Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Orange Flash: Lost Chapters	By : Breath_of_the_Wiz Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 120666 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 16
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, it wouldn't suck so hard. Also, I am not the owner of the fandom, nor am I doing this for any monetary gain or profit. Enjoy.

Chapter List
- 32
- 33
- 34
Sakura was sitting on top of a demolished boulder, watching the Suna reserve forces sweep the cave and secure the area. There was a medic tending to her relatively minor bruises and cuts, though, thanks to Naruto and Sasuke, they were barely worth noting.
She looked to be around the same age as Sakura, if not slightly younger than the pinkette. She appeared to be engaging in small talk, at least based on her body language and lip movements. Sakura didn't really care; she had other things on her mind.
Sakura was snapped from her thoughts when she felt a sudden jolt of pain, the medic was pressing on one of her bruises.
"Oi, pinky. I asked you a question. You concussed?"
Sakura hung her head a bit and apologized in a hushed tone.
"I was askin' you if the really cute blonde guy you came with was yours."
Sakura sighed, but she figured a new perspective on her situation would help. "M-mine? I… The answer to that is complicated."
The medic chuckled under her breath. "Complicated? Sounds like it'd make for a good book one day."
Sakura shuddered at the thought of a book based on Naruto's love life and hoped such a thing would never see the light of day… too little to late in regards to that.
"Well, when we were younger, that blonde guy… Naruto-kun and I were placed on the same genin team. Naruto had a crush on me, I had a crush on our third member, and all he could think about was training and learning new jutsu. It was the worst kind of love triangle, and I think our sensei got a kick out of it. It seriously screwed with our chemistry, resulting in our team being formally disbanded after an incident involving our third man… After which, Naruto made a promise to me, and carrying it out is hurting him, but he's doing it for my sake. It's uplifting, but at the same time, I feel like it's tearing me apart from the inside. Some days, I feel like he's too good for me, I feel like I can't even look him in the eye from time to time. It just… hurts. Yet, when I'm with him I feel..."
Sakura trailed off and began considering the possibilities for the aftermath of this promise of theirs, most of these outcomes appeared dire at best.
The other girl cut her off mid thought. "Is this really such a difficult decision? Just keep it simple. You should think about which one you'd rather lose, whatever this Naruto-guy promised you, or Naruto himself."
Sakura sighed. "If that's the case, I'm liable to lose both with the way things are going."
"Then I'll ask ya again, in a different way. Which one means more to you?"
Sakura twitched a little bit, her attitude sunk downward immediately. "I… I honestly don't know. Right now, I feel like I need to do a lot of reflecting… re-evaluate a lot of my feelings."
"… Hm. I don't have anything better to do, let's start from the beginning. What's he like?"
Sakura suddenly perked up and chuckled to herself. "He's always been a bit… different."
Sakura stared impatiently at Naruto while he made his mile-long order of ramen to the chef, the stand was called Ichi-something or other. Sakura wasn't exactly a fan of ramen, but she had to admit the menu looked pretty top notch, maybe because it was gourmet-style as opposed to store-bought.
"Naruto… what's your angle? Why'd you drag me out here?"
Naruto put the menu down and gave her a stupid-looking grin. "I did it 'cause I think you're pretty… which is really the only thing I know about you and I wanna change that dattebayo!"
Sakura paused for a moment and turned back to her menu and thought to herself about how exactly she ended up going on a semi-date with Naruto. Going back over her day, Sasuke had abruptly and succinctly shot her down when she asked if he wanted to hang out, so it wasn't like she had anywhere better to be.
Sakura groaned inwardly. "Thanks I guess… Well as you know, I'm Sakura Haruno, and yes, this is my natural perm, not a dye job… And also-"
Sakura looked at Naruto, who seemed genuinely surprised as he interrupted. "Really?! Your hair's naturally pink? I thought you were actually a blonde or something!"
Sakura sneered at Naruto slightly. "Naruto, what kind of person dyes their eyebrows pink? … Baka."
Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Hahaha! That's right! I guess that's pretty silly when ya think about it! My bad for interrupting though, continue with your story!"
Sakura's eyes narrowed a bit and she continued. "Well, I enjoy-"
"Trivia games and puzzles..."
Naruto technically interrupted again, though this time, his demeanor was completely different from his previous interruption. He spoke underneath his breath, though it was quiet enough at the ramen stand for Sakura to hear him.
The pinkette would've gotten mad if it weren't for the fact that Naruto was completely right.
"How do you even… that's-"
"Creepy?"
Sakura's arms crossed and she slid away from Naruto a bit. "… Yes. Yes it is."
Naruto sighed and scratched his head. "Sorry about that, it's… kinda this thing I do when I get to know people better."
Sakura crossed her arms. "That doesn't explain why you know I like puzzles."
Naruto grabbed Sakura's wrist and gently pulled it in front of his face, and before she even realized what he'd done he'd slid the ring off of her right middle-finger.
Naruto examined it with his characteristic grin. "This is a puzzle ring isn't it? Whenever you're nerv- … talking to Sasuke-teme, you fiddle with it, and whenever we have team meetings, you like to take it apart and reassemble it in different configurations. Also, your pendant isn't just a pendant; it's a vortex puzzle! … The trivia thing though? That's obvious! I remember in class you were always the first to have answers whenever Mizuki-sensei asked questions, so you probably enjoy that sorta thing!"
