Author's Note: Forewarning, there actually isn't a lot of NaruSaku in this chapter. It actually focuses on other pairings from the series that I enjoy. Mostly because, in their own ways, they reflect NaruSaku to a degree. Or they just work by their own merits.
Either way, enjoy.
All across the Leaf Village, the Sphere had been kicking up a frenzy. People just didn't know what to make of it. How could anyone be expected to act when a colossal orb shows up out of nowhere to project some mystical blue man who tells them that six of their young ninjas were competing in some tournament no one had ever heard of and then shows the same boys running in infinitum down an endless stone road? It raised more questions than it answered.
Those who knew the boys personally were worried for their safety, that they had been trapped in that damn sphere by the blue man.
Others thought the whole thing was one massive diversion; a genjutsu designed to distract them from an eminent attack by enemy ninja.
Still others were convinced the Sphere was an actual orb made of glass that would fall upon them at any second and were scrambling to gather up all their belongings and family members to take them as far away from the village as possible.
In light of the possibility of attack, Tsunade had ordered the borders to the Leaf Village closed and all guards to be placed on high alert. So the frightened citizens could only gather at the front gates and argue with the equally frightened border guards.
Tensions were growing high as some fear mongers began to suggest that it was the Kyuubi brat's fault or even a direct result of Lady Tsunade allowing the half-breed Saiyans to join their village.
The mob mentality dissipated when Tsunade sent for the various clan heads to order their clansmen to return to their respective family compounds. An effective strategy that was much less imposing then declaring marshal law. Within the hour, the usually bustling streets were completely deserted, shopkeepers were forced to close their stores due to lack of customers.
Which led to Ino wandering the streets all by her lonesome, having been out on an errand for her family's flower shop and not gotten the clan wide memo to return home.
Like everyone else who knew them best. Ino was flabbergasted to see all the boys from the Konoha 11 (save for Shino) appearing on the giant sphere hanging in the sky. This was completely out of left field for her so it was with great relief that she ran into none other than Temari, back in the Leaf on vacation. Although Ino was ready to wager the shirt on her back that Temari was just using that as an excuse to see Ino's lazy ass teammate Shikamaru. This probably wasn't what she meant by it though.
The two blondes had struck up a conversation and were now wandering around trying to find the rest of their girlfriends. Perhaps together, they could piece together some sense from this whole mess.
Along the way they met up with Tenten, who was also in the middle of an errand when the Sphere first appeared.
Then they found Hinata wandering alone, apparently she was coming back from checking up on her Jounin Sensei Kurenei who had been feeling under the weather the last couple of days.
Finally, the team of kunoichi had run into Sakura on her way to see Lady Tsunade. After some verbal pressure from Ino, Sakura caved and told the rest of the girls exactly what their male counterparts had done. Confirming everything that the one called Whis had stated. Their male teammates were in Hell and they were going to fight for the soul of one Sasuke Uchiha. The resulting conversation could be summed up in two lines of dialogue.
"Is Naruto stupid?" All the girls asked.
"Yes." Sakura would reply.
With nothing else to do and no one to stop them, the girls all gathered on the roof of the BBQ Place (the Konoha 11's unofficial hang out spot) to watch their male counterparts run.
Their eye's gazed upwards at the imposing sphere where the six foolhardy ninjas were beginning to feel the built up of exhaustion.
Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, Lee, and Akamaru had all been sprinting down Snake Way since a little past midnight. And they were dead tired.
Never mind the constant dead sprinting they had been doing on a pathway that never seemed to change or have an end. The lack of sleep from last night was enough to put the strain on all their bodies. Even Naruto with his bottomless supply of stamina and Lee with his life motto to never stop training was feeling the strain.
Out of all the ninjas though, Neji was probably the one hurting the most. He had designated himself to keeping a Byakugan powered eye out for any kind of landmarks ahead of them. Something to let them know that they had made actual progress and weren't just caught in some other worldly genjutsu. Considering that their intended destination was Hell, it would be fitting.
Imagine his joy when nearly 20 hours into the run, Neji spotted an actual change of scenery! Some kind of…metal horseless carriage with these brushes sweeping the road. The Hyuga prodigy called out his findings to the rest of the group who whooped and hollered with joy at the promise of something new to look at. (Each of them were ready to throw Lee of the pathway if he suggested they play I Spy one more God damn time.)
