I can't believe it! I'm already finished with Chapter 2!! And I've already started on Chapter 3!!

And People, if it seems like I'm abandoning my other stories, I'm not. Right now, I'm suffering sever writer's block for those stories, and am unable to complete them. "Trapped" feels like it's finished, even though it's not, and I'm almost done with "Spirit World" Chapter 3. As for Sarutobi High, I'm still working on chapter two. I don't know why, but I seem to be unable to run out of room for this story, and A Broken Heart is so far the favorite of all of my stories.

And isn't Tetsu great? Though it may seem presumptuous, would someone be able to draw him for me? I have no artistic talent whatsoever, besides wild birds, and I draw a really mean stickman. Someone's offered to draw the fox already, and I think it's awesome that someone would voluntarily draw one.

This Chapter's titled too! I'll go back and title the first one, and I'll attempt to name the others after. Danke!

On with the fiction!

Chapter 2

Homecoming

The Chuunin on top of the North Gate guard tower had been having a bad day. First, he had been nearly beaten to death when he had fallen through the sunroof of a building. The sunroof, unfortunately, had been letting light into the women's showers of the local gym. He hadn't been spying or anything, he had been just going to the Hokage Tower, and took a shortcut. How was he supposed to know that the glass of the sunroof had been really weak? Then, after he had just barely escaped alive, he had stumbled into the mission room, only to be assigned wall duty. And then, he received a letter from his girlfriend, Mamimi, that she was breaking up with him. He sighed, shaking his head. To quote Shikamaru, how troublesome, he thought to himself. And to add to his bad day, there were two figures off in the distance, standing there, doing something.

No wait, he thought, squinting. Make that three figures, that guys riding on something huge.

He watched as the three figures began to walk towards the gate. Then, they began to speed up. Soon, they were running, and then sprinting, the short guy keeping up with the rider and the huge thing. They were quickly approaching the gate, and he prepared to go down to ask them their business. They were about fifty yards from the gate when the Chuunin landed.

"Please state your name and business in Ko…." He was cut off as the rider in the white cloak and his mount jumped over him, then proceeded to jump over the wall, and the little guy ran around him, and jumped back and forth between the two towers until he reached the top and followed the other two. The shocked Chuunin quickly reached for his radio, and pressed the talk button.

"All guards, we have two unknowns running who made it through the gate. One's riding a huge… fox-thing, and the other is a short samurai with crazy hair and a really huge katana strapped to his back. Both are assumed to be dangerous." He spoke quickly, and put away the walkie-talkie. He began to run, and ran up the wall to the tower. He reached the top, and searched for the two men. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything, for they were long gone.

"Damn, Kube, you jump high!" Tetsu exclaimed, his arms folded behind his head as he, Naruto, and the Fox walked through town, occasionally receiving glances as people watched the samurai, fox, and it's cloaked rider walk down the street.

"My name is not Kube, human. You know very well what my name is." The fox growled under it's breath.

"Seriously though, that was like a thirty foot wall back there, and you jumped right over it!" The short samurai said, spitting out a thorn he had been chewing on. It had been getting old and finally split. He pulled out another of the three-inch long thorns from a small case in his pocket, and stuck the non-pointy end in his mouth and began to chew it, a look of contentment on his face as the fruity sap leaked into his mouth.

"What's this? A chibi samurai in a ninja village? How odd." Said a voice from behind them. Tetsu stopped in his tracks, and the fox followed suit.

"What did you say?" Tetsu asked calmly, his left eye twitching very slightly. His hand rested on the hilt of the wakizashi. He turned to face the voice. It was a tall ninja, about six foot five inches, and was bald. He had a smirk, a goatee, two scars on his left cheek, and a big one over his left eye. He wore his Leaf headband wrapped around his arm. His green Chuunin vest proclaimed his rank loudly, and his smug attitude announced his arrogance.

"I said, what're you doin' here Mr. Shortstuff Bushido?" The tall ninja stated, leaning over the short samurai, nearly getting stabbed by his crazy hair. A vein popped up on Tetsunouske's head, as his face turned red.

