This is Konjou Kumiai's first ever released Naruto doujinshi, consisting of mostly short comedy stories about Team 7 with light SasuSaku hints. Though other characters, such as Iruka, the Sand siblings, Zabuza, and Tazuna also make an appearance.

In one of the short stories, Naruto decides that he needs to train harder to become Hokage. And the one technique he needs to perfect is the Harlem no Jutsu! But in order to perfect this technique, he needs porn! So who does he go to? Kakashi-sensei, of course! And we see Naruto bursting into Kakashi's home, demanding to borrow a porn magazine... only to facefaulter when he sees Sakura and Sasuke blushing and almost spatting out tea from hearing his declaration. Talk about a Kodak moment! XD

In another story, Sasuke and Sakura are hiding from Orochimaru. Sasuke has his hand covering Sakura's mouth while trying to come up with an idea to escape. In the original, one of Orochimaru's snakes attacks and they continue fighting. But in this story, Sasuke comes up with this ridiculous idea that if Sakura and he pose as newly weds, no ninjas, not even Orochimaru, will throw any weapons as such a happy and sparkling couple like them! Plus, when Sakura throws her bouquet, Orochimaru will be too busy trying to catch the bouquet to notice their escape! Perfect plan, eh? So hurry and marry him, Sakura-chan!

This is the second Naruto doujinshi by Konjou Kumiai, and at the same time, the first Sasuke x Sakura doujinshi by her. Though it was released at the same event as "Hybrid Rainbow", her first Naruto doujinshi. To celebrate the release of her first SasuSaku doujinshi, six of her friends (also doujinshi artists) contributed manga stories and illustrations to this doujinshi. So there are also 7 pages of guest artwork. Plus, other than the guest stories and the stories done by Konjou Kumiai herself, there are two pages of rough sketches of Sasuke from various scenes throughout chapter 1 to 69 of the manga. (As usual, I'll only be writing summaries of stories by Konjou Kumiai, and will be skipping the ones by the guest artists.)

The doujinshi begins with a short little prologue of Sasuke wondering about his clan and its demise. The day after the massacre, he woke up and found that the sky was still beautifully clear and that the village was still the same. Nothing had changed. Back to the present, Sasuke is actually wondering about all this during his "death scene" after he took the senbon attack for Naruto from Haku. He wonders, will the world still be the same with him gone? But as he feels the warmth of the crying girl's arms around him, he realizes the answer is "no". He has someone who cares for him and will cry for him if anything ever happens to him. And the prologue ends with a cute scene, supposedly taking place a long long time later since Sakura has short hair now, of Sasuke helping a happy Sakura down from a tree on one beautiful morning. (Yes, this is where the title of this doujinshi is from!)

The second story once again takes place after Sasuke's "death scene" at the Wave Country. Kakashi orders Sakura to help Sasuke with his wounds because she had the highest marks during first-aid courses back during the academy days. While Sakura goes off to fetch hot water to clean his wounds, Sasuke is given a moment to contemplate on the awakening of his Sharingan. Ironically, the battle he awakened his Sharingan - something that would allow him to reach his goal of killing his brother - was the same battle that almost took away his life - thus loosing his chance of reaching this goal. But somehow, he doesn't regret his action one bit. And he finds himself telling Sakura all this while she is bandaging up his wounds. His teammate stays silent, but she clearly understands this is Sasuke's way of implying how alone and exhausted he feels to be chasing after such an impossible dream. And suddenly, Sasuke finds himself embraced by a crying Sakura. He first tries to resist halfheartedly, but stops when the crying girl tells him that he no longer needs to be alone, for Naruto, Kakashi and she will forever be there for him. And for the first time since that day, he finally allows himself to become dependant and eventually relax in her embrace. (He even has a small smile on his face while Sakura is hugging him to her! But then again, his face is kinda buried in Sakura's breasts. XDDDDD)

