Naruto's Return
Prologue
Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto were just a few miles outside the walls of Konoha, returning from their latest mission to gather information on Akatsuki's whereabouts. They were all tired because they had pushed themselves in order to get home by nightfall and they were making good time.
"Hey guys," shouted Naruto as he saw the walls ahead, "We're almost there."
At this the group picked up speed and started to relax and let down their guards thinking themselves safe this close to Konoha. This proved to be a horrible mistake, one that three of the group would not soon forget.
As soon as the team relaxed two very familiar faces appeared. They were Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.
At the sight of two of the most infamous missing nin the group stopped and got ready to fight knowing that there was little chance that they could succeed in defeating the two.
"We're here for Naruto, step aside and we will let you live," Started Itachi, "If you get in our way you will die and the next few days of Naruto's existence will be very painful."
At this statement all of the Konoha nin were rather confused.
"What d-do you w-want with N-Na-Naruto-Kun" asked Hinata while trying to edge in front of Naruto to protect him if need be.
Neji continued with Hinata's thought, "Sure Naruto is an exceptional ninja but what would Akatsuki want with him?"
"We don't really want Naruto himself," Kisame Started, " We want what's inside of him." After that statement Kisame turned to Itachi. "Can't we just kill them and go? Whats the point in sitting here talking especially since Samehada hasn't eaten in a couple days. Just let me have a little fun."
"No." Itachi stated in a manner leaving little room for argument. " There is no need for us to get into a useless confrontation and the longer we stay here the more likely it is we get spotted."
"Alright Itachi, in that case I can make it quick." Replied Kisame.
At this point Naruto spoke up for the first time, " If I come with you do you promise not to hurt my friends?" he asked.
"Naruto you can't do that," Shikamaru stated, " It would really be to troublesome to have to send a search party out for you."
" He's right Naruto-kun, we could never let you do that, it wouldn't be right," Hinata chimed in.
At this point Naruto turned to them and quietly said "Guys I really don't want to go with them but let them take me and get back to Konoha and let Baa-chan know whats going on. As soon as you guys are past them I'll start fighting and hold them until you can get help, I don't want any of you to get hurt."
Hinata looked as if she wouldn't go but Neji spoke up. "Ok Naruto, are you sure you can hold them until we get some help here?"
"Yea I am." Naruto gave a grin at this point and turned back to Itachi and Kisame and restated his previous question, " If I agree to go with you will you leave my friends alone?"
Itachi gave Naruto an appraising look at this and nodded. "If you come with us we will leave your friends alone." At this Kisame looked rather distraught.
"Well I guess I don't get to have any fun with you brats today, be glad that the blonde idiot is willing to give himself up for you," Kisame smirked, "Now get your asses moving before I decide to kill you anyway."
Shikamaru, Hinata, and Neji decided that this was the best time to get moving and dashed of towards Konoha. As soon as Naruto believed the others were a safe distance away he looked at Itachi and smirked, " Well, I guess I have to go with you now huh, but what would you do if I were to do this," Naruto asked as he snapped his fingers.
Itachi and Kisame were immediately on guard but after waiting for a few seconds nothing happened and they turned back to Naruto.
"Itachi I don't care at this point, I just want to kill him. I really want to kill him since he made me look like a fool." Kisame Shouted.
"I know how you feel," Itachi stated, "but now is not the time for your petty indignation."
Right as Itachi finished his sentence a second Naruto appeared from behind Kisame with a Rasengan in hand.
Meanwhile with Neji, Shikamaru, and Hinata
The gates were in sight as were the guards. All three teens looked at eachother and silently agreed, no stopping, they had to get to Tsunade right away and let her know what was happening outside the walls.
As the group reached the gate the guards called out to them and an explosion was heard from where they had just left. They turned to look as they continued forward but couldn't make out any details of the fight, to many trees obscured their sight.
Neji and Shikamaru stopped running and headed back to Naruto to help him.
'Man, Naruto always gets into really troublesome situations,' thought Shikamaru, 'First he had to fight missing nin on his first C-rank mission, then he had to fight Orochimaru in the forest of death, and then there was that Gaara kid from Suna. Now he has to fight Akatsuki. Why are you the one who has to deal with all of these things Naruto?'
By this point Hinata had reached Hokage tower. She rushed in and ran up the stairs to Tsunade's office. When she got there she was stopped from entering by two ANBU and told that Tsunade was busy at the moment and couldn't be disturbed.
