AN: Yo! Merry (Almost) Christmas everyone! It snowed really hard today where I live so I decided to stay in and start writing Chapter 3! Aiming for 4-5k words per chapter now as the story will truly start after the end of this chapter :) I don't really have too much to say so lets just get into it.

I don't own Naruto :(

Chapter 3: Home

There was a knock on the door, and Onoki sighed in relief as he set his pen down on the large wooden desk in front of him. He adjusted the hat on his head as he called out for whoever it was to come in.

"Tsuchikage-sama, the spy you sent into the Land of Water has returned with news." His assistant said as an Iwa Jonin stepped into the room.

Onoki tapped his fingers on the smooth surface of his desk as he waited patiently for the Jonin to begin her report, not expecting much as Yagura had been locked in combat with the Rebels for years at this point.

"Yagura is dead, Mei Terumi has assumed command of Kirigakure as the Fifth Mizukage. Here are some photos that were taken on the day of the final battle." The unnamed Jonin spoke softly, as he handed over a small stack of pictures to the Tsuchikage.

Onoki slowly looked over each of the photos, his well trained eyes picking up every detail in a matter of seconds. He shuffled through the photos until he reached one and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

'What was Konoha doing there? Why did the Senju brat send powerhouses like Kakashi Hatake and Might Gai to fight Kiri's war? Are those chakra chains? Interesting...' Onoki thought to himself as a heavy silence fell over the Tsuchikage's office.

"From the information I was able to gather, Mei Terumi personally went to Konoha and was able to persuade the Fifth Hokage into sending a team of 5 shinobi. How she was able to secure the help of such elite Shinobi like Kakashi, and Might Gai. We don't know." The jonin said before silence fell over the room again as Onoki continued to look at the photos.

"You said Tsunade authorized five shinobi to enter the Land of Water, do we have their names, Kurotsuchi?" Onoki asked as his mind continued to try and fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

"As previously mentioned, Kakashi Hatake, Might Gai, Asuma Sarutobi, and two younger ninja by the names of Sakura Haruno, and the last loyal Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha." the now named Kurotsuchi said with a hint of confusion, wondering why the names of five Leaf Nin were important to her grandfather.

"What of this young boy then, is he not clearly an Uzumaki?" Onoki asked as he flipped the picture around to show an image of Naruto, pain and determination clearly displayed on his face. The picture was taken as Naruto had stopped the Three-Tails from crushing Kakashi.

"Reports say that the boy was rescued from a prison a few days before the final battle." Kurotsuchi said as she narrowed her eyes, still not grasping why her grandfather cared so much.

Suddenly, it all clicked for Onoki. Tsunade had only authorized this mission into the Land of Water to retrieve the boy. Helping the rebels was Konoha's end of the deal. Onoki looked back at the picture of Naruto for a few moments before his eyes shot up to meet Kurotsuchi's.

"Dismissed, your pay will be available for pick up at the missions office tomorrow morning." Onoki said as Kurotsuchi bowed and left quickly.

Onoki sat back in his chair, all the while still looking at the picture of Naruto in his hands.

'Uzumaki chains, blond hair, working closely with Kakashi Hatake? That bastard really did have a son before he died.'

Onoki sighed as he put the picture down and began to write a letter, all of a sudden he could feel a HUGE headache coming on.

XXXXXX

A deep laugh reverberated through the Village Hidden in the Clouds, civilians and shinobi alike turned their heads upwards towards the Raikage's office. Nobody bothering to see what had gotten the Raikage A so wound up.

"That slippery bastard! Of course he had a child! I'm excited to see what he brings to the Elemental Nations in the future." A chuckled to himself as he read over the letter he had received from Onoki just minutes earlier.

"He is one to keep my eye on, to be certain." A said as he laughed again before he stood. It was time to go visit his brother.

XXXXXX

Six figures made their way towards the towering walls of Konoha's main gate. As they got closer, they could see movement at the gates, somebody had come to greet them.

"Welcoming party is here. When I sent Tsunade that letter, I didn't expect her to meet us at the gates, and it looks like she may have let slip that you were coming back. Don't feel too overwhelmed Naruto. They just missed you, that's all." Kakashi said with an eye-smile as he ruffled the blonde's hair.

Naruto didn't say anything, his mind was racing and he was feeling anxious about returning to the Village. Sure, there's no place he would rather be, but the prying eyes of his friends and superiors meant that he would have to explain the horrors he had been through, and he really did not feel like talking about it. As the team approached the gates, cheers and shouts could be heard. Voices that Naruto thought he would never hear again, filled his ears. It sounded like music.

Suddenly, Naruto's feet began to carry him faster than his team. Even though he knew there would be questions, he moved towards the voices until Shikamaru and his father walked past the others to meet him. Shouts and cheers died down as Shikamaru came face to face with Naruto.

