CHAPTER CORRECTED: I THANK VERY MUCH MY BETA READER Official Nyl

I do not own NARUTO

After ''How i fell in love with my best friend'' I have began a new story. I need your opinion if i continue to write it or not. I am just at the beginning but i hope you will enjoy your reading

Dangerous Infiltration Mission

Post War. Naru/Saku

After the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Naruto won over Sasuke. Sasuke still departed for his trip of repentance, and Sakura wanted to join him but he refused, telling her she had nothing to do with his sin. Time continued to pass in Konoha with mission and daily life. Naruto studied hard to become a Jounin, his first step on the path to becoming Hokage; meanwhile Sakura was promoted head medic in the hospital.

Naruto and Sakura grew closer and became best friends, sharing all their free moments. After all they went through in the previous years, it felt only natural for them to stick together. They began by training together exclusively, as few other ninja were as powerful as they were. They became known as fearsome ninja; carrying on the legacy of the legendary Sannin.

Chap 1 : The Mission Order

Four years have passed since the war.

Life had a strange sense of humor, or seemed to enjoy ironic occurrences: the shortest, scrawniest blond of all his classmates at the Ninja Academy became the tallest of the group, and his resemblance to the fourth Hokage was so impressive that nobody doubted his legacy when it was officially announced.

Time had clearly been generous to him, his body was sculpted from hours of training, and his attitude was more regal after Tsunade taught him how to lead. All of this had made him one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Konoha. "Mister Popular" the former Hokage often joked, talking about him and the horde of fangirls swooning after his innocent smile. Anyone would have gotten carried away with so much attention, but Naruto seemed to be genuinely as clueless as ever. It was funny to see his curious expression when someone offered him a gift or smiled seductively at him. He was always embarrassed, not understanding why someone would offer him something and looked first behind him to see if the gesture of affection was not for someone else. He was the most handsome, dense, and naive guy around. He was so ignorant of his newfound sex-appeal, it seemed it was impossible for him to conceive that a girl could be head-over heels for him.

Today was one of those days when Shikamaru wished he was not the Hokage's advisor, and that he did not have to fetch Naruto for a new important mission. He sighed as he spotted the shaggy blond hair of the infamous ninja. The sight of the blond head surrounded by a group of girls had been interesting, and the strategist had hesitated a while before deciding to involve himself in a troublesome situation with dangerous women. The sight of the strongest shinobi of all time, lost in the middle of a group of heated women after his body, could have made any of his enemies laugh. He was nearly invincible; the ultimate weapon; the hero of Konoha, feared and respected by all ninja, and the man looked completely helpless in front of the crowd of girls.

Naruto stuttered and blushed like a virgin as the girls pawed at his tee-shirt. Shikamaru snickered at him, deciding to finally give a hand to his friend before they got any further. He immobilized the group with his shadow possession jutsu, and looking at the shade of red on the blond's face, he wondered if he was still not really virgin after all. "You should take the rooftop next time you try to go to Ichiraku" he advised him.

Immediately the blond jumped out of the throng of girls, trying to smooth out his rumpled and distressed clothes, and landed gracefully on the nearest roof. Shikamaru released his jutsu and followed the blond on the roof. "You're needed at the Hokage's office" he informed his friend.

Naruto looked down at his ripped tee-shirt "I have to go change first, I think," he sighed, "I don't understand why they attacked me like that... I didn't do anything to them" he muttered, sounding a little sad. 'I thought that they had finally accepted me. After all, they stopped beating me up when I began being a ninja. Why are they attacking me again?' thought the blond.

Shikamaru looked at the man with wide eyes, listening to his muttering. "They weren't attacking you... Not like you think at least." He pulled out a cigarette, needing something to relax, the man he swore to help was an idiot. The strategist tried to convince him that the girls weren't trying to attack him, but that they wanted to get into his pants. But the blond was deaf to his explanation, instead laughing at him and saying that he was being ridiculous, that no girl saw him like that. The strategist understood rapidly that the blond was so focused on his beloved pink-haired teammate who had rejected him half of his life, that he was sure that he must be nothing close to desirable. Shikamaru sighed and walked off muttering 'Troublesome idiot".

The Nara heir landed at Ichiraku and spotted Sakura. Shikamaru noted the smile that stretched across her face when she heard the discrete sound of a ninja landing. 'She expect it to be Naruto', he guessed. "Naruto! You're late!" she scolded him affectionately, before stopping abruptly, registering that the man behind her was neither blond, nor smiling. Instinctively she pouted disappointedly. The Nara observed her brief involuntary expression. The pink-haired girl was as dense as her teammate to not acknowledge her own infatuation for the blond. "Sorry, I thought you were Naruto for a second," she simply stated, returning to a more composed expression.

