Chapter 15 No longer alone
Naruto sighed as he sat in the dining lounge, waiting eagerly for his substitute ramen to cook. As he proclaimed endlessly to his perverted sensei, there was only one store that make real ramen, and that was none other than the one and only Ichiraku. To his dismay however, his 'life reserves' of ramen he purchased didn't last more than a week. Naruto had to settle for a substitute which just never was the same…two minute instant noodles. He unconsciously cringed at the thought, the beef had next to no spice to it, and he was even more put off when he discovered the lack of his favourite thick and perfectly balanced noodles.
These so called noodles…
...WERE SO THIN!
The noodles couldn't absorb any trace of the flavouring. It was clear to the blond that the noodles were losing out to the soup, he could NEVER give this substitute a passing grade! Before he had another relapse of what Jiraiya dubbed 'ramen fever', he changed his thoughts to his team mates.
Shikamaru and Lee had decided to search the town for food, since both only brought enough for the journey. Naruto wasn't exactly sure where Sakura was, she said something about preparing something and then disappeared. Naruto couldn't help but wonder about what Sakura had meant, while he inwardly knew the answer he still was puzzled. Her simple 'I know' still struck him right down to the core, bringing his anxiety that was brewing from earlier back up again.
How did she find out? Who told her? Was she angry at him...did she hate him?
Before his panic rose any further, they went down just as fast as they surfaced when he remembered the smile he was given from her. He had received enough faux smiles from villagers in Konoha to know a genuine one from a fake, and Sakura's held no such doubt behind it.
Did that mean she didn't fear him?
'Your friends will never judge you like that, you obviously don't know them well enough if you really believe that!'
'Maybe...Ero-sennin was right?' Naruto thought at the memory and hoped his sensei was right.
He was pulled from his deep thoughts by the most nostalgic smell the blond could recall…the smell of miso pork. Naruto tried to shake his head, thinking that maybe this was yet another relapse but the scent wouldn't leave his system. The more exposure Naruto was having to the rich spicy scent, the more he was losing in his battle of self control.
Naruto barely held on to his sanity as he murmured, "….Ramen…" His stomach roared in agreement. He was oblivious to the loud chuckle and the "Baka!" directed at him from his side.
Naruto slowly recomposed and came aware of his surroundings, he slowly turned and literally fell out of his chair when he saw the sight before him. Sakura had put on a white short sleeved shirt underneath her vest, she also was wearing standard black sandals. But that wasn't what had Naruto acting the way he was. It was the large bowl of steaming miso pork ramen that she held on a silver platter that had him in his state.
"I-is-is that…" Naruto couldn't even put two words together, but the excitement in his voice was clear as day.
Sakura laughed at his expression, feeling the sensation of warmth Ino was telling her about, 'I have to thank her after this mission.'
"I thought I'd bring you something from home. Since I could guess you would refuse to eat anything else, or you would bicker to no end to your poor sensei." To Naruto however, he did not hear a word Sakura had said, the moment Sakura had placed the bowl down however, he exploded.
"Sakura-chan!!!" He screamed in excitement and gratefulness so loud that the windows rattled, as he gave his friend an air depleting embrace.
"Naruto…can't…breathe!" Sakura choked out, as Naruto released the dazed Sakura. She probably wasn't going to be able to hear in that ear again for a long time. Once he was certain Sakura had at least recovered from lack of oxygen he had tried showing his gratitude with a little…less damage.
"Thank you Sakura-chan!" He beamed mustering the largest smile he ever could.
Sakura shook her head, "Just shut up and eat it baka! Before I take it back." Naruto paled at the thought of losing his precious long time departed ramen, and did as told.
He reached for the chopsticks and broke them apart, "Ikadakimashu!" he whispered in great excitement.
Sakura had sat down on the seat next to Naruto and watched in slight disgust as he ate almost, no, WORSE than a pig.
"Naruto, slow down for god's sake!" But it fell on deaf ears. Naruto had finished the bowl within 30 seconds.
Sakura released a sigh, "You will have to wait another two minutes for the other one to warm up."
This had Naruto at complete attention, "There's more!?!" He cried in shock and excitement.
'Oh crap…' Sakura was rewarded with a second bone crushing embrace from her teammate. Fortunately he didn't add an ear drum exploding scream this time.
"Honestly, how is it possible for someone to get so worked up on RAMEN of all things?!" Sakura staggered to Naruto, as she finally was granted the oxygen she was denied from again. Naruto was about to begin his long lecture but Sakura stopped him before he could begin.
"Hai, Hai I know, Ichiraku is the only real ramen in the world. But honestly, slow the hell down Naruto, I only could fit six bowls in my scroll, and you don't want to go through them all in one night now do you?" Sakura just realized her mistake and her eyes widened .
