Author´s note: Hey there. Couple of things before we start.
1. This takes place before Jiraya dies, but after Asuma dies. This takes place in a non-descript space between those two events.
2. Sasuke and Hinata will not show up in this fic at all.
3. I´m doing some non-intrusive additions to canon here. Not outright diversions from canon, but stuff that could be happening in that universe. You´ll see it when it comes.
4. This is a NaruSaku fic, first and foremost. Other couples don´t get their own arcs, but there are some here.
Disclaimer: I´m secretely Kishimoto writing this fic at the behest of my wife, who ships Naruto and Sakura over Naruto and Hinata. Just kidding, I´m just some random guy who had this idea one day and now I´m writting about it. Have fun!
Time: 3 am.
Location: waaaaay too far from their beds.
In the dark woods, three shinobi set in separate trees. One, white haired and wearing a mask, wondered for a minute on his life choices, as hes definitely made some wrong ones along the way to be in the middle of the woods at 3 am with nothing but two teenagers as allies.
"White to pink, come in. White in position, do you copy, pink?" he says, via an ear piece.
"Pink in position." Sakura yawned. "I really wish I was in my bed right now, just drooling on my soft pillows…"
"We all do, pink. Orange, are you in position?" Kakashi asked, being met with absolute silence.
"Orange?" He asked again, met only with the faint sound of snoring.
"ORANGE!?" Pink screamed, the sound of snoring growing louder.
"Five more minutes, Sakura-chan" 'Orange' answered "Youre so pretty…" said Naruto hugging the tree.
Right then, Sakura throwed a kunai at him, blunt side forward, which connected with his head
"AAAAAAAAH" Naruto awoke "What? What? Battle? SHADOW CLONE JUTS-"
"QUIT IT, YOU FREAKING IDIOT, YOURE GONNA GIVE AWAY OUR POSITION!" Sakura yelled via the ear piece.
"Come on, Pink-chan, its 3 in the morning, I was just getting some shut eye!" Naruto said.
"The target might get here any minute now, Orange. We need to stay alert and think of a strategy" Kakashi said via the ear piece.
"What strategy? We already took out the buyers, just do the same to the seller! Go in, fist first into their faces!" Naruto countered
"That would make sense if we knew how many are coming or what were going up against, which we dont. Besides, we cant risk them opening that scroll, whatever it is, its dangerous" Kakashi answered.
They received a mission. A regular group of bandits were buying a powerful scroll from rogue ninja, but intel on what was on the scroll wasnt available. So, they took out the buyers in a straightforward fight, found out where and when they were supposed to meet: right before dawn in the very spot they were in right now.
"Yeah, definitely not worth the risk. I say we take them down silently, one by one, quickly, before they can react." Sakura proposed. She took out a reusable bottle, before throwing it to Naruto. "Here, its an energy drink, so you can stay awake"
"Gee, thanks pink-chan!" Naruto proclaimed before drinking a sip
And there it was. A smile, in her direction. An absolute mountain of sincerity and joy at a simple help, given by her without a second thought. Why does that stand out at all? Naruto always smiled at her like that, whenever she…
Well, did anything at all. It was as if she did some insurmountable favor to him, life altering in profound ways. Drinking the liquid as if it was a magical substance from the gods, and her a dispenser of their favor.
Well, shes tired and its very dark. She must also have imagined the sheer depth of the smile. Yes, thats what she told herself.
"Datebayo! I feel a lot better! Here you go, white-sensei!" He thrown the bottle in Kakashis direction
"Im not sure giving Naruto any amount of this is a good idea, but its what we get. Anyway, Sakuras plan is smart, but I think theres a better way to do this. A way in which they will never even know we were here. The best, most effective strategy ever created by this team" Kakashi said
"Wait, you dont mean…" Sakura interjected
"Yes, pink. The 'Everything is Naruto' gambit" Kakashi
"No, not the Everything is Naruto gambit!" Sakura interjected
"YEAH! Thats what im talking about!" Naruto proclaimed.
"Come on, Im still having nightmares about the last time we did this!" Sakura interjected
"So am I, but its the best approach to this. If they manage to get away with a single disguised clone, Orange will know where their hideout is as soon as the clone disperses" Kakashi said.
