Chapter 10

Naruto's Day, Part 2

"You know you really don't have to do the same thing every morning, right?" Akako said to the auburn haired girl who was walking beside her. Following the younger girl's earlier stunt when she had pounced on her, the two were now walking side by side as they headed to the inner parts of the training area. Sanyu was dressed in pretty much the same way Akako was dressed, the lower part of her body clad in a red skirt and the upper part of her body was dressed in a similar manner as most of the kunoichi in the village tended to wear. Save for the gloves and the shoulder guard, her top was a similar color as her skirt, and there was an opening near her chest that revealed some of her sizeable cleavage. The top came to a halt just above her waist, revealing the area around her navel. Unlike the first time Naruto had made her acquaintance, this time she was not carrying her sword.

"Mm-hm," Sanyu responded, before breaking out into a fit of giggles. As she walked ahead with her feet pressing on the grass lightly and the soft sound resounding in the morning air, her hands were clasped behind her back. For someone that had just had her face planted in the dirt a few minutes prior. The auburn haired girl was in a surprisingly good mood that morning. She was humming silently to herself as she walked beside Akako, the sounds of her hums mingling with the sound of the birds chirping in the trees around them.

"But well, you know, the day I can actually manage to catch you are when I'll stop for good."

The red haired girl shook her head, finding herself at a loss on what to do or even say at the moment. For as long as she could remember, each and every one of her mornings ever since she had set out on the training regimen she was on had been marred by the auburn haired girl always leaping at her from out of nowhere and consequentially, her evading each and every attempt. She had found it quite taxing, even wondering where someone got that much energy to engage in something like that at the beginning of the day. Still, as much as she found the younger girl's antics to be vexing at times, to an extent she did appreciate her company. The silver lining was that despite her failed attempts to catch on to her, Sanyu would always accompany her inside, leading to a series of training sprees between the two kunoichi. Training on yourself did tend to grow boring after a while, and there was always the extra added value of having someone to converse with when you were both fatigued.

Behind the two girls, Naruto walked casually, his hands resting at the back of his head. As he watched the dynamics between the two girls before him unfold, in between watching the scenery around him, he realized that he quite enjoyed their company, even if he was not exactly being the most active of participants in it. Besides, the more he considered it now the more he realized that walking alone with the red haired girl would create an awkward silence between them, something he did not want to go through so early in the morning.

It was not meant to last for long however, as a few minutes later, Akako and Sanyu came to a gradual halt, the pace in their steps receding gradually. This prompted Naruto to also stop behind them, the blonde man being able to do it in time before he accidentally bumped into the auburn haired girl who was directly in his line of vision.

"We're here."

This statement brought Naruto out of his momentary daze, and also sent his mind reeling in confusion. When his vision came into focus once more, he noticed that there was a gate ahead of him, but that certainly did not avoid him from noticing the sudden change in terrain that lay past the gate.

Past the metal door that marked the entrance to the new area of land where he and his companions were now, Naruto saw a stretch of grassland that stretched out quite a ways inward. The differences weren't as glaring as with the area they were in now, which when he now thought about it, was quite small in contrast. It didn't seem as if it would be enough for an entire village to train in, now that he thought about it in hindsight. The grass really was greener on this other side, owing to the healthy nature that it carried, giving the place a bright feel of sorts. At various areas and spots of the grasslands, there were trees that were planted, quite similar to most of the area so far. Each of the trees was a different length from the other, but all of them looked as healthy as possibly could be. The area itself seemed to be breathing with life and at the middle of the patch of land, from what Naruto could see, there was a small dip which only seemed to add on to the pleasant looking nature of the terrain.

The blonde boy was rendered speechless for a few minutes, the earlier feeling he had felt when he had seen the first patch of land disappearing and being replaced by an even bigger wave of amazement. His mouth was wide agape, and his eyes had grown to the size of bulbs as he found his breath taken away by the scenery before him.

Unbeknownst to him, the auburn haired girl who was ahead of him was watching him, having stopped in her forward motion and already turning back to look at him. Before they had reached this place, she had somehow expected such a reaction to be solicited from him. The truth of the matter was that the land they were on was divided into two segments, the first segment, being where they were previously, was actually a recreational piece of land where the residents of the village, be it shinobi or civilian could rest if they wanted to. Even kids were allowed to come and play there if they wanted to, so it was similar to a park. The place where shinobi could train or hone their skills was in the second patch of land, and that was where the trio had just reached.

