Beginning Anew

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…

A/N: Well this is a new story, I wanted to try something new.

I'm currently editing my other story and I was dying at school. I'm so sorry for not updating. have fun reading!

Full Summary: Now somewhat darker and serious, a journey is taken to fulfill his dream, while leaving behind a cherry blossom wallowing in her own despair. Will she be able to stand and catch up to her team mate who is so close to achieving the final title that every shinobi would die to have or protect? Who would be her pillar to lean on when she collapses? Please read and Review.

"speech"… 'thoughts'… "Kyubbi"

Their Decision

It was raining today, the day that Naruto came back in Kakashi's arms. Unconscious and barely alive. Sakura's eyes started to brim with tears of anger, betrayal, sadness and regret. Naruto was not able to fulfill his promise, Sasuke had left. As it continued to rain, Sakura took one last look at the blond haired-nin as he was whisked away to the hospital and ran home. She ran to her room and locked herself in. Outside, it continued to rain, matching her mood perfectly. The loud noises heard when the heavy rain impacted on the roof was heard loud and clear in the dead silent house. Sakura cried her eyes out in her room, refusing to come out or to eat. She felt guilty that she had not been able to stop him… her first crush. The one that she had loved since she could remember. His last words to her, ringing in her head. Her dread was worsened when she remembered the state that Naruto was in just because of her desire to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. She would have been surprised if the blond ever spoke to her again.

As the days drew on, she learned from Tsunade that Naruto had been checked out of the hospital. But Tsunade seemed worried somehow, mumbling about how Naruto hadn't smiled once or even spoken since he had regained consciousness. He seemed cold and distant. Hearing that, Sakura almost...almost left her room to see if he was okay. But in the end she stayed within her confines thinking that Naruto could take care of himself.

Everyday she would try to steel her resolve and come out with a possible solution to bring Sasuke back but came up with nothing even though she had a magnificent brain. On the fourth day, she came to a decision. She would train, become strong and show Sasuke that he could become stronger here in Konoha. She desperately wanted him to come back, back home, back to her. She sighed wearily and opened her locked door. She went and cleaned herself up and went downstairs to the kitchen to find her mother. Her mothers' depressed face soon lifted when she saw her daughter finally out of her depression. She quickly whipped up some bacon and eggs for her to eat. As she sat down her mother continued standing on the same spot, waiting for Sakura to say something. But she had nothing to say so all there was was silence. Only the sound of chewing was heard and even so, it was barely audible. As soon as she was done with her breakfast, she got up and placed the dishes in the sink.

"Arigato mother," Sakura said as she headed towards the door.

Her mother could only nod and respond with a weak smile as her only daughter set off. No other words were shared between the daughter and mother as Sakura left.

Her mind was set and her determination high. 'I am going to train incredibly hard and when the time is right; I will go and ask Naruto for some assistance to retrieve Sasuke.' Sakura continued to walk at a brisk pace towards the Hokage tower hoping that that the 5th Hokage would accept her as her apprentice. When she arrives, a pair of chunnins were outside guarding her door. As she got close, the chunnin closest to her knocked on Tsunade's door and told her that Sakura has arrived. Sakura was quite surprised, how did Tsunade know that she was coming here.

"Come in," the Hokage said.

The doors opened and Sakura walked in feeling quite uncomfortable. Sitting in front of the desk was another person with blond hair. But unlike all the other times when this loud mouthed idiot was here, the room was in total silence and tension was up high on a teetering thread. Sakura visibly gulped when Tsunade looked at her. The 5th Hokage seemed dead serious and was not in the mood for nonsense.

"It is nice to see that you have finally out of your room Sakura-san," the Godaime said without breaking eye contact. "I was about to go and get someone to call you here but I guess that is not needed anymore."

"H-Hai, Hokage-sama," stuttered Sakura. She was beginning to feel very uncomfortable around this atmosphere and wanted to leave.

"Please have a seat," the Hokage said as she waved her hand towards the empty chair beside Naruto.

