GaaSaku: Childhood & Chunin Exams

Chapter 9: Preparations

One day, Naruto went to meet his teammates down from the village, just when he greeted Sakura good morning, except Sasuke, who looked away from him ignoring his presence.

"Not again... these two have been weird since returning from the Wave country," Sakura thought.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! HURRY UP!" Her inner self complained.

Three hours later, Kakashi told them that he was late and got lost, but Naruto and Sakura knew that he's lying.

"Hey hey! Kakashi-sensei! Lately, all of our team 7's missions have been too easy! I want more, you know hot one! Where I can shine! That follows my ninja path! And my heart is like...!" Naruto's eyes burned with passion and enthusiasm.

"Yeah yeah... *sigh*... I pretty much know what you're going to say," Kakashi said as he sweatdropped.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke on the right, who then constantly looked back with an annoyed expression.

"Damn it... This guy always makes me look bad and steals the spotlight... I won't lose!" Naruto thought hopefully.

"Jeez, Naruto... When will you ever learn?" Sakura thought of her loud-mouthed friend.

"Today, I want to..." Naruto thought of him as being the greatest ninja other than Sasuke. "'Pft... can't you take care of yourself?'... Say something like that."

"Hey, Naruto. What are you doing? Let's go," Sakura called.

"Oh yeah," he said, feeling dumb.

"You really are annoying today!"

When Team 7 headed on D-rank missions doing small jobs, Naruto states that he will beat Sasuke in the missions, but ends up getting into trouble and is even saved by Sasuke from falling down a waterfall.

"Day's mission completed... Hah," Naruto sighed in exhaustion while Sakura was helping him to walk.

"It's because you push yourself too much," she pointed out clearly.

"Pft... can't you take care of yourself," Sasuke said calmly, which pissed Naruto the most.

"Goddammit, Zazgue!" Naruto yelled in anger and frustration just when Sakura confronted him.

"If you don't calm down, I'll finish you off myself," Sakura yelled and thought. "Can you just relax for a bit, Naruto?"

"Hmm... Teamwork seems to be suffering lately," Kakashi said tiredly.

"Yeah! Yeah! You're the one ruining our teamwork, Sasuke! Always hogging the spotlight, you bastard!" Naruto yelled in envy as he clenched his fist.

"That's you, you moron. If you want me to stop making you look bad... *paused*... then just become stronger than me," he said seriously as he looked back at Naruto, who was stunned by his words and glared at him.

"They're somehow worse than before," Sakura thought worriedly.

"Damn it, there are tons of guys stronger than me out there, yet I have to do these stupid missions," Sasuke thought in disappointment and frustration while Kakashi looked at him curiously.

From that moment on, a messenger hawk flew across the sky just when Kakashi saw it by the minute and closed his Make-out Tactics book.

"Ok, that's it for today. I have to go submit this mission report," he said immediately.

"Then, I'm going home," Sasuke said, walking away from them.

"Oh! Hey Sasuke, wait! How about right now," Sakura went after him while Naruto tried to go after her. "We work on our teamwork, just the two of us," she said flirtatiously.