Funny enough, the first time that Sanyu had seen this area, she also had the same reaction as Naruto, so seeing him react that way made her nostalgic. Even then, that did not dampen any of the amusement she felt from seeing his face at said moment. She smiled a little, holding back a giggle that threatened to escape her palate.

Akako paid the two people behind her no heed at first, swinging the jet black gate open. The sound of the gate as it unwound on its hinges reverberated in the air, and as it rung in Naruto's ears it brought him out of his momentary daze for the second time that day. His eyes darted between the field and the auburn haired girl who still had her gaze locked on him, now biting on one of her lips. His vision had narrowed, and finally he seemed to find his voice once more.

"Weren't we in the training area before?" He said, pointing behind him with one hand.

"I didn't say anything of the sort, now did me?" Akako said, finally breaking her gaze away from the blonde haired man as she focused her vision ahead of her and walked ahead of the two.

Naruto realized his voice still sounded like that of someone who was still in a dream, and that was the straw that finally broke the camels back for Sanyu. She giggled a little at first, before taking Naruto by one hand and leading him through the gate.

"Well, this place is-"

The auburn haired girl cut him off, still elated over the reaction she had seen from him. "Don't just stand there. Let's go!"

The blonde man nearly tripped over himself owing to the hasty manner in which he was pulled forward, but he was soon able to regain his balance and allowed himself to be led forward by the girl who had his hand in hers. As they entered the larger field, he let his eyes dart from place to place, this time looking for any outstanding features in the landscape. Nothing in particular stood out…

"You know, this place is actually really swell. I might like it better than what we have at home."

That was a definite plus one for Sanyu, and she smiled to herself, lucky that Naruto was not privy to her facial expression at the moment. The thought made her embarrassed, but then she had to remind herself that she currently had his hand in her own, and she could feel the warmth from him coursing through her hand. Maybe, just maybe…

She pushed the rest of the thoughts away from her mind, taking them to the recesses of her mind, and before she knew it, they had already drawn level with Akako at the middle of the field. She felt a little dismayed as she realized she had to let go of Naruto's hand, but well, there would be other chances soon for as long as she was going to stay in the village.

The red haired woman whom they were following had picked a spot under a tree, and when she turned to look at Naruto and his companion, there was a queer look of sorts on her face. Naruto wondered what she was pondering over, but before he could say anything to her, she stretched out her hand to him.

This gesture confused him, similar to the girl who had just let go of his hand.

"What is it?"

"The weapon, bring it." Akako said, nudging with her hand as she focused her eyes on Naruto. Having her look at him with her scarlet eyes felt a little unnerving, and it was all Naruto could do to look away from her.

"I didn't say anything." He continued, feeling himself growing more and more confused as to her antics. As far as he was aware, the only thing he had mentioned in regards to the weapon was appreciation for the gift, and that happened a few hours earlier. Nothing more, nothing less.

The red haired girl shook her head. "I know, just bring it here." For some odd reason she could not quite place her finger on, Naruto does show of appreciation to her that morning had proved to spurn her enthusiasm, and she found herself want to show Naruto all that he could learn about the weapon as soon as she could. Then again, putting her enthusiasm into words could tend to be quite a tricky thing, especially for someone like Akako.

His mind still reeling with confusion, he shrugged his shoulders, before sinking his hand into his pocket and retrieving the wrapped package from where it lay idle in there. As he placed it in the girl's outstretched hand, he mused on how to an extent this made things transition easier, since he was not exactly sure on how he would approach her in the first place and ask her for her assistance. That morning he had been entirely confident in himself when he thought that it would be an easy thing to get the girl's help, but a few minutes in her company changed all that and he found himself too timid to approach her. Until now, of course.

Unwrapping the weapon, the red haired girl held it carefully and loosely in her hand, placing two of her fingers on areas where no kunai were protruding from that would threaten to prickle her skin. Naruto had to admit that seeing her handle the weapon so carefully like that was definitely praise worthy, he was jittery when he had laid eyes on it in the weapon and his nervousness would have cost him to slip up and injure himself if he wasn't careful enough. Somehow he had managed to emerge unscathed from the entire thing, but right now seeing Akako handle the weapon so well made him feel a little mortified. He didn't let it show on his façade though; there were bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Silently, the red haired woman studied the weapon in her hands, trying to get the feel of it as it twirled freely in her hand for a few minutes longer. Behind the girl, her younger companion had her back rested on the side of the tree that was standing there. She watched Akako girl intently, also curious to find out what the weapon could do. To be honest, this was the first that she had heard of Naruto being given any weapon of sorts, although judging by the situation she figured it had happened at the party that was held last evening, a time where she was held elsewhere by other obligations. A jab of regret hit at her, but she didn't let it weigh her down. What had happened then was a matter of the past, so the only thing that she could do now was to make the most of the time she had before her.

