When I finally woke up in the morning, I realized that I was curled up against Naruto with my head on his chest while we slept on the couch. Blushing slightly, I sat up and poked my best friend awake, reminding him that we had to get our pictures taken today for our ninja ids. Naruto was gone in an instant, surprising me with his sudden alertness. What was so interesting about getting our pictures taken?
Smiling fondly after my kyuubi, I took my time taking a shower and getting dressed. Maybe he was excited to go get his picture taken, but I didn’t want to rush off when I had three hours to get ready.
Pulling on my usual ninja gear, I secured my shuriken hostler to my left hip and attached my kunai holder to my right leg. Grabbing a black head band, I held the hair back from my face, letting my bangs frame my face like always. Finally satisfied with my clothes, I headed out the door, grabbing my shinobi headband as I went. As I walked to the meeting place, I tied it around my neck, deciding that I didn’t really want to wear it on my forehead.
The Hokage had no problem with my identification picture, but I stuck around and saw that Naruto had left so early so that he could paint himself for his picture. His face was white with red swirls everywhere. He had even painted his hands.
“Naruto-kun …. What the hell?” I sighed, looking from his picture to the kyuubi himself.
“Pretty cool, right?” he laughed, crossing his arms behind his head. “It took me a while to figure out how to do it right. It was kinda like an art project, but on my face. It took me about three hours to get it right, but in the end, I got it!”
“You’re an idiot,” I sighed, while the Hokage lectured him about how our pictures are supposed to identify us as ninja. In typical Naruto fashion, the idiot in question argued back and ended up using his Sexy Jutsu on the third Hokage. As the Hokage was forbidding Naruto to ever do it again, I sensed another chakra sneaking up on us. Curious, I turned around just in time to see a young boy run in, challenge Lord Hokage, and fall on his face.
“Um,” was all I could manage as the kid picked himself up with a groan, deciding that Naruto had tripped him. Naruto obviously didn’t enjoy being accused for no reason and grabbed him by the shirt, yelling at him. The kid’s trainer came in, declaring him the grandson of the Hokage.
“Besides, there’s nothing here for you to trip over,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “It’s a flat surface.”
The kid laughed at Naruto, saying something to the effect that Naruto wouldn’t hit him because of who his grandfather was. Naruto hit him anyway, screaming that he didn’t care if the Hokage was his grandmother. With a sigh, I left him to deal with the mess and went off to explore the village.
After walking around aimlessly for a while, I once again ran straight into Sasuke himself. This time he eyed me warily before silently walking beside me. Like me, he didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular and was probably just wasting time. At first, I was uncomfortable, but as time wore on and he didn’t do anything to annoy me, I found myself relaxing and almost enjoying his quiet presence. Of course, he just couldn’t keep quiet and finally spoke up after I had visibly stopped wishing him away.
“So, what are you doing out here all by yourself?” he asked quietly. Unlike the day before when he was just trying to charm me into liking him, he seemed honestly curious.
“Naruto’s causing trouble with the Hokage’s grandson and I didn’t feel like helping him out,” I said with a shrug, heading towards the training field. It was unoccupied during this time of day, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet.
