"I'm going to see the Hokage, and I'm taking Ino here with me. You can send ANBU to follow me. I will not harm the girl unless attacked by any of your ninja."
The guards nodded their heads while gritting their teeth, this was bad. They couldn't just let the heir to the Yamanaka clan die, Inoichi would loose it.
Naruto knew there was no way he would be allowed to see the Hokage if he simply walked into the village. ANBU would probably confront him and he would be put in containment and would have to reveal who he was to everyone, and he wasn't planning on doing that anytime soon. He only planned on only telling Tsunade. 'That'll be an interesting conversation…' thought Naruto. He knew she'd be pissed at him for just leaving but he also thought she'd understand his reasons.
Naruto walked the streets he used too with an unconscious Ino over his shoulder. He felt somewhat bad for holding her as a hostage but he'd much rather prefer to be near her then his two ex-teammates. Plus, she had gotten extremely attractive, but he wasn't the type to take advantage of an unconscious girl, especially one he knew.
Naruto continued walking through the streets receiving looks of shock from commoners, and anger from the shinobi. Naruto grinned under his mask at the amusing sight of nearly the whole village staring at him in both terror and anger. Then out of nowhere two jonin who were quite familiar to Naruto appeared in front of him. Naruto frowned at how interesting, and complicated things were getting. In front of him was his one time sensei Kakashi Hatake and the Green Beast of Konoha, Might Guy. Naruto knew it would be quite a difficult fight against these two if it came to it, not to mention he was surrounded by shinobi who had suddenly all drawn weapons. Kakashi and Guy were both viewed as elite ninja in not only Konoha but the entire shinobi world.
"Its quite peculiar to see one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist in Konoha. Especially one rumored to be dead, Kushimaru Kuriarare."
Said Kakashi in a hostile tone. Naruto was a little surprised to hear that Kakashi knew about Kushimaru. Not many Konoha shinobi or citizens knew much about the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist. Naruto's smile grew under his mask, grinning how the situation was playing out. Many gasped at the mention of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, they were world-renowned as some of the most feared ninja in history. None except a few older shinobi knew of Kushimaru, but all people present shuddered a bit at the mention of the Seven Ninja Swordsman. Naruto let out one of his high pitch laughs before speaking.
Kakashi scowled at the high-pitched chuckles coming from the swordsman. This was definitely a bad situation. He had heard of Kushimaru's peculiar but legendary skill using the sewing needle Nuibari.
"Hehe, oh Kakashi, sharp as usual, however no need to worry, I'm not Kushimaru, I simply found his weapon and mask."
All the shinobi surrounding Naruto were confused, why would he admit that he simply found the weapon, he could have come across as much more respectable had he gone on as Kushimaru. Naruto stood there for a while silently as the Konoha nin stared at him in a confused manner until he removed Nuibari from his shoulder and began twirling the blade with his fingers. Kakashi's eyes lowered again at how easily the masked man twirled the deadly weapon. He said he wasn't Kushimaru but the person obviously had a lot of skill with the weapon.
"However, I have been training for a little while with it and have become quite proficient at using it. And to prove to you I'm not the extremely gifted previous user of Nuibari, just look at my mask, I altered it."
Kakashi looked over the mask to see a small Konoha symbol etched into the mask where the Kiri symbol normally was. Kakashi became even more confused, 'Why does he have a Konoha symbol, thats a Kiri sword and a Kiri hunter-nin mask?'. Naruto grinned even more at the confused looks on the shinobi around him.
"Well then, now that I answered your questions I guess I'll be off, unless you need me to sew some injuries into this beautiful heir to the Yamanaka clan."
Said Naruto in a threatening tone as he began walking towards the Hokage's office. He prayed Kakashi and Guy wouldn't call his bluff. He definitely wasn't planning on injuring Ino. Guy looked as if he was about to protest but the masked man quickly placed his needle sword at the neck of Ino so he paused. Kakashi and Guy separated allowing the masked man to continue walking towards the Hokage's office with the needle at Ino's neck. By now at least five ANBU divisions and fifty jonin and chunin ninja surrounded Naruto as he walked silently towards the Hokage Tower. As Naruto approached the Hokage tower he saw a unpleasant surprise, the Hokage was waiting for him. This could pose an issue to his plan. He wanted to talk to Tsunade in private, not in front of hundreds of shinobi.
