Until We Meet Again

"So... you say you're collecting the Dragon balls?" Jiraiya asked as he rubbed his chin. The group had assembled back in one of the few buildings that remained standing, which happened to be the hospital. Jiraiya was sitting in a room with Bulma and his Sensei Master Roshi.

Bulma nodded with a grim smile. "Yeah, that's right," she said. "I was going to wish for a boyfriend! But now, I guess I have other things that can be handled. First thing on the list, get Goku back!" she said with a shout.

Master Roshi was staring at the girl with a wide smile on. "So, you need a boyfriend?" he asked as he leaned in his seat to get a closer view.

Bulma glared at the old man. "Yeah, one that's around MY AGE!" she shouted as she slapped he old fool so hard that she let an imprint.

Jiraiya nodded at the girl. "That makes sense. He was a very brave boy, definitely one of the strongest I've ever encountered."

Bulma looked excited. "I'm sure Naruto will be happy! We already have five!"

Jiraiya's smile widened. "That's great! Do you know where the next one is?" he asked the young girl.

Bulma nodded as she dug into her bag. "It's... give me a minute... Aw, here it is!" she said with a smile as she pulled out a small white item. Roshi and Jiraiya quickly jumped behind her and leaned over her shoulder to look at the device. It had a green screen that had five dots, as well as two arrows pointing in different directions. "That way!" Bulma said as she pointed to one of the arrows.

"Cool!" Jiraiya said with a smile. "Lemme guess, you're father built that device?"

Bulma shook her head. "Nope! Won it at an auction. And it was only 12,000 zeni!"

Both men face planted the ground.

"Only? 12,000 zeni?" Roshi said as he stood up.

"Yep!" Bulma said with a grin.

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, that's where an old friend of mine lives!" Jiraiya said with a smile. "I've been planning on making a trip there!"

Bulma clapped her hands together. "Great! That mean's you can be my escort!" she said with a giggle.

Jiraiya smirked. "Of course! All Naruto needs is another adventure to clear his mind a bit. Besides, I still have to train him for his upcoming tournament."

"Then it's decided! As soon as Naruto's ready, we'll be on our way!" she said as she ran out of the room.

Master Roshi and Jiraiya sat in silence. After a few seconds, Roshi finally broke the silence.

"New idea for your story?" he asked his student.

"Oh yeah, and this will definitely be a best seller!"

XxxoxxX

Ino stood over Naruto's body. She couldn't believe the power that the blonde in front of her displayed. She wasn't sure what his Kekkai Genkai was but she would definitely find out.

It was then that Ino got an idea. She was a member of the Yamanaka clan, she could easily find out!

Ino put her fingers into the familiar seal of her clan. She began gathering chakra into her body. She was stopped however as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Yamanaka." She looked up and saw the long white haired man that stopped Naruto from killing. As she stared into his eyes, she could see a serious look on his face.

"If you were to dig into his mind, you would discover an S ranked secret. That would force me to kill you, which I honestly don't want to do." Jiraiya said as he saw the girl slowly lowering her hands. Jiraiya smiled. "But I promise, he will be strong enough to make it out of this!"

Ino shook slightly as the man's words sunk in. She wasn't sure why she trusted his stranger, or even how the man could threaten her yet she didn't feel a drip of fear, yet the seriousness in his tone all the same. Ino nodded as she looked at the man. "Who... are you?" she asked him in a low tone.

"Me?" Jiraiya said with a confident smirk. "I'm the Legendary Jiraiya!" he said as he struck a pose.

Ino looked wide eyed at the man. "You're... him?"

"Yep!" he said as he turned to walk out. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't let it get you down. I'm sure all of your friends will make it out of this stronger than before!"

Ino nodded slowly as she continued to stare at her friend as she heard the clicking of Jiraiya's of shinobi's shoes. She wanted to know Naruto's secret, but she wasn't willing to get killed over it.

She sighed Guess she just had to trust Jiraiya.

XxxoxxX

Kurenai held her kid brother a he cried. They were sitting in her mother office, which honestly hadn't changed since she was a young girl. The walls were covered with books and files, and she had a small bed for her to sleep in. They sat on the side of the bed and she was rubbing his back, telling him that everything was going to be fine.

She couldn't believe that that her mother was taken from her, or even that she now had a younger brother. She wanted to cry, but stayed strong for her brother.

It's not that her mother was a ad person, they just never saw on eye to eye level ever since she was a child. While her mother was strict and no nonsense, her father liked to play around with her. He was a trained shinobi and aught her many tricks while her mother was usually at work.

Kurenai couldn't help but wipe a tear away. Her chest was soaked from Mark but she didn't mind. She wanted to be their to support him, and she promised to protect him for as long as she could.

