Hey! I'm BillyMayes and I'm back once again with another fantastic produ-chapter! Definitely mean chapter. Yeah. Absolutely wasn't talking about a ShamWow or something…

Chapter 3

New Arrivals, New Beginnings

Two figures walked leisurely down the well beaten path. Moving along in a comfortable silence, but by no means attempting to be stealthy, the smaller of the two looked up, taking in the massive walls that signified the outermost border of Konohagakure no Sato. The young man raised his left arm up to his head, brushing the moderately long dull blonde hair out of his eyes, raising one of his eyebrows objectively as he did so. The much larger, and older man, glanced down at his charge, and couldn't help but break out into a grin. Naruto was attempting to hide it, but the now revealed Toad Sage could easily tell that he was apprehensive about his return, to say the least. In truth, Jiraiya's reading of the young Uzumaki wasn't far off from the truth. Over the past 6 years, Naruto had grown by leaps and bounds, and was far from the little defenseless child he had been when Jiraiya had taken him from Konoha. This isn't to say though that he wasn't going to be very cautious upon his now short off return. The atrocities that had been committed against him were still very fresh in the 10 year olds mind, and he wasn't likely to forget them anytime soon.

"You know, I highly doubt anyone will recognize you, Naruto. You'll be a fresh, new face as far as most of the citizens are concerned. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone who still wished you harm were few and far between." The old Toad Sage contemplated, stroking his chin in forethought. Although the old man was quite insufferable at times, there were also many where Jiraiya was more than happy to offer his worldly experience to his young charge, a trait which Naruto had quickly come to appreciate. "Plus kid, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up being quite the stud!" The broad shouldered man laughed heartily at this, throwing his head back and closing his eyes at his Godson's flustered reaction.

The youth in question could only shake his head sheepishly, as he walked along the path, continuously gaining ground on the ever approaching gates. Naruto had changed a large amount in the 6 years he had been gone. On a purely superficial level, the boy had grown into a respectable 4' 10", and had changed his attire from the old rags and barely fitting clothes he used to wear. After Jiraiya had insisted upon him changing his wardrobe to look more like a Ninja (and the subsequent battle over the color orange and how it had no place on his being), Naruto had relented, and allowed the Toad Sage to get him outfitted. Currently, the young Uzumaki was dressed in a pair of loose fitting black shinobi trousers which were bound down at the ankles with bandages, connecting into a pair of standard black shinobi combat sandals. The bond was wearing a form fitting dark green sleeveless shirt, which managed to show off his decently toned and muscled arms quite well. His hands were encased in a pair of black fingerless gloves, and currently, both of the dull blonde's arms were resting at a comfortable angle of the long, black sheath of the katana he was resting across his shoulders. Upon closer inspection, it could be revealed that the sword was not a standardized blade that anyone could pick up at any one of the various weapons shops scattered throughout the Elemental Nations. This blade was truly one of a kind, and this wasn't evident from the sheer craftsmanship that went into the blade as a whole, from the lowest point of the pommel to the sharp tip of the blade. The hilt itself was made with a wooden finish, clothed in a handgrip of dark orange cloth, with breaks in the shape of diamonds falling straight up the center. This flowed into the handguard which instead of a typical rectangle, was in the shape of the Uzumaki Swirl, with each point of the spiral flowing back into the hilt itself. The blade was a midnight black, with a groove down the center of each side somewhat reminiscent of a chokuto, which had been filled in and treated until once again, the color orange shown through. And finally, the sheath itself was a simple black, with an Uzumaki crest decorating the area just under the separation.

Ordinary, and as he would come to in later years, Naruto would sling the katana over his shoulder and wear it in a standardized back harness, but soon after receiving the sword he had realized just how short he actually was. Instead of sealing it away like Jiraiya had suggested, though, the up and coming Ninja had elected to carry it with him wherever he went. If Naruto was being honest with himself, he never felt whole without his sword. It was like carrying a piece of home with him, especially after he had learned just where the sword had come from.