Not a word was exchanged as she sat down, Sakura was now nervous beyond belief and just wanted to get the hell out off there. But that was not possible at the moment. They sat there in silence waiting for something. But Sakura had no idea what was that something.

An audible poof was heard and Sakura's head shot around to see who it was. It was none other than their sensei, Kakashi.

"Yo."

"Now that we are all here, I will announce what will happen from now on. Jiraiya please come out."

The frog sennin emerged from the shadows; he had a solemn face as if he was expecting dreadful news.

"I have talked to Naruto and I have decided that team 7 shall be no more." There was a gasp coming from a pink haired girl and she looked at Naruto but he did not even flinch at the scrutinizing glare that he had just received form his team-mate. "Naruto, you will be heading out of Konoha on a journey with Jiraiya to train. I expect you back within 3 years and ready for the Hokage position within 2 years of that. Jiraiya will personally train you so that you are ready for this task and I will continue the training when you return. Sakura, at the moment, you have the choice of training with Kakashi or myself since I heard that you had excellent control over your chakra. If you are to become my apprentice, I expect you to work extremely hard and to become a medic-nin. Which do you choose?"

"I... umm… I want to become your apprentice Hokage-sama, after muck deliberation. The slug sennin nodded and continued.

"Now Kakashi, from now on, you are no longer the sensei of these children. You will be placed back among the regular jounin category where you will be given A class missions. Is that understood?"

Kakashi was silent, but finally nodded his head in understanding. His eyes wandered over to his students. 'What had ever happened to team 7? Why was it always team 7 that received misfortune? This is the only team that I had ever passed and thought that would become the next legendary sennin. My team had finally fallen in defeat… what a joke' His shoulders slumped while thinking about all these things.

Naruto continued to remain silent during this entire meeting, which was extremely strange for our cerulean eyed friend. But his face remained neutral and even his once filled emotional eyes were blank. They betrayed nothing of what he thought. 'The rookie nine is gone. We will walk our own separate paths. I'm sorry Sakura, Sasuke, everyone. I thought I could take this on, but I was wrong. I will return strong, and bring Sasuke back. That is a promise and I won't go back on my words.'

"You are dismissed. Jiraiya please stay behind, I have something to discuss with you."

Jiraiya's eyes visibly narrowed. 'So… the journey begins.' He walked up to Naruto and told him to have everything packed and ready to go in half an hour.

Naruto nodded and walked out the room without sparing anyone else another glance. When he walked out, the damp air and cool wind whipped his face. It made him smile his first genuine smile when he thought about how nature was feeling just like him. Sombre and sad. He walked steadily home while receiving many glares from the villagers but he ignored them all since he was used to this hatred. When he got home, he packed everything he needed; clothes, money, weapons and some food. It was an easy task because his little apartment was extremely neat because he finally decided that there was no longer a need to act and tidied his place. He was ready in 10 minutes so it left him with 15 minutes before he needed to arrive at the gates. He wanted to be early but not too early so he decided to take a quick walk to relieve himself of some of his stress.

The sun had finally awoken from its deep slumber and rose into the sky by noon. It was now shining brilliantly high up in the sky blinding Naruto momentarily when he stepped out of his dingy apartment. The air was refreshing as he walked down an alley where not many people went. As he walked he could hear the birds chirping and see the flowers blooming. His mind roamed into space as he thought about what the future might bring now. It was clouded and he could not decide whether or not if this was the right choice to make or not. His feet carried him to the Hyuuga mansion while he was deep in thought. Naruto was about to leave when he came up with an idea. He walked up to the gates and asked to speak with Neji. Moments later, his pearl eyed friend arrived at the front gates of the mansion.

Neji was greeted with a sullen face from Naruto who at the moment was debating about what to tell Neji and what not to tell. An awkward silence stood between the 2. During that time span, Naruto was fidgeting with his shirt looking uncomfortable.

