So guys, not as soon as expected, but not as late as expected either. Hope you enjoy :) I think this might actually be my longest chapter and I hope you find it as fun to read as some of my betas. As always read and review, it's always nice to hear what you guys think, and it makes me feel awesome when I see my review count go up, even if it's by 1. Thanks to RixxellStryfe for being a beta for me and suggesting a few small additions here and there. My other betas don't have accounts so I can't really give them a shout out. Also the title isn't completely relevant... just wanted to upload and couldn't think of anything spectacular, once again. Anyway enough talking, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. God, the things I'd change if I did.
The Champion of Clan Namikaze
Chapter 11: Couples Therapy
Sakura, being the calm and level headed shinobi that she wasn't, was knocking on the front door of the Namikaze house screaming to be let in to see her Sasuke-kun within minutes of Naruto appearing in the stadium and dropping Gaara back with the sand siblings. Naruto had really been enjoying the few minutes of rest with his stern but caring girlfriend.
What was worse was that he now had a pulsing sensation in his arm. She was continuously spamming her chakra into the signal seal, no doubt in an attempt to get him up.
"Go away, nobody's home," Naruto cried from his position on the couch.
"I'M GOING TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU NARUTO, NOW LET ME IN TO SEE SASUKE-KUN! IS HE OKAY?"
"Just let her in, maybe it'll shut her up, I don't think I can take much more of that racket," Sasuke said from his position on the other couch, his eyes closed.
"SASUKE-KUN, ARE YOU OKAY!"
Before anyone could make a reply the door swung inward and Naruto stood in front of Sakura, "OF COURSE HE'S OKAY, OTHERWISE HE WOULD BE AT THE HOSPITAL!"
Sakura's response to this was to promptly smack Naruto over the head hard enough to send him flying down the hallway. He burst into smoke shortly after, the real Naruto still laid out on the couch.
"Really? Sakura he's fine, now -," Naruto was stopped talking when he noticed that Karin had gotten up and was walking over to Sakura. Even Sasuke had opened his eyes a little and turned his head to see what the lull in the conversation was about.
"HOW DARE YOU HIT MY BOYFRIEND!"
"IT WAS JUST A CLONE!"
"YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" and then the catfight started. Hair was pulled, and claws where unsheathed. In the end though it just got to the point where they were both rolling around on the floor together yelling at each other. .
"HE SHOULD HAVE LET ME IN WHEN I SAID SO,"
"YOU SHOULDN'T BE SO CLINGY!"
Naruto and Sasuke just sat and watched, Sasuke using his Sharingan to make sure he remembered every last detail.
"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're perving on there teme," Naruto said when he noticed what Sasuke was doing
The Uchiha tried to look disinterested when the two girls stopped, and their heads turned almost robotically toward him, fury in their eyes.
"Heh, I'm injured, doesn't that count for anything. Heh, heh," Sasuke was looking less and less confident as the two girls stomped toward him, "Shit, help me out here dobe,"
"Sorry, teme, no can do." Naruto wasn't about to get in the way of two angry women, especially when one was his girlfriend and the other could obliterate boulders with a single hit.
Naruto hadn't expected Sasuke to take the assault but he hadn't had long to recover, so it probably wasn't a choice thing. He had no way of avoiding either of the hits that came from the two girls who had completely forgotten their earlier dispute.
After Karin landed her hit she waltzed over to Naruto and curled up on him again, prompting Sakura to do the same.
"Awwww look isn't that cute," Naruto said, "Sasuke's finally letting Sakura cuddle him,"
Sakura was already red in the face at the opportunity she had with her crush and blushed even more.
"It doesn't count when I can't move to get her off me," and the colour drained from her face.
"Even I can tell you that was the wrong thing to say teme," Naruto got in before the sound of Sakura hitting him over the head again rang out through the room.
xXx
It was a few hours later and as the few genin and their housemate in the form of Karin were sitting around going over exactly what had happened that day a knock came at the door.
"Naruto Namikaze, please report to the Hokage's office immediately, bring your teammates and your houseguest," an ANBU said to the tired blonde as he stood in the doorframe.
"Are you going back to Ojii-san's office?" Naruto asked the shinobi before he could leave, his message delivered. Anyone else wouldn't have a clue what Naruto was on about, but all the ANBU knew by now the way Naruto addressed the Sandaime Hokage.
A simple nod was all it took for Naruto to throw him a kunai, "Here take this back with you, we'll be there soon,"
"Why'd you just give him a kunai?" Sakura asked.
"Why walk when you can get someone else to do the walking for you?" Naruto said with his signature cheeky grin plastered on his face.
xXx
Twenty minutes later the Hokage was sitting at his desk with the Hiraishin Kunai sitting in front of him. Naruto had told the ANBU he'd be here soon; Hiruzen had assumed that meant the boy would arrive almost as soon as the kunai arrived, what was taking him so long? The Hokage soon had his answer when Naruto and his three companions appeared in front of him with steaming bowls of food.
"Hey Ojii-san, sorry we had to stop at Ichiraku's first, and then I might have gotten carried away with eating the most glorious food on the planet hehe. Luckily Sasuke remembered we had somewhere to be or I'd be on my sixth bowl."
"I should have known," The Hokage said from behind his desk, an amused expression on his face. It was hard for him to ever be stern with Naruto, especially now.
