiled proudly to himself. "I don't mean to brag," he began, handing Naruko and Genma some of his papers so that they could see for themselves, "but the Hokage has just requested for me to take a special, young, up-and-coming ninja under my wing. Of course, once he graduates from the academy."

Genma looked up from studying Guy's papers and asked, "So? All veteran ninja eventually have to go through that."

Guy shook his head obstinately. "Yes, but you don't understand! Helping to shape someone youth, there's simply no other job in the world more important than that!"

Genma chuckled. "Well, if that's how you feel, then who am I to stop you?"

Guy grinned brightly, winked, and gave his friend an enthusiastic thumbs up. "Now you're talking!"

Naruko smiled before looking back at Guy's papers again. "Now, who's so special that the Hokage feels that they need to be trained by Guy of all people?" she mused. After a moment of skimming through the papers, Naruko finally found her answer in the form of a headshot photograph of the mentioned up-and-coming ninja, and smiled warmly down at the familiar face. "I know him!" Naruko said, pointing at his picture as Genma looked over her shoulder to get a glimpse of Guy's future student.

"Rock Lee," Genma read. He observed the photo for a moment, before smirking, turning to Guy, and saying, "Kid's almost a spitting image of you." He then added, "Especially around the eyebrows."

"Poor thing," Naruko said. "From what I've heard, he's not particularly good at ninjutsu and genjutsu, and his taijutsu isn't very good either." Naruko then smiled, and added, "But he's definitely got spirit. He should get along with you just fine," she said to Guy.

Guy nodded in agreement. "Right!" He raised his fist and held it out passionately. "I'll personally make sure that his dreams are realized, one hundred percent!"

Naruko giggled. "I wouldn't expect any less from you." She then turned to Genma and asked, "Well, what about you? What assignment did the Hokage send you?"

Genma simply raised his envelope and papers and answered, "It's basically him asking me to be a reserve practitioner for the third stage of the Chunin Exams." He nonchalantly shrugged. "Like I said, nothing major."

Guy and Naruko's eyes widened in surprise. "It… it kind of is," Naruko said. "Isn't Hayate the official practitioner for the third stage of the Chunin Exams?"

Genma nodded. "Yeah, but… the guy coughs like, twenty-four seven. He very well might be dying."

Guy rubbed his chin. "Yeah, but… he's had that cough for quite a while now."

Genma shrugged. "Like I said, he might be dying." He shook the papers and envelope in his hand a little bit. "Guess that's one of the reasons why Hokage wants to assign an official reserve."

Naruko shook her head and sighed. "He really needs to do something about that cough of his."

"He's always pretty busy," Guy mused. "Doubt that gives him a lot of time to take care of his body properly."

"That's no excuse!" Naruko argued. When neither Guy nor Genma looked completely convinced, Naruko thought for a moment, and declared, "Well if he's not going to look after himself, than gosh darn it, someone else will have to look after him for him!"

Genma looked at her incredulously. "What? You're going to manage his medication for him or something?"

Naruko shook her head, smiled, and winked mischievously. "Of course not! I'll introduce him to a friend of mine: Yugao Uzuki. She's a nice girl, and I have a feeling that they'll take a liking to each other."

Genma raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're going to heal Hayate by giving him a girlfriend?"

"Even I don't see the logic in that," Guy admitted.

Naruko stubbornly shook her head and shooed away their criticisms. "Oh hush. Taking the time to care for someone other than themselves will do those two workaholics some good!" Naruko held her chin as she began planning the perfect scheme to get the two together. "Hmm. I should probably buy Hayate some flowers and tell him that Yugao sends her regards." Her eyes then widened as she suddenly remembered another errand the Hokage had sent her to do. "Oh, that reminds me!" She frantically ran around the Hokage's office, tidying up as much as she could before taking her planned leave. "The Hokage asked me to pick up some flowers for him!" Naruko explained once she noticed Genma and Guy's looks of confusion. "I just hope I can get there in time before they close!"

"Um," Genma said, raising his index finger up, "if you don't mind me asking, why would the Hokage want a bunch of flowers to begin with?"

Naruko finished the last of her cleanup and sighed. "Politics," she answered.

Genma raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Politics?" he repeated.

Guy thought it over for a moment before laughing heartily. "Let me guess. This other politician is female, am I right?"

Naruko nodded. "Female… and cranky. Our Hokage wants to get on her good side early on in their meeting, but," she laid her face in one of her hands and sighed, "if you ask me, I think it's a bit of a lost cause." She shrugged. "But I'm his assistant, so," she made her way past Genma and Guy, "off I go."

Genma chuckled and gave her a small wave goodbye. "Good luck."

"You know, if you start running now, you won't have to worry about luck," Guy said.

Naruko giggled. "I think I'll take my chances."

"Unbelievable!" Ebisu internally cried, too absorbed in the request that had been hidden inside of his envelope to have paid any proper attention to whatever else was going on at the moment. "The Hokage is personally asking me to train the honorary grandson, Konohamaru Sarutobi! This is arguably a greater honor than becoming Hokage myself! To think, I will be known as the man who trained a future Hokage! A future legendary ninja!" Ebisu clenched his fist in determination and passion. "I must accept! I would be a fool not to!"

"Bye Ebisu!" Ebisu awoke from the deepest reaches of his mind and turned his head towards the direction of the voice that had just spoken to him. To his shock, and embarrassment, especially if the person noticed that he had been completely enveloped in his own thoughts, he saw that the voice belonged to Naruko, who flashed him one of her precious and trademark beautiful smiles as she was reaching towards the Hokage's door to let herself out of his office. "Good luck with whatever the Hokage assigned you!"

Ebisu's face went beet red. He raised his hand in an attempt to give Naruko even the smallest wave goodbye, but with how much he was shaking, it looked as if his hand had been paralyzed and he was trying desperately to get a feeling coursing through it. "G-G-G-G-Goodbye, M-M-M-M-Mrs. Uzumaki," he stammered pathetically.

