Since his arrival, Naruto has taken some time to readjust to living back home. His first move was to find a home for him and his cousin to live in. Lucky for him, he didn't have to worry about affording it since he inherited his master's entire fortune; to say the least, sales have been at an all-time high for his Make Out series since his tragic passing. Thus, leaving Naruto with plenty of money for the rest of his days.
As soon as they found a great home for the two to live in, they packed their things and moved right in. Karin's thoughts were all over the place during this moment. The small apartment was the first place that she had been able to call home. Moving into a house with two stories was something she had never been able to think about, nor even the thought of sleeping on a comfortable bed was something that seemed like a fantasy. Having her own room in a home she shares with her family wasn't something she could have thought of.
Karin would wake up to the sound of Naruto making breakfast; cooking fresh pork cut off the pig, rice, and Dango to eat. The table was always full, and Karin's stomach was never empty. After breakfast, he washes dishes and goes about his daily routine; training, eating, and, for this day, he was to meet with Lord Sixth.
"Lord Sixth Hokage," he said to himself. "It's going to take a while to get used to that." He finished up and got ready; wearing his infamous orange jumpsuit, Sage jacket, and headband. After checking that he had all the things he needed for the day, he was off to the training grounds.
He passed Karin who was sitting down at the table. "Where are you headed off to?" she asked. Naruto sat down and began putting his sandals on.
"I'm going to meet Tenten and Lee," he said. "I've been putting off fighting him for a couple of days now and he finally got tired of waiting."
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Well…" he remembered Lee bursting into his room last night begging to fight soon. "I've just got a hunch is all." Karin shrugged her shoulders and wished him best."
"Go easy on the kid," she said. "He's a great fighter, but compared to the power you hold, it's best to not tap into the Kyuubi chakra." Naruto laughed and smiled at his cousin.
"What about you?" he asked. "Aren't you going to do anything today?"
"I'm gonna unpack some things and then I've got to go to the Hokage's office," she said. "Lord Sixth wants to talk to me about something."
"You're not in trouble, are you?" he asked.
"No," replied Karin. "At least, I don't think so. The last mission I was on had more than a couple of bumps in the road. Might be about that, but otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it!"
They smiled at each other and went about their separate ways; Karin staying home and tending to her duties while Naruto ran off to the training grounds. Ten minutes later, he arrived at the very familiar, snow-covered training ground; the very one where he and his old team were first challenged by Kakashi. By the posts, he saw Lee and Tenten talking about things. Lee was focusing more on his Taijutsu than the conversation, but Tenten didn't seem to mind. By this point, it was something that she would be used to. She looked up and saw Naruto approaching them.
"Great to see you guys!" he said. Tenten got up and bowed to her friend.
"Lord Uzumaki," she sarcastically said. He blushed and smiled at the greeting. Tenten began to laugh when she saw his bright red face. "I couldn't help myself! Everyone in the village keeps calling you that!"
"It's especially funny nice to see Kiba react to it when he hears it," said Lee. "I believe that it is safe to say that he is a bit jealous of you and your achievements."
"I didn't think that would happen, but then again, out of all of our friends, I would assume Kiba to be the one to be jealous," he said. "Oh well! It's not like I can stop it if I want to. People have been calling me that since I came back. They also call my cousin 'Lady Karin'; safe to say that she likes that title!"
"Where is she by the way?" asked Tenten. "I thought you would have brought her here."
"Karin is back home. She wanted to unpack a few things; gifts that the villagers gave us for our new home. She's finding a place for some of the little things."
"That reminds me," said Lee. "What kind of training did you do with her?"
Naruto remembered the months he spent with Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu when he trained two out of the three. "I wouldn't say that it's a lot. Though, according to you, Bushy Brow, I did more than just train her to be fit for a fight."
"ANSWER THE QUESTION, NARUTO!" he yelled. Naruto and Tenten laughed at his reaction.
"Compared to the training I did with Pervy Sage, it's not as intense; though, for the most part, it was different."
Tenten was interested. "What do you mean, Naruto?"
