(2 Days After Shion Mission)

Naruto and Sakura finally found themselves making some serious headway in their elemental ninjutsu training. The day prior, Naruto had finally managed to sustain his new jutsu. The resulting technique was incredible; a huge, white shuriken of Wind-natured chakra surrounding the yellow sphere of the Rasengan. This new Rasenshuriken was extremely powerful, creating an enormous explosion at the training ground that even the sound suppressing seals had a hard time dampening for those outside. However, after Naruto's hand began hurting after he tested out its power once, the drawbacks of the technique were discovered during analysis of his cells, causing Tsunade to declare it a Kinjutsu until Naruto found a way to stop it from hurting himself in the process. A technique which could remove the user's ability to mold their chakra was just unusable.

Sakura on the other hand had improved her usage of the normal Rasengan, having been deemed by Kakashi to be usable in combat now that she could quickly form it one-handed. She had no interest in trying to add an elemental nature to the technique for various reasons, but especially because of how long it took to even get the technique to sustain for more than a few seconds. Yamato meanwhile had also determined that she was now accurate enough with Tearing Torrent for she and Naruto to begin practicing Collaboration Ninjutsu together with their Wind and Water affinities.

When using the single element a person has an affinity for, they could maximize the power if their attack to a level those not possessing an affinity to the element couldn't match. And when done with compatible elements in a combined attack, the results would be devastating and almost unblockable.

Today, however, Naruto and Sakura were using their Shadow Clones to practice a few things together. Rather than use the Multi Shadow Clone technique to exponentially increase the acquired experience, they decided to take things easier for a little while. Although they didn't have to do so when summoning a smaller number of clones, Naruto and Sakura passed chakra between each other. Before they knew it, it had become something of a pre-training ritual for them, and it felt strange not to do it. And not that they would yet admit it to each other, but the feel of the other's chakra entering their chakra network had become comforting in a way that was hard to explain, a bit like the warm hug of a parent. Initially, it had only been Naruto sending chakra to Sakura, but she too began sending chakra to him. She knew his monstrous reserves made it unnecessary, but something about it just felt right to do.

After each making a dozen clones, Naruto said confidently "You ready, Sakura?"

"You're on, Naruto," she said equally sure of herself.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors, shoot!" they said in unison, Naruto casting paper and Sakura casting scissors.

"Drat!" Naruto said in faux anger.

"Naruto, are you letting me win these?" she asked, already knowing his response.

"Of course not! You're just veeeery luck, hehe."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the transparent game Naruto was playing. "Alright then, we'll practice Taijutsu first, and then maybe we should do some meditation for awhile."

Naruto nodded in agreement. Although he would have preferred working on their combination attacks, he had no problem mixing it up with martial arts. Well, so long as Sakura wasn't using Tsunade's chakra-enhanced strength technique…

Their respective clones nodded to their originals and paired up, with each Naruto and Sakura going elsewhere on the training grounds to practice what Sakura picked.

However, one of Naruto's clones tapped the Sakura clone on the shoulder.

"Psst, Sakura," he said.

"Come on Naruto, you heard them. We need to get a move on," she said.

Naruto snickered and said "Let's ditch this and go grab some ramen from Ichiraku's. They're all practicing enough as it is, I'm sooo hungry."

Normally clones (especially Sakura's) wouldn't consider disobeying what their original selves wanted them to do (they were the same people after all!). However, since she was a shadow clone and would return to her original eventually, she decided to have a bit of fun.

"Ok Naruto. I'd like that," she said smiling.

Although the clone Naruto knew it wasn't a date (they'd eaten there together many times), he still couldn't resist pumping his fist at getting a 'yes' out of her.

"Since I don't have any real money, I'll have Teuchi put it on my tab. Hopefully our originals won't remember this very well if the memories are lost in the shuffle when all of us are dispelled," the Naruto clone said mischievously as the two surreptitiously snuck out of the training grounds before they were spotted.

(A Few Days Later, Suna)

'Come on, come on…' thought the white-haired man as he observed his target of the past half-hour. 'Daddy needs some inspiration, hehehe~'

And as the higher powers would have it, after having listened to the tanned, dark-haired beauty air her sexual frustrations regarding her boyfriend to her female friend, Jiraiya was blessed with the sight of her delightful naked form as she stood to leave the hot spring. It was times like this that made the toad sage not question the existence of a hot spring in a desert.

