Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters or techniques associated with Naruto
Reviews Recognition:
innocent94: I've been pretty much updating it daily, but that may change here and there do to a few RW factors
anarion87, ShadowPhoenix1989: thank you I thought so too, of course if you have any ideas to make better, my ears are always open
Thoughts: like this
Speech: "obviously like this"
Time skip or location change: like this:
Now on to the story!
Chapter 3: THE RETURN
One year later, Hokages office:
On this day you could find the Third Hokage working on the ever present stacks of paperwork, every so often he would look out the window as if hoping to see someone. He had his top trackers search for Naruto but none of them could find anything that could point them in the right direction, it was as if he had disappeared of the face of the planet. After a month of search he had to call off the mission. As, with no clues what so ever, no one could find him, so he passed the task to an old friend
"Hokage-sama if you don't get back to work you'll have to work overtime, again" his secretary said from his office door, while holding yet another stack of the dreaded paperwork.
"At the rate its coming in I won't be able to go home anyway" sighed Sarutobi, after which his secretary plopped the most recent stack beside his desk and left the office. Sarutobi turned to the window again, and thought where are you, Naruto?, before turning back to his ever increasing stack of paperwork and sighing again before getting back to work.
Unknown Village in the Land of Fire:
Jiraiya was currently sitting in a bar talking with his informant "you mean to tell me that you can't find anything about him! How is that even possible?"
"I don't know. None of my men have seen or heard anything that matches your description of him. I'm sorry I can't be of more help" the man then left the bar, leaving Jiraiya to sit and brew in his thoughts. That is until the door of the bar opened and closed, and the whole bar went quiet as a small figure in a strange black cloak made its way to the counter (conveniently close to Jiraiya). "We don't serve minors here kid" the barkeeper told the kid "So scamper off"
"Oh I'm not here for that. I was told that I could find someone willing to supply me with transport to Konoha, that true" the barkeep thought for a minute before shrugging "I might know someone willing, and I might be willing to tell you for a price"
The kid was about to place some coins on the counter, when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist "now kid don't go wasting your money, it just so happens I'm heading that way myself and have already arranged for transport. You can join me if you want" Jiraiya smiled down at the cloaked kid, never one to let a kid travel alone with no way to protect themselves.
"Thanks, when are you leaving?" the kid said as he re-pocketed his money. "Well I was just about to head out after this drink, that okay with you"
"Sure, I guess. Just need to tell the inn I'm staying at that I won't need the room after all" as they were already outside the bar by this point, he turned in the direction of said inn with Jiraiya by his side.
"So what's your name kid?"
"Not important"
"Okay then, why are you heading to konoha, then?"
"Unfinished business" realising that the unknown kid wasn't going to tell him anything more, he wisely decided to shut up (for the moment at least for now, that is)
After a short discussion with the people at the inn, in which the kid gave the money he was going to give them for the duration of his stay to the inn in exchange for inconveniencing them by canceling his room reservation, they were back outside and walking towards Jiraiya's transport.
"Why'd you give them all that money when you didn't need to kid" said kid looked over at him as if he were an idiot and said "I inconvenienced them, so I gave them the money they would have lost. It's not like it was that much anyway"
"Not much. Kid I highly doubt you have enough money to be doing that all the time"
"No I'm pretty sure I do"
He glared at the kid for a minute before sighing "whatever, it's your life kid"
It didn't take much longer to reach Jiraiya's 'transportation', which was really just a merchants cart pulled by a small horse. "That's your ride" sighed the disappointed kid "Well whatever let's just get going"
Two weeks travel later, Konoha's front gate:
They got off the cart, stretching their sore muscles and aching joints, and walked to the guard post to sign in. "Oh Jiraiya, nice seeing you. Any luck finding him" Kotetsu, one of the two Chunin stationed there, asked
"No, not at all unfortunately heh oh well. I better make my report to the Hokage anyway" he sighed tuning and walking towards the Hokage tower
"Oh didn't see ya there kid, how can we help you" Izumo, the other half of the duo, asked
"I'm just a returning citizen, wanting to join the ninja academy" cloaked kid said
"Alright then you can head over to the Hokages tower as well, they'll help you with the registration process" Izumo pointed to a big tower with the kanji for 'fire' on it. The cloaked boy turned and walked after Jiraiya's figure.