"I demand you tell me what your doing in my village and drop that girl now or I'll beat your ass harder than anyone before!"
Screamed Tsunade, obviously ticked off that one ninja had managed to cause this much trouble, not to mention the fact that he was a wimp, he had nearly no muscle on him. She was definitely going to pound him into the dirt.
"Now, Tsunade, what about this lovely girl I have here?"
"If you honestly think I'll risk the entire village's safety to save one shinobi, regardless of how important they are, then your crazy! I'm giving you one last chance to say what you're doing here before I kill you!"
Naruto frowned at this response, but he knew he couldn't take Tsunade, let alone the entire Leaf Shinobi Force. Naruto let out one more of his high pitched laughs that he had developed in his time away front the Leaf. Tsunade was somewhat disturbed by the voice and was about to signal the shinobi to attack until the masked man started talking.
"Hehe, oh great and honorable Hokage, you seem to have spoiled my entire plan, oh well. Its been too long… Baa-chan…."
There was still no response from Tsunade until a look of realization crept over. 'The bright blonde hair! Of course!' Screamed Tsunade in her head. She was speechless, there was no way he was back, it had been 3 years.
"I..It can't be.."
Said the Hokage causing many of the shinobi to gasp at the Hokage's recognition of the man. 'How can she know this guy, did she fight him?' thought many of the shinobi except for Kakashi, he had a relatively good idea of who the boy was, no one else besides his ex student called the Hokage by that name. Naruto activated his most familiar technique, hoping Tsunade would realize its him, the shadow clone jutsu. The clone then took the body of Ino and walked up to the Hokage as two ANBU flashed in front of her.
"Don't worry, back away."
Said Tsunade, trying to hold herself together, that jutsu was the one Naruto used the most. She realized Naruto wanted to keep his identity hidden for some reason. The clone placed the unconscious body on the ground and dispelled. As soon as the clone dispelled Ino was picked up by ANBU causing many of the ninja to draw weapons, prepared to take on the mysterious ninja who no longer had one of their fellow shinobi hostage.
"I'll cya soon Baa-chan, its been fun seeing those two scumbags again but I must be off."
Said Naruto as the man standing in front of them poofed into smoke, revealing it to be a shadow clone. Tsunade stood in complete shock at what had just happened. Naruto had just walked into the village, simply to return the Yamanaka girl. Then a thought hit her, 'Maybe he wants Sasuke and Sakura!'.
"Kakashi, Guy, get to Sakura and Sasuke immediately! ANBU go now!"
The two jonin and multiple ANBU vanished towards the front gate where they knew Sasuke and Sakura were last seen before the masked shinobi arrived. When they got there they simply saw the masked swordsman standing in front of the gate, staring straight at Kakashi before he spoke. His needle sword slung over his shoulder with bloody wire hanging from the end of the sword.
"Kakashi, you know who I am, and you must have an idea why I left in the first place…"
Said Naruto with his mask on, trying to contain his composure, all the built up emotion from the years of pain.
"All those years of being ignored, hated, growing up by myself, no one caring about me, even my own team didn't care..."
Guy stood in confusion, not understanding what was going on, Kakashi new him as well?
"There were only five people who ever really cared about me in this accursed village and one was gone most of the time."
Said Naruto as Kakashi tilted his head down slightly at the memory of his mistreatment of his own student. It became silent, the only sounds being heard were coming from the blood dripping from Nuibari's wires.
"I'm afraid I can't let you touch Sakura or Sasuke….Naruto."
Naruto let out a sad smile under his mask, still always protecting those two. Guy stood with a sense of shock written all over his body. This, cruel, cold-hearted guy was Naruto, the wild and cheerful Naruto?
"Hm, always worrying about two of your students, well… more specifically one but that's besides the point. You can have those two pieces of garbage for all I care, they aren't worth my attention."
