Naruto : Chapter 18

In evening Kakashi dismissed his genin team at six and reminded them that he would place the resistance seals on Sasuke and Sakura tomorrow and therefore they were meeting at training ground three before they would start their laps around the village.

Naruto left first to go home. He wanted to work on a seal. Sasuke also walked home, feeling the effects of the hard training he had done over the day. He had to say he was pleased with how the training had gone. True, Naruto was better than him at the moment, but he would catch up.

It was only a question of the right training. He felt he was now finally getting closer to Itachi. And he would endure all the hard training Kakashi could throw at him if it got him strong enough to kill Itachi.

Sakura felt dead tired. She had never before done that kind of training. She thought Kakashi sensei was a sadist. How the hell could the boys stand this? Well, Naruto was a freak, her mother had always told her that and Sasuke was Sasuke.

It was normal that he was better than all others. When she reached her home she remembered what Kakashi had told them about eating right. She would eat something tonight. But she would also make sure it wouldn't make her fat. She wasn't convinced that a ninja could eat all he wanted.

"Hello Sakura how was your day?" Her mother asked.

"Strenuous. Please, I need something to eat." She answered.

"Sweetie, aren't you on a diet to impress Uchiha Sama?" Her mother asked frowning.

"Kakashi sensei forbid me to diet and told me that ninja wouldn't get fat with all the training they do. I am not completely sure about that though, but if we are training like today all the days, I have to eat more than before. Can I have some salad and fruit?" She asked.

Her mother contently nodded. Salad and fruit didn't have a lot of calories. That jonin didn't seem to understand the principles of getting a good husband. But what could be expected from a man? She took to cutting salad, cucumber and tomatoes and prepared a bit of dressing for her daughter.

"Here, Sweetie, there you are. A nice salad to fill your stomach but which won't make you fat." She said smiling.

"Thanks, Mum." Sakura said and began eating.

"So what did you do for training?" Her mother asked.

"Kakashi sensei tested our physical abilities today. Of course Sasuke was great. He was so much better than me. We had to run fifteen laps around the training ground, then we had to sprint from one side of the ground to the other. A slalom through poles sets of fifty repeats for different exercises.

Then we got a lecture on the right diet for a ninja. Can you believe that Kakashi sensei thinks a ninja should eat three thousand five hundred calories a day?" Sakura asked.

"What? But that will make you fat. There is no way you could keep a good figure to impress Sasuke Sama if you ate that much." Her mother was scandalized.

"I know. But he seemed serious. For the next week Kakashi sensei will provide our lunch so we can get an idea what we should pack, he said. We are to bring snacks for morning and afternoon breaks. Something like fruit, sandwiches, riceballs or vegetables. And a lot to drink. He also recommended eating meat and fish, I think he said for building muscles." Sakura reported.

"But that would make you look ugly. What self-respecting woman would want to look like a muscle mountain?" Sakura's mother asked.

"I don't know, but obviously both Sasuke and Naruto agreed with Kakashi." Sakura sighed.

"Naruto? He is your second team-mate?" Her mother asked worried.

"Yes. But he is such a nuisance. He is mean to me and disrespects Sasuke. Just because I told him off for starting to train without Kakashi sensei being there he shot me with a senbon with one of his paralysing poisons. I couldn't move for ten minutes." Sakura complained.

"He poisoned you? I will take care of that. I won't allow for that freak to harm my daughter." Sakura's mother screeched.

Sakura nodded. Naruto would see what happened if you treated her badly. After all, her mother was on the civilian council.

"Okay, when do you have to be at your training ground tomorrow?" Her mother asked.

"At six." Sakura said.

"He even takes your beauty sleep away. If you weren't on Sasuke Sama's team and therefore in the best position to win him as your husband, I would demand for you to be put on another team, but you will just have to persevere and show Sasuke that you are the only suited girl for him." She said.

"Don't worry, Mum. I will win him and then I will become Mrs Sakura Uchiha once we are old enough." Sakura said dreamily.

"That's my girl." Her mother said proudly.

...

The next morning at ten, Isami Haruno walked to the meeting room of the civilian council and told that her daughter had been poisoned by the demon. Of course all the other councillors were enraged and thought they now finally had something to get the demon for. They had an ANBU that listened to them sent out so that Naruto was called in.

At training ground three team seven was again going through physical training, this time Kakashi was doing his own exercises at the side of his team. Then an ANBU appeared. Kakashi looked up and asked the ANBU what he wanted.

"Naruto Uzumaki is to immediately appear at the Hokage Tower on orders of the council." The ANBU informed Kakashi.

"You say the council gave this order?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Kakashi." The ANBU confirmed.

"He has training now and if you don't have orders from the Hokage I won't let him leave his training. When you have orders from the Hokage come back." Kakashi said and went back to his exercises.

The ANBU looked at Kakashi as if he was from another planet, but he also knew that the ex-ANBU wouldn't budge on his opinion. And as the demon brat's sensei he had the power to forbid the brat to leave his training. The ANBU decided it would be best to return to the council to report.

...

In the meeting room the council was preparing to rip the demon apart, but the only one returning was the ANBU they had sent.

"Where is the … boy?" Isami asked.

"He won't come. Kakashi Hatake gave me the message that he would only let his student leave his training if you had orders from the Hokage. Otherwise his student would stay with him to train." The ANBU said.

"How dare he?" Ginbi Renihara asked enraged. He was a wealthy merchant.

"We are the council, we deserve respect." Wakata Teiji said.

"Who does he think he is? I will get that order from the Hokage. Just he waits." Isami said and stormed to the Hokage's office.

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