Chapter 1 The Return

It was a warm day. The sun blazed brightly overhead. The sky was a beautiful light blue, hardly a cloud in the sky as two men continued down their path. Trees boardered both sies of the trail as the walked to their home village.

After a few minutes of walking, the travelers saw a huge wall with a large set of doors standing before them. The younger of the pair smiled as they entered the village. .

"Is that who I think it is?" one of the gaurds asked excitidly.

"Yeah," the other answered, somewhat stunned.

The two men continued walking into the village.

"It's been two and a half years since you were here." The older man said as a breeze blew his white hair slightly.

"Yeah." The younger blonde man replied.

Suddenly, the blonde man took a running start and ran up the nearest telephone pole.

Below him, the older man chuckled.

"Feeling a little nistalgic, eh?"

The blonde man didn't answer. Standing atop the pole, he was rewarded by the sight of the home he missed so much.

"I've missed this place!" Naruto Uzumaki shouted.

"Naruto! Is that you?" a voice called from below.

Naruto looked down and smiled at the pink haired konouchi below.

"Sakura-chan!" he said brightly as he dropped down off the pole.

"When'd you get back?" She asked, giving him a once over.

"Just now." he told her as he walked up to her.

"Huh? Did you get taller?" she asked, noticing that she had to tilt her head slightly to keep eye contact.

Naruto also noticed the height differance. Taking his hand, he used it to compare their hieghts. He was a good few inches taller than her now, something that made him happy.

He grinned as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah. I guess I did." he replied, goofy grin in place.

Sakura noticed that her friend had changed a lot. Instead of his old orange and white jacket, he now wore a orange and black jacket that was tighter on him, clearly outling his well built frame. His forehead protector no longer had the short blue cloth. Instead, a long black clote now held the peice of metal to his head. His hair was longer than she remebered. And he lost his baby fat, making his face look more mature and older. And, sadly, some of the laughter that was always in his eyes was diminished slightly. But his goofy grin was just as she remembered. Sakura suddenly felt rather fond of him.

"Umm...Naruto?" She started, blushing somewhat," Do you think I've become more...womanly?" she asked, blush even more apparent. Naruto lowered his hand and stepped back a little to get a better look. He noticed how she had changed. She no longer wore the long dress like clothing she used to. Instead, she wore a tank top like shirt, red as with the other clothing. She also wore shorts that clung to her thighs as the fell to just above the knees. He had to admit, she looked damn good. But, he'd gotten over her.

A childhood crush. Nothing more than lust.

He grinned as he struck his version of the nice guy pose, giving her a thumbs up.

"I'll say! You've definatly changed, Sakura-chan."

Sakura blushed as she hugged her friend.

"You've changed too, Naruto."

Jiriya was proud of Naruto. The moran knew the way to a woman's heart.

Naruto, however, had noticed a gold band sitting on her left ring finger.

"Sakura. What's that?" He asked, pointing at the ring as he disengaged himself from her embrace.

"Oh, well." Her blush brightened," About a year after you left, Sasuke came back."

"Really? Where is he?" He asked, happy that his friend had come to his senses.

"He's on a mission and won't be back for two weeks." She infromed him sadly"And, umm, we've been seeing each other for over a year now. And last night, he proposed."

Sakura smiled as she looked into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto's eyes were his biggest weakness, if you knew what to look for. You could always tell how he felt just by looking into his cerulean colored eyes. She saw a little hurt but joy was the domonite feeling.

"I'm happy for you! You have some one who'll love and protect you for ever. And if the baka does something stupid, I'll beat some sense into him." He replied smiling.

Before she could say anything else, a bang followed by a puff of smoke proceded the apperance of a beautiful brown haired girl standing naked in front of Naruto. Sakura was shocked while Jiriya went into pervert mode, goggling at the girl with lust in his eyes.

Naruto smiled as the girl dissappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a brown headed boy eith a long blue scarf.

"What'd ya think? Had the right amount of 'omph', huh, Naruto?"

"Konohamaru. I'm not a kid anymore. I've stopped using that jutsu. You should too." He said sternly.

Sakura looked in admiraton at Naruto.

You've grown. Not just physically, but mentally too. I bet you have a bunch of new jutsu. She thought.

Konohamaru looked shocked. Naruto, his rival and inventor of the Sexy Jutsu, had told him not to use it anymore.

"Come on kid. Tsunade'll probably be waiting for us. Lets get it over with." The White Haired pervert (Jiriya: Hey! Me: Shut up Pervy sage and deal with it before I kill you off.) started toward the Hokage's Tower.

"Alright. I'll see you guys later." He waved bye to his friends, setting off to the tower, leaving Sakura and Konohamaru wandering the same thing: Is this the same Naruto?