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I'M HERE FOR! I'M HERE TO KICK YOUR ASS BECAUSE YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY THAT I'M SHORT!! THAT'S WHY I'M HERE YOU FREAKISHLY TALL BASTARD! I HATE GUYS LIKE YOU WHO THINK IT'S SO GOD DAMNED FUNNY THAT I'M A FOOT SHORTER THAN ALL OF YOU! OH YEAH, IT'S EVEN FUNNIER THAT I'M A SAMURAI TOO! LET'S ALL LAUGH AT THE SHORT SAMURAI!! WELL WHO'S LAUGHING NOW PUNK? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?" Tetsu screamed as he went berserk, beating the ninja to an inch of his life with the sheath of the wakizashi, announcing each of his screams with the constant thwack thwack thwack of the wood connecting with the ninja's body. He stood there panting, watching the twitching form of the man lying on the ground. He spat on him, and turned around, only to be met by a blade to his throat.

"I can't forgive you for what you've done to my buddy." Said the ninja with the kunai to Tetsu's throat. Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"Please remove your blade from my neck, sir." Tetsu said, glaring coolly at the masked ninja. The light reflected off the nin's goggles as he shook his head.

"Can't do that, sorry. You hurt my friend, now I have to hurt you." Apologized the masked nin, as he began to draw the kunai across Tetsu's neck. In a flash, the blade was cut in two by the samurai's wakizashi. The ninja stood, dumbfounded, staring at the half of the blade in his hand. The nin was then knocked unconscious by the hilt of Tetsu's sword connecting with his temple.

"Knew you could handle yourself," Said Naruto, as he and the fox walked out of the shadows of the building next to him. Tetsu whipped his flask at Naruto, and it smashed against his head, sending a purple juice everywhere, and staining Naruto's cloak.

"Gah! You not only abandon me, but you break my flask too? Bastard! Now I'm out of Drezznberry nectar! Damn it, you owe me!" Tetsu said, storming over to Naruto. He stood next to the fox, and glared up at Naruto. And he had to look up to glare at him, considering that Naruto was six plus already, and Tetsunouske was only a few inches taller than the fox, he had to look up. (A/N: Drezznberries, as delicious as they are, are not real, and are completely made up, there is no nihongo involved)

All of the sudden, a group of ANBU surrounded them. The fox crouched, growling, while Naruto reached inside of his cloak. Tetsu, not knowing the significance of the ninja's animal masks, however turned to yell at them. He was about to start his rant about his dislike of ninja's and their height, and their cocky attitudes, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Naruto, who shook his hooded head. Tetsu, taking the hint, turned around to face the ANBU nins again, and placed his hand on the hilt of the seven foot long sword strapped to his back.

"You two are to come with us. You are unlicensed and broke through the gate. We are taking you in for interrogation." Said an ANBU with a… squirrel mask. Tetsu was trying really hard not to laugh. But the female in the hawk mask stopped him from laughing with her comment to the Squirrel.

"A samurai? Doesn't look like one… he's a little too short if you ask me…" She whispered to the squirrel masked one. She turned, and froze in fear as she felt the tip of Tetsu's dai-katana press against the top of her mask. He stood there, holding it one handed, a look of anger and old hatred upon his features. As soon as the other ANBU realized what had happened, they all began to draw sharp implements from different places on their body. Naruto, however, burst out laughing. He couldn't contain it, it was just too funny. One little guy versus fifteen ANBU. Though he didn't doubt for an instant that Tetsunouske could wreak hell upon them, it was still just too funny.

"Take us to the Hokage please." Naruto stated, still laughing. The ANBU all looked at him, and then back to Tetsu. Tetsu grunted and brought back his sword, sliding it back into the clip on his back. The ANBU did not relax, now realizing the speed at which he could draw that huge sword. Naruto was grinning underneath his hood. Twenty minutes in Konoha, and they were already wanted men.

