A Story of Resolve.
Nothing to gain, nothing owned.

0o0o0

When she was very young, Sakura was like most toddlers, and was able to play with fellow children regardless of gender. There were no such things as cooties, and farts were freakin' hilarious.

Fast forward a few years later to age seven, and we would find a Haruno Sakura quite biased against those stupid boys with their cooties and farts. There were a few good ones, but the male gender was obviously missing a chromosome.

Meet her again at age twelve, and she would tell you to shut up about such embarrassing things. It's funny, isn't it? You never think you'll like the opposite sex.

Then puberty strikes, and all that talk about never liking them sounds silly. Unless of course you play for the same team, in which case you were right all along.

Sakura is going through some changes right now, and while there are details that will be tastefully overlooked for the sake of others, it can be understood that Sakura is experiencing changes in temperament, personal growth, and attraction to the opposite sex.

It's a very confusing time for her, so she has been having a little trouble lately keeping her impressive temper in check. It would be very unwise to get on her bad side right now.

0o0o0

Meanwhile, on Sakura's bad side...

"Which one of you woke me up?"

It was no surprise when Sasuke casually pointed a thumb in Naruto's direction. To be honest, the second she woke up and laid eyes on Naruto, she already knew he was somehow responsible.

"Why the hell are you guys here so early?"

Sakura looked down at Sasuke and Naruto impatiently, waiting for one of them to explain why they were waking her up so early. Naruto cleared his throat, as if he was about to speak, when Sakura sent him a message with her eyes.

'Choose your next words carefully, or they'll never find the body.'

Sakura watched in slight amusement as Naruto seemed to get her message, before turning and whispering to Sasuke. Sasuke closed his eyes, but to Sakura's surprise, he seemed to whisper something back at Naruto. Apparently, whatever Sasuke said struck a nerve in Naruto, as he began shaking his head and started to whisper louder and gesturing wildly with his hands. Sakura strained to hear what they were saying, but found that the roof of the single story shop they were standing on was a little too far away.

Sick of their bickering, Sakura loudly cleared her throat, and was pleased to see the boys stop whatever the hell they were doing to look at her. "Get inside, both of you, so you can properly explain what you're doing here." It was with one quick, fluid leap that Sasuke landed in a crouch on her window sill, the wind ruffling his loose clothing and hair in a totally badass fashion. She could see the stars and the fading moon behind him, giving his pale features an ethereal glow as his dark eyes penetrated her very soul.

Sakura had a dream about this once, but that dream usually didn't include Naruto jumping right behind Sasuke and saying, "Move over pretty boy, you're hogging the window." If she were dreaming, this would be the part where she screamed. With the moment effectively ruined, Sakura got right down to business. "Well, what's the deal here?"

And with that, Naruto and Sasuke began to explain their sensei's change of plan. She already knew Naruto was somehow responsible.

0o0o0

Walking down the streets, Kakashi watched as the village began to come alive. It's been awhile since Kakashi was in town this early, and even though he would never admit it, there was a certain pride he felt from seeing the villagers thrive and prosper. After all, isn't this what he fought for? The safety and happiness of all these people?

Kakashi observed two young boys and as they ran past him, one of them screaming and laughing as they chased each other down the street. As soon as they passed by, Kakashi heard something small hit the ground. He looked down to see a small wallet laying near his foot. He looked back just in time to see the two boys turn down an alley and out of sight.

Kakashi just stood there, staring at the wallet on the ground. 'It's not my problem.' Kakashi thought to himself 'This will teach them not to be careless.'

After a few more seconds, Kakashi suppressed a sigh as he kept on walking, the wallet no longer on the ground.

0o0o0

Sasuke and Naruto looked around nervously at the room they were in, feeling unfamiliar with all the frills and lace that a girls room was capable of having.

Both of them sitting on the foot of her bed, Naruto leaned in next to Sasuke, and whispered loudly, "Psst. Hey. Sasuke."

Sasuke looked away and crossed his arms, "I'm not gonna talk to you, Naruto. I'd rather not push Haruno any further than she already is, and everything that comes out of your mouth seems to serve no other purpose than pissing her off."

Naruto frowned, "But Sasuke, somethings definitely wrong here! Can't you see? I mean, look at all those pillows on her bed! It's unnatural I tell ya!" Sasuke's eye twitched as he barely contained the urge to strangle Naruto right then and there.

"Naruto," Sasuke ground out between clenched teeth, "I highly doubt something like pillows should freak out any self-respecting ninja, so please just stop looking at-" Sasuke's rant stopped mid-sentence as he too took in the view of all those pillows on Sakura's bed.

"Wow. Look at all the pillows." Sasuke whispered to himself, then turned to Naruto with a grave look in his eyes. "No one needs this many pillows. Pillows are for comfort, yet there are so many pillows here, I doubt she can get comfortable at all."

"I know, right?" Naruto responded, the fear evident in his voice, "Sasuke, what exactly are we dealing with here?"

"I don't know Naruto. I just don't know."

"Hey Sasuke."

"Yeah?"

"Pillow fight!" Naruto raised a heart shaped pillow above his head, ready to strike the last Uchiha down.

