Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Competition ❯ By the Lakeside ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Competitions 1/?

Author: DarkZero180

Author's E-mail: Dark_zero180@yahoo.com

Rating: PG-13

Warning: AU, Slight OOC

Summary: Stuck between lovers Torn between fighting

The stakes are high when you're Naruto Uzumaki

 

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing a fan fiction story. Hope you enjoy it.

 

*bold* Sakura's inner self

 

Beta'd by: DarkMisstical

 

Feedback welcomed and appreciated

 

Chapter One: By the lake side

 

The rising sun shined through the open window of one Naruto Uzumaki. His eyelids twitched open as he sat up. He removed his penguin head cover and ruffled his yellowish blonde hair.

 

“Another gorgeous day in the land of Konohagakure,” he mumbled yawning.

 

He swung his feet over his bed, got up, and groggily wandered over to the fridge. Half way there he tripped and rolled until he crashed into the fridge. “Stupid holes in the stupid floor,” he said getting up and rubbing his aching head. From the looks of things, he lived in a one room apartment with a bathroom, an extremely small living room, and a kitchen. There were holes in the ceiling and some in the floor, moss was abundant, and he had a very serious case of roaches that sometimes ate his food. But, to him this place was better than no place. Besides, it was all he could afford with the money the fifth Hokage gave him.

 

“Jeez, these stupid mornings start way to early,” he moaned. He opened the fridge door hopping to see a cup of ramen. No such luck. Pulling out some slightly stale milk and some cold toast he sat the plate down with a clunk on the table and ate in silence wondering what he was going to do today. “Boy, great breakfast he thought with a burp. Would have been even better if I had had any ramen left but what the hell, I should be happy I even have any food. Now, let's see here…today, what's on the schedule for today. Oh yea…yesterday I had three bowls of miso ramen so this time I think I'll take one of everything on the menu.”

 

He dressed inhis usual orange jumpsuit and put on his goggles. He then placed his shuriken throwers and kunai knives in a small rectangular black box on his right thigh. One of the most important things for a Shinobi was to never let your guard down and always carry your ninja stars. He then raced to the door with nothing on his mind but ramen. He had just grabbed the doorknob only to be thrown back when it was kicked open. “Dammit!” He got up clutching his nose as someone walked in through the opening. It was a man, a rather short and fat one at that. He clutched an envelope in his pudgy right hand. “Is your name…uh…” He checked the letter. “Oh, is your name Uzumaki Naruto?”

 

“Depends. And what're you doing bursting through the door of my house? Who are you?!” Naruto yelled balling up his fists.

 

“If you can call this dinky place a house,” the man said taking a seat at Naruto's table. “Oh my, you only had toast and milk? Eww, stale milk at that.”

 

“Listen here fatty--“ He stopped as a gurgling sound regurgitated throughout his home. He clutched his stomach leaning over with a strained look on his face. As sweat glistened on his face he held up a finger and squeaked, “Hold on, don't go anywhere…be right back!” A second later he dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door closed. After some horrible sploshing and squishing sounds that made the fat man cringe with disgust Naruto walked out patting his stomach and breathing a little harder than normal. “Now, where was I? Oh yeah…listen here fatty, I don't know who the hell you are but if you don't get out of here in the next five minutes your cheek is gonna meet my fist!”

 

“I do hope you mean my face. You aren't gay are you?” The man asked raising an eyebrow. “And another thing, that's what happens when you drink expired milk, brat.”

 

A vein in Naruto's temple began throbbing. “That does it!” He charged the man swinging his fist. With surprising agility the man sidestepped and grabbed Naruto's fist flipping him onto the ground smack dab on his back. He moaned as the wind was knocked out of him.

 

“Let's try to be a little bit more calm shall we? I'm not here to fight you I've been asked to give this invitation,” The man dropped the letter in his hand onto Naruto's pumping stomach. “If you agree to the standards discussed in the pamphlet meet at the designated place at the allotted time.” With that the man bowed, made about two hand seals, and then disappeared in a shroud of dust.

