"4 in the morning my ass!" Rykuga paced back and forth in front of the three posts that two of the three present were using as back rests. Unlike their teammate, Nabitora and Mikasu didn't have an unreal amount of energy to waste so they found themselves dozing off at the base of two of the posts. The pacing continued and in Nabitora's exhausted state it was like each blade of grass was a window being shattered as they were flattened by the read head's feet. The noise made Nabitora grit his teeth as the anger and annoyance finally reached the boiling point.
"Why must you?! Just sit down and be fucking patient like the rest of us!" The shout initiated a staredown between the two. Both were irritated but one was due to exhaustion while the other was from being shouted at.
"No. I'm tired of waiting patiently while our sensei is two hours late! Both of them!" The two began to argue back and forth while Mikasu slept soundly, easily ignoring the annoying background noise.
Morning. The start of a new day that provides new opportunities. It would be a fantastic part of the day except it had one flaw. Just a tiny problem. With the morning came that troublesome thing called sunlight. The very same thing that was beating on Naruto's closed eyelids, demanding that the barriers had to be removed from the blue orbs beneath. He groaned and shifted his head so the hair his chin had been resting on was now blocking the sunlight.
'Ah yes much bett...wait a second...hair? Soft hair at that.' Naruto began his morning mental routine of sweeping the mental cobwebs from his mind trying to think of who's hair was now in his eyes without doing the strenuous task of lifting his eyelids.
'Ok lets see here. Yesterday I remember going to see baa-chan and received a promotion to Jonin rank along with a surprise Genin team. He also remembered that Sakura was his second in command on the team. After that he remembered ending up tickling Sakura after a small food fight and they started kissing before they...' As his mind recalled the events of last night his eyes opened on their own and a smile spread across his face when all he could see was the head of soft pink hair pressed into his face. His arms were wrapped around her waist and chest, the feeling of skin on skin confirmed his memories and the smile grew even bigger. Although that wasn't the only thing growing thanks to the feeling of Sakura's naked body pressed against his and the memories of last night's sensations.
"I know that you're a stamina powerhouse but you need to remember that I'm not." Sakura mumbled still keeping her eyes closed and was just basking in the feeling of her boyfriend's naked body pressed tightly against her own. She felt his hot breath on the back of her neck and the feeling sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine.
"Well I wouldn't mind another round." Naruto whispered into her ear before he began slowly trailing kisses down her neck. As much as the girl wanted to let him keep going, she felt this nagging feeling like they were forgetting something important. Then there was the fact that she was fairly sore after the "workout" she had last night.
"Down Fido." Sakura giggled. When he kept kissing her she realized that she would have to lead by example. The cold air on her back was like swimming in a lake of ice after having been pressed against the human heater named Naruto for the whole night. After her initial shiver was over, Sakura stretched her arms above her head as she felt her stiff and protesting muscles begin to loosen up with the action. She suddenly felt a tingling feeling on the back of her neck. The same feeling she got when she was being watched. Spinning around to face the bed she watched Naruto as he ran his eyes over her body slowly, imprinting every curve and every inch of her body to memory. It was only when he rolled out of the bed, erection and all, did she notice her own state of nudity. She blushed and began to pull together a outfit for the day. A thought stopped her movements and brought a "innocent" smile to her face. She quickly took up the whole "innocent" demeanor and dropped the clothing. Naruto was already in the kitchen pulling together a breakfast thanks to the fact that his robe is much easier to get off or on. She walked into the kitchen naked and began to gather her own food completely aware of the dumbfounded expression Naruto was giving her.
"Um Sakura-chan, I'm not complaining or anything, but you do know you're naked right?" He seen her expression of playful innocence and felt a grin tug at his mouth.
"Well I don't see anything wrong with this picture-" Like hitting a brick wall, she remembered what they were forgetting. Seeing the playfulness evaporate from her face he asked her what was wrong. "We forgot about your Genin!"
"Oh shit!"
The house was a flurry of activity and the couple were out the door within five minutes. A thought dawned on Naruto as they leapt towards the training field and he laughed.
"Hey Sakura-chan. Maybe this is why Kakashi was always late!" They both laughed but neither one dismissed the idea. Maybe that was the answer to the great mystery of Kakashi's legendary lateness.
"You're late!"
The feeling of deja vu washed over Naruto and Sakura as the read head proclaimed loud enough to wake his teammates. Naruto grinned at the comment but Sakura decided to complete the moment.
"Sorry. We got lost while walking the path of life." Sakura said nonchalantly. It took a few seconds for both of them to burst out laughing after she used her own sensei's excuse for being late. The three genin looked completely lost and confused as they waited for the laughter to die down.