The silence was finally broken when Neji said, "By your uncomfortable gestures and the way your eye darts toward the ground then focuses on a object just past me, I'm guessing you have something to ask of me that may produce an awkward moment between us…"

Silence…

"Ha Neji, you're the same as ever. Reading people like a book with your oh so magnificent eyes…" the sentence was dripping with sarcasm in the end making the moment seem somewhat tense. The silence was finally broken when Naruto let out a sigh, either from relief or frustration Neji really didn't know. "I want to ask you for a favour but it is okay if you decline…"

Neji's eyebrow rose a bit, wondering if this had to do with what was bothering the blond. Having his curiosity peaked, Neji asked, "And what is it that you want me to do?"

"Um well, you see, I was sorta wondering if, well you umm… could like… look-after-Sakura-while-I'm-gone?"

His eyebrows shot up even higher, and his face looked somewhat startled and then contorted into a frown of some sort. "You want me to what?"

"Well, haha, I wanted you to look after Sakura for me while I'm gone. You see, I won't be here for the next 3 years…" Neji's eyebrow (if possible) went up higher, and he had that questioning glint in his eyes, but before he could ask, Naruto continued with his story… "It is a classified mission and I am unable to tell you more." Neji seemed to understand but still seemed to be unsettled. "As I was saying earlier, I won't be here to watch over her and I don't trust her enough to look after herself after Sasuke left and all." Naruto looked somewhat defeated and looked down at his sandals as if they were the most interesting things in the world. "She even locked herself in her room for a few days refusing anything, even from Hokage-sama. But you don't have to necessarily go up to her and ask how she is doing. You could just check up on her once or twice a week without her knowing. But I understand if you decline. I really do."

There was a pregnant pause where Neji made his decision. Although he didn't have to do it, he felt like he owed Naruto a debt and this was a way he could return it no matter how small it was. 'Well it wouldn't really affect me now would it? I just have to check up on her every other day or so.' Finally a long sigh escaped the lips of the Hyuuga. "Fine, I'll do it. But do I need to contact you in anyway to tell you how things are going on?"

Naruto's face lit up slightly and his eyes showed sincere thanks for what Neji had promised him to do in his place. "Thank you so much Neji, and about the contact thing… well I guess mail would come back every now and then from Jiraiya and Tsunade. I'm guessing that I'll send the messenger to come to you as well to pick up your letter for me… is that fine with you?"

"Sure…"

Just then, Naruto remembered the time and started to panic. He had 5 minutes to get to the gates where Jiraiya had told to meet him there. "Uh... Neji I gotta go so I'll write as soon as I get a chance!" And with a quick wave, he was gone…

Neji looked somewhat surprised and stood there for a few moments longer before shaking his head from his daze and laughing inwardly. 'Who knew he could run so fast… might as well go training and search for the pink haired girl I'm suppose to check.'

With 2 minutes to spare, Naruto arrived at the main gates panting slightly. 'Wow that was a great work out, I should do that more often' he mused. He stood by the gates waiting for his sensei to arrive, but within those 2 minutes, he received many hateful glares from the villagers. 'At least the shinobi were better… they don't give me those glares… well at least most of them don't. They just seem wary of me.' He let out a sigh when a poof was heard and Jiraiya arrived.

"What's with the long face?"

"Nothing… lets go…" Naruto replied without a second thought. His mask was up once again. Although this time, it was not the fake cheerfulness he usually wore, this one was emotionless and expressionless.

Jiraiya sighed and started to walk out of the gates with Naruto beside him. He was nervous and slightly frustrated with the circumstances. What he learned from Tsunade only a few moments prior was somewhat disturbing but he knew what he must do. Villagers and most shinobi would not have been able to tell that Jiraiya was unsettled unless they were trained extremely well with telling people's emotions like the Hyuuga's. But if you strained your eye and focussed on the perverted sannin, you could see that the muscles around his shoulders were stiff and that he had a worried expression on his face. But it wasn't just that that worried him. Naruto had finally removed his bright orange jumpsuit for something rather sullen looking. It matched him perfectly at the moment. A black t-shirt with an even darker looking vest over it (the vest looks somewhat like a chunnin vest) as well as black shorts that looked almost identical to Neji's.