It had been 4 months since Jiraiya had left him. Well, not really left him per say, but the Sannin definitely had chosen to leave him behind while he attended to some "personal business" as he had called it. So, the Toad Sage had called in a favor to an old friend, Mifune, the current leader of Iron Country. After no small amount of begging and promising a surprise for the old samurai upon his return, Jiraiya had turned Naruto over to Mifune and promptly exited the country to deal with whatever had come up.

Naruto, being his hyperactive self, and this only becoming more and more amplified as he grew, had quickly taken to not only training on his own, but had begun to watch the Samurai train in their own respective forms of Kenjutsu. It wasn't long before Naruto had become infatuated with the way of the sword, and had begged and annoyed Mifune to no end until he agreed to train the boy. The young Uzumaki had taken to Kenjutsu like a fish to water, and it wasn't long before he had begun training with the regular samurai and, through a clever use of shadow clones, had started to learn at an astonishing rate. Upon his return, and when Jiraiya had discovered this, he smiled to himself. 'Should have guessed the brat would find some way to get ahold of a sword. Kushina… Kushina would be proud of him."

Later that night, Jiraiya had sat the heir to the Uzumaki down and handed him a scroll. Confused, Naruto cautiously pricked his thumb, and spilt some blood across the seal. In a quick puff of smoke, the sword Naruto would come to see as an extension of himself sat across his lap. With the sword was a letter, and while Jiraiya never read the letter himself, he was able to discern one major thing.

It had been signed "Your Loving Mother, Uzumaki Kushina". Apparently, he now had some explaining to do to Naruto about his family, but he supposed that that could wait until morning. He almost missed Jiraiya signing a copy of a familiar little orange book and handing it back to Mifune.

Since that day and the following conversation on who his parents were, and then following that freak-out about just who his parents were, the sword aptly named "Kaze no Karitoriki (Wind Reaper)", rarely left his side. To Naruto, the blade was a piece of his mother that he could carry with him everywhere he went, and when he was in combat, it was like his mother was fighting by his side. He sighed, before being pulled out of his thoughts by the Toad Sage once again speaking to him. "Alright, Naruto. When we come up on the village, the first thing we have to do is report in to the Hokage, then we need to get you enrolled in the academy. After that, you're free to do as you want. I'll probably be busy with my…research…" the self-proclaimed super pervert managed to proclaim right before he nearly broke down into a fit of giggles. Naruto looked over his shoulder at his Godfather. 'Kami… and he's one of the strongest shinobi on the face of the Earth…go figure.' Naruto thought to himself, before returning his gaze to the road ahead of him, and the near ominous looking gates they were approaching. "Whatever you say, Ero-Sensei. Just try not to get us thrown out of the village like that time in Kumo, alright? I don't ever want to have to have to try and outrun a bunch of pissed off kunoichi with swords again…" The blonde mused, mostly to himself as he had come to realize that his Sensei was next to useless when he got like this.

Kotetsu glared across at his old friend, Izumo, and sneered. Izumo glanced back up at him, a bead of sweat dropping across his brow, as he rearranged the cards in his hand, before locking eyes with his longtime pal-turned nemesis. He looked down at his hand once more, before making his decision. He had to trust his gut. His gut and instincts had gotten him through so many missions, gotten him through so many tight situations that it would be absurd to not trust it. It didn't matter that this was the last hand of the game, which had become so high stakes that even The Legendary Sucker Tsunade wouldn't have taken the bet. But he was in too deep now, too deep to back down. He was ten miles behind enemy lines and if Kotetsu's smirk was anything to go by, he was screwed anyways. May as well go for it.

Steeling himself after wiping the sweat off his brow one final time, he locked eyes with his opponent, "Kotetsu… do you have any…." Izumo briefly hesitated, the tension in the air so think it could be cut with a rusty butter knife, as he locked himself in and finished his question, "4's?"