Naruto was about to say something, having grown evidently impatient owing to the manner in which he had his hands crossed at his chest and was tapping at his elbow continuously. Before he could get the words out and voice his displeasure though, his vision was marred by something that was quickly approaching him. His vision was able to make out the form of a kunai, and he only had a moment to get out of the way, although he was not sure exactly how that had happened in the space of an instant. The only thing that he was aware of was the fact that his hands were in contact with the earth below him, plus the sound of the weapon as it whisked above him and away to a distance slightly behind him.

His heart was beating fast and threatened to leap into his mouth just then, and there were beads of perspiration that appeared on his visage. When he looked upwards again at where the red haired girl was standing, he noticed that she had a stoic look on her face as she stared down at him. The weapon was still in her hand, and by the look of things it seemed to have gone back to its original state, although how exactly he could not say.

Slowly, he brought a hand to his face, a bit hesitant as he was not sure what exactly he was going to find there. For a moment, he was afraid that his head had been impaled through, although the sound of his beating heart reassured him that more than anything, he was still alive and well, plus there was no pain from any sector of his body. If there was one thing he was sure of at that moment, it was the fact that he had narrowly dodged a weapon which had nearly run him through. Now, why did that seem like such a familiar feeling…?

"What are you doing?! You could kill someone with that!"

He sounded hysterical from the moment the words left his mouth, plus on the verge of tears, although it sounded more comical than anything, so Akako and Sanyu found it slightly difficult to sympathize with him in his current predicament. That only served to fan the flames, and Naruto felt himself growing increasingly livid with the red haired girl.

"I was only showing you how the weapon worked," Akako responded, in the usual monotone of her voice. One would think that she wasn't inches close to lopping off someone's head earlier, but then again she was the kind of girl who tended to do reckless things in the blink of an eye, with no regrets harbored at all on her side.

Her nonchalant remark just then sent Naruto back on his feet, where he proceeded to march till where the girl stood, closing the distance between them and having his face a few inches away from hers.

"Normally, you use the weapon elsewhere. Normally. Normally!" He made sure to put emphasis on that last word, while boring his cerulean orbs into the girls scarlet ones. His teeth gritted together and he had his arms flailing wildly on his sides in the air beside him, all semblance of fear he felt when interacting with the red haired girl forgotten in that one moment. Ironically enough, this only served to add to the string of comedic reactions that had ensued from him from the moment that he had dodged the kunai, at least to Sanyu. Behind him and the red haired girl, she was laughing heartily, with one hand over her mouth. She did not want to risk having Naruto also approach her and air his grievances as well, since she knew that she wouldn't exactly be as bold as Akako if it came to that.

Luckily for her, Naruto paid no heed to her. The sudden close proximity between the blonde and the red haired girl's face surprised Akako a little, and she felt something tighten in her gut from the feel of his warm breath on her face. Fortunately, it didn't rend her body numb plus also unable to do anything as well, plus also look into Naruto's eyes at the same time. She had never quite noticed it before, but she liked the color of his eyes. They provided a soothing effect, akin to the feeling one would receive if they looked into the sky on a good day or even at the sea.

Silently, she turned her back to the blonde, this time looking in the direction of the tree where the younger girl had her back rested at the moment. Consequentially, the auburn haired girl extricated herself from where she was at the side of the tree, taking her place beside Naruto.

"Watch closely," she whispered into his ear once she was near him, and the feel of her warm breath on Naruto's ear flustered him a little. While he was still on titters about being a source of target practice before, slowly he felt his anger ebb away as he focused his vision to where Akako had the weapon in her hand. From the little he knew of the woman, she tended to be the type of person that did something first then explained it later, but depending on action more than speech. It made her a unique person of sorts, but since Naruto was always up for learning new prospects, he did not mind it much.

