Chapter 1

Looking out over the village, she waited patiently for her student to arrive. Her gaze was trained on the West Gate. It was only a matter of time, and the quietness she has come to enjoy and love would soon be gone. But, she didn't let that bring her down. She also knew that she needed his unpredictability as much as she needed his smile to warm her heart. Just as she started to reminisce of the good times, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Enter."

"You wanted to see me Lady Tsunade," the young woman asked tentatively.

"I did, Sakura. Please, sit down," Tsunade answered.

"Yes My Lady." Sakura swiftly sat down in one of the open chairs in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I wanted to ask if you know what today's date is," Tsunade said.

"The date My Lady?" Sakura asked, confused.

Tsunade smiled. "Now Sakura, I didn't think that you of all people would forget the date on which your teammate is to return to the village."

Sakura's eyes grew large when she heard this. For what seemed like minutes she just stared forward, not moving. As Tsunade watched her response, Sakura regained her composure. And as she lowered her gaze, she put a small smile on her face. This is the reaction Tsunade wanted to see. She lowered her head, and sighed audibly. Sakura snapped out of her trance and looked up at her sensei.

Tsunade smiled and said, "You can go now, and don't shock him too much. He has been gone for a long time."

"I won't My Lady, thank you." And with that, Sakura got up from her chair and left the Hokage's office.

Tsunade raised her head just as the door to her office closed shut. She knew this was going to be a long day, and she was going to do what she always did when she was having a long day. She reached for the drawn of her desk to pull out that certain book...

The wind was blowing lightly as two men walked down the road. They both had been silent for the past few miles and the younger of the two was getting noticeably more anxious to get to their destination. The older and more experienced man was rather calm and collected, it was a journey he had made countless times so he knew what to expect. In the distance, a giant wall started to come into view. As the duo kept walking, they could also see one of the many entrances to the village. It was either mandatory to check in with the gate guard, or you had to be living in the village to be granted access. As one of the world's largest and well know villages, security was a must. So as the duo neared the gate, they paid the two guards no heed.

Neither of the guards were really paying much attention on the road. They had enough paper work in front of them they needed to fill out to have enough time to watch the road for the occasional old couple walking in and out of the village. To help calm his mind, one of the guards leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes and stared in awe. He recognized the older man very quickly. He was Master Jiraya, the legendary Toad Sage. But, he couldn't quite put a name to the face of the younger man. He casually reached over and got the other guard's attention. He asked, "Hey, it's Master Jiraiya. But, who is that with him?"

The second guard looked over at the duo. He strained his eyes and said, "I'm not sure, but, doesn't that look like...Naruto?"

"Wait, ya, I can see it know. Its got to be him. No one else would have that kind of hair, if they could help it," the first guard commented.

As the two guards tried to make sure of what they were seeing, the two men casually made their way past the guard station and through the gate. As they entered the village proper, the younger man stopped and took in his surroundings. To him the village didn't seem to have changed at all since he left, over three years ago, but he knew that was all going to change. He was finally home. His gaze shifted to the Hokage Monument. Now there was something that was different, there was a face added to the previous four. As he stared ahead, Jiraiya, who also stopped as to not run into him, asked, "Hey Naruto, whats up?"

Pulling him out of his train of thought, he turned to his master and said, "I'm home. I am finally home."

"Well come on, you will have all day to reminisce about the good old days. You know that if we don't go and see Tsunade soon she will ring my neck for not telling her we have arrived," Jiraiya said.

"Why do I have to go with you, my neck isn't on the line here. I thought you were the powerful and all knowing Toad Sage. Can't you handle her on your own," Naruto asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"I can handle her all by myself, I just...wait a minute. I'm your master, so your going do what I tell you to do. Consider this...another part of your training!" Jiraiya said in return.

"Oh yes, making sure you don't get the crap beat out of you is part of my training. I thought you were supposed to make sure I didn't get the crap beat out of me," Naruto shoot back.

Jiraiya folded his arms across his chest and said, "Just do as I tell you too, boy. I don't need to make sure you stay safe anymore, I'm rather sure you can do that on your own now."

As the two continued to argue back and forth, Sakura made her way towards the West Gate. She was excited that her old teammate, Naruto, was returning to the village today. Every since she found out that he was leaving for a few years, she vowed to herself that she would train and make herself stronger. She didn't want to be a burden to her teammates and friends anymore. She wanted to be useful. So every free day she had, she trained. She trained on her medical ninjustu, and her taijustu as well. And now that Naruto was coming back, she wanted to show him how strong she had become.

