Chapter 13 Team United

'That must be a very severe back injury…yeah right. This is the second time something involving Sakura has resulted in her arrival being late. Back in our mission she treated a person's back within not even two minutes…yet it has been thirty odd minutes, it took me roughly ten minutes to drag myself across that bridge, so something's amiss… 'Shikamaru broke from his thoughts when he saw his spandex wearing teammate successfully complete his eighth lap around the village and he sighed.

'Yet it took this freak not even a minute to cross the bridge…and where is Naruto? Surely the knucklehead saw or HEARD the commotion this guy is making, the entire town sure has…so troublesome.'

"I FEEL YOUR OVERWHELMING AURA OF YOUTH NARUTO-KUN!" Shikamaru heard Lee proclaim somewhere in the town.

Shikamaru released a sigh and leaned back onto the surprisingly comfortable dog statue on the side of the bridge exit. Unlike his partially crazy teammate, he found it too much of a hassle to search the entire town for their missing blond team member….and he most certainly wasn't going to be shouting out his name while proclaiming his 'vibrant display of youth' to the entire world.

A light chuckle was heard, "Somehow, this doesn't surprise me one bit that I would find you here like this eh, Shikamaru?" came a proud and familiar voice. Shikamaru only opened his left eye to greet his guest, but quickly opened both and went slightly agape. If it wasn't for his fox baring smile, he would have mistaken Uzumaki Naruto for somebody else.

Shikamaru immediately noticed that he had grown astronomically considering how short he was before he left. Naruto was now roughly the same height as Shikamaru. His golden blond hair had grown slightly all around and on the side of his face. His forehead protector now was black instead of blue, and appeared extra long, as Shikamaru noticed the long end straps flowing freely behind Naruto's back in the cool breeze. Naruto's face hadn't changed much accept for what comes in age, his lively blue eyes hinted he still he was his hyperactive and mischief old self. It seemed he still had it in for orange, as he was wearing a modified version of his traditional orange jump suit. There were now fine shades of black on the top part of his jacket, but he still stuck out like a sore thumb out in the open.

Naruto chuckled again at Shikamaru's surprised expression, "Good to see you too, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru quickly collected himself, stood up and sighed, "Indeed, long time no see Naruto, I see you have been keeping well the past two odd years."

Naruto nodded and beamed, "Hehe you bet, Ero-sennin, has been teaching me all sorts of awesome new jutsu since we left, at the rate I'm going I will be Hokage in no time!"

Shikamaru couldn't resist the smirk, that one sentence basically concluded most of his suspicions he had about his hyperactive comrade and friend, "Still your same old self I see." Shikamaru said in a conclusive and somehow relieved tone. Before Naruto could respond he had to quickly dodge to the right at an incoming missile foot, which belonged to none other than an ecstatic Lee.

"HAWWWW! Your reactions and senses have improved greatly Naruto-kun!" Lee beamed.

Naruto almost fell over backwards before he shouted in return, "What the hell Fuzzy Brows! Is that how you say 'hi' to a long time comrade!?"

Lee gave a toothy grin and did his traditional nice guy pose, "Of course, what other better way is there to have a grand reunion with one of your rivals than to have one with your fists in a youthful exploding epic spar!?"

Shikamaru didn't even know why he felt he should educate the miniature Gai otherwise, "Gee, Lee, I don't know, but I hear talking to them works well. Maybe you should give that a try first before you try to decapitate another person's head again."

Naruto had by then recovered from the attempted concussion by Lee and tilted his head to the side deep in thought. He then pointed his finger at Shikamaru, then Lee, then back to himself before resting his hand on his chin. Shikamaru snickered at the blonde's antics, but answered his silent question.

"Yes there are three of us coming from Konoha genius, our medic is apparently looking at Jiraiya's back for an injury he claims you gave him." He said, smoothly dodging mentioning who that medic was, as he was silently scheming something to amuse himself with.

Naruto gave a sheepish grin, "Hey! It was his fault when he asked to have a spar on the top of an old building. It wasn't my fault that the roofing collapsed on him when he did that ridiculous tap dance he does claiming 'you are fighting the legendary Jiraiya', heh, stupid Ero-sennin." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed from his suspicions earlier.

'Hmm…so he did injure his back, but something like that wouldn't really injure a shinobi enough to require a medic's attention…especially a sannin….maybe I'm just over analysing the situation.'

Lee was about to ask Naruto if he wanted to engage in a spar until he noticed his blond friend narrowing his eyes on something coming across the bridge.

Lee in turn looked as well and smiled, "Ah, I was beginning to wonder where Sakura-san had got to." Lee didn't notice the sudden gasp coming from his friend, but Shikamaru sure did.

"Sakura-chan?!" He questioned excitingly. Before either could confirm, Naruto was already running and waving in the direction of his old teammate.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked up at the announcement of her name with the added suffix she hadn't heard in a long time, and her eyes widened when she saw who the call had came from.

'I-Is that-'

"N-Naruto?!" She yelled back and began walking faster until they came a few feet away from each other and met emerald to oceanic blue eyes.

