AN: Look at my Rank! So exciting! Anyway I hope you like this chapter.
Naruto looked around in search of Haku, the fog started to clear. Naruto looked to where four figures seemed to be standing and his eyes widened in shock and horror, Kakashi was standing there with his arm extended, tears streaming down his face and Lucy attached to him, but Kakashi's hand went straight through her stomach, Haku was standing directly behind her, frozen.
"Lucy," Naruto screamed and it was at that moment that Sasuke woke up. He groaned as he sat up and looked around groggily,
'Did Naruto and Lucy beat that guy?' Sasuke thought to himself but he stopped as he saw Naruto start crying and turned to where Naruto's attention was, 'no, not Lucy,' Sasuke thought to himself, 'please, anyone but Lucy, ' he continued as he watched numbly.
"Well Haku, looks like your attempted sacrifice did us some good, the girl has gone and gotten herself killed," Zabuza laughed out loud as he continued to watch Kakashi shake, Haku didn't say a word. He just stood there, staring at Lucy. Zabuza grabbed his sword and swung it downwards towards where Lucy and Kakashi were only to have Haku jump towards them and move the both of them out of the way, "Haku, what are you doing?" Zabuza asked in rage,
"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to touch this girl," he said and turned around, he hovered over Lucy in a defensive position. This snapped Kakashi out of his shock as he slowly took his hand out of Lucy's stomach and knelt beside her, he was still shaking as he checked for a pulse or any sign of life.
"So you're choosing a dead girl over me?" Zabuza snarled,
"Of course not, I am your tool until the day I die but I will not allow you to touch the one who gave her life for me to continue to do that," Haku stated firmly, it was then that Naruto came into view, he was shaking in rage and had tears streaming down his face.
"Naruto, stay out of this," Kakashi said carefully, his voice shaking.
"Naruto, you're alive," Sakura shouted, "is Sasuke with you?" She asked him and Naruto looked away, "No, " she whispered,
"I'm okay," Sasuke said softly as he came into their view, "I think Lucy healed me up," he said and looked towards where Lucy was laying, Sakura got tears in her eyes again and Naruto clenched his jaw.
"Kakashi-Sensei, is Lucy?" Sakura asked but she couldn't bring herself to say the words,
"I'm not sensing anything," Kakashi replied in frustration and Sakura started to force her tears back,
"You don't have to hold back on my account kids, sometimes it's good to let out some honest tears," Tazuna said as he watched all three Genin look at their fallen comrade,
"I always got perfect scores on my written tests at the academy. I memorised the 100 rules of shinobi conduct, I use to write them out of pride," Sakura started to say and Tazuna looked at her confused, "one day we had a test and the question was, what is the 25th rule of shinobi conduct and just like always I wrote it down," Sakura whispered,
"No matter what happens a shinobi must never show their true emotions, the mission is the only priority, carry that in your heart and never shed a tear," Sasuke and Sakura said together, Sakura started to bawl out crying while Sasuke was desperately holding it in, Naruto let a few tears fall,
"So that's the life of a shinobi, how unbearable," Tazuna whispered.