"He's been summoned to the Hokage's office. You're supposed to go too." He informed her, exhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke. 'Troublesome people!' She crossed her arms angrily in front of her chest.

"What an idiot! We could have gone together in that case."

Shikamaru, unfazed, continued to exhale another puff of smoke. 'It could be interesting to see his nagging teammate take care of the problem at hand with the ravenous girls.' "He had to go change first, some girls ripped his clothes again." He generously let the information slip in a nonchalant fashion, sure that it would not fall on deaf ears. She was the best protection for the blond's chastity; no other girl felt comfortable bothering him without fearing repercussion when Sakura was around. She would narrow her eyes in a fearsome manner that gave the receiver of her look chills down their spine. Strangely, she didn't realise herself what she did; she still believed that she was exclusively in love with the Uchiha .

Naruto entered the Hokage tower in his Jounin attire, earning a shocked glance from one of the elders. The competency that he exuded, his confident steps, and the evident power that he radiated made his presence known. For a moment, the old woman thought that she might have seen a ghost, a ghost more alive than any other ghost, until she noticed the whiskers on his face. 'The fox kid.' The old woman's gaze followed his figure until he disappeared up the stairs. Only then did she close her gaping mouth. 'He had grown up well! He may be even more handsome than the Fourth.' She thought.

Now it was not only his physical appearance that reminded some of the late Fourth Hokage, but also his mature attitude which had calmed slightly over the years. Naruto was now more wise, and was every bit the ninja he dreamed he could become. He had improved a lot, amazingly, but at his heart he was still the knuckle-headed ninja who frustrated Sakura's patience from time to time.

The gray haired Hokage glanced at the blond who had just entered his office, and stood tall and straight in front of his desk. Kakashi grumbled inwardly, having nearly called him Minato-sensei, and not for the first time. The blond had recently had the stupid idea to let his hair grow a little, strengthening the resemblance. If the two were to stand side by side the differences between them would be few. 'Why on Earth, did the brat have to grow his hair?' The Sixth Hokage wondered, looking at his two former students. His eyes passed from the blond, back to the pinkette. Sakura too had begun to let her hair grow again. Sakura, he could understand. But Naruto was now dangerously similar to Kakashi's long dead mentor, making it hard to not call him by the wrong name. Kakashi sighed. As a Jounin, Naruto got to dress with the regular Jounin attire: in dark blue long pants and matching long shirt with the green flak jacket. The sight was too troubling.

The Hokage collected himself, he still had work to do and unlike his late father, Naruto was still far from patient. The blond had stunningly improved on many points, but his impatience and recklessness still remained. "Your mission..." he began, and saw Naruto's expression grow serious... it was too distracting. He sighed again, hiding his eyes with his hand to interrupt the sight. "Can you cut your hair?" he half pleaded.

The blond lifted an eyebrow in a questioning expression. "That is your important mission?" he asked incredulously. 'I abandoned lunch with Sakura… for that?!' he thought. The blond ninja began to get irritated just at the thought of his wasted time when Sakura sent jabbed an elbow in his ribs.

"Let him finish!" she muttered roughly.

Naruto grumbled angrily in response, like a scolded child, that she was unfair to him.

Kakashi smiled discreetly at the two ninja before him, bickering like an old couple. They were even more suited to the mission at hand than he had originally thought. He cleared his throat, finding a justification to his strange request. It wasn't planned, but it could still work. "It's for the mission! You need to look presentable and credible." He simply lied. "You two are being assigned an infiltration mission in the Land of Green Rock. We're suspicious that the local lord is trying to create a revolt against the Fire Daimyo, but we have no proof yet, or an idea of what his plan is... your job is to find out before we take action." Kakashi informed before letting his chin rest on his hand, looking at them with a sly smile that they could not detect under his mask.

He paused for the suspense, amused at the prospect of witnessing his former students expressions as he gave them the last major detail of the mission. Naruto moved first, stretching his hand toward the Hokage to receive his orders, assuming the briefing was finished when Kakashi did not immediately continue. The gray haired man rolled the scroll back and forth on the desk with a lazy finger, his eye scrutinizing the two ninjas faces for a few seconds with apparent seriousness. Deciding to fill them in on the final details, he spoke, "So, you will cut your hair to look like a proper lord for this infiltration mission," he ordered Naruto, who dropped his hand waiting for the end of the briefing. Kakashi's eyes betrayed his amusement when he looked at Sakura, "and you will be assuming the role of his wife."