"You brought SIX bowls!?! Sakura-cha-"
"Attempt to hug me, and you won't be alive to eat them!" Sakura released the breath she was holding in, in case her threat didn't work, fortunately to her well being though, it did.
"Thank you so much Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed yet again.
Sakura waved her hand dismissively, "Enough with the 'thank you' preaching already Baka, it was no problem at all. Once I mentioned who it was for, they gave me the bowls on the house, they even told me how long to cook them for on the stove to ensure they received your 'passing grade' " Sakura rolled her eyes at the last bit and then got up from the table and disappeared into the kitchen.
Within a minute she came back with another bowl on the same platter, along with what looked like the 'substitute'. Before surrendering the bowl to Naruto she gave him a hard glare.
"Slowly!" she barked. She grunted when Naruto just nodded furiously, meaning he most likely wasn't listening again. Sakura placed the noodles in front of her seat and sat down. She reached for the chopsticks and the spoon she found in the kitchen and announced quietly "Ikadakimashu." before digging in.
The two ate in silence, although the occasional slurp heard from Naruto was enough to keep the atmosphere serene and surprisingly enjoyable. Naruto took a brief pause from his eating and tried to ask the question he wanted to know so badly.
"Sakura-chan...U-umm..."
Sakura looked up from her bowl and smiled at his shifty eyes, "Yes?"
'How do you know?'
"Err-umm..." Sakura giggled at his shock, but waited patiently for him to ask.
"...How is everyone back home Sakura-chan?" Sakura's smile remained, as she happily answered his averted question.
"Everybody is doing great, Neji is now a jounin and with Lee's recent promotion to chuunin, all of our friends are now Chuunin rank."
Naruto hung his mouth open in shock and realisation, "Does that mean you're a-"
Sakura giggled, "Yep."
"How long?!"
"Around a year and a bit now."
"That's super cool news Sakura-chan, great work!"
"Hehe, thanks Naruto."
'Tsunade-sama was right...' Naruto face while still holding a pride filled smile, lowered his gaze and appeared a bit flat, making her eyebrow rise.
"So I'm the only Genin left of us all…"
'...and so was I.'
Sakura sensed her friend's trouble and figured her ears could cope with a little more yelling to cheer him up, "You know, you don't need to be a jounin to become Hokage." Naruto pulled a one-eighty so fast, Sakura thought Lee couldn't even compete in speed.
"Really?!" He beamed.
Sakura actually gave it a bit of thought, but then nodded with a small grin, "While it has never happened before, there is no rule that states the requirements for being a Hokage candidate is a jounin rank. That's not to say it wouldn't help though to make a good impression."
"Yosha! I will be the first shinobi to go from genin straight to Hokage, dattebayo!" He screamed, pointing his finger high at the roof, almost as if he was addressing an invisible crowd.
"Enough with the yelling already! I am the only person here baka!" Sakura hissed, clutching her ears, trying as hard as she could to not hit her hyperactive friend, but quickly losing her struggle.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto replied giving a warm grin which surprisingly calmed Sakura down as well.
"How about Konohamaru and the others?" Her giggles made him raise an eyebrow thinking he missed a joke.
"They kind of made me their 'boss'."
"NEH?!" Sakura nodded while still chuckling.
"I helped them out a little with practicing for the genin exam, after that they just sort of 'promoted' me in your place. Konohamaru though already was more than ready for the test, thanks to you."
"I-I did?!"
She nodded, "It was the same test as ours, creating bunshin's."
The blond frowned at the memory of his failure, but didn't let it get the better of him, "What did he do?"
Sakura smirked, looking at her team mate in faux suspicion, "Why of course he passed with flying colours, in fact, it got him rookie of the year thanks to you."
Naruto's went agape as she continued her suggestive pokes, "He just had to perform kage bunshin no jutsu instead of just bunshin now didn't he...I wonder who taught him that?"
The blond scratched his head while sheepishly grinning, "Yeah I wonder...so he finally got it nailed down?"
"He fainted after making two, but yes he did it." The blond smirked in pride for his little rival, while wondering if he achieved anything else he taught him before he left.
"What about baa-chan?"
Naruto did not expect by that simple question to result in meeting that semi demonic voice again from Sakura, "Naruto!! What did you just call MY sensei!?"
Naruto instantly paled and all the hairs on his back stuck up, as he tried to muster a reply but was paralysed in fear.
"You will NEVER call her that again! You will show Tsunade-sama the respect she deserves!"