Next is a cute story that takes place in Sakura's point of view right before they head back to Konoha. It begins with Sakura's narration of how happy she is to be able to spend 3 weeks with the person she likes and how much she loves Tsunami's cooking. While she narrates this, she is actually walking out of the bathroom and meets Kakashi and her two teammates head on. We then get a hilarious scene of Naruto being kicked away, a very scared Sasuke getting dragged into the bathroom, and Kakashi trying to peep at his female student. (Bad Kakashi-sensei!!!) The scene then jumps to later, with Sakura accompanying Naruto, who is fishing by the riverbank. During their small chat, Naruto tells Sakura that he really likes going on missions where he can travel to other countries. He doesn't feel alone with he is travelling because he has them with him, whereas he is always alone back at home. And this is when Sakura remembers that Naruto lives alone. With a smile, she then suggests requesting for more C-ranked missions that'll allow them to travel abroad. Once again, there is a scene jump to that night. Sakura is sitting on the edge of the riverbank thinking about her parents. It is obvious she misses them. But she doesn't allow herself to show her feelings during the day because she knows Sasuke, Naruto and probably even Kakashi don't have anyone to welcome them home with an "okaeri". It is only at night that she allows herself to shed a small tear for her homesickness. Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke is around the corner watching her. The next day, the trio is given some free time. Naruto goes off with Inari while Sakura tries to ease Sasuke's mind from training by dragging him to the market with her. (Of course, inner Sakura sees this as the perfect chance of scoring a date. XD) But she pauses slightly after hearing Sasuke's next words. He tells her that since they're returning to Konoha the following day, she should start looking for souvenirs for her parents. Apparently, Sasuke fully understands why she was crying the previous night. With a blush and a small smile, she then invites him to join her in this little souvenir-hunting trip. (Yah for a SasuSaku "date"!) Finally, the day to return to Konoha has come. When the group is a few meters away from the Konoha gates, Sakura runs ahead, enters through the gate, turns around, and gives her teammates and teacher an "okaeri-nasai" and a bright smile. The three of them are, of course, surprised and quite touched by her thoughtfulness. And they each give her a "tadaima" in return, even Sasuke! ^_^

This really isn't quite a Kakashi x Kurenai romance doujinshi. The story is more of a teacher to teacher interaction. Though Kakashi does do a bit of flirting with Kurenai, which is why I threw this doujinshi on this website as well. (I don't blame Kakashi, because Konjou Kumiai's Kurenai-sensei is so preeeetty!!!) The actual events of the story take place after Kakashi has nominated Team 7 to participate in the chuunin exam but before the actual exam.

Beginning with a short flashback, Kakashi briefly remembers Gai's lecture on how he is rushing his students too much to participate in the upcoming chuunin exam. But unknown to Gai or anyone else, Kakashi had long ago declared that he will do anything and everything, no matter how unreasonable his methods are, to protect his loved ones. Back to the present, Kakashi is then approached by Kurenai, who agrees with his recent action. She seems to understand that Kakashi's harsh past of losing all his loved ones is the reason why he is pushing his newly discovered family (Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura) so hard to become stronger. No matter how much he believes in the three, there is always this lingering fear that the past will repeat itself and that he will lose them one day due to his inability to protect them. And so, the only thing he can do to avoid this horrible fate is to force them to grow up quicker through such harsh trials. Surprised at Kurenai's ability to read him so well, Kakashi leans in and almost kisses her, but stops at the last second. *boos* He gives her a teasing smile and hugs her tight to him instead. And it is during these few seconds that Kakashi completely lets his guard down. His face softens to a melancholy expression as he wonders whether or not he will ever be able to forget and let go of his painful memories. But Kurenai points out that to forget is to run away. The scene then fades out and jumps to later when Kakashi meets the trio right before they enter the examination room. As he gives his little speech to the three, he silently declares that he will become the wall to protect them from all harm and that he will prepare them to become strong, in order to prevent any painful memories from ever occurring again.

Gah! I love the cover of this doujinshi! It's so sweet! Naruto is holding Sakura's hand and Sakura is holding Sasuke's hand while she is looking up to Kakashi! Team 7 love!!! As the cover implies, this is a Team 7 centric doujinshi, with comedy and serious stories about the four. ^_^ There are also 4 page of illustrations and a manga story by various guest artists.

The doujinshi begins with a one-page manga story of Naruto noticing how Sasuke and Sakura are getting along much better than before. And he demands Sasuke to explain what's going on. Of course, Sasuke denies anything happening between them. Instead, he tells Naruto, with a smile on his face, that Sakura has become an important comrade to him. (Sasuke-kun is smiling!!! *foams at mouth*)

Next is a short story featuring Sakura and Ino after Sasuke calms down from his cursed seal mode at the Forest of Death. As Ino trims and tidies up Sakura's hair, she tells her best friend that she is now closer to Sasuke's "ideal female" image since she still has long hair. But Sakura replies that whether or not she has long hair does not matter. She is still Sakura, and that's what is important. Feeling slightly annoyed, Ino attempts to look for something else to bug Sakura. But she stops when she picks up the fallen hitai-ate to put back on her best friend's head. As she is putting the hitai-ate on Sakura, she tells her best friend that she cannot cut her hair yet. Though the "yet" wasn't verbally said out loud. Apparently, Ino has been looking forward to cut her hair like Sakura all along, and is only waiting for the perfect chance to do so. And she did find her chance! ^_^