"Yes! Please elaborate?" asked Lee.
Naruto sat down and took a scroll out and released a small tea kettle, spark rocks, water, cups, and jasmine tea. A nice treat for the cold winter weather. He began to brew the tea and distributed it amongst his friends; receiving thanks from them. "I miss that pervy old man!" he said. "Well, when I left the village four years ago with him, his main goal was to train me to control the power that Kurama possesses."
"Which you ended up succeeding," said Tenten.
Naruto chuckled. "I did end up mastering it, but not with him. Back when my dad sealed Kurama inside me, he made sure that there would be a lock on the seal that I could open when I became ready to master the power within me. He left it onto a scroll that he left with a toad. Pervy Sage would summon it from time to time to see if I could handle it. His judgement wasn't the best sometimes, but I did my best."
"What do you mean by that, Naruto?" asked Lee. Naruto began to meditate until the Kyuubi Cloak appeared.
"This is what I mean," he said. "This is what would happen whenever I tapped into its power. It would form this cloak that would give me a major power-up. This is a version of it with three tails. Back then, that was the limit. If I got to four tails, then Kurama would take over and go on a rampage. The first time it happened, I woke up next to Pervy Sage in a hospital."
"Woah!" said Tenten. "What changed?"
Naruto smiled when he remembered the day, he began to control Kurama's chakra; it was also the day he met his mother. "When Granny Tsunade sent me away to the Cloud, I met the 8 tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee. He and Yamato helped me master the power. Oh, and my mom." Lee and Tenten choked on their tea when they heard that.
"Your mom?" asked Tenten.
"Yeah, my mom; Kushina Uzumaki. My dad sealed her chakra inside me so that when I was ready to master Kurama's power, I would meet her." Naruto began to shed a tear when he remembered that day.
"Does that mean you know who your father is?" asked Lee.
Naruto smiled. "Yeah!" he said. "My dad is the Fourth Hokage!"
"That explains why you look like him!" screamed Lee. Tenten and Naruto laughed when he said that. "Enough! Naruto, thank you for the warm tea, but we have been putting it off for far too long! WE WILL NOW FIGHT!"
He shrugged and smiled. With Lee, there was no way around it. "All right. I won't go easy on you, Lee."
"I would not expect any less!" Lee jumped and went straight to the fourth gate. Tenten stayed with the tea kettle and enjoyed it to herself while watching Lee attempt to lay a punch on Naruto, who was dodging every attack that was aimed towards him. "How are you moving so fast, Naruto?!"
"To be honest, I don't feel like I'm moving fast at all. If anything, you're moving slow!" Enraged, Lee opened the fifth gate and tried to move faster. Then, he dropped the weights off his legs and went forth to move just a little bit faster. Naruto wasn't breaking a sweat and proceeded to think of a plan to take him out. He got his plan together and summoned a shadow clone so fast that neither Lee nor Tenten could see it be made or move. While the original was dodging Lee, the shadow clone was gathering nature energy. It was a spur of the moment idea, but he decided to give it a try.
One-minute later, it was ready. The shadow clone disappeared, and the energy went back into the original Naruto. Then, he stood still and was ready to let Lee strike a blow against him. Then, he disappeared; shocking both Lee and Tenten. Unbeknownst to them, the area was covered with marks of the Flying Thunder God Technique; a jutsu created by Tobirama, the Second Hokage. It was also a jutsu that was often used by Naruto's father. Once he was far enough, he transferred the energy into the fans he had received from Temari and threw his father's kunai behind Lee; thus, transporting behind him and used his fans to unleash the power of the wind. It then sent Lee flying.
"Not quite right," Naruto thought to himself. "But I think I'm getting there." Lee gained ground and began running back to Naruto with all his power. Naruto thought he had let it go long enough and ended. He too began to run towards Lee. Once their eyes locked in, Naruto didn't hesitate to send a single blow directly into Lee's stomach; stopping him and making him fall to his knees.
"One punch, huh?" said Tenten, who saw all that went on. "One punch is all it took to knock him out."
