ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

Dilemma p.5

Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts when Naruko asked, "Is tomorrow's test going to be difficult?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not unless you understand the meaning of the test, remember . . ."

"Look underneath the underneath, I remember Onii-chan..." Naruko murmured. "But it's just so hard not to be worried about it, you know? Even though I know I can pass, but..." she explained while trailing off at the end, voice dropping to a light whisper, her face a picture of worry and slight frustration. Naruto didn't know why she was feeling frustrated, but respected her privacy enough by not probing into her thoughts.

Naruto hummed as he thought of a way to ease her tension, before a wide grin formed on his lips. "Hey Naruko-chan..."

"Yeah?"

Naruto continued to grin as he faced Naruko, making her tilt her head in confusion. "You up for a little stakeout tonight?" he asked mischievously.

Naruko seemed to contemplate as she gazed at him in confusion, and upon seeing her nod uncertainly, Naruto's grin was near face-splitting as he grabbed Naruko's hand and pulled her along, heading towards the door. "Come on! We can call this an impromptu training session in trap-making and fūinjutsu!"

Naruko blushed a little when grabbed her hand and had pulled her along, making her yelp, "B-But w-where are we going?!" she asked. It was already late at night and was dark out at the training grounds, what sort of training does her Onii-chan had in mind?

Naruto glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wide grin still present. "You'll see!" he said with a laugh as the Uzumaki siblings ran off into the nighttime atmosphere of Konoha, a plan already forming in Naruto's newly developed tactical and strategic mind...

~ D ~ R ~

Sakura was having a really bad day, she just knew it. After being informed by their sensei about their real Genin test yesterday, she had been extremely worried about her team's chances – or more specifically her own chances – since Naruto had apparently made the silver-haired Jōnin hate them on their first day and was acting so annoyingly nonchalant about it, as if he wasn't even a tiny bit worried.

After that little episode, she had futilely tried to ask Sasuke out on a date again, which as usual the raven-haired Uchiha coldly refused, leaving her feeling as dejected as ever. After that she had gone home, broke her dieting routine by stuffing as much food into her stomach as possible to prepare for the test, and went to bed early since Kakashi had ordered them to be at the training ground early.

And now she was here, sitting under one of the trees in Training Ground Seven, heavy bags under her eyes and her pink hair disheveled like it had been a cat's plaything the night before, staring blankly at the predawn hours of Hi no Kuni's clear skies which were currently blossoming with a mixture of red, blue and violet.

Sakura yawned loudly as she leaned back against the tree trunk, intending to get some light sleep in; she was never a morning person anyway, and her mother had practically dragged Sakura out of her bed to get her to wake up. She silently cursed their sensei for making her wake up this early and miss her all-important beauty sleep, and also slightly regretted her decision to join the shinobi corps . . . but she reminded herself once again why she was here, enduring this hellish torture no lady should be put through, or so her mind likes to think.

All for her Sasuke-kun . . .

Hearing footfalls and crunching grass beside her, Sakura opened her eyes to see none other than her eternal crush walking steadily towards her spot, looking no worse for wear save for the bags under his eyes and the slight sag in his shoulders, and to an untrained eye he looked as how he normally would. But Sakura wasn't his number one fangirl for naught, as she could tell that he was tired, even though the Uchiha tried to hide it with a calm and emotionless façade.

All the exhaustion that was in her system seem to vanish at the sight of Sasuke as Sakura smiled brightly at him, "Ohaiyo Sasuke-kun!" she greeted.

Sasuke barely glanced at her as he took a seat a ways off from where she was; muttering a tired 'Hn' under his breath that Sakura was barely able to register, but she heard it nonetheless as she slumped, depressed once more. Although she was used to the Uchiha's cold attitude and usual rejection of her offers to date, today somehow made it worse to bear compounded by the impending Genin test and lack of sleep, Sakura's day just kept getting worse and worse.

If only she knew the extent of her miserable day. As both Sakura and Sasuke sat waiting for their blonde haired teammates and their sensei, both of them none the wiser that they had been completely and easily suckered by their own sensei . . .

~ D ~ R ~

Naruko yawned as she stretched, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she attempted to pull herself out of the comfortable embrace of her mattress to start the day. As Naruko tried to pull herself up, she found that she couldn't and she glanced down to see a pair of arms encircling her in an embrace, and she looked behind her to see a sleeping Naruto, face set in a peaceful smile as he unconsciously hugged Naruko closer to him, making said girl blush slightly before she smiled, turning around in his embrace to stroke his cheek, brushing away a few strands of her own hair from his nose so that they wouldn't tickle him.

For the first twelve years of her life, she had gotten used to sleeping alone, since she had no one to share her home with and she wasn't about to let random strangers into her home just so she could feel safe; it would be the exact opposite of what she was aiming for. But there was always a large part of her soul that longed for physical contact or someone she could share everything with: her laughs, her smiles, her pain, her memories . . . At first it was Hinata who filled that gap in her soul, as Naruko basically shared everything with her and her with Naruko. Hinata would sometimes sleep over at Naruko's home, and alternately Naruko would then sleep over at the Hyūga Clan Compound, more specifically Hinata's room.

Naruko had already met Hiashi, Hinata's father and also Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister by six years. Hiashi was the sort of person that Naruko would typically associate with strict fathers and a stick-up-the-ass Clan Head, so she could understand Hinata's plight when the lavender eyed girl told Naruko of her troubles with her father.

Hanabi was alright, but she had a bit of a superiority complex that – although paling in comparison with Uchiha Sasuke's bloated ego – was so obviously ingrained into her by Hiashi, who deemed the Hyūga Clan was the strongest shinobi clan in the village after the Uchiha Clan's untimely demise a few years ago.

But, Hanabi did show a softer side to her character, which was immediately apparent with how Hinata would always talk and laugh with Hanabi while the younger Hyūga girl would look up at Hinata in adoration, away from the eyes of the Clan Elders and their father.

And then there was Hyūga Neji, the Hyūga sisters' cousin in the Branch House. . .