Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, though I wish I did.

A/N: Hey, Everyone! Thanks for the reviews and sorry for taking a little while in updating. It's been crazy over here.

Anyway, in this chapter, you get a sneak peek at the bad guys and Sakura finally learns a little about the guys. Not to mention, she gets a really big embarrassing moment, even though in real life, some of us girls would be drooling over the guys in their...um, the state she gets to see them in. Lol. Anyway, R and R please.

Naruto-Heart of Honor Seven

Far away from the Shinobi camp, just on the mountain borders of the Fire Country, a tall, thin man stood on the top of a tree, looking out towards the valley. His snake-like eyes were gazing towards the Konoha Village, looking almost greedy. He was rather thin and had a long face like a snakes. Everything about this man screamed out snake. And falling down his back was long black hair, with long bangs hanging over his yellow-green eyes.

This was Lord Orochimaru, of the Secret Sound.

Orochimaru was not an attractive man, but he wasn't hideous either. There was something good looking about him, no matter how pale he was. It was probably his gracefulness that he possessed or the way he moved. He walked as if he was slithering across the grass and hissed when he talked. But it was how graceful and swift he truly was that people needed to worry about. He was like a viper striking out at enemies.

"Lord Orochimaru," Someone spoke from behind him.

The snake man didn't look at the one who approached him but he did tilt his head towards his man. A cold smirk slowly curled on his face as he kept his eyes on the far way Konoha Village. "What is it….." He finally turned his eyes onto the man who had dared to approach him. "….Itachi?"

(ooc: I know! He's not really with Ochimaru but I couldn't write this fanfiction without him!)

Uchiha Itachi, the traitor of Fire Country and the Uchiha Clan moved forward and bowed down to the snake lord, holding his balance very well on the tree branch. "Master, the men are ready to move. They are getting anxious on moving into the Fire Country." He spoke in a low voice. "We know you wanted to wait a year before we attacked, but the men are getting bored. They would like to move towards one of the small villages." He lifted his head only a fraction to look up at the dangerous ninja. "With your permission, of course. They won't move unless you say so."

Orochimaru was quiet for a long time as he just stared at the large valley. But after a moment, he slowly nodded and then rose his left arm, looking at a tattoo there. "Very well." He reached up and bit his thumb till it began to bleed and then touched the tattoo, the summoning seal there.

There was a loud rumble from under the tree before an enormous snake slithered right out of the trees and slowly lifted towards the two, making them look at the giant snake. Orochimaru looked into the snake's eyes before he turned towards Itachi, giving him a nod. "Inform the men we will move out towards the nearest village and give the All mighty Hokage of Fire a warning that he is running out of time."

"And what if there are Shinobi patrolling the nearest village? I have scouts that told me that there are Shinobi camped in the village to the east of us." Itachi told him quietly as he stood up.

Orochimaru only smirked as he gently ran his hand along the cold scales of his giant snake. He didn't seem bothered by that bit of news at all. "Oh, don't worry, Itachi." He said, soothingly. "I know there are Shinobi there. Along with a pesky General. We must give our dear Hokage the warning. And to do that, we shall kill his strongest Shinobi." He turned his eyes back onto the snake. "The Konoha's Golden Flash will be put out once and for all."

Sakura knew it was very risky of going there, especially right now but she really needed to do it. She knew that she would have easily gotten caught if she wasn't careful. And she knew that she should have waited till Neji was done training with the Elite, Gai, and his team. But she really could not stand it anymore. She was tired of the smell of sweat and dirt. She really, really needed a bath.

For the past several months, Sakura had been taking the risks of trying to bathe in the closest river, and the most secluded one near the camp. She had tried to go three times a week for the past five months now, but it got really risky. Only a few times, she nearly had gotten caught. So it was later on, she decided to start asking Neji if he could keep watch for her, while NOT watching her. He agreed to do it, though he was pretty peeved to think that she would think so low of him of him spying. He was a noble from a very important and honorable family and he would never stoop to that level.

No matter how tempting it was.

It got pretty bad during the monthly PMS week and had to try and get washed up as many times as she could but it wasn't always easy getting to do it. But it was to her luck that she hadn't been caught, yet.

So the first chance she got, while everyone was supposedly at the mesh tent getting something to eat, she had snuck off to the river to get washed up. Tonight's training had been pretty extreme so she really needed a bath tonight. If she didn't do it, she'd probably go insane with the sweaty smell. The river she went to bathe in was in a secluded area and was pretty smooth there. It was a nice little spot to bathe and it was well away from any prying eyes, even though the camp was only a half a mile away.