 

Naruto just lay there on his back staring out his open door. The letter was resting upon his stomach. “Now what the heck was that about. Some fat dude bustin' through my door, decks me one, then disappears.” He got up and opened the letter expecting an eviction notice or something of the sort. He was thoroughly surprised by the contents.

 

It read:

To the one called Uzumaki Naruto. You have been accepted to partake in a mission of the utmost importance. You were selected because of the strong will and power you harbor deep inside of you. If you accept this invitation the meeting day will be Saturday and the Place will be the entrance gate to Konohagakure.

 

He read and reread the letter with his smile growing bigger and bigger with each pass. He ran over to his calendar to check the day. With a groan he saw that it was Tuesday. “Dang! Son of a…they would send me somethin' like this and try my patience by making me wait! I can't believe they're gonna let me do this without having become a Shinobi of the village. Kick-ass! By meeting at gate of Konohagakure they're almost giving away that we'll be leaving! Cool, my first time leaving this stinking village in thirteen years!” Then something clicked in his head as an evil grin spread across his face. “This is one thing that that fool Sasuke won't have over me! I can't wait to get to school so I can…” It was then that he realized how much time he had wasted. He turned around slowly to look at the clock as a feeling of dread washed over him. School didn't start until eight and his clock was reading 8:28…

 

“I'm late!” He screamed dashing out the door almost forgetting to lock it. “Shoot! Master Iruka's gonna be so mad! I'm so screwed!” He leapt from building top to building top in his hurry to get to school. Along the way he slipped and fell into a gutter. “Damn!” He got up quickly and continued.

 

He dashed through the streets; not daring to skip across buildings again. The sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. His school came into view. It looked like a castle overlooking the village. He kicked it into high-gear as the school bell sounded throughout the area.

 

Minutes later Naruto kicked open the door then leaned against the doorframe panting. He looked around the room and saw his classmates staring at him. Some of them shook their heads while others muttered, “Idiot…always late.” Then he spotted Master Iruka. He had put down the piece of chalk he was using to scribble something on the board. Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned. “Yo, teach. Sorry about my lateness but something strange happened this morning and--“ He was interrupted when Iruka grabbed him by the ear. Next thing he knew he was tied up and placed in the front of the class facing Master Iruka. While he screamed and shouted, Naruto looked away with his bottom lip poking out in a defiant way.

 

“Always late, Naruto. Can't you ever be on time? Argh, you're such a headache sometimes, I swear. At any rate, tomorrow all your classmates will pass the final and graduate from the ninja academy, everyone except you!” Iruka yelled spraying Naruto with spittle. “The last couple of days your grades have been terrible! Just yesterday you befouled the faces of the Hokages, and in paint no less! Now is not the time for you stupid half-baked schemes, you idiot!”

 

“Sir, yes sir!” Naruto said sarcastically.

 

“Rrrrrr…brat.” Master Iruka untied Naruto and told him to take his seat. “Go take your seat.” Naruto sat next to his would-be girl Haruno Sakura, a long pink haired beauty wearing a one piece red dress with pink flowers stitched into it, who sat next to her would-be boy Uchiha Sasuke, a cold spiky black haired genius of the arts wearing a dark blue shirt with clean white shorts. “Now, there will be a competition going on in four days time. No doubt the letters were passed out.”

 

Naruto looked around and saw that no one had raised their hand. “I DID! I GOT AN INVITE!” He yelled happily thrusting his hand into the air. He then turned to the raven haired boy sitting across from him. “Lemme see you beat that, Uchiha!”

 

Instead of answering Sasuke merely grunted into his hands. “Dunce…”

 

“What? What'd you call me?” Naruto yelled standing up.

 

“Naruto! Sit down!” Iruka yelled throwing a piece of chalk. It hit Naruto right in the forehead knocking him over with a thud. Climbing shakily back into his seat Naruto looked at Master Iruka who said, “Maybe if you would've read your letter you would know you weren't supposed to answer that question!”

 

Naruto stared wide-eyed at his sensei. “Then…then why did you ask?!”

