Disclaimer: Naruto = $$$$ me = has no $$$$$ so I don't own I

Jutsu: Ninpo: Darkness approaches

Normal speech: "We strike together now, for the will of fire."

Demon/Summon or Fusion speech: "And at dawns first light we kill!"

Human Thinking: 'All who would harm our friends.'

Demon or Inner beings thoughts: 'May kami have mercy on their souls!'

Flashback: Because I shall not!

Author: "And all who would stop us prepare to be sent straight to hell!"

I do not own Naruto I do own this story and OC's save for one my oldest fanfic friend created that he allowed me to use long ago (Thanks Rav3r)

Book II A Hero Turned Champion

Chapter 1: A Glimpse of the Past

"Tsunade-sama, here is the next stack that needs your attention." Shizune huffed as she slammed a rather large of somehow very neat pages onto the blonde Hokage's desk.

Only a week had passed since the incident involving Kumo and Wave country had been resolved and those who had been sent had returned.

Since then, Asuma Sarutobi had been sentenced to confinement for a time to cool his head so to speak. His squad, after being checked out by medical personnel was released and began D ranked work around the village in his absence.

Squads 7 and 10 (Gai's crew) were to aid in checking the defenses of the great walls and sadly a few wall guarding duty nights.

Squad 8 was assigned duty to the shipment of projectile and artillery distribution; which by the way is a big fancy way to say help make and deliver sharp pointy things to guys on the walls.

This was more than fine for the female members of squad 8 as this was simple, not dangerous, and allowed them to sleep in their own homes.

And as for our blond haired hero…

(Naruto)

"And that's the last of them" Naruto said casually as the main clerk of the warehouse looked in awe.

"…That was thirty-six tons of equipment… a whole warehouse load of weaponry, packaging, and defensive gear… all moved in fifteen minutes…"

"Yeah, sorry about taking so long; i'd have gone faster but I'm being watched." Naruto said as Kurenai (still shocked by the mass amount of clones that left with the gear) closed her eyes.

"Naruto, your still injured from wave; your lucky to be conscious, left alone using chakra at this point."

"I just don't like doing work like this and want it over with quickly" he said before his eyes widened a bit and he fell to one knee causing the three females to surround him with worry as he gripped his shoulder.

"Naruto, you've ripped it open again" Kurenai said with a bit of steam building up. "As your sensei I order you to cease and go rest."

"I… Hai sensei" Naruto said not putting up much of a fight which only made the three even more worried.

As Naruto left and the clerk left with a yip in his step as he essentially now had the day off leaving the three remaining members to themselves.

"Naruto-kun looked really tired" Hinata stated, there wasn't a stutter but was as soft as a whisper.

"He's pushed himself to his limit" Kurenai said calmly "He's stubborn, but even he knows his limit, frankly I would prefer him to stay in bed but…"

"Good luck telling him that sensei" Ino said with a bit of a sigh as she shook her head.

… "Think we should follow him sensei?" the blonde girl asked as Kurenai wondered that herself…

(Naruto)

"Hey Momo, I'm back" Naruto said quietly as he came in the door to find the light blue haired girl sitting at the little broken table with a book in her hand; she quickly closed it and placed it by her jacket before glomping him with a hug; she however quickly released him when he showed some obvious pain from his shoulder region.

"Naruto-kun, are you ok?" she asked worriedly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Ehh, you know me, always working, pulled by shoulder a little nothing major" he smiled with eyes closed as she relieved to hear this sighed.

"Good, I thought maybe something else was wrong" she then left the room, not noticing Naruto walk into the bathroom quickly to prevent blood from dripping on the floor.

'Damn it, I ripped the shoulder wound open again… gotta get this fixed' he thought as he changed the wrapping and sealed it shut with his other hand using his ninjutsu.

"Hey Momo, let's go out for some lunch" Naruto said as he heard a joyous "yaay" from the bedroom area.

As he came out she was already ready to go with a big smile on her face before her demeanor changed a bit.

"Are you sure we have enough money to go out?" she asked "what you gave me is almost gone."

A light bulb clicked in the blond boys head as he went back to the room and came out a minute later with an envelope.

"I knew I forgot to do something, sorry Momo; here is the next amount for groceries and whatnot, I paid the utilities and housing yesterday."

Looking in the envelope the girl was very surprised, there was a lot more than usual.

"There's a lot in here" she said as she pulled it out to see. "Almost 9000 yen!" (roughly 100$)

"I figured we can save what we don't use in case of a problem down the road" Naruto said as he put his hand on her shoulder "I should have made sure you had more before I left, I hope you didn't starve due to my negligence."