If nothing but a sheer look could kill, Izumo would have died a thousand deaths from the smirk and following victorious screams that sounded from Kotetsu. His eyes widening, Izumo nearly dropped his cigarette, as he stared, open mouthed at his now former friend, who had picked up his newly acquired prize, and had begun to gloat in an obscene manner. Izumo's hands dropped to his sides, as he was utterly defeated, and his head fell to the table, tears forming in his eyes, and vengeance forming in his heart. He had just lost his most prized possession, a once in a lifetime photo, of a certain Yuugao Uzuki while she was in the world famous Konoha Hot Springs. The photo had cost him multiple shattered bones, several stab wounds, and 4 concussions, and that was only the first day. The photo and him had been through many, many, good times together, but now, he watched on in abject horror as Kotetsu carefully pocketed the picture, making some remark about how he "couldn't wait for tonight!" This was, consequently, the straw that broke the camel's back, and Izumo wasted no time in launching himself across the table and locking his hands around Kotetsu's throat as the latter attempted to desperately fight off his now enraged friend.

This was the scene that Naruto and Jiraiya walked up to the gate upon. As the two travelers watched the scene, they glanced at each other, then back to the spectacle in front of them, and once again back to each other. Jiraiya shrugged, and was just about to clear his throat and make himself known, when a photograph drifted down to in front of him, landing face down, apparently pushed out by the brawl occurring in the guardhouse mere feet away. Bending down and picking it up, it wasn't long before he had once again broken down into a hysterical fit of perverse giggles, before immediately pulling out his notebook and beginning to scribble feverously, a small trickle of blood dripping down his nose, and his signature peeping face plastered across his face. Naruto, guessing immediately what was happening, was quick to steal a glance of the photo as well, and then with a speed that someone wouldn't have expected from a person his age, wiped the blood from his nose while filing away a mental image. Naruto wasn't a pervert, by any conventional means, at least. That isn't to say that he didn't enjoy the wonders of the female body. He was a budding man, after all.

Several minutes later, after gleaning all the 'inspiration' he could from the photo in question, Jiraiya tucked both his ever present notebook and the evidence away. Grinning at Naruto one more time before clearing his throat, he walked up to the front of the guardhouse, finally gaining the attention of the two completely distracted gate guards.

Izumo glared up at the offending party who had dared stop his righteous vengeance, already beginning with a witty retort that quickly died in his throat once he saw who he was addressing. Kotetsu also glanced over, after wondering what could possibly have happened to stop the assault on him. Effectively prying Izumo's hands from around his throat, both men quickly stood to attention, having the decency to look just a little bit ashamed at what they had been caught doing. Jiraiya looked down at the two Chunin, crossing his arms, he slowly and deliberately looked each man dead in the eye, attempting to convey just how unacceptable this behavior was.

Izumo opened his mouth to start a preemptive protest, but the words died in his mouth as Jiraiya threw his head back and let out his trademark laugh, soon joined in by Naruto, at his side. Through barely contained laughter, Jiraiya managed to hand over the paperwork necessary for entry to the village. "Kami, boys. It must have been one hell of a game to end up like that." Jiraiya laughed out, as he motioned to the now scattered cards that adorned the floor.

Izumo, for his part just mumbled something incomprehensible, while Kotetsu beamed at the Toad Sage. "You have no idea, Jiraiya-Sama. It was worth every second. Who's the kid? He looks familiar but I can't place him." Kotetsu asked, looking over at raising an eyebrow at Naruto.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you…" Naruto held out his hand as he trailed off. "Kotetsu. Glad to meet you, kid. Good to have you have in the village, actually. It's been too quiet since you left. No one can quite pull off all the pranks like you used to." Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, well I'll see what I can do about that. No promises, though. I'm trying to make a good impression, this time." Kotetsu grinned at the sheepish young kid, before handing all of Jiraiya's papers back to the Toad Sage, and waving them through the gate.

For the first time in 6 years, Uzumaki Naruto stepped foot on genuine, Konoha soil. And honestly, it felt good to be home. He glanced once over his shoulder at the gatehouse when he heard Kotetsu scream something along the lines of, "It's missing! I know I put it in this pocket, where did it go?!" before dismissing it as one of the lighthearted shinobi's antics, and hurried to follow his sensei who was had now gained significant ground on him. They had a meeting to keep, after all.

