Here's another update.

I got too caught up in writing this, so I ended up skipping some of my finals studying. I know the subject pretty well anyway, so I don't think I'll do very badly on the test today. Wish me luck.

I'm going to bed. Gotta get some sleep before the test hits later this morning.

Edit (5/16/15): I noticed I was getting a lot of reviews that asked what they were going to talk about, and I realized that I accidentally left a rather important sentence out. It's fixed now, sorry 'bout the confusion. As always, constructive criticism is very appreciated.

-JD

Disclaimer: I have two more exams after this…I just want solace. Peace of mind. Is that too much to ask for?

As the evening turned to night and the lanterns turned on, the village brightened with a yellow and orange glow. Villagers made and passed out food to cheerful, hungry children, many of them donning a fox mask of some kind. Some even painted three light red lines on their cheeks, another going down the bridge of their noses.

A few adults had begun to play various instruments at different points of their small village, filling the whole place with music. They danced and played in the streets, little boys and girls going around collecting paper flowers from the adults before passing them around to their friends and family. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves to the fullest, grown men and women wearing their yukata and kimono as they sat back and relaxed or followed their children around as they went from house to house.

Aiko, Keichi, and Ryoko played with each other, their faces painted, Keichi's mask on. Since they were a small village, the children did not wear any extravagant yukata, simply wearing ones with small designs on them, Aiko's pink with cherry blossoms, Ryoko's light blue with water waves, and Keichi's green with no design. They all had paper flowers with them.

"Hey Keichi, are you gonna give Naru-sama one of yours?" Ryoko asked, grinning.

"W-well yeah, why wouldn't I?" he shot back, letting his mask cover his embarrassment.

"Just woooondering, you love bird!" she cheered, poking at his cheek.

"Whatever!"

"Haha, you won't even deny it!"

"C'mon Ryoko, don't tease him!" Aiko giggled before smiling down at her own flower, "I want to give one to Naru-sama too."

The two older kids smiled at her before looking up. Down the street, they could see someone with blond and red hair approaching.

"Hey, there she is!" Ryoko cheered, tugging on Keichi's arm.

Aiko turned around to see her coming, then smiled widely. With her flower in hand, she ran forward toward the approaching young woman.

"Naruto-sama! Nee, nee, I have something for—"

The girl's eyes widened as she skidded to a stop, careful to not crumble the paper flower in her hand despite her fear. Naruto approached her with a smile, still wearing her black long-sleeved shirt, orange pants, and ninja shoes. What had stopped the girl was the man coming up from behind her. He no longer wore the ninja clothes from before, now wearing a dark grey yukata with darker grey lines on it, a tan koshihimo wrapped around his lower waist near his hips. He wore black sandals, and his headband was in its usual place.

Aiko kept standing still, watching as the man approached her alongside Naruto. When the jinchuriki noticed where the girl's attention was, she bent low toward her and smiled.

"Don't worry 'bout Mr. Grump here. He's fine," she grinned, feeling Sasuke glare lightly at the back of her head.

"I'm not grumpy."

"Yeah, you're doing loads to prove that, Sasuke. I'm sorry I ever doubted you," she sighed, earning a laugh from the children.

"So he's okay?" Aiko asked, relaxing her shoulders.

"Yup! No need to call me Iza anymore."

Aiko turned back to her and nodded slowly.

"Oh, you have the paint on! It looks really cute with your yukata, Aiko!" Naruto cheered, attempting to lighten her mood. It worked pretty quickly, seeing how her face brightened up.

"T-thanks, Naru-sama! Ahh…ummm…I have this for you," she mumbled, handing Naruto the paper Uzaki flower.

"Oh! I have one for you too!" Ryoko said, almost barreling into the two of them.

"Me too!" Keichi moved forward, though not as quickly as Ryoko.

Naruto smiled widely, rubbing her fingers against the paper, "Oooh, that's so sweet of you! Thank you all so much!" She then ruffled their hair as they cheered and swatted at her hand.