"Hey, we were hungry," Naruto said defensively in case the Hokage pushed the matter.
"It doesn't matter, you aren't really late, without that Jutsu you'd have taken a while to get here; the Hiraishin is incredibly useful."
Karin was both amazed at how Naruto was just casually talking with the Hokage and intimidated now that she was standing in the office of the legendary ninja.
"So what did you want us here for Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked from her position next to Naruto, as he continued to loudly slurp through his ramen.
"I figure it only wise that I informed you of what happened earlier today, I won't keep you from resting for too long," Hiruzen went on, noting Sasuke's exhaustion, "It seems that Orochimaru was impersonating the Kazekage and that the Sand Village had been tricked into the planning the invasion. It will be investigated further, but seeing as how they were manipulated by my student like so many others have been try not to show them too much hostility when they are eventually released."
"What about that snake bastard?" Naruto said through a mouthful of noodles. Not even life changing news could bring that boy to stop eating his precious ramen.
"He managed to flee, along with Kabuto. They inflicted casualties among the ANBU during their escape."
None of the genin looked happy about this. Karin had been hoping that they'd catch him, so she could ask him why he tried to do what he did. She knew the answer already, Naruto had pretty much summed it up the day he saved her but she wanted to hear him say it.
"Great, so that snake douche is out and about, what about Karin? Is she still under house arrest?"
"Orochimaru seems to have fled, and the information she gave us appears to be accurate. For the safety of the village an eye will be kept on you until we can determine whether or not you can be accepted completely and wholeheartedly." The Hokage said looking at the young redhead.
"BUT-," Naruto had stopped eating to make a rebuttal, a look of shock on his face.
"Naruto, I understand that you trust her with your life, and I feel that Karin would also cause us no harm from everything you've told me, but the council deems it necessary. She is no longer under house arrest and from what you've told me of her ninja skills if she wants she can be put into a genin team."
"Thankyou Hokage-sama," Normally Karin was overbearing and boisterous, unless she was alone with Naruto, but that wouldn't get her anywhere here, this was the Hokage, the god of shinobi. This village was giving her another shot at belonging and she wasn't going to screw it up.
Sakura didn't envy the team that got Karin. At least she could fix the injuries she inflicted upon them. Maybe having a stricter Jounin would work that out of her? Are you kidding? You aren't any different, except maybe you're less fan-girly than you used to be. Yeah you're right, well good luck to them.
"Now Naruto, the entire village saw the way you fought out there. They all think you are the Yellow Flash returned, and they are pretty right in that assumption so you might be getting more attention than usual. Both good and bad, people will be in awe of your strength, and people will be afraid of it, especially coupled with the village secret." Naruto and Sakura nodded in response, while Sasuke and Karin looked both as confused as each other, not having ever been filled in on Naruto's not so little passenger. Karin had an idea of what it might be though; she'd been wondering exactly what the cause of that dark chakra was she'd seen earlier in the day.
"That is all I really have to tell you today, oh, and the chunin exam results should be announced soon, so you can look forward to that. You can go now," The Hokage said with a smile on his face, happy that Naruto and his team had pulled through the trials of today. If only the same could be said of the ANBU that had been lost.
"Wait so I really didn't need to come?" Sasuke asked, looking as if he'd been prevented from resting for essentially no reason, which he had.
"Now that I think about it, no," The Hokage said light heartedly, " anyway you are all dismissed, have a good rest, and genin team meetings won't resume for another week so enjoy your rest,"
"Goodbye Hokage-sama," Three of them echoed while the fourth just continued to slurp the last of his noodles.
"Seeya Ojii-san," Naruto finished after finishing the last of his broth while his three companions just looked at him like the fool he was and finally they disappeared.
When they appeared back at Naruto's after they dropped back the bowls to Teuchi at Ichiraku's (Naruto had a seal under the counter seeing as how it was his favourite place in the world, he'd be stupid if he didn't) Sasuke and Karin both turned to Naruto.
"So what's this village secret," Sasuke asked first, "And how do you two know about it and not me?"
"Uhhhh," Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he thought about how he'd break the news to them. He might have been able to decipher his father's notes on advance jutsu but he wasn't the most tactful person, "Yeah, sooo you know how Gaara transformed into that big monster?"
"Yeahhh?" They both chorused, both now knowing where this might be going.
Sakura was just face-palming silently in the background, Really Naruto? Don't compare yourself to that nut-job, you aren't nearly as crazy, wait psychotic, yeah you're still as crazy.
Naruto wasn't so much worried about Sasuke's reaction but Karin's so he thought he'd rip the proverbial band-aid off as fast as possible.
"Well that was because he had the Shukaku inside of him, and I have the Kyuubi inside of me, but I'm still me and stuff and all the adults in the village know and that's why I always copped abuse from them when I was little," he rattled off as fast as he could.
"So that explains that red chakra, I wondered where that came from," Karin said to herself, her question now answered.
"What red chakra?" Sakura and Sasuke were now the ones in the dark.
"Ummm yeah," Naruto slowed down this time so they'd be able to better comprehend exactly what he was saying, "so you guys haven't seen me use it before, hmmm. Well when I get really angry or furious the Kyuubi gives me it's power and it makes me really strong and fast. I used it on the bridge with Haku when I thought you two had been killed. You were unconscious so you never saw it happen. And I used it to defeat Gaara after he knocked out Sasuke. So I guess Karin was the only one to see me use it then too."
