Last Chance

_________________________

Naruto stood by his bed looking at the assortment of clothes. If he was trying to win a bride it probably wouldn't hurt to try and use some of his assets. He settled on an elbow length net shirt and a sleeveless black muscle shirt. He wasn't going on a mission today so he could wear his signature orange pants. It wasn't very Sasuke but he still had to be himself right? Happy with the look he left off his Jounin vest, he had enough pockets in the pants to carry equipment in case of an emergency. He packed his leg, tied on his hitai-ate, and was ready to go.

Now where was he to start? Well, he could use studying as an excuse to go to the library, not that he had ever studied at the library before. Time to set this plan in motion. He just hoped this would work.

As Naruto walked up to the library Kome smiled in recognition, "Good morning Naruto-san. Sakura is..."

Naruto cut him off with a wave of his hand; "I will be studying in the elemental ninjutsu section today."

Kome was dumbfounded for a second; Naruto had never come in to study before. He was always here for the pink-haired girl. Maybe he was final serious about his boast to become Hokage and decided to learn some new jutsu. Or maybe he had final gotten tired of getting books thrown in his face and had given up on the hot-tempered girl.

"Uh, oh. Certainly sir. Here is your pass."

"Thank you, Kome," Naruto said giving the guard one of his disarming smiles.

Naruto walked in to the library and headed to the elemental scrolls. He had chosen this section because he remembered it was the closest to the medical section. Now what element had the best view? Score! Wind was the last aisle and had a direct view of Sakura's normal table.

Now he had to make sure he didn't look directly over there. He went quietly so she would notice him before he picked something to study. He was sure this was going to be a great day. Lucky for him wind ninjutsu was something he understood. It added to his believability of studying at the library. He grabbed a scroll on wind barriers and picked a table where he could see her out of the corner of his eye. He might as well read it; he didn't know much defensive jutsu.

Naruto had been studying and peeking at Sakura for about half an hour and she hadn't so much as moved. Her nose was completely shoved in the scroll as she studied intently. But that changed at 10:00.

At almost exactly the 10 o'clock hour Sakura started looking toward the entrance. She would look up and the back down to her scroll but could seem to look down longer than 5 minutes. She knew Naruto would be here to bother her any second now. He always disturbed her at 10 o'clock. Half an hour of looking up and down passed and she started to get confused. It was ten wasn't it? Where was the loud cry and the obnoxious blonde? He didn't have a mission today; he always visited to let her know before he left the village.

Sakura looked all around her now to see if there was anyone familiar who was usually here at ten. Her graze stopped on a blonde in the elemental section. She squinted and looked again. Was that Naruto? What was he doing? He had a scroll out and his face was buried in it but she had never seen him studying in the library before. There had to be something wrong, he hadn't even said hi when he was this close? Maybe it was someone disguised as Naruto. Maybe someone from another village had used his visage to enter the library and steal Konoha jutsu! She got up and quick walked over to the person who had to be an impostor.

Naruto was completely engrossed in the scroll in front of him. He hadn't even looked up into past half hour to check what Sakura was doing. So when a shadow coved his scroll he was entirely surprised someone had walked up next to him without his noticing. He looked up to see Sakura was standing above him with a strange look on her face.

"Oi, Sakura-chan," he greeted happily. Then remembering his plan to ignore her he strived to salvage the 'I don't care' attitude he was going for. "Can I help you with something?" he asked coolly trying to capture Sasuke's 'bored' look.

Sakura's face turned hard. This was clearly an imposter; he didn't even try to throw himself at her. She grabbed a kunai from her pouch and stepped back.

"Who are you?"

"Wait, Sakura-chan?" This was not the outcome he had been looking for!

Kome and another guard were immediately standing between the two Jounin. One directly in front of Sakura and one in front of Naruto, weapons drawn.

"Sakura-san, please restrain yourself," said Kome who was standing in from of her. "I'm sure what ever Naruto-san did couldn't have been that bad."

"Hey!" protested Naruto. "I didn't do anything!"

"That's not Naruto," Sakura exclaimed. All eyes turned to the medical-nin.

"What do you mean Sakura-san?" Kome questioned looking at Naruto. The blonde shrugged.

"That is an impostor! He looks like Naruto but he doesn't act like him. He was studying and he didn't even try to talk to me when he came in to building. He must be trying to steal jutsu!"

Kome scrunched his face as he peered at the girl. "You- you think he's an imposter because he didn't talk to you?" he asked incredulously.

Sakura's face got a little red at the comment but she stuck to her assessment. "And he was studying," she added lamely. "Has anyone ever seen he real Naruto studying? He's been my friend for seven years, I think I know a fake when I see one!"

Kome was still unconvinced. He didn't think there was a chance someone disguised as Naruto could get by him. He saw the boy almost everyday and thought he knew him enough to pick out a fake.

"Okay. Naruto, what time do I see you everyday?"

"Ten o'clock every day I'm not on a mission," Naruto stated confidently.

"Anyone could know that," Sakura protested. "Tell me something only Naruto and I would know," she
demanded to the blonde.

Naruto racket his brain for something that would convince the girl. "Oh! For your birthday I bought you a shirt that you've never worn. Not even once," he pouted at the last part.

It had to be Naruto. No one else knew about that shirt because she promptly buried it in the recesses of her closet when he left. It had had a large whirlpool swirl on the back, to wear it would have been displaying that she was Naruto's. Which she certainly was not.

"Does that suffice?" Kome was asking.

"Um, yea."

Kome and the other guard left and everyone seemed to relax a little. Naruto wondered if he could still pull off the Sasuke act.

"Sorry Naruto. I've just never seen you in here to study and I guess it was just a bit of a shock."

"No problem. I just have to get serious about new jutsu before I become Hokage. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my scroll," he said holding up the scroll to emphasize his point.

The last comment was almost a dismissal and Sakura's suspicions were already coming back. Naruto was trying to get rid of her? Something was not right here. She decided to keep a close eye on the man who claimed to be Naruto.


------------------------

Updates on Wednesdays.
Thank you!