Chapter 39 Heading out.

Kurama growled as Naruto petted him like a house pet.

"And then a bunch of Cherry blossom things surrounded them and, boom!" Naruto retold the exaggerated tale of how they became a genin. Minato smiled patiently as his son told them about his adventures. He was still confused as to how this was possible, but he didn't want to question it, less it disappear.

Kushina yelled about the madness that Kakashi put them through while questioning where she went wrong in raising him. They both knew why Kakashi was the way he was, but chose not to say anything to Naruto. It wasn't their tale to tell anyway.

Kurama, forced to listen to Narutos tale, groaned. How did he end up in this situation? The brat kept trying to go into the room he was locked in, when his parents would ward him away. Naruto got in one day and saw Kurama's form. That demon did this on purpose. Everyone else was the same as they were, even the house they lived in, so why was he as small as a house cat?

Kurama's seal was still in effect; they were currently in his cage, but it looked different from the sewer he was in before. While it was nice, Kurama disliked the crowd. Naruto's hand brushed through his fur again, and Kurama sighed in frustration. Why did it feel so good?

There was a knock on the door.

"Naruto, we have to head out." Sasuke's voice rang through the room.

"Aww~ It's time to go already?" Kushina whined as she got up, taking the dishes with her.

"I'll help," Minato volunteered, following Kushina to the sink.

"I'll come back as soon as I can," Naruto said, putting Kurama on the vacant pillow. The fox curled up in the warmth with a satisfied huff. Naruto smiled down at him and petted him once more. "Sakura said meditating like this will help me control the Kyuubi's chakra, but all I do is hand out with you guys, I kind of feel bad."

Minato and Kushina didn't tell him where he was and what he was currently petting like a pet. In Naruto's mind, the Kyuubi is a monster that towers over the tallest building in the village, not a cute fox that looked like a red dog.

Kurama growled, after being reminded how not intimidating he looked, as Kushina tried to hold back her laughter. She spent years fearing the Kyuubi and his power; now, he was a furball of cuteness. Her shoulders shook with her efforts.

"Hey, kid," Naruto looked down at the talking fox. He was spoked at first but got used to it quickly. "Be careful of the pink-haired demon. She smells just like him."

Him?

Before Naruto could as the fox what he meant, he heard Sakura's call. Sakura never called herself. He resolved to ask the fox when he next visited and exited from the dream world. Ever since he got the necklace from Sakura, he would find himself in this world when he closed his eyes. He still had these dreams when he took off the necklace, but his surroundings burned when he did.

After the Uchiha incident, when he went berserk, he was placed under heavy surveillance. They said using the Kyuubi's chakra was dangerous, but Sakura said the opposite.

"If you hold back a river, you'll create a tsunami." She told him to flow with the Kyuubi's chakra; she said to befriend the Kyuubi.

"There's someone more lonely than anyone else," Sakura said one day. "His family is scattered all over the world, and he's trapped and alone."

He'd ask who that was, curious about the person that kept the same as him. She'd pointed at him, no, his stomach.

"That guy doesn't have a single friend in this world."

Naruto gripped his stomach. At that moment, he couldn't think about the beast that destroyed his village or caused him to be all alone. All he could think about was someone as lonelier than him.

Naruto opened his eyes to see Sakura's intense green eyes looking down at him.

"What took you?" She asked.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. Could he say he was saying goodbye to his parents when he was supposed to be meditating? Sakura's smile became scary as she looked down at him.

"You were actually training and not sleeping, right?" she asked with a serious look.

Naruto waved his hands in front of him. "I wasn't sleeping, I promise." He said quickly. He wasn't sure if he was actually training, but he wasn't sleeping, not really.

Green eyes of fury left him to look at the newcomer. Kakashi sensei walked unhurriedly into the field despite being three hours late. He waved at them, his eyes in a smile.

"Sorry I'm late I got-" he wasn't able to finish that sentence as shuriken flew towards him. Kakashi leaped back, but the throwing stars bounced off each other and chased him. He flipped backward several times to dodge the shurikens that logged in the ground.

"That wasn't very nice, Sasuke," Kakashi said, looking towards the Uchiha sitting on a tree branch nearby.

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Sasuke said coldly. "Just tell us what our mission is."

Kakashi made a habit of arriving later to the training ground, frustrated at this Sakura, and Sasuke attacked him when he did. Sakura said it was training, while Sasuke said it was satisfying. They always had a vicious gaze when they said that. Naruto figured it had something to do with their relationship with Kakashi growing up. Kakashi made annoying Sakura his mission after being assigned to her.

