Hello every one !!

Presently I still do not own Naruto nor will I ever own it...

I am sorry for the long wait, but I had exams and did not take the time to update. And I'm very sorry for not answering the reviews... :(

Thanks to all the reviewers : StarsOfYaoi ; the wolf hanyou ; unseeliedarkness ; akeria26 ; Byakugan Hyuga ; Nusku ; TheDeviant ; Dragon's Storyteller ; yaoifan01 ; JadeStoneTheYounger ; oStilloDreamingo ; Akri07 ; FISHTaNK the Evil Fangirl ; InfinitusNyx ; liar-just-a-liar ; Gothic Kacie ; Peter Kim.

This chapter had been kindly edited by : Cyber-Porygon.

Exile ; Shelter ; Revenge Chapter 2

Naruto was nervous, extremely nervous. He tugged down his Green Jounin vest down for the nth times. He was quite uncomfortable with the vest on. But he had to wear it, Tsunade had summoned him to her office to assign him his very first mission as a Jounin.

'Calm down Naruto ! It's not like you to be nervous !! You are Loud and Obvious but not Nervous !!'

Naruto breathed in loudly, he bit his lips slightly. And suddenly smiled.

'Yosh !! Here we go !!!' Naruto cheered himself up, pushing Tsunade office door open.

" Yo Baa-chan !!! " He yelled as loudly as he could.

Tsunade simply looked up at the loud boy, shocking her head slightly.

" You look old, baa-chan... " Naruto remarked in a conversational tone of voice while sitting on the armchair in front of Tsunade's messy desk.

" I've stayed up all night. " Tsunade answered darkly.

" Sasuke... " Naruto muttered slowly as if afraid of the name.

" Do not worry about this brat... I'll see that his life will be spared. " Tsunade said.

At the tone of her voice, Naruto could clearly feel that she did not want to go further in the subject, so Naruto just smiled.

" It's fine... " Naruto said closing his eyes, titling his head slightly to the right.

He looked peaceful, like a heavy weight was taken off his shoulder. A sad smile graced Tsunade's face. Naruto was too forgiven...

Tsunade took a deep breath.

" Back to business. " She muttered.

She dusted her robes, smoothing the wrinkles, she send her hair back so they would not hinder her and put her to hands flat on her desk.

" As a freshly appointed Jounin, you'll have to 'take' a Genin team. " Tsunade began a small smirk adorning her face.

Naruto raised an eye-brow, surprise that the Elder council would authorize this.

" That's a tradition... " Tsunade continued as if she was answering Naruto's unasked question.

Naruto put his elbows on the desk, his chin resting on his folded fingers. He grinned.

So he could be a normal Jounin, with a Genin team and all !

True, he would not be able to do awesome A or S-class missions, he would save the princess of the bad loan sharks and all the things that he had dreamed of when he was younger, but he had done a lot of missions with Jiraya. Plus all the Hokage had had genin team, apart from Tsunade, but she was the exception confirming the rule.

" So ? Who are the lucky ones ? " Naruto asked with the biggest grin he could mustered.

Tsunade smiled, she would not have thought it would be so easy to convince him. She was sure he would scream and yell at the unfairness of the job. But there he was all smile, ready to accept the mission, knowing that it would mean D-ranked missions and maybe some C-ranked missions.

She smiled.

The most unpredictable Ninja she had ever met.

She threw a scroll at Naruto.

" This are the informations on the three Genin you may take in your team. Be at the Academy at 1300. Room 204. "

She smiled watching Naruto happily skipping out of her office while whistling.

xXxX TIME BREAK XxXx

Naruto was sitting on the branch of the cherry tree in front of the windows giving on the room 204.

He looked at the brown hair Chûnin speaking strictly at a bunch of super-excited children showing their Hitai-ate proudly at each other.

He smiled a little, remembering of his own graduation day. His smile flattered as he remembered that he had no one to show his hitai-ate off.

But a sudden scream called him back to reality, he turned his gaze to the source of the scream : a young brown short hair boy was screaming at a black hair guy ; they were bickering - it was rather a one-sided discussion on the brown hair boy part. A girl whose light brown hair were cut short in a shag and maintained out of her eyes by severals multi-colors small bars, was trying to calm the brown hair boy down.

Naruto observed the trio interacting :

The girl was a bit bossy but definitely less violent than Sakura had been.

She preferred to use words over brutal force. She was gifted with words in opposite her movements were awkward and hesitating.

Simply put, she was a brain !

