Not really canon or anything like that. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are all Jounin, and about eighteen or so. Tsunade's still Hokage. It's part of the first chapter of a larger story, but I thought it worked very well on its own. Hope you like! Please let me know what you think.

By the way, the story this is from is a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover. Should I name it Child of The Wolf or Moriko, which means "forest child" in Japanese?

The Waiting Game

By Falcon's Hyperdrive

Written 9-21-09

Morning dawned bright and clear in Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village in Fire Country. Many shinobi, of course, were already up, not excluding one Uzumaki Naruto, Jounin. At the moment, he was pestering his teammate, a certain kunoichi who was doing her absolute best to ignore him.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, guess what, guess what, guess what!"

Haruno Sakura heaved a long-suffering sigh, valiantly resisting the urge to yank on her short pink locks. "What, Naruto?" she finally conceded, rolling her eyes. "This had better not be about ramen."

"Nope!" Naruto grinned like a mischievous fox, which wasn't a surprise, considering who he imprisoned. "It's about- Ahh, you'll see later. Just be careful when you go to the meeting room."

Sakura blinked, not comprehending for a few moments before: "Naruto! What did you do?!"

"Ah, nothing, nothing! Just something I'm planning!" The foxy grin grew larger, then he threw up a hand in a wave as he turned to leave. "Gotta go. Need to warn Hinata-chan before she walks into it. Ja ne!"

He left Sakura staring in shock after him, the kunai she had been about to practice throwing lying forgotten in her hand. After a moment, she roused herself enough to get a handle on the situation. Maybe I should warn Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei about this . . . Reflecting for a moment, remembering how late their team leader had been last time, she scowled. "Make that just Sasuke-kun," she muttered. Let Kakashi-sensei be pranked. Serves him right.

With the flick of her hand, the kunai flew towards the target to strike the bulls-eye with a pleasant thud.

****

Uchiha Sasuke didn't seem surprised in the slightest by Sakura's warning. This was soon explained.

"The dobe passed by a minute ago, and was just as cryptic with me."

Sakura's demeanor radiated unease at this, and her expression contracted momentarily. "What on earth could he be up to?"

"Does it matter? We just have to be on our guard when we go in there, today. Wonder if he's warned Sensei."

Sakura snorted. "I hope not. He kept us waiting nearly four hours last time. Let him get pranked."

Sasuke seemed to consider that for a moment before he nodded, agreeing. "Not a word to Kakashi-sensei." He offered a smirk, and Sakura returned it with a bright smile.

"I'll go grab a book to wait with. Now I'm actually looking forward to seeing what the baka has planned!"

Sasuke laughed. "Meet you there, then."

Sakura nodded sharply. "Hai!"

****

Hatake Kakashi decided something was very fishy with the way certain people had been acting today. He had gone to the Jounin meeting room to see if there was anything to do at the moment, and found Sasuke and Sakura on one of the couches, books open before them. Quick, subtle glances had been directed his way, but otherwise, he had been pleasantly greeted before his former students went back to their books. That had been an hour ago, and he was now lying on a rooftop, Icha Icha Paradise in hand, but mind distracted. At this time of day, surely Sakura and Sasuke would have been practicing. Unless they were studying something? He had recognized Sakura's book as a medical text, but the title of Sasuke's had been hidden. Also, they hadn't looked like their minds were entirely on the words, just as he wasn't with his own little orange book.

With a sigh, he snapped the book closed and pushed himself up, resigned now to the prospect that he wouldn't be able focus on a book until the puzzle of his former students' behavior was solved. He hadn't seen Naruto all morning, he reflected. If his sensei's son behaved normally, soon Naruto would be cheering for ramen in a Minato-like fashion, either to him or his now-official girlfriend Hyuugi Hinata.

. . . Or both.

"Kakashi-sensei!" came a familiar voice, as if on cue. A broadly grinning blonde ninja in his trademark black and orange outfit landed close by, accompanied by a blushing deep purple-haired Hinata. "Wanna go for some ramen?"

Amused, Kakashi smiled at the young man, his visible eye squinting. "Why am I not surprised?"

Naruto only grinned more broadly.

Kakashi stood, dusting off his pants as he rose, and tucked his book into the pouch he kept it in. "Should we get Sasuke and Sakura to join us?"

"Nah." Naruto's grin took on a foxy edge. "They're busy."

Kakashi frowned thoughtfully. "They were only reading when I stopped by the meeting room."