"No there was enough Naruto-kun, thank you" she said smiling lightly as she went over to a wall and removed the old picture and the board behind it to reveal a "Naruto-made" small safe which in reality was simply a pair of bricks wrapped in some steel sheeting he had found with a flame retardant tag placed on it to prevent the money from burning up in the event of a fire.

"Also, this is for you" he said as he handed her another 2500 yen or so. "You're not allowed to buy food with that unless its sweets, that's for whatever you want to have personally" he said as she tackled him to the ground with a few "thank you!" thrown in.

The two then put their old looking jackets on and she slipped the money into her small peach shaped purse (that was a present one year from Naruto) and the two went out for a nice lunch at one of the few places they could, Ichiraku's ramen.

(Ichiraku's ramen)

As they duo sat down the older man turned around and smiled. "Been awhile since I've seen you both here together, what'll it be?"

Ayame came out of the back with a fresh load of sashimi and seaweed which was added to the broth of one of the large pots. "Hey you two, I haven't seen you both in a while, why don't you visit more often?"

"Sorry guys, been out of the village until recently" Naruto apologized as Momo nodded "I'm afraid I've lost track of time too much the last couple weeks without him, my apologies." She bowed as Ichiraku waved the pair off.

"Well that's life for you, so what can I get you guys, your usuals?"

Momoshiro looked to Naruto to make sure it was ok, with a nod from him in reassurance she turned back to the two.

"Wagyu beef hotpot with some Gyoza please" she said happily as Naruto smiled. "I'd like… IT please." (IT is a ramen bowl the size of a wok)

"You two celebrating something major?" he asked as Naruto shook his head "Just like to take Momo here out for something nice every once in a while".

"Then why come here why not go somewhere m…" Ayame stopped when she watched Naruto flinch slightly and remember why he had first come to Ichiraku's to begin with".

Noticing the collapsing cheerfulness of the blond he quickly pulled out some Onigiri and placed it by the pair "Try this out for me would you two? I tweaked the spices out a bit and need a second opinion by my two favorite customers" he said which seemed to do the trick before glaring slightly at Ayame for not thinking.

'Sorry pop, and Naruto' Ayame thought as she poured them both a glass of milk.

It would surprise many that while some consider milk only for younger people or cereal, both Naruto and Momo liked to drink it with their ramen.

(A good time later)

"I…I'm so full" Momo said as they returned home; "I think I need a nap".

As Naruto walked he winced slightly again and Momo caught him; she kept quiet however because sometimes she learned more about the problem this way than asking.

'It's his shoulder' she mused as Naruto yawned and stretched a bit.

"Hey Momo, I'm going to head out for a while, going to walk this off." He patted his stomach in a childlike way.

"Work what off you beanpole?" she giggled as she whacked his gut slightly. 'Wow, I never knew he was that hard' she thought blushing lightly.

"Hey, I'm no more a beanpole than you" he said with his tongue stuck out.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she said with her arms under her small but still visible chest in an attempt to push out what little she had.

"Not insulting you or anything, but we both eat a lot" he said as he started to head out after collecting his standard equipment.

"Hey! Three meals isn't a lot it's the standard" she said smirking, as she went to the back of the room towards the bedroom.

"I'll be back around seven unless I get called for a weird one" he said as he left.

"Which means you'll be back at 3 am" she said sarcastically with a slightly sad sigh, she liked spending time with him, but he was always so busy.

'If I keep working hard, maybe I can graduate this upcoming year' she pondered a bit as she hung up her purse on a nail in the wall. 'Won't Naruto be so shocked when he realizes I'm a ninja as well.'

She stretched a bit before walking to the bathroom and sat down to pee, she looked over at the trash and noticed a single drop of semi caked blood by the side of the can. 'Where did that come from?' she wondered as she finished up her business and went over to the droplet. 'It's still sort of fresh, it must be from today' she thought as something caught her eye inside the trash can.

It was slightly red, hidden behind some tissues and an empty bar soap box; she reached behind them and pulled up a large bandage soaked with blood. "Wh-where did this come from?!" she asked herself before putting two and two together. 'Naruto, you're going to get it tonight when you get back.' She promised silently as she put it back in the can and left, feeling both angry for not knowing and a bit worried for him.

…Slightly more mad than upset though.

(Squad 8 about an hour later)

The three remaining members of squad 8 happened to be walking back from visiting a bookstore (and getting a snack along the way) when a bit of blond hair caught there attention.

"Knew he didn't go home" Ino said with a sigh as Kurenai grumbled.

"I'd have made sure, but he always vanishes on his way back home, I even tried following him with concealed chakra."

"Ano… you can't follow Naruto-kun like that" Hinata said offhandedly to herself just loud enough the other two heard.

