Chapter 1: Homecoming
Sasuke Uchiha, one of Konoha's strongest jonin, being able to fight at levels above even the Hokage Tsunade Senju. He had mysteriously disappeared three years before and had returned a week ago, just in time for the jonin exams. He was smarter, faster, stronger, and overall better than every other candidate by leagues.
He was now sitting in the jonin lounge with his old sensei, Kakashi Hatake, another of the strongest jonin that Konoha had.
Sasuke's hair hadn't changed much since three years ago, though his outfit had. He now wore a light purple sleeved shirt with black pants and a black cloak above it all, with two katana on the right side of his waist. Kakashi, well he looked the exact same.
"SASUKE UCHIHA!" A female voice resounded through the room where the two were sitting.
"Shit…" Sasuke muttered, he had been avoiding her, he hadn't told her when he left and was a little scared to see her, he hadn't parted on amazing terms per say. Sasuke got up and went to the window, opening it just as his teammate barged into the room.
"Sit." She said sternly. Sakura had grown, three years had done her well in Sasuke's eyes, she was more curved and had toned her body much more. Her pink hair cascaded down to her mid-back and she was wearing a red top with a white circular design on the back, and a pair of black shorts. She also had her forehead protector holding up her bacngs and a pair of black gloves with a barely visible sealing matrix on the wrist.
Sasuke complied with her order, he could tell that she hadn't slacked with her training, from what he could sense she probably trained harder than he had.
"What were you thinking?" She asked.
Sasuke tilted his head questioningly, he figured playing dumb would be a better option. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi slip out the open window with a wave. Sakura either didn't notice or didn't care. Probably the latter.
"Don't play stupid Uchiha." She cracked her knuckles, "You left for three years, THREE DAMNED YEARS, without saying anything." He could see tears forming in her eyes and felt a pang of guilt.
"I…" He started, but Sakura wasn't done.
"You put me under a Genjutsu, nearly killed Hiro, then just left!"
"You were mad." He said as if it explained everything.
"And now I'm pissed." She said, the little droplets that were forming in her eyes were now running down her cheeks.
"I… I'm sorry." Sasuke said, "I'll apologise to Hiro too."
"Don't bother, he's gone." Sakura said, storming off.
'Not something to talk about.' He noted, getting up and walking after her.
Naruto Uzumaki was excited, he was finally going home after three years. He too had grown. No longer fitting into any of the clothes that he had brought with him Naruto now wore an orange and black jacket with orange pants. His black forehead protector taking it's place upon his forehead.
Jiraiya walked behind him, writing notes with grinning and giggling perversely.
"Hey Ero-sennin, I'll meet you there." Naruto said. Jiraiya waved him away and Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing next to the Konoha village gates.
"Naruto?" Kotetsu asked.
"Yup, it's me." Naruto said with a large grin. "Been awhile huh?"
"You're telling me." Kotetsu laughed, "Hey Izumo, Naruto's back."
Izumo, who was watching the entire time called back, "Yea, I can see that. How ya doing kid?"
Naruto smirked, "I've been good."
The two guards then let him through the gate and Naruto walked into the village, his grin nearly splitting his face.
He immediately jumped onto a nearby roof, noticing Kakashi climbing through a window before using Shunshin to disappear. Naruto shook his head and followed after his adopted brother with his own shunshin, finding him walking through the village streets.
"Yo! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out.
Kakashi spun around and saw Naruto.
"Yo." He waved, "Been a while."
"Tell me about it." Naruto grinned.
"Get any stronger?"
Naruto just stood there, a white aura radiating off of him.
"I guess so." Kakashi was shocked, even though he himself had trained with the Saiyans and Piccolo for the past three years Naruto was near his level, if not above it. "There'll be a team meeting tomorrow at training ground 7." The jonin said, "I expect you there."
"No worries Kakashi-sensei, I'll be there." Naruto smiled, "So where's everyone else?"
Kakashi shrugged, "Sasuke and Sakura were in the jonin lounge, Gohan is due back tonight with Shikamaru, Videl, and Goten. Other than that it's anyone's guess where the rest of your friends are."
Naruto nodded, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I'll go find Sasuke and Sakura first I guess." He then took off in a blur.
Kakashi shook his head, "To think, seven years ago he was just a kid that everyone looked down upon." The jonin continued his walk, thinking back to when Naruto was young.
Naruto stood on the Hokage Tower, searching for Sakura or Sasuke's ki signatures, but was coming up blank. He decided to pop in and see Tsunade for a bit, it had been a while since he had seen her after all. He swung down to the window and noticed it was already open.
"He's grown a lot." Jiraiya told the blonde woman, "But I don't think it's enough to stop a member of The Order yet. Not unless he can use the Super Saiyan transformation at will, which may take a while from what I learned from Trunks and Minato."
Tsunade nodded, "Kakashi told me that you two were nearby about an hour ago, I set up a spar between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura against Gohan for tomorrow in training ground 7. I'll be able to see how far they've all come then."
"Hey Ero-sennin, Granny-Tsunade." Naruto flipped into the room through the window.
"Brat." Jiraiya grumbled.
Tsunade stood up and hugged him, "It's been too long Naruto." She said with a smile.
Naruto returned the hug without hesitation, "I agree."
Tsunade then held him at arm's length, taking in his appearance, "You do resemble your father." She said longingly, "But I can see Kushina in you too."
"It's almost uncanny how looking at him can remind you of both of them at the same time." Jiraiya agreed.
"So I've gotta fight Gohan tomorrow?"
Tsunade bonked Naruto on the head, "Don't eavesdrop." She said sternly, "But yes, you will be fighting Gohan tomorrow."
This is just a sneak peak of Chapter 1 for the Shippuden arc of this story. The entire chapter will be up in it's own story by October 4th. Updates will be quite slow until about February though because school is really hard this semester, but I've heard that fourth term is pretty chill.
This section is a review response.
Shadark, I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much. When I read your review I smiled like a fool. It really brightened up a bad day. Thank you so much for the review.
