Chapter Three – Last Day Of Peace

Naruto woke up in the moment the sun started to rise in Konoha. He had his breakfast and went out for some walk at the Garden of Konoha, in the south part of the village. There was no one else there and he could breath some fresh air and enjoy the view. He later relaxed by putting his feet into the river and feeling the cold water flowing. A young and energetic man dressed in a green kimono and wood sandals started to cross the bridge and Naruto recognized the man, Rock Lee, one

of the most skilled swordsman in all the Land of Fire. He waved to him and Lee returned with a smile, he accelerated his pace until reach Naruto and then took out his wood sandals and immersed his feet into the cold water.

"Ah, how relaxing!" Lee said in pleasure as he felt the flow of the river.

"Yeah, this is almost a meditation." Naruto said smiling.

"It's a nice day isn't it Naruto-kun? Unfortunately we won't be having any more days like this for a while..."

"All thanks to this war..."

"Tonight I am working as yojimbo for Neji-san. I came here to relax and practice a little."

"At least you'll be helping with the war. All I can do is sit and pray for our victory." the blonde lied. Almost everyone in the village thought he was a simple ramen shop employee, but his whole in the war would be one of the greatest, but he knew he would not win this alone and that each person helping would bring them to victory, and not him alone.

"When I get into battle, I will defeat enemy for both us then!" Naruto laughed and Lee too.

"Thanks Lee. I will let you eat a free ramen every week if you do that."

"Really Naruto-kun!"

"Sure."

"Alright! Then I will be training really hard to do defeat many!" Naruto started to laugh once more with the energetic swordsman.

"Alright Lee, so I will be going for now. Good luck with your training. See you." With that Naruto stood up and started to cross the bridge.

"Okay Naruto-kun,I'll see you around!" Lee took his katana and started to practice as soon as Naruto left. He started to cut the air with different attacks and moved like there was invisible enemies surrounding him. 'I will show everyone my skill and I will be recognized as a great swordsman I will let Gai-sensei proud. Just watch Gai-sensei!' Lee thought as he kept cutting the air.

Naruto started to walk to the north part of the village, crossing the center he could see that the streets were almost empty. People were so worried with this war that many refused to leave the safety of their homes and so the streets got less active. Naruto liked it that way. He preferred to walk without all that noise and agitation, it was easier, more relaxing and he could find people and places he wanted much easier . The first place he wanted to make a stop was the Weapons Shop owned by TenTen. He soon found the place an entered to see a girl one year older than him carrying a heavy box. She was dressed in a red and white traditional Chinese dress. She was not facing him and got surprised as he took the heavy box out of her hands and smiled

"Want some help miss?"

"Yes, thanks Naruto! You can put this one on that corner." Naruto did as she said

"So TenTen... have you got many clients today?"

"Yes, some hours ago many people came here and bought a lot of swords and knifes. Either they bought to friends who are afraid to leave home or to their whole family. Well...this war is surely scaring many people..."

"Yes... it is...?"

"So...you need anything Naruto? Or you just came here to see me?"

"Well...both." he laughed. "I need something to sharp blades."

"Hmm... I will have some finer grains of polishing stones here that you could use to do that..."

"I will take them." Naruto said handing the money to TenTen. She went inside a room and came back with a small sack.

"Here it is Naruto. But be careful not to cut your fingers while trying to sharp!"

"Alright TenTen! Thank you. See you." he said smiling and TenTen smiled back as she waved to him to say goodbye.

Naruto's next stop wasn't so far from there. It was the Yamanaka Flower Shop. The shop was really famous around the Land of Fire, and it had recently moved to the village, as the owner, Yamanaka Inoichi went there to buy a new house. Naruto had never been there, so he thought of going there and give it a look. As he entered the shop he could see all the beautiful flowers and smell their fragrance. He started to look them closely but it was soon interrupted by a woman's voice.
"You need anything handsome?" Naruto turned to see a woman of his age, wearing a purple kimono. Like him, she had blue eyes and blond hair. Her hair was long enough to reach her waist. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls in the Land of Fire

"No, I was just taking a look."Naruto said with a smile.

"I am taking care of the shop today. So anything you need you can tell me okay?"

"Alright...are you the owner of the shop?"

"I moved recently with my father, and we decided to open a shop here too. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Yes, the Yamanaka Flower Shop is pretty famous but this is the first time I have been in it. So you are the daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi huh?"

"Yes, Yamanaka Ino. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Naruto."

"Only Naruto?"

"Well, I'm an orphan, so I have no family name."

