In Team 7

Chapter 19

When Tsunade saw genins from Chunin exams, no one was good enough to become a chunin.

"Hmm … we need at least one new chunin."

"Hokage-sama, if I should suggest someone, it would be Nara Shikamaru."

"Nara Shikamaru … Shikaku's son. How did he do in the Chunin exams?"

"Well, he gave up in preliminaries, but showed a great performance. In the end, he ran out of chakra, so he decided to give up. His tactics go beyond chunin."

"Really? If so, Shikamaru officially becomes a chunin. This is an exceptional situation due to the consequences of the tests. I choose Shikamaru as the most suitable candidate!" said seriously Tsunade.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. We will call Shikamaru immediately." After a while, Shikamaru came to the office.

"Did you call me, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes. Shikamaru, congratulations on your post as chunin."

"Chunin?! But I didn’t get to the finals!"

"Even so, you are the best candidate, I decided to make an exception and make you a chunin. You are Shikaku’s son after all."

"Well, if you think so…"

"Here is your vest and also you first mission as a chunin. Get the most capable genins and go after Sasuke. I would like to recommend Naruto to you."

"Naruto? Really?"

"He's more capable than you think."

"And I think you overestimate him."

"It doesn't matter, just choose someone."

"All right." Shino and Hinata were on another mission, so Shikamaru chose Naruto, Choji, Kiba and Neji. When Shikamaru devised a strategy, Sakura visited them.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?"

"I just want to talk to Naruto."

"Me? Really, Sakura-chan?!"

"Well, Sasuke-kun is a member of Team 7. Naruto, I know how much you care about him, so please, please bring him back!" She cried.

"Sakura...chan?" And then she leaned against him. Naruto blushed. Then he promised her that he will bring Sasuke back no matter what. The next day Hinata and Shino came back from their mission.

"Hokage-sama, I noticed that a lot of genins are missing, why?"

"They went to bring Sasuke back."

"W-will they be all right?" asked Hinata.

"I don’t know, we have to hope they will."

"Why they didn’t tell me about this?"

"You were on a mission, Shino, don’t blame them." Shino was offended.

"D-don‘t worry about it, Shino-kun."

Few hours later they came back. Choji and Neji were in serious condition. And later Kakashi brought Naruto, he was injured from the battle with Sasuke. Shikamaru was upset. He blamed himself for all this. They were lucky that Temari, Kanuro, Gaara, and even Lee, who has just recovered from his injury, came to help them. Temari was making fun of Shikamaru which he did not take personally, but when he saw his injured friends, he couldn’t accept himself as a successful leader. Shikaku then pushed a little sense into his head. When his friends recovered, Shikamaru was himself again. When Naruto felt better, Sakura visited him.

"Sakura-chan, I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise. But don’t worry, that promise is still valid! I will definitely bring Sasuke back!"

"That’s all right, Naruto, the next time it will be me who will protect you…" said Sakura and left. She is now Tsunade's disciple. Ino too. Both had the feeling they are useless, so they wanted to be helpful. Hinata felt the same way, but she was still training with Neji. She visited Naruto too, but he was sleeping, so she put the flowers into a vase and left.

"Hinata … thank you," said Naruto when she left. Jiraiya visited him too, but he was there to take him away from the village.

"Naruto, forget Sasuke, you have to be stronger or Akatsuki will get you."

"I can’t forget him-ttebayo."

"It would be smart to do it like this."

"If this means being smart, I'd rather be a fool to death!"

"I don't care about your words, this is about your life. Get ready, I'll be back for you in a week and we're going to train!" said seriously Jiraiya and left. Naruto was still thinking about Sasuke. Why did he left the village? Is revenge more important than his friends?