"You're back." Shikamaru breathed out, as if seeing Naruto had lifted the weight of the world off of his shoulders.

Naruto just nodded, and smiled weakly. Tension filled the air, Naruto knew that Shikamaru resented his orders from that day. He knew that Shikamaru was angry for ordering him to leave while Naruto himself had stayed behind. They didn't speak for a moment until Shikamaru moved forward and pulled the blond into a short hug.

"If you ever order me to do something like that again, I'll never forgive you." Shikamaru said in a low voice before continuing.

"Welcome home, Naruto. Having you back will no doubt be troublesome." Shikamaru said with a smile as he moved to the side to let Naruto pass.

Naruto smiled back, and stuck his fist out to Shikamaru who bumped it with his own before he moved past Shikamaru to face the boys father. He saw Shikaku Nara look him over, and then nod before he spoke.

"Chunin Naruto Uzumaki, two years ago you sacrificed yourself so that your team was able to return to the village. I am glad to see that you have made it back as well. You saved my son's life, and for that the Nara are indebted to you. Please stop by our home in the future, my wife would like to cook dinner for you as thanks for returning our son to us." Shikaku concluded, before he stepped to the side and waited with his son.

Naruto moved past the two lazy shinobi and took his first steps back into the village after two long years. His eyes locked onto Tsunade's as everyone else had moved away to allow the two some privacy.

"Hokage-sama." Naruto greeted her quietly as he waited for Tsunade to say something.

Naruto wasn't sure what to expect from his Hokage. She had every right to be angry, and judging from the way that her eyebrows furrowed and her lips were turned down into a frown, he would have to say that she was angry.

"Don't you dare. I've been waiting two whole years, not knowing if you were dead or not. Two years assuming that I had lost you too. So don't you dare call me "Hokage-sama" as if you were somebody else." Tsunade said, her voice cracking as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Baa-chan..." Naruto answered as his breath hitched.

That was it. Tsunade enveloped him in a warm hug. Naruto initially tensed up, but let himself relax as it finally set in that he was home. Tsunade found that Naruto had grown, but she had to hold back tears as she felt how thin Naruto had become. Her trained eyes spotted a large scar peeking out from under his shirt collar and silently thanked Kami for returning the closest thing she had to family besides Shizune.

Naruto and Tsunade parted and Tsunade held his face in her hands, she looked into his dull blue eyes that once held so much life. She swore she could see the brightness returning to his eyes in front of her own.

Not many words were spoken at their reunion, what was there to say? Naruto had returned, and that was more than any of his friends could have hoped for.

*Ahem* Somebody cleared their voice behind Naruto as he composed himself in front of Tsunade. Looking behind him, he saw Ino, and the rest of the Rookie Nine, plus Team Gai all looking at him with warm smiles.

"I don't want to interrupt but we've missed you too! We also think that you could use some time to unwind! Lets go celebrate by getting some dinner!" Ino said as they all stepped towards Naruto to greet him.

"Hey you guys, been a while hasn't it?" Naruto greeted them, and raised a hand to scratch the back of his head as he smiled at them.

"I'd like that, anything around here beats the prison meals by a long shot!" Naruto said with a laugh while the others winced at the implications behind the attempted joke.

XXXXXX

It had been two weeks since Naruto returned to the Leaf village. After he had finished dinner with his friends, he had been stunned to learn that Sakura had been staying in his apartment, keeping his plants alive and the place looking clean. He had the chance to catch up with all of his friends who were just glad to have him back. Rock Lee had asked for a spar when Naruto healthy again, as had Sasuke... And Neji. Tsunade had forbid him from training until he was back to 100%, she had given him a diet plan and also had given him time off for the foreseeable future. Naruto's problem was that he had no idea what to do with his time off. He hardly had done anything but train before he had been kidnapped, and then after that he wasn't allowed to do anything except be a pin cushion.

Naruto's boredom had taken him to the library one day, and he had found a few books on Beginners Fuinjutsu theory. He had checked out two books on the subject and read late into the night. He had talked to Jiraya about the basics and the Sage had been more than excited to teach him a few things. He'd seen Jiraya a few times since he had been back, and couldn't help but chuckle when he thought of the way he had run into his godfather.

*Flashback*

Naruto was walking down the sunbathed streets of Konoha, simply enjoying the sounds of children laughing and playing, wind blowing through the leaves on the trees, and the overall happy feel of the village. He much preferred it over the sounds of screaming inmates, chains clattering on the cold, damp cement floor of the prison, and the sounds of scalpels and kunai tearing his flesh open.

Naruto shuddered, and shook his head to clear away those thoughts. He was passing the Hot Springs when he heard a very familiar lecherous giggle. Naruto came to a stop at the base of the tree, and cleared his throat.

