I completely forgot to put the disclaimer in last chapter, so I need to put it in here.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfic.


At the Five Kage Summit…

"We will not abandon hope," Gaara replied, staring up at Uchiha Madara.

"Very well…In that case, I hereby declare—"[1] He began, before pausing and looking to his right where another Zetsu was forming out of the wall.

"Another one of those!"

"How interesting."

Madara ignored the reactions of the Raikage and the Tsuchikage, waiting slightly impatiently for Zetsu to say his piece.

"The Kyuubi jinchuuriki has been banished from Konoha. He left yesterday at about noon and began heading east before circling around and heading west. He appears to be trying to find refuge in Sunagakure no Sato," Zetsu reported.

"What?"

"They threw Naruto out?"

"Konoha are idiots. Why did Danzou allow that to happen?"

"We need to track him down and hide him away. He's"—this was accompanied with a jab in orange-masked man's direction—"going to go after him as soon as he can, and, from what I heard, that jinchuuriki's not the best ninja around."

"How stupid is Konoha? Why wouldn't you keep your jinchuuriki around? Why would you even give a jinchuuriki more reason to hate your village and want to see it destroyed?"

Madara looked on amusedly as they discussed and, confident in his ability to track the jinchuuriki, he decided to toy with them.

"I'll give you a head start on finding the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. How does two days sound? After two days, I'll begin my search for that jinchuuriki and if you haven't found him by then," he shrugged, smirking behind his mask, "good luck trying to beat me to him." There was no way they'd be able to keep the jinchuuriki from him, if they found it, so it didn't matter either way; the Kyuubi would still become his, in the end.

With a swirl of distorted reality, Madara was gone, leaving the Kages to plan. At the end of the day, the remaining four Kages were heading back to their respective villages at full speed, prepared to scour their countries for any sign of a blonde, blue-eyed, orange-and-black wearing ninja with three whisker marks on each cheek. They were going to have to work together to find the jinchuuriki before Madara did and that's what they planned to do.


Somewhere in Hi no Kuni (Fire Country)…

"I lost his trail. Again." A whine.

A sigh. "Alright guys, let's spread out and see if we can pick up the trail."

"How can you keep losing the trail? Didn't you say it'd be easy?" A growl.

"Troublesome, there they go again."

"Shut up, Neji! I'd like to see you try to track him through this forest without losing the trail at least once." Several angry barks.

"Kiba, calm down. Neji, there's a good reason Kiba's finding it hard to follow Naruto's trail. Naruto can be the stealthiest ninja you've ever met. When he wants to be."

"With his orange pants? He couldn't hide in the village."

"Or, or how about with his bright orange jumpsuit from when he was twelve?" A snicker. "I dunno 'bout you, but I'm finding it hard to believe that that eyesore could be hidden."

"Hmm, well think about this. You'd have to be pretty good to avoid the ninja after pulling a prank, right?"

"Of course, but Iruka always caught Naruto and he's a chuunin."

"Yes, but have you ever seen anyone else catch Naruto? And have you ever seen Naruto when he's doing his bigger pranks, like painting the Hokage Monument?"

"No. What's that got to do with anything?"

Silence.

"Kuso![2] He's been hiding this whole time."

"Huh?" Another whine.

"Shikamaru's right. Naruto's been faking his idiocy. And he has to be skilled to allow only Iruka to catch him and not get caught when he does those idiotic stunts of his. He's also been able to hide this from everyone for so long…We'd better find his trail fast or we really will lose him."

"I still don't get it. Naruto's only been pretending to be an idiot?"

"Kiba, if Naruto really was an idiot, do you think he could have painted Hokage Monument prank without getting caught? Or avoided the other ninja for as long as he did until Iruka got out there?"

Silence again.

"I found his scent. Kiba, take point again. Neji, follow him. Shikamaru and I will take up the rear. We'd better hurry; the scents are fading."

"Right." A bark.

Only the slightest trembling of the tree branches indicated that a conversation had taken place here. [3]


Nami no Kuni (Wave Country)…

Night had already fallen over Nami no Kuni and Tazuna and his family were preparing for the night. Tazuna and Inari had recently returned from Konoha, having helped in the rebuilding of the village, and both were being fussed over by Tsunami. A knock on the door made them pause, wondering who would need construction help this late at night. Another knock had Tsunami hurrying over to open the door.

"Hello? What can we help you with?" she asked the shadowed figure, standing just outside the circle of light.

