Such a simple question and it had almost everyone stumped, for lack of a better term. What had been going on in the last five years? of course there had been plenty been going on, but his return had kind of outdone all of that and none of them could currently think about the past.
"Forget about what we have been doing, where have you been all of this time?" Anko asked for all of them when no-one was capable of coming up with a good response for the blonde man. His attention turned to the purple haired Tokubetsu Jonin and he smiled at her before looking around all of them and giving a nervous chuckle.
"Would you prefer that I tell you what I been doing first?" Naruto asked sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head and closed his eyes. After the chorus of yes' he opened his eyes and looked to exactly who his audience were.
Luckily enough for Naruto most of his comrades from his year had stood near their teammates and were standing in the trios that were their Genin team, even though after ranking up they still sometimes worked as a team.
The first trio that he saw was one he had already recently seen but still took note of. Ino Yamanaka, Shikimaru Nara and Choji Akamichi were all standing wearing the exact same clothing Naruto had seen them wearing the last time he had seen them, the men when he was in hospital, and Ino of course after he woke up and saw her sleeping in the chair next to his bed.
His eyes scanned over their team before moving to the next in quick motion. The next team were those that consisted of team 8. Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. All three had drastically changed since the last time Naruto had seen any of them.
First of all were the changes to Shino. The man did not wear clothing that covered up his face but instead wore a black trench coat, completely opened, along with mostly black attire, looking like Ibiki used to look. His face was however still covered as he had on a mask much like Kakashi's, taking the man's advice when deciding to lose the high collared clothing.
Kiba was the next that Naruto's eyes traced over, the boy had become a man and the dog at his side, although it had not grown too much larger had indeed gotten bigger, as if to attest to the fact it had grown there was a small tuft of fur upon Akamaru's back, red in colour too. Kiba himself had on a black trench coat and black attire much like Shino but he also had draped across his shoulders a large fur cape. The man's hair had also grown much too, reaching his shoulders now and making him look even more feral.
Naruto's eyes made to shift over the next person too but found them stuck on her for longer than he had anticipated. The beauty before him had his eyes demanding that they get to see her longer before he looks away. Hinata Hyuga had turned into a gorgeous young woman in Naruto's eyes. Her hair was much longer than it had been, reaching down to below her bust line. Her clothing was completely unfit to be of fighting style and Naruto deduced that she must be the clan head by now. As he saw the faint blush that adorned her face he reminded himself that there was a matter of great importance he had to talk to her about.
The next trio his eyes saw was the three Shinobi that had been a year older than he but were still regarded as part of their year group. This was the team that consisted of a Prodigy, a weapons mistress and a Taijutsu specialist. Or otherwise better known as Neji Hyuga, Tenten and Rock Lee.
Neji had changed very little, he had gained height and now wore the common attire of most Konoha Jonin. The only thing that might be viewed as slightly different about the man would be the softer expression that he had upon his face. He looked much calmer than he had ever used to when they were younger.
Tenten had changed much. Her bun hair style was still in place yet her body had certainly taken upon itself to develop and as she had obviously opted not to change her style of clothing from her Chinese style and had much the same attire as she had when Naruto returned with Jiraiya all those years ago, well, she was definitely beautiful in Naruto's eyes. She basically wore a white shirt that showed off some of her midriff and also extenuated her bust greatly, her bottom half was covered by a pair of green pants that were curled up at the bottom. Alongside her buns in her hair she had long bangs that reached slightly down her chest and was curled slightly.
Rock Lee, Naruto noticed was very different. His usual exuberance was gone and Naruto almost felt as if he missed the way that he had used to act. He had first noticed it when the man was standing so quiet for quite so long but when he looked at Rock Lee he saw a very concentrated look upon his face. He looked almost hauntingly like Maito Gai had once looked if he looked calmer, had longer hair and did not shout out about youth all of the time.
And finally Naruto's eyes landed on the form of Sakura and he realised the lapse his memory had slightly taken. The next team there should have been include her, himself and a man not of their world any longer. Although it constricted his heart slightly, he took solace in his belief that Sasuke's soul was in a better place now. Yet as he looked at Sakura and her new look that consisted of a cream jonin vest with the red cross on the left breast and her same clothing from before the war, as well as her longer hair and softer expression, he remembered that he also had unfinished business with her too. Coming back was turning out to be rather difficult.