Thirty minutes later the boy entered the tower, Jiraiya once again at his side wondering what the kid was doing there before going into the Hokages office, and walked up to the secretary "I was told that I could register for the ninja academy here"
Looking down at the small figure, the receptionist answered "yes, you can. But you'll need the approval of your parent or guardian to do so" as she was talking she shuffled through a few sheets of paper, finally finding the right form and handing it to the boy. "There's the registration form, anything else I can help you with?"
"I would also like to speak with the Hokage as well"
"I'll check to see if he's free, please wait over there for now" she said as she got up
Inside the Hokages office:
"I see, so even you were unable to find him" Sarutobi sighed at the news
"I tried my best, but none of my contacts could get any info on where he might be or what happened to him"
"I know, you tried your best and that's all I can ask. You may go now" just as Jiraiya exited, via the window, his secretary opened the door.
"Sir there's a small boy who would like to see you"
"Send him in"
A small boy, cloaked in an unusual black cloak, walked in soon after. As soon as the door was shut the boy lowered his hood, revealing one Naruto Uzumaki, to a very surprised Sarutobi.
"Hey old man, long time no see" Naruto grinned up at him
"NARUTO" Sarutobi yelled, surprise and happiness evident in his voice, his yell causing Jiraiya to immediately turn around and come back (through the window of course).
"You mean to tell me I was traveling with him for the past two weeks and didn't even know it, god damn it kid you could have said something!"
"I didn't know who you were or if you could be trusted, so I saw no point in telling you anything at the time, pervy sage"
"Hmmm, I guess that makes sense, and don't call me that"
"Nope, I won't. Anyway, I would like to join the academy but as you know I need parental permission to do so. Can you help me out with this, old man? I've already filled out the form, I just need the permission part taken care of" he passed the form over as he spoke.
"Hmmm, Jiraiya sign the form for him. It is your responsibility as his god father after all" at which Naruto turned an icy glare upon the man before turning back to Sarutobi, as Jiraiya signed the form. "You're lucky, the academy is just starting a new year" Sarutobi told him, well he put the form in a folder full of forms just like it.
"When does it start and where am I staying till I can purchase a place of my own?"
"It starts in a week and you'll be living in the same place as you were before your disappearance, which I would like to hear about. What happened?" both Sarutobi and Jiraiya were watching him closely now, waiting to hear what he would say.
"I'm afraid all I can tell you is that it had to do with my clan" both Sarutobi and Jiraiya face faulted before getting back up.
"Fine, I know that clan secrets are only for the clan. you're both dismissed" Sarutobi grumbled
Naruto flipped his hood back up before exiting through the door, well Jiraiya went out through the window. Once out of the building Naruto started walking towards his old apartment, till Jiraiya appeared in front of him blocking his way.
"Mind if I tag along" he just glared at the older man "heh look I thought you would want to know why I wasn't around for you or anything like that" he glared a little more before going around him
"There's no point in talking about the past, all I want to know is what you plan on doing now. So talk well we walk" Jiraiya turned and followed him
"I'm, uh, not sure what you mean"
"are you staying here to care for me like you should have done in the first place, are you going to do something to make it up to me, what do you plan on doing now"
"I can't stay, I wish I could, but I have to keep up my spy network for the sake of the village, it's the reason why I wasn't able to take care of you before. And the only thing I can do to make it up to you is give you a little training before I go on my next trip"
"Very well, give me what training you can."
They reached their destination as he finished talking, finding the door wide open and the house completely trashed. "Oh right, I forgot that it was trashed before I left. Oh well" Naruto shrugged and went into his partially destroyed apartment "Let's see" he fished out a piece of paper out of his bag, that he had since the start of his journey back to konoha, and placed it in the middle of the floor. Immediately after placing the paper, after jumping back to the doorway, everything in the room started to fly through the air. Anything that was broken or damaged started to repair itself and settle back on the ground, where it had been before being broken, likewise the carpet, which had been beyond repair, counters, which were badly chipped, and the walls, which were heavily laden with graffiti and scratches, repair themselves as well. Once everything was settled on the ground and repaired to its original state, Naruto walked back over to the paper and picked it up. "What the heck was that?!" Jiraiya was shocked at what he had just witnessed, he had never seen anything that could do something like that before.