A/N Sorry to interrupt the story, but just in case some of you are confused, only Tetsunouske knows that it's Naruto, no one else does. Only Tetsu… Only Tetsu… Oh yeah, guess who the fox is… nine tails… bad attitude…nick name's Kube… I wonder… And no, the guy in the squirrel mask is not Rock Lee. Lee is too awesome.

As they all began to run towards the Hokage Tower, the ANBU avoided the large fox that Naruto was sitting on, because every time they went near it, it would snap at them. While they where running, Naruto chanced to take a look at the Hokage Mountain, and what he saw sent him and the fox into a skidding halt. There was some sort of giant statue up there, and it looked kinda familiar…

"What the hell is that?" Naruto asked, as the rest of their little entourage came to a stop in front of him.

"What's what?" The Squirrel-masked ANBU asked him, annoyed that they were stopping. He really didn't like things that didn't go his way.

"There, on top of the mountain," he said, pointing to the silhouetted statue. Damn, the familiarity of that thing was really bugging him.

The ANBU turned to where the cloaked man's finger was pointing. Once he realized what the stranger was pointing at, he smiled an invisible smile under his mask. The man was pointing to the statue of the hero of the village, of the whole world!!

"That is the Uzumaki Naruto Memorial, created in memory of the great hero!! The man not only had destroyed the Akatsuki single handedly, but returned Uchiha Sasuke to the village. I even heard he gave the Kazekage his powers back or something like that. That man was amazing! He…" As the squirrel-masked man continued on with his speech, reverence and something damn near close to worship clear in his voice, a look of awe spread upon Naruto's face. Tetsunouske threw a glance and a raised eyebrow to his friend, a slight smile on his face. He walked back to him, and motioned for Naruto to lean down.

"Looks like you did get that respect you were looking for, eh Naruto?" he whispered. Naruto could only nod dumbly as he stared ahead at the talking ANBU. His attention perked up for a second as he heard a familiar name.

"… and yesterday was Uzumaki Memorial Day. It's almost an inter-village holiday, even Suna celebrates it! And Wave country has an even bigger celebration than even us! Unfortunately Hinata-san wasn't able to give her speech last night, as she wasn't there at the mourning. She hasn't been the same since Uzumaki-sama died…"

It felt like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped on his head at the mention of Hinata's name. She had changed? How? Naruto kept pondering those questions, wondering if she would be the same Hinata-chan she had been before he "died".

The ANBU stopped in his speech as he realized that the stranger was no longer paying attention, even though he was staring straight at him. Or at least he thought that he was staring at him. He couldn't tell because the hood was in the way, but he did notice that both he and the fox had gone stiff for some reason.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, taking a tentative step towards the fox and its rider. The fox let out a low growl, it's attention snapping back to what was in front of it. The fox's growl also brought Naruto to attention. The ANBU nin repeated his question.

"No, I'm fine. Let's keep going." Naruto lied, sitting up straighter on the fox's back. The squirrel-masked shinobi shrugged, and turned away from the curious man. They all began to sprint towards the Hokage Tower. They soon reached it, and the ANBU stopped moving. All of them were bowled over, however, when Naruto and the fox kept going, and Tetsu right behind them. The fox burst through the front doors, startling a group of tourists and the clerk at the desk, with the short samurai following right behind them. They ran down a short corridor that led to a gigantic set of spiral stairs that led to each of the eleven floors with a landing. They ignored all of the other landings though, heading straight up towards the eleventh. They reached there, and Naruto was forced to dismount from the fox, for the hallway was too short and too narrow to allow them both passage at the same time. The fox solved this dilemma, however, by transforming in a poof of smoke into a small, big-eyed, fox kit. It perched on Naruto's shoulder, somewhat like a parrot. Naruto patted it on the head with a grin, soliciting a growl from the now-tiny fox. Unfortunately, Tetsunouske had a problem too. His gargantuan (in reference to length, not width) sword was too long for the passage, and was forced to be unclipped from his back. He placed it under his arm, sharp-side down, and they began to walk forward, Tetsu's sword occasionally bumping into walls, leaving a trail of long scrape marks in its wake.