Lee, who was in agonizing pain, thanked him. "Naruto!" he said. "I thank you for the fight. Now, will you please take me to the hospital? I can feel a bruise forming."
Naruto got on his knees and began performing medical ninjutsu on him. "I don't know a lot like Sakura, but I know enough to numb the pain." Lee slowly began to stop feeling the pain and calmed down. "Hey, Tenten! I'm going to take Lee to the hospital to get checked out!"
"I'm coming!" Tenten sealed away the things back into its scroll and ran to Naruto. "Let's go!" she said.
"Hold on!" She placed her hand onto his shoulder, and they were transported to the hospital in an instant.
"How are we here so fast?" asked Tenten.
Naruto explained as he entered the hospital. "The teleportation technique marking is all over the place. Half were left behind by my dad and the others were left behind by the Second Hokage." Tenten was blown away from the information that Naruto knew. They gave Lee over to the hospital staff. Tenten stayed with him. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Naruto walked out of the hospital and was going to make his way to have a nice warm bowl of ramen. On his way through, he ran into someone very familiar; the pink-haired kunoichi.
They were shocked to see each other in the last place they had expected to meet. Well, it was the last place that Sakura had expected to see him at.
She smiled at him. "Hey, dummy," she said in a calm, soothing tone.
Few things brought warm, butterflies to his stomach; ramen being the biggest one and seeing Sakura's smile. He didn't say much to her when he returned; an exchange of a few words.
The last that he can recall when he saw and spent some time with Sakura was back in the Land of Iron during the Five Kage Summit when she "confessed" her love for him and saving her from Sasuke. For her, she had put those things behind her, but for Naruto, the feeling is very much still a freshly opened wound. "Hi, Sakura," he said. "Guess you're coming into work, huh? I won't keep you." He began to walk past her. "I'll see you around, Sakura."
He walked past her and avoided eye contact with her. "Wait!" she said to him. "I'm just here to pick up something I left. We could catch up over ramen?" Naruto stopped in his tracks and chuckled.
"I was already on my way to see Teuchi. I guess it wouldn't be bad to have company while." He turned around and looked at Sakura with a smile. She ran inside to go and get her things.
"What is bothering you?" asked Kurama. Naruto was surprised to hear Kurama speak.
"I guess I'm stressed enough to have woken you up, huh?" he asked.
"That is putting it lightly," he said. "It's like a mad ocean in here. The water is spiraling out of control. What is going on out there?"
He sighed. "It would seem that Sakura is joining me for ramen," he said. Kurama busted into laughter.
"You're stressed out because you're going out on a date!?" he proceeded to laugh more and more.
"I shouldn't have expected sympathy from you," said Naruto. "Besides, this isn't a date. It's just two old teammates going out to catch up and grab a nice bowl of ramen. That doesn't count as a date. I think just going out for food is the best…you know how I feel about it."
"Sadly, I do, Naruto; and while I do agree that your mixed feelings exist for good reasons, this is something that you were bound to encounter eventually."
He sighed. "The ever-faithful companion, eh?" he sarcastically said.
"I'll take over if you're not in the mood to deal with her," suggested Kurama.
"Nope!" screamed Naruto. "Leave me to this. I've got to deal with this, Kurama. Just…try not to listen to us, please?"
Kurama laughed. "I will make no promises, Naruto." He went back to sleep and Sakura ran back outside to see Naruto with a confused look on his face.
"Is there something wrong, Naruto?" she asked him.
He brushed the look off his face and smiled at her. "Oh! It's nothing, Sakura. I was just thinking about things. It's nothing bad." Sakura smiled and walked to Ichiraku.
To describe this moment is difficult to put into words. Naruto Uzumaki has had a massive crush on Sakura Haruno ever since her first saw her at the academy. On the walk to Ichiraku, he looked back on those days when they first met. He sat in the centre of Iruka Sensei's classroom when her first saw an awkward, shy little girl with the brightest shade of pink he had ever seen and greatest, prettiest green eyes. It was a rare combination see, but once it was witnessed, he knew that he wanted to hold her hand.