But she was trying. He could easily see it by the small cuts and bruises adorning her fore-arms and lingering on her face clumsily hidden behind a thin layer of make-up ; the callosities on her hands, fingers and shins ; the burns on her legs badly hidden under her unsymmetrical black shorts and the ones on her arms that she tried to hidden under the long sleeves of her dark green shirt ; and the blisters on her ankles and toes that she covered with blue or pink dressings.

Her chakra was barely noticeable, but that was not because she was hiding it, rather that her chakra was very low about Sakura's own when she was still a Genin. But she had good control over it. Maybe she had trained on this.

The brown hair boy was quite boisterous. His loud voice was echoing in the all class. He was restlessly playing with his hands : twisting, folded and unfolded his fingers.

Every once in a while, he bit down one of his fingernails and immediately putting it away looking down guiltily.

His boisterousness was surely a way to hide his doubtful self.

His movement were inaccurate and disorganized. He had a lot of strength but he did not know how to use it.

His back was slightly bent forwards, he seamed unable to stand straight. Maybe he was wearing weight.

He often rubbed his eyes, to chase the sleepiness away.

And his left hand went to massage his lower back every so often.

He was surely victim of an unadapted self training.

His Chakra was unrested, spiking ever so slightly, wasted away as he could not control it correctly.

Just like he, Naruto, had been.

He turned his eyes to the last member of the trio. The shortest one.

He had messy short hair sticking out everywhere.

The mediator, the calmest of the three.

He seem to hide most of his body behind dark colored clothes and bandages.

His eyes were following each movements of his two friends not leaving them a second as they chatted happily.

He was smiling but Naruto could say it was fake after all he was the self proclaimed 'King' of fake smiles.

Every once in a while, he would wince at the abrupt movements of his friends : Closing his eyes tightly like he was trying to avoid to be hit. He also nibbled his lower lip every time he wanted to say something.

He had good reflex and was pretty quick. Naruto could tell as he saw the future ninja dodged the crumble paper that was thrown across the class.

His Control Chakra was not as good as the girl's. But it was good enough, for a Genin wannabe.

He had an average Chakra reserved that he tried clumsily to hide. But unfortunately, every once in a while, he would let escape a spike of Chakra, disrupted the flow of the other's.

Naruto's eyes wandered on the Chûnin making the class.

He was quite disappointed that it was not Iruka. He would have been so happy to speak with the well-mannered Ninja.

But he could not help but be happy when he saw this person smiling at his young pupils.

'He has not change.' Naruto thought to himself. 'Still the same chubby Chouji.'

He watched Chouji a smile on his face as Chouji opened his eyes widen in a very intimidating way at the young boy that had collided with his massive body. The young boy cowered in fear as he saw Chouji's big chubby right hand approaching him, small tears forming on the edge of his closed eyes.

But the hit never came, in fact, Chouji just put his wide hand on the blond boy's head and ruffled his hair a content smile on his face. The young boy began to laugh at his own foolishness, and soon the all class was laughing with him as Chouji began to make funny faces.

Naruto's smile widened, it seemed like Chouji had found his place. The place where no one judged him.

Naruto looked down at his hands. Was Konoha really his place ?

He shocked his head dismissing the thought, it was no time for self pitying !

He turned his gaze back to the classroom to see the now stern looking Chouji lecturing his class. Surely he was doing them the same speech than Iruka had made them when they had graduated.

Soon, there was cries of joy and screams of despairs as Chouji announced the team in a low dictating voice.

" No change ! " He finished glaring at the girls and boys that were frankly raising their hands.

They quickly hide their hands under their desk, muttering about the unfairness of their not-so-favorite-anymore Sensei.

" You must be all in this class at 1300 for your Jounin-sensei to take you up. Now you can go. " Chouji added smiling.

The children got up and roared in content running to the door as if they had the devil on their heels.

Chouji sighed as he saw his first promotion get out of his class.

He turned his eyes to the cherry tree, his gentle brown eyes meeting with Naruto's own blue sky one's. He smiled, gesturing him to get in the classroom.

Naruto got up from his sitting position and jumped through the opened window inside the classroom.

" So I heard you were promoted to Jounin ? Congratulation... " Chouji began in a cheerful voice.

" Yep...and you made it to Chûnin... " Naruto answered a mischievous smile on his face.

" Yep...I'm quite happy like that... " Chouji continued while walking out of the classroom.

" Not going to take the exam to become a jounin then ? " Naruto asked following Chouji as they walked down the hall of the academy.

Chouji simply shocked his head in answer.

" So you are going to take a Genin team ? " Chouji asked eying his friend.

Naruto only grinned skipping happily ahead.

" Who ? " Chouji asked while rolling his eyes at Naruto childish behavior.

