It seemed that Naruto did own more clothes then orange jumpsuits as he came running down the street in a pair of black shorts and a white t-shirt with a orange spiral on the front. Not the best wardrobe for a date, but leagues better then the jumpsuit in Sakura's opinion. And from the smell of things he also took a shower and put on deodorant, which meant that he really wanted to make a good impression on what was quite possibly his first date ever. This made Sakura happy as she put in just as much effort into her appearance with a white t-shirt with sakura petals decorated on the front and nice black skirt. And she had to admit while she waited for him the ramen that was cooking smelled delicious.
"Hey there! Did I make you wait long?" Naruto asked hoping he didn't mess up already. Sakura saw how nervous he was, this whole thing really meant a lot to him. It warmed her heart to see how much he really just wanted to make sure he did this right.
"No. I just got here about a minute ago." Sakura said honestly. This made Naruto breath a sigh of relief. They walked into the ramen stand and sat down at the booth to order their meal.
"What will you be having today?" The waitress Ayame asked with a warm smile.
"Two pork ramens please." Sakura answered.
"Coming right up." Ayame wrote down the order "Dad I need two pork bowls stat!" she said to the cook.
"You got it!" he said joyfully knowing that their favorite customer was finally on a date with the girl he always had his eye on.
Naruto looked at Sakura a little surprised." I thought that you were on a diet."
"I am. Just a much healthier one for a ninja now." she said with a knowing grin as Naruto has told her many times before that starving yourself was not the best thing to do when you want to be a ninja. But she always told him he didn't know what he was talking about before hitting him on the head. This thought caused Sakura to feel a wave of guilt at her past behavior.
"Well good to see you took my advice!" he said with a bright grin "After all your going to need all the energy you can get if you want to be an even greater ninja!"
Greater ninja? That implied that she was a great ninja already and she knew that wasn't true. "That's sweet of you to say Naruto, but I'm not a great ninja. Hell I'm barely a ninja at all." she said with shame "At best I'm an annoyance and at worst a liability. You, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are the ones doing all the work while I'm just in the background doing nothing. Just a week ago you saved the whole village from Gaara while I was pinned to a tree. Does that sound like a great ninja to you? *Sigh* The truth is Naruto..that I'm useless-" her depressing monologue was cut off by Naruto smacking her upside the head. "Ow what was that for?!"
"Just as you give me a smack whenever I act like an idiot it's only fair that I can do it too." he said sternly "Because Sakura..you ARE a great ninja. I can name 3 examples off the top of my head that prove it."
{Really? *Chuckle* Well this should be good.} she thought with grim amusement at what was no doubt going to be a weak defense for her skills.
"One you're smarter then Sauske and me combined. You were able to solve most of the questions on that impossible written test. And I'm pretty sure that's most of the reason as to why your so talented in chakra control." Naruto actually had a good point. Since chakra was made Physical and Mental energy it made sense that her natural intelligence made it easier for her to control. But smarts alone does not a great ninja make.
"Okay fair enough, but you have to admit that I'm useless in combat." she said certain that there was no way he could defend her subpar skill in fighting.
"Okay it's true that your taijutsu could use a lot of work, but that doesn't mean your useless. Which leads me to my second example. You got a lot of will. I mean that's how I win most of my fights." True but that didn't mean- "And you broke free of Ino's Mind Transfer jutsu. From what I heard not a lot people have the willpower to do that." ...Point taken. "And you saved our lives in The Forest of Death."
"Now your just grasping at straws. Lee and Team 8 were the ones who saved us. I barely did anything to slow the Sound Team down."
"So did Lee and Team 8 from what I heard. And they are all strong in their own right, especially Lee."...Point taken again. "Besides who watch over me and Sasuke for days making sure nothing killed us in our sleep? You did. Who put the time and effort to set up traps to buy us more time and catch the enemy off guard? You did. Who risked her life and endured a savage beating to save me,Sasuke and Lee? You did. Risking our lives, using any means to complete the mission and making sure that our comrades live to fight another day. That is what great ninja do. That is what you did Sakura." Naruto said with conviction and surprising wisdom that it stunned Sakura to silence. "And my third example, you want to get better. Any average ninja would just settle with just becoming a chunin, but I can tell that you got ambition and a lot of untapped potential. If you really knuckle down on your training, in no time you will become one of the best ninjas in the world!" he said with his trademark fox like grin.
"..You..really think so?" was all Sakura could manege to say for her state of pure awe.
Naruto looked her straight in the eye and said "I guarantee it."
*Sniffle*
Naruto and Sakura looked to see the Ichiraku's watch the scene with tears in their eyes and heartfelt smiles on their faces. "That was so beautiful." Mr. Ichiraku said barely holding it together as he placed their meal on the table "Just for that eat up as much as you want if you want more. It all on the house."
"REALLY!?!?" Naruto beamed "Alright!! Time to dig in!" he wasted no time doing just that and probably broke the record for the fastest time eating ramen as in ten seconds flat his bowl was empty "More please!"
"Coming right up! Ayame give me hand here we've got a Naruto too feed!" Mr. Ichiraku said in high spirits and his daughter was more than happy to help.
After eating to their hearts content Naruto and Sakura went of to enjoy the rest of their date. Which consisted of them just walking around the village talking for hours about everything and nothing. Sakura was amazed in how much fun she had just spending time with Naruto. She couldn't help but think as to why she never gave him a chance sooner.{Oh yeah..because I was so focused on Sasuke.} The more she thought about it the more she realized that she wasted so much time chasing a childhood fantasy and it cost her, her best friend and nearly got her to fail becoming a ninja at all. In fact the only reason she even became a ninja was so she could continue to chase Sasuke. But that's changed now. Now she actually wanted to contribute to the prosperity of the village. But most of all she wanted fight along side Naruto as an equal.
In what seemed like no time the pair found themselves in front of Sakura's house with the sun setting over head. "I had really good time today Naruto." she said sincerely "We should do this again soon."
"Do this again? Does that mean-" Naruto was cut off by Sakura giving him a kiss on the cheek and warm smile.
"See you tomorrow honey." she said with a cheeky wink as went inside.
Naruto's shrieks of joy could be heard from space.
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