With all of his 'Genin days' buddies being assessed, Naruto then moved onto the generation above his own, those that consisted of Shinobi and Kunoichi like, Anko, Kurenai and Gai. All of whom had stayed looking mostly the same as they had done that last time Naruto had seen them which he had actually half expected.
Then his eyes looked down to the three girls that he had met but only a few days before. The girls whose lives he saved from the last man in the world to have the Sharingan that was stolen. He smiled down on the trio of girls that looked exactly like they had the day he saved them and cocked his head to the side slightly before he talked again.
"Would it help if you three young ladies knew a little bit more about me?" Naruto asked softly to which the three girls nodded their heads. Having only really heard about Naruto Uzumaki from stories they had heard from either their parents or from the academy, but to hear it from the source could only make the information much more valid.
"Very well then, I suggest you get comfortable this may very well take quite a while, my life story is not a short one" Naruto chuckled while all that knew him well enough grimaced at what he was implying, and by no means was he lying, his life had been no less than hectic since day one and at the age of 21 it seemed his life was only just reaching a calm area.
After a few moments that Naruto had taken in order to explain to them in brief about his growing up the three girls were all looking at him in complete horror.
"How could you possibly grow up and not resent any of the villagers around you?" Kyoki asked first of all, having Naruto's gaze move over to her and made him smile softly at her.
"I don't know really, all I ever wanted was for people to recognise me when I was younger, I never hated them, I only wondered why they hated me so much" Naruto answered as he looked to her, yet seeing her unconvinced look he continued on. "I guess what I wanted to do at a very young age was prove to everyone that I would not be put down, I would move forward and no-one would stop me" Naruto finished as Kyoki nodded her head in understanding. To her side however her teammate had a burning question she had wanted to ask since he had started.
"Didn't you ever feel lonely?" a soft voice asked out and Naruto found that it belonged to a girl with purple hair tied into a high pony-tail, her eyes however, though beautiful betrayed a pain he knew all too well.
"Of course I did, every day of my life I was forced to fend for myself and not have any friends, I had almost no family except maybe Jiji and Teuchi and Ayame-Chan" Naruto answered back as he could see the pained look cross over her features again. Her body tensed and her shoulders sagged. Standing directly in front of Ino meant that the blonde haired woman could rest a reassuring hand on her student's shoulder.
"You still had some people though didn't you? There were still at least some people who cared about you enough to at least try and lessen your suffering as a child…" the girl was unable to finish as her body was wracked with sobs. All present kept silent, despite this being a joyous occasion it was still clear that some old issues were not dealt with properly. Ino went to kneel down next to her student but when she saw Naruto motion for her to stop she wondered what he may be up to.
"You're just like me aren't you? Maybe not the container status, but you have grown up alone haven't you?" Naruto asked softly as the girl looked up at him through teary eyes. He bowed his head and walked forwards; he stood directly before her and knelt down before looking up, directly into her eyes. "I grew up with a beast contained within my body, a beast everyone in the village hated me for, I was often beaten and attacked because of this" Naruto started as he softly grabbed both of her arms. "Being alone is a terrible fate that no-one should have to endure, I know first-hand what it is like, yet there is a cure for such a condition" Naruto finished as he leaned back with a smile.
"What is it?" Noma asked with a certain sense of urgency to her question, admittedly her teammates had never seen her act quite like this before. She had always seemed shy and insecure and never, repeat, never had they known that she had grown up alone, she seemed completely unlike the kind of person to grow up like that.
"They stand on every side of you" Naruto answered her simply as he leaned back and opened his arms motioning to everyone that stood behind her. She turned around to see the smiling and shocked faces of everyone present, every single person that was there had a smile for her and she realised there and then, that she had always had those that cared about her, she had just always been ignorant of such facts.
"And now if you want, you can even have me" Naruto said as he stood back up again smiling as the girl whipped around, teary eyed and latched onto his half kneeling form, effectively stopping him from getting up from the ground. Somewhat surprised, Naruto lowered himself down again and the girl worked her arms around his form tighter, almost as if afraid that he might not really be there at all.
He knew that feeling and did not think it appropriate to try and work her off of him. He knew her pain and he knew his own coping would be different from hers, if this was her way then he would help her. Slowly he stroked the hair of the girl hugging into him so tightly whilst whispering words of comfort into her ear. She was crying yet at the same time she was laughing.