"Oh...I see..." Naruto couldn't tell anyone about his last name, he knew that the Uzumaki were famous and if people knew he was one it would compromise his identity as a ninja.

"So Ino-dono, I think I will take those roses over there." he said pointing to the roses he wanted, an Ino handed it for him as he paid her.

"Thanks Ino-dono."

"You're welcome Naruto." she said with a wink. After that Naruto went home to let his flowers and stones. He then headed to the next place he wanted to go: the Nara Residence. One of his best friends in Konoha lived there, Nara Shikamaru, who was a highly skilled strategist and a very intelligent man, the smarter in all of the Land of Fire, or even in the world. He would go there to pay a visit as it could be the last day he would be free to do it. In the way he met two of his best friends, Kiba and Shino. Kiba was dressed in a dark brown kimono with the symbol of the Inuzuka clan on it's sleeves and Shino was dressed in a light green kimono with the Aburame clan symbol on it's back. Shino was also wearing a long and black piece of cloth that covered his mouth and also his hands, like fingerless gloves, and he was also wearing black glasses. Both were highly skilled swordsman. Naruto called both of them to go and see Shikamaru, and have lunch after. Both agreed as they were tired of the intensive practice they had during the morning. When they finally arrived at Nara Residence, they called Shikamaru. The lazy young genius said good bye to his parents and so he started to walk with Naruto and his friends. They stopped at the first restaurant they saw. Many restaurants were closed that day. As they entered they could see the place almost empty, with only a few clients for a large space. They took a comfortable place to sit and soon they ordered an yakitori,which was the restaurant's main food. Soon, they began to talk.

"Hope you have a lot of food at your house Shikamaru." Kiba said grinning.

"Why Kiba?"

"I will be working as a bodyguard for your family along with other soldiers tonight."

"So you were the one who my mother contracted? Well... at least we have someone we trust to guard us..."

"No worries Shikamaru! I won't fail you!" Kiba said raising his thumb.

"I'll be working as a bodyguard too." Shino said.

"Really? For who?" asked a curious Kiba.

"For Chouji..."

"So you will be guarding a samurai general right? That means you will have to go to Gamaken Fortress right?"

"No, that's Neji-san's fortress. Chouji's fortress is Gamahiro Fortress..."

"Lee said he was going to work as a bodyguard to Neji." Naruto said to them.

"Well, I don't know if it is good luck or bad luck to be guarding a samurai general... I mean... Neji-san is extremely skilled! Lee won't have to do much...but I will have all the fun for myself!" Kiba said smiling.

"How can you think like that? To handle a lot of enemies is too troublesome...it's better if the person you're guarding can defend herself...unfortunately, I can't..." Shikamaru said with a lazy tone on his voice.

"Yeah, Shikamaru is right...if the person I am guarding is skilled I don't feel so worried about sacrificing myself in order to defend her." Shino said.

"Okay guys...but I was thinking about changing the subject..." Kiba got everyone's attention saying that "have you seen the daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi, the owner of Yamanaka Flower Shop?"

"I have met her today Kiba, when I went buying some flowers." Naruto answered.

"Why do you ask Kiba?" Shikamaru asked.

"She is really hot!" Kiba answered with enthusiasm.

"And you are really perverted." Shino said.

"Come on Shino! You only say that cause you haven't seen her! She's amazing!"

"I agree that she is really beautiful...but not the kind of girl I like." Naruto said.

"Well, when this war is over, maybe I'll get to know her better..." Kiba said with perverted thoughts.

"Good thing you know what is your priority..." Shikamaru said mocking him

"Here it is!" a man came and place their food on the table. It looked and smelled so good that they forgot about everything they were talking and started to eat with taste. After they finally finished their meal they would talk a bit more and finally each one would follow their way. Shino would go to Gamaken Fortress and get there before the night. Shikamaru would come back to his house and Kiba would go home to prepare and then go to Nara Residence. Naruto just walked a bit more around the village, sometimes he would see some people on the streets, but only a few. Naruto knew many were nervous because of the recent war, but he knew that as the days would pass everything would come back to as it was, because it was really hard for Konoha to become a battlefield. It was almost end of afternoon when Naruto went back to the south part of the village. Something called his attention at a distance: he saw a girl with short pink hair that reached until the half of her neck. She was dressed in a red feminine kimono with white flowers figures, and it was tied in a purple ribbon. Naruto blushed at her sight but saw that she had a sad look in her eyes. He approached her but she didn't notice him. She had her feet into the war as Naruto did earlier and was staring at the water and at the cherry blossom petals that fell there.