Sakura smiled as she looked around the area before she set down her change of spare clothing and bandages before she pulled off her forehead protector then her sandals and sent them by the clean pile of clothes. Then she began to peel off her clothes while stepping into the river. She needed to wash her clothes too. She only wished she had brought some soap to make them completely clean but she hadn't so just a simple water wash would have to do.

"You know, this isn't a good idea."Inner Sakura mumbled to her.

Sakura just shrugged as if someone had spoken to her as she wetted her old clothes and did her best to cleaning them. At the moment, she didn't care of what her inner personality said as she wringed her clothes under the water, over and over until she was a little satisfied. After that was done, she moved over to the shore as she folded the sopping wet clothes and put them on a clean rock near the water and her fresh clothes.

Then the pink haired girl went to bathing herself, running her hands along her body to try and rub off any sweat or dirt until she was pretty clean again. Then she began to run her fingers through her hair. It was getting long again and she knew that she would need to cut it pretty soon. "Might as well do it now." She said to herself before she climbed out of the water and got into her kunai pouch for her father's kunai. For the next ten minutes, she just sat in the water while cutting her pink hair short to below her ears.

As she cut her hair, she let her mind drift to her family. She was wondering how they were doing without her. She was pretty sure that they were all right. Her father must have been worried sick about her, but at least he hadn't come after her. It would have blew her cover if he had.

Then, Sakura began to think about the visit with the Matchmaker. She did still have the matches on her mind and it made her worry to think that she might be matched up with someone she did not want at all. She wondered who she would have been matched up with. Before, she had hoped that she would be matched up with Uchiha Sasuke, but now that she was actually getting to know him, she wasn't so sure. When she did talk to him, as Zaku of course, it was like talking to a wall. Ever since she had became a Shinobi, she had been trying to get to know him, trying to find out what kind of a guy he was. It was true, he was one of the best looking young men in the entire camp.

Scratch that! She thought.
He WAS the best looking man in the camp. Of course, she also found her commander a little attractive too, even though she wasn't even sure what Kakashi even looked like. He always wore his mask and never revealed his face. But he was still kind of strict.

Sakura shook her head vigorously not wanting to think about Kakashi right now. She wanted to think about Sasuke. She thought about how much she knew about him already and she realized that she didn't know much. He was awfully quiet and he did not like talking about himself. He was almost like the Shinobi recruit, Sai. Both of them hardly talked unless it was about war or fighting and stuff like that. Of course, there was a few times Sasuke had talked about how he wanted to kill someone. She had learned from Neji that it was Sasuke's older brother that he wanted to murder. Uchiha Itachi, as Sakura had understood it, had been exiled and turned traitor after he murdered five of his own family members, including his uncle, who had been very good friends with his brother, Sasuke's father. And to make matters worst, Itachi had become an assassin and had murdered a Noble from a clan that Sakura didn't even know. So it was no wonder why Sasuke was so angry with his brother. His brother was a traitor and a murderer. And he had turned his back on his own village. It was definitely a family crisis sort of thing. Something Sakura was going through at the moment, even though it wasn't as serious as Sasuke's. But still, she wanted to know about him. To find out if she truly wanted to be matched up with him or not. The thing was, the way things were going, she was already having second thoughts about being matched with him.

Suddenly, her heart gave a jolt when she heard shouts and laughter coming her way, towards HER river spot. And they sounded pretty close to. She recognized most of those voices as some of the new Shinobi. She was pretty sure she heard Naruto's loud, obnoxious voice with the rest of the voices.

And they were coming her direction.

Sakura gasped and squeaked as she quickly began scampering out of the water, splashing loudly as she went. She didn't meant to be so noisy but she did not want to get caught being naked, by the guys!

Quickly, she was out of the water, snatching her clothes and bandage rolls up as she dashed into the bushes. She was cursing under breath as she quickly was trying to wrap the bandages around her chest as fast as she could while trying to pull her clothes on at the same time.

Even worst; she looked up when she saw the young men rush into the clearing and jumped in to where river. Butt naked.

Sakura's face flushed hot red when saw a few bare bottoms she did not want to see before she quickly lowered her head so that she couldn't see them anymore. She knew she had to get out of here and fast. She did not want to be there when they finally realized that she, as Zaku, had been there only moments before.

