Naruto jogged along the streets, heading to the store Sakura had described, though he was only vaguely paying attention. He found the store, though, when he remembered her saying something about a big pink-purple sign. He could tell he was being followed, but paid it no mind, knowing that if he did, they would really get suspicious.
He found the two candles he wanted and bought them at a fairly reasonable price, adding in two holders as well. The cashier was only a few years older than him, so she didn't know of his "legend" and so try to over-charge him.
As he exited, he could feel his stalkers and sighed. 'This will be a long day.' He went over a mental check list of what he thought he would need for his date.
"AH HA!" he yelled out, spinning around facing the tree Sasuke was in.
"I knew I forgot to get something," Naruto said as he walked to the nearest food stand, trying not to laugh as he felt the tension from his stalker drop.
"Do you sell meats here?" Naruto asked the vender.
"Yeah, how much and what kind do ya want?" the man asked with a bit of an accent.
"About a three pound roast," Naruto replied. The man nodded and handed the meat to him. Naruto thanked and paid him, then put the meat in his bag, before continuing on his merry way.
He went to a local fruit vender and began to browse the citrus fruits. The vender came out. Sasuke and Sakura were on the roof of a nearby house, Sakura not even caring that Sasuke wasn't talking to her at all. She was just happy to be near him without him pushing her away. They looked down to where Naruto was looking at the citrus fruits.
"Hey! You sell limes?" Naruto asked when the vender came over.
"Yes, but not to you!" the vender yelled, attracting the people's attention. 'Nope, not a friendly vender.' Naruto sighed and began to walk away.
"You little demon brat! Don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!" the angry man yelled.
"Yeah you should be more polite!" someone yelled.
"Yeah!" others agreed. Someone threw a tomato at him, which he dodged, but he waited until the last minute to do so, making it look like he dodged by pure luck.
"Get him!" shouted someone from the crowed. Immediately, people started throwing things at him from all angles. Naruto dodged all of them easily, which seemed to anger the people even more. When he saw a lemon being thrown, it gave him an idea.
"OH NO! NOT THE LEMONS AND LIMES!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.
He could hear the fox snickering as the people began to throw the sour fruits. Naruto jumped up and grabbed about ten lemons and ten limes before taking off. Sasuke and Sakura were not only confused but startled that Naruto had gotten away without any produce on him.
"Heh, suckers," he said to himself as he ran off, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to ponder where he went.
When Naruto got back to his apartment, he looked at the time. 'Almost 6:45. Great, gotta hurry!' Naruto grabbed a pan, turned on the oven, and began to slice up the lemons. When the oven was fully heated, he inserted the roast, along with the lemon wedges and a few spices he found laying around.
He then began peeling potatoes and sticking them in boiling water. While the potatoes were cooking, he began to work on two small salads. Once those were done, he checked the things in the oven. They still needed a few more minutes, so he went to find a blanket or sheet of some sort. Once he found a decent one, he ran back to the kitchen, blanket waving behind him. He threw the blanket on the table and put the plastic salad bowls on the blanket.
Iruka was always giving him plastic dishes, so he always had enough. He found the bowls' lids and tightly placed them on. When the potatoes were done, he quickly mashed them up, added what he needed, put them in another bowl, and placed the mashed potatoes beside the salads.
The roast was done with only fifteen minutes to spare. He grabbed two sodas out of the fridge and the candles and holders. Quickly he placed everything on the blanket, folded it up, and tied it. He made sure it was tight before bolting out the door, almost forgetting to lock it. (And yes, he turned off the oven.)
Naruto arrived at the academy at 7:59, panting. Hinata was there at the gate, pushing her fingers together nervously.
"HINATA!" he called out to her, causing her to flinch. She began to walk over to him, not to sure if she was dreaming or not.
"H-hello N-n-Naruto," she said nervously once she got to him.
"Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting too long?" Naruto asked.
"N-no, only f-five minutes." Naruto nodded and began to lead her out into the forest. It was a full moon tonight.
