A/N: This is about a pairing, a crack pairing: Naruto and Temari! This is dedicated to LeweL since he was the one who gave me the idea. This is the first chapter, "Where It All Begins" I hope you all will like it. I'll probably suck at this. (sobs)

O-O-O

Two men stood in front of the gates as they opened. These two shinobis have been gone for a long time. They've been gone for two years and a half, training elsewhere. Now, they're finally back home. Once the gates fully opened, the very much older man looked down at the younger one. The younger one looked back at him and nodded. They both walked passed the gates and into the village known as Konoha. They came face to face with a pink haired kunoichi, Shizune and the fifth Hokage.

"Welcome back, Jiraiya." Tsunade said and looked down at the younger man, "You've grown, Naruto."
Naruto nodded in response.
"And you're no longer a blabber mouth." Tsunade added. Shizune nodded in agreement.
"Things have changed, Tsunade-baachan." Naruto agreed and looked at his pink-haired teammate, "It's nice to see you, too, Sakura-chan."
Sakura smiled and walked over to Naruto. She placed her arms over his shoulders. "I've missed you."
"So have I." Naruto replied, smiling.

Jiraiya smiled at the sight of the two 15-year-olds. Putting it aside, he looked at Tsunade. "Any word of Orochimaru?"
Shizune sighed. "Unfortunately we haven't gathered much information."
Naruto and Sakura broke apart. Naruto looked at Tsunade. "Tsunade-baachan, I need to take the chuunin exams. I have not received the label of a chuunin yet, unlike the others. Sakura told me. Hyuuga Neji is even a jounin now. I am the only one among my comrades that remains a genin."
"You can't go anywhere yet, Naruto. You have just returned, and I assume that you want to rest, isn't that right? I'm sorry to say that I have missions for you to accomplish."
Naruto stared at the Hokage for a moment in silence then closed his eyes and reopened them after a few seconds. "What do you want me to do, Tsunade-baachan?"
As Tsunade explained things to Naruto, Sakura only stared at her blonde friend. "He's so much serious now. He didn't complain to Tsunade-sama when she said he couldn't take the chuunin exams. Naruto, you've really changed." she thought as she simply stood beside Naruto.

"Naruto, you are to go to Sunagakure in two days. It seems that the Kazekage wants to talk to you."
"The Kazekage? Wasn't the Kazekage killed during the chuunin exams? Orochimaru murdered him and pretended to be him, isn't that correct? Who is the new Kazekage?"
"Why, the former Kazekage's own son, of course, Sabaku no Gaara."
"Gaara? Oh. I see. That is great news."
Sakura only found herself to stare at Naruto longer when he said that. She knew Naruto was shocked once he heard that Gaara has become Kazekage.
"Naruto, it seems that you are to see the Kazekage, alone. He needed to talk to you about something."
"Why not just send me a note?"
"He said the matter was personal."
"Understood."

Naruto turned forty-five degrees and was ready to walk home to get a good rest. He became stiff once he felt a hand hold his. He looked over his shoulder to see Sakura smiling.
"Naruto, it's been a very long time since we had a talk. Why don't we go for a walk?"
Naruto smiled. "There is no problem with that idea, Sakura-chan."
With that, the two disappeared and, in an instant, reappeared, jumping on the roofs of Konoha's houses and buildings.
Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune watched until they were out of sight. Jiraiya smiled. "So the frog loves the slug."

O-O-O

Naruto and Sakura stopped on one roof. It didn't matter which roof it was. Naruto stretched out his arms. "I've missed this place. It hasn't changed one bit!" Sakura smiled. Naruto turned to look at her and smiled back. The two of them sat on the roof in silence.

Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled slightly. Sakura saw this and blushed but smiled, too. "What are you smiling at?"
Naruto shook his head. "What else? I'm smiling at you."
Sakura only smiled.
"Sakura-chan, do you still love him?"
Sakura blinked and frowned. "What are you talking about, Naruto-kun?"

"Sasuke."

Sakura looked down. "Hai, Naruto. I still love him. He might've betrayed us, but I still love him. Please understand, Naruto-kun." Sakura looked up and was relieved when she saw Naruto smiling.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I'm happy only if you are. I promise to bring Sasuke back for you. Even if I die, I'll keep my word. I never go back on my word..."

Sakura can only stay silent and let her eyes water. Naruto sighed and lay on the roof that they sat on with his arms behind his head.

"That's one down... I wonder if she still likes me..."

O-O-O

"Neji? Where's Hinata? Isn't she here?"