"Never doubt the power of your friendship, in times of hardship they will help you through your darkest hour, never forget those that you care about, fight for them to the greatest of your ability, that was my ninja way, and look how I turned out" Naruto joked to the form still hugging him tightly and felt the movements as she giggled against his chest.
The scene before many of them struck a chord within many of their hearts. Even some of the men were standing and finding whole new levels of respect for the man that Naruto had become. To grow to a level where he could relate his own pain to that of someone younger than him only made him that much of a greater man in many of their eyes. The women however found that this considerate gentleman that called himself Naruto was downright appealing. Who doesn't love a man who can be compassionate?
After a few more moments of Naruto simply allowing the girl to hug into him, she finally relinquished her grip on him. Naruto looked up again with his smile on his face. The girl he had been hugging into moved back over to her position between her friends where she received hugs from both girls, as if in assurance.
"Now as I was saying, since I do believe that you all know about the Fourth Shinobi War right?" Naruto asked mainly the three girls, all of whom nodded their heads, Noma even more vigorously than she usually did.
"Well ever since that has ended I have been travelling all over the world mastering techniques, whilst at the same time going on a personal mission to put my own soul at peace and my greatest friend's at rest" Naruto said as he held a hand over his heart before he continued. "In all basic terms I guess you could say I became a somewhat Sharingan hunter, when Madara's lab was broken into many of the Sharingan he had collected were stolen and I hunted them down" Naruto continued and caused a fair few of those present to stand and stare at him in awe.
"Just who have you been hunting down exactly?" Anko asked, barely able to contain herself, this specimen of a man before her was testing her patience in all the right ways. Even if it was completely unintentional. Naruto took a moment to ponder over the names of some of the foes he had had to face in the past.
"Erm… Teraku Jiruga, Manzetsu and recently Haruza Kuroha" Naruto said while his attention had been aimed at the sky while pondering. "Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head" Naruto said as he brought his eyes back to eye level with everyone again. Or he would have, if everyone's eyes were even at the same level as his. Currently half of them on the ground, along with their owners, who had body planted at those three names.
Kurenai was first back on her feet, having her daughter covering her own face in disbelief at her mother's antics. It was not so bad that they all done it but still the fact still stood. Although such reactions to those names intrigued her.
"Are you telling us that you took on the self-proclaimed Akatsuki, The scourge of Kumogakure and the original Zetsu?" Kurenai asked in a mixture of fear and complete and utter awe. All three had been widely regarded as the prime level of missing ninja. They were all double SS class missing ninja, earning them all a 'flee on sight' status, not seen since the legendary yellow flash of Konoha.
Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion; they were sure making a big thing out of this. "Sure, I mean they all had Sharingan and therefore were a threat to peace" Naruto answered back as if it made complete sense to him that he fought such powerful opponents. Anko felt her self-control really faltering at that point and time. She was sure that she would have taken him there and then if it were not for the fact that Kurenai would no doubt stop her.
Ino watched as Naruto spoke and could not believe the transformation that he had gone through in a matter of days. Naruto seemed completely back to normal now, but she worried this was all still just a mask he was putting on for the sake of them all. As everyone just stared at Naruto once again for his latest comment his eyes looked over all of them as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. His eyes fell upon the azure orbs of Ino and she was afforded the sight that Naruto had been trying to hide. She saw the flash of sadness that crossed his eyes but just as instantly as she had saw it, it disappeared again. She had definitely seen it however and it would be getting brought up in the future, she was under orders to make sure that he was alright after all.
"How can you act so humble about taking on such strong opponents?" Lee asked as Neji nodded alongside him. Naruto turned to both men with a smile on his face, which they were both shocked to notice that they were barely able to see through, although his face told them he was happy, his eyes told a whole different picture.
"I do not enjoy taking lives, I only done that mission in order to put Sasuke's soul to rest" Naruto responded softly, Ino clicked instantly and could see the signs that Naruto was flailing, he may have appeared fine but from what she was currently viewing, it appeared as though something to do with Sasuke was going to be a trigger.
Naruto continued to smile while his eyes desperately wanted to cry. He did not want his friends to be aware of the pain he felt and aimed to keep it hidden within him until he could find a way to rid himself of the pain. It was and always would be his coping method.
"So, tell me, what have all of you guys been up to, you know my story, I want to know all of yours" Naruto said, desperately trying to change the subject, although he tried his hardest not to, his voice did indeed sound desperate and they all knew it, even the three girls. Not wanting to make him aware that they heard his desperation they simply complied. They could see his attempts at holding up a mask and knew he wanted to protect them, as such they would not trample on his wishes.