This time, he was able to see it crystal clearly. There was a faint glow from the girl's fingers at the point of contact with the weapon. That was quickly followed by the sound of a small whoosh, and as if by instinct, Naruto's eyes quickly followed the sound as soon as it had appeared, and he saw the kunai fly off from the edge of the weapon, from the end of a thin rope that was nearly invisible to the naked eye. The kunai soon lodged itself into the tree ahead of it, finalizing the sequence with the sound of a sharp crack.

That….was actually quite impressive.

The girl turned to look at Naruto, "So what you do is inject your chakra into the weapon, point it in the direction you want to fire in. Each of the kunai's protruding out of the weapon's side's act like a point, so you can fire any of them, provided you have the right direction in mind. You don't want to end up stabbing yourself with it. It's a long range weapon, although in case of emergencies, you can always use it to catch your enemies by surprise if you end up caught by any of them."

Naruto nodded his previous aggression to the woman well forgotten by that point and now seeing her in a new light. He had to admit, the weapon was quite handy, plus it did seem like something that even he would be able to handle, as poor as he was in handling weaponry. As he mused over his new discovery, a new idea struck him at that moment, and he smiled inwardly to himself.

"Hey, let me try it out a little."

The girl kept her scarlet gaze on him a while longer at his request, not saying anything for a while, before she decided that it was probably nothing to get you worked over and placing the weapon carefully in his outstretched hand.

Sanyu, on the other hand, was not entirely sure about this new development, and the bright expression that had been on her face melted away a little, being replaced by a look of worry. "Are you sure about this? He might injure himself." She expressed her worry to no one in particular, but still loud enough so that Naruto could hear and perhaps reconsider his decision.

Akako took her place beside the younger girl, giving Naruto space to try out whatever he had in mind. "It's okay. Practice is the best teacher. Beside, in case anything goes awry we'll take care of him here."

Naruto closed his eyes in meditation, trying to replay what he had seen Akako doing a few moments prior. He also made sure to take note of the slightly embarrassing fact of his poor chakra control, although as long as the two girls who were currently in his company were none the wiser to this, he could still save face. Slowly, he began focusing his chakra in the area around his fingers, vaguely remembering his Sage Mode training that had happened ages ago.

The kunai fired, and he felt something light up in his gut at the familiar sound that ensued, which caused him to open his eyes in excitement.

"It's too short."

Well, there went his excitement.

True enough, the kunai had indeed shot out from the source weapon, but it had missed the intended target, and not only by a small margins either. It dangled loosely from the thin rope it was on the end on a few feet off the ground. Naruto pouted, feeling his momentary excitement get extinguished inside him, and Akako sighed. She was the one that had broken the news to him earlier of the weapon falling short, so feeling responsible, she proceeded to near the blonde man. Once she was in front of him, she pointed at the weapon that he still had in the grasp of his hand.

"You have to inject the right amount of chakra in the weapon. Too much will cause it to shoot too far off and you will veer off the intended target, and too little will mean that it will go to near, just like what you just did." True enough, Naruto had held back on the chakra input in his attempt just then, afraid of what would happen if he injected too much all at once. Gladly, he had managed not to get anyone injured, be it him or his comrades.

"Also, if you want to retract the kunai shot out, you have to release the flow of chakra that you have on your hands and the weapon will automatically return to you."

The blonde nodded, consequentially halting the chakra flow that was on his fingers and the having the kunai return to its source. That was at least one thing he could be proud of and boast of, being able to turn the tap off on his chakra. Once all the instructions had sunk into him and he understood them perfectly, he turned to look at the tree once more, prepared to try his luck again. However, unknown to him, the red haired girl had other plans in mind for him at the moment.

She placed one of her hands on the weapon right before Naruto could do anything again, effectively taking his attention. The blonde turned to look at her, wondering if there were any other instructions that she had yet to divulge to him.

"Since I helped you out, I'd like you to help me with something as well."

Leave it to Akako to be as blunt as possible and not beat about the bush with whatever she wanted to say.

Regardless, her sentiment just then piqued Naruto's curiosity and he focused all his attention on the girl. "Sure."

"Be my sparring partner for a while?"

That certainly had not been on his list of possible requests.

Naruto thought that he had misheard for a moment, and he looked at the red head incredulously. "Huh?"

He felt a tap on his opposite side upon his shoulder. When he turned to look, he realized that it was Sanyu who had just done that. "Come on. It will only take a few minutes with Akako, where's the harm in that?"

