Eight years later, Kotetsu and Izumo were standing guard at the gate. Gate duty was notoriously boring and infamous as the worst duty to have aside from substituting at the Academy. Yet these two took in stride as they have been relegated to guard duty so often that they were used to being able to pass the time with various activities. Currently Kotetsu was standing at the gate while Izumo was leaning back on a chair, reading the day's newspaper.

"So anything interesting?"

"Nothing much except Anko made the news again. Oh and Gai as well with Kakashi."

Kotetsu sighed. "What did they do now?"

"The usual. Anko made a huge disturbance in the red-light district. Gai's and Kakashi's contest ended with Gai having to carry a merchant's cart several times around Konoha."

"Oh, so the usual."

"Yep."

"WATCH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUT!"

"Huh?"

That was all Kotetsu could say before a blond-haired teen crashed into him. The teen untangled himself from Kotetsu and chuckled sheepishly at the fallen Chuunin. He turned to Izumo with an embarrassed smile on his face. Izumo quickly eyed the teen. The teen was of average height for his age, at 5'2. He had a reddish-orange scarf wrapped around his neck while a pair of orange tinted goggles covered his eyes. His spiky hair was streaked with strands of black and red and stood haphazardly everywhere with a small ponytail in the back. He wore a blood-red shirt with dark brown vest. He wore black pants taped at the ankles and armor around his shins. Metal-backed fingerless gloves protected his hands and a large scroll rested on his back. Strapped to his belt were an ordinary pouch and a kodachi sheath behind his back.

"Urgh, that's the last time I try firing myself off a tree and flying using wind chakra," the teen muttered.

"Who are you?" Izumo asked.

"Oh, just an aspiring shinobi. Let me get my papers out. By the way, the name's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Kotetsu groaned and pulled himself up. He smiled at Naruto as he glanced at the travel papers.

"Hmph, time you got back. It's been pretty boring without you keeping the Chuunin on their toes. Where've you been these past years? Huh?"

"Away with my niisan," Naruto said, greatly relieved that neither Chuunin cared that he was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

Kotetsu nodded and handed back the papers.

"Everything checks out. By the way, you should see the Hokage first. Give him an excuse to get away from all that paperwork."

Naruto grinned widely. "I'll do that. Thanks!"

As soon as he stepped within the gates, Naruto jumped into the air and landed lightly on a rooftop. He bounded off towards the large building at the center of the village. He was so excited to talk to the Hokage but he crashed into a shinobi. Naruto groaned before jumping back to his feet.

"Sorry about that buddy," Naruto said. "Are you okay."

The ninja he bumped into jumped to his feet before giving Naruto a wide smile and a thumbs up.

"Do not worry comrade! The Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee, is not so easily hurt!"

Naruto smiled. "Well Rock Lee, I am Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha."

"Yosh! Such joy in finding such a youthful person with a glorious goal! I shall run 500 push ups in honor of meeting such a youthful person! If I cannot do that, I will run 1000 laps around Konoha and if I cannot do that I will do 2000 kicks and if I cannot do that I will carry my rival Neji fifty times up and down the Hokage mountain!"

At the Hyuuga compound a certain branch family member shuddered at the proclamation. He looked around wildly, looking for his excitable teammate.

Naruto smiled. "Well Lee, I'll see you later. May the power of youth empower you!"

"YOSH! THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Naruto watched the young ninja run off, seemingly into the sunlight. Something in his mind made an audible snap.

"I taste lightish-red."

Naruto shrugged and made a ram seal with his hands. In a second, he channeled a surge of wind chakra through his legs and blasted the chakra through his feet, sending him flying into the air.

"Oh crap."

Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen bit back a cry of despair as his secretary came into his office pushing a cart full of paperwork. He muttered politely to his secretary before glaring murderously at the stack of papers.

"I hate you."

Hiruzen wasn't sure if it was due to stress or lack of sleep but the stack of papers snarled back at him with an equal amount of hate. He sighed and pulled the topmost paper and signed it.

"JIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Hiruzen looked up and turned around just in time to see Naruto slam into the window. He winced as he saw Naruto's face squashed against the impact-resistant glass. Naruto groaned but he waved (albeit weakly) to the Hokage. Hiruzen chuckled and opened the window. Naruto landed hard on the floor but he immediately sprang to his feet and tightly hugged the elderly man. The Sandaime laughed loudly as he returned the hug.

"Naruto! It's good to see you! Look how big you've grown!"

"Yeah! Now you can treat me to ramen now!"

"Haven't changed a bit. We'll go later. Now tell me what you've been up to these past years."

"I've been training with Niisan and some of his friends. I've also managed to meet another one like me and he taught me how to cooperate with You-Know-Who inside of me," Naruto explained.