"Well Foxy-Chan, there has definitely been a lot of things going on around here obviously!" Anko chimed in instantly, being the first to try and defuse the situation. She hated tense atmospheres and those she cared enough about in pain. Right now both were present and she wanted to fix both, only one being capable of fixing at that moment and time. Naruto however smiled at Anko due to the nick-name she had given him.
"Foxy-Chan, not one I've heard before but I do not deny that I like it" Naruto said honestly as all of the Kunoichi looked to Anko jealously; she was already one up on all of them. She just grinned at them victoriously, if only to try and hide her knowledge of his current state. She moved over to him slowly and winked at him before placing her hand on his cheek and bringing her face agonisingly close to his own. Their lips almost touching she spoke again.
"Well if you are not busy later on, maybe we can meet up and you can have me screaming that name to you?" Anko asked seductively as everyone in the area almost blew their heads off from blood loss, had Jiraiya been there he might even have been comatose or speaking about how he liked Anko. She had half expected him to either jump back in surprise or stand stock still in surprise, what she had not expected was for his composure to change very little.
"Anko-Chan, if you are trying to seduce me, it may be working, yet I do believe that we may put it off for another time, yeah?" Naruto asked her leaning in even closer and causing Anko to lean back in surprise. With a victorious smirk Naruto leaned back to normal and left a fuming Anko in the process, she simply could not believe that she had been beaten at her own game, what had the world come to?
"Wow… Naruto congratulations, Anko , you are losing your touch" Kurenai pointed out matter of factly to which Anko turned to her friend with a pout on her face.
"That's not fair Kurenai-Chan! He cheated! He isn't supposed to do it back to me!" Anko complained while she stomped her foot for added effect. Kurenai simply smiled at the antics of her friend while everyone else in the area was only just regaining their composure. The antics of Anko were to be expected, but the manner in which Naruto had dealt with her was no less than a wonder. Ino was reassessing her theory of his sexiness from when he had saved her, he was definitely sexy and he knew how to play the seduction game. Even as far as to beat one of its highest calibre players.
"I do believe that he said you would get back to it some other time however?" Kurenai asked slowly only to have a smug grin fall on the face of Anko as she turned to Naruto again. "I will hold you to that one Foxy-Chan" Anko said as she winked at him, surprised only when Naruto then winked back at her. "That's right! You all saw it! I'll be the first to bag him!" Anko cried out victoriously as she received looks of envy from many of the female populace and a confused look from Naruto. That was mixed in with slight fear, of course he knew what she meant yet feared what else she may do to him.
"Back to the subject at hand, what have I been missing then?" Naruto asked as everyone diverted their attention back upon the ladies' man.
"Well I guess one of the important ones would be that I am now the head of the Hyuga family, with Neji-kun being the new head of the branch family" Hinata said quietly which had Naruto looking over to her with an ecstatic smile on his face.
"Hinata that's brilliant! Well done to you too Neji!" Naruto cheered to them both, receiving appreciative smiles and nodding heads from both mentioned. Hinata did have slight pink colouration to her cheeks too; this Naruto noticed and knew the source.
"Thank you Naruto, we are at least a closer clan now, ever since Hinata has come to the head position she has brought the branch family closer to the main branch" Neji said as he smiled at his cousin. Naruto approved wholeheartedly of the new Neji, he was a much nicer man than he had been a boy.
"That's good, at least you were able to do what you wanted to Hinata, I'm glad you were able to realise your dream" Naruto said as he once again smiled at Hinata and Neji.
"Tenten, Neji and I have taken on Genin pupils during your absence Naruto-kun" Lee said which caused Naruto to then look at him. He smiled at the three, they had already gone on to take on Genin in under six years, that showed both their level of skill and their level of maturity.
"That's great news guys! I hope that your teams do well!" Naruto responded happily making all of the three sensei smile at his childlike antics, they were able to fool themselves even for a moment that the Naruto that they all knew may very well be back. Most of them however were not going to be overoptimistic and as such continued on.
"I became the head of my clan, that is after I had to fight my mom for the right to become the alpha male, that was rather awkward. Also Akamaru here is a father now , meet little Akamari" Kiba explained as he indicated to the small tuft of red fur on Akamaru's back, Akamaru also moved his head to check up on his offspring and at that moment Naruto saw the small tuft of fur lift its head. Despite himself, he was finding it almost as hard as many of the women in the area not to scream Kawai!