By the time they had caught up with the strange vehicle, Shikamaru had convinced Naruto to rest with them atop the street sweeper for three hours. Then they would renew their marathon.
Reluctantly the blond had agreed, not wanting to waste their precious time, but also recognizing his own exhaustion. The fact that Choji had to catching him from falling into the abyss below after he misjudged the distance between the path bends was also a good incentive (Sakura nearly had a heart attack watching that.)
The six ninjas plus a ninja dog finally made it on the top of the large truck that was thankfully large enough to accommodate all of them when they collapsed atop the metal roof. The metal was hot from the engine beneath it and the constant sunlight, the ride was bumpy as hell with the engine, but to the legs of the boys it was the comfiest hunk of metal they had ever rested on.
"So Naruto, how's things going with Sakura?" Kiba asked, his head leaning against Akamaru like a furry head rest.
"I don't want to talk about it." Naruto said to try and shut down the conversation quickly.
Over in the world of the living, Sakura was roused from her nap by Tenten who figured that she wouldn't want to miss a minute of this.
The pink medic had been starring up at the Descry Sphere ever since it had appeared. The girls had only just gotten Sakura to rest for a while, promising that they would wake her up if anything new happened.
"Naruto, as your friends, I think you should talk to us about what happened. I only got the gist from Gohan, but it sounded like Sakura didn't want you going." Neji said, trying to help his friend.
"Yea man, we ain't going to judge you. It sounds to me like you need to get this off your chest man." Kiba added.
Naruto looked around the group at all the guts that had forgotten their fatigue and we're eager for some man to man gossip.
It was either that or I Spy and nobody wanted to play that against Neji anymore.
"Why are we always talking about my love life? What about yours, eh Kiba?"
"Psht, oh you know me. I got so many girls chasing after me I gotta beat them off with a stick." The dog trainee bragged.
"Bullshit." Shikamaru interjected. "Don't believe a word he says Naruto. I heard from Shino that every date he manages to get ends with a bitch slap to his face."
All the guys burst out laughing at Kiba's expense, even Akamaru.
"Oh yeah? Well maybe I'm just looking for the right girl, that's all." Kiba said trying to save face.
"Oh yeah? Who then?" Naruto asked, curious at who the dog user would consider the right girl.
"I ain't sayin'." He replied stubbornly.
Back in the living world all the kunoichi of the Konoha 11 plus Temari perked up at hearing about Kiba's crush.
"Who's gonna know? It's just us here." Neji stated.
Kiba mulled it over for a bit and then a smirk crossed his face
"Yea sure, I'll tell ya. If everyone else talks about their interests and Naruto gets his shit out in the open."
"We'll see. Now spill." Naruto insisted.
The entire village waited on baited breath.
"Alright alright..." Kiba said as he started to blush... "To be honest, I have had a large crush on... H-Hinata for the longest time..." Kiba said hesitantly.
"What did you just say Kiba?" Neji said protectively.
"Woah seriously?" Choji commented.
Kiba scratched the side of his face. "Yea... Ever since the academy honestly."
"What, but you never made any moves on her." Shikamaru said. "Come to think of it. You made moves on everyone else. Ino, Sakura, Tenten, even Shizune and- oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh, now it makes sense." A light bulb went off in the Nara's head.
"What does?" Neji inquired.
"The reason he never made a move on Hinata even after all these years." Shikamaru vaguely explained.
Back in the real world, all the girls had blushes adorning their faces but none as bright as Hinata's. After all the years, she had no idea, she didn't know how she felt about this.
"And that is?" Naruto inquired.
"I don't think I could handle her rejection. I mean, she's like a princess and I'm just a mutt..." Kiba said sadly.
Back in the Inuzuka clan compound, Kiba's sister Hana and their mother the head of the clan was watching the entire thing. Disappointed that Kiba would think himself a mutt and unworthy of great things.
"Besides, she had that massive crush and I couldn't get in the way of her happiness like that."
Naruto looked at Kiba with a sadness only those who relate to one another could share. No matter how you slice it this was almost exactly like how Naruto's love life with Sakura was like in its early stages.