It moved into the light, revealing the shape to be Naruto. A somewhat dejected Naruto, but Naruto nonetheless. "Could I stay here for a bit? I was…well, I just need somewhere to spend the night."

"Oh, of course, of course. Come in, Naruto. Have you eaten yet? No? You must be hungry. I'll make something for you." Tsunami guided the quiet ninja to a seat at the table and had him sit, before she began cooking some food.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Inari entered, confused but happy. "Things are fine in Konoha, right?" he asked, becoming worried when he saw how silent Naruto was.

"Yeah, things are fine in Konoha. There's nothing to worry about. I'm just here on my way to my next mission." Naruto hitched up that false face, so that Inari wouldn't worry. "It's gotta be a secret, though. No one's supposed to know where I am."

Tazuna came in and, having seen how Naruto had suddenly become that loud, boisterous brat from three years ago, he became suspicious of Naruto's cheer. However, he brushed that off, deciding to worry about that later.

"That's good. Glad to know things are still fine." Tazuna studied Naruto, debating whether to tell him something he knew would interest any orphan. "Any particular reason you decided to drop by here for the night?"

Naruto shrugged. "I know you guys and I know I can trust you guys not to go around telling people that I'm here. Besides, I wanted to spend some time with Inari here." He smiled that huge, bright smile and reached out to ruffle Inari's hair. The young boy protested loudly, swatting at the hand and Naruto laughed, causing Inari to smile with him, glad that Naruto was happier.

Tsunami placed a plate in front of Naruto, content now that he was cheerful again. The food disappeared quickly, while Naruto entertained the small family with tales of his adventures. He avoided many of the battles and fights he had gotten into, but told them of traveling with Jiraiya and of the ridiculous situations they would get into.

As they were finally leaving to sleep, Tazuna pulled Naruto aside.

"Brat, there's something you should know. Nothing bad," Tazuna reassured the suddenly worried Naruto, "just know it'd probably interest you."

Curious, Naruto waited expectantly. The old man took a deep breath, before continuing, "What do you know about your mother?"


Shuumatsu no Tani (Valley of the End)…[4]

Trees flew by in a blur as the four shinobi continued tracking their teammate, trying not to remember how they had traveled along the same path almost three years ago, how they had fallen, one by one, to each of the Sound Four, and how, when all was said and done, Sasuke had still left them for Orochimaru. Despite their suppression of the memories, a single thought echoed among the four, as they followed the trail that would lead them to the sunny blonde.

I hope this isn't a repeat of that.

Ahead of them, flashes of orange told them that they were catching up to Naruto. Or maybe he was letting them catch up. Whatever the reason, the four were determined to convince their comrade to return with them.

Not even a minute later, the forest ended in the valley where, three years ago, Naruto and Sasuke fought atop the water, determined to see their wishes come true. Only a few reminders remained of that fight, the weather having worn away most of them. The orange-and-black-clad shinobi stood on the water, surveying the valley with his back towards his comrades as they touched down behind him.

"Naruto! Why didn't you tell us?" Kiba demanded, as soon as they stopped. The blonde shrugged, turning to face them.

"I'd rather everyone not be reminded that I'm a jinchuuriki. They're only just beginning to treat me like a normal person, you know," he replied, nonchalantly, seemingly completely relaxed.

"Well, don't worry about it. The entire village heard about your 'banishment' and everyone got pissed." Kiba chuckled, remembering the outrage coming from the crowd. "You should've seen it, man. It was awesome. In fact, they might still be rampaging. If we hurry, we could get back and see them beat on the civilian council." He rubbed his hands in anticipation for seeing the beating. Those idiots tried to kick out one of his friends; they deserved what they got from the villagers.

While Kiba was imagining the morons getting beat to a pulp, the other two of the Konoha Twelve were silently studying Naruto. Neji was sure that the person in front of them was Naruto, but his gut was telling him that it wasn't. He'd checked with his Byakugan and the tenketsu matched those of Naruto's, yet he still felt as though the individual wasn't Naruto. Shikamaru, however, was more suspicious. He knew that it was possible that the trail they'd been following wasn't Naruto's or that Naruto left that path behind on purpose. Therefore, the only reason this would be Naruto was if Naruto had chosen to let them meet, which didn't make sense if he took into account the fact that Naruto hadn't even told them that he'd been banished. So, was this a Kage Bunshin, then? Akamaru whined and pawed at Kiba's foot, trying to tell him that the being in front of them smelled like smoke and air. The huge dog knew that his partner was relying more on his eyes than his nose and choosing to trust his eyes because he didn't want Naruto to disappear. The white dog didn't want the shinobi to leave either, but you couldn't control your packmates unless you were Alpha, which Kiba wasn't.