The main story is of Kakashi giving Sakura a student interview one morning. When she demands to know why and what happened to regular training with her teammates, her teacher tells her that Naruto and Sasuke are sick, one with diarrhea and one with the flu. (Guess which one is supposed to be sick with diarrhea???) Though it turns out this is all a setup by Kakashi. He knows there are certain things his two male students wish to know about Sakura. Naruto is especially curious as to what is the current Sakura's view on him, because once a long long time ago, she declared that he is the one thing/person she dislikes the most. So, with Naruto and Sasuke hiding nearby, Kakashi invites Sakura to the dango shop and proceeds to ask her the questions he asked when the team was first formed. By the second question, Sakura catches on and answers the rest on her own. Her hobbies are cooking and flower arrangement, the one thing/person she likes the most is Sasuke and her future dream is to become Sasuke's bride. But she pauses when she gets to the last question (the one thing/person she dislikes the most). *red light starts flashing for Naruto* But her answer surprises everyone. Instead of once again declaring that Naruto is who she dislikes the most, her answer is, "When Sasuke-kun is in pain." Hearing this, Naruto smiles with relief while Sasuke blushes!!! XD And the story ends with Sakura wondering out loud where her "sick-with-diarrhea" and "sick-with-the-flu" teammates are. I think she found out they were eavesdropping on her. ^_^

"Do you understand the true meaning of a three-man team? It means our fates are forever entwined. I will do everything to protect my two precious comrades just as you two will do everything to protect me."

This is a joint doujinshi by Konjou Kumiai and Peep, with two stories focusing on Naruto and Sakura. While the doujinshi is labelled "Naruto x Sakura" on the cover, the stories do not necessarily have to be viewed in a romance sense.

The first story is by Konjou Kumiai, starting off during the Neji vs. Hinata fight. While shouting his support for the struggling girl, a narration begins in the background, with Naruto wondering how he'd changed from the boy who used to think only for himself to the boy who is now able to care so deeply for others. And he realizes Sakura is the source of his change. The story then jumps back to the second part of the chuunin exam at the Forest of Death, when Team 7 are recovering from their wounds after Orochimaru and the Sound trio's attacks. Sasuke has gone off to find water while Naruto is taking care of Sakura, who has fallen asleep due to exhaustion. As Naruto watches over the sleeping girl, he berates himself for his inability to protect Sakura. He should've been the one to have gotten hurt for protecting his teammates, not her. And he briefly remembers one other time when Sakura did something similar for him. (When Zabuza first attacked and threw his sword at everyone, Kakashi ducked, Sasuke knocked Tazuma down, and Sakura knocked Naruto down. Though this only happened in the manga, not the anime.) Remembering this only fuels Naruto's anger at himself for relying on someone so infinitely precious to protect him. But his anger calms down immediately when Sakura wakes up. Before he can even say anything to her though, she takes his hand in hers and weakly asks him about the wound Orochimaru had inflicted upon him. Hearing this, it warms him immensely that she can be so caring towards him, especially when she is in such a weakened state. And he makes a silent vow to do the same to all those around him. Back to the present, as Naruto drags his fingers across Hinata's spilled blood, he remembers his vow and realizes it is now his turn to care and fight for his friends, just as how Sakura had once cared and fought for him. ^_^

Wai! I love this doujinshi! The stories are really well-written and there are plenty of gorgeous illustrations throughout the doujinshi as well! The illustrations in this doujinshi includes one of Sasuke wearing a scarf, one of Sakura wearing a scarf too (probably the same one XD), one of Naruto (a bigger version of the back cover), and even one of Kin (the Sound nin).

The doujinshi starts off with a little prologue, of a very lonely young Sakura waiting for someone. And suddenly, young Ino calls her name and she runs off happily to her new friend, no longer alone! Then we start the first story, with Sakura's short flashback of remembering Sasuke's lecture about how nothing can be compared to the pain of having no parents. After the flashback, Sakura is seen walking to Team 7's mission meeting place when she sees Naruto sleeping on the grass. At first, she tells herself that Naruto sleeping here and not at the meeting place would mean her getting to spend more time alone with Sasuke. And she tries to walk away... only to walk back to Naruto two seconds later. So she ends up going to Naruto to wake him up, and notices his hitai-ate is slanted. And for a short moment, she suddenly has a flash to her own lonely childhood life, implying she is paralleling her young self to the current Naruto (both no friends caring for them). But nevertheless, Sakura wakes Naruto up with a punch on his head, resulting in a big bump on poor Naruto's forehead.

After Naruto wakes up, Sakura lectures him for almost sleeping through a mission. And he explains that he had nothing to do, that's why he was taking a nap. Sakura then points out to Naruto that his hitai-ate is slanted, and reaches to fix it for him. But while she is repositioning his hitai-ate, he dumbly asks her for the location of their mission meeting place. (So yeah, if Sakura didn't wake Naruto up, he would've either slept through the mission or just not show up at all because he couldn't remember where they were supposed to be. *boinks Naruto*) Annoyed, Sakura ends up pulling the hitai-ate over his eyes and walks away angrily. But when he looks at her with the most adorably confused expression on his face, even Sakura can't stay mad and smiles back at him. The story then jumps a Sakura narration. As she thinks back to the various dangerous moments for Team 7 (Zabuza & Haku fight, and Orochimaru fight), she expresses her fear, and how much she wishes she could do something for her teammates (both Sasuke and Naruto - though I think she is favouring Sasuke here XD) so that they will never be alone again.