Naruto only had Itachi and Hinata as a reference, but they looked like siblings.

"Bankai."

Pink swords rose from the ground as Sakura spoke. They surrounded Kakashi like a hall of blades.

"Scatter Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

The pink blades collapsed into pink butterflies, Spingflys, Sakura called them, and flew towards Kakakshi, who leaped in the air to avoid their deadly blade wings. They didn't let up; following Sakura's will, they formed a dragon and flew up after him.

"Tsk." Kakashi formed familiar hand seals, and lightning covered his right hand.

"Chidori!" He cried as the sound of birds rang out.

Kakashi trusted his hand in the mouth of the beast, and lightning exploded. The small springflys that formed the beast froze as electricity ran through them. Kakashi landed on the ground and turned his back to the electrocuted pink dragon.

"Come now, Sakura, you know those don't work on me," Kakashi said arrogantly. It was then, Sakura smirked. The beast that had electrical sparks around it turned its maw towards Kakashi. It didn't attack as it opened its jaws wide.

Kakashi's eyes widen as he watched the electricity around the beast gather in its mouth.

"Die!" Sakura yelled, and the ball of electricity fired towards Kakashi. The ball formed a path of destruction as it shot forward and hit the jonin.

Clap! Boooom!

There was a blinding flash of light as the ground shook. Naruto's jaws dropped. He was so shocked he didn't even shield his eyes from the gust of wind that formed from the explosion.

"Crazy," Sasuke, who barely escaped the blast range, muttered in awe. It was at that moment.

Tap. Kakashi landed silently beside him.

"Scary," he muttered.

The smoke cleared and a charred log laid in a crater. That log turned to dust as a gentle breeze touched it. Kakashi shuttered; that could have been him.

"Kekehehehe."

Naruto flinched at the odd sound before looking up to see Sakura's shoulders shaking.

"Kehahahahaha!" Sakura burst into laugher, her green eyes glowing. "Amazing. Feels amazing. Having your hard work pay off is really amazing."

"She's gone mad," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura turned around so quickly, Sasuke fell back in shock. Her eyes weren't angry but sparking with joy.

"What do you think?" she asked in an excited voice. Her eyes locked on Kakashi as she approached him. "Amazing isn't it? I learned from our last battle and used your trusted technique against you, aren't I amazing?" She got in Kakashi's face and climbed him like a tree to get to eye level.

Her sparkling eyes were demanding a compliment. Her springflys flew over to her as though to praise her, but it only made Kakashi nervous.

"S Sakura-chan truly is a genius, your amazing," Kakashi spoke as though a kunai was at his throat.

"Kyaa!" Sakura cheered and jumped around with a look of glee. She reminded Naruto of the Academy kunoichi when they made eye contact with Sasuke. The spingflys fluttered around her celebrating with her. They all looked from the destruction she created to the beaming smile on her face.

Kakashi couldn't help but sigh. "Why did I think you brats weren't ready for a real mission? It seems leaving you to your own devices only made you stronger."

"Kaka sensei," Naruto said in a small voice. "I can't do something like that, ya know."

Kakashi rubbed Naruto's head with pity. "I know, Naruto, you wouldn't be able to do that yet." He didn't mention that he could do worst with the Kyuubi's help. Was it selfish to hope his boys would remain cute genins and not turn into monsters like Sakura?

"We have a C rank mission," Kakashi announced, and his genins all froze before looking back at him. He smiled brightly at them.

"Seek and destroy?" Naruto asked as we leaped through the trees. After a day of preparation, we sped through the gates of the village with two months worth of supplies. Kakashi was on time for once, perhaps out of fear, and we left the village immediately. Naruto didn't stop by the gate to admire his freedom; none of us did. Stopping just gave Kakashi more time to change his mind.

"That's right," Kakashi said, tossing Sasuke the scroll with the mission details. "There's a large number of bandits around the southwest shoreline recently. They are attacking merchants and stopping business."

My mind went to Gato and his band of rogues in the land of waves. The land of Waves went bankrupt because of Gato, who was basically the mafia, leaving Tazuna to trick shinobis into guarding him. To my knowledge, no one knew about the state the wave country was in, and there were no reports about bandit attacks. What changed?

"Who made the mission request?" I asked as that was the only odd factor.

