Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters.

A/N: This is my very first attempt at a fanfic and at writing a story that is not for a class so let me know what you guys think. I know this won't seem like a harem fic at first but it gets there. I already have the girls mapped out and you should be able to figure out a couple of them from the first chapter. I will tell that there will be a total of five girls.

"When is he coming back…?" Sakura thought out loud as she sat on the bench near the Konoha gates.

This would be the third straight week that Sakura had sat waiting for Naruto to return from his three years of training with Jiraiya. After Naruto left, she felt the need to improve and become more useful as a ninja so she started to train as a medical nin under the legendary sannin Tsunade. After three years with Tsunade, Sakura not only learned medical jutsu but trained her body to have strength close to the sannin.

As she sat waiting for the return of her teammate who she once found irritating to no end, Sakura was practicing her medical skills on an injured bird. This was her routine for the last three weeks, wake up and study scrolls until lunch, practice taijutsu and workout for a couple hours, then she would sit in with the Lady Hokage to learn more about medical jutsu, lastly after dinner she would sit on the bench to practice what she learned and wait for the sight of those blonde spikes and orange clothing. Sakura couldn't help but to think back to the point when she realized that wanted Naruto to come back.

FLASHBACK

It has been one year after Naruto had left and Sakura was having a girl's night with Ino, Tenten, and Hinata. The girl's were sitting around the living room of Ino's and Sakura's apartment. (Ino and Sakura both wanted to get out of living with their parents and decided that getting an apartment together would be the best solution). They were drinking some tea and everyone had a look of boredom on their face.

"So what do you girls want to do" said Ino breaking the silence.

"I don't know, Konoha just seems to be boring lately" Sakura sighed.

Tenten looked around the room trying to come up with something, "I know what you mean, I can't explain it but Konoha seems like it has lost its excitement."

Hinata quickly started to blush because she knew exactly what Konoha lost. Suddenly finding the grounding to be the most interesting thing in the world, she averted her gaze from the group of kunoichi as she softly spoke, "Um, I-I know w-what is missing."

All other three girls looked at the shy girl surprised she said anything. She had been so depressed lately that she hardly ever spoke.

"What do you think is missing Hinata?" Ino asked curious as to how Hinata would know something like that.

"Well, i-i-its…" the girl stuttered feeling unsure of how the others would react. "It's Naruto-kun!"

All the girls stared in shock not believing what she said until they broke out into a laughing fit.

"WHAT?!" Tenten exclaimed. "You think that Konoha is actually missing the spiky haired little twerp?!"

"You can't be serious!" came from Sakura as tears came down her face from laughing so hard.

The blush on Hinata's face quickly faded as her eyes turned from their usual gentle look in one of harsh rage.

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" She screamed. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH ALL OF YOU PUTTING HIM DOWN!"

The laughter was silenced quickly as this was completely new to them. No one has ever heard Hinata scream like that.

"He is the sweetest guy I have ever known, he cares about everyone in this village even though most of them hate him and look upon him with disgust." Hinata said while calming down a bit. "Haven't you noticed that everything became dull one year ago exactly around the time Naruto-kun left. That's not a coincidence, he was always full of energy and that energy was contagious. Even if you found him annoying you couldn't help but start to feel the excitement in the air whenever he was around. I refuse to be around anyone who puts him down, Good Bye!" She ran out the door with it slamming behind her.

The girls were still in shock as what Hinata said started to process in their minds. It was right around the time that Naruto left when everything seemed to quiet down. No one had paid any attention to it because they liked the peace and quiet, but that gets to be old and boring after awhile.

"Maybe she's right" Ino was the first to speak up. "The times do line up with each other and when I think about it I do miss seeing him run around the village with that goofy smile on his face."

"Oh my God, Hinata is right. I thought I would be happy to have him gone, but since he left I have been a little sad. I just didn't know why." As she said this Sakura could only picture Naruto scratching the back of his head with his eyes shut and a big smile on his face.

Tenten looked confused, "What are you girls talking about. I don't miss him one bit." She never got to really know Naruto that much and she always found his antics to just be annoying.

Each girl sat back while drinking the tea while in their own thoughts.

'I do miss the guy always hanging around and asking me on dates.' Sakura thought. 'Even though I always turned him down, it was kinda sweet the way he kept trying. I felt wanted by someone which is more than I can say about Sasuke. I never thought that I would actually start to miss hearing his voice…"

She felt bad about the way she treated him and knew she had to make it up to him. She also felt horrible when Hinata stormed out of her apartment. The next day after the girl's night Sakura found Hinata and apologized for everything that happened.

"It's ok S-Sakura, I forgive you." Hinata said comforting the pink haired kunoichi.

"You were absolutely right Hinata, I do miss Naruto and I want him to come back."

"I told you h-his enthusiasm was c-contagious, don't worry it will only be about two more years until he returns to all of us. But remember, I get Naruto-kun when he gets back and I will fight anyone for him."

Sakura was surprised by Hinata's change in demeanor when she started to tell her to not get any ideas about the one she loved.

Since that day Hinata and Sakura started to get closer finding the new thing they had in common. They would get together and talk about memories they had about the orange clad ninja. Hinata started to watch Sakura closely the more they talked because she couldn't help notice a twinkle in Sakura's eyes when she talk about Naruto. The girls would usually hang out at Sakura's apartment and since Ino lived there too she couldn't help but hear their stories. Eventually Ino would start to join the girls realizing how much she actually missed Naruto too.

END FLASHBACK

Since that time two years ago, Sakura has thought about Naruto almost every day. As the time of his return drew near she started to wait close to the village gates so she would know the instant he got back.

The sudden sight of the bird she was practicing on flying out of her hands snapped her out of her daze. She watched the bird fly away then tilted her head to the gates just as two figures started to approach them. Sakura's heart started to beat faster as she started to notice the color orange appear. Once they were close enough for her to see the blonde spikes and whisker marks on the man's face she knew instantly who it was.