A/N: Mou, I'm sooo laazyy! I apologies for any mistakes.
----Just a note, Naruto is technically 26, because he's lived 15 years as a demon, and he was turned into a one year old baby. Pardon the note if I've already mentioned this.
----Hmm, I might make Sakura's attitude a little more mature here, is that ok? Please review your thoughts!
Nobody's Pet!
Last time…
"You will seek for my power, you will–" he was cut off when he jumped up, narrowly missing a punch that hit the branch he was standing on, causing it to instantly snap and fall. Naruto jumped onto another branch and looked around, but Orochimaru was already gone. "Dammit!" he yelled, and turned to Sakura, who was holding an unconscious Sasuke.
Orochimaru stood up and began to walk away. "Whatever you do, do not cancel this exam. Six from my village are under your care. I'm going to enjoy this. If you take away my joy, Konoha will be over," Orochimaru's voice rang through the clearing as he disappeared in a cloud of purple.
One day later… One day till deadline.
For once, Naruto wished Sasuke was walking beside him… so he wouldn't have to carry him by himself! Naruto pouted slightly and shifted the unconscious body on his shoulder. It's not to say Sasuke was heavy, but Naruto now felt more like a horse, or a donkey. His pride was being punched in the gut every few seconds.
Naruto looked back at the slightly lagging Sakura, who was breathing quite hard. Naruto felt sorry for her.
Wow, she is so weak, I supposed walking slowly for less than half a day would do that to her.
They walked into a small clearing, and stood next to a large tree with its roots showing.
"Okay then, well rest here and eat some food," Naruto said, and Sakura gratefully nodded, then shrieked when she witnessed Naruto throwing Sasuke under the tree.
"What are you doing! Don't do that to Sasuke-kun!"
"He'll live."
Sakura knelt down to check on him. He was still out cold, but he did have a slight fever. Naruto sat down and got out a white cloth, while Sakura got a water bottle and poured it onto the cloth. She laid the damp cloth onto Sasuke's forehead.
Naruto went around the area to set up some traps, before he plopped down, took out a rice ball and started munching on it. Oh sure, he was worried for Sasuke… a little… but really, it had already been a day and he hadn't died. It seemed that the Orochi guy didn't intend to kill him.
Naruto shuddered at the thought of him/her/it. The image of a guy's face with a girl's breasts was ingrained deeply within his mind.
Sakura gasped when red chakra surrounded Naruto's body, then disappeared to reveal a small red fox.
"Oi, warn me when you're about to do that!" Sakura yelled.
The fox grinned sheepishly, before curling up on the dirt floor and sleeping.
She couldn't help but want to touch the fur. It looked to soft, and fuzzy, and warm! She spent the next few minutes reaching out a hand and drawing it back. She reached out again, and squeaked when Naruto opened his mouth. She sighed in relief when a pink tongue flopped out a little as the fox started snoring slightly. She slowly moved her hand to his tail, and stroked it. She smiled happily as the tail twitched before curling around her hand. She knew it wasn't normal for a fox's tail to be so prehensile, but she didn't complain.
Sakura looked up when she heard a rustle. She slowly turned around, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.
Munch munch.
She stared the squirrel that had appeared. The squirrel stared at her, and she stared at it….
"…"
The squirrel started closer.
Sakura, using her free hand, threw a kunai at it, and it ran off.
Phew, that was close.
Lee hopped from tree branch to tree branch after splitting up from his team. He stopped on a tree branch and watched as a bunch of leaves started to flutter towards the ground. Lee got a glint in his eye.
"If I can catch all twenty leaves before they hit the ground, Sakura will fall madly in love with me!" A blush appeared on Lee's cheeks as an image of Sakura appeared in his mind. (Somewhere a ways off, Sakura sneezed)
"But if I miss even one, this will end as a one-sided love" Fire sparked in Lee's eyes. He dove down, fingers grasping at the leaves. "One, two three, four...five, six, seven..." He snatched them quickly. "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen..."
Lee fell and hit a branch with his back. "Nineteen~" Lee quickly got up as the last leaf fluttered towards the ground. Lee dove down and just as he grasped the last leaf, he looked to his left to see a brown squirrel on its back, on fire. Lee quickly landed and scooped up the squirrel, taking the exploding tag and crushing it before it could explode.
"That was a close one little guy. A little bit more time and you would have exploded with it," Lee informed as the little squirrel rubbed its black eye. Lee stared at the smouldering bomb in his hand with a serious face. "Who would do such a horrible thing?"
"Stop hiding and come out," Neji spoke in the middle of the clearing. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji all sat, hiding behind the bush, their eyes wide.
