Dangerous Bond

Part 28

"Wha-" Sasuke muttered but quickly cut himself off upon noticing Sakura's glare hardened as he spoke.

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither changing their expression before Sakura conceded and wiped the anger from her face, replacing it with a blank look.

She ran a hand through her freshly washed hair and walked away like a boss while Sasuke furrowed his brows in confusion of the events that took place.

"Hey, Ra! I think I'm finally ready for the next phas-" Naruto smirked but was cut off as she simply continued to walk past him without a second glance.

The genin stood with furrowed brows for a second, wondering what he did. His thoughts were quickly replaced by the noise of a pained groan coming from his right.

"Eh?! Ke! What happened?" Naruto exclaimed and rushed over to the Uchiha.

Sasuke straightened himself out and glanced at his teammate before looking back to the direction Sakura went.

"Hn. I think I insulted her" The raven haired genin mumbled with narrowed eyes.

Naruto stared at the boy with a 'you serious?' look and understood now why she ignored him.

"Insulted her? Well duh! I don't think she would've pummeled the 'great Sasuke-Kun' if you didn't" Naruto snickered into his hand and stepped back as Sasuke pushed him lightly in annoyance.

"Come on, let's go train your ability to handle that curse mark" Naruto casually said and walked with the troubled Uchiha. The exams just weren't working with him it seemed.

---

The next day came around far too slowly in Naruto's opinion and slowly, team by team, ninja began flocking into the tower and were ordered to stand in line as were the other teams who'd made it there earlier.

It all seemed rather unfair to the blonde as most of the genin hadn't had time to recuperate their strength. It wouldn't feel like a fair fight.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sakura mumbled to her teammates, pulling Naruto from his sour thoughts as he turned to look at the pinkette along with Sasuke.

"What?" Naruto questioned while glancing around himself to find what she was talking about.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he immediately found what she was referring to.

"Seems they did some training after all" The Uchiha stated. Sakura could almost feel the anticipation for a fight from Sasuke as it enveloped and tried to trick her into being excited as well.

"Oh." Naruto's eyebrows shot up, finally realizing what they meant as the three now studied the torn clothes and worn down faces of their academy friends who had successfully made it through "Hey! That's great. Maybe we'll all become chuunin together" Naruto grinned, though his insides were churning with the thought of having to fight his friends.

"Hn. I hope this is over soon, I don't know how much longer I can stand your over positive act" Sasuke smirked in amusement, a rare but appreciated sight for his teammates.

Naruto dropped the grin and glanced around, making sure no one heard the Uchiha even though he spoke softly.

"I kinda like it. It's like forcing positive thoughts into my head, ya know. Maybe I'll act like this more often" Naruto grinned mischievously as Sasuke and Sakura glared at him.