"Excuse me," Came a polite voice in front of them. They backed themselves against the wall to allow a raven-haired man pass them, his hairstyle reminiscent of a chicken's butt. Naruto stared at the man as he passed them.

"Teme!" He whispered, staring in disbelief. The man kept walking for a few more feet, then stopped dead in his tracks, recognizing the voice, even though it did sound somewhat different.

"Dobe?" Uchiha Sasuke exclaimed, whipping around to face Naruto and Tetsu. But… they were gone.

"Why'd you call ol' chicken head back there a bastard?" Tetsu asked, as they were sprinting at full speed down the corridor, which turned out had a corner a few yards ahead of where they had been, allowing for a quick escape.

"Long story Tetsu… do you remember me telling you about my childhood here?" Naruto asked as they turned another corner, only to be met by a second set of stairs, which ended at a pair of large double doors.

"Yeah… what about it?" the chibi samurai asked as they walked up the stairs, his sword now re-clipped to his back.

"Well, do you remember me telling you about my days in Team 7?" Naruto said as the reached the top of the stair case. They stood in front of the large double doors, Naruto waiting for Tetsu's answer.

"Uh huh… there was you… uh... Haruno… Sakura? Yeah, okay. And, um… let's see," Naruto stared at the extremely short swordsman as he pondered his answer. He began to sweat drop as the samurai seemed to take forever to think of the last member of the team… and Naruto's former best friend. A light bulb seemed to have flickered on Tetsu's face as he finally thought of the last person, "Uchiwa Saucepan!" He exclaimed. Naruto tripped on thin air, falling down the stairs as Tetsu stared at him. Naruto got up, shook his head, and walked up the stairs. When he reached the top, he stopped in front of Tetsu, who was looking up at the man. Tetsu didn't notice Naruto's hand twitching.

Shizune was just putting a new dress on Ton-Ton, when a large hole was blown through the door; a white form flew through the room, and through the door leading into Tsunade's office, followed by a slight explosion as he collided with the wall. A scream came from the room.

"What the hell?" shouted Tsunade as she woke up from her nap. Shizune noticed a man with a purple and white cloak step through the hole in the door. He was tall, around 6'7" maybe a little taller, but not by much. She picked up the pig laying on her desk, and walked over to the tall man. She noticed a small white fox on his right shoulder; it seemed to be… whispering something to the man.

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't go in without an app…" Shizune was cut off by the man holding up his hand.

"Don't worry, nee-chan, I have an appointment." Naruto said, pulling down his hood, revealing his face. Shizune stood there for a few seconds, then let out a piercing shriek as she fainted.

"Shizune? What's the matter?" Tsunade shouted, poking her head through the hole in the door. She saw a tall blonde haired man standing over Shizune, looking down at her.

"What the hell have you done to Shizune?" She shouted. The man stood up at her words. All of the sudden… he flickered out of existence.

"Obaa-chan?" Came a voice from behind her. She whipped around, and was met by the face of the man who she had called her little brother. He wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"OBAA-CHAN!!" Naruto screamed in joy, twirling the Hokage 'round and 'round, laughing the entire time. Tsunade just lay limp in his arms, being twirled about by the third person she had thought succumbed to the curse of her necklace. Naruto finally set her down softly on the ground, still laughing. She just stared up at him, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt the happy reunion, but could you help me up here?" Tetsunouske said, ruining the moment. One of his hands and his legs were sticking out of a pile of rubble. The two broke out of their thoughts to help the man out of the pile. They began by moving several large bricks which seemed to have created a small bubble that prevented the short samurai from being crushed. They then hoisted him out of the rubble, and let him stand for a second as he brushed himself off. Then he stood up straight, looked at Tsunade and nodded in thanks, then turned back to Naruto. Tetsu did a double take, and whipped back around to face the Godaime Hokage.