Shikamaru snickered at the pairs antics. Both of them had their mouths slightly hung open, staring in fascination at one another.

Shikamaru heard a sniffle and raised an eyebrow and turned to see Lee rubbing his eyes, "What a beautiful reunion! Shikamaru-kun, you without a doubt were correct."

'Last time I checked 'talking' didn't mean just calling out each other's names then having a staring contest, you idiot... '

Shikamaru inwardly moaned, 'This mission is becoming more and more troublesome…and nothing has even happened yet!'

Sakura could not believe how just one glimpse of him could vaporise all that built up anxiety and conflicting anger she had for him looking into his traditional fox like smile. Finally recovered from her shock at his change, she spoke first surprisingly a little nervous more than anything.

"I-It's great to see you again Naruto."

Naruto snapped out of his shock, then replied in his hyperactive tone that she missed hearing, while scratching the back of his head, "It's great to see you again as well, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura had a rush of things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't even know where to start. Quickly remembering where she was, she stifled all her questions.

'There is time for that later…'

She reminded herself, it was then that she realised she wasn't looking down to meet his eyes anymore, she in fact was looking slightly above her head level.

"Y-You're taller than me, aren't you?" Naruto was caught off guard by the question, but quickly recovered and brought his hand up to his head and roughly measured it with Sakura's and suddenly realized as well.

"Oh… I guess so. Hehe I didn't even notice." he said through a light chuckle.

Sakura smiled softly, 'You really have grown…Naruto.'

To the teens slight disappointment though, Lee and Shikamaru announced their presence, "Naruto-kun, I am truly interested to see the results to your training."

Naruto released his sigh and then turn and faced Lee with what surprised the others was a serious expression written across his features.

"Lee, there is a time and place for us to have our little spar and rivalry…"

To say Sakura and Shikamaru were shocked was an understatement, 'Wow….he not only has grown in height but in maturity as well.' Sakura mused, with a slight trace of disappointment.

Naruto then clenched his fist and waved it in front of Lee, while his eyes burned with fire, "YOU BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF FUZZY BROWS! I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR SPANDEX WEARING ASS ALL THE WAY BACK TO KONOHA WHEN WE DO, DATTEBAYO!"

'I thought it was too good to be true…' Shikamaru mused, while voicing his displeasure with a groan.

"Baka!" Sakura barked out, but what had surprised the others was her voice didn't sound annoyed at all instead she was…laughing?

'I really can't believe after all I have heard he still acts this way.' She shook her head after a moment when she suppressed it to slight giggles.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you're still you, Naruto"

'I truly am...'

Naruto chuckled in return and scratched his head again giving Sakura a genuine smile with his cheeks slightly pink hued, "T-thanks Sakura-chan, I hope you haven't change too much either."

"She's basically herself, but more violent than ever." Shikamaru answered for her, resulting in Sakura lifting a clenched fist and waving it at the shadow user.

Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were glaring daggers as she roared out, "I am not Shikamaru!" She inwardly cursed herself though as she just realized she had just proven Shikamaru's statement as correct and huffed and looked out towards the river.

Shikamaru didn't want to waste any more time, "While this is all nostalgic and everything, can we get a move on. Naruto, I was told by Tsunade-sama that you already have made contact with the client, what have they told you."

Naruto straightened himself up and then spoke, giving Shikamaru his full attention, "I spoke to Tazuna-jiji a couple of days ago. He told me that the town has been receiving numerous threats from Gato-teme's old organisation. Some through letters, and passing by thugs. Their orders are pretty clear, 'destroy the bridge or else...' While I don't know everything that well, but from what I get, the organisation has claimed ownership of the previous trade routes, but Wave here owns the quickest and less risky route in the fire country. So it's got to do with money....like it was the first time."

The group listened sharply to Naruto's story, "What kind of threats are they making Naruto?"

Naruto frowned at Sakura's question, but answered, "Tazuna-jiji told me they were more directed towards his family. But soon after they became threats to do with members of the town which included kidnapping, murder…the latest threat was they were going to destroy the entire town and blow the bridge up themselves." Naruto spat out.

Relaxing, Naruto continued, "The deadline they have set is in the next three days, at the current moment thanks to Ero-sennin taking care of a spy they had in the town, they do not know Wave has requested our help."

"At least we have the element of surprise on our hands. Did Jiraiya-sama find out any information about the groups new leader from the spy? "Shikamaru asked.

Naruto snickered, "You mean this osore oni-teme? No, Ero-sennin couldn't figure out who he is, but he did have his guesses. The spy seemed to be just some hired goon that was in it for money if anything else, so we booted him out of Wave...he isn't coming back anytime soon." Shikamaru nodded, and shared his suspicions with Naruto who agreed with each one being equally possible. Lee had remained silent the entire time, but none the less was as focused as the other members of the team.

"So what's next?" Lee enquired when the discussion seemed to be nearing the end.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, "You're going to get that sparing match your wanting Lee." all three raised their eyebrows in question, "How troublesome...don't tell me I'm the only person here that doesn't know the other member very well."

