Forest of Death (2)

"Ha! Ah!" Choji brought his staff down on Naruto's head. Naruto shouted and sprang upright. He'd been dreaming that Orochimaru was charging straight at him.

"Huh?" After shouting, Naruto froze and looked around. Shikamaru and Choji were crouched beside him, Sakura and Sasuke were sitting on the ground not far away, and Ino was carrying Rock Lee. Then Orochimaru's face suddenly flashed through Naruto's mind again.

"Everyone, hide! No, get down! Where is that guy?" Naruto shouted, looking around wildly.

"Oh? Naruto?" Sakura and Sasuke turned toward him at his yell and stared.

Choji came up behind him and poked him on the head with his staff.

"You're so naive. Honestly, just looking at you annoys me." Shikamaru was still irritated because Naruto had been asleep the whole time. Choji nodded along beside him.

Naruto ignored them and kept looking around. Then he noticed Sakura's long hair had been cut short. She'd cut it off earlier to escape Kin's grasp. Though, really, it hadn't made any difference. Even if she'd charged in herself, she would've just gotten beaten up.

"Eh!? Sakura! Th-that!" Naruto shouted as he ran over to her.

"What is it?" Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto in confusion.

"Um... Sakura! Your hair!" Naruto stopped in front of her.

"Oh, this?" Sakura touched her hair. "Just changing up my look, that's all." She gave a wry smile, then tried to sound casual.

"I still prefer long hair, but look, in a forest like this, long hair would just get in the way," Sakura said.

"Um... Anyway, why are you guys here?" Naruto turned to look at Shikamaru and the others.

"Ugh, I can't be bothered to explain," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"Come on, we all came to help. Naruto, are you all right?" Yin Xiang jumped down from a tree and came over beside Sakura as he spoke to Naruto.

"I'm fine. What happened to me?" Naruto still had no idea what had happened.

"Good. That's all that matters." Yin Xiang nodded, then took a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and crouched beside Sakura. "Don't move. Let me fix this up for you." He reached toward her hair, and she instinctively tried to pull away. Then Yin Xiang spoke.

At his words, Sakura went still without even realizing it, letting Yin Xiang fix her hair. He trimmed the uneven bits where it had been cut, then tidied up the stray hairs. It looked much better than before.

"All done." Yin Xiang put away the kunai and stood up, smiling at Sakura.

"Th-thank you." Sakura blushed and nodded at his smile, then touched her hair. It really did feel much nicer than before.

"I'll take care of him now." Tenten jumped down from a tree and came over to Ino. Ino nodded and handed Rock Lee over to her.

"Wake up, Lee!" Tenten grabbed him and shook him furiously. It worked: after she dropped him on the ground, Rock Lee came to.

"Ah, Tenten? What are you doing here?" Rock Lee looked up at her.

"I came to save you," Tenten said, crouching beside him.

"Huh? Where are those Sound Ninja?" Rock Lee looked around but couldn't see any sign of them.

"That guy named Sasuke beat them." Tenten and the others still weren't familiar with Sasuke and his team.

"I see..." Rock Lee nodded and looked toward Sakura. She was chatting happily with Yin Xiang.

"Honestly! You big forehead!" Ino shouted angrily at Sakura. Sakura was stunned by her outburst.

"What are you talking about, you Ino-pig?" Sakura shouted back. Before they knew it, the two of them were face-to-face.

"I'd already decided to let you have Sasuke, and now you're trying to steal Yin Xiang from me too!" Ino gritted her teeth as she pressed close to Sakura.

"What did you say? I was the one who let you have Sasuke!" Sakura shouted back.

"Honestly, what's gotten into them?" Shikamaru said helplessly as he watched the two of them.

"Why did you rush off on your own? And how did you end up in such a mess?" Tenten scolded Rock Lee. Watching Sakura and Ino arguing over Yin Xiang made her inexplicably furious, as if she wanted to take it all out on Rock Lee.

"That's because... Sakura was in danger, and as a man, I..."

"You're such an idiot."

"Ah... I can't argue with that." Rock Lee sat on the ground, hugged his knees, and muttered to himself.

"Ha! Aren't you the bushy-browed guy?" Naruto ran up to Rock Lee and pointed at him.

"Naruto! Don't you dare talk to Rock Lee like that!" Sakura, still arguing with Ino, heard him and rushed over to punch Naruto.

Naruto was sent flying and landed on the ground. "Ouch... What happened while I was asleep?"

"Naruto's completely out of the loop."

"He's definitely the kind of guy who'll never be the hero of the story..." Shikamaru and Choji snarked from the sidelines.

"Rock Lee... Thank you." After knocking Naruto away, Sakura turned to Rock Lee. "Thanks to you, I found the courage to stand up for myself. I feel like I've gotten stronger."

Rock Lee stared at Sakura for a moment, then burst into tears!

"Sakura, I see now... I still have to keep working hard!" Rock Lee said to her, then looked at Sasuke, who had walked over with Sakura. "Sasuke... as expected of the Uchiha Clan. You managed to drive those Sound Ninja back. You really are incredibly powerful, while I was beaten to a pulp..."

"What? He was beaten to a pulp? What happened...? Were those guys really that strong?" Sasuke wondered. He thought Rock Lee was extremely strong, yet those three had beaten him so badly. Sasuke had been unconscious earlier, so he didn't know what had happened.

"Sakura, the Leaf's Lotus will bloom again. The next time we meet, I swear I'll be an even stronger man!" Rock Lee said to Sakura.

"Mm!" Sakura smiled and nodded, though she didn't know that the Lotus was a technique used to protect the people most important to him.