37 Chapter 37 New Mission! Team 7's temporary New Member!

After explaining the situation to Zabuza and Haku, Kakashi asked them what their plans were.

"Well, we were only planning on seeing the brat, but now that he's no here, there'd be no point in us staying here." Zabuza mused.

"What about the her?" Kakashi asked indicating toward Ai.

"What about her? We only agreed to travel with her here, nothing beyond that." Zabuza replied.

"Zabuza, don't you think we should look out for her until Naruto comes back?" Haku suggested.

"Why?" Zabuza asked.

Haku stared at Zabuza without replying, he looked over at Ai who was watching them while fidgeting. Then he looked back at Haku and sighed.

"Why don't we ask the girl what she wants." Zabuza suggested.

"Alright." Haku smiled.

The two of them turned toward Kakashi and said farewell before turning and walking toward Ai. Kakashi stood in the same spot as he watched their exchange. Then he turned and vanished, leaving the spot.

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Sakura was sitting on a bench as she watched people pass by. She looked up toward the clouds with a sad expression. She was thinking about Naruto and couldn't help but start remembering certain things about him. She remembered the form he had the last time she saw him, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Naruto looked up and grinned, " I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ichiraku's ramen, I hate snakes. My dream is to become Hokage, and earn everyone's respect and, and my hobbies include training! And eating Ichiraku ramen."

Sakura smiled as she remembered the time Naruto introduced himself to Kakashi-sensei. Then she remembered the time he apologized to her.

"Hey, Sakura... I'm sorry for snapping at you yesterday." Naruto sheepishly grinned as he scratched his head.

Then there was bloody beast that Naruto had changed into, the steam rising from his mouth as he growled toward the thing they faced on the bridge. All the destruction he caused just by swinging his arm around. Sakura grabbed her arms and hugged her chest tightly. Then the scene in her mind changed again.

Sasuke and Sakura each holding a bell while Naruto was standing with his hands behind his head grinning.

"Looks like we win sensei!" Naruto said cheerfully.

Sakura remembered the moment that they had defeated Kakashi-sensei during the survival training. Then she thought of the time when they first met Zabuza, and how scared she had been. But Naruto was different, he was able to keep his cool and the words he spoke really struck something within Sakura.

"Besides, I'll never abandon any of my comrades!" Naruto said with determination.

Those were the words that had brought Sakura out of her fear, and made her feel that everything would be alright. Then there was the moment when Naruto appeared on the bridge.

What was that?! Everyone stared at Zabuza's knocked down figure.

"Whew, made it just in time." A figure announced.

Then she remembered the promise she had made with Naruto right before the chunin exams had started.

"But I promise, I'll protect you!" Naruto grinned as he gave her a thumbs up.

Sakura was surprised by Naruto's words, but found them comforting to hear. She nodded her head and grinned. She decided at that moment, she was going to participate in the chunin exams, and she would contribute to the team more this time.

"It's the other way around, this time, I'll protect you and Sasuke, Naruto!" She said while smiling.

Naruto looked surprised to hear her words, but grinned shortly after.

"It's a promise then!" He laughed.

But once again, the image of what Naruto had become entered her mind once again. That's not Naruto she told herself, that can't be Naruto!!

Then there was the time during the first test of the chunin exams as well. She had been planning on quitting in order to protect Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage. Looking back, it was something she found pretty funny on her part.

Naruto slammed his hand loudly onto the table, dragging everyone's attention toward him. His sudden movement had also caused Sakura to freeze her hand in place as she stared at him from behind.

"Don't you dare screw with me! You think I'd be scared off just from a little threat like that? It'll take a lot more than words to make me quit!!" Naruto declared.

Everyone in the room stared at Naruto as he spoke with conviction.

"It doesn't matter how it turns out in the end, even if I do become stuck as a genin, I'll still make my dream of becoming Hokage come true! I'll never turn my back or run from a challenge just because it's difficult!!"

Naruto stood up from his seat as he stared straight at Ibiki. "You can't scare me!"

Then things began to get worse after that as she thought about the most recent events, and at the moment where it all started to go wrong.

Naruto immediately stopped in his tracks as he stared in a particular direction.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" Sakura hesitantly asked, after seeing the serious look on Naruto's face.

"We need to keep moving, I'll create another clone." Naruto answered vaguely without explaining anything to them.

He crossed his fingers together as he usually does and created another clone. Then, one Naruto went in the direction he had stared at while the other Naruto continued on with Sasuke and Sakura.

If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn't have let Naruto go like that. Sakura thought to herself, if only he had just ignored it and we continued on. Then he'd still be here with us, and we'd have finished the chunin exams by now…. She remembered the form Naruto had the last time she saw him; he was some kind of bloody beast with six tails and a skeleton attached to his body. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't picture Naruto as whatever she had seen.

Then they were forced to evacuate from the place without being able to do anything. After that, they met Kakashi-sensei, but he later left the group as well.

Then the chunin exams had been cancelled and all the participating genin had been sent home. It wasn't until a week later that she finally saw Kakashi-sensei again and he briefly explained that Naruto had left the village to go train somewhere else. But no matter how much she prodded and asked, Kakashi wouldn't give her anymore details about Naruto.