"Yeah, its the perfect idea, believe it, orange-sensei and pink-chan" Naruto said "And if anything goes wrong…"
"If anything goes wrong" Sakura said "theyre in for the worst moment of their lives. Alright, Im in. Do it, Orange-Kun!"
Why did she add that honorific at the end? She must have done so because hes doing it. Yeah. She was bound to get contaminated by his habits at some point in the years since working with him.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU! EVERYTHING IS NARUTO!" He said, transforming in various things
One hour and a half later
"Orange 1, do you have a visual yet?" Kakashi asked
"Negative, white sensei. Orange 2, do you?" The real Naruto said
"Affirmative Orange-Sama" Said a clone. "Theyre coming in. Can you see the oranges, Pink-chan?"
"Affirmative. I can vaguely remember oranges 7 till 32 locations and I can see oranges 2 till 6 on the ground. I dont remember the rest, though."
"Here they come" said orange 2. "Transformation!"
He yelled, transforming into a chest filled with gold.
"Here they come" Whispered Orange 3, disguised as one of the people they took out earlier.
"Well, well, well, youve arrived." Said a ninja with a hidden sand headband. He was tall, muscular and his face was full of scars. From the corner of his eye, Kakashi could see he had company. Other five ninja, of similar description.
Sakura looked around. She was starting to regret this idea. In the dark, it was difficult for even her to fully understand just how much of this forest was Naruto at this point. It unsettled her, somewhat. But she also felt weirdly safe. As if being completely surrounded by multitudes of trust and protection.
"Youve got the money? Heres the scroll." Sand-douche as Naruto named him in his head said.
"hehehe, yeah, weve got the money" Naruto 4 said, grabbing Naruto 2 "You can count, its all there."
"Why bother? Chest full of gold and you wouldnt be buying this from us if you were smart enough to booby trap this or trick us. Just hand it over"
Sand douche handed Naruto 3 the scroll while one of his friends.
"And remember. If you get caught with this…" sand douche started
"Yeah, yeah. We dont know you, this never happened, we make up some story as to how we got this scroll." Naruto 6 said. "Dont worry, we wont get caught"
"Hehehe, good luck, then." Sand douche said.
Just then, the other ninja carrying the Naruto chest of gold started breathing erratically
"You alright there, Tajima?" Sand douche asked
"aaa aaa aa achoo!" Tajima sneezed, dropping the chest, which immediately transformed back into a Naruto clone.
"What?" Said Tajima
"You tricked us!" Sand douche said
"Package compromised, proceed to plan B, Orange-sama!" Naruto 2 said, shortly before getting stabbed with a kunai and dispersing.
As that happened, Narutos 3 – 7 charged them, still transformed into the bandits.
As they engaged in hand to hand, one of the ninja backed up into a tree. Doing hand signs, he said "Sand style: Sand bomb juts-"
"Datebayo!" the tree transformed into a Naruto clone, pushing him back into a rock, which also transformed into another Naruto clone, punching said ninja in the face screaming "Im gonna be hokage!"
"Wait, what?" the ninja said, before the real Naruto dropped on top of him with a kick to the face, knocking him out. "Hahaha, you fell for it"
"What is going on?" Asked Sand Douche
"Who are you?" Asked Tajima, next to the other 3 remaining rogue ninja.
Then, Kakashi flew from the trees punching Tajima "Team"
"Seven" said Sakura pushing another ninja into the trees
"Style" said Naruto (the real one) throwing a kunai at Tajima
Absolute multitudes of trees, rocks, fruits, small animals, the buyers…
Most of what the rogue ninja could see suddenly transformed into a sea of orange clad, blond teenagers.
"ORANGE NIGHTMARE JUTSU!" Sakura, Kakashi and the Naruto forest said together.
Just then, Kakashi threw a smoke bomb into the rogue ninja, who suddenly got disoriented.
"What is this?"
"Orange Nightmare Jutsu" Said Sakura "Its more than just a prank"
"Its an absolute nightmare" Said Kakashi
"DATEBAYO!" One of the Narutos said, punching one of the ninja on that soft park of the torso, knocking his air out.