However, some of the young men seemed to have noticed the sopping wet clothes she accidently left on the rocks and decided to take a look around, questionably. While Kiba only had to sniff the air. His yellow eyes turned towards the bushes Sakura was in and he spotted her pink hair.

"Hey! Look, it's Zaku!" The dog like man said smirking.

Sakura's eyes widened as she pulled on her shirt and quickly began doing it up. She quickly adjusted it so it was completely closed before she stood up and placed her forehead back around her forehead. "Oh! Hey there, guys!" She said cheerfully as she could, waving at them. She caught sight of Neji standing near the edge of the clearing, with his shirt half way open but he stopped himself when he realized that she was there.
By the surprised look on his face, he had not been aware that she was there. Immediately, he closed his shirt and looked away. "I didn't see you guys there!" Sakura continued as she quickly moved over to her wet clothes and gathered them up. She didn't look at the young men at all, for she knew that they were naked and she knew she was blushing. It was only thank the gods that it was too dark to actually see the blush on her face. "Well, I've already taken my bath and I'm squeaky clean so I'll just be on my way!" She told them as she started to hurry away.

However, before she could get away, Rock Lee caught her arm and held her back. "Oh, come on, Zaku! Stay awhile!" He said pulling her back towards the river. He didn't even notice how red she was or was trying not to look down because he wasn't wearing anything. "We were jerks to you before, we know. But we want start over! Come join us! We can have a water fight!"

Sakura shook her head as she tried not to look at any one of the young men as they all jumped into the river or was still pulling off their clothing. This was awkward enough, she had to silently admit. She knew for a fact that if she hadn't been pretending to be a boy, the young men probably would have let her go. But she was a "boy". Apparently, they didn't care about being naked around another man. "Uh….n-no, it's okay! I….I uh, already took my bath….and I should be going! I'm pretty tired, you know, after today's training." She said and faked a yawn. She abruptly stopped when a naked Sasuke walked right past her, tossing his clothes to the side.

"You know he's not going to give up, don't you, Haruno." The black haired young man said as he went into the water. "So give it a rest. If not join us, stick around. Everyone wants to talk to you anyway." He spoke quietly.

"A naked Sasuke?!" Inner Sakura gasped with excitement. "Talking about our lucky day! Stay with them! Cha! Besides, you got to see Sasuke naked before Ino-pig did!"

Sakura had to fight back a smile at that thought. She knew that Ino-pig would be drooling if she was here. So she sighed in defeat and shrugged. "Oh, okay." She said and then rubbed her arm when the naked Rock Lee let go of her and went to jump in the river. She kept her eyes adverted from the guys as she went over to a far rock and sank down on it. She tried her best to keep from looking at the several group of young men, though her eyes flickered over to Neji who went over and sank down next to her, looking rather moody. She knew it was because he wanted to go bathe but he wasn't going to with her around.

"So," began Shikamaru as he moved to stand right in front of Sakura and bent forward a little. Sakura's face immediately to flush hot red as she snapped her eyes up into his dark ones to keep herself from looking down. "Let's start over then. I'm Nara Shikamaru."

Sakura swallowed hard as she tried to smile at him. "Um, Hi, Shikamaru." She said nervously before she felt an urge to slugging Neji because he was smirking with amusement. 'At least someone finds this hilarious!' She thought bitterly.

Shikamaru then got shoved to the side by Kiba and a wet puppy. "Hey, Zaku! I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is my best friend, Akamaru!" He said patting the wet puppy on the head. Sakura smiled as she waved at them next, her eyes mostly focused on the puppy. "H-hi, Kiba, Akamaru."

And then to her surprise, the puppy wriggled right out of Kiba's arms and hopped onto her lap, now licking her hands. It seemed to surprise Kiba too because his eyes grew wide with astonishment. "Hey! I think he likes you! He doesn't usually like other guys." He said scratching the back of his shaggy hair with thought.

Sakura smiled to herself and noticed that Neji was also smiling as he shook his head while looking at the puppy from the corner of his eyes. In a way, they shared a silent inside joke. 'Might not like other guys, but he probably likes girls.' Sakura thought as she ran her fingers through Akamaru's fur. 'You probably know that I'm a girl, don't you, Akamaru. But you're not going to tell anyone.'

"Well, I'm Choji of the Akimichi Clan." Said the large young man who was sitting in the river with a box of cookies. It was actually kind of gross to see him eating and trying to take a bath at the same time, so Sakura didn't spare him a glance.