"Nooo! Mama said not to mess with it!" Ryoko laughed.

Sasuke watched the four interact, smiling with just the corners of his mouth.

'Still just as good with kids as ever, huh.'

"Hey, you."

Sasuke blinked, looking down to Keichi, who was glaring up at him with suspicion. His mouth scrunched up and his fists balled with irritation.

"Why are you here? What'dya want with us?"

Sasuke was somewhat surprised with the questions, but he elected to not answer directly.

"Just a visit. Wanted to talk with Naruto."

"Hmm…" the boy hummed, displeased, "You guys have never wanted to talk to us before."

'Before? Ah, he must mean when they were looking for help.'

Before the boy could continue, Naruto slipped her hands under his arms and picked him up, their paper flowers bouncing a bit in her hair. The boy squeaked in surprise, his cheeks coloring a shade of red.

"C'mon Keichi, that's adult stuff y'know! You just focus on having fun, okay?"

"Okaaaay," he mumbled, squirming a bit to be put down. With a cheer, Ryoko led the three away from the two ninja, the children waving back at Naruto as they left. Naruto waved back with a smile.

"Looks like you never stopped fitting in with the kids."

"Shut it, you," she muttered playfully, moving forward to get them back to the council room.

As the two walked on and passed by more people, he noticed exactly how cordially they treated Naruto. They smiled or waved at her whenever she passed, and some handed her free food just because they wanted to. A few times, Naruto would stop and chat with the villagers, who would respond kindly. After she would leave, he could hear them whisper behind their backs, but it was always about how suspicious he was, and never anything bad about Naruto. Children were more wary with him around, but her smile always reassured them and they would come at her in flocks, handing her paper Uzaki flowers until her hair was full of them. When she had too many, she stopped by a seamstress, who used string to make a necklace out of them for her so she wouldn't smoosh any of them.

These people were worlds away from how Konoha villagers treated her. He couldn't blame her for not coming back to see him for so long.

She thanked the seamstress kindly as the woman's teenage daughters came over and greeted her before the two continued on. As they left, Sasuke listened to their slowly dissipating whispers.

"Miwa made good flowers again this year; the kids love handing them out."

"Yes, yes…it'd be even better if that man wasn't here."

"Mmhmm…because of him, the kids probably won't see their flowers in her tails…"

'…Tails?'

"Oi, riffraff," a voice called before popping her gum.

Naruto and Sasuke looked up from where they sat, Naruto eating pork buns while Sasuke ate some takoyaki. His eyebrows rose in recognition while Naruto waved at them.

Keiko walked up to them alongside Ryuu, Sakura, and the two genin, the latter three having changed into yukata. Sakura's was black with small pink and red flower designs with an orange and pink obi, Akio's was a dark green with darker green vine designs with a black koshihimo, and Keiji wore a deep blue one with grey line designs and a white koshihimo. They all wore their forehead protectors, Sakura's in her hair, Keiji's on his forehead, and Akio's around his neck.

Keiko and Ryuu wore what they had that afternoon, a necklace of paper Uzaki flowers around Keiko's neck. Ryuu also had paper flowers, but he had put his long hair into a big braid to hold some of them, most of them made into a flower crown around his head. His eyes were glowing with an uncontainable joy, a complete contrast from how he looked earlier.

Sasuke was almost a little shocked from looking at him.

"Oi, I expect a response, riffraff," Keiko called again, boredly popping her gum, not caring about the glare that Sakura sent her way, "Since you decided to break back into the village, we're gonna have to have a discussion over your self-importance."

"It's not just our importance, it's the importance of our government!" Sakura replied harshly, moving forward toward Sasuke, "Don't worry about her. She's probably just mad you broke her genjutsu."

"I guessing that's why you guys have the yukata, too," he replied.

