Naruto: Friendship

Naruto finally escaped Ibiki's probing questions and assessing stares at about five o'clock in the afternoon and immediately made a beeline for the ramen stand to soothe his tattered nerves. Ibiki in 'work mode' was absolutely terrifying, even if you knew he wasn't going to lay so much as a finger on you.

Strangely, Sakura was sitting on one of the stools at Ichiraku's, swinging her feet aimlessly as she gossiped with Ayame-chan.

"Naruto!" Ayame said cheerily as the blond climbed up onto a stool next to his kunoichi team-mate. "Sakura was just telling me about your escort mission. Here," she pushed a large bowl of beef ramen across the counter, "on the house. We have family in Wave."

"Arigatou, Ayame-chan!" Naruto said brightly, glancing sideways at Sakura as he snapped his chopsticks apart. "Itadakimasu!"

As the blond devoured his noodles as quickly as was politely possible -faster than one would think- he listened to the cover story Sakura was weaving. It was straightforward, but different: Zabuza had incapacitated Kakashi trying to get at Tazuna, but had been equally injured. Five days later the horde of goons had ambushed the freshly recovered Kakashi plus Sasuke and Naruto at the bridge while Sakura defended the house from a minor incursion. All the bandits had been defeated, the bridge had been finished and they had come home.

No mention was made of Naruto's seals or berserker abilities, Haku had been dropped from the tale completely and Zabuza never made a repeat appearance. Naruto approved: the story was tidy, with enough loose ends to be realistic.

"So what happened to Gatou?" Ayame asked.

"Zabuza killed him," Naruto suggested. "I heard some of the thugs talking about it. Maybe he tried to take the nukenin out while he was injured or something. We never saw him."

Sakura nodded, clearly adding Naruto's conclusion to their cover story. Again, tidy but not overly so.

Naruto finished his bowl of noodles with an appreciative slurp and tipped the last of the broth down his throat. "That was wonderful ramen, Ayame-chan. As soon as we get paid for this mission I'll come back for more, believe it!" the blond slid off his stool and set off towards the Hatake clan grounds. He wanted to see kaa-san.

"Ja ne, Naruto-kun!" Ayame called after him.

"Naruto! Wait up!" The blond paused and turned around.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?"

"I..." the kunoichi wilted a little. "Nobody likes you, do they?"

Naruto shuffled his feet. Sakura was highly intelligent but amazingly unobservant. He honestly hadn't believed she'd ever notice.

"I don't care what they think," the pinkette said firmly. "You're my team-mate, you're teaching me all kinds of cool stuff and Sasuke listens to you. So I don't care what your clan secrets are; we're in this together."

Naruto smiled, his first ever genuine smile in Sakura's presence. "Arigatou, Sakura-chan." He paused. "What brought this on?"

Sakura looked around shiftily. "Er, I got interrogated by a jounin that just had to be Shikamaru's dad about the mission. He warned me you were dangerous, so I pointed out that Kakashi-sensei was more dangerous and he'd been given pretty much carte blanche to teach us. He didn't push it after I said that. Then I went home and my parents told me you were dangerous and untrustworthy and I shouldn't be alone with you, which is stupid. So I got in an argument with them and stormed out of the house. I was hanging around the ramen stand hoping you'd come by since there is no way in hell I'm going home again now." She paused. "I trust you. I'm a better ninja thanks to you and Sensei and Sasuke doesn't look at me like I'm a waste of space anymore."

Naruto blinked. "D'you want to come and visit my kaa-san with me? She'd be happy to host you for dinner, or even stay the night. It isn't like there's a shortage of guest rooms at her place. If not I know plenty of geisha who wouldn't mind putting you up for the night."

Sakura, proper civilian-raised girl that she was, looked scandalised. "Geisha! How do you know geisha?"

Naruto winced at the shriek. "I'm an orphan and most people hate me, Sakura-chan. The geisha are some of the few that don't. They even taught me to read, count and write."

Sakura's wrath collapsed in on itself. "Oh. Gomen, Naruto."

"It's okay. You weren't to know."

"I've never met geisha," Sakura offered tentatively as they continued down the road, "what are they like?"

"Beautiful, well-mannered and highly educated in all things feminine and cultured," Naruto told her. "They know a lot about people and politics and more of the ladylike stuff than I realised existed. Sandaime-sama is hiring geisha to teach infiltration skills at the Academy now. I doubt they'll be able to cram it all into three years though."

"How do you know?"

"They taught me some of it; not much else to do in an okiya when you're seven. I have minarai traing: Minarai are what the geisha call those receiving training who are not old enough or skilled enough to become maiko and receive specialised training. I could blend into the serving staff at any fancy gathering in the elemental countries if I needed to."

"That sounds very useful to know."

"It is; the house okaa-san was a slave-driver though. I pity the Academy students learning from her. If you're interested in learning more, kaa-san was a geisha before she got engaged to Kakashi-sensei so she might teach you some of the unrestricted stuff."

Sakura grimaced. "I've already agreed to ijutsu training on top of the everyday stuff Sensei makes us do. Where would I find time for more?"

"In the evenings?" Naruto offered. "I do extra taijutsu, fuuinjutsu and kenjutsu on top of the everyday stuff." -Never mind that I use shadow clones to fit the fuuinjutsu into what little time I have- "The sooner we reach chuunin level the less likely we are to die."

"Point," Sakura conceded with a sigh. "Will you help me integrate those bracers we got off the Demon Brothers into my taijutsu while we wait for sensei in the mornings? He's always at least half an hour late.

"Sure;" Naruto shrugged, "taijutsu only though. Your genjutsu's getting vicious."

"It's about time you noticed it," the kunoichi retorted smugly. "Learning ijutsu is just going to enhance that. I'm taking your advice there, might I add."

"Aww," Naruto whined, making puppy-dog eyes at his pinkette team-mate, "doctors are scaaary. Honestly though," he added seriously, "You're getting very good."

"I know," she said smugly. "Not as good as you yet, but damn good in my own right. Even Sasuke admits you're good."

Naruto found it funny that, while Sakura was finally getting serious about training to be real kunoichi, she still considered Sasuke a higher authority than Kakashi-sensei.

A/N: Ibiki's interview with Naruto is non-essential at this point, but may make an appearance later. Look, more Sakura! She's still rather girly but she's not living in her own little fantasy world as much as she used to. I'm working on a Shisui one-shot that is essentially backstory at the moment: It will be a stand-alone rather than part of Odds, Ends and Outtakes.