"I have to get in there and speak with Tsunade-sama. Our group ran into some trouble on the way back after our mission," said Hinata.
"We can't let you in right now, you can hand in your mission report in the morning," Said the ANBU with a hawk mask, "In any case though Tsunade isn't seeing anyone right now."
Hinata decided to try and rush the door but she barely made it two steps before she was grabbed and pinned by the two ANBU. "I have to speak with Tsunade-sama," yelled Hinata, "This is a matter of life and death."
It was at this point that Tsunade poked her head out the door. "What's going on here, why are you being so loud?"
"We apologize Tsunade-sama but Hinata-san kept trying to get in despite what we told her," Spoke the second ANBU, this one with a cat mask, "We will remove her at---"
"No Tsunade-sama, Naruto-kun is in trouble," Hinata interrupted, " We were stopped by Itachi and Kisame just three miles outside the walls. Naruto made them think he would go quietly to let Shikamaru, Neji, and I to come get help and then he started fighting with them. He needs help NOW."
At hearing this Tsunade grabbed Hinata and ran down stairs. On the way down she saw Shizune. "Shizune, get Kakashi and Gai NOW, have them meet me at the north gate, also send a unit of ANBU." Thundered Tsunade.
"HAI," squeaked Shizune at the unexpected voice.
Two minutes later Tsunade and Hinata were at the gate waiting. Hinata looked to Tsunade and said "we can't wait much longer Naruto-kun is in troub—"
At this point Gai appeared, dust cloud trailing him and Kakashi poofed into existence, at the same time both asked "Why are we here Tsunade-sama?"
Right after the question the ANBU unit appeared, "Alright, we move now. I'll explain what's going on as we move," yelled Tsunade.
She began to explain, "Uzumaki Naruto is currently engaging two S-rank missing nin in an attempt to hold out for long enough for help to arrive. It seems Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru have already headed back to try and help but we have no guarantees that they will be enough." Another explosion thundered out of the woods just a mile in front of the group.
As they got closer, Hinata saw both Neji, and Shikamaru being carried out of the area by what seemed to be two kage bunshin. One of the bunshin spoke up, "They aren't hurt, just unconscious. Boss had to knock them out to get them away so he didn't hurt them with his next attack."
Right as the bunshin finished speaking a gigantic explosion was heard and a shockwave hit the group dispelling both kage bunshin.
Kakashi, Tsunade and Hinata all cried out "NARUTO."
The group moved towards the site of the explosion at an increased pace. When they got there, there was a crater of almost a quarter mile in diameter, the landscape was absolutely destroyed.
"I can see why Naruto went so far to get Shikamaru and Neji out of the area," sighed Kakashi, "Chances are no-one survived a blast like that, I doubt even Naruto could live through something like that."
"Search the area," Tsunade barked out, "I want anything you find brought to me immediately."
Just two minutes later one of the ANBU appeared in front of Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, take a look at this." At that the ANBU held out a head, not just and head, but the head of Kisame. "It appears that Uzumaki was able to kill at least one of the missing nin but so far we have found no trace of Uzumaki or Itachi."
It was at this point that Kakashi showed up. He looked to Tsunade and said "I'm sorry."
Tsunade looked at him and yelled, "What do you mean? Why are you sorry?" Kakashi stepped up to her and gave her the necklace he had found, the same one that she had give to Naruto a few years ago. At this Tsunade broke down and started to cry. She knew Naruto never took the necklace off, if he didn't have it he was likely dead. She let the search continue for another hour but the only other thing that was found was a severed arm thought to be Itachi's.
One Week Later
The remaining 7 members of the rookie 9 and team Gai were all standing silently with a select few villagers at the funeral of Uzumaki Naruto. It was a very somber day and the skies were black with clouds. It rained and it made some feel as if the whole world wept for Uzumaki Naruto. Everyone acted differently, some such as Sakura and Hinata were openly weeping for their fallen friend and others like Neji and Shino remained quite stoic though everyone knew they were all hurting. As the service came to a close everyone there went up to the empty casket to pay his or her respects. The few villagers went up first. All of the shinobi knew the last two to approach, they were the people from the ramen stand, some of the very few who had indeed accepted Naruto.
"I never thought that you would go before me Naruto," said Teuchi, "In remembrance I'm going to dedicate a part of my menu to you."
