Sup, comrades?

Another October update! Sorry it's so short. I wanted to get it in for Halloween, so I cut off a scene at the end. It'll be included in the next chapter, though. I hope to update Allen Historia before the night is over, too.

Quick response to a review from Ch12:

Guest

Actually, your question will sort of begin to be answered next chapter. I hope you're still around to enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who has been sending me reviews! I really do see you guys and appreciate you, even if I don't always mention your names or answer your questions. You have been spotted and are appreciated! I really like reading what you guys think~

Thanks for all of the favs and follows as well! I really adore you guys!

-JD

Disclaimer: *receives my college financial aid* *now has money* *pays bills* *crie*

Despite what Sakura might have wanted, much of the next two days commenced just like so. They woke, ate, traveled with stilted conversation, set up camp, slept and kept watch, repeat. The closer they came to Konoha, the more talkative Asura became, almost as if she were making up for Naruto's growing silence.

It was like Naruto was constantly getting ready for a punch in the face that wasn't supposed to happen for days. Her smiles waned until she stopped smiling at all. Her eyes grew more and more serious. It was as if she was taking on Sasuke's personality, but there was something hotter under her silence, something angrier.

The only time there was a break in Naruto's growing tension was when Sasuke had told her that Gaara had become Kazekage.

"Whaaaat?! Really?!" Naruto yelled, eyes wide as pieces of the fish she was eating few from her mouth.

"Yes," Sasuke replied, wiping off the fish pieces with a light disgust, "he became the Kazekage about two years ago. It was a few months after you'd left."

"Oh wow…that's absolutely amazing, y'know!" her eyes were welling with tears, "Did…did he ever get my letters?! I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, he became Kazekage n'all…wow! That's amazing, y'know? Y'know?!"

"Letters?" Sakura asked, looking up from her meal.

"Yeah! I sent him some a few times while I was…" she looked away, "traveling. I didn't want him to worry and fall back into the despair he had before…I just had to send him something! Maybe he got them, y'know? I really hope he did!" she leaned back, looking at the sky as she grinned widely.

"Wow…he actually did it…"

She couldn't hold back the tears at that. She just couldn't help exactly how happy for him she was. It was amazing! He'd been hated in his village even more than she was, and yet he got them to open their hearts enough to let him lead them. They trusted him that much…what wonderful people they were. What an accomplishment!

It wasn't her desire to become a Hokage anymore, but she would always be more than happy for him.

Sasuke smiled lightly, watching as a little bit of snot began running from her nose, "Yeah, he got them."

"Aa—ah, s-so he did, huh?" she sniffled, "He c-couldn't send me o-one back, so I ne-ever knew if he did, y'kno-ow?"

"Yeah, he told me the messages you left me, too, whenever you left one," Sasuke said calmly, despite knowing the reaction he'd get from his comrades.

"Messages? What?" Sakura switched her gaze between Naruto and Sasuke, "What are you…what?"

Naruto sniffled again, "Well…w-whenever I sent Gaara a letter, sometimes I'd g-ive him something to tell Sasuke whenever he could," she snuffled, nodding a thanks to Asura, who handed her a tissue.

"Why didn't you just send a letter to the Hokage to tell them?" Keiji asked, frowning.

The jinchuriki blew her nose into the tissue, rubbing it lightly before she wrapped it in plastic, pausing before she spoke.

"Are you daft or something?"

"Eh?!" he looked offended.

"Why'd I send a letter to the village I ran away from?" she rubbed at her lightly puffy eyes, "That's just asking for them to track the messenger eagle."

"Ah, so that's why you stopped sending notes," Sasuke said, his expression muted, "The Konoha officials began noticing your trend and asked Sunagakure to try tracing where the birds flew and stopped."

"Yeah," she sighed, sniffling a little with the last of her tears, "Kurama told me he noticed something off about the Sunagakure eagles I was catching, so I had to stop leaving them."

"Well, except for that one time," he replied.

"…If you don't mind me asking…" Akio began cautiously.

"Gaara once told me that a mysterious package full of letters arrived at the gate during a sandstorm. One of the Suna ninjas barely saw them, but it was someone with…" Sasuke trailed off, his eyes widening in realization.

"So he really got it to him? Ah, I've gotta thank Ryuu later!" then she frowned, "But really, going through a sandstorm? I bet Maki-chan was pissed."

"Really, that boy…" Asura scolded lightheartedly.

"So the one with the red scarf was him."

"Yeah," Naruto said, beginning to get back to her food now that she was calm, "he tends to travel a lot, so he must've heard from somewhere that I couldn't send any more notes and gave Gaara the last few by delivering it…of course, it was sandstorm season, so I'm guessing that Maki wasn't too happy."

"I suppose that explains why he said he doesn't like sandy places so much," Asura laughed.

'Sandstorm season…that's around this time now…it's been at least a year,' Sakura thought, staring down at her food, '…Why didn't she try to send any of the rest of us a message?'

Naruto kept waxing poetic about how great it was that Gaara had moved up in society for at least the next three hours, but her honeymoon emotions faded away when she could no longer distract herself from what she was doing.

Sakura glanced back at Naruto as she left another branch, sneaking a good look at her face. It was pinched and solemn, and it really made her heart squeeze at how upset she looked. The pink-haired ninja turned forward again, closing her eyes tightly.

'It's for her own good…for everyone's good.'

Naruto could practically feel it when they got within 2000 meters of Konoha.

It was early morning, just a bit after dawn, but Naruto was close enough to hear the sounds of an already awake village, more and more people getting up to go about their day. Her skin felt tight and twitchy the closer they got, since they were now being tailed by ANBU. She'd thought they were enemies when she first noticed them, but Sasuke reassured her that they were Konoha ninja at least.

