When Naruto had fallen asleep in the forest the things he had expected to be awoken by included the sun, an animal, his sensei, one of his teammates or, heaven forbid, some enemy; he never expected to be woken up by an angel.
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here," a voice as soft as silk said, as Naruto felt a hand gently shake his shoulder.
Groaning, Naruto opened his bleary eyes only to be met with warm chocolate-brown eyes, residing in a soft face with a button nose and pouty pink lips all framed by a curtain of black tresses; "Beautiful," Naruto murmured.
The angel blushed, as her hand left his shoulder and demurely covered her mouth. "Ara," she giggled, "Thank you for the compliment, Shinobi-san." She moved her hand and gave Naruto a bright smile.
Naruto, realizing that he blurted out his thoughts, scratched the back of his head as he gave her a sheepish grin, "Sorry." Naruto then tilted his head, as his mind caught up with her last comment, "Say, how did you know I was a Shinobi?" Naruto asked with the slightest amount of suspicion.
The angel slowly reached her hand forward and flicked his hiate, producing a tiny ding as her nail struck the metal. "Is this not your headband, Shinobi-san?" She asked, teasingly.
Naruto grumbled as he quickly turned his head to the side to hide his embarrassment. "Baka Naruto," he silently admonished himself. He then turned towards the woman and stated, "And my name's not 'Shinobi-san,' it's Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!" He finished his statement with a bright grin.
"Ah, my apologies, I did not know I was in the presence of someone so great," she said with faux-surprise coloring her tone. She bowed her head slightly, "My name is Yuki Haku, aspiring doctor."
"Doctor?" Naruto tilted his head, then shivered. "I'm not a fan of doctors, too many needles."
Haku held up her basket as she suppressed a laugh. "Then I hope you like me; I prefer to use herbs in my treatments."
"Herbs…" Naruto trailed off, reminded of something. "Ah," his blue eyes widened in realization. "I didn't hurt the herbs, did I?" He asked, hoping he didn't damage the herbs during his training last night. The last time he had done so, Ino had found out and made her displeasure known.
On a dirt road somewhere in the countryside of Hi no Kuni, a kunoichi with platinum blonde hair in pupil-less teal eyes, sneezed. It wouldn't have been so bad, if she wasn't eating at an onigiri at the moment, and subsequently sprayed bits of half-chewed rice and snot over her new top.
Her scream of rage could be heard for miles around.
Haku shook her head. "No, Uzumaki-san, you didn't hurt the herbs. In fact," Haku made a show of looking around, "They appear to be the only undamaged things in this clearing."
Naruto let out a nervous chuckle as he scratched his cheek. "Sorry, I guess I might have gone a little overboard with training."
Haku made a "hmm" sound in agreement. She then looked into Naruto's eyes-"He has beautiful blue eyes," she thought absently-and asked; "Why are you out here training, Uzumaki-san?"
"You can just call me 'Naruto,' Haku-san," Naruto waved his hand as if brushing away the formalities, "As for why I'm training, I want to get stronger."
"Stronger? But you look so strong and manly already!" Haku gushed.
"Nope! I need to be stronger, a lot stronger than I am!" Naruto exclaimed, excitedly.
Haku's tone softened as she asked; "But why? Why do you seek strength, Naruto-san?"
Naruto paused, thinking of his answer. If you had asked him a week ago his answer would have been, "So I can be the Hokage!" But after their team meeting two days ago, his answer has changed.
Kakashi's team was currently resting from their confrontation with Zabuza in a room that Tazuna had provided for them at his house.
Kakashi was resting on the sole futon in the room, having collapsed from chakra exhaustion shortly after the Oinin had left with Zabuza's body, while each of his Genin was doing something to relax; Sakura was brushing her hair, Sasuke was checking his equipment and Naruto was leaning on the window sill and staring out to sea. It was his final Genin, Naruto, who occupied Kakashi's thoughts as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Naruto surprised me. I did not expect him to Henge into a shuriken and have Sasuke throw him at Zabuza. It was wonderful teamwork. Although…Naruto, come here for a second." Kakashi ordered as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.
"Hmm," Naruto broke out of his daydreaming and knelt down by Kakashi's bedside, "What is it Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi gave Naruto his eye smile to put him at ease. "Naruto, I want to thank you-and Sasuke as well-for saving me. Your plan to force Zabuza to release me was ingenious."
Naruto bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Gee, thanks, Kakashi-sensei. I just knew I had to do something to save you, dattebayo. It's like you said, 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
"Thank you, Naruto. However," Kakashi narrowed his eyes at his student, "Why didn't you have a shadow clone transform into a shuriken and have that thrown instead? You realize by having the real you thrown you placed yourself in immediate danger?"
Naruto started to sweat. "Err, yeah. I guess I didn't really think that far ahead."
"No," Kakashi sighed, "You didn't think that far ahead, but that's a reflection on me, your teacher, rather than on you. The Oinin made it clear when he mentioned 'water-walking' that I have been neglectful as your Sensei. To all of you."
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