"It's called a seal, made using fuinjutsu. It's not like its magic or anything"
"Kid, I'm a master in the art of fuinjutsu, believe me when I say that was not fuinjutsu" to which he burst out laughing at the old man
"Then you're not a true master of fuinjutsu, just a novice who's only skimmed the top of what real fuinjutsu can do"
"And what would you know about fuinjutsu" scoffed Jiraiya
"I'm an Uzumaki, a clan that specialized in sealing, why wouldn't I know a lot about it"
"Ok so how does the seal you just used work?"
"It works by using the inherent energy within inanimate objects and the inherent memories in the air to repair or recreate objects that were damaged. When I say recreate I don't mean that objects appear out of thin air but that an object that is already present but heavily damaged and missing pieces reforms the missing pieces and repairs itself with them, this is done by using the inherent energy of the object. Then, once the object is repaired, using the inherent memories of the air it sets down right where it was before it was broken, although it doesn't work on organic materials. There you go, happy" Naruto smirked at the stunned Jiraiya, who had his mouth hanging open. "I told you there was more to it" sighed Naruto before going to his kitchen and dumping everything into garbage bags and going through his cupboards, getting rid of anything with an expiry date.
Jiraiya just stood there, too stunned to move. "You can go now, I have a lot to do here before I can relax"
Two hours later:
"Ok that takes care of the security and the groceries, no one's gonna break in and mess the place up now" Naruto smiled to himself, now I just need some new gear, I only have my katana and fuinjutsu stuff right now, better make a list to make sure I don't forget anything, grabbing a sheet of paper he started writing
100 yards of Ninja wire
1 barrel of kunai and one barrel of shurikan
New mission outfit x 10
New clothing x 10
40 windmill shurikan
Smoke, chili and flash bombs, five full pouches each
1 pouch of Makibishi
Finished writing up the list he set out.
Thirty minutes later:
Naruto is now in front of a ninja tool shop, by the name of 'The Iron Claw', and entered after a short pause.
"Welcome to the Iron Claw, how may I help you" looking at the counter he could see a girl around his age, her brown hair done up in buns, dressed in a Chinese clothing.
"Uhh, can I speak to an employee please?"
"That's okay, my dad lets me take orders for him so he can work on more orders, all the time. Now what can I do for you?"
"Well, uh okay then" nervous about whether it was really okay, he handed her the list and waited for her to respond.
"Okay, if this is all you need then I can get it all for you now. Is there anything else I can help you with, before I go get the items in question"
"Actually there is something else you can do, maybe" he said before taking out a scroll, once he unsealed his sword he turned to see the girl with stars in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"What kind of sword is that? Does it channel chakra? Does it have a special name, if so what is it? Do you know who made it? Is it yours? Can I hold it" Naruto just blinked, under the rapid fire of questions.
"Uhhhmmm, right let's see. It's a katana, yes, yes it's Shi no ryū, no it was made a long time ago in a forgotten age, yes it is mine and no you can't. Now are you done?" she pouted a little before answering him.
"Just one more, does it have any special abilities?" she looked expectantly at him.
"Yes, and before you ask I'm not going to tell you what they are, now are you ready to listen?" she nodded, though a little put out about not hearing everything about the sword. "Good, I want you to get your father I need to ask him if he can do something or not"
"I already told you I can take orders and answer your questions, what you don't believe me"
Oh it's not that, the question just has to do with his skill and I highly doubt that you, …."
"It's Tenten"
"Well I highly doubt that you, Tenten, know his exact skill range and set" at this he gave her a look that clearly said 'isn't that right'.
"Fine, I'll go get him. I'll be right back"
After tenten left to get her father Naruto un-sheaved his sword and started examining the blade. After a few minutes Tenten came back with her father, who seemed to blink a few time before speaking "aren't you a little young to be buying anything in this shop?"
"I'm gonna be starting in the ninja academy and wanted to get the proper supplies early" his answer gave the man enough time to register the sword, not that it didn't take Tenten more than a second as she was already reaching to touch it
"Whaaaaa!" Tenten yelped flying through the air after getting zapped by black lightning, which seemed to be in the shape of a dragon.
"TENTEN!" her father yelled as he rushed over to her, "are you okay honey? Why'd you attack her like that?!" the last part was directed at Naruto himself.
"I didn't, the Shi no ryū did. You can relax she'll wake up in a minute, it was just Shi no ryū way of saying back off, a warning shot if you will. Honestly I told her that she couldn't touch him and she tries to anyway" sighed Naruto, after finishing.