The sunset was wonderful. If only the moments that our hero was experiencing that day were the same. Things were only starting to get worse for Naruto. First, Sakura still loved Sasuke. Naruto decided to leave it aside. He wouldn't want to steal the girl's heart. He planned not to ruin Sakura's relationship with Sasuke. So after he walked Sakura back to her apartment, he felt like going to see if Hinata still liked him. He did.

"You're looking for my cousin, Uzumaki? She isn't here, I'm sorry to say, but she and Kiba moved into an empty apartment a year ago. Before that, they started hanging out. They started to like each other and get really close. Now, they're together. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Neji. There are no worries. I just wanted stopped by, anyway."

Neji nodded as Naruto did. Neji closed the door as Naruto started to walk away. Naruto sighed. "Well, that goes back to zero, Naruto. You are completely on your own." he thought to himself. Reaching his own apartment, he opened the door, quietly, and walked in. Gently closing the door, Naruto sighed another time and went straight to his bedroom. He threw his door keys which landed on his bed. He took off his jacket, threw it aside which also landed on the bed. He did the same with his shirt and jeans. Now only in his green boxers, he removed his sandals from his feet and walked into his bathroom.

He removed his forehead protector and placed it by the sink and stared at his own reflection in the bathroom's mirror. "You fell all the way back down to zero, Naruto, all the way back down to zero." he said as if he were taking to his reflection.

Naruto walked to his bath tub and turned on the faucet. He placed his hand under the faucet to check the temperature of the water which he was satisfied with. He pulled his boxers down and removed them from his legs. He threw his boxers aside, not minding where it landed. Placing one foot in the tub, he sighed in pleasure, feeling no more satisfied with the water's temperature. He placed his whole body into the tub and relaxed as the tub filled itself with the warm water.

"If only I'll ever feel as good as I do now, in this tub. Love's there when I can have it. Once I try to grab it, it disappears." Naruto sighed but simply relaxed in the tub and closed his eyes.

O-O-O

Naruto walked around the village with nothing else to do.

"What to do today? I'm already done packing all that I need for my way to Sunagakure and my stay there. I'm leaving tomorrow, though."

Naruto stopped in his tracks to think of what to do for this one, whole day. That was when someone bumped into him. Naruto looked down to see a blonde girl with her hair tied in a bun. The girl wore a button-up top and skirt similar to Sakura's. Naruto blinked. "Ino?"
The girl looked up to reveal the face of Yamanaka Ino. "Oh! Naruto! You're back!" Ino said in surprise as she stepped back for she accidentally bumped Naruto, as said.
"Wow. Ino, you've changed. You changed your outfit and you grew your hair back."
"You've changed yourself, Naruto. Are you smarter now?" Ino teased as she knocked on Naruto's forehead with her fist.
"Yeah. I'm not the Naruto you used to know, Ino."
"Even a change in personality. That's amazing... Well, I'll see you around! Oh! I almost forgot! Have you seen Shikamaru? He's on his day off from teaching at the academy, and I can't seem to find him anywhere."
"Shikamaru teaches there now? No. I'm sorry. I haven't seen him. I only got here yesterday. Why?"
"We were going to go on a date. Hey, you don't have a girl, do you?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Well, thanks anyway." With that, Ino ran passed Naruto calling, Shikamaru.

Naruto shook his head for the second time and continued to walk. "Ino's with Shikamaru? What about Temari? What happened? I should probably te-"

"Oof!"
"Ow! Ah! I'm sorry!"

And yet again, a person had bumped into Naruto. Looking down, Naruto saw that it was another female of his age. The girl, unlike before, had long hair. She still wore a jacket though it was a different one.

The girl looked up at him. "Na- Naruto-kun! You're back!"
Naruto could only want to stay silent but greeted the girl anyway, "It's nice to see you, too, Hinata-san." Once he finished his sentence he immediately started walking again.
Sensing the cold tone from Naruto's voice, Hinata turned but did not follow Naruto.

Naruto walked with an angry expression visible on his face. He marched away, not wanting to speak with anybody. The day could've been fine if he didn't bump into Hinata. Naruto passed a boy who now wore normal ninja clothing instead of the thick fur coat. The boy turned out to be Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto was too angry that he ignored Kiba once he called out to him.

"No one loved me then, no one loves me now, no one will, ever..."

O-O-O

A/N: There isn't anything between Naruto and Temarei yet... I know that, but there will be on the later chapters. I think this will have a lot of chapters. I still have to bring Temari and Naruto's relationship to a whole new level. They're only friends and I have to fix that...

And thanks to a site, I got a lot of information on the characters after the time skip.

And please tell me if you think I should do the future chapters in either Naruto's POV, Temari's or none of those... Reviews are appreciated, but I guess I sucked here. (frown)