"You use the power of the beast that almost destroyed the village 12 years ago to fight?" Sasuke asked, "And I'm assuming that's why your chakra reserves are ridiculous?"
"That and I'm an Uzumaki, we are just naturally awesome like that," Naruto said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Yeah whatever, well there isn't any chance of it getting out right?" Sasuke was kind of concerned if his teammate was a ticking time bomb ready to explode bijuu everywhere.
"I don't think so, it's been sitting pretty tight up in my stomach for a while, I mean my dad did the sealing, so I trust he did it right. He was a badass."
"Who was your dad anyway Naruto?" Karin had always seen pictures but she'd never gotten a name, and never wanted to bring it up around Naruto in case it was a really sore subject. She thought she knew who the man in the photo was but she figured that was just because he looked like Naruto.
"Oh he was Minato Namikaze, you know, the Yondaime Hokage and Yellow Flash of Konoha."
Karin's jaw dropped. How had she not known? He even uses the signature jutsu of the man, duh Karin! But man now my boyfriend is even more awesome! We are going to have the most awesome children. What!? What is going on in my head? Why am I thinking about having children! But we so definitely will. Oh God, well whatever.
Naruto just watched in amusement as a look of shock passed across her face, followed by realisation, followed by contentment, disgust and then contentment mixed with resignation. The blonde couldn't help but burst out laughing at the situation.
"So this doesn't change anything between any of us? The fact that I have a grumpy, but all powerful fox sitting in my stomach somewhere?"
"You've already surprised me enough since we were put in a team, this is just another surprise. It does explain why you can make so many clones though." Sasuke said resigning himself to the fact that being on a team with Naruto would never get stale.
"Karin?"
Her response was just to jump onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and hugging him so hard he almost had trouble breathing.
"I guess that's a no dobe?" Sasuke said chuckling from the sidelines.
Sakura sidled closer to Sasuke, grabbing his arm and putting it around her.
Sasuke looked like he was about to say something.
"You do or say anything to ruin this moment and I will crush your insides," Sakura said from beside him without even looking up at the boy.
"Tch all I was going to say was that you did good out there today, and that you'd look hot in an outfit like Anko's now that I think about it,"
This time it was Sakura's turn to go through mixed emotions. Her hand was reading to smack him, but she didn't know what to do. HE IS SUCH A PERVERT THINKING ABOUT ME IN AN OUTFIT LIKE THAT, then again he did think about me in an outfit like that. All she ended up doing after her internal fit of indecision had passed was bite her lip uncertainly and let out a huff of frustration.
It was true that Sasuke was starting to see Sakura in a different light. With his sole drive for revenge lessened by his desire to become stronger for his teammates he needed something to fill the gaps, and that was Icha Icha; it was however also bringing with it different character traits.
He was starting to see women in a much different light, especially the girl that he had spent the most time with, even if it was mainly during training. The more he thought about it the more he realised that he wasn't even disappointed with the fact that he was attracted to her. She was strong. Stronger than any other girl he'd met that was their age, she was smart, and she wasn't even bad on the eyes.
That being said he was also attracted to a few other women around the village. None of them fan girls bar Sakura; she was an exception, not being nearly as bad as the others. He never saw how they thought they would ever get him. Being that clingy and devoting all their time and effort into stalking someone wasn't cool.
But he wasn't a fool. Jiraiya had taught him well by proxy. He was going to play this cool, make her want him even more than she possibly could to the point where he could get away with anything he wanted. A child really shouldn't be reading books like that. Sasuke thought to himself as he contemplated his own thoughts. They definitely shouldn't be reading books like that.
By now everyone was starting to feel the day's events catching up to them. Naruto and Karin retired to what may as well have been their room given that they slept together most nights and now that Karin had declared their relationship status they didn't really have any reason not to. Sasuke went to show Sakura out only to find that Naruto had never unlocked the door once they'd gotten back. Man he really needs to add me to this seal.
"So I'm going to have to get the dobe to unlock the door to let you out," Sasuke said as he turned away to walk upstairs.
Sakura stopped him, grabbing his arm, "I could always stay here the night, you've got room in your bed don't you?"
Frankly Sasuke didn't have a problem, but he didn't need Sakura to think he didn't have a problem.
"You tell anyone about this and it will never happen again got it? And don't think this will be a regular thing okay?" Sakura nodded fervently, a smile splayed across her face.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god … I'm going to be sleeping in the same bed as Sasuke-kun. She almost fainted at the thought of it. Not really noticing anything else he'd said.
And as the four lay asleep, each pair in their own beds Sakura couldn't remember a time she'd been happier.
xXx
The next morning after Sakura had rushed home, fearful of the wrath of her parents if she were to stay any longer Naruto turned to Sasuke.
"You do realise that there were other rooms she could have stayed in?"
"Yeah, but…" Shit Sasuke hadn't thought about what Naruto would say, hell he didn't expect the blonde to be up earlier than him. Guess he really did have super healing powers, that recovery time was bullshit.
"Oh! You like her you sly dog!"
"Hn, So?" Sasuke was playing it down, Naruto could just tell.
"So you don't mind if I tell her then?"
"Don't you dare dobe," Sasuke had death in his eyes. He was going to play this out the way he wanted to. He wasn't going to let the dobe ruin anything.