 

“I didn't ask. All I said was that there was no doubt that you got the letters,” Iruka replied stiffly.

 

Naruto's fellow classmates laughed and pointed. Feeling thoroughly embarrassed Naruto sat down allowing his head to fall on the table with a resounding clunk. As a result he suffered an aching knot.

 

“As I was saying before that interruption, we shall be splitting people up according to how they do on Saturday.”

 

Sakura threw her hand into the air. “Splitting us up for what?” She asked as Iruka nodded at her.

 

“Ah, for that answer you'll have to wait until Saturday,” Iruka stated putting two fingers to his lips while smiling at Sakura's confused look. “Now, no one without a hitai-ate will be permitted to attend the matters on Saturday. Your final exams will take place tomorrow at nine o'clock…sharp,” he added cutting his eye at Naruto who stuck out his tongue. Ignoring this he said, “Anyone who's even a second late will fail and won't get to participate, that even goes for you Naruto!”

 

Naruto went wide-eyed as he made a mental note to get an alarm clock. “Jeez, just my freaking luck! Up yours Iruka!” Naruto shouted holding up both his middle fingers.

 

Master Iruka sneered as he said calmly, “Just for that outburst…today's lesson will be strengthening our chakra by walking across the lake!”

 

“Whaat?!” The class exploded in protest shouting and yelling.

 

Iruka held up his hand and silence fell, though some continued to mumble. “You can all thank Naruto for this. What I originally had planned were simple conjuration tests.” This caused several of Naruto's classmates to give him the look. The look that everyone gave him, like all they could see was a screw-up and trouble maker inside of him. “Okay class…to the lake! Chop-chop!”

 

“Ah, you're just out to make my life a livin' hell ain't cha?” Naruto yelled as he got up.

 

“You just won't shut-up will you moron? Your big mouth just landed you a special exercise,” Iruka said opening the door.

 

Groaning and continuously throwing angry looks at Naruto they followed their sensei out of the building and down to the woods. They walked for about ten minutes before a clearing was seen. They stopped at the edge of the lake looking out into it. The fish were bountiful in this bank and among fishmongers this was a haunt for fishermen. The lake was sky blue and shivered at the light breeze. The sun shone through the clearing in the trees making the water look like shimmering crystals. Naruto peeked into the lake and saw his reflection. He was bonier than he realized.

 

“Guess I need to eat more ramen,” he said licking his lips. “Boy I can't wait.”

 

Iruka shook his head pitifully and said, “Keep your mind on your schoolwork instead of your stomach glutton.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto said absentmindedly. His thoughts were at his noodle stand and him ordering one of everything on the menu. He began counting down the different types of noodles he was going to have. “Ramen, miso ramen, pork ramen, shrimp ramen, chicken ramen, teriyaki ramen…” Without even realizing it he was drooling. Sakura smacked him over the head saying, “Gross Naruto!”

 

“Ignoring the idiot,” Iruka said with a sigh, “when you complete this exercise and get your grade you are free to leave. Remember…nine o'clock sharp. Now, let's begin. Starting off is Uchiha Sasuke!” Sasuke stepped forward with his hands comfortably in his pockets. “First thing to do Sasuke, is to channel your chakra to your feet to create a balance so you can place your foot on the water without sinking. Sasuke rolled his eyes under his eyelids.

 

“I don't need you to tell me what to do,” he muttered darkly while concentrating.

 

Iruka tapped his clipboard with his pen. “Uh, yeah you do, otherwise I wouldn't be saying it.”

 

Sasuke resisted the temptation to argue any further on the subject. He didn't need to be told how to concentrate considering he had the tops in the school. He sighed relaxing his muscles and relieving himself of tension.

 

“Anytime now Mister, Uchiha. While we're young,” Iruka said checking his watch. Naruto smiled looking up at Iruka with new found respect. He had never seen him criticize Sasuke before.