Naruko gave Ebisu a small, sympathetic smile, and, much to Ebisu's delight and horror, gently placed her pointer finger over Ebisu's lips, signaling for him to be quiet, and said, "Nar-u-ko, remember?"

Ebisu noticeably began to sweat profusely, but nodded his head regardless. "N-Naruko."

Naruko giggled. "Looks like someone is finally learning!" she said. She then opened the door, looked over her shoulder, and cried, "Have a nice day everyone!"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah, you too," Ebisu stammered, once again trying to give Naruko a wave goodbye, only for Naruko to have already left and closed the door behind her.

Guy and Genma exchanged amused grins with each other. Genma nodded towards the door Naruko had just exited through. "Can you image what she'd be like if she had ever pursued being a ninja?"

Guy let out a vivacious laugh. "She'd probably have half of the entire ninja population wrapped around her finger!"

Mrs. Yamanaka was rearranging a batch of flowers, until she heard the doors to Yamanaka Flowers open, alerting her that her family's flower shop had acquired yet another customer for the day. Turning around to properly face the last-minute customer, she smiled after recognizing the familiar face. "Naruko!" she cried, clasping her hands together and making her way around the counter to properly greet her old friend. "What a pleasant surprise! When was the last time we last spoke?"

Naruko laughed and hugged Mrs. Yamanaka, who returned it in her usual graceful manner. "I can't remember! It seems like it's been ages, hasn't it?"

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded. "Indeed, it certainly has. I must admit, I've sorely missed your company. I understand that there are few opportunities in your line of work, but you simply must ask the Hokage to give you a day or two more off of that schedule of yours! Between assisting the Hokage, taking care of that child of yours, and taking time off for yourself, you hardly spend any time with the members of the Allied Mothers Force!" She frowned. "Honestly, if we didn't know how busy you were, we'd have it in our right mind to accuse you of rudeness of the highest caliber!"

Naruko laughed awkwardly. "Well, no offense, but it's not like I'm an actual member of the Allied Mothers Force. It's not like I'm missing out on any meetings or obligations or anything."

Mrs. Yamanaka let out a disapproving huff as she placed her hands on her hips. "But are you not friends with each and every one of us?" she pointed out, causing Naruko to release even more awkward laughs. "Honestly," to Naruko's surprise, she smiled as she pinched one of her cheeks, "if you weren't so charming, you'd be long due for an earful from me!"

Naruko once again laughed awkwardly. "I guess I should really count my blessings, huh?"

Mrs. Yamanaka smiled knowingly. "Indeed, you should. Now," she clapped her hands together, "what brings you here on this fine evening?" She smiled mischievously. "Have you finally found a man that has earned your fancy?"

Naruko's eyes widened as she raised her arms up and shook her head in an attempt to turn down the notion. "What? No, of course not! With the schedule I have, how is that even possible?"

Mrs. Yamanaka frowned slightly. "Shame. You know darling, just because you're in the middle of all of this…," she thought for a moment to select the right words, "taboo business, it doesn't mean you should deny yourself of that particular happiness."

"Well, with Naruto under my care, I doubt a lot of men would want to start a relationship with me in the first place," Naruko pointed out.

Mrs. Yamanaka released a disappointed sigh. "Yes, I suppose there's that as well. But if not, then why did you come to our humble shop?"

Naruko frowned and gave Mrs. Yamanaka a small pout. "What? A friend can't come and visit another good friend without some kind of ulterior motive?" When Mrs. Yamanaka gave Naruko a skeptical look, Naruko sighed, rubbed her temples out of embarrassment and exhaustion, and admittedly mumbled, "The Hokage asked me to pick up some flowers for him."

"Ah, yes, of course," Mrs. Yamanaka said. "Another attempt at emotional manipulation in politics." She gestured for Naruko to follow her to acquire the Hokage's bouquet. "Come to the front darling. I'll get them for you."

Once Naruko was at the counter, she waited patiently for Mrs. Yamanaka to retrieve the Hokage's bouquet. When she finally saw them, she gasped. "Wow, it's beautiful!" she cried. She looked back up to the proud Yamanaka. "Your family has really outdone themselves with the bouquets recently!"

"But of course darling," Mrs. Yamanaka said a matter-of-factly. "You must know by now that customers can only expect the best from Yamanaka Flowers! But," she gave Naruko a knowing smirk, "if you must know, ever since I personally took charge of our shop's bouquets, customers have become much more satisfied with them." She chuckled. "It seems as though that husband of mine is slightly less adept when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Speaking of which," Naruko said, looking around the flower shop to spot the said husband, "where is Inoichi anyway? Doesn't he usually run the shop?"

Mrs. Yamanaka waved Naruko's question off. "Oh, he's on another one of those missions of his. It's either that or he's out drinking with his friends, though I highly doubt he'd be missing for days if that were true." She sighed. "Though I wish he'd put more effort in returning home sooner. I daresay, it's hard to help one's daughter with her ninja training when one is not a ninja herself."

"Oh!" Naruko's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together excitedly. "That's right! How's Ino doing? I hear she's at the top of her class!"

Mrs. Yamanaka smiled and nodded proudly. "Indeed she is, and we couldn't be more proud of her! But that daughter of ours," she shook her head, despite the proud smile on her face, "she seems to be determined to constantly exceed our expectations!" She looked back at Naruko. "Do you know of Mebuki's daughter? The one with the pink hair?"

Naruko thought about it for a moment. "If I remember correctly, her name was Sakura, wasn't it?"

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded excitedly. "Yes, that's it!"

"Well, what about her?" Naruko asked, leaning against the side of the counter, Mrs. Yamanaka's excitement quickly rubbing off on her.

"Well," Mrs. Yamanaka began, "Mebuki was always talking about how shy Sakura was and how hard it was for her to make friends, but then, one day, she told me that, one day, in class, Sakura was being bullied by a couple of female delinquents in their class -"

"Bullies?!" Naruko cried incredulously. "At their age?"

