Naruto's Return
Chapter One
A/N This chapter is the real start of my story and takes place two years after Naruto disappeared. Also I do not own Naruto
It was a cool morning in the desert that surrounded Suna. All of the animals in the area were scurrying back to their homes in order to avoid the coming heat of day but the villagers and ninja of Suna were rising to start the day.
Two of the ninja, Temari and Kankuro, were just heading into the Kazekage tower to speak with their younger brother, Gaara, the kazekage, to get their assignments for the day. Today it turned out was not their day. They were both assigned gate duty. They realized that the duty was important but Kankuro spoke up, "Gaara how can you assign us gate duty, we're two of the top jounin in the village."
"I realize that but we are currently short handed. Several missions have been extended due to unforeseen circumstances and I need you two to watch the gate for a day or two until we get back several of the mission teams that are out.
The morning was rather uneventful, a few teams of genin and chunin returned, some with minor injuries, but it was never anything bad. There was also no strange activity near the gate or even in the distance.
"This is so boring," Kankuro complained, "I could be using this time to improve on my puppets or to build a new one. I know exactly what I want to build too. If I built the puppet I would have the ultimate defense as a puppeteer. It would be a very strong hollow puppet, not unlike what Sasori had used."
"Oh shut up. I don't care about you and your stupid puppets." Exclaimed Temari. "I'm really bored to though."
With that the two Suna nin fell into conversation and became a bit to relaxed. They stopped watching the desert past the gate so much and opted to watch the immediate vicinity instead.
As the day wore on it came closer and closer to noon when the gates of Sunagakure would close for the next three hours. The gates closed during this time because you would have to be crazy or in trouble to be in the desert at that point in the day as the temperatures increased.
Temari and Kankuro were still taking it easy seeing that no one had appeared since about nine and their shift was almost over. If they had been doing their job properly they would have noticed some strange activity in the distance. Someone was approaching extremely fast.
Kankuro and Temari didn't notice whomever it was that was approaching until they were almost right on top of the gate. At this point they snapped to attention and asked the approaching person for identification. Now that they were close enough the two Suna nin could see that it wasn't one person like they thought at first, but two. One, a woman, was carrying the other, a rather weak looking man.
The woman appeared to be royalty. She stood roughly five and a half feet tall and had flowing crimson hair that ended halfway down her back with light silvery white tips. The hair shone beautifully in the light and appeared to have been taken great care of. The woman further wore a very fine kimono that looked as it could be used for battle. It looked as if the kimono were made of fine silk but at the moment it was hard to tell for sure due to the speed the woman moved and the crimson fluid that slowly dripped off of the bottom.
The man looked horrible. He was tall, maybe a little over six feet, but at the moment he was very pale. It looked as if he were going to die any second. On top of his head was a mop of crimson streaked blonde hair. It was hard to tell if the hair was bloody or if the look was normal. On further examination it could be seen that the man was wearing clothing that was much to small for him. The clothing was also in shreds. It looked as if the clothing were once a black and orange coat and black pants, though again it was hard to tell for sure.
Temari jumped in front of the woman to try and stop her approach but the woman just ran her over. Kankuro took out a couple puppets and alerted Gaara to the fact that an unknown was trying to enter and he was going to try and detain her.
Just seconds after the message was sent Kankuro's puppets were on their way towards the woman. Inches away from her they stopped and fell to the ground. Kankuro just stared at them and the woman entered Suna. As she ran through the path into the village Gaara appeared.
"Halt and state your buisiness," he droned out in a dry but threatening monotone. "If you try to continue any further I will have to detain you by force and I can not guarantee that you would live."
Again the woman just ignored the person in front of her and continued to run. Sand shot out from all around Gaara and grabbed the woman's legs, tripping her in the process. As she fell the man in her arms flew forward, hitting the ground just two feet in front of Gaara.
Gaara glanced down and his eyes went wide. The beaten body in front of him was that of his first true friend, the one who had supposedly died two years ago in order to protect his precious people. The man was none other than Uzumaki Naruto.
With this new information Gaara quickly picked up the body in front of him with his sand and rushed towards the hospital. The woman he had tripped, now free, followed Gaara.
Upon arrival at the hospital a nurse approached the Kazekage to welcome him and offer him the monthly health reports of the injured ninja. It wasn't until she reached him that the nurse saw Naruto on Gaara's sand.
"Get a stretcher over here," she yelled.
Seconds later two more nurses arrived with a stretcher and Gaara put the nearly dead form of Naruto on it. "Make sure he lives," Gaara said. The nurses understood and quickly rushed off to do their jobs.
At this point Gaara turned and looked at the red headed woman behind him. "I thank you for bringing him here, though I have to wonder how he was injured to such an extent." Gaara shot a piercing look at the woman but she seemed unaffected by it.
"This was the closest village that would have been able to help him, that and I know he was a friend of yours," the mystery woman said.
"Let us take this to my office, we have much to discuss," Gaara said.
An hour later in Gaara's office
"Ok, I understand Kasumi. I have to inform the hokage of this turn of events," Gaara stated.
"Of course, I'm just really glad that you're helping Naruto and I understand that he needs to return to his home village once he can be transported," the woman now identified as Kasumi said.
Same time in Konoha
Tsunade hated this day. It was a day of great celebration for most of the village. At first the only reason that the village celebrated was that today was the anniversary of the defeat of the kyuubi, the dreaded fox that had gone on a rampage and destroyed much of Konoha and killed many of its ninja. Then two years ago the day gained another cause for celebration in the eyes of most of the villagers, the demon spawn, as they thought of him, had been killed. Tsunade's reason for being in the village was ripped away from her two years ago on this day, October tenth. Naruto had been killed by Akatsuki, or more likely himself in an effort to kill the two Akatsuki members after him.