 

“I think that would apply to the students. Sensei.” He added emphasis on that last word as he cut his eye at Iruka. Iruka remained quiet, determined not to dock any points from his total score. A satisfied grin appeared over Sasuke's face as he set one foot over the water. Then came the other and just like that he was standing on top of the water with the fish swimming about their way beneath him. He walked across the water like he was taking a stroll through the park. He made it to the other side with relative ease. Turning around he glared at Iruka who begrudgingly said, “Uchiha Sasuke! Pass!”

 

`Oh yeah! Sasuke's da bomb! He did that without even breaking a sweat!' Inner Sakura shouted throwing her fists in the air. “Great job Sasuke!” Sakura said waving. Her would-be way to attract Sasuke's attention caught the eye of Ino. “Sakura…you damn brown-noser,” she said growling.

 

“Ya snooze, ya lose you pig,” Sakura whispered out the corner of her mouth. She continued to wave and practically fainted when Sasuke returned the friendly gesture. That had to be a first.`Yeah! Score one for Sakura!' Inner Sakura whooped happily.

 

Ino resisted the temptation to grab Sakura and choke the crap out of her. Ino has blond hair like Naruto but hers was more of a whitish color. She lets a strand of hair hang down in the front of her face as a bang. She wore a purple chest-high tunic; she had wrapped bandages around her stomach and waist. Below that she was wearing a purple skirt with slits up both sides but anyone who was perverted and tried to peek would be thoroughly disappointed. The bandages covering her waist were also used to cover her all the way down to her thighs.

 

With a nod Sasuke turned around, raised a hand as if waving good-bye and soon vanished into the thicket of the woods. The birds flew away up ahead signaling his location. “That's one jag-off that's taken care off,” Iruka said thankful for Sasuke's immediate departure. He turned his attention to his clipboard. “Next up is…Nara Shikamaru. Front and center!”

 

A scrawny looking boy with black hair tied into a spiky ponytail stepped forward. He wore a white shirt with the words Shinobi life…just what the hell is a shinobi's life? That was covered by a light green chest high vest that was left open. He wore ankle high brown pants and always kept his hands in his pockets. He had a gold earring in his left ear. His face was always in a scowl to match his personality of thinking everything was trivial and a waste of time. As he walked past Naruto he elbowed him in the side.

 

“This is all your fault that we're doing this stupid pain in the neck assignment,” he muttered.

 

“Blow me,” Naruto said as Shikamaru stepped up to the edge of the river.

 

Iruka held out his hand signaling his start. “You know the drill.”

 

“Dammit…this sucks,” he sighed removing his hands from his pockets. He put them together and closed his eyes in deep concentration. Blue strife's of chakra started gathering at his feet as he grunted, struggling to summon it to his feet. His heart began beating fast against his chest.

 

“When you're ready,” Iruka said. He said this in a patient tone unlike the one he used against Sasuke.

 

Shikamaru's eyes snapped open as he set one foot over the water. It surrounded his foot making him pull back.

 

A classic anime sweat drop appeared on Iruka. `All that preparing and gathering of chakra and he still botches it up. I don't think even Naruto could do that' he thought with a sigh.

 

“Give it up, Shikamaru,” Kiba said putting a hand up to his mouth to stifle his laughter. Naruto eyed Kiba with the utmost disliking. He never did like him. Kiba was a lazy good-for-nothing who always tried to throw his weight around by talking down to people. His full name was Inuzuka Kiba. He had two rectangular red patches; one on each cheek. He wore a grey hoody with fur running along the outer rim of the hood making it look he had a huge mane of black hair. Black ankle high pants covered his slender legs. He's best friend is a little furry white dog, named Akamaru, that he found when he was a child. They never parted and always went everywhere together. One of Akamaru's favorite places to lounge around was perched upon Kiba's head on top of his hood.

