Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Talking: “...”

Thinking: ‘...’

Chapter 24: The Thing You Must Do

“Ugh.. where am I?” Sakura asked when she slowly opened her eyes. She carefully looked around, it was morning already, noticing she was laying on a bed and that she’d seen this room before...

“Sakura-chan!” A joyful cry came from her right.

Sakura gave a soft smile, “Naruto..”

Naruto came sitting next to her with a big smile on his face, with both relief and happiness.

Sakura tried to move a bit but a sudden flow of pain went through her neck. She immediately grabbed it and hissed.

“Sakura-chan! W-what’s wrong?! Are you hurt? Did you hurt yourself?” Naruto asked, moving closer to Sakura.

“Mh, no, I’m fine, Naruto.” She shook her head and released her neck. She looked up to Naruto. “Naruto, what happened?”

Naruto looked at her with a confused face. “You tell me, Sakura-chan. I was at Tsunade-obaachan’s place when there was an earthquake. She told me it was yours so I had to go look for you. Next thing I know I found you, passed out in front of the main gate!”

Now she remembered. “Shit...” Sakura muttered and fell down backwards on the bed. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

“Sakura-chan?” Naruto said with a voice that was just above a whisper. Sakura opened her eyes and saw Naruto’s face close to hers.

She blushed, but somehow, it gave her a soothing feeling to see his big, blue eyes. They both stayed in this position.

“Sakura-chan... Tell me what happened...” Naruto said in a soothing, yet serious voice.

She had to tell him. She just couldn’t lie to him anymore. She took a deep breath; “I saw Sasuke yesterday night...”

“W-what..?” Naruto asked, shocked.

Sakura looked away and closed her eyes, not being able too look into his honest and pure eyes. “I saw Sasuke,” She repeated. “I met up with Sasuke.”

“Sakura-cha-“

“I’m sorry!” Sakura blurted out, “I’m so sorry, Naruto! I should have told you, but I just didn’t want to involve you in it. I’m so sorry...” Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes and threatened to fall.

She suddenly felt a finger gently wiping away her tears. Before she could look up, the hand disappeared and two hands grabbed her shoulders, quickly moving her towards the warm body of the warm boy.

Naruto hugged Sakura close, “Sakura-chan... Promise me, promise me you’ll never do something like that again! You should have told me! Sasuke... I wanted to see him too!”

Sakura hugged him back, “I’m so sorry, Naruto...” She said again and her voice began to tremble, “But I was certain that you wouldn’t let me go. And I wanted to prove to myself that.. I wasn’t scared... That I wasn’t the weak girl I was when he left!”

Naruto gently pulled himself away from Sakura, wiping the remaining tears away from her eyes. He smiled softly at her; “Sakura-chan... Of course I wouldn’t let you go to him alone, I wanted to come with you. And in my eyes, you are defiantly not weak. You are the strongest kunoichi I’ve ever met.”

“Aside from Hogake-sama.” Sakura giggled.

Naruto smiled as he saw that Sakura seemed to be a bit more happier. “Yeah, but she’s just creepy.” Naruto said as he gave a shudder after it, making Sakura laugh.

Sakura stopped laughing as she grabbed both Naruto’s hands, giving them a slight squeeze; “Naruto, thank you. I feel better now.”

“No problem, Sakura-chan. I would do anything for you.” Naruto said, his gaze never leaving her eyes.

Sakura blushed by that statement, “Y-you mean that...?”

Naruto’s face began to close in and Sakura didn’t move an inch. “Yeah...” Naruto whispered, not really focusing on anything else except Sakura’s emerald eyes.

Naruto’s heart was beating fast; he thought Sakura could hear it, but she didn’t. He came closer to her, and Sakura slowly closed her eyes.

‘Finally, no one to interrupt, no one to come in between. Just me and Sakura-chan...’ Naruto thought as he also closed his eyes.

They both reached in, their lips almost touching.

A knock.

“Oi, Naruto... You left your window open. I have a message for you from-“ Shikamaru stood on Naruto’s roof, his head popping through the open window.

Sakura and Naruto stopped, but didn’t move away. Their eyes were big, as they looked at Shikamaru, who’s eyes were... bored.

“Yeah, ok, what were you two doing?” Shikamaru asked, looking at the two.

Sakura quickly shoved Naruto aside so that he fell off the bed, landing with a big ‘thud’. Sakura laughed nervously. “Ha-ha, Shikamaru. What, uh, what brings you here?”

Naruto slowly stood up, his hand rubbing his head; apparently he landed on his head.

