Finding Light (Naruto Fanfic) //ON HOLD//

♥ 7. Combat in the woods

Tsukiko's POV

"Am I doing this right? If I do this, I'll pass the test, right Kiko?" Naruto turned his head towards me and I gave him a thumbs up while secretly giggling to myself. Why? Because I made Naruto avoid Ramen for the whole week before the ninja graduation exam. Right now, we were at my house, Naruto on the stools, while I put all the ramens I had in front of him.

"Now, you have to stay in front of these ramens until I get back, which will take about 45 minutes? I hope... If it's later, it'll be an hour. If you get bored, just read a book." I winked and tossed him some of my jutsu books I owned and got ready to go out. I wore sweatpants and a comfy t-shirt, while bringing out my sneakers from the cabinet beside the door way. Then I came back to the kitchen counter.

"Why am I doing this again? I mean, one ramen won't hurt..." Naruto whined while reaching for one.

I quickly slapped his inching hand away, "If you want to become hokage, you'll need to overcome your weakness. What if one day a few enemies came and offered you a year load of ramen in exchange for your whole possesion of the village? What would you choose?" I asked.

"Well, that's a really tough choice..."

"It's not supposed to be, you baka! See why you need to do this exercise? You train your endurance here while I train out there, in the harsh reality. Okay? I better not see one piece of ramen gone when I'm back. I even counted to make sure. I have 50 ramens. If one of them is eaten up, you have hell to pay. Okay?" I glare at him.

"Yes ma'am! I'll survive this! Believe it!" He pumped his fist and with a closed eye smile, I rubbed his head.

"Have fun~" I waved at him before leaving.

When I got out, I took deep breaths and began slowly stretching myself. Head, arms, hips, and legs. Then, I got into a running position and launched away. Past the village, past the academy, and to training ground number 24. I didn't stop even once to catch a breath or to slow down my sprinting pace. When I got there, I stopped immediately, catching myself with my hands as I fell forwards. There on the ground, I started push-ups up to 100. Then I flipped over and started to do the same number of sit-ups. It was my favourite warm up.

Finally I was done and I got off from the ground, stretching my arms. Walking to the grassy part of the training grounds, I let my mind wander as I looked around at the calm scene. Would Naruto really hold this long? I wondered and I chuckled as I saw the time. 15 minutes. He'd be already sweating furiously trying to avoid looking at the ramen. Wow, I got from my house and here in only 15 minutes... A new record. I clapped once to applaud myself and when I finally arrived at the grassy field, I stopped and quickly hid behind a tree.

Why is Sasuke here..? I peaked around the tree and stared at Sasuke who was doing an intense training all on his own. A target was carved onto a tree and Sasuked was running around, shooting kunais right towards the bulls-eye. The daggers never missed and Sasuke's dance-like movements never faltered either.

I admit it. There behind the tree, even I had to admire the careful way he pranced around like a young deer, but unlike a dear, swift on reflexes like a lion and the cunning eyes like the hawk. With those hawk like eyes, he found me behind the tree.

"Come out Kiko. I know you're there." he stared blankly at the tree, losing all his concentrated facial expression with it.

"I hoped you wouldn't find me, I was trying so hard to mask my presence too. What gave me away?" I asked and Sasuke nonchalently shrugged, turning back to the target with his deadly kunais.

After awhile I remembered how he saved me on that day when the girls ganged up on me. That was a few weeks ago. I really wanted to thank him, but it was hard when he tried so hard avoiding any kind of girls, including me.