He led her to a small pond that had a waterfall spraying mist everywhere, which twinkled and shone in the moonlight. Naruto crouched down and began to untie his pack, and set it all out while Hinata was distracted by the scenery.
Up in a nearby tree, Sasuke and Sakura were looking for the blonde. After he took off without a trace earlier, the two had thought he might have come to the forest to train. (Well actually, Sasuke thought and Sakura just followed.)
They both saw a small glow of light and went towards it. There in the clearing stood Naruto lighting the second candle. He had food spread out all around. Hinata shakily sat down, and Sakura resisted the urge to let out a girlish squeal.
"Ok, we'll start with the salad, ok?" Naruto asked, opening the containers and handing her a soda. Hinata nodded and began to eat. 'Mmmm, lilacs, I wonder how he knew? Maybe he really likes me too?' At the thought Hinata blushed.
'Now, let's see if we can't bring her out of her shell.' "Can I have the rabbit yet? You promised yesterday..." the fox began to whine. 'Fine,' Naruto sighed.
"Hinata, I'll be right back, I need to go to the bathroom," Naruto stated as he got up. 'Why are those two still following me?' Naruto went far enough away that he should be out of earshot of the others and began doing seals.
When he got to the last one he slammed his hand down and smoke appeared. When it cleared there stood Kyuubi; although he only had one of his tails, he was still as tall as Naruto's waist.
"There you go, enjoy. Oh, and please don't bring a dead carcass back with you, ok?" Naruto whispered and turned to go back to Hinata.
When he got back he saw Hinata still shyly nibbling on the salad. Naruto sat down again and began to eat. Hinata seemed to blush more and more with each bite.
After they were both done with the salad Naruto gave her the mashed potatoes and some of the roast. Hinata thanked him for it and slowly began to take her first bite.
"Wow! T-this is r-really g-good!" Hinata said, louder than expected. She began to shovel the food in even faster than Naruto.
She stopped halfway through, realizing what she had done. "I'm glad you like it," he said. She looked up at Naruto as if to apologize, but he just had a happy smile on his face. She had globs of food everywhere below her nose. A small glob of potatoes fell off her and onto the grass.
'Now there's the girl I married!' Naruto thought. Naruto then began to laugh, causing Hinata to blush.
"I-I'm s-sorry" she said quietly. Naruto stopped laughing and handed her a napkin.
"Don't apologize, I like seeing you with more confidence."
Sasuke was making disgusted faces at the couple. He was like a little kid watching his parents kiss. Sakura was the opposite. She had to hold her hand over her mouth to keep from "Awwing". 'Who knew Naruto could be so romantic?' she thought. The only reason Sasuke didn't run from Sakura and her scariness was because he knew if he moved they would definitely be spotted.
The rest of the night was spent by Naruto asking yes or no questions and Hinata shaking her head or nodding. When the candles burned dry they packed up to leave. By the end of the evening when Hinata spoke she stuttered less, which was a good sign.
They parted ways once out of the forest. Naruto went home, not even a bit worried about the fox. When he ran out of available energy the freed part of his spirit would just come back to him, while the body poofed out of existence.
Kyuubi being able to move in the outside world was a plus from merging. He still couldn't be freed without killing Naruto and thus killing him, but this would do for the time being. Their spirits were intertwined. The shock of suddenly having no demonic energy in his body would kill Naruto. However, since the fox had merged his power with him, he would never loose all the demonic energy, thus weakening the seal.
They were both slowly working to untwine their spirits so the fox didn't need to rely on him as much. Naruto let out a sigh as he got to the apartment. He slowly dragged himself up the stairs, into his night wear and into his bed.
Meanwhile Sasuke was contemplating why he was following the idiot in the first place. All such contemplation became lost, however, as Sakura started talking about how cute the two were together. He literally had to shove her in the door of her house then run like mad just to be rid of her. 'Life was so much easier when girls thought guys had cooties.'
Naruto awoke the next morning when the light came into the open window. Naruto blinked out of sync as his eyes finally began to focus. He sat up with one eye half open and looked at the taped up alarm clock. It was a half hour before he had to meet with his team at the training grounds.
