Chapter 30

"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed pointing a finger unbelievably at Kakashi, "You finally get some time off from doing missions and you're telling me that you're TOO BUSY TO TRAIN ME?!"

"Now, now, Naruto," Kakashi said leisurely, walking down the road, his nose tucked in a familiar novel, "You're completely overreacting."

"Well, Ero-sennin is supposedly out making investigations about that Akatsuki group again, but it's not like there's any new information coming in. My bet is that he's probably flirting with all the local girls, 'researching' for the next edition of that series that you enjoy so much! But the point is that he's not around to train me!" Naruto complained, kicking a pebble on the road, "Seems like a waste of time, what he's doing…"

"He's on important business, Naruto," Kakashi said absently.

"Well, that's why you have to train me, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed boisterously, "You're overdue for training me anyways. The first time we took the chuunin exam you went and trained Sasuke instead! It's my turn to be trained now. You should teach me that Chidori attack thing, you know?"

"The Hokage has assigned me to a really important assignment, Naruto," Kakashi replied lowering his book to look at his watch, "And I'm late as it is."

"An important assignment?" Naruto's eyes lit up and Kakashi turned his gaze to the heavens, realizing he said the wrong words to Naruto: 'important' and 'assignment', "So where's it at? I'll come help too! I can do it better than anyone else!"

"No, no, Naruto," Kakashi said nervously sweat-dropping, waving his hands in front of him to shoo his old pupil off, "I'm sure that the hospital would appreciate it more if I took on the mission on alone."

"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly at Kakashi, making his sensei appear small and inferior in comparison. "You're going to the HOSPITAL? You're going to see Sasuke, aren't you?"

Kakashi paused for a moment to blink at the boy, wondering how on earth he knew about Sasuke. He decided not to dwell on the matter, and thought it better if he try to shake Naruto off.

There was a heavy and disapproving sigh from the fox-faced boy, "You know, sensei, you shouldn't play favorites so much."

"I'll train you later, Naruto," Kakashi promised lightly, before abruptly disappearing from the vicinity, making his way to the hospital hurriedly before Naruto could notice his disappearance.

After a few moments there was a loud outburst from the area he just left.

"GET BACK HERE, KAKASHI-SENSEI! I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU! …HEY!"

Kakashi grinned lazily under his mask—some things never change.

It was late in the morning and drawing closer towards the noon hour, the sun shining beautifully on at day like that one. Everyone was out and about enjoying themselves, taking advantage of the good weather—but Shikamaru was not enjoying himself. He was looking around town for Chouji and Naruto, and so far hadn't had any luck in locating them—while that in itself was troublesome, there was also an annoying blonde who was still following him, doing a better job than his own shadow.

He had ignored her mostly as he visited all the usual restaurants where Chouji complemented the food, and other favourite hangouts, but no such luck yet; every place had been devoid of the two boys. There was only one place left to try, and if they weren't there, Shikamaru had no idea where on earth to look. Rolling his eyes heavenwards to the sadly cloudless sky, he prayed that Naruto would be at the last place he was looking, just so he could get rid of Ino.

After continuing on down the path for a while, ignoring Ino's continuous stream of gossip, a sigh of relief escaped him as he recognized the back of Naruot's orange tracksuit sitting on a stool at his favourite ramen joint—Ichiraku's. He also saw Chouji's form in there as well, though it was a little difficult to see him from all the dirty dishes stacked around him. But it was no mistaking; he had found them both, and what luck, at the same place too. The day seemed a little better already.

"There's Naruto!" Ino squealed ecstatically as she spotted him, dragging Shikamaru as if he hadn't intended on going over there himself.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed in a sing-songy voice, "I've been looking all over for you."

Turning his eyes heavenwards, Shikamaru abandoned her side and took a stool next to Chouji, while Ino continued to gush in a flirtatious manner at Naruto. Naruto seemed completely oblivious to her presence, causing Ino's voice to become less sugary with each new word.

"What's with her?" Chouji asked while slurping up some ramen in a way that would have made an etiquette teacher pass out.

"Sakura's been behaving strangely, so Ino dragged me all over town following her so that we can find out what she's up to," Shikamaru replied, leaning back against the counter, "Women can be so troublesome!"

"No kidding!" Naruto agreed suddenly, looking over at Shikamaru and nodding seriously, "Sakura is the most troublesome of them all!"

Ino, who looked like she was about to explode at Naruto for ignoring her this entire time, had suddenly forgotten her anger as she leaned down to Naruto, peering at him intently, her eyes devious and wicked.

"Really?" she asked, sounding so aghast that it was obvious she was pretending, "Why? What did Sakura do?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Ino's need for gossip but turned to Naruto with slight interest anyways, curious himself.

.

.

.

‼️If you want to access to more than 400 advanced chapters, wait no more and subscribe to my Ko-Fi, where you can buy books in completely downloadable PDF format.‼️

☕️ko-fi.com/skyarc☕️