Kakashi gave a silent sigh. He'd almost immediately suspected that this was one of Naruto's Kage Bunshin—after all, Naruto always chose whether to let himself get caught, no one else—and that thought was confirmed when the Bunshin gave him one of Naruto's signs. [Bunshin.] was all it said and he knew that Naruto was already long gone.

Shikamaru spoke up, intending to confirm his thought. "Hey, you gonna tell us where the real Naruto is? We kinda want him back home. Even if he is completely troublesome."

Naruto grinned, that wide, bright grin with eyes squinted. "Shoulda known you'd figure it out first, Shika. Or, at least, be the first to voice it," he commented, glancing at Neji. The prodigy nodded, recalling their Chuunin Exam match three years ago.

"So you aren't even the real Naruto?" Kiba demanded, quickly becoming angry about the fact that Naruto wasn't even there.

"No, I'm not. I'm just a Kage Bunshin the Boss sent out to lead you guys away from where he was really heading," admitted the Bunshin. Seeing Kiba open his mouth, the Bunshin quickly continued, "And I can't tell you, since I don't know myself. Would you tell any of your helpers where you'd be going if you knew there was a good chance someone would find him?"

The dog-like boy reluctantly shook his head, making the Bunshin grin and nod his head. "Exactly."

"Why did you hide?" Neji finally asked. "If that trail was an accurate representation of your skills, you should have graduated long before you did and near the top, if not at the top, of the class."

The Bunshin shrugged again. "I didn't want to. It was more fun pissing people off and screwing around than advancing quickly. Besides, if I had, who would've beaten your fate-focused, hatred-driven, darkness-filled self?" He smirked, poofing into a cloud of smoke, leaving his comrades with no way to track him.

"Dammit! Where'd you go? You were supposed to come back, dobe," Kiba snarled at the air.

Neji merely shook his head at Naruto's last comment and at Kiba's response. "We won't be able to follow him now."

Shikamaru continued to stare at the spot where the blonde Bunshin stood. Turning to leave, he asked, "Did you know he was like this, Kakashi?"

The silver-haired jounin hummed in acquiescence. As they reached the trees again, he added, eye smiling, "Oh, and congratulations. You've just met Naruto."


Back at the valley, Zetsu formed partway out of the ground. There was no trace of the Kage Bunshin and no chakra trail to follow. Even the chakra path that had led the Konoha shinobi to the place had disappeared.

"Madara won't be happy about this. He was sure he'd be able to trace the jinchuuriki," stated the missing-nin. He knew there would be no trail from the gates, even if the container had left one; the weather and movement of other shinobi would have ruined the trace by now. With another glance around the valley, the two-colored nin melted back into the ground to report back to Madara.


Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Leaves)…

"So Uchiha Madara really is alive?" Tsunade asked from where she was sitting behind a table covered with empty dishes. She'd woken up a few hours ago and had been trying to replenish her chakra reserves quickly when Kakashi had entered.

"I don't have any solid proof, but considering his plan, I doubt it could be anyone else," the jounin replied.[5] He studied the Godaime briefly, trying to decide if now was the best time to tell her about Naruto. With a shrug, he chose to tell her and then step back to watch the carnage. She'd be able to do more about it than he could, anyway. "I don't know if Shizune's already told you, but the civilian council banished Naruto almost a week ago. I just returned yesterday with Shikamaru, Neji, and Kiba, after trying to track him down."

"They WHAT?" The Godaime Hokage was on her feet in a second, eyes blazing and fury evident in every line of her body. "How dare they kick him out, especially after everything he's done for them over the years? Those absolute morons!" she snarled, storming out of the room and intent on giving those stupid civilians a piece of her mind. "What right did they have to send him away? They don't have the authority or the intelligence to be making those kinds of decisions. When I'm done with them, they'll wish they'd never decided to take advantage of Sensei's leniency."

Turning to face Kakashi and Shizune, both of whom had followed her, she asked, "Weren't you the best tracker in the ANBU? How could you lose him, Kakashi?"

Completely serious and slightly offended, Kakashi retorted, "I still am, as a matter of fact. The only reason I lost him is he's had experience, plenty of experience, evading all manners of ninja. He's even lost the Sandaime, for Kami's sake. He knows how to disappear."

