Talking, Thinking, Biju Talking, Technique

Different Locations, lines mean switching between scenes or people.

Chapter 20: Decision!

"I'll need to come back, I'll most likely still have a few more patients waiting on me..." A figure tiredly noted to themselves as they walked out of a building that resembled that of a hospital.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." A familiar looking whiskered blond introduced themselves as the now named Sakura took a step out of the building.

Sakura's eyes widen at the person in front of her. "N-Naruto?"

"Yeah, it's me." Naruto confirmed with a wary smile. "...Surprised?"

"Well, yeah. You didn't tell any of us you were leaving for a mission." Sakura said with a relaxed smile. "Honestly, you're not even a Hokage yet and you're already shoving your work to Shikamaru."

"Ahaha, yeah..." Naruto reluctantly agreed with a smile while scratching his chin. He stopped this action as he recalled why he came to Konoha's hospital. "Sakura-chan, I was wondering if you would have any scrolls or books on medical ninjutsu?"

"Hm, why do you need such a thing?" The pink-haired questioned with a scrunched eyebrow. "Naruto, I don't think I need to tell you but you have the best healing factor around. Why would you need something like medical ninjutsu?"

The blond began to shake his hands in front of him. "Ah, no, no! It's not for me, but for a friend." He brought his arms back down. "You see, one of my friends that I met over my mission really wants to learn medical ninjutsu. However, no one there can teach them, so I thought it would be nice if I brought some stuff for them to gain an idea on medical ninjutsu."

"Plus, they got really excited when they heard I knew one of the best medical ninjutsu users." He finished off with a kind smile, yet it seemed almost off. It was still genuine, however, there was something off about it that his teammate could clearly tell.

Sakura shook her head slowly with a smile making its way on her face. "I understand. I'll get as much stuff as I can and put it into a scroll." At this, Naruto's smile became slightly brighter. "However, I can only do that in a few hours. I need to go finish some other stuff for the hospital."

"All right, no problem." Naruto reassured kindly. "I'll just go look around the village, it feels like forever since I was here."

"I'll be back in four or so hours, so be back by then." Sakura informed her friend as she turned away from him. "See you later."

"Later." Naruto said as he waved towards the girl, before spinning on the balls of his feet and walking off in a different direction.

"Hey, why don't you go inform that Sensei of yours about what happened with the entire Asura thing?" Kurama inquired from within his jinchuriki's mind.

The shinobi groaned in response. "...Nah, I rather have this entire thing about the clan done with first so when I get to his office, he won't bother me about it."

The fox shrugged his shoulders at what his partner said, he had an understanding from where he was coming from so he decided to drop the matter.

As Naruto walked down the street, he came by a stall that had been selling some miscellaneous items. One of those, much to his chagrin, was a necklace with the Uzumaki clan crest on it.

'Damn, is this a sign or is the world just being mean to me?' Naruto mentally asked himself with his eyebrows scrunched.

"My, if it isn't the Hero of Konoha. How may I help you?" An old lady inquired with a smile as she walked out from the back of the stall.

The old woman was a bit chubby, she had gray aged hair that stopped at her shoulders, her eyes were squinted to the point it looked like they were closed, wearing a light pink dress, and was wearing normal sandals that were colored purple.

The shinobi blushed slightly, still not use to the nickname the people of Konoha had been calling him. He was about to decline until he thought it would only be right if he were to buy gifts for his roommates as well.

"Uh, yeah. Can I buy that necklace?" He asked with a small smile while pointing towards the item.

"Oh, of course." She happily replied while giving a head nod.

His eyes then caught sight of another necklace. The necklaces appeared to be a yin-yang, although there was something off about it.

"Hey, Oba-chan, is that necklace broken? Why aren't the two parts connected?" Naruto questioned while pointing towards the item.

"Ah, this..." The old woman responded as she grabbed the item and placed it in between both her hands. She removed her hand to reveal the two parts further than before. "You see, this necklace is a two-in-one. It's supposed to represent two friends that are always connected." She finished holding the two pieces by their cord with her right and left hand.

