Chapter 1: Reunion of Team Kakashi
AN: This is a sequel to Naruto: The Lonely Boy gets the Girl. I was given permission to do the sequel by the author. I hope you like this and feel free to review and critique. Hail to the king baby.
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Bright and sunny, the day was hot for everyone. The type of lazy day that the Land of Fire was well known for. Trapped in her office, Tsunade was doing paperwork. Another signed paper, and another grumble later, Sakura came in with more papers. Tsunade grumbled more and more, as Sakura stared out the window wistfully. This was the scene Sasuke Uchiha came upon with his team of genin. "You know he'll be back soon, right?" Sakura gave a start before sighing. Tsunade straightened her papers and brought out some scrolls. "Jonin Uchiha and his Genin team reporting for duty."
"I got the usual D-ranks here. In~cluding, the Tora mission!" Tsunade waved the mission scroll as everyone, besides her, sweatdropped.
Sasuke coughed to get attention, "Actually, Tsunade-sama, I was thinking it was time for a C-rank for my team. I believe we are ready." His team, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all nod their heads in unison.
"Yeah, come on Boob Lady, give us a kick-ass mission!" Konohamaru said before he was nailed in the head with a paper weight, giving him a large bump.
"Don't call me Boob Lady, brat!" Tsunade yelled.
"How about old hag," muttered Moegi with jealousy. She too was pelted with another paper weight.
"Don't call me Old Hag, brat!" Tsunade yelled.
"Beautiful…" Udon sniffed in admiration. He too was hit with a paper weight.
"Don't be a pervert, brat!" Tsunade yelled though with less ferocity than before. "Anyways, your team is to go to Suna and return with their diplomat."
"Hn" Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement as he accepted the mission scroll. The door opened and Ino walked in with a baby bump.
"My Uchiha grunt senses are tingling. Is my Sasuke not using his words again?" Ino said.
Sasuke was sweating kunai, "of course not dear. I was just going to say, 'thank you Lady Hokage, Team 7 humbly accepts this mission.'" The Konohamaru squad snickered as they rubbed the bumps on their heads. "Squad, meet at the west gate in an hour-" Ino kinda hugs Sasuke and whispers something in his ear, "-3 hours. Make sure to pack for a week-long desert trip." He then picked up Ino in a princess carry and shunshin to somewhere private. Konohamaru Squad sweatdropped and said bye to the remaining two in the room before leaving.
As the door closed Tsunade went back to doing Tsunade things. Sakura sighed and took one last look out the window. "Worry not Sakura, Naruto is safe with Jiraiya. They'll be back soon."
"I know, sensei. I just can't help but think that maybe he found someone better out there. You remember the mission we met up for and took half a year into his training trip?" Sakura then muttered under her breath, "damn Ice Queen floozy."
Tsunade chuckled at her student's jealousy. "Speaking of, Koyuki sent a signed copy of her new movie to Naruto. Icha Icha Paradise, starring Yukie Fujikaze." She held up the roll of film, "that is a special 'actor's cut' of the movie with an extra 30 minutes of never before seen footage. For Naruto's eyes only" she clearly teased.
Sakura took clear offense to that and proceeded to rip the film up while screaming profanities and all but breathing fire. She raged like a dragon until the ripped up film lay at her feet, she herself huffing from the exertion. "I'm going to cool my head, sensei. I'm taking my break early." She gave one final huff before leaving.
Tsunade giggled as the door slammed shut before opening the drawer to find a stack of films. "What I forgot to say is she sent several copies for Naruto." She then cackled like a mad woman.
"Stress finally getting to you, Hokage-sama?" an ANBU in a Dog mask dropped down from the rafters.
"Ah, Dog. I still can't get used to you being on time. Anyways, I have a mission for you. Jiraiya and Naruto sent information on a possible Otogakure hideout. Somewhere near Iwa. I want you to personally handle it with a hand pick team of 3." Tsunade said, turning away to look at the village. "With luck, we'll have finally killed the snake that is Orochimaru's village for good before Naruto comes back next week" Dog perked up at that.
"Very well, I'll want Cat, Hawk, and Tiger on my squad." Dog saw the Fifth Hokage nod of approval, "Plus, I'm leaving Newt in charge while I'm gone."
"Very well," she said, then waved in dismissal. No sound was made as Dog disappeared. Tsunade turned back around and went back to paperwork. "Damn fucking paperwork. I need sake."