But that was what a Hyuuga saw as she saw them walk out of Konoha. At the moment, she felt extremely sad. She had not been informed that Naruto was going to leave for a trip or mission with Jiraiya. And it seemed to be a very long one due to the size of their packs which were a bit bigger than they should be. But that was not all, she didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. She didn't know when she could see them again, she felt somewhat heartbroken. But all she could do was wait for him to come home… yes, that was all Hinata could do now. Wait… such a long and painful word that tore at her, and would continue for 3 long years to come.

The 2 male shinobi were leaping from tree to tree high up in the canopy. They had been running for 5 hours straight headed southwest towards Sand. The sun was soon to set beyond the horizon when the silence was finally broken.

"Naruto, we need to talk."

He knew it was going to come sooner or later so there was no need to avoid the conversation. He nodded his head and immediately slowed his pace until he stopped on a branch high up in the tree. 'I wonder what'll be the first thing he asks me.' Jiraiya landed on a branch lower than Naruto's without a sound. '…hmm… I never noticed before, he has great stealth' thought Naruto.

Without looking at Naruto but at the setting sun in the horizon, he spoke. "You do know what you are doing right? You won't come back until 3 years later, aren't you afraid that people would change?" There was a pregnant pause before he began once more. "There are many obstacles that you need to overcome that would scare many Kages themselves. What makes you think that you could overcome them, surpass them even dominate over them?"

Naruto looked at his sensei, the emotionless mask he wore was still on, but his eyes betrayed him. Several emotions were seen though his eyes when Jiraiya finally looked up. Fear, Frustration, Anger, determination… a few moments later, Naruto spoke.

"I am sure. The battle I had with Sasuke showed me that I truly am not strong enough. I do not seek power for revenge or wealth like Sasuke, I hope to obtain it to protect those who are dear to me, I lost one of my precious people because I was not strong enough. But that's not all, if I had a tactical mind like Shikamaru or Sakura, I might have figured our Orochimaru's plan and saved many more people. I feel so frustrated and ashamed at times when I think What if I did this, would that have happened? . Then I tell myself, There's nothing you could do about it. . But when I think about it again, I would come upon the conclusion that if I were stronger I could have prevented it form happening. That's why, with my own 2 hands, I have to become stronger. Not only for myself but for all those around me that I need to protect.

A sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he took a breath before he continued… "3 years, yea that is a long time. But it was not as long as when I tried to gain acknowledgement and respect from fellow shinobi. I finally found some, they are my precious people, my friends, my family. If they feel that they would change their opinions about me, then it would only mean that I cared for the wrong people. But knowing them, they would be there for me when I need them as will I be there for them when they need me. Don't you think so Jiraiya?"

Without waiting for an answer, Naruto continued. "I never gave up before, and I won't start now. No matter how hard these trials may be, I won't back down. Even if these would make Kages' quake in fear, I will stand up strong. My will and determination is strong. My friends need me, my only family. I won't let them down. I will complete the 3 year training with you to the best of my capabilities. This is a promise of a lifetime. I don't go back on my word for it is "my" way of the ninja!" And with that Naruto closed his eyes from the sun's last rays. He tries to calm the beating of his heart against his ribcage and the pain that enveloped his heart. After a few moments of silence, Naruto opened his eyes and looked down on the frog hermit once more.

What he saw surprised him. Instead of being angry, sad, or frustrated, what he saw was pride and happiness. Naruto was confused! Why would Jiraiya look at me like that?

Seeing that confusion on his face, the frog hermit said the only thing he thought would make him understand. "Then I will help you through these hard obstacles and train you to be thee best Hokage this world have yet to see."

He felt please to say the least. His sensei would help him through this. This meant so much for Naruto. He now had acknowledgement, hope and companionship. 'I won't be doing this all alone, there is someone here who would always support me!' Naruto's eyes blurred for a second before he wiped the tears away. His eyes were full of determination and appreciation before they turned blank once more. He nodded and continued their journey towards Sand.