Ayame followed her father, "I hope your happy wherever you are now Naruto, you deserve it."
After those two the ninja started to approach. Many higher ranked ninja walked up and proceeded to place a single flower on the casket remembering all of the pranks and the trouble that Naruto caused but knowing that he just wanted to be acknowledged.
Finally after a few minutes the 10 remaining rookies and their respective sensei remained. First Kakashi walked up. "Naruto, you were annoying, brash, and loud as hell but you were dedicated and you would never let harm come to your friends if you could help it. It's a shame that you had to go so early, you were a great shinobi and you would have made an excellent hokage.' At this Kakashi placed down one of his most prized possessions, a single tri pronged kunai knowing that Naruto would have wanted to learn the jutsu it represented.
Next was the last member of team 7, Sakura. Once she reached the casket she couldn't stop herself, she fell to her knees and cried. "Naruto, why did you have to be so stupid. You got yourself killed. First we lost Sasuke then I lost you, its not fair," she wailed. Seeing that Sakura may take a while Kakashi went over to her and prodded her along then offered to take her home to rest. She agreed though with a heavy heart.
The next ones to come up were team 10, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji.
Ino stepped up first, she didn't have anything to say nor did she think she could speak if she did have something to say. She simply set a single flower on the casket and said, "Goodbye," she then began to weep.
Shikamaru walked up next. "Why did you have to knock us out Naruto, we could have helped. You were troublesome but I would rather have you being troublesome than being dead. I know that you knocked us out to protect us but I think Neji and I would have rather fought along side you," With that said Shikamaru took out his Shogi board and set it on the casket.
This simple action shocked Choji, he knew that Shikamaru loved that board, it was one of the first gifts he remembered getting and he always kept it around. 'Naruto must have been one of Shikamaru's best friends just like he was to me,' thought Choji. He walked to the casket and set down a simple bowl, it didn't seem like much to any but Shikamaru and Ino. The bowl was the same one he always used to eat at Ichiraku. "Well Naruto I guess with you gone I'll have to eat double at Ichiraku, wouldn't want them going out of business you know," said Choji. After that all of team 10 walked away wishing that it could have been themselves in Naruto's place.
Team Gai approached next. None of them had much to say so they all bowed their heads in respect and set a single flower atop the casket each. As they walked away Lee turned back to the casket and said in a somber tone of voice, "It will be sad not to see your youthful presence anymore Naruto."
The Last remaining people were the members of team 8 along with their sensei, Kurenai. They all approached but Kurenai broke the silence before anyone else could. "I may not have known you very well but I know that you had a heart of gold. You couldn't bear to see other people in pain and that made you a very special person. I hope your afterlife is better than your life was." She walked to give her team some privacy with their now deceased friend.
Kiba approached. "Well Naruto I guess I'm the top dog now but this is definitely not the way I wanted it to happen. Besides Akamaru you were my best friend. I know I always said you could never be hokage but in truth I really believed you would make it, it's just not fair that you had to die so young. At least you took the bastards that lead to it with you." Kiba set a bone on top of the casket, similar to the way a dog would bring its food to the Alpha first.
Shino approached in his normal detached manner. "Uzumaki Naruto, I may not say much normally and I may never have told you but your friendship was important to me. You were one of the first people outside of my family not to criticize me for the kikai that reside in my body and for that I thank you." At this point Shino produced a small colony of kikai and set it upon the casket. "I give you this fledgling nest to protect you and as a sing of respect from the Aburame."
Hinata was all that was left at this point and Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai decided to leave her alone knowing how important the boy had been to her. She walked up to the casket and continued to cry over it. She sobbed out, "Nar—Naruto-kun, Wh—why did you have to l—leave me. I—I know I ne—never told you but I—I loved you. I Wi—wish I could have been stro—stronger but I guess I was never meant to have you. G—goodbye Naruto." After her confession to the empty casket Hinata Continued to weep. She waited for a few moments and then took off her locket. "This used to be my mother's but I want you to have it now." She placed it on top of everything else there and finally left.
Well there was the prologue for my story Naruto's Return. This is the first thing I have ever posted and I hope that you enjoyed it so far. I don't know how long it will take me to get the actual chapters up but because I am looking for a job at the moment it may be a while.
Please review and let me know what you think. If its good tell me so if its not tell me how I can fix it. Also please no Flames, they just make you look foolish and they never help the writer.