Sasuke just smirked. "You wanna think this through for a second?" Naruto paused, the frilly pillow still poised and ready to strike like a deadly, venomous, ...pillow.

Naruto slowly lowered the frilly heart. "Yeah, I guess you're right, it's probably best just to sit still and wait until Saku-" That was as far as Naruto got before Sasuke swung the Hello Kitty pillow he had concealed behind his back.

All hell broke loose.

0o0o0

After leaving Sasuke and Naruto in her room, and threatening violence if Naruto so much as breathed loudly, Sakura wearily headed down stairs to quickly and quietly gather her supplies.

Jeez, what's the big idea starting this thing so early? Sakura thought to herself. I hardly slept at all last night, and now I don't have time to fix something to eat. Even worse, I don't know what type of exercise this is, so I don't know what type of supplies I should bring.

Sakura opened the door to the supply room near the stairs, and rubbed her eyes as she looked through the packs she had already made long beforehand. I sure am glad I thought so far ahead, but which one do I take?

Sakura picked up one of her lighter survival packs and looked inside. Not much here. No tags, and no food either. Who knows how long this thing will last? This sensei of ours is obviously more than he seems, or he wouldn't have been so secretive. He's a Jonin for a reason. I need to be prepared for anything.

Sakura put the small pack back where she found it, and looked around a bit more, before she finally found what she was looking for.

"Oh yes." Sakura whispered to herself, a smile quickly forming. "If this doesn't work, nothi-" That's as far as Sakura got before she heard a loud thump coming from upstairs, followed by the sound of Naruto's voice.

0o0o0

Kurama looked on in exasperation at his little brother, wondering when he would make up his mind. They were the ice cream vendor's first customers of the day, but Shuichi just kept staring at all the different flavors of ice cream. "Pick one already, Shu!" Kurama said, grabbing his little brother in a playful headlock. Shuichi struggled to get out, but found that his six year old arms were no match for Kurama's. He wasn't helpless however, and Kurama relinquished his grip when he saw Shuichi getting ready to bite him on the arm. "Okay, okay." Kurama said, letting Shuichi go, "But hurry up, Dad is waiting for us to get back, and if we take too long, he won't trust us with the wallet anymore!"

Shuichi nodded, understanding all too well how uptight their father could be, and then went right back to staring at all the flavors. Finally, Shuichi pointed at his flavor of choice and Kurama's smile returned. "Finally," Kurama looked at what Shuichi had chosen, and barely repressed a sigh. "Plain vanilla?" Kurama asked. "All that thought and you chose regular old vanilla?" Shuichi simply nodded once more.

"Alright then." Kurama said, before turning to the smiling vendor. "Alright! One vanilla, and one double scoop mint chocolate chip with nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and one of those little umbrellas that you see in drinks."

The vendor bit back a laugh at Kurama's extravagant order. "While I admire your style," The vendor responded with mirth in his voice, "I regret to inform you that we're fresh out of umbrellas." As the vendor turned to make their ice cream, Kurama reached into his shirt to grab the wallet, only to make a very ominous discovery.

'Where is it!' Kurama thought, starting to panic as he checked all over himself for the wallet.

Shuichi looked on, curious as to what his older brother was doing, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Shuichi turned around to see a tall man with silver hair jutting haphazardly from his head, his face almost completely covered by a mask and headband.

Realizing that this man was a ninja, Shuichi was about to get his brother's attention when the man pointed down near Shuichi's feet. Looking down to see what he was pointing at, Shuichi was a little startled to see Dad's wallet laying on the ground.

By the time Shuichi picked up the wallet, the ninja was nowhere to be found.

After they had their ice cream, Kurama made Shuichi pinky swear not to tell Dad that he dropped the wallet. Shuichi thought it was kind of silly, asking him not to do something he couldn't do in the first place, but the promise was made nonetheless.

Shuichi also made a promise to buy that ninja an ice cream someday. It was the least he could do.

oooo

Words of Resolve:

Another one bites the dust! Well, here I am! Resolve is back in business! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I have been working on it nonstop for roughly 8000 hours. For reals...

….Okay fine, I've been playing Street Fighter 4 this whole time. And I've learned a lot from playing online.

For example: TIGER SHOT! TIGER SHOT! TIGER SHOT! TIGER SHOT! = KO.

God, I hate Sagat. Wait, that's not fair, let me rephrase it: I have heavy disdain for those individuals who play with Sagat exclusively, simply because winning is easier. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only guy who plays as Vega, or Rose, or Gen, or any character that doesn't have a down+forward+punch.

Don't take me too seriously, I'm just a sore loser. (Sagat? Moar like Fagat lol)

I've also taken a liking to Team Fortress 2. Even though I'm stuck on the 360 version, I'm having a good time. Damn those spies and their infinite sappers!

I'm naming this chapter Smooth Criminal, after a Micheal Jackson song of the same name.

Next Chapter!

I intend to finally let you guys see what Kakashi's gonna do for their test. No lie.

Also, SOMEONE GETS A STERN TALKING TO!

Not really, but someone does die!