"I can see that," the blonde Hokage replied, dryly. "I would think you'd take that into account before trying to follow him." Kakashi didn't respond, but as they approached the council chambers, Tsunade began to grin in anticipation. "I'll make sure they never have the chance to do this again," she swore, before pushing the door open and entering.


One year later, Konoha…

Things had been rather quiet since Naruto had disappeared. Madara had left both Konoha and Kumo alone so far, focusing all his efforts into finding the blonde jinchuuriki. After all, he wouldn't have to fight anyone for the Kyuubi, not like he'd have to for the Hachibi, at the moment. He wasn't having as much luck as he'd thought he would. Sasuke, however, had fought with some Konoha shinobi in skirmishes over the past year, though neither side had been able to eliminate the other each time they met. The civilian council had been completely replaced with more reasonable members, who'd rescinded the order banishing Naruto in the first place. Now they just had to find him to tell him that.

No one had been able to find him, despite Tsunade having sent out the best trackers she had. She'd even sent missives to the other Kages, but everything she received had said that no one had seen him since the four-man team had met his Kage Bunshin a year ago. Everyone kept their ears open for any rumors that could point them to Naruto's location, but nothing came up. It was almost as though he'd completely disappeared off the face of the world.

Konoha hadn't been the same since. It seemed like a dark cloud had covered the village with Naruto's absence, lowering the mood for everyone. No one had realized just how bright and optimistic Naruto had been and how he'd been able to make everything seem that much better until he wasn't there anymore.

It was a wake-up call to the remaining few who hated Naruto, albeit a harsh one. Everywhere those former council members went, they received despising looks, inflated prices, and cold shoulders. In short, they received the same treatment that they had encouraged against Naruto, before he'd earned the respect and goodwill of his comrades. Shunned and bitter, some hated Naruto for putting them in this position and complained to their fellow victims, firmly believing that they were in the right and that the demon had bewitched the entire village. Others became ashamed of their previous behavior, especially once they began speaking to people who had known the blonde shinobi, and took their punishment in silence, resolving to find a way to make it up to the whiskered nin.

This bright day, almost the anniversary of Naruto's disappearance—many preferred to see it as a disappearance, instead of the banishment that it originally had been—there was a commotion at the main gate of Konoha. A squad of ex-Ne[6] carried the limp body to an interrogation room in Konoha's T&I headquarters.

Uchiha Sasuke had returned to Konoha.


"There was no indication as to who put him there? And we have no one who could figure out what the seal around the Curse Seal does?" Tsunade demanded of Tori[7], who had been one of the ANBU that retrieved the missing-nin. The bird shook his head to both questions before indicating the table lain out with everything that they'd removed from Sasuke. The only thing that really stood out, though, was a piece of paper, which appeared to have nothing on it. Curious, Tsunade picked it up and turned it over in her hands.

"It's completely blank?" she half-stated, half-asked, examining the white sheet. The Godaime caught Tori nodding in the corner of her eye. "Interesting," murmured the Hokage. Casually deciding to try something, she channeled a little bit of chakra to her fingers and nearly dropped the paper as little black streaks appeared on it. She waved the ANBU down, him having tensed at her reaction, and studied the page. It was almost completely white again, the black fading away as time passed.

"I wonder…" Tsunade began channeling the same amount of chakra as she had before and, sure enough, the black streaks came back, not that they made any sense. However, as she continued feeding chakra into the paper, more black streaks appeared and connected with other black lines until she began to recognize the formations as kanji.

"'I've fulfilled my promise, just like I said I would'?" she read aloud, confused.

A sharp intake of air made the Godaime look up and meet the shocked, saddened green eyes of her one-time apprentice.

"Sakura?" the Sannin asked, seeing the pink-haired teen shake her head with a heartbreakingly sad smile.

"Naruto brought him back, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura whispered. Clearing her throat, she continued, speaking softly. "When Sasuke left the village and Naruto and everyone was preparing to go after him, I asked him to bring Sasuke back. And he told me that he would bring Sasuke back and that it was the promise of a lifetime." The green eyes dropped away and closed. "Looks like he finally did it." And I didn't do a thing. A smiling image of a blonde, whiskered ninja popped up in her mind. C'mon, Sakura-chan, it seemed to say, cheer up. He's back and we'll make sure he doesn't leave again. We'll show him that he needs us, no matter how much he says to the contrary. The imaginary response brought a smile to her face. Naruto was right; Sasuke needed to remember how to be a human being and, since Naruto wasn't here, it was up to her to make sure he recalled it. Sakura looked up again, resolved to help Sasuke for Naruto, for herself, and for Sasuke's idiotic, immature self. Thank you, Naruto.