He went through his morning routine and replaced the genjutsu before slowly heading off. He got there early so he could set up his traps. He finished just as his teammates came into the training grounds. They stood over by the logs for about an hour before Naruto decided to take a nap.
"Just wake me up when he comes," Naruto yawned as he took about twenty steps, circled his spot twice, then laid down for a nap. 'Kyuubi?' "What?" 'Can you hold the genjutsu for me while I sleep?' "Yes I can, not for too long, but long enough for that lazy ass teacher to get here. Hope he likes what we prepared for him." Naruto laughed in his mind before thanking the giant Kitsune and then closing off his mind to sleep.
Three hours later when Kakashi showed up, he was facing the three stumps. Noticing no one was there, he began to look around. He spotted his students sleeping on one another in a pile behind him. He woke them up by yelling at them all quite loud. They woke up with a jump.
All three yawned before standing. "Ok so now that I have your attention I'll explain, you will try to take these bells from me," he held up 2 silver bells, "and the one who doesn't get one will be tied to the post and not given any lunch; then that person will go back to the academy," he said.
"You have until noon to get a bell, alright?" 'Argh!' I didn't have dinner either.' Sakura thought. 'Damn I knew I should have eaten' Sasuke thought. 'Ha I ate breakfast this time nyah!' Naruto thought.
"Go!" Immediately Sasuke and Sakura jumped off into a tree, but Naruto just stood there for a minute. He yawned then leisurely walked away. Kakashi raised an unseen eyebrow then began to charge, hoping to force his student to run.
Naruto stopped, turned to his teacher, blinked, then realized what was going on with a yell.
"GAK! NOT READY! Still sleepy..." he said, ducking as the teacher's kick flew over his head.
"You must always be ready for anything," Kakashi lectured as he took out his little orange book.
'Perfect,' Naruto thought as he charged with only one objective: get that book. Kakashi watched the boy out of the corner of his eye. 'Hmm, interesting... his steps are evenly apart, meaning he has had a lot of training.' Naruto made a purposely sloppy punch at Kakashi's head. 'Yet his attacks are sloppy, almost like he's doing it on purpose... oh well.'
Kakashi quickly slipped behind Naruto, who noticed immediately. "Keep your eyes on your opponent, and never turn your back to them." Kakashi stated. 'Ha ha! Revenge!' he thought as he initiated his plan. Kakashi wrapped his hands around his book with his pointer and middle finger still up. He brought his hands back and...
Shoved them up Naruto's ass. In the trees Sakura and Sasuke almost face faulted at the sight. Kakashi pushed his hands upwards, sending Naruto flying with a yell. "1000 YEARS OF PAIN!" he shouted "AGHHHH!" Naruto yelled as he went flying.
However Kakashi's triumph was short lived. As he went back to read his book he had a very, very unpleasant feeling. "You should take your own advice," Naruto said from behind Kakashi. Naruto gave an evil smirk as he sent Kakashi flying with his own move.
"1000 YEARS OF PAIN RIGHT BACK AT YA!" Naruto yelled.
After Kakashi had left the ground, he put his hands back, covering his very, very sore butt. Of course in doing so he dropped his little orange book.
Naruto's plan had worked. He had used a replacement jutsu with a clone. While Kakashi was busy taking care of the clone, he had gotten behind him. His teammates came out from hiding with a disturbed look on their faces. 'Caught him by surprise,' they both thought walking over.
Naruto grinned. "We obviously can't beat him," Sakura said, hanging her head. "Yeah, that's why we need to team up!" Naruto said. "But either way, at least one of us will fail," Sasuke said simply. "Would you rather all of us fail?" Naruto asked logically.
The two shook their heads. "Right, so this is what we're going to do." Naruto began to tell his teammates his plan. When he was done he looked at their faces. Their expressions had a mix of 'pfft, yeah right, that will never work' and 'heh heh, this sounds like fun.' Sasuke even had an evil smirk.
