Hey there, hi there, ho there! It's your boy, hitting y'all up with another chapter. And whew doggie, its my longest one yet. Hope all y'all are reading. Anyways, I think after I am done with this fic, I will right a GaaMatsu fic. Alright, if you have any if's and's or but's just review it to me. Peace out!

- Nate-Dawgg73

Itachi Uchiha had been ridiculed, cursed, spit on, exiled, and worst of all, he was hungry. He heard Naruto come home around 7:30. He was laying on the couch, dying of hunger. He was going to ask him for a few dollars, but he looked a little depressed, so he left him alone. He honestly thought Naruto forgot he was there. He just sat there for a while. Finally, he got up to check the kitchen for anything he could mussel up.

He found some instant ramen, but wasn't sure if it was good or not. He took the package from the cabinet, getting ready for his small meal. He was about to turn on the light, but he saw a bunch of girls at the window. He hid behind the couch to make sure they didn't see him. He recognized three of them to be Hinata, Sakura, and Ryoko. 'I wonder...'

They left shortly after, but Hinata stood there a few moments longer, a far away look in her eye, which made her look more serious. Itachi couldn't help but admire her beauty. The sun cast an orange-like glow which magnified her beauty even more so. But, this was Naruto's girl. He couldn't take Naruto's girl. And even if he tried, Hinata wouldn't fall for him. She was way to faithful to her love to Naruto to let anything like that happen.

He watched her leave with a peculiar thought in his head. What about Sakura? She had no one, so she was available. 'Last time I checked, my little brother thinks I was dead. So if he's coming here tomorrow, maybe we can have a little chat...about his pretty little cherry blossom: Sakura.'

The next morning came quickly as far as Hinata was concerned. It felt like she had just shut her eyes five minutes ago. Now the orange light of the sun crept in and found its way to her room. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stretched. She got up and decided she should take a shower since today was the day of Tsunade's festival. She couldn't help but think of Naruto. He had said he liked her. She went to the bathroom to do her business and take a shower.

Around ten minutes later she stepped over to her closet to find something to wear for the day. She was always so shy; she always hid her body with big jackets. She didn't think she had a very nice body, but others, such as her teammates Kiba and Shino, not to mention Naruto, all thought she was considerably good looking. What Hinata didn't know is Naruto had done an excess amount of think about her curvy curves. She was nervous, but she decided she would try to wear something a little tighter than her usually hoodie. So instead, she chose a fish-net shirt with a lavender T-shirt over it, with her forehead protector hanging around neck. She had on a pair of ninja pants that were a little longer than her normal ones, which also showed her anatomy a little more so. She grabbed a light blue, almost turquoise vest and walked out the door, preparing to start the day off right.

On the opposite side of Konoha, Mr. Uzumaki was still snoring the day away. Speaking of snoring, Itachi didn't get hardly any sleep because of Naruto's infernal snoring. Itachi got up from his spot on the couch and marched into Naruto's room, not even bothering to put on some pants. He stopped in front of said ninja's bed. He did a few quick hand seals in a slow pace for him, but still pretty fast. In about 5 seconds, he had a ball of water in his hand. With no hesitation whatsoever, he dropped the water onto Naruto. Naruto sprang out of bed, pulling out a kunai from who knows where. He saw Itachi and relaxed a little bit.

"You snore like a damn cow!"

"Oh, haha. Sorry." He stretched his arms out, getting the feeling of awakeness back into his system. "What time is it?"

"Time to wake up! Gosh, I almost wished I would have killed you all those times I could have."

"Am I really that bad? Haha, funny. Every time I went on a mission with someone they hardly ever mentioned my snoring. I guess they can tolerate it better than you can." With a shrug of his shoulders, Naruto jumped down off his bed and over to his bathroom. He thought it be the right thing to take a shower, since he hadn't taken one in over a week or so.

Itachi went into the kitchen. He searched for anything that would make a good breakfast. To his dismay, all he found was instant ramen. 'Does Naruto not have any eggs, or bacon, or at least some freakin' bread to make toast? Man, today is looking bleak already.'