"That's rough buddy. Who did she have a crush on?" Nobody could summon the energy to act surprise at Naruto's ignorance.
"You." Neji stated plainly. "It was apparent to everyone but you, it seems."
As he said that, the entire village was recovering from a simultaneous face palm.
Naruto was in a complete state of shock. His mouth hung open and was unable to form a single word.
"Wow, yeah I had no idea. She never said anything." Naruto crossed his arms and looked up deep in thought. "Imagine if she had..."
Hinata groaned and tried to shrink herself down into nothing where she couldn't be embarrassed any further.
"Well, you have Sakura now." Choji stated
"True, I'd probably still want Sakura. Hinata's beautiful and all, and kind, but her boobs are a bit too...big for my tastes."
"Wow... really, Naruto? In front of her cousin like that?" Shikamaru deadpanned.
Neji had a twitch developing in his right eyebrow. Hinata was muttering curses to herself for wishing for big breasts to impress Naruto. Meanwhile Kiba was on the offensive. "You take that back, you Son of a Bitch! Her boobs are amazing and beautiful!" He grabbed the blond's collar.
"Oh come on! They're ridiculous! Just like Granny Tsunade's. Excuse me for liking them modest." Naruto defended.
Back in the living world, you could see the veins on Lady Tsunade's forehead from a street block away.
"Let's move this along. If we are confessing feelings for others, then I have one." Lee interjected.
"Let me guess, Sakura." Shikamaru stated.
Lee shook his head and a look of shock moved over everyone's faces.
"No." Lee said. "Gai sensei's code of Youthfulness states that once a love's heart is taken fairly by a friend it is not to be pursued. Bros before hoes." Lee proclaimed youthfully.
"It's true." Neji said, for he too was forced to memorize their master's Guide to Youthfulness.
"So, then who-" Naruto stated but was forcefully interrupted by Lee.
"To be honest, Tenten." Lee stated, which took Neji by surprise.
Tenten immediately listened up. This being as much of a shock to her as it was everyone else.
"Yes, aside from Sakura-chan, she is the most youthful lady I have ever known." Lee admitted.
This took Tenten for a loop, not because Lee had a crush on her so much as he had called her a lady. Being the weapons specialist on the close quarters combat team, she was more often than not mistaken for a tomboy.
"You sure man? She always struck me as a tommy." Naruto said.
'There it is.' Tenten thought.
"Nonsense!" Lee declared. "She might be brash on the outside, but you haven't seen her when the flames of battle die down. The way she maintains and packs away every single ninja tool with motherly care...her hands look so delicate."
The other guys had to nod their heads in agreement. She was a stickler for maintaining her weapons.
Meanwhile the weapons Mistress herself was in awe that Lee had noticed that about her. She began thinking of other times he had been supportive of her and how she always found his tenacity in training inspiring and- what was she thinking about? She had a crush on Neji already!
"The other thing is..." Lee continued on. "...she also has a crush on Neji."
All eyes turned to the Hyuga prodigy. Out of all the guys there, he was the only one who fit the cool, silent, and mysterious type that all the girls in the academy yearned for.
"I see..." Neji stated plainly. "I'm sorry to say that I don't have the same feelings for Tenten. honestly, I'm not interested in anyone at the moment."
"Oh bullshit man. There has to be someone you are crushing on." Kiba protested, not believing Neji.
"Honestly, there is no one." Neji stated seriously.
"Not even a little bit?" Naruto asked.
"Is it so strange that I take my ninja training seriously and don't have time for crushing on anyone?"
"Yes." Everyone replied, except Shikamaru who was busy trying to get comfortable for his nap.
"Well, sorry to disappoint." Neji stated.
Back in the living world, Tenten was disappointed. But not as much as she expected, mainly because she had Lee's unknown confession to think about. She joined Hinata crouching on the ground.
"What about you Choji?" Kiba asked plainly.
"Yeah I got nobody." Choji said nervously.
"I can tell you're lying by your scent, spill it." Kiba said. The rest of the guys egged Choji on.
This time Ino listened up, determined to learn all she could about her teammate's secret love life to help him out.