"How do you follow him then?" Ino asked "I've tried everything I could to hide."

"You know how to follow him don't you?" Kurenai asked making the girl go red a bit in the face. "Ok Hinata, spill it; how do we follow him?"

"I ummmm" Hinata tried to get out of the predicament before Ino chimed in. "You used to follow him when we were younger, I saw you." She said as Kurenai narrowed her eyes a bit "Holding out are we?" she asked as Hinata unable to make up anything to get out of the spotlight just hung her head slightly.

"I- it's not like I st-stalked him or-"she squeaked as Ino smirked. "Ok girl, we're coming with."

"…I didn't think I'd ever be coming back to here" Naruto thought to himself a bit disconnected from the rest of the world as he headed down a narrow alleyway oblivious to the fact three young women were following him.

'It's working, Hinata is a genius' Ino thought with a smirk 'instead of hiding your chakra from him you just act naturally and stay in groups of people.'

However unfortunately for them Ino bumped into someone and stirred up enough noise and problems that by the time the other two pulled her out of it Naruto had gone ahead enough they could no longer find him.

"…Damn it Ino" Kurenai glared slightly as the blonde blushed in embarrassment. "Really sorry guys I really am."

"H-he must be close b-by" Hinata said looking down the alley as the other two agreed and ran to find the person of interest

(Naruto)

'…Here I am…' Naruto thought almost lifelessly as he looked up to a building that had not changed in ten years.

(about thirty minutes ago)

"So you want a mission ehh?" a Chunin asked as Naruto made a "well duh" face and held his hand out.

"I'll take any mission you got, long as it pays" he said as he was handed a scroll.

"This is a delivery to some orphanage" he said as he handed the blond a box as well.

(Present)

'To think I'd get a mission that would bring me back to this place' he thought as he looked up.

It was a terribly old, rundown building; the windows were half broken and the tiles were falling off the roof, the yard was unkept and unruly, the metal fence surrounding the yard was in bad disarray and very rusted; all in all the place looked like a health hazard to the whole village.

'Hasn't changed a bit' he mused as he saw several children come outside in worn clothing to play.

Shaking his fears off he went for the door, hoping she wouldn't answer it.

Coming up to the door he knocked a few times before a little girl who apparently was hiding in the bush for some reason stepped out and face him.

"Do, do you n-need somth-thing mister?" she asked and he could tell she was upset about something.

"Umm…yes I wanted to deliver a box here." He asked as he set it down. "Is something wrong?"

"The b-oys were pick-king on m-me" she said upset as he signaled her to come closer.

"Well little boys are a pain sometimes" he said as she sat next to him "sometimes we don't know how much of an idiot we are until we get a bit older" he said with a smile as he rubbed her hair a bit making her stop crying and relax a bit.

"You're really sm-smart m-mister" she said as he rubbed by hair a bit more. "Nah not really, just had my share of stupid moments that I wish I could fix…"

He then stood up and stretched "well I need to deliver this box to the caretaker…"

"She's in the b-back I'll t-take you!" the little girl said as she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled him along leading him around the building.

"Hey, hey I'm coming" he said as despite her very tiny status was quite a strong little girl.

As they made their way around visions flew through his eyes from years past.

He saw a broken swing-set where he had spent many days in sadness.

He saw an old sandbox he once tried to bury himself in.

The fields where he had laid;

The trees he had climbed;

The small creek he had gotten small fish from to survive.

His childhood he had run so far from, that he had barely remembered from before living on the streets; the images flew through his mind and made his heart speed up greatly.

As he came around to the back they stopped at a rusted gate.

"Aww they c-closed it" the little girl pouted "We have to go the long way mister; it won't open unless Onee-san does it."

Naruto looks at the fence gate for a few seconds before putting down the box and put his hands on the latch.

"Mister it doesn't open unle-…!"

She watched as he turned it weird one way and then brought it back straight causing the latch to open.

"H-how did you open it mister?" she asked curiously as his eyes misted over a bit.

"…It's always done that, hasn't changed a bit" he said as she looked at him weird.

Before she could ask further however a woman and a girl about his age stepped out of the back door and turned two the duo.

"Atsuko dear who are… you… taking…

…with…"

The two women starred at Naruto with eyes open as wide as saucer plates while he looked up and faces and names clicked in his head, even after nearly ten years he remembered.

"…Hello… Azumi-nee …"

I apologize friends, between school, family, and health issues I've have not time in so long.

I'm still here though, not giving up yet! Just mentally drained.

Ja-ne

Morristofoxy-sama

p's Poll is still up! please vote for your favorite two! three of the girls are close so every vote matters!