Some time later, Naruto was out of the, dressed in his normal black and orange shirt, but with black pants instead of orange ones. "Man all my orange pants are dirty. I gotta do laundry or something."

He walked into the kitchen. Apparently, Itachi had left, because he was no where to be seen. Naruto got a package of his favorite instant ramen and chowed down.

After his ramen breakfast, Naruto went out to see if he could find and avoid Hinata. He had been thinking and he thought the best way for lust to turn to love is to do what someone else did for love. Since Hinata had watched Naruto and grown to love him, maybe it would work oppositely. Naruto was going to watch Hinata just like she did him.

Sakura had had a busy morning right from the start. This was the day her beloved Sasuke would return. Oh, how she yearned for this day for so long and now, it was going to happen. She woke up with a start, the thought of Sasuke's return exploding into her mind. She sprang to her bathroom. In record breaking time, Sakura took a shower, went to the bathroom, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth and on top of all that, she was dressed in a matter of seconds.

She grabbed her purse and sprang out the door. When she was plenty far away from her house, she realized something. What was she supposed to do? She stopped and started walking at a much slower pace. She thought she might as well hang out with Hinata and/or Ino so she began walking towards Hyuga Manor.

Speaking of Hyuga, Hinata was heading towards Ichiraku's to see if Naruto was there. She felt less hot and stuffy without her over-sized hoodie. She was actually enjoying her newest attire. She was still a little uncomfortable over it, but she liked that she had gain enough confidence in herself to wear better fitting clothes. She knew most guys would like it and she hoped Naruto was one of them.

However, Naruto had already found Hinata and was keeping a close eye on her. And he did think she looked good in her knew clothes. He also noticed other citizens, especially males, looking at her with strange looks. Some were looks of astonishment and others were looks of disapproval. Naruto saw a young citizen smile and wink at Hinata. He felt the slightest hint of jealous creeping its way to a more drastic emotion. Hinata however just ignored him like he wasn't even there. The boy was shocked. He looked her up and down and began to follow her. He was joined by a few of other dudes about the same age as he was.

"Excuse me, Miss? I couldn't help, but notice you passing back there?" said the boy. Apparently he considered himself a Casanova, because he didn't even hesitate to drape his arm over her. Naruto was about to spring forward, but before he could do anything or Hinata could protest, Shikamaru decided to speak to him from behind him and his buds.

"I don't know if you know this, but that's Naruto Uzumaki's girl. Not only that, she's a friend of mine. Now remove your arm, or I..."

"No, Shikamaru. If he doesn't I will remove it for him." Shikamaru was a little surprised by the Hyuga's actions and words.

"Naruto Uzumaki? You're dating that pathetic loser? Come on, babe, you should be dating me."

Naruto had had enough of watching by the sidelines. He stepped out and began to march towards Mr. Confidence. Shikamaru saw him out of the corner of his eye. 'Man, Naruto looks pissed. This is gonna be a drag if we have to whoop these guys. This is gonna get good at the start though.' Shikamaru smiled and turned in Naruto's direction.

"Well, she's not with you. She's with me. Now, let's go, Hina. We're leaving these losers."

"Hina? You mean Hinata Hyuga? The shy one? I didn't even recognize you with all these clothes that made you a hottie."

"Hey, pal," Naruto said, while walking over and pushing the dude, "I said back off. Come on Hinata."

"OK. L-let's go."

"Hey, Naruto. You think you can just walk up and push me like that? Push me, Shang Liwanu, like that. NO WAY!"

"You gonna do something about it, punk?" Shang glared angrily while taking a few steps back. "Didn't think so."

"Just you wait. We'll get you when your bitch ain't here to see it."

Naruto turned around lightning fast and smashed Shang right in his nose. "You ever come near Hinata again," stated Naruto, his eyes changing from blue to red, "I'll make you suffer!"

