Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Chapter 3: New Branches

Taking a deep breath, Naruto stepped out of the hospital. "Ahh," he sighed joyfully, "It's good to be out of the hospital and out in the village again!" he thought, smiling, "I don't think I could stomach another one of those hospital meals. Time for some actual good food at Ichiraku!" The thought of the restaurant reminded Naruto of the promise he'd made to Hinata two days earlier. "Hmm… I told her I'd meet her at seven… and it's only about five now, so I can get a few bowls and still be fine," he thought, and began walking towards the ramen place. Of course, a few bowls for Naruto meant about ten bowls for a normal person.

"Sakura-chan?" said Naruto, seeing the pink-haired girl walk down the street.

At the mention of her name, she looked up. "Oh, hello Naruto," she said quietly

Naruto caught up with her and said, "Hey, Sakura-chan, how's it- Sakura-chan? Are you alright?" he asked, looking at her crestfallen expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's… nothing," she lied, turning her face away to hide her expression.

"Your eyes are puffy… have you been crying?" he asked.

"No… It's just," she looked back at him. His eyes were filled with care and worry, so much that she couldn't lie to him. "I'm just a little worried about Sasuke-kun, is all."

"Oh, I see," said Naruto, "Do you wanna talk about it over some ramen?"

Any other time, she would have told him it was all right, that he didn't have to do anything. But at the moment, her heart was so heavy that she honestly did not want to refuse his offer. "Sure," she said after a moment, and the two walked toward Ichiraku.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Oh, I'm so nervous!" said Hinata, preparing her hair in front of her mirror.

"You don't need to be, you look fine," said Kiba, leaning against Akamaru.

"B-but that's not just it!" she said anxiously, "This might be my only chance to be alone with Naruto-kun!"

"Do not worry," said Shino, "If you act properly, the night should go without a hitch."

"Yeah," agreed Kiba, grinning, "I mean, if you just don't act nervous around him, he won't be able to help but fall in love with you."

"Ohh," said Hinata, blushing heavily, "You're just saying that…"

"It's true," said Shino, nodding, "You are a delightful person, Hinata. Naruto is a simple person. If you just show him the kind person you are, he'll be head over heels for you."

Hinata's blush deepened. "You guys… you guys are the best friends I could ask for." Kiba and Shino grinned at each other.

"And no fainting."

"K-Kiba!"

"Ah, yes, that is also a problem."

"Sh-Shino, you too?"

"What? It's not like you don't," said Kiba, laughing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So that's what happened, huh?" said Naruto after Sakura had finished recounting the events of the previous day, finishing his fifth bowl.

"Yes," she said softly. She'd barely touched her own meal. "Ever since he came back to the village, it feels like Sasuke-kun has closed his heart up and won't let anyone in."

"Ah, Sasuke's just getting used to Konoha again," said Naruto, starting in on his sixth bowl, "We just need to give him some time. He's been alone for the past three years with no friends and no one to talk to except Orochimaru and Kabuto. I think that'd make anyone feel awkward, even someone like Sasuke."

Listening to him talk, Sakura thought, "Wow… I never knew that Naruto understood stuff like this so well. Maybe he's not as dumb as he seems."

"Just wait, the three of us'll be hanging out again and having fun like the old days!" said Naruto, slamming his fist on the counter. This, however, proceeded to knock his hot bowl of ramen onto his lap, causing him to yelp in pain.

"But I've been wrong before," said Sakura, grinning as she watched Naruto flail around trying to remove the substance from himself.

Seeing her expression, Naruto ceased flailing and said, "Hey! I think I see a little smile! Come on, make it wider! Bleah!" he said, contorting his face into odd expressions.

Sakura chuckled at his antics, thinking, "Well, Kakashi-sensei was right in calling Naruto the 'Comedy Ninja'."

After stopping the funny faces, Naruto asked, "Ya feeling better, Sakura-chan?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think so. Thanks, Naruto."

A smug grin came across his face, "Hey, what are friends for?"

Afterward, they just talked, not about the past, but about everyday things. "Naruto, I'd better go," said Sakura after they finished a certain topic.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be treating Hinata to dinner in a few minutes?"

"Eh? How'd you know about that?"

"I saw her today, right before I saw you, actually. She told me and seemed really excited about it."

"Oh. Well, bye, Sakura-chan! And listen, Sasuke and I are gonna be taking the chuunin exam together, so if everything isn't fine by then, I'll talk to him, okay?"

Nodding, she waved goodbye, feeling significantly cheerier than she had before she'd run into her teammate. "Naruto…" she thought, feeling the evening breeze against her face, "thank you." As she walked, she spotted the form of Hinata walking in the opposite direction. "Oh, hey Hinata-san," she greeted her.

"Oh! Hello, Sakura-san!" said Hinata, almost not noticing Sakura in her hurry.

"You're just on time. Good luck!" The two girls waved goodbye to each other and resumed walking away from one another.

Hinata slowed her hurried pace to a slight stroll. "Okay," she thought, "Just be yourself and Naruto-kun will like you. Didn't he say three years ago that he liked people like you? He'd said that right after you'd told him truthfully why you thought he was strong, right? So… you have nothing to be afraid of!" Now feeling fairly confident, though still nervous, she reminded herself to watch out for certain things. "No stuttering, no looking away when he looks at you, try to control your blush, and…" she remembered Kiba's words, "Absolutely no fainting whatsoever."

As she arrived at Ichiraku, Naruto spotted her and called joyfully, "Hey, Hinata! I've been waiting!"