"Bahahahaha you sure? I mean a slight slip of the tongue would be so eas-,"
"Naruto-kun, just let him handle it. He can take as long as he wants. Just he'll miss out on the good stuff while he waits."
"What good stuff?"
"I swear you are a genius one day and as dumb as a doorknob the next, this good stuff," Karin said to him fiercely as she stormed up to him, grabbed him around the collar and pulled him into a hearty kiss.
"Yuck, get a room!"
"Wow," Naruto said as Karin released him, "You weren't kidding when you said the good stuff."
"You're right Naruto, a slip of the tongue really was easy," Karin said confidently causing the Uchiha to shift uncomfortably and the blonde to blush.
Now for Karin that was her first real kiss. But she sure as hell wasn't going to be timid about it. Naruto already knew what the deal was and she knew what she was doing for the most part. She'd spent a month cooped up in the house so Sasuke wasn't the only one reading Icha Icha.
"And what do you mean yuck! You read Icha Icha, there's stuff way worse in there" Karin said as she turned to Sasuke from her position in Naruto's arms.
"Yeah but I don't need to see my best friend making out with you,"
"Wait, you read Icha Icha," Naruto said, looking down at his girlfriend, "Should I be scared or excited?"
"Hmmm," Karin said before her she turned and stared directly at him, "both," she had a foreboding smile that just made Naruto look at Sasuke questioningly.
"Scared dobe, be scared." Sasuke said, causing the blonde to gulp.
xXx
For the most part, all being orphans and off active duty Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin just hung around the house recovering. Recovering for Naruto merely meant more training. Sasuke however, although healed mostly, was still not in any condition to move around. The fact that he got instant treatment from Karin helped his situation after the fight but he needed to rest. Karin just hung around, looking forward to the fact that she was no longer confined to the house.
The next day Team 7 and Karin were waiting outside a local barbeque restaurant for the rest of the rookie genin to show up for lunch. They hadn't been standing around long before they heard the crunching of chips in the distance.
"Hey Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino!" Naruto called out to them all as they approached the team. When they got closer Naruto started his introduction, "This is Karin, she lives with me now. Karin, this is Chouji Akamichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka. Do you guys know where Team 8 is? Wait no, I can hear Kiba now, man that guy makes a lot of noise,"
"And the pot calls the kettle black," Sasuke muttered under his breath just loud enough for everyone to hear.
When Team 8 had finally rounded the corner Naruto did the introductions once again. Only this time there was a hitch. Naruto, being clueless to all things romantic, had never realised that Hinata was so completely into him. So when Naruto introduced Karin Hinata immediately recognised the name from the chunin exams a few days ago. He wasn't sure why the Hyuuga was giving his red headed partner death glares.
This can't be the woman that stole Naruto from me. Hinata wasn't one to normally become enraged, but having her crush stolen like that, it drove her nuts. I should have acted sooner! Now I have to get him back, but how? She had no idea, but in the meantime she mustered up the courage to give hateful looks at her new rival.
Karin noticed. She'd always noticed. Unlike Naruto she wasn't completely oblivious, and she knew that Hinata was after her man. She has no idea. There is no way she is taking my Naruto-kun from me.
Before the glaring competition that went unnoticed by only Naruto could turn into a downright catfight a rather attractive civilian girl with long black hair and green eyes ran up to the group squealing, "Oh kami it really is you! Naruto-kun you were so amazing in the finals! I've got to go and tell everyone!" she bounced up and down excitedly. This got her glares from both Karin and Hinata and the two looked like they were about to say something when the girl bolted in the other direction.
Naruto, confused as ever, walked inside and called for everyone to follow. He was still getting used to having people look at him in awe, as a number of patrons did when they walked through the threshold.
After his performance at the Chunin Exam Finals he may as well have been a celebrity, he figured that explained why that girl out there was excited but he still had no idea what she meant by 'tell everyone'. Most people had come around to the fact that he was badass and so he got treated a hell of a lot better than before. He couldn't say he didn't like some of the attention.
Over lunch they discussed a number of things, mostly though, the teams wanted to know about the Gaara fight.
"So what happened?" Kiba asked enthusiastically, wanted to hear the full details, "We heard a noise come from the direction of your place, but we didn't know what it was."
"Oh that? Hmmm yeah, just an attack I did, I haven't thought of a name for it yet," this surprised most of the genin. The distance between the arena and his compound was substantial, how could one of his attacks have created so much noise, "Hey Sasuke, what do you think about Ninja Art: Falling Star?"
"You'd really call such a kickass attack something that lame?"
"Well what do you have in mind?" Naruto was annoyed that his idea got shot down straight away.
"I don't know but I bet I'll think of something better than that," Sasuke replied cooly.
"WHAT DID IT EVEN DO?" Kiba had waited a whole ten seconds longer than he'd wanted; he wanted to know what the move was.
Naruto explained exactly what he did with the help of Karin and then they then went on to explain exactly what he did to finish off Gaara and end the fight with Shukaku. The genin present were shocked at the power of the twelve-year-old blonde that was sitting in front of them. They'd seen Sasuke fight too, hell even Sakura was a threat, they all noted once again that Team 7 was not a team you wanted to come across if you were enemy shinobi.
"That is very impressive," Shino said stoically; the first words of the day for the silent ninja. Shino was normally never impressed or surprised, and if he was he generally never acknowledged it.