Before she turned onto the main road that led into and out of the villages west side, she could hear people arguing. The closer she got, the more the voices started to become familiar. As one of the individuals began to yell, she immediately recognized that it was Master Jiraya. And with that knowledge, she realized that the person he was yelling at had to be no one else other than his student, Naruto. With her spirits raised, she gained a new vigor and began to jog, if not run, towards the shouting.

"I still may be your student, but that definitely does not make me a kid," Naruto answered.

Jiraiya countered by saying, "Boy, you will be a kid until I deem you other. I am your master, and my word goes."

"Oh bullshit. I think I know if I'm a kid or not."

"You may think you know when you stop being a kid and become a man, but there is a universal definition."

"Don't you start with that dumb crap, you pervy old sage."

Jiraiya was fed up with Naruto now and yelled, "HEY NOW! HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU COUNTLESS TIMES NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"

"Well it's true, thats all you think about when we enter a new village. You head straight to the bar and..." Before Naruto could finish his sentence, someone latched onto his back and hugged him fiercely.

"Welcome back Naruto," Sakura exclaimed.

Turning his head, Naruto could see a head full of pink hair. "Hello Sakura, its been a while. Not to sound mean, but could you please let go of me. I can't breath."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sakura abruptly released her grip on Naruto and back a foot away, to get a clear view of him.

"Well well well, look who it is. If it isn't Tsunade's medical student, Sakura Haruno. My my, look how you have grown. Would you be interested in..." Jiriya was cut off with a swift jab to the gut from Naruto, causing him to fall to the ground. He never liked it when his master tried that or similar pick up lines on women. So there was no way he was going to let him try it on a very close friend of his.

"I'm sorry about that Sakura. I guess he never will be able to break old habits," Naruto said.

"Umm, what do you mean Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Jiraiya started to pick himself up and answer Sakura's question, "I was just going to ask if you would..." This time Naruto delivered a swift kick to Jiraya, hoping that he would drop the subject for good.

"Your not going to ask her that question, let alone any of my friends," Naruto nearly growled.

"Naruto, calm down. There is no need to get physical. I'm pretty sure he wasn't going to ask me anything wrong," Sakura said.

Naruto shook his head and said, "Sakura, take it from me, I know what he was going to ask you. And if I didn't stop him, I know Tsunade would have pounded him into next year."

"Ok, I'll take your word for it," Sakura said.

"Now, are you going to behave and keep your manners?" Naruto asked Jiraiya, who was still on the ground.

Staggering to his feet, Jiraya slowly nodded at Naruto and just stood silent next to the two teenagers.

"So, Naruto, what do you plan to do now that you have come back? Its been a long time," Sakura put both her hands behind her back, looked down at the ground and said, "many things have changed since you have been gone."

Naruto stared at Sakura with a bewildered look on his face. He tried to quickly figure out what she meant by things have changed. He quickly shoved those questions into the back of his mind and regained his prior train of thought. "Well, the first thing I want to do now that I'm back is get every one together. You know, all of the Konoha 11. There's something I need to tell and show you guys."

As if almost on cue, Jiriya took that as a signal and stood up straight. As he started to walk away in the direction of the Hokage Tower, Sakura turned to him and asked, "Master Jiriya, where are you headed?"

Jiraiya smiled and said, "Oh, there's someone I need to see for a little while before I go off and do some 'research'."

"You do know that she will hurt you if you mention what you plan to do while your here, don't you?" Naruto asked.

"Kid, I can handle myself. Don't you worry," Jiraiya answered.

Naruto smirked at Jiraiya. "So, all of a sudden you have gained a whole lot of confidence. What was it you were saying just a few minutes ago, that you wanted me to go with you when you talked with her."

"I said no such thing. I have no idea what your talking about." And with that Jiriya quickly started making his way towards the tower, leaving the two standing in the road.

Naruto clapped his hands together and said, "Well, come on Sakura, there's quite a bit I got to do. Need to find everyone, get them all in one spot, and then the show can begin."

"What are you talking about Naruto? What is so important that you can't wait till after you've gotten back into the grove of things to tell us?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked at Sakura, winked, and said, "Just wait and you will see. Trust me, I think it will be worth it."