At this, Naruto smiled as he already knew which two people, he would give this too. "I see. All right, can I get that one as well?"

"Of course, here let me get it ready for you." The old woman told the shinobi with a smile.

She placed the items in a small box, both items getting a separate box each, then placing both boxes into a bag before placing it on the counter. "That'll be three hundred ryo."

Naruto went into his pocket and got out his gama-chan before quickly going to get the amount of money he would need and then handing it to the old woman. "Okay, here you go."

"Thank you, have a nice day." The old lady replied as she took the money from Naruto and then handed him his items.

"You too, have a nice day." Naruto said with a wave of his hand as he returned to walking down the street.

While Naruto had only returned to walking a few minutes earlier, he came by a bookstore that caused him to stop on his tracks. He shrugged his shoulders as walked towards the entrance. 'Negi likes to know stuff, so there should be something for him here...'

The blond shinobi was very thankful, it didn't take too long for him to find a book for his surrogate brother. The book was one that talked about the Warring States Period, he was sure that the young boy would enjoy this.

Naruto took the book up to the cashier and placed it on the counter. "Can I buy this?"

"Uh, yeah sure." The cashier replied lazily as he took the book.

The cashier looked to be around in his late twenties, his hair was cut in bowl cut style, he was wearing small glasses, a white shirt, brown shorts, and black regular sandals.

After calculating how much the book cost, he looked back to the blond and replied lazily. "That'll be one thousand ryo."

Again, Naruto grabbed his trusty gama-chan and took out the exact amount of change he would need before handing it to the cashier. "Here ya go."

"Have a nice day." Naruto told the cashier as he grabbed the item before heading out the store.

'Now, what can I get Chamo...' The blond mentally questioned himself as he placed the book inside the bag the held the necklaces. His eyes widen as he made a grin. 'Lucky me, I don't even have to waste a single ryo on him. I'm sure I have it in one of my scrolls.'

(Time skip)

The sun was close to setting as Naruto walked down near a river bank with his hands behind his back, while the bag that held the items gently shook with each step.

'...How should I go with this?' Naruto inwardly asked himself as he came to a stop and closed his eyes. 'I mean, it's not like I wouldn't like that... Though, that doesn't make it right.' He finished by slumping his shoulders while lowering his head.

"N... Naruto-kun?" A feminine voice hesitantly asked in surprise.

"Huh?" Was the sound that came from the blond's mouth as he turned around to see who had called him.

His eyes widen as he returned to normal posture while a small smile accompanied his face. "A-Ah, hey there Hinata!"

"Hello..." Hinata replied quietly with a smile.

Her hair had grown longer, to the point where it was near her waist, she had been wearing her lavender colored sweater which was unzipped slightly to reveal a bit of mesh armor underneath, which caused Naruto to believe that she had been training especially with some of the bruises and cuts she had over her person. She was also wearing her navy-blue pants and her low-heeled shinobi sandals.

There had been an awkward silence between the two before the Hyuga heiress decided to break yet. "S-So, I've heard that you been on a mission. Has it been difficult?"

"Um... Not really no, it's kinda been fun honestly." Naruto replied with his fox like smile which caused Hinata to gain a slightly pink hue in her cheeks. "And I've seen you've been training, eh?"

"A-Ah, yes, I have." The blue-haired girl replied with a quick head nod. "If I may ask, aren't you still on your mission? Why are you back in Konoha?"

"Oh, well... Kakashi-sensei had something important to talk to me about." The blond responded as he scratched his cheek sheepishly while giving a forced smile.

"D-D-Do you want to talk about it?" Hinata questioned hesitantly while her cheeks begin to heat up.

Naruto was surprised to hear what he heard. "R-Really? You sure? Don't you have to get home soon?"

"...No, I'm not doing anything today and besides..." Hinata said as she looked directly into two blue eyes with her own pale white. "You look very bothered by it. We can walk while we talk."

