"Anyway, no more will come for a while, not with that thing coming into the area. We should get you to the hospital and treated for those bites," said Naruto, motioning to the small bite marks around her ankles and down her arms.
"I am feeling a bit weak now you mention it," said Sakura.
"No worries, we'll get you treated now," said Naruto, supporting her with an arm around her and her arm around his shoulders.
As promised, Naruto took her to the hospital and she got treated with an antidote to the chakra rat poison as well as some bandages for the bites. An hour in the hospital and the pair were back out on the streets.
"So, did you have fun?" asked Naruto, grinning and completely prepared for her to clock him for even asking.
Admittedly he was surprised when she didn't hit him.
"It wasn't fun," she said softly, looking down. "It wasn't fun at all. There were so many of them and they just kept coming and you . . . you just fought and fought even when I couldn't fight anymore. You knew what to do and I was clueless . . . so clueless and those were just rats, what's it going to be like when we face shinobi? I don't know if I'm cut out for this."
There was a slapping noise ringing out into the early evening air. "Don't ever doubt yourself in front of me again," ordered Naruto. "You did your job, you covered my back like a teammate should and you got some valuable experience from it. That's why fields like that exist, so we can train and get experience beyond the missions, beyond basic training. And we're a team now, I'll help you get stronger too."
Sakura sniffled a few times. "Thanks, Naruto, maybe you're not so annoying after all."
"So does that mean you'll go on a date with me?"
"Not a chance," she said, this time hammering him in the head.
"So much for that goodwill," groaned Naruto, slowly picking himself up again.
"Serves you right," said Sakura, crossing her arms, all her worries seemed to be gone.
"Anyway, I'm going for food and then possibly to Higurashi's for some new gear. I don't see Kakashi-sensei taking it easy on us," said Naruto.
"Yeah, maybe I should get some better protection for my arms and ankles too," said Sakura.
"Yeah, he's got good stuff. I'll even put some enhancement fuin on them for you if you want me to," offered Naruto.
"Since when do you know fuinjutsu, let alone enhancement fuin?"
"It's a recent thing, but you up for it?" he asked again.
"Yeah, I suppose, but this isn't a date," she said, trying once again to make it clear she would not be going on a date with Naruto.
"Sure, sure, let's go," said Naruto, walking ahead toward Ichiraku.
Sakura shook her head, her teammate was certainly a goof but at least he was reliable. She jogged to catch up with him a moment later.
You have slept in your bed. HP & CP are fully stored.
Naruto popped up from bed ran through his morning routine before settling down to eat breakfast. It didn't take long for him to get out the door and meet up with the rest of the team.
Naruto arrived a few minutes early but still the last to arrive. Sasuke was leaning against one of the three training posts looking bored out of his mind but not tired or sluggish. Sakura was another story, she looked a bit tired and it was clear the day before had taken it out of her. Still, her new forearm protectors and shin protectors looked pretty slick, Naruto should know, he was with her when she picked them out and he put the fuin on them to give her a bit more dexterity as per her request. Sadly, his attempts to convince her to get something better than a red dress fell on deaf ears.
So Naruto sat on top of one the posts and waited. And waited some more. Then waited even longer.
"Sakura-chan, have you got any of the glitter left?" asked Naruto.
"What's the plan?" she asked, seemingly eager to assist him.
"Seeing that he's so late, even after jiji ordered him to be on time from now on, I say we lace the field with as many traps as we can. He said we need to survive him, well now he can worry about surviving us," explained Naruto, grinning deviously. "We'll need you to help with this, teme."
Sasuke frowned then finally nodded his ascent.
"Okay, so Sasuke, you and I will lay the traps, Sakura can you map them out as we place them?"
"Capture or kill?" asked Sasuke.
"Capture mostly but you can do kill just go non-lethal with it, like using glitter," ordered Naruto, grinning a little at the mention of glitter.
Sasuke nodded and set out into the field.
Naruto went the opposite direction.
After an hour they regroup and went over the map Sakura put together from watching the both of them and given that Kakashi hadn't shown up yet meant they had time to memorize it.
Kakashi finally arrived at about an hour to noon, arriving in a swirl of leaves and completely avoiding the traps he didn't know were there.
"You're late!" yelled Naruto and Sakura.
"Mah, mah, you see I ran into this little old lady that need help with her groceries," he explained, not looking up from his porno.
"Liar!" the duo replied.
"Prove it," he challenged them.
"I'm so telling jiji you were late, I was there when he told you to be on time from now on," said Naruto.
"Ah, but he gave me permission to test you guys didn't' he? My arrival time is part of the test."
"That's why you told us not to eat," said Sakura, suddenly understanding the issue.
"Good job seeing underneath the underneath," praised Kakashi.
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