Can Our Love be Saved? Part 1

The sound of shuffling papers filled the room as Naruto gathered up a stack and tapped them on his desk. He stamped the top paper with his seal of approval and placed the stack on top of a growing pile in a corner of the desk. Naruto sighed and pushed himself away from his work, turning in his chair to face the window behind him. He needed a break from his paperwork and a break to collect his thoughts.

Naruto had become Hokage after the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War and brought Sasuke back to the Hidden Leaf after defeating Obito. His childhood dream had come true and his best friend was back on the good side. His friends seemed happy as their days were filled with training and fun, Lady Tsunade still visited to see if Naruto was handling his Hokage duties well, and peace had been restored to the Leaf. Since Naruto became Hokage, he had been swamped with paperwork and assigning missions. Naruto wasn’t complaining but it would be nice to be able to step outside and have some fresh air every once in a while.

A knock on the door took Naruto’s attention away from his thoughts and he turned from the window and back to his desk. He hurriedly tried to straighten his messy desk so whoever was coming could see that he wasn’t slacking off.

“Just a minute!” Naruto pushed all the papers to one side of the desk and folded his hands on the table. He hoped whoever was at the door wasn’t Tsunade because she would inevitably give him a wallop if she saw how much work he still had to do. Though she couldn’t be a hypocrite because she had blown off her duties to go drinking multiple times when she was Hokage but Naruto wouldn’t dare say that to her face.

He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Come in!”

The door slowly opened to reveal Sasuke clad in ANBU attire. Naruto had assigned him as the head ANBU because he knew his friend could handle the challenge. Many of the villagers heavily disapproved of the decision but gradually warmed up to the idea as they saw Sasuke was really back on their side.

Naruto smiled and waved at his friend happily. “Hey, Sasuke. What’s up?”

Sasuke closed the door behind him and pulled out a stack of papers tucked under his arm, handing them to Naruto. “This is the report of the last mission. It went without a hitch.”

Naruto grabbed the papers glancing at the top page and setting it down on his desk. “I knew you could do it, Sasuke. I’ll make sure to look this over and file it.”

Sasuke nodded and bowed slightly. “Do you have another mission to assign me, Hokage?”
Naruto laughed and put his hands behind his head. “I told you to call me Naruto. Just because I’m the Hokage now doesn’t mean you can’t use my name anymore.”

“Noted. If there is nothing else for me, I’ll head off. Once you have a new mission for me, let me know.” Sasuke bowed again and headed to the door.

“Wait, Sasuke!” Naruto sat up in his chair and held out his hand to halt his friend’s movements.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and looked at Naruto with his normal, stoic look. “What is it?”

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and turned his head to the side. “I-I just wanted to know how you were doing is all. Like, have you been okay? The village treating you good? We haven’t really talked much so I’ve been wondering how you are.”

Sasuke blinked a few times at Naruto, his expression unfaltering. “I’ve been fine, sir. Thank you for the concern.” Sasuke opened the door and walked out, shutting it gently behind him.

Naruto groaned and propped his elbows up on the desk, gripping his hair with both hands. Things had become so tense between the two of them ever since Sasuke had come back. Naruto wasn’t expecting everything to go back the way it was but he wished he could talk to Sasuke again like he used to.

“And not just that,” Naruto mumbled out. Lately he had been feeling different whenever the raven was around. He was more awkward than usual and for once was at a loss for words. His heart beat a little quicker and he felt like the room was suffocating him when he tried to speak. Sasuke being in front of him turned the blonde into a completely new Naruto, one who wasn’t sure of what to do in the situation.

Naruto pushed himself away from his desk and leaned his head back on the chair. There was that small crush I had on Sasuke when we were kids but I got over that right away. So, why am I feeling the way I did when I was young now? Do I still like Sasuke more than just a friend?

Naruto violently shook his head and slapped himself across the cheek. “That’s not it! I only like Sasuke as a friend! Nothing else!” He mussed his hair with both hands and groaned. “Guys can’t like other guys! We’re both guys, I’m not allowed to like Sasuke! And even if I did, it’s only as a friend because he’s my friend!”

“What are you talking about, Naruto?” The door opened to reveal Lady Tsunade standing with a hint of a smirk on her face. “Who are you not supposed to like?”

“Gah! Lady Tsunade!” Naruto slipped out of his chair in shock, knocking off a stack of papers from his desk and scattering them everywhere. He winced and held his head in pain trying to ease his throbbing headache.

Lady Tsunade held back a laugh and strode over to him, placing her hands on her hips. “Who were you talking about? I could hear you shouting from the end of the hallway.”

Naruto felt his face burn and whipped his head to the side in embarrassment. “No-nobody! And you can’t just sneak up on people without knocking, grandma!”