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded in agreement. "That was precisely what I said, but listen to this, she told me how my little Ino stood up for her and how they immediately became friends!" She placed a hand over her heart and shook her head. "You should see them when they're together! Sakura absolutely adores her, looks up to her even! I couldn't be more proud!"

"Oh my gosh!" Naruko gushed. "That is so cute! I wish I could see them!"

"You should darling! It's absolutely adorable!"

Just then, the doors to the flower shop opened, alerting both Naruko and Mrs. Yamanaka of the presence of a third person within their midst. Naruko turned around while Mrs. Yamanaka looked over Naruko's shoulder, as they both saw Inoichi Yamanaka making his way to the counter. "Naruko!" Inoichi cried, arms outstretched and a smile on his face. "Good to see you again!"

Naruko laughed. "Well, look who finally came back from one of his missions!" She accepted Inoichi's offer for a friendly hug. "Where have you been?" Naruko asked, amiably punching Inoichi on the side. "The last time I checked, you were assigned a simple C-Rank escort mission this time around!"

Mrs. Yamanaka raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Is that so?" she asked suspiciously.

Inoichi sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, well, you see," he reached into his pockets and pulled out a small, stylized hairpin, "I saw this on the way back home, and I just knew that Ino would absolutely love it, but," he gave Naruko and his wife a shamefully embarrassed look, "well, let's just say that one thing led to another and I had to stay at that village for one more night."

"Dear!" Mrs. Yamanaka cried. "All that trouble for a hairpin?"

"But sweetie, look at it!" Inoichi cried, handing the hairpin to his wife in order for her to get a closer look at it. "Won't this look beautiful on our Ino?"

Mrs. Yamanaka examined the hairpin closely. "Well, it certainly would look good on her," she admitted. She then looked back at her husband, a cross look on her face. "But dear, we've been through this over and over again, you simply cannot keep spoiling her like this!"

Inoichi twiddled his thumbs bashfully. "But I love her so much," he murmured. "And I just want her to be happy."

"Our daughter is perfectly capable of being happy without all of these accessories you keep buying her!" his wife argued, crossing her arms.

Realizing that a family squabble was about to break out, Naruko slowly reached for the Hokage's bouquet and quickly made her way out of Yamanaka Flowers. "Well, I'd better get going now," she quickly said as she opened the door to the shop. "It was nice seeing you two again!" she called.

Mrs. Yamanaka looked over her husband's shoulder, smiled, and waved Naruko goodbye. "It was nice seeing you too, darling! And please, try visiting again in the near future!"

"See you around Naruko," Inoichi mumbled, knowing full well that with Naruko gone, it gave his wife the perfect opportunity to officially let him have it.

Naruko closed the door behind her and let out a sigh of relief. "Dodged a bullet there," she whispered to herself. She looked down at the bouquet of flowers in her arms. "Better get these delivered before I hear something I shouldn't."

As she walked towards the destination the Hokage had instructed her to go to deliver him his flowers, she spotted a short figure in the distance, walking by himself with his hands in his pockets and with his head down, as if trying not to attract too much attention to himself. Unfortunately for him, Naruko noticed him, and couldn't contain her excitement as she ran up to him while raising one of her hands up and waving energetically at him. "Sasuke! Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked up to spot Naruko running up to him. "Mrs. Uzumaki," he said.

Once Naruko finally reached him, she took a moment to catch her breath before kneeling down, grabbing one of Sasuke's cheeks, and giving it a playful pinch. "I've told you a thousand times, call me Naruko!"

Sasuke blushed and averted his eyes to the side. "Don't wanna," he grumbled. "It's weird for a kid like me to call an adult like you by their first name."

Naruko yanked Sasuke's cheek even harder. "And it's rude for a kid like you to disobey an adult like me," Naruko pointed out. When Sasuke wouldn't relent, Naruko leaned closer, pouted, and said, "Don't make me angry! You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!" Despite Sasuke still not complying with Naruko's wishes, Naruko giggled, threw her arm around Sasuke's shoulder, and brought him in for a one-armed embrace. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're just so cute, I could just eat you up!" she gushed.

Sasuke blushed harder as the side of Naruko's face pressed itself and rubbed against his own. Sasuke was never the type of person to enjoy a cuddle, and receiving one from the greatly effeminate Naruko Uzumaki didn't help matters, especially when one realized that, except for a few chance meetings with his mother, who she was apparently really good friends with, Sasuke barely really knew her. She was like the aunt that Sasuke's mom loved to talk about and be around, but also the aunt that Sasuke never really saw on a regular basis; and based from the few chance meetings Sasuke had had with her and everything his mother had told him about her, Sasuke quickly realized that, although Naruko was undoubtedly a nice person, he wasn't the type of person that he'd like to hang out with. Looking for a way to get out of his uncomfortable predicament, Sasuke eventually noticed the bouquet cradled like a baby on Naruko's arm. "What are the flowers for?" he asked.

Naruko stopped cuddling him, released him, much to his relief, looked down at the bouquet in her arms, smiled, and teasingly answered, "For a certain, special someone. You'll understand when you're older. Unless…," she leaned in and whispered, "Sasuke already has a certain special someone?"

Sasuke's face turned beet red. He understandably averted his eyes away from Naruko's gaze. "No. Why would I? Girls are annoying anyways."

Naruko giggled. "That's not what your face is telling me," she said in a singsong tone of voice as she pointed at Sasuke's face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you secretly liked someone."

Sasuke's blushed deepened in hue as he shook his head obstinately. "I do not!"

Naruko laughed. "You do too!" she teasingly insisted, once again wrapping her arm around Sasuke and began to cuddle and shake him. "And I'm not letting you go until you tell me who it is!"