As Jiraiya finished writing down some notes on plot points and character descriptions of the adult variety, he received the sign from a longtime source of information. A paper airplane had hit him from behind, but its thrower was nowhere to be seen. Upon opening it, Jiraiya saw a simple message:

'We need to meet face-to-face', it read.

"Hm," Jiraiya muttered, "this isn't like them. They've never made a move to meet up physically before…"

Just as Jiraiya was starting to wonder how he would find his mystery informant, the ink on the paper sheet began to spread apart. As the ink changed shape upon the page, it began morphing into a map of some city. Before the changes petered out, an "X" popped up on one of the outlines representing a building in the city in question.

"So they're here in Sand then. And the location is…" he stared at the map for a moment as he recalled the area of Suna that the "X" was at. "Ah that rowdy bar Hakoto runs."

As Konoha's premiere spy, Jiraiya wasn't one to take unnecessary risks on the job if avoiding it was possible. However, the source he was meeting had provided invaluable information in the past. His awareness of Akatsuki's existence and about their intention to target Naruto were obtained from this person. If they needed to meet up to pass along something new, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel the information was dire in some way.

An hour later, Jiraiya arrived at the bar in question, Cliff Swallows, closer to the entrance of Suna than the hot springs had been.

"They really need to change the name of this joint," Jiraiya said with a smirk. After making the cross seal, Jiraiya's copy entered the dingy bar and began to scope out who his informant could possibly be while the original stayed hidden outside.

The Clone scanned the small place, taking note of the number of people who had flocked to the bar now that evening was rolling in to squelch the unbearable heat of the summer day with the promise of a cooler night.

Ignoring the increasingly drunken and increasingly louder men at the bar counter and those grouped around the several pool tables, Jiraiya spotted a woman off to the side of the room seated at a table alone. Although her face was covered by the hood of her dark, unremarkable outfit, Jiraiya's practiced eyes, having gazed up thousands of delightful women, could tell she was quite the looker underneath it all.

Before he screwed things up by hitting on her excessively, Jiraiya's Clone approached his apparent source of information with the appropriate seriousness. One might expect a hidden face to ring some alarm bells for a spy, but in a shinobi village hiding one's face was not uncommon. In Konoha for instance, the Aburame clan nearly always have their entire face obscured.

After taking a seat, Jiraiya said "I never did get to thank you for the information on the group's goals a few years back. On behalf of my student, I offer my gratitude."

His vague words were intended as a small test, naturally. As they gave nothing specific away, if the woman wasn't his source or else wasn't trustworthy, he hadn't given away crucial information that could endanger his homeland.

Thankfully however, the woman nodded her hidden face and said "It's appreciated, Jiraiya-se...sama." Jiraiya caught the slip, but he merely took it to mean she wasn't the outgoing type and stuttered when meeting well-known figures.

Getting things on track to minimize being overheard despite the loud environment they were in, Jiraiya said "On to business. What was so important that we needed to meet like this? I was fine with the anonymity."

"It concerns the same group. I haven't been entirely forthcoming about what I know about them," she said sadly.

Jiraiya didn't respond immediately, as he wondered what could have changed if she was deciding to come clean with whatever else she knew.

"Did something happen to bring this on?" Jiraiya asked.

The hooded figure nodded. "The Two-Tailed Jinchūriki was captured a few days ago."

"Shit," Jiraiya said angrily. "This is getting out of hand."

Given their unrivalled firepower, the Hidden Villages kept Tailed Beasts as their weapons of mass destruction. Iwa was in a veritable state of panic due to the abduction of their 2 Jinchūriki. After the first had been captured, they attempted to hide away their second. But despite their best efforts, Akatsuki managed to track down their other Jinchūriki. Rumor had it that Kisame was responsible for capturing Iwa's second Jinchūriki and slaughter the 500 shinobi guarding him.

