An ice cold reunion and a snake in the grass

Naruto and Ino froze as Haku walked out into the clearing, a smile on her face even now as she looked at the group. "My my, such a lively meeting this is. You leaf ninja are so strange.", Haku commented before looking at Naruto with a grin. "Now, I believe we were in the middle of something, Naruto-kun.", Haku smiled.

"Don't even think about it! The dead lasts scroll is mine!", Sasuke growled, getting Haku to stare at him solely for the first time. "Oh, I don't want Naruto-kuns scroll. I want his head!", Haku said as if she was talking about the weather with the same creepy smile on her face. Ino and Sakura both gasped hearing the words from her mouth, it was definitly more of a shock for Sakura since Ino had heard about the encounter not five minutes prior between the two.

Sasuke gave Naruto a weird look, silently asking himself what she was talking about. Naruto however shook his head, not wanting to go into the long story again. "Haku-chan, me and my head are pretty attached, so I'm going to have to say no.", Naruto said, looking back to the frightened Sakura. "Besides, I have more important things to worry about.", Naruto said seriously.

"I wasn't giving you a choice, Naruto-kun.", Haku said, the smile fading from her face as she pointed at his teammates. "I didn't want to do this, Naruto-kun, but if you don't come with me, I'll have to go after all your friends instead.", Haku waved a finger warningly.

Naruto stopped when he heard that. He could tell Haku wasn't kidding from the way she looked at him, and her skills were way better then any of his friends were since she had tracked him down again and nearly killed him the first time. His friends didn't have the luxury of shadow clones either, so they would be far easier targets to get if she was serious about it.

"... Fine.", Naruto answered finally, getting looks of surprise from the other leaf Genin, and also fear from his teammates as Naruto continued. "Soon as I make sure Sakura-chan is safe... I'll come with you.", Hau's smile returned as she walked closer. "Oh Naruto-kun, I knew you'd see it my way.", Haku said just before she saw the business end of a Kunai pointed right in her face.

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you take him!", Ino said through clenched teeth as she held her ground. "Ino-chan, stop it!", Naruto said, worried for her safety as she threatened the girl before her. "I can't let you be hurt because of me!", Naruto yelled, getting a shake of the head from the blond girl. "Naruto, you idiot! You think I'm just going to stand here and let you die?", Ino shouted as she glared at the Mist Kunoichi.

"You think doing this would be any better? What are you thinking?", Ino added. "I just get to know the real you and this happens?! What about me, huh? How do you think I'm going to feel after you're gone? And what about everyone else?", Ino asked, almost tearing up as she looked over her shoulder at him. "What about the rest of us, Naruto-kun? We would miss you so much!".

Naruto stared at Ino as turned back to Haku with new resolve. "If you come any closer to Naruto-kun, I'll make sure you regret it!", Ino said, surprising even Sasuke of the amount of protectiveness Ino was showing for him. Haku looked at Ino and merely smiled as she said. "So he is a precious person to you then? Well, I'm glad to see you have that connection with him. Nonetheless, I will take him today!", Haku said, drawing her weapons.

"Hey, dead last!", Sasuke called getting the attention of them again, not likeing being ignored like this at all. "I thought we had a deal! Give me the scroll, Naruto!", Sasuke demanded as Naruto growled in frustration. "Yeah yeah, Uchiha! I get it! Keep your pants on!", Naruto yelled, not needing the avenger to add pressure right now. With the scroll still in hand, Naruto started towards him.

Ino was sure to follow close to Naruto, acting like a barrier between him and the girl from Kirigakure who apparently had it out for him "Naruto-kun... don't!", Sakura said quietly as he teammate came closer. Giving her a warm smile, Naruto quietly said "It's going to be ok, Sakura.", Naruto whispered as he looked at at Sasuke. Do me a favor, you bastard, make sure Ino-chan and Sakura-chan get out of this alive!", Naruto said, staring right into the red eyes of the red eyes of the last Uchiha.

After getting a nod from the raven haired avenger, Naruto sighed as he was about to give him the important object in his hands. The Uchiha's grin grew as it drew nearer. Then, a new voice cut through the clearing.

"Oh my, Sasuke-kun, how ruthless of you, letting a friend die so you can go on!", a voice said as the group froze. Even Haku stopped staring at Naruto to see where it had come from.

Suddenly a new fgure appeared between Naruto and Sasuke, surprising everyone at the speed needed to do something like that. "Sasuke-kun, you certainly do put on a show, but now this drama has to end.", the apparent grass ninja said before grabbing his arm in one had and pulling the Kunai from Sakura, only to grab her in the other hand and toss her out of the way like a doll.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, all thoughts of anything else gone from his mind as he dropped the scroll and leaped to his teammate. He managed to catch her in the air and twisted around so when they crashed to the ground with her in his arms, Naruto took the brunt of the fall. Looking up from her position, Sakura saw Naruto holding her and whispered in shock "Naruto...-kun... you saved me?". Naruto grinned confidently. "Could I do anything else?", he asked.

Sasuke meanwhile had noticed that Naruto's scroll lay on the ground and went to pick it up, only for the grass ninja to steal it. "Oh no, Sasuke-kun. Things aren't that easy. Besides, I can't let you get this so soon.", the grass Ninja scolded him, making Sasuke glare. "If you know what's good for you, you will give that to me now!", Sasuke demanded making the grass shinobi grin widen before he opened his mouth and somehow began to swallow the scroll whole.

The gathered Genin could only stare in shock as he swallowed it fully, and not only that, but licked his lips with a freakishly long tongue before saying "Come and get it, Sasuke-kun.". Sakura stared and whispered quietly in a mixture of fright and shock "That's not natural!", a statement that naruto could only nod to.

"Well now, let the games begin!", the grass Ninja grinned before charging at them.