“Shut-up Kiba.” Shikamaru once again joined his hands and went into deep focus trying to reach his untapped Chakra. Finally, after his third time of failing Shikamaru lost it and took one step over the lake. His foot didn't sink this time, instead it was perfectly placed on top of the surface. But unfortunately, Shikamaru didn't notice this. While putting his other foot on the water's surface he growled, “This…is…so…stupid!” With that he stomped across the water muttering curses to himself. On his way he even kicked a fish out of the water and straight into a tree on the opposite side. His peers watched in utter amazement as Shikamaru reached the other side of the lake. It was then that he seemed to come out of his ranting rampage. He slowly turned around and saw that he had made it. His eyes met with Iruka's as he wrote something down on his clip clipboard. “Nara Shikamaru…you passed! But barely. Had to deduct some points for fish kicking,” Iruka added smiling. Replacing his hand in his pockets Shikamaru turned to Kiba throwing him a smug look that read “Ha! Shut you up!” He then did an about face and disappeared just like Sasuke had done.

 

Kiba just stared as Shikamaru vanished. “Son of a bi--“

 

“Hey, easy on the language,” Ino said shoving Kiba. “This story is rated teen.”

 

Kiba stared at her bouncing chest then looked up at the sky. “Yeah, for teens. Riiiiight.”

 

“And just what's that supposed to mean?” Ino asked raising an eyebrow. She had missed him ogling her. Naruto on the other hand saw Kiba and what his perverted eyes saw. He blushed but turned his head trying to hide it.

 

“Nothing…absolutely nothing,” Kiba muttered shaking his head.

 

Before Ino could question any further a loud rumbling filled the area and Naruto fell flat on his rear. “Oh my God…I'm so hungry!” He whined rubbing his gut.

 

Ino looked at Naruto with disgust…then her expression became soft as she gazed into his cerulean blue eyes. He really did have some astonishingly blue eyes. `Wait, why am I thinking about that?' she shook her head free of these thoughts, though her cheeks were a light shade of red.

 

Naruto gazed at Ino wondering why she was staring at him like that. `Is she blushing at me? What is the matter with her?' He thought as his stomach lurched as if attempting to eat itself.

 

Ino remembered that she had brought a pop-tart with her for lunchtime. She checked her watch and noticed it was at 12 o'clock. “Master Iruka…may we take a break? It's lunch time.”

 

Iruka looked surprised. Apparently he had forgotten about the time as well and looked rather flustered. He checked the band around his arm and went wide-eyed. “Whoa…um, okay. I assume all of you have brought your lunches?” Everyone raised their hands except Naruto who hung his head. “Good God, Naruto. Well, let's hope some of your classmates share theirs with you. Don't get your hopes up, though,” Iruka said checking how much money he had. “Listen class, I'll be right back. Take a break, eat lunch, and thank Ino that you're getting' this R&R time `cause none of us even bothered to check the time. Consider this a picnic of the sorts. Now behave.” With that he leapt into the trees and was soon hopping from branch to branch until he was out of sight.

 

After everyone graciously thanked Ino they plopped down on the ground and began pulling food from their pockets. They broke into at least five groups of people sitting in a circle. Naruto flopped down with his stomach aching joining the one consisting of Sakura (naturally), Ino, Kiba, a fat porker named Akimichi Choji who's constantly stuffing his face, a shy little blue haired girl with ear tails named Hyuga Hinata, and some dude dubbed Aburame Shino who was best friends with Kiba.

 

Choji was as tall as Naruto and greatly wider than him. He had painted little swirls of red on his cheeks and had an earring in each ear. He wore a scarf to conceal his lack of a neck. He wore a green short-sleeved shirt with bandages wrapped from his elbows to his hands. The piece of scarf hanging in front of him had a tattoo on it that meant “Food”. He wore brown trousers and amazingly his legs weren't fat or lacking of muscle; they were instead built. Like Kiba never without his dog, Akamaru, Choji was never without his food and snacks. He pulled out at least 50 different types of food.

 

Hinata could be described as a world-class spaz. The wholes of her eyes were a creepy white that Naruto tried to avoid which was hard as she kept trying to make him look at her. She had a major crush on him but Naruto, who only had eyes for Sakura, was oblivious to that fact. She wore nothing worth mentioning beside a hoody kind of like the one Kiba wears, except hers didn't have a zipper. She was always seen twiddling her fingers and gazing at Naruto from afar, never going near him and crushing from a distance. She wasn't bad looking or nothing like that, it was just that she's so shy and quiet and she never shows off what little sex appeal she does have unlike Ino and Sakura who would go around naked for Sasuke if he asked.