It wasn't all that reassuring, if she were honest, but she understood the sentiment.

Despite her utter distaste for Konoha as a whole, Sasuke had been treated well by them. It was his home, she could understand that. It just wasn't hers…not anymore. She shook her head lightly, deciding to focus just on getting to their destination.

Asura had changed out of her traveling clothes into attire closer to what she wore in the village: a short tan yukata with the white obi she wore when they first met her, her pants a deep brown color. Her hair was still in the braid. With the change in clothes, her demeanor shifted as well, no longer as amicable as before, though her curiosity still hadn't faded away.

She trailed a few ANBU with interest in her eyes.

Sakura stopped running a few meters away from the front gate of Konoha, the others following suit. Upon slowing down, Asura reached back to her head, taking out two small hairpins. She rolled her plated braid up into something similar to the bun she wore before and pinned her hair so it would stay. Akio watched her carefully, cautious of the woman more than ever now that they were at their destination. She smiled in return.

"Considering I'm possibly meeting the Hokage, I should look presentable, shouldn't I?"

He hummed in reply, adverting his gaze to the gate, just ready to take a bath and sleep some more, more than eager to get away from the ones he deemed strangers.

She paid no mind to him, sending a glance over to Naruto.

The girl's face had hardened, her fists clenched. Even though she kept good control over her chakra, she knew that the girl didn't want to go into the gate. The girl was just moments away from stopping any forward motion altogether, and Asura was pretty sure that Sasuke and Asura's endeavors were the only things keeping her from bolting. Sighing, she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. The older woman gave her a reassuring smile.

"Things will be okay this time around, I believe. All things happen for a reason."

Naruto stared at her for a moment before she nodded, her shoulders relaxing a little bit.

Her eyes widened at feeling another hand on her other shoulder. Looking over, Sasuke looked back at her, a solemn but firm look on his face. His hand tightened where it sat, and he shook it a little as his expression lightened a bit.

He didn't have to say anything for her to understand him. She smiled in return, thankful for the gesture.

Sakura and the other shinobi stood there for a moment, watching the three together. It was a very nice image to see, regardless of if you knew who they were or not.

'…Aren't I supposed to be there too? Aren't I supposed to reassure her that things will be fine? What am I doing just standing here?'

She pursed her lips, moving forward. Naruto blinked at her as she moved forward, looking away from Sasuke, said young man and the woman on Naruto's other side watching her with interest. Sakura stopped in front of the jinchuriki, only leaving a little bit of space between the two of them. She breathed in, her shoulders rising lightly, before she breathed out.

Her breath set, her eyes set on Naruto's orange ones.

"…Welcome back, Naruto."

Naruto smiled a little more when she noticed that Sakura avoided the use of "home". That was a little thing that she could appreciate.

"Thanks for the visit."

The citizens of Konoha didn't really notice them at first. They were too busy doing their morning business and trying to go about their day.

Then one person seemed to notice the small group of ninja walking their way through their village, and they could recognize that shock of blonde hair, even though it had been nearly three years since it was last seen. Then another noticed.

And another.

Soon there were people whispering silently as they passed, watching the group with curious but wary eyes. They were also curious about the woman in tan and brown with them, but she was secondary compared to their real interest.

"Isn't that…"

"…No way…they actually found him…"

"Are you sure that's him? Isn't that a girl?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the sexy jutsu he used to do…"

"…Why is he doing that?"

"Where'd the red in his hair come from?"

"He looks even weirder than before…"

"Why is he back?"

"The fox returns, huh…"

"How'd they catch him?"

"They succeeded…does that help him or us?"

"Doesn't it help us? Didn't the Hokage call for him?"

"What is he here for?"

"He's a missing nin, right?"

"What's… going on?"

Kurama grumbled inside of Naruto's head at hearing the whispers from the growing group of people that followed them, but the girl simply patted his arm.

'It'll be fine, Kurama.'

The old spirit gazed down at her, sardonic and skeptical, "You do remember that I can feel your emotions, right, brat? Or is your memory that short?"

She huffed up at him, 'If you tell yourself enough lies, they might become truth. Let me fool myself, geez.'

Kurama didn't care, hunkering down for what was bound to be an annoying day, "Fuck, it's noisy in this village already…"

Naruto sighed, lying herself over his arm, 'Look, I know. I want to go back to the cave too, but keep your pessimism away from me, I have enough as it is! Besides, it might change my eye color.'

"Already has, kit."

'Shit!'

Consciously in the outside world, she closed her eyes, allowing the feel of Kurama's chakra to lessen just enough for her eyes to turn blue again. She wanted the scowl, but she was actually paying more attention to the outside world, so she settled with a fairly blank expression.

'Warn me next time!'

Kurama just cackled in that gravelly voice of his.

When Naruto finally found it in herself to actually focus on what was going on in front of her, she found herself before the main doors of the Academy building. The two shinobi, Akio and Keiji, opened the doors for the rest of them, Sakura entering first, then Asura and she entered side-by-side, and lastly Sasuke before the boy closed the doors behind them. Once the doors were closed, Naruto could hear a muted uproar begin, and she found herself not quite able to care as much as she probably should.

'Hmm…the ANBU can take care of that if they actually need to.'

She kept her expression impassive as the small group made their way to the Hokage's office. Naruto just vaguely recognized a few familiar faces as they went about their way, but she was careful to not make eye contact with any of them. She didn't want, nor need, any heartfelt conversation about how much she was missed. Not yet.

If any of her former friends still felt good about her, then she'd have to deal with them, and that was enough.

She could feel Kurama hum inside of her in agreement.