Lady Tsunade narrowed her eyes in anger and grabbed Naruto by the front of his shirt. “Just because you’re Hokage doesn’t mean you can disrespect your elders! I can throw your butt straight through the window!”

Naruto gulped in fear and put his hands up defensively. “Okay, okay I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!”

Lady Tsunade smirked and released Naruto’s shirt, letting him drop back to the ground. “That’s better. I wasn’t actually going to throw you, I do have self-control and it wouldn’t be good for me to harm the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.”

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and straightened out his clothes. “You can sure be scary, grandma,” he muttered out. He began gathering the scattered papers and putting them back into a neat stack. Naruto sighed and set the papers on his desk, sitting back down in his chair. He wasn’t sure of his feelings towards Sasuke but talking to someone might help him out.

“Actually, grandma, there is something I wanted to talk about with you.”

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“You are doing wonderful, Sakura! You have become much stronger since the last time we sparred,” Lee said happily as he assumed his battle stance again.

“Thanks, Lee. You’re not too shabby as well. You’re actually giving me a workout,” Sakura said as she pulled her gloves tighter on her hands.

“You go Sakura! Kick his butt into next week!” Ino cheered out from underneath the shade of a tree pumping her fist in the air.

“You can do it, Lee! Don’t let her get the upper hand on you!” Tenten yelled as she sat next to Ino in the shade.

Lee and Sakura smiled at the encouragement their friends were shouting out and faced each other again, their faces full of determination.

“Even though you are my friend does not mean I will go easy on you,” Lee said with a smile.

“Likewise, I’m giving my all on this,” Sakura said confidently, curling her right hand into a fist.

The two shinobi stared at each other for a moment waiting for the other to make the first move. Their stares never wavered from each other and the anticipation could be sliced with a kunai. Ino and Tenten held their breaths not daring to make a sound for fear of disturbing their concentration.

Sakura was the one to make the first move, sprinting towards Lee rapidly and her first ready for a deadly punch. Lee stood still until Sakura was mere centimeters away and jumped into the air. Sakura slammed her fist into the ground where Lee once stood causing a small hole in the ground. Since this was sparring, Sakura wouldn’t dare use her full strength against her friend.

Lee did a back flip and landed a few feet away from the broken earth, smiling widely. “If this had been a real fight, I would surely be a goner if I had stood there a moment longer.”

Sakura smirked and dusted off her hand. “We’re not done yet, I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”

Lee nodded and prepared to make his counter attack. Pushing off the ground, he ran towards Sakura in a blur aiming for her exposed stomach. Sakura barely managed to block by crossing her arms in front of her, pushed backwards a few feet from the impact. Lee quickly jumped back as Sakura lifted her hand up to strike, missing him by a hair.

Back and forth they went, a flurry of limbs striking at each other in artful Taijutsu. Neither was letting up and giving the other a window of opportunity to strike. If an outsider had passed by them without knowledge of their spar, they would’ve assumed that this was a fight to the death.

Lee dodged another of Sakura’s punches and leapt into the air, rolling forward and extending his leg out. He hurled towards Sakura like a comet, his leg aimed for a crippling strike if Sakura wasn’t on her toes. Sakura looked up to see Lee dropping towards her and stood her ground, her fist curled up tightly. She would be able to intercept him if she waited for the right moment.

Before Lee even reached his target, a blinding light materialized between them like a supernova exploding. Lee brought up his hands to shield his eyes and broke his attack to land back down on the ground. Sakura covered her face with her arm and looked away, afraid if she stared into the light for too long she could become blind.

“What is happening?!” Lee shouted as the light began to grow, threatening to cover the entire training field with its rays. Ino and Tenten watched in horror, unable to move, as the light grew closer towards them. Everyone braced themselves as they expected the worst.

The light suddenly disappeared as quickly as it came, dissipating into the air. Sakura hesitantly moved her arm away from her face and looked around in confusion. “What? Where did that light go?” As she scanned the area, her eyes passed the first hole she had made into the earth when the spar started. Her eyes moved away slowly until she caught movement in her peripheral vision.

Sakura’s eyes widened in shock, when had she appeared? “Lee! Look over there! There’s someone in that hole!”

Lee uncovered his eyes and saw a person lying in the broken earth. “Who is she? What is she doing in there?”

Sakura raced over to the person and dropped to her knees. It appeared to be a young girl, around sixteen, sleeping inside the earth clutching something tightly in her closed fist.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Ino shouted as her and Tenten ran up to Sakura.

“There’s a girl in here! Help me out, Ino,” Sakura commanded as she gently brushed away some brown hair from the girl’s face. “Hey, can you hear me?”