Shang and his crew backed away in fear, Shang's nose bleeding all other his shirt. He stood up and ran away, his friends right behind him.

"N-Naruto, you d-didn't have to do th-that. It didn't hurt my feelings. Besides, I could've taken him easily."

"Well, I know, but I don't want anyone disrespecting you like that. Even if I didn't like you like I do now, I still would socked that idiot in the face."

"Hey, Naruto. Nice punch."

"Thanks, Shikamaru. For the thought and for standing up for Hinata when I wasn't around."

"Only you were around."

"Huh?"

"I saw you man. Hinata may not have but I did. What were you doing, spying on her?"

Naruto blushed and grunted. He started to walk away, Hinata tailing him. Shikamaru laughed then went on his way.

"What were you doing, Naruto?"

'Oh, crap. What do I tell her? What should I say? Man, I wasn't ready for this.' "Calm down! Relax yourself. Just tell her the truth. It's better that way." 'What?! You crazy? I can't do that. She'll hate me!' "She's loved you for like 13 years or something like that. I'm sure one little thing like that wouldn't even matter that much."

"Well, I was...watching you."

Hinata blushed, but hid it from Naruto. "Oh. B-but why were you?"

"Umm, you see I was just, uh, well you see. You know how, uh, I have the Kyuubi inside me, right? Well, me and it had a conversation. That's why I passed out yesterday. Well, we talked and he thinks I don't really, uh, like you the way I think. So in order to make sure I did, I was going to watch you, like you watched me."

Hinata just kept walking, not saying a word. She thought about what he'd said. 'I guess that makes sense, but...' "What made you think watching me would make you love me?" She slipped up and said 'love' instead of 'like'. Naruto heard that little detail, but chose to shove it aside.

"Umm, honestly, I had an idea. You watched me and grew to love me," 'Man, she looks good in that shirt. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Keep on topic, Naruto' ,"I thought if I watched you long enough, I'd grow to, you know...l-love y-you."

Hinata blushed a bright crimson. She stopped abruptly. She turned towards Naruto and let a small smile slip across her lips. She leaned forward and kissed Naruto's whiskered cheek. She squeeze his hand and walked away, leaving Naruto in a daze, rubbing his cheek.

Lee was still in bed, surprisingly enough. He was snoring comfortably when all of a sudden Gai jumped in started to yell at him. "COME ON, LEE! YOU'RE BURNING DAYLIGHT!"

Lee fell out of bed, accidentally letting his blatter loose on the way down. "Gai-sensei! The hell?"

"Lee, did you just wet yourself?"

"Umm, uh..."

"Don't worry. It happens. Now hurry! Sasuke is coming home today and I want you to be ready for anything! After this, we will head Neji's then Tenten's."

"Why did you come to my house first?"

"Well, usually you'd be up by now. Tell, you what. You take a shower and stuff and meet us at the training grounds in exactly 15 minutes. Got it?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei! But why do I need to be ready?"

"I'll explain later. You have 14 minutes and 43 seconds left. Better get busy." With that Gai jumped out the window towards Hyuga Manor. He thought Tenten might've spent the night there...again.

Lee disrobed and sprang to take a shower. He thoroughly cleaned himself. He jumped out of the shower and ran down stairs. He reached for door handle. He cracked the door then shut it suddenly. "Clothes. I need clothes." He ran upstairs and dressed in usually green thing, tying his forehead protector around his waist. He jumped down his stairs. He opened and locked his door and ran straight for the training grounds, even though he had a little less than ten minutes left.

Sakura was walking in her usually clothes, except she had her forehead protector in her purse which she just now started to actually carry. She turned the corner to find Naruto staring the other direction and rubbing his left cheek.

She walked up behind him, preparing to scare him. "NARUTO!" she yelled as she jumped on his back.

"Holy ships! Whoa! Sakura, you scared the crud out of me!"

"Hahaha! That's what I was going for. So your cheek hurt or something?"

"Oh, no."

"Then why're you rubbing it?"

"Ummm...I d-don't have to tell you why."