Oh great, he had not misheard anything at all.

He allowed himself a few minutes to think carefully over the offer, and while he was strongly inclined to turn it down at first, the more the matter lingered in his mind the more he realized that it was not such a bad deal after all. It would be completely detrimental to him if his skills grew rusty over the short time they had on this holiday, he would only have himself to blame. Besides, there was also the matter of what had happened with Sakura the previous night, something that he could not wrap his head around the more he thought of it. She was acting weird, which much was sure, although he was not sure if it was exactly in his place to go and ask her what that was all about. Training would help him keep his mind off things, beside, it always had been able to do that since now, so there was one thing he could trust to never betray him.

His mind was made up.

He turned to the red haired girl, smiling a little as he folded up the sleeves of his jacket to allow himself more mobility. "Let's begin."

Sakura

When the pink haired girl had gotten out of bed that morning, after a night that was marred by a severe lack of sleep and lots of tossing and turning in bed, she realized that surprisingly, she was not as exhausted as she figured she would be. This was not exactly a new thing to her. She was used to such a thing from all the sleepless nights she spent at the hospital back in the village, meaning that it wouldn't be all that different at the moment.

Her initial thought as she furled open the curtains of her new abode was to go and see her teammate plus check up on him, but the events from last night with the dark haired woman were still vivid in her mind. She was not sure whether that would be a good idea at the moment, and a small part of her told that she didn't even want to find out.

Shelving the thought altogether since she realized that pandering over it would do her no good when there was a whole new day waiting for her out there, she settled on taking a walk outside, and by sheer coincidence, she bumped into the green haired girl who had grown to be an acquaintance of sorts with her. The number of run ins she was having with Honoka were becoming a tad more than she had initially expected, although Sakura was glad that in this sea of unknown people and unfamiliar faces, there was one soul that she could count as her friend of sorts. It reminded her of her relationship with Ino initially, and the nostalgia put a smile on her face as she said hello to the green haired woman.

By that time, it was nearly afternoon, and the Nadeshiko kunoichi turned out to be on her way to the village library. Somehow the notion of a library made Sakura glad; she had always been enthralled with places with large volumes of books or scrolls where she could stay and read up a little when she wasn't swamped with any duties of any kind. Honoka invited Sakura to tag along with her, citing that it was better than staying idle the whole day without anything to do, a chance that the pink haired girl gladly took.

So here the two girls currently were, in a world where there was hardly any noise picked up on, and the population here considerably sparse. The place was nearly pin drop silent, the only sound registering in the air being that of books as they were moved from place to place, the activity being carried out by both Sakura and Honoka. Once the two had set foot into the book alcove, Sakura had been impressed by the sheer number of books in the vicinity. For a village that was normally off the map, they certainly had their fair share of literature. As it turned out that the green haired girl was also in charge of taking care of the library, in addition to her guard duty at the gate, which luckily, she was not on at that day, Sakura was assisting her in getting the place in order.

The books themselves were in top condition, the lack of dust or cobwebs on them indicating that they had been in use quite recently. As they delved on in their duties, Sakura stumbled upon some books that turned out to contain medical knowledge and skills that were practiced in the village, and as expected, her emerald orbs had lit up immediately on sight of these books.

Her earlier duties forgotten, she immediately settled into one of the sets of furniture that were around, soliciting a cry of protest from the green haired girl on how they had to complete their duties first. Honoka's protests fell on deaf ears, as Sakura had already been enthralled into the book, although the Nadeshiko girl was not all displeased at all by that. They were almost done there, so a few minutes could be spared for a small break.

Appearing over Sakura as she looked at the book she was reading, she started," You like Medical Ninjutsu then?"

That did the trick, as Sakura turned her head behind her to look at the girl who was looking at her curiously. The pink haired girl smiled warmly. "Yeah, it wasn't always something that was there, but well when I first began learning it I realized that it was something I was born for. Weird, right?"

Honoka rested the small of her back against one of the nearby chairs, folding her arms at her chest and looking at Sakura with a smile of sorts on her face. "Trust me, it is weird."

The smile on Sakura's face receded some, something that the green haired girl took note of with slight amusement, but even then she wasn't as terrible as a person to lower the Medic's spirits that much.

"But…." She began again, placing special emphasis on the conjunction, something that caused Sakura's shoulders to perk up," only because it was something that never quite interested me. It turned out to be a little too much for my taste. Besides, who needs medicine when you can be out there kicking ass?" She concluded, with a more lively tone than when she had begun plus with a small wink at the pink haired girl.

