Hey, I'm sorry for the delayed update! I usually don't take this long to post, but I've been extremely busy lately.

Without further ado, here's Chapter 2 of Restoration!

.:Restoration:.

Chapter 2: Travelling

The forest was a mere blur of earthy colors to the eyes of Team Kakashi as they leapt through the branches. At this speed, speaking to one another was out of the question, so Sakura liked to take spend her travelling time thinking. The smell of the forest around her put her in a tranquil state, even while propelling herself through the air from branch to branch.

Over the woosh of the wind rushing past her ears, Sakura was able to make out the sound of a bird. Smiling, she closed her eyes, using the sound of her teammates' footfalls to determine where to land next. Her mind drifted off to the mission they were on.

They were retrieving samples a mysterious poison that Suna medics had discovered. Apparently they weren't just any Suna medics, they were a special research team that worked apart from the village itself, although their research center was located within Sunagakure. Therefore they'd want to battle her and her team before they handed it over. It was an idea with good intentions, after all, they wouldn't want to accidentally hand it over to the enemy, but Sakura couldn't help but wish that they had decided on something less troublesome.

I'm turning into Shikamaru now, she thought with an inward grin. All those days spent training with the Nara genius had inevitably caused some of him to rub off on her.

Lost in thought, Sakura didn't realize when her teammates dropped to the forest floor below and her eyes snapped open at the absence of sound. Having lost their footfalls as guides, she was now zooming twenty feet down to the ground. In a split-second reaction, her hands shot up and she grabbed hold of a heavy branch above her and she sung halfway around it, eventually planting both her feet on top. Heart pumping, she stood still, eyes searching for her teammates.

"Yo, Sakura-chan! We're over here!" Naruto's voice called. Sakura hopped down from the tree and jogged about 100 feet back to where the rest of Team Kakashi had stopped.

As she approached, Kakashi patiently asked, "What happened? Did you miss my signal?"

"I had my eyes closed, I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei." she replied with a sheepish smile.

Kakashi smiled, hands in his pockets. "It's getting dark now, so I thought we would set up camp along this river. We're right on the border of the forest and the desert, and I figured everyone would rather spend the night here than there."

"Hai." They put their packs down on the grass. Sakura began stretching her leg muscles from the dash.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, Sai, do you guys want to spar?" Naruto asked, halfway through his own hamstring stretch.

"Sure. What kind of spar do you want to do?" Sakura asked.

"How about taijutsu and ninjutsu only? None of that freaky genjutsu stuff you can do." Naruto pretended to shudder.

Sai smiled. "That's fine with me."

"Okay then! Kaka-sensei, do you want to join us?" Sakura turned to the silver-haired man.

"No thank you. I'll set up camp. Why don't you guys spar over there? There's much more space." Kakshi replied, pointing towards a nearby field. The teens nodded and walked over to the designated area.

The grass here was tall and dry and came up to about Sakura's bellybutton. It was a good thing none of them could perform fire jutsu, otherwise they might end up face-to-face with a huge wildfire. Standing in a triangle, the three took their positions and the fight began.

Deciding to take the offensive, Sakura launched herself at Naruto and was pleased to find one of Sai's ink clones alongside her. "Hey! That's not fair! You guys are teaming up on me!" Naruto shouted, laughing as he dodged a punch.

"That's a three-way spar for you, Naruto." Sai called calmly from behind. Sakura glanced back at the dark haired boy and saw him standing untouched, paintbrush and blank scroll in hand. He was letting his clone do all the fighting! Sakura turned her head back to Naruto and aimed a kick at his head. As the blond dodged it, they made eye contact and he slightly nodded.

Grabbing the foot that Sakura sent to kick his chest, Naruto created a platform using both his hands and pushed Sakura away from him, towards Sai. She twisted her body and shouted, "Cha!" while pulling her arm back. Sai's eyes widened and he ducked, the simplest form of avoiding an attack. Sakura flew right over his head and rolled in the grass to stop her fall. Once reoriented, she turned back to the fight and saw the air gather around one of Naruto's Rasengans, which was aimed at one of two ink lions Sai had created. He destroyed one of them, and with a chakra-enhanced punch, Sakura destroyed the other, sending ink spraying all over her body.

"Hey!" Sakura looked down at herself with an astonished gasp.

"Get over it Sakura-chan, you're such a girl!" Naruto laughed, him and Sai charging at her. Playfully enraged, she focused chakra into her heel and brought it down on the ground, hard. The earth beneath their feet cracked and seemed to shatter, creating a rift in the dirt that Naruto and Sai had to jump away from to prevent falling into.

That bought her some time. Sakura reached to her weapons pouch and pulled out some kunai, making sure not to use the poison-tipped ones. From the corner of her eye she saw Sai advancing on her and she threw a couple at him. He jumped up in the air and the kunai planted themselves into the ground. Sensing Naruto charging at her from the other side, Sakura realized she was stuck. They were both coming at her from opposite sides and had her trapped.