Hiruzen stared at Naruto in shock.

"How?"

"Well, You-Know-Who is a she, first of all and she isn't evil at all. Turns out she was forced into attacking Konoha by some guy. She told me she would reveal his name when I'm ready though. Some super-evil dude though."

Hiruzen bristled in worry but decided to have faith in Naruto. "What else?"

"Well I met Ero-sennin. He's a major pervert and I managed to get him to teach me some stuff when I stole his notebook and threatened burn it. He taught me some cool things and I learned a lot. He also wanted me to give you this."

Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a wrapped package. Hiruzen ripped it open and stared at the item.

"Naruto….this is….."

"What?"

"THE NEWEST ICHA-ICHA! NOT ONLY THAT BUT IT IS THE AUTHOR'S ILLUSTRATED EDITION, UNEDITED! PERSONALLY SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR!"

Naruto sweat dropped as he watched the Hokage reverently open the book and see a golden light, illuminate his awestruck face. Naruto could swear he heard chimes and a choir sing as Hiruzen opened the book.

"Um jiisan, not that this is totally creepy, but could you at least wait until I'm out of the office before you go on one of your little perverted fantasy trips like Ero-sennin?"

Hiruzen coughed, embarrassedly, and reluctantly closed the book, resolving to read the novel, paperwork be damned.

"How is your niisan anyway Naruto?"

Naruto smiled widely. "He's great. He has his own little store now and he's dating this girl from the village. She's the bartender there at the inn. He's really happy now."

Hiruzen smiled widely. "That is wonderful. Now let us get some ramen."

"Yatta!"

Naruto jumped in joy but crashed into a stack of unsigned paperwork. Hiruzen sighed as the fallen papers while Naruto scrambled to pick them all up.

"Why is there so much paperwork? Do you have to sign all these jiisan?"

"Unfortunately yes. It's the bane of every Kage. An enemy that I somehow cannot defeat."

"Huh. Why don't you do what niisan always does? He creates a team of shadow clones to finish the paperwork."

Hiruzen froze before widely grinning. He hugged Naruto tightly in pure joy.

"You are a genius! I'll buy you all the ramen you can eat!"

"Yatta~!" Naruto wheezed weakly.

The Hokage quickly made several shadow clones before rushing out the door, with Naruto under his arm, practically skipping in joy at finally discovering a way to beat paperwork.

At the Ichiraku stand, Naruto was happily slurping up the remains of his fifteenth bowl of ramen. He sighed happily and patted his now filled stomach.

"So, jiisan, what happens now?"

Hiruzen wiped off the broth from his chin and turned to Naruto.

"Tomorrow, you'll be heading to the Academy and join the class until the Genin Exams."

"Ehhh? But jiisan, I'm way over Genin. I'm at least Chuunin level by now probably jounin."

"I'm not going to budge on this Naruto. You'll graduate with the other students. It'll be good for you. Trust me."

Naruto sighed, knowing he lost this argument.

"Alright jiisan."

Hiruzen smiled. "I took the liberty of preparing a room for you. The directions and the keys are all in here."

Naruto smiled gratefully and took the small envelope from the Hokage.

"Thanks jiisan, I won't let you down."

"I know you won't."

Naruto said farewell to the Hokage and jumped to the rooftops. The Hokage took the bill from the waitress and gaped at the size of the bill. He began to cry anime tears as he pulled bills from the poor Saru-chan.

Naruto continued on his way to the borders of Konoha to where the training grounds were. To Naruto's delight many of the training grounds were empty. He took his time, leisurely deciding which training ground he was going to choose when he heard someone training nearby. Naruto hurried over to where the sounds were and saw a teenager around his age training with a multitude of weapons. He was impressed at her skill with the weapons and decided to jump in.

Tenten sighed as she threw one last barrage of kunai and shuriken. However all of her kunais and shurikens were deflected by a kodachi. Tenten immediately pulled out a katana and pointed it at Naruto.

"Who're are you?" Tenten asked. Naruto smiled and raised his hands in a non-threatening manner.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm an Academy student," Naruto replied. "I was just passing by and I saw you training. I have to say that I was impressed."

Tenten smiled. "Thanks, I'm Tenten. So what do you want?"

"I was just wondering if you were interested in a spar," Naruto asked. "You seem like you're good with weapons. Can you use that blade?"

Tenten smirked. "Don't let my age fool you. I'm one of the best sword users in this village. I've yet to meet someone who could beat me."

"Sorry to disappoint but you've never crossed blades with someone who trained in Mist."