"What do we have here? A beautiful young woman! May I ask your name?" Tetsu said, grabbing Tsunade's hand and kissing it, causing her to blush and turn away. He continued to compliment her as she just turned redder and redder, tittering like a school girl. Naruto had to laugh too, as he watched the proceedings in front of him. He muttered something to the little fox perched on his shoulder, which seemed to snicker, as it leapt down and walked over to Tetsunouske. It hopped up onto his shoulder, and leaned into him, whispering something into his ear. Tetsu paled at what the fox said.

"You're kidding!" He said, his face turning whiter, the fox just shook its head. Tetsunouske looked at Naruto, who just shrugged, laughing.

"She may be older!" He said, laughing even more. Tetsu looked at Naruto for a few seconds, then took a step backward, away from Tsunade. He continued to back away from the Hokage, until he was just behind Naruto. The fox jumped from his shoulder to Naruto's, snickering the entire time.

"I feel dirty…" Tetsu muttered, shivering. Naruto laughed harder, wheezing and holding his sides. Tsunade looked crestfallen when she realized that the charming samurai had backed away. She sighed, telling herself that she'd never have a love life, unless she finally gave in to Jiraiya, which she would never do. The perverted idiot molested her enough already, she didn't need anymore.

"Well… that was… amusing." Naruto said, after he finally stopped laughing, breathing hard. Poor Tetsu! Misled by appearance! Amazing how the 60+ year old woman still appeared to be twenty! And… well… she had those rather… prominent assets, which tended to steer a lot of men from the beaten path. Then, as if something just occurred to her, she turned to face Naruto, looking excited, and coming close to crying with joy.

"Oh my god… Naruto! We need to plan a HUGE celebration for your return! Then you can tell everyone about what you've been doing for these last five years, when everyone thought you were dead! Oh my… Sakura will so happy! She's been so depressed for so long… she really missed you, you know. And Hinata! She'll…" Tsunade stopped, seeing the look on Naruto's face. She had never seen so much sadness in one person's eyes.

"Tsunade-obaa-chan?" Naruto asked quietly, looking at her.

"Yeah?"

"I think I need to see someone first before we do anything." Naruto said simply, his eyes seeming to grow darker with the sadness by the second. She nodded solemnly, and Naruto gave a tiny, sad smile, and flickered out of existence again. Tsunade sighed, hoping that everything would be alright. Then, with a wicked grin, she turned back to Tetsunouske.

"Now, what did that little fox say to make you deter from your wonderful little compliments?" she inquired, cracking her knuckles. Both the Tetsu and the fox gulped, pure fear emanating from their very beings.

Hinata had just gotten out of the shower, and was just putting on a purple silk shirt with white flower patterns down the arms. Sakura and Lee and invited her to go out to lunch with them, as well as Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, and she was contemplating whether to go or not, when she felt a presence. Not a malignant or unfamiliar presence, but this presence seemed to wrap itself around her in a warm blanket, comforting her in ways that she didn't know she could be or had been for a long time. Hinata stepped outside of the bedroom, and began to walk down the hallway, towards the presence, even though everything in her mind told her not to, because this was exactly like those terrible horror movies where the person steps into the room and is cut in half by some guy who looks like their old lover, or some such junk. But her heart, her very self, recognized this presence, and wanted to meet it. She stepped out of the hallway and walked pass the door to the threshold that led into the living room. She stopped, took a deep breath, and stepped through. What she saw shocked her.

There was a man standing in her living room! And he was wearing a large white cloak with a hideous purple stain all across the head and shoulders! She halted a barely a full step from the entrance watching the stranger, who seemed oblivious to her entry. She watched him, as he studied some pictures on the coffee table, picking one up now and then to get a closer look. She continued staring on, as he still seemed not to have noticed her. He walked absentmindedly towards the kitchen, staring at and touching everything he passed, picking it up, examining it, setting it back down, then continuing towards the doorway.