Now, how could Sakura still remain dismayed after that?

She chuckled a little, placing a hand over her mouth. "What, it's not that hard you know. Besides, maybe you just had the wrong teacher."

Her companion shook her head. "Nuh-uh, trust me, when I say something is not to my tastes, it really isn't to my taste." She paused a little, watching Sakura indulge herself in her new found pleasure, before resigning herself and deciding to continue the rest of the work on her own. After all, Sakura had been under no obligation to help her, yet she had, so Honoka was already extremely grateful to her for that.

As she turned her body to look back at the big pile of books behind her, Sakura spoke up behind her, startling her a little. "Not gonna ask about him today?"

It wasn't exactly rocket science who Sakura was referring to, but even then, her friend was certainly taken aback. She had never expected Sakura to raise the topic of her blonde teammate around her by herself, since she didn't exactly seem as if it was something she couldn't talk about without tripping over her tongue, but more than that, Honoka was slightly impressed by the girl.

She shook her head. "Naah, besides, you trust him to be able to take care of himself, so I'm sure he's okay right now."

Sakura nodded, satisfaction welling into her heart and feeling content for what was possibly the first time that day. She had sorely needed this. "Mmm, and we're practically on vacation here, so I might as well make the most of it, like I'm sure he is at the moment."

"Where do you think he is right now?" Honoka asked out of curiosity, already beginning to sort through the books that required her attention.

The Medic placed a hand underneath her chin, her gaze averted from her book and to her side, not particularly looking at anything there but pondering over something. "Knowing him, he's probably sleeping in right now from having too much fun last night."

Naruto

The duel itself was quite short-lived, something that had surprised Naruto, but now that he thought on it, he realized that the only thing that he had to blame were his crappy hand to hand combat skills.

Before the dawn of the battle, Sanyu had surprisingly stepped in between the two, deciding arbitrarily that to even out the odds; they should have a normal taijutsu battle. No weapons or ninjutsu were allowed in the fight. That had come as sort of a relief to Naruto, and he wanted to breathe easy since he had the misplaced belief that the red haired girl's forte was weapon use. Weapon users tended to depend heavily on their weapons, laying waste to any other skills that would help them, a good example of that being Tenten. He could have not been more wrong.

Akako was skilled, extremely skilled that he was actually surprised that he had been able to parry some of her blows before she had worn down on him completely, effectively sealing his defeat. For what was the second time that day, he found himself on the ground, but this time his vision was impeded by the red haired girl who was above him. Well, not exactly standing over him, but the girl was currently on Naruto's midsection, her knees on both sides of the boy as they were planted on the ground beneath her as well. Her fist, which was inches away from Naruto's face, retracted slowly, and Naruto found himself looking into her scarlet orbs for what was probably the umpteenth time that day. He was reminded of the first time that he had fought Sasuke in the academy, but the glaring difference was obvious in the manner that Akako was looking at him.

"Fight's over!" Sanyu declared boisterously from where she stood beside the two, raising a hand in the air.

With that, the red haired girl got herself of Naruto's body, allowing him space to move finally. She had her back turned to him, before turning to look at him from the corner of her eye.

"You did well."

That sentence did not sit well with Naruto, the young man couldn't help but feel that she was just being modest, but he chose not to speak on the matter. Still, he marveled at the girl's skill in movement and combat, wondering if there was a chance that she could turn out to be a better taijutsu practitioner than Rock Lee.

"You sure don't know how to hold back, do you?" He said, as he stood up and took off his orange jacket in order to cool off a little. He had used a little more energy than he had initially intended to, but luckily enough he still had enough left to prance around if need be. Once he took off the jacket, exposing his mesh jacket underneath, Akako, who was still looking at him from the corner of her eye as if trying to assess him, unwittingly caught sight of his well toned abdominal muscles from beneath the net.

The earlier feeling in her gut that she had experienced when she was looking at Naruto's up close face resurfaced, and subsequently, she felt her cheeks heat up, although she could not say why exactly. All that she knew was that she very much liked what she was seeing at that moment. The same could be said for her auburn haired companion beside her; however, Sanyu was not exactly as subtle as Akako when it came to things like this.