"...U-Um sure." The blond shinobi replied while he smiled back grateful for the girl's kindness.

The two then made their way, walking near the river bank, and almost for five or so minutes, no one uttered a word to each other. Hinata's reason was that she was waiting for her friend to tell her what was wrong and she was also slightly embarrassed.

Naruto's reason was slightly different. While he still was embarrassed, he also was wondering on how he would tell a girl on how he would have to be a polygamist and was duty with reviving his clan.

It was only made worse when he recalled a few seconds into their walk that Hinata confessed her feelings to him, which in turn caused him to heat up slightly and his hand almost looked like it was fidgeting.

After a few more seconds of pondering, Naruto spoke. "H-Hinata, h-how would you deal with something that you would've never expected yourself to be in?"

"Hm, could you elaborate a bit more on that?" The kunoichi requested with a perplexed look.

The shinobi closed his eyes and cupped his hand around his chin while his eyebrows began to scrunch. 'H-How should I explain this to her, the only reason I even told Konohamaru was that he told me about his problem and I kinda slipped up...'

After a second or so, he nodded. He reopened his eyes to look at the girl. "Alright, how about like this. What if you were in a situation where instead of choosing only one ramen flavor, whichever you enjoy most, you get to eat every other ramen flavor besides that one for that rest of your life? The one you really and truly enjoy? Is that worth giving up?"

'Is he really going to use an analogy as dumb as this? There's no she'll be able to understand this...' Kurama thought as he seemed to do a facepalm. He then face faulted as the Hyuga girl began to tap her finger against her chin. 'That actually helped!?'

(Play: Toradora! OST – Yuugure No Yakusoku)

"What's wrong with having to eat multiple ramen flavors?" Hinata questioned innocently before a small smile made its way on her face. "I... I don't really have a favorite, you see."

Naruto felt somewhat embarrassed, he began to cough into his hand as he tried to explain better. "...Hm, there's nothing wrong with it, but I just don't feel right leaving that one ramen flavor I really like in exchange for all the other ones I'll get... It... kind of feels like I'm losing loyalty to that one ramen that I really, really like, well at least that's how I feel anyways, Ahaha..."

"Hm, I don't quite get it." Hinata informed her childhood crush, which caused him to sigh. She then gave him a small smile. "...Also, I don't really quiet know what you're going through but... "

The blond raised his eyebrow at that, the girl continued. "...N-Naruto-kun, you've always been someone who's treated people kindly and equally... S-So, wouldn't the answer be something like, enjoy each ramen like you do with your favorite one?"

Naruto came to a stop as his eyes widen at what he had heard, he began to think and repeat the words the girl had just said. 'Treat them equally and... Care for them equally.' He began to slowly shake his head with a small smile forming. 'Damn, I really must be an idiot to not see something so simple...'

He then gave the girl a bright smile. "Thanks, Hinata! I might just know what to do now 'tebayo."

The girl got slightly flustered from the appreciation the boy had just shown, however, this didn't stop her from smiling in return. "It's no problem, Naruto-kun. I'm just happy I can help you. Even though I didn't do that much."

"Nah, you did enough for me just now." The whiskered teen happily stated as he began to run and look over his shoulder. "I need to get going now! I have someone important to talk too! Have a nice night!"

Hinata gave a slight head nod. "I-I see, goodbye then, Naruto-kun..." She finished as she watched the male use a Shunshin, evident by the fact that there now were leaves on the ground that hadn't been there before.

(End: Toradora! OST – Yuugure No Yakusoku)

(Time skip)

It was nearing nightfall as Naruto waited outside of the Konoha Hospital, waiting for his friend. Luckily for him, it didn't take to long for his friend to come on out. Sakura walked up to her teammate with a scroll in her hand.

"All right, here you go. I placed a few low genin through mid to high chunin scrolls and books with everything the friend of yours might need." She explained with a smile while waving the scroll in her hand. "I also was nice enough to make you some of my famous solider food pills."