"Kiba, can I have it?" Naruto asked honestly as he reached out for the small bundle of red fur. Kiba smacked his hand away whilst shouting in anime style with pointed teeth.
"NO YOU CAN'T, HE'S BARELY EVEN A FEW WEEKS OLD!" Kiba yelled as he pointed to Naruto who smiled back innocently and eventually laughing at the way Kiba had acted.
"I was only joking, good to see you are just as easy to wind up as before Kiba" Naruto said cheekily as Kiba brought back his fist to punch Naruto while a tick mark had appeared on his head. He was only stopped due to the hand of his teammate grabbing onto his arm and effectively halting him dead in his tracks.
"Kiba-kun, you will only get yourself hurt" Shino admonished his comrade quickly befoe he turned his own attention to Naruto. "My apologies Naruto-san, anyway, I am proud to admit that I have attained the rank of assistant head of the torture and investigation unit" Shino continued as Naruto stared at him blankly for a moment before eventually turning to Anko.
"The guy's telling you the truth Foxy-Chan, he is assistant head alongside me, the only one above us both is Ibiki" Anko explained as she had crossed her arms across her chest pushing her bosom out that bit more, Naruto however had looked away from her after she finished and Anko growled slightly. Kurenai leaned over and whispered into her friend's ear.
"He's good, he's both managed to beat you at your own game and shown complete resilience to your charm, I think you're gonna have a fight on your hands here" Kurenai whispered while Anko slowly nodded her head in agreement.
"Wow, I would never have thought that you would go into the torture division Shino, although who am I to judge?" Naruto said as he shrugged his shoulders. Shino was not too bothered to be honest, many of his comrades and even some within his own family had been surprised at his place of work. However he had managed to evolve his Kikai insect colony to be able to extract information from a person's memory and upon death release these memories into his own. The process was long and complicated but only had to be resorted to if he could not make the person spill beforehand with his techniques of persuasion.
"Looks like I'm next don't it Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked as his eyes landed on her. She was looking at him through soft looking emerald eyes and Naruto wondered just why she was being so nice to him, if anything he expected nothing less than scorn from the woman he once loved and made a promise of a lifetime to. She was one that he was going to have to speak to in private afterwards and was not too enthusiastically looking forward to it.
"I guess so Sakura-Chan" Naruto responded as he forced a smile onto his face, although Sakura could see this and felt the pain od realising he was forcing a smile for her when he had not appeared to do so for most everyone else she still continued onwards.
"Well I am the head of the Medic-nin squadron now, we have got our own corps now and I have been appointed the head of it, only Tsunade-Sama is above me in authority there" Sakura answered feeling the slightest bit of pride in being the first commander of the Medic-nin squad. Naruto though did look genuinely surprised and maybe even proud after she had said that.
"I didn't even know there was such a thing created, well done you Sakura for becoming such an important figure in the Shinobi corps now" Naruto said proud this time with his smile not seeming quite so strained, but they could all definitely see it.
Although he sounded proud in his mind he was having an internal battle. After the promise he had made to Sakura he had half expected her to be angry with him after failing in what he had promised her. He expected her fury but through the way she was acting just now it was almost like she did not care anymore, like all he had done had been for naught. It was that or she was holding in her fury and silently hated him, and that was something he felt was even worse than her simply not caring, if she hate him then he preferred that he know directly.
Naruto looked away from Sakura and looked around all of the faces around him. He smiled at them all before he spoke.
"Sorry to leave you guys but I'm feeling really tired and I want to sleep, hospital beds aren't really comfortable and I want to just rest a bit, I've already overexerted myself today" Naruto explained as everyone nodded their head to him. They all knew that he was anything but tired and wished to be away from whatever it was that had him saddened but they could not quite pin-point what exactly it was that caused his sadness.
Naruto walked away from the assembled people and put his hands into his pockets.
Ino turned to Anko and Kurenai and nodded to both women.
"You go and make sure the Gaki is alright, it's what you were asked to do after all" Anko said to her simply while Kurenai nodded her head alongside her friend. Ino then looked down to her three students and knelt down to speak to them.
"Girls, sensei has to go and speak to Naruto about something important, you are free to do as you wish for the rest of the day" Ino said to them at which Kyoki and Hiku jumped around happily before racing off. Noma took a moment to look at Ino before doing anything; Ino noticed her hesitation and smiled to her adorable student. "Don't worry I'll make sure that he is alright, next time you see him he will be happy again" Ino said as Noma then nodded her head before moving off to catch up with her teammates.
