Chapter 3

Dinner Party

A beam of light soon hit Sakura in the face. She opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in her bed. She figured that Naruto must have put her there last night. She saw a note by her bed, she picked it up and read it.

"Morning Sakura-Chan, sorry I had to bolt as I did, But Kakashi Sensei said something about helping me learn a new technique. So I promise to treat you to some breakfast later this morning… NARUTO!"

She smiled and put the letter back in the envelope. She then hopped into the shower to get ready for the day. A jolt of pain soon pulsed from her arm. Her eyes soon gravitated toward the scratch mark Naruto gave her when he was in a demonic state while fighting Orochimaru on that bridge a while ago.

She never once blamed him for what occurred on the bridge. But her heart sank even more for her blonde-haired friend. The sheer fact that the promise that he gave her was something that she felt was consuming him.

Since he left two years ago, she always wanted to tell him that he didn't have to follow through on his promise. She got out of the shower and dried herself off. She got dressed and headed to see if Tsunade had anything for her to do for the day.

In Kai's apartment, he unsealed some fresh clothes he packed while visiting the Sand Village. He looked at his weaponry as well. He unpacked some kunai, shuriken, and a beautiful Katana he had someone craft for him while he was in steel country. He then decided to get dressed and brew some tea that was left in the cupboard. He would then start his day, this was gonna be a tough day.

Kai started to walk around to ask some of the young girls in the village in a way that most wouldn't think was either weird or creepy. It went as well as one thought, as Kai would either get pummeled by some of the girls or random items chucked at him. One incident would include a woman chucking a park bench at him.

Kai, black and blue, bruised and beaten down limped over to a bench. He plopped down and wiped away some of the blood that was running down from a cut on his forehead.

"Hey Kai, are you alright?" A voice asked, Kai turned his head to see it was Ino.

"I had worse, this isn't the worst beating I've ever gotten to be honest." He said, as Ino charged some chakra to her hands, she would run her hands over Kai's injuries to heal them.

"Something tells me you took the wrong approach when it comes to talking to some of the girls in this village."

"I'd say, I thought it would be sort of easier to do this. Guess I was wrong huh?" Kai said, with a hint of sadness.

Ino looked at the young man, seeing him down in the dumps.

"You know what cheers me up?" She asks him.

"What's that?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." She said, grabbing him by the hand. "We're gonna have something sweet to eat.

"Alright then, lead the way."

Sakura was walking around the village and she saw Naruto walking, she figured he got done with some training. She waved to the blonde hair ninja. Naruto waved back and quickly joined her.

"Hey Sakura-Chan, are you hungry?"

"Yeah, you promised me breakfast right?"

"So is this a date?" He asked, blushing a bit.

"Yeah, it is Naruto."

The blonde was happy, and the two of them soon headed to a restaurant that made the best breakfast in town. Unaware that two mysterious figures were watching them.

"Is that the target?" Kagome asked her partner.

"Indeed, that's the girl we need," Keiko said, pulling out a syringe.

"Are you sure that's gonna work, I heard that she was strong. Isn't she the apprentice of Lady Tsunade?" Kagome said.

"You forget Kagome-Chan, I am a master of toxins. If the girl or even that boy she's with tries to fight us, a shot of this will solve that problem."

"So when would be the best time to kidnap her?" Kagome asked, shoving a spoon of ice cream in her mouth.

"6 pm tomorrow night, since it's close to dark and some of these guards would have a low flow rate."

Kagome laughed as the two women would wait it out until it was late.

At a shop in the business district, Ino treated Kai to some dango and walked around. Kai never had anything so sweet and tasty. Ino chuckled as she ate her own dango.

"Do you like it?" She asked.

"Unbelievably sweet, but it has a nice taste to it."

Suddenly the two of them heard a voice behind them.

"Hey Ino, how's it going?" The voice said as Kai and Ino turned around to see it was Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, Ino's teammates.

"Hey guys, I thought Asuma Sensei had you two doing a mission?" Ino asked.

"He did, but Kurenai Sensei had us come back earlier than usual." Shikamaru said, taking notice of Kai. "And who might this be?"

"Kai Komoto, it's a pleasure to meet the both of you," Kai said, extending his hand to both. They shook his hand.

"And where are you from?" Choji asked the young man.

"I lived on an island for a few years, and now I'm on a quest to locate something," Kai said, not giving anything more away.

Shikamaru was a bit leery about this young man. But Kai only shared his journey to only a few people.

"Hey we should have a huge party tonight so Kai can meet everyone," Ino said, with a big smile.

"Uhh sure, well we have to get going Ino," Shikamaru said as he and Choji left.

"Nice meeting you Kai, see you tonight," Choji said as they left.

"Your teammates seem nice, Ino," Kai said.

As Choji and Shikamaru left, they began to talk amongst themselves.

"So what do you make of him?" Choji asked his teammate.

"Nice, but he seems to be hiding something from us. We'll just have to keep an eye on him."

Naruto and Sakura were eating breakfast together. Sakura had a pancake platter and Naruto had Eggs and Bacon. Just enjoying the morning. Even though Sakura was enjoying the morning with her teammate, she kept being distracted with some weird thoughts. Some of the dreams she's been having have her in a cold sweat. Just as she was about to put some pancake in her mouth she froze.

