DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THIS IS JUST A FAN-MADE STORY!
"Tsubaki! Hey Tsubaki!"
It was morning and the sun shone straight through Tsubaki's window, intruding on her sleep. However, it wasn't just the sunlight that woke her...
"Tsubakiiii! Come on wake up alreadyyyy!"
"Huh?" Tsubaki moaned sleepily as she reluctantly opened her eyes. She recognised that voice instantly: Naruto Uzumaki, her fellow team member.
"Naruto..." she whispered to herself, getting off her bed and walking over to the window. She pulled up the glass pane and leaned out of it, resting her arms on the windowsill.
"There you are! Where've you been?" Naruto stood in front of her house, hands on his hips and a cheeky grin as always. The sunlight shone on his blonde hairs, making them glitter in a magnificent golden hue.
"I was sleeping, duh," she added in a lower tone.
"Kakashi sensei wants to start practice, you comin' or what? Though at the moment, I doubt you could throw a shuriken straight!" he shouted.
"Oh yeah? You wanna see?" Tsubaki giggled to herself. Naruto really knew how to put someone in a good mood. He was just like the sun, always bright and cheerful. And to add to the diction, he even wore orange everyday!
"Uuhh, n-no thanks, s-see ya!" Naruto quickly waved and took off towards the direction of the training grounds, not wanting to get pierced by a shuriken first thing in the morning.
Tsubaki yawned widely, closed her window and began taking off her ocean blue nightdress. She had grown remarkably over the past few years, and her strength and skills were at their peak. She was fifteen-years-old now, and her personality hadn't changed one bit. She was still the mischievous tomboy she had always been. One thing had changed though, her hair had grown down to her hips, giving her a touch of womanly beauty.
She was a chuunin on team 7, along with Sakura Haruno, Naruto and Sai, a recently recruited member to fill in for Sasuke Uchiha. Yes, Sasuke had been on their team, much to Naruto's deep annoyance and Sakura's extreme joy. However, as time passed, the four had grown rather close as a team, and although Naruto and Sasuke were always getting on eachother's nerves, a strong bond of friendship had developed between them. Sakura's childish crush had grown into deep love for Sasuke, and her heart was still broken to this day. Because Sasuke had left the village in search of his brother's demise. After Itachi Uchiha had massacred their entire clan, Sasuke had bore the grudge ever since. To make matters worse, an evil ninja known as Orochimaru had infected Sasuke with a curse mark, initiating an uncontrollable lust for power within Sasuke. Unable to control his desires, Sasuke fled to Orochimaru's, and was never seen or heard of again. Despite this, Naruto and Sakura had never given up on retrieving their teammate, and worked hard every single day in order to get stronger and surpass him. Their determination was admirable, and had evidently bore fruit. But Sasuke was still gone, and the last time they had come across him, he had made it clear that they meant nothing to him anymore, and had even tried to kill them.
Tsubaki had never really liked Sasuke, in fact he often got on her nerves. But since they had always been on the same team together, they had somehow gotten a bit closer as well. Still, when she saw how desperately Naruto and Sakura needed Sasuke to return, she made it a point to try her best along with them.
Wasting no time, Tsubaki began to put on her clothes: a sleeveless black shirt with a white, vertical line on the sides, a pair of beige combat trousers, black ninja shoes and her red fingerless gloves. After washing her face and combing through her long, entangled hair, she grabbed a protein bar and dashed off to the training grounds were her team awaited.
"Well surprise surprise, he's not here!" she said fifteen minutes later.
Their team's sensei, Kakashi Hatake, had a nasty habit of always arriving hours late, whatever the occasion, and today was no exception. To top it off, he always arrived with some lame excuse he came up with on the way, much to their annoyance.
"Maybe he's just caught up in something," Sai said in his calm, quiet voice.
"Yeah right! Gimme a break Sai!" Naruto kicked at the ground and continued pacing impatiently.
"Well," said Sai: "I read in a book that-"
"-Oh you and your books! You're always reading books!" Naruto snapped irritably.
"Wait, isn't that him?" Sakura pointed towards an approaching figure. As he came closer, they recognised him as their sensei, the reason for his lateness in his hands.
"Aha! You were reading that stupid book again!" Naruto pointed towards Kakashi's beloved book which he was reading for the one hundredth time this week.
"Oh, hello there," he said casually, waving at them with his book: "Sorry I'm late, I just saw this poor cat drowning in a river nearby and-"
"-GIVE US A BREAK!" they all yelled in unison.