'Jeez... Famous because they work as the perfect repellent for any enemy or because it can actually kill someone if they're not prepared...?' Naruto mentally thought with a strained look as he took the scroll from his friend's hand.

"Thanks again, for doing this." The blond shinobi thanked with a genuine grateful smile.

The pink-haired girl began to giggle which had confused the blond. "What's so funny, is there something on my face?"

Sakura shook her head slowly as she stopped her giggling. "No, it's not that. You're just acting like the you that I know, you were acting much more different earlier."

"I-I was?" Naruto asked, genuinely surprised. He gave her a smile. "My bad, I just had a lot of stuff on my mind at the moment, but now I have it all figured out 'tebayo!" He finished flashing a good guy pose.

"I see." Sakura noted with a smile. She turned around and started to walk back into the building, not before turning her head around to face her teammate. "I got to go back in, I need to check on a few more patients."

"Alright, I need to go check something with Kakashi-sensei right now anyways. Later!" The male yelled enthusiastically as he began to quickly walk towards the Hokage's office leaving a smiling kunoichi behind.

Kurama decided to speak up as his jinchuriki made his way to his location. "So, I take it that you're going through with the whole clan revival thing?"

"I am." Naruto responded seriously.

"Why though? I thought you didn't like the idea of having multiple spouses. You change your mind on it?" The fox asked in a resting position.

"Hmm... No, I didn't really change my mind on it. I still don't really enjoy the thought of having multiple wives, however, it was more than that..." The shinobi replied to his bijuu. "Before, it was more of a 'how will I deal with having multiple wives?' or 'how will I treat each of them?'... However, it was such an easy question to answer..."

He flashed his fox like grin. "Just treat them all equally and love them all equally! It's as simple as that."

The fox began to chuckle at his jinchuriki. "Haha, makes sense, only you would get that answer from that terrible ramen analogy."

"Hey! C'mon, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Naruto asked which only increased his tenant's chuckling. Naruto turned away from the fox and begin to grin. "Anyways, I also have some conditions for Kakashi-sensei." A bead of sweat rolled down his head. "Hopefully he accepts them."

(Time skip)

"I just finished talking to Kakashi a while back and why didn't you tell me about this? Were you really that embarrassed about telling me that you were going to be a polygamist? Did you think I was going to look at you differently?"

Both Naruto and Iruka were currently in an alleyway. The reason being was that when Naruto was making his way towards the Hokage's office, he had seen Iruka along the way, which by then Iruka grabbed him by his arm and dragged him into a private area so they could talk about it without anyone hearing.

Naruto looked at Iruka in surprise before quickly shaking his head. "No, no, no! It's not that. I just didn't want to bring it up were other people could hear us talk about it and besides..."

The blond than began to smile. "It's not that big of a matter anyways. True, I feel somewhat burdened since I have to rebuild the Uzumaki clan myself, but I had some time to think about it and I'm fine. Trust me." He finished with a confident look in his eyes.

The brunette was about to question his former student until he saw the look in his eyes, they were confident. He was confident in himself. Seeing those eyes were proof to Iruka that he knew his former student knew what they were doing.

The scared faced man sighed right before he began to smile. "fine then, I trust you. Remember if you ever need anyone to talk too, for whatever reason, I'm here for you."

"Oho, I should ask someone for relationship advice, even though they have been single for most of their life?" The whiskered boy jokingly asked with a shit-eating grin.

Iruka's eyebrow twitched at the comment, but he managed to calm himself down as he knew his former student was only joking, or so he hoped. He began to walk towards the light. "Alright then, let's go. It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah, I know. But I gotta go talk with Kakashi-sensei first and clear somethings up." The blond explained nonchalantly as he walked behind his former teacher.

Soon enough, the two were both back out in the open, the brunette looked at his surrogate younger brother with a warm smile. "Okay then, I guess we part here?"

Naruto nodded with his own smile taking place. "Yeah, have a nice night, Iruka-sensei." And like that, not missing a beat, he began to run towards the Hokage's office.