Sakura was at a loss for words when Naruto placed the ring back in her hand and grinned.
"See, not creepy! You're just easy to pay attention to, that's all!"
Sakura sputtered for a few seconds and eventually started to blush.
Just then, Teuchi brought out their orders and smiled at the newly-minted genin. He placed the dozen or so bowls on the counter before he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Naruto.
"I been meanin' to ask… This lucky lady your girlfriend Naruto?"
Sakura turned slightly pinker and shook her head vigorously. "No sir, it's-"
Naruto looked at Sakura, smiled, and then looked back at Teuchi. He cut her off again, this time intentionally.
"Nah, not yet, Old Man… She'll come around eventually!" Naruto grinned and gave Sakura a playful shove.
Sakura sighed and smiled a bit in defeat, her thoughts echoed the situation.
'He's so weird...'
The medic grinned at Sakura. "Oh you lucky bi-"
An errant rock exploded beneath Sakura's grip. "Don't finish that sentence."
The other girl recoiled slightly. "Sorry. Just… shit you're strong... He's head-over-heels for you, and judgin' from your story it seems like he's been that way since before his balls dropped. What's so difficult about this decision? I can tell you feel the same way about him."
Sakura sighed and took her puzzle ring out of her ninja pouch, she replied, examining the silver jewelry.
"Yeah, I know, but it's just like I said. I have some serious thinking to do concerning all this… Everything I've been doing for nearly three years has just been brought into serious contention. Very little of it makes sense now, and the feelings I have right now make me feel like there's something seriously wrong with me…"
Sakura's expression sunk lower and lower as she continued to speak, she couldn't stop thinking about what this journey would do to Naruto, and if he'd come out the other side as the same person she was falling in love with… or even if he'd come out of it alive.
Sakura put her face in her hands and groaned; she'd have started crying again if she weren't so emotionally drained from the past 24 hours of her life.
From the night she spent with Naruto in her arms, to Jiraiya's warning to her about waiting too long with her decision, to Naruto saving her life time and again, then, seeing just how much Haku's death affected the blonde jinchuuriki. Sakura had never felt so lost in her life. The emptiness ate at her soul, and she once again felt powerless to stop her life from spiraling out of control again.
'Stupid emotions… They never act the way they're supposed to.'
Naruto plopped himself down on a cot in the medical tent back at the checkpoint, the nurses and medical staff stared at him incredulously, Naruto stared back, looking worn out and slightly annoyed.
The staring continued, so Naruto groaned and took a deep breath, he held it for a moment, and then intentionally coughed. A cloud of blood sprayed from his mouth and several staff members immediately came rushing over to examine him, they propped him up slightly in his medical cot with some pillows.
It was here that Naruto noticed Mitsuki staring at him, or maybe through him. She didn't quite look like she was "all there", she eventually made eye contact with Naruto and smiled a bit while he was being examined. Naruto smiled back, though this smile was forced, Mitsuki could tell and she gave him a worried look. Naruto sighed and mouthed 'it's Sakura' to his bodyguard; she gave him a dazed nod and started staring at the ceiling with an ambiguous frown on her face.
The doctors and nurses worked effortlessly and efficiently, and after determining that Naruto's blood-pressure was stable, and that his internal bleeding was relatively minor, they hooked him up to a blood IV just in case, as well as giving him a canteen of water and some food as well. Naruto inhaled his food at a rapid pace and took a swig of water before turning his head over to look at Mitsuki, who appeared to be massaging her temples.
"Mitsuki-chan. How're you feeling?"
"… I feel fine, Namikaze-sama."
Naruto frowned slightly at his bodyguard, who sighed and smiled a tiny bit.
"Sorry… You prefer I call you Naruto now, right? … It'll take some getting used to, but I'll manage… By the way, how'd the mission go? I can only recall a few separate occaisions since we left Konoha… Sakura-san isn't hurt is she?"
Naruto smiled a tiny bit. "No it's fine, the mission went over smoothly, It's just… I made a promise to Sakura a long time ago because I fell in love with her, but now, I'm not so sure if this promise of ours is a valid one anymore."
Mitsuki straightened up slightly, her interest piqued. "I've never heard this before... Yeah… what's up with you and Sakura? For someone who designates your relationship as a platonic one, she's awfully possessive of you…"
Naruto chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I noticed. You really threw her for a loop while we were camped at that Oasis! Concussions are crazy things aren't they?"
Mitsuki closed her eyes and smirked. "What concussion? Maybe I just wanted to get under her skin…"
Naruto's eyes widened and he stared incredulously at his bodyguard.
"Waitwhat?"
Mitsuki opened her eyes and started to chuckle at Naruto's reaction before wincing slightly at the throbbing in her head.
Naruto continued to look at her in suspicion. "Mitsuki-chan, how many fingers am I holding up?"
Mitsuki grunted and closed her eyes again. "… Four? … Relax, I'm just messing with you. I was totally delirious… though in hindsight, how do you feel about cocktail dresses?"
Naruto was visibly worried… he was only holding up two fingers when he asked her to look.
"What's a cocktail dress look like?"
Mitsuki sighed and pinched Naruto's cheek. "Nevermind."
Naruto's eye twitched, he always felt like everyone knew something he didn't, he'd now have to figure out what a cocktail dress looked like.