"Yeah HOLY CRAP that sounds awesome!" Kiba said, Akamaru barking in agreement.
Wow, we are really going to have to start training harder if we want to keep up with these guys Ino thought to herself while she stared at Sasuke. I'm going to have to train harder if I want to get Sasuke. The slight differences in behaviour between Sakura and Sasuke hadn't gone unnoticed.
Hinata and Karin were still glaring at each other when Sakura spoke up, "So when do you guys think the Chunin Exam results will be released?"
That question seemed to momentarily snap everyone out of the awe they were expressing for Sasuke and in particular Naruto.
"Hmmm, I'm not entirely sure, but my father said that it should be soon," Shikimaru piped up, having not said much either for most of the lunch, "I just hope I don't get promoted."
"What? Why wouldn't you want to get promoted Shikamaru?" Naruto was curious as to why Shikamaru would want to stay a genin.
"Because it's troublesome and unlike you I don't want to be Hokage one day."
"Well that's just stupid,"
"No it's not, what's stupid is that we know nothing about Karin," Shikamaru said, curious to find out more about the girl.
Naruto went to say something but was stopped by the new member of the group, "It's okay Naruto-kun," cue increasingly heated glare from Hinata, "I used to be a shinobi of the sound, but am now allied with the leaf," she started to explain.
"Naruto found and saved me in the forest of death but when we ended up in the confrontation with Orochimaru," Naruto muttered 'snake bastard' and Sasuke had a sour look on his face at the mention of the creepy Sannin, "My former master attempted to kill me and Naruto once again saved my life," Karin turned to Naruto holding his arm as they sat there, "I owe my life to Naruto-kun twice, and he's even let me live with him seeing as I have no where else to go. I'm also one of the last remaining Uzumaki alive, so I guess it's only fitting that we stay together. Maybe one day we will rebuild our clan together. I am his girlfriend after all, and he is my Naruto-kun," with the last statement she turned and stared directly at Hinata, a victorious expression on her face.
The reactions from the group were mixed. Naruto stared blankly; trying to comprehend exactly what she'd just said, rebuild their clan! He didn't know what to think, but he knew that he liked having her tongue in his mouth. Sasuke simply smirked at the fortune or misfortune depending on how you looked at it, of his best friend. Sakura was shocked, but then started daydreaming about what might happen with her and Sasuke, that one cuddle had really gone to her head.
The rest of the group were shocked that not only was this girl a former enemy, she was also an Uzumaki, and she was practically calling herself out to be the future wife of Naruto Uzumaki.
Hinata looked like she was going to faint before her gaze hardened and she stood up, pointing at Karin, "I'm not going to let you take my man you HUSSY! You think you can just come in here hang around for a month and take my man?"
Now it was everyone else's turn to be shocked. Hinata didn't act like this ever. She was shy and timid and completely not the girl that was standing at the table with her hand pointed at the red headed girl as if to challenge her.
Naruto was shocked, "You like me Hinata?"
Everyone face-faulted, "Seriously Naruto, you might be a powerful ninja but for crying out loud you are oblivious sometimes," Ino called out to the blonde.
Hinata looked toward her crush and nodded.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
WHY DIDN'T I EVER SAY ANYTHING? GAH I'M SUCH AN IDIOT! A TIMID AFRAID IDIOT!
"Because I didn't know what you would say."
"I'm sorry Hinata, I like you," Karin tensed, "But not like that,"
The girl got tears in her eyes as she stood there before turning around and walking out, "Don't follow me, any of you," She said, wiping the tears from her face on her solemn walk outside.
The next one to talk was Ino, she wouldn't normally have gone out of her way with this, but with what had just happened with Hinata she wasn't going to let things slide, "So Sasuke do you want to get dinner sometime?"
"Really? You're asking Sasuke out now of all times?" Kiba asked, echoing the thoughts of the rest of the group.
"Hey, I'm not going to be left in the dust while Sakura here gets all cosy sitting next to my Sasuke-kun," she said fiercely as she looked down the table at the Inuzuka.
"She's done more than sit next to him," Naruto said under his breath while Karin sat next to him with a smirk on her face. He made sure to say it loud enough for Ino to hear of course. Sasuke wasn't escaping this situation.
Ino's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"
"Well I saw Sakura leaving Sasuke's room the morning after the Chunin Exam Finals. Not sure what to make of it," He said with a cheeky grin. The blood rushed from Ino's face as she turned to the pair sitting across the table from her.
Sasuke had no idea on what to do. Thanks to the dobe he'd just been thrown into a very volatile situation. Sakura was happy that Ino-pig knew. It gave her something to boast seeing as how Naruto was the one that revealed it. Ino was furious! This was no doubt all because of Forehead being on the same team as Sasuke.
If his friend was going to skirt around the issue with Sakura he was going to make his friend's life hell. It was funny, so why not?
Ino wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what they'd done that night, even if Sakura and Sasuke knew that it was nothing, she didn't. The blonde stood up and stormed off angrily at her rival getting the better of her. Sasuke was just glad that she hadn't resorted to physical violence; he was still sore.
"Man," Kiba said as she left, "You guys really know how to cause a scene," the boy couldn't help but laugh when he said it though. Chouji and Shikamaru sure as hell weren't going after their teammate. Chouji was too busy enjoying the barbeque, hence why he'd hardly said a word and everyone knew what Shikamaru thought of women; troublesome.
