"Sasuke, make sure you stay safe!"
Naruto Uzumaki stood before Konoha's gates, waving and shouting after Sasuke Uchiha, who had already led the Search Team into the distance.
Sasuke raised a hand and waved without looking back.
"Tch, showing off again." Naruto curled his lip.
Then he looked at Sakura Haruno, who had also come to see Sasuke off.
She was cupping her flushed cheeks in both hands, staring unblinkingly at Sasuke's retreating figure.
When they had come to see him off, Sakura Haruno had caught a rare glimpse of Sasuke smiling at her and had immediately slipped into a lovestruck daze.
If Sasuke hadn't actually been leaving Konoha on a dangerous reconnaissance mission, Naruto really would have wanted to fight him again.
"Sakura, Sakura..."
Naruto raised a hand and waved it in front of Sakura Haruno's face, only to find that it had no effect whatsoever.
She was still hopelessly lost in her lovestruck daze and would probably take quite a while to return to normal.
"Sigh... Big Brother Naraku, what's so great about Sasuke, anyway?" Looking utterly baffled, Naruto turned to Shihōin Naraku, who had also come to see them off.
As Konoha's current Hokage, he naturally had to come and see his own ninja off when they were forming a Search Team with jonin from other forces to carry out a mission away from the village.
That was perfectly normal.
Naraku gave Naruto a speechless glance. I don't know what's so charming about Sasuke, but how many years have you and Sakura Haruno been chasing after him? Don't you have any idea yourselves?
Perhaps Naraku's gaze had embarrassed him too much, for Naruto could only wave his hands and let Sasuke off with a sheepish look.
"Forget it, forget it. Sasuke's heading off on such a dangerous