Kakashi frowned again, Naruto really had changed. Gone was the once cheerful and forgiving Naruto, replaced by not necessarily a cruel, but realistic Naruto. He fully understood how he was treated when he was younger, and clearly wasn't happy about it. Three ANBU cautiously made their way towards Sasuke and Sakura and picked them up before vanishing towards the hospital. Then a worst case scenario suddenly occurred for Kakashi, a villager decided to speak up.
"Hey you freak, don't touch or talk poorly about Lord Uchiha and that kind young girl or those our ninja will rip you to shreds!"
Naruto clenched his teeth, gone was his attempt to contain anger, now replaced by utter rage. He could feel the fox's chakra attempting to seep through but he quickly got a hold of himself. He would deal with the villager himself.
Kakashi noticed a sudden spike in chakra out of Naruto and saw his eye slits glow red for a short time but it was quickly vanished. Kakashi slightly exhaled, at least he wouldn't have to deal with the fox. Kakashi then saw Naruto flash before the civilian who had just spoke. 'This won't go well..' thought Kakashi as Naruto let out one of his new high-pitched, and spine tingling laughs.
"Hehehe, Lord Uchiha? LORD UCHIHA!"
Screamed Naruto as the civilian began to slowly back away. Naruto took out his rope of wire attached to nuibari, blood dripping off almost every inch of wire.
"You see all this blood?"
Asked Naruto, as the man slowly nodded.
"This is from 25 kiri nin that I killed single handily in order to save that egotistical jack ass! SO DON"T YOU DARE TELL ME TO GET AWAY FROM "LORD UCHIHA"! GOT IT!"
Screamed Naruto as the civilian tripped over in fear at the figure of the masked swordsman. Kakashi took in the information he just got, Naruto was strong enough to take out that many kiri shinobi? Kakashi would have to stop this first, he flashed in-between Naruto and the villager who was on the ground. Kakashi pulled out a kunai and began to move it towards Naruto's neck in an attempt to stop Naruto from conducting any further actions but Naruto quickly leapt backwards. Kakashi looked up to see Naruto going through the hand signs to one jutsu that he was quite familiar to, Zabuza's Hidden Mist technique. He looked on as mist flooded the streets of Konoha, rendering his sharingan nearly useless. But as quickly the mist appeared, it disappeared, along with Naruto, the new wielder of Nuibari.
"Kakashi, is that really Naruto?"
Asked Gai in shock.
"I'm afraid so, and we've got to find him, who knows what he'll do in the village."
0o0
Tsunade had returned to her office, anxiously waiting for any word on the status of Naruto. Luckily he had chosen not to do anything to his two ex-teammates, they were both in the hospital along with Ino, who was doing a bit better than the other two. She had always wondered what happened to Naruto after he left, but this was definitely not one of her expected outcomes. He had become a wielder of one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist's blades, and had become much darker. Then an ANBU knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Yelled Tsunade, hoping for news on Naruto.
"The masked man seemed to have escaped Kakashi and Guy using some mist technique, we can't find him anywhere, however Sasuke and Sakura were safely taken to the hospital."
Said the ANBU, as Tsunade groaned. She swore she would destroy that brat if she saw him again. It had been to long since they talked. Even Jiraya, one of the most informed people in the entire shinobi world had seen no sign of him for the past three and a half years. Tsunade nodded her head, dismissing the ANBU. She sat silently for a few seconds before crashing her fist down on her desk, smashing it in half.
"God dammit Naruto, where are you!"
Screamed Tsunade in anger. She then heard a voice, the same voice she had become so accustomed all those years ago.
"I see you still have some anger management issues, I guess I'm the only one who's changed here, huh?"
Said Naruto who was perched outside her window. Tsunade recognized that voice, the one from three years ago. She immediately turned around to see Naruto, wearing the same Kiri hunter-nin mask with the red triangle at the bottom.
"N..Naruto?"
Questioned Tsunade, still not believing that he was finally in front of her.
"Hey Baa-chan.."