They set it up (although Naruto had his part up already), and began waiting, knowing that their silver-haired teacher would come back for his precious book. They heard a rustle and, sure enough, Kakashi appeared with his head down, looking for the book.
He continued walking but stepped on a trip wire. A bucket of glue and feathers dumped on him. The glue Naruto had stolen from the academy on the way to the grounds. The feathers were from Kyuubi's pheasant feast.
Sakura jumped out, attempting to snag the bells, but missed since Kakashi could still see. However, Kakashi side-stepped onto another "prank." Eggs flew from all angles; since it caught him by surprise to get another trap so close to the last, all of them hit him.
Why eggs and not perhaps pie? Or instead something pointy you may ask? Naruto explained to the others that they didn't want to kill their teacher, only get the bells; however, it was actually a well-known fact to Naruto that Kakashi hated raw eggs. He had told him in the future when they had to help out on a farm.
He hated raw eggs because his parents wanted him to become a strong man. Unfortunately for the young Kakashi, they heard that drinking ten raw eggs a day was a good way to do that.
"OH GOD NO!" Kakashi screamed. "NO MORE EGGS!" With that he ran off with his students close behind.
Kakashi ran straight to where Naruto was hiding. Naruto jumped out, stopping the teacher in his tracks. "I knew you reminded me of someone, now I know who," he said, looking deep in thought. Sasuke and Sakura had caught up to the teacher and were ready to pounce.
"Oh?" Naruto asked somewhat curiously.
"With these pranks I mean," Kakashi sighed while Naruto's eyes lit up. He began to flash through seals that Kakashi recognized oh too well. 'And he's found his fathers prank jutsu scroll too?' Kakashi thought, scared and surprised.
Naruto stopped on a ram seal, then brought his hands to him mouth and took a deep breath in. 'The hell? He knows a fire jutsu too? Damn him!' But Sasuke's thought fell away as silly string shot out of his mouth instead of flames.
Kakashi's eye twitched but when he wiped off his face he caught sight of his book lying on the ground, by a tree. He went over to pick it up but he was caught in a noose around his foot and lifted into the tree. Naruto walked over and grabbed the bells off of Kakashi then smirked and said, "When the bait is obvious, don't take it."
Naruto tossed the bells to his teammates. "But if you give us both, you won't pass!" Sakura said. Kakashi was now down from the rope and walked over to them. Naruto stood with his team and waited.
"Good job, you all pass!" he said a little too happily, considering that his head as well as most of his upper body was covered in feathers and glue.
"What? But Naruto gave me and Sasuke the bells!" Sakura said, surprised.
"Yes that is true; however, in a round about way, you all got your hands on a bell. Naruto was the one who took them from me, but he then passed them to you two. The object was teamwork, which you obviously have. These traps were quite elaborate. Do you get it?" The three nodded. "Good, now I'm going to take a long hot shower and I'll see you all in the morning. We'll meet at that red bridge at about seven."
"You better not be late or I'll egg you again!" Naruto said, causing Kakashi to cringe.
He poofed away with a shudder, thinking 'I don't even want to know how he found out about that.'
"WHAT KIND OF BIG MASTER PLAN WAS THAT?" Sakura screamed.
"It worked, didn't it?" Naruto replied
"You said you were going to distract him and make him see the book," Sasuke said coldly.
"Yeah, and I did it through the power of pranks!" Naruto protested.
"You are so immature!" Sakura screeched.
"Yes, I know. But you're only young once! But immaturity is forever!" he replied metaphorically.
"Dumbass," Sasuke muttered. Naruto just rolled his eyes and began to walk away. 'Plan worked! They don't suspect a thing! They didn't even ask about the silly string jutsu!' "Yay. I'm going to sleep now..."
He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Sasuke. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Fight me." Sasuke said simply. Naruto sighed; he heard the fox laughing "So much for them not suspecting anything." 'Shut up. I thought you were going to sleep?' "Can't reply to that, I'm sleeping."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine."