It was a normal day in Konoha. The sun was shining, people were happily going about their day. Outside of the gates, a figure was slowly approaching. It was a tall man with short blonde hair. He was wearing a simple grey t-shirt, slightly oversized, hanging loosely on his lean but muscular body. In contrast to his shirt, his pants were a bright orange, held up by a simple brown belt, which had a ninja headband dangling from it. The man carried a backpack with a few scrolls tied to it. One of his arms was completely covered in bandages, and he walked calmly towards the big walls which he hadn't seen in quite a while. A single drop of sweat rolled down his whiskered cheek, as he picked up his pace a little.

Kotetsu and Izumo were sitting in the usual shed just inside the gates of konoha, bored out of their minds. Guarding the entrance had been their job for years and they took it seriously, so they resisted the urge to just lay down and take a little nap. Good thing, or they would have missed the at first glance unfamiliar character casually walking by.

"Hey! Please state your business."

The man turned around a little confused, apparently not expecting to be called back.

"My business? I mean... I think I'll quickly go put down my stuff before I go to Ichiraku's. But why are you asking anyways? You guys know me."

What the man didn't know, is that the two guards had stopped listening the moment he had turned around, since they were trying to process the face that was speaking to them in such a familiar manner.

After a few seconds of wide-eyed stares the awkward silence was broken:

"Jesus Christ, it is you! You finally decided to come back!"

The blonde man was happily walking through his hometown, a big grin appearing on his already bright face as he saw the small noodle stand that had fed him throughout his childhood. He walked towards it, pushed aside the curtain and peeked inside, taking in the smell he had so dearly missed.

"Good afternoon, what can I ge-"

The old owner of the ramen place stopped in the middle of his sentence to take a closer look at the guy who had just entered his shop. It was the face of a young adult, but his facial features were still reminiscent of a boy. A boy he knew very well. Before he could snap out of it though, said boy spoke:

"Teuchi-jiji! How are you? I really need to report to the Hokage so I can't stay right know, but I'll be back very soon! Believe it!"

After his old number one customer had ran off, the old man slowly turned around to look at his daughter, who was still looking at the flapping curtains with a shocked look.

"Ayame... Did you know he was back?"

Now running, itching to get back to the heavenly smell, ready to devour at least eight bowls of pork miso ramen, the blue-eyed Shinobi made his way to the Hokage tower. When he reached it, he didn't even bother to stop and look at it for a moment. He would have, had the emptiness in his stomach not overpowered the light nostalgia he was indeed feeling. He had been gone for almost two years after all, he did realise that much, although he was happy to know that not too much had changed. So he swallowed the thought and made his way up the stairs of Konoha's administrative building.

Meanwhile in the Hokage's office, the Godaime was discussing her retirement with her top Jonin and planned successor.

"As I said, I plan on retiring and leaving you the position next month."

"Arigato, Hokage-sama", Kakashi Hatake, the copy Ninja, said.

Then she adressed her two top students:

"Shizune, take care of the remaining paperwork, Sakura, if you see Shikamaru around, tell him I want him to be in charge of the introductory celebration for the new Hokage."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!", the pink-haired Kunoichi and the medic Ninja holding a small pig in her arms said at the same time.

"Well then, all that remains-"

Suddenly the door was swung open.

"TSUNADE NO BAA-CHAN! Did you miss me?!"

There was silence for some time. The one who had shouted had closed his mouth and was now standing in the door frame with a big smile, even though he was wondering why it was, that that day he seemed to have that effect on people.

Sakura's expression changed from annoyance because of the loud intrusion, to utter confusion, as she didn't know what on earth was happening. Truth be told, she did know. She knew the obnoxiously loud voice. She knew that face, despite the changes it had gone through. She knew the only person in the whole Shinobi world who would address the Hokage as "granny Tsunade". Finally she stuttered, still incredulous:

"N-Naruto?"

The hero of the 4th great Ninja war had now lost his happy expression, as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Tsunade eyed the man who had just stormed into her office unannounced, shouting, calling her a grandma, and she didn't know what to say. She recognised the boy, even though he was unmistakably a man. When she finally unfroze, she was able to say something, although her words weren't exactly meaningful:

"Naruto?"

"You guys are acting really weird, dattebayo."

Sakura was the first to actually shake off the shock as she asked:

"When did you get back?!"

"Just now, I didn't even go home yet. I don't wanna know how dusty my apartment is, jeez.", he replied, muttering the last part to himself.

"Anyways, I really should get going, I promised old man Teuchi I wouldn't be long, and I still need to drop by my place..."

"NARUTO!"

At this Naruto flinched

"Y-Yes Tsunade no baa-chan?"

"Naruto, I can't believe you!"

Tsunade wasn't actually mad, she was really happy to see her favourite knucklehead again, but she was growing irritated at the fact that he didn't seem to realise just how much people had missed him.

"Naruto, you've been gone for two years!"

"Uhm... I guess I have, yeah."

"And you didn't think of sending me a message to tell me you were coming back?!"

Naruto scratched his neck, smiling sheepishly.

"Ehh... I... forgot? But I still don't see why you're making a big deal out of this. It's not like much has changed. Although you guys do kinda look like you shrunk a little."

Kakashi finally spoke:

"I don't think that's what happened. Jesus Christ you've grown."

Now it was Naruto's turn to look confused.

"I have?"

Sakura smacked him across the head, chuckling, now really noticing the height difference.

"Yes. Yes you have. Though you still seem as dense as the last time we saw you."

Naruto was now running again, only one thing on his mind.

"I can't wait to make up for two years of cup ramen! I'm gonna eat my way through their whole supply of noodles, pork and Naruto fishcake, dattebayo!"

After excusing himself from the still a little baffled company in the Hokage's office, promising to catch up as soon as he had satisfied his needs, he had hurried to his old apartment, dropped his bag on the two inches of dust on the floor and was now just arriving at his final destination, pure love in his eyes.

Team 8 had just returned from a small escort mission to the border with the land of water. It had gone pretty well, until Akamaru had accidentally breathed in one of Shino's bugs through the nose , and then proceeded to sneeze continuously on the whole way back. Now back in the village, Kiba and Shino were still arguing about the matter, and Hinata was growing sick of it. She was easily the most patient person of the Konoha 12, but even she had a limit. She decided to try and shut her two teammates up peacefully one last time.

"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, would you like to eat some ramen together? My treat."

This seemed to have worked, as Kiba happily exclaimed:

"Ah, Hinata, you're the best!"

Shino just nodded

While they were approaching Ichiraku's, Kiba started to sniff the air.

"Hm, Weird. I swear I know this smell. I can't put my finger on what it is though... Of course Akamaru can't smell anything right now, and whose fault is it, huh?"

"Akamaru should have known not to breathe in one of my insects. Why? Because he's been on the same team as me for seven years. So I don't see why you're blaming me."

Hinata couldn't believe it.

She was still trying to break up the little dispute when team 8 sat down on the stools at Ichiraku's, so neither she nor her teammates noticed the person already sitting there, loudly slurping what seemed to be their fifth serving, judging by the big pile of empty bowls in front of them.

"Old man, you can't get better ramen anywhere outside of Konoha, believe it!"

That's when Hinata's world stopped.

She knew that voice. It was slightly deeper than when she had last heard it, but there was no mistake. Could it be? Instead of turning to the left to see if she was right, she slowly turned the other way to look at Kiba, as if searching for confirmation. She saw her teammate look straight ahead with a mix of shock and confusion, apparently also trying to come to terms with what he had just heard. They both slowly turned to the left at the same time. The face she saw from the side she knew very well.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Hearing this, Naruto turned around.

"Hinata! I didn't even see you there!"

He smiled widely, and couldn't help but notice that she looked extremely... pretty? She was definitely prettier than how he remembered her, but there was more to it than that. He looked into her pale eyes and somehow felt very happy. He saw her cheeks redden a bit and felt the same happening to his, until Kiba made him break the eye contact.

"Naruto! We haven't seen you in a minute! You need to explain yourself!", Kiba shouted with a grin of his own.

"Hey, Kiba! Eh, you know, I've just been travelling a bit, nothing major."

Then the head of Hinata's old caretaker, Ko, emerged from behind the shop's curtains.

"Hinata-sama, please excuse me, your father asked me to bring you to him as soon as you got back."

He then noticed Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san, good afternoon, I didn't know you were back."

Hinata reluctantly stood up. Smiling shyly she said:

"W-Well then, Naruto-kun, I guess I'll see you around."

"Of course! Bye, Hinata!", the blond replied, smiling not-so-shyly. He didn't show it, but he did feel a hint of sadness seeing Hinata leave.

He then returned to the loud conversation with Kiba, eventually also having to apologise to an offended Shino, who was apparently deeply hurt by the fact that Naruto had completely failed to notice him.

It was now 8pm and Naruto was sleeping like a rock in his old bed. After leaving Ichiraku's, his satisfyingly full stomach had allowed him to realise how tired he really was. When he had arrived home, he had had to force himself to at least change his bed linen, as the one that had been waiting for him for two years was dusty enough to make him sneeze like a madman as soon as he had tried to lay down on it. Eventually though, he was able to fall asleep.

Naruto woke up feeling exhausted. It was a good type of exhaustion though, the kind you feel after a really nice nap. Since he was fully relaxed for the first time in a few months, he suddenly realised how tense all the traveling had made his body. He looked at the clock hanging on his wall. It was 10am, he had slept for a good 14 hours. Since he was still tired and had absolutely nothing to do, he stayed in bed for another hour, until he felt like getting up. He took a long shower and then vacuumed his small apartment thoroughly. Then he changed into some simple light blue shorts and put on a white sweatshirt before stepping out of his flat to take in the sun rays.

"It does feel good to be back. Maybe Tsunade no baa-chan was right. Two years are quite a long time, I just didn't realise it."

Naruto decided to pay Iruka-sensei a visit. It happened to be Tuesday, which he knew was his old teacher's day off, so he found him at home. Iruka had heard that Naruto was back, making the reunion much less confusing and much happier than the ones Naruto had had the day prior. After a hug and a short comment about his height, Iruka-sensei invited Naruto inside to have lunch with him. Naruto hadn't even had breakfast yet, but he accepted gratefully nonetheless.

After that, Naruto started wandering around, just appreciating his village that he hadn't seen in such a long time. He ran into Konohamaru, who he found out had been promoted to Chunin while he was away, and who had been looking for him all morning. They promised each other to meet up and train sometime, before Konohamaru had to leave, having been assigned a B-ranked mission by the Hokage himself, as he announced proudly.

Alone again, he started walking again. He was greeted a few times by people he didn't know, to which he always replied with a smile. After a while, he suddenly saw the person he didn't know he had missed so much. She was standing in front a showcase, next to a younger girl he recognised as her sister. His small smile grew to happy grin as he called her:

"Hinataaa!"

Hinata turned around to find the person she had lost a lot of sleep over the night before. As she saw Naruto approach them, she blushed a little.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Y-You seem well rested."

Hinata had managed to get rid of her stuttering, but of course it had to come back as soon as he was standing in front of her.

Naruto was trying not to stare, but Hinata's figure was really attracting his eyes. She just looked more... womanly. He had noticed the day before already, how her new mission gear accompanied her curves more gracefully than the purple jacket she was still wearing in his mental image of her.

Hinata looked at the man in front of her. She had thought about him while he was gone, more than she would admit, however it had never occurred to her that he would change so much during that time. She couldn't fathom how he could look so different yet still unmistakably be the exact same boy she had stared at for the longer part of her life.

Hanabi kept looking back and forth between the two idiots. One being an idiot by nature, the other one being foolish enough to fall in love with the first idiot. She sighed to herself, deciding to let her sister have this one. She of course knew how Hinata felt about Naruto, and even though she couldn't understand her older sister's feelings for him, she loved her dearly. Plus she couldn't deny that the idiot had at least become a hero and saved the world, so she came up with a quick excuse and ran off.

This caught Hinata a bit off guard. She didn't know how to act, so she tried to start up a small conversation.

"S-so, I noticed that you cut your hair, Naruto-kun, it looks really nice."