"Mitsuki-chaaaan…You know I can't tell whether or not you're joking half the time! … By the way, it was two fingers."
Mitsuki sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose; the throbbing in her skull was beginning to annoy her. "So, what kind of history do you have with Sakura-san? I can't read her like I can with you, and she's not gonna tell me what's up."
Naruto took a deep breath and drank some more water. "Well, it was about three years ago when things started to get awkward on Team 7… Between my escalating rivalry with Sasuke, and my feelings toward Sakura-chan, It was a sort of-"
Naruto was cut off when Baki appeared in the middle of the room, he looked at Naruto and strolled over.
"Naruto. The Kazekage has been stabilized."
"Awesome! I'll go visit her in the hospital later tonight then, yeah?"
Baki immediately shook his head, visibly nervous. "She's awake now and she wants to see you immediately… She's getting impatient, Naruto. I need you to go see her before she causes a sandstorm, she'll destroy our more sensitive equipment otherwise."
Naruto nodded. "Alright, where is she?"
Baki grabbed Naruto's cot. "I'll wheel you to her tent if you're injured."
Naruto hopped out of the bed. "Nah, it's fine, I hate being bedridden anyway."
He made a shadow clone and pointed toward Mitsuki, it silently nodded in reply and sat down on her cot. The clone grabbed her hand and continued Naruto's story from where the original was interrupted.
The real Naruto looked at Baki and motioned for him to take the lead. They walked back out into the sun, Naruto stumbled a bit and Baki's head snapped over to the blonde.
"You sure you can walk? I can get you a wheelchair or something."
Naruto nodded, he finally began to realize just how tired he was since his adrenaline rush from the past few hours was beginning to wear off. Baki wolf-whistled without using his fingers and pointed to Naruto, after about thirty seconds, a group of medics brought over a wheelchair and eased Naruto into it. The jinchuuriki could immediately feel the pressure in his spine begin to dissipate, as well as the fatigue in his legs.
Naruto let out a long and soft exhale; he leaned back slightly and popped his neck. Baki was wheeling him to an out-of-the-way section of the outpost, though one wouldn't know, judging from the localized sandstorm as well as the countless support staff sprinting in and out of the tent.
Baki sped up and eventually was running with Naruto in the chair, Naruto was starting to become nervous as he approached the wall of airborne sand. The blonde was starting to have difficulty hearing Baki's voice, as they closed in on the tent, the wind was beginning to howl.
"It's even worse than when she was brought in! I know you're tired, but I hear she won't even let anyone touch her, not even for a basic checkup!"
Baki continued after a short pause. "I just need you to keep her occupied for a bit, calm her down, nothing too difficult!"
Naruto's teeth started to chatter, the last time he Gaara was even close to being this worked up, she was beating Naruto within an inch of his life, so he was within his rights to be worried.
Naruto took a deep breath and Baki wheeled him through the tent's opening. There were grains of sand as well as tiny pebbles floating at various heights throughout the tent. The medics were cowering in the corner of the tent, Gaara was curled up on a cot, staring at them intently. She didn't blink once as Baki silently wheeled Naruto closer to Gaara, her focus was still on the medical staff, who dared not move out of fear.
"Gaara-chan?"
Naruto's grip tightened around his Blood IV and he slowly approached the red-headded jinchuuriki. Naruto's hand slowly moved toward her, some sand flew up and grabbed Naruto's wrist, her head slowly turned toward the blonde ninja.
"They keep trying to examine me. I'm fine... They refuse to listen no matter how many times I tell them."
Naruto sighed and sat down next to Gaara and the sand slowly loosened its grip on Naruto's wrist, allowing him to sit closer. Naruto grabbed her shoulder, and all of the sand in the room instantly fell to the floor.
Naruto pointed to a few oozing wounds on Gaara's arms and shins.
"You know Gaara-chan, they won't leave you alone until they can look at your wounds…Those'll start to fester if you don't take care of them…"
Gaara frowned and looked down at the blood and pus on her arms and legs, she then stared down into the sheets in silence.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly, he whispered in her ear. "…You still hate being touched by people you don't know."
Naruto felt her twitch slightly and she nodded a tiny bit. The redhead leaned into Naruto and he hugged her, Naruto sighed when he looked at a wound on Gaara's arm. He didn't like it, but he'd have to coerce her into getting treated.
"Gaara-chan, I'm gonna have to go back to Konoha now… unless you decide to let the medical team treat your injuries."
Naruto looked down and gauged her reaction; the sand in the room began to vibrate, but eventually, it slowed back to stillness.
Gaara pouted, but finally agreed to allow the medical staff within three feet of her; she gave Naruto a puppy-dog stare with those big green eyes of hers, Naruto smiled at her in reply.
Naruto looked at one of the medics. "Hey, is it okay if I hold her hand while you patch her up?"
The medic looked at Naruto wearily, but the death-glare on the Kazekage's face was enough to make the kunoichi-medic nod in approval, if only to avoid getting smashed in the face by a wall of sand.
Naruto could feel Gaara's vice-grip on his hand tighten and loosen as the medic went over her wounds and cuts with disinfectant and gauze. It had only taken about ten minutes, but Gaara was patched up, her wounds sealed. She looked at Naruto and gave him a rather apprehensive sort of hug-squeeze. As usual, Gaara's attempts at affection were stiff and awkward, but they had their own sort of charm to them.