Zabuza was charging for Kakashi with his sword raised but Haku stood in the way because Lucy was also in his line sight. Zabuza paused and jumped into the air to avoid Lucy and brought down his sword on Kakashi only to be kicked away. Kakashi still had his eyes solely on Lucy as Zabuza skid to a stop, Kakashi slowly stood up with his head facing downward. Zabuza came charging again only to have Kakashi slam his arm into his face and push him away forcefully,
"What can't I keep up?" Zabuza said in frustration and attempted to hit Kakashi again but Kakashi moved around behind him and grabbed Zabuza's head,
"It's over, Zabuza," Kakashi said lowly, his voice came out in a growl. He took out two kunai and aimed them for Zabuza's head, "this is goodbye demon," Kakashi said but Zabuza swung his sword around him and aimed for Kakashi who was still behind him. Kakashi leaned back to avoid getting hit, Kakashi was forced to let go as Zabuza threw the sword, "now you can't use either arm," Kakashi said,
"Well hasn't he made a mess out of you?" A new smug voice said and everyone turned to see a small man with spiky hair and black sunglasses on, "Zabuza," the man smirked,
"Why are you here? Why did you bring all of them?" Zabuza asked even though he knew the answer,
"A slight change in plans, well in your plans, you must have guessed it by now that I never intended to pay you," the man that could only be known as Gato said,
"So, the kid was right," Zabuza said as he looked to where Lucy and Haku were standing, Gato was bragging about what he was doing and insulting Zabuza, "Kakashi, forgive me but our fight is over. I no longer have reason to kill Tazuna," he paused, "and I'm sorry about the kid," he added,
"You're right," Kakashi said albeit reluctantly,
"What?" Naruto said in disbelief,
"That reminds me, I have a score to settle with this girl. She took out half of my men before we got here," Gato said as he walked over to where Lucy was laying and raised his foot, "stupid, dead, brat," he said and attempted to kick her but Haku caught his foot before he could,
"You touch her, you die," he said menacingly to Gato, everyone stared at him in shock except for Zabuza,
"And you, you almost broke my arm before, I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Gato snarled out. Haku stood up and turned to face Gato's army, Zabuza watched from behind. Naruto angrily stormed up to Zabuza,
"Who the hell do you think you are?" he shouted angrily and Haku watched in surprise as Kakashi held Naruto back from getting to close to Zabuza, "No, why doesn't he do something already?" Naruto demanded,
"like what, brat?" Zabuza asked gravely,
"Haku almost died to protect you and Lucy died to save him, are you really just going to let that fat scumbag say all of that to them?" Naruto shouted lividly,
"That kid is already dead and Haku is merely a tool at my disposal," Zabuza responded gravely,
"You should care, Haku loves you, would do anything for you and you treat him as an object. Lucy loved all life, she had a passion for it, she showed me what it was like to have someone look after you," Naruto said as he got tears in his eyes once again, "she cooked for me and cleaned for me, she bandaged up my wounds, helped me study and told me she was proud of me when I passed a test," his tears started to fall. Sasuke clenched his fists hearing these words, "she wished me a happy birthday, sewed up my clothes, told me off when I was wrong. Lucy loved me, she loved everybody, she saved Haku and tried to save you, are you seriously saying that it meant nothing?" Naruto cried out,
"Shut up," Zabuza said softly and everyone looked in his direction, "your words cut deeper than a sword," he said and looked over towards Naruto, he had tears welling in his eyes but never let them fall,
"Zabuza," Haku whispered,
"As shinobi, we prided ourselves on being emotionless, but we seem to forget that we are still human," Zabuza whispered into the brisk air, "Boy, give me your kunai," he motioned to Naruto and Naruto threw him a kunai. It spun in the air and Zabuza caught it with his mouth and dashed forwards,
"I'll assist you," Haku said and was about to run after Zabuza but fell over unconscious,
"I'm sorry, I didn't just risk my life for you to get yourself killed," a feminine voiced said and everyone stopped and looked to where it came from. Lucy was there kneeling on the ground with her arm extended, Haku was laying in front of her with two needles sticking out of his neck. A green glow was surrounding Lucy's stomach and she breathed out a sigh of relief when it stopped, "it took a lot longer to stop the bleeding than I thought, I'm sorry if I worried everyone," She said sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head feeling guilty,
"Lucy," the three Genin shouted and ran forwards to hug her, Sakura was crying into her chest and Sasuke and Naruto had a hold of her arms, Kakashi fell to his knees in relief. He was breathing deeply and looking at his hands.
