Just Smile: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 33: Burning Love

"So they just looked at you like. . ." Anko began, letting the sentence hang in the air. 

"Like they used to," Naruto confirmed as he looked at the tv in front of them, watching a few episodes of his favorite show as he leaned on the arm of the chair. "Like everyone did after the exams back then." Anko frowned. 

She had thought she knew Kurenai and Asuma better than that. 

"They were scared like I was out of control," Naruto said bitterly. "As if I were to turn my blade in their direction next! They don't get it, no one does." Anko felt her eyes roll as she grabbed the blonde's arm and tugged him towards her. 

"I get it." She whispered in his ear as she placed his head on her lap, her small and almost delicate hands roaming through his golden locks. "Trust me." 

"They think I'm a monster," He whispered, his voice choking up slightly and Anko's heart broke at the sound he gave off, like a small whimpering puppy who had just been kicked. 

"You're not a monster," Anko said softly. "You kill monsters. You protect those you love. There is nothing wrong with that at all, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Naruto felt a small smile creep onto his face, the tv light dancing off his face as he just laid in the lap of the woman he loved. 

This was nice. 

"I love you, Anko-chan." He said as he dug deeper into her lap. Anko chuckled. 

"I love you too, Naruto-kun." 

This time skip is brought to you by McDonalds, our ice cream machine IS broke so don't fucking ask. 

Naruto looked at his team in front of him, a proud grin on his face while they all stood in place, somewhat bashful. 

"I'm so proud of all of you. You all passed the preliminaries," Oh yes, I forgot about that? Well this is Naruto-centric so fucking deal with it. Now to explain. 

In the preliminaries, Sasuke had to fight some no-name Genin who could absorb chakra with his hands, a somewhat rare ability but he had been able to overcome by literally kicking the Genin's ass, having planted his foot in the teen's rear and smashing him into a wall, a sight Naruto couldn't help but snicker at when he rewatched the footage. 

Then, Sai had to face Kiba Inuzuka, who made the mistake of underestimating the former Root Ninja. Sai had utilized his ink-jutsu perfectly and subdued Kiba without knocking the Inuzuka out nor killing him, showing his expertise in catching an enemy alive.

Finally, Sakura had to fight her best friend Ino, who had tried to use her mind Jutsu on the pink-haired Genin, but was easily beaten when it came to a battle of the mind and she was kicked out. Sakura then used her training to easily defeat Ino with a swift punch to the head, knocking out the Yamanaka. 

"Now, normally I would have you all start training harshly as a team, but lucky you, I know damn well what the Third Exam is, and its basically a large 1v1 tournament, meaning you all have to train on your own." Naruto said as Sakura cocked her head to the side. 

"Does that mean you're planning on dumping us onto two other people so you can train Sasuke with the Sharingan?" Naruto laughed. 

"Of course not! Well, maybe a tad," He admitted as Sakura glared at him. "But its for a good cause I promise!" He pointed at Sai. "How would you like to train with Kakashi Hatake?" Sai's eyes widened. 

"Kakashi Hatake? The one who is rumored to know more than 1,000 Jutsu?" Naruto nodded. 

"Yep! He's like my older brother, and you guys are like my kids, so he's your pervy uncle in a technical type of way. So if I ask him to train ya, he will definitely say yes."