Ino then stood straight again and went to move off before she felt a hand grabbing at her arm. Turning around she found that to her utmost surprise that it was Maito Gai that had stopped her.
"Ino-Chan I know what it is that troubles young Naruto-Kun, what he needs the most just now is comfort from one he cares about and one that cares about him deeply enough. This will be a delicate time for him, you must be careful what you both say and do around him, one wrong move and you can cause him to create a shell within himself and crawl into it" Gai said in a completely serious tone, in all honesty Ino found that a serious Gai was a scary Gai.
"Hey, how can you know so much about this Gai-sensei?" Tenten asked her sensei from her Genin days only to have the man turn to her with a sad smile adorning his face.
"All I shall say is that I have known Kakashi for a very long time, and I myself have been through a similar time in my own lifetime" Gai answered leaving most of the younger generation speechless, those of the older generation knew this though, those were some very very dark days for him. "Just make sure that he is alright, ok Ino-Chan?" Gai almost pleaded of her just as Tsunade had done not only a few nights ago. It seemed everyone was worried deeply about the blonde.
"Okay Gai-sensei, I'll try my best to make him feel better, I mean after all, I do owe him for what he has done for me and even my team too" Ino said as she looked to where Naruto was slowly diminishing and getting away from her before very quietly adding. "I better hurry or else I am going to lose him, he doesn't even have his old apartment to go to" Ino said almost to herself before she took off sprinting after the blonde haired man who had many of his comrades worried about him.
"Do you think Foxy-Chan will be alright? I mean from what I heard the death of Sasuke hit him really badly and he hasn't been quite right ever since returning" Anko said to Kurenai who honestly did not have an answer to Anko's question.
"Naruto has a high level of resilience of that there is no doubt, but I do think that what will really determine whether or not Naruto-kun recovers from such a shock to his system is both how Ino-Chan handles the situation and how everyone else reacts to him later on" Gai said as he recalled his past and even the time with Kakashi too, they both had each other to rely on during those dark days and as such were able to come out of them due to each other's help.
"Why won't he come out and say that he is in pain, why does he try and make it out to us that he is fine?" Kiba asked honestly confused to how Naruto could act in such a manner; it was not through annoyance he was confused, but more bafflement.
"That's just the way Naruto-kun has always been, he won't let us see him in pain because he does not want us to be in any pain, it took Sai for me to realise that Naruto was suffering due to the promise he made to me" Sakura admitted as she felt heat in her eyes, tears were threatening to fall and she did not have the will power nor the care to try and stop them. Her tears flowed down her cheeks effortlessly as all looked on at her, they would have comforted her if it were not for the fact they felt somewhat responsible too.
They had all gotten used to believing that no matter how bad things might have gotten, Naruto would always be there to save the day. They had never really taken into consideration what that could do to Naruto, he always trained his hardest in everything he did, but he was literally always fighting their battles for them. None of them were able to half Pain during his invasion; Naruto had to be the one to stop him. Madara could not be stopped by any of them either; again they had to rely on Naruto to stop that man. They had expected so much of Naruto and never thought of the consequences, well right now it felt as if those consequences were finally reaching the surface and very little was holding back the inevitable explosion.
Ino caught up to Naruto as he was about to turn a street corner. She reached out and grabbed onto the sleeve of his coat, causing said man to stop in his tracks. He had not expected anyone to follow him and as such turned around in surprise to see a tired Ino standing directly behind him, panting heavily.
"Why did you have to leave in such a hurry? I mean honestly I had to sprint just to keep up with you" Ino complained as she leaned against a building to her right as she kept a firm hold of Naruto's coat, he was not escaping her easily at all, she would make sure of that.
"I am very tired and as such I only wish to go to my bed, I just want to go home and go to sleep, is that so much to ask?" Naruto asked softly and Ino felt a chord being struck within her heart, the desperation in his voice, his shadowed eyes. He was trying his hardest to hold back the floods but he was struggling and he did not want any of them to see. He was far too considerate for his own good.
"Naruto, you can't go home" Ino said somewhat nervously and kicking at the ground softly. Naruto did not even lift his head as he asked her the question she had been waiting on.
"Who did it?" Naruto asked, there was not even any venom or any malice within his voice, it almost sounded fed up, like he had just had enough.
