Chapter 5: Between Acceptances and Realization

The Rise of Armpits Village

"SA-SAKURA-CHAN, What are you doing here!?", Naruto asked as the girl of his fantasy is standing at his doorstep.

"Huh !? Why are you shocked like that ?" asked Sakura confused.

"Uuh.. it's nothing.. hehe", said Naruto while scratching the back of his head.

"Gosh, Did you just wake up? I'm here to remind you about our trai-",

"Wa-Wait.. Hmmmm.. Am I still dreaming ? Are you... Really Sakura-chan?" wondered Naruto as he put his hand on his jaw.

"….." Sakura put on a flat face after hearing that Naruto was dreaming about her.

Naruto was still unsure and thought the Sakura standing in front of him was his imagination. He suddenly looked at her left armpit and slowly moved his finger towards it as he tried to touch it.

"Gosh.. This looks.. so real..! How can my imagination improve so much!? Amazing.." thought Naruto.

Sakura saw the suspicious movement of Naruto's hand and immediately grabbed it before he touched her.

"E-Eh.. !?", shouted Naruto nervously.

"Oh, so you're trying to touch me, Huh..!?" shouted Sakura in an annoyed tone.

Naruto who was giddy was immediately surprised and panicked as he started to realize the reality he's facing.

"AH CRAP! No, no, no, I'm not..!"

Sakura then squeezed his finger tightly which made Naruto scream in pain.

"UAAAAHH, MY FINGER..! IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS..!

"You want to touch me, huh !? You want to touch me..!? Take this..!" Sakura shouted as she tightened up her grip more and more.

"Please.. Stop, Sakura-Chan..!"

Naruto screamed loudly and all of the people outside turned their head towards Naruto's house due to the noise. A moment later, Sakura released her grip on his hand, but she moved behind him and choked his neck instead which made Naruto unable to breathe.

"I didn't expect you to be this nasty, Naruto!" Sakura shouted to his ear and kept tightening her grip more and more on his neck.

"Sa.. Sakura-chan.. P-Please.. I.. I can't.. I can't breath…!"

"Like Hell..!"

After Naruto was seen dying and out of breath, Sakura released her grip, Naruto then directly slumped to the ground like a dead snake.

"I-I.. will.. never.. ever.. touch Sakura-Chan.. ever again.." said Naruto on his mind as he was still lying limp and helpless on the floor.

Sakura looked at him and pinched her eyes while placing both of her arms on her waist. She grabbed his collar and pulled him up.

"Grrr.. Listen, if you ever touch me again.. I won't hestitate to smash your balls to pieces.. Understand!?" said Sakura as she stared at his eyes with a deadly look while clenching her fist.

" Ga-Gaaaaaah.. Nooo! Not my balls!"

Naruto felt so scared and quickly knelt down to beg forgiveness from her.

"Please, Please, Please, forgive me Sakura, it was just a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to touch you, I swear..! I just.. want to grab the door handle beside you."

"Oh really? Don't act stupid..! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"I didn't mean to do anything to you, I swear, I'm sorry..!" said Naruto as tears started to fall from his eyes.

While still looking at him in annoyance, Sakura took a deep breath and crossed her arms.

"UGHH.. OKAY, I'LL FORGET ABOUT IT..! But, would you please stop acting stupid!? You're really giving me a headache.." Sakura complained in an annoyed tone and scratched her ears.

"Sorry, Sakura-Chan.. I promise!" said Naruto.

"Okay, Listen, I'm here to remind you about the team training. Sai and Kakashi sensei are waiting for us in the training field.. Don't make them wait for so long. Come on, go and change now..!" said Sakura as she felt annoyed and pushed Naruto inside to go faster.

"A-Alright, wait a minute. I'm going to prepare things up. But please, just don't hurt me again, Sakura-Chan.. Hehe"

"Fine.." said Sakura.

Naruto then quickly rushed into his bathroom to prepare. After 10 minutes of waiting, Naruto was finally ready and they were walking side by side to the training field.

On the road, all women were wearing sleeveless tops passing them one by one as they walked, causing Naruto to frequently glance at them.

After some time, Naruto began to get confused and cast glances in all directions until he finally noticed that every woman on the street wore sleeveless.

He then began to think that what he had seen was a dream, which caused his nasty thoughts to return. However, he noticed Sakura walking alongside him and suddenly remembered the incident earlier and instantly abandoned his plan. With great courage, he asked Sakura about it.

"Uhmm, Sakura-Chan. May I ask you something ?"

Sakura turned to him, "Hmm? Sure, Go ahead, as long as it's not something stupid."

"Uhh.. I don't know if it's just me, but.. Why are all the girls on the street wearing sleeveless tops? I mean, that's what I'm seeing now, I don't know if I'm hallucinating."

Sakura looked him in the eye and said, "So, you've noticed?"

Naruto turned to Sakura surprised as he felt confused, "Uhh.. Noticed what?"