"Ohhhh, I see. Hmm."

"Whatever. What are doing today?"

"I don't know. I was going to ask you."

"Sakura! Naruto!" Lee shouted barreling at them. He skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust right beside them. "Hey y'all know what y'all should do?"

"Try to convince you to not be so enthusiastic."

"No, Naruto! You two should come to the training ground with us!"

"Us? Who's us?"

"Neji, Tenten, and I. You know what? We should get all the others to come too. I have to be there in like 5 minutes so I can't help. Sorry. Anyways, hope y'all come!"

Naruto shrugged and looked at Sakura questionably. "So? You wanna?"

"Why not? Sure."

"Cool. Hinata just went that way."

"Oh! That's why you were..." Naruto put his hand over her mouth.

"Please keep it down. We're not quite together yet!"

"Mgggfhghpgpfft! OK fine but get your hand off my mouth!"

They began heading towards the direction Hinata went. They turned the corner and surprisingly found Hinata coming towards them. "N-Naruto. Sakura. I just ran into Lee and..."

"We know. Your lover-boy here and I were coming to get you. But it looks like Lee got to you first."

"Y'all three too?"

"Sh-Shikamaru? Ino? Ch-Choji?"

"Yeah, he said we should go, too. But can we get something to eat first? I'm starving."

"Choji, you're always starving."

"Hey, where's your goth boyfriend? He coming too, Ino?"

"Sai is not goth! Yes he is coming. And at least I have a boyfriend. You don't even have a girlfriend!"

"Man, you two are troublesome. Yeah, we'll come. Its kind of a drag, but oh well. And yeah, let's get something to eat first."

"Sounds good. Who are we missing? Oh, yeah. Shino and Kiba. Neji and Tenten are already there with Lee."

"Don't forget my Sai."

"Oh, yeah. Sai, too. Anyways, where do think is a place that will seat 13 of us?"

"13? Where'd you get 13?" asked Ino.

"Well there's us original 11. Plus Sai. Then most likely Kiba's cousin Ryoko."

"Aw. Such a drag. She is more annoying than Kiba and you, Naruto, put together."

"Hey!"

"I kn-know a place."

"Really? Where at, Hinata?"

"Its actually fairly close to your house, Sakura. You, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru can go ahead and go. It's called Yakiniku Q."

"What about you and, ahem, lover-boy?" asked Sakura.

"Well, we could go get Shino, Kiba, and Ryoko."

"Oh OK. You two going alone?"

"Uh.."

"Haha, I know. Oh yeah, don't forget Shiho."

"Could this get anymore of a drag. She like's me, you know."

"Oh, shut up Shikamaru. You have a girlfriend, so don't worry about it."

"Haha, nice one Ino. OK, we going to eat and you two find the other four. Now, time for Choji to eat!"

"Wait, just a sec here. Neji, Tenten, and Lee are training a little bit. Shouldn't we train as well?"

"Good point. Okay, Shiho doesn't train like we do, so just get the other three. You know what, Naruto. If you put thinking into everyday life, you'd be able to beat anybody."

Hinata and Naruto went towards the Inuzuka household, hoping Shino would be there visiting Ryoko. They walked up to the door and knocked. Kiba answered the door in nothing but his boxers. Hinata blushed then looked away.

"Huh? Hinata, oh, sorry gimme a sec." Kiba shut the door. He apparently ran upstairs and fell, because that is what it sounded like. Dogs started barking and yelling broke out. Kiba yelled loudly and the noise died down. He stomped to the door and opened it again, in his normal attire, minus his forehead protector. "Eh, sorry. Well, ahem, what did y'all, uh, want?"

"Well, before your boxers blinded Hinata, we came to tell you that all of the whole gang is gathering at the training grounds and the we were going to go eat."

"The gang, huh? Whose all going, then?"

"Well, the original Konoha 11, Sai, and Ryoko are going to train a little first. Afterwards, we'd go get Shiho and meet at the Yakiniku Q. You up for it?"

