I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Chapter 1

"It's about time you got back." Tsunade said standing up from behind her desk as Naruto walked into her office.

"Yeah, it took longer than we thought to get everything fixed for him. Gaara said you should go to the chunin exams this year." Naruto told her. She gave a nod sitting back down looking at the young man she had met five years before. At the age of seventeen he was known all over the world by even the highest of nobility.

"I want you to take the next two weeks off. I'll let you know if something comes up." Naruto gave a nod and left to find his friends. He made his way back out onto the crowded streets and started walking the path he had wandered for so many years tracing his steps back to his home. Deep in thought about being back in the village were things had only changed a little bit since all the fighting started.

"Naruto!" He heard making him turn around and look at who was calling for him. Turning, he saw the young woman he had known since a young child. "Naruto, you're back!" She called running up to him and wrapping her arms around his neck hugging him with a bright smile.

"Sakura-chan!" He smiled hugging her before they pulled back.

"How was the mission? You didn't bother Gaara too much did you?" She smiled knowing Naruto and his relationship with Gaara.

"Nah, we had fun." He laughed.

"So did you hear about what's been going on here?"

"Kiba was telling me a little bit before I had to go talk to Granny."

"When are you going to stop being so disrespectful to her?" She smirked looking at him as he laughed.

"When you agree to go out with me." He chuckled knowing she was going to say no just like every other time he had asked. She shook her head as they walked up to his little house. It had been a year since he had stopped pain and in that year he had gotten a new slightly bigger place, and he and his friends had grown closer, especially him and Sakura.

"How long do you have off this time?" She asked as she followed him into the one bedroom apartment.

"Granny said I have off for two weeks and she'll tell me when something comes in."

"Why don't we get the rookies together and go out somewhere? It's been so long since we were all together."

"Yeah..." He trailed off thinking of the last time they had all been together. "Last time we were all together was when we were talking about Sasuke."

"Yeah." Sakura said with a small sad smile remembering their old team mate who they still couldn't get to see the light through the darkness he had walked into. "I'll go talk to everyone about getting together. I'll see you later Naruto."

"See ya, Sakura-chan." He smiled as she left him alone in his apartment to collapse on the couch with a sigh.

Two days later Naruto was woken up by a knock on the door making him stagger to the door to find Sakura.

"Did you just get up?" She giggled as he yawned and nodded moving out of the way so she could walk in. "It's two in the afternoon, Naruto."

"Yeah well I haven't slept in a few weeks." He said walking into the kitchen having her follow him. "What did you need?"

"I wanted to tell you I talked to everyone. I figured we could get together at the Kyuubi Ball. It's going to be in less than a week anyway." She watched Naruto give her a look she knew well. Over the years she had seen him use it when he absolutely refused to do something. "What?" She asked

"I'm just gonna stay in that night."

"Naruto..." She started and stopped when she remembered what that day really meant to him. "Naruto, things have changed. They're not going to treat you like that any more."

"It doesn't matter Sakura." He said turning away from her leaving her wondering what she could do to make him go.

"Naruto, isn't it your birthday too?" She asked with a small smile and watched him glance at her and nod. "Why would you want to be cooped up all by yourself on your birthday?" She saw him turn to look at her angrily.

"Because Sakura, growing up all I knew that day was torture, pain and sadness. There's no reason to go out only to remember the past and make even worse memories for the future." He said turning to walk away only to be stopped by Sakura.

"Naruto..." He turned to look at her again as she looked up softly with her pale green eyes. "I'm sorry... I..." She sighed heavily before walking to the door. "Well you know where we are if you want to go." She told him before closing the door softly behind her, leaving Naruto to stand in his place only now realizing she was only trying to help.