"Alright... So long as you don't tell anyone." Choji stated in frustration.
Back in the Leaf, Choza and the rest of the Akimichi clan looked up in anticipation. The heir to their clan had never expressed an interest in love as far as they could tell. The Yamanaka clan and even the lazy Nara clan was also interested since the three clans were so close.
"Ino..." Choji said below a whisper that between the noise the sweeper truck made from its diesel engine roaring and the noise from the cleaning apparatus, no one heard him.
"Didn't catch that." Naruto said.
"Ino!" Choji blurted out.
From all corners of the Leaf village, people could hear an astounding "WHAT!?" coming from two of the three Ino-shika-cho clans. Followed by a softer mutter of "troublesome" coming from the third clan.
Ino was busy racking her brain on who else in the village had her name.
Shikamaru meanwhile looked upon his best friend with a mix of disbelief and almost disgust.
"Ino?"
"Yes."
"Ino Yamanaka?"
"Yes."
"Our teammate Ino?"
"Yes already!"
Then it hit Ino. "WHAT!?"
"Dude, she's like our cousin!" Shikamaru exclaimed.
"But not by blood, Shikamaru!" Choji protested.
"Talk about a massive shock!" Kiba and Naruto said at the same time, even the ever stoic Neji had a look of shock.
"Do not worry my friend, the power of youthful love will always prevail!" Lee shouted, trying to cheer his friend up.
"No it won't." Choji said, receiving even more bouts of curiosity from the group.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto said
"It's never gonna happen. I'm not her type, she only sees me as a friend and teammate or even a cousin like you said." Choji gestured to Shikamaru. "Besides, we're both clan heirs so one of us would have to give up our title. I can't do that to my dad and I wouldn't ask Ino to give up her's either. So I'm just gonna let her be, watch her marry some decent guy, and then get married myself to some girl my father picks out for me. So long as I can stay friends with her and you Shikamaru."
The boys went silent for a bit, just another tragic story of unrequited love to add to the pile.
"How?" Shikamaru asked, for once at a loss for words. "I mean, when?"
"Come on man, you've seen her. Never mind how drop dead gorgeous she is, she's so confident and determined. She's loud, but only because she's passionate. Her smile is so bright it's like a flower blooming and it brightens my day." Choji thought dreamily.
"Like I said though, it's not gonna happen. So long as she's happy, I'm happy."
On the other end, Ino felt a warming sensation flow through her body as her face lit up with embarrassment, joy, and sadness all at once. She had no idea Choji felt that way about her and the fact that she was watching him beat himself up over stupid doubts, it made her even more sad.
"Choji..." Ino said softly.
"Geez man, that's... no, that's worse than troublesome. That sucks." Shikamaru stated matter of factly.
"Yeah." Choji agreed. "It's not as bad as your love life though. Huh, Shikamaru?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shikamaru answered.
"What about Temari?" Kiba pressed.
"What about her?" Shikamaru defended.
Back in the Leaf, it was now Temari's turn to listen up.
"Don't you have a thing for her? we could all see the way you act around her." Neji stated mater of factly.
"Even I noticed that." Naruto spoke up.
"Ya see? Even an idiot like Naruto noticed." Kiba said.
"Hey!"
Shikamaru sighed. "That troublesome woman? Why would I ever have a thing for her? She's brash and competitive. Every time we try to play chess together she tries to add some new rules in the middle of the game to mix things up. She's noisy and reminds me too much of my mother."
Back in the Leaf, Temari was growing red from a combination of embarrassment and mostly anger.
"Ouch..." Naruto stated.
"To be honest, I kinda liked Videl." Shikamaru stated, earning shocked gasps from the present group.
"She's more womanly, average looking, and if she could just calm down her anger she'd be perfect." Shikamaru stated.
Back in the Leaf, Videl was beside herself. Shikamaru liked her? And did he just call her average looking?! The fuck?
Temari however felt like her heart was breaking. It's not like she actually like that crybaby, it's just… She thought they were on better terms than that. 'Shikamaru, you asshole.' She thought.