Today though, it was a different story. Now, as an adult, Naruto has developed some rather undesirable feelings towards the girl he would know as a comrade. She'd treat him like all the other villagers would when they were younger. Even after becoming comrades, her feelings didn't change for a long time. He thought something would happen after he came back with Jiraiya, but much to his dismay, things remained the same; though, he also acknowledges that he played a factor in her seeing him the same way. Suppose that there was some way of him being able to look past all of that, what would happen? Would Naruto achieve one of his fantasies and earn the love of a woman he has favoured for a great portion of his life? Well, I do suppose that it depends on how this first encounter goes.
"I've fought the Akatsuki, Gaara back when he was crazy, and Madara! Why is this making me more scared than all those times?" he thought to himself. Finally, they arrived at the warm ramen shop that had only Teuchi and Ayame sitting down and enjoying the warmth of their store. When he saw them walk in, it took Teuchi a minute to realise who was standing in front of him.
"Wow!" he thought. "He's grown. He looks so much like Minato!" Teuchi was ready to jump over the counter and hug Naruto when, all of a sudden, Ayame jumped first to smack him on the head with a frying pan.
"What was that for?!" he screamed as he hit the floor.
"You're here for more than a few days and you barely get here NOW!" she screamed at him. "Your cousin as been here more times than you recently!"
Naruto, who had become riddled with shame, had very little to respond. So, he bowed and begged forgiveness of them. Ayame gave him the death glare while Teuchi just laughed at the misery he has put himself through. "Give it a rest, sweetie!" he said to Ayame. "He's not a little over a year without our ramen. I think he's had enough to suffer through." With that, he raised his head and smiled at both of them. Ayame, still irate, smacked him once again for good measure.
"If I wanted to get hit by someone, I'd use the sexy jutsu and make Sakura mad," he said under his breathe. Sakura heard it and, rather than hitting him, she picked him up and laughed at his little joke.
"Let's just have some food, silly!" He looked at her and melted once he saw her smiling at him. You could say that her smiling so much when they were younger was the reason she began to smile so much. He got up and sat down in the same seat he'd always sit in whenever he came into the ramen shop. An ocean of memories came back; when he first came to the shop as a child or whenever he came here with Iruka Sensei or after a mission, he'd come over for a nice warm bowl of ramen to welcome him home.
Teuchi didn't bother to ask them what their orders were; Naruto always ordered the same thing whenever he came, and Sakura had become a frequent customer. The waiting period became something of a drag. Sakura didn't know what to say and Naruto was in the same position as well. Saying that it was awkward would be putting it very lightly; so much so that Kurama spoke out.
"Well?!" he said. Naruto turned his attention to Kurama.
"Don't push it, Kurama!" he yelled. "How am I supposed to deal with this?! I hardly spoke to her when we came home and then I left!"
"It seems like you're just making up excuses, Naruto," he said.
"If I wanted this kind of talk from someone, I'd be talking to Kakashi Sensei or Iruka Sensei, not the demon within,"
Kurama brushed it off. "You know where to find me,"
"Naruto!" screamed Sakura. He turned his head and saw her staring at him with a confused look.
"I'm sorry, Sakura, what happened?" Rather than hitting him whenever he wasn't paying attention, she gave him a gentle push.
"Your food is in front of you and you haven't touched it," she said. "Are you okay?"
"Oh! Yeah! I'm okay! Kurama was just asking me a couple of questions."
"Kurama?" she asked.
"The Nine Tails. That's his name."
She was shocked to hear that he has a name. "I didn't think that he had a name."
"Not everyone does. It goes for all the other Tailed Beasts. People usually refer to them by the number of tails they have. I don't see them that way. I guess that's why they like me."
"I didn't think you would have such a strong connection with the Nine-Tails so much," she said.
"I guess it flew over your head when we were in the war. I don't blame you." Silence came over the two and proceeded the two as they ate their ramen.
