Opening his eyes as the chakra smoke cleared, Naruto drank in the sight of the hometown he hadn't seen in almost two years. There was the building his apartment was in, and over there was the Hyuuga compound, and there was the bridge where Team 7 used to meet, and way over to the right was the arena where the Chuunin Exam finals had been held...
"Huh, I didn't see that before," he noted, ogling the scaffolding off to his left, just beyond the Yondaime's stone head. Shrugging it off as he remembered his important mission, he took the fast way over and down, bouncing between the Nidaime's and Sandaime's heads and various outcrops as he headed down to the Hokage's tower at the foot of the cliff.
Sakura had recieved an urgent summons from her teacher, arriving in the office to find the young-looking woman pacing back and forth, muttering worriedly.
Just after that... Well, the person who came in looked like Hyuuga Hinata... sort of. The Hinata that Sakura knew always wore a bulky jacket, though, and certainly didn't walk with such a confident swagger. "Yo, Hokage-sama!" the apparition greeted, then somewhat less warmly, "Sakura-san."
Tsunade stopped pacing, though her hands continued to worry each other until she stood behind her chair, gripping the back to occupy them. Realising that eye contact was probably neccessary for a proper briefing, the legendary medic-nin then moved some of the piles of paperwork off the desk, before returning to stand behind it. "Good, you're both here," she sighed. Now the only one we're waiting for is-"
"NARUTO-KUN!" the Hyuuga heiress interrupted joyously, looking up at a corner of the room. Her Byakugan was perfected, now, she could keep it active all the time without even having the odd-looking bulging veins on her face, and had spotted the boy coming over the top of the cliff. She skipped over and opened the window, leaning out to wave up at the descending ninja, then backing off so he could jump in through it.
Naruto sniggered to himself as he made the final leap, thinking how cool he was going to look as he did a double flip to land perfectly in front of the Hokage's desk. "Yo, Tsunade-baachan!" he greeted her, before noticing whom he'd landed beside. "SAKURA-CHAN!" He shouted happily, grabbing her hands and dancing in place.
Just a moment later, though, she was shoved out of his grip, stumbling sideways with a shocked look while an amazingly assertive Hinata grabbed him in a tight embrace. "NO!" the Hyuuga insisted, clutching him closer. "At least right now, I want you all to myself!"
"But... but... Sakura-chan..." the boy whimpered, confused. (Not to mention a bit dazed by the dark-haired girl's figure in that tight, navy blue body glove and fishnet, and the interesting ways it was pressed against him at the moment.)
"Sakura-san can chase her missing-nin, or at least learn to share while she learns to treat you kindly," Hinata declared, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Sakura did a double-take, musing to herself, "Well, she is as good looking as Ino-chan..." before smacking her head a few times against the wall. "No, no, no! Not like that! Do not want!"
Before things could devolve further, Tsunade drew the attention back to herself, drumming her fingers on the desk top loudly enough to rattle the window. "We're on a time limit here," she reminded them, before getting on with the mission briefing. "The Spring Festival is only a few days away, but with war against the Sound and their home, Rice Field Country, there's a big problem. The entire villiage is out of mochi! In fact, there's not a single rice ball left in all of Fire Country." She paused a moment, to let them comprehend the enormity of the impending disaster. "This leaves us with only one option... the rabbit in the moon!"
The assembled genin (Sakura had just missed getting into the finals AGAIN at the last chuunin exam, and Hinata had been forbidden to take it since it was in Hidden Cloud) gasped, but the slug-sennin continued before they had time to interject. "This is a Double-S Rank mission at least, so I had to call on my very best ninja, and it's voluntary - just getting there is something you have to figure out, but I know I can count on you three. Will you accept?"
"Hai, sensei!" "You bet, Hokage-sama!" "HAH! Of course Tsunade-baachan! We'll protect the happiness of the people of Konoha!" Naruto tried to bounce with excitement, but only managed to hop around awkwardly, dragging a giggling Hinata beside him.
In no time at all, it seemed, the trio had left the office and were walking through the streets of the city, pondering their next move. "But, how *are* we going to get to the moon, anyway?" Naruto asked. "It's way up in the sky!"
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(Posted Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:22)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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