She looked like she was about to say something to Naruto, but she cut herself off, she turned and narrowed her eyes at the medical staff, who stared back anxiously. With a flicker of her eyebrow, the sand in the room slid beneath the feet of medical staff and swiftly slid them out of the tent, Baki of course had walked out several minutes ago, likely after he realized that the Kazekage would want to be alone with Naruto for a while.
"I knew you'd save me."
Naruto squeezed her tighter. "I'm just glad you're okay, Gaara-chan… I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you."
She rested her head on Naruto's chest. "I… I want you to stay in Sunagakure, if only for a day."
Naruto smiled at his fellow container. "Of course I'll stay here for a little bit! … But you'll need to rest, you've still lost a lot of blood, it'll be easier for Shukaku to heal your body while you sleep."
Gaara nodded. "Sleep… Please, stay here with me… I… I don't want to be alone again."
Naruto was taken aback by Gaara's statement, he carried her over to an adjacent cot with fewer bloodstains on it, he gently placed her down and gave her a bright and reassuring smile.
"Close your eyes Gaara-chan. I'll be right here next to you. You can even hold my hand if you want."
Her face went a bit pink, and of course, her lips turned upward a little. She responded, grabbing Naruto's hand, her green puppy-dog eyes lit up a noticeable amount.
"Naruto… I want you to know… You're very important to me… I thought I would die there. I'm the Kazekage, but as I sat there bleeding out in that cave, I didn't think about Sunagakure or it's people a single time… All my thoughts were occupied with whether or not I'd get to see you again."
Naruto smiled at her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm glad we both got our wishes."
Gaara had a blank expression, but tears began to roll down her face, she stared at the far wall of the tent as her voice fluctuated in its tone. "I had a dream that night, after the Akatsuki captured me… I died in that cave after they extracted my Shukaku, I had to sit through my own funeral. My family's mourning, the people I've sworn myself to protect, none of it was as painful as watching your reaction to my demise. No matter how loud I screamed, no matter how much I tried, you couldn't see or hear my soul call out to you. You were hurting, and I couldn't do anything about it, I just had to sit there and watch you suffer… I suppose it hurt so much because I was reminded of what my life felt like before I met you, I was nothing, a machine of war with no purpose outside of death and destruction. I… I…"
Gaara trailed off as Naruto touched her forehead to his own, she saw pain as well as a myriad of other mixed emotions in his eyes. Then their noses touched, Naruto could feel something pulling him toward the Kazekage, their shared experiences with unbearable lonliness, their battle of ideology during the Chuunin Exams Attack, everything they'd been through up until this point felt like it was culminating in this very moment… There was a short pause, then, their lips touched, Naruto had kissed her, then and there.
She had no idea how to respond to this form of affection, the red-head's skin began to match her hair as their lips broke contact.
"… It's okay Gaara-chan, I'm here now, and that's all that matters."
Naruto had a shadow clone bring him his wheelchair; he plopped down in it, and locked the wheels.
Gaara, having had no prior experience with this sort of thing, just nodded with a dumb-looking expression. She leaned back, and stared at the ceiling for several minutes, at least until the silence became awkward, she looked at Naruto, who was looking at her with that same weary, yet loving, expression. Gaara's mouth upturned once more before she shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Naruto chose to remain at his seat next to her bedside, Gaara would probably wake up and throw a temper tantrum if he left, so he figured that it'd be a good time for him to catch some shut-eye as well, but not before issuing one final thought as he looked at the bracelet Gaara had given him.
"We fight through our pain, our souls break the chains... Maybe you're on to something Gaara-chan."
10:30pm, Sunagakure; The Kazekage's Tower
Sakura, in being the physically strongest person within a reasonable distance, was forced to carry repair equipment up several lights of stairs… well, forced is a strong word. She'd only decided to it because the damage from the Sand Sibling's battle with Deidara and Sasori had caused the building's power to go out, so the elevator was out of question. Sakura figured repairs would go faster if she just carried the multitude of heavy boxes up the stairwell all at once.
The minor repairs had already been completed, but the gigantic hole in the roof would likely take a couple of hours for the repair team to get around to. Sakura had reached the top floor with time to spare before the rest of the crew got there, so she carried the boxes around the circular hallway to the hole.
The pinkette deftly tossed the stack of crates in her left hand into the air and gently caught them one by one, placing them in a line along the hole in the roof and wall. Sakura sat on the box of sledgehammers and looked out over Sunagakure, the village was actually quite beautiful at night, it happened to have been a full moon as well. After a few seconds of staring at the moonlit rooftops, Sakura sensed a strange presence behind her.
"You're Sakura Haruno, yes?"
Sakura turned to see an elderly woman with a peculiar smirk on her face, the elderly woman walked over to the nearest box next to Sakura and sat down on it.
Sakura smiled a bit. "Yes, that's me. Might I know your name miss?"
"Chiyo, Lady Chiyo…"
Sakura scratched her head in response. "Lady Chiyo, how exactly do you know who I am? I can't be all that famous."
"You're Tsunade's newest apprentice… that slug girl was always trying to outdo me back in the day. About a year ago, we crossed paths by chance, and all she did was brag about you. She described you to me, you're impossible to miss!"