After a week of Naruto staying to himself locked in his apartment it was time for the ball and it was also his birthday. Naruto stood making himself some dinner thinking about how he snapped at Sakura when she was only trying to get him out with everyone. Hearing banging at his door he jumped knowing who it was banging and yelling for the 'demon child'. Naruto grabbed his food and went into his bedroom to sit on the floor in a corner out of habit. He knew he could beat each one of those after him to a bloody pulp but what was the real use, it would only make things worse. Suddenly he hear a soft tap on the window startling him making him look to be surprised by a smiling face. Slowly he got up and went to the window unlocking it and letting her in, locking it behind her.

"Sakura-chan...?" He wondered what she was doing there and not at the ball with the others.

"I thought you might want some company for your birthday." She smiled. "Besides I saw the mob... maybe you would like some help..." She watching him chuckle softly before going back to his spot shaking his head.

"That would only make things worse and you know it." Sakura watched him sit in the corner starting to eat making her heart ache. Slowly she walked over and sat beside him with a small smile talking softy about their friends and all the fun they all have together. "Sakura-chan, you don't have to be here. They are having a ball at the Hokage Monument."

"I would rather be here with you on your birthday than out there with those morons." She laughed making him smirk. "What's the point of being at a party if one of your best friends aren't there?" Naruto looked at her with his bright blue eyes from the corner of his eyes as the banging on the door became harder. The two jumped to their feet as Naruto tossed two kunai to Sakura as he stood in the doorway to his room with a kunai as the door was forced open as villagers and ninja ran in attacking. Many paused slightly seeing Sakura there helping to protect Naruto's back. As the two fought off the attackers and fought around the room Sakura heard Naruto cry out in pain and she turned to see a ninja with an ANBU blade up to the hilt in Naruto's side. Something inside of her snapped making her slash and cut her way over to Naruto as he tried to fight off three ANBU slamming their short swords at him as villagers and lower ninja attacked making it impossible to block everything. As another kunai cut into Naruto shoulder he felt someone push him out of the group making him look to see Sakura with her arms around him before turning to look at the mob as they started backing out of the apartment. Sakura dropped her kunai and went to Naruto's side and started healing his deep wounds that bled onto the floor.

"Sakura-chan, you're hurt." He said looking at the small cuts on her face and the little gash on her side.

"I'm fine. You took three ANBU short swords and several kunai at the same time."

"Sakura-chan..." He said softly running his rough hand along her soft cheek pushing the fallen strands of pink hair back out of her eyes. At his touch she gave a soft gasp and stopped healing only able to stare into his bright eyes. They could only look at each other slowly moving closer and closer until Naruto started to cough making Sakura focus back on healing. Both teens thinking of what had just happened.

"Sakura-chan, you didn't need to fight. You could have left." He said as they sat along the wall in his room with the door closed. Sakura looked at him for a moment before moving a little closer.

"No, you've been doing all of this by yourself all your life, I wont let you go through any more by yourself." She told him leaving no room for discussion. Naruto smiled at her as he stared at her wondering what she was thinking as a small pink tint across her face. The two sat in silence left to their own thoughts as the night wore on. Sakura began to yawn and her eyes began to slide closed when she felt something around her shoulders pulling her onto something warm and comfortable. Opening her eyes she realized it was Naruto pulling her closer to him so she could lay her head on him as she dozed.

Sakura began to stir as the sun came through the window. She slowly looked up to see Naruto leaning his head back against the wall still wide awake. As she sat up more he looked down at her with a small smile before she rubbed her eyes.

"You're still awake?" She asked confused.

"I never sleep on that night." He said softly making her sigh as she moved to look at the small cuts she had left to heal on their own.

"Well I'm up now, so I want you to lay down and I'll make us something to eat." She told him as they stood and walked into the living room where he sat on the couch making her give a small glare only to see him chuckle as he readjusted and laid out as she continued to the kitchen.

Sakura walked out to find Naruto sound asleep making her smile as she watched him breath slowly and looking so peaceful. After a while she felt that she couldn't just watch any longer and gently reached out smoothing her hand along the whisker lines on his cheeks making him turn into her touch. She smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair realizing just how soft his golden locks were. Suddenly she was looking at blue eyes making her gasp and jump back falling onto her bottom. Naruto started to chuckle as he turned onto his side.