"How could he know? He's so fast!" Ino whispered, astonished.
"I can't believe such a troublesome guy found us," Shikamaru muttered.
"Plan number 1- hide and avoid trouble, failed," Ino assessed. "Time for plan 2."
"What's plan two?" Choji asked quietly.
"Distract target with my beauty of course."
Shikamaru sighed. "Oh geez... whatever, let's just go."
Team 10 scrambled to their feet and ran into the clearing.
"Oh boy! How lucky of us to get to meet last ear's number one rookie, Hyuuga Neji!" Ino exclaimed.
"Can I have your autograph?" Shikamaru asked with mock enthusiasm.
Ino reached up to untie the ribbon keeping her hair in a high ponytail. "Now, time for you to fall head over heels with my sexiness!" Ino undid the ribbon and her hair fell down, blowing in the breeze slightly. Sparkle sparkle. She winked. "I've always wanted to cross paths with you, Neji."
Neji simply turned around and started walking. "Be gone."
An anger mark appeared on Ino's forehead. "What! Wh-why didn't my charm work on him! Now I'm pissed dammit!" Ino yelled in her mind, punching her fists outward.
Neji stopped but did not turn around. "You're raising your fists towards me...does that men you want a fight?"
Ino immediately stood in attention. She smiled innocently. "N-no, not at all!"
Neji looked over his shoulder with a scowl. "Then be gone. I have no use for your scroll. If I take it from the likes of you I'll just be a laughing stock."
"Okay!" And Shikamaru, Ino and Choji ran and hid behind the bush once more.
"They're like cockroaches..." Neji muttered before walking off.
Team 10 panted.
"Man that was close," Shikamaru commented. Ino stood up, tying her hair back up. "Alright, let's go find us some weak people! Ahahahaha!" She laughed maniacally.
Shikamaru sweat dropped.
"There is no one weaker than us..."
Sakura gasped when three people come out from the foliage. She saw the Sound symbol on their head-bands. Forgetting about Naruto, she gets up and holds a kunai in her hand. A boy with spiky brown hair holds up his hands.
"Hey, hey, no need to get so defensive! We just want you to wake up Sasuke."
Sakura just grips her kunai tighter.
"There's no way I'm gonna let you get to Sasuke!" she yells.
The boy just smirks.
"Then I'll wake him myself."
He starts walking, then pauses before he put his foot down. He put his foot in another place.
"Do you think I'm stupid? I could see the thread from a mile away! So that's why you threw the kunai, so that the squirrel wouldn't spring the trap."
He's about to step over it when he sees the red fox on the ground get up. Sakura also looks down.
Naruto stretched and yawned, and blinked sleepily at the three Oto nins. He pads forward slowly, then stops. Not even Sakura knows what he's doing, let alone the Sound nins. You could almost see the flying question marks above their heads. A foxy smirk instantly appears on the fox's snout as he lifts a paw, gently touching a thread.
The next second, the three Oto nins jump up to avoid the previously harmless thread, which was attempting to cut off their feet.
But as they land, they actually step on a thread lying on the ground. This causes a giant log to fly towards them. The ninja called Dosu holds up an arm, and the log is split and blown away. (I think… ohwell)
"Heh, obviously, you are a useless ninja."
He steps forward once again, but is (yet again) interrupted by a loud cry.
"Leaf Hurricane!"
Performing his jutsu, Lee appears, and the three sound nins are knocked away. Lee stands between the sound nins and Naruto and Sakura.
"It seems like you are also a useless ninja," Lee taunts.
"Who are you?" Dosu asks.
"I am the handsome devil of the Leaf village. My name is Rock Lee. And I will defeat you!"
Sakura looked thankful, but confused.
"But right now in this test, I'm your enemy."
"Sakura… I will protect you until I die."
Sakura was stunned, then smiled.
"Yes. Thank you, Rock Lee."
Sakura couldn't see it, but tears were flowing down his cheeks. Yes, she said yes, Gai-sensei! She said YES!
"Fear not, my beautiful Cherry Blossom! And your pet." Naruto hisses and quickly changes back.
"WHO'S PET?"
"UWAAAAAA, I'M SO SORRY NARUTO-KUN! I DID NOT REALISE IT WAS YOU!"
"YOU BETTER BE SORRY! I AM NOBODY'S PET! THE DAY I BECOME A PET IS THE DAY YOU STOP WORSHIPPING GAI-SENSEI!"
"AHHHHHHH! NO, NEVEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR!"
"EXACTLY! THE DAY I BECOME A PET IS THE DAY YOU THINK GREEN SPANDEX IS TOTALLY WRONG!"