The dark haired Shinobi who seemed to match Sasuke's personality just shrugged. "Sai. From the Root Clan." He said quietly.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said brightly as he jumped up and down in the river, waving at her. "But you already knew that!"
Sakura couldn't stop herself from smiling at him, not feeling bothered anymore. But then Naruto's name hit her a little bit. Her eyes lit up as she thought of Minato's name. His name was Uzumaki-Namekaze Minato. So, was he related to Naruto? In a way she could see a comparison to the Shinobi General. They were both blonde and they did have the same colored eyes. "Naruto," She began quietly. "Are you related to the Shinobi, Minato-sama?"

Naruto grinned at the question and nodded vigorously. "Yup! He's my dad! Cool, huh?!" He asked loudly.

Sakura smiled again as she kept petting Akamaru on the head as she turned her eyes onto the next boy, a silent one with black hair and he was wearing dark sunglasses over his eyes. The boy only merely glanced at her before looking away. "Aburame Shino."

"Yeah, he's from the bug loving clan." Shikamaru said smirking, receiving a dark look for his remark.

Rock rose a hand as he splashed in the water, looking very excited as it was his turn. "I'm Maito-Lee Rock! I'm the Shinobi, Gai's adopted son!"

Sakura only nodded as turned her eyes onto Sasuke now. Of course, she already knew his name. Who didn't know his name or his clan? But still, it would be nice if he introduced himself anyway. "……" Sasuke hummed as he leaned against rock in the water and tried to relax. He didn't even look like he was going to say anything. But after Neji tossed a small pebble at him to get his attention, he looked at Sakura, somewhat annoyed. "Uchiha Sasuke." Then he turned his eyes back onto the group of boys who started a water fight.

Silently, Sakura watched the guys having their bit of fun, no longer blushing to see them naked. It didn't bother her anymore as she kept running her fingers through Akamaru's fur. Her thoughts on each of these young men.
It was true that all of them seemed nicer than before. And now that she was seeing this side of them, she didn't think that she would mind if she was matched up with any one of them. She wondered if she would be matched up with one of them, which would be her match. She, of course, wanted Sasuke, because he was the most good looking one of the bunch. But if not him, who? She figured that she wouldn't mind being matched up with Naruto. He wasn't bad looking at all. He was actually pretty handsome. And he had been the first to try and befriend her. But it was his personality that made her think twice. He was too loud and obnoxious. He was definitely not her type at all.
So she figured that she wouldn't have mind Neji. He was pretty handsome, himself. But the thing was, he was way too serious. She didn't think she could like someone as serious than him…..

'Oh, someone so serious. Neji is almost as serious as Sasuke.' Sakura thought bitterly to herself. So who else then?

Sakura crinkled her nose to think that she would be paired up with Shikamaru. She really could not see herself with him. He wasn't bad looking either, but he was too lazy. He was a little too procrastinated in her opinion. If she was paired with him, she might have just murdered him in their marriage bed. Shino, she didn't know. Rock Lee creeped her out with his sunny personality and weird eyebrows. Choji was too disgusting. She would kill herself if he was with her. Sai….well, he was too emotionless. The guy showed no emotions at all.

So with a sigh, Sakura decided to give up.

But however, as if he had read her mind or had been thinking the very same thing, Rock looked at her, grinning. "Hey, Zaku! I heard you have a twin sister!" He said brightly. "What's her name and what's she like?"

Sakura blinked in surprise before she looked at him. The question definitely took her by surprise. She had never actually thought about herself. She wondered what she could say in a boy's point of view. So she decided to be honest. "Uh….well….." She scratched the back of her neck. "……Well, her name's Sakura. She….um, well, she looks kind of like me. We both have pink hair, though she definitely looks better with it." She tried to joke. And as she had opened, some of the young men laughed with her. Sasuke even cracked a smile, as did Neji. "She, uh…..I don't know what I can say about her. I should know about her more than anyone else, 'cause we are kind of close to one another. So close that you could almost say that we're almost the same person." Sakura laughed weakly.

The young men didn't seem to catch on, but Neji rose an eyebrow at her. "So, she's really pretty, huh?" Naruto asked wonderingly.

Sakura shrugged. She thought that was a pretty easy question. She knew that she was a beautiful girl. She had had several men tell her that almost every day. "Yes. She's definitely a beautiful girl. She's had so many men tell her that all them. So many times that I….I had to threaten them to leave her alone. You know, kind of a protective brother thing." She lied. But the other young men nodded in agreement. They seemed to know exactly what she meant.

