The great stone archway of the Hidden Leaf village had never looked so much like home to the returning shinobi, but even the intricately carved designs on its stone sides could not distract Naruto Uzumaki from the scents and smells coming from the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant that he had not been able to visit and eat at for the past two years. As Naruto had inhaled the last bite of his BBQ Pork ramen he was reminded of something his friend Choji would say; remembering this he realized what he had really been missing over the past two years since his private training course with pervy sage - His comrades in team 7.
Naruto leaned back on his wooden stool dangerously far and it creaked threateningly. He wondered how Sakura's training with Lady Tsunade had gone that he had heard about from Pervy Sage or if Sasuke and Kakashi had made any progress. A wide grin cracked Naruto face as he was thought about showing his best friend and arch rival that he had at last overtaken him with the new jutsu he had developed with Jiraiya.
"Prepare yourself Sasuke! Because the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf is going to best you once more with my new jutsu!" Naruto shouted to the restaurant quite confidently.
"I don't recall you besting me once." Was the calm and confident reply that came from an all too familiar voice in the doorway. Naruto leaned back in surprise and the back legs of his stool snapped apart and sent him falling comically backwards and out the open door behind him into the dust outside the restaurant.
"Smooth one, Loser." Sneered Sasuke, although today even his melancholic demeanour was broken by the reunion of his best friend. He smiled shyly and offered out a hand to help Naruto back up.
Naruto stared up at him through the dust cloud that had formed around him and had to block the sun with an outstretched hand. For a second Naruto thought he had misheard the voice and that it was actually Kakashi. Sasuke had settled on a new outfit since Naruto's departure those couple of years ago; He was wearing black shin-length pants and his exposed leg was bandaged tightly, on his right leg he had some ninja tools in a pack, and his hair looked like an electric current had been run through it as it was standing up in more of a gravity-defying state than usual. If not for the trademark Uchiha shirt with his clan's symbol on its back instead of Kakashi's usual vest Naruto would have assumed Kakashi had suddenly turned gothic.
"Come on. Lady Tsunade is apparently gathering us for something, Sakura too. You can tell me all about this all powerful jutsu on the way" Sasuke jeered.
"You'll just have to wait and see."
"That's fine by me." So they walked over to the meeting point and saw Sakura leaning coyly outside the building that Lady Tsunade was in.
"Oh my god, Sasuke! I haven't seen you in months!" She said with a bit too much enthusiasm for Sasuke's liking. Even without using his sharingan he saw Naruto's face fall slightly in disappointment.
"Apparently Naruto's got a new jutsu up his sleeve, but he's keeping it quiet… for once" Sasuke told her. It was enough to refocus Sakura's attention on Naruto for a bit.
"Oh! I didn't recognise you Naruto! You've gotten so much taller!" She did actually feel bad for not noticing him and gave him a hug to make up for it that quickly restored Naruto's spirits.
"Don't worry about it Sakura! 'Cause everyone in the village is going to notice me after they see my new jutsu!"
The three friends entered the building together to see what they had been asked there for. Inside Tsunade told them.
"It's been a long time since I saw you three together." She stated "I've called you here today to test your abilities after your training to see if you have actually made any progress over the past few years.
"Name the challenge Granny Tsunade and I will beat it!" Grinned Naruto as he started to radiate with energy at the chance of getting to show off just how far he had come to everyone.
"There's someone I want you to go up against, I've kept him off missions especially for this, and your opponent will be -"
"-Me." Kakashi appeared in the doorway with the exact same casual stance and timing that Naruto remembered him for.
"Kakashi!" Naruto yelled "does this mean you'll be my opponent?"
"I'm not just fighting you" Kakashi chuckled "I'm fighting all three of you, however Sasuke I'm afraid I'm going to have the advantage over you, considering I've been the one training you up until a few months ago."
"Oh yeah, Sensei? Well I've learnt something new in that time that I'm sure will surprise you." Sasuke replied. Naruto had been hoping to get people excited and waiting for his new jutsu but now it was all he could do to keep his mind off seeing Sasuke's.
Kakashi led them to the site of their first test and held up two silver bells on thin red ribbons.
"Don't jump the gun this time, Loser" chuckled Sasuke
"Yeah, like I'd do that twice" said Naruto sarcastically.
Kakashi smiled through his mask and gave the signal.
"Ready? Start!"