And now with one of Kumo's prized Jinchūriki captured, tensions between the major nations would deteriorate ever more quickly. The Fourth Raikage was famously impulsive and quick to anger, which could hasten the inevitable conflict. Even Suna was on edge; they didn't lose their Tailed Beast but according to Gaara most of Shukaku's chakra had been absorbed, which couldn't be good regardless.

"Indeed. Given this, I need to come clean… Jiraiya-sensei," she said as she removed her hood.

The confused look on Jiraiya's face gave way to a stunned open mouth expression as he stared at the blue-haired beauty before him.

"K-Konan…" he said in a nearly inaudible whisper, feeling for all the world as if he were staring at the living dead.

"Hello sensei, it's been a long time. There's much for us to speak about."

(Konoha, Training Field 11, Next Morning, July 10th)

"Hiiii-ya!" Naruto yelled as he finished up his last set of kata for his taijutsu training. Despite it being only 10:30 a.m., Naruto had gotten up at an uncharacteristically early 5 a.m. so that he could get through a good workout and martial arts practice before the day got started. He suspected that if he didn't get it out of the way ASAP, he wouldn't be in the proper state later in the day and he'd lose a day of training.

As he thought about what the current day was, he had to fight off the negative feelings welling up in him.

"I can't lose it this early," he said after sighing.

After jogging back to his apartment for a quick shower, Naruto changed into a more casual black t-shirt bearing the Uzumaki crest on its back and into a pair of comfortable jeans.

After leaving his place, Naruto walked through the village distractedly. All the way to his destination, he found himself in his own little world, plagued by thoughts he knew were unhealthy but which he couldn't help but feel.

Seeing the shop he was aiming for, Naruto shook his head to clear the malaise before walking in.

"Welcome to Yamanaka's Flower Shop!" called out a familiar voice from behind the store counter.

"Hey Ino, how's it going?" Naruto replied with a smile.

"Oh it's just you Naruto. Done bugging Sakura for dates? I'm available if you must know~" Ino said and gave a playful wink.

Naruto blushed slightly but shook his head. "Eh, no thanks. Besides, I haven't asked Sakura for a date since I came back you know."

Ino sighed happily, having expected the rejection. "It was worth a shot. So why are you here then? Picking up some flowers for a special lady?" she said jokingly.

Naruto grimaced briefly but change expressions before Ino noticed. "Yea, you could say that. I just came to pick up a bouquet of roses, if you don't mind," he said in a tone he forced to be even. The red flowers seemed appropriate given who they were for.

Ino seemed surprised at the response she got.

'I didn't expect him to try and date anyone but Forehead! Has he moved on? No way, those two are always hanging out these days…'

As she rang up Naruto's purchase and received the 200 ryō they cost, Ino wondered how Sakura would take the news once she got off her short hospital shift for the day in a few hours.

Meanwhile in the Hokage Tower, Tsunade was busily working through the usual mountain of paperwork. However as usual, she decided to use the Shadow Clone Technique to ease the relative burden of doing all this work by herself.

"I swear if I didn't have this jutsu I'd have quit this job in a week," said the original Tsunade after she finished her own stack of forms. "This work is gonna shorten my lifespan more than Creation Rebirth…"

Her doppelgangers nodded in agreement as the original stood up to stretch. Tsunade got the feeling she was forgetting something important about today, but she couldn't recall what it was. She walked over to the calendar she kept pinned to the wall behind her desk to see if she left a note for something important.

"Hm, July 10th. I don't have any meetings or some other annoying task setup for today," she said in confusion. Yet her gut was telling her it was something obvious and that she couldn't miss it.

And then it hit her. "Oh dammit," she said as she ran out of the room in a hurry, ignoring the calls of her other protégé.

As half-passed 11 rolled by, Sakura walked out of Konoha General Hospital working the kinks out of her joints and stretched. Having started work at 4 a.m. that morning, Sakura was glad she had a shorter shift for a few more weeks while she and Naruto trained for future Akatsuki encounters.

Making her way over to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to go out to eat lunch with Ino as usual, Sakura was surprised when her presence caused Ino to clam up a bit.

"You OK there, Ino?" Sakura asked in concern.

Ino waved her hands back and forth, saying "Of course of course, nothing happened, er, uh, nothing is the matter!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Oh now I know something is up. Spill it girl," she commanded.

