Thank you all for the reviews and continued support of reading this story. I don't really have any news for this chapter, just, you know, read it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
It had been a month since Sakura officially became part of Team 3. She knew it would be tough getting back into the swing of things... but this was ridiculous! Everyday for the past month Naruto would push her to the limit and beyond. She would end everyday on all fours trying to catch her breath and having sweat come off her in waves. Today was no exception, the sun was setting washing the members of Team 3 in a nice warm glow.
'Holy shit!' Sakura thought.
"Wh... What the he... hell?!" she wheezed.
Today's training was exceptionally brutal. Naruto had decided that they were getting too relaxed with the training and had them run the perimeter of Konoha twenty times. After that he made them do two hundred one handed vertical push-ups with each hand. She was feeling lightheaded and her vision would blur in and out. Naruto's sandals came into view as he crouched down in front of her.
"You okay?" he asked.
She looked up and saw concern in his eyes, a warmth washed over her. It was nice to know that he still worried for her, she smiled and nodded her head.
"Are you sure?" he asked again.
"Yeah... Ju-just have to get used to this again." she smiled at him.
He smiled and went to ruffle her hair, only to pull his hand back. "Nasty."
He wiped the sweat on her sleeve. "You're absolutely sure though? I could make sure you get-
"Naruto-sensei." Keiko said.
The blonde man looked over at her. "We'll look after Sakura-san."
"But-
"Just go Naruto-sensei... she's waiting." Hitomi said.
"... Yeah." he said and stood up. "Thanks you two, I owe you one."
He waved at them as he walked towards the village. Now Sakura was curious, who was waiting? Hitomi touched her shoulder to get the woman's attention.
"Here Sakura-san." she said and handed her a water bottle.
"You had that this whole time?!" Keiko yelled at her sister.
"Yes...? What's the big deal?" Hitomi asked.
"Look at Sakura-san! Why didn't you give that to her sooner?!" she yelled again.
Hitomi blushed and looked down. "Okay, sorry about that Sakura-san."
Sakura waved her off as she gulped down that water. "It's fine... Oh that is so good!"
The two girls giggled at the grown woman's reaction, a satisfied sigh passed her lips as she gave the water bottle back to Hitomi. She looked at the girls as they made their preperations to go back home.
"Um, Hitomi, Keiko?" she asked.
"Yes Sakura-san?" they asked in unison.
"Is Naruto always this friendly?" she questioned. "I mean- not to sound vain or anything, but, I did ignore him for a good nine years so..."
"Mmhm!" Hitomi smiled. "Naruto-sensei told us all about that the other day."
"R-really?" now she was a bit nervous as to what Naruto had told them.
"He doesn't mind." Keiko began.
"How can he not mind?" Sakura cut her off.
"He still feels the tension though... thank you for letting me finish." Sakura blushed. "It's just who Naruto-sensei is, he's always been this friendly."
Sakura put her head down. "But Naruto still feels the tension huh?... Great."
"But, you're the one creating it." Keiko said.
Sakura looked back up to see the girl. "What?"
"Naruto-sensei doesn't mind that you did what you did." Hitomi said. "As far as he's concerned, you two are still friends. He's just really busy, taking us on missions or training, that takes up a lot of his time. And after that he has to give a full report to Tsunade-sama... he really doesn't have any free time."
"Oh..." that would explain why she never got a chance to talk to him.
Sakura leaned back onto her rear to get comfortable. "So... Hitomi. Earlier you said that, she was waiting, who's she?" the two girls looked at eachother.
"It's... not exactly our place to say..." Keiko trailed off.
"Do you two know if Naruto has had women in his life?" Sakura asked.
"What like a girlfriend?" Hitomi asked.
"No! Like an aunt!" Keiko growled at her sister.
"Don't growl at me you-
"Um girls?" Sakura tried to break up the yelling.
They looked back at Sakura and remembered the original question. Once again they looked at eachother only this time Keiko gave a nervous shrug. "Naruto-sensei, is probably gonna get angry, has had three women over the past so many years."
'Three? Good for hi- wait had?' Sakura thought.
"What happened to them?" she asked. "Did they break up or something?"
"It's not our place to tell you... in fact, like Keiko just said, Naruto-sensei is going to be angry at us." Hitomi said. "If you really want to know more. You'll have to ask him, and even then he probably won't tell you."
Sakura nodded. "Well, thank you for telling me that much at least."
The girls nodded before walking back towards Konoha too. Sakura decided to stay there until the girls were out of sight, she needed time to think. She knew it was wrong to ask his students about his personal life but, she was certain his lips were sealed when it came to that.