"Besides, if I actually did want to get with her, it would never work. She's a major advisor to the Kazekage and his sister. Plus, I'm a clan heir too so I'm stuck at the Leaf. We'd have to travel 3 days to get to either of our villages. I'd spend 6 months in the Sand for the winter months and she would have to spend 6 months in the Leaf for the summer months..." Shikamaru listed off.
Back in the Leaf, Temari perked up. Where was he going with this?
"I'd be too troublesome to raise a family like that. Always moving back and forth or one of us leaves the kids with the other for half a year. Plus, if the peace between the Leaf and the Sand ever fails then we would be enemies..." Shikamaru stated, the guys could swear that they heard a hint of sadness in his voice. Temari and a few other villagers picked up on that too.
"It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this." Neji stated.
"I'm the brains of this operation, right? I plan out everything." Shikamaru said like it was his curse.
"Doesn't sound like you've put very much into it if you can't be truly honest with your feelings." Lee stated.
"I agree. It's obvious to everyone here that you like her." Choji added
"Psht, whatever." Shikamaru turned over on his side to face away from the guys.
Then a light bulb went off in Naruto's head. "Hey Shikamaru, what if I made you a promise that when I become Hokage there will always be peace between the Leaf in the Sand?"
"That's a mighty big claim there, buddy." Kiba stated
Shikamaru looked back at him. "You're not serious."
"Believe it! Gaara and I are super tight, no way either of us will let diplomacy fail between our villages while we're in office. That way you and Temari could be together. Hell, I could negotiate to get Temari transferred to the Leaf permanently as an ambassador or whatever."
"That's going a long ways outta the way for my sake Naruto." Shikamaru stated.
"Nonsense, you didn't even hear my master stroke. Where we build a road directly linking the Sand village to the Leaf village to cut down on your travel time. We'll call it the Shikatem road."
The Nara heir looked at the spiky blond like he was crazy. An actual road dedicated to a single couple? And the name was so stupid. Plus, it would completely under mind the whole "Hidden Village" thing the Leaf and the Sand had going on. Shikamaru smiled and then laid back down.
"Thanks, but that is probably a long ways off so I'm not going to hold my breath." Shikamaru sighed.
Temari meanwhile was going over the road idea in her own head. It was ridiculous, it was stupid, time consuming, waste of resources, and…it sounded very sweet.
"Hey, when we do build that road, can we use the stones from Snake Way?" Kiba asked.
"That sounds like more trouble than its worth. What significance could it possibly have to do that?" Neji asked.
"Nothing, I just wanna come back here one day and tear up this fucking pathway! IT'S SO LONG I HATE IT!" Kiba shouted to the Heavens off to their right.
"No taking things from the pathway." The street cleaner driver shouted back at them. "Only take pictures and leave with memories."
Everyone laughed at Kiba's outburst, even those who were watching in the Leaf.
"Alright, we all shared. Now spill it Naruto." Kiba said.
"Yes, please." Lee added in. "Let us help you feel better about whatever happened."
Naruto thought about that for a moment. "Nope."
"What the hell man!" Kiba shouted
"Honestly, you make it seem like you don't love her anymore. Shikamaru stated, Sakura's heart sank, and something in Naruto snapped.
"I absolutely still love her! But I am not at fault here and I don't have to share it with you!" Naruto snapped back, making Sakura's heart feel immediately lighter, but only slightly.
"Woah, okay... We're just concerned is all." Choji stated in defense.
"Well if you're not gonna talk about your love life, why don't we talk about the meat of the problem instead?" Shikamaru stated.
"Don't..." Naruto stated sternly
"No Naruto, we deserve to know. Why are we really out here in Hell?"
"What do you mean? You know why we're here." Naruto said.
"Yeah yeah, to save Sasuke's soul or whatever, but what is the real reason you are so Gung ho about doing this? You don't just jump straight into Hell at the drop of the hat to save just anyone. Even for a teammate that is extreme. So what is it about Sasuke that is making you go so far?" Shikamaru inquired.
"Oh God, please tell me he's not gay." Kiba muttered and was heard by an equally curious village.
"No, you asshole!" Naruto spat heatedly.
"Well? Is it that promise you made to Sakura to bring Sasuke back?" Choji asked.
"It's because... he's my brother. Or, at least, I think of him as a brother and I believe he was sent to Hell for the wrong reason."