The next story focuses mostly on Sakura and her reaction to her teammates' recklessness. It begins with a short flashback of Sasuke taking Haku's senbon attack for Naruto and Sakura narrating her wish of how she never wants to see anyone hurt or die again. It then jumps to the aftermath of the chuunin exam's preliminary rounds, where Kakashi explains to Sakura that Sasuke is unable to see any visitors for the time being. Though he assures her Sasuke is all right, and tells her to take a break while Naruto and Sasuke will go off to train. *uppercuts Kakashi for neglecting Sakura* But Sakura breaks down, feeling scared because she has no idea what is going on (regarding Orochimaru's interest in Sasuke and his attack on Naruto). Not wanting to see his student like this, Kakashi places a hand on Sakura's shoulder as a gesture of comfort, and tells her she should be supportive for her teammates and should think positively for them. The scene then jumps to later that night. Sakura returns to the hospital and stands outside Sasuke's hospital door. She knows she cannot go in to visit him. But that doesn't stop her from confessing her fears to Sasuke. Leaning her head on the door with her hands clasped together as if she is praying, she begs Sasuke to please don't go off and die because she loves him. (Basically, she is begging Sasuke to be more careful and telling him that it pains her when he is so reckless.) She knows he may not be able to hear her. But she still speaks out her thoughts because she knows he will be able to understand her one way or another. And tada! Sasuke is on the other side of the door listening to her!!!

The title of this doujinshi "Chouji" does not refer to Team 8's Chouji. It actually means "words of condolences". And since the story in this doujinshi focuses on Zaku and Kin, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the condolence is for Dosu. But at the same time, the condolence is also for Zaku and Kin as well, as we all know they die soon after Dosu's death.

Although titled a "Sasuke x Sakura" doujinshi on the cover, there really aren't much interactions between Sasuke and Sakura in the story. Taking place after the Wave Country arc but before the chuunin exam, the story begins with Kakashi giving out the infamous Team 7 picture to the trio one day after a mission. Both Naruto and Sakura are completely overjoyed to have a proof of such a precious moment of their life. But on the other hand, Sasuke quietly pockets the photo without much of a reaction (though we know he treasures it just as much as Naruto and Sakura, as we see the framed photo in his room later in the Naruto manga). Sakura notices this, and it suddenly jumps to a short scene of Sakura asking someone (possibly Sasuke or the Hokage) to tell her what happened to the Uchiha clan, for she wishes to understand more about her teammate.

Back to the present, it is a new day and Team 7 is giving a mission of looking for an old lady's cat who got lost somewhere inside the Konoha forest. Before the trio part ways to begin the mission, Sasuke lightly mentions that they should hurry since it is beginning to rain. Sakura recognizes this as Sasuke's way to cover up how much his old wounds are hurting, and is slightly upset by the fact that he is hiding his pain from both Naruto and her. In the middle of her thinking, Sakura suddenly sees some light from afar and goes off to investigate. The scene then jumps to Sasuke, who is continuing his search and comes upon Sakura sitting in the middle of a clearing with a dead cat (mission target) on her lap. It is obvious that Sakura is upset by the cat's death and Sasuke realizes that. And he silently stands behind her (to allow her to have some time to gather herself together) before calling out for her to return.

Translating to "Thank You", this is a birthday doujinshi with stories of how Team 7 celebrate Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto's birthdays. The "thank you" from the title is most likely directed at Sakura, who planned and organized the birthday parties for her teammates and teacher. ^_^

Since Sasuke is Konjou Kumiai's favourite character, the main story is, of course, about his birthday. Beginning with Kakashi announcing that they'll be taking a day off on Sasuke's upcoming birthday, he decides that they'll be celebrating the young Uchiha's birthday at his home instead of having a normal mission. Later that day, when Sasuke is cleaning up his home, he finds himself lightly disapproving of the whole birthday party idea, thinking it is too relaxing for someone like him. But at the same time, taking a break every once in a while doesn't sound too unappealing. Though when he stares at his living room, he realizes he only has one chair and needs more for his teammates and teacher. (And that's really sad, that Sasuke is always so alone that he doesn't even bother having more than one chair in his home. ;__;) The story then jumps to July 23rd, the actual day of Sasuke's birthday. After the small party is over, Kakashi orders Sasuke to walk Sakura home while he tries to invite himself over for the night. XD Of course, Sasuke kicks Kakashi out. Though Sasuke seems to have an "I don't care about anything" expression on his face the entire time, Naruto catches him with a little blush as they're parting ways. (This is when Sasuke has to walk Sakura home alone! :3) Later, after Sasuke is walking back from Sakura's house, Naruto once again catches Sasuke doing something immensely out of character for the normally stoic young boy. But this time, he finds Sasuke humming the happy birthday song that Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi had sang to him earlier that day! So the party was definitely a success. Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi gave Sasuke something that he hadn't experience ever since the massacre of his clan: Happiness! :D (Though I cry at the thought of Sasuke leaving and never experiencing happiness again with his team.)

