t h r e e ;

"Do you have to go?" Ezra mummbled as she looked down. She heard an annoying chuckle that she became all too familiar with.

"Yeah, it's for training." He replies lowly. "You want me to get stronger, don't you?" His crystal clear blue eyes glazing over with a small smile on his face. "I'll get stronger for the both of us. You'll see."

Ezra lifted her head up to look at Naruto. They both stared deeply into the other's eyes like they were the only two people there at that moment; completely ignoring Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya placed his hands on his hips with a wide smile on his face. He nudged Kakashi and the bored man looked at the two young ninja, already knowing what the old pervert was trying to say. He saw their connection too. He saw it the moment the two crossed paths.

"Be careful." Ezra says slowly. Again, Naruto smiled.

"Of course I will." He says.

"See you when you get back."

He smiles before he leans in to hug her. Hugging her tightly, he slowly took in her cinnamon. Scent once last time. After a couple more seconds, he finally let her go and turned to leave.

"Bye guys!" He throws a cheery wave in the air as he marches off with the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya in tow. Ezra watched them leave but was stopped shortly by Sakura. She frowned.

"Excuse me." She says in the most polite voice she could muster up. Sakura looked down at the ground, refusing to move.

"Can we at least talk, Ezra?" She asks.

"I have nothing to say to you, so what do we have to talk about, Sakura?" Ezra crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. She shifted all her weight to her left leg and waited for the girl to speak.

"About what happened between us."

"Oh, you mean about you slapping me for no reason?" Sarcasm laced in Ezra's tone. "Did you want to slap me again or something?"

Sakura shook her head vigorously before taking in a deep breath.

"I-I wanted to apologize." She says softly, Ezra almost had to crane her neck a bit just to hear what she said. "I was wrong for what I did and I really feel terrible about it."

"As you should." Ezra slightly nods, shifting her weight over to her right leg.

"I've been wanting to apologize sooner, but I can never seem to find you." Sakura says. "Seeing you today was a good opportunity to do so. I'm really sorry Ezra. I should've been a better friend to both you and Naruto in that moment. Sasuke's gone and he's never coming back. It's not your fault, nor Naruto's, nor mine. He left on his own free will. I was angry that he told you and not me, you're right. And I was angry because you didn't convince him to stay. So, I'm sorry." Sakura bowed after her stament, her cheeks red and eyes shut tight. She'd never been the type to apologize, she never felt she had a reason to. But since she started medical ninjutsu with Sakura, Ino, and Tala, she realized her wrongs in the situation once everything came down. Both Ino and Tala told the girl she was wrong, shortly after she'd gotten a good talking to from Lady Hokage herself. She honestly thought Ezra was a pretty cool person, from what Naruto told her. Also from short times she's come across the girl. The two of them weren't friends perse, but Sakura was willing to make that change. Especially if she was someone special to Naruto as he said she was.

Ezra stared at Sakura for a moment contemplating on if she should accept the apology or not. She know that she told Ino and Tala that she would, but now that the opportunity presented itself, she doesn't know if Sakura is being genuine. She looked the girl over, watching her short pink hair fall forward as she bowed.

Ezra took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes. "Fine." She says after a long pause. "I forgive you."

Soon as the words left her mouth, It was like Sakura had collasped onto her. Her arms wrapped her Ezra tightly, causing the ebony to be cut short of oxgyen.

"Thank you so much!" Sakura says almost on the verge of tears. I felt like such a horrible person."

"Well you know that means you need to work on being a better person now, right?" Ezra asks once the girl lets go of her. Sakura nodded.

"Yes, and I'm going to be training under Lady Tsunade now."

"That's great." Ezra gave a half smile.

"You should join, Ezra." Tsunade's voice called to them as she stood just a few feet away from them. She'd been supervising their conversation, making sure it did not come to blows. "It would be good dicipline for you."

Ezra frowned looking at the blonde woman. "I thought I was too much of a smartass for you?"

Tsunade smiles, taking a step forward and placing a hand on both the young girl's heads. She saw so much potential in the both of them. Sakura, needed to find herself and realize her true prioities. Whereas Ezra just needed dicipline. She was straightforward and sometimes and one day, that could cost her her own life. She felt she needed to take them under her wing.

"That's what the dicipline is for." She says looking down on them. "The both of you have so much potiential, just need the right guidence. I believe in the both of you, and so does your superiors. Don't let them down."