"AHHHHHHH! THE HORROOOOORRRRRRRRR!"
"THE DAY I BECOME A PET IS THE DAY YOU THINK BEING UNYOUTHFUL IS THE WAY TO BE!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"THE DAY~~!"
"Enough of this!"
Everyone turned to see the fuming sound trio, large ticks on their foreheads.
"What are you, two circus freaks? I don't care either way, I'm gonna kill all of you!"
Lee struck a nice poseღ. "Sakura! I'll say it again! I vow to protect you with my life!"
Lee looked at the Sound nin, serious. I will have to use my full strength to beat them. I am sure Naruto will aid me to defeat them! Yosh!
"Yosh! Naruto-kun, will you help me defeat the enemy?"
Naruto slid out the swords from their sheaths and smiled at Lee.
"Ready whenever you are."
"Man there really isn't anyone who is weaker than us!" Ino cried out in frustration.
"I still think Naruto's team might be weaker than us," Shikamaru said.
"TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"
"Jeez, what's your problem?"
"There's no doubt Sakura are lame, but don't bad-mouth Sasuke, he's awesome! And plus, don't they have a demon with them?"
Shikamaru frowned in thought.
"Even though they do, I don't think Naruto would try to kill us. He seems to care for Konoha… to a degree. Besides, he is strong, but I don't think he has much of a fighting style, so it should be easy to beat him with our combination." I think…
"Hey, Sasuke is unconscious."
The two turned to their other teammate, who was sitting on a high branch eating potato chips.
"And Sakura, Naruto and the Lee guy are fighting."
"What did you say?" Ino exclaimed and jumped onto the branch with Shikamaru.
"Oh!"
Tenten sighed as she looked at the kunai.
"He's late. He's never late! Lee… is fanatical about being on time."
Neji didn't respond.
"Maybe he ran into the enemy… you think?" Tenten said worriedly.
Neji just chuckled.
"No… I'm sure he is alright. Still, we better go find him."
"Right."
They leapt off.
Lee began unwrapping the bandages on his arms as the one named Dosu charged.
I know you said that this move is forbidden, but the conditions have been met. I must use the jutsu…
"To protect the life of someone precious!" Lee held up his hand in a sign, then disappeared.
"Can he disappear?" Dosu muttered before he got kicked in the chin by the reappearing Lee from below. He flew into the air, and Le followed.
"Not yet!" Lee cried, and the bandages wrapped around Dosu's body. Lee held his body, and they began falling head first towards the ground.'
"Oh no, Dosu," Zaku muttered and did some hand signs and smashed his fists into the ground, just as the spinning Lee crying "Primary Lotus" and Dosu hit the ground. Zaku then had to dodge an attack from Naruto.
Naruto grinned.
"What, did you forget I was here?"
Lee flipped away and panted. That should have finished him… What!
Lee's eyes widened as he saw Dosu get out of the dirt mound.
"Heh, that is a dangerous jutsu. It would have been worse if I hadn't landed in this soft dirt. Now it's my turn," he said and charged.
Oh no, my body has not recovered from the jutsu!
Lee dodged a punch, but cried in pain as something invisible slammed into his ears. His vision got blurry and he felt sick.
"Your jutsu may be fast, but it is nothing compared to mine, which travels the speed of sound."
To be continued~~~~~~~
~Omake~
"Lee! Are you ready for some youthful training!" Gai shouted.
"…ehhh, no thanks. I think Kakashi-sensei is way cooler than you."
"…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What is wrong with you Lee!"
Rrrriiiiippppppp!
Gai's draw dropped as he witnessed his pupil rip of his green spandex suit, to reveal him in his pink frilly underpants.
"Lee! What are you doing? That is very unyouthful!"
Lee spun around really quickly, and suddenly he was wearing an old brown robe, a fake old man's beard, and bending over a walking stick. Lee looked at the open-mouthed Gai and said just five words.
"Who wants to be youthful?"
Thud.
Gai had fainted.
Naruto in fox mode had been walking past. He stared at the scene.
Well I'll be… he thought, before padding up to the nearest bystander and giving them the Cute Blue-eyed Wonder™ look, making the lady instantly squeal:
"My new pet fox!"
~Owari~
A/N: Not the end of the story of course! Haha. My favourite scene is definitely the 'pet' scene, I just had to make an Omake about is. 3
This is officially my longest chapter in this story!
Oh my god, I've just realised that the dashes for the page breaks... don't show up! Why didn't anyone tell me! Sorry about that, I'll make sure to put something there to separate it. It must have been so confusing for you!
Please leave a thought or comment! Till next time!