"That guy... He seems to have grown but only a bit..." Iruka said to himself as an image of a younger Naruto made its way in his mind. He couldn't help himself from grinning. "Yup, no matter what, he'll always be the same little goofball."

(Hokage's Office)

"...I see, if we do this, we can possibly grow large amount in numbers. And both sides will benefit a lot from this."

"Yes, however, we need to talk to the other villages about this." Kakashi explained to the two remaining members of the Konoha council while Takamichi smoked a cancer stick near the window.

"And even after we inform the other villages, there's a lot more that needs to be done first." Koharu, the female councilmen, stated as she eyed the Hokage.

Kakashi nodded his head in understanding. "I know, that's why I'll send-"

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! I need to talk to you!" Naruto shouted loudly as he busts open through the door.

The blond than noticed that the Konoha councilmen were also in the room, which caused him to grin. "Great, the old-timers are here as well. That should make things easier."

Both Homura and Koharu eyebrow's twitched at the 'old timers' comment.

"What's so important that you ruin this meeting, Naruto?" The male councilmen inquired with a perplexed look while the female councilmen thought the same thing.

Both Takamichi and Kakashi shared amused looks with each other.

"Naruto, if you would please. We're discussing something very important currently, can't this wait till after?" Koharu asked with a tone that sounded a bit angry from the sudden arrival.

The blond shook his head frantically. "No can do, sorry Oba-chan. This is something way, way, way more important to talk about!"

"Oh, what's so important that you almost break my door, Naruto?" Kakashi questioned with a smile, he wasn't really angry he just wanted to know.

"Yeah, about that, I'll agree to do the clan revival thing." Naruto stated nonchalantly.

This seemed to surprise everyone in the room. They were all expecting for it to take a few days so that the blond shinobi could probably think this through.

"However! Before I actually go through with this, I have some conditions!" Naruto stated firmly.

"And just what are those conditions, Naruto?" The silver-haired shinobi asked, generally curious to what his former student had to say.

The whiskered teen raised his hand only letting his index finger pointing outward. "First, I'll begin the process of reviving the Uzumaki clan when I'm twenty or so years of age." The Hokage nodded his head to that.

The Uzumaki continued, lifting his middle finger. "S-Second..."

Naruto looked a bit hesitant about something, Takamichi took one more drag before putting it out. "Is something the matter, Naruto-kun?"

"N-No, it's that... I-I don't really know what love is, like the romantic way..." The blond explained hesitantly, blushing slightly while he had a pointed look at the ground.

Everyone in the room was caught off guard by what he said, well it also made sense. He had the farthest thing from a normal childhood, so it'll only make sense to not know how to feel about love or love someone.

He brought his head back up to look at his former teacher with a smile slowly but surely making its way on his face. "I-I don't know what or how love really is, I'm sure it's not the same type of love I have for ramen but..." His eyes gained a confident look. "I'm sure that if or when I meet the girl, or in this case girls, I'll know what this love is. So, my second request is that you allow me to choose who I get to marry, I don't want a loveless marriage 'tebayo!"

Neither Kakashi nor Takamichi seemed all that surprised by what they heard, this was the son of Minato and Kushina after all.

The blond was about to continue but was stopped when Kakashi spoke up. "Naruto, as much as I would like to go by these conditions, I can't. I'm not the only one who has a word in this." He finished by gesturing to the two councilmen.

Naruto eyed the two with anticipation.

A few seconds of complete silence followed for a few seconds until Homura coughed into his hand. He gazed at the blond shinobi with a stern look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Naruto. But we cannot abide by those conditions."

Naruto clenched his fist tightly while he grits his teeth.

"For the Uzumaki clan to restore to be restored to what it was, the clan head, in this case, you, will have to marry other females who either have inherent strong abilities like a kekkai genkai or they have a trait that Uzumaki are known for. So, when your future child is born, he'll most likely than not have inherited the known Uzumaki genes." Koharu explained which only added fuel to the fire that was Naruto.