Again the vision appeared, but this time it was a man that looked like a horrifying monster he had Naruto in his hand, he looked to be charging up a fireball aimed right at Naruto's head. He would then glare at Sakura in the vision. Suddenly she felt someone shaking her awake.

"Sakura… Sakura… Hey Sakura-Chan… Wake up!" Naruto screamed, shaking her, trying to snap her out of it.

She finally broke out of her vision. Her eyes were darting all over the place but fell right at Naruto. He could see how rattled she was. She was trembling like she was stuck in an earthquake. She just couldn't explain what was with the visions that kept plaguing her.

Naruto gently placed a hand on her shoulder. And she started to cry and hugged Naruto. It was a rarity that Sakura would do that to Naruto. Most of the time, her hugs were meant for Sasuke. But at this point, she didn't care anymore. His jacket was soaked from her tears and he hugged her back and tried to calm her down.

"Shhh… It's alright Sakura-Chan, I'm here for you." He said, stroking her hair to calm her down. He would walk with her out of the restaurant, just so they wouldn't cause a scene and they could go somewhere it was comfortable to them to talk.

Naruto took her to Team Seven's private training field. He calmly walked to a shady tree and would sit with her.

"Sakura, is everything alright?" He gently asked her.

She wiped away some of the tears and try to regain some of her composure. She then would tell Naruto about the last vision she had when they were in the restaurant.

"Sakura, have you talked to Granny about this?" He asked.

"She can't explain it either, she thinks it has something to do with my past with Sasuke-kun or something to that effect."

"Well you don't have to worry about me Sakura-Chan, I can take on anything if it means protecting you." He gave her that smile again.

"But Naruto," she said holding his hand and looking at him with timid eyes. "I don't know if this is a dream or a premonition. And that's the thing that frightens me the most. If I lost you, I don't know what I would do?"

Naruto hugged her again so he would quell her crying again. He failed at trying to calm her as the waterworks once again fell.

"Please Sakura-Chan, I know I can suck at making promises, But I promise I will not die. I vow to stay alive for you." He said, holding his hand on her cheek and looking into her eyes. She saw the strength that he had in his eyes. "So please, don't cry anymore Sakura-Chan."

She once again wiped away some of the tears and smiled at him.

"Alright Naruto, I'll stop shedding tears." She said, calming down.

Naruto got to his feet and extended his hand to Sakura.

"Hey Sakura-Chan, let's do some sparring. That will get the blood flowing." He said Sakura nodded in agreement for the remainder of the morning and into the afternoon. The two teammates sparred and trained.

After a few hours, Ino would find the both of them sprawled on the training grounds, exhausted. Destruction all around them, she figured they must have gone all out.

"Hey you two, we're going to gather everyone for a big dinner to welcome Kai to the village, is that ok with the two of you?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure sure," Sakura said, giving Ino a thumbs up.

Ino chuckled at how Naruto looked battered and bruised. It Must of took some powerful hits from Sakura, and Sakura was panting like crazy.

"Be at the stir fry place by 7:00 pm tonight." Ino would yell as she left the two of them to recover.

After Ino left, Sakura gravitate to an exhausted Naruto and began to heal him. He slowly began to come to.

"Wow, you're still just as powerful as usual Sakura-Chan." He said, with a grin.

"I mean training with Lady Tsunade for years will do that to you."

"So do you think we should start getting ready for the party tonight?" Naruto asked the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah, I believe it's almost time to head there." She answered, as the two of them headed to their homes.

Kai was getting ready for the big dinner, he would rather continue his search but Ino had insisted that he would meet all of her friends. As he went through a few of his things, he found a nice suit to wear. One thing did catch his eye though, he remembered the sacred candles he packed so then he could communicate with the spirits of his clan.

The Komoto Clan may be dead, but in the afterlife, they could communicate with one of their own. Kai figured after the big dinner he would communicate with the spirits to get some more information on the wielder of Ashimaru. Kai finished getting ready when there was a knock at his door. He put on a white dress shirt, with black striped pants, and leather sandals. He combed his spiky pink hair. He looked very handsome.

"Come in it's open." He said as the door opened the door to reveal Ino. She was wearing a purple long-sleeved shirt, black pants, and blue open-toe dress shoes. Kai blushed at the blonde bombshell. "You look beautiful if you don't mind me saying."

"Ahhh, thanks, Kai. You look handsome yourself." She returned the compliment. "It's time to head down there." She said as she lifted her arm for him to grab. And the two would head to the stirfry restaurant.

Naruto got on a nicer-looking suit than his trademark black and orange jacket. He put on a red button shirt, with an orange dress jacket. He wore Orange business pants and black dress shoes. He then headed to meet up with Sakura. Naruto walked down the street and quickly came to Sakura's house. He would knock at the door and Sakura opened the door. She had on a Pink dress with a white dragon imprint on it, she had on white high heel shoes and white gloves, her hair was put up in a ponytail, and she had on some red lipstick. To Naruto, she was the most beautiful woman in the entire ninja world.

