Naruto's Butterfly (AMR X Naruto).

"Normal person speaking"

"This means someone is thinking these lines."

Flashbacks will have a break before and after.

Name no jutsu: this is for jutsus obviously.

Demons or 'higher beings' along with inners talk and think like this.

A/N: Hurray for finally having a cover for this story! Credit for Story Cover: Jolly Writer 2.0! I am sorry if I messed up with Sai's intro. Please forgive me. Also I made a slight change in an earlier chapter to give myself a little more time before they meet the spy.


Chapter 16: "Urban Recon" Training and New Teammates

In a hidden dark cave, a group of S-Ranked missing Ninjas, all wearing black cloaks with red clouds, gathered as a man ringed purple eyes spoke.

"Well despite the setbacks afterwards we managed to successfully extract the Ichibi's Chakra. The mission was a success with two casualties." The man spoke with authority and a no nonsense voice.

"Speaking of casualties… How the fuck did a group of dumb shits kill both Sasori and Deidara?" A man said with a three bladed scythe on his back.

"Not to mention you two fucktards screwed up killing them before they even reached the cave." He said as he glared at two other figures. One with red eyes with a black ring and three tome and the other looking like a large shark man hybrid.

"Heh. We did our job we distracted them. Plus we had to use corpse puppets and we all know the limitations though things have despite how handy they are." The shark man said while the other shorter guy and his partner remained silent.

"That doesn't change the fact we also lost two of our group and we don't even have much information on how that happened. Since a certain spy master decided to gorge himself instead of his job." said the only female in the group looking at a man with a half white face and a half black face.

The woman had blue hair and she tucked an origami flower into it. She seldom showed emotion, but she was always loyal to the ring eyed man in charge of the group. She didn't usually speak much either.

The fact she spoke drove home her disappointment in their spy master as of late. He had been slacking when it came to the Konoha area. Everywhere else his information was very good and detailed. She wasn't sure what happened to spook him from Konoha, but she had a feeling it might end up being something the group will pay for later.

"Yep Mukade was particularly tasty. It was almost like a very rare steak with just the right amount of seasoning rubbed into the meat." The white half said as he patted his stomach. The other members weren't amused with his details.

"Still that doesn't…" The blue haired woman started before she was interrupted.

"Silence, Konan." The leader said evenly.

"Yes, leader-sama." She replied as she went back to quietly standing and just watching. She wasn't happy about it though. If Zetsu kept getting side tracked or something else it could be bad for their ultimate goal.

"We are still two members down. I have found one replacement and I am looking into the other already." The Leader said. He then looked to a corner of the cave and said, "Tobi. Come out and meet the others."

A figure with short black spikey hair and an orange spiral mask stepped into the lowly lit part of the cave. He scratched the back of his head and said, "Hello, My name is Tobi. Why is it so dark in here?"

Most of the figures gave him annoyed or disbelieving looks. Kisame, shark man, on the other hand gave a laugh. "The looks on their faces. Too great," he thought to himself.

"On to business." The leader didn't want any more bickering breaking out. "Because of our lack of information on Konoha we are focusing on other aspects of our plan at the moment. Tobi you and Konan will go to capture the three tailed beast."

"Yeah! I get to be with the pretty lady instead of some sweaty dude!" Tobi said as a couple of the others twitched eyebrows. Kisame chuckled at the scene. He was starting to like this Tobi guy already. He was bringing some much needed humor to their dark and emoish group.

"Kakuzu, you and Hidan will continue with gathering funds. I will get in touch with you when we are ready to seal both the Two tailed and three tailed beasts." The leader said in the same no nonsense voice.

A tall man with most of his body covered, except for two eerie eyes with bright green irises with no pupils and red sclera, gave a nod. The man with the three bladed scythe grumbled, "Tch… Why do I have to follow the fucking Sasquatch around?"

"Because you would get too distracted from our mission with your ramblings and rituals." The giant of a man said to other.

"Do not insult the great and powerful Jashin!" The other man said in annoyance. He was about to attack the man, but stopped when he heard their leader speak again.

"Take you petty squabble outside you two. And don't let it interfere with our mission." Ringed purple eyes narrowed at the two. This surprisingly got the two to be quiet for now at least. They weren't foolish enough to try their leader's patience.

"Dismissed." The leader said once the two groups left the cave and he disappeared himself. The remaining figures disappeared as well.

{-} {-} {-}

It was a rather peaceful day in Konoha, besides the usual ruckus from Ninja training. In one clearing, there were several rocks and even some practice posts with self-repair seals on one side. A single ninja with bright blonde hair stood opposite.

Naruto took in a deep breath and focused on his targets. He opened his sapphire blues eyes and shouted, "Slicing Winds Jutsu!"

With his shout, several rushing winds sped from him and neatly sliced half of the rocks and a third of the posts on the opposite of him. Usually this would be a remarkable achievement for a ninja his age and would demand a celebration. Naruto was super focused and determined while training after what he learned from Alice, so he wasn't in a mood to celebrate anything. He hadn't been lately period.

Naruto ran towards one of the Taijutsu posts and unleased a wind chakra infused kick. The top of the post flew upwards. Naruto jumped up and unleased a flurry of punches. Each punch was infused with wind chakra.

His punches sliced the top part of the post into several tiny neat bits. His blue eyes narrow as time seemed to slow down for him as he glared and used a Great breakthrough to send the thousands of tiny sharp bits of wood into three trees he was aiming for. The pieces of wood were imbedded deep when he finished.

Naruto started to see red as he visualized Tsunade, Jiji, and Jiraiya as the trees. He then growled as he ran towards them fast and sealessly made two shadow clones. He and his clones were inches away from the trees when they seemed to disappear.

Not even a second later the trio of Narutos appeared right behind a tree. Each held a whirling and whining Rasengan in a hand. They slammed the move into the trees at once as they shouted "Rasengan!" The trees ripped apart under the pressure as the attacks landed.

The clones dispersed and Naruto calmly appeared in the center of the training ground again as he casually looked at his hand. He noticed there were several cuts, but the pain felt like nothing compared to what he internally felt and these pains were already healing.

Blue eyes suddenly widened at what he had done. He started to breath hard as both the effectiveness of the powers and the shame of his visualizations fully sunk in. He looked down to the ground.

"Why the hell didn't they tell me about my dad?! Why the fuck haven't they told me yet?! What the hell is really going on with this village?" He thought to himself as he felt a surge of anger, rage, pain, sorrow, and hunger for vengeance start to well up inside of him.

He collapsed to his knees as he almost vomited at the feelings while he tried to fight back. "Come on kit! Let's show these pathetic humans what they deserve! Destroy this village and take that vixen of yours somewhere else." The fox said to him in anger.