The next story takes place on September 15th, Kakashi's birthday. It is quite short, with Naruto returning to his team after submitting their mission report to Iruka. He hands Kakashi two pieces of candy, which turned out to be Iruka's "birthday present" to Kakashi when he heard from Naruto that it's Kakashi's birthday that day. (Iruka is such a dork! He gave Kakashi candies that he is supposed to give to his academy students! XD) Naruto then notices Sakura's absence and inquires about it, in which Kakashi tells him that she went home to retrieve the cake. Kakashi then points out Sakura was the one who organized Sasuke's birthday party plus this one as well. Thus, they have to thank her properly by having a huge celebration with her on her birthday next year. And judging by Sasuke's "You idiot, did you even have to say that?" expression and Naruto's big grin, that's definitely a yes from both of them! (Ironically, Part One of the manga ended before Sakura's birthday. So both Sasuke and Naruto were gone by that time. ;__;)

First off, I would like to point out there is actually an illustration of Sasuke and Sakura on the cover. But because the cover is silver (the shiiiiiny type - I can actually see myself from staring at the cover), the illustration didn't show up in the scan at all. Like a few of Konjou Kumiai's other doujinshi, this one consists of a long story. And the main event of the story is, as the title indicated, about a carnival, or in Japanese, an "omatsuri". The timeline takes place after Sasuke's encounter with Itachi but before his departure to Sound. (Since this doujinshi was released before Sasuke made his decision to leave Konoha, Konjou Kumiai assumed things would be back to normal for Team 7 after Sasuke wakes up from his coma.)

The story begins with Team 7 gathering at the bridge as usual. While waiting for Kakashi, they notice Iruka leading a group of young kids from the ninja academy for some sort of a fieldtrip around Konoha. As they watch, Sakura wonders out loud whether or not the academy went too easy on them, for none of them were quite ready for seemingly harder missions (like the Wave Country mission). Remembering what happened with his brother not long ago, Sasuke agrees.

Eventually, the trio becomes frustrated with waiting for Kakashi and decides to head for his home to wake him up. (Naruto's idea.) But when they arrived and kicked open the door, they find no one inside. Curious, the trio then starts looking around the apartment. They first spot the infamous Team 7 photo. And, of course, they then spot the photo of Kakashi with his own teammates and the Fourth Hokage right next to their photo. (For those who read the manga, in one of the chapter title illustration, we see Kakashi's photo of Team 7 placed right next to the photo of his own team.) Not used to seeing such a young-looking Kakashi, we get a very classic Team 7 reaction: with a vein popping Naruto, an eyebrow twitching Sasuke, and a sweat-dropping Sakura. ^_^

But at the same time, seeing the picture reminds Sakura of just how they all led different lives before they met and how much she still doesn't know about her teammates. The scene then jumps to a flashback scene of Sakura, presumably after the Wave Country Arc, but before the chuunin exam (since Sakura still has long hair but made a reference to Zabuza), asking the Third Hokage what had happened to the Uchiha clan. She wishes to know more about her teammates, especially after hearing Zabuza's comment about Sasuke being the last surviving member of his clan. But the Third only gives Sakura a scroll containing basic coverage of the massacre, insisting that she should ask Sasuke for details herself.

The scene then jumps back to present time, after the mission that day. (Kakashi has even given Naruto a punishment for breaking and entering his apartment. XD) When the four arrive at the mission-appointing office, they see Iruka there, who then appoints the trio, along with the rest of the Konoha genins, to help set up for their village's upcoming omatsuri. As they get to work, we see Kiba complaining about work, Shino ignoring his teammate, Shikamaru lazing around, Asuma and Kurenai subtly flirting, and Sakura and Ino gossiping. During the preparation, Kakashi extends an invitation to his three students to attend the omatsuri with him. Naruto and Sakura, of course, accept while Sasuke declines. (No surprises there. :P)

That night, Sakura arrives at the omatsuri in a really pretty yukata (an informal summer kimono) and meets up with Kakashi and Naruto. (The two look quite giddy at the sight of Sakura in her yukata. ^_^) After the initial excitement, Naruto and Sakura are left alone, where the normally energetic and optimistic boy turns serious and confesses to his teammate that this is actually his first omatsuri. All the previous years he went to bed early because he had never been invited and he knew he wasn't welcomed. Nevertheless, he is now very happy that he is able to attend his first omatsuri and that everyone is with him for his first firework-watching session. But of course, not everyone is present at this very moment. Even though no one says it out loud, Sakura knows how incomplete this omatsuri is without the third and final member of their team. And so, she goes off to seek Sasuke, partly because she knows how happy Naruto will be if the entire team (basically those he sees as his family) are present at his first omatsuri, and partly because she doesn't want Sasuke to be alone on a night when everyone is supposed to be happy.