Sakura grinned and mentally patted herself on the back, seeing as Tsunade wasn't much for praising anyone besides Naruto.
"The hair's a dead giveaway isn't it?"
Chiyo began to laugh at Sakura. "Ha! I'm near blind as a bat, on top of that it's dark up here, I can't see your hair! … But I could pick out your rear-end from a mile away, I bet you've got all sorts of people rubber-necking when you walk down the street! Hahaha! You've got those premium quality child-birthing hips, your babies'll be big and healthy!"
Sakura's brow twitched a bit and she turned her attention to the city below… or she at least tried to.
Chiyo was a troll at heart, so she of course couldn't resist escalating the already awkward conversation.
"Don't get all huffy about it! … I'm sure that Naruto boy can't keep his eyes off of you!"
Sakura's face went full on tomato as her head snapped to the elderly woman. "H-how much did Tsunade-sensei te-"
Chiyo laughed, cutting Sakura off. "Too much… You know, you're making a huge mistake, sitting on this I mean."
Sakura sighed. "You're the second person to tell me that today… I've done my thinking already, and I can't figure this out. I just need more time."
"But how much time do you have really?"
Sakura was about to reply, but she saw a familiar looking figure approaching from the sky.
Chiyo raised her eyebrow and yelled out of the hole in the wall. "Temari-chan? Is that you?"
The girl floated in through the gigantic hole in the wall/roof and skidded on her feet a bit before collapsing her fan.
Temari smirked. "How've ya been you old hag!"
Chiyo sighed. "Still lacking in the manners department I see."
Temari cracked her back and turned to Sakura, who cut her off before she could speak.
"Tsunade-sensei let you out of the hospital so soon? That doesn't seem like her."
"Well… I snuck out as soon as I was feeling better. I heard the good news though, where's Gaara-chan?"
Sakura kicked back on her crate of sledgehammers. "She's downstairs with Naruto-kun."
Sakura grumbled. "She hasn't let go of him since the sun went down, the medical staff made me pry her off of him so they could change her bandages... Do you know how long that took me? I thought Naruto was an odd case, but apparently super-strength is a shared trait..." Sakura decided to be vague, seeing as she was unsure of how much Chiyo knew about Naruto's... condition.
Temari started laughing at Sakura. "Yeah, that sounds just like Gaara-chan. I'll go down and see'er now… later you two."
Naruto was awkwardly waiting in the lobby, since apparently Gaara needed a sponge bath as well as a new set of bandages and clothing. She'd been gone for nearly twenty minutes, though Naruto would admit his arm needed a break, there were a few bruises on it from when Sakura had to come in and pry Gaara off of him so she could be treated.
Naruto stared at the candle on the large coffee table, it was the only source of light in the room besides the moon. Suddenly Kakashi sauntered past Naruto, he didn't even look at his student as he headed into the basement, Naruto could see electricity arcing off of his hands as he descended the stairs… A few seconds afterward, several Suna ninja came bolting into the lobby.
"Hey blondie! Did you see where that Copycat Ninja guy went?"
Naruto shrugged and stared back at the group of ninja, suddenly, the lights inside the tower came back on and a few seconds later, Kakashi walked out of the basement.
Naruto stared at his teacher, who immediately pulled out his porn and sat in one of the arm chairs across from Naruto, who was starting to snicker.
"Never get between Kakashi-sensei and his Icha-Icha!"
The Suna ninja just sighed and went up the stairs, likely to start repairing the hole in the roof.
Naruto stared at his teacher for a few seconds, and eventually the silver-haired shinobi felt Naruto's eyes drilling into his forehead. He looked at Naruto and raised an eyebrow, signaling for his student to speak.
"Kakashi-sensei, what do I do about Sakura-chan?"
"Give her time. She really loves you, you know that right?"
Naruto stared at the still-lit candle on the coffee table. "Sometimes I'm not sure about that… Things like, what she wants from me? I've gotten more reciprocation out of Gaara-chan of all people, and honestly I don't know what the hell I should do about our promise anymore… It seems a bit pointless right now."
Kakashi started to chuckle. "Naruto, what was the first thing I told Team 7 about being shinobi?"
"… Work together?"
"Nah, earlier."
Naruto thought for a few seconds and his eyes lit up with realization. "… Look underneath the underneath."
"Right, be careful about taking things at face value, especially when your dealing with women, they don't function like you and I do… They're usually a lot… subtler. Emotionally, Sakura's in an extremely weird place right now, so if the back-and-forth begins to bug you, try to see things from her point of view, it might help you stay patient… You're doing this for her, aren't you?"
Naruto pouted. "Yeah! Of course I am 'ttebayo!"
"Then let her figure it out. You've upheld your end of the bargain up until this point, you got her a chance to see Sasuke again, it's not in your hands anymore."
Naruto got a strange look on his face. "You know, the fox told me to do the same thing."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, your features still haven't reverted back to normal. Are you still in control?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna have Ero-Sannin take a look at my seal as soon as we get back. Right now, I'm avoiding using any sort of demonic chakra, since I don't know what's happening right now."
Kakashi nodded. "Hn. Alright then. I'm turning in for the night, we've got a long day tomorrow, I hear that the Sunagakure council has a request for us, so we'll probably be here a bit longer."
Naruto stretched backward and nodded. "I'll see ya tomorrow then! G'night!"