"What's so funny?" Rykuga demanded. The older shinobi were finally able to compose themselves. After a few more deep breaths the young red head found his question completely ignored and it irked him to no end.
"Ok you three lets see what you've got. To pass, you must capture me. I can promise you that it will be near impossible to do but you must find a way. First one to complete the objective passes while the other two are sent back to the Academy. No questions. Begin when you're ready." Naruto turned around and walked over to a tree before he plopped down and rested his head against the bark. Sakura came and sat next to him. The three genin were confused at the turn of events but they all silently charged. When they were within five feet of the duo Naruto lifted his hand and spoke, eyes still closed.
"Shinra Tensei."
The trio didn't know what hit them as they were lifted off of their feet and flew about 20 feet back, each landing with a thud. Mikasu groaned and lifted her head to try and locate her teammates. They were scattered across the training field, each one looking just as confused as her. Next she turned her golden eyes on where her sensei was and saw he was standing and stretching like he just woke up from a nap. She began to think about the previous minutes to piece together a strategy only to see the blonde smirk and disappear.
'What! How?!' Mikasu almost panicked before she noticed the faint after image that was still there. 'So it's speed huh.' She quickly factored in the new information and adjusted her planning accordingly. By now both Nabitora and Rykuga had regrouped around her and were scanning the area for their sensei. The same sensei that appeared right in front of Nabitora.
"What the-" the blue haired boy tried to leap back from the open hand reaching towards him, just barely escaping the outstretched hand.
"Bansho Ten'in."
Nabitora found himself being pulled towards the hand. What sent the chills down his spine was the fact that he wasn't voluntarily moving towards it. In fact his feet weren't even on the ground. The iron grip closed around his throat and brought his head up so he was looking into the blonde's six rapidly spinning tomoe. Next thing he knew everything went black and he was stuck in a pitch black room.
Naruto dropped the now trapped genin and ducked under the red head's punch, placing his right hand on the boy's stomach.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Once again the boy found himself airborne and severely confused. The confusion was replaced by pain when he hit the ground. Refusing to give up, Rykuga pulled himself up and glared at his sensei. Suddenly he heard someone speak behind him.
"I learned this lesson the hard way too, even with my eyes. Never let an enemy get behind you." An uncomfortable silence filled the air momentarily as the blonde shouted his technique with an evil grin.
"1000 Years of Death!"
Rykuga felt the fingers strike home and as he was shouting in pain he promised to never let an opponent behind him. Ever. Mikasu sweat dropped as Naruto sported a mischievous grin at being able to use the technique. Mikasu decided now was the best time to strike and performed several hand signs. The ground rumbled slightly but that wasn't the cause of Naruto nearly having a heart attack. No, that was caused by the sight of several roots shooting out of the ground and trying to ensnare him. He quickly focused his chakra to the surface of his skin before letting it flare out in every direction. He made it take on the fire elemental and was satisfied to see the roots burn. Mikasu dropped to her knees panting for breath. Her chakra reserves were fairly small which was why her Mokuton drained her so much.
"Well it seems we have a Senju with Mokuton. This is a very pleasant surprise. But it also seems you have little chakra." Naruto walked forward and Mikasu sighed.
"I surrender. I put everything I had into that." She was disappointed that her strategy failed. She fell back onto her butt and remained there. A shout was heard and she saw Rykuga appear behind Naruto who ducked and shot a fist up into Rykuga's stomach. The hit was solid and knocked the air out of his lungs. Naruto placed his shoe on Rykuga's back and after several minutes of silence he spoke.
"You failed the test. Yet in spite of that you three show great potential. You fought against me with everything you had. So I have decided to pass you." The clearing erupted into cheers from the two genin. Nabitora groaned and opened his eyes. The excited cheers caused him to finally drag himself up and he made his way to the group where he was filled in on the results.
Naruto grinned at their enthusiasm. He was looking forward to teaching the three.
The weeks of D ranked missions were getting on everyone's nerves. Sakura had been teaching Mikasu better chakra control while he would occasionally teach her exercises to expand her overall reserves. Otherwise when they weren't training they were on missions. Very boring missions. Today was a mission day and they grimly awaited the D rank that they would be assigned.
"Team 17 on the request of your sensei today I am giving you your first C rank mission." The faces of the three genin lit up while Naruto and Sakura smiled at the thought of not cleaning the river again. "Your mission will be bring you two back to a familiar place, Naruto and Sakura. Your team is to escort a caravan of supplies to the Wave Country. This SHOULD be a simple assignment but to account for unexpected delays you will have two weeks to complete the mission."
"Alright everybody get home and pack accordingly. We will meet up with the caravan at the front gate in 30 minutes. Dismissed."