 

Shino was the silent type, much like Sasuke but he wasn't cold or nothing, just that there was no one he liked to talk to besides Kiba. He also wore a jacket like Hinata and Kiba except the neck of it comes up covering the mouth and nose leaving only his eyes which you couldn't see either because of the black shades he wore.

 

Naruto looked at everyone chowing down on their food which made him even hungrier. He tried humming in his mind but that couldn't block out the slurping sounds of one enjoying their food. “Shit…why didn't I bring some toast of something? Oh God…”

 

Ino opened her packet of pop-tarts and, even though she hadn't eaten breakfast, handed one over to Naruto. “Here…” she said not meeting his curious gaze. She knew if she saw his eyes she wouldn't want to look away. He graciously accepted her food and shoved it whole into his mouth and began chewing with a look of satisfaction on his face. `Ugh, what is with me? Why do I feel like this? I can't be starting to fall for this loud…idiotic…troublesome…perfect little angel could I? No, I've got to concentrate on Sasuke. But…he doesn't show much interest in me…' Without even noticing and lost in her own thoughts she was staring at Naruto and blushing.

 

Naruto swallowed what was in his mouth and sighed. He happened to see Ino gazing at him with red cheeks. He figured she was hot or something. “Uh, Ino? Are you all right?” He scooted over to her and felt her head. She nearly melted at his soft touch. His hands were so smooth it sort've intrigued her.

 

Kiba saw this and snorted into his soup. “Oh Naruto is gonna get it now,” he mumbled as soup leaked out of his nose. “Ouch.”

 

“None can touch her…except her wanna be boy toy, Sasuke,” Choji said piling chips into his cheeks like a squirrel or something.

 

To everyone's surprise Ino blushed harder as Naruto bent down to check her eyes. They stared eye to eye until Sakura cleared her throat making them both jump.

 

Shino ate his crackers and cheese watching Kiba as he laughed. “I don't believe it! Ino! I thought Sasuke was your--oof!” Ino had crawled towards him punching him in the back of the head making his head connect with his bowl of soup. “Oww! What the hell did I say? Damn, That hurt ya know!”

 

“Never bad mouth Sasuke in my presence.” Ino said sitting back down in her original spot once again picking up her pop-tart.

 

Kiba sat rubbing his head and wiping away noodles. “Damn…that was my lunch…and I didn't even get a chance to freaking finish it…thanks to a certain purple wearing bim--“

 

“I know how you feel dog man. When I can't finish my food it's like I wanna unleash all hell.” Naruto interrupted. He then stretched out on his stomach watching everyone else eat. “Oh, thanks Ino for the grub. Chocolate Chip pop-tarts are my favorite.”

“Yeah.” She chuckled nervously while nibbling on the crust of her food. “They're, um, my favorite too.” Naruto gave a thumbs up that made Ino flush and look away at the couple of fish leaping out of the water.

 

Sakura noticed extremely quick that Ino blushed whenever she looked at Naruto. What was going on with her? `Isn't it obvious? She likes him!' Inner Sakura said nodding her head eagerly. `What? What in the hell could she possibly see in that psycho of a brat?' Sakura thought frowning slightly.

 

`What in the hell do you see in Sasuke?' Inner Sakura asked folding her arms. `I see everything I want in a man…he's cool, strong, brave…' Sakura answered thinking about all of Sasuke's good traits. `He's also cold, unforgiving, a total dick at times especially towards Naruto, and he has this constant infatuation over his brother Itachi,' replied inner Sakura counting off his bad faults on her fingers. `Ino is smart. At least she can realize when a person has no romantic feelings for you whatsoever. In other words…she's moved on. Maybe you should do the same. It's not healthy to be head over heels in love with someone who hardly knows you exist, ya know.'