Naruto's eyes widened as he listened to the fox. Naruto felt the foul malice induced charka fill his system. It was urging him to use the power. This power promised it would rival that of the first Kyuubi attack.

He felt it almost gave the village a poetic justice if he were to give in and destroy it. They always called him a monster, a demon, and much more. Naruto gave a feral grin. Why not give them what they ask for? They didn't even bother to tell him who his father was. They haven't even really given him any clues about his mother either.

The malice fueled chakra was growing. Naruto tried to hold it back, but he actually vomited this time. It felt so sickening, but so powerful and welcoming. As the vile chakra flowed, he felt a moment of clam as he heard the voice speak again.

"Take Alice somewhere so both of you can start again. Forget this ass of a village. What have they ever done for you? Even your 'precious people' only put up with you really. Let's leave this place and make a real village that will show the world what a ninja really is." The Kyuubi's voice said.

Naruto took a moment to think about this. He was caught off guard that the voice actually seemed helpful. It was always trying for a hostel take over, but this time it was appealing to something he felt deep inside.

"Really… Would this village even ever accept me as Hokage? Does it really deserve to be protected with all I have to offer?" The doubts filled Naruto's mind. He hated it.

"Yes. Come on, Kit… Let me help us. You are actually half way intelligent now. I don't mind being your prisoner so much. I can give you power that will cause them all to bow before you." The voice tempted him.

Naruto pounded the ground. He hated this. He was angry and actually listening to it. Naruto grit his teeth as he ran through a series of hand seals and then shouted with all of his might, "Alice no Jutsu!" He slammed his hands on the ground.

Before him, appeared a beautiful, but bewildered, green eyed girl with dark hair. Naruto glomped on to her as he tried to desperately soak in the calm aura she gave off around him. He immediately felt himself start to calm down. All of his traitorous thoughts quickly flowed from him and evaporated into the air.

Alice looked down as she felt two hands hold her tightly. Her beautiful green eyes softened as she quietly said, "Naruto." She then hugged him tightly back.

Naruto didn't cry. He was tempted to, but he had to be strong. He was the future Hokage after all. He breathed in her alluring scent. He relaxed as he felt her massage the top of his head and hum a soft tune.

Alice felt her heart break seeing Naruto like this. She quickly did what she could to help him. She would do anything to help him after all. She had been constantly summoned and greeted like this for the past few days.

She felt a little happy as he calmed down after he summoned her. It warmed her heart and caused her emotions to feel even more mixed up as a result. She felt he was just using her at the moment to feel better, but she was okay with this. A little part of her felt fulfilled doing this.

She stroked his golden locks happily as she tried to help calm him down further and thought. "I don't like to think about what he is going through. I've already been betrayed by someone I cared about and trusted at the time. I really hope this won't end up being his Bumby… or worse"

Alice had grown used to this by now. She sat them down on the ground and began to softly hum as she lovingly stroked his hair. She knew it wasn't right, but she had come to really enjoy this. She liked being very useful to Naruto this way. It didn't matter if she was doing something else before he summoned her.

Naruto began to calm down again as he took in Alice's comforting scent. He didn't know why she had this effect on him, but he was grateful she did. He hated how the fox had begun picking at him at his worst, but he loved how he was allowed to spend more time with Alice.

He really wanted to admit his feelings for her, but he didn't want the confession to be marred by what she had revealed to him not too long ago. He knew he was being selfish hogging Alice's time like this, but he really needed her. Fighting the Kyuubi's influence was always a battle, but lately it had been even worse than usual.

After he calmed down, he blushed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm really sorry, Alice-chan. I want to ask you to stay here, but I understand if you need to go."

He let out a long sigh, "You've been such a help to me these past few days. I just wish I didn't have to take up your personal time like this."

Alice gave him a warm smile. "It's alright, Naruto. I understand. You've been through a lot lately." Her smile dropped as she sighed. "And I unintentionally caused you all of this stress and pain."

After a few seconds of silence, her smile brightened the clearing and she said, "If I can help you feel better in any way than I am more than happy."

"Then can I be a little selfish here and ask you stay here until I'm finished?" He asked in shame.

Green eyes filled him with warmth as she nodded to him. Naruto relaxed and laid his body down on the grass for a bit. He placed his head in Alice's lap and the dark haired beauty smiled as she continued to hum softly to him and stroke his hair.

He relaxed and rested for a minute. He could have sworn he heard the fox grumble about vixens and their seemingly magical powers. He smiled warmly.

He knew he was really relying on Alice-chan here, but he felt so much stronger with her around. It was just her sheer presence that calmed him down and let him think clearer.

"I really did luck out with her. She's amazing. She helps me in ways no one else ever could. I owe her a lot." He thought to himself.

"Then why don't you make her yours? Or at the very least ask her out?" A voice deep within him asked. "I mean come on man! She's perfect! And her body is slamming. Every girl is probably a little jealous of her perfect proportions deep inside."

Naruto almost blushed at the thought. The voice spoke again. "We know she wants us already. Imagine the things we could do to her! And the best part is she would probably love it more than anything else in the world!"

Naruto took in a slow inhale before letting it out equally slow. The voice was silenced as he just relaxed there with his head in Alice's lap as she hummed that beautiful song.

He felt like he didn't need anything else in his life at this moment. He would be happy if he could just relax here with Alice-chan and hear her humming as she stroked his hair.

Naruto eventually rested his eyes as he had all kinds of pleasant dreams with Alice next to his side. The only problem with these dreams is that he felt they were so very fragile. He feared if he made a wrong move with her then all of his chance for happiness would be sucked away into a deep dark void.

One thing that scared him was that he feared Sasuke. Not really the ninja himself, but how he would react to the youngest Uchiha. Maybe even lose himself and somehow hurt her as a result. For the first time in his life, since he made that promise to Sakura, Naruto felt he would rather break a promise than possibly lose Alice.

He cared deeply for Sakura. He wanted his brother and teammate back if possible. However, little by little Alice was meaning more to him than either of those two. He hated going back on his word, but if it was his promise to Sakura or Alice. He would choose Alice.

Naruto hoped it wouldn't come to that, but ninjas needed to plan for the worst while hoping for the best. The whole family thing he learned about didn't really help either, because of that Alice started to mean more to him than even the village.

Naruto shook his head to clear out the thoughts. He was a ninja. That meant the village was more important than him. His personal thoughts didn't matter, especially if he wanted to be Hokage.

"Even if that is the case. There is nothing that says you can't find love for your own. After all, having happiness for yourself is important. This is something most ninja seem to forget." Naruto heard a voice speak to him in his mind.

Naruto let out a deep breath as he finally gave in completely to Alice's calming effect. He gave the dark haired girl a pleasant smile. The smile caught her off guard. She liked that he felt better with her around, but she wondered again if she was just a tool for his comfort. She knew this wasn't the case, but the thought was still there.