00OO00
Sasuke and his team were trekking through the desert, the entire Team 7 complaining all the way. Sasuke let them voice their complaints, though his patience had come from a sort of… goodbye present, from Ino. He smiled a bit remembering her glistening skin as he lovingly took- "Man this desert fucking sucks! Are we there yet?" Konohamaru interrupted his thoughts.
Sasuke activated his sharingan and gazed around before he saw the rocky outcropping signifying Sunagakure in the distance. "We're about two hours out. We can be there sooner if we pick up the pace." Sasuke then shot forward with his squad right on his tail, in a wedge formation with Udon and Moegi on Konohamaru's flanks.
Team 7 soon found themselves at the gates of Sunagakure. "Halt, IDs and reason for visit," one of the guards stated. Team 7 handed their IDs to the guard while Sasuke handed his ID and his scroll stating their reason for being here. "Understood. Welcome to Suna, stay out of trouble." The same guard said as the other waved them in. They made their way towards the Kazekage's office talking amongst themselves. Even Sasuke was answering questions and being an active participant in conversation. Ino's influence on him was growing. Eventually they made it to the Kazekage's office and, after waiting for a bit, were let in.
"Greetings, Uchiha." Gaara greeted Sasuke as he received the mission scroll from Sasuke. He signed it and asked for Temari to come in. "Please take care of my sister."
Temari walked in, "Hey, I was hoping to see Shikamaru here."
"He ended up on patrol. Don't worry he'll be back by the time you get there." Sasuke saw the slight look of worry that she almost managed to hide, "it's not near one of the Iwagakure invasion routes." She sighed quietly in relief.
"So, how's Ino? You guys married yet?" Temari asked as they left the office building.
Sasuke shook his head slightly, "no, not yet, I wanted to wait until Naruto came back. It should be soon and Ino has been busy with Sakura planning the wedding. Frankly, all we need is to set a date."
Temari nodded, and decided to tease the last Uchiha, "wow, I'm impressed. A full three sentences. Ino must be rubbing off on you." Temari had mischief in her eyes.
Sasuke blushed but before he answered, Moegi piped up, "Sensei is whipped!" Konohamaru and Udon both made whip crack noises with their mouths. Temari giggled at that.
Sasuke blushed further then coughed, "let's refill our water scrolls, then leave. Do you have everything Temari?" Temari decided to make fun of him a bit more and let out an Uchiha-like grunt. Sasuke raised an eyebrow with his own onyx orbs, gaining a glint of mischief to it as well, "Oh? I didn't know you spoke Uchiha. Accent is a bit off, though. It sounded more like you were saying 'Yes I have my pots and pans,' instead."
Temari chuckles, "oh my, I had no idea you had a funny bone. Miss Naruto that much, do ya?"
Sasuke chuckled, "I think Sakura misses him the most." They refilled scrolls and canteens of water and then left Sunagakure. Temari followed with team 7 in Manji Formation with Temari in the center, Sasuke in the rear, Konohamaru in the front with Udon and Moegi on the right and left flank respectively. They held this position the entire way back to Konoha, no troubles as this route had been cleared by bandits by another team in preparation for Temari's arrival. Standard operation when moving diplomats.
00OO00
Deep underground, the Sound Four sat around a table. "A little bit longer and Lord Orochimaru will return. All we need is his chakra containing yang energy. We're close to not needing Lord Orochimaru's body to forcefully pull his soul out of the curse seal." Ukon said, with Sakon nodding in agreement from Ukon's back.
Tayuya piped up, "preliminary simulations show that if we get our Lord out of Kimimaro's cursed seal, there is a 13% chance he'll gain that fucking Kaguya bloodline of his." Having had to take over Orochimaru's research was no easy feat, but Tayuya managed to learn quickly on the spot and was able to push the boundaries on several projects. "Project Lazarus shows promise, but with such shit chances, using our Lord's body parts or even some DNA would significantly improve the chances."
"It's been two years since his death and Konoha still has the only traces left," Jirobo said dejectedly.
Kidomaru spoke next, "moving on, the attempts to join forces with smaller nations in a coalition has had mixed attempts. Land of Grass, Frost, Claw, Bird, and Honey have signed a Mutual Defense Pact with us. Of those, only Frost, Grass, and Bird have hidden villages. Kusagakure is the only village to understand our animosity with Konohagakure as they had a run-in with two Konoha shinobi who seemed to have spirited away one of their ninja." Kidomaru stopped to take a breath. "It seems Shimogakure and Origakure have been threatened by their respective more powerful neighbors."