" Akiko ; Shuuichi and Kei... " Naruto answered.

Chouji stopped walking staring eyes wide at Naruto.

" Those three ? They will be a handful... "

" If they pass my tests. " Naruto said in a serious voice, stopping a few step before the huge faded orange doors of the main entrance of the academy.

" I've no worries they will pass it. They are the best of their promotion. Very hard working... " Chouji explained with a proud smile.

" They may pass it... or maybe not... who knows. " Naruto answered childishly while turning his head back to his friend, his eyes glittering with a cunning light.

xXxX TIME BREAK XxXx

It had been two hours, two very long and boring hours, and they were still waiting for their Sensei. All the others had gone with their Jounin instructor and even Chouji-sensei had to go ! Apparently he had to make papers work and prepared for his new class.

Akiko stared at the clock looking the longer arm of the clock slowly moving forward signaling that an other minute had gone by. 1501.Two hours and a minute of waiting.

She sighed turning her eyes to her teammates and best friends.

She was quite lucky in this aspect ; she had been put up together with the two persons she liked the most in the class.

True, she was friendly with everyone in the class, apart from that viper of Tayako. But she did not think she could have put up with most of them in a team.

At least those two knew her a little better than the others, and did not expected anything from her except from being herself.

She smiled as she heard Shuuichi grumbled in his sleep. His head was resting on his crossed arms, on the desk, a small trail of drool was running down his chin glittering under the sunlight.

Her eyes turned up to Kei. He was reading a book and, every two minutes or so, he would glanced at the clock then at her and finally at Shuuichi before returning to his book.

She bent down, a little curious to know what her friends was reading but she could not decipher the title.

She sighed, it was surely a medical book, it was a well known fact that Kei wanted to become a medic. She had never had the nerves to ask why, but she was sure it had to do with his mother...

" Akiko ? " Kei asked quietly.

Akiko turned her eyes to Kei.

" What ? "

" You should wake him... He would not want to make a bad impression on the teacher. " Kei whispered.

Akiko smiled gently at Kei. Even thought the two of them were alway bickering about everything, Kei always helped Shuuichi. Maybe it was because the two of them lack of a parent ?

Akiko shocked her head, now was not the time to analyze her teammates relationship. She walked up to Shuuichi as silently as she could, afraid that if she made noise she would break the calm atmosphere.

She seized Shuuichi's shoulder and shocked him a little.

" Shuu ? Shuu ? Hey wake up Marmot ! "

" Ugh... " Shuuichi answered slowly opening his eyes.

His vision was blurry and all he could see was a blurry green mass with a tuft of brown on the top. He blink a few time until he could finally see the expecting face of Akiko.

" Akiko ? His the teacher here yet... "

" No ! " Akiko answered.

Hearing the answer, Shuuichi put his head back on his arms planing to continue his nap.

" But that is no reason to go back to sleep. " Akiko said clearly unnerved by her teammate's behavior.

" Buuuuuuuuut... Akiko-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan... " Shuuichi whined.

Akiko frowned at Shuuichi, her light olive colored eyes flaming, clearly showing him that an other word would cost him dearly.

Shuuichi gulped and looked away from the intense gaze of his female teammate.

A quarter of hours later, their Jounin had still not shown up. Shuuichi was nervously tapping his fingers again his wooden desk and hitting his heels again the wooden floor of the classroom creating a hubbub, making all the tables shook in a disorderedness rhythm.

Kei turned his dark green eyes to Shuuichi, his expression clearly showing his displeasure.

" Can you stop that. I'm trying to read. " Kei said quietly.

His voice could be barely heard, but his blazing eyes were saying it all, Shuuichi turned puppy eyes to Kei asking silently for leniency. Kei's eyes just harden, and Shuuichi stopped his nervous movements all together.

" What is he doing ? " Shuuichi whined, pushing his chair back loudly.

He walked up to the front of the room and began to walked back and forth.

Kei glared at Shuuichi as Shuuichi grumbled under his breath incomprehensible things.

" Can't you shut up ? " Akiko asked. " I'm trying to concentrate. "

Shuuichi turned around to glare at Akiko who was sitting at the very last row of the class fixing an imaginary point on the blackboard not even looking at Shuuichi, Shuuichi frowned then sticked out his tongue at her and resumed his spacing.

" Can't you stop spacing and stay still for a second ? " Akiko asked while walking up to Shuuichi.

They were now face to face, their nose so close that they were nearly touching. Shuuichi was slightly taller than Akiko but not too much the difference was barely noticeable, a half inch maybe shorter.