{-} {-} {-}

Alice woke up to a bright and partly cloudy day outside. It really was an all-around perfect day. Nice and warm outside with the occasional rejuvenating breeze that kept people going and just the right amount of cloud cover. The dark haired girl ran outside after she freshened up and took a greedy breath as she the slowly exhaled it.

"Naruto is amazing. Konoha is more or less a home. This is what life should have been about all along. I would gladly fight to keep this lifestyle." The green eyed beauty thought to herself as she decided to try the 'lap challenge' around Konoha for the day.

She heard warnings of two green spandex wearing ninjas who always ran it, but she didn't really know what spandex was. Also dedication and loyalty to your home was more important than anything else in her mind.

Alice didn't care how 'eccentric' someone was. If they were friends of Naruto and loyal Konoha ninja, that was all that mattered in her book. Besides she was used to interesting people. Wonderland was filled with them. Interesting people made live worth living on some level. Plus she felt a little ashamed that she had been slacking a little on her training lately and really needed to get more involved with it.

One thing Alice didn't expect was to feel was a slender arm loop around her own. The dark haired girl looked to her right side and saw a smiling Ino. Alice blushed a little at the friendly contact. This seemed to encourage the Yamanaka to grab her arm tighter.

Vivid green eyes next met pale green eyes. Alice looked to Sakura questioning. The pink haired beauty gave her a friendly nod that said to just go with it.

"Umm… Not that I don't mind spending time with you, Ino-chan, but what is going on?" Alice asked a little uneasily.

Ino gave a delightful chuckle as she answered, "Shopping! I mean come on you are new here and so we should have you get a new outfit. I mean that blues dress of yours, while very pretty, is still only one dress."

"Such a beautiful Kunoichi shouldn't be stuck to one outfit alone. Fashion is very key when it comes to seduction." The platinum blonde said. Really though she kind of wanted to see the beautiful girl in something different and less classical looking.

Alice still wasn't sure about this. "But… I have to go and do training."

Sakura gave her a friendly smile and simply said, "Think of it as Urban Recon Training. It will actually be helpful in that manner as it stands. Kunoichi have to be able to fit in with the public and not always drawing attention to their selves."

"Besides this will be fun, Alice-chan! What were you going to do for training anyways?" Ino asked.

"I was going to try running laps around Konoha. I heard of something called the 'lap challenge' in passing one time." Alice said as she walked with Ino and Sakura. She could kind of see the merit in their explanation.

"You would have to be stuck with two green spandex blurs with bowl cuts if you did that right now. They might even find a way to get you into the same look." Ino said as her and Sakura both gave shivers.

"What's spandex?" Alice asked causally as the other two girls stopped.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other with their mouths open. Sakura closed hers and asked, "Ummm you do remember Gai and Lee from our last mission right, Alice?"

Alice gave an "oh" before then giving a grimace at the words. She didn't have any problems with Gai and Lee. She actually thought them friendly and fun, but she would much rather not wear that outfit and keep her long hair. "I see… Thanks for the warning. I think I would make too much of a tempting target for them to bring out my 'youthfulness in youthful green'."

Ino almost fainted at those words. Sakura almost gaged as her face seemed to turn green. It would be so horrible to see Alice transformed into a female version of them.

- Sakura fantasy starts-

"Ohhh, Alice… Some ninjas would want to go further than we did." Sakura said in cute voice with a blush. She was sitting on the side of the water fully naked and shifting uneasily in a sexy way.

"Well? Shall we, Sakura-chan?" Alice said in a seductive voice in the pink girl's ear.

Sakura blushed deeper as she closed her eyes and turned towards Alice and nodded. "Please…" She then opened her eyes and her mouth fell open.

Alice was standing there in a lime green spandex full body suit. Her hair was now a bowl cut and her eye brows were outrageously thick.

Alice then smiled and her white teeth sparkled as she gave a thumb's up and started to boisterously laugh out loud. "HA HA HAAA! That is a supremely excellent way for our youthful female flames to grow! Challenge accepted, Sakura-chan!"

"I will get you to orgasm multiple times with two fingers. If I can't get you to orgasm multiple times with two fingers! Then I will use my toes! And if that doesn't work! I will use three fingers to get you to orgasm while I curl this super heavy supply pack with my…. Neck!"

Sakura gave out a silent scream. It was so horrible the sound wouldn't even come out of her.

- End of Sakura fantasy…. No nightmare…-

"Oh Kami… can't… unsee…" Sakura said as she almost threw up again. Her fantasy about her and Alice in the hot springs going further was now a nightmare. She really hoped it wouldn't be permanent. Sakura had come to surprisingly thoroughly enjoy that fantasy.

Sakura was saved from more images of that horrible nightmare by Alice coming and grabbing her arm. "Come on lets go, Sakura. You and Ino will both have to show me how this 'Urban Recon' training works." The dark haired girl gave a warm smile and that actually helped the nightmare to go away.

"Good thing it was only a dream…. Still that is something that must never happen!" Sakura said to herself as she smiled and followed.

Ino seemed to have stopped a bit further ahead from the others. The platinum Blonde girl smiled as they caught up. "I know just the perfect place to start." She said with a smile.

{-} {-} {-}

Alice looked at a mannequin with a thoughtful expression. It was wearing some rather revealing, but at the same time elaborate clothing. She guessed she shouldn't be surprised really. She had seen what Ino wore as her ninja clothes. At the time she thought it was to seduce opponents or something though.

"They really do have some interesting tastes in clothes here it seems," the dark haired girl said quietly. She looked over to where Ino and Sakura were looking at different outfits. She saw some dresses, but even those were more showing than most underwear in Industrial Victorian London.

Ino was looking at a purple top of some kind, not surprising considering it is her favorite color. Sakura was looking at a simple red zipper top. She wanted to try something different really, but she feared anything else would bring too much attention to her small chest.

Ino looked around over at Alice before quickly jumping a little closer to Sakura. She then looked again and made a different jump towards Sakura. She was pretending to be looking at some bright orange and black top as she said, "So…."

"What is it, Ino?" Sakura said with a sigh. She should have known Ino wanted to something more than just shopping.

"How are we going to make sure Alice gets something more modern?" Ino said. She loved fashion and even liked Alice's dress, but it was classical not at all something recent. She really wanted to see what the newest Kunoichi looked like in something more fashionable, because she wanted to see what anyone looked like in good clothes.

"Is there really a problem with what she usually wears?" Sakura asked. She was a little curious, but she wasn't going to give in to Ino that quickly.

"Well no there isn't, but I mean it is kind of well… dated… " Ino said with a sigh. She was thinking she might have to do this on her own, but then she noticed Sakura looking at Alice a little longer than necessary. It also added up to a couple of other small things she already noticed.