For the rest of the lunch the remaining genin didn't talk about much, occasionally discussing who they thought would get promotions after the series of matches. As Naruto and team 7 were leaving they ran into someone who the blonde hadn't seen for a while, no thanks to all his training.
"Hey Naruto," Tenten said as she walked down the street. She seemed to be in a bright enough mood but a worried look kept playing across her face.
"Hey Tenten, long time no see. Ummm Tenten, this is Karin she's living with me now,"
"And I'm his girlfriend," Karin added when it didn't seem like he was going to say anything, she'd be damned if every girl their age didn't know he was taken by the end of the day.
"Oh, okay, well it's nice to meet you."
"Where were you headed Tenten, we were just about to head back to mine to play some poker, but I haven't seen you around for a while,"
"Oh, well I was heading over to the hospital to visit Lee, he keeps getting in trouble with the medical ninja, he's always trying to keep training but with his injuries it's likely that he'll never able to fight properly again,"
Naruto knew what it felt like to be helpless. He'd been helpless and practically useless for so long before everything was revealed to him and he promised himself he'd become stronger. He could only imagine what Rock Lee was feeling, stuck in the hospital, most likely never to become the shinobi he wanted to be.
Naruto had visited the boy with Tenten during his one-month training stint to see if he could make him feel even a little better. This was a week after the preliminaries before his training completely took over and he never got the chance to see anyone but Karin and Sakura.
He had to do something.
"Karin, maybe you could try and heal Lee?" Naruto was hopeful that maybe Karin had some way of fixing the boy's injuries that the Konoha medic ninja had no knowledge of.
"I don't think I could Naruto. If the best medical ninja of your village couldn't help him, I'm not sure what I could do,"
"Sakura, Sasuke, you guys have any ideas?" they both shook their heads.
"I might have something I don't know, I don't think it would heal him though." Karin added, thinking about her ability to heal during combat.
"No, there is only one person I know of that could possibly help him," Tenten said to the concerned shinobi, "Tsunade of the Sannin."
"Hmmm yeah I remember Jiraiya saying one time that she's supposed to be an insane medic nin. I mean I think that's what he said, most of the conversation he was rambling about her breasts," Sasuke said absentmindedly forgetting who exactly he was in the company of.
Sakura's and Tenten's expressions darkened. Sakura was the first to hit him over the head, forcing Tenten to back down after the pink haired girl's punishment knocked Sasuke through a fence.
"What the hell was that for? It was Jiraiya that said that!"
"WHY WAS NARUTO'S PERVERT GOD FATHER TALKING TO YOU ABOUT BREASTS IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Sakura was going to try her best to prevent Sasuke from turning out like that man.
A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined her wonderful Sasuke-kun sitting beside a fence giggling as he perved on the women on the other side.
Everyone that wasn't part of the conversation was giving the group of genin weird looks. Who the hell yelled about breasts in public? The only person that could get away with it in the slightest was Jiraiya; maybe Anko too.
It didn't matter once they realised who it was though; Team 7, the genin from the exam that completely wiped the floor with the competition.
Mutterings started going around and people began talking. These could be the strongest group of genin to come out of the Hidden Leaf in history. And the Yellow Flash had returned!
Since the day Naruto inadvertently revealed his heritage on an almost nation-wide scale people had been wondering how the hell they had never noticed.
Sasuke just remained silent and broody as Sakura looked at him questioningly, he wasn't going to tell her, he'd be damned if she found out why he and Jiraiya hung out. And she wouldn't have, until Naruto made a guess.
"Oh! You guys were probably discussing Icha Icha hey?" Naruto asked innocently, oblivious to the sentence he'd just bestowed on the Uchiha.
Sakura wasn't going to hit her 'boyfriend' again, he'd already received enough punishment from her these past few days, and this time Tenten couldn't be bothered. They weren't talking about her idol so she couldn't really care less. Karin and Naruto could only laugh at the unfortunate Uchiha because he still garnered glares from the two girls.
It wasn't long however until a squealing noise could be heard in the distance. Naruto and Sasuke looked up to see a group of around five civilian girls hurtling towards them. Fangirls.
"Man I really do not need to deal with this today," Sasuke said as Sakura cracked her knuckles, ready to destroy these pests. At least that was the plan until she heard what they were saying. She could only laugh when she realised who the group was actually after and who was leading the pack. The black-haired girl from earlier was charging forward ahead of the group.
"NARUTO-KUN!"
"Since when do you have fan-girls Naruto?" Tenten was actually curious, the blonde had never really been the popular one.
Naruto just looked at her with a look that said 'I really don't want to be in this situation' while it was now Karin's turn to get ready for a fight, but Naruto was already planning on leaving, turning to Tenten one last time.
"Okay so this Tsunade lady? She should be able to help Lee yeah?" Tenten nodded with a smile amused at what Naruto had managed to get himself into this time, answering Naruto's question, "I need to go find Ero-sennin. Catchya later!"
Man fangirls were crazy. They were almost upon them, bearing down on the little group when a voice rang out, "He already has a girlfriend suckers, ME!" Karin felt that everyone should know. And now she'd guaranteed that fact, these gossiping excuses for human beings would carry the information far and wide.
If any of them had a problem with it she'd show them exactly why she could get away with being the girlfriend of the strongest genin around.