"No-one done it on purpose, the building apartment you were in was deemed too dangerous for people to live in, The Hokage had to have the building demolished" Ino said as Naruto looked to her. His eyes looked if nothing more, tired. Simply and unconditionally tired.
"What about all of my things?" Naruto asked as he realised he did not really have too much to lose if the building were to be destroyed, but he knew that there were a few important things in that building he would kill for. Ino knew what direction Naruto was going with his question.
"It's ok, before it was demolished Tsunade-sama herself went through your apartment and took anything of importance to you and took them to her home" Ino said as Naruto's face seemed to relax slightly at the information, it also allowed Ino to relax slightly as his face was really serious just there the now.
"That's ok then, I thought I might have lost some of my important treasures for a moment there" Naruto responded eventually with a tired laugh before he smiled to Ino. "Well I'm going to go home now, I'll see you later Ino-Chan" Naruto said as he made to walk off. Ino who was momentarily shocked by those words then shouted after him.
"Wait Naruto! Where are you going?" Ino asked honestly confused. Naruto simply turned to her and smiled, this time at least he had an honest smile, Ino was seriously worrying about him. He could be sad one moment, angry another and then happy the next.
"To my new estate Ino-Chan, if my apartment is gone then it's the only other place I can go" Naruto answered with his happy smile still on his face. Ino was however confused, how could Naruto have an estate? The only ones with estates were usually clans.
"Naruto you don't have to lie to me, if you needed a place to stay then all you had to do was ask" Ino said as she smiled at the antics of her friend, honestly he was too nice to even ask that kind of request of his friend. Did he really think she would bite his head off for asking her that? Naruto had however moved to a position where he was waving his hand in front of his body desperately as he shook his head vigorously.
"No! No! Honestly I do have an estate the I can live in, you can even come with me and look, I swear to you that I have an estate to live in!" Naruto cried to her as Ino simply looked at him blankly. There was no way that Naruto could own an estate was there?
"Okay then I will come and see, just to make sure you're not trying to fool me into thinking you have a bed, when you might very well sleep on the streets" Ino said and Naruto flinched slightly, in all honesty had he found he had no place to live he may very well have slept outside that night, until he could talk to the Hokage next day. He nodded his head however and led the way towards his intended destination, to which Ino could only guess at.
As they got closer and closer to the place Ino was still shrouded in mystery, it was a place that looked like it had not been looked at nor serviced in a very long time. The front gate was still as strong as it had been at creation at the front of the building. The building itself was majestic and large. It looked like it was fit to host royalty or definitely someone of high standing, Ino could not work out why Naruto was here because as far as she knew the only time he would be like that may be if he became Hokage, but Kakashi was going to be taking that role.
Naruto then moved over to a plaque on the gate that had moss or some form of material coating over it. Wiping it away he revealed words that Ino would never be able to forget. In intricate letters the words 'Namikaze Residence' were written out and beside it was a seal. Ino watched as Naruto deftly took out a kunai and slashed his left palm, wiping his hand across the seal he then lifted his hand.
"Naruto, why are we here at the Yondaime's mansion?" Ino asked inquisitively to which Naruto turned to her and finally spoke to her after the silence all the way up to that building. His smile was on his face at least.
"Ino-Chan that seal that you saw was a blood seal, the gate will not open if the correct blood is not applied, it must be the blood of either an approved Hokage or…" Naruto left his comment hanging as he turne full to Ino with a large grin on his face, his eyes sparkled as he spoke his next few words. "… if someone of the same blood applies their blood to the seal" Naruto finished as the gate indeed opened and Ino stood stock still staring at Naruto.
"You mean…?" Ino began but was unable to continue her question as the shock caught her off guard.
"Yep, I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage and the Bloody Hanbero, I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze" Naruto finished as he smiled widely at Ino.
Well you guys I hope that this chapter is good as it took me a while to get around to writing it. I apologise for the slight angst at the end there but I think that with the events surrounding Sasuke, Naruto would really be hard pressed to forget about it all instantly, therefore in this fic although he may struggle with the fact of Sasuke's death, he will do his best to fight through it while at the same time we continue on with the story. Anyway I thank you for reading this so far, I am enjoying wirting this one and I don't think I have made too many screamers of mistakes but if I have then by all means please point them out, otherwise if you could please drop a review it would be much appreciated. Thank you =] - Varrukh