*****
t w o  y e a r s  l a t e r;

"Haha!" Ezra laughed loudly as she ran from Kiba Inuzunka and Akamaru. She had completely ruined their afternoon nap in the feilds by throwing water on Kiba in this hot summer day, and Kiba was trying to get her back.

Things in the village have been going smoothly with Sasuke and Naruto gone. Sakura and Ezra have formed some sort of friendship, which neither of them saw coming. Tsunade took in the girls of the village and taught them medical ninjutsu as well as combat training. She didn't want any kunoichi to think that they had to depend on the guys when it came to battle. Instead, the guys depended on them, to heal them.

"You get back here Ezra!" Kiba says with a barking Akamaru in tow. Ezra snorted before leaping onto a building, twirling onto a railing and landing on the roof. She looked down at Kiba, who was barely jumping from one building to the next to catch her. She smiled and continued running. Shed leapt off one building onto the main street, before she continued on her way.

"What are you running for?" Hinata asked her as she stopped shortly to see if Kiba was still behind her.

"I'm running from Kiba." She breathed out. "I threw water on him and Akamaru while they were taking a nap in the grass fields. I must say, it was worth it."

The Hyuga girl giggles, her lavender eyes shimmering. "Oh Ezra, you're so funny."

Ezra giggles as well and before she knew it, she was being hoisted up by her waist.

"Gotcha!" Kiba yells triumphantly. Then in a puff of smoke, Ezra was gone and in her place was a clunk of wood. Kiba groaned.

"A subsitution?" He huffed before throwing the wood aside and looking over at Hinata. "Which way did she go?"

Hinata quickly pointed in a random direction before Kiba smiled and ran off in that direction. Once he was out of sight, a cloud of smoke emerges as Ezra released her transformation jutsu. She snickers before running into the opposite direction.

Once safe, she exhaled slowly and began walking. She knew it would be a while before Kibacausght her so she left her guard down. She walked past Ichiraku's and just out of habit, she looked to see who was in there. She didn't see the familiar orange jacket and pants, so she turned her head and continued on her way.

Naruto... I miss you so much. Please hurry and come back..

She wondered if he was doing okay. If he was the same cheery blonde he always was when he was here in the village. All these things about Naruto crossed her mind. She's been missing him so much. His energy, his laughter. Everything about him she missed.

And then there was Sasuke. Someone who left the village on their own free will. Will he ever return? Or does he really have that much hate in his heart that he couldn't live happily with people who cared so greatly about him?

Ezra's eyebrows furrowed together. She wondered if the both of them were okay. If they were getting stronger; if they missed her.

"Ezra!" Her name being called snapped her out of her trance. She looked ahead to see Sakura and Tala waving her over. She smiled and jogged over to reach them.

"Hey guys." She smiled. "What are you two up to?"

"We're just about to go shopping for new clothes!" Sakura bouced up and down happily. Ezra gave a crooked smile.

"She's dragging me into this." Tala says with a sigh. "Might as well tag along too Ezra."

Ezra made a face and stuck her tongue out. "I'm fine with my clothes now."

"You've been wearing that since the academy Ezra." Sakura says with a cross of her arms. "It's time for a change." She slowly looked over Ezra's now grown out attire.

Ezra pursed her lips toogether feeling herself shrink. "Fine." She mumbles as the three of them began walking.

*****

"Try this on!" Sakura shoved a pair of shorts towards Ezra. She took them and walked into the changing booth. She stripped out of her white pants, and tried on Sakura's choice. The pants were shorts, hugging at her now thick thighs perfectly.

"Oh no." Ezra shook her head from side to side as she looked at her reflection.

"Let me see." Sakura snatched the curtain back with no regards of Ezra being decent or not. She smiled looking the girl over.

"Holy shit, you've been hiding those legs in those pants this whole time?!" Tala excalims looking over Sakura's shoulder.

"Right?!" Sakura adds. "You have to get this pants, Ezra."

"W-Wouldn't it draw the wrong attention?" Ezra asked looking herself over in the mirror once more. She felt the shorts were a little too revealing compared to her old shorts that stopped at the knee.

"Of course not!" Sakura waved her off. "Here, try these on with it." The pinkette then shoved a long sleeved shirt and a vest before she and Tala disappeared behind the curtain. Ezra huffed. She removed the white shirt that she wore, and looked herself in the mirror. She really did fill out over the past two years. Her breast became bigger and more well-rounded, her hips and thighs were developed and defined and as for her curly mane, she decided to braid them back.