Ino gulped, thinking she was damned either way. If she told her, Sakura might lose her head, but if she kept it from her that would only let her temper build until set found out some other way.

"OK OK, just don't shoot the messenger, you hear me?" she said nervously.

Sakura nodded, although she was crossing her fingers behind her back.

Ino took a deep, calming breath. And then she blurted out "Naruto got a hot date!"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat at those words, hoping she had misheard them. They seemed impossible, she must have misheard Ino...

Ino waited as Sakura's mind caught up to what she heard, and her patience was rewarded.

"He WHAT? W-with who?!" Sakura asked in a hurt tone of voice.

It wasn't that Sakura thought she could call dibs on Naruto or something. She just thought she knew her friend well and that they could tell each other anything. She definitely wasn't expecting this.

"Well," Ino said while tapping her chin, "I didn't actually see her."

Sakura felt relieved for a moment until Ino continued. "But he came in around 11 and picked up a bouquet of roses for someone. I asked if they were for a special lady friend and he said they were!" she said.

"I-I see," Sakura said in a defeated sort of voice. "I'll catch you later Ino!" she said before quickly vacating the store to head for a training ground to blow off some anger.

Ino watched her friend leave and said sadly, "Don't worry, I doubt some hussy can distract him from you for long."

After demolishing a decent chunk of the 11th training ground with her superhuman strength for an hour, Sakura walked back towards Konoha proper. She was still a bit miffed.

She stopped by Naruto's apartment, Ichiraku's and even the Hokage Tower. She couldn't find Naruto anywhere, and it was starting to get to her.

She didn't know quite why the prospect of Naruto dating bugged her so much. It wasn't like the 2 of them were an item. Yea, she had no reason to be taking it this way.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder who it was. She knew it wasn't Ino. Maybe Ten-Ten? A civilian? Hinata?

Sakura flinched as she recalled that Hinata had had a crush on Naruto for awhile. Over the years she had managed to greatly improve on her general shyness. But her continued inability to function properly around Naruto told her the crush was as strong as ever…

Suddenly Shion's words from the week prior sprang into her mind.

"Take good care of him, otherwise someone else will jump at the opportunity" the priestess had said with a knowing smile.

Suddenly she heard a crunching sound that surprised her. Looking at what her right hand was gripping, she noticed she crumpled a street sign in her grip by accident as she leaned against it.

"Either that street sign had it coming or I'd say a certain blonde acquaintance of ours annoyed you somehow," spoke a dull voice from her right.

Looking over, Sakura saw Kakashi, surprisingly without his adult reading material, eyeing her with a look of concern.

"Oh, hi Kakashi-sensei," she said somewhat deflatedly. "Naruto didn't something wrong, not really," she said in an unconvincing tone of voice.

The two of the began to walk aimlessly through Konoha for a minute before Kakashi broke the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he said delicately, knowing his two students had a shift in recent weeks, even if the 2 of them hadn't realized it yet.

Sakura sighed and said "I'm being silly. It's just, it seems like Naruto got a date for later and he didn't bother to tell me… Uhg, I must sound so overbearing."

Kakashi snorted and said "A bit. Is the issue that Naruto is dating or who he's dating?"

"I don't actually know who it is, I just know he admitted to Ino that the roses he bought were for a girl."

"Hmm," Kakashi said. Remaining silent for a few moments, Kakashi asked "What's the date again?"

Sakura looked at him, thinking he was trying to change the subject to let her save face. "July 10th."

Kakashi stopped walking, surprising Sakura.

"What's the matter sensei, miss an appointment or meeting again?" she said teasingly. However, she stopped upon seeing the sad expression on her teacher's face. "W-what's wrong?"

"Sakura, Naruto didn't get those flowers for a date," he said in a melancholic tone.

Sakura blinked at the return to the topic. "Huh? How do you know?"

Kakashi shook his head and replied "It's a personal matter, I can't say. Just… just hold off for a little while, trust me. If you give him some space, I'm sure he'd explain it to you of all people, but it's not a pleasant topic for him."

Sakura had a doubting expression but eventually said, "OK sensei, I'll wait it out." Inside her head, Sakura was relieved and hoped dearly that her sensei was right about this.