"Uh-huh. They're waiting for my prank, there."

"But I didn't notice-" He cut himself off, staring blankly at the demon vessel. "You're pranking them, aren't you?"

The aura of false-innocence made Kakashi laugh. "So what all are you doing to them?"

Hinata smiled, she herself close to laughing. "Naruto-kun is lulling them into a false sense of security, and is waiting to see how long it will take them to notice they've been fooled."

"And when they start asking when you're going to do the prank?"

Naruto smirked. "I'll tell them I'm waiting for the right moment to do it to you. Sakura-chan's been smarting about your making us wait four hours, and it just might placate them."

Kakashi gave him a warning glare. "You'd better not prank me, if this is you trying to lure me into a false sense of security."

Naruto shook his head. "I give you my word as a Jounin of the Leaf that I am not pranking you today. Besides," he added, "I pranked you yesterday."

"Yes . . . I remember the pink and orange outfit well," came the dry answer. "Well, if you want to get ramen, now would be the time to do it. I think my stomach's about to yell at me."

Naruto only laughed, eagerly grabbing Hinata's hand and leading her toward Ichiraku's. "I'm treating!" he called back, and Kakashi stared at his retreating back for a moment before chuckling. Sasuke and Sakura aren't going to be happy when they find out. I wonder if I should . . .? Nah. I'll play along. Let's see how long it takes.

With a burst of speed, Kakashi launched himself after his fellow ninja.

****

It was around three when Sakura threw down her book with an aggravated cry. "Naruto!!"

A whisper of movement, and the blonde was on the windowsill, regarding her curiously. "Nani?"

The medic-nin scowled at her friend, hands on her hips as she stood facing him. "We've been here since seven and nothing's happened!" she hissed as Sasuke lowered his own book, waiting for Naruto's answer.

Naruto blinked owlishly. "I never said you had to come here and wait for it to happen. I just said to be careful when you did come to the meeting room. 'Sides, Kakashi-sensei has only been here once this morning, and it wasn't the right time yet. He would be expecting another so soon after the one I pulled on him yesterday morning. Nah, I had lunch with him a couple hours ago, and I'm just getting him to drop his guard for now."

Sakura sputtered for a moment, then let out something that was part sigh, part growl. "That's what I get for looking forward to this," she muttered. "I'm going home."

Naruto shrugged. "Suit yourself. Ja ne!"

He vanished, leaving Sakura to once again stare after him. She seemed to debate with herself for a long moment, at which point Sasuke went back to his book.

Sakura made that sound again, snatching up her book and finding her place before dropping herself into the seat she had vacated when Naruto arrived. "Two more hours," she stated firmly. "If nothing's happened by then, I'm leaving."

Sasuke just nodded, staring fixedly at his book. His mind, however, was not on the text . . .

****

At a quarter past four, Nara Shikimaru entered the Jounin meeting room, muttering something about troublesome teammates. At the sight of Sasuke and Sakura, he stopped and stared, looking quite startled. "How long have you two been here?" he asked in disbelief. He had stopped in that morning, and the two members of Team Kakashi had been in that exact same spot.

Sakura looked up, clearly agitated. She took a gander at the clock, then scowled. "Nine hours," she answered bitterly.

Shikimaru could only blink in shock at them. "And here everyone says I'm lazy."

"We're not lazy, blast it! We're just . . ." Sakura trailed off, frowning hard. ". . . waiting for something to happen."

Again, the blinking. "Does this have anything to do with Naruto?"

"Yeah. He said he's waiting for the right time to prank Kakashi-sensei. In forty-five minutes, I'm going to officially give up and go home."

Shikimaru sighed. "Naruto's on a date with Hinata. Kakashi is helping Iruka-sensei teach the Academy students how to spar. If it's going to be any time, it'll be an hour after you leave."

Sakura began to waffle a bit. "W-well . . . I suppose I could wait a little longer. Or I could come back in an hour. This is Kakashi-sensei being pranked, after all. He did make us wait four hours."

"But if you leave now, you just might miss it," Shikimaru pointed out helpfully. "Suit yourself, though. I'm going to go cloud gaze if anyone needs me."

"R-right . . ."

****

Five o' clock rolled around, and Sakura was faced with the question of whether to stay or go. Sasuke had a severely thoughtful expression, and somehow Sakura knew it didn't have anything to do with his book, the pages of which he hadn't turned in the last half hour.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun? Something wrong?"

