Naruto grinned as he made his way to the Academy. Today was the first day of his new life, and he felt great. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the damn fox hadn't come back with him when he'd made his little trip into the past. True, the Nine-tailed fox was sealed within him, but it was the Nine-tailed fox of the past who as of yet didn't have any hold on him, and hadn't said one word to him as far as he could remember. Even better, that fox was sealed behind a barrier that was entirely intact and couldn't speak to him without his permission, as the fox of the future had been wont to do on occasion, which meant that there would be no annoying fox distracting him at the most inopportune moments, and giving him reminders of his past failures when he'd had enough of them already.

He whistled a merry tune - the origins of which he'd long forgotten - as he stepped onto the Academy grounds. After recovering from fainting upon seeing himself in the mirror with that plump baby-face that he'd grown out of, he had raced through the village and discovered it to be exactly as he remembered it being when he was last this age, right down to Maito Gai's insane morning workout routine that he'd previously completely ignored, and the glares from the village's other denizens. Now that he was back, he was going to fix everything he could, starting with that revenge obsessed idiot that he would be pointing in the right direction before he could end up getting some sort of whacked out guilt complex and swear to destroy Konoha. By the time he was done with Sasuke, Danzo and Madara were going to be in for one hell of a surprise.

After taking his old seat in the crowded classroom where the team assignments would be handed out, he looked around. If he hadn't seen it for himself long ago, he wouldn't have believed that his friends had ever looked as young as they did now. The four years and change between now and then had made a great deal of difference in their appearances and, in some cases, their attitudes. He was so focused on the people he had grown up alongside and had fought alongside in the future that he almost didn't notice when Sakura shoved him out of the way to get to Sasuke.

After growling in annoyance at Sakura, he turned to glare at Sasuke - who apparently didn't know a good thing if it stared him in the face - from a safe distance. He remembered what happened the last time, when he'd gotten in the boy's face to do so and had been knocked forward by a flailing arm. That moment would have still been burned in his memory had he lived to be a thousand. That was definitely not how he wanted his first kiss to go down, even if it had technically already had gone down that way. Come to think of it, he didn't want his first kiss with a woman to go down the way it had either. Having your Chakra stolen by a mass of flying hair was definitely not on his list of fun activities.

When Iruka arrived to announce the team assignments, he winced guiltily at the bandages that were mostly concealed by the Chunin's clothing. If he hadn't listened to Mizuki and stolen that damn scroll, one of the first people who had become precious to him wouldn't have almost gotten himself killed defending him. He wasn't sure what he would do if Iruka died like he had almost done that night. Iruka was one of the first people to be there for him, and had cared the most about him.

Across the village from the Academy, Kakashi wandered helplessly around the candy store he'd entered in hopes of finding a treat for Naruto. As he stared at the racks and stacks and boxes and overflowing bins, he felt slightly lost. While he knew that the boy was obsessed with ramen, he didn't know what else the boy liked, hence his dilemma.

The day had started off with quite a bang, especially since the Third Hokage had been so surprised by his "early" arrival at his office that morning, that he'd nearly had a heart attack, and he'd been forced to fetch a healer to make sure he was alright. When he'd turned up in the Sandaime's office, he'd entirely forgotten that they had been supposed to meet about an hour or so after he'd turned up at Naruto's apartment so he could get a feel for the boy he was about to train. The boy who, at this point in time, he'd pretty much ignored for the last twelve years, unless he was on guard duty. He strongly suspected that arranging the meeting to take place in Naruto's apartment had been the Hokage's way of guilt tripping him for not taking Naruto in when he had been kicked out of the orphanage when he was five.

At the moment he didn't want to pile that particular regret on top of all the others so, meeting in the office had had its upside, as he didn't want to see the boy's apartment ever again. The last time he had seen it, when he'd gone to pack away the belongings of his dead student, had been painful enough.

Naruto was alive now, so he wouldn't dwell on that. He had a second chance with the boy and he would grasp it with both hands. Now if only he knew what kind of sweets the boy liked...