Yamanaka Ino was, for lack of a better word, spoiled. She was also highly competitive, which when the two were paired, is one hell of a combination. Now, when you take a girl who is used to always getting what she wants, and then you make her fight for something, one of two things is going to happen. The first being that she will simply give up on that particular item or obsession and attempt to get the next best thing (which is highly unlikely). Or, in the much more likely case, an instant rivalry will be formed between the two parties, ending only when one or the other gets the object of affection. So when Ino's longtime friend Haruno Sakura revealed to her that she wasn't the only one who liked Uchiha Sasuke, the friendship evolved to also form a friendly rivalry.

This was the exact subject that she happened to be arguing over with her best friend as they walked along one of the main roads of Konoha. Well, that, and among other things, the various amenities of being a woman and the certain frivolities that they enjoy. She was so enraptured in her conversation, that she didn't even have time to move out of the way when she rounded the corner, stumbling headfirst right into the lithe form of someone she didn't recognize. This was odd in itself, because being the social person that she was, it was a rare occurrence for Ino to not recognize somebody, especially in the streets near the Yamanaka Clan District. It was because of her befuddlement that she at first didn't even hear what the young boy said as he took one of his hands off the katana resting across his shoulders to help her up. "I'm sorry, what?" She stammered, as he pulled her up.

"Sorry about that, I should have been paying attention to where I was going. I'm sorry….?" Naruto said, finishing pulling the fallen Yamanaka to her feet, merely inkling his head as Jiraiya said something about going on without him, and not wanting to be in the way of young love. Naruto swore, sometimes the Toad Sage could be a real pain in the ass, more or less abandoning him in a village he hadn't been to in years.

"Ino, and this is Sakura. Are you new to the village? I haven't seen you around here before. Are you from a clan? You must be, you've got these two whisker ma-"The now introduced Ino was stopped in her tirade of questioning by the slightly embarrassed Sakura, who had deftly covered her friends mouth with her had. "Kami, Ino! No need to interrogate him! Sorry ahh, what's your name again?"

Naruto took a slight step back, before shifting his sword over to rest on one shoulder (Think like Ikkaku in Bleach), bringing his right back to scratch the back of his head in his signature sheepish motion. "No, it's fine. It's been awhile since people have asked me stuff like that. I'm Naruto, and yes, I am from a clan, but it died out a long time ago, and I'm the last one. It was nice to meet you, Sakura-San, Ino-San, but I've gotta run, I'm already late, and I doubt that Jiji is going to be happy about it!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder as he took off down the road, before jumping, running up the wall of a nearby building, and taking to the rooftops, heading towards the Hokage Tower.

Back on the ground, Ino and Sakura watched him go, surprised by the sudden change in pace, and subsequently the slight, inadvertent demonstration of skill and chakra control that neither one of them had even begun to learn yet. "Well, he seemed cool. You think he's going to the academy with us tomorrow? Ino, you think so? Hello, earth to Ino!" Sakura waved her hand in front of her best friends face, finally gaining her attention.

Ino looked over her shoulder at the retreating form of Naruto as Sakura pulled her off and back along the street. "Yeah, sorry Sakura… There's just something about him that seems familiar. Like I've seen him bef-Ooo! Look at that dress! Come on Sakura lets go inside!" Ino called out as she in turn began the one dragging Sakura into the new shop she had seen, all thoughts of the strange boy she had recently met gone, for now.

Naruto hit the ground running, before launching himself straight up and forward at the Hokage tower, hitting the side feet first, and sprinting straight up the side. It wasn't long before he was nearing the top and right as he was coming parallel to the window which led straight into the Hokage's office, he launched himself straight outward and off the building, spinning as he threw a kunai through the office window, impacting on the opposite wall. Pulling on the ninja wire attached to the knife, Naruto changed his momentum and launched himself through the open window, landing on the floor of the office, before rolling once and coming to a stop on one knee, head bowed. 'This is it. Flashy entrance? Check. Recognition of authority? Check. Here we go.'

"Uzumaki Naruto, reporting as ordered, Hokage-Sama."

Author's Note:

And that brings us to the end of another chapter of 'Immortalized'. Hope you all enjoy. Just as a heads up, updating is probably going to slow down a little bit, now that I've got the base chapters down. As always Ladies and Gents, I do appreciate constructive criticism, I'm still relatively new to writing so all the tips I can get are greatly appreciated.

'Till next time. Out.