 

`Oh shut-up. Sometimes Naruto needs a good telling off. And first of all, who asked you anyway?' `I don't need asking…I'm your conscious. I'm just saying, you should at least try to find somebody else `cause I hate to say this but Sasuke…he's nothing but a spoiled brat who thinks everyone is beneath him and that everyone and everything is a waste of time.' Sakura couldn't argue there, Sasuke did sometimes treat people as inferior beings, especially Naruto.

 

`And, I'm pretty sure you don't wanna lose Naruto to Ino if you do give up on Sasuke,' Inner Sakura continued wagging a finger. `But…if I give up Sasuke and go after Naruto won't that make me easy or a tramp or something along those lines?' `Not if the person you like is a complete asshole and couldn't give a rats ass about you.' Now that she thought about it Sasuke never did pay any attention to her, the only thing he did was wave to her, big whoop. Smacking her fist into her palm Sakura made up her mind.

 

She wasn't gonna go with Naruto, just use him to get Sasuke jealous. Sasuke was the type to get jealous real quick. She hoped this would unearth some hidden feelings for her. And she already had a big lead in the chase for Naruto, she knew how madly in love with her he was and planned to use her feminine wiles to hook him.

 

She snapped out of her conversation with her inner self and shook her head. She turned this way and that in search of Naruto. Then her vision disappeared and all she saw was black. Her hand automatically grasped a kunai knife from the pouch on her right thigh. Before she could do anything a voice from behind shouted, “Guess who?”

 

She sighed realizing it was Naruto. `Okay Sakura. Be nice…even if you are just using him for your own sick and twisted pleasures,' Inner Sakura said shaking her head. “Um, lemme see, by the sound of the voice I'd have to say…Naruto?”

 

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!” Naruto took his original spot between Sakura and Ino. “The grand prize is a kiss on the lips!” He said pointing to her mouth.

 

Sakura cringed but put on a false smile. `God! Anything but that!' She thought. With the corners of her mouth twitching she said in what she hoped was a cheery tone and not at all like the nausea she was feeling, “Fine. Time to take my prize.” She slowly leaned forward to the surprise of everyone in the circle. She wanted to tell them that it was all a ruse. She wanted to slap Naruto for even thinking she would do that. She wanted to cry. But she didn't do any of these thing. Sasuke was the primary objective in this scenario. She had to be brave.

 

Ino put a hand to her chest as she felt a pull at her heartstring. Sakura was actually letting Naruto kiss her? She couldn't understand why she cared in the first place but…but something wasn't right about this. No, there had to be some sort of secret behind it. That's definitely not like Sakura. Ino had to remember her training. Shinobi look for the secrets inside the secrets. She gasped as it became clear what Sakura was doing. `That's it!' Ino thought with her eyes widening. `She's gonna use him to get back at Sasuke and make him jealous! Not a bad plan but still wrong! I can't Believe Sakura would stoop so low to get noticed. Naruto's gonna be crushed when he finds out.' She knew what she had to do; she had to stop them. At the last moment she pulled herself back with emotions running through her; emotions unlike any she had ever felt, except towards Sasuke. Could it be? Was she really in love with that loud mouthed brat? `What should I do? What should I do? What's it to me if they kiss?' She thought. The answer came to her even before she asked the question. `I've gotta stop this but how?'

 

Sakura shivered as she felt Naruto's breath against her lips. `Omigod! I always pictured this would happen with Sasuke not ugh-zilla! Jeez…but I have to do this. It's not like this is a real kiss or anything…just my first.' They were closer as Naruto closed his eyes. Glee was running through his mind. He never imagined this day would actually come and was practically resisting the urge to leap on her now. `Why does he look so serious about this? Doesn't he know this is only for pretend? Oh right, of course he wouldn't. If he did he'd never agree to it. Anything that involved Sasuke he wanted no part of. Damn!' Not wanting to blow her cover, look like a complete ass and lose Naruto and everyone's trust she puckered her lips and started humming one of her favorite Green Day songs.

 

To be Continued