She slipped into the shirt that Sakura had given her. She tried to pull it down before she realized that it was a half shirt. She frowned.

"Sakura." She groaned the girl's name and once again she pulled the curtain back. She smiled.

"You look so cute and mature now." Sakura smiles. "Let's all get matching outfits!"

"No thanks." Ezra shook her head causing Sakura to laugh. "Look this is okay and all but-"

"-Just because Naruto isn't the village anymore doesn't mean you don't have to look cute, Ezra. I heard through the grapevine that Shino finds you really cute."

Ezra's eyes grew wide as Tala held back a laugh. "What? Shino?"

Sakura smiled mischievously as she nodded. "I overheard the boys talking about who they thought were cute." She says. "Both Kiba and Shino mentioned your name. Shikamaru agreed but he says he sees you as a friend because we all know he likes Temari. So this would really get their noses bleeding!" Sakura held a fist up in triumph. Tala shaking her head as she chuckled at the pinkette.

Ezra sighed. "I guess."

Sakura clasped her hands together and left Ezra to change back into her old clothes. As she walked to the cashier, she spotted some orange shorts. She smirrked thinking of Naruto and quickly added them to her collection of clothes. After paying for her things, she and the girls exited the clothing store.

I wonder who Naruto's doing." Sakura spoke softly. "It's so weird not having him around to be loud and obnoxious like Kiba."

Yeahm Kiba is trying too hard to channel his inner Naruto andn it's starting to make me cringe." Tala adds.

Ezra said nothing. She just chewed on her bottom lip as she listened to the two go back and forth about Naruto.

******

"Hey kid, you're alright?" Jiraiya asked his blonde trainee.

Naruto snapped out of his daze and sipped on his warm green leaf tea.

"Nothing." He mumbles.

"You've been zoning out alot lately." Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought. "What's on your mind?"

"Uh, just." Naruto paused, chewing on the corner of his top lip. "Just thinking about my friends in the village."

"Your friends, or that girl?" Jiraiya wiggled his eyebrows, smirking at how the blonde boy blushed.

"She categorized as a friend, yes." Naruto nodded slowly, taking another sip of his tea.

"Well just think, in another year you get to be reunited with all your friends." Jiraiya paused. "The girl included.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows as he frowned. Cheeky bastard.

Once they finished eating their lunch, Naruto headed out of the cafe, leaving his master to flirt with the young ladies of the village. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his new orange pants. Just hours ago his Sensei teased him about the clothes he still wore. How they were dirty, outgrown, and torn.

He kicked a pebble as he walked and looked up at the mid evening sun. Taking in a large amount of oxygen, he exhaled slowly.

Ezra...

He missed his friends above all. Sure he missed Sakura and all the others, but Ezra was the one who understood him the most. She knew what made him tick. She knew how to console him when he was being stubborn, and she would listen to all his troubles no matter how ridiculous they were. She was his friend.

I-I miss her. He thought to himself as he continues to walk back the hotel. He sighed.

One more year.. just one more year..

********

"Did you spot it?" Tala asked through an earpiece.

"No, " Zuri sighs as he looks down from his elevated position in a tree. "Iz, how you doing over there?"

"I'm good." Ezra creeped through the abandoned building. She watched her surroundings as she continued to walk through. "How's everything out there, good?"

"Everything's fine." Tala says as she continues to servey the perimeter.

Yeah, I'm clear over here too." Zuri says. "Just don't get comfortable and drop your gaurd."

"We're chunnin too Zuri, we're not stupid." Tala says smartly gaining a chuckle from the young silver haired boy.

"Ive got it." Ezra came over their earpieces, stopping their bickering from going any further. "This almost seemed too easy but I know it isnt." Soon as the words left her mouth, she heard Zuri curse.

"Zuri?!" She tucked the scroll into her ninja pouch and hurriedly made her way towards the outside.

Tala wove her signs. "Ninja Art: Ice Wall!" The ground began to shake, forcing Ezra to stumble but she gained her balance. A wall of ice began to emerge, blocking the two girls from the woodened bullets that were coming their way.  Tala pressed her back against the wall and braced herself. Her eyes shot to Ezra.

"Mya Sensei found us." She gasped. "I don't know where Zuri is."

Ezra took in a breath as she began weaving her signs as well. Her flame archery tools emerged in her hands as she quickly ducked behind the wall.

"Be careful with that thing." Tala jumped a little frowning at how close the arrow was to her wall.