"You should head home lady. It's almost night and it might get dangerous." Naruto said as she looked behind to see who was speaking. She just turned his head once again and began to stare at the water. Naruto took off his wood sandals and sat near her, placing his feet into the water.

"Why are you so sad lady?" Naruto asked with no response. He decided to stare at the flowing water as she was doing.

"I'm just worried..." Naruto's attention went back to her as she heard her words. "My parents are really rich merchants, they work mainly with medicine. They decided to help the Land of Fire, and received a lot of threats from other feudal lords. I'm afraid that...I'm afraid something will happen to them!" she began to cry. Naruto looked at her and soon began to talk

"Look...if you want to protect your parents you need first to be strong." he started. "Stop crying for something that didn't happen yet. Your parents surely trust the Land of Fire and all our soldiers, that's why he chose to help us right? Well, we also trust your parents to help us to win this war, and that's why we are going to protect them with our lives!" the pink haired woman stopped crying and started to face Naruto, who noticed her beautiful green eyes.

"I don't have children, but I can tell that you are really important to your parents, more than anything. If you stay strong, they will stay strong, and if you cry, they'll cry. So smile, so they can smile too! I'm sure they will work with much more dedication if they know that their work is making you happy and proud instead of worried and sad, and they will do anything to keep your smile!" Naruto said with a big smile on his face, which got even bigger after he saw the girl smiling.

"Thank you. You really cheered me up!" she said as Naruto blushed slightly.

"So what is your name?"

"Naruto. And yours?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Well, pleased to meet Sakura-dono!"

"Me too Naruto." both smiled.

"So your family just changed to Konoha right?"

"Yes, we got here last night with an urgent call from lady Tsunade. Konoha is the best place in Land of Fire, because it is easy to transport things to any place in the whole land."

"True. So...are you liking the village?"

"Well, I wasn't. I don't know anyone here, only a few members from the Hyuuga Clan that I couldn't meet yet. Know that I met you I'm starting to like." Naruto blushed.

"W-well, thanks."

"So, what you usually do to have fun here?"

"Well, I come here to the garden to relax, and sometimes I walk with my friends around town."

"Someday call me to walk with you, I would like to know the village better." Sakura said with a smile.

"I will Sakura-dono! Although it will get a little bit hard to walk around the village this days..."

"I know, thanks to this war..." Sakura started to take a good look at Naruto who was paying attention to the river.

"Naruto, are you a samurai?" Naruto got really surprised with her question and turned to her fast.

" You look really healthy, and your body looks well built. You look to have a scar on your chest..."

Naruto who was blushing looked down at his chest and noticed that his kimono was open enough to reveal a part of a scar he gained in combat during the last war. He closed his kimono and tried to think of an excuse.

"T-this body is...well...because I...walk everyday! And this scar I...well...huh...I...eh...made it when I was running and fell over a rock!" 'Damn, you Naruto! She will never fall for that!'

"Oh I see! I really thought you were a samurai!" 'Did he really think I would fall for that?'

"So, Sakura-dono, it's getting late. I better take you home."

"Sure."she replied with a smile. Naruto helped her to stand up and they begun to walk. Naruto couldn't take his eyes out off Sakura during the whole way, she was stunningly beautiful, like none other he had ever seen. Her hair, her eyes, her body, her smell, he like everything about her. They reached a large gate, and Sakura turned to him.

"I live here."

"Wow! It is really big..."

"Not at all, it is much smaller than my last residence..."

'She wasn't kidding when she said her parents were rich...' Naruto thought.

"Well, good night Naruto, hope to see you soon." Sakura said

"Bye Sakura-dono. " He said as she saw her walking inside the gate and entering the main house. Before entering she gave him a last wave and smile, and he did the same. Naruto started to walk to his home, which was not far from there.

As he got home the first thing he did was to take a bath to relax more, and then he went to the wardrobe in his room and took out a his ninja outfit and dressed it. It was all black and his ninja hood had a metal forehead protector with a whirlpool, the symbol of Uzumaki Clan, marked on it. He covered his mouth and the only exposed part of his body were his blue eyes. He took his ninjato and tied it's sheath to his body, so the ninjato would be in a horizontal position in the end of his back, with sword's handle turned to Naruto's right side. He also took some shurikens and put them inside special pockets in his ninja outfit. He went out by the window, ready to accept any mission Tsunade had for him.

Chapter Three – End

Okay! Here it is! Sorry for taking too long for updating, and remember to review and tell what you think ^^

Remember to correct any mistake you see also!

Notes:

-Yojimbo is bodyguard.

-Yakitori is traditional Japanese barbecue.