Sasuke internally screamed as he struggled hopelessly in Naruko's surprisingly tight grip. What was he going to do? He had to get home soon, but Naruko wasn't going to let him go unless she got her answer, an answer that Sasuke truthfully couldn't provide her, and even if he could provide her an answer, he would've rather died than give it to her. He had absolutely zero interest girls and the girls who always approached him never acted anything close to resembling normal human beings his age, so what was he supposed to do? Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. Naruko seemed like the type of person who wouldn't relent unless until she was got what she wanted, so if it was an answer she wanted, it was an answer he was going to give her. Forget about the potential consequences! He would deal with those later! Right now, all he wanted to do was get home! Sasuke's mind raced furiously, trying to think of a possible answer that would both make sense and satisfy the Hokage's assistant.

Sasuke blushed, as he cried, "Ino Yamanaka!"

Naruko stopped shaking him and gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise. "Huh?!" She turned him around to properly face him. "Really?!"

Sasuke quickly took Naruko's hand off of him and nodded, his blush not leaving his face for a second and his eyes not looking back at Naruko's either. "Of course!" Sasuke cried. "She's at the top of her class! And she's…," Sasuke gulped down his pride, "she's… really cute too." When he looked at Naruko from the corner of his eye, he saw that Naruko was completely frozen with shock. Too shocked to move perhaps? Sasuke looked down the path he intended to run down and get home with. "Well, I need to get back home now," Sasuke said, quickly and frantically. He politely gave Naruko a small wave goodbye. "It was nice seeing you!" he lied, before running away from Naruko as fast as he could, desperate to avoid another hostage situation.

Naruko's simply watched him as he quickly ran out of her sights, returning his wave goodbye with a small one of her own. When Sasuke was finally gone, Naruko simply stood there for a moment, her mind trying hard to process the information it had just received. When it finally did, she leapt up, began jumping in place, and squealed excitedly. "Sasuke likes Ino! Sasuke likes Ino! Sasuke likes Ino!" she cried, laughing happily as she said it. Wait until Inoichi and his wife heard about this! She was about to run back to Yamanaka Flowers to relay the information to them, but stopped abruptly once she remembered the flowers she was supposed to deliver to the Hokage. She gritted her teeth anxiously. She REALLY wanted to tell the Yamanakas the news, but she also knew that she needed to deliver these flowers on time, or else the Hokage might get in a bigger pickle than he already was in terms of politics, and if Naruko had learned anything from being the Hokage's assistant, it was that one should never underestimate the power of politics.

Naruko groaned loudly, before making up her mind and resuming her task of delivering the bouquet the Hokage felt would give him some sort of political edge at his meeting.

"What?!" Sasuke cried horrifically.

Mikoto smiled and gave her son a small nod. "Yes, no matter how hard Naruko seemed to want to squeeze an answer out of you, I'm one hundred percent positive that it was all in good fun." She shook her head as she let out a chuckle. "Honestly, one day all of that teasing is going to put her between a rock and a hard place, but until then," she sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "she's practically got everyone she knows wrapped around her finger." She then noticed the horrified expression on her son's face, frowned in concern, and asked, "Is everything alright, sweetie? You're looking a little pale."

Sasuke shook his head. "No… nothing's wrong," he answered.

Despite Mikoto not believing him for a second (his expression and his body language were a dead giveaway), Mikoto also knew how stubborn the men in her family were, so she simply sighed and said, "Okay then. Remember, if anything's wrong, you can always come to me."

Sasuke nodded understandingly before his mom left the room. The moment she did though, he immediately grabbed his head and internally screamed, "I just told somebody that I liked someone even though they weren't even serious about asking!"

Naruko slowly opened the door to her apartment, careful not to wake anyone who might be sleeping inside. Once there was enough room to fit her head through, she stretched her neck out and peered inside, only to find that the lights had been turned off, and the house had been mostly unchanged since she had left it last. Naruko opened the door even further and surveyed the apartment curiously. Unfortunately for her, the Hokage had noticed that Danzo, Homura, and Koharu were acting much crankier than usual today and had practically begged her to attend the meeting with him, hoping that her presence would make the council members more compliant and considerate of his ideas and arguments, and Naruko, ever the loyal assistant, forced herself to comply despite her personal dislike for such meetings, causing her to come back home later than she usually would have, making it all the more suspicious when she found her apartment looking practically untouched since she had last left it early this morning. Naruto was a good kid and all, but even he wasn't above leaving a big mess for his mother to clean up, so why then did the apartment look so clean?

"Mom?" Naruko let out a surprise yelp before she covered her mouth, quickly turned around, and saw Naruto, with dirt on his face and clothes, standing right behind her. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Naruko placed her hand over her heart and gave Naruto a horrified look. "What am I doing here?" she asked. "Naruto, what are you doing up this late?!" She quickly ushered him into the apartment, closed the door behind them, and turned on the lights to get a better look at him. "And look at you!" Naruko cried, gesturing towards Naruto's face and clothes. "You're filthy!"

Naruto sheepishly wiped his nose with his arm and grumbled, "It's not my fault that I'm all dirty."

Naruko quickly put her things down before kneeling down to get an even better look at her son. Her eyes widened as she noticed what else covered his body besides dirt. "And where did all of these scratches and bruises come from?" she demanded.

Naruto averted his eyes to the ground. "It's not my fault that they wanted to start something," he grumbled glumly.

Naruko quickly grabbed one of his hands and gave it a disapproving slap. "Naruto! Don't talk like that! That's exactly how delinquents talk, and delinquents are not welcome in this house!" She tilted her head to properly look at her son. "Do you understand?"

"But it's true!" Naruto whined.

Naruko shook her head and raised her finger to signal for Naruto to be quiet. "No but's mister!" When Naruto looked like he was going to say something else, Naruko quickly added, "We'll discuss this after you clean yourself up. Now go on," Naruko stood up and clapped her hands, "take off your clothes."

After a brief stare-down, Naruto slowly obeyed his mother's command. When he was stripped down to just his underwear, Naruto covered himself with his arms, and grumbled, "Why is it that whenever I take a bath, you get to see me without my clothes on, but whenever you take a bath, I'm not allowed to see you without any clothes on?"

