Leaving Her Alone

*Chapter 5*

Warm rays of morning sunlight danced upon Naruto's window pane, stirring him from his slumber. A dry groan escaped him as he stretched out his tired limbs before moving to sit upright in his bed.

"Best sleep ever." he murmured as he cast his gaze out of the picture window positioned beside his bed.

The sky was a clear, translucent blue that morning, and vacant of even the smallest of clouds. A breeze was currently whispering over the landscape - if the gentle rustle and sway of the trees was anything to go by - and birds sang from their perches in greeting of the brand new day.

"Sure is a beautiful day outside." Naruto muttered as he collapsed back down on his bed, lacing his fingers behind his head as he did so. "Tch, too bad I'll be stuck inside for half of it. Jeez...stupid doctor's orders, stupid 24-hour restriction..."

He cast one more quick glance out the window before huffing and shifting his coral blue glare up to his ceiling. "...Stupid Kakashi-sensei who's probably somewhere watching my house so he can stop me if I do decide to try and go outside... Man, I really wanna do some training..."

Heaving a deep, resigned sigh, the boy proceeded to stare aimlessly at his ceiling, allowing a somewhat comfortable silence to descend upon his dwelling. Within minutes his eyelids began to droop, the urge to succumb to sleep's beckoning call beginning to overtake him once more.

Ugh...damn comfortable silence...

Just as he had begun to drift off into the dreamless abyss, the sound of sudden knocking at his door pulled him back into the realm of consciousness. He was just about to roll over and purposefully ignore the unexpected visitor - whoever it was - when the knocking came again...only this time it was louder and more forceful, causing his door to rattle slightly on its hinges.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Jeez..." he grumbled as he begrudgingly got out of his bed and shuffled over to the door.

Yanking it open, he found Kakashi standing on the other side, hands shoved in his pockets.

"Sensei? What are you doing here?" he asked.

At that moment, Sasuke and Sakura also moved into Naruto's field of vision, standing only a couple inches behind Kakashi. Naruto's brow furrowed almost instinctively. "What the hell are they doing here?!"

Sakura felt herself flinch involuntarily. ...They?

"I need you to get dressed and come with us. Quickly." Kakashi ordered.

Naruto stared incredulously at his teacher. "Huh?! Wait a minute, what about -"

"Look, Naruto, I know doctor's orders are important and all, but as of right now, we're disregarding them. Prepare yourself to come with us."

"H-hold on, come with you where?!"

Kakashi cleared his throat before responding. "The Third Hokage has assigned Team 7 a mission - a B-ranked mission."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "B-ranked? Really?!"

Kakashi nodded. "That's right. As soon as you get yourself ready, we'll head to the Hokage Tower to be briefed on the details. Then we'll head out."

Excitement bubbled up within Naruto then, and he nodded quickly in understanding. "Alright. Give me a couple minutes and I'll be right out."

At that, he hurriedly shut his door and wasted no time getting dressed and ready to head out with his team.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from the opened scroll in front of him at the sound of a knock on his office door.