"Hey, don't cry Sakura I'm okay, I'm completely out of chakra but I'm okay," Lucy cooed as she pats Sakura on the head. She felt both Sasuke's and Naruto's hands shake slightly and smiled softly before placing a hand behind both of the boy's heads and brought them to rest on her shoulders, "what you didn't think that I would do that without a back up plan did you?" she asked them all softly, "I love both of you boys like family," with that they all let go of her just as Zabuza was finishing up his fight, he had spears coming out of his back and blood dripping all over him, not all his own.
Zabuza fell onto his back and stared at the sky, Gato's headless body not too far from him. The rest of Gato's army started to get riled up though, "Did you forget about us? You ninja killed our meal ticket and now you're gonna pay," they shouted and everyone looked towards them, "The only way for us to break even is to take straight from the villagers," another yelled and the rest agreed with him. They all started to charge towards them,
"well this isn't good," Kakashi said as he stood up,
"Kakashi-Sensei isn't there some jutsu you could use to deal with them all?" Naruto asked,
"even if there was, I'm out of chakra," He replied, suddenly an arrow landed between the mob and the ninja,
"Stop right there," yelled out a tiny voice and they all looked up to see Inari holding a tiny bow shooter and behind him were all the men that Lucy had seen working on the bridge plus some from the market,
"This island is our home, one step further and you'll die where you stand," they all yelled out,
"Inari," Naruto shouted in excitement,
"hah, the hero always shows up at the last moment," Inari laughed and Lucy couldn't help but sweatdrop at his words.
"Alright, mind if I join you?" Naruto said and performed the shadow clone jutsu, making three solid clones,
'I can't manage anything with my chakra so low but a bluff maybe,' Kakashi thought to himself and made about fifty illusional clones of himself, the mob started to look scared when a golden glow came from in front of Lucy,
"Hey there beautiful, don't worry I came here on my own power," Loke said as he adjusted his suit and made his hands glow gold,
"Loke," Lucy shouted excitingly, Sakura got hearts in her eyes as she looked towards Loke. The mob started to scream,
"shall we begin?" Kakashi said and they all started to run away, the villagers started to cheer. Naruto and Kakashi dropped their jutsus, Loke knelt down in front of Lucy,
"That was a close call princess if you hadn't released the chakra that you had stored up before you got hit you probably would have bled out," he said to her and Lucy looked away. Kakashi walked over to Zabuza,
"I'm sorry that I worried you," Lucy said and hugged him before he went back to the spirit world, Sakura still had a blush on her face as she looked at where Loke used to be standing. Kakashi had brought Zabuza over to where Haku was laying passed out and beckoned Lucy over to him, walking over she couldn't help but feel sad at the thought of Zabuza dying,
"girl, take the boy with you," he rasped out as he looked towards Haku,
"What?" she asked him, she knew what he meant but she was still confused as to why he was saying that to her,
"Take him with you, he'll listen to you," Zabuza coughed out some blood, "He'll follow you and want to protect you, give him a better life than I did," Lucy couldn't help but agree,
"Okay," was all she said before Zabuza closed his eyes. Lucy sighed out as she turned back towards Haku wondering what she was going to tell him, "We should go back," Lucy said but her head snapped to the side, she heard Sakura gasp and almost let one out herself but all she did was blink. After a moment she placed her hand on her cheek and turned back to face the one who hit her, to face Kakashi with her eyes wide, everyone was silent.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he shouted and started to breathe heavily in anger, Lucy didn't answer him because she honestly didn't know how to, "How could you do that to me?" he asked her and his voice cracked. He swallowed deeply and Lucy just looked down, she knew about Rin and she knew what this might do to him but all she thought about was saving Haku at the time,
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't know what else to do," she practically whimpered, he grabbed her by the shoulders firmly but gently,
"Don't you ever do that again," he said lowly, leaving no room for argument and Lucy could do nothing but nod her head, "no I want you to promise me," he said because he knew that she would never break a promise,
"I promise," was all she whispered and Kakashi let go of her and turned walking towards where Haku was lying before lifting him up on his shoulders and started heading in the direction of Tazuna's house. Everyone else started to follow him, still silent; Lucy had her head down the entire way back.