"But what is she like? You didn't say what she was like." Rock said pouting.

Sakura frowned at him for his whining but then she shook her head as she placed her chin into her hand. Then she thought of something. This was her chance to find out what kind of girl was Sasuke's type. She knew this was her chance to find out if he would be interested in her. "Oh, well, she's pretty outspoken. She speaks her mind and tries to do the right thing. Even if she gets into trouble for it. It's not always smart when she does speak her mind, but she really likes to express herself. She likes to talk a lot. And sometimes it's fun talking to her. And she's very intelligent." She looked to Sasuke to see if he was interested. But she was very disappointed to see that he didn't look at all interested. He actually looked a little annoyed.

"A woman who doesn't know how to keep quiet, huh? Sometimes women shouldn't say anything." Sasuke said quietly as if he had read the look on Sakura's face. "Not my type at all. I like the quiet ones." He remarked.

Next to him, Sai nodded. "Same here." He said just as quietly. "I like the kind that stays quiet while I'm drawing them or painting them."

Sakura slouched just a little to hear what Sasuke had said but then looked at the grinning Naruto, who looked very excited. "Not me! I like the kind that talks! Those are my kind of girls! It sounds like we could get along just fine!"

Sakura sweat dropped but chose not say anything. She didn't really mind Naruto that much. But she really did not like him in that way.

"Be careful, Naruto. It sounds like you're wanting to two time." Shikamaru said smirking at the blonde. "If I didn't know any better, weren't you already matched up with Neji's cousin, Hinata?"

That caught Sakura's attention immediately and she sat up straighter. She only glanced at Neji when she felt a wave of annoyance coming off of him. And he did look pretty annoyed when Naruto started blushing and nodding. Sakura bit her lip before she looked directly at Naruto. "You're matched up with Hyuuga Hinata?"

"Yeah." Naruto said grinning and rubbing the back of his neck. "I just got paired up with her before I even came to camp. She's not bad at all. We've known each other for years already. She's pretty quiet and she's always nervous around me. But she's really pretty and get along pretty well." He told her.

Sakura just smiled. Now that she thought about it, Hinata had mentioned something about a guy she really liked. She remembered that the pretty but always nervous girl told her about a young blonde man who was pretty outgoing and was always smiling. She must have meant Naruto. 'So that's why she got incredibly nervous at the matchmaker's. She must have been way too surprised that she was getting matched up with the boy she's always liked.' The pink haired girl thought to herself.

"Well, I like the real good looking ones!" Rock said suddenly. "The girl of my dreams has to be one of the most beautiful of all of the land and she must really flowery and all!" He then looked at Sakura, who was giving him a suspicious look. "You said that Sakura was beautiful, right? Exactly how beautiful?" He asked hopefully.

Sakura gave him a very dull look as a large sweat drop rolled down the side of her face. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he would get matched up with her, actually Zaku's twin sister. "Yes, she's beautiful. But she is definitely not flowery. She might have pink hair but she is definitely not your type, Rock. Your weird haircut and large eyebrows would creep her out." She remarked.

"Aww!" Rock whined as he slouched over.

The other men laughed and shook their heads before Kiba ducked into the water then came back all soaking wet. "I don't care what my match looks like. As long as she's a very good breeder, I'll deal with her." He said with a sick grin. Sakura blushed hot red as she looked away. She did not want to be there anymore. Not with a pervert like Kiba.

Immediately, everyone began to launch into ideas of what kind of ideals and qualities their girl should have. Some didn't apply to Sakura at all, so she was a little happy to hear that. She frowned to hear that Neji finally admitted that he was also matched up with Tenten, another girl that she knew. She actually kind of agreed with that one. In a way, she could see Tenten with Neji.

But still, the thought of who she would be matched up bothered her. With all of the young men telling her their ideas of their girl would be, she began to see that none of them were her type. Not even Sasuke. So who in the world is her match up? What would happen if she didn't have a match up? What if there was no match for her? She was starting to get worried. She did remember that the match maker said that if she wanted love, she would find no match. Unless it was with a……

"A Hatake?" She found herself whispering.

Unfortunately, the others had heard and they all looked at her questionably. Even Neji glanced at her. Sakura realized that they heard so she looked back at them with a faint blush. "Oh, I'm sorry, guys. I'm a little tired, so catch you guys later." She put Akamaru to the side and hurried off, not even bother looking over her shoulder. She knew that they others were staring after her but she didn't stop.