" I was calm and silent before YOU woke me up !!! " Shuuichi yelled glaring daggers at the young teenage girl in front of him.

She glared back at him, trying to tower him, getting up on her toes, stretching herself as much as she could. She set her lips in a frown and put her left hand on her hip and used her right to push harshly Shuuichi away from her.

She put her right pointer finger on his heart.

" You're the stupidest, loudest person in the world and... " She yelled pushing rudely her finger on Shuuichi's chest, but she was interrupted by a loud noise.

She turned around to see that Kei had gotten up from his chair, his eyes were closed as was his book.

" Our teacher is here. " Kei said simply, looking past them at the person standing at the door.

Akiko and Shuuichi sprang around to see their new teacher in the frame of the classroom door.

There was standing a teenager about three years older than them, a little on the small side, he surely had not reach his puberty spurt yet.

He wore a black military pants, with a lot of pockets, and his ankles were covered with dark gray bandages. His black short sleeves shirt was partially covered by his opened dark green Jounin vest. They could see hanging around his neck, a three blue pearls necklace, and a black I-pod.

The hight collar of the Vest was hiding a part of his chin. His face was still filled with some baby fat, his slightly chubby cheeks adorned of three whiskers like marks that made him look like a fox. His sky blue eyes were shining with curiosity and life. He had shocking blond hair sticking out everywhere in a rather unique style, one could believe he had tried to cut his hair by himself and lamely failed.

He walked past them, not even glancing at them.

He lifted one of his long large hands up to his ear, his long fingers fishing his ear-phone, he left it fell done.

" You failed my first test. " He said in a singing voice.

" Wh-What ? " Akiko asked surprised, she had never ever failed a test in her life, apart from the test of Ronschach (1).

She stared at her teacher as the latter sat himself on the teacher's desk in Indian style.

" So tell me a little about yourself. Nicknames, likes, dislikes, your ambition for the future... " Their teacher asked in a bored voice.

Shuuichi simply stared at him, still standing where he was a few feet away from the desk near the widow. Kei, as for himself, sat on his previous sit, his book opened, completely uninterested by what his professor could be saying.

Akiko was looking at him, eyes widen, her mouth slightly opened at such lazyness.

This person was mean to be their 'Sensei' ? He was barely older than them !! He looked like a punk, with his died hair ; because, Akiko reasoned, no one could have naturally such a flashy and loud color of hair. She glared at him, sitting just in front of him, defying him.

" Go first, Sen.sei ! " She declared defiantly, raising her two brows daringly.

A smile formed on the teenager's face in front of her.

" Loudmouth, Stupid and my personal favorites Monster are some of the nicknames people gives me. I like Ramen. I dislike The three minutes of wait to prepared Ramen. My dream for the future... ask whoever you want they will know... I'm quite sure I'm forgetting something there... hmmm... Oh and my name... Nah...it's of no importance to you for the moment. " Naruto said in a bored voice, looking straight into Akiko's eyes. " So now it's your turn Akiko... "

Akiko snarled. She had learned nothing of her teacher, not even his name.

And those nickname, they did not mean anything at all. It was very easy to obtain the title of Loudmouth ; and Stupid was the number one insult used by the girls to degrade guys. As for Monster, nearly every villagers called Shinobi like that, not in the open, but under their breath, when they thought no one could heard.

She narrowed her eyes at her teacher, clearly displeased.

" I've no nickname that I know of...I like reading and learning knew things. I dislike arrogant people that think that they are better than others. " She smirked at the last statement, looking straight at her teacher.

Her smirked faltered a little when she saw that her last reflection did not have the impacts she had hoped for.

" And I want to become the best Taïjutsu specialized Kunoichi. " She finished glaring at Naruto that seamed to have not heard a word of what she had said.

" You ! " Naruto said pointing his chin at Shuuichi.

When Shuuichi did not answer, Akiko walked up to him and hit Shuuichi on his head.

Shuuichi looked around frankly, not knowing what was happening. He was daydreaming, a nice daydream... He pouted turning sad puppy eyes at Akiko.

'Why would you do that ?' He seemed to ask.

She glanced at him meaningfully. Shuuichi laughed nervously.

" Hey, hey... I'm Shuu. Hmmm... I like... training... my mother... my friends... hmmm... I dislike... hmmm... people that think they are better than meeeeee... it's all... " Shuuichi said hesitating, his eyes turning up as he search thought his brain for informations.

Naruto nodded and turned to Kei.

" I'm Kei. No special nickname. Like reading. Dislike Being disturbed while reading. I am goinng to become a Medic. " Kei answered his voice not above a whisper, eyes not leaving his book.