"Hi, Naruto-kun," she called back, a smile on her face. Meanwhile, her mind was bursting with thoughts. "Waiting? Was I late? Oh, he looks so handsome… even more than he did three years ago. What about me? Does he think I look okay? Is what I'm wearing alright?" She took a deep breath. "This is going to go nowhere if I keep doubting myself… he's one of the few people who's cheered me on…"

Naruto patted one of the stools next to him. "Come on, sit down," he said, inviting Hinata over.

"Oh, r-right," she said, mentally berating herself for just standing there foolishly.

"So how're you doing?" asked Naruto, "We haven't gotten many chances to talk since I got back."

"Just be yourself," she thought. "I'm alright, Naruto-kun."

"How's the village been while I was away?"

"Well, eventually Konoha stabilized itself after the Sound's attacks, so missions slowed down a lot… and everyone in our class became a chuunin."

"Yeah, I heard. Neji became a jounin, right?" Hinata nodded. "I'm still a genin, though."

"Don't worry about it, Naruto-kun. You've been training for three years straight with one of the legendary Sannin, right? So then you've got to be very strong… I bet you could still beat Neji." Hinata blushed upon giving him the compliment, even though she did think it was true.

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, maybe. I'm taking the next chuunin that comes up."

"That's good… who are you taking it with? Sakura-san's already a chuunin, so…"

"Hm." Naruto hadn't thought of that yet. The chuunin exam required three members per team for the written and second exams. "I dunno yet. I guess I'll find a rookie genin and bring him along with Sasuke and me. Of course, he's bound to fail once we get into the third exam…"

"Who knows? He may surprise you," said Hinata. "We were all rookies the first time we took it, and five of us made it to the finals, including you, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, if they hadn't been interrupted, I'd probably be a chuunin already!"

Hinata smiled. "I'm happy for you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto returned the smile. "I guess I never knew it before, probably because she was so weird around me before, but Hinata is one person who I've never had to gain the respect of," he thought. "She's never thought ill of me, she's only believed in me from the start. And I also hadn't noticed until now, but…"

"Hey, Hinata," said Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"You've gotten a lot prettier over the last three years, you know?"

Hinata thought her cheeks would catch on fire from the heat she was feeling. "N-N-Naruto-kun… d-do you really mean that?"

Naruto nodded. "At first, I thought, 'she's no longer that dark, weird girl I know. Now she's a beautiful, great friend,' but then I realized… she never was dark or weird. I was just too dumb to notice," he thought as he watched Hinata sigh heavily, a smile composed of pure bliss on her face.

After that, they continued their meal, the conversation jumping from topic to topic, easily. Both were startled at how simple it was to talk to the other… and both were glad that it was.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I've got you, Naruto," said Sasuke, his cursed seal at level one, slowly rising to level two. He'd just taken his opponent's back and had a charged chidori, ready to cut through his heart. "It's over," he said, striking with his electrified hand.

But, before he could make contact with Naruto's back, he felt his hand through another body. "Kakashi!" said Sasuke, removing his hand from his former teacher's stomach. "How did you-"

"I thought I told you on the mission to the land of the waves, Sasuke," said Kakashi, straining to pull up his forehead protector, "I… will never… let any of my comrades… die!" The jounin's hand dropped to his side as he stared Sasuke straight in the face with his Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sasuke's own Sharingan eyes widened. He leapt away from Kakashi, gasping, as the teacher kept his gaze on him. "H-how?" asked Sasuke, clutching his face as the terrible memories brought from seeing the kaleidoscope variation of his bloodline limit surfaced in abundance. "How do you have that, Kakashi?" he cried, "Answer me!"

"You think… I'll just… give it away? Shinobi are supposed to be secretive, Sasuke… I thought I… taught you… better than this," said Kakashi, sweat dripping from his forehead, blood gushing out of his wound, but still keeping a locked stare at Sasuke. "Sorry, Naruto… I can't disable him with… this little… strength… but I will… disarm him." With a final burst of chakra, the Kusanagi sword that Sasuke held shattered into a thousand shards. His strength drained, Kakashi collapsed on the ground. "It's… up to you to bring him back… Naruto…"

Naruto clenched his left fist. With his right, he began building and shaping chakra into his attack. "Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, teeth clenched in rage, "That's all I need to stop him!"

With a cry of fury, Naruto leapt into the air. Sasuke watched him approach, closer and closer, the chakra growing in his right hand…

"Ahh!" cried Sasuke, sitting up in his bed. It had been another dream about… the battle. Sasuke reached his hand to his neck, rubbing the aching spot where his cursed seal once was. In its place was a regular bruise, slowly healing. "Damn it," thought Sasuke, "No matter how much I try to pretend… I can only make things worse for the people I care about. But still, I've got to try… I've got to repair the damage I've done."

His mind flashed back to the events of the previous day. "Sakura… I need to fix what I've done to her. She's loved me unconditionally and all I've done is hurt her… she's been so caring, so gentle… so understanding, and I've taken it for granted." A sudden pang burst through Sasuke's heart and his eyes widened. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before… similar in strength to how he felt every time he thought he'd let down his family, but of a different nature. It was more powerful than how he felt about hurting Naruto or Kakashi or anyone else.

"Oh no," he said to himself, quickly grabbing his picture of Team 7's graduation. Gazing at Sakura's smiling face, another pang ran through his heart, more powerful still. "Oh no," he said again. "I… do I feel it too?" he asked himself, staring at the ceiling, wishing he hadn't felt the pain in his heart. Though he knew the answer already, he asked the air around him, "Do I love you, Haruno Sakura?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Alright, chapter done! I revealed a little of the battle and brought up some emotions in some characters… I hope you don't hate me for it. Please review, my wonderful readers!