Hey people, Snow over here. :) I kinda just decided to add in these little messages at the top of chapters... and since this is an old story, there's not much to say, so enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, as it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Ah, how long has it been since I've been here?" asked an eighteen year old boy to his perverted sensei.

"Five and three quarters of a year." he said simply.

"WHAT?!" the boy said, facing his sensei with a shocked expression. "You could've at least told me we were going away from Konoha for that long!"

"Oh whatever. Just be happy that we're back, okay Naruto?"

Naruto grunted.

"Humph. Fine." he said crossing his arms, obviously annoyed.

Jiraiya sensed his annoyance, so he brought up another topic.

"Besides, I heard that Tsunade wanted us both to alert her when we got back to Konoha." he said to the boy.

Naruto's expression turned confused as he faced the older man.

"Huh? But I thought you sent a message to her already of our return?"

Right when Jiraiya was going to speak, his student beat him to it.

"Hey look. Ero-sennin! Konoha's straight ahead!" Naruto said pointing towards the village that everyone knows and loves.

Jiraiya nodded.

"We should hurry, seeing as you want meet friends again."

Naruto gave him a strange look.

"How'd you know?"

Jiraiya rubbed his temples.

"Ugh, never mind that." he said as the two continued walking.

Once the two were in the borders of Konoha, they went to Hokage Tower inform Tsunade of their return.

"All right, Naruto." said Jiraiya after the two had reported to the Godaime. "Now that you're back, you can do anything you want now."

"But Ero-sennin!" Naruto whined.

But the perverted man had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Humph, stupid Ero-sennin. Always leaves me behind…" Naruto muttered as he strolled towards his almost 6-year abandoned apartment. Or so he thought.

A very loud "WELCOME HOME NARUTO!!!!!!" was heard throughout Naurto's apartment when the boy opened his door.

Naruto was shocked. He would expect the Rookie 9 and Team Gai there, but not practically everyone else he knew in Konoha! Also his house was sparkling clean and decorated with streamers and balloons.

Everyone crowded around the speechless boy.

"Naruto! It's been almost 6 years!" "Where've you been?" "You could have told us!" Naruto, have you gotten stronger?" "Naruto, has your youth increased its burn of passion?"

"All right, everyone!" boomed a loud voice.

Everyone's attention shifted towards the second loudest boy in Konoha along with his trusty partner Akamaru.

"We're here to party, okay people? We can catch up with Naruto while we're all enjoying ourselves!" Kiba said.

Everyone agreed, and began relaxing themselves and catching up with Naruto.

"Ah, it's so great that everyone I know could come to the party!" Naruto said happily with a sigh as he plopped down in a chair with his friends surrounding him.

Everyone frowned as he said this, however. Naruto noticed this and was confused.

"Hm? Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"She was right…" Tenten whispered quietly to the girls of the group.

"Who? Who was right?" Naruto said as he had heard.

"Hinata…" Ino said.

"Huh? Hinata?" Naruto asked cluelessly. He then realized that he hadn't the Hyuga heiress since he returned to the village. "Hey wait, where is she?"

Everyone sweatdropped at his stupid ness. 'I guess some things never change...' they simultaneously thought.

"She's…not here." Sakura said, resisting the urge to hit the boy on the head.

"I know that, Sakura-chan!" he said.

"Hinata-sama is on a solo mission." Neji said.

"Why would obaa-chan send her on a mission when she knew I was coming back?" Naruto asked.

"She didn't. Hinata offered to take the mission." Shikamaru said.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"She said that no one would notice that she wasn't here and everything would be much better off if she wasn't here…" Tenten trailed off.

"And she was right, since even you didn't notice she was never here." Sakura continued.

Naurto's gaze shifted from his friend's faces to the ground.

"Has Hinata changed since I've been gone?" he asked after a while.

"Um…uh…well…" they murmured.

"Hey kids, come on! It's time for cake!" said Jiraiya, and the conversation was soon forgotten of.

The party dragged on until nightfall. The guests had helped clean the place up and soon left. After taking a quick shower, Naruto flopped on his long awaited bed.

'It's been so long since I've laid down in this bed.' he thought as he turned towards the open window that gave the boy a view of the stars and half moon.

Naruto quickly fell asleep, as the wind from the window gently caressed his bright yellow hair.

.Elsewhere.

A figure stands in the shadows of the trees. Around it were dead bodies of foreign ninja. As it walked into the light of the half moon, one could easily see that its arm was bleeding and had multiple scratches and bruises.

'I need help…' it thought as it quickly scribbled a message for help on a piece of paper.

'Summoning Jutsu!' and a small blue bird appeared in a puff of smoke. The figure tied the message to the bird's leg and in the blink of an eye the bird was gone, somewhere in the night sky.

'I hope they get the message…' the figure thought as it fell to the ground unconscious.

Hope you all enjoyed, R&R please!!