Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 8
"Why are we doing this again?" Naruto said in pain as Kakashi and Gai helped him to stretch in ways Naruto originally thought humanly impossible.
"Simple Naruto, the new style we have outlined for you involves a large amount of kicks and agility as opposed to you original style of just simply running in and trying to punch your enemies lights out." Kakashi said
"My style wasn't that bad Kakashi Sensei"
"What style?"
"DO NOT WORRY YOUNG NARUTO FOR THE FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE STRONG IN YOU AND WE SHALL YOTHFULLY INCREASE YOUR TAIJUTSU MIGHT!" said Gai as he introduced himself into the conversation.
On the outside are of the training field was Lee, Neji and Ten Ten who had already finished their training under their Sensei recently.
"I'm not so sure about training Naruto, I mean he's still heavily injured and I remember that they said he was in horrible shape I mean seriously he's lost most of one of his lungs! Is it really safe for him to be a ninja?" Ten Ten asked, even though she didn't know the blonde well she knew he was friends with both of her teammates and had even went with them to visit him in the hospital when he was still in a coma and just the thought of everything that her hero, Lady Tsunade had said was wrong with him and the extent of his injuries still concerned her.
Beside her Neji sighed "Out of everyone I have ever met he is probably the most stubborn aside from Lee, even if I would advise against his attempts to become a ninja again I know he would vehemently disregard what I said and continue on his path"
Lee nodded sporting a grin "Even through everything Naruto has gone through he still presses on! We should all aim to be more like him and follow in his springtime of youth, that is why I have made him my eternal rival!"
'Finally! He has removed me from his rival, maybe I can finally get some peace from Lee now'
"Other than you, of course, Neji I still consider you to be my eternal rival as well!"
Neji's head just shagged in defeat
'Why me?'
Hokage Tower
Sakura was digging around in the records for Tsunade but her mind was distracted.
Today was the day that Naruto began his Taijutsu training and she would have liked to have been there and the only reason she wasn't was because all they were doing was stretches that should not cause any harm to Naruto's previous injuries.
Tsunade had also told her that she needed an extra pair of hands today and that she would be required to be with Naruto once they moved past the stretching activities and moved into more stressful things such as running and jumping. She could see the Hokage's thinking but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she had with not wanting to leave his side and worrying about him.
She had talked to Kakashi about how Naruto had reacted when he saw the electricity at market and he had told her not to worry about it for now. But she still couldn't help but worry about everything, another thing that worried her was that he didn't talk as much as he used to, sure, he talked to her and their friends regularly but it was when he interacted with new people that he seemed to act more distant and less talkative and unless you knew Naruto then you probably wouldn't have noticed anything off.
As Sakura located another file she had been looking for she placed it on the others before looking for the next one on the list when she heard someone coming down into the record room and once she saw who it was she couldn't help but smile
"Ino what are you doing down here?" Sakura said to the blonde
"My dad borrowed some of these files and asked me to return them, what are you doing here?" Ino asked as she walked to her friend
"I thought Naruto was supposed to start training today?"
"He was but the Hokage said that it was nothing I was needed for as there was not risk to Naruto so she has me getting some things she needs to look over. By the way how did you know he started training today?"
"Shikamaru told me"
After Naruto and Shikamaru had talked and Shikamaru had lost the weight he had been carrying over Naruto's injuries they had become good friends, not best friends, but close enough.
Ino sat down near where Sakura was obviously wanting a lengthy conversation about some subject that Sakura felt like she should be running from
"Speaking of Naruto, what is your relationship as you too seem to be more than friends"
Sakura bit her lip as she nervously thought about it.
It was true that her and Naruto's relationship had changed and she wasn't completely sure on what they were now
They were definitely more than friends in her opinion but they hadn't moved into the romance area yet and she was uncertain and scared of that. She was scared that these feelings she may have towards her teammate were just from what had happened to him like she had heard where some nurses had fallen in love with patients. But another part of her felt like she hadn't gotten to know the real Naruto before and now that she had come to know him she couldn't deny that she had strong feelings for him
But she would never tell Ino this
" I'm not sure what we are Ino were more than friends but we haven't confessed or let each other know that we like each other in a profound way"
"I don't buy that for a moment! Naruto has always made it plain to the entire world that he's head over heels for you, I think your just worried about going to him and telling him you like him back because of everything that happened with Sasuke and you need to let Naruto know what you feel about him because if you wait too long you'll regret it"
Sakura didn't say anything back but she knew Ino was right. She had thought about this a lot and the more she thought about it the more she became convinced that she hadn't been in love with Sasuke but rather an imaginary Sasuke that she had convinced herself was the real one.
