Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 15: Victorious

Liz and I had stayed up all night watching Sasuke and Naruto struggle up their trees, getting closer inch by inch. In the late morning I watched Kakashi and Sakura arrive in our little clearing.

"Where is Naruto?" Kakashi said exasperatedly, "He left by himself again last night."

"He's missing breakfast," agreed Sakura, "Plus Sasuke goes on a walk and doesn't come back," she complained, pouting like a displeased baby.

"Elvira hasn't reported back in a long while too, it's not like her," Kakashi added.

"Sorry, Sensei, Liz and I dozed off, we were up all night watching them," I apologized.

Liz and I jumped down from our comfy spot in the tree and landed gracefully on the ground. I had forgotten about all the little wood carvings that I had been working on and shot back up into the tree to retrieve them. I picked one and was about to crush it into wood powder but Sakura stopped me.

"T-these are b-beautiful!" she exclaimed, looking at a carved rabbit.

"Oh really? I was just playing around," I said shyly.

Sakura looked at them all dreamily, fluttering from one to the next, "You can have them if you want," I offered.

"Really?" she asked, awed.

"Sure."

I inconspicuously slipped a carving of a little dog into my pocket. Suddenly a kunai embedded itself into the ground at Kakashi's feet. We looked up to see Naruto resting on a branch fifteen meters off of the ground, he smiled happily.

"He can already climb that high?" whispered Sakura to herself, the completely forgotten carvings laid in her hand.

"What do you think? Look how high I can climb now!" he shouted down proudly.

Naruto tried to stand up on his branch but he slipped and began to fall, "Whoa!" he began to scream.

"Ah! Idiot!" screamed Sakura, panicked.

"Oh no! If you fall from that height..." Kakashi trailed off, unable to continue.

"Ahh!" Naruto wailed.

I was about to jump up to catch him when we all realized his motive. His feet stuck to the bottom of the branch, allowing him to hang upside down.

"Just kidding," he said, sticking his tongue out, "You fell for it!" he chortled.

Sakura was enraged, "You scared me, you idiot!" and in her rage she threw one of the wooden carvings in her hand and it hit Naruto squarely on the head.

His concentration dispersed and the chakra from the bottom of his feet evaporated, "Ah!" he screamed again, this time it was a genuine one.

Kakashi's eyes widened in disbelief, I could imagine the words, how can anyone be so dumb?! floating through his head.

Sakura was still under the impression that Naruto was pulling a trick on her, "Stupid Naruto! Stop showing off!"

Naruto wailed pitifully as he began to plummet towards the ground. A sudden flash of blue and Sasuke was holding onto Naruto by his foot. He was holding onto the branch with chakra as well, supporting both of their weights. I smiled briefly as Sakura cheered Sasuke on happily. Kakashi had a wide smile on his face, obviously happy about how his students had grown. A strand of hair had escaped the grip of my ribbon and I pulled it out to redo it. My long brown hair sparkled in the sunlight and danced on the breeze as I flattened it out. Sasuke had decided to turn his eyes on me and lost his focus of chakra in his feet. They both began to plummet to the ground.