"Guuuuh!" she sighed out. "Where would he be?... No, by the way he left, he probably wants to be alone. Maybe tomorrow I can sit him down and talk."
She nodded and stood up to go back towards the village. She decided to take the long way home and stroll through the market place. Waving to the friendly shopkeepers she picked up a few things before going home, after her bit of shopping she was in a good mood. Of course, the universe couldn't let that happen, she turned the corner and saw them. Sasuke and Kaede, hand in hand, smiling, smiling! In Sasuke's free hand was a bag of groceries and Kaede's free hand rested on her very noticeable baby bump. Sakura stopped and watched them, she knew it was wrong, they were so happy together. All the years she was with Sasuke he had never smiled like that, her heart clenched at the sight. Small tears formed in the corner of her eyes, all the feelings she had thought were buried bubbled to the surface. Knowing she wouldn't be able to stand it anymore she turned around and ran home.
Naruto made his way towards the graveyard. A sad smile came upon his lips as he kneeled next to the grave stone, her father had pulled some strings so she wasn't just another name etched on that memorial stone. He reached up and took off his forehead protector before placing it on the grave. He closed his eyes and placed his hands together with the palms flat, fingers facing up. For the longest time he just kneeled there in comfortable silence before one lone tear trailed down his cheek.
"I miss you." he said.
He lowered his hands to his knees and took in a shaky breath.
"I'm... sorry it took me so long. I've got a new student and she requires more time than the others." he continued. "... I have no idea why she's on active duty again... I, for the most part, have remained friendly to her. I took your advice, I let it go. You were right... Heh, you were always right. There's no reason to be mad at her anymore, she made her choice... then you helped me make mine."
He sat there as silence came over him again. A few gusts of wind blew his hair and making some of the leaves roll across the ground. His hands clenched the material of his pants, almost ripping them. He looked up again and found it to be dark already.
"I have to go... I love you." he whispered.
He stood up and retireved his headband. Not bothering to put it back on he just stuffed it into his pocket. With one last sigh he trailed a finger over the name carved into the headstone before walking away. The small amount of dirt fell away making the name unobstructed for all.
Hyuuga Hinata
When Sakura got home she unloaded her groceries and made her way to the shower. She stripped down to nothing and without waiting for the water to be just right stepped right into the shower. She let the water run down her body and between the dips and bends of her natural curves. She finally let the dam break and let the tears fall. At least in the shower her tears mixed in with the water making them unnoticable. After the sadness left her, the expected anger washed over her. She cranked the shower knobs and stomped out of the shower. Picking up her towel she furiously dried herself off before changing into her pajamas and going to bed.
The next morning when she woke up she was still angry but went through her usual morning routine and stomped down to the team meeting area. All three other members of Team 3 were quiet to the point of depressing. Naruto decided to put them through some more intense training. Shuriken dodging, jutsu training all the while running the perimeter of Konoha with Naruto doing the shuriken throwing. Keiko and Hitomi, as expected, easily dodged the shuriken and were able to stay ahead of Naruto. Sakura, whose mind was still plagued with anger, caught a few shuriken in the legs but healed them quickly. She would fall behind Naruto forcing her to run faster only to fall behind again.
"Sakura! Pick it up!" he ordered.
"Bite me!" she yelled at him.
He would continue to call her out on the sloppy job she was doing, only to have her bite back. As Naruto called jutsu for them to use Keiko and Hitomi would quickly go through the handsigns while Sakura's hands would slip every now and again. Eventually Naruto sighed and had them all jump down to rest. The three Kunoichi stood infront of the quiet Jounin waiting for their next assingment.
"Keiko, Hitomi... You two can be done for the day." Naruto said.
"Naruto-sensei-
"Go... Now." he ordered.
The two girls gulped and quickly took off from the training field, leaving an angry Sakura and a quiet Naruto.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.
"None of your business!" she growled at him.
"You're being sloppy with your training, you're bringing unneeded stress into our team." he said. "It is my business."
"Don't start with me Uzumaki." she growled.
"Don't test me Haruno..." he threatened. "I'm in a very foul mood."
"You don't know what foul is!" she yelled at him.
He walked up to her, towering over the woman, and looked down. "Are we really going to have a problem?"
Not giving him a proper answer she threw a chakra infused punch at him. He caught her punch by her forearm before it got anywhere near his face. Her eyes widened, she didn't even see his arm move. He narrowed his eyes at her then twisted her arm behind her back before slamming her into a tree face first.
"You either had a small lapse in judgement... or you are very stupid to attack me. Your Jounin commander." his low voice sent a cold shiver down her spine. "Now... explain."
"I don't have to explain anything!" she growled.