"Having fun?" He chuckled making her give a small glare as she pulled herself together and stood up as he continued to laugh as he started to follow her. "Sakura-chan..." He said as she walked away. Naruto grabbed her turning her around to look at him only for them to loos their balance. Sakura hit her back into the fridge while Naruto caught himself on the fridge with his hands on either side of her head careful not to fall into her. The two stood looking into each other's eyes only inches apart before they slowly move closer and closer. Suddenly their lips touched and the two melted slightly only to pull away and look away form each other.

"Naruto..." Sakura trailed off softly not knowing what to do.

"I-I'm sorry Sakura-chan." He said walking off into his room leaving her in place to only look at him leave with a red blush clear on her face. After a minute there was a soft knock on the door that she had fastened shut. Slowly she opened the door and saw and older man standing there.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" He demanded making Sakura stumble over her words. "Has he taken you captive? It was only a mater of time before the beast showed his true self." The old man grabbed Sakura and started pulling her out when Naruto came from the other room to see what was going on.

"No! He has not taken me captive! And he is NOT a beast!" She yelled pulling her arm free as Naruto ran to her pulling her behind him.

"What do you want old man?" He asked coldly keeping Sakura safely behind him.

"You are to have this mess cleaned up with in an hour or you are out." He said before leaving Naruto and Sakura to look around at the broken pieces of the front door and all the weapons laying around.

"That's not fair." Sakura said making Naruto look at her. "He can't just kick you out for something you couldn't help let alone the fact that it was because of someone coming after you." Naruto gave her a small smirk.

"Sakura-chan, this is how it always has been. Every year he comes up to see if they've finally killed me yet." He said turning to walk away to have Sakura grab his arm and turn him around to look at her. She looked up into his blue eyes and gently ran a hand over his cheek making the confusion in his eye stand out even more. Slowly she moved closer placing her lips gently on his before pulling back with a red face.

"Don't forget those who care for you." She said as he stared at her. He couldn't believe what she had done. She had really kissed him.

"S-Sakura..." He whispered as she smiled slightly. Suddenly he leaned closer and closer looking at her and her bright pink lips before taking pushing them against his own. The two slowly melted into each other. They pulled apart taking a deep breath and looking at each other. "Sakura-chan..." He said gently moving he hair back, out of her face. "I..." Sakura gave a small smile and shook her head.

"I... I think you've finally got me, Naruto... -kun." She watched him smile brightly before dipping his head down to kiss her again pulling away to breath before looking at the mess around them. "We better get cleaning. We don't want that crazy old man back here." She smiled as she turned out of his arms and started picking up the weapons. He could only stand and stare at her until Tsunade walked up to them with Kakashi.

"I see they did get to you." Tsunade said making Naruto turn to her..

"Yeah, but they didn't do to much this time. Only managed to rip the door down, and left a few mementos behind." He smirked as Sakura walked back over.

"Not to mention all of the wounds." She glanced at him before turning to Tsunade. "What are you all the way out here for?"

"I came to talk to Naruto, about somethings." She smiled looking over at Naruto who looked very curious.

"Well I gotta get this all cleaned up or that old man will kick me out."

"Well I cant see an issue with that."

"What? What do you mean?" Sakura asked making Tsunade smile.

"Well I suppose you wouldn't mind Sakura knowing." Tsunade said handing a little box to Naruto who opened it to find a small stack of papers and a pair of keys. He looked up confused. "They're you're parents'. It was a good thing the house was close to the wall. It wasn't effected so much, only a few minor issues need to be fixed." She smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked confused.

"Naruto here gets to move into his parents' home, the Namikaze compound." Kakashi said making Sakura gasp, completely shocked.

"You're... You're"

"The son of the fourth Hokage." Kakashi said watching Naruto begin to read the papers. "And as soon as you're done I'm going to take you to Minato-sensei's little place he kept most of his seals and where he went to think and train."

