This chapter was a total pain to write. It's boring, talky, and mostly canon. Oh well.

Part 1 – Reunions And Betrayals

Chapter 2 – Comrades Reacquainted. The Chapter That Goes Ni!

Naruto was so lost in his own thoughts as he wheeled Kyuubi through the gates of Konohagakure No Sato that he missed the hate-filled glares the guards gave him as well as the site of Tsunade's face carved into the Hokage monument. Did Hinata-chan's team-mates have to be such freaks? Had they spent so long with only fur-balls and bugs for company, that they couldn't recognize a romantic moment when they saw one? Okay, rhetorical question. Shino swooping down in a swarm of insects to take Hinata-chan to the hospital and Kiba making (no longer accurate) cracks about the fox nin's height had totally ruined the atmosphere they had going. Naruto would have plotted to get revenge by crashing one of their romantic scenes, but they'd probably never have any.

"You've sure grown a lot, haven't you… Naruto," a familiar voice called down from the rooftop, snapping the teenager out of his moping. He looked up, his face breaking into a broad grin as he spotted Kakashi sitting on a sloping roof, Icha Icha Violence in one hand. "Yo!"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto laughed as he leapt up to the rooftop with almost child-like enthusiasm. "You haven't changed at all!" Kakashi's visible eye momentarily widened when he noticed his student had casually slung his bike over his shoulder as if it was nothing. Naruto reached into his belt pouch with his free hand. "Hey! Hey! I have some presents for you, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Whaaat!" Kakashi's eye went wide for the second time in under a minute as he stared at the rectangular object in Naruto's hand. "You… h-how… th…this is…"

Naruto handed him the copy of Icha Icha Tactics. "This is the latest in the Icha Icha series after three years! It's an unreleased rare item and totally trashy but you'll probably like it… I think! But it's not what I really want to give you. This is!" With that he put the bike down and opened the rear compartment, removing a familiar looking scabbard. Kakashi's eye widened yet again. "I found this during my travels and had it repaired. It's been away from you for too long." Naruto jumped back down from the roof, leaving an openly weeping Kakashi.

Sakura gazed aimlessly out of the windows of the Hokage Tower. She was feeling inexplicably melancholy today and was too far gone from reality to recognise the voice of the person talking to Tsunade in the next room. She vaguely heard the conversation stop and her sensei enter through the door.

"It seems my little brother has returned home," the medical genius said, a smile on her face, "let's go meet him."

"Okay," Sakura answered on autopilot.

A mischievous grin spread across Naruto's face as he spied the two medic-nins down the street from Ichiraku Ramen. With a brief finger to his lips to silence Tsunade, he leapt up to roof level and stealthily moved from building to building before dropping silently to the ground behind Sakura.

"Tsunade-nee-sama! Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice, startling Sakura out of her trance and causing her to fall to the ground as she turned to look at the source of the racket. Laughing, the fox-nin offered her his handed and pulled her to her feet. "Sorry. You looked so spaced out, I couldn't resist."

"Na-naruto?" she stammered in shock, "You're Tsunade-sama's little brother? I thought you were an only child."

He flashed her his trademark grin, "I am. It's an honorary position. I so reminded her of her brother she gave me this," he said, holding up the extremely valuable necklace he wore proudly.

He stepped in closer. "By the way, has anyone told you what a strong and beautiful woman you've become?" A blush appeared on Sakura's cheeks.

"Naruto-nii-chan! Orioke No Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke parted to reveal a gorgeous dark-haired women. Jiraiya suddenly appeared between Tsunade ans Sakura, chuckling pervertedly, until an almost casually swung elbow from his former team-mate sent his flying.

Another explosion revealed the diminutive form of Konohamaru. "How was that! A real drool of a jutsu, wasn't it!" he asked.

Naruto chuckled under his breath. "You shouldn't use that jutsu anymore. An overused jutsu loses it's effectiveness, especially if it's genjutsu. Save it for when you really need it."

So, Naruto hasn't just matured in appearance, Sakura thought. This makes me a little sad. You really have become amazing, Naruto. I'm sure you've come back with a lot of great new jutsu too, right?

"Besides," he finished, "I have a new, more powerful, perverted jutsu!"

Sakura laughed charmingly, "New jutsu you say, a new perv… perverted jutsu! You idiot!" Her punch sent Naruto skidding across the pavement into a wall. As she picked him off the floor by his collar, she noticed he was grinning from ear to ear, which caused her to forget her angry rant.

"Nice to know you haven't changed inside, Sakura-chan," he told her, causing her to drop him back down, hard.

"Now, now, Sakura," Kakashi appeared, strolling down the street towards them, his father's blade strapped to his back, "that's no way to treat a team-mate."

"Team-mate?" Sakura asked him.

"From now on, the two of you will come with me on team-related missions. It's different from before. It's no longer teacher and pupil. Starting today, we're equal Konoha Shinobi." Two bells jingled as he held them up. "But first, I'm a bit curious as to how you've developed. The rules are the same as when I first met you two. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you will never succeed at getting the bells."

And thus ends this most troublesome chapter. Next chapter should be a lot easier to write. (Yeah right.) Things are about to get interesting.

Also, I've been inspired by The Itch to include character re-descriptions at the ends of chapters. So to kick us off, Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto's no longer a runt although he is still slightly short for his age (but not enough to deserve Kiba's insults). He's become quite muscular and fills out T-shirts well, as Hinata discovered in Chapter One. Normally, he wears an orange leather jacket and pants, based on his old jumpsuit (or whatever it's called), open revealing a black T-shirt and the Shodaime's necklace. When on a mission, he wears a standard chuunin uniform, except replacing the usual sweater with his black T-shirt.

As a side note, Sakura looks just like she does in the manga, at least for now.