The Yamnaka heiress gave a mischievous smile. "Besides… Aren't you curious what she is hiding under that dress even the slightest bit…? Sakuraaaa-chan…"

Sakura blushed. "No… Not really…"

"Are you sure, Sakura?" Ino asked in a sweet voice.

"What are you meaning… Ino?" The pink haired girl said trying to get the topic ended.

"Nothing… Just noticed you were paying an unusual amount of attention to her today already." Ino said trying to play innocent.

Sakura gave her a halfhearted glare that caused the blonde to giggle. "Nothing like that at all." She said as she looked over Alice again. Her glare vanished and was replaced by a light blush.

"Besides… I already know what she is hiding under that dress…" She said quietly to herself without thinking. She mentally adding, "And felt what she is hiding under her dress..."

Ino's eyes sparkled as she grabbed her shoulders. "Oh? You do? How so?"

Sakura was about to get angry, but sighed as she realized her friend overheard her. It wasn't really Ino's fault she was asking suddenly. "We went to the hot springs together a few days ago."

Ino nodded and smiled. "So what does she look like in a swimsuit then, or was she wrapped in a towel?"

Sakura blushed further. "We went in naked…" She said in a small voice.

"WHAT?!" Ino asked loudly. Several people looked at her and frowned.

"Quiet down will you, Ino-pig… It isn't like it's that bizarre." Sakura said.

Ino wanted to smack her for using that name, but realized she had distracted other people with her outburst. "No it isn't, but you never go in naked, or well not with someone else at least. Why did you with Alice?"

Sakura gave another sigh. "She wanted to do the hot springs thing right. She wasn't going to do it halfway. Halfway to her meant in a swimsuit or with a towel wrapped around her."

Ino nodded and then gave a mischievous smile again. "And? What was she like?"

Sakura blushed as she remembered things there again. "She was well ummm beautiful I guess… I mean it wasn't like we were checking each other out or I was watching her take off her stockings or anything… I was really embarrassed the whole time you know since I hadn't done things that way before."

Ino shook her head. Sometimes Forehead girl could really be far too modest and shy about things. It wasn't like a girl liking other girls was something uncommon in the ninja world. Same went for the guys as well. Ino had a dreamy look in her eyes as she imagined some interesting things.

She shook her head to clear it. She had given herself a mission now and that mission was to get Alice to wear something different. The two of them working to this goal would be better than her going it alone.

"So…" Ino said before dropping her voice to a whisper. "Don't you want to see her in something less covering than her full dress anyways?"

Sakura thought about it and then her eyes had a certain gleam in them. She picked out a few new tops and a skirt that she knew would fit her. She made her way over to the dark haired girl who was looking at some kind of Gothic outfit.

"Well this dress has a certain appeal to it, but my steam dress is much prettier." Alice said quietly. She then turned when Sakura approached her.

"So Alice-chan, have you found anything you like?" Sakura asked nicely.

"Some things, but a lot of it seems kind of well… revealing… and then most of these dresses are nice, but I like my own dresses better. I just don't really see why I need more outfits, Sakura-chan," the dark haired girl said.

Sakura nodded in thought for a minute before then pounding a fist in her open hand. "True your dress is very beautiful, Alice-chan. However, this is about being able to fit in and wouldn't you rather have something more comfortable when you aren't training or on missions? Also like I said you dress is beautiful, but it does stand out."

Alice nodded to this. "Then couldn't I just wear my Silk Maiden dress then? You know the one I wore right before we went on our first mission together?"

Sakura nodded to this as well. "That is a good outfit to fit in a more upperclass or traditional part of a village, but not everywhere."

"Besides this is Urban Recon training. You need to have outfits that allow you to fit in with middle class areas or maybe in some cases night clubs." Ino said after Sakura who smiled and nodded. Ino came over right as Sakura last spoke.

Alice gave an "hmmmm…" in thought for a moment. She then nodded and walked off to go and assumedly grab some outfits to try.

"Also don't worry about sizes, Alice. Not all clothes are the same size. They have dressing rooms here for you to try on different outfits." Ino added as the dark haired girl nodded and walked further into the store.

Ino gave Sakura a conspiratorial smile. They were telling the truth and this was actually for Alice's own good. Still Ino's mission was so far successful. The two gave each other a quick high five when Alice wasn't looking and walked over to the dressing rooms to wait.

{-} {-} {-}

It had taken Alice several minutes, but she came back with quite a few outfits to try on. Ino was actually impressed with the amount. Alice gave a sigh as she said, "Good thing that last mission paid really well."

Sakura blinked a few times. She hadn't expected Alice to go this far out. The dark haired girl quickly found an empty dressing room. Soon afterwards there was a puff sound and a light that looked like butterflies coming from the dressing room.

"What was that?!" Ino asked with her jaw open.

"Oh. Alice can summon and desummon her dress." Sakura answered casually taking pleasure in Ino's reaction.

"R-R-Really?!" Ino asked unsure she heard correctly.

Sakura merely nodded and smiled. "Isn't that cool?"

Ino gave a chuckle. "I wish I could do that. It would make things so much easier."

"I thought the same thing when she first told me." Sakura said as the two waited.

It wasn't long until they heard Alice speak. "Sakura… This outfit looks odd with my bra on. Is it supposed to? Or do I usually have to wear matching underwear with it? Can you come help me?"

Sakura blushed as Ino gave her a look and mischievous smile. Sakura had decided Ino was enjoying this a little too much. "Alright. Coming, Alice-chan."

A "Thanks!" came in reply as Sakura sighed and braced herself. She wasn't sure what seeing Alice in a dressing room might do to her. She took in a deep breath and walked inside.

Sakura paused as she saw a topless Alice looking at the dress trying to figure it out. Sakura blushed to the sight. "Alice… if you wanted me to help you should have waited to take off your bra. Someone might have seen you like this."

Alice just gave a shrug. "I didn't really think about that. Besides they would have only seen my back in the time it took you to close the door."

Sakura shook her head and gave a smile. She came up behind Alice and spoke. "This is a strapless top. You aren't supposed to wear a bra, but I guess you already figured that out it looks like."

"Still it seems odd." Alice said.

Sakura could have just told her what to do, but the pink haired girl really wanted to actually help her fit it on. She came up and said quietly. "I really do wish I had Alice-chan's chest."

Alice blushed a little to the words. Sakura then smiled friendly as she said, "Here let me show you." Alice nodded. Sakura then grabbed Alice's boobs to arrange them as the dark haired girl gave an audible gasp at the touch and blushed a little more.