"If you'll excuse me Sakura, I'm needed elsewhere," Kakashi said tersely before disappearing at high speed. Sakura had the sneaking suspicion he was going to Naruto, whatever he was doing. She was tempted to follow, but kept her promise to give Naruto the chance to explain it at his own pace.

(Konoha Cemetery)

'Here Lies Kushina Uzumaki. A loving mother, wife and friend. May her will of fire pass on to the next generation.' read the inscription on her gray tombstone.

Naruto placed down the brilliantly red roses he purchased in front of his mother's resting place, and got down on his knees in front of it. He then pulled out a photo of Kushina that Jiraiya had given him during their trip when he revealed to Naruto who his parents were.

"Happy birthday, Mom," he said quietly as a small smile adorned his face. As he had propped the photo up against the grave, he could almost imagining that his mother was still here to hear him. She had been beautiful woman, and from the way her smile seemed to radiate joy even in a photo, Naruto was sure she had been a lively and fun person to be around.

Naruto took a deep breath to stem the tears that would likely show up soon. "I'm sorry I never came to celebrate before, I didn't even know who you were," he said sadly.

Naruto began thinking about what Jiraiya had told him about his mother, and before he knew it the tears came pouring out.

"I just can't help but wonder what it would have been like to meet you, to know you, to be raised by you," he said through the tears. "Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama speak about you as being such an amazing person that I can't help but be jealous. They got to know how great and brave and kind you were... and the closest I can get are a few photos…"

The ill feelings Naruto had before began to resurge and Naruto didn't stop them from boiling out this time.

"I can't stop feeling guilty mom, I just can't. Jiraiya-sensei said that a girl Jinchūriki's seal is weak during childbirth… I just can't stomach the fact that you brought me into this world and my life took you out of it…"

At this point, the sniffles began. Naruto was sure he looked shameful, acting like this in public, but he just couldn't muster the pride to care about it at the moment.

"Sometimes I wonder how your life would have been, how everyone who died that day would have lived, if I just hadn't been born," he said in a dead tone of voice.

Due to his emotional display, Naruto didn't notice the 2 figures approaching him. 1 stood back to give some space for the other.

"Naruto," Tsunade said as she placed her a hand on his shoulder. "You can't do this to yourself."

Naruto turned to Tsunade to look at her. She wasn't surprised to see him in his current state. Even as much as he had matured, Naruto was the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. He could only bottle it up so much before it broke free like water from a dam.

Tsunade sat down beside her distant cousin and said "Take it from someone who spent decades wallowing in her own misery and failures, you won't find closure like this."

Naruto knew she was right, but no one ever said the heart was a reasonable thing.

"Besides," Tsunade said, "I know for a fact that the world is better of with you in it. You saved me, remember?"

Naruto's eyes widened a bit, but still found himself unable to respond coherently.

"You pulled me out of the hell I had turned my life into. I was just a drunk who was mountain deep in debt, and yet you put your life on the line to save mine. If you hadn't been born, we would never have met and I would have died a meaningless death."

Tsunade pulled Naruto's head down onto her shoulder and continued, "So I thank the gods everyday for getting to meet an amazing young man like you. I hope you know that I love you so, so much Naruto. We're family, remember?"

Naruto gripped her green overcoat and began to sob into her shoulder, a service Tsunade was more than willing to provide. She still felt awful for not having raised him after Kushina and Minato died, so she swore she'd be there for him however she could from now on.

"Naruto", said the other voice. "I know what it's like to feel responsible for losing people you care about. It eats away at you if you let the guilt overwhelm you," Kakashi said. "When my best friend sacrificed himself for me, and I lost the woman I loved, your mother and Gai helped me find myself again."

Kakashi took up the open space on Naruto's right side and placed a hand on his other shoulder. He noticed the photo of Kushina laying against her gravestone and was briefly taken back to a time when Kushina was practically a stand-in mother for him.

"You should have seen Kushina when she was pregnant with you. She was always a… vibrant woman, but when she learned she was pregnant she looked so content, as if life could never get any better," Kakashi said, reminiscing about the old days.