Everyone was taken back by that, from the roof of that divine street cleaner to the farthest corners of the Leaf village.
"Growing up in the Leaf for me wasn't a fun time." Naruto explained simply, that's all he need to do. Everyone could fill in their own blanks about how truly horrific his childhood was.
"I didn't have any family or real friends. Until I met Sasuke. At a glance I could tell he was just like me, lonely in a crowded room. I wanted to befriend him immediately, but it wasn't that easy. He was so cool and popular; he could do anything. I was frustrated, so I decided that he would be my rival. When he finally acknowledged me in the chunin exams, I was so happy." Naruto reminisced.
"Ok, so he's your brother, we get that." Kiba said trying to move the story along.
"You don't. Thinking back on it, when Sasuke was first trying to abandon the village, I couldn't help but think how easy it would be for the two of us to be in each other's shoes."
"What are you talking about? You don't have a clan to avenge." Kiba said.
"No, but I do have so much pent up anger inside me." Naruto admitted. "I used to resent the Leaf so much for how everyone treated me. One wrong step and I would be out seeking power from a snake like Orochimaru if that meant I could get some revenge."
"Sasuke and I are cut from the same cloth. He knows the pain of loneliness just like I do. When he's hurt, I hurt. He's made some bad choices sure, but he refused to be a victim of the world just like I did. He doesn't deserve to be facing whatever torture they're inflicting on him. At least I think so." Naruto finished.
Back at the Leaf, Sakura was now beside herself more than she ever was before. She merely thought Naruto wanted to do this based on the promise he made to her all those years ago, but it was something far more meaningful and she felt like she was going to be sick for being so foolish and selfish in not going with him.
The entire Leaf village was feeling her sense of self disgust. Many of the adults who had gone along with the abuse of the Kyuubi vessel could finally see him for what he really was; an orphan, scared and alone that they turned into a whipping boy.
Sakura fell to her knees, her hands clasped over her shoulders as she sobbed uncontrollably.
"Naruto... I'm so sorry..." She whispered out like a prayer.
Ino who had been watching the whole thing crouched down and wrapped her best friend in a tight hug.
"I said all those mean things to him Ino... It's no wonder he won't look at me... I feel like such an idiot..."
"Shhh, shhhhh. It's ok, just let it out."
Sakura was now wailing in pain. She had basically broken her own heart by breaking Naruto's. Ino didn't know what to do, all she could do was hold her friend who is thought of like a sister.
Back in the afterlife, Shikamaru still had some questions. "So do you think Sasuke would do the same for you? If you were the dead traitor in Hell and he was the Hero who stayed behind?"
Naruto looked at the tactical genius. "Does it matter?"
The foolish blond leaned back to lie down on the roof of the street cleaner. They still had maybe 2 hours left before their agreed time to resume running. The rest of the boys all looked at one another, a silent flame ignited in all of them as they made themselves comfortable atop the metal truck.
Back in the Leaf, a collective hush had blanketed the village. From the greenest civilians to the most harden ninja veterans, everyone was in shock at this kid's verbal tenacity. The balls on this newly promoted chunin, the courage and loyalty to a fallen comrade… It was awe inspiring. You only associated those kinds of traits to either the greatest of fools or the most heroic of legends.
Whichever one Naruto was, depended on one thing, the outcome of his adventure. One thing was for certain though; the whole world would be watching…
Author's Note: I'm iffy about this chapter. I'm glad that I got to include so many other pairings into the story because it's not Naruto if you don't ship the characters left, right, and center. But I'm not sure I pulled them off as well as I could.
What do you guys think? Did I keep everybody somewhat in character?
What about how the girls all reacted to this? You can read about their reactions in Legacy of Heroes chapter 16. Cause it ain't a chapter of Naruto and Sakura at Ichiraku's without ending with a plug to the crossover fic I pull these segments from.
Also I feel like mentioning that a lot of this chapter was written through back and forth dialogue between me and cmartinHFD. So I can't claim to be the sole mastermind behind this entire segment as usual. I think it works better though, it gives it more of a guy talk feel since it was written by having two guys talk to one another.
See you next time with some saucy fan service for the ladies as written by two twenty-something guys.