The black beauty looked down as she felt the sobs lessening. She could feel Mark's chakra slowly fading out; he was finally falling asleep.

Kurenai now couldn't decide what to do. On one hand, she wanted to stay and raise her brother. The village had nothing left, and she was almost certain that no one else here was good at healing. Her mother was the only doctor in the town ever since she was a little girl.

As much as she wanted to, however, she couldn't leave her team. They needed her more than anything right now. Hinata and Kiba suffered serious injuries while she wasn't harmed in the least. She felt that she failed them both as a sensei.

Kurenai placed Mark on the bed and tucked him in. She stood up and began looking around the office. She was amazed at how much informational booklets her mom had stashed. She saw many books on sensing and medical ninjutsu as well. She continued to browse through the books, and made sure to seal some of the higher advance ones to share with the hospital in Konoha.

Kurenai took a seat on the chair in front of her mothers computer desk. She smiled, remembering how her mother wouldn't allow her to sit in this chair. "Doctors only," she would say as she shooed the young girl away. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened the top drawer.

Kurenai browsed through the drawer and saw nothing interesting. It mainly held office supplies, such as pencils and band aids. She quickly lost interest and opened the second.

Kurenai saw a lone binder in the drawer. It looked worn and used, so she decided to open it. What she saw surprised her.

The first page of the binder was a drawing. There were three people, a man, a lady, and a young girl. They were obviously family, the girl and father had black hair and red eyes while the mother had blue hair and black eyes. The people were each stick figures, drawn by a kid.

The kid was her.

Kurenai struggled to hold back the tears, but failed miserably at it. She remembered drawing this picture. She gave it to her mother on her third birthday. Her mother was so excited that she posted it on her office wall.

Kurenai continued flipping through the pages. She quickly realized that this was a collection of everything that she ever did. There were drawings like the first, her first tooth, and plenty of her papers from her preschool class. She was hit with a huge wave of nostalgia.

Kurenai flipped to the last page. On it was a note in what was unmistakeably her mothers handwriting. She trembled as she gripped the note and began reading.

Dear Kurenai,

If you're reading this, then you and your pathetic father must have returned to this city. If you did, then I hope you have another mother, because I'm not dealing with his crap anymore. This is a letter, just too explain a few thing to you.

First off, I know that it seems like I'm harsh on you, but that's because your fathers so soft on you. He lets you get away with anything, and I just don''t like it. A child needs discipline, that's the way I was raised. I never hated you, I just didn't want you to grow up and be spoiled like Rukia's kid. Since you're being raised by him alone, I won't even try to imagine how spoiled you are.

Second, I want to tell you that you have a brother. He's just like you were as a kid, a loud mouthed trouble-maker. He's rather small, however and gets bullied often. When you were a kid, you were beating down the other kids with no problem. He really didn't get you fire.

And final, I want you to be strong. I know it must be hard growing up with a single parent but you can do it. Become a powerful shinobi just like my father and his before him. Never let your students get hurt, and make sure to find a man that you love. I do want grand kids!

Love,

Kimiko Yuhi

PS: Know that I loved you, Kurenai. If I'm dead when you read this, I leave Mark in your hands. Do what you think is best for him, I raised you to be strong minded.

Kurenai was crying as she finished her letter. She couldn't hold back the fountain of tears that formed after the first sentence of the letter. She knew that under her mother's harsh exterior, their had to be the mother that she longed for.

The female shinobi read the letter over and over as her crying calmed down. After a few minutes, she wiped the tears off of her face and walked towards her baby brother.

She looked at the small boy and couldn't help but smirk. He favored her a lot, besides the black eyes and blue hair. She gave him a kiss on the head as she tucked him tighter into the blanket. "Tomorrow, baby brother, your dream will come true." A smile formed on her tear ridden face. "You will... become a shinobi."

XxxoxxX

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He grimaced and gripped his head as he felt a constant throbbing. He released a loud groan, he was exhausted.

As he lay their, he tried to remember what happened. He remembered fighting Deidara, as well as being healed by Ino. He could recall saving the citizens of the city with Ino and Goku-

Goku.

Naruto quickly sprung to his feet as he yelled his friends name. He slipped his feet into his sandals as he pulled on his jacket.

"Hey Naruto, I hear that you're finally- whoa!" Bulma shrieked as the blonde bumped into her. They both released a shriek as they fell to the ground.

Naruto fell face first. He landed on top of something soft, and he had to admit that it felt pretty good. He gripped his pillow as he pushed himself up. He then realized he was looking into the face of Bulma.

And she looked pissed.

Using his trained speed, Naruto quickly jumped off of the girl and backed up while blushing. He noticed the girls face was a bright red and she was gritting her teeth as she sat up.