Naruko looked up from folding Naruto's dirty clothes. "Naruto, you're still wearing underwear."

"You know what I mean," Naruto said. "When I was little, you always saw me take a bath, and whenever I take a bath, I didn't have any clothes on!"

Naruko sighed. "Naruto, we've been through this. I'm your mother. When you were little, you were too young to take a bath by yourself, so I had no choice but to give you a bath myself until you were old enough to." She went back to folding Naruto's dirty clothes and nonchalantly shrugged. "Besides, when you were born, you weren't wearing any clothes to start out with, and that gave me the right to see you without your clothes on."

Naruto pouted. "But isn't it my right to see my own mom without her clothes on?"

"Naruto, we've been through this too," Naruko calmly answered. "Boys are not allowed to see girls without their clothes on. That's basic manners, sweetie." She then ushered Naruto towards the bathroom. "Now get in the tub."

Naruto continued to grumble as he slowly made his way to the bathroom. "But it's okay for girls to see boys without their clothes on?"

Naruko shook her head. "No, no it isn't, but we're not talking about me, we're talking about you, now get in the tub." When Naruto looked unsatisfied with the answer he got, Naruko sighed, rubbed her temples in exhaustion and frustration, and asked, "Do you like it when people see you without clothes on Naruto?" Naruto shook his head. "Well, that's another reason. When someone doesn't have any clothes on, whether it's a male or a female, they want to hide their bodies, because they also don't like to be seen without their clothes on. It's common courtesy, sweetie. Now please, get in the tub and wash yourself off."

As Naruto slowly complied, he let out one last grumble. "What's so special about a girl's body? What's so special about them that they need to hide?"

Naruko sighed. "That's another conversation for another day. And when I mean another day, I mean when you get older. Now once you're done washing yourself off, knock on the door, and I'll give you your pajamas, okay sweetie?"

Naruto nodded. "Alright."

Naruko smiled. "That's my boy," she said proudly. She then closed the door, but waited until she heard Naruto turn on the water before putting his clothes into the laundry. Honestly, one of these days, she was going to have that talk with him, and she was going to dread every single moment of it. Her only saving grace had been that she'd have to wait until he was older, but with Naruto's almost suicidal curiosity, she was worried that she was going to have that talk with him far too soon for his own good.

"Ah, there's my clean and well-dressed little man," Naruko said once Naruto had finished taking his bath, put on the pajamas his mother had handed him, gotten himself ready for bed, and was currently making his way to said bed, where Naruko, who was now in her usual sleepwear, was sitting in the middle of with a proud smile on her face as she beckoned Naruto to join her. With how small the apartment was and how poor they were, even with Naruko's job as the Hokage's assistant, the Uzumakis could only really afford to have one bed, but considering how small and young Naruto was, Naruko thought that it was perfectly reasonable for a child and his parent to share one, at least for now.

Once Naruto got close enough to the bed, Naruko quickly reached out for him and pulled him in to give him one last-minute inspection to make sure that there wasn't a spot that Naruto had not neglected to wash. When it was clear to her that Naruto had indeed passed her little inspection, she giggled as she enveloped Naruto into a great, big, warm, motherly hug, much to Naruto's irritation. "Mom!" he whined, blushing as he squirmed ferociously and futilely against his mother's grip. "Why've you always got to hug me for no good reason?!"

Naruko giggled at her son's embarrassed state despite the fact that no one else was there to witness his embarrassing situation. She ruffled up his hair a bit as she answered, "'For no good reason'? I've got plenty a reason! For instance," she gave him a tender kiss on the cheek, "I'm so proud of the fact that my little boy can clean himself up so nicely!"

Naruto's blush grew a darker shade of red as a result of all of the strange and silly praise he was receiving. "Y-You're proud over something as weird as that?!" he cried.

Naruko frowned, letting out a small noise that indicated just how surprised she felt about Naruto's statement. "Of course I am!" she said matter-of-factly. "It proves that you were paying attention all of those times I taught you how to take care of yourself." She turned her son around so that they could look at one another and waited for him to comfortably situate himself on the bed before playfully poking at his stomach. "And I'd be even more proud if you'd stop getting into fights all of the time and actually started trying to make some friends for a change."

Naruto frowned, furrowed his brow, and let out an angry huff before laying down on the bed, rolling over to his side, turning his back on his mother, folding his arms stubbornly, and grumbling, "It's not my fault that the other kids keep picking fights with me!"

Naruko let out a weary sigh. "Naruto," she reprimanded gently.

"Well it's true!" Naruto cried, slowly starting to get upset over the fact that his own mother, despite knowing full well how the rest of the village treated him, was not automatically taking his side. "And when they're not picking a fight with me, they're always saying mean things about me behind my back!" He turned his body around once more so that he lay on the bed stomach first, his face shoved into the pillow that he and his mother shared. "Why would anyone want to be friends with jerks like them?" he grumbled, the pillow he was shoving his face into muffling his words to the point where it was an outright miracle that his mother heard a single word of his question.

Naruko sighed before placing her hand gently on Naruto's back and tenderly rubbing her hand in a circular motion. "Naruto," she began quietly, "I understand that a lot of the people in the village can be…," Naruko bit her lip as she tried to think of the right words to best describe the villagers' behavior for this particular conversation, "difficult, but being friends with people is a two way street. You can't expect people to be nice to you if you aren't nice to them."

"But I don't want to be friends with them!" Naruto argued, pushing himself off of the bed and looking indignantly towards his mother. "They all treat me like I'm different! And for no good reason too!" He gave his mother an angry pout before muttering, "I'll never make friends with them if it's the last thing I do!"

Naruko let out a small and weary sigh as she wearily rubbed her face with her hands. Her son could really be a handful sometimes. Under normal circumstances, she probably would've kept the argument between them going, but it was late and she was tired, and despite the fact that Naruto could get relentlessly energetic if he wanted to, he was probably tired too, so she chose to retire the conversation for another day, but not before ending things on a more carefree and silly note between them.

