The sun was shining bright in the sky over the village of konoha; a figure lay in the shade with the suns rays splitting the leaves partially hitting the dozing ninja

"Hmmm…huh….heh guess I dozed off" the blond headed genin rose to his feet brushing off the dirt that had attached itself onto his bright blonde spiky hair.

A young genin by the name of Naruto Uzumaki stood proud before dashing through then thick forest and heading back to the leaf village.

Giving a bright grin and dashing through the trees his mind wandered to the smell of the delicious ramen that would surely sitting out on the table waiting for him as well as his father figure, Iruka Umino.

"Heehee….ramen, ramen, ramen heehee….I can't wait Iruka sensei always has a large bowel of ramen sitting out just for the two of us"

His expression softened as it always had done when thinking of his father figure.

He mentally chuckled at the thought of the tanned sensei scolding him for being late and covered in dirt,

For as long as Naruto could remember Iruka had always been there for him, constantly giving support and pushing him to be his best.

But as well as Iruka there was also his new team-mates

Sakura Haruno, one of his current team-mates was also present in his class at his time in time at the academy, although he would often try to gain her attention; she would mostly brush Naruto off in favour of gaining Sasuke's attention.

Sakura had always no patience for Naruto and would often find one reason to insult him, usually when he was showing off.

When it came to the time of the chunnin exams sakura was finally warming up to Naruto, though she would still insult him and smack him for acting idiotically, she had lessened in her dislike of him.

Now she can tolerate naruto's immaturity for long periods of time before knocking him senseless. Naruto was guessing it was due to his absence in the village when he had left for training with jiraiya.

But his main guess was better to put up with Naruto than to have to work with Sai again.

Kakashi-Sensei he viewed more as a big brother like figure, after the years that team 7 have been together, they thought of their sensei as a way of more child-like behaviour than an adult, though he was a great shinobi when faced with a dangerous or threatening situation, when compared to other jounins his behaviour would be more like that of a kid in naruto's opinion, though he would not want to change his sensei's behaviour for anything,

Naruto chuckled "kakashi is kakashi, but that's what makes him .....Kakashi I guess"

He would never forget that it was kakashi, who had protected him since he was a kid, he and Iruka had both risked their lives to fight for naruto's protection against the hatred of the villagers against the kyuubi,

Kakashi had already suffered from the effects of his father's failure to the village and Iruka from the loss of his parents and the protection of the relation to both of them had to be difficult on them, but still they stood by Naruto and watched him grow into a fine shinobi.

and lastly was Sasuke Uchiha and as much as it pained Naruto to admit it and would deny any recollection of saying this but Sasuke was the main reason for him to become stronger, he wanted to beat the Uchiha and prove that he is able to become hokage

"guess even the teme has his good points......not like I'd tell him that to his face....." grumbled the blonde ninja "he already has a swelled ego...I don't need it getting any bigger and allowing for him to hold it over me for the rest of my life arrrgh"

but when Sasuke left to join Orochimaru, the whole team began to fall apart, Naruto was worried, he didn't want that snake sannin to take sasuke...to become sasuke....he made a promise to not only sakura but himself as well...that he would bring sasuke back no matter what.

It was only after a tremendous battle fought between the two rivals that he managed to bring sasuke to his senses.

FLASHBACK

"Sasuke....what the hell do you think your doing? Do you think that snake of a teacher of yours is only training you so you can become stronger....even I know there's a catch somewhere along those lines.....SO WAKE UP!"

The two competitors both covered in freshly made wounds that was gushing crimson down each of the rival's arms and from naruto's head his bright blond hair now darkened by the blood made from the gash across the top of his head

Sasuke gazed toward Naruto as if trying to make out the words that the ex-team-mate was saying

"its the only way....you don't understand, I am an avenger, it is my life's ambition to kill my brother, TO KILL ITACHI UCHIHA!" he yelled, gasping for air as though he had just been dunked under water for a long period of time

"your wrong....there are other ways to become stronger...you can't become strong....by leaving behind those close to you...you once mentioned that we were your best friends.....we were comrades...THATS what made you strong....WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO GET THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL!"

After these words had left his mouth the battle once again began to rage....

END FLASHBACK

"Was only after a few blows to the head did he actually begin to see sense and actually listen to what I was saying" he grinned as if smug over an invisible victory

After sasuke had returned to konoha, Tsunade had been pleased yet at the same time furious

She was glad of sasuke's return yet she had been furious at the fact that he may have put the village at risk while being with Orochimaru

in summery sasuke had a lot of making up to do to the village all the while under the watch of the ANBU black ops....and sakura and Naruto who had great fun laughing at sasuke's expense stating that it could have been worst than just painting homes and walls of the village, sasuke just scowled in response while mumbling something along the lines of damn team not helping at all

But it wasn't too long before he was soon released from constant watch and was able to re-join his team-mates and soon passed to become a chunnin.

Over the years the two become closer and closer until they became a family

Yes after everything that team 7 had faced they overcame, and in return created a family bond with each other

"And I wouldn't trade my family for the world....." he smiled softly recalling all his memories with his family over the years through the good times and the bad

"Whoa, it's that dark already. Better pick up the pace"

When on his return home he suddenly felt as though a dark presence had begun to fall upon him like a shadow was reaching out trying to bring him into the darkness and suffocate him. he looked back and saw the pieces of earth raising into the air and creating something similar to a dark wonderland and worst of all was that the dark presence same direction was heading towards konoha

"Something doesn't feel right" he murmured

Pushing his charka he pushed his legs to run at full sprint trying to reach the village before this dark entity did…..