Sakura did the only thing she had left to do, which was jump back and hope that they wouldn't hit her too hard. She leapt back a few feet and, as if in slow motion, witnessed Sai and Naruto collide with "Oomph!"s. Her eyes went wide when she realized her feeble attempt at dodging their simultaneous attacks had actually worked out! Taking the only chance she'd been given to take them both out in one move, she hastily pulled out two rigged shuriken and threw them around her partners, using the threads connected to them to tie the boys together. Sakura had won the spar, and fell to the ground laughing, tears almost pouring from her eyes.

"SAI! YOU IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP! YOU'RE SO ABSENT ALL THE TIME!" Naruto yelled, struggling to get out of the threads.

"Naruto, you're the one who was absent. You didn't even notice that Sakura-chan had moved out of the way!" Sai replied. Sakura didn't catch the rest of their row because she was doubled over in laughter.

This went on for about five minutes until a deep voice said, "Good job, Sakura. But I have to ask, didn't you guys even put up a fight?"

Sakura looked up at her former sensei, wiping her eyes and calming herself down. "Hi, Kaka-sensei." she said as the boys argued over whose fault it was that they'd gotten stuck together. Deciding to put them out of their misery, Sakura plucked her kunais from the ground and put them away, but keeping one to cut the threads. Released, the guys' shouting reduced to grumbling and they all walked back to camp.

"I've still got all this ink on me…" Sakura mumbled as she tried to wipe some off of her skirt. The action only succeeded in smearing it into the fabric, making the stain worse.

Sai smiled one of his self-help-book-smiles. "I'm sorry, Sakura."

"It's okay, Sai. How did you keep the ink off of you, Naruto?" She looked curiously at her blond friend and teammate.

He put his hands behind his head in his typical nonchalant stance. "The Rasengan blows all the ink away from me."

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "Well I guess I'll be by the creek, washing this stuff out."

"I'll come with you!" Naruto declared. She smiled at him and they walked to the riverbank. Naruto sat down in the grass beside the water and Sakura took her ink-stained shirt off, leaving on her mesh shirt and bandeau-like bra on underneath. The mesh actually showed a lot of skin, but she wasn't shy around Naruto, and apparently he wasn't shy around her either since he took his jacket and shirt off, sitting there in just his orange and black pants. He lied back in the grass, looking up at the orange sky. The sun was just setting. Sakura dipped her shirt into the water and begin to scrub.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. I think we've been here before." Naruto said, poking her back. "I remember this river."

"Really?" Sakura looked up from her clothes washing at looked around, slightly squinting. Recognition crossed her face. "Oh yeah! Our last mission with Kiba and Ino, right?" Sakura smiled at the memory. They had been deployed on a simple C-class mission and on their way back to Konoha had decided to take a little 'break' that involved a bonfire, late night swimming, and laughter.

"That was a crazy night." Naruto laughed. Sakura stood up to hang her wet shirt on a nearby tree branch to dry. All the ink stains were out now.

She sighed in contentment and turned back to Naruto. He was also standing, and grinning at her. He took a step out onto the water, focusing a small amount of chakra at his feet to stand on top of the liquid. He motioned for Sakura to follow and together they walked out to the middle of the river, watching the water flow beneath them, totally undisturbed.

Standing on a river was always more exciting than standing on a lake. A ninja could watch the water rush underneath their feet. It was a peculiar sensation, and would sometimes make Sakura feel disoriented.

"I want to try something." Naruto declared, grinning. He slowly sat down on the water, then lied back. He closed his eyes and continued to smile. "Try it, it's fun!"

Hesitantly Sakura moved some chakra down her legs and bottom as she sat down. It was just like sitting down on the ground! Next she pushed the chakra to her back and head, successfully laying down beside Naruto. "See, it's easy!" he said.

They lay in silence for a little bit, watching the sky fade from orange to pink. It was getting colder, and Sakura shivered, wrapping her forearms around her stomach. Kind as always, Naruto took notice, reached for his discarded jacket and handed it to Sakura. They smiled at each other and lied back down, Sakura using the orange and black jacket as a blanket for her upper half. It smelled like Naruto, and she buried her nose into the collar. The smell of him made her feel cozy and safe and at home. He was always her rock, there when she needed him, or anyone for that matter.

She thought about the promise he made her five years ago. Naturally her mind drifted directly to Sasuke, and she decided to take a leap. "Do… Do you ever think about Sasuke-kun?" she asked quietly, hoping her words wouldn't disrupt anything.

"Of course." Naruto whispered back. It was the first time in a long time that she had heard him talk about Sasuke without aggression. "I haven't forgotten about my promise either."

"But he'd changed Naruto. He's not the same Sasuke as before. You remember, don't you?"

He turned to his side towards Sakura. Green and blue eyes connected. "I know how he looked that day, but trust me, Sakura, the old Sasuke is still there somewhere. He's just… preoccupied right now. I won't let my promise go. He'll come back to the village, no matter what." His resolve was so strong that Sakura had nothing to respond to.

They lied there, Naruto reaching his hand into the water to play with fish swimming under their bodies, Sakura looking at a tree just above Naruto's temple. A thud sounded at the edge of the river and the two teens lifted their heads, startled.