*Ahem*

"Hey, get out of here! Can't you see I'm trying to do some research?!" Jiraya had whispered heatedly.

"Is that any way to speak to your godson that you haven't seen in over two years?" Naruto called back up, in a mocking tone.

A blur of white hair crashed to the ground beside Naruto and quickly enveloped the boy in a hug.

"HAHA Naruto my boy, I'm so glad that you're safe! I would have come to get you myself but when we had heard that you were taken by the Bloody Mist... It's very hard for anybody to go beyond the borders of the Land of Water without attracting attention. Myself included. I couldn't risk going to war with Kiri over potentially getting you back. I'll never forgive myself but for the good of Konoha, i had to sit back and do nothing about it." Jiraya said, happy at first before the guilt started to eat at him.

"Don't worry Ero-sennin, I knew what I was doing. Nothing mattered but getting my team out. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to." Naruto said, accepting the reasoning because it was logical, and he had already made peace with that time in his life.

"Buuuut, to get you back... I think I'll just do this." Naruto said, before he used his Sexy Jutsu and the nosebleed sent Jiraya flying through the wall of the Hot Springs directly into the women's side.

*Flashback End*

XXXXXX

Time had been flying by for Naruto. It had already been two months since he was back in the Leaf village and he was slowly getting back into old habits like training and hanging out with his friends. He had regained his normal weight and with the help of the Kyuubi and some training(read: a TON of training) he had regained his muscular figure. He had started working on his bloodlines again and had really got lost in mastering them.

That led him to this morning, where he opened his front door to find Ino grinning at him. Suddenly she looked down her eyebrows shot up, her cheeks turning pink as she looked away quickly. Naruto looked down and cursed under his breath realizing he was only wearing his Pajama bottoms, exposing his scarred chest to Ino.

"Uh, I just came to tell you that the rookies and Gai's team are going swimming today. You should really think about coming, you need a break from training." Ino said as she focused on keeping her eyes on Naruto's face.

"Yeah, sure! I'll be there! Where are we meeting?" Naruto said, trying to ignore the awkward situation they were both in.

"Oh just come to the Flowershop around 10 this morning okay?" Ino said as she turned to get ready to leave.

"Alright, I'll see you then." Naruto closed the door and leaned against it as he sighed.

Shit. Ino saw the scars on his chest. He knew he would have been put in a situation where he would have to explain his scars(mental, and physical) eventually. He had just hoped it wouldn't be so soon.

XXXXXX

Naruto made his way towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop, he had his hands in the pockets of his swimming shorts. His shorts were black with a little red Uzumaki swirl on the right leg, he also wore a plain black form fitting t shirt, and as always he had Tsunade's necklace tied around his neck. As he rounded the corner and walked up to the door of the flowershop, he could hear loud voices inside already. He just grinned as he pulled the door open.

"Oi, Naruto! Good to see you man, you've been locked up in your place studying or off somewhere training! We haven't seen you in forever!" Kiba joked as he slung his arm over Naruto's shoulder.

"Yo, Kiba! Hey everyone, sorry I've just been making up for lost time when I couldn't train haha!" Naruto laughed at his own joke, while everyone else just winced a little and laughed awkwardly.

"Well, everyone's here now so we can go!" Ino stood and grabbed her bag, walking out fast.

"...Was it something I said?" Naruto asked, looking at the others for answers.

Everyone just shrugged, and they made their way out the door. Naruto was still wondering what Ino was upset about as he followed them out.

"She saw your scars brat, I'm sure it isn't hard for her to imagine what was happening to you when you make jokes about your time in Kiri." The Nine-Tailed Fox's voice rumbled in the back of Naruto's mind.

"Kurama? Haven't heard from you in a while!" Naruto exclaimed in shock and joy.

"Been busy, brat. Keeping you from dying everyday, and all that. I've been resting since then to restore some of the chakra I lost." Kurama spoke with a sarcastic tone, Naruto could almost feel Kurama rolling his eyes.

"Makes sense, and you really think Ino is upset because of what I went through? We have hardly spoken ever! Even in the Academy." Naruto hummed to himself, considering what Kurama said.

"I don't know brat. I told you what I thought, now leave me alone. I'm going back to sleep." Kurama growled as he laid his head on his paws and closed his eyes, cutting the connection.

"Moody furball." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"We're here! It's time to swim! Let's go everyone!" Ino cheered and ran to set up her beach blanket and umbrella.

XXXXXX

"Hey! Come on Naruto! Aren't you gonna swim?" Kiba shouted as everybody but Naruto had entered the water.

"Relax Dogbreath! Why do you even care if I swim? Do you really just want to see me shirtless that badly?" Naruto quipped back and there were a series of "ooooh".