With that Naruto charged at Tenten. Katana and kodachi clashed. Tenten gritted her teeth as she felt herself being pushed back. She twisted her body and swung her sword. However Naruto ducked and grabbed her arm. Using his leg, he flipped her over his head causing her to land on the ground hard. Tenten coughed and rolled over to avoid Naruto's foot. She jumped back to her feet and charged at Naruto. Naruto blocked her sword and swiped at her arm. Tenten reversed her grip swiped at Naruto. Naruto leaned back but felt warm liquid running down his arm. Naruto smiled.

"First blood."

Tenten grinned at Naruto only to see Naruto smirking at her. He charged at her, running low to the ground. Tenten raised her blade waiting for Naruto. When Naruto reached her range, she swung her sword only for him to vanish. Naruto reappeared at her side, with his kodachi raised. Tenten threw down a smoke bomb and escaped. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was waiting.

"Have you released your blade yet, Tenten?" Naruto asked.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked. Naruto frowned.

"You don't know? Who made your sword?"

"What are you talking about?"

Naruto sighed and held out his blade. His blade began to glow brightly to Tenten's awe.

"In Mist, once a person has finished his training as a swordsman they create their own sword. From iron ore to blade, the swordsman is involved in every aspect of creating the blade, imbuing it with our own chakra the entire time. This makes the sword alive and grant it abilities unique to each user as well as making the wielder stronger, faster, and amplifying their chakra. This is my sword, Ake Arainami, The Bloody Tempest."

"Thrash, Ake Arainami!"

The sword made a howling roar as it lengthened and morphed into a bluish odachi with the blade four and a half feet long with the hilt taking the rest of the length. The blade glowed softly as it began to emit mist. Naruto lifted the sword over his head.

"On guard Tenten!"

Naruto swung his blade at Tenten. Tenten used her blade to block Naruto's odachi and immediately regretted it. Her hands became numb just at impact. She was forced to drop her weapon and jump back. She quickly pulled out a scroll and summoned a naginata. She deftly spun the blade, forcing Naruto to take several steps back before stabbing at Naruto. Naruto held his blade vertically and made the naginata deflect to the side. Using this to his advantage, he charged towards Tenten and kicked her. Tenten flipped back and thrust her blade at Naruto. Naruto felt the blade bite into his shoulder but ignored the pain. He spun around and with a mighty swing, slam the odachi on the naginata's blade. There was a loud clang as the naginata's blade snapped off at the impact. Tenten blanched as she dropped the spear in favor of twin Chinese daos.

Tenten slashed both blades against Naruto's odachi, sending him skidding backwards. Naruto smiled as he let out a small stream of his chakra to aken the sword. The sword hummed gently as he swung the blade at Tenten. Tenten used her twins daos to trap the sword. However both she felt her blades become extremely cold. Tenten jumped back and dropped her swords in pain. She looked down at her hands to see that both of them had minor frostbites.

"What did you do?" Tenten asked. Naruto smiled.

"Ake Arainami has the ability to freeze anything down to absolute zero on contact. I have to maintain a steady stream to feed it but the effects are quick as you can see," Naruto explained. Tenten pulled out her scroll again but stopped when she saw Naruto's blade pointed at her throat. She smiled as she dropped the scroll.

"I surrender," Tenten said.

Naruto smiled as he saluted with the sword. The odachi gave a soft pulse of light before reverting back to its kodachi form. Naruto slid the kodachi back into its sheath before offering out a handshake. "Good spar Tenten."

"Thanks for the spar," Tenten replied. She looked at Naruto's sword, her eyes sparkling, then back at her own. "Can you teach me how to make a sword like that? I'm already good at the forge and my dad lets me forge my own weapons."

"Like mine?" Naruto asked. Tenten nodded eagerly. Naruto frowned.

"The process is simple but to accomplish it, you need at the very minimum chuunin-sized chakra reserves. Anything less would make the sword fracture or explode."

Tenten's face fell. "Seems to be out of my reach for now."

"It takes a lot of training. Don't worry. Once you reach that level, I'll teach you."

Tenten smiled. "Thanks Naruto. If you ever want to spar, I'll be waiting."

"Cya Tenten!"

Naruto made a hand seal and vanished in a swirl of smoke. He reappeared on a rooftop and began running towards the apartment complex. After five minutes, he found the place. Naruto grinned as he opened the door. The place was extremely nice as it was a two-bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and living room. He also noticed that on the counter were several scrolls. Naruto opened them and to his delight, they were filled with furniture. He made several clones and put them to work. Before long, the apartment was ready. Naruto ripped off his clothes and leaped in the bed. All those years of sleeping in trees and grass made sleeping in a bed all that sweeter.

He was home. And that was all that mattered.