"We don't know what happened that day Naruto, but what I do know is that your mother loved you with everything she had. Whenever she would talk about her plans for the future, she would talk so excitedly that Minato had to head her off before she began bouncing of the walls," Kakashi said before chuckling. "She thought she was the luckiest mother in the world to be having you."

Naruto took a steadying breath and removed his head from Tsunade's shoulder and looked at his old sensei.

Kakashi returned the glance and said "You are so much like her it's almost unreal. Fiercely loyal, determined enough to want to take on the world no matter the obstacle and a great deal of, er, stubbornness. If Kushina could see you now, she'd be so proud of the man you've become, Naruto. We are, so a mother can only rate you even higher, no?"

Naruto giggled a bit before he wiped his wet face off on his shirt. "Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei, thank you. I'm sorry you had to see me like this."

"We've been around awhile, Naruto. Everyone in this line of work goes through something like this at some point," Tsunade said, to which Kakashi nodded in agreement. "But the trick is to remember that the dead are gone and wouldn't want you going to pieces from guilt. Kushina loved you so much, she'd want you let go of her ghost so you can live."

As Naruto thought over everything Tsunade and Kakashi had said, he found himself calming down to normal, though he was sure his face still looked puffy and red-eyed.

After Naruto nodded in acceptance if the Hokage's words, Kakashi said "Ya know, you might want to tell Sakura about this, or as much of it you're comfortable telling."

Naruto said "Huh?" as he cooked his head sideways.

Kakashi smirked (though it was hard to tell due to his mask). "Ino told her you had a date with a beautiful woman today. Sakura, heh, didn't seem to take it too well."

Naruto gulped and cursed nosey blonde store workers for making things complicated. But then he caught the implication of what Kakashi was saying and his eyes widened.

"Wait, are you saying she was jealous I might be dating someone else?" he asked, not quite able to disguise the hope that entered his voice.

"Hm, well she did just about snap a street sign in half after demolishing one of the training fields. So yea, she didn't take it very well that you might be off the market," Kakashi said.

Tsunade admitted to herself that she wanted to see her student and Naruto get together. They seemed good for each other, and she never liked seeing Sakura pine after a traitor who nearly killed Naruto. Still, she didn't like the sound of Kakashi playing matchmaker for the two of them.

'That man is a pervert, who knows why he's being so upfront about this,' Tsunade thought suspiciously. Having been the teammate of the king of the perverts, she was prepared to do her duty if Kakashi was working that angle.

Naruto blushed a bit but nonetheless steeled his nerves. "Thanks again you two, I really needed this." He walked over to Tsunade and gave her a brief hug before he turned around and practically shouted, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got someone to meet up with!"

And with that, the Hokage and Jōnin watched the young man run off to take a chance on his pink-haired teammate.

Tsunade turned to face Kakashi and said, "You just couldn't resist speeding things along, could you?"

Kakashi shrugged and said, "Hey hey, you haven't seen them together as often as I have lately. They seem to go just about everywhere together nowadays. I've been hearing rumors that they're dating, even."

"But they're not, right?" she asked. She doubted Naruto could keep something like that contained.

Kakashi shook his head. "But that's what I mean, they eat out together almost everyday and are around each other whenever they're not working, so the rumor mill couldn't help but make the connection. I think I even see some of their clones sneak off together after training sometimes. Naruto's doing, no doubt."

Tsunade smiled at the developments before her. 'Good luck you two.'

Despite Kakashi's words, Sakura still found herself wondering just who Naruto had bought those flowers for. She hadn't seen him around all day. She was tempted to go find him but she already agreed to wait for him.

"Is something the matter, Sakura-san?" said an approaching voice.

Hinata had seen Sakura nearby and noticed her concerned expression and wanted to make sure she was OK.

Sakura waved her off. "I'm OK Hinata, I was just worried about something. Kakashi-sensei told me I'm worrying over nothing, but I'm still a bit nervous about it."

Hinata nodded and asked "Have you seen Naruto-kun around anywhere? I feel like we've barely met since he returned with Jiraiya-sama." She seemed sad at that realization.

"Not today, no. We've been hanging out lately, but I have no idea what he's doing today." 'Or who he's he's doing it with' she finished as a thought.