"Oh my." The younger girl brought a hand up to her mouth as she marveled at the sight before her. When Akako turned to look at her companion, she took note of the tresses of a blush that had appeared on both her cheeks, but chose not to say anything in regards to it. Was the same thing happening to her at that moment?

That little remark caught Naruto's attention, and as oblivious as he always was to such situations, he turned to look at the younger girl, his jacket still in his hands. "What is it?"

Sanyu's blush deepened, and Akako felt the stirring in her chest persist even more from seeing the man's well endowed body up close. All of a sudden, the younger girl felt her words get caught in her throat. When she finally managed to speak, her tone was strangely subdued and timid this time, which was actually a new for her in comparison to her usual boisterous personality. "Ah, it's nothing."

The blonde man bobbed his head to the side. "I see."

His stomach then grumbled at that point, releasing a low guttural sound that was also picked up on by his two female companions.

"Ah crap, I didn't eat anything this morning!" He said in a panicky tone, bringing up his hands to his head and having a worrisome expression on his face.

He turned to look at the red haired girl, ready to implore her permission to leave for just a short while, but the red haired girl beat him to it.

"You can go get something to eat in the town."

That did make things easier. Originally, he was of the idea that they would insist on having him stick with them for another round, but seeing that they were willing to let him off this easily came as a relief.

He let his jacket fall to the ground limply, before mouthing a quick appreciation and taking off in the opposite direction, his spirits rejuvenated a new.

Sanyu took note of the piece of clothing lying in the grass below, and immediately moved to call out to the man who was swiftly heading away from them. "Hey, Naruto! You left your jacket behind!" She said in a high tone, with one hand over her mouth and the other one in the air as she waved fervently at the man to come back.

"Sorry, take care of it for me! I'll be back as soon as I get something to eat!"

The auburn haired girl lowered her hand, a bit perplexed as to how events had turned out, but with the prospect of the man coming back, there was still something that she could look forward to. She bent forward and picked the jacket from where it was laying on the grass, before cradling it in her arms and getting the general feel of it.

"It's kinda warm."

A few minutes later, the town

"I did say that I was going to get something to eat, but where am I supposed to even start looking?" Naruto asked himself as he walked through the town, with his hands resting on the back of his head.

He was currently in a more populated section of the town. All around him, the place was bustling with activity, and he felt the contrast from the quieter place he was in before. Above him the rays of the sun beat down on his skin, causing him to feel his clothes gradually soaking up, and he felt lucky that he had left his jacket behind, although a small part of him wished that he was back in the cooler terrain he was in before.

Deciding to hasten in his search for food, he quickened the pace in his steps, ready to mix into the crowd. Perhaps he would stumble upon a food stand or something similar along the way, much like the dango stands that were back at the village. At that moment, however, a small sound registered in his ears, and he stopped in his tracks.

Looking around him, he let his eyes scour the area, looking for the source of sound. From the moment he had picked up on the sound, there was a certain familiarity to it that he could not quite place his finger on, although he was sure that he had heard it before.

She was seated near one of the walls of a building nearby. The building itself was a wooden structure, and there was an umbrella a few meters off the ground that shielded her from the worst of the sun's rays. The umbrella itself was blood red, a stark contrast to the clothes the girl was dressed in. Her kimono was creamy white, with flower imprints on it that were a similar color to her umbrella. It started from an area a bit below her shoulders, exposing a sizeable amount of her wonderful cleavage. From there it proceeded to flow seamlessly downwards her body, before stopping short above her knees, parting into two in the area above there. This allowed a view of her creamy legs, which were slender and actually pleasant to look at.

The girl was playing a stringed instrument of sorts, and as her fingers skillfully weaved through the musical device, the air was filled with the pleasant sounds of her music. Naruto wondered how on earth no one was paying attention to her with her wonderful music, something that looked as if it would even soothe a baby to sleep.

Before he could find the answer to that trivial question, however, the music came to a halt, something that caught him slightly by surprise. Her eyes were closed as she was playing, and when she opened them slowly, her dark orbs melded with his blue eyes. Realization dawned on Naruto just then. There was no way he could forget those eyes.

"You're the dancer from last night."

A/N: Updates, updates! Now again, this chapter was actually supposed to be longer than this, and was also supposed to be up a few days ago, but well stuff happened, although at least I was able to get it out before the new week started! So, that should count, right?:P Before I bore you all with my babbling, I'll stop there, and hope you enjoy the chapter immensely!

Ja ne!