With that Kakashi went up the stairs to find a guest room to sleep in.
A few seconds passed before another blonde descended those same stairs, she locked eyes with Naruto and smirked.
"You're not one to disappoint are you?"
Naruto nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. "It's what I do!"
Temari strolled over to the couch Naruto was sitting on and plopped down next to him. There was a short pause, completely silent.
Then, Temari abruptly grabbed Naruto by the face and gave him a tounguey kiss. Naruto was reeling from the suddenness of Temari's display of affection.
"Thanks for saving Gaara-chan. You really don't understand how much this means to me."
Naruto wasn't listening of course, he was a bit pink in the face as he stared at Temari.
Naruto smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a bit of a bind as far as dating goes… Let's just say I'm emotionally unavailable at the moment."
Temari pinched Naruto on the cheek. "You're a good kisser… and yes, I know that you're a bit tied up as far as girls go... the Hokage filled me in. I just wanted to thank you personally for everything you've done for my sister, you don't understand what it was like living under the same roof when she'd kill at the drop of a hat. Seeing her now, it's so strange; yet, it's just what I've wanted for her all along. Whether you choose her or not, she's grown into an incredible human being, just her falling for you has made her a better person. I swear, if you were more my type… well, that and the fact that Gaara-chan would probably bury me alive if I tried to scoop you from her. You're more trouble than your worth."
'FUCK!' Naruto jumped slightly at the fox's sudden interjection of discontent.
Naruto sighed with relief. "That's cool with me… So what's your type then?"
Temari chuckled to herself and smirked, she crossed her legs and leaned on the armrest. "You're a bit to bubbly for me… Just watch, afterward, I'll give you one guess."
Just then, Shikamaru barged into the tower lobby, he smirked as soon as he saw Naruto and Temari chatting on the couch.
"Mataku, Naruto, another one? Leave some for the rest of us."
Temari smirked at Shikamaru. "Hey Mr. Sunshine. You come to screw up my little moment with Naruto?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and grabbed some jelly candies from a bowl on one of the tables.
The Nara boy smirked. "Heh, you have fun with that blondie… I thought fighting over "cute guys" wasn't your style."
Temari grabbed Naruto and jammed his face into her cleavage, mocking Shikamaru in an overly cutesy tone of voice.
"Oh, he's unbelievably cute. I'd totally date him if Gaara-chan wasn't opposed to sand-blasting me into a skeleton."
Immediately after she finished speaking, she let go of his head.
Shikamaru sat down on one of the armchairs and started eating the jelly candies one by one. There was an almost insulting level of disinterest in his tone of voice.
"…Good for you Temari."
Temari smirked at Shikamaru. "Don't get all butt-hurt Shikamaru, Naruto's not really my type anyway."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sliced a fly in half with one of his kunai. "Then what is your type?"
Temari started to chuckle as she stood up, she walked over and pulled Shikamaru up by the wrist and sauntered up the stairs.
"It's a secret. I can only tell you if no one else is listening."
The resident genius narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What're you on about? Why's it matter if Naruto hears?"
"Just come with me so I can show you."
"Show me what? You always drag me around with you and run me ragged whenever we hang out, what is it?"
Temari crossed her arms and glowered at the Nara heir. "Shikamaru, you're the stupidest genius I've ever met…"
With that, she went up the stairs, the swing in her hips was a bit exaggerated, likely to spite Shikamaru.
Naruto scratched his head and stared at Shikamaru, who looked back at him in bewilderment.
Naruto, having had a crash course in the language of the human female, decided to help his buddy out after he made his deduction.
"Hey uh Shikamaru… Don't you wanna see her naked?"
Shikamaru stared at Naruto for a few seconds before his eyes widened, he immediately bolted up the stairs while Naruto sat there on the couch, just as confused as ever. He honestly didn't know what Temari meant just then, but it was the fact that his past experiences up to this point would have him believe Temari was likely refering something sexual in nature.
Naruto looked at a clock on the wall, it was a few minutes past 10, so he'd figured he'd go find one of the guest rooms to use, apparently, tomorrow would be an important day for him… as well as tonight.
Naruto was having a rather mundane dream about a D-Rank mission pulling weeds with Team 7. Naruto and Sasuke were about to go at it using shovels as makeshift weapons when the Kyuubi appeared towering above them. He singled Naruto out, much like he'd done previously when he needed Naruto to wake up.
"Kit, we've another visitor." The fox turned its head to the sky and appeared to be yelling at someone.
"Is that all you've got for me, you fat fuck?"
Naruto dropped his shovel and sighed before the Kyuubi crushed him beneath his paw, the blonde's eyes shot open, the room was dark, but his eyes were already adjusted. Naruto smiled when he saw Gaara sleeping next to him, with her head on his mattress, she was sitting in a chair made out of sand, and she'd even brought her IV drip with her.
Naruto poked Gaara in the head a few times, she slowly awoke and stared at him in silence, even as dark as it was, Naruto could tell she was blushing like a strawberry.
"Hey Gaara-chan. You have a bad dream?"
She shook her head and crawled onto the bed and sat on her knees, Naruto sat up and crossed his legs, facing her.
There was a long silence as the Kazekage stared into Naruto's eyes, who could tell that something strange was afoot. The look in her eyes was something Naruto had never seen from her before.