"B-B-Bulma, I can explain!" he yelled to deaf ears as she rolled up her sleeves and approached him.

"Shut it, Pervert!" she yelled as she socked him on the head.

"Owww!" he yelled as he rubbed his throbbing plus pounding head. He ignored the insults that the girl threw his way as he tried to cope with the pain.

Bulma continued to glare at the blonde. "What are you doing out of bed? You're supposed to be resting!" she yelled at the recovering boy.

Naruto's eyes sprung open as he ignored the pain. "Goku!" he yelled as he jumped back to his feet. He quickly jumped onto the windowsill and was into the town before anyone knew what happened.

Neither of the two noticed a giggling toad sitting under the bed, scratching away in a notepad. "This is gold!" he muttered away to himself.

XxxoxxX

Deidara sat in silence. He was not happy with himself. Not only did his piece of shit partner ditch him, but he got his ass handed to him by the very person he was sent to retrieve. This was humiliating to the blonde. He couldn't see out of one eye, and the pain running through the numerous cuts and bruises on his body was unbearable.

Now he was tied up in a dark room all alone. He couldn't escape, that blasted old man set a paralyzation seal on him, on top of a chakra seal. He was simply a sitting duck, waiting to be thrown into a fiery pit.

Deidara spit on the floor. He couldn't believe how unlucky he was. He was only a member of the organization for a week and he already failed his first mission. And then that damned Sasori was just going to ditch him.

Tears involuntarily fell down Diedara's jawline as he grit his teeth. He was only fifteen! Their was many things he wanted, and it was all being stripped from him prematurely. He couldn't believe that he was being held to be taken back to the strongest of the villages, the Leaf. He heard stories about their T&I Division, and none of them were good.

Deidara finally came to a decision. He didn't want to do it, but it was his only hope to make it out alive.

He had to do it.

XxxoxxX

"Goku!" Naruto yelled for the umpteenth time. He was walking around the ruined city looking for any traces of his friend. He couldn't find anything in any of the destroyed buildings he checked. His search was going on for over an hour, but he'd never give up.

"Goku!" Naruto yelled again. He was tired and in pain, but to Hell with it. Even if Goku was dead, he at least had to give him a proper burial. He refused to think of the boy being deceased, so he continued to search.

Naruto jumped on a standing pole and gazed over the city. He looked all around, but he couldn't see anything. It was then he saw a familiar red dot in the distance.

Naruto quickly leaped off the pole and took off towards the object. After a few minutes he reached his destination.

Naruto bent down and picked up the object. It was the small red pole that Goku owned. As he looked at it, he was overwhelmed with emotion. On one side, he could see a large black burn mark.

On the other side, he saw blood.

Naruto fell to his knees as he gripped the object. He looked around for any traces of the boy, but all he could see was rubble. Naruto then saw something that made his heart skip a beat.

He rushed to the pile of rubble and froze. That was definitely what he thought it was. It was Goku's tail.

And it was moving!

Naruto quickly used his remaining strength to dig into the shattered building. He threw rocks and bricks out of his way as he dug for his friend. After a few seconds he saw his friend.

"N-Naruto?" Goku said weakly. He looked terrible. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, and parts of his gi was blown away, showing his body. One of his eyes were halfway open.

On Naruto's face was a smile from ear to ear. "Goku!" he yelled as he dived to hug his friend. Goku grimaced at the touch, he was still weak, but Naruto just kept hugging as tears flowed down his face. "Thank Kami you're alive!" he said aloud.

"Whose alive?" Naruto heard Bulma say. He released his friend and saw the entire gang standing behind him, excluding Kurenai's brat brother, Kiba and his pup, and Hinata.

Jiraiya smiled at the scene in front of him. "You're pretty you're pretty tough, brat!" he said to Goku.

Roshi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I thought you were a goner kiddo. I couldn't sense you at all!"

Bulma quickly rushed to Goku's side. "Goku, thank goodness you're- wait. Are you okay?" she asked as she saw the weak expression on his face.

Goku shivered. "So... hungry..." he said, causing everyone to face plant.

"Yep, he's okay," Bulma responded as she rose to her feet.

XxxoxxX

The entire gang was gathered in front of the gates of Orange Star City. Everyone was silent, they just had a memorial service for Kimiko. After everyone paid their respects, they decided it was time to part ways. Naruto and Goku stood together, talking about their favorite foods. Kiba and her two teammates Kiba and Akamaru, while the others were standing talking. Deidara's arms and legs were chained up and both being held by Kurenai.

Mark was sad at the funeral, but his spirits quickly rose when he was told he was going to become a shinobi.

"Oh boy sis! Really? No kidding?" Mark yelled as he hopped up and down, doing dances. Everyone laughed at the energetic boy.

