Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Mission

For Naruto, the celebration of their victory, held in a small run down inn that had been abandoned not too long ago, would always start out in snapshots.

He and Sasuke with their arms on each other's shoulders singing 'We are the Champions'.

Kimimaro attempting to take out his entire skeleton and make it dance, only to have to drink about a gallon of milk in one go to keep himself conscious.

Sai drawing scenes from the battle, as described, and making them come to life for those who were not able to see every single blow.

Gaara giving verbal replays (enhanced in order to sound more interesting) to Neji, who was looking sulky.

Sakura and Hinata (with Naruto and Sasuke) sneaking up on Haku with a very pink kimono in order to force him to wear it.

All of them sitting around telling and retelling everything that had happened, laughing at there success, and not quite sure if it was real, or just a dream. All of them had gorged themselves on their favorite foods, and Sasuke was still eating a tomato when the group finally began to talk about serious matters.

"What do you think that Kakashi meant when he said that he would see us at the Exams?" Hinata asked, thoughtfully, "I wish that we had looked at the letter."

"Me too," Sakura moaned, "Naruto, why didn't you?"

"Because Hentai-sensei would have known," Sai said, applying his own nickname for Kakashi, based off of his love for Icha Icha, "he's considered one of Konoha's best ninja, you know."

Sakura muttered something inaudible that sounded like, "he still should have looked at it."

"I didn't want to push anything," Naruto said, "I think we can trust him not to reveal who we are to Danzou though. He knew who I was from the beginning, and he didn't do anything."

"Yeah, but…" Neji, always suspicious, began.

"Besides, there are more important things to discuss," Naruto turned to Haku, "What's with Zabuza?"

Haku looked a little embarrassed.

"Well, I didn't think that he would cause any harm…we weren't enemies anymore…"

"What do you mean, for all we know, he's going to kill us!" Sakura said, "Haku!"

Haku looked even more embarrassed.

"Then again…" Kimimaro said, a bit of a smirk on his face, "he owes us."

Naruto grinned a little.

Ninja, being solders that, ideally, had no feelings towards their opponents other then the fact that they had to kill or be killed, had rules about how to act. This was especially true of missing nin or unaffiliated ones. If there was a chance for both of them to live, without jeopardizing the mission, it was always preferable. If the winner had to lie or pull a few strings for the sake of the loser, the loser owed the winner, and the winner could recall that debt whenever they wanted.

"But we don't know if he's sane enough to follow the rules," Sasuke pointed out, taking a bite of his tomato, "When Kimimaro and I fought him, the only thing I got from him was that he really liked to fight. The more blood the better."