In perfect synchronization, the two ninja screamed "WHAT?!". Both were blushing red from their heads to toes with their mouths wide open… but not for the same reason. When he saw that they were now speechless, as though hit by a thunderstorm, Kakashi covered his amusement under a mask of professionalism and calmly unplugged his ears in response to the scream. He extended the scroll for one of them to take it, his eyes now becoming serious. "All of the details are in it. You will be granted a fake identity with a pass to cross the borders. A boat will depart the day after tomorrow, early in the morning. A contact is there, and will give you everything you need for your role. You'll need to leave within the next two hours to get there on time, so don't take your time." he stated with a perfect composure.

Kakashi's hand movement pulled Sakura out of her stupor, and the green eyes landed on the scroll. In the wake of her shock, she momentarily forgot how to breathe, and then regained her ability to speak shortly after. "Kakashi-sensei... Why Naruto and me?"

Naruto glanced at her, noting how red she had become. He sighed, a little disappointed that she was so disgusted to be his fake wife. He would forever be 'just a friend' to her. Somehow, he had always known that her heart belonged to Sasuke, but accepting the knowledge was beyond painful. He focused his eyes on a point on the wall behind Kakashi, masking his emotion. 'There no need to cry for something that never existed in the first place, she never wanted me. As long as she is happy, I should be happy' he thought.

Kakashi, without losing his seriousness, looked straight at them even though he wanted to roll on the floor and laugh. He was a master at sweet-talking people, this would be a piece of cake. "You're my best team, Team 7... there is nothing that you can't do together." He smiled discreetly seeing that invoking the nostalgic Team 7 was like a magic spell on them. They both nodded in approval.

But Sakura did not let go of the subject, and she was quick to grasp at an argument. "Just one of us isn't enough?" she proposed with hope. She didn't mind doing the job by herself.

Kakashi studied her, she was a hard one to convince. "The stolen identities are of a couple, so this can't be done solo. Naruto and you are our best shot for a quick, efficient dissolution of any threat to Konoha." He noted that she didn't waver at his words, and was still sceptical. He would have to give her more incentive, and try using another trick to sway her. "Well, if you really don't want to be his teammate for this mission, I can ask Ino to be your replacement. Naruto is strong and might be able to push himself far enough to do it all by himself, I suppose nothing can really kill him." he drolled, still studying her. He had bet everything on his last proposition, trying to push her into accepting the mission by insinuating that Naruto could put himself in danger if he went alone, and invoke her pride by proposing to replace her with her rival. It was a dirty trick to use Naruto's safety, as she would go to any length to protect him, but it had to be done and had the faintest sliver of truth to it, so his guilt at using such tactics was assuaged. Kakashi smiled inwardly, 'She will break any moment.'

From the moment Kakashi had given her the order to be Naruto's fake wife, Sakura had been remembering her last girl talk with Ino. A few weeks ago, the sexy blond woman had been lying on her bed while painting her nails and they had began to uncomfortably talk about boys. Her best friend and rival had tried to convince her to stop waiting for Sasuke, calling him a heartless jerk. She had some good arguments when she pointed that Sasuke was never interested in her in the first place, instead calling her and her affections "annoying", and that he tried to kill her. Sakura had been on verge of crying in self pity when the biggest gossip of Konoha turned around the table, scanning all eligible men of the village. She didn't really paid much attention to the Ino's blabbering until she mentioned Naruto with an unusual spark of interest. The way the blond woman had made his name roll on her tongue, as if he was a sweet treat, was perturbing. She remembered the glint in the clear blue eyes when she commented on how he had changed, and how he would make an excellent potential lover.

Sakura had known that her face was red. She just couldn't wrap her head around playing his wife. He was everything to her, but not her lover, not even a fake lover! She completely refused it. He was her close friend… like… almost like a brother!

'Why them? Why did this mission require two ninja?' She thought. She wasn't usually one to argue with the Hokage, but this time, it seemed so wrong to her that she could not stop herself from asking. But the answer Kakashi gave her left her with no choice. The thought of Ino completely undressing her best friend with her words, her description of him so precise that she wondered a moment if Ino had not developed the ability to see through clothes. The carnal interest that the blond woman had displayed for him was worrisome.

Sakura shuddered at the Hokage's last argument, another image popping in her mind. A reminder of when she had to pump his heart with her bare hand to keep him alive. Sakura gritted her teeth, she could not abandon her idiot to face this type of danger alone. She was his teammate and best friend. "No it's fine! I'll go!" she accepted the mission, grabbing the scroll from Kakashi's extended hand.

Kakashi looked victorious while Sakura was silently having a breakdown. The gray haired man stood from his desk, and motioned to the door. "You've got to get ready now, you have two hours to leave." He sat back in his chair, adding "And Naruto... Don't forget your hair... Short ! Very short!" he insisted, before the two left, leaving both ninja with perplexed looks. 'It was too funny!' he thought, laughing after he was sure they were out of hearing range.

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