"Do you truly not wish to swim, Naruto-kun?" Rock Lee piped up from the back.

"I do, it's just- Okay, fuck it." Naruto sighed as he pulled his shirt off, revealing his scars to his classmates.

"Woah, holy shit dude." Kiba breathed out, barely above a whisper.

Everyone was silent as they got a good look at the scars that lined Naruto's chest and stomach. Three large, jagged scars marred the upper right side of Naruto's chest. There were many smaller, thinner ones... Yet the three large ones had memories attached to them that made him uncomfortable to this day.

"W-What happened, Naruto? I wanted to ask this morning but I chickened out." Ino asked in a tone filled with concern and pain.

Naruto sighed, he walked on the water and used chakra to allow him to sit on the water in front of his friends. He was silent for a few moments as he thought how best to tell his friends about what happened to him.

"Over the two years that I was gone, I experienced a lot of pain. After they found out I had bloodlines, they took me directly to the prison. One of the Chunin that captured me was interrogating me on that first day. He's the reason that I have these three big scars. I pissed him off when I wouldn't talk. So he plunged a kunai into my chest three times and twisted the blade each time. He told me... He told me "you get one for each of the escapees."." Naruto said, his eyes flashing to Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Sakura quickly.

"I think he expected me to die at that point. Although he wasn't sad when he found out that I heal very quickly. It just meant that he could hurt me more often and do more damage than he normally could to the other inmates. For some reason he was mad that the kunai wounds had healed perfectly. He placed chakra draining seals on me, enough that I wouldn't be able to heal normally. He ripped three more holes in the right side of my chest and kept the seals on my body until they had scarred over. After that, he kept the chakra draining seals on but not so tight that Kurama couldn't heal me. The other scars are less memorable, just day upon day of nothing but pain. It kind of blurs together in my mind." Naruto finished, having lost himself in the memories.

Naruto looked at his friends faces, they were filled with a range of emotions from shock to anger, to sadness. He let everyone take a few minutes to digest what they had just heard.

"Naruto..." Ino muttered sadly, not knowing what to say.

"My respect for you rises once again, Naruto-san." Neji said as he smiled at the blond.

"I didn't tell you guys this to make you feel bad for me or anything. I told you because I trust you guys and I haven't been able to speak about it yet. It feels good to share, and get it off my chest. Thank you guys. Can we just swim now, though? We came here to have fun, didn't we?!" Naruto said as he dove to tackle Sasuke, submerging them both and spraying everyone with water.

Laughter filled the forested lakefront as a figure rested his back against a tree, having heard everything Naruto had said. He smiled as he heard the laughter and shouting from the teenagers.

'I'm glad you feel safe to talk to your classmates Naruto. Don't hang onto your burdens.' Kakashi thought to himself as he disappeared in a Body Flicker.

XXXXXX

Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment and slung his wet towel into the laundry basket. He was about to head to his room and get ready for bed when he saw Jiraya sitting on his couch in his living room.

"Tsunade wants to see you tomorrow morning, I think she wants to ask you to be a Proctor for the Chunin exams." Jiraya said, not looking up from the fuinjutsu book he was reading.

"Awesome! But did she send you here just to tell me that? She should have just sent an ANBU to do it in the morning instead of bothering you to come wait for me here yourself." Naruto said, sitting down across from Jiraya.

"It's not the only reason I'm here brat. The Chunin Exams are in 3 months time. After that's over, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come along with me for an extended training trip." Jiraya slowly broke the news to Naruto, unsure of what his reaction would be.

"I assume by "asking" me, you mean that I'm being ordered to. How long?" Naruto asked with his right eye twitching.

"Eheheh, well when you put it that way, it sounds so mean." Jiraya laughed nervously, before getting serious.

"It'll be two years, kid. You'll return to the village when you are 16. It's not because I want to take you away from your friends, Naruto. There's rumors of an organization popping up, whose goals are to hunt the jinchuriki. S-Rank Ninjas, Naruto. We have to get you prepared." Jiraya said with a slight urgency in his voice.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice." Naruto muttered, as he rose to his feet.

"Sorry Naruto, I know you're just getting settled back in but we gotta turn you into S-Rank material sooner rather than later. My sources say they wont be actively hunting Jinchuriki for another 2 years at least." Jiraya frowned, he felt bad for taking the boy away after he had essentially just come back.

"Don't worry about it Ero-sennin, at least I'll get to become stronger, a lot sooner." Naruto grinned, as he bid his godfather goodnight.

XXXXXX

AN: Welp! There's chapter 3! I have a surprise for the chunin exams that I hope you'll like! Probably no updates for a few days at least since its almost Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone, stay safe out there. :)

Wonderouzzz