'Oh my, this kid really needs to work on his mask. It could fail him when he needs it. You're the one to talk…' Jiraiya thought to himself while they continued their journey. 'Although it is nice to see his face with his actual real emotions but it won't be needed in these 3 years.' Jiraiya's eyes narrowed once again at the prospect of making the kid go through hell. 'He has great potential not to mention the stamina and will, he'll make it through. Arashi, your son might even surpass you with his potential. 5 years huh, to become a Hokage most would train from 15 until they are 30. And even then, their training wasn't easy.' He winced when he remembered all the work Arashi placed his heart and soul into doing. 'If he can accomplish this feat, he would be the youngest Hokage of Konoha. Not to mention if he masters what they Kyubbi has to offer, he would be impossible to defeat in battle. Ha, talk about having the perfect tool for war. Naruto you have a good heart, you'll lead Konoha to its greatest. I know you will, I have faith.'

The 2 shinobi continued traveling southwest, night had fallen 8 hours ago and Naruto was starting to breathe slightly harder than normal. They had been traveling for 13 hours and were finally near the outskirts of the fire country. Just out of range of where the ANBU patrol. Jiraiya was beginning to feel tired as well but it didn't show quite yet. 'Wow, his stamina is amazing! Even I'm getting tired from this fast paced running. And he's only genin for goodness sake and I'm a sennin. You've got to be ashamed of yourself Jiraiya. Has he been hiding his true potential all along?' "Let's stop Naruto. We'll set up camp and begin our training."

A nod was Jiraiya's only response as Naruto turned to his right to where he heard the distinct sound of running water. 'There must be a stream or river nearby. I can hear it…hmmm; maybe I can find our dinner there.' Naruto ran as fast as he could to the nearby river. Only a slight blur would be seen if anyone out at this time at night looked up all of a sudden in the middle of the deep forest.

An hour later, 4 fish were sizzling over a hot and bright fire. As both Naruto and Jiraiya sat watching the fish cook, Jiraiya spoke up. "We'll work on your rasengan and chakra control today."

"Why the rasengan? I understand that my chakra needs to be controlled but… ohh... I get it. You want me to be able to do it on handed am I correct?"

Jiraiya answered his question with a slight nod of his head.

"Alright, I'll do that. And I'm guessing that I'll have to figure how to do it myself. And when I'm doing that you are going to figure out our training schedule?" Naruto asked with his eyebrows raised.

A moment of confusion was seen on Jiraiya's face but it disappeared as soon as it appeared. "Correct."

Once again, there was a nod from Naruto before he picked up the fish and ate quickly. He stood up and walked towards the big rock in the middle of their clearing. There he closed his eyes and concentrated and his muscles tensed. A bright swirl of blue was seen as an unstable rasengan appeared in his hand. It was turning madly before it dissipated. Naruto looked at his empty hand before he frowned. This might be a long night he concluded.

Back over at the camp fire, Jiraiya watched his student as he tried to do a one handed rasengan. His students' determination lingered in the air as he continued to figure out how to do the one handed rasengan. 'Okay, it's time to get down to business. Naruto needs better control of his chakra and if he has that, ninjustu would be a snap for him. I guess I will just increase his list of ninjustu when I have the chance. But if ninjustu fails him, we need to work on his taijutsu in case his ninjustu fails him. His form his somewhat sloppy but it would be fine for now. Oh boy… genjutsu. We will need a lot of work on that as well as dispelling and how to tell if there one is cast upon you. He has great endurance but bad speed, I guess its back to weights. As well, we can do tactical thinking when it comes time to rest and travel. Oh man, we have a lot to do within a year.' Jiraiya once again sighed at the prospect that the kid would be getting very little rest over the next few months until he gets used to the schedule he had planned. When he looked back up again which really was another 3 hours later (well an hour later of analyzing Naruto's skill and planning what to do.. as well as sleeping for 2 hours) he was surprised to see Naruto resting. 'I guess he wasted too muck chakra, oh well I better wake him up. We're about to go in an hour.'