Ino placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder
"Sakura, your almost 14 years old now and soon you'll be 16 and old enough to get married so it might be a good idea to let the boy you like know that and you also have to worry about Hinata, I've heard she's gotten more courageous and while she hasn't talked to Naruto yet I wouldn't bet on it staying that way and you'll have to compete with her for his heart."
Sakura looked back at Ino "That's true for you too you know, that Sand girl seems to have taken an interest in Shikamaru"
"That is a completely different situation!"
"I don't think it is so when you confess to Shikamaru I'll tell Naruto, deal"
"Vice versa on the deal too, I don't see why I have go first but deal"
For a moment the too smiled at each other before Sakura gathered the files and scrolls and turned back to Ino
"Well, I had better get these back up to Lady Tsunade before I get in trouble, see you Ino"
"Bye Sakura"
Later that day
Naruto sat on a rocking chair in his room after the long day he had spent with the most relaxed Jounin and the least relaxed Jounin.
To be honest he had become tired just from the stretches alone and they said that if everything went to schedule then he may be able to go on a mission in about 4-5 months.
He opened his eyes when there was a light knock on the door
"Come in"
Sakura walked in to his room in her pajamas… well that was the wrong word, Naruto wore pajamas, Sakura wore a large white t shirt and black gym shorts. It was a common practice for her to come in and check on him every night right before she went to bed so Naruto was used to seeing her like this.
She sat down on the only other chair in the room and made herself comfortable
"So how was training today?" she asked
"It was harder than I thought and to be honest I didn't know human bodies could bend in ways like that"
Sakura smiled sweetly at him "I'm sure you'll get through it"
"So how did it go working for the old hag?" he asked
"She mainly had me running errands and getting and delivering papers for her the highlight was when I ran into Ino there, she asked about you"
"What did you two talk about" he asked and Sakura went red in the face
"None of your business!"
"If it's about me then isn't it my business automatically?"
"NO!"
Naruto sweat dropped at his teammates reaction
"Ooooookay then…" he said
Sakura sighed
She reached over and grabbed his hands
"Look Naruto there are some things I want to tell you and we can talk about them sometime but for now I'm not ready yet so please try and be patient, okay?"
He flashed her one of his classic grins
"Sure thing Sakura take your time!"
She returned his smile "Thank you Naruto"
She stood up and began walking towards the door
"Is there anything you need tonight Naruto?" she asked
"No I'll be fine, goodnight Sakura"
"Goodnight Naruto"
And with that Sakura went to her room
She knew for sure she had strong feelings for Naruto and while she wasn't sure they were love yet she thought they were and she would find out but for now she would go to sleep with dreams about the future.
However, unknown to the two young ninja there is a crow watching the house from across the street and if one was to look closely they would see two Sharingan eyes…
A few miles outside the Leaf Village
A young man with black hair and dressed in a black coat with red clouds opened his eyes
"Hm, this is most interesting. I wonder how this will turn out"
Okay a chapter is done!
Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I was having my last few weeks of school and then final exams so I've been busy but good news is that I passed all of my classes.
Now I mentioned about them being able to get married at 16 and before anyone complains I have heard that is the age where they can get married in Japan.
I wanted to include some of Sakura dealing with her feelings this chapter and some of the conflicts going on there.
Also Itachi has finally returned, bet you readers thought I had forgotten about him!
But guess what!?
He'd Baaaaaaack!
Now for what I'm sure is everyone's favorite part of this the…
Reviews!
Danmaku-Overlord: Sasuke will appear later and Naruto will be going on his first mission since awakening in a couple of chapters.
Fromaster24: I plan on Orochimaru and Sasuke still being big bad villains and I plan on continuing this story until the very end so I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Merchant of Blue Death: I'm glad you liked my story. I feel like Orochimaru should have been kept as a big and dangerous villain and I didn't have an issue with the Akatsuki when they first appeared in the original series as they were made out to be an organization that controlled organized crime around the shinobi world like a cross between the Mafia and some secret society. So I didn't mind them in that aspect but they changed into a different kind of group in Shippuden. As for the whole NaruSaku aspects of the story the whole relationship thing is popping up more in the story and I hope your happy with how this all goes.
Thedarkpokemaster: Yes, Sasuke is now free but remember that Itachi is still out there.
Zafnak: thanks for the correction, I appreciate it!
Guest: thanks, but I'm not going out of my way to bash her I'm just trying to make her less 'perfect' and more human.
Bellum: Thank you, I appreciate the advice and I actually have an outline of how I want the story to go, it's just getting there and filling in the blanks that are difficult for me and I've been trying to improve my stories and add more detail into them as I go. So I appreciate you pointing out ways I can improve.
