Naruto: A New Perspective

Chapter 14

Team 10's easy defeat of the Mist team, they headed back to where they had left the bedraggled Team 7. The three met Aiko and Sasuke at the temporary hiding spot, and handed the grateful Uchiha girl the scroll. Sakura was still sleeping peacefully.

"Thanks for helping us out like this," Aiko hugged Naruto, who blushed.

Ino complained, "You don't blush like that when I hug you!"

"You hug everyone!" Naruto shot back, "A hug from Aiko is special!"

"What's that mean!"

"No fighting." Shikamaru ordered, "We need to get to the tower, I would say we're three quarters of the way there... are you guys good to run?"

"I'm pretty well rested." Aiko said, glad to drive the subject away from Naruto's 'hug life,' and Sasuke grunted as well.

"Was that a positive or a negative grunt?" Ino asked curiously.

"Positive," Naruto confirmed, "You get used to telling these sorts of things with him."

Sasuke glared.

"See, he's angry now."

Thankfully no more arguments were started as Shikamaru got them back on track. Naruto was the freshest, so he carried Sakura in his arms bridal style, her head resting in the crook of his arm.

Ino pointed out, "You didn't carry Sasuke that way."

"That's because Sakura deserves better treatment than Sasuke-teme." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Shut up Naruto."

"Okay Sasuke, next time I'll carry you like this... I didn't know you were like that though." Naruto raised a suggestive brow.

"Stop messing with Sasuke, Naruto." Shikamaru ordered although he too was smiling.

Aiko patted Sasuke on the back, "It's alright Sasuke, I always expected as much."

"...Hn. You're not funny Aiko."

Using the same tactic as the day before, they avoided all teams using Naruto's bunshin as perimeter guards, whenever the clones saw a team or were attacked; the genin shifted their route to go around the team. It was very difficult for Naruto to communicate with his bunshin, but if he concentrated and spiked his chakra, he could give one word orders to adjust for a new position.

It took more than a few hours, but they finally made it to the tower. There was only one entrance, and it opened into a large bare room. The only thing that adorned the white walls was some kind of saying or quotation.

"If you lack..." Ino started, but there was a word missing, "Seek wisdom and become prepared."

"And if you lack... something," Naruto continued, "Run through the fields and gain strength. I recognize this quotation from an academy textbook."

"You can read, Naruto?" Ino mocked, but Naruto grinned good naturedly.

"Yes I can, Ino. We all can't do our hair all day... anyways, the missing words are 'Heaven' and 'Earth,' this is a quote from the Third Hokage. It's one of his favorite sayings."

"Maybe that means we should open our scrolls." Shikamaru suggested.

"All at the same time?" Ino asked, but Shikamaru shook his head in disagreement.

"Just one of the Heaven scrolls and one of the Earth."

Aiko opened an Earth scroll, and Ino opened the Heaven scroll she was carrying. Sasuke recognized the basic seal array, "Quick, throw those to the ground!"