10 years

Summenary: Naruto Uzumaki left for a journey that would take 3 years. Now 10 years after he left he finally returns. But what happens when he realizes that everyone has moved on without him? NaruXHina

Naruto was finally walking home. He hadn't been in Konoha for 10 years but he always thought of it as his home. He was now 23 years old. The reason why he had been away was that he had trained really hard. But always Jiraiya thought him something and decided that it was now time to return to Konoha he convinced him to learn him just one more technique. How he convinced Jiraiya… well let's say that he has a little jutsu that helps him. (You know which I'm talking about) So 3 years became 4. 4 became 5. 5 became 7. 7 became 10. (math problems =D)

He hadn't thought of it as a problem. I mean what is one more year? Konoha was always going to be there waiting for him and this was a once in a lifetime experience. He was now going to return and everything was going to return back to normal. He liked the idea of his old life back. He, Sakura and Sasuke training with Kakashi. Eating Ramen at Ichiraku's. He still had to get Sasuke back but that wouldn't be a problem and until he did he had time to win over Sakura.

He had to admit that he had never had a girlfriend. He always thought that he would wait until he got home. He did a lot of traveling so a girl in a other town could be a problem. He wouldn't leave her alone. And beside he needed to return to Konoha so he couldn't have a girlfriend in another town. So now he was 23 and he never kissed a girl before. He was kind of embarrassed about it. But he still had enough time when he got back and he had a good excuse.

Now he finally reached the gates of Konoha and a sigh escaped his lips. "Home at last." He whispered as he took his first step back in his hometown.

"So Naruto what are you going to do first?" Jiraiya asked. "Eat ramen? See Sakura? Kakashi? Tsunade? Iruka?"

"Hmm" He thought about it for a moment. "I think that I'm going to see Sakura-chan first. Can you go tell Tsunade I'm back?"

"Sure kid. Have fun."

Naruto ran off. He was thinking about where he could find Sakura when he saw something pink a couple of meters away. When he took a closer look he could easily tell it was Sakura. She had grown a lot but her pink hair was easy to recognize. He quickly walked up to her.

"Hey Sakura-chan!"

She quickly turned around when she heard someone call her name and immediately recognized him.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She shocked out. "Naruto-kun is that you?"

"Yeah Sakura-chan, it's me. I'm back."

They quickly started talking and Naruto was happy that it seemed like old times again.

"Hey Sakura-chan, now that I'm back how about we go and get some food at Ichiraku's to celebrate?"

"Are you asking me out for a date?"

"Yeah kind off." Naruto said grinning.

She sighed and Naruto could feel his heart drop. "I'm sorry Naruto but you see I've… I've been kind off dating someone."

A million questions ran through his mind. 'Who? When? For how long? What about me? What about Sasuke?' It almost felt like she could read his mind when she continued after a short silence.

"I started dating Lee 3 years ago. First he annoyed me but now I really like him. I had to go on with my life. I can't spend my whole life waiting for Sasuke to return. I realized that he was just a crush. I still want to get him back but just because he is my friend and teammate and for nothing else. And it wouldn't have worked out between us anyway. You can see that. Don't you?"

He sighed. He knew he couldn't blame her. But he didn't expect things to have changed so much. Sakura was dating Lee. She was over Sasuke. If he hadn't been away so long he could have been with Sakura. If he only had returned 3 years earlier. He had let his first love slip away from him and he regretted it. But he knew he was happy she had moved on and was happy now.

"Yeah, I can see that. I'm happy for you Sakura. I really am. I'm going to go on and see if I can find the rest of the Konoha twelve. I have a lot of catching up to do."

He said goodbye to Sakura and wondered around the village for the rest of the day. He met Lee, Shino, Kakashi-Sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-sensei, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gai-sensei. Kakashi didn't read Icha Icha paradise anymore what surprised Naruto. He found out that Kakashi was now married to Anko. Kurenai and Asuma were married now too and had 5 children. Shikamaru was engaged with Temari to Naruto's big surprise and were marrying in 2 months. The others weren't dating or weren't dating anyone he knew. He did notice that everyone had changed a lot and that their lives hadn't stood still these past 10 years. He felt kind of sad. Nothing was the same anymore. He felt like his life had been put on hold for 10 years and he was at the same point then when he left when they all had moved on. Everyone was Jounin or Chuunin now, had jobs, girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, husbands, kids, important roles. And he had nothing. He had become an incredibly strong ninja but was it worth all the things he had sacrificed?

Later he also met up with Iruka and they had dinner at Ichiraku's. Even Ichiraku's had changed. The old man had retired and Ayame now owned the shop. It was really busy and waiters that he never met before were standing behind the register. He had some ramen with Iruka and he catched up with him to.