Team 10, consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka, and the two remaining Ninja from the old team Guy, Tenten and Rock Lee, were looking for the loudmouthed Ninja they had heard was back in town. Choji was the one who spotted him.

"Wow, Hinata sure didn't waste any time.", Tenten commented, smiling knowingly.

Ino squealed happily at her friend talking more or less naturally to her crush.

"Maybe we should come back later, I don't want to interr-"

"Naruto-kun! It's good to see you again, healthy, strong and full of youth!"

Everyone mentally facepalmed at Lee's complete obliviousness.

"Well. So much for not interrupting.", Shikamaru sighed loudly.

At that point Naruto had noticed them and was walking towards them, waving happily.

Once they all had gotten together, Ino greeted him first:

"Well look at you, all grown up. You've definitely changed.", she commented, with just a hint of seduction in her voice.

Ino knew she had become a very attractive woman, and she couldn't deny that Naruto had ended up quite good-looking himself. That being said, she wouldn't have dreamed of trying anything funny, he was Hinata's and always had been.

Then she had an idea.

"Guys, you know what? Party at my place tonight! We need to celebrate Naruto being back with us. I'm gonna go tell Sakura."

She then started running away, before turning around once more.

"And you better all be there!"

This very sudden announcement left the remaining six people quite confused, before many different reactions started to come alive. Some were in the mood for some partying, some couldn't wait to throw themselves onto the buffet, some already knew how troublesome this was going to be, some started to feel a little anxious, while some didn't have anything better to do anyways. Everybody knew that they were going to show up though, since an angry Ino was known to not be a fun experience for anybody.

After the happy reunion, the teens split up again. Naruto made his way to the Yamanakas' flower shop and bought a small bouquet, after being greeted warmly by Ino's mother. Once outside the shop, his happy and relaxed expression turned into a small smile with a trace of sadness. He hadn't paid a visit to his old Sensei in a long time.

When Naruto returned from his small trip to the forest just outside Konoha, he had shed a few single tears. He was happy to have been able to fulfil Jiraiya's dream of peace, but he couldn't help but feel sad that he wasn't by his side to see it.

Shaking off the melancholic thoughts, he decided to prepare for the evening's party. After having concluded that he was good to go the way he was, he started to head towards Ino's place. It was still only 5pm, so he had all the time in the world to take in the beautiful atmosphere of a summer evening in the hidden leaf village.

When he got there, about half an hour later, he was glad to hear that he wasn't the first one to arrive at Ino's place. He knocked and was surprised to see Sakura open the door.

"Oh, Naruto! You made it!"

She then proceeded to pull him into a strong hug.

"You know you're a dick for being gone like that for so long. I was left with Sai as my only teammate for two years. Can you even imagine how horrible that was?"

Slightly overwhelmed by the sign of affection, the insult and the joke in such quick succession, Naruto just chuckled and said:

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. But I'm here now, aren't I? And it's good to be back."

Apparently having heard his name, Sai appeared.

"Hello, Dickless. You know, we weren't sure if you had died."

Naruto was very close to shouting something back, instead he caught himself.

"It's good to see you too, Sai."

Stepping into the apartment, Naruto saw that Shikamaru and Choji were already there, they had come early to help their teammate set up everything. Naruto was then asked to help move around some furniture to make space for the big dinner table in the living room. Shortly after, Kiba appeared with two boxes of beer, followed by Hinata. Tenten arrived at about seven, she had opened a weaponry shop so she couldn't get off too early. At half past seven the nine friends were all sitting at the table, laughing and having a good time. Lee and Shino had both dropped by to say hi, but left shortly after. Everybody knew Lee's issues with alcohol, and Shino just wasn't the party type.

"The village felt really weird without you making all that noise, Naruto. Kiba tries to be loud for the both of you, but it just isn't the same.", Tenten remarked, only half-jokingly.

Everybody laughed except for Naruto and Kiba.

When asked about his travels, Naruto told them about the short diplomatic mission to Sunagakure, after which he had decided to go and visit Killer B in the hidden cloud.

"You know, Shikamaru, I met Temari in Suna. I asked her about you guys' relationship, she didn't seem exactly keen on talking about it. What's going on between you two anyway?"