"It's a new rule made by Lady Tsunade, it forces every kunoichi on the village to wear sleeveless tops only, anywhere and everywhere. The rule applies to any kunoichi, including me" said Sakura as she explained Naruto about the rules.

"W-Wait.. A new rule..!? How come I didn't know about all of this?" asked Naruto as he's more confused now after hearing her explanation.

"That's why you have to get used to getting up early so you don't miss important things! After all, you usually don't know anything new other than ramen. Anyway, the rule was made to increase the rate of successful missions. It says that the rate will increase if the kunoichi wore sleeveless tops." said Sakura.

"U-Uhmm.. I don't know how wearing sleeveless tops would increase the rate, I would say it's a pretty weird rule. Well, Uhmm.. What do you think about it?" asked Naruto as he wants to know about Sakura's opinion while occasionally looking at Sakura's shoulder.

"Well, I don't mind it actually, at least for this three reasons: 1) Lady Tsunade, my master, is the one who made the rule 2) There must be a valid reason for it and I believe that it is the rate of successful missions since we already succeeded in a lot of missions lately and 3) I already often wear sleeveless tops so I guess it won't affect me at all." said Sakura.

"Guess I'll be suffering a lot from now on." said Naruto.

After Naruto finished talking, Sakura suddenly put her arms up to fix her headband which made both of her armpits exposed to Naruto. While looking confused, she asked "Suffering about what?"

With his eyes focused on her armpits, he answered stammeringly"Ah..! I.. U-Uhmm.. Just forget about tha—.."

Before he could finished his sentence, his brain started to fantasize about Sakura posing with her arms up and seducing him.

"C'mon foxy boy, now you have the chance. Come and lick them~"

Naruto then stopped walking and started to drool as he stared at Sakura. Sakura who saw him also stopped walking and looked at him standing still on his place with a weird face expression, Sakura then asked in concern.

"Hey, Are you alright?"

Naruto didn't respond as he kept drooling, Sakura had enough already and walked to him and slapped him hard in the face.

"SERIOUSLY..! STOP MESSING AROUND AND KEEP MOVING! KAKASHI SENSEI IS WAITING FOR US!"

"Owww..!" Naruto whined as he rubbed his left cheek.

After a while, They both arrived at the training field as Kakashi and Sai were waiting for them above the tree.

"You guys really picked up my habit of coming late, I'm proud" said Kakashi as he leaned on the tree.

"Were you two at a date?" added Sai bluntly.

"Hehe.. You could say that" said Naruto while grinning.

Then Sakura immediately yelled, "NO WE WERE NOT! Look, I've wasted a lot of time waiting for Naruto to get ready as well as dealing with his stupidity! It all makes me dizzy and tired, let's just start training now, Kakashi Sensei!"

"Okay then, We'll do the bell catching training today, you guys know the rules. But you guys should do it within an hour." Kakashi said while showing the bells to the trio.

Then the three of them answered "Understood..!"

"Alright.. Ready, Steady, GO!" Kakashi gave the signal for his team to start as they all attacked him at once.

After a while, both Sai and Sakura has managed to corner Kakashi with Sai using the bear monster he drew and Sakura kept on distracting him.

"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE NARUTO!" Sakura shouted.

"Alright..!" shouted Naruto as he started to jump to grab the bell from behind.

However, just as he was about to reach the bell, his gaze was diverted by Sakura who was raising her hand upwards, which made Naruto turn his gaze towards her armpits and broke his concentration for a moment.

"Wo-Woow.." said Naruto in a low voice.

"Too late Naruto." said Kakashi as he kicked Naruto's body and made him stumble backwards and fell on his ass.

"AAAWWW, WHAT THE HELL?!" shouted Naruto in pain.

"Focus Naruto, you are wasting your teammates efforts." said Kakashi as he stood still and looked at him.

"What's wrong with you, Naruto? You should've grabbed the bell!" shouted Sakura.

"Sorry, I'll do better, I promise!" Naruto said somehow confident.

"Hmm.. That's alright, let's start again.." said Kakashi as he drew his kunai.

Sai then began to draw another creature on his book while Sakura rushed at Kakashi as she tried to keep his hands full. After struggling for a long time, a giant snake creature that Sai drew managed to catch and lock Kakashi that made him unable to move his body.

Sakura then began to jump into the sky and raised her hands up as she wanted to distract Kakashi's attention from above.

By looking at the opportunity that exists, Sakura shouted to Naruto "Come on, Naruto! This is the chance!"

Naruto then immediately ran forward to Kakashi but stopped to look at Sakura's armpits for the second time.

The time was more than enough for Kakashi to escape and kick him in the face.

"OWWWWWW, IT HURTS!" Naruto whined as he flew backwards a good 30 feet due to Kakashi's kick.

"Ten minutes remaining.. " said Kakashi as he took a deep breath.

"Hey Naruto..! What the hell is wrong with you !? Why do you always stop at the last moment!?" asked Sakura as she felt angry.