Eventually, Sakura tracks down Sasuke, who is training in an abandoned part of Konoha that used to belong to the Uchiha clan. She knows how bothered he was by his inability to stand up to Itachi during their last meeting just a while ago. That's why he has been pushing himself so hard in his recent training sessions. So instead of attempting to drag him back to the omatsuri with her, she approaches him in a different way. She sits on a large branch of a nearby tree and points out how beautiful the far away omatsuri lanterns are. Curious, Sasuke jumps up to the branch and joins her. And perhaps it's Sakura's never-giving-up attitude that is affecting him, or perhaps it is nostalgia hitting him, but Sasuke somehow finds himself doing some confessing of his own, as he tells Sakura how he used to attend omatsuris with his family. At first, Sakura is surprised that Sasuke is willing to talk about his past. But she immediately recognizes how painful it is for Sasuke to bring up his family. Wanting to lighten up the mood, Sakura mentions what Naruto said (about being happy that "everyone" will be there to watch the fireworks with him). She also lightly mentions how happy she is to have met the two of them this year, an implication that they should be looking forward into the future and should stop dwelling in the past. And Sasuke understands this. But instead of thanking her like any normal person would, he tells her she looks nice in her yukata. With a smile on his face too!!!

At that moment, the fireworks are starting. Sasuke then jumps off the tree and offers his arm to help Sakura down. Sakura refuses at first because she knows his wrist is still hurt (from the Itachi encounter). But when Sasuke insists his wrist is healed, she takes his arm, though she still looks a little worried. ^_^ And here's where we get our super-uber sappy SasuSaku scene. After Sasuke lifts Sakura down, he refuses to let her go and hugs her tight to him, his silent way of thanking her. *melts* And while in his embrace, Sakura finds herself wishing for happiness to all those important to her from now on, even if it's something as simple and insignificant as all of them watching the fireworks together.

This is Konjou Kumiai's first compilation doujinshi, consisting of stories from "Hybrid Rainbow", "One Life", "Stay Gold", and "Chouji" plus a whole bunch of her other works from various non-commercialized and commercialized anthologies.

Her works from various commercialized and non-commercialized are also included in this compilation doujinshi. There are two rough illustrations (one of Team 7 and Kakashi and another of Itachi and Sasuke) from "Guru Guru Paradise Vol. 15", a manga story about Kankurou and Naruto from the non-commercialized anthology "Bokura no Ekisu", a manga story Sasuke and Sakura from the SasuSaku non-commercialized anthology "Love Unlimited", an illustration of Team 8 from the non-commercialized anthology "Loveholic", and a manga story about Sasuke and Konohamaru from the commercialized anthology "Naruto Ninpouchou Vol. 18".

This is another tiny doujinshi (in size, not page count) like "Tokimeki Shounen". Content-wise, it has 6 different guest artists (Yuki of the circle "Gousetsu Chitai", Shinobu Akiyama of the circle "Emotional Q", and others) contributing short manga stories and illustrations to this doujinshi. Though Konjou Kumiai also did do three stories herself. Unlike many of her other doujinshi, which seems to have long serious stories, this one has short and cute comedy stories instead. (I'll only be writing the summaries for Konjou Kumiai's stories.)

The first story starts with Sasuke sitting up in a tree relaxing when he suddenly notices Sakura and Ino chatting nearby. (How he could completely miss them in the first place is still a mystery to me.) He then notices a leaf had fallen on Sakura's hair. He tries to ignore this little flaw on Sakura but can't seem to get it out of his mind. Jumping down to pluck the leaf out of Sakura's hair is not an option because he doesn't want the two to start fangirling over him. But he is just too bothered by that one annoying little leaf to go back to his relaxing. Using a genjutsu to temporary confuse the two while he jumps down is also out of the question, for Sakura is good at genjutsu and she would see through it immediately. So he resorts to using a fuuton (wind type) technique to blow the leaf out from Sakura's hair. And really, he is only doing this for training... even though that annoying little leaf was flawing his perfect image of Sakura. (Sasuke is so cute when he is in denial! XD)