"So, what sort of thing shave you been up to since you left the village?" she asked.
Naruto swallowed his food and answered her. "Well, I finished my Sage training; I think I've told a lot of people that since returning. After that, I didn't return immediately to the village. I began wandering around the different villages. I was respected everywhere and wasn't shunned away. I helped wherever I could and did my best to help people in need; like opening orphanages, libraries, or inns. I did it so people can have a place to sleep, a place to eat, and a place to be educated."
She was surprised to hear these sorts of things. "I didn't think that you would do something like that," she said. "Don't those type of things require money?"
"Yeah, they do. A man from the company that published Pervy Sage's books told me that he left his entire inheritance to me. So, all the money that his books made is mine now. With all that money, I don't need to work or do anything, but you know me. That kind of lifestyle isn't my way."
"And that's why you decided to open all those places?" she asked him.
He smiled. "Yeah. Jiraiya Sensei was an oddball, but I know that he would want to do something like this and not sit around in his cash. Besides, I like to help out people. Even if they didn't ask for it. You know that." They ate and walked around the village for a moment until they had to part ways.
Saying that there was tension is putting it lightly. He still had feelings for her, and she had developed these crazy feelings for him. After leaving, he decided to try and distract himself. So, he decided to sit down and enjoy a peaceful winter night to himself. "Hey!' someone said. He looked around and saw his cousin jumping towards him. He was happy to see someone he could talk to.
"Karin…" he said to himself. Karin arrived at the rooftop Naruto was sitting on and saw the look written across his face and jumped to his rescue.
"Enough of that!" she said. Naruto was visibly confused when she said that.
"What are you talking about, Karin?" he asked.
"I've gotten to know you long enough to understand that when you make that face, something is bugging you! Now, speak!" He stared at her for a moment until they both started to laugh.
"Am I that easy to read?" he asked. Karin shook her head and Naruto began. "I had lunch with Sakura."
"Haruno?" she asked. "The girl with pink hair?"
"Yup," he said as his cheeks began to turn red. "That's the one." Karin's eye began to open wide and she got close in his face to see his bright red cheeks and grinned from ear to ear.
"Do you like her, Naruto?" she asked. He didn't try and deny it. It was the absolute truth, so, denying it was not something that he wanted to do.
"Yeah…her. I do like her a lot, but I'm not sure how to go about it," he said. "I guess you could say that I'm stumped on this."
"Well, what have you done about? Hmm?" she asked.
He sighed and looked back on it. "Thinking about our history, I haven't done much. She was always going on and on about him every day. Believe me, it pains me to remember all of that. When Jiraiya Sensei and I came back to the Leaf with Lord Fifth, I realised that she has eyes only for him. I'm not sure if she still feels this way after what happened."
"You never asked her?" she asked.
"Yup! Before I could even speak to her or anyone after the war ended, I left to finish my Sage training. Now, here I am; a little over a year later and I'm more scared to confront her about my feelings than when I fought Madara Uchiha."
Karin sympathized with her cousin and did her best to make him smile. "Let's not worry about that right now! Okay? For right now, let's go meet with the Hokage. We wouldn't want to make Kakashi wait for us, would we?" Naruto began to laugh and joined his cousin as they made their way to the Hokage's Office. After walking for a couple of minutes, the arrived and were greeted by the Jonin who stood outside Kakashi's office.
They entered and saw Kakashi hugging Shizune and giving her kisses all over her face. "Boy, this going to take some getting used to," Naruto thought to himself. Awkwardly, the Uzumaki Cousins stood and waited for them to finish their business until the acknowledged them. When they finally did, Kakashi was embarrassed whereas Shizune was used to this sort of thing happening a lot
"How long were you standing there?" asked Kakashi.
"Too long, Lord Sixth," said Karin. "Too damn long." Kakashi decided to get himself together and helped his wife sit back down and sat behind his desk.
"Okay, Uzumaki Cousins," he began. "You're here for something I have concluded. After talking to my beloved, she and I have determined that your actions have made you worthy of becoming Jonin." They were shocked, to say the least. Karin's knees went weak and fell to the floor. Naruto was stunned when he heard the news. He didn't move or say a thing.