"Hmm.. Another good chance has passed, You're really something, Naruto." said Sai.

"Gaaaah, I'm so sorry guys! My eyes suddenly caught something that made me twinkle." said Naruto trying to make a false excuse to cover up things that actually made him lose focus.

"…" Sakura and Sai were silent as they stared at Naruto with a flat face.

"Okay, okay, okay.. Listen, I promise I will get it this time! Alright, 3..2..1, LETS GO..!" shouted Naruto.

Once again, Sakura and Sai charged at Kakashi. They occasionally looked at Naruto who was now looking different from before. Naruto put on a serious face and looked confident.

When it was Naruto's turn to attack, Sakura who was currently distracting Kakashi suddenly passed beside him, with her left arm grabbing a tree trunk and her left sweaty armpit exposed wide open in front of Naruto which made him lose his focus for the third time.

"G-Gwaaah..! Not agaiii…" shouted Naruto.

Naruto, who lost his focus and balance immediately slipped down from the tree branch he was stepping on and landed on the ground.

"A-Awww... I.. Can't hold.. my eyes off.. " Naruto groaned in pain as he thought to himself.

Sakura who saw Naruto lying on the ground was worried and came down to help him.

"H-Hey are you alright, Naruto ?" asked Sakura worriedly as she tried to help him to stand up.

"Ugh.. Ye-Yes, I guess so.." said Naruto.

"Seems like you're currently having a lot of things going on in your mind today, huh? Since you're also acting really weird too.." asked Sakura to him.

Naruto looked at her and said, "No, No, No..! I'm completely fine! Let's start another one, this time.. This time, I promise, I won't make any mistakes again!" said Naruto.

Sakura took a deep breath and said in an annoyed tone,"Oh Please! Enough talking and acting strong like that! You're completely hopeless, idiot!"

Naruto looked down listlessly and occasionally looked at her armpits and thought "Ugh.. Sakura-chan, I wish you could feel the pain that I felt today.."

"Okay, Times up..! I'm sure you guys can do better next time like usual." shouted Kakashi as he ended the training session for the day while approaching the two of them.

After a while, the four of them gathered while discussing several things. Naruto, who was still feeling down because of the failure he had done in training, just fell silent and pouted.

Meanwhile, Sai and Sakura listened to Kakashi's explanation regarding the evaluation that had to be done carefully.

During the discussion, Sakura kept on wiping the sweat on her forehead repeatedly because she felt hot from the scorching heat of the sun.

And then, when Sai was delivering his response, Sakura couldn't take it anymore and immediately interrupted his words,

"I think—"

"Seriously, couldn't we just do training on a cooler time like in the morning, Kakashi sensei? I'm absolutely drenched in sweat! Ugh.. I can't feel a single thread of my clothes that isn't stuck to my body.. Even sleeveless like this won't help!" said Sakura as she looked at her clothes.

Naruto who heard Sakura's words immediately lifted his head back up in an excited expression "Waah!"

"Hmm, I guess you're right, I'm also not a fan of this time of day either." said Kakashi as he closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Wa-Wait, Kakashi sensei! Please give us an extra time.. One last time! I believe we will get it right this time!" said Naruto as he wished he could spend more time with Sakura so he could peek on her armpits longer.

Sakura, who was already feeling tired and fed up immediately shouted at him "Oh please, Come on! will you ever stop your nonsense!? I'm so tired and I want to go home!"

"AH-Okaaaay, My bad!" said Naruto as he felt so scared.

Then, Sakura raised both of her arms up and looked at her sweaty armpits.

"Ugh.. All this sweat makes me feel so uncomfortable!" said Sakura as she looked at her sweaty armpits.

Naruto, who saw something beyond his expectations smiled and glared widely at it.

The moment he saw sweat dripping down her armpits, his whole body suddenly fired up as it is filled with burning excited feelings.

"OH MY GOD..! OH MY GOD..! OH MY GOD..!" screamed Naruto in his mind.

Then, Sai looked at Sakura and said "Hmm, so you cut me off just to show those wet armpits of yours? If I were you I would feel so embarrassed."

Sakura then immediately put her arms down and blushed.

"He-Hey..! Okay, listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so gross in front of everyone, its just.. Ugh.. Whatever! I'm just trying to tell facts about this shitty weather!"

Naruto immediately became very disappointed and looked cynically at Sai.

"NOOOO! THIS DUMBASS JUST RUINED MY VIEW!" shouted Naruto in his mind.

"Okay enough guys, that's it for today, you guys can go home now" said Kakashi as he tried to calm the atmosphere.

"Alright, Kakashi sensei..!" said Sai and Sakura together.

"Ugh.. Okaay.." said Naruto as feeling down and gloomy.

After the conversation, Kakashi dismissed the team. Sakura rushed to walk home early followed by Sai walking on the back.

But as soon as Naruto started to walk out of the training field, Kakashi who was looking at Naruto from behind suddenly asked him,

"So.. you have an armpit fetish, isn't that right, Naruto ?"