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The next day he went to visit Shizune and Tsunade and now he was in front of the Hyuuga mansion to meet Neji and Hinata. He knocked the door and after a while Neji opened the door.

"Naruto is that you? You're back?"

"Yeah I came back yesterday and I came by to say 'hi' to you and Hinata."

"Oh I see well Hinata isn't here right now."

"Oh that's fine I'll see her later. And what about you? How have you been?"

"Good, I'm married now."

"Really."

"Yeah with Tenten."

"Really since when?"

"We've been married for 8 years."

"WHAT?!!"

"Yeah Tenten told me she was pregnant and I asked her to marry me."

Naruto was a little bit surprised. He was surprised even more by the way Neji had changed. He was nicer then he used to be and he smiled more. He was a totally different Neji then he used to be. He felt really stupid for thinking that everything could be the same as it used to be. That he could just pick up where he left off. Everybody had better things to do now.

"Congratulations, I'm going to find Kiba now. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Kiba's married now and he has a young son. He's probably picking him up from school now. If you don't find Kiba there I know you will find Hinata."

Naruto wanted to ask what he meant but the door was already closed. He ran in the direction of the school thinking about what Neji said. Were Kiba and Hinata married? Probably and if Kiba wasn't picking their son up from school Hinata probably was. It stung when he thought about their son and Kiba and Hinata married. He didn't know why. He hadn't felt like this when he thought about the other couples maybe it was because he didn't see it coming.

He arrived at the school and entered it. When he opened the door he could see a much older Hinata sitting there. Her hair was long now and she looked absolutely beautiful. He could see she was trying to wake a young boy that looked exactly like Kiba. He knew it had to be their son and his heart stopped. She looked so happy and beautiful and it hurt to know that he had missed his chance to ever get to know her. In this single moment he realized that he was in love with the shy girl. She had always been so shy, sweet, caring and now she was so beautiful but the most important thing about her was that she was married to Kiba. She was shy, sweet, caring and married to Kiba.

He slowly walked up to her.

"Hey Hinata." He said almost like a whisper.

Hinata quickly got up and turned around. When she saw him she blushed. "N-Naruto-kun?"

He thought he was going to die when he saw her blush. Before he could help it he hugged her.

"N-Na-Naruto-kun?" She managed to say while she fought to stay conscious.

"Hinata I'm so glad you haven't changed. I'm so glad that even though you've grown up so much you still stutter and blush. And I just want to tell you that I'm happy for you and Kiba. You deserve to be happy more than anyone I've ever met." He barely managed to say the last two sentences because it just hurt so much but he meant it she deserved to be happy even if it wasn't with him. He let go of her and took a step back. She looked at him confused.

"Me and Kiba?" Her eyes drifted to the boy at her feet who was now opening his eyes. Deep blue eyes. BLUE EYES. "N-Naruto-kun I j-just work here. I'm the kinder g-garden teacher. You know I would never m-marry without you there."

Naruto's eyes widened. "So you're not married with Kiba?"

"O-of course n-not N-Naruto-kun, m-me and Kiba are just f-friends."

"Really?"

"I-I r-really never really h-had any t-time for a r-relationship." Hinata lied. She had plenty of time but she had always been in love with him but she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't tell him that she had waited 10 years for him to return just so she could probably go on fawning over him without confessing.

"Never?" He asked.

She blushed and stared at her feet. Her head shaking slightly.

"I-I'm really happy that you're back N-Naruto-kun." She swallowed before being able to continue. "I missed you a lot it hasn't been the same without you."

Naruto was overjoyed. He hadn't missed his chance on Hinata. She hadn't moved on without him and she had waited for him to return. She missed him.

To Hinata's and Naruto's surprise, he kissed her. He was so happy that he crashed his lips against hers. He hadn't realized what he had done until it was too late. He was wondering if he should pull back or keep going when he felt Hinata slowly and softly kissing him back.

At that moment Kiba and Ino walked in.

"See honey, I told you they would get together." Ino said nudging her husband.

Yeah what can I say? It's my first story. It was just a little idea I had during math. (I know, I should pay more attention) I didn't turn out the way I wanted it. My first thought was just Naruto returning and finding Hinata with three children, he would think that they were hers and they would say: "Who's that Hinata-Sensei?"

Simple right? But it came out way to long and really wrong. (Did that just rhyme? o.0 It did. And really bad on top of that) You see she couldn't have 12 year old kids if she was only in her twenties and I didn't want to make her old. So... the storry is kind of f*cked up^^

Please don't review (I wouldn't waste your time on it) But go to my account and vote on the next story that I should write.