She huffed, "Yeah. After you broke it, she let us out of the genjutsu, but we were soaked because of how close to the village we were getting."

"It was tough! If Sakura-senpai weren't holding our hands, we would've gotten lost or left behind," Keiji said, glancing over to the other pink-haired girl.

'Right, I forget she's a genjutsu type sometimes,' Sasuke thought.

"Yo," Naruto said, swallowing the piece of pork bun she was eating, waving a hand toward Sakura.

Sakura looked at the young woman, "Oh, hey…" Then she narrowed her eyes, looking closely at her face. Suddenly she backed away pointing a finger at her.

"Ah! I know those whisker marks anywhere! And those eyes…argh!" she began scratching at her hair, "Why didn't I notice before?! You and that stupid sexy jutsu!"

"Heeeh? Sexy jutsu? What's that?" Ryuu asked curiously, smiling widely as he leaned in.

"Ugh, it's some stupid jutsu Naruto came up with when he was little," Sakura grumbled, crossing her arms, "He'd turn into some naked woman. It's so dumb!"

She didn't notice Keiko grinning behind her, 'Hah, so this girl doesn't know.'

When Sakura looked over at Ryuu, she was a little astounded by exactly how confused he looked. He glanced over at Naruto, "He? …But…" then back at Sakura, "But she…" then at Keiko, "But…" Deciding to help him out, Keiko whispered something into his ear. Ryuu's expression darkened for a second, but then he started glowing again.

"Ooooh! I forgot about that!" he blinked, looking at Sakura before turning back to Keiko, "Should we tell them?"

"Nah, not yet," Keiko grinned, looking at the Konoha ninjas.

They glared back with suspicion, but she paid them no mind, popping her gum.

"Ahahaha…aaaaaanyway, it's nice seeing you again, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned widely.

"Hmh! Wish I could say the same for you! First, you go running of out of nowhere, leaving us behind to wonder if you were safe, then, after nearly three years, the first thing you greet me with is a council and a genjutsu! I wish I could say the same, indeed!" Sakura huffed, turning away from her, though her shoulders trembled a bit.

"Hehe, sorry about that! It's protocol, protocol," Naruto said, standing up and patting her shoulder.

Sakura tried her hardest to not let her tears well up. She truly had been worried about him after he left. She didn't know why he just suddenly defected from Konoha like that. It was almost the Sasuke situation all over again…and he was being so casual about it. Her anger growing, she balled her fists up as her body trembled. Then, without thinking, she turned to him, her right fist poised for a punch, just like she used to do.

The words she was going to say weren't able to leave her mouth.

Within moments, Ryuu had his sharp nails at her neck, all playfulness gone from his system. Akio and Keiji had sensed the change and had their kunai out pointing toward him, though they weren't fast enough to point at any majorly dangerous parts of his body. Keiko had summoned her chakra in a water-like state, forming a floating stream of it that came from her palms, a sharp point dangerously close to her stomach. Sasuke had her covered, though, pointing a kunai at her neck.

Naruto stood absolutely still, her irides the same strange orange color she had greeted them with, her hands up in a placating motion.

The mood had changed so suddenly, Sakura was left reeling for a moment. She twitched to move her fist back.

"Nu-uh. Don't move. Not even a twitch. Moving right now is a no-no," Ryuu droned, his voice almost curling up at the ends with the last remnants of his previously giddy demeanor.

Naruto looked down at Sakura's fist, staring at it for a moment before he seemed to realize what she was going to do. He huffed a little, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the irides were back to their usual blue color.

"Calm down guys, calm down. She wasn't really going to hurt me."

"Oh yeah?" Keiko mumbled, not convinced.

"No, no. You see, when I used to live in Konoha, she used to punch me all the time! It was just a friendship thing. Don't worry about it!" Naruto grinned widely again.

