Melody of Time -Naruto-

Chapter 8

Dedication to moonlightninja, EnderWolf_, and HilaryUchiha!

I don't own Naruto

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'God damn alarm clock, deciding to go off the moment I finally find some peaceful sleep,' I grumbled in my mind as I picked up some large splinters of wood, evidence of my training the night before. Because of the incident with Sasuke, I had forgotten to fix my mess, so I had to set my alarm clock to make sure I would have enough time before my 'teammates' showed up.

I was in a bit of a foul mood from lack of sleep because all my weapons were taken when I was kidnapped, so were my sleeping pills Tsunade gave me. But I knew that after a bit I would be fine. I've had troubles sleeping ever since I was little, mostly when I was indoors. But whenever I was on a mission and sleeping outdoors, I would be fine. But because of seeing my brother and grandfather in a puddle of blood, my troubles with sleeping increased tenfold, and my nightmares began.

'The one of many' I thought as I picked up the last piece and tossed it so it landed in the forest, my stomach growling in protest. I rolled my eyes and tried to not think of the food I wish I was eating. I found it a little odd that Fang had said not to eat and arrive so early. From what I could tell he was going to make us do the bell test, which Gramps had often told me about, and how no matter how many times he made his students do it, my uncle would always be tied to the stump.

'But Gramps never made them go without eating...' I thought as I walked over and leaned against in of the stumps. But because I've known Kakashi since I was five, and for the longest time rules were the most important thing to him, I decided to play it safe and not eat, though normally I would have brought my breakfast and have it right in front of him in spite. 'But if the rules were still so important to him, why did he take so long to arrive yesterday. Normally he would have been the first one to show up.'

"He's been acting so weird, why?' I wondered out loud.

"Who's been acting weird?" I jumped up straight when someone spoke behind me. I whirled around and saw that it was Naruto, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, who spoke. Sakura and Sasuke were beside him, looking just as tired as he was. I had been so wrapped up I hadn't noticed the three when they walked up to me, but I noticed that Kakashi was not with them.

"It's nothing. Just thinking of an old friend," I told Naruto and Sakura, as Sasuke moved a few feet away and sat down. "How long have you guys been here?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, who shrugged. She sighed and shook her head at him before looking back at me. "About half an hour? When did you get here? The three of us all got here at the same time, but you were already here."

I tilted my head to the side. I must have really been lost in my thoughts, but it was odd that for the second day in a row that Kakashi was late. "About fifteen minutes before you guys. I thought it would be best to get here a little early, but looks like it was for nothing." I shrugged at the end, and Naruto muttered something rude under his breath, making Sakura punch him to shut him up, which didn't go over so well with Naruto because he yelled at Sakura, which caused Sakura to get even more frustrated with him and chase him as Naruto ran away from her, Sakura's fist ready to strike the whole time.

I moved over to where Sasuke was sitting and joined him on the ground, all while never taking my eyes off Naruto and Sakura. It was all very entertaining to watch in a way, like an improv comedy showing that the village used to have a couple times a month to give the people at least a reason to smile during the war.

'I wonder if they still do them occasionally...' I wondered to myself as I watched the two, Sasuke not saying anything to me, but I'm guessing was glaring. We sat in silence for about a good hour and a half, just watching our two comedians as the played themselves out, before I finally spoke.