Turning back to the task at hand, he examined a shelf of jars full of brightly wrapped hard candies in various colors and flavors, ranging from the rather exotic peppermint to flavors more common to the area - such as the bright green candies that tasted like a berry that only grew in the woods around the village - wondering which ones he should get. As he studied the jars, continuing to feel just as lost as he had been five minutes ago, he grew angry at himself for having ignored Naruto to the point that he didn't even know what foods he liked other than ramen, which he probably wouldn't have known about either if the boy hadn't constantly and rather loudly talked about it almost every time he had seen him from the first day he'd had him as a student.

Finally, after giving it up for a lost cause, he left the store after purchasing a fifteen pound assortment of just about everything he could think of, including a jawbreaker the size of an orange. He knew that the candy wasn't exactly healthy for a growing boy but, he also knew that nobody had ever done this for Naruto either. Iruka was probably the only person in the village besides the Hokage who would have been willing to do so but, he had opted to buy filling meals for the boy instead, and the Hokage couldn't risk showing such blatant favoritism for the boy, and therefore would have been unable to do so.

Checking the time on the clock outside the bank, he noticed that he still had a while until it was time to meet Naruto again. Until then, he would be preparing another surprise for the boy.

With that in mind, he headed off to one of the better quality shinobi tailors with a set of measurements he'd wished he hadn't known, and something he'd pulled from the box of Kushina's belongings that he'd been holding on to.

Jiraiya strolled down the road to Konoha, making plans along the way. Considering the shape of his godson and favorite student's current apartment, he would have to find another one for the both of them to stay in until the Chunin Exams, and subsequently the Invasion that would give him a chance to strike at Orochimaru before he could destroy Konoha, took place. He didn't know what he'd been thinking in letting that boy stay in that apartment the last time around, except maybe that having a kid around would cramp his style and walk in at the most inopportune moment.

There were no worries about Naruto walking in at the wrong time now, since he now knew for a fact that at the age of twelve, Naruto would be wise enough to the ways of the world to know what a piece of cloth tied to the door handle would mean. How could he not, when he was able to use certain jutsus that involved either naked or scantily clad women to devastating effect at that age?

Another reason to ditch Naruto's current apartment was that they could also use the extra spending money they would earn by sub-letting Naruto's place to whoever would be desperate enough to rent it.

With his plans for his future living arrangements mostly hammered out, he turned to planning other things. Since he wasn't entirely certain exactly when Orochimaru had switched places with the ninja from Grass, it would seem that he would have to find a way to sneak into the Forest of Death during the second phase of the Chunin Exams to face him. Until the Chunin exams took place in several months' time though, he would be spending his time getting himself back into peak physical condition, and training Naruto how to defend himself from his former teammate as well as researching for his next book.

That was all in the future however, he would have to get to Konoha first, and he couldn't get to Konoha if the pair of terminally stupid bandits who'd just leapt out of a bush while he'd been letting his mind wander kept blocking his way...

Tenzo nervously walked into the ANBU headquarters passing a rather unusual drawing done in permanent marker which had never been removed for some strange reason. One of the captains had said that it was a reminder. A reminder of what however, he had never learned as he had been absent on the day it had appeared during his first year as an ANBU, and nobody had bothered to inform him of where it had come from, assuming that he already knew. The reason he was so nervous at the moment was because he never asked for a leave of absence before, and wasn't entirely sure how his boss would react to him asking for one now. The fact that he would be leaving Konoha within months of the invasion which had been masterminded by Orochimaru who had used him as a test subject prior to being run out of the village would cast unnecessary suspicion on him as well when said invasion came.

He only had a couple months until Naruto went on the mission to Wave though, and therefore time was of the essence, meaning that he needed to find Tsunade and get the necklace from her as soon as possible. Finding her however was going to be only half (and the most time consuming half at that) of the problem. Convincing her to put the First Hokage's neclace up as stakes in a bet as Naruto had would be the other and far more difficult half. While Tsunade's miserable luck at gambling was legendary, she'd never put the necklace up as stakes in a bet before the incident with Naruto, and he himself did not possess Naruto's almost impossibly good luck.

Hopefully, the necklace wasn't cursed as it has long been rumored to have been because, he would be highly upset if he died before getting it to Naruto.

Edited 10-9-12