"Hey, Sakura-Chan…" He said, stuttering while trying to form words. "You umm look amazing tonight."

"Thank you Naruto, you look handsome as well." She said, holding out her arm like Ino did. Naruto wasted no time hooking his arm to hers. And away they went.

All of the Konoha 11 were there. From Team Kuranai were Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. From Team Guy were Neji, Lee, and Tenten. From Team Asuma were Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. And from Team Kakashi were Sakura and Naruto. Kai was the odd man out. He sat next to Ino and right next to Shikamaru. Everyone was in their best attire. They figured that it was a great night to gather and just have a good old time.

Ino grabbed a glass and began to tap it, in hopes to get their attention.

"Attention friends, allow me to introduce you to a traveler that Me, Sakura, and Naruto bumped into. And is right now on his own little quest. His name is Kai Komoto. Now I think it's fair for everyone to hear him introduce himself."

Kai was kind of sweating, he has never been in a huge group of people. He didn't think that this warranted a special gathering. But the young girl bumped her elbow to get him to go up. He cleared his throat and introduced himself.

"Well umm, just like Ino said… My name is Kai Komoto, I am actually traveling the world and thought I would pay this village a short visit. I actually am from the land of the mist. But I hope to get to know each and every one of you guys."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kai-kun. I hope you explode with the power of youth." Lee screamed.

"Whatever Lee said, I can get behind," Kiba said, with a drink in his hand.

"Bring on the food!" Choji screamed, pounding his fist on the table.

As the food started to come to the table, Kai began to mingle with the Konoha 11. He brought up the fact he used seals, and that caught Tenten's attention.

"What type of seals do you use?" She asked.

"Well, to be honest, I am at least in the middle ground of seals. But I can direct you to a woman who taught me everything I know at this point if you want?"

"Ok, sounds fun."

Meanwhile, Kiba and Choji were arguing about him taking more food. Neji struck up a conversation with Kai about where exactly in Mist country he came from. Kai would try to explain to him, but even he wouldn't know if Neji would believe him. Shikamaru all the while was sort of suspicious about their new friend.

Lee tried to convince Shino to try to go outside of his comfort zone by training in taijutsu instead of bugs but Shino didn't want any part of it. Naruto got some sauce on his face, Hinata saw this and tried to grab a small towel to wipe it away, but Sakura beat her to it.

"Seriously Naruto, can't you eat like a gentleman?" She scolded him, with a tint of red on her cheeks showing.

"Sorry Sakura-Chan, I guess I got a little carried away." He said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"Seriously Naruto, I don't know what I'm gonna do with you?" She said, with a smile.

Hinata saw how Naruto and Sakura were blushing a bit while she wiped some of the sauce off his cheek. You would think Hinata would storm off in a bitter huff. But she smiled, she was happy as it looked like Naruto and Sakura looked like they were in love.

Ino sat right next to Kai, she put a plate of stir fry on the table.

"Hey Kai, have you ever had some of this stir fry? This place makes its own sauce."

"No actually, but I would like to try some if that's alright?"

Ino wrapped some noodles and some chicken and motioned for him to open his mouth. Kai did what she asked and she would feed him stir fry.

"How is it?" She asked him with a smile.

"Amazing, tastes so good."

Shikamaru decided that he would see if he would be correct about this visitor if he's actually an enemy ninja.

"Hey Kai, sorry if I come across as a bit suspicious or something like that. But why are you here?" Shikamaru asked the young man.

"What do you mean by that doc?" Kai asked, Shikamaru raising an eyebrow.

"Are you here on a secret mission or are you here as an enemy agent? I only ask this because I haven't seen you in the bingo book or found any information on you in particular."

Kai breathed a huge sigh, he looked over this group of young ninjas. The three he considered friends.

"You have every right to be suspicious of me Shikamaru. In fact, I would be also since I really don't have any files. Hell, what I'm about to tell you guys seems like it would be a bit of a lark. But if you all would humor me, I will tell you why I came to your lovely village."

Kai would explain what he told Sakura, Naruto, and Ino as well as Lady Tsunade the other day. He would make sure that they would be the only ones to know what was going on. After they heard his tale, the room was a bit silent. Made sense, since no one would believe him.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino sat by their friend to show him that they believed him. Suddenly the rest of the Konoha 11 would follow suit. Kiba smacked Kai on the back to show him his support.

"If you need us to help, just ask," Neji said to add his support.

"Just say the word, and we'll find this bird, and pluck it," Choji said.

"You have my support, we'll try to stop this creature." Hinata chimed in.

Lee gave him a thumbs-up and a smile. While Ten Ten followed suit with a thumbs up.

Shikamaru got up and looked at him for a moment with a bit of skepticism. But extended his hand and Kai shook it.

"While this sounds so weird, you can count me in to help if you need it."

"Thank you all so much," Kai said, smiling like crazy.

The rest of the night was full of laughs and smiles. It was around midnight when the Konoha 11 would leave the restaurant. Kai and Ino walked back, the same with Naruto and Sakura as well. The sky was full of stars and the moon was huge. It was a beautiful warm night. A night before the enemy would make its presence felt.