Yes, without fail

Within just a few minutes, Naruto arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. What he saw there pleased him: The entire Ramen bar was empty save for four seats. Behind the curtain hanging in front of the store, Naruto saw four shapely butts that he could easily attribute to Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Tenten each.

He thought about how he should make his entrance, but in the end, he decided to play it cool. Brushing the curtain aside, Naruto sauntered into the bar and took the stool right next to Sakura, who sat on the far left of the quartet.

"Well hello there, girls. Missed me?", he tried to let the words come out naturally from his lips, althought it failed somewhat as they turned to look at him. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen them for a whole month, but now, the four of them seemed even more beautiful to him than before. Even Hinata, while appearing even frailer than before, seemed to have matured over just one month a little bit.

"NARUTO!", came the unified cry of the assembled women as their eyes widened when they recognized their lost boyfriend returning to them. Sakura, being the closest, was the first to latch onto Naruto, but the others weren't far behind and in the blink of an eye, Naruto was surrounded by his girlfriends.

But his attention mainly belonged to the shy girl that stood there close to him, not in her usual attire but a pale-blue outfit straight out of a hospital. Which reminded him... "Hinata, how are you doing?", he asked with concern.

Hinata smiled as she saw how caring he still was. "I'm okay, really. I just have to take it slow for a while, else it could get worse.", she explained. She had made a fast recovery, but she still was not yet fit again. After all, she had only been allowed to get up from the bed merely two weeks ago and probably would still need two or more months until she could continue with the life of a ninja.

"Yeah, so hands off of her for a while! Don't you tempt her.", Tenten jokingly reprimanded Naruto.

Naruto noticed that Tenten had gotten rid of the bandage around her hand. But even so, she looked exhausted. "Tenten, you've recovered as well? You look beat though...", he commented on those facts.

Tenten sighed a bit. "That Neji is relentless, I tell you. As soon as my hand was healed again, he dragged me off to help him train. Geez, as if he'd need me for his kind of training anyway...", she began to rant a bit about how he was so single-minded now about the Chunnin exam.

Naruto wondered how Tenten was doing. After all, there was a chance she would have to watch a fight between her boyfriend and her teammate. He figured she must be pretty conflicted about it. But it turned out he was worrying needlessly. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Naruto-kun. I'll be cheering you on and only you. Give that Neji a good smack across the head for me too, after what he did to Hinata-chan!", Tenten reassured him.

"Umm... yes, please do your best and win, Naruto-kun.", Hinata chimed in, causing Naruto to grin widely. If they were counting on him, how could he possibly lose a match?

The five lovers sat down and had some smalltalk over their past experiences in the last month. Narutos suspicions about Kurenais training were only partly confirmed, but he himself was even more secretive about his training with Jiraiya. He flatout refused to tell them exactly what progress he had made and only answered with "You'll see soon enough.".

"Geez, that's not nice, Naruto. Didn't Kurenai-sensei teach you to be honest to women?", Ino scoffed as her ever-present curiosity was not satisfied this time.

The mentioning of his teacher reminded Naruto of something. "That's right, you're staying with Kurenai-sensei now. Is that alright for you, Hinata-chan?", he asked as he turned to the former Hyuuga heiress.

The girl nodded slowly. "Kurenai-sensei is a very kind and compassionate woman. I'm very grateful to her for taking me in at this time. I can really see why you all like her so much.", Hinata answered with a pure smile. To Naruto, it appeared that even if it hit her really hard to be disowned by her family, she hid that pain with the happiness she experienced over having so many people that cared for her.

The conversation however was interrupted as a bowl of pork ramen was placed in front of Naruto, his favorite one. But he hadn't ordered anything. Looking up to see his benefactor, Naruto looked into the smiling face of Ayame. "So, those are your girlfriends, am I right, Naruto-kun?", she asked flatly.

"Wha-! How do you know about that?", Sakura exclaimed as it came to a total shock to her. Was their relationship already uncovered? Was it maybe even common knowledge? No, what would her mother say to that?

Ayame just smiled a bit broader. "Naruto told me.", she explained calmly. Now, all female heads spun around to stare at Naruto. Naruto felt some killing intent. What, where they thinking he went around bragging with his achievements? For his sake, he hoped not.

But Ayame just chuckled. "Fufu, you probably have wild sex parties every now and then with the five of you, am I right?", Ayame teased them with a cheshire-like grin. Wait, why was she teasing them about this? What was this girl getting at?

"Well, not exactly, but...", Ino began but remembered that one time when they really were all in Narutos apartment. Most people could call this a sex party...

Ayame put on a mock-surprise expression with her hand covering her open mouth. "No? Oh, but then you should hold some... and don't forget to invite me too, Naruto-kun.", Ayame added with a wink.

Four female jaws hit the counter at once. Just in that moment, another customer entered the ramen bar and she immediately assessed the situation correctly. "Oho, another secret lover appears from the shadows.", Kurenai laughed as it became apparent to all of them what Ayame had just said.

"Kurenai-sensei, what are you doing here?", Ino asked. She wondered, why were her appearances always so timely?

Kurenai feigned innocence however and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I saw my students and my protegé sitting here, so I'm curious what you're talking about. Is there something wrong with that?", she asked.

"It is a little odd...", Sakura admitted. She didn't want to exclude her teacher, but even though she liked her a lot, it was not really the kind of conversation she would want Kurenai to take part of. Although Sakura made a mental note to thank her for that one night on their C-mission...

Kurenai sighed but smiled nevertheless. "I see, I see... guess I'm a little too old for chit-chat like this, huh? Alright then, continue then...", Kurenai said with a laugh and began to leave. However, there was still something on Narutos mind, so he jumped up from his seat and went after Kurenai.