He added more pressure to her arm and she could feel the bone start to strain. "I could snap your arm in two right now. Then I could leave you here before I tell Tsunade that you are not fit for active duty. Not now, not ever. I could do so much worse than that too, I don't care right now."
"Dammit!" she growled and tried to force him off.
He pressed her harder to the tree and pressed his other hand to the back of her neck.
"Should I let you go? So you can go cry back to Sas-
"Don't you fucking say his name!" she yelled at him.
That took him off guard, that was her usual go to idea. She stopped struggling after a bit then stood there completely still. Her body started to shake as she started crying.
"... Please let me go Naruto." she sobbed. "I'm sorry."
He let go of her then took a step back. She turned around to face him and rubbed her sore arm, tears dripping off her face. Now he felt kinda bad, did he hurt her that much? Taking a tentative step towards her he reached out a hand before taking it back.
"I'm sorry... I didn't- I mean- I." she choked back a sob.
Completely ignoring the previous tension he put a warm hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, what's wrong?"
"It's not your problem Naruto." she sobbed.
"You're my friend, it is my problem." he said. "Tell me."
"Please don't do this Naruto." she sobbed again. "Don't order me to."
"I'm not ordering you as your Jounin commander." he said. "I'm asking as your friend. Please."
"... Sasuke." she started. "He... He... He left me."
"Oh... I'm sorry Sakura." he said.
"I was able to ignore the feeling while we trained at first... but yesterday." a sob broke her speech. "I saw him, with his wife!"
"His wife? I thought that-
"So did I!" she cried and threw herself at Naruto. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I just- Everything's so hectic! One day I'm fine the next I see him with her and- and-"
"Is this why you went back to active duty?" he asked and put his hand on her head.
She nodded. "I needed something to take my mind off of it."
"Why did he leave you?" he asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it." she said.
"Okay."
He gently pushed her away and wiped a couple of tears off her face. She looked up at him while wiping the last of the tears, he smiled at her and ruffled her hair.
"You can be done for the day too Sakura." he said.
"Naruto wait... Maybe now is not the best time but, do you want to go sit down and talk? You know catch up?" she asked.
"Not today Sakura, maybe tomorrow." he smiled at her.
"Oh... Okay." she said.
"And you're right, now was not the best time." he smiled.
Naruto went to his apartment to cool off after that bit with Sakura. He was not expecting her to hug him, he didn't know she was still this emotional. He was still curious as to why Sasuke left her, but in respecting her wishes did not persue it further... with her. He waited until it was sunset and made his way down to the Uchiha compound. He needed to hear the story from the man who set this all in motion. He spotted Sasuke walking along the streets of the compound by himself, most likely taking another trip down memory lane, this was the perfect time.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he jumped down.
Sasuke jumped and turned around to face Naruto, a shocked look on his face. Naruto smirked, Sasuke had let himself get sloppy.
"You're kinda jumpy buddy." he smirked.
"You trying to give me a heartattack?!" Sasuke demanded.
"I enjoy the sight of scared Uchiha's." Naruto said.
Sasuke adopted a blank look and Naruto shrugged.
"That was a joke." he said. "Anyway, come on Sasuke. Walk with me talk with me."
Sasuke gulped but went along with Naruto anyway. For the longest time Naruto just kept pace with him with his hands in his pockets. As the silence remained Sasuke got increasingly nervous, Naruto sighed with a smile.
"So, Sakura tells me you two are no longer together." and there it was.
"Yes." was Sasuke's simple reply.
"She wouldn't tell me why... how about you?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke gulped and opened his mouth. "She was unable to carry my child."
"... I see." that response scared him.
Sasuke turned his head to look at the blonde man only to be met with a fist to his jaw. He fell hard to the ground and quickly scrambled back. Naruto took a single step forward and towered over the man.
"Because you couldn't knock her up... You dumped her... for a woman who already is I assume?" Naruto said.
Sasuke nodded now scared for his life.
"You've hit an all time low Sasuke... I could damage you so much worse than that, make it so that kid is your last... You're lucky I don't think that you're worth the trouble. Now get out of here before it gets ugly." Naruto ordered.
Sasuke quickly scrambled back to his feet and ran back to his home. He couldn't believe it! Naruto, the man who could kill him in the blink of an eye, let him go! He let him go! From now on he knew it was in the best interest of his health to stay as far away from those two as possible.
Sorry that took so long but I've recently been given some sad news, nothing devastating but depressing none the less. Plus I've got this new story idea and really I wanted to get these parts of the story over with so the real parts of the story can begin. I must warn you I plan to make this a decently long story.
-Raidori