“Is she hurt? Does she have any injuries?” Ino asked as she placed her fingers on the girl’s neck to check her pulse. “She’s still breathing so that’s good.”

Sakura checked over her body to look for any damage, nodding her head when she found none. She grasped the girl’s shoulder and shook her gently. “Wake up, are you okay?” she asked soothingly.

The girl moaned softly and opened her eyes slowly. She blinked a few times and saw Sakura’s face smiling down at her. The girl pushed herself up from the ground and rubbed the sleep out of her brilliant cerulean eyes. “Where am I?” she asked groggily.

“You’re in the Hidden Leaf Village, are you alright? Where did you come from?” Sakura questioned.

The girl stared at Sakura’s face curiously as if she knew who the cherry blossom was. Her eyes gazed over to the other people around her and tilted her head to the side in confusion. She lifted her hand and pointed to Sakura. “Is your name Sakura Haruno by any chance?”

Sakura was taken aback by the girl’s question. “How do you know my name?” She was certain she had never seen the girl before now.

“I can’t really explain it but you look familiar to me. All of you do.” She winced and grabbed her head. “My head is really fuzzy right now and I can’t remember very much.”

“What is your name? Can you remember that?” Ino asked kindly.

The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, furrowing her eyebrows. “My name is-is Mitsuki I think but I can’t remember my last name or anything.” She grimaced and tightened the grip on her head as if remembering that small detail had pained her.

“Let us stop with the questions for now. She obviously needs some time to rest. We can talk to her more later,” Lee said.

Tenten nodded in agreement. “Lee’s right, we should get her back to the village and to the hospital. Have the medics take a look at her and see what they say.”

A loud rumbling emitted from Mitsuki’s stomach and she sheepishly placed her hand on it. “Before you take me to the hospital and all, can I get something to eat? Is there any place to get some good ramen around here?”

“Ichiraku has some of the best ramen in the entire village! We can go there and get you some food,” Ino said happily.

Mitsuki smiled and pushed herself to her feet, dusting off her clothes. She unclenched her fist slowly and peered inside, closing her hand again instantly. Sakura wondered what Mitsuki was holding but didn’t want to pry; she could ask her at a later moment.

“What are we waiting for? To Ichiraku!” Lee pumped his fist into the air and jumped out of the hole running back to the Leaf.

“He sure is full of energy isn’t he?” Sakura said while giggling.

“You guys had a pretty intense fight and I’m sure you’re hungry as well. I know I am,” Tenten said sheepishly.

As the girls chatted and walked towards the village, Mitsuki hung back slightly deep in her own thoughts. She opened her fist again and slipped on a necklace, tucking it into her shirt. She placed her hand over the necklace and gripped it tightly. I have a feeling I’m here for something but what? Hopefully the memories of my mission will come back to me soon.

“Hey! Are you coming or what?” Ino’s voice broke the girl out of her thoughts and she realized she had fallen way behind from them.

“I-I’m coming!” She laughed out and jogged towards the girls. “I can’t wait to get some ramen! I feel like I’ll be able to eat twenty bowls, I’m so hungry!”

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“Let me get this straight. You guys were sparring, saw a light come out of nowhere and when it vanished, this girl was lying in a hole?” Kiba asked skeptically as he stuffed a mouthful of ramen in his mouth.

“That’s seriously what happened, I don’t know how else to explain it,” Sakura said as she stirred her chopsticks in her ramen. Lee, Sakura, Ino and Tenten had gathered up the rest of their friends and were sitting outside of Ichiraku as the brunette girl happily stayed inside the restaurant eating her fifth bowl of ramen.

“It does sound weird I know, but we were all there,” Tenten said. “We’re all just as confused as you are.”

“Did you ask for her name? Or if she knew how she got there?” Choji asked stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.

“Her name is Mitsuki but she can’t remember her last name or anything. And she doesn’t know how she got here. She can’t really remember anything at the moment,” Ino answered.

“Could this be a form of genjutsu or something? Or maybe she used a teleportation jutsu to get her there? Sai asked quietly.

“I don’t know of any teleportation jutsu or genjutsu that uses light like what they’re describing,” Shikamaru said as he placed his hands behind his head.

“We were going to take her to the hospital after she ate so they can see if there is anything they can help her with,” Tenten said as she finished off the last bite of ramen.

“May-maybe you should take her to Naruto first and see what he says,” Hinata said timidly staring down at her empty ramen bowl.

“That’s not such a bad idea; we should see what Naruto has to say. I mean he is the Hokage so he should have a say in our next move,” Kiba said in agreement.