Hinata finally gathered up enough courage to walk after the man, stopping a few steps behind him, as he seemed to finally notice her. She held her breath as he turned his head towards her. Her eyes popped when the head did a full one eighty, turning to face her perfectly, as a few strands of long, dark, greasy hair fell out of the hood.

"Hinata-chan," The person hissed. It sounded sort of familiar, kinda like…

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, quivering, taking a step towards the man, tears entering her eyes as she thought about her dead fiancé, hoping beyond hope that this was somehow him.

"Hinata-chan," he hissed again, this time his body turning towards her. Hinata let out a cry as she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around the person who she thought was Naruto.

"Oh Naruto-kun! You've come back! Oh, you've come back!" She shouted, crying into the cloak. She looked up to the man's face, which was still shrouded by shadows, as a curtain of the greasy black hair fell down around her. Her heart filled with dread, sucking away all of her happiness, as an evil laugh surrounded her. The man in her arms lifted his hands to his hood, and began to pull it back.

"Oh Hinata-chan, how I've missed you!" Orochimaru said, pulling down the hood, revealing his features. Half-burned and peeling away, his face resembled a twisted mask, as his wicked yellow, snakelike eyes stared from that both burned and flawless face. His tongue shot out of his mouth, and began to wrap itself around Hinata's feet. Hinata screamed, and screamed, and screamed as the world around her was enshrouded by darkness.

"HINATA-CHAN!!"

Hinata woke up screaming, as she was bodily shaken. She stared at the person holding her, seeing the bright white cloak that he wore. Her terrified eyes followed the arms up to the shoulders, which were covered by the same hideous purple.

"Hinata-chan?" the purple/white cloaked man said concernedly, the same shrouded face looking at her. Hinata screamed, as her dream of Orochimaru overlapped itself over the shrouded man. She made a couple of signs, and screamed out the name of a jutsu, sending the man flying backwards, smashing him against the wall. The man slowly slid down the wall, approaching the floor at a snails pace, leaving a very slight trail of red and purple behind him.

He finally hit the ground, and Hinata rushed over to see if the man was all right. She reached him and kneeled down, bending over the man's head. She began to quake in fear as she began to picture her dream again, replaying itself over and over in her head. She flinched as she pulled back the hood, slowly peeking out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to take a better look at what she had just revealed, and screamed louder than she had ever screamed before, as she looked at the face of Naruto.

She had killed Naruto!!!

Oh yes… I thought the dream was brilliant, don't you? It came to me just as I was typing it, in fact, I had scrapped the original paragraph completely to rewrite it as the dream. It was going to originally be a mushy-gushy fluffy reunion, but I decided to give a little hell before entering heaven.

No, Naruto's not dead again! Why would I do that?

And poor Tetsu! How the appearances of women befuddle the minds of men! He was judging by appearance alone, and when he finds out her real age, he freaks out! MUHAHAHAHAHA!! Though if I did stick those two together, it would be a little disturbing, for Tetsu is around Naruto's age, give or take a year, and I believe that Tsunade dating a 27 year old would be effectively "robbing the cradle", even though Tetsu's all grown up.

And Tetsu will be receivin' some lovin', though, but I won't tell you who. A flower for poor Tetsu (wink wink, hint hint).

(Not Inuzuka Hana!)

Anyway…. I would love to receive constructive criticism, such as telling me if I made some grammatical error, or if some of my ideas are over-used or lame. I would really appreciate it! Because these are the first steps I take to becoming a professional writer, and I would like to learn what I'm doing wrong.

And I love positive reviews!! Though I don't really like the one liners that say "Good story, update soon!". I appreciate the encouragement, really, but I would also like something a little more helpful, such as telling me which ideas I use are original, or well-placed. Or telling me if my ideas are good or bad! Tell me something somewhat helpful!!

Like I said, don't like 'em but I'll accept them! I'm (what I believe to be described as) a Review Whore. I love reviews, and I'll take them whenever and however possible.

Not all that sincere, but does it really matter?,

ChickenDeNoodleyNoodle the Third, the most youthful chicken of all!