The whiskered teen was about to retort but was stopped when the male councilman raised his hand.

"Of course, this was in the past after." Homura said with a smile taking place.

The teen eyes widen at what the older male was getting towards, he continued. "The only problem we might receive is from the Daimyo, however, even if a Daimyo's has a large part in political matters such as this, his single word won't be more than enough to beat the Hokage's, the council, and other higher-ups when it comes to something involving Konoha."

"After everything you've done for Konoha and the Elemental Nations, it wouldn't be fair to you if you didn't have a word in this." Koharu told Naruto with her own smile forming.

In return, Naruto smiled brightly and pumped his fist into the air. "Alright! Awesome 'tebayo!"

Kakashi and Takamichi chuckled at how happy the boy seemed.

"Well, Naruto, is there anything else you need to tell us?" Kakashi questioned with a smile still gracing his lips.

At the query, all excitement drained from the blond's face as it became serious. This caused everyone else who occupied the room to become serious as well.

Naruto soon went over on how he had meet Asura earlier that day, which took a bit of time to explain to the councilmen and Takamichi seeing that they both didn't know who this Asura person was. "Also, when we were talking, Asura told me that the Otsutsuki are possibly planning something."

Kakashi's lips thinned, just the mere thought of facing someone like Kaguya again was frightening.

"Well, it's good that you're here, Takamichi." Homura stated as he looked over to glasses wearing male.

Takamichi gave a head nod. "Indeed, it is."

"This information could prove to be vital." Koharu noted while cupping her hand around her chin.

"Huh, huh? What are you guys talking about?" Naruto asked with a confused look as he quickly gazed to each person in the room.

"Oh, that's right, I didn't tell you did I Naruto-kun?" Takamichi inquired with a smile before gesturing to the Hokage. "You see, Konoemon-sama wanted to form an alliance with Konoha and possibly the other villages as well. That's another reason why I came with you. It was in the letter you brought."

The blond smacked his hand atop his palm while making an 'O' shape with his mouth. "So that's the reason for that thing?"

"Yes, but that's not important right now." Kakashi stated, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Naruto closed his eyes and adapted a thinking position. "Hm... Yeah, could you send Sasuke a message if something like this happened to him? If he has, I'm sure we can use it." He finished opening his eyes.

"All right, I'll get a messenger bird ready and I'll send him a letter of what we know." The Hokage told his former subordinate. His gaze trailed over to the other gray-haired male. "Takamichi, you and Naruto will return tomorrow, along with the two other shinobi that I've planned to go with you."

Takamichi nodded while Naruto raised a brow confused by what his former teacher meant. "Wait, you're saying two others will be coming with us?"

Kakashi seemed to smile from underneath his mask. "Yes, you'll meet them tomorrow and I expect that you'll be pleasantly surprised as well. Do you have anything else that you would like to discuss?"

"Nah, that's all." Naruto responded as he scratched his neck.

"Okay, you can go. But before you do..." Kakashi murmured off as he grabbed something from a drawer which caught the young male's attention.

The silver-haired male's eyes widen. "Ah, here it is." He took out a scroll before throwing it over to his former student who caught it.

Naruto inspected the scroll with a raised brow. It was a dark red colored scroll that had clouds outlined in white along it, it was tied with a thin crimson red rope, and in the middle of it had the Uzumaki clan crest on it.

"I-Is this what I think it is?" He asked sounding happy and surprised.

Kakashi smiled while he nodded. "Yup, it's a scroll that holds some fuinjutsu that was made by the Uzumaki clan. I was planning on giving it to you after you become a proper clan head, however, with what we currently know, it'll be best if you learn some jutsu now."

"Awesome, tell her I say thanks!" Naruto requested with a large grin before making his way out of the Hokage's office.

(Naruto's house)

Naruto was currently laying in his bed with nothing but his boxers. He placed everything he needed in scrolls, along with everyone's gifts and some books. However, these books weren't just any books.