"I have to find someone to replace me," Tsunade sighed, "Do you want the job?" She asked no one it seemed until an ANBU wearing a dog mask came out.
"You know that I couldn't do that Tsunade-sama, it was his dream and I won't be the one to take it from him even though he is dead," the masked ANBU replied.
"I know Kakashi but I need to find someone soon, he was the reason I came here and the only reason I thought I could deal with the village again," Tsunade replied. Suddenly Tsunade looked as if she had remembered something and she turned around to face Kakashi. "What time is it?" she questioned him quickly.
"Well," Started Kakashi, "judging by the sun I would say it's about one thirty, why do you need to know?"
"Don't tell me you forgot what's happening today at two Kakashi," Tsunade growled out.
"I know whats going on, everyone is gathering at the memorial stone to pay their respects to Naruto again and then just like last year we'll all sit around and talk about what he did for us," sighed Kakashi, " I really don't know if I can bring myself to go. It hurts so much to know that he's gone."
"I know what you mean Hatake, but you know he would want to be remembered and if you and the others didn't he would be forgotten, we can't let that happen," Tsunade said seeming as old as she actually was for once. "I trust I'll see you there Kakashi, if even for only a little while."
Two thirty at the memorial stone
A surprisingly large group had gathered at the stone to remember Naruto and the sacrifices he had made to help them. There were a few civilians like the Ichirakus and then many ninja. As expected the rookies were all there, including Sasuke. He had come back just six months after Naruto's death. The council decided that since he was the last Uchiha and he came back of his own free will that he was to be given no punishment but Tsunade went over the heads of the council and had him stuck to d rank missions for the next six months, less if he behaved and agreed to have his cursed seal removed by Jiraiya. He agreed because he had found that the curse seal held no more power after Orochimaru had died. After two weeks back he had yet to see Naruto and started to ask about him. No one he talked to would tell him anything so he decided to go see Tsunade thinking that she would know where to find Naruto and how he could best apologize to him, believing that was the reason he had yet to see Naruto. When he found out Naruto was dead he shut himself off for a while. He slowly returned to the world and eventually started to come and offer prayer for Naruto at the memorial stone everyday.
A couple hours later everybody had finished their prayers for Naruto and started to swap stories when a messenger hawk from Suna started to circle overhead. It landed on Tsunade's shoulder and she took the not from its leg before it flew away. She opened the note and it read simply, "Hokage-sama, I have found someone you may want to see. Please come to Suna as soon as possible.
Gaara, Godaime Kazekage."
"Well, it looks like I'll have a mission for a couple of you tomorrow," Tsunade said.
"What is it Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked.
"Well, the kazekage has something he would like me to see so three of you are going to be my escort to Suna," she replied, "I think I'll take Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru."
The three named ninja all replied, "Hai."
The Next Morning
The sun was just rising and Tsunade, Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru were standing at the gate ready to leave. "Ok," Tsunade started, "Chouji, you're in front because besides me you are physically the strongest, after him I want Shikamaru, myself, then Hinata. Hinata, I want you to make periodic checks using the Byakugan to make sure no one is following or getting ready to ambush us. Lets move out."
The trip to Suna was uneventful and the team made it there in just a couple of days. When they got there Temari greeted them and started to lead them to the Kazekage tower. On the way Tsunade looked at her and asked, "So who does Gaara have that he wants me to see so badly?"
"I don't know," Temari replied, "he won't let me see the person and he won't charge them even though they broke into Suna getting past myself and Kankuro. He won't even talk about it. All I know is that there was a woman and she brought in a man."
"Hmm, the only reason I could see him asking me to come out here would be if he captured a high profile missing nin from Konoha but if he didn't lock them up then I have no clue what he wants me to see. Guess I'll have to wait and see," Tsunade said.
The group reached the tower just a few minutes later and was ushered immediately to see Gaara. They entered his office and he motioned for them to sit.
"You no doubt want to know who was so important that I called you here to see them," Gaara stated, "I will only tell you at the moment you will be very happy to see them but they are curentally in a coma and nothing that the Suna med nin do can seem to wake him."
"Can't you just tell me who it is you have?" asked Tsunade, "I mean why won't you?"
"You would not believe me if I did tell you so I will let you see for yourselves," Gaara smirked, "As it is you will have to wait until tomorrow to see him so that the med nin can get done with him. Meet me here at nine in the morning."
The next morning came to slowly for Tsunade's tastes. Gaara had peaked her curiosity so she had trouble sleeping. The same could be said of everyone who was with her at the time. As nine approached, the Konoha ninja arrived in Gaara's office. When they arrived the office was empty and Gaara was nowhere to be seen. At exactally nine a swirl of sand appeared in the middle of the office and in the middle was Gaara.
"Let us head to the hospital to see him now," Gaara said.
The group walked off and arrived at the hospital in short order. Right as he got in Gaara flagged down a nurse and asked, "How is my patient?"
"He is stable but he has yet to awaken," she replied, "If he had gotten here much later he would probably have died. Also, the woman you allowed to stay with him hasn't left at all since she arrived."
"Thank you Ayame, go back to work now," Gaara said, "Ok hokage-sama, are you ready to see him?"
"Of course I am." She replied, "I would have seen him yesterday if you would have let me."
The group approached a door on the third floor before Gaara stopped. "This may shock you but you should all be glad after this is over." Gaara opened the door and Tsunade started to walk in. She stopped in the doorway.
"Tsunade-sama, whats wrong?" Hinata asked.
"N—n—Naruto" She whispered just loud enough to be heard by the three behind her.