Sakura then pulled the top out a bit and said, "See this." Alice looked down. Alice had to admit it was odd seeing someone else's hands that close to her breasts again already. She didn't mind though and nodded. "These pads here act as your support instead of a bra."

Alice nodded as Sakura then placed it on her breasts. The pink haired girl then rearranged Alice's breasts a little more and took longer than she really needed. The dark haired girl didn't seem to mind it as her breath hitched again.

Sakura blushed as she looked at Alice's face in the mirror. "Did she… like that?" The pink haired girl thought. Alice had a beautiful light blush on her cheeks, but didn't seem embarrassed. She almost seemed a little happy.

Sakura had flashbacks to her dreams with Alice again. They were good flashbacks and not more of that nightmare fortunately. Alice looked at the outfit for a second and gave a little twirl. "It looks nice, Alice-chan."

Alice gave a smile in thanks. "So do you need my help with anything else, Alice?" Sakura asked.

Alice pressed a finger to her light pink lips in thought before nodding. "Yes. How do I wear this?" She then picked up a small piece of black stretchy fabric.

Sakura blushed. "That's an ummm… tube top. You just put it on and it should stretch over your body. Again you don't usually wear a bra with one." She then looked away as Alice took off the dress. She wasn't sure if she could contain herself if she saw Alice in just her panties and topless.

Alice grunted a little as she tried to put on the top. It was stretching a little, but she wondered if it was supposed to be this much trouble to put on. "I didn't know it would be such a tight fit." She gave a couple more grunts as she tried to figure it out.

"Umm it is supposed to stretch over your body. I guess it should feel snug on you. It will umm really show off your curves." Sakura said still not looking.

"I guess It fits like that…. Oh well could be worse… could be a corset." Alice said causally. She then gave a sigh. "What do you usually have on with this? I mean I don't think a girl is supposed to go around wearing just a tube top and her panties only."

Sakura couldn't help but look now. The top was very snug… and Alice's nipples were poking through. "Ummm… Alice…" Alice turned around to face her. "Would you consider yourself… sensitive?"

Alice nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Because well… this…" Sakura wasn't sure why she did what she next did, but she did. She walked up to Alice and grabbed one of the girl's nipples through the fabric. Alice gave a moan at the touch.

Sakura blushed… "Sorry… I didn't think you would be that sensitive. I was just well… being very direct about it, Alice… Please don't hate me…"

Alice blushed but then gave teasing smile. "Sakura-chan." Her voice was a little deeper and Sakura blushed further. "You ought to be more careful."

Alice walked up closer to her and pressed her body against Sakura's as she breathily said, "Someone might get the wrong idea and think you want to go further than we did in the hot springs.

Sakura's face turned really red. Her mind now had so much more to tease her with in those dreams now. Her eyes fogged over a little as she was given images in her head.

She then heard Alice giggle as she walked back and took the top off and seemed to throw it into the discard pile. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I was just joking. I can't really think about much else to ask you now."

Alice gave a warm smile as she said softly in low tone, "Thank you for your help, Sakura-chan."

Sakura finally recovered a little and let out a breath before replying. "N-n-no problem, Alice. I was happy to help you. Tell me if you need anything else. When you have picked some outfits come outside and show us. We will be able to tell you if what you are wearing will work for 'Urban Recon'."

Alice nodded as she put on a different top and searched around for a skirt or something. Sakura barely opened the door and made sure there weren't any perverts around before exiting. She noticed a red faced Ino standing nearby.

{-} {-} {-}

Ino blushed when she heard Alice give a gasp and Sakura help arrange her breasts. She hadn't expected it to be so erotic sounding. She barely heard them talking about clothes of some kind.

It was quiet for a few seconds and then she heard Alice grunt a few times and comment about something being a tight fit. This was followed by Sakura mmmming or something.

Shortly after that Ino heard a sensual moan from Alice. Sakura then seemed to apologize followed by Alice giggling.

"Damn… I didn't think it would be so… Hot…" Ino thought to herself. She blushed a little to this thought. She wasn't opposed to certain thoughts involving other beautiful girls. Usually she wasn't effected this much. She supposed her thoughts about her pink haired friend having a crush on the new girl and what they could have possibly done at the hot springs were getting to her.

Then her mind might have as well gone to the deep end of the gutter when she heard Alice's sultry sounding voice thank Sakura. The pink haired girl's stumbled reply wasn't helping matters either.

"Is something wrong, Ino-chan?" Sakura asked a little concerned.

"N-n-nothing…" Ino replied as she looked away from Sakura.

Sakura then gave mischievous smile. "Hooo? Was Ino-chaaaann thinking dirty thoughts?"

Ino didn't say anything. She just looked to the ground and blushed further. Sakura smiled and giggled at her blonde friend. "Pay back can be so sweet," she thought.

{-} {-} {-}

The girls were now relaxing at a café with an order of dango and some tea. After sometime, Alice had given them quiet the impromptu fashion show earlier. It seemed the dark haired girl had a pretty good idea on what fashion was really. They still had to berate her on a couple of outfits.

However, Sakura noticed Ino seemed to have really formed a sort of liking for how the older girl looked. Sakura was the same way, but did her best to hide it for some reason. Still the pink haired girl guessed it wasn't just Ino.

Several of the people passing by them were giving the trio glances and other looks. As usual some did look at Sakura, but more focused on Ino. The pinkette supposed it made sense really. Ino usually got the looks when the two of them went anywhere. However, it was surprising, though in hindsight, how much more attention Alice seemed to be getting of their group.

Alice was currently in a medium blue top that showed just a hint of her cleavage and ended just a little above her belly button. It really drew attention to her flat stomach without showing off the whole thing.

She also had on a black skirt with a blue butterfly and a green butterfly to the left side and her usual boots without the stockings. Ino told her not to wear them with her current outfit.

Finishing her ensemble Alice still wore her omega necklace and her sister's key. Sakura frowned at the second necklace because of the sad memories she knew it had for Alice. Ino asked what it was and Alice simply smiled and said it was something that belonged to someone important to her and left it at that.

Alice seemed a little embarrassed in the get up at first and had a light pink dusting on her cheeks, but she soon seemed to get used to it and even seemed to enjoy wearing it. She still seemed to blush every so often from the attention she was getting along with the others. She tried her best not to let it show though and still enjoyed their company.

Alice found herself blushing again as she noticed more of the looks she had been getting while they ate. "Did I mess up somehow, Ino?" She asked quietly.

Ino blinked at her new friend. "What are you talking about, Alice?"

"Well with my outfit choice. I mean I am getting a lot of looks… I thought we weren't supposed to be getting a lot of attention." Alice said.

Sakura and Ino both giggled a little. "Oh, Alice. It isn't that you messed up that you are getting looks." Ino said as she giggled again.