"What do you mean, I know Sakura-chan and Fuzzy Brows a-"

"He means our fighting styles, baka!" Sakura interrupted Naruto, who sheepishly mumbled 'my bad' and said nothing else.

"...Yes Sakura is correct, even though this is a temporary team for this mission, it is critical that as a team we understand each other's abilities to be able to coordinate effectively. Knowing the team member personally helps, but it's not enough to help in a combat situation, Naruto." Naruto nodded in understanding, although he was still a bit puzzled.

Shikamaru dismissed his frustration at the blond and looked on the bright side. 'It's a work in progress.' he figured, and decided to set an example.

"Ok then Naruto, let's look at Sakura, while I know firsthand how skilful you are in medical jutsu, I don't know anything at all about how you fight. I only have heard rumours about the remains of the training ground when you spar with Kakashi-sensei." Sakura flushed slightly in embarrassment, but nodded.

"Medical jutsu?!" Ignoring Naruto's surprised question, he pressed on.

"As for you Lee, I don't know any of your abilities at all. The only time I have ever seen you fight was during the chuunin exams nearly three years ago. The only information I know about you is you're very skilled in taijutsu and have great agility." Lee nodded.

Then Shikamaru turned to their blond team mate, "And you...well, your Naruto!" and that's all Shikamaru said dismissively.

Naruto still was curious about Sakura's said talent, but focused more on Shikamaru's vague description, "What does that mean?"

Sakura chuckled, "He means you're the number one ninja at surprising people. More or less Naruto, he has no clue about what you have learnt all this time, like all of us." Naruto mouthed a silent 'oh' and then chose to leave it at that.

"Then finally there is me." Shikamaru announced, but paused when he noticed Naruto and Sakura share a snicker.

"What? Is it honestly that hard to envision me learni-"

"YES!" The remaining half of team 7 shouted in union at the shadow user.

Shikamaru muttered 'troublesome' then reached for his map, "Gather around." He instructed, as he kneeled down and unfolded the map on the hard and surprisingly clean concrete of the bridge.

When Shikamaru was sure the group was listening he began, "We will be moving here-" He pointed to a marked empty field on the map that was roughly a kilometre from wave. "Although you said we have three days, I would like you to leave behind several of your kage bunshin Naruto, and if something happens, I want them to intervene and notify us on what's happening."

Naruto nodded, and then stood up and took two steps back and formed his signature seal, "Kage bunshin no jutsu." A bakers dozens worth of clones 'poofed' into existence, each shared a glance with the original and then they disappeared in numerous directions around the town.

Naruto turned back and looked at his team "Done." He announced. Shikamaru nodded, and then Sakura spoke a brewing question.

"Where will we be staying throughout the mission?"

Shikamaru smirked, "Tsunade-sama told me Naruto has taken care of that."

All eyes were on Naruto, who grinned, "Tazuna-jiji have given us a hotel to stay in at in the middle of the town during the entire course of the mission. He also has given us a tab that he has passed around all the town stores and food stands. So we have free food as well."

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief, "You were able to get us all that?!"

Naruto nodded and then said proudly, "It required a few autographs and pictures taken with some of the customers in the hotel and the store owners, but it's all taken care of!"

Shikamaru nodded, "Ok, we will drop our stuff off in our hotel rooms first before moving to our sparing destination. Lead the way Naruto." Naruto gave a mock salute which Shikamaru rolled his eyes at, and then lead the group through the town.

During their journey Sakura couldn't help but notice the way most of the town's people looked at Naruto and to an extent, herself as well. They looked to them with deep respect and gratefulness, and some even came over and shook their hands and gave their thanks again. Naruto, during the entire time wore a grand genuine smile.

'They really do treat Naruto like a living legend here, I'm glad he is finally getting the acknowledgement he deserved so long ago.' Sakura thought in pride, until she suddenly was met by a mob of fans.

Once Sakura had signed a few autographs of her own, she was met by her smiling teammate, "How awesome is it Sakura-chan?!"

Sakura sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and nodded, "D-Did the same thing happen to you when you arrived?"

The blond laughed, "I didn't even make it half way across the bridge, I think I made Ero-sennin jealous."

Naruto continued guiding them through the town with a few more minor pauses, when he stopped the group outside a large building and announced, "We are here."

The group looked in awe at the hotel before them. The building itself was triple storied, with what looked like a balcony on each floor per room. The building was painted Maroon, and had two large double doors as entrance into the plaza. Over the door were large, fine, silver shaded letters that read as 'Hatake Inn'.

When they entered the building the group found nobody on duty at the counter. Naruto quickly explained that the entire hotel was granted to only them so they could carry on their business without fuss. He also explained that there was no room service because he felt Tazuna was being far too generous by what he had offered them already and had refused the free service. The group agreed with Naruto, although Shikamaru silently announced to himself that he would have welcomed room service.

Since Naruto's room was on the third floor, the others joined him. The room sequence in the end was Naruto adjacent to Sakura, with Lee in the room next to Naruto, along with Shikamaru next to Sakura. Once the others had packed, they regrouped in the dinning lounge which was on the first floor.

Shikamaru then addressed the team,"Alright, let's move out."