Naruto smiled at the pinkette, his heart soaring from being with her again after so long. While her outward appearance looked the same something about her was obviously different, Naruto guessed it was the fact that she was once again human. It was in the way she walked and moved, she was weaker. He remembered seeing the small human girl from all those many years ago, she was small and fierce and she had fought hard to become strong. Naruto hated seeing the woman he loved turned to something she fought so desperately to escape.

The details of what happened to turn her back to human was unclear, he wasn't even sure who had done it, much less how to reverse it. Sakura smiled at him as she locked their arms together and leaned into him, silently he vowed to find the culprit and turn her back. Naruto would like to say it was all for her, but he doubted he could be without her. The few months she was gone felt like he was being torn apart. In his long and many years he had never felt such pain- and he had been in many gruesome battles.

"So," the female human asked, eyes trained on Naruto, "how do you two know each other?" Naruto looked at Sakura asking silent permission to go on. He knew not to disclose the immortal part of their story to a human, but Sakura had always been selective about her past. Most people didn't even know about it, Naruto was one of the few and he only knew because he had been there. She nodded her approval and he smiled; she'd found someone she could trust. He seriously doubted anyone Sakura showed affection to would ever betray her; if they did Naruto would easily hunt them down himself.

"I met her when she was a little girl," he said softly, thinking back. "She had been a scared little thing but angry and fierce. She was being chased by some bad guys after witnessing her parents murder when she ran into Sasuke and I." When Ino gave him a questioning look he coughed, "Sasuke was my best friend."

He wanted to laugh at that, she had been a little human girl at the time and back then it wasn't a secret that immortals walked among humans. Humans had been taught to fear those who were stronger, and rightly to do so. Immortals had abused their powers and committed terrible sins, he had been no exception. The small human had known what they were even before they had said anything, and yet she had demanded people's death. Sasuke had denied her by stating they did nothing for no one and especially not without a price. Sakura had offered herself, begging for revenge in exchange for her own life. People had died for far less, and yet neither himself nor Sasuke could deny the girl. So they had committed a sin that came as natural as breathing for her, as time went on they became much more willing to do anything that would appease her and make her happy.

They had took her offer to heart, keeping her as their little pet. Over time they had made her an immortal, not wanting to part the girl who's life was as fleeting as single lifetime. Even before her immortality Sakura had gained many admirers, the strength and devotion and eternal beauty only adding to those who loved and cared for her.

"How old are you?" Ino questioned with narrowed eyes.

Naruto opened his mouth about to tell her how he had lost count after he hit five hundred, Sakura pulled her arm away from him and slammed her elbow into his stomach, repeating her earlier assault. She smiled at Ino, "He's twenty." A year older than Sakura's human form; he fought to catch his breath excited to see she still had her inhuman, or was it human?, strength; she wasn't as strong as she use to be, but this was still far more than he had felt from any other human. Ino excepted Sakura's answer but kept her eyes suspiciously on Naruto. He noted that the blonde human was perceptive, something he would have to look out for.

"You guys have known each other for sometime, huh." She said nothing about Sakura's parents death, not even reacting to the fact Sakura had been there. Good choice on her part.

"Since childhood," Sakura replied without lying. Naruto wanted to snicker at the pinkette's deceptiveness. It was true Naruto had known her since shewas a child, however it wasn't the truth vice versa. Naruto wrapped his arms around her shoulders once more, giving her a little shake.

"Who's Sasuke?" Ino questioned once more.

Sakura smiled and said, "Naruto's boyfriend."

Naruto waved his hands in front of Ino, yelling for her not to believe Sakura and that Sasuke was just another best friend to the two. "We were a team made family of orphans," Naruto explained with a soft smile. "Originally a family of four: Sakura, Kakashi, Sasuke, and myself. However we upgraded to a team of six, adding Yamato and Sai." Naruto had grown up with Sasuke, both loosing their families for some reason or another. They had been a rag tag pair when Kakashi had found them, took them under his wing and nurtured them.

Sakura became a queen among ancient immortals; any of them, family or not, would go out of their way for her. She was beloved among all, worshiped and treasured even by the most ruthless. It had been no secret of Sakura's dislike for being human and humankind, and when she had disappeared after announcing the return of her mortality all the ancient immortals had gone into a frenzy looking for her.

She had been with them all too long, however, and she was a master at running and hiding from them. Staying out of their sights, away from hidden ears, away from out stretched hands, something that wasn't easily accomplished. It was by chance Naruto had stumbled by a human talking about a pink haired bomb shell, in all his long years he had never heard of anyone else with pinkhair.

"What did you guys do?" Ino asked.

"Various things," Sakura replied with a smile. She didn't feel the need to bestow the gory details of what they did on the young and very human girl. Naruto could tell the blonde girl was feeling down, and he couldn't blame her. She had grown close with Sakura, probably even believing Sakura would tell her anything, and yet the pinkette was hiding things back now. Naruto would have lost his mind if Sakura left him out of the loop, he was ecstatic that he had been the one who introduced her to the world of immortals. Naruto was far older than Sakura, meaning he was stronger. Age meant strength, and Sakura had been one of the last immortals made; far stronger than she should have been.

Had immortality not been stolen from her, Naruto had a feeling she would have far suppressed many of them.