Time Skip
It had been two weeks since the incident on the bridge, everyone including Haku was standing in front of a grave that they had made for Zabuza, they felt like he deserved a proper send off. Kakashi still wasn't speaking to Lucy, they still shared to the same room but they were now on opposite sides. Kakashi had moved his bedding over to the window once they had gotten back to Tazuna's that day when Lucy had retired for the night and saw where Kakashi was set up she almost felt like crying. She was hoping to try and make it up to him that night but it seemed that he wanted space. On the up-side Lucy and Sakura have gotten closer to one another, they talked about clothes and books, it was a nice change. Lucy didn't have many girlfriends in the village, except for Anko and Kurenai but they didn't really count they were more like mentors. Haku and herself had also grown quite close and he had agreed to go back to the Leaf village with them, despite the fact that he would have to be taken in for extreme questioning. His reasoning was that he owed Lucy a life debt and wouldn't take no for an answer, despite all of her protests.
"Ow," Naruto yelled out and clutched his hand to his chest,
"You don't take food from an offering Naruto," Sakura scolded, "Bad things happen to those who take offerings,"
"She's not wrong Naruto," Lucy said, "You could be risking punishment from the gods," she said teasingly, "Although I don't think this is something that they would concern themselves with,"
"Still, I can't help but wonder, was Zabuza right about what a ninja should be?" Sakura asked Haku looked at her silently,
"I shinobi should never wonder about the reason for his or her own existence, it is important merely that we exist as a tool for our villages to use in whatever way they need. That's as true for us in the Leaf as it is for ninja elsewhere," Kakashi responded to her and Lucy crinkled her nose,
"I've never like that saying, a village should be like a family in my opinion," she added in and crossed her arms, Kakashi ignored her like he has been for the last two weeks while everyone was recovering,
"Yeah I agree, I don't like the sound of that one bit, is that really how you feel Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said weighing in,
"Well no and that's why all we ninja live our lives with that ideal always lying underneath the surface. Disturbing our minds, as it did with Zabuza," Kakashi said to him, Haku looked towards where the large sword was stuck in the ground.
"That's it I've made up my mind, I am going to create my own nindo, my own ninja way," Haku and Kakashi looked at Naruto in surprise and smiled.
Later that day everyone was standing at the entrance of the bridge, Tazuna was saying his thanks to them while Inari stood in front of him and Tsunami stood by his side, "We've enjoyed your hospitality," Kakashi thanked respectfully,
"No problem Tazuna, we'll come back to see you again soon," Naruto said with a closed-eyed grin,
"You better," Inari replied tearfully, Naruto also got tears in his eyes as he stared at Inari,
"Inari, don't let it get you down. It's okay to cry if you really want to, you know,"
"I'm not gonna cry but Naruto, hey Big Brother, y-you can cry if you want to, go ahead,"
"Me? No way," Naruto said and finally turned around, "See you," Naruto started to let his tears run down his face, as did Inari. Lucy sweatdropped at them while Sakura only pulled an annoyed face at Naruto, "All right, let's go home. Iruka-sensei is going to take me out for ramen to celebrate the completion of this mission, you coming along Lucy?" Naruto excitedly exclaimed as they walked over the bridge,
"Iruka paying?" Lucy asked teasingly,
"Of course," Naruto laughed,
"I'm in,"
"Sasuke, when we get back do you want to go out with me?" Sakura asked,
"No," Sasuke said plainly and Sakura looked down in disappointment,