"I would have thought you would have told at least your team mate." Tsunade said looking at Sakura still shocked at what she heard.

"If any one knew they would be following him all over and trying to become false friends with him." Kakashi started to explain. "Besides Minato-sensei had a lot of enemies and until Naruto can take care of himself or have true friends to help defend against them, it could be very dangerous."

"But to keep it from a team mate as close as she is..." Tsunade said trailing off with a small smirk as both looked up at her with a slight red tint on their faces. "You ready to go?" Naruto gave a small nod as he glanced at the little apartment before following Tsunade and Kakashi.

Naruto stood in the living room that night. They had all gone to the house and looked around a little bit before Kakashi took Naruto to the little hut Minato had hidden away with all of his things a long with a large bed and what looked like a tiny crib in a corner. Kakashi had told him it was where Minato would have taken Naruto and his mother to get away from the village. He could only stand in his spot looking at the shelf with pictures of his father and mother smiling brightly, one had a very pregnant Kushina. Naruto jumped when Sakura put her hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at her as she stood worried.

"Are you okay?" She asked worried about him as he only stared at the pictures.

"Yeah, I've just never seen so many pictures of them, well I've never seen any pictures of my mom and my dad is in the history books... I did have a chance to talk with both of them though." Sakura looked at him utterly confused. "The first was my dad when I was fighting Pain, he fixed my seal and we talked for a little bit. I met my mom when I was learning to control Kyuubi. We were able to spend more time together. My dad put more time into preserving her chakra than his own. But it's still..." He trailed off turning back to the pictures as Sakura picked one of both his parents smiling brightly holding each other.

"You do look exactly like him. I can't believe no one ever realized the resemblance." She said softly glancing at him then at the picture again. "Although you do look like her a bit too." He smirked.

"Yeah... I've been told I have her face shape and eyes and I act like her, but I look more like my dad." Sakura smiled as she looked around and sighed.

"Well why don't we start getting your stuff over here and we can get this place cleaned up a bit?" She smiled brightly at him. Setting the picture down she turned to start to the door and was stopped by Naruto who turned her around to be pressed against his chest. "Naruto-kun." She smiled as he grinned. "Lets get everything set up and I'll tell my parents I'm staying with Ino for the night." She turned and walked away feeling like she never had before about anyone, especially Naruto.

Naruto was walking through the house looking for where Sakura had gotten to when he found her sitting on a little rocking chair holding a tiny bear as she looked at the other toys in and around the small crib. Slowly he walked into the room and over to kneel in front of her.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked looking at her face as a few tears slid down her cheeks. "Sakura-chan, why are you crying?"

"I just... I just saw everything your parents had set up for you. They... they loved you so much." She cried making Naruto move forward to wrap his arms around her holding her as she cried.

"It's alright Sakura-chan." He whispered letting go before gently taking the bear and placing it to the side and then pulled her to her feet and close to him as he leaned down kissing her. "Why don't we go find a place to sleep for the night?" He asked as he pulled away . She gave a nod and the two walked out to find another room they quickly realized was the master bedroom.

Naruto and Sakura walked into the village to get supplies to finish their cleaning gaining many looks as they wandered until the ran into a few friends.

"What are you guys up to?" Ino asked as she, Shikamaru, and Choji walked up to them.

"Naruto moved and needed some help cleaning the place. We're just restocking."

"Where'd you move Naruto?" Choji asked making Naruto look at his friend for a minute. Sakura looked at him waiting to see what he wanted to do.

"Why don't we all mean at the old Uchiha compound." Naruto smirked.

"Yeah, spread the word we'll meet you there about four." Sakura added. "We have a few more stops, we better get going. We still have that nursery and your parents room." The three friends looked at them. No one had any clue who his parents were and for them to be cleaning their room... that must mean... Shikamaru look at at Naruto before they all said goodbye and they went their separate ways.