"I… I want you to touch me."
Naruto stared back with an innocent smile and a genuinely curious expression. "Oh. Like how?"
She grabbed Naruto's hand by the wrist and put it on the side of her face. It was here that Naruto realized that his fellow jinchuuriki was only wearing a sheer nightdress, leaving almost nothing to imagination.
'Kit… Split her in half.'
Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head in amazement, before he'd had time to process what was happeneing, the Kazekage had pulled him on top of her. The strange look in her eyes reminded Naruto of his moment with Anko in the fores. The boy knew that the Kazekage still had a ways to go in terms of her psychological health, he brushed some of her hair out of her eyes and kissed her on the cheek.
"Gaara-chan, a-are you sure you want to-"
She cut Naruto off when she pulled him back on top of her.
"Naruto... Touch me..."

Naruto stared back with an innocent smile and a genuinely curious expression. “Oh. Like how?”
She grabbed Naruto’s hand by the wrist and put it on the side of her face. It was here that Naruto realized that his fellow jinchuuriki was only wearing a sheer nightdress, leaving almost nothing to imagination. After a second look, Naruto was completely convinced that she wasn't even wearing underwear.
‘…Split. Her. In HALF.’
Those familiar words rang through Naruto’s mind, it was essentially the boy’s trigger-word. Naruto’s eyes momentarily went red, he could feel the raw aggression begin to pour over him, but before he’d had time to process what was happeneing, the Kazekage had pulled him on top of her. This snapped Naruto back to reality, the red glow drained from his eyes when he got a good look at the Kazekage’s face, she seemed slightly apprehensive in spite of her boldness. Naruto smiled and kissed her on the forehead, as he was well aware of the fact that she still had a ways to go in terms of her psychological health. He wanted to make sure she knew exactly what she was asking him to do.
“Gaara-chan, a-are you sure you want me to-“
She cut him off, her blank expression made her words seem even clear.
“I said, I want you to touch me... inside.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled the blonde closer to her, their foreheads were touching, as were their noses. The redhead traced her fingers over Naruto’s whisker marks and then, she spoke quietly to him.
“Up until I saw you in Konoha a few days ago, I was thinking about you every day since we fought. When you returned from that mission to rescue Sasuke 2½ years ago, I visited you in the hospital; you were still non-responsive at the time, so we never got to talk. Watching you lie there… it made me feel things I couldn’t explain at the time... until recently. You taught me that bonds are what make people truly strong, but only now do I understand the nature of the one between you and I. Naruto… I think-… I know, I love you. No matter what happens, no matter who you choose, I’ll support you until the end, that’s a promise, the promise of a Kage.”
Naruto felt Gaara-chan’s eyes pulling him in, he held a long and passionate kiss with her. Naruto pulled back and pecked her on the lips a few more times, he smiled down and continued to stare into her green eyes.
Naruto was in his own world at this point, so much so, that he didn’t even notice that the sand was beginning to grip the waistband of his boxer shorts. Next thing Naruto knew, he was completely naked.
Naruto looked at Gaara, her eyes appeared to be going back and forth between Naruto’s lower regions, and his blue eyes, her face was nearly as red as her hair. Despite this being his third sexual encounter, Naruto was still at a loss for what to do. Most of the time, Anko would just take charge and eventually Naruto would eventually get the gist of it, however, this time, he had no idea where to start.
Naruto just shrugged and jammed a couple fingers where her legs met, Gaara-chan jumped a bit and reflexively grabbed Naruto’s upper arms; the look on her face was one of complete astonishment, after a few seconds, she gave him a tiny smile.
Naruto figured this was a good note to go on so he began wriggling his fingers around. He heard her inhale and give a satisfied grunt, suddenly, the sand in the room sudden wrapped around them and pulled Naruto even closer to her.
This caused Naruto’s fingers to ram even farther into her, the Kazekage moaned, and suddenly, the sand loosened its grip and fell to the floor. She was panting slightly and gave him this strange look; her eyes were glazed over, as if she were looking straight through him.
Naruto looked at her in surprise. “D-did you already? Huh.”
Gaara didn’t respond for a few seconds, she looked up in confusion. “Naruto… C-can you –hgh!- do that to me again?”
Naruto nodded at the redhead and added a third finger, wriggling them around even faster. He made sure to do exactly as Anko had instructed in their previous encounters.
Naruto started to slam his fingers in and out at an increasingly frantic pace, Gaara screamed in surprise, but she was able to cut herself off by clamping her hands over her mouth. She moaned and squeaked into her hands, Naruto could have sworn he heard a tiny giggle here and there, but he still had a bit of trouble comprehending Gaara-chan of all people laughing.
Naruto then started furiously moving his fingers in all directions, her body began to thrash and shake, so much so that she grabbed the pillow on Naruto’s bed and bit down on as much of it as she could, as to avoid waking up the other guests in the tower that night. Her breathing quickened, building up into a loud moan (of course, muffled by the pillow).
As if reflecting Gaara’s emotional state, the sand in the room began to vibrate and slither around the floor, Naruto could see the wind outside picking up. A localized sandstorm appeared to be forming around the Kazekage’s tower. Naruto looked back down at Gaara, she was panting heavily and making the cutest noises he’d ever heard, she fidgeted uncontrollably, not holding still any more than a few seconds at a time.