Speaking of the devil, Sakura heard her name called out from down the road she and Hinata were on.

"Sakura!" came the familiar yell of Naruto as he jogged down the road to reach her.

Upon getting to her, Sakura said "Oh hey Naruto. How has your day been?" She wasn't able to completely disguise the edge in her tone of voice, a fact both Naruto and Hinata noticed but didn't comment on.

Naruto "hm"ed for a moment before answering. "Well it got better anyway," he said simply. As she watched him, Sakura saw that his eyes seemed a little red, as if he had been crying for some reason.

"H-hi Naruto-kun," Hinata said breathlessly. Kurenai had been helping her to improve her self-esteem, but she was still learning how to deal with her attraction to Naruto.

Naruto hadn't noticed the Hyuga heiress initially. She seemed to have a way of not calling attention to her presence. He didn't know know what to make of the blush he saw either. It was often on her face whenever he saw her, so he eventually assumed it was just something she did.

"Hey there Hinata-san," Naruto said politely, although Hinata seemed a bit surprised to here him refer to her with an honorific . After greeting her, Naruto didn't know what else to say, so he scratched the back of his head a bit. The two of them hadn't interacted much before so it was a little awkward for him since neither of them knew each other very well.

Naruto mentally shook his head; he was getting distracted from why he had sought out Sakura in the first place. "Eh, Sakura could I ask you something?" he said, just managing to suppress jittery voice.

Sakura arched an eyebrow and said, "Um, sure? What's up?"

Naruto took a deep breath, before quickly asking, "WouldYouGoOnADateWithMe?", before his face went crimson and awaited the blow up.

Both Sakura and Hinata looked at him with confused expressions, clearly not having understood him. Naruto cursed his nerves for failing him at this most crucial moment.

Sakura put her hands on her hips and said, "Naruto if you're going to be silly, I've got places to be."

"W-wait wait, lemme try again," he stammered out.

The Kyuubi chose that moment to speak into his conscious mind. 'Just hurry up and say it kid. This is so pathetic you're going to make me barf.'

After sending a mental "fuck you" to the demon, Naruto said slowly, "Sakura, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?"

There, now it was out there. Naruto knew he was taking a chance since this sort of thing could ruin a friendship like theirs if it went south, something he wanted to avoid more than anything. But at the same time, he felt he had to take a chance at some point or else he wasn't being honest with what he felt in his heart. And if what Kakashi said was true, he had a fighting chance at this.

Sakura to her credit managed to avoid freaking out, but that didn't stop her own face from taking on a pink coloring at the unexpected request.

'D-did he just… No way, that means Kakashi-sensei was right… Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't fr-'

Sakura coughed into her fist awkwardly, which caused Naruto to begin sweating bullets, thinking she was trying to let him down easy.

"O-ok, Naruto. I'd like that," she said simply.

Naruto quickly entered his seal, flipped off the Kyuubi, and returned to the real world before saying excitedly, "Awesome! I'll pick you up at 7 Sakura!"

Naruto's face took on the brightest grin either of the girls had ever seen on his face. Naruto then jumped away across the rooftops of Konoha laughing at his good fortune, so Sakura giggled a bit at his reaction.

Now that Naruto had left, Sakura turned to Hinata and said, "Sorry to leave so soon, but it looks like I have plans later tonight. I'll catch you later, Hinata-san."

As the Hokage's protege left, Hinata couldn't hide her reaction to the events any longer. Her head tipped down in sadness and she was barely able to hold back her tears at seeing the person she was in love with be completely oblivious to her, and worse, ask out another woman right in front of her.

'I can't let things end like this,' she thought. Hinata knew it wasn't like Sakura and Naruto had committed to each other in a way that pushed her out of the game completely. But seemingly everyone besides Sakura knew that Naruto had had a crush on the girl for ages. And worse, Hinata had seen a change in the way Naruto looked at Sakura a few years back, as she had often watched Naruto from afar, longing to reach out to him but to hindered by her shyness to try.

