On their way to the bridge where they were to meet the other two members of their team they kept getting stopped by villagers who wanted to say happy birthday to Naruto. Those who didn't stop them would look up and smile at him as they waved at him. One person had even been bold enough to hand Naruto a bentou, claiming that they thought that Naruto should stop eating so much ramen and that the bentou would be a good start. Though Naruto didn't quite trust the villagers, he held the bentou close to himself anyway and thanked the woman. He had no clue why everyone was all of a sudden being so nice to him, but he planned to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

Sasuke was not so nonchalant about it. With everyone that came up to them, Sasuke would tense even more. He knew this tactic. They would be nice to him for a few days and then they would go back to hating him. It was a way to maximize the pain that Naruto felt. He wanted to tell Naruto that none of this was true, but the hope that he was finally being accepted was beginning to fill Naruto's eyes and he couldn't take that away from the boy even if it was to protect him.

They arrived at the bridge to find that Sakura was the only one there. Not that that was a surprise. She immediately walked happily up to Sasuke and, by shoving Naruto out of the way, grabbed onto his arm so that she could try to get him to go out with her. Naruto stumbled back and dropped the bentou that the nice villager had given him. It clattered on the floor and all of its contents spilled out. He quickly reached down and scooped up the contents to put as much of it back in the bentou as he could. It was all probably bad now that it had touched the ground, but he was not going to waste the bentou that the nice villager had given him. He was about to tuck the box back under his arm when a woman appeared beside him. He flinched at her sudden closeness to him, fully expecting the woman to hit him or do something else to hurt him.

"You shouldn't eat that," she said in a stern voice that sounded somewhat motherly. "It hit the ground and now it's bad. You'll get sick if you eat it."

"But the lady was so nice when she gave it to me," Naruto said as he looked down at the box. He didn't know what to do. He would feel bad if he didn't eat the bentou, but he also didn't want to get scolded by one of the villagers. "I don't want it to go to waste."

"Why don't you feed it to the birds?" the woman said kindly. "I'm sure they'll enjoy it, and then it won't go to waste."

"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Of course," said the woman, "and I'll even make you another bentou to replace that one."

"You don't have to do that," Naruto said frantically.

"You have to have something to eat," said the woman.

"I don't want to be a bother," Naruto admitted.

"Oh it's no bother at all," the woman smiled. "I have to make my husband's bentou anyway. I'll just make two."

"Thank you," Naruto said somewhat awkwardly. He had to admit the way the villagers were acting was strange and it was kind of freaking him out just slightly. He was going to have to keep his guard up for whenever one of them decides to break this odd pattern and attack him when he's least expecting it.

Sasuke watched the woman warily. He fully expected her to do something that would hurt Naruto, but she did nothing. Suddenly, he felt Kakashi's presence right beside him. Apparently their sensei had seen what was going on and had decided to show himself so that he too could make sure that nothing happened to Naruto.

"Today we have a mission," said Kakashi as though he hadn't seen anything that had just happened.

"You're on time," Sakura gasped with wide eyes.

"I can be on time every once in a while," Kakashi pouted.

Naruto looked at him weird. Perhaps he was in a dream or something and that was why everyone was acting so strange. He would wake up and be reinserted into the cruel world that he knew.

"I thought we were supposed to be training," said Sasuke.

"This was a last minute mission that we were specifically requested for," said Kakashi.

"What's the mission?" asked Naruto.

"We are going to be escorting a couple of villagers to visit family members in a different village and then we are going to escort them back home," answered Kakashi.

"Why do they need escorts?" asked Sakura.

"They said that they didn't want to be attacked by any animals or burglars when they were traveling."

"Why were we specifically requested for it?" asked Sasuke. He couldn't shake the feeling that they had really specifically requested Naruto. Probably to get him out of town so that they could do something horrible to him. He didn't like it one bit.

"How should I know," Kakashi shrugged. "I was just told that we had to be the ones to take these people to their destination. Anyway, we have to meet them in about an hour so go ahead and pack up and meet back here." The whole team nodded and Kakashi disappeared.

"Sasuke!" squealed Sakura. "Aren't you excited that we are going on another mission together. Maybe this time we can share a tent."

"No," said Sasuke as he immediately turned around to see that Naruto was already walking away. This actually surprised him because usually Naruto would have jumped in at this moment to offer that Sakura share a tent with him instead. She would say no and then Naruto would complain about it or challenge Sasuke to a fight, but instead Naruto was walking away. Everything was so strange at the moment and Sasuke didn't like it one bit.

On his way home the woman who had promised to make him a bentou stopped him to tell him to stop by her house before he left so that she could give him the bentou. This confused Naruto because usually the villagers weren't supposed to know about the missions. Perhaps she had just overheard Kakashi talking to them. That would make sense. Other than that, Naruto was stopped several times for people to wish him a happy birthday and give him gifts. One woman even ushered Naruto into a clothing store before he could refuse and, as soon as he had stepped foot in the store, every staff member had come over to show him what they thought would look best on his figure. No one showed him any price tags, but he remembered this store to be really expensive. He would have just thanked them and left, but they insisted that they would not let him leave without at least three different outfits.

When he finally found three outfits he liked, and the woman paid a price that he wasn't able to see, he was finally allowed to go home to pack. He debated for a moment whether or not he should pack his new clothes. He didn't want to leave them behind because the things that got left behind when he was on missions usually got destroyed, but he was also afraid to bring the outfits with him because he didn't want them to be destroyed or lost on the mission. That would just waist them. Finally he decided that he would change into one of the outfits and pack the other two. He chose a low cut pair of loose-fitting jeans that had an area on his right side to put his weapons pouch and a white long-sleeve shirt with a black fishnet top that hooked around his thumb. He inspected himself in the mirror, making sure that none of his scars were showing, and then slipped the other two outfits into his bag along with other supplies that he thought he might need for the travel.

With that done he quickly left his apartment, leaving it unlocked as usual, and walked back to the bridge. He was a little early so he stopped by the woman's house and she handed him the promised bentou wrapped in a cloth so that it wouldn't open in his backpack. Then he went to wait at the bridge.

I have good news and bad news. Bad news is that I haven't finished the next chapter yet. Good news is that I'm almost done with it and will post it as soon as I can. I hope you like this chapter too