Sasuke lowered his book, frowning. "I'm not sure. I'm beginning to think I should give up like you were planning on before."

"Shikimaru did say it might be another hour."

"Yeah . . ."

There was a knock on the doorframe, and the two Jounin turned to see Tsunade standing there, a smile on her face. "I hear you've been here for ten hours straight."

Sakura scowled. "Don't remind me. We're waiting for Naruto to prank Kakashi."

"And how do you know it's going to happen here?" the Hokage pressed.

"Naruto said to be careful when we came here. That piqued our curiosity, and Kakashi did make us wait four hours. The baka's sure taking his good ol' sweet time about it, though."

Tsunade smiled, moving to join them and sitting on a chair across the way. "Pranking is an art. The brat's told me that often enough."

"He could have warned us that it would take this long, though."

"Did he tell you to come and wait?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then he wasn't really obliged to do so, was he?"

"Well . . . No."

Sasuke's frown deepened. "I'll give it another hour."

"Hmm. May have to make it two. I just sent Kakashi on an errand, so he'll be back here after that."

"But- But- Twelve hours?!"

Tsunade laughed at Sakura's outburst. "You don't have to wait here, you know. I could give you something to do in the meantime."

Sakura scowled. "No, I'll wait it out. Naruto's prank had better be good, though."

Tsunade shrugged, smiling. "Suit yourself. If you need me, I'll be in my office, doing paperwork."

Sakura watched her teacher go, frowning. Sasuke's words echoed her thoughts, and she found herself nodding in agreement.

"People sure are saying that a lot, today."

****

Finally, finally, seven was the number pointed to on the timepiece on the wall, and Kakashi entered the meeting room with a cheery smile. "Konichiwa! Ne, Sasuke, Sakura, have you been here all day?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, sensei. We did leave sometime in the morning, and just came back an hour ago."

"Ah." Kakashi plopped down in the chair Tsunade had taken two hours ago, and sighed. "The Hokage just sent me on a C-rank mission. Not quite D-rank, but close to it. I won't say it was troublesome, because then I would sound too much like Shikimaru."

"Someone say my name?"

The three shinobi looked to the door, which Shikimaru had just come in through. He rolled his eyes at Sasuke and Sakura's presence, but didn't say a word about it. "Where's Naruto?" he asked instead.

Sakura scowled. "No idea. You don't know?"

"Thought I saw him coming with Hinata, but can't be sure. Ah, konichiwa, Hokage-sama." Everyone turned to see Tsunade, no doubt here to see Naruto's prank.

"Hello, Shikimaru. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura. You say Naruto and Hinata are on their way?"

"Hai. So troublesome . . ."

Sakura pictured Kakashi saying that, and had to stifle laughter. "You're right, Kakashi-sensei. Shikimaru's the only one who should say that."

Kakashi flapped his hand at her. "You two train at all today?"

"Hai," Sasuke answered. His gaze flickered to the window, and he nudged Sakura to let her know that Naruto and Hinata had finally arrived.

Naruto hopped over the couch his two teammates were sitting on and landed in the middle of the room, looking very smug about something. "Have you two been here all day?"

"They were here at four," Shikimaru informed him.

"And five," Tsunade added.

Kakashi gave his former students a strange look. "You told me you had left in the morning and had just come back an hour ago."

Sakura twitched. "I . . . guess I lost track of time."

Tsunade laughed. "Well, if anything, this could be considered good practice with patience, for you two to be here twelve hours straight, waiting for Naruto to prank Kakashi."

Sakura looked scandalized, and Sasuke's book dropped to his lap. "Tsunade-sama!"

The Hokage laughed. "Gomen, was I not supposed to mention that?"

Naruto smirked. "It would have been fun to see how much longer you two would have lasted, but I'm not that cruel."

"But- But- Kakashi-sensei . . ."

"I promised him at lunch that I wouldn't prank him today. And I didn't tell Shikimaru or Tsunade-baa-chan about the real prank until an hour ago, but I must say, their unintentional aid was quite well-timed."

Sakura was horrified. "But- But-"

Sasuke closed his book with exaggerated care, closing his eyes and letting out a soft sigh. His muscles, however, began to tense, and Naruto decided it would be healthy to back away. "But twelve hours has got to be some sort of record," he added, the foxy grin back. Behind the two well-pranked Jounin, Hinata let out a giggle.

With a sound halfway between a roar and a snarl, Sakura launched herself at the blonde.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!! YOU ARE DEAD!!"