"How about you both come with Naruto and me for ramen, Iruka's treat," Lucy said and Sakura was about to deny the offer but Sasuke agreed to go and she excitedly said yes as well. It only took the day to get back to the Hidden Leaf and Haku got taken away almost as soon as they arrived, Lucy has been going to see him in the TI unit every day to make sure that he was okay and it only took a week until Lucy could finally convince the Hokage to let him live in an apartment that was part way between Naruto's and Kakashi's place, under the condition that herself and Haku form a two-man squad. Albeit it wasn't a very good apartment but one visit from a couple of her spirits and it seemed to be liveable. Kakashi still wouldn't talk to her though, wouldn't even be in the same room as her. Lucy wouldn't be surprised if one day she came back from training to find bags of her stuff on the front porch, which is why she went to speak with Gai,
"So, my rival won't speak to you huh?" he asked as they both sat down in a booth at the BBQ restaurant,
"It's been almost a month Gai, no matter what I do he seems to avoid me, I even tried breaking down his door and he jumped out of the window," Lucy said as she stirred her straw that was residing in her lemonade that she hasn't had a drink of yet,
"That is quite the predicament, as expected from my rival to escape at every turn," he said excitingly but calmed down once he saw the look on Lucy's face,
"I don't know what to do anymore, you know how Kakashi is. Stubborn isn't exactly new to him," Lucy said disheartened, she sighed as she continued to stir her straw,
"you do seem to be in quite a bind," he took a bite out of his beef burger,
"I just need to know if he's alright, can you just check on him for me?" she asked him hopefully and Gai paused for a second,
'The situation must be worse than I thought if Lucy has to ask someone else to tell her if he's okay, just how is he avoiding her if they live together?' Gai thought to himself before he smiled a big toothy grin at her and gave her a thumbs up, "Just leave it to me my youthful little flower," he shouted and she smiled up at him before taking a sip from her lemonade. They talked about his Genin team's progression and his plans to admit them to the Chunin exams this year. Lucy talked about Haku and her individual training with the rookie 9.
Time Skip
"My eternal rival, how are we on this youthful day?" Gai asked later that day as he came skidding to a stop beside Kakashi who was walking along quietly with his head stuck in a book, Kakashi sighed and lifted his head to acknowledge that Gai spoke,
"I don't want to do a challenge today Gai," he said in a droll tone of voice,
"Luckily that is not why I'm here, we have yet to speak since you got back from that mission you took with your ever youthful students," Gai said and smiled, the sun glaring off of his enlarged teeth. Kakashi looked at him suspiciously,
"Lucy sent you here didn't she?" He asked bluntly and Gai's shoulders drooped down, "I'll take that as a yes,"
"She just wants to know how you're doing," Gai said now completely serious, Kakashi ignored him and kept walking, "I don't know what's going on between you two but you can't avoid her forever, you live together," Gai pointed out. Kakashi stopped walking but didn't look up from his book, "she's really worried about you and honestly, after she told the lengths you go to just to evade her presence so am I,"
"It's not that bad," Kakashi said in denial,
"You jumped out of a window," Gai stated bluntly and Kakashi's shoulders dropped, "What the hell happened to make you hate her so much?" Gai asked,
"I don't hate her,"
"Then why did Lucy come to me after it looked like she'd been crying?"
"She was crying?" Kakashi whispered and ran a hand through his silver, spiky hair. Kakashi sat down on a stool at the nearby bar and put his forehead to the bar countertop, "something happened on that mission that Lucy and I took with the Genins," Kakashi started and told him everything that happened on the bridge.
"So you're avoiding her because you hurt her?" Gai asked him after he finished explaining, Kakashi nod his head, nursing his beer, "Kakashi, don't take this the wrong way but are you an idiot?" Gai yelled at him and Kakashi jumped slightly in surprise,
"How am I not suppose to take that the wrong way?" Kakashi whispered and Gai either ignore him or didn't hear him.
