A Leaf in the Rain

1. Enter Detective Uzumaki and Gang! Believe It!

Footsteps steadily approached their destination as words of worry and anticipation silently passed amongst them. The beating of three young hearts could be heard clearly as they were about to make their entry. What waited for them on the other side? No one knew.

"Naruto are you sure about this? We could possibly be walking towards our death! Did you see what he did to Sasuke?!"

"Chill Sakura! It's only Kakashi-sensei. Besides if he wasn't four hours late to training then we wouldn't be in this situation, now would we?"

"Even if he was a little late, we shouldn't be doing this! It's wrong and if we get caught..." Sakura paused midway, afraid to think of their soon-to-be fate.

"Calm down Sakura! I'm here so you'll be alright! Believe it!"

"Hn. Idiot."

"What did you say, bastard?! I don't see you doing anything to help out!"

"Hn."

"Is that all you can..." Naruto was abruptly cut off as Sakura's powerful fist met his shoulder.

"Don't talk to Sasuke that way N-A-R-U-T-O! If anyone's gonna protect us, it's definitely going to be Sasuke! He's just so strong," Sakura began as she sighed dreamily, "and you're just dumb!"

"WHAT?! SAKURA! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT TO ME?!"

"Will you two just get on with it?"

"Yeah! Sasuke's right, Naruto. Just hurry up and get us inside! It's dark, I'm cold, and someone could very well find us outside of Kakashi-sensei's window. We live in a ninja village after all!"

"You're so smart, Sakura!"

"Hurry up, Dope."

"I'm going, believe it!"

Naruto slowly tried to pry open his sensei's window, only to find it jammed tight. He pulled and shoved, but his attempts were futile. In the end, Sakura was able to open the cursed window – forcefully.

As the trio warily stepped inside, they realized that Kakashi's flat was extremely empty. Releasing their breaths, they began their mission – find Kakashi-sensei and drag him to training! Each of the Genin explored a different room, but they soon came to realize that Kakashi-sensei wasn't here.

"Where is Purvey-sensei anyways?!" Naruto groaned as he flopped onto the couch.

"Hn."

"Is that all you say, you bastard?! 'Hn!' I didn't even know that counted as a word!"

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT! STOP DEGRADING SASUKE LIKE THAT!"

"Sakura! I didn't mean it! Please don't hurt me!"

Naruto picked himself up from the couch and began moving towards the window for a possible escape route. However, Sakura wasn't going to allow him refuge that easily. As she made a tight fist, she charged towards Naruto who quickly ducked and scampered around the room. Their little chase continued for a few minutes. Naruto would run and Sakura would chase as Sasuke sat on the couch wondering why he had those two idiots for teammates.

However, as Naruto was making his escape, he managed to trip on the corner of the rug and land flat on his face. Sakura, who was now charging at full speed, found that she could not stop herself in time and found herself on top of Naruto within a few minutes.

"Che. You're both idiots."

"S-Sasuke..."

"Feh. Sasuke!"

"Well are you two going to stay like that forever?"

Sakura blushed and quickly stood up, but not before giving Naruto and punch to the back of his head. Again, Naruto found himself falling towards the floor. He braced himself for the impact, but when he reached the ground, a few of the wooden floor boards split.