"I can understand one of them, but why the hell are you bringing Icha Icha with you? Didn't that stuff almost kill you and your master countless times when he was caught peeping?" Kurama asked curious to why his jinchuriki wanted to bring something as perverted as that book, especially since it was the entire series he was bringing.

Naruto rested his head on his hands as he shrugged his shoulders. "I just want to republish Ero Sennin's work and besides it's like you said, I almost died countless times because of that thing, so it's only right that it gets published for everything I went through. And it could also be an easy way for me to have money if I were to ever need it, plus I think it'll be a hit."

"I guess..." The fox responded while tiredly.

"Anyway, how do you feel about the Otsutski thing, Kurama?" The jinchuriki questioned his tenant.

"What's there to think about? As long as we're together, no one can stop us!" Kurama proclaimed with a large grin.

Naruto grinned his fox like grin due to his partner's confidence. "Hehe, your right on that 'tebayo."

(Time skip)

It was twelve o'clock as the blond shinobi, in his shinobi attire, made his way down towards Ichiraku, he would be leaving later and he didn't know when he'll come back again so he decided it would be best to get some last Ichiraku ramen before he left.

As he approached his favorite place in Konoha, he saw a face that he hadn't seen since he had arrived two days ago. He grinned as he walked up to the person. "Hey, Shikamaru what's up?"

"Huh?" Shikamaru, who was also in his shinobi attire, muttered as he turned his gaze towards his old classmate, which caused him to start sweating profusely as he realized where he was and who he was near. 'Awe crap...'

"H-Hey, Naruto..." The dark-haired responded hesitantly with a wary smile.

"Is something wrong, you don't look that well." The blond noted with a raised brow.

The chunin quickly shook his head. "N-No, nothing's wrong with me. I think I should get g-going." He finished as he began to walk away from his friend.

Naruto could easily tell something was going on with his friend. 'Hmm... why is Shikamaru acting so weird, we haven't talked to each other in so long, so why not talk about over a steaming bowl of delicious Ichiraku ramen...?'

That's when it clicked.

As Shikamaru quietly tried to walk away, he suddenly felt someone grab his wrist. He slowly turned his head around to meet Naruto who had a shit-eating grin on his face.

"You owe me ramen 'tebayo."

'That day, I might've sold my soul to the devil...' The dark-haired male thought with a weak smile. "All right, as troublesome as this is, I'll get you your extra-large miso pork ramen."

The blond grinned largely as he pumped his fist into the air in victory like fashion. "Great! You're a great friend you know!?"

Shikamaru shook his head slowly. 'Hopefully, my mission will pay me enough back for this...'

The two made their way into the ramen shop, they quickly ordered their ramen and began to talk to each other as they waited on their food.

"So, what are you doing right now anyway?" Naruto inquired as he sipped some of his water.

Shikamaru glanced over to his old classmate. "I was just preparing to get some items I might need on my mission."

Naruto raised a brow, more curious than before. "It must be something important for the Hokage's adviser to leave the Hokage, what kind of mission is it?"

"Hokage-sama said it was an S-rank political mission. Since it's in another nation, Hokage-sama can't go, that's why I'm going as his proxy.

The blond Uzumaki quickly got interested as he heard it was an S-rank, but soon lost that interest as he heard it was a political mission. "I see, so it must be big then?"

"Yup, he said it's really important." The Nara shinobi stated. "Honestly it's almost as troublesome as buying you ramen."

Naruto crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Hey, c'mon. I'm only appreciating the food that even the gods worship. I'm just a very, very firm follower."

"Yeah, you sure are..." Shikamaru remarked with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

(Time skip)

After a few large bowls of extra large ramen, getting his stuff ready, and waiting for a few hours, Naruto stood in front of the entrance to Konoha. He was still in his shinobi attire, only lacking his Hitai-ate and left his jacket open to reveal a white shirt underneath with a red swirl in the middle of it.

"Hey, Takamichi where are the other two that Kakashi-sensei mentioned?" Naruto asked impatiently to the older male as it was getting closer to one in the morning.