She felt terrible about the situation, she had promised to help and protect Naruto this time around, and she wasn't able to keep that promise at all. While she kept telling herself that there wasn't anything she could've done, she still felt like she had somehow failed.

"Sakura."

She was so frustrated with herself, if only she was stronger, she thought. Maybe she could have helped Naruto out of that situation, maybe she could have done something to prevent it from happening.

"Sakura!"

She placed her hands on her face as the thoughts in her head kept overwhelming her.

"Hey, Sakura!! Snap out of it!"

Suddenly, her wrists were grabbed by someone and her hands were pulled away from her face to reveal the person that had done so. It was none other than Sasuke.

"Eh? Sasuke? What are you doing?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"I should be asking you that, I kept calling your name but you wouldn't respond." Sasuke replied.

"Eh? Really?" Sakura uttered in disbelief.

Sasuke nodded his head and looked at her closely.

"Thinking about Naruto?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Sakura opened her eyes wide in shock before slowly nodding her head in agreement.

"I was…..." Sakura mumbled.

Sasuke was silent for a moment as he tried to figure out what to say to Sakura. However, just as he was about to open his mouth, a figure appeared.

"Yo!" The figure greeted.

"Kakashi-sensei!!?" The two of them exclaimed.

"How are you two doing?" Kakashi asked as he looked at the two of them.

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked down toward the ground.

Kakashi sighed as he rubbed his head. "That badly huh…..."

"Well, I understand you guys are still pretty upset about what's happened, but we've got a mission." Kakashi suddenly spoke.

"Eh? But we're a member short…... We don't have Naruto..." Sakura asked in surprise before getting depressed again.

Kakashi smiled as he responded. "Well, because we're down a member, and Team Guy isn't on any missions right now, we will be working with one of his members for this mission."

"Who is it?" Sasuke asked with interest.

Kakashi stepped to the side to reveal their new temporary member. "Let's welcome our temporary member of Team 7."

As soon as both Sasuke and Sakura saw who it was, they grimaced.

"THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME, I WILL DO MY BEST!!!!!!!" Lee said with enthusiasm.

The person was Rock Lee as he bowed toward the two of them, bending down at the waist as he extended his hand out for a greeting.

Kakashi scratched the side of his cheek as he saw the expressions on both Sasuke and Sakura.

Sakura stared at Lee as she wondered why it was him of all people that got put on their team. She slightly took a step back as she couldn't handle Lee well.

Lee stood up after a few moments and then he approached Sakura with burning eyes full of passion.

"While my heart aches for your team with having Naruto gone now, do not fear, I will give my all to ensure that this mission does not fail!! I promise!!!!" Lee exclaimed as he walked closer toward Sakura.

Sasuke and Kakashi stared at Lee while Sakura stared at the two of them for help.

"Now, now, why don't you all go pack for the mission, we leave in two hours." Kakashi suddenly spoke. Causing the three genin to look back at him.

Lee saluted as he replied to Kakashi. "Yes!!!"

The other two only nodded and they all separated as they all began preparing for the mission.

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While walking back, Sakura thought about Naruto again, she thought about how excited he'd be to be getting another mission. She smiled at the thought but quickly frowned as the thought only reminded her of how Naruto wasn't here anymore. Before joining team 7, she wouldn't have cared at all about Naruto. He had always been the class clown, goofing off or pulling pranks. But now, after getting to know him, Sakura found herself truly caring about Naruto, he'd listen to her worries and help her feel better. He also had a way of making others believe in the impossible, no matter how bad things seemed to get, having Naruto around had made her feel like things would be alright.

That's right! She thought, Naruto wouldn't let something like this get him down, so I shouldn't either, I'll focus on the mission and get stronger. Sakura clenched her fists together tightly as she hurried home to prepare for the mission.

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After two hours everyone had arrived at the main gates and were waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Once he arrived, they all set out.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura called out.

"Hm?" Kakashi replied.

"What's the mission?" Sakura asked.

"It's a mission to take care of some bandits along the border between the Land of Fire, and the Land of Wind." Kakashi answered.

Sakura nodded her head after hearing Kakashi.

"Oh right, because these bandits are attacking villages on both sides of the border, the Hidden Sand Village will be dispatching a team to coordinate with us to eliminate the bandits." Kakashi suddenly spoke.

"Eh? The Sand Village?" Sakura said in surprise.

Then she remembered the Sand genin that she had met with Naruto, they didn't seem like good people, and the short red-haired kid seemed especially scary to her. She shivered at the thought and silently hoped that the team helping them wasn't that team.

There's no way that would happen, right? She wondered in thought.

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"Gaara, your team will be dispatched to coordinate with the leaf's ninja in order to eliminate these bandits." The Kazekage spoke.

"I understand." Gaara replied before turning around and leaving.

The Kazekage stared silently at Gaara as he left the room. Why haven't I heard word from Orochimaru? He wondered, because of what happened during the chunin exams, the invasion plan had been called off. Orochimaru had sent a brief message before ceasing all communication. The message was; Don't act. While it was cryptic, the meaning was clear, they would not move forward with the invasion plan. However, despite the change in plans, the Hidden Leaf had never been aware of the invasion plan to begin with, so there weren't any issues because of it. But not hearing anything from Orochimaru created a large headache for The Kazekage.