"It's that you picked out a very good outfit that you are. Plus you are naturally beautiful." Sakura concluded with a smile and a tiny blush.

Alice gave her a warm smile. "Thanks. This really has been a fun day. I have learned a whole lot too." Alice gave a little giggle, "At first thought this 'Urban Recon training' was some joke or an excuse to go shopping instead.

"Hey…." Ino said with a frown. Sakura and Alice giggled at her response.

"But then the whole making your way through the crowd and picking up on the latest gossip as a means to interact with others and possibly ease them into discussion that would give you information about the village. Add to that the watching your area to get a better lay of the land and map out the streets better. It is actually pretty amazing!" Alice said as she gave an excited smile.

Ino gave a proud smile as she nodded and said, "Yep. People always underestimate my skills and tease me about being a gossip and shopaholic. They just don't know what their missing."

Sakura giggled and leaned in to stage whisper to Alice. "I thought it was just a joke at first too. It can be very useful…" Ino glowed with more pride. "Even though Ino is still a just gossip and shopaholic."

Ino frowned, "Hey…" Again Alice and Sakura giggled as the blonde girl gave them a huff.

After having a couple more dango and sips of her tea, Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh crap…" She stood up and quickly counted out her part of the bill as she grabbed up her bags to go.

"What is it Sakura-chan?" Alice asked.

"I have to start my shift at the hospital real soon. I have to drop these things off first at my home too…" Sakura sighed in frustration. "I wish I had a storage scroll for my goods like you did, Alice."

Alice gave smile and a laugh. "Well I'm sure you could ask Naruto for one yourself, Sakura."

Sakura nodded and gave Ino a goodbye hug and a kiss on the cheek. She then did same for Alice and missed the dark haired girl's blush.

"Bye, Sakura! Try not to have too much fun!" Ino said to her friend. Sakura rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue as the blonde just laughed. Alice just waved as she blushed.

{-} {-} {-}

A different trio just left from the Bar-B-Que place that two used to frequent with their old sensei. Naruto gave a stretch as they entered the street. He had decided to take some time off from training and spend it with his friends Choji and Shikamaru.

He was partly doing it as a means to remind himself that despite what some of his important people did to him, there were still others. It had actually helped him a little bit to fight back the voice of temptation.

He loved spending time with Alice, but he hated doing so purely for his own sake. He felt it wasn't fair to Alice. Naruto was trying other methods to help drown out the voice on his own.

"You know I still forget how much eating with Choji is actually training." Naruto said with a laugh to his friends.

"Hmph. Meals are always battles! You have to be ready to finish at any time and still get what your body needs." Choji said sagely. In a way it was, but not usually when off duty and with friends.

"I used to think it a drag, but I've been used to it since we were academy students." Shikamaru said.

Naruto chuckled at first, but then the three of them turned a corner and noticed an odd person sitting on a rooftop at the end of the street they were now facing. The three ninja didn't recognize the guy and got on guard.

The person was a guy who looked to be close to their age. He was very pale and had black hair and eyes. He wore some half dark grey half shirt and jacket with a long and short sleeve. The guy had on black pants and looked to have some kind of scroll and ink brush in hand.

Just as they were about to ask who the guy was he said, "Ninja art: Super Beasts Scrolls". With his words six ink looking lion creatures shot towards them.

"Watch out, Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted as they seemed to be heading right towards him.

Naruto ran through a series of hands seals and shouted, "Wind style: Great Breakthrough." The jutsu bursts forward and destroyed the ink lions. Unnoticed the guy's eyes opened a little wider in surprise, but he quickly sent a second wave at the group.

Naruto started to close in when the second wave of the things came for him. Fortunately a few shadows from Shikamaru and some shuriken from Choji took care of them. Naruto jumped up and quickly withdrew a kunai just as the stranger pulled out a tanto blade to intercept.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to win the clashing of blades, but it wasn't going anywhere. "Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded. The stranger just gave an obvious fake smile with his eyes closed in response.

{-} {-} {-}

Alice and Ino were chatting a little bit as they walked down the street together. Ino had just dropped off her bags and the two were going to meet with Choji and Shikamaru. Alice was thinking about leaving, but Ino stopped her as she said, "Don't you want to come, Alice? Let them see your new look?"

Alice thought about it for a minute and was about to say no, but Ino cut her off before she could. "I think I heard them say something about meeting up with Naruto for lunch today. Don't you want him to at least see you in your new outfit?" Alice blushed to that and started to follow her.

The two just finished laughing at a joke when suddenly Alice's senses picked up on Naruto clashing in fight with someone. Alice quickly took off to Ino's surprise and ran forward. "You better not be trouble, Naruto… You didn't even summon me," she thought as she ran as fast she could.

{-} {-} {-}

"I asked who the hell are, you?!" Naruto shouted as he tried to hide the strain he was feeling to keep his kunai from losing the battle. He gritted his teeth.

The other guy just continued to fake smile as he said, "You're not as strong as I thought you would be." The guy then turned to his side as he felt someone approaching really fast.

He saw a girl with dark hair and green eyes running towards him. He didn't know her, but he recognized her as the new Kunoichi who arrived with Naruto from his training trip.

The stranger was just about to back out not wanting to get into a serious fight here, but suddenly his eyes opened as he saw the girl burst into butterflies and in no time appear to his immediate left. He jumped back just barely as he heard her blade sing through the air with a red and black trail behind it.

The girl's green eyes her focused on him as she stopped low right below Naruto's out stretched kunai. Her eyes were narrowed and she was ready to make her next move. They even seemed to have a fire behind them that promised only pain. The stranger wasn't really fazed by this because of his training.

As the girl came to a stop and he was in the air, the stranger noticed a shadow coming towards him. He managed to get himself back a little more as he got his escape ready. He managed to say one final phrase before disappearing, "I'll see you later, Naruto." He then disappeared in a swirl of ink.

Alice relaxed her guard and stood up before letting out a sigh. She then turned to Naruto and asked, "Why would a ninja with a Konoha headband attack you, Naruto."

Naruto dropped his guard and was about to answer when he finally actually saw Alice's outfit. He immediately looked to the ground and scratched the back of his head as he blushed. "Heh heh… I don't know, Alice-chan. New outfit?"

Alice then blushed as she nodded. He recovered and smiled at her, "It looks nice on you. Thanks for coming to help me."

She was about to respond, but then a voice called out, "Alice-chan… Why did you just run off like that?" Ino then looked to the others. "What's going on here?"

Naruto jumped down from the roof and Alice shortly butterflied down next to him. Choji was the one to answer though, "Ummmm…. Well there was this weird guy and he attacked us with this strange jutsu. Naruto engaged him and Alice came soon after."

"Uhh? Where is this weird guy?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru gave a sigh of frustration that wasn't aimed at Ino. "He disappeared in some ink jutsu. He seemed to know Naruto and wore a Konoha headband."