"Guys." Zuri came through their earpiece. "Guys get out of here, I'll hold her off. "

"We're not leaving you!" Ezra snapped into her earpiece. "We need an opening, that's all."

Tala peaked over the wall, weaving more signs. A gust of wind swirled in her hands and immediately forming into a spear.

"I'll create a distraction," She whispers. "Ezra, you know what to do."

Ezra nodds and in a flash of orange and black, she was gone. Tala took that as her cue, and emerges from behind the wall. Their lead jounin instructor, Mya was having a taijutsu throwdown with Zuri. He had quickly threw a round-house kick that she blocked with ease before throwing a punch of her own. Tala immediately threw her spear at the woman.

Seeing the object from the corner of her eyes, Mya quickly made some distance between her and Zuri. giving Zuri the opportuinity to weave his own signs. Lightening began radiating from his right hand.

"Lightening Blade!" As he sped towards their teacher. She could hear something wizzing through the air. With barely any time to look, she wove signs of her own. In a puff of smoke, a chunk of wood emerges in her place just as Zuri stuck his hand through it & Ezra's flamed arrow hit it. Zuri jerked his head back.

"I knew it!" He huffed. "Why wouldn't you just let me do it?!" He stared at Ezra, who was in a crouched position in a tree above. With yet another arrow locked and loaded.

"Just trust me right now." She says as she steadies her breathing. "Be very still."

Zuri froze. "W-What are you doing?"

Ezra smirks before she releases the arrow.

"Ezra!" Tala yelled at her friend in disbelief. Again, in a puff of smoke, Zuri was gone.

"Tala, Find Zuri." Ezra stands as she looks around. "I'll go after Sensei."

Tala frowned. "No, Where ever she is, that's where Zuri is." She began weaving more signs. "Summoning Jutsu!"

With a cloud of smoke, a Honey Bager comes into view.

"TJ, I need you to find Zuri." Tala kneels down to the cute furry and pets his head. "Bring him to us immediately." She begins digging in her bag, pulling out ointment. "Give him this if he's hurt." After a rub on the Honey Badger's head, he scurried away in search for the grey haired boy. She stood to her feet and looked up seeing Ezra was not in sight. Picking a direction to go in, she leapt into the trees, and began her jounrney.

Ezra leapt through the trees. "Zuri." She mumbles to herself as her eyes scanned below her. She knew the sight before them was an illusion created by their Sensei, but she couldn't tell Tala her plan, she wouldn't follow through with it it something went wrong.

"Izzy, where are you?" Tala's voice came through the earpiece.

"I told you to find Zuri." She says. "Did you find him?"

"I left that to TJ and I came to help you."

Ezra sighed. She stopped and turned her head. "I'm just a little ways ahead of you." She says. "If you're coming put a move on it. I don't want to be a sitting duck with Sensei somewhere around here."

"Got it." Tala answers. "I'm on my way."

Ezra looked around with a frown on her face. She weighed her options. Sure this was a test of their strengths and teamwork, but she trusted Zuri would be able to handle himself. He was Kakashi of the Sharingan's son if we had to be honest. He was born into a legacy. His father was the most lethal ninja in all of the nations. Everyone feared him. Zuri was no different. In the Academy he was up there with both Neji and Sasuke.The three of them held the top scores in the class. Although he was far mroe advanced than herself and Tala, Zuri went at their pace, and never tried to show either of them up unless he really had to. That's what she liked about their team. They were thrown together, a mash up of different personalities, but they all trusted each other with their lives. Never leaving the other behind no matter what.

Tala jumped down on the tree limb Ezra stood on. "Ready?" She smiled warmly at her friend. "We're gonna find him Iz, Zuri isn't gonna go down without a fight."

Ezra nodded and the both of them began their journey together.

"I would expect for the copy ninja's son to know his father's arsenal of jutsus." Mya says as she blocks a punch from Zuri. Sweat dripping from his forehead. He'd held her off for as much as he could before Ezra and Tala came. He knew she was coming and couldn't warn them fast enough, so he set a genjutsu trap for the girls and met Mya halfway.

"You're not getting to them." He grunts as he throws another punch.

Mya side steps and throws a punch of her own. Zuri catches it in time and dodges. Zuri has been listening to them go back and forth through his earpiece and he hoped they'd find him quickly. Sure his skills were good, but they weren't a match for his Sensei, he knew that much.