"A merchant that had his ship robbed by bandits. He only managed to survive because of a passing squad of shinobi." Kakashi replied.

Could it be? My mind went to team 10, who had taken our place and went to the land of waves. Was that why everything was different?

"This says they don't know the number of bandits in the area," Sasuke said, reading the scroll.

"That's why it's called, 'Seek and destroy,'" Kakashi explained.

"We're hunting the bandits?" Naruto asked. "Like hunter and missing-nin?" What a day it is when 'hide and seek' is used in this context.

"That right," Kakashi chuckled.

"Capture or kill?" I asked.

"Capture if you can, kill if not."

"What if the targets run away to an island off the coast?"

"Then well hunt them down until they're all eradicated."

"Ha!" I laughed. "Sounds fun!"

I was worried when I heard team 10 took our mission, but it seems fate was fixing itself. We would go to the island, help them, and get paid for it.

"What if they have a bounty on them?" Sasuke asked. "Who will get paid for them." Were we really talking about them like their game?

Kakashi laughed. "You will."

"Oh yeah," Naruto cheered.

"Hey hey, does their treasure also come to us?"

Kakashi gave it some thought. "Ordinarily, yes. If the client doesn't request it."

"They didn't," Sasuke said.

"Then the loot is all yours."

This mission is a total cash grab.

"So many ramens," Naruto muttered, thinking about how he will spend his money. "Payday, payday."

"The hunt is our priority. Focus on capturing or eliminating the bandits understand.

"What if there are rogue shinobi among them?" I asked, already knowing there were.

"Why would shinobi stoop to the level of bandits," Sasuke asked.

"Who knows," I said, looking through the trees. "You'd have to ask a Yamanaka that has been in the mind of those scumbags to know."

"Those who break the rules are trash," Naruto muttered

"That's right Naruto, deserters are trash,"

Hey!

Madara took offense to my words, but they were true. Sure your village might be burning, but you can't jump ship so quickly. At least kill the tyrant before you go.

Tsk, I tried.

I ignored Madara's grumblings; the first wasn't a tyrant, so it didn't count.

Asuma looked down at the two assassins that had a bounty on their heads. They attacked his squad in what he suspected was an attempt on his client's life. If not for Shikamaru's quick thinking trapping them in his shadow, it might have been ugly, and by ugly he meant, he would have to kill them. He was never good at catching living hostages.

He glared at his client, this old man requested a C rank mission, but if shinobis were after him, it would become a b rank mission.

"Look, you're cute, but you can't keep flattering around me like that. I'm not a flower no matter how beautiful I am!"

Asuma looked over to Ino, who was running away from a squad of pink butterflies. Those things had been on them ever since they left the village, no it was before that. He had left it alone since they seem harmless. They seemed to like Ino and hate Shikamaru as they stayed away from him.

"No matter how you slice it, Ino, these things aren't butterflies. Shikamaru, the genius of the group, said.

"I've ever seen them before," Choji said when Shikamaru looked at him in question. The Akimichi were known for their butterflies as they were their restaurants it was logical that he would think it Choji's. Shikamaru reached for one, and they fluttered away from him. It was odd since they didn't react that way to Choji, Asuma, or Ino.

"Why does this feel familiar?" He muttered as the butterflies stayed out of reach. "Do pink thinks hate me or something?"

"Pink things?" Choji asked as Ino hid behind Shikamaru.

"Yeah, Sakura avoids me like the plague after what happened in the forest around my place. Not that I blame her since our chakras are incompatible."

"Huh?" Ino was confused, "you think her chakra is incompatible with me too?"

"How should I know" Shikamaru tiredly sighed.

"Why do you ask?" Asuma approached them, intrigued by the conversation.

"Dad keeps telling me not to use any of the family techniques on Sakura, no matter what."

"Huh?" Shikamaru seemed surprised. "Did he say why?" He was intrigued.

"He said her head isn't somewhere he would send his enemy." She replied. "He made me promise on his life I wouldn't do it. It was kinda weird."

"Hmm."

They hummed in thought.

"You get anything like that, Choji?" Asuma asked.

"No," Choji replied. "She's really nice to me; she even shared her homemade lunch with me."

"She used you as a genie pig," they thought but couldn't say.

"Sakura is really nice, if a bit scary." He cheerfully said. Just then, the butterflies flew towards Choji and landed on his head and his cheek. He giggled. "That tickles."

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he watched the scene before him.

Could it be?

Next chapter, Aug 31.

See you next time.

Night song~