"So, where are you guys going again?" Kurenai asked as she looked towards Jiraiya.

"That way!" Bulma pointed as she looked at her Dragon Radar.

Master Roshi nodded. "Yes. That way, my dear." he slowly walked towards Kurenai. "You wouldn't mind giving an old man a hee hee hee... goodbye kiss?" Roshi asked with a blush. Ino rolled her eyes at the old man.

"Pervert," Ino and Bulma both muttered under their breath.

"Sorry, I'm taken," Kurenai said with a slightly disgusted look. This caused Kiba to chuckle and Hinata to blush.

Kiba nudged Hinata's shoulder and nodded towards Naruto. The girls face turned a blood red as she noticed him grabbing her and dragging her closer to the other three teens.

"Yo! Goku!" Goku turned towards the voice of Kiba. He smiled.

"Hey! It's the puppy and Akamaru!" he said aloud.

"My name is Kiba, you stupid monkey!" Kiba yelled with a tick mark on his head. He sighed. "Anyway, I want to thank you for saving our ass the other day." he reached his hand out with a feral grin. "But the next time we meet, I'll be saving your ass!" he said with a grin.

"OK!" Goku said with a smile as he shook Kiba's hand. "After you save my ass, you can save Naruto's too!" he said with a wide smile.

Naruto glared at the two boys. "I don't need you guys to save me. In case you forgot, Yamcha ran from me!" he said with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah, after Goku broke his ribs maybe!" Kiba said with a laugh.

Goku turned towards Hinata. He smiled as he held out his hand. "Can I save your ass too?" he asked her.

Hinata blushed harder than she ever did in her life. She didn't know how to respond to the heroic boy that saved her. "Y-y-yes," she said as she held out her hand to shake his.

When their hands met, Hinata fainted. Kiba was used to this, so he quickly got behind her and caught her.

Naruto and Goku scratched their heads. "Did I hurt her?" Goku asked in a panicked tone.

"Nah, she does this all the time," Kiba said, while his teammate agreed with a bark.

"Kiba, it's time,"Kurenai said as she gripped Deidara's shackles, causing him to growl slightly. "Mark, keep up as best as you can," she said as she took off in a sprint. Kiba looked towards Kurenai and nodded. He shifted Hinata into a comfortable position.

"Later guys!" he said as he took off in a sprint. Ino waved as she followed suit.

The five people left watched their friends disappear. "Well," Bulma said, "off to get those Dragon Balls!" she said as she pulled out a capsule. After pressing the button and throwing it into the air, the capsule became a rather large luxury RV. The vehicle was big and blue. It had air conditioning, as well as a built in pool. The boys looked at it, each with astonished looks on their faces.

"Let me guess," Jiraiya said, "won it at an auction?"

Bulma giggled. "No, silly. I bought it when we made it to town! It was on sale for 250,000 zeni, I had to get it!" she said as she turned toward the vehicle. "Now, lets go!" she said as she pumped her fist in the air.

"Alright!" both boys yelled as they rushed in.

"Not so fast!" the boys froze as Master Roshi held his stick in the front of them.

"What, Pervy Gramps?" Naruto said with an annoyed tone.

"You're not riding in here," Jiraiya said as he stepped in front of them and entered the vehicle. "You two will be training."

Goku's face lit up. "Oh boy, training?"

"What?" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice. He pointed at Jiraiya. "Is this one of you old geezers stupid plots to get alone with Bulma?" he demanded.

"No, of course not," Jiraiya said with a smirk. "It's just that I haven't taught you anything except water walking and the Rasengan. It's time to build your physical abilities."

Naruto glared at the man, not trusting anything he was saying. "Well what do you have in mind?"

Jiraiya smiled as he stepped toward both boys. He placed a hand on each of their foreheads, and they each started shaking.

"W-what's happening?" Goku asked.

"What did you do?" Naruto demanded.

"Relax," Jiraiya responded with a smile. "It's just weight seals. Their actually on the lower levels as well, only twenty pounds on each limb." he chuckled as the boys struggled a little. "Now, keep up with us. I have some research to do!" he said with a giggle.

"Those bastards!" Naruto yelled as the vehicle cranked up.

"Come on, this should be fun!" Goku yelled as he ran after the carriage.

"Wait up!" Naruto yelled as he attempted to catch up.

XxxoxxX

A/N: Hey. I'm interested in power levels, so I'm going to try and do them.

Goku: 10

Naruto: 6

Bulma: 2

Ino: 3

Roshi: 95

Jiraiya: 84

Kiba: 5

Akamaru: 3

Hinata: 5

I hope that seems accurate. Any changes I should make?

I'm open to suggestions.