All he could do was nod his head furiously, painfully aware that judging by the way Sakura was wildly waving her fist in front of him, if the next thing he said was wrong, he was in for a painful surprise, "H-How is…..t-t-tsu-Tsunade….-sama?" The word sounded completely foreign to the blond, in fact dare he say it was like learning how to talk again, but he chose to look at it in a way Shikamaru would. Word that seems foreign and weird in the mouth, or the wrath of Haruno Sakura…
...Haruno Sakura would win every time.
Sakura quickly changed to a proud smile, "She is pretty much herself. She drinks sake throughout the day as always, and constantly complains about the paper work. While she always seems to curse it, she really has come to love her role as Hokage." Naruto only nodded, afraid he might say something to awaken 'that' Sakura again.
The blond hesitated for a few moments, and tried to ask his question again, "Sakura-chan, umm, about what you said before umm..."
Sakura knew what Naruto was trying to say and helped him out, "How do I know about your burden?" She spoke softly, in case she accidently startled Naruto with this topic. Naruto's eyes widened and he met her soft gaze, and then slowly nodded.
Sakura began her tale, "It was really an accident, I was cleaning up Tsunade-sama's office roughly one year ago, when she had your medical profile on her desk."
Sakura looked away, "…Curiosity got the better of me and I read it, Sorry Nar-"
"Sakura-chan.-" She paused and met Naruto's soft gaze, which also had a smile to go with it too, "-It wasn't your fault…it's really my fault for not telling anybody, so I'm sorry. You're probably angry at me."
Sakura shook her head, "I should be...but I am not, I understand why you didn't want to tell me and Sasuke-kun Naruto."
'It only took me this long to accept it.'
The blond scratched his head with a grin. "Why were you so afraid though? I mean when I told you I knew, you looked like you were going to faint."
Naruto averted his gaze and didn't answer, so Sakura decided to ask, "You really are scared aren't you?"
"Err umm...a bit."
"Why?" Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out.
'Most people that knows about it hates my guts.' Despite his mental response, Naruto never worded it to his teammate. Instead he lowered his head, and stared into his mostly finished bowl of ramen. Sakura cursed the tense silence, and decided to do something about it.
Remembering something that happened long ago she smirked, 'Let's give you a taste of your own medicine.'
"Kai!" she shouted suddenly, with a seal formed.
Naruto at first jump at the sudden break in silence, and looked over at her in question, "Sakura-cha-"
"Kai!"
"What are you do-"
"You are not the real Naruto!" Naruto looked shocked, as he met Sakura's disturbing gaze that lacked emotion in her emerald orbs.
"The real Naruto would never run away from his problems, the real Naruto is not a coward!" She shouted as suddenly the memory hit Naruto like it was yesterday, since the memory of the forest of death that changed team 7's lives never could be forgotten.
Sakura continued in a more firm, yet quieter tone, "The Naruto I know saved our lives that day, the Naruto I know faced his fears to save me from being crushed to death by sand, The Naruto I know NEVER knows when to quit!" She unconsciously wiped the single tear that escaped her eye away.
'I must be strong!' She screamed internally.
She continued in a more sincere tone, "The Naruto I know didn't care what others thought of him, the Naruto I know always would prove them wrong."
Naruto didn't know the reason why, but he started snickering, which soon turned into chuckling, and then full laughter. Sakura remained quiet and waited in anticipation to see if her plan worked. Naruto eventually calmed down to small chuckles, and he rubbed his eyes from the tears he spilled from his laughter.
"I really was a loudmouth idiot back then, wasn't I?"
Sakura gave a genuine smile, "You still are, but you are a loudmouth idiot who was right. Take your own advice Naruto, you have nothing to be afraid about. Kyuubi or not, you will always in my eyes be Naruto. The annoying, loud, and hyperactive juvenile that I am glad I was put on the same team with...or I never would have been able to see how wrong my beliefs were about him."
"Y-You really mean that?"
Sakura's smile never left her face, "Of course I do you idiot."
The blond slowly fixed his agape jaw, and smiled wide, "Thank you Sakura-chan."
They resumed eating their dinner after that without saying anything else. Once they finished, Sakura asked, "So what else have you learnt Naruto?"
"Ero-sennin has been trying to help me gain more control while I use that fox-teme's chakra. I've also been learning an altered version of the Inuzuka clans fighting style for when I use more of its chakra." Sakura nodded, recalling what Jiraiya told her before she entered Wave. She winced at the transformation part, and decide to voice her curiosity.
"Naruto, can you by chance show me what happens when you...change?" Naruto's eyes widened, but then returned to normal.
"E-Ero-sennin told me not to train or use it at all during the time he was gone Sakura-chan...y-you see there are times where, umm-"
He was interrupted by Sakura waving her hand to stop him with a grin, "Jiraiya-sama spoke to me before I crossed the bridge, I know. He already gave me something to help with that." She then presented one of the tags that she noticed Naruto recognised.
