The War Angel (A Naruto Fanfic)

First day training for the Finals

Lea POV

I saw the two as soon as they turned the corner. I was leaning against the railing watching with tiny amusement as the hunch sound ninja slammed the fat guy (I still couldn't remember his name) into the wall.

Sasuke and Kakashi finally came out of hiding. As soon as they were in the open, however, Sasuke clutched his neck and stumbled, grabbing unto Kakashi for support. Kakashi held him upright escorting him back around the corner. I hope he was okay...

"And that concludes the preliminaries!" The jonin who sounded like he had a serious lung problem was speaking. "Will the winners please come down."

I rested my hand Machaera's hilt. I headed down the stairs behind the others. Naruto was looking around and when he spotted me, he stopped and waited for me to catch up.

"Where's Sasuke?" he asked me, still looking around.

I shrugged. "How would I know?" I may be dense about certain things but I was observant. I could tell that no one knew what was wrong with Sasuke nor where he was. And I could tell that Kakashi didn't want me to tell.

"Hmm ... I wonder where they took him."

We reached the base of the stairs and began falling into a line. "Instead of wondering where Sasuke is, why don't you wonder what's going to happen after this?"

The jonin up front coughed and held up a paper. He began calling out names. "Neji Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Temari, Gaara and Kankuro of Sunugakure's Sand Sibling, Dosu Kinata, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and ... Lea. Congratulations. You are all moving on to the finals."

Naruto was grinning from ear to ear and I couldn't help but smile along too. Who knew you could get so much pleasure from accomplishing something like this?

"We did it, Lea-chan!" Naruto shouted, turning to me. He fist pumped the air. I grinned at his happiness.

"Was it any surprise?" I said.

"When we get back we should eat some Ichiraku ramen!"

"You're paying of course," I told him.

His face fell. He popped out his little frog purse and rummage through it. "But, Lea-chan ... I don't think I have enough money."

I cocked my head to the side. "But I won too. You're not going to treat a teammate for moving on to the finals?"

He sent me a wavy smile and shook his hands in protest. "No, no! Of course not! Ramen's on me!"

"Did I just hear that ramen's on you?" The fat guy popped out of nowhere, his hand elbow deep in a bag of chips. Before we could answer he called over to the others. "Hey guys! Naruto's going to treat everyone to ramen tonight!"

They surrounded us immediately.

"Hey! I said I was treating Lea tonight!" Naruto shouted.

"And beside, you didn't move on to the finals," I told the fat guy His face fell. Shikamaru came up and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, Choji. I'll treat you to some beef." His face immediately lit back up.

I frowned slightly at him. "Don't you think you should be eating a little less? Maybe a salad?"

Everyone froze. Even Choji. His hand stopped and silence ensued.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, his face growing dark.

"Because you're fa-" My words were muffled when Naruto clasped his hand over my mouth.

"Don't say that word," he whispered in my ear, sounding terrified.