Zuri backflipped to create some distance before he wove his signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" Zuri slammed his hand to the earth. Appearing between he and his Sensei was Pakkun, his father's summoning. Although it was stated that Pakkun wasn't particularly a fighting style animal like the other ninken, He drew himself to Zuri in a way he really couldn't to anyone else. True, his ties were to the Ninken and Kakashi, but it was something about Zuri Pakkun liked. He rearely liked anyone honestly. 'So with training with Zuri the two of them became a duo. Kakashi thought it was rather interesting how Pakkun gravitated so easily towards his son, but he wanted to see just how far his son could go.

"How may I be of assistance?" Pakkun lazily says as he looks up at the grey haired boy.

"Pakkun I need you to find Ezra and Tala." Zuri says lowly. "I don't know how long I could hold Sensei off. Make sure they found the scroll."

Pakkun salutes and takes off into the forest. Zuri wove his hands signs.

"Wind Style: Wind Tornados!" A gust of wind blew up, swirling around and creating three large tornados. They criss crossed between one another and heading towards Zuri's Sensei. He leapt into the trees and found himself at a good angle. He wove signs again creating yet another lightening blade. Waiting for his opening.

Mya finally felt backed into a corner as she watched the tornados weave her way. She wove signs and tried to come up with a blocking mechanism, knowing that Zuri was waiting somewhere for her to drop her guard.

She heard a whizzing sound and turned just in time to see a flamed arrow shoot past her. Before she could react, ice bullets began coming from another direction.

"Earth Style: Dirt Barrier!" Myla slammed her hands on the ground and it began to shake. Before her came two dirt walls on her left and right side. Zuri took that as his chance. He jumped and tried to strike. Mya caught him by the wrist and slung him to the ground. Ezra threw a punch having Mya dodge it as well. Tala jumped on the woman's back, kunai drawn to the woman's neck.

"It's over Sensei." Tala speaks calmly. She removed the Kunai and flipped it around her finger before jumping off of the woman and tucking the weapon in her ninja pouch.

"And the scroll?" Mya rubs her neck.

"In my bag." Ezra says. "Safely."

Mya smiled. "I'm so proud of you guys." She says crossing her arms. She reaches over and ruffles Tala's hair before playfully punching Zuri in the arm. "You guys are becoming so strong. In a little while, you wont be needing me around for your missions anymore."

"Be glad for that." ZZuri says under his breath. Mya laughs it off and pushes the young boy's shoulder.

"I guess we can head back to the village now." She says with a smile. Then the four of them began walking.

"I'm so hungry!" Ezra yawns and throws her hands behind her head.

"When are you not?" Tala teases.

"Almost never.." Zuri answers for her making the girl frown.

"I don't have to deal with this." She huffs. "I'm gonna ask Tsunade to put me on another squad."

Mya snorts. "Good luck with that." She says. "It's too late for that now."

Ezra rolls her eyes as she continues walking. She smiled to herself thinking on when her sensei just complimented them on how strong they've become. Her, Zuri and Tala's teamwork was something she really thought was special to her. They all looked out for one another no matter what and often put their lives on the line for each other. THey trusted each other with their own lives, and knew if push came to shove, they would all die together and happy. Ezra loved her teammates dearly.

Hearing such words from someone who took the time to shape them into the ninja they have become today complimet them meant everything to her. She wanted to become strong. She wanted to come out of her shell. She wanted to be seen. She wanted to be able to protect herself if no one else could. She kenw that with the right training and the right practice, she would be a ninja up to par with the Sannin in no time. That's what she aimed for. She often thought about Sasuke and Naruto, and how they were doing and what they could possibly be doing at the moment. She wondered if they ever thought about her the way she did them. If they were getting stronger. If their hard word was paying off or if they would ever come back to the village.

If was mostly for Naruto though. Don't get it wrong, she had sympathy for Sasuke, and hoped that he'd eventually come back to the village a hero, after dealing with his brother who she late found out was a traitor to the leaf. No one really dared to speak his name. It was like everyone who knew Sasuke forgot about him after so long. It's been two years. Two long years without the two guys who meant so much to her. They were her friends.

"Hey, you okay?" Zuri whispers to the ebony girl. The two of them were walking being their Sensei and Tala, for most of the time they were always the stragglers. He noticed the girl was wrapped in her own thoughts that she had a sad glint in her eyes. She looked over at him and gave him the best smile she could muster up as she closed her eyes.

"Yeah, everything's fine." She added onto her comment by looping her arm in his as they continued walking.