The second story takes place on Valentine's Day, beginning with Sakura's little monologue of her deciding to give homemade chocolate to her father, Kakashi and Naruto, basically the important male figures in her life. And Sasuke? She ends up making him some weird kimchi-flavoured onigiri instead. When he questions her about it, she tells him that she knows he doesn't like sweet food. This is why she is giving everyone but him chocolate. Unbeknownst to her, while Sasuke is not a big fan of sweet food, he doesn't really hate it as much as he claims. He just uses it as an excuse to reject his fangirls' chocolates on Valentine's Day. So what happens when Sakura falls for his lie just like any other fangirls? He jumps up, drags her back to her home and basically tells her he will eat whatever remains of the homemade chocolate she has left, an implication that he is not too happy to be excluded from Sakura's chocolate-giving this year. So yeah, Sasuke-kun doesn't like chocolate. But he still wants Sakura's homemade chocolate even though he doesn't like chocolate. Makes sense? XD

This is Konjou Kumiai's second compilation doujinshi, consisting of stories from "Beautiful Morning", "Midnight Down", "Runners High", and "Sunny Side River". There are, however, a new 8-paged story titled "Searchlight" and two new illustrations (a full page one of Sasuke and a full page one of Sakura) drawn especially for this compilation doujinshi. Plus, there are two full colour pages at the beginning of the doujinshi. The first colour page is a sample page with front cover scans for the above-listed doujinshi, and the second colour page is an illustration of cursed seal Sasuke, which was also used for the back cover of "Midnight Down".

The title of this doujinshi, "Kakurenbo" translates to "Hide and Seek". And this is exactly what we get in the story. Team 7 is thrown in a cruel game of Hide and Seek where Sasuke and Naruto spend the night looking for the missing Sakura...

It all begins after the mission that day, in which Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto realize Sakura is missing. At first, they thought she might've been taken away as a hostage, since Kakashi has many enemies from his past as an anbu, Sasuke's twin Sharingan are highly sought after, and Naruto has the Akatsuki after him. But when they go seek out Tsunade for advice, she tells them that Sakura is somewhere in the Konoha forest and they have to look for her themselves. (She even calls Sakura "Sasuke's woman"! ^_^) Upon exiting the office, the trio immediately begins their search. The moment Kakashi activates his Sharingan, he locates Sakura right away, who seems to be hiding herself with a genjutsu technique. Not really knowing why his pupil is doing this but somehow sensing this is an important ordeal for her, he leaves Sasuke and Naruto to search for their missing team mate. At the same time, Iruka pays a visit to the Haruno household (probably hoping to ask Sakura for help with his students at the academy), only to be told by Mrs. Haruno that the young girl is not home yet. Just as Iruka is about to leave, Mrs. Haruno hesitantly stops the chuunin and expresses her worries for her daughter. She knows her daughter is not physically strong like her team mates and is worried that Sakura may not fit well in her team. But Iruka tells her that Sakura is an important figure in balancing out Team 7, not necessarily physically but in many other areas.

Back at the forest, Sasuke begins to panic at the thought of what could have happened to Sakura. At one point, he even stabs himself with a kunai for not being strong enough to find her. In the meantime, Sakura is witnessing everything that is happening. As she silently cries for the boy she loves, she thinks back to the start of this. A few days prior to the mission, she had approached Kurenai (whom I'm assuming to be Sakura's genjutsu sensei), issuing a challenge to the jounin to hide from her two team mates and Kakashi for 12 hours using her genjutsu. The main objective of this challenge is to prove her abilities to everyone, but mainly herself. She knows it would hurt Sasuke and Naruto deeply, though at the same time, she wishes for the two to get along better during missions. And true to her wishes, Sasuke and Naruto do start working together during this search.

Translating to "The Fun of Puberty", the stories in this doujinshi are exactly what the title implies: Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan reach puberty... and funny things start happening. ^_^ The first story, done by Emotional Q, is in Sakura's POV, where she has a pretty steamy dream of Sasuke sneaking into her bedroom after hearing stories about her friends' relationships with their boyfriends. Naturally, she freaks out when she wakes up. And it gets even funnier when she sees Sasuke the next morning. Images of her dream start flashing through her head upon seeing Sasuke's face and she does the only thing she can think of: RUN! Yes, she literally zooms away from Sasuke, claiming that she left something at home. And over the next couple of weeks, we see Sakura completely avoiding Sasuke because she is convinced that he'll forever hate her if and when he ever finds out about her ecchi dream. Poor Sakura-chan doesn't even dare to look at Sasuke! At first, Sasuke doesn't seem bothered by the sudden change in Sakura. But after a while, even he can no longer stand the ignoring. So he pulls her aside and demands to know what's going on. Though this makes things even worse. Sakura ends up running away crying, feeling ashamed on the lack of control on her feelings. On the other hand, Sasuke is completely confused at his own feelings. He doesn't like it when Sakura ignores him and feels awful for making her cry. But the poor boy has absolutely no idea why. ^_^ Ah well, the two are still young. Hopefully, they, especially Sasuke, will figure out their feelings soon. ^_^