"Weve brought you into a world of orange." Kakashi continued
"The trees" Said Sakura.
"The rocks" said Naruto
"Every person" Said one of their friends, transforming back into Naruto and fighting them.
All of a sudden, a dog bit sand douche on the leg, immediately transforming back into Naruto
"Every animal"
"The very air that you breathe is filled with Naruto. You may survive this, but youll never escape the horror" Kakashi said
"DATEBAYO!"
"RAMEN!"
"HOKAGE!"
"SAKURA CHAN!"
"KAKASHI SENSEI"
The multitudes of Naruto yelled.
"Yes, listen to the sound of your nightmare. You will hear those words in your sleep, in your quiet moments, in your bed. Until every waking and sleeping moment of your life is filled with nothing but annoying orange teenagers hunting you down."
"Like it is for me!" Said Sakura
"Come on, Sakura chan!" Said one Naruto
The smoke dispersed, most of the rogue ninja were knocked out, leaving only sand douche and Tajima and a third one.
"Look around" Said Kakashi, displaying an absolute empty forest, trees and rocks and fruit, in a claustrophobic setting. "Just how much of this forest is Naruto?"
Faint, eerie whispers of happy Naruto noises filled the air.
"Is that tree Naruto?" Said Sakura
"Is the floor Naruto?" Said the only Naruto left.
"Am I Naruto?" Said Kakashi
Tajima and Sand Douche rushed at what they thought was Kakashi and Sakura, until 'Sakura' and 'Kakashi' turned into Naruto "RASENGAN!"
Sand douche got the full force of it, flying backwards in dramatic fashion and getting taken out.
"Earth style, burial Jutsu!" Said the actual Kakashi, burying that third ninja and kicking him in the face, knocking him out.
"CHA!" Sakura rushed into Tajima, ready to take him out with a chakra powered fist.
Just then, Tajima threw a kunai her way, very fast.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" One Naruto jumped in front of the Kunai, getting it lodged into his arm pretty deep, receiving the full force of Sakuras punch and flying, forehead first, into Tajima, who got knocked out too.
"Good thinking Naruto, using a clone to take the hit." Sakura said to a Naruto next to her.
"hehehe… Funny story…" Said the Naruto.
"What now?" Said Sakura.
"Well, uh… Im a clone." Said the Naruto.
"Well, wheres the real you? I lost track of him" Said Sakura.
The clone sheepishly pointed to a comedically out of it Naruto, with a Kunai sticking out of his right bicep, bleeding. A LOT.
"Yep… Thats the boss hehehe" Said the clone.
Sarkura was livid!
By Kami-Sama, what was he thinking?
She could have caught that Kunai, no big deal.
And yet…
He jumped in front of it for her, no questions asked. On reflex.
"Hey, hey, stay with me!" She said, rushing to his side, lightly slapping him in the face, to get him to regain consciousness.
No, he couldnt fall asleep. Heavy blow to the head and bleeding isnt a good combination. He HAS to stay awake.
"NARUTO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs to no avail.
"Look, they want to make you Hokage over there" She said, as a last ditch attempt
"What, where?" He woke up "Oh, hey, Sakura-chan. You okay?"
That face… that dumb face looking at her asking if she was okay.
OF COURSE, SHE WAS OKAY. SOMEBODY ELSE TOOK A FREAKING KUNAI TO THE BICEP TO ENSURE THAT!
He passed out, again after that.
Why? Why does he do this? Just fling himself at danger, no questions asked, no regard for his personal safety, no second thoughts. The situation calls him to jump, he doesnt even bother asking how high, he just jumps as high as he can.
Is it because of her?
What is this feeling that stupid face fills her with? She doesnt know. She cant possibly fathom. All she can do right now, as those questions go unanswered is…
"You idiot!" Said Sakura. "Alright, you army of morons, carry your boss back somewhere safe. Ill handle him later"
In theory, she knows the answers to those questions. Naruto is a trusted friend, right? Hes been there for her time and time again. She cares about her friend. Thats all there is to it.
Right?
Well…
Yes.
In theory.