Shikamaru turned red. He then smiled lightly.

"Ah, troublesome woman..."

Neither he nor Temari were very good at talking about their feelings. He was just happy about what he had with her and not having to explain it to anybody.

"You're in no position to mock him about love, Naruto, and you should know that.", Sakura said with a small grin.

That's when a slick smile appeared on Naruto's face.

"Oh reeeeeally? You know, Sakura-chan, I ran into Sasuke a few times as well..."

The whole table went silent.

Sakura turned deep red. She tried to keep her composure.

"Y-You did?"

"Yeah, I tried to convince the Teme to come back and get himself a new arm like mine, but he seems dead set on "atoning for his sins". Stubborn son of a..."

He then faked a thinking position.

"Now that I think about it, I think he might have given me a message for you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura gave up on trying to stay calm.

"What!? What did he say!?"

Naruto's plan was working perfectly.

"Hmmm, I don't quite remember, actually. Well, it can't be helped. Maybe it'll pop back into my mind at some point."

That's when Sakura went from red to purple. She stood up from her seat and started walking towards Naruto, who knew better than to stay seated and wait for her to beat his ass. She started chasing him around the flat, Naruto swiftly dodging all of her attacks. He had wanted to tease her, but he didn't feel like getting punched through a wall.

It was now almost midnight, most people had already left. It was only Ino, Sakura, who was staying the night, Naruto and Hinata. Naruto had wanted to leave for some time, but he couldn't just yet. Then, he heard it:

"I'm really tired, I think I'll go home.", Hinata said.

Having waited for her to say that for the last hour, Naruto got up from the couch and faked a yawn.

"Yep, me too. Thanks for the party, Ino-chan, it was great!"

He left the flat quickly and waited outside.

When Hinata followed shortly after, she seemed surprised to see him standing there.

"Oh! Naruto-kun.", she said with a small gasp.

"Can I walk you Home?"

They were now almost at The Hyuga compound. Neither of them having said a word. Hinata was looking at her feet, not knowing what to do in this situation. She had dreamed of this so many times, yet she had no idea what to say. Seeing that they were almost at the point where they would have to say goodbye, Naruto decided to bring up the topic he was so scared to mention.

"Uhm, Hinata..."

At this she looked up at him.

"Hinata... Do you remember when you saved me from Pain all those years ago?"

She just nodded, knowing where this was going, both happy and scared.

"Do... Do you remember what you told me back then?"

She was freaking out inside. On the outside she was just blushing a little and she was even able to contain her stutter.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, I remember."

At this point they were standing in front of the gates. Naruto didn't know how to ask the next question.

After a few seconds of silence, Hinata decided to take the initiative.

"A-And I still feel the same way."

Naruto then looked down at her, as she was shyly smiling up at him, cheeks red, those beautiful lavender eyes full of hope, and he kissed her. Right then and there, with the whole Hyuga clan watching them through the windows. He could care less. He was such an idiot. It had taken him long enough to get it through his skull, but now he understood. And he was dead set on making up for all the time he had made her wait.

Hinata squealed when she felt his lips on hers. She was in shock for some time. When he pulled away, her eyes were still wide open. After she had processed what had just happened, she looked up at him again. She saw him scratching his neck with an apologetic smile. Her lips felt hungry for the feeling they had just experienced, so she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and this time, she kissed him.

It didn't take Naruto as long to get over the surprise, so they soon both melted into the kiss. It was a simple, innocent kiss, but it conveyed all the feelings they had for the other. Time stood still. They didn't know how much time had passed when they broke the kiss. They just looked at each other, blushing furiously, not being able to say anything, but incredibly happy.

After another undefined amount of time, Hinata turned around and started to head towards her house. She turned around to look at the man she loved one more time and said quietly, still smiling:

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

She felt like she was flying, and not even Hanabi, who was waiting for her at the door, grinning like crazy, could break her out of that feeling.

Naruto walked home feeling peaceful, taking his time. He was very satisfied with his decision to come back home. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Alright, done. First story so let me know if you like my writing. Also, I might write another chapter or two, maybe let me know if you'd like that. If not, I think I'm fine with keeping this as a oneshot