Whereas during their Academy days Naruto had lusted after Sakura and boldly declared his affections for her, sometime around the Chunin Exam finals something seemed different to her. He still acted affectionately with her, but there was an ever present upturning of the corners of his mouth when he looked at her, the smallest of smiles to match the warm gazes he sent her way. As if something had become more secure for him, and he no longer felt he had to compensate for it by announcing it boisterously.

Hinata calmed herself down and thought it through. 'Unrequited love exists, it happens all the time. There's no way I can give up without giving everything I have to try and be with him,' she thought confidently.

Recalling that her sensei Kurenai had quietly engaged Asuma recently, she figured there was no one better to go to for relationship advice. Hinata liked Sakura well enough, but there was no way she was giving up Naruto to someone who had dismissed him for all those years instead of being there for him.

A small, white-haired, childlike woman was releasing a blue, viscous fluid from her arms to completely encase her target shinobi. Once the strange fluid had done so, pulled the fluid (shinobi and all) back into her body. After the integration process was complete, 2 diamond partially overlapping diamonds appeared on his hands, signifying the acquisition of this much coveted Kekkei Genkai.

"Ah, a particularly useful ability. With you down, taking Chūkichi and Kakashi will be all the easier to accomplish," Hiruko said to herself. Once she had properly obtained each of the Kekkei Genkai she sought using the Chimera Technique she developed, her power would become unparalleled. Oh sure, failing to get Pakura was a wrinkle in her plan, but taking another of Kumo's shinobi while out on a mission allowed her to get the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai as a substitute.

As she quickly fled from the area in the Land of Grass she was in in case any patrols picked up her use of chakra, Hiruko didn't notice that she had been watched in her devouring.

A white-haired youth appeared from the ground, having used the aptly named Hiding in Rock Technique.

"It seems Orochimaru-sama will not have to intervene with this. Yet." Smirking, Kabuto journeyed back to the Land of Rice Paddies to inform his master of this new information.

Edit: Fixed Formatting that FF dropped for some reason.

(A/N): What'd you think? I felt it was about time there was some development in regards to Akatuski and the NaruSaku shipping. What did you all think about the Konan reveal? Things won't work out as easily for Akatuski as it did in canon (although, yes, Yugito is already near death at this point). Next chapter will include Naruto & Sakura's first date. What did you think about the Kushina stuff?

Wasn't it strange how it took until the 5 Kage believed 8 of the 9 Tailed Beasts were captured before they called for a summit? The Tailed Beasts are the equivalent of unstable, yet reusable nukes. The excuse in canon that Onoki gave, that the villages weren't going to help each other because they lost their Tailed Beast, made no sense. At that point, Iwa itself had already lost both Roshi and Han, meaning their village was greatly weakened. After several had been taken, some kind of task force should have been made, if not between all the villages, then between allies. Now, in my fic the summit is nowhere near happening. But then again, Akatuski isn't going to just waltz around nabbing Tailed Beasts without having a tough time of it.

I found myself enjoying writing this chapter more than some of the previous ones. I think the writing style better reflects how my first two chapters were written. Anyway, Favorite, Follow and Review!

Re Guest Reviews (just leave if you don't care for it, there's nothing else for me to say)

Dynasty: You're reading too much into what I said. The reviewer I mentioned made it seem like Sakura was just getting all of Naruto's techniques in previous chapters, when the only one that I would really count is Rasengan since Shadow Clones are somewhat well-known among higher-up Konoha shinobi.

Guest Reviewer Asking about Sakura: What's wrong with Sakura having 2 natures? (only Kakuzu has 2 affinities) That's not crazy to give her. Also, Sakura wasn't a genin in that chapter, she became a Chunin over the timeskip. And just because I didn't make Kakashi fight with Naruto doesn't mean I'm pandering to the pairing. I just felt Sakura had a closer attachment to Sasuke than Kakashi did, so she'd be chomping at the bit more to take out the guy who helped tempt Sasuke away from Konoha. And why wouldn't Sakura have heard of the chakra transfer technique? It's the most self-explanatory technique ever, it's right in the name. And why would Naruto tell her that his father is Minato Namikaze? Most people haven't heard of Rasengan, especially outside of Konoha. And yes, Naruto will ask people about the Ten-Tails at some point.

Anyway that's enough from me, later everyone~