"A-Are you sure Sakura-chan?" He asked, voice with a small trace of worry.
Sakura nodded and looked straight into his eyes, "You're no longer alone in this Naruto, regardless what you believe. Please, trust me, I'm more than sure." She said, putting away the tag.
'I have to see this, or if the time comes, I will be in too much shock to help him out.'
Sakura looked at the clock in the lounge, "Shikamaru and Lee-san won't be back for another odd hour, and we are not having that team meeting for an hour after that. We can head back to that field if you want to Naruto?"
Naruto nodded his head in agreement, "Yosha! race you there Sakura-chan."
Shikamaru thought he could enjoy eating his tea in peace, but he soon learnt that dining in with a miniature Gai basically was the same as joining Naruto for some ramen. To sum it up, it was very troublesome. Shikamaru thought he would give this thing that people called 'pasta' a shot. He ordered something called 'gnocchi', as the waitress highly recommended it. Not feeling up for a debate about the other option called 'ravioli' Shikamaru just agreed with the waitress. Lee so far was not a bother, and ordered the 'ravioli'.
When their plates arrived that's when things started becoming…troublesome.
Throughout the entire time Lee continuously began blabbering on about how it was possible to design such a strange food with small pieces of meat on the inside. Then he got started on the strange patterns on the edges of the pasta. The situation became dire though when Lee turned the discussion to the next debate, Shikamaru's very own plate.
At first Shikamaru actually liked the strange food to his surprise, but after 20 minutes of hearing Lee's 'theories' for' how do they make them in such strange shapes?', or, 'how do they design those patterns?' he soon took hate to the food, and swore to himself he would never eat the stuff ever again…the headache was not worth it for the nice taste.
The situation didn't stop there though, oh no, not when the restaurant was one of those that had things called 'course meals'…and they were highly insistent you stayed and got your 'fill' for the day. So Shikamaru had to wait over 30 minutes for their dessert. This consisted of some strange cake, with a cream on the side. It was then that Shikamaru discovered a lethal fact about their dessert…most desserts from this style of food used the object called 'liquor' for extra flavouring…and liquor was a type of alcoholic substance. While the amount in it was so small, you would have to eat kilos of the stuff to get the effects of one drink, it still didn't change what happened next.
Then this is where the whole situation earned the title of 'very' troublesome, when Shikamaru discovered Lee's dark secret…that he was a natural at the arts called 'drunken fists'. Shikamaru was never so glad in his life that he knew the kage mane ability, for if he didn't…it was too troublesome to think of the mission report paper work he would have to fill out, explaining why his teammate had completely destroyed a building in the town they were sent to protect.
So there they were, Shikamaru and a kage mane linked Lee, walking down the street in perfect symmetry. Shikamaru groaned in annoyance when he had to use more chakra to keep the drunken Lee in his hold, when Lee was convinced he saw somebody 'look at him funny'. He quietly thanked god when he saw the hotel in his sights.
'Sakura…you better know some medical jutsu to wipe out intoxication or else…' Shikamaru didn't let his thoughts finish as he walked into the dining area.
"Sakura, I require you grand medica-"Shikamaru didn't even get to finish his sarcastic remark as he noticed the room was empty.
The shadow user began to panic, 'Don't tell me they went out to eat in the end?!!' Shikamaru walked into the kitchen, dragging behind him his drunken teammate, who was in perfect synchronization. Shikamaru caught eye to the two bowls, and the plate that were cleaned and placed in the drying mat.
'So they ate…where did they go then?' Shikamaru then formed his infamous seal, trying to ignore the perfectly imitating Lee behind him forming the same seal and snickering loudly.
Shikamaru ran through all the possible areas they could have gone and inwardly groaned at the amount of possible outcomes. The moment you added Naruto into the equation, the possibilities were really limitless. He was dragged out of his thoughts when Lee slurred out.
"This is so troublesome eh, Shika-kun *hic*" The drunken Lee then burst into a laughing fit, until he fell asleep while standing.
'…For the first time all afternoon, I agree with you.' Shikamaru mused as he released Lee from his Kage mane and watched as Lee fell down on the hard tiles, emitting a loud snore.
Shikamaru lazily stepped over Lee and was about to walk out into the dining lounge again, until his entire body screamed 'DANGER!' and that's when he heard it's spine chilling voice.
"You fell for it!" slurred Lee from behind him, sounding completely awake. Shikamaru turned his head slowly, sweat running down his face and his eyes wide.
The next thing he saw would give him nightmares for the next few nights…The same foreign seal for 'that' jutsu. "Sennen goroshi!!!"