Naruto smirked at his new students. They were interesting, he could not wait to see how they would react to his little test.

" Ok, team. Tomorrow, 0600, training ground 13. Survival training test. " Naruto said simply before walking out of the classroom.

" Hey, Wait !! What survival Training ?! " Shuuichi yelled at his teacher running up to him.

" The training that has a failure rate of one third. " Naruto answered not turning back.

" WHAT ?! " Shuuichi and Akiko yelled at the same time. " THAT CAN'T BE !!! "

Kei loudly closed his book and walked out of the classroom.

" See you tomorrow. " Kei said before exiting the room cutting through his teammate's yelling.

They immediately stopped screaming, looking eyes wide at the black hair boy, walking through the door calmly, as if he had not heard what their Sensei had just said.

" Argh Kei !! Wait for me !!! " Shuuichi yelled running after his friend.

Akiko watched them walking away, a little smile forming on her dry faded-pink lips.

" Wait for me... " She asked running happily up to them.

xXxX TIME BREAK XxXx

Naruto was surprised to find Chouji speaking to Shikamaru who was leaning against the Chery tree at the back entrance of the Academy. He walked past them not wanting to interrupt their talk.

" Hey Naruto !! Wait up !! Where are you going ? " Chouji asked running after him.

Naruto turned around stunned, were they waiting for him ?

" How troublesome. " Shikamaru replied walking up to Naruto. " We were waiting for you... "

Naruto looked at them questionably, his eyes wide opened, his lips ticking up ever so slightly.

" We thought that we would celebrate your coming back home and promotion all in one go. " A new dark low voice said.

Naruto span around to see Neji standing a few feet away from him, Hinata flanked at his side, Kiba and Akamaru were there too, standing proudly a few feet away from the Hyuuga.

Naruto blinked a few time. They were here for him ? Really ?

A grin spread on his face, he could not be happier. He had friends, friends that care enough for him to be celebrate with him !!

" Lets go ! " He grinned happily at them walking ahead of his friends.

A few moment later, the small group was at the Ramen bar.

" So what were you up to Naruto ? " Neji asked.

" You were here for four weeks... " Shikamaru began.

" Four weeks ? And you did not come to see us ? " Kiba asked bewildered.

" I was busy... " Naruto answered not wanted to elaborate.

" When did you become a Jounin ? " Neji cut in before Kiba could ask anything else.

Naruto laugh nervously, looking away, he scratched his right temple with pointer finger.

" When did YOU become a Jounin, Neji ? "

Neji narrowed at Naruto. He had known him more subtle.

" Last year exam. "

" So you're taking a team this year ? " Naruto asked already knowing the answered.

" If they pass the test... " Neji answered not liking his friend's quietness.

The Naruto he knew would have came see them first thing, and then bragged about his training with the legendary Toad Sannin.

He closed his eyes, listening to the babble of his friends. Naruto's voice rang in his ear, loud and slightly annoying like it at been three years ago. Maybe a little deeper, more mature.

He frowned, there was something else, something hidden. Neji concentrated harder trying to decipher what was hidden under Naruto's cheerful tone.

Neji's eyes widen : Sadness ? He looked carefully at Naruto. Watching him making exaggerated movement to describe his battle adding loud comments about how he 'kicked ass'. But his eyes were not cheerful, well hidden in them he could see the sadness lingering. Was it always there ?

Neji turned to the other to see if anyone had noticed. His eyes met for a slip of a second with Shikamaru's, and he knew that the Genius had also remarked.

Neji titled his head to the left, resting his cheek on his left hand. He looked at the scene unfolded in front of him. Watching Naruto chatted seemingly happily with his friends. But did they know him at all ?

Now he could see it, the ticks Naruto had. The way his lips would slightly pinch as he forced himself to smile ; how his loud voice would crack from time to time when he spoke about certain events ; the way his eyes darted to the exit each time a new client enter the stand ; the weary look, he sported each time a patron turned a glare at him ; the nervous movements of his hands to his eyes to swimmingly get ride of dust in his eyes but in reality weeping his tears before they fell.

Neji was stunned, there was so much about his friend that he did not know. But no matter how long it would take, he would find a way to help Naruto, like Naruto had helped him.

Chapter 2 end

(1) The ink stains test that evaluate the personality.

Bonus for those who read 'till the end : Here : Akiko means Autumn child ; Kei means punishment, penalty ; Shuuichi : Shame. The choise of the name have quite an importance for the rest of the story... It's all I can tell !!! XD

I hope you appreciate this chapter !!!

The next chapter will be hopefully out soon.

Thanks for reading !! And do not forget to review !! XD