"Ah, Kurenai-sensei, can I ask you a question?", he asked her as he followed her and stepped outside of Ichiraku Ramen.

Kurenai turned around, looking surprised. "Sure, what's on your mind, Naruto?"

Naruto swallowed his uncertainty down. He had to know about this now. "What is the deal with you and that exam lady, Anko-cha-... I mean, Anko was her name, right?", Naruto asked, barely saving himself from slipping up. He wasn't sure if he should tell Kurenai about his... well, let's say 'intimate' knowledge of Ankos physique.

Kurenai looked at the ground for a moment, then she sighed. "That's a very long story. Well, you know there's something binding us together, so I take it you've talked to Anko?", she asked somberly, surprising Naruto. He hadn't seen his teacher like this before.

Still, he wanted to know, so he nodded. "Uh-huh... but she wouldn't tell me anything, just that I should ask you.", he told her truthfully.

Kurenai sighed before opening her eyes and looking at her young student. "Well, now that you asked, I guess you deserve an answer. We were teammates back when we were Genin. But then... well, she made some bad decisions, at least that's what I think about it. Ever since then...", she trailed off as she looked up to the sky. Somehow, it must've hit a nerve and Naruto opened up old wounds. "I'm sorry, I didn't really answer anything, did I?", Kurenai asked with a wry smile.

But Naruto just shook his head. "That's alright Kurenai-sensei, I wouldn't have asked if I had known it would pain you so much.", he said, somewhat regretting his question now.

Kurenai smiled softly at his caring attitude. "You're really growing up to be a fine man, Naruto. But don't worry about me or my history with Anko now. I'll tell you about it if you still want to hear it after the exam is over. For now, you don't need to concern yourself with it.", she advised while also offering some insight later on.

"I understand... Don't worry, Kurenai-sensei, I'll make you proud.", he promised his beloved sensei.

"You already have, Naruto. But I suppose a little more won't hurt.", she laughed.

With that, Naruto returned to his girlfriends. They caught up on some more things before Tenten and Hinata had to leave. Tenten accompanied Hinata back to her new home and told them that they wouldn't have to wait for her, she needed to meet up with Neji later for some more training.

That left Naruto with Sakura and Ino. After Naruto had finished his third bowl of ramen (it was on Ayame, after all), the trio stepped outside. There, both girls immediately latched onto one of his arms each. "Geez, you were so mean, just leaving us alone without telling us about it.", Ino pouted. She was still offended that Naruto had still disappeared without a word. Naruto figured he would have some making up to do with all of them later on, but with Ino especially. Well, could also be that she really wanted her reward he had promised her back then, too...

"Yeah, you left us totally hanging. Me and Ino were so lonely without you... well, not like we can't keep each other company.", Sakura commented with a sly smile.

Ino blushed as Sakura spoke so frankly about this. "Well... yeah.", Ino admitted while blushing even more. It was true that, every so often, they would go to either Sakuras or her place and vent their pent up energy with each other, which was always very pleasurable for both of them. But it just wasn't the same without Naruto.

Naruto of course was already imagining the things they did and once again got frustrated that he wasn't there to witness it. But Sakuras voice snapped him out of those thoughts.

"Anyway... I thought... that we should... maybe tonight...", Sakura began, fumbling with the words.

"Huh? Get to the point already, Sakura!", Ino said, giving Sakura the courage she needed to spell it out for them.

"A-Alright. I want it to happen tonight.", she finally said.

Naruto of course knew what she was talking about. Her first time. She had specifically asked that only he and Ino should be with her when it happened. And although he was very excited about the prospect, he couldn't help but feel that Sakura maybe rushed it a bit too much. "Are you sure about this, Sakura-chan?", he asked his girlfriend.

But Sakura nodded decisively. "Yeah, I am. Because... the Chuunin exams... I mean, I'm sure we'll win, but... if not, I want to...", Sakura said as she began fidgeting, which was unusual for her. But it seemed that she was really nervous about the upcoming exam and the enemies they were about to face. Naruto had to agree... Haku, Neji, Gaara, Tayuya... those were all not really nice people.

"Yeah, we'll have ourselves an awesome three-way date!", Ino said cheerfully, making a proposition that indeed sounded awesome to not only her, but also Sakura and Naruto. "That's a great idea, Ino!", Sakura agreed.

'A real date... not only with Sakura-chan, but with Ino-chan too!', Naruto cheered loudly inside his head. In fact, he thought so intensely about the prospect of a date with his two teammates, that he nearly forgot to breathe over it.

Taking Narutos silence but his happy grin with droll rolling down from his chin as a confirmation, Ino cheered. "It's decided then. Let's see... oh yeah, Naruto's paying for everything, of course... so, let's meet up at Ichiraku Ramen at eight o'clock!", Ino suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds nice. But remember Naruto, we won't be going to Ichiraku for our first date!", Sakura said sternly, not wanting to be disappointed on the date.

Naturally, Naruto was not intending to let his girls down. Instead, he swore he would do everything he could to make this date as perfect as he could for everyone involved. "Alrighty, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan.", he replied cheerfully.

"Alright, we better get ourselves ready for Naruto then, Sakura.", Ino suggested. "You're right. See you later, Naruto-kun." , Sakura responded and before he knew what was happening, Naruto was left alone as the two girls took off, waving to him as they left to prepare themselves, just for him. Sakura and Ino were looking forward to tonight, Ino because she still hadn't forgotten about her reward and Sakura was both anxious and excited about what the night would bring for her. But they weren't the only ones...

Naruto too was already excited to no end. The question was... it was still only noon, how could he pass the time until their date?