“Then that’s what we should do. Lee, Ino, Tenten and I will go since we were there for the incident and we can explain the situation better,” Sakura said standing up. She went into Ichiraku and glanced at the massive pile of empty bowls, nervously smiling. She eats almost as much as Naruto.

Sakura tapped on Mitsuki’s shoulder as she was slurping the broth from her bowl. “Are you almost finished eating? We want to introduce you to the Hokage and see what he has to say about your situation.”

Mitsuki grinned widely and put her bowl down on the table. “That was some good ramen! Almost tastes like my favorite ramen back at home.” She gasped and her eyes lit up in joy. “Hey I remembered that I ate ramen all the time back at home!” Mitsuki sighed and hung her head down. “Though I still don’t know what home is.”

Sakura wrapped her arms around the brunette and squeezed her reassuringly. “At least you remembered something. Don’t worry; I’m sure your memories will come back before you know it.” She smiled and patted her on the back. “Everyone is waiting for us outside so let’s get going.”

Mitsuki nodded and hopped off the chair, heading outside to meet with the others. Sakura sighed deeply and faced Teuchi, pulling out her wallet. “So how much ramen did she eat?” Teuchi smiled and handed Sakura the tab, her eyes bulging out of her head.

“That little girl seriously ate this much ramen?! Are you kidding me?!”

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Sakura grumbled under her breath as they walked down the hallway to Naruto’s office. “Next time one of you guys is getting the bill for her food! I’m broke now!”

Mitsuki nervously laughed and rubbed the back of her head. “I’m sorry about that, Sakura. I guess I couldn’t help myself since the ramen was so good and I was so hungry.”

Lee laughed and patted Mitsuki on the head. “Do not worry about that! You are our friend now so we are happy to treat you to food! Right, Sakura?” The cherry blossom threw a death glare at Lee, making the color immediately drain away from his face.  

“Let’s just go and see Naruto,” Sakura muttered out as she walked in front of the group and knocked on the door to the Hokage office. “Naruto, it’s Sakura along with Lee, Tenten, and Ino. May we come in?”

The group waited patiently for a response that never came. Sakura frowned and knocked louder on the door. “Naruto, are you in there?” When she didn’t get an answer, she lifted her foot and kicked the door open.

She stormed inside to see Naruto sleeping soundly on his desk and drooling over documents scattered all. Sakura narrowed her eyes and stomped over to Naruto, slamming her fist down on the table. “Wake up, Naruto!”

“Gah!” Naruto rapidly shot up from his desk and fell to the floor hitting his head. “Ow!” He sat up and grabbed his aching head muttering under his breath. “That’s the second time that’s happened today.”

Sakura stood in front of Naruto with her hands on her hips glaring down at the blonde. “What the heck do you think you’re doing sleeping when you have work to do?!”

“I already got yelled at by grandma today, I don’t need to be yelled at by you, Sakura,” Naruto grumbled out as he rubbed his head and stood up from the ground. He noticed Lee, Ino, and Tenten standing in the doorway and smiled. “Hey guys! What are you all doing here?” he asked, completely forgetting to be upset at Sakura’s rude wake up call.

“It’s kind of hard to explain so maybe Sakura should do it,” Ino said as she stepped inside the office, closing the door when everyone was in.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and sat back down in his seat resting his elbows on the table. “What is all this about?”

Sakura held out her hand and gently pulled Mitsuki out from behind Ino and Tenten. “Lee and I were sparring today in the training field and this, this ball of light suddenly appeared in front of us. After it disappeared we saw this girl lying in one of the holes I made during the fight.”

Naruto stared at Sakura as if she had sprouted another head from her neck. “Run that by me again, I don’t get it.”

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch and balled her hand into a fist in an attempt to calm down. “Lee and I fight, big ball of light appears, it goes away and girl appears,” she said slowly as if she was speaking to a child.

“Ohhhhh,” Naruto said nodding his head. “I still don’t get it.”

“The point of our visit is that we wanted to ask you what you thought we should do with her. She doesn’t really remember anything about where she’s from. She only knows her first name,” Ino said in an attempt to clarify.

Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. After a moment he looked to Mitsuki and smiled. “Hey there, how are you doing? My name is Naruto Uzumaki; I’m the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. What’s your name?”

Mitsuki wiggled her hand out of Sakura’s grasp and walked to the desk, staring at Naruto intently. Naruto chuckled uneasily and glanced around the room. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Mitsuki continued to gaze at Naruto, her blue eyes clouded with confusion and doubt. “That’s so weird,” she whispered out.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and pushed himself away from his desk. “No offense, kid, but you are really starting to creep me out with the staring. Why do you keep staring at me?”

Mitsuki slowly lifted her hand and pointed to Naruto, shaking her head in disbelief. “You-you look just like my mother!”