Takamichi chuckled at the teen's impatience. "Ahaha... Calm down, Naruto-kun. They'll be here soon."

The whiskered teen was about to ask another question but didn't as he could feet the presence of two others approaching him.

"Hey, Naruto-nii-chan!" One of the figures shouted excitedly.

'At least I already gave him his ramen earlier...' The other figure thought tiredly.

Naruto's eyes widen in surprise as he got a better view of the two figures. He pointed his finger at them. "Holy crap, Konohamaru and Shikamaru!? ...Are you the two who are coming with us?"

The two mentioned were both in their shinobi attire, both lacking their Hitai-ate as well, and had backpacks with them.

"Yup, we are, surprised?" Konohamaru asked with a smile, to which the blond started to nod his head.

"Yeah, obviously!"

Takamichi walked up to the two newcomers, he first gestured towards Konohamaru. "Konohamaru-kun is coming to act as a replacement teacher for the time being for the phys-ed teacher, she's on maternity leave. Kakashi-san also thought this would be a good way to start gaining experience he might need as future clan head, be it, he'll only be learning the basics of the basics but its still a good opportunity for him."

He then gestured towards Shikamaru. "And as for Shikamaru-kun, he's coming on the behalf of Kakashi-san to speak about forming alliances and such."

'Oh, so this is what he meant earlier...' Naruto inwardly told himself while nodding.

"Anyway..." Takamichi muttered as he lit a cigarette and took a drag from it. "Are you guys ready to leave? After we go, you won't be coming back for a while."

"I have everything I need with me." Naruto responded grinning.

"Me too." Konohamaru replied smiling.

"Same with me." Shikamaru answered nonchalantly.

Takamichi smiled at the group. The group followed Takamichi as they made their way towards a tree and watched as Takamichi took out a slip of paper and place it on the tree, which caused the paper to glow before a portal opened up.

Both Konohamaru and Shikamaru looked at the portal in awe, even if the two weren't sensory types, they both could tell that this power that was powering the portal definitely wasn't chakra.

"If either of you are confused on what this is, I'll explain to you two later. Just think of this as a super powerful space-time ninjutsu." The glasses wearing male explained to the two still awe-struck males as he made his way into the portal.

"C'mon, let's get a move on!" Naruto shouted as he pushed his friends into the portal.

"Alright, don't push. We're going, we're going." The dark-haired male informed as he made his way into the portal followed by the brunette and lastly by the grinning blond.

'I'm sure stuff will become a lot more hectic with these two around!'

After Naruto took a step in the portal, it closed with not even a trace being left to say it was there in the first place.

(Unknown Location)

"Damn, I will never understand how that wench Kaguya lost to two fragments of her chakra... I just got to wonder, was she too weak? Or were they too strong? Maybe it can even be a mix of the two?" A figure questioned with a barely visible dark grin.

"Ahaha, well who cares? I'll just go and fix her mess."

The figure then seemed to open up a portal, however, it was all white so no one could tell where that portal lead to besides the figure themselves.

"Let's go see if they're still around." The figure said as they cracked their neck and took a step into the portal. "Time to go take back what is rightfully ours."

The portal soon closed after the figure stepped into it.

Chapter 20 End

Author Notes: Hiya everyone, Weeb here! Now, I don't want to play the "real life has been busier lately" or something of the sort, but it has for me. I've also been giving it some thought lately, I was wondering if I should just upload bi-weekly right now? Yes, yes, I know I change my uploading schedule frequently. However, I feel like if I have a bi-weekly schedule I can get out higher quality chapters for you guys.

A part of me feels like I've haven't been doing that well lately, and no, I'm not trying to get sympathy or any of that crap. I guess it's more of my artistic side that always feels the need to compare myself to others. I really want to give you gives better and higher quality chapters, that's all.

P.S. Special Thanks to "Wonijs" for beta reading the chapter!

Thanks for reading! Please leave a Review, Follow, and Favorite if you don't mind. Have a wonderful day :)