The group disappeared, leaving Tenten to almost be crushed the by the wave of hormonal girls before they realised the object of their affection was nowhere to be seen.
Tenten turned to the girl that appeared in charge, "Who are you girls anyway?" she couldn't help but laugh.
The girl's green eyes turned into stars and she shouted, "We're the NARUTO FAN SQUAD!" as the girls dispersed, storming away in search of their crush.
xXx
Jiraiya was once again perving on a group of unsuspecting women enjoying a spa when four genin appeared out of no where next to him.
"OI YOU PERVERT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Sakura shouted as loud as she could, she'd been around Jiraiya to know what to expect and to know how to ruin his days; she wasn't afraid of him either. The women in the pool all screamed and scattered, rushing to put clothes on as soon as possible.
"Alright you little brat I get the point, now what do you want?"
The other three face-palmed. You don't ruin the day of the person who you want to ask help from. That was like social interaction 101. Obviously Sakura missed that life lesson.
"Sorry ero-sennin, you know what Sakura's like," Naruto said as she huffed angrily at Jiraiya, "We were wondering if you knew where to find Tsunade. We think she might have the medical skills needed to help a friend of ours."
"You mean the Rock Lee kid?" Jiraiya had heard all about that. Man what a crushing defeat, literally. They nodded in acknowledgement, "Sorry kids, but even I don't know where Tsunade is right now, and I don't think she'd be one to come running back to Konoha."
"What if I paid her?"
"You'd really do that for the spandex kid?"
Naruto nodded, "It's not like I have a shortage of cash, and I'm going to be earning more and more as I move up through the ranks,"
"Well someone's a little cocky,"
Everyone just stared at the old man as if he was stupid, "Okay you have a right to be. Look kid I wouldn't mind finding Tsunade and seeing the girls once again." he giggled perversely catching the attention of Sakura, "But I don't know how to find her, and don't you guys go on active duty in a few days?"
"Oh Tsunade travels with other girls?" Naruto asked curiously, Sasuke, Sakura and Karin had an idea of what the old lecherous man had meant though.
"Oh… Yeah yeah of course, Shizune should be with her, and Tonton," Jiraiya said, slightly appeasing Sakura, and glad Naruto had given him the chance to climb his way out of that hole.
"Also," Naruto added, "you're forgetting that I have one of the best Jutsu ever!"
Naruto was right, with the Hiraishin it might be a simpler task of finding his old teammate, "Alright kid, let's get back to yours and work out where we're going from here on out,"
They all vanished in a flash as two shinobi rounded the corner of the hot spring, both of them wearing black cloaks covered in red clouds.
"I could have sworn Samehada felt three massive chakra signals coming from over this way," Kisame said to the black haired ninja beside him.
xXx
"Okay kid, well although I might not be able to find her, from what I know she should still be in the Land of Fire, have you got a map?"
Naruto walked over to a box of scrolls and pulled out a map of the Land of Fire. When he unfurled it on the table the rest of them noted a number of markers on the map that were not usually found on any maps they'd seen.
"Naruto what are those?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the points covering the map. Most of them were spread evenly across the countryside with at least one near every major town or village.
"I'm not entirely sure," Naruto said, "I think they might have been locations my dad left his kunai, but I've tried to Hiraishin to them and I can't feel any markers any further out than the village, unless someone I've put one on leaves. The markers must have either been destroyed, or eroded by the weather. I can't jump to any of them. Maybe these have some other meaning. But it would make sense for my dad to have some way to quickly get around the country,"
"Yeah kid. You're dad's shown me this map before, that's exactly what they were. It's unfortunate that we can't use any of them to begin our search." Jiraiya said as he looked over the map sitting in front of them.
"Okay so Tsunade would most likely be in a gambling town, she's known as the legendary sucker, but don't ever call her that if you value your life." Jiraiya warned the genin children, "her temper is worse than Sakura's," he added idly, not caring for the girls response.
"Anyway, I think we should start our search at these places, maybe we'll get lucky," Jiraiya said, pointing out a number of different villages and towns all over the country, "We're going to have to cover a lot of ground so we'll have to leave soon,"
"Already on it," Naruto said as he picked up the map and create ten copies of himself that all went into the armoury and picked up real Hiraishin Kunai.
"May as well start creating a network of kunai again while I'm at it." He said to the confused look on Sakura's face. By now Sasuke knew that Naruto knew what he was doing, even if he was a bit slow on the uptake with some things, *cough* Hinata *cough*, so he didn't really need to question the blonde. Jiraiya and Karin had already worked it out. His clones all disappeared, flashing to the seals that Naruto had closest to the edge of the village and began making their way into the Land of Fire.
"Anyway with my clones creating a network we can investigate the towns a hell of a lot faster," Naruto said grinning, "In the meantime we can rest around here,"
As much as Jiraiya would have preferred to be doing research, the stupid pink haired miniature Tsunade had ruined any chance of that happening. So with that he went to get his sake from his stash and sat down ready to play a game of poker with the genin.
He'd been drinking a bit, but it wasn't until he noticed Sasuke a little wobbly that he thought he'd had enough. Until he realised that it wasn't his vision that was wobbling. It was the Uchiha. He then noticed what the blonde and the black haired boy were drinking. The bottle that was sitting at Naruto's feet surprised Jiraiya.