The two stories in this doujinshi both take place during the infamous chapter 181. The first story is a monologue of Sakura's thoughts and feelings as she confesses her love for Sasuke. Even though she knows it is useless to convince Sasuke to stay, she still tries because the one and only thing she wishes for is Sasuke's happiness. And she knows he will never achieve true happiness if he leaves Konoha. But Sasuke, being Sasuke, leaves anyways, not giving a damn about Sakura and her feelings... or so we are led to believe. This is when the second story comes in, where we catch a glimpse of Sasuke's thoughts and feelings after he knocks Sakura unconscious. He knows of Sakura's wish of wanting him to find true happiness. And secretly, this is his own wish as well. As he places the unconscious Sakura on the bench, he leans in to kiss her, knowing the girl in front of him is the only person who will ever be able to bring him the happiness he had always hoped for (in secret, of course). To him, Sakura is the light that shines and sparkles in the never-ending darkness he had created for himself. But he will never allow himself to reach out for her until he has avenged his family. This is why he has to leave Sakura and his friends... And this is why he can do nothing but thank her... But before he leaves with the Sound Four, one last thought lingers in his mind, "Perhaps if you're able to forgive me... we can embrace our dream one day..." ;__; Gah! So much angst! But such a beautifully written story! And I must add that this is one of the very very few doujinshi by Konjou Kumiai where Sasuke openly admits and even shows his feelings for Sakura.

This is Konjou Kumiai's 25th Naruto doujinshi, possibly her last one too, since I haven't seen any new Naruto doujinshi by her after this. Unlike many of her other doujinshi, which consists of long serious stories focusing on Team 7 (mostly Sasuke or Sakura), this one consists of mostly comedy stories, focusing on almost the entire cast; Team 7, Sand siblings, Shikamaru, Itachi, Kisame, Neji, Kiba, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya. There is also one cute Sasuke-centric story (with light SasuSaku hints) by a guest artist. Ever wondered why Itachi decided to bring Kisame to the dango shop for tea? It turns out Itachi wanted to check out that pretty little waitress whom he had always had a crush on ever since he was young. And voila! Itachi pretty much starts SPARKLING when he sees her, silently thinking that she is still as pretty as before. But he then spots a wedding ring on that girl's finger and is completely heartbroken. *snickers* Then we have a cute one-page comic strip of Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura "summoning" a birthday cake for Sasuke on his birthday.

The only serious story is the next one, consisting of a conversation between Neji and Kiba during the rescue-Sasuke arc where they talk about Hinata and how Neji's view about Hinata has changed. Instead of blaming her for his misfortune (main/branch family issue), he declares that he'll forever protect Hinata, because he wants to continue seeing that gentle smile on her face! Wai! Slight NejiHina, though one can interpret this as an older-brother-taking-care-of-younger-sister type of declaration. Works both ways for me!

My favourite story is the SasuSaku one (the one by Konjou Kumiai, not by the guest artist). It begins with Team 7 at a mission briefing. While sitting beside Sasuke on the grass, Sakura notices how close their hands are and sorta wants to reach over and take his hand in hers. And her hand inches closer and closer while Sasuke is completely oblivious. Though Shikamaru, who is passing by, notices and realizes what Sakura plans on doing. Back to Sakura, just as her hand is about to touch Sasuke's hand, the mission briefing is over and Sasuke stands up to get ready. And poor Sakura-chan loses her perfect chance of holding Sasuke's hand... or did she? Out of pure reflex, Sasuke reaches down to grab Sakura's hand and pulls her up. But she is just too upset by her previous "failure" to realize that she is indeed holding his hand at this very moment (or more like he is holding her hand)!!! And observe that knowing smirk on Shikamaru's face as he watches from afar!!! XD

OMG! Konjou Kumiai is back! Since she didn't release any Naruto doujinshi back in 2004, I was under the impression that she quit the Naruto fandom. But lo and behold, she came back this May! With this thick compilation doujinshi too!!! But like "Little Busters", this compilation doujinshi consists of only her old works with no new materials. The stories in here are taken from "Tokimeki Shounen", "Neko", "Arigatou", "Carnival", "Chissoku Shisou Desu", "Summer Gate", "Shishunki no Tawamure", "Kakurenbo", "Yubiwa", "All Day Every Day", "Communicate" (a small non-commercialized SasuSaku anthology), and a couple of other stories and illustrations from various anthologies and doujinshi.

Her other works includes a story of Tsunade and Shizune story from the commercialized anthology "Hiden! Ninemaki Sensei Tokushuu", a KakaSaku story from the non-commercialized KakaSaku anthology "Kiss You Kiss Me", a KakaIru story she had done as a guest story in the KakaIru doujinshi "KakaIru Gakuen Tengoku", a Sound Sasuke illustration she had done as a guest illustration in the SasuSaku doujinshi "Happy Go Lucky", and a rough sketch of Team 7 from the commercialized anthology "Guru Guru Paradise Nanaban Tokushuu".