"Jonin?" he asked. "But…I'm still a Genin."
"And I just made Chunin!" said Karin.
"Kakashi Sensei, what are the means of this?" asked Naruto.
"It's something that should have happened a long time ago. The council and I spoke it over and determined that you have deserved to become a Jonin after all the things that you've done for the village. After saving the village from Pain, that should have been the wakeup call that marked you as ready to be given this double promotion."
"But…why me, Lord Sixth?" asked Karin. "I've only just made Chunin and I'm still new to the village."
"If you recall, Karin, you went on a mission a while ago with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino to the Hidden Stone. You made a great impression on the Tsuchikage after he and his bodyguards were attacked by rogue ninjas. He was shocked to see that you made such a sudden turnaround from working with the Akatsuki to becoming a Leaf Shinobi. Then, to hear that you are Naruto's cousin made him reconsider his opinion of you; plus, the soup you made during that trip made him extra happy. After that, he sent a messenger hawk to deliver a scroll to me. You were willing to put your life on the line for people you didn't know about. Tell me, why would you do that?"
Karin began to blush and looked at the floor. "I would say that it was part of the mission, but that's not it. There was a chance where me I could have run away, but I knew it's something my cousin wouldn't do. So, if I were to live up to the Uzumaki name, I must do the same thing that Naruto would do."
"Which is what, exactly?" asked Kakashi.
"It is to always fight to defend your comrades until you can't stand anymore."
"Why?"
"Because I will defend my comrades no matter. I can promise you that I will never go back on my word. That is my ninja way!" Kakashi smiled and looked over to Naruto who was also smiling at his cousin.
"That is why. That said," Kakashi picked up two battle vests he had specially made for the two. One thing that made them stand out was the crest on the back. While others had the orange crest, the one on their vests had a blue crest.
"Why is it blue, Kakashi Sensei?" asked Naruto.
"It was Shizune's idea."
Karin looked at her. "Why, Lady Hatake?"
Shizune smiled as she got up and grabbed the vest. "In my spare time, I took to learning about different clans that helped form the village and I discovered that this is the crest of the Uzumaki Clan. With that in mind, I had these specially made for you two. So that you could honour the clan you two are a part of. Now, you're a clan of two and, hopefully, one day it'll extend."
"That said, Naruto and Karin Uzumaki, I, Kakashi Hatake, the Sixth Hokage, declare both of you Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village!" he said. "You may go to celebrate now."
The cousins walked out with smiles across their faces and their vests on their chests. Naruto, though, wore his jacket over his vest. He truly looked like Minato when he became Hokage. When they came outside, Karin began jumping with joy. Once she stopped, tears began flowing from her eyes. She looked at her cousin and ran to hug him tight.
They began to walk home when they came across Chouji and Shikamaru about to enter a BBQ shop. "Hey, guys!" said Chouji. Shikamaru looked at the two wearing new vests and asked about it.
"Karin, did you damage your last vest bad? And why are you wearing one, Naruto? You're not the kind to wear a vest for anything." Karin attempted to explain but was so overjoyed that she kept tumbling over her words until Naruto finally spoke up and said something.
He unhooked his jacket and turned himself and Karin around to reveal their crest. "This is the crest of the Uzumaki Clan. Karin and I have been promoted to Jonin." Their jaws dropped when they heard the news and congratulated them.
"This certainly calls for a celebration!" said Chouji. "Come on and join us! We're meeting some other of our friends here."
"I won't turn down a night of eating with friends!" said Naruto. Everyone except Naruto walked inside. He was happy about how certain things in his life had been turning around. Though some factors could be better, life was becoming even better for him and his cousin. He looked up the mountain and saw the heads of the Hokage. Specifically, the head of his father. "I'm already a Jonin, dad!" he said. "Before I know it, I'll be Hokage! I swear on that! I'll be an even better Hokage than you, dad!"