Ryuu kept staring at Sakura with wide, focused eyes, but moments after Naruto's reassurance, he slowly let his shoulders calm, looking over to Naruto. Naruto nodded at him, and he sighed, letting his shoulders relax and standing up straight. Once Ryuu finally calmed, Keiko did as well, dissipating her water technique as she began chewing on her gum again. Keiji and Akio shakily calmed as well, sweat rolling down from their temples. Sasuke calmly pocketed his kunai again. Once everything was away from Sakura, she finally let her fist drop, shock still coloring her features.

"Sorry, sorry. We don't take kindly to anyone threatening any of our villagers," Ryuu droned again, his amusement lost.

"Especially one as important as Naruto. I don't know a whole lot about politics or rulers, but I guess you can say you just threatened one of our many daimyou," Keiko said, walking back toward the council building. She turned back, glaring at Sakura.

"You better watch yourself, pinkie."

Sakura glared back, but she knew she'd stepped out of line.

'Shoot, I let my emotions control too much. I have to be careful here. Naruto…he's not considered a Konoha ninja here.'

"Aaaa-aaah, now my good mood's lost. Hey hey, Naruto, we should go watch Madoka's and Hitoshi's fireworks before we head back," Ryuu said with a pout, grasping her arm lightly.

Naruto laughed, "Yeah, alright you big baby." She turned to Sasuke, "You can follow Keiko back if you want. I'm taking this man-child to go have some fun."

"So mean!" he joked, his mood coming back.

Sasuke didn't respond, simply nodding at her.

Naruto smiled in reply, turning back to Ryuu, "Well, let's get going. Hey, have you had any of Sanae's cream puffs yet? They're always really good, but I heard they're on fire today!"

"Yup! I had three boxes earlier!"

"Oh wow. You better not throw up on me later."

He laughed in reply, dragging Naruto off into the lights of the village.

The Konoha ninja watched them walk off, finally seeming to come to their senses as everything calmed. Some of the normal villagers that were around stared at them with distrust now, grumbling as they gave them a wide berth.

"You better come on, lowlifes. You've already pissed me off once," Keiko called back to them, walking further ahead.

Though Sakura wanted to respond, she simply grumbled before following, the rest of the ninja also coming into step with her.

Sasuke leaned toward Sakura, eyes narrowing, "Sakura—"

"I know I know," she whispered back, "I wasn't thinking straight. I forgot how important he is here."

"Sakura-senpai…if that guy had moved forward just a bit more…" Akio mumbled, clearly shaken up.

"We wouldn't have been fast enough to stop him…" Keiji finished, wringing his hands together to calm himself down, still caught by the adrenaline rush.

"We have to be careful about them. He could've taken your head off," Sasuke said.

"Hmm? No, he could've cut my neck and I would've been in critical condition, for sure, but take my head off?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Sasuke thought back to the movements he'd seen Ryuu make. He remembered how quickly he'd taken to the situation.

He remembered the dent he'd left in the ground when he focused on Sakura.

Sasuke decided to not reply, listening as not too far away, small explosions began to happen.

Hitoshi picked up a bomb from where he was standing, lighting it with a match he had ready. After a short count, he threw it up into the sky. Silently, Madoka rose her hands to the air and surrounded the bomb with her wind technique. She made a shape in the air, and when the bomb exploded, it glowed, filling the shape with fire until the explosion was done. Because of the technique, the sound of the explosion was muted, not that it bothered anyone.

The glow from the blaze lit the area with red, sometimes blue, sometimes purple depending on the bomb that had been thrown up. The children laughed and pointed up at the nonsensical formations, their parents and other adults watching on in awe. Ryuu laughed beside Naruto as the two guessed what Madoka was making.

"Aha, she tried making a cat that time! See, those sort of triangle looking parts are the ears, that line near the back is a tail, and those squiggly lines near the front are the teeth…oh, she even added paws this time! She's getting good!"

"She's never actually touched a cat, has she?" Naruto asked.