"Naruto, how did you manage to get that?"
"Oh, I was training with some toads a few weeks back, one of them left a bottle of the stuff after he tried to get me drunk. Apparently he didn't have enough of the stuff, but apparently Sasuke can only have a little bit before he starts acting weird. This is the first time he's tried it. Apparently he's a lightweight."
By now Karin and Sakura were curious, Sakura had been wondering why Sasuke was starting to act weird, "You gave my Sasuke-kun alcohol!"
"Kid I've been watching him drink, he's not a lightweight bahahaha," Jiraiya laughed heartily, the sake in his cup sloshing as he moved his hand and pointed at the bottle next to Naruto, "That is Sake from Mount Myobuko and is probably the most potent alcohol on the planet. It's also freaking addictive, but then most alcohol is," he hiccoughed slightly.
Sakura's expression darkened, "If you've gone and made my Sasuke-kun an alcoholic Naruto I swear to kami!"
"Calm down Sakura, he'll be fine," Karin said as she walked over to sit next to Naruto and grabbed the drink out of his hand, "I'm sure its not even a big deal," she said as she sculled the drink and winced at the burning sensation In her throat.
It didn't take long for the drink to take affect.
Within a few minutes she'd straddled Naruto and was kissing him up and down his neck and on his face, not a care in the world to whomever else was in the room.
Naruto didn't know what to do! He looked to Jiraiya for help but the man just smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.
So Naruto did what he was so accustomed to doing when it came to all things Karin. He just went along for the ride. Until she started trying to lift her top off and said, "Naruto-kun, pour me another would you?" She said it in a sing-song voice but an underlying tone inferred that it wasn't a request.
He poured her another and she sculled it, only this time after the thirty seconds in which she spent trying to pull her top off while pouting as Naruto tried to prevent her, she collapsed, falling unconscious on top of him.
"You look like you've got your hands full with that one brat!" The old Sannin roared with laughter and delight at the situations his student was getting into. I mean who gives 12 year olds sake from Mt. Myoboku? And what kind of twelve year old drinks it? He figured being orphans, excluding Sakura, that as long as they didn't kill themselves they could get away with whatever they wanted.
Naruto set his girlfriend down next to him and went to pour himself another drink.
"Hey! Where's my sake?"
Sakura just looked at him blankly, sitting back against the couch cuddling a rather disoriented Sasuke. As much as she didn't like the fact that he was drinking she had no problem with taking advantage of it.
Naruto turned on Jiraiya, "Where is my Sake ero-sennin?"
Damn, I'd hoped with that little stunt his girlfriend had pulled he'd be too distracted to notice, this stuff is gold too, no way I'm not keeping the rest.
"I don't know what you're talking about brat," Jiraiya tried to play it off as cool as possible, even if he was slurring his words slightly.
"Are you serious? You're the only one that could have possible taken it ero-sennin, and they call me an idiot!"
Naruto was on the man throttling him before the inebriated sage could even respond. Oh the perks of the Hiraishin no Jutsu, the ability to strangle your perverted sake stealing sage teachers at will.
It wasn't long before Jiraiya simply revealed the bottle of sake and Naruto sat back on the couch, seemingly more protective of his beverage than ever before.
"God damn it brat, do you know how hard that stuff is to get? And it's not like you can even feel the effects of it with that damned fox in your belly,"
"Doesn't mean I want an ero-sennin drinking all my booze!" Naruto replied loudly.
They were both interrupted by a splattering sound as Sasuke emptied his stomach onto the carpet. Sakura glared at them before turning back to rubbing Sasuke's back with a worried look on her face. For good measure she made sure to continue throwing heated glares at the two ninja as Naruto made a clone to go and get something to clean the mess up and they walked outside.
"Geez Sasuke what'd you have to go and do that for, it's gonna stink forever now,"
"You're the one that gave him the sake in the first place baka!"
"Yeah well I didn't realise he was such a lightwei-," he was cut off when he noticed the presence of two men standing on the path that lead from the house to the front gate of the compound.
"Well well well, what has Sasuke gotten up to now," The shinobi with black hair said as the two ninja approached. He even look amused at the situation of the young Uchiha as the boy stopped retching into the garden for a moment.
Naruto could just make out what they were wearing in the moonlight. Black cloaks covered in red clouds. He could feel the strength radiating off them. These were no pushovers.
Jiraiya was immediately on guard, he knew exactly who these people were, and he was ready to fight them.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Naruto didn't need two powerful ninja picking a fight with him here and now.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha," the ninja said, causing Sakura to gasp. Naruto's resolve hardened, this was the man who massacred his own clan, "and not much Naruto, just that we'd like you to come with us," Itachi said calmly.
"And if I'm not going anywhere?"
"Then we'll just have to carry you out of this pathetic village," The large blue fish-like man said as he drew the huge bandaged sword on his back.
"I'd like to see you try," Naruto said, preparing to fight the two S-rank ninja in front of him, "Sakura, get Sasuke inside, Jiraiya and I will handle this."
If you've gotten 11 chapters through my story I commend you! Seriously I didn't really expect to have so many people reading it and liking it. It's a good feeling. If you liked it, or have anything to say please review, it means a lot :) Until next time have fun doing what you all do. Can't guarantee on a timeframe for the next chapter, hopefully it's soon though :) Ciao guys/gals