Ino gave questioning glance. "How did you know to get here, Alice-chan?"

Alice gave a stretch which drew some male attention to her midriff. "I'm actually a pretty good sensor. So I sensed he was in a fight." She didn't seem to really realize how impressive this was from her distance.

Shikamaru managed to hide how impressed he was and calmly asked, "Naruto, did you know that guy?"

"I've never even seen him before in my life. I don't know how he knew who I was." Naruto answered.

"Are you sure, Naruto? Maybe he was at the academy with you all. He did look to be close to same age." Alice commented.

"Nope. I guess neither of you two recognized him either?" Naruto said.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed. "I'll give a report to Hokage-sama. I have to meet with her for a mission soon anyways."

With that the ninja decided to just split up to go back to their homes instead of doing something else together. Naruto and Alice walked back to their apartment building together. Naruto kept glancing over at Alice. "Damn… She looks hot in that outfit! Calm down… She is a lady she… Probably doesn't want me ogling her," He thought to himself.

"Don't let him know I know he's checking me out. If I do he will get scared or something…" Alice thought to herself as she blushed.

"So... When did you get the new outfit?" Naruto asked to make conversation.

"I went and did some 'Urban Recon Training' with Sakura and Ino." Alice answered easily.

"Ohhh you mean shopping." Naruto said with a knowing nod.

"Actually there really is a lot more to it than that…" Alice said as she told him about her day.

{-} {-} {-}

Tsunade was at her desk taking a break from her mountains of paperwork. She understood why her old sensei always would go on about how stupid it was to take the strongest ninja and make them Hokage. The leader of the ninja village couldn't really spend a whole lot of time staying fit and ready when they had to worry about meetings and paperwork all day.

She gave a sigh as she held her head in her hands. She just got out of a meeting with her advisors about Naruto, since apparently her first apprentice decided it a good idea to get them involved. Shizune's heart was in the right place, but she sometimes caused more trouble than was needed because of her good intentions.

Those good intentions led to her current and biggest head ache. She could really use a drink right now, but she was saving it for when she, Sakura, Alice, and Bill McGill went out on town. Still maybe she could make an exception here.

She felt a presence enter her office right in front of her. "Good. You got here fast." She said.

"Well you said it was urgent." Yamato responded to her.

Tsunade stood up and looked out the window. "As you know, you will be the Captain in Kakashi's stead, but there will also be one more addition to fill in for the fourth member of Team Kakashi. I had someone else in mind, but that plan had to change."

Her honey brown eyes narrowed, "Danzo got involved. I have reason to believe the member he was allowed to choose as a compromise, which shouldn't have happened in the first place, is from Root. I want you to keep an eye on him in addition to your other duties."

She then went into detail about the mission to the bridge. "Do you understand?" He gave a nod. "After you meet everyone tomorrow, I wish to meet with you in my office with Jiraiya and Kakashi, before he goes on his important mission."

"Once you have your first impression of them, we will fill you in on a couple of situations you weren't earlier informed about. Jiraiya is the best person to fill you and Kakashi in on them. Do you understand?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Yamato replied.

"Good dismissed." She said. With that the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Shortly after he left, there was a knock on her door. "Come in."

Sakura walked in. "You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sensei?"

Tsunade gave a smile. She rarely admitted it, but she always liked it when she talked to Sakura even if it was business. "Ahhh yes. Sakura-chan. I wanted you to tell Alice, and Naruto you will all meet tomorrow at 14:00. You will also meet your new teammates for Team Kakashi and your next mission."

Sakura gave a bow. "Ok, Tsunade-sensei." Tsunade then nodded to her in dismissal and the pink haired girl left.

Tsunade let out a sigh. "Time to get back to paperwork…." She turned around and her eye twitched. "Did the pile get even bigger?"

{-} {-} {-}

Sakura quickly made her way to Naruto's and Alice's apartment building. She was glad they were right next door to each other. It made delivering messages to both of them easier.

Sakura approached Naruto's room first and knocked on the door. She waited a minute or two and knocked again. She gave out a sigh. She was hungry and ready to go home after her shift at the hospital.

Sakura decided to fall on old habits and just opened the door anyways. It was locked. She almost thought to pick the lock. "Wait a minute he could be visiting Alice," she thought.

The pink haired girl walked downstairs knocked on the other door instead. "Coming!" She heard Naruto's voice call. The door opened, "Oh hey, Sakura." He answered with a smile.

Before she could answer she heard Alice call from somewhere further in the apartment. "Who is it?"

"It's Sakura." Naruto called back.

Alice came around the corner wearing an apron. "Hello, Sakura-chan! What brings you here? Actually come inside." Sakura stepped inside.

"I just started cooking supper. You should join us." Alice said with a smile.

"Ummm. No I don't want to bother you two." Sakura replied.

"Nonsense, you wouldn't be bothering us and besides you owe me. You didn't come over after our Hot Springs trip, remember." Alice said as she headed back into the kitchen area.

Sakura blushed as memories of the Hot Springs and her dreams came back to her. She broke form her musings when Naruto showed her to the dining table. He sat down on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"I was a little confused by these dining tables at first. They are so very different from the ones we had back in London." Alice said as she worked in the kitchen.

Naruto gave a chuckle. "I find it kind of funny actually. You have the Japanese dining table. I have a dining table like the ones you described from London."

"You know you never did tell me much about London, Alice. Just that it was where you were originally from." Sakura said as she settled in. It seemed like she was going to be having supper with Alice and Naruto tonight. She was actually looking forward to it.

"I didn't?!" Alice asked in a voice that sounded scandalized. Sakura shook her head. "I have been a terrible friend then…" Alice said with a sigh. She then went on and talked about London to Sakura with Naruto throwing in his thoughts every so often.

{-} {-} {-}

Sakura gave a sigh of contentment as she shifted to a more comfortable position. "That was wonderful, Alice. Thanks for letting me stay for Supper."

"Alice's cooking is always Awesome! You better believe it!" Naruto said with a big grin as he laid back.

Alice blushed at both of their praises. She really liked being told she could do things right. With the doctor if he said anything about her cooking and such it wasn't praise.

"Thanks you two. I really do love hearing you like my cooking. I'm always a little scared I might mess it up, or cook something people just absolutely hate." Alice said.

"I'm pretty sure you could cook a meal anyone would like, Alice. After all you got Naruto to like vegetables." Sakura said with a giggle.

Naruto gave a frown from where he was on the floor. It was really surprising how comfortable it was. Maybe he had been going at it a little too hard with the training lately or something.

Alice gave a smile as she stood up and gathered the dishes. "I'm not so sure about that, but thanks for saying so anyways, Sakura-chan."