"What the hell is wrong with you? The first thing you do after she wakes up is hit her then you ignore her existence for nearly a month, all the while she's crying about you hating her and is scared you're never going to be in the same room as her again," Gai started rant before Kakashi cut him off,
"So then what am I suppose to do?" He asked in frustration,
"Talk to her," Gai said almost instantly, "and people say I'm clueless," Gai grumbled and took a mouthful of his beer, emotionally drained. Gai loved to help his friends out but sometimes when it came to Kakashi and his relationships with other people, he could be so clueless.
"What if she hates me or worse, afraid of me?" Kakashi asked him, "I was so overwhelmed and angry that I hit her, I hit her Gai. After I made her promise not to jump in front of that jutsu again I looked at her cheek and it was already starting to bruise. How was I suppose to react to that? I hit her." Kakashi said and once again put his forehead on the bar countertop,
"So you crawl to her on your knees with strawberry offerings and ask her to forgive you," a feminine voice said from behind them and they turned to see Kurenai and Asuma, "if she does and because it's Lucy, she will, you swear on your very being that you won't do it again because once word gets out to Ibiki what happened he's going to torture you for information that he already knows," Kurenai said with a smile on her face. Asuma sweatdropped at her sweet smile but nodded in agreement with her anyway. Kakashi nodded his head but still looked down feeling guilt.
Kakashi was walking home with the conversation he had with Gai still at the front of his mind, wondering if he was right. 'It doesn't matter how close Lucy and I get, he still knows how to make her feel better more than I do,' Kakashi thought to himself depressed. Once he arrived back at the house it was silent, like it had been since they had gotten back from the land of waves. Lucy usually left him alone until dinner was ready, she always tried to talk to him when she went to tell him that food was ready. Kakashi never answered her though, 'this time is going to be different, when she tries to talk to me I'll answer her,' Kakashi thought to himself, or at least that's what he thought. When dinner finally came around Kakashi was pacing back and forth in his room trying to figure out what to say when he heard Lucy come up the stairs and took a deep breath. Lucy paused in front of his bedroom door and he waited for her to knock but after a few seconds, he heard her sigh on the other side of the door before she continued walking down the hall. Kakashi was frozen staring at the door, he didn't know what to do, 'should I go to her? How would I even begin?' He thought in panic, 'maybe I should just corner her in the morning, Gai said that she had a long day I should let her sleep,' and with that Kakashi went to bed still thinking about what he was going to say tomorrow.
The next day Lucy got up rather early and headed to the training grounds to meet up with Haku, they had their very first mission together as a team. Although the Hokage had said that Haku was to take the required amount of missions before they were allowed to take the Chunin exams, they were both above a Genin level so the Hokage wasn't concerned about them having a third member to enter.
"Haku you ready?" Lucy called out as she came upon Haku waiting for her at the entrance of the training grounds, he nodded his head softly and together they both walked to the Hokages office to get a handful of Genin missions.
"So, what do these missions actually allow Genin's to accomplish? There are no shinobi skills required for these chores," Haku asked her as they pulled weeds out of an elderly ladies garden,
"it actually does more than you'd think, it mainly teaches them how to communicate with clients and deal with the social aspect of missions. You don't learn this in the academy nor out in the field, the Hokage made this a part of the Genin curriculum for their Jonin instructors to follow as well as teaching them formations, chakra control and combat skills that they then can later develop as their own. People usually figure out the best way for them to fight once they enter the Chunin exams because they no longer have their sensei's to hold their hand," Lucy explained to him in technical terms so that he would understand the benefit of these missions, what she didn't tell him though was that these missions were also a way for the villagers to get used to and maybe even like Haku, although, he probably already knew, "When we're done with these do you want to go through some drills and work out some combinations we can do?"
"That might be a good idea, we've never fought together before," After they were finished with all of their mission they were on their way to the training grounds when Lucy saw Konohamaru being picked up by a boy wearing all black with white make-up on his face, Naruto was standing in front of them with an angry look, Sakura was behind him sweating, looking nervous and two little kids were hiding behind her.