She recomposed herself from the stress that came along with having to deal with that stubborn, little boy of hers by running a hand gently through her hair before giving Naruto a knowing and teasing grin and letting out an equally knowing and teasing hum. "If that's what you say," she said in a singsong tone of voice.

Naruto looked up at his mother and gave her an aggravated look. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" he cried, knowing full well that if his mother took that tone of voice, something was definitely amiss.

Naruko yawned, stretching her arms above her head to show her son just how sleepy she was at the moment, before gently laying down on the bed, covering her body with the blanket, and casually and calmly replying, "Well, let's just say that life has a way of proving us wrong sometimes."

Naruto glared disapprovingly at his mother's skeptical words before crawling closer to her and demanding, "Yeah, and what's that supposed to mean, huh? Are you calling me a liar or something? Huh?! Is that it?"

Naruko turned to her son and gave him a small smile. "No, of course not sweetie," she quietly answered. "It's just that sometimes, when we get mad, we say things that are a bit silly and unrealistic, so once we stop being mad and we go back to living our lives the way we usually do, we tend to contradict whatever silly and unrealistic statement we made back when we were mad, and we feel silly when someone points it out."

Naruto frowned, gave his mother a blank stare, and asked, "W-What?"

Naruko giggled before explaining, "What I'm trying to say, dear, is that I find it very hard to believe that someone at your age would be so resolute in the fact that he won't make friends with a single person in the village."

"Yeah? Well I won't! Just you watch!" he cried, jabbing at his chest with his own thumb. "I'll be able to walk through the entire village without ever wanting to make friends with anyone, believe it!"

Naruko giggled knowingly before rolling onto her side, closing her eyes, and quietly saying, "And then, you'll meet that one person who you can't help but want to be friends with, and you'll forget what you just said, walk up to that person, and try to be friends with them."

Naruto balled his hands into fists upon hearing his mother's teasingly incredulous words. "No I won't!" he whined.

A small smile crept onto Naruko's face as she continued to try and fall asleep and talk with Naruto at the same time. "Yes you will," she said melodiously. "And when you finally become friends with that person, you two will look so cute together."

"We will not!" Naruto insisted, though Naruko could hear that he was trying to stifle a yawn as he said this.

"Oh?" Naruko asked. "Is that a 'we' I hear?"

Naruto shook his head indignantly as he rubbed his eyes drowsily with the back of his wrist. "No," he insisted, a little bit quieter this time. "I'm just saying that," he yawned again, "since I don't want to make friends with anybody," his arms slowly gave out from beneath him, sliding forward as they gently carried his body back down onto the bed, his head once again resting onto the soft pillow that his instincts usually associated with sleeping, and for every second his head lay atop of that pillow, his instincts, despite his childlike and stubborn insistence on continuing the argument he was having with his mother, slowly got the better of him, his eyes noticeably getting heavier and his muscles noticeably becoming more relaxed, "there'll be…," he yawned, "no one else… to look cute with." It was at this point where Naruto finally gave up and let himself fall asleep, his soft snoring being the perfect indicator for just how truly tired the young boy was after having such a long day all to himself.

Naruko opened her eyes as she rolled herself over so that she could watch her son sleep for a bit before she would eventually follow his lead. She smiled contently down at the peaceful image of her sleeping son, gently kissed him on his forehead, which, to her delight, seemed to make him more relaxed and peaceful, giggled quietly to herself, and murmured, "Still got it." She then yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, before making herself comfortable, covering the both of them under their blanket as best she could without waking Naruto up, and slowly falling asleep herself.

"Back again, are we?" Mrs. Yamanaka asked, crossing her arms as an amused smirk crept onto her face.

Naruko let out a couple of weak and goofy laughs as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "It's for a completely different reason this time, I swear!"

"Is that so, dear?" Mrs. Yamanaka asked, amusingly placing one of her index fingers onto one of her cheeks as she eyed her friend knowingly. "Well then, I simply can't wait to find out what you plan to do differently, in a flower shop of all places."

Naruko simply let out a defeated sigh before explaining, "Let's just say that the Hokage's pair of ANBU got into a little squabble and, after finding out how effective a bouquet of flowers could be, the mister asked me to go fetch him a bouquet of flowers for the misses while the two of them did their jobs."

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded her head solemnly. "I see." She then let out an exasperated sigh and asked, "Honestly, it's at times like these where I seriously begin to put their ability to properly care for and raise a child into question." She gave Naruko a disapproving frown and asked, "I mean, just because they're ANBU does not mean that they are qualified to raise another human being from scratch, don't you agree Naruko-dear?"

Naruko gave Mrs. Yamanaka a small, reassuring smile before letting out a soft chuckle, placing an index finger onto one of her cheeks thoughtfully, and saying, "Well, if I remember correctly, raising and taking care of a child wasn't exactly easy for you either." After giggling upon seeing the slightly embarrassed look and blush appear on her friend's face, Naruko quickly asked, "Oh, but I guess I shouldn't be one to talk either, huh?" It was at that moment that the entrance to Yamanaka Flowers opened, indicating to the two women that another person had just entered the Yamanakas' flower shop, but since this was perceived as normal and since the conversation had engrossed the two women so much, they paid little attention to it.

Mrs. Yamanaka cleared her throat a bit before giving Naruko a small, concurring nod. "Yes, it might be best to end this conversation at that."

"What conversation?" a young voice curiously asked. The two women looked towards the entrance to find that the one who had just set foot into the flower shop was none other than Mrs. Yamanaka's precious little girl herself, Ino.

Ino's mother frowned disapprovingly at her daughter's apparent rudeness and said, "Don't be rude, Ino-dear. One must introduce themselves before jumping into others' conversations. You know that."

Ino blushed a bit, scratched the side of her face, and let out an embarrassed laugh upon receiving her mother's stern reprimand for her thoughtless behavior. "Sorry, I guess my curiosity just got the better of me."

