Chapt. 14- The Welcome Wagon

(Shigure's P.O.V)

I stood there in the hokage office staring at two people that looked as if they had seen a ghost. I fought the urge to break out in laughter, and all Naruto could do is wonder why everyone was silent, poor kid.

" So what's the deal, do you all know each other already?" Naruto obnoxiously screeched. I didn't know Tsunade particularly well, since I hadn't mad the best first impression when Jiraiya introduced us to one another years ago I asked her out and got turned down. Besides that I helped her obtain her drinking habit through binge drinking and competitions. Fun times but very brief part of my life, since I was shortly thrown in prison afterward.

Tsunade looked around, probably deciding to break the tension asked me, " So Shigure, Why are you here in Konoha? If I remember you were exiled."

" Well, that's what I came here to talk to you about." I said as walked over to Tsunade's desk and handed her the scroll Jiraiya had gave me. I prayed on the inside that this would be enough to redeem myself. Tsunade looked the scroll over very intently for a long time then turned to Shizune and exchanged whispers. I felt this was going south quickly.

" I have made a decision Shigure." Tsunade proclaimed, as I perked up to this. The tension had been eating away at me. Tsunade gave the scroll another quick once over before saying, " Since Jiraiya has put in such a good word for you, I am lifting you off of exile. You will be reinstated as a normal jonin, but this will have to be run by the counsel." I felt my heart drop. The counsel to put it bluntly was a bunch of fucking idiots that couldn't decide on anything, and two people there that held a decent amount of pull that would probably be against me were Danzo and Hiashi.

" Don't worry too much Shigure, I'll make sure this happens. Our numbers are low and we need all the man power we can get." Tsunade concluded which made me feel a bit more relieved. Nobody would argue with Tsunade if they were smart, but as I said before the counsel is full of a bunch of idiots.

" Thank you Tsunade-sama." I said with a bow. Stupid sword is so damn heavy I nearly fell over. Naruto just nodded and walked out of the room.

"Come on sensei! We need to go get some ramen!" Naruto yelled as he bolted out of the room. I sighed as I gave a waive to both of the women that just gave me a generic smile, and walked out of the room to hunt down Naruto.

I exited the building and breathed in the fresh air. It was so nice to be back. I knew where Naruto was heading off to, so I followed casually taking my time to take in the scenery.

I caught up to Naruto and he was talking to some pinkette. You don't see girls with pink hair very often, and by the looks of it they seemed to be friends. So, decided I would introduce myself to his friend as I approached them both.

" Hello their kid." I suddenly said, and I made them both jump. Guess they were so into their conversation they didn't even notice me.

" This is the freak I've been talking about!" Yelled Naruto as he pointed at me.

" You don't need to point Naruto, I know who I am." I happily said while Naruto face-palmed himself. The pink haired girl gave me a very strange look that gave me a feeling she already was already scarred of me, which gave me a warm feeling inside. I got irritated by the awkward silence and asked her, " Well aren't you going to introduce yourself girl?"

" This is Sakura! Her and I are on team 7 with Kakashi sensei!" Naruto said loudly, and obviously interrupting her before she could talk.

" Don't so that to me you idiot!" Sakura yelled as she bashed Naruto in the face, and people call me violent, this chick was nuts.

" Ow, that hurt." Naruto mumbled as he clutched his bruised face. I smiled at their behavior, they seemed to be adequate teammates and quite comical.

" Serves you right! I'm sorry about that, Naruto told me your name is Shigure, is that right?" Inquired Sakura very calmly despite her actions a moment ago.

" Yeah that's right. By the way, don't believe anything Naruto says about me. It's probably a lie." I joked while I getting a glare from Naruto.

" We gotta go get ramen Sakura, do you want to come." Asked Naruto as if he was begging slightly.

" Sorry, I have things to do at the hospital. So I'll see you later." Said Sakura as she walked away.

" Are we going to get ramen or what? That cabbage is starting to wear off." I stated hoping Naruto would start moving again towards the ramen shop.

"Oh yeah, lets go do that right now! I'm starved!" bellowed Naruto.

We reached the ramen shop and the owner looked very happy to see him as he immediately nodded to Naruto and began cooking his ramen right away.

" Good customer are we now?" I teased Naruto.

" I'm the best there is! I've been coming here since I could walk." Proclaimed Naruto.

" Sir, would you like any?" The ramen cook asked me.

"Yes, One bowl of beef ramen should suffice." I answered.

The ramen was good, just as I remembered it as I would eat here infrequently many years ago. I finished my meal to look over at Naruto's progress. He had polished off three bowls already to my one, what a pig. We finished and paid the kind vender, and as it was getting dark we decided to head to Naruto's apartment. When we got there he got out the key he had gotten from his rotten landlord (Who really showed their affection for Naruto if you catch my drift) and he opened the door. To put it bluntly, it was a shitty apartment, but I didn't care. My own cabin was probably only a little better, but hey I'm not picky.

"Just sleep wherever, it doesn't really matter." Said Naruto as he yawned. Being sleep deprived sure has taken out a lot out of him as he trudged to his room.

I grabbed a blanket from my pack and made myself comfortable on the couch. Today went fairly smoothly, but I couldn't help but think how things would turn out at the council meeting. My fate is on the line, and I have no power over it.

Hope you enjoyed it. Please rate and review, I always like to see your opinions!