Naruto saw her rolling around on the bed like a feline on catnip, she eventually looked up at Naruto, and down at his buddy, which was now standing at a full salute. Naruto instinctively pinned Gaara’s wrists to the bed and put his mouth on her collar bone, he nipped at it from time to time as he planted kisses on her neck. Naruto used this as a distraction to enter her, the sudden sensation of Naruto made her inhale and moan softly.
Gaara murmured something unintelligible and moaned again when Naruto repositioned her so that she couldn’t move at all; she was completely under his control at this point.
Naruto started to move, slowly at first, his strokes long and slow. This made Gaara begin to twitch and groan in ecstasy, she ecstatically squirmed beneath Naruto’s grip, but he wouldn’t budge.
Naruto could tell she was enjoying herself, but what she said next threw him for a loop.
She whispered in his ear. “Naruto… Please, do it harder.”
Naruto’s eyes went red again and his features began to shift to a feral visage, he knew that demonic chakra was the last thing he wanted in his system at the moment, so he took a deep breath and was able to calm himself down.
He then complied with the redhead’s order. He released her arms and wrapped his own around around her upper torso. Gaara couldn’t believe how strong Naruto was, she felt the power of his arms, it was as if he could crush her whenever he wanted to, but that was nothing compared to what she felt next.
Gaara didn’t specify just how much harder she wanted Naruto to go, so Naruto figured he’d try to, quite literally split her in half, though not to the point in which the bed broke, he learned that one the hard way.
Naruto came down on her with enough force to make Gaara scream in ecstasy, and since she didn’t have a pillow to muffle the sounds, her surprisingly loud voice came out full force.
Naruto ferociously pounded the petite girl into the mattress, he smashed into her hard enough for there to be an audible slapping and gushing sound. Gaara moaned and gasped as she began to reach another climax, Naruto could feel her walls squeezing his member and pulling him in, he took that as his cue to speed up as well… She wasn’t ready, not at all. The sudden sensation drove Gaara over the edge, she squeezed Naruto tight and squealed, then, she went limp.
Naruto paused for a moment and stared at her pale face.
"Gaara-chan?"
After a few seconds, she inhaled and snapped awake. "Please... don't stop yet."
Naruto reared back and started slamming into her, he could feel a fountain splash onto his stomach as Gaara began to thrash underneath his grip. This only made him want to redouble his efforts, he used every last ounce of his strength and pumped into Gaara’s womb as fast as he could, as he too could feel himself about to burst.
After just a few more minutes, it all came to a close. Gaara began violently shaking and shivering beneath Naruto’s grip and they both climaxed simultaneously. Gaara screamed again, just as loud as last time, but this time around, her sand began to swirl around the room, the window was shattered and the storm on the outside entered the room, the gust of wind blew Naruto off of Gaara and into the wall. He slid down it and sat there, trying to keep sand from getting in his eyes and ears.
Naruto could see her rolling around on the bed with a faraway expression of happiness. She was squeaking and softly moaning, she even giggled, strange as it was.
After a few minutes of being pinned to the wall by her sand, Naruto could feel the wind let up, it was then that he noticed that he was buried from the neck down in sand. The room was decorated with about 3½ feet of sand, all Naruto could see was the lamp, his dresser, and the very top of the soaked mattress, courtesy of the now convulsing girl perched on it.
Naruto dug himself out of the sand and crawled across the room to Gaara. She finally stopped fidgeting and gave him a blank stare of fatigue.
“That… -ah!- felt good…"
Naruto grinned and shook some sand out of his hair. "Yeah, it did..."
Gaara continued to convulse. "W-will you be -huh!- staying in Sunagakure any -mmm!- longer?”
Naruto kissed her on the lips again. “Gaara-chan, I’d love to, but I have to go back to Konoha tomorrow. Don’t worry though, you can come visit whenever!”
She gave the blonde her signature awkward/stiff-hug and plopped down on top of him. She closed her eyes, but Naruto interrupted her attempt to go to sleep immediately.
“Hey uh, Gaara-chan? I know you’re probably used to sleeping on sand, but it makes me chafe.”
Without even opening her eyes, she raised a hand and gradually, the sand slithered out of the window, afterward, there was a little bit of it left on the floor, it reformed into a gourd and repositioned itself at the door.
Naruto shook his head in astonishment and closed his eyes, he almost immediately fell into a dreamless sleep, a small comfort for him at this time in his life, as it seemed he only had nightmares.
It was a shame to say that Naruto and Gaara were the only ones to have gottten any sleep that night, a pink-haired medic sat there, shocked, and slightly aroused in the next room. There was steam coming off of her forhead, was it jealousy? Maybe, or perhaps it was the fact that she couldn’t sleep, you know, with her favorite blonde getting frisky in the next room... Or maybe it was the fact that she now needed a cold shower. It goes without saying that she’d never tell a soul about that night, ever.
FIN
~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: This uncut version of the story only differs from the original in that there are sex scenes included. With that said, once you reach this point, I advise you to find the original on fanfiction.net if you wish to continue onward. As of this uncut chapter being posted, the ff.net version is currently on chapter 41, so there's plenty more reading for you to do there. This version will be updated periodically, but for the most part, only to fill the blanks between sex scenes. Anyway, thanks for reading!
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The Orange Flash: Lost Chapters