Naruko smiled reassuringly down at the youth. "Don't be too hard on yourself, sweetie. You're still young, after all." Naruko gave Ino a playful wink. "You're allowed to makes mistakes like that every once and a while."

Mrs. Yamanaka redirected her disapproving frown towards the older blonde. "Don't encourage her, darling. I'm trying to teach my daughter how to properly behave herself." She then averted her eyes to the side, narrowed them, and grumbled, "After all, it's not like I can trust that fool of a husband of mine to do it for me."

Naruko giggled. "I see that you two are still hung up about that."

"Well of course I am!" Mrs. Yamanaka reaffirmed. "It doesn't matter how well-behaved and talented my daughter is! If Inoichi keeps showering her with gifts, it's only going to inflate that perfectly levelheaded and well-deserved ego of hers!" She let out an exasperated huff as she folded her arms solemnly. "Someone around here has to keep my darling, little girl more humble and grounded than she already is!"

Naruko chuckled softly at her friend's slightly ironic behavior. "Hmm," she began teasingly, "I don't know. Inoichi may be the one spoiling her, but it looks like someone else is responsible for stroking poor, little Ino's ego."

Mrs. Yamanaka blushed upon hearing her friend's trademark teasing directed in her direction. "I-It was a bouquet of flowers you wanted, yes?" she asked, hoping that her friend would take her invitation to mercifully let the subject go for now.

Naruko giggled before giving Mrs. Yamanaka a merciful nod and answering, "Yes, and make sure it simply screams, 'I'm sorry, please forgive me', okay?"

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded her head dutifully before heading towards the back and saying, "Of course, darling. I just hope you can understand that a bouquet for such an important matter will require a little bit of patience, something that I trust you have enough of, I hope."

Naruko nodded before cupping one hand around her mouth and playfully and melodiously crying out, "Sure thing!"

As Ino's mother disappeared into the back to properly make that bouquet Naruko was asked to get, Naruko turned around and decided to engage in some small talk with Mrs. Yamanaka's daughter. She slowly made her way across the store to where Ino was standing, crouched down, smiled, and asked, "So Ino, what have you been up to lately?"

Ino coolly and nonchalantly shrugged before placing her hands on her hips confidently and answering, "Oh, you know, school and stuff."

Naruko cocked an eyebrow playfully. "Oh?" she asked. "Really? Nothing else? Nothing else at all?"

Ino curiously frowned at the strange question Naruko was posing to her. "Of course not," Ino answered matter-of-factly. "What else is there besides all of the other obvious kid stuff?"

Naruko began twirling her hair as she smiled mischievously towards the younger girl, causing said little girl to instantly regret the question she had just so mindlessly uttered. "Oh, I don't know," Naruko said with an impish smile and giggle. "I mean, you're not exactly a kid anymore, are you? You've grown up a bit, haven't you?"

"Yeah, so?" Ino asked cautiously.

Naruko smirked. "So…," she rested her chin against her knuckles teasingly, "aren't you at that age where you start to notice how cute the boys around the village are?"

Taken aback upon realizing that the conversation had taken a strange and embarrassing turn, Ino's eyes widened in surprise as she blushed uncomfortably upon hearing Naruko's question. "N-No," Ino denied, closing her eyes and averting her face away from Naruko's gaze as she placed her hands on her hips indignantly, "of course not! Why would I? Have you seen the boys my age?!" She shook her head and crossed her arms firmly. "I have better things to do than to have a crush on one of those knuckleheads!"

Naruko cocked an eyebrow incredulously before asking, "Oh, is that so?" The door to Yamanaka Flowers opened once again, but once again, those currently in said shop paid little to no attention to it, due to how entirely wrapped in their own conversation they were. "That's too bad," Naruko continued, placing her index finger onto one of her cheeks to feign disappointment. "Then I guess you wouldn't really care if I told you that Sasuke told me that he liked you."

Ino (and, unbeknownst to the two of them, the little girl who had just entered the shop) let out a gasp of surprise. "R-Really?!" Ino demanded, though admittedly a little louder than she would've wanted. "He said that?! Sasuke actually said that he liked me?!"

Naruko giggled mischievously upon seeing Ino produce the exact reaction that she had wanted and hoped for Ino to produce. She lifted up her hand and answered, "Straight from the horse's mouth himself."

Ino and the other potential customer took a moment to take this information in, both of them too shocked to immediately say anything, but when Ino had finally recovered somewhat from her shock, she took deep breaths to further compose herself as she placed her hand over her heart as she blushed in both excitement and disbelief. "I…," she shook her head in astonished disbelief, "I can't believe it! Sasuke," she cupped her face into her hands, "actually likes me!"

Naruko giggled uncontrollably at the young girl's adorable reaction. "Oh, what's this?" Naruko asked, playfully poking the side of Ino's face to indicate the intense blush that Ino's hands had no hope of hiding and covering up. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you like him just as much as he likes you!"

"Of course I do!" Ino admitted. "He's so handsome and smart and cool!" She let out an excited squeal as the young, pink-haired girl in the shop slowly made her way out of the shop. "It's just that he's so distant and hard to read! I just assumed that he wasn't interested in anyone yet, but this… this changes everything!" The entrance to Yamanaka Flowers opened again, signaling to the two that someone had either come in or that someone had just left the shop. "I…," Ino balled her hands into fists and looked gravely in front of her before performing a solemn nod and saying, "if I want Sasuke and me to be together, then I'm just going to have to take the initiative!"

Naruko nodded her head in agreement. "That's the spirit!" she said enthusiastically. "If he won't come to you, then you'll just have to come to him!"

Running. It was all Sakura felt like doing after what she had just heard. Anything to get her away from her supposed best friend's family flower shop as quickly as possible. Did she really hear it right? Did she really just hear that Ino, who had all this time denied ever liking any boy, secretly liked the boy who she already knew that Sakura liked? How could she do this to her? How could she lie to her like that? How could she lie to her with such a straight face? Wasn't she supposed to be Sakura's best friend? Had she only been using her this whole time? Had she been her friend out of pity? There was so many thoughts running through Sakura's mind right now, and honestly, it was all just so overwhelming. "Run," her mind seemed to will. "Just run away, and keep running away until you can find a place and a way to properly deal with all of these… these… thoughts, these emotions, everything."