They continued discussing world events, training, and their plans on dealing with Konohagakure throughout the night. When they finished, the four of them scattered to the winds again to continue their plans and to make it harder to hunt them all down.
00OO00
Shikamaru, Choji, and another ninja, with a pale complexion, were jumping through the trees, occasionally stopping at certain points to check and reset traps along the border of Land of Fire and Land of Rice. The pale skinned shinobi with black hair was using an ink release jutsu to create birds that were watching their backs. "Okay. Choji, Sai, point Vespa is secured and rewired. We're moving onto point Omega and we can make it back to base," Shikamaru said to the two Ninjas in his squad. "This is Shadow, Vespa secured, moving to Omega," Shikamaru radioed to the outpost.
They traveled some distance away, towards Point Omega, a moderate sized wooden and stone bridge where a large river crossing stood. The river itself had some chakra mines under the water hidden as well as punji sticks in the mud of the river bottom. The bridge itself was clear, but chakra sensor seal tags line the bridge underneath to detect any life passing through the border. Several traps were around the banks on both sides to ensure the bridge was a choke point in case of invasion.
Shikamaru made sure everything was in its proper place while his team watched his back. The checkpoint was secured fully. Shikamaru and his team moved back towards basecamp. Right as they left, Dog, Tiger, Cat and Hawk appeared, and crossed into Oto territory. Shikamaru hadn't yet turned on the seals to detect chakra. He waited a full 30 seconds as his team left the area before activating them, allowing Team Ichi a chance to breach the border undetected as per Lady Tsunade's orders he received via her summons earlier that day. He sighed, "So troublesome."
00OO00
It's been a week since Sasuke left with his team to escort Temari to the village. Team Ichi has yet to return, Shikamaru's border duty ended three days ago, and the team already rotated with another team. Team Ichi has yet to appear back in the Land of Fire. Sakura and Ino were waiting by the south gate. Ino wanted to greet her Sasuke-kun at the gate and Sakura decided to wait with her. Shikamaru was the gate guard that day so he could meet Temari.
In the distance, five people came from down the road. Ino recognized them immediately and became giddy with excitement. Sakura smiled wistfully at her friend's excitement. She missed her blonde knucklehead. Soon Sasuke was in hearing distance as Ino shouted her hellos. When Sasuke was only a few yards from the front gate, Ino welcomed him. "So how was the mission Sasuke-kun? Did you have fun in Suna?" she said after kissing him hello.
Sasuke gave a semi grunt before stopping himself and replying, "well it was just a short visit as I wanted to get back home." Sasuke held her in his arms as they talked about what happened while he was gone. There wasn't much, Shikamaru is lazy, Kiba and Hinata were caught by Tsume in the dog kennel naked, typical Konoha stuff. Meanwhile, Temari greeted Shikamaru at the gatehouse, as Udon was signing in for the team and Temari.
"Anything interesting happen, Lazybones?" Temari asked Shikamaru.
He shrugged, "dunno. I tend to stick to myself mostly. Too troublesome to stick my nose where it doesn't belong. I'm not Ino." A sandal comes flying from where Ino and Sasuke were standing. "Oi! Watch where you're tossing that thing!" Shikamaru says while tossing the sandal back to Sasuke who was still holding Ino in the air while she was doing a crane kick pose with one sandal missing.
"Bite me lazyass!" Ino said as Sasuke put on her sandal for her while she used his firm shoulders to hold herself steady. After strapping the sandal to her feet, he gave a couple kisses up her legs lovingly.
Sakura was just there talking to Konohamaru and Moegi about the mission which was really boring for the new genins. In the middle of everyone's conversation, no one noticed a man with a wide brimmed straw hat, a white and yellow cloak that hid his actual clothes underneath. He walked up to Sakura without anyone seeing him, saying, "I didn't realize there was a party waiting for me to get home. Has catering arrived with the ramen yet?"
Sakura heard his voice and froze. "Naruto?" she asked hesitantly.
Two arms wrapped around her waist as the whiskered man kissed her neck while he was behind her. The hat obscuring the kiss from others. "Does that answer your question, my beautiful blossom?" She turns around in his arms to face him, kissing him full on the lips.
It wasn't long until they were kissing each other deeply, their tongues dancing in their mouths. Not long afterwards, Jiraiya was with the group along with another woman with glasses and red hair. This woman looked at Sakura and Naruto with jealousy. "Well brat, you should probably save the fun part for later when there isn't as big of an audience." That stopped the two lovers as Naruto looked a bit sheepish as Jiraiya said that.