"Are you sure?" Tentens father had a very stern look on his face as he spoke.
"Of course" Naruto said as he re-sheaved Shi no ryū.
"Uhhh, what hit me?" Tenten said as she rose from the ground holding her head
"See, perfectly fine" he said to the concerned father, who promptly ignored him.
"How do you feel Tenten? Is everything still working right?"
"Yeah, I feel perfectly fine. What happened though, the last thing I remember is trying to touch that awesome looking katana, then….nothing"
"You were zapped by Shi no ryū, because you did not match any of the requirements needed in order to touch him, he was just warning you" Naruto answered
"That…is….so…..COOL!" Tenten was back on her feet, stars back in her eyes, and gushing over the fact that the sword zapped her.
"Anyway, back to business. Have you ever doubt with sentient swords?" Naruto asked, turning to the man.
"Not since I was an apprentice, at least until my master died in the third shinobi world war. I never got to learn how to."
"Hmm okay then" Naruto said re-sealing his katana. "Then I'll just take the items I requested, I believe I have more than enough to pay for it all"
"Alright, I'll go get it now" a deflated Tenten stated before heading into the back, returning a few minutes later with all the items he asked for on a trolley. "Here you go, that'll be….. 6700 ryū"
After paying and sealing the equipment away, he left in search of a clothing store that, like the ninja tool shop, wouldn't rip him off and would have a decent selection. Finding what he was looking for in a shop called 'Weave of Steel', and upon entering he started to look around.
"How are you finding everything, sir? Is there anything I can help you with" Naruto thought for a minute before turning to respond
"Do you do custom orders? It's just that I like how everything is made but I'm not finding anything I like" he asked not wanting to be rude.
"In that case you'll want Yukari, just head to the back and she's at the custom orders desk"
"Okay thank you for the assistance"
It only took a few minutes to get to the back and find the appropriate desk. "How can I help you kid? Lose your parents?" an old lady, who must be Yukari, behind the desk said in a gruff and slightly irritated voice.
"Hard to lose what you never had in the first place, don't you think?" Naruto responded in an overly happy voice, "I would like to get something custom made"
"I guess your right there kid. Any particular style you want or colours or anything like that? And I hope you can pay for it, it's not exactly cheap" Yukari responded still in a gruff voice though it had lost the irritation that was in it before.
"I'm not particular on the style, but I would like it to be made out of this kind of materiel, preferably in black for ten of the twenty I need, the rest I'll leave up to you" he said showing her a spare shirt he had brought with him.
"Okay, I think I know just what to do, now I just need your measurements. Please step inside, so I can take those" she indicated towards the curtained off area behind the counter.
After they both entered, she started talking again "I'll need you to take off that cloak and strip to your underwear in order to get an accurate measurement"
"Fine" was all he said before doing as asked, carefully folding them before putting them down on the floor in the corner.
"Hmmm, I thought you disappeared over a year ago"
"Hm, I did I just got back is all. Why do you ask is there a problem with me coming back to Konoha?"
"No, I just haven't heard anything about you returning yet, Naruto"
After taking the measurements well asking a few questions here and there, mostly about what he was going to be doing in the clothes, Naruto finished the order, after putting his clothes back on, and made his way to the hot springs, for a little relaxation, as it was one of the few places that wouldn't overcharge him or kick him out.
Once there he quickly paid for his stay, and went in to the male side of the hot springs and found an empty portion of the spring to sit in. although his relaxation was cut a little short by the perverted, and all to familiar by this point, giggling coming from a secluded corner of the hot springs. After getting up and walking over to the source of the noise he found that it was coming from near the wall that divided the male and female sides of the hot spring, as well as one Jiraiya of the Sannin spying on the girls who were bathing there. Naruto, deciding to give him a little help, kicked him right over the fence followed soon after by the angry shouts of the spring's current occupants, a few minutes later, as well as Jiraiya's cries of pain. Satisfied that he could once again get back to relaxing, he returned to his spot where he once again sat down and closed his eyes to enjoy the hot water.
After the bath at the hot spring he returned to the apartment he was staying in and went to bed, after a bowl of ramen that is.
To be continued…
Please review so I can improve (or just to share your thoughts on the story so far). Also don't forget to vote on the polls, which can be found on my forum.