"Well, I don't like it that my cousin has to go, but eh, well, can't win 'em all. And if you were hoping Shino was here visiting her, you got it backwards. She woke up way too damn early to go see him. Anyways, I'll get my forehead protector, Akamaru, and Akita then I'll go with y'all."

"She didn't take Akita?"

"Ha, no. She likes to pee at Shino's house." Kiba went inside and came back about two minutes later, wearing his forehead protector, the two dogs in tow.

"O-OK, let's go."

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Oh, come on. It's just a itty-bitty spider. You don't have a problem with any other bug, but spiders."

"SH-SHINO! GET THAT FUCKING THING AWAY FROM ME!"

"All right, calm down. Now, get off my curtain and come sit. I'll put Rose back in her jar."

"Th-that is n-not a l-l-little s-s-spider. Its a fr-freaking tarantula."

"Well, she's still small for tarantula's."

"She's as big as my freaking face! That's little? Ohmygosh, please don't tell me you have a normal size one!"

"No, I do not..."

"Oh thank you, sweet Kami!"

"...yet."

"Hey, Shino! You and my brat cousin here?" Kiba yelled from downstairs.

"Oh, lovely. Kiba is here."

"Lovely? How is him being here lovely?"

"It was sarcasm."

Kiba walked in Shino's room. He saw Rose the Tarantula and freaked out! "Whoa, man! That is the biggest spider I've ever seen. Damn! Can I hold? Please please please please please!"

"No. What do you want?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm not sure. Naruto and Hinata are waiting downstairs. They'll explain everything. And don't go down there with that thing. Hinata will freak out more than Ryoko did."

Shino and Ryoko followed Kiba downstairs. Hinata and Naruto stood in the middle of Shino's living room, chatting amongst themselves. Right before they could see the other three, Hinata let out a small giggle and blushed at something Naruto had said. Kiba went down and his jaw clenched. Ryoko new right then that he was jealous of Naruto. For good reason, too. He had the heart of one of the most eligible bachelorettes in all of Konoha. Well, used to be bachelorette.

"So I see you two are hitting it off pretty good." said Ryoko, winking at the unsure couple-to-be.

Naruto and Hinata blushed. They glanced at each other then looked away. Naruto told Shino and Ryoko about their plans of training and eating. He even had to remind them of Gaara's coming. The festival Tsunade was planning is tonight and they all are going as one huge group. Sasuke is going to be there and so is his brother.

"Wait a minute. Itachi Uchiha will be there? I thought he was dead."

"Well, he's not dead anymore, haha. Well, now he is a citizen of Konoha, but he's on probation, I guess you could say, at the moment. Anyways, we better hurry off towards the training grounds. They probably already started."

After all that, the five people and two canines ran to the training grounds, anxious to train.

Somewhere in the forest, Gaara and Matsuri walked side by side, at the back of their caravan.

"So Gaar-, I mean, Kazekage. I wanted to thank you for that dinner about two weeks ago but never got the chance."

"Your welcome. After all, you make me feel like a child again when I make you laugh."

"Haha, oh Gaara." She wrapped her arms around him. He returned her gesture by wrapping his arms around her for a tight, yet heart-felt embrace. He looked into Matsuri's brown eyes and his heart sped up real fast. She looked into his eyes and she realized their bodies were very very close together. She felt nervous, but she liked the hug anyways. Gaara guided her behind a tree and began to lean in ever so slightly. Matsuri didn't know why, but she was leaning in too. Gaara's eyes closed right before it closed. Their lips met. Matsuri grew wide-eyed. His lips opened a door to untold passion. She was real tight, but loosened her grip and she slowly sank into Gaara's warmth, deepening their kiss. She closed her eyes and savored the moment. They slowly and reluctantly backed away from each other. Matsuri was in a daze and had a smile from ear to ear. Gaara just had a blank look. Matsuri was about to turn and walk away, but before she could, she saw the corners of Gaara's lips curl up and smile right back at her.