Sakura helped gather up the dishes as well. "Thanks. Usually Naruto and I switch off who does the dishes whenever we do have a meal together. Usually he just has shadow clones take care of it when it's his turn." Alice said with a little envy in her voice at the end.

Sakura gave a giggle. "I know how you feel about that. I wish I could make a shadow clone period. Let alone enough I can use them for mundane activities. He always used them when we had to walk the Inuzaka's dogs for D-rank missions when we first formed our team."

"I seem to remember you were really relieved about that, Sakura." Naruto said from the table.

He finally stood up and stretched. "You know, Sakura." She looked to him for a second. "You never did say why you came by in the first place."

Sakura almost dropped the plate she was drying as she blushed. She gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry about that. I just got caught up in the meal atmosphere is all. Usually when I have supper with anyone else it's my parents."

Sakura sighed. "Most of the time they just go on about embarrassing stories about me. Then there are my dad's 'Dad Jokes'. Don't even get me started on how they get when I have friends over."

Naruto remained silent and Alice just gave her a small smile. "Still family is nice, even if they embarrass us."

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked down in shame. "Sorry… I didn't me to sound like I was complaining. I love them."

Sakura cleared her throat, "Regardless. I was originally coming here to tell you both that we will be meeting the two replacement members of team Kakashi tomorrow at 14:00. Tsunade-sensei wants you there as well, Alice. The story is you are only there because you are going on the mission to meet with the spy with us, but we know the whole reason."

"I wonder what they will be like. I seriously hope our new Captain, even if only temporary, will actually arrive on time." Naruto said.

Alice shook her head. "I still can't believe, Kakashi was always at least three hours late meeting with you all."

Sakura gave a scoff. "The worst part was all of the excuses he would come up with about a road of Life or something like that. I mean we all knew he was probably just reading those perverted books of his and lost track of time. Really I can't believe someone would read such smut."

Naruto shifted a little bit and looked away from Sakura. Jiraiya was his sensei for two years so he did kind of read them. He still wouldn't admit it though.

Alice almost dropped the plate she was washing as she blushed a little bit. She was relieved Sakura didn't seem to notice. Alice thought they were horrible, but she still found herself reading them on her trip when she could without the others seeing her.

Sakura was holding her head up to ceiling so she wouldn't accidentally betray that she read similar books. They really did allow her to… de-stress... at night sometimes.

"Speaking of parents..." Alice started in a hope to change the subject before someone noticed her blush. "Should you have called them or something, Sakura?"

"Oh no. Don't worry about it. I never have supper with them on nights I have evening shift or night shift at the hospital. I usually either get dragged somewhere by Tsunade-sensei or have myself a meal somewhere to wind down and just relax." Sakura said with a smile.

She wouldn't mind having more meals like this one. She hoped they would do it again sometime. She never thought she would have this much fun just hanging around Naruto and Alice.

She sighed mentally to herself. "Really… What was I doing with my life…? This is what friends must be like. I only had Ino and then screwed that up for a while."

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Alice asked her sweetly.

"I was just reflecting on something. Nothing to worry about." Sakura answered.

"Okay…" Alice said with a bit of worry. Soon though she smiled as she said, "I wanted to thank you again for taking me for Urban Recon Training."

Sakura gave a friendly smile. "Don't mention it. I had a lot of fun."

"Oh yah. I guess I should apologize to you, Sakura. I always thought when you and Ino talked about that you two were just looking for an excuse to shop instead of actually training." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"Is that so?" Sakura asked with a half frown. Naruto nodded nervously.

Sakura was silent for a second while Naruto seemed to think he might have screwed up saying it the way he did or something. Sakura then gave a giggle. "I thought that at first too for a while, but Ino first introduced it to me when I was trying to get our friendship back so I went with it."

Naruto looked relieved. "It really is interesting how Ino actually found a way to make shopping and such as a way to train her infiltration skills. It even paid off for her. She was sent on quite a few while you were on your training trip, Naruto." She said.

The group visited for a little while longer before Sakura told them where to meet and left to go home while Naruto left to go upstairs. All three were wondering about what the next day would be like as they went to bed that night. All three also thought about how much they enjoyed having supper together that night.

{-} {-}{-}

The next day Sakura arrived 12 minutes early where they were all meeting. She was a little excited to meet her new team members, even if only temporary. A couple minutes later Alice and Naruto arrived together. Naruto was looking around while Alice just walked calmly and said something to Naruto to which he nodded.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto greeted with a smile.

"Hello you two." Sakura returned the greeting.

"So… Where do you think they are? This is the right place right?" Naruto said.

"I don't know where they are. But yes this is the right place." Sakura said.

"You don't think they are going to be really late, do you? You know just like Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said with a little resignation in his voice.

"I would hope they aren't. It's bad enough to hold up your own teammates, but to hold up a different ninja as well? That is even worse." Alice commented.

"Relax you two we still have several minutes until we are supposed to meet them." Sakura said.

Right after she said those words, a figure stepped out from behind a pillar. "Hello. I'm your new Captain in place of Kakashi. My name is Yamato."

Sakura looked at the guy and decided he seemed alright. She was also extremely relieved he was in fact on time. She then saw the second figure and oddly enough he reminded her a little bit of Sasuke for some reason.

What really surprised her though was how both Alice and Naruto immediately brought up their guard and slipped into ready stances. The two were both looking at the second figure with distrust and a little anger as they covered each other's openings.

"What are you doing here?!" Naruto almost growled out as he glared at the second newcomer.

Sakura was shocked by his voice. She got ready to bring up her own guard. If it was just Naruto she might wonder a little more, but Alice also seemed to clearly identify the new guy as a potential enemy as well.

The new guy just gave a fake smile and readied his weapon to defend himself as he said, "Hello. My name is Sai."

Yamato gave a frown and already had a bad feeling about things. "This isn't a good start at all..."


A/N: so yeah after talking to a couple of people I have decided there will be some Alice/Saku. They are not the main couple, and it won't be some heart breaking breakup in the end either. I have some… interesting... plans regarding them. Hope this doesn't break the fic for people, but if it does then you probably have too strong of a hate for certain characters.

Remember, no matter how close Alice and Naruto seem. They aren't in a relationship with each other yet and they still haven't told their feelings to the other. Plus both are new to this whole feelings and romance stuff.

Also… sorry for the long wait, but I was busy with other projects and then I went back and reworked the format for all of the previous chapters…. Yah…. That took a while and I still have two more to go. I forgot how long this story already was until I did that. Hopefully they are a little more readable. I don't plan on revamping them again.

Another thing that distracted me was some good old fashioned sexy fun times which happen in future chapters and more ideas on character development. These chapters aren't until later, though one is actually coming up fairly quickly.