"You go ahead Haku, I'll handle this," Lucy said and started making her way over, Haku nodded his head in recognition and started to walk towards the training grounds. Naruto started to charge at the foreign ninja only to trip over, Lucy narrowed her eyes before jumping in front of Naruto.
"Who's the babe?" the foreign ninja asked smugly,
"Lucy," Sakura shouted excitedly,
"You keep your mouth shut about her," Naruto yelled,
"Whatever," he said and turned back towards Konohamaru,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lucy said and both him and the blonde-haired girl behind looked towards her,"Oh, whys that cutie?" the boy holding Konohamaru asked her,
"well, I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to go into someone else's village and start picking on their Kage's grandson," Lucy stated like it was obvious and the guy paused before looking at Konohamaru fearfully before slowly lowering him to the ground and turned to glare at the rest of them. Konohamaru ran towards Lucy and hid behind her, hugging her leg. The guy tsked and started to reach behind him,
"You're seriously using crow for this?" the blonde-haired girl asked, then rock hit the hand that was reaching towards his back,
"What are people like you doing in our village?" Everyone looked towards where the voice came from and saw Sasuke sitting up in the tree above them,
"so cool, Sasuke," Sakura praised, the other blonde girl blushed as she looked at him and Lucy only sighed,
"Another brat, I hate guys like you the most," the unknown boy said,
"Get lost," was Sasuke's only reply,
"Naruto, compared to that guy and my future bride you suck," Konohamaru declared and Lucy blushed slightly as Naruto tried to defend himself,
"Kankuro, stop causing trouble," a raspy voice said from higher up in the tree and everyone turned to see a red-haired guy with a humungous gourd on his back, standing on a tree branch upside down, "you're a disgrace to our entire village,"
"G-gaara," Kankuro stuttered,
"Have you forgotten why we are here," Gaara said, still upside down, Sasuke had tensed from his place in the tree below him,
"Ah, so you were the one hiding behind Sasuke," Lucy said, "Keep your teammates in line please, this one threatened the Hokage's grandson," she said pointing at Kankuro,
"th-they started it, the boy slammed into me," Kankuro stuttered as Lucy placed the blame on him,
"Shut up, or I'll kill you," Gaara said seriously to Kankuro, Kankuro started to excuse himself and apologise to Gaara as Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared between Kankuro and the blonde-haired girl, "Let's go," as they started to walk away Sakura stopped them,
"according to your headbands, you three come from the village hidden in the sand. State your business, we can't just let you go on your way," Sakura demanded,
"Calm down Sakura, they have permission to be here. The leaf village is hosting the Chunin exams this year and they start at the end on the week," Lucy said and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, the female ninja from the sand village started to explain to Naruto who had a confused look on his face,
"Hey, what's you're name?" Sasuke asked as he appeared besides Lucy and in front of Sakura,
"who me?" the blonde girl blushed,
"No, the one with the gourd on his back," the blonde girl hunched her shoulders in disappointment,
"Gaara of the desert and you are?" he said and asked in return,
"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said with a smirk and Gaara looked towards Lucy,
"and yours?" Sasuke stopped smirking and walked to stand in front of Lucy,
"Sasuke that's rude, I am Lucy Heartfilia," Lucy said and smiled towards Gaara and Gaara's eyes widened slightly before Naruto interrupted,
"Hey, I bet you're just dying to know my name," he said with a huge grin,
"No, lets go," and with that the sand ninja teleported away. While the others were talking amongst themselves Lucy tensed and turned towards the tree with her dojutsu activated and glared. Before turning around and walking in the direction that Haku went to catch up with him.
AN: Okay I know this is a bit shorter than usual but just bear with me! I'll have another one out soon, I know exactly how I want it to turn out it's just a matter of actually writing it. but hey I've finally made it to the Chunin exams! isn't it exciting, for a second I thought I was never going to get here. Anyway bye for now and remember to vote for the title change and dojutsu name. Every vote counts.