When he finally walked up to him, Naruto opened his eyes. He was wide awake and on full alert, but he relaxed considerably when he only found Jiraiya beside him. "Oh, it's only you…" Naruto said before he closed his eyes once again.

"What do you mean by "Oh, it's only you…"? Now I know that I can definitely trust you when we do stay up at night to watch for anything unusual." Jiraiya's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he said that. But Naruto's mood was definitely rubbing off of him and it didn't help that he was starting to have a rather bad attitude.

Naruto scowled at him before he said, "I wasn't asleep but trying to meditate until your chakra flared up right next to me and nearly scared me out of my pants."

"Ha, you were trying to meditate. Now that's the understatement of the year. You really looked like you were asleep. Ha, I bet you fell asleep because you ran out of chakra while trying to master the one handed rasengan."

Naruto's face lit up suddenly and he had this evil smirk on his face which just pissed Jiraiya off even more but before he could say so Naruto interrupted him. "On the contrary sensei, I mastered it 2 hours ago while you seemed to have fallen asleep."

Jiraiya looked flustered for a moment before he clamed down. "Why don't you show me this one handed rasengan that you supposedly mastered within an hour time span."

"With pleasure," Naruto answered with a smirk on his face. He got up and closed his eyes. But instead of a tensed frame and deeply concentrated frown, his structure was relaxed and calm. A moment later a swirl of chakra appeared in his hands. The one handed rasengan, clear blue and as stable as it could be stood in his hand. Then another moment later, Naruto brought up his other hand and another rasengan appeared in that hand. All the while, Naruto was mentally laughing when he saw Jiraiya's expression of complete shock.

'My lord, he has already mastered it. Arashi, your son is a genius. Oh man… and he caught me asleep.' A frown would have appeared on his face if it weren't for his jaw on the ground which refused to move.

A moment later, Naruto had the rasengans in his hand dissipate into the air. Jiraiya coughed to get his attention. "Um well, I'm sorry for… um saying that you had fallen asleep. Well we will continue with our journey now."

Moments later of scrambling around to clear the sight in which they stayed in they were once again high up in the trees and were headed southwest once more. "We will work with tactics while we travel and I'll fill you in on what we are going to do. Tonight after our travelling and tactical session we will be working on you chakra control then we will add a few jutsu's to your list of ninjustu. Because you need at least 1000 before you are qualified as a Hokage. As well, we will be improving your form in taijutsu. By then you might be exhausted but I'll teach you the other forms of your rasengan."

Naruto sopped all of a sudden. "There are other forms to the rasengan?"

"Of course, but few have seen them, but seeing how you perfected the normal one you should be able to learn the other 2 form within a month."

His brows furrowed as if in thought before he nodded and continued running. As he kept the fast pace in which they were running at he spoke… "While I was meditating, I was in my unconsciousness…"

His eyes narrowed at what was about to come out of his charge's mouth.

"I spoke with Kyubbi…"

Back in Konoha, and in the Hokage tower, a certain pink haired girl was struggling with a certain jutsu. She had been at it for half an hour without getting any results. She felt so helpless at the moment and ashamed that she could not get the simple jutsu that all medic-nin knew. 'Ugh… I want to give up but then again if I gave up I would be no better than how I started off to be. A weak cry-baby that hid behind her team mates for support. But then none of them were here with me now. They all went their separate ways towards their goal.' She closed her eyes and relaxed. 'And if I gave up now, they would all look down on me. People would think I'm weak and helpless. I don't want that. Naruto went off to train for 3 years… to become a Hokage. Now that's hard… Rukudaime, many people work so hard for their goals. Especially you Naruto. A Hokage must be trained for 15 years and have over 1000 jutsu's as well as a tactical mind. You need great chakra control and have to handle all the stressful papers. Not to mention the wicked council. If you can do it... so can I. I will be an accomplished medic-nin by the time you come back from your journey. I promise you that.