Shikamaru looked at the two; first at Sakura, then at Naruto. He gave a big sigh while closing his eyes. “How troublesome..” Shikamaru said and opened his eyes again, his face all serious.

“I’ve got orders from the Hokage to bring you two to her. Seems like she wants to talk to you two.”

Naruto stopped rubbing his head and looked at Sakura, who looked at him. She stood up and they both nodded. They both went through the window and landed next to Shikamaru, who just stood still.

“Aren’t you coming with us, Shikamaru?” Sakura asked as Shikamaru didn’t follow them.

Shikamaru shrugged, “Naw, although my orders were to bring you to her, I can’t see why you can’t do that on your own. Besides, it’s too troublesome.”

“Oh, okay, Shikamaru, thanks anyway!” Naruto said and began to sprint towards Tsunade’s office, having Sakura right behind him.

- At the Hokage’s office -

Naruto and Sakura were walking in the hallway on their way to Tsunade’s office.

“Naruto... I think I have an idea what this is about...” Sakura said, but you could see she was still pondering.

“Mh? What is it, Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked, with his hands in his pockets.

“Well, you know, when I met up with Sasuke, he told me-“ But Sakura was interrupted by Shizune.

“Ah, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, Tsunade-sama is waiting for you.” Shizune said with a small smile on her face. She had a few documents is her hands, which were probably for Tsunade.

“Thank you, Shizune.” Sakura said as they entered the office. Strangely enough, the door was already open.

“Excuse us, Hokage-sama...” Sakura said as she and Naruto stood in the doorway, waiting for Tsunade’s approval to come in.

Tsunade was looking outside, not turning around when Sakura and Naruto stood there.

“Ah yes, come in, you two.” Tsunade said, still not turning around.

Naruto and Sakura entered the office with Shizune following them and closing the door.

“You wanted to speak with us, Hokage-sama?” Sakura asked.

“Yes,” Tsunade said and turned around to face the two. “I’ll just come straight to the point and ask you the first question.” She looked at Sakura.

“Sakura... Is it true that you’ve met Sasuke?”

Sakura didn’t flinch when she asked that, because somehow, she knew that Tsunade would find out sooner than she would expect.

“Yes.”

“He invited you?”

“Yes, he wanted to warn me.”

“About the Akatsuki members that are coming to Konoha?”

This took Sakura a bit off guard, “How did you know, Hokage-sama?”

“Because I’ve got a message from Gaara of the Sand Village about their arrival.”

“So, it is true...” Sakura said, looking down.

“We have no time to waste. They want Naruto’s Kyuubi... again.”

This made Naruto angry, “Argh! Why do they want me?!”

“It’s not you they want, Naruto.” Tsunade said, “It’s the Kyuubi that’s inside you. That’s what they want.”

“Then they can have it! This... thing inside me has caused me nothing but trouble and... pain...” Naruto said. At the end of his sentence, he looked at Sakura, who looked at him.

She knew it wasn’t his fault that he attacked her while being at the festival, but she also knew he still thought it was his fault. She grabbed his hand and softly squeezing, as if she wanted to tell him that everything will be alright. He gave a slight smile and turned his head back to Tsunade.

“Naruto... you do realize that when you ‘give’ them the Kyuubi, they will be very powerful, unable to be stopped, right?” Tsunade continued.

“Y-yeah, but I-“ But Naruto was cut off.

“And do you realize,” Tsunade continued, “that when you ‘give’ them the Kyuubi... you will die?”

Naruto and Sakura gasped at the same time. Sakura squeezed Naruto’s hand a little harder, but both of them didn’t realized it.

A drop of sweat ran down his face, “I... die? But... but how?”

Tsunade closed her eyes, “The Kyuubi became your life. But it is also when you die, he dies as well. But it’s exactly the same the other way around, you should’ve known that. That is why, Naruto, you must fight them.”

“But Tsunade-obaachan! You know what happened last time they were here! I wasn’t strong enough! I-“

Tsunade interrupted him, “That’s why I want you to train. I want you to train really hard. And I want you to train together with Sakura.”

“But when will they arrive, Hokage-sama?” Sakura asked, still holding Naruto’s hand.

Tsunade gave a sigh, “We don’t know that, yet. I think they are buying us some time, so that you, Naruto, can train and fight them.”

“But... who’s gonna train us..?” Sakura asked.

“Unfortunately, Jiraiya isn’t available and neither is Kakashi.” Tsunade stood up, walking towards the two.

Shizune gave a nervous grin that Naruto and Sakura couldn’t see.

“So that means...?” They both said at the same time, and feared what Tsunade was going to say.

Tsunade made a wide grin, “Yes, I will train you!”

To Be Continued