"Nope, not yet! All I could do was tell her about them. I hope I can bring her one sometime," he replied, looking on fondly as she made another nonsensical formation with Hitoshi's bomb.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a little while before Ryuu spoke again.

"Oi."

"Hmm?"

"Did that girl really hit you? Out of…friendship?"

"Ah, yeah. It started a long time ago, and it was kinda our thing. I'd do something stupid, and she'd punch me. No harm done."

Ryuu didn't respond for a moment.

"I don't think I like that, though."

"Hmm?"

He looked her straight in the eyes, "Friends shouldn't hit friends like that."

She huffed, smiling back, "It's fine, Ryuu."

"No it's not," he frowned.

Naruto finally caught on to what he meant.

"Hey, Ryuu…she wasn't abusing me, you know."

He hummed, not convinced.

"Besides, friends hit each other all the time."

He hummed again, eyes narrowing.

Naruto sighed, deciding to not push the idea anymore. After a moment, she felt his arms wrap around her neck, the tall young man placing his head carefully to the side of hers.

"Because I don't hit you, does that mean we aren't friends?"

She placed a hand on his arm, "Of course not."

"Does the fact that you don't hit me mean we aren't friends?"

"Definitely not."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't hit you, Ryuu. Not seriously."

"Exactly."

She turned her head to look at him from the side of her eyes. He stared at her intently.

"You don't hit your friends like that. That's not your kind of friendship. You don't do it to others, so I don't think it's good to accept it from others either. You don't deserve to be hit," he cuddled into her neck more, "No one does."

"It's not like that, Ryuu."

"Would she hit that Sasuke guy?"

"Hmm? Well, no."

"Isn't she friends with him?"

"Well, she's more in love with him actually."

"She loves him, but doesn't hit him."

"Yeah."

"Then if she really loves you, she shouldn't hit you either."

Naruto groaned, "You're not getting the point, Ryuu. She doesn't love me like that."

He sighed, "She doesn't have to in order to give you basic respect." He moved his arms to encase her waist instead, "You know I love you, right?"

Naruto looked at him and laughed, "Yeah, I know."

He nodded in reply, "Good. So you know I don't 'love you like that', but I don't hit you."

Naruto glared at him, "Ryuu…c'mon, we're supposed to be having fun."

He stared her straight in the eye, but she glared back just as strongly. He sighed, "'Kay, 'kay, I'll drop it for now."

Naruto nodded at him, pleased, and turned back to the fireworks.

"I just want you to know that your friendship with her is really shitty."

"Ryuu, I swear to the Sage."

As the evening wound down, and the children were beginning to be put to bed to leave the adults some time alone in the light of the lanterns, the four returned together to the council building, ready for their discussion. Upon entering the building, they took a left to a door off to the side, opening it to take the stairs up to the more private meeting room on the second floor. After walking down the small hallway to the double doors in the middle, Naruto opened them to reveal the room.

Inside the considerably smaller room, there was a single, long table, each side able to seat about sixteen people. It was wide enough that a person couldn't reach across with just their arm length, but close enough for their faces to be seen clearly. The Konoha ninja sat on the left side of the table, while the Hana ninja sat on the right. Asura smiled from her seat.

"How was the fireworks show?"

"It was great! Hitoshi and Madoka outdid themselves again," Ryuu cheered, Hitoshi smiling at the praise while Madoka nodded.

"I made…a cat…" she mumbled, walking over to her seat.

"That's great, Madoka. Wish I could'a seen it," Kenta replied, smiling at the girl even though she couldn't see it.

Naruto, Hitoshi, and Ryuu all took their seats in the same fashion as they would in the public council room, looking across the table to the Konoha ninja. Sasuke sat in front of Asura, Sakura to his right. Akio and Keiji elected to stand behind them as genin who weren't really to be part of the discussion.

Asura looked to her left, then to her right, then smiled at the Konoha ninja.

"Well then, let's get started, shall we?"