And that's precisely what she did. She ran, paying little to no attention to everyone and everything she was running past, only paying attention to the hot tears running down her face and how far she was to the flower shop… which ended up causing her to accidentally collide with a boy who was about her age from around the corner. The two fell to the ground, groaning in pain for a second before the boy quickly picked himself up, pointed an accusing finger at her, gave her an angry look, and angrily cried out, "Hey, what's the big idea!? Why don't you watch where you're going you little -" It was then when Naruto finally got a good look at the person he had just collided with, and once he did, he couldn't help but notice how much his heart skipped a beat upon seeing her. She was just… so cute, and unlike a lot of people, she wasn't treating him with hostility or accusing him of purposefully colliding with her (which was probably what any other villager would've done). She just feebly and sheepishly looked up at him from where she was sitting on the ground, a shy and embarrassed blush spreading across her face as she hung her head in order to avoid eye contact with the boy who had suddenly stopped screaming at her for some reason.

"He's probably horrified over how big my forehead is," Sakura thought.

Not wanting to subjugate herself to this humiliation any longer, she quickly picked herself up, dusted herself off, gave Naruto a small, respectful, apologetic bow, and quickly murmured, "I'm sorry for bumping into you. It won't happen again, I promise." And before Naruto could stop her, she quickly made her way past him and ran off to wherever her little legs could take her, leaving Naruto alone to passively watch her as she faded away from view.

Naruto couldn't believe it. "Even when she had the chance, she still didn't yell at me," he thought. "No one's every treated me like that before." He then started to remember the sight of Sakura's smooth and beautiful pink hair and her clear and expressive emerald eyes and started to blush. "And she's really cute too." He then remembered what his mother had told him the night before and let out an exasperated and stubborn huff. "Better not tell mom about this, otherwise, I'll probably never hear the end of it."

Author's Note #1: It's so strange. The last time I made a chapter for this story, Naruto (its manga version) was still going on. Now, one update later, and it's ended for a while now. How time flies.

Author's Note#2: Despite having not updated this story in about two years, it still gets views, which is a pleasant surprise. It's nice to know that people are either still discovering this story and liking it or the fans just like the story so much that they're willing to revisit it every now and again. Regardless, a big thanks to all of you who have remained faithful to this story despite the abysmal update gaps it has. I sincerely hope that this chapter was worth the wait. Until next time... whenever next time may be.

REPOST:

Author's Note #1: As I wrote above, I'm reposting this chapter due to a minor site issue. What is this issue? Apparently, no one has been reading this story, or this chapter, since I posted this particular chapter... which I find hard to believe seeing as people have been favoriting and following this story since the new chapter had been posted, meaning that this story should have at least had a few reads recorded on its story stats, but it hasn't. The problem has been fixed, and now I'm just reposting it in an attempt to hopefully get some idea of how many people have read this chapter. I guess you can say it's a bit petty, but seeing how many views a chapter gets, especially for a story that doesn't get updated very regularly like this one, helps motivate me to finish the thing despite the setbacks plaguing this story. I hope you guys can understand. ^_^'

Author's Note #2: I said it last time and I'll say it again, it's always a pleasant surprise to see this story continue to get views despite its abysmal update gaps. So surprising, in fact, that I actually sort of wonder why that is. Are old readers coming back, or are new readers discovering the story for the first time? If you've been following the story for a while now, are you willing to tell me what about this story has kept you faithful despite having to wait so long for an update? According to some reviews, it's because this story is different, but what are those differences that you like so much? Is it because Naruko here is different compared to the Naruko's in other stories? If so, what is it about this Naruko that you like so much? What are your thoughts on her? Etc., etc., etc. I'm genuinely curious. :I

Author's Note #3: And now, for a little bonus, here is me answering a question that no one has asked me, but is related to this particular story so why not answer them and present them as interesting trivia? Okay, here we go!

Q: What is Naruko's personality based on?

A: The sexy jutsu personality present in the filler episode, "Revenge of the Shadow Clones", a little bit of originality, and my own interpretation of what the sexy jutsu means to Naruto. It wouldn't surprise me if Naruto's sexy jutsu looks the way it does because it's what he thought his mother would've looked like. I mean, come on, he had to have inherited his physical traits from somewhere, and without any knowledge of who his father was, or what his father looked like, would he honestly believe that Kushina was his mother? The sexy jutsu looks the way it does probably because that's how he'd imagine his mom would've looked like, which would sort of explain why he stuck with that look despite the strategical disadvantages it would cause. I mean, you can turn into any beautiful woman you want to, and you choose to transform into a female version of yourself? Wouldn't that make the technique less effective, since the woman looks so much like you or a female version of you ? Naruto was obviously attached to that specific appearance, but why? Who knows, but that's my personal headcanon. Watch "Revenge of the Shadow Clones" with that in mind, and you see a few more connections. Sexy Jutsu Naruto's actions (usually hanging out with Lonely/Sad Naruto, praising him for his ability to fish, her not getting violently involved in all of the conflict of the episode, etc.) could be interpreted as how Naruto views a mother. A mother takes away some of the loneliness and sadness and tries to cheer you up. A mother praises you when you do something impressive. A mother puts on makeup, never engages in any physical violence, prepares food, etc. Naruto has probably seen other kids' mothers and, with his idea of what girls/women usually do, thought that that was how mothers usually are. Just add that to the fact that the personality the sexy jutsu displays is obviously a tease who loves to have fun ("fun") and is kind to everyone despite what they look like and how perverted they are, and mix it with a non-feminine trait here and there (her willingness to hit someone if she deems it absolutely necessary), and voila! The Naruko for this story is made.

So, what do you guys think? Hopefully it was an interesting and worthwhile bonus for you guys. See you next time, whenever next time may be.