Kakashi held his hands up. "Calm down, it's just me." Relieved, the two stood up and walked over to their former sensei. "Come back to camp now." From behind his back he produced a blanket and handed it to Sakura, who accepted it and returned Naruto's jacket. Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, she grabbed her damp shirt and they walked through the bushes towards the fire that Sai was getting started.

The ink user blew gently on the sparking embers, urging the small flame to catch the logs. He was successful, and the four sat around the fire, snaking on packets of dried food. The sun had not set yet, so there was still light, but the team welcomed the heat from the flames.

"Great spar today, Naruto and Sakura." Sai spoke up. That reminded Sakura of the kunais she'd thrown, and she pulled her weapons pouch in front of her, opening the clasp.

"Yeah, it was fun! I forgot; I have to rewrap these." The pinkette extracted three certain kunai from her pouch and a roll of wraps. Thrusting them into the ground pointy end down, she began to undo the white fabric around the grips.

"Sakura, are those the poisoned ones?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No, these are normal kunai. I did bring poison though, just in case I ran out of the poison-prepared ones."

"Sakura, you should just dip all of them. Us three don't have any poison kunai, so you don't have to carry normal ones around." Kakashi suggested.

Sakura tilted her head to the side, thinking. "Actually, I think I'll tie exploding tags to these three. I could use some explosive power." She unwrapped the third kunai.

Naruto laughed. "Like your personality isn't explosive enough!" he joked. She shot him a glare.

"Watch it, baka!" The goofy look on Naruto's face prevented her from being mad much longer, and she melted into a smile, rolling her eyes.

Kakashi stood up. "Naruto, Sai, go get some more firewood. I'll start the first guard shift." They simultaneously jumped away, leaving Sakura alone, continuing the task of rewrapping her kunais.

Naruto had still not gotten over the promise he'd made. Getting Sasuke back to the village was still his ultimate goal. There probably wasn't anything in the world that could get him to abandon that goal. He'd known Sasuke himself, so it wasn't just Sakura who wanted him back home. Naruto wanted Sasuke in Konoha just as much as she did.

But what if he did come back? Was he so changed that adjusting to normal life would be impossible? And say he was able to adjust. Would things be the same as they were before? There was no way to tell, and it might not even happen in the first place. How would Naruto feel later on in life if he was never able to fulfill his promise and his goal? Would—

Sakura's thoughts were pulled away by a rustle in a bush not far from their camp. Her head shot up and her fingers quickly tied the knot that would secure an exploding tag to one of her kunais.

Her eyes strained to see the source of the noise; perhaps it was an animal and she was just being paranoid. Suddenly she saw two red dots in the bush, blinking. Were those… eyes?

Without thinking and as quick as a flash, her fingers closed around her completed exploding kunai and with a flick of her wrist sent it flying straight to one of the red dots. She saw the kunai lodge itself into the ground, the tag ignite, and heard the explosion. When her eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light, Sakura watched the bushes and felled trees burn in a circle around the melting metal lump that was her kunai.

He view was blocked by a leg. That leg belonged to Kakashi, who stood protectively in front of her, having rushed over from his post when he heard the explosion. "What's wrong?" He asked severely. She looked up at him and saw him holding three shuriken between his fingers and his own kunai in his other hand. "Sakura, no one's there. There isn't a chakra signature." It was true. Sakura couldn't sense any chakra besides hers and Kakashi's (and faintly Naruto's and Sai's), meaning no one else but her team was in the vicinity within the last 12 hours. But she was so sure those were eyes!

He relaxed from his stance and put his weapons back into his pouch, turned around and squatted in front of his pink-haired teammate and looked her in the eyes. "What did you see?" Sakura noticed that he had his Sharingan uncovered. Looking into the red and black eye, she understood. Those were Sharingan I saw in that bush. But there wasn't anyone there, not even a chakra signature. Maybe she was going mad.

She shook her head and said, "Nothing. I heard some rustling. It was probably a rabbit or something." Kakashi eyed her doubtfully, recovering his Sharingan.

"What's going on!" Naruto shouted, him and Sai landing on the ground, arms cradling logs of firewood.

Not taking his eyes away from Sakura's face, Kakashi said, "Nothing. Sakura thought she heard something, but there's nothing there. Did you get the firewood?" His attempt to change the subject worked, and the boys dumped the logs into the fire. Kakashi proceeded to perform a water jutsu on the explosion site, putting out the fire before it got out of hand. The boys sat down and ate some more dried food.

Sakura shuddered. She was sure she'd seen Sharingan eyes in that bush, and Kakashi didn't believe her when she'd blown it off. He knew she'd seen something, but Sakura was grateful he wasn't the type to pry. If they weren't in danger, then whatever she saw – or thought she saw – wasn't pertinent to their mission.

Looking over at Naruto, who was feasting on some dried oats and cranberries, she was glad he was so easily distracted. It would not have been good if he'd known she saw Sharingan eyes near their camp. There was only one person they knew with two uncovered Sharingans, and the last thing they needed was the blond spending a sleepless night searching for their owner, especially if there wasn't even anyone there.

Just this once, she would keep something secret from Naruto.

Again, forgive me for the wait, and thanks for reading! :]

Review, review, review! Thanks :]