"Is that so…" Tsunade turned thoughtful eyes to the now-blank-again piece of paper. Even banished from Konoha, you still protect your precious people, huh, Naruto?


Two years later, Konoha…

"We will be holding the Chuunin Exams in Konoha this year," the Godaime Hokage announced to a group of jounin, surveying them. Every single one of the Konoha Twelve had eventually been promoted to jounin over the last two years, with two entering the ANBU ranks and two taking on genin teams. Konoha had prospered, as had all the other countries, with Madara completely focused on capturing Naruto and frustrated enough to leave the Hidden Villages alone. Everything was as it had been before Pain attacked, but all the villages were building up their forces in preparation for when Madara's attention returned to the Hachibi. The Chuunin Exams had begun again and, once Sasuke had been returned to them, Konoha had fully participated in them. This year, though, Konoha would host the Chuunin Exams, seeing as they hadn't held them since before Pain's attack, to show the other villages that they were ready for Madara.

"Alright. Shikamaru, you'll be the proctor for the first exam," the Sannin Hokage said.

The shadow user sighed, his hands in his pockets. "Fine." As the woman's gaze moved away, he muttered under his breath, "This'll be troublesome. Now, what to do…" Shikamaru closed his eyes to begin planning his exam.

"Kakashi, you've got the second exam. I trust you won't be late for this," Tsunade told him, glaring at him as though her glare could make him arrive on time for the test.

The silver-haired jounin nodded, falsely serious. "Of course not." He eye-smiled. The busty blonde barely contained the urge to roll her eyes.

She eyed Sasuke and Neji, weighing them with her gaze. "Sasuke, you'll have the third exam." She fixed him with her stare. "Don't let the genin kill each other."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," said the Uchiha, staring her eye to eye. She inclined her head in response.

Looking over the rest of the jounin, Tsunade commanded, "We will hold the Exams in three weeks. Make sure that the genin who'll be participating are prepared and expect the foreign teams to start entering in a week. We'll need to tighten security as the Exams approach; we don't need a repeat of six years ago. There'll be another meeting in a few days where each of you who doesn't have other priorities will be signed up for patrols and checkpoints and the like. Dismissed." In seconds, the room was empty. Alone now, Tsunade sat down wearily and took out a bottle of sake from nowhere. "I hope you're doing well, wherever you are, Naruto. This old lady misses you badly," she commented, pretending Naruto could hear her.


A grey-eyed, fire-haired shinobi sneezed a few minutes after leaving his village. His genin team and accompanying jounin looked at him in concern, but a wave of his hand told them he was fine.

"Someone must be talking about you, Sensei," the female on the team teased.

Her sensei shrugged. "Let them talk. I know I'll be fine and I know you guys'll do fine, so what's there to worry about?"

"Don't jinx it," one of the male genin quietly warned, as the five headed towards Konoha and the Chuunin Exams.

"Sensei just did," the other male genin groaned.


[1] Taken from the last page of chapter 468 from mangareader . net.

[2] Should translate to "shit."

[3] So, hopefully you could follow that. If not, I'll list the speakers here, in order. Kiba, Kakashi, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Kakashi, Neji, Kiba, Kakashi, Kiba, Kakashi, Kiba, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Kakashi, everyone but Kakashi.

[4] Taken from leafninja . com.

[5] Taken from page 6 of chapter 489 from mangareader . net.

[6] Should mean the ROOT ANBU that Danzou had.

[7] Should mean "bird."

Still not the actual chapter one; just a bunch of scenes to cover some things that'll happen between the banishment and the return. So, to cover a few things:

First, hope this chapter was able to explain how another three year time-skip was possible. Or made some sort of sense...

Again, I don't have a beta and I'm not really asking for one either, but I'd appreciate any constructive criticism given about the characters and writing.

After thinking about some of the details for the future, I realized that I'm going to be incorporating several more clichés into this story. Hopefully, they won't be completely predictable, but I won't know until they actually come up and I get some response. But, another heads-up for everyone who's reading, there should be about two more huge ones, if I'm not mistaken.

So, that should be it this time. Thanks for reading and leave a review, if you want to.

Posted: February 19, 2011