Sasuke was holding Ino in his arms, "well looks like you're back loser. Wonder if you got any stronger."
Naruto flipped him off, "ya I got stronger, bastard. Definitely stronger than you!"
Sasuke smirked but before he answered, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi tackled Naruto into a hug. "Boss you're back!" they all chorused together.
"Hey, you guys made genin!" he returned their hugs enthusiastically. "So who's your jonin sensei?" Naruto asked them.
"That would be me, loser," Sasuke said.
Naruto had a shocked look on his whiskered face. "Wait, that means you're a Jonin now!" Sasuke merely smirked at him. "Damn it!"
Temari and Shikamaru both greeted the blonde ninja as well. They were in the middle of catching up with each other when the red haired woman put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto-kun, are you gonna introduce me?"
"Oh right! Everyone, this is Karin. Karin," he proceeds to point in order of his introduction, "Shikamaru, his girlfriend Temari, Sasuke, his girlfriend Ino-"
Sasuke interrupts him there, "Fiance, actually." He rubs her belly which Naruto hasn't noticed until now.
Naruto gaped and pointed at them, "Ino… you… you're," Ino nodded assuming he's noticed her pregnancy, "YOU'RE FAT NOW!" Ino would have face faulted if not for Sasuke holding her up. Sakura just facepalmed at her boyfriend's stupidity. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same,' Sakura thought to herself.
"DAMNIT NARUTO! I'M NOT FAT, I'M PREGNANT, YOU IMBECILE!" Ino clocked him on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.
"Ow, ow, ow." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as everyone sweatdropped. "How'd you get pregnant Ino?" Both Ino and Sasuke give him a deadpan stare. It takes a while before Naruto puts two and two together. "Oh right, sex." The other members of the old team 7 facepalmed. "Anyways, Sasuke's fiance, Ino, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and finally, my girlfriend and most beautiful girl in the world," he paused for dramatic effect, "Sakura!" Said girlfriend blushed immensely.
Karin walked up to them, and greeted them all. "A pleasure to meet you all. I am Karin Uzumaki," she said this with emphasis on her last name. She shook the hands of all of them but when she got to Sakura, she gave a fake smile as her hand squeezed harder trying to break Sakura's hand. Sakura smirked as she realized what she was trying to do. So she returned the squeeze.
"I'm glad to meet a family member of Naruto's. You must be like a sister to him," Sakura said through gritted teeth and a fake smile. The two females seemed to immediately understand one thing, 'This bitch is a threat!' they both thought simultaneously.
Unaware of the secret war he's started, Naruto smiled as he brought both women into a crushing group hug. "I'm so glad you can finally meet each other! I know you'll be great friends." Naruto beamed, "my cousin and my most precious lady finally meeting. Man, today has been great." The two of them blushed while in his arms, with Sakura noticing how strong he's gotten since she last saw him briefly for the Land of Snow mission. 'A year and a half does wonders for the body.' Sakura thought with a touch of blood coming from her nose.
"Okay, brat. We gotta see Tsunade and report in, so let's go lover boy. You can do couple stuff after that." Jiraiya pulled them away from each other and dragged Naruto with him. Karen gave one last challenging look towards Sakura before leaving with the Sannin and apprentice.
Sakura huffed as they left ear shot, "I don't like her."
"Careful forehead, you're gonna advertise your jealousy on that billboard brow there. I can see the green forming already," Ino teased.
"You clearly didn't see the look in her eye. She's going to prey upon my poor naive Naruto. You know he's denser than a brick and yet kinder than any man. It's the perfect combination for a whore to try and sink her teeth into," she ground her teeth as flames appeared in her eyes.
Sasuke shook his head, "trust me, the dumbass has literally eyes only for you. Always have, always will. If you ever catch him in bed with another woman, chances are it's another ninja transformed into him." Sasuke nodded sagely. "If you asked him to marry you, he'd probably grab you and drag you to Lady Tsunade." Sasuke then grabbed his Ino, and picked her up, "well, see you Sakura, Ino and I are gonna prepare for the wedding while the knucklehead is back. We'll let you know more later." He shunshined away with Ino giggles fading. Sakura sighed as she turned to the rest of Team 7 and Temari.
"Well come on then. Let's see the Hokage." Sakura led them away towards the Hokage's tower. Despite discovering a leech attached to her Naruto, she was absolutely giddy with excitement now that he was back. She smiled.