Just Smile: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 24: Glimpse

The three Genin and the one Jounin arrived back at the village, all of them slightly content that their mission had gone much better the last half than it had the first half, where without Naruto, they would've died long and gruesome deaths, but somehow, he actually managed to get Zabuza and his apprentice, a boy named Haku who could manipulate ice apparently, to go away in peace. 

It turned out that Zabuza and Haku raided Gato's mansion and killed the greedy businessman and stole his fortune before getting out of Wave before the hunter ninja from Mist could come and claim their bounty that was placed on their heads. 

Thus, Zabuza and Haku indirectly helped Wave prosper back and Tazuna, as well as his workers, finished the bridge in record time before the Leaf Ninja head back home, their mission completed. 

"Welp, I'm going to go report this to Hokage-sama, pretty sure he'll be happy to know that you guys took your first A-Rank today, so congrats I guess on that, even if I did all the work." He mumbled the last part of the sentence before he grinned. "Now go on home and get some rest, I'm sure you lot can use it!" 

He noticed how Sakura's face, which had been unusually happy throughout the entire time they had been gone from the village, was suddenly frowning and looking at the ground, finding the dirt more interesting than what Naruto was saying. 

Sasuke and Sai walked off and Naruto spun around to walk to the Hokage's office, only for Sakura to suddenly poke him in the back. He rose an eyebrow at the action and twisted his neck to see her. She was shaking.

"Can I uh, come with you to the debriefing? I, um, I want to see how it's done so I can do it in the future." 

"Your parents won't worry?" Naruto questioned, his smile faded as he watched Sakura tense up. 

"They probably don't even know I'm back in the village yet, so I think it'd be okay." Naruto shrugged. 

"Whatever makes you walk on water I guess." The two walked in a slightly-tense silence. They ascended up the stairs and into the Hokage's Office where Naruto explained every detail that happened in the mission. 

"Hm, I'm impressed that you beat Zabuza of the Hidden Mist so easily." Naruto shrugged, laughing a little.

"He was meh at most, I bet any serious Jounin here would be able to beat him in a one v one." Hiruzen chuckled. 

"A lot of people who are meh to you are strong to others, don't be so quick to dismiss them even as strong as you are." Naruto laughed before he said his goodbyes and he and Sakura walked out of the building. 

"Welp, I'ma go home so you can go home as well, I'll see you tomorrow at the regular time." He waved her off and began going home, but something was nagging in the back of his brain. Something wasn't right. He knew it. "Hey Sakura," He called out as the pink-haired girl turned around. He threw her a few bills of money. "Go get a haircut, if somebody grabs your hair you're fucked, just get it cut to your shoulders of something." 

"O-Okay, sensei, thank you!" She said before he disappeared in the air.

The Next Day

Sasuke, Sai, and Sakura appeared on the Training Grounds at exactly ten a.m., the usual time Naruto had called for them. 

Sakura had gotten her hair cut as Naruto suggested, or well, ordered her to. She got it short enough to where it was just above her shoulders. 

"Greetings everybody," Naruto spoke as he popped out of a tree. He noticed Sakura's hair. "That looks 10x better than the long hair, I promise." Sakura turned red as she looked at Sasuke, but the raven-haired boy looked at Naruto, not even noticing her.