Said Naruto as he began to rub the back of his head awkwardly, not knowing what to say to the only mother figure he'd ever had in his life. Tears began coming out of Tsunade's eyes as Naruto jumped down from the window sill. Tsunade embraced Naruto tightly for a while before raising a chakra enhanced fist and slamming it into his head, flattening him to the ground.
"You idiot, you had me worried! Where have you been!"
Screamed Tsunade with a slight smirk on her face. Naruto slowly stood up with a smile under his mask, it was definitely good to see her again. Naruto began twirling his needle weapon, happy for the first time in a while.
"Sorry Baa-chan, I had to go sort some things through.."
Said Naruto in a sad tone which Tsunade quickly picked up on. Tsunade eyes lowered, knowing of all the pain he suffered, which probably caused him to leave.
"I was training in a certain cave, where I found this."
Said Naruto as he twirled his blade in his fingers. Naruto also did not want to reveal the location of where he had been for the past years. Tsunade frowned at Naruto trying to conceal information from her but stopped that train of thought when he picked up speaking again.
"But I've thought for a while now and I know I've been gone for a long time but, if it's all right by you, and that annoying council, I'd…. I'd possibly… l'd ..like to maybe rejoin the village, if its ok…."
Said Naruto quietly as his gaze changed towards the ground, nervous for the awaiting response. Tsunade's heart skipped a beat, he actually wanted to come back! However, Tsunade did notice he was different to talk to. He wasn't as confident or energetic when holding a conversation, which she guessed was from being isolated.
"O..Of course, Naruto! But you'll have to take off that mask first, I haven't seen your face in 3 and a half years."
Naruto smirked under his mask. He hadn't taken it off in at least two years, keeping it on constantly just like Kushimaru had. Tsunade hated that mask, it made it seem as if he was sending her death glares, despite the slight joy she could hear in his voice about seeing her again.
"I'm afraid I can't do that Tsunade, not until everyone knows who I am, I still want it to be a secret.."
Tsunade planned on protesting that she was the only one here but then noticed Kakashi had walked into the room.
"Naruto…"
Said Kakashi. Tsunade saw Naruto's body tense again as his grip on Nuibari strengthened.
"Kakashi…"
Said Naruto under his mask, with venom laced in his voice. Tsunade noticed the hostility in his voice and thought she might as well warn him not to do anything restless.
"Ok Naruto, settle down, you have to be initiated into the shinobi force and need to be tested regarding your skill as a ninja, if you attack him or any other leaf shinobi, I'll have to arrest you, ok?"
Said Tsunade
"Then why don't we test my skill against Kakashi, it should be relatively interesting, don't you think?"
Said Naruto wickedly. Kakashi frowned, he knew he would need to resolve this issue with his ex: student somehow.
"Naruto you just returned to the village, you can't just start up fights! Plus, I still don't even know if your really Naruto, we'll need to conduct DNA testing, understand?"
Said Tsunade sternly, trying to avoid a conflict between the two, but she knew it could only be delayed for so long.
"Fine... is my apartment still vacant?"
Asked Naruto as Tsunade pulled out a small needle. Tsunade smiled and nodded, answering Naruto's question. Once she had taken enough blood she stepped back signaling she was done. Naruto nodded and began to turn around. Before he could leave Tsunade placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to turn around.
"How do you expect to get in to your apartment without your key?"
Said Tsunade as she smirked as she dangled the keys to the room with her free hand. Naruto smiled under the mask.
"Well Baa-chan, I think I'm gonna go and rest if that's ok, I won't mind if you post ANBU to watch me, I know your still somewhat suspicious of me just showing up.."
Said Naruto as he walked past Kakashi.
"Kakashi, I look forward to a team reunion soon."
Said Naruto viciously as he walked out the door and out of the Hokage building towards his apartment.
Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha as hundreds of thoughts raced through his head. He wondered if he made the right choice of returning to the village that despised him. His reuniting with his sensei was definitely as unpleasant as he imagined but it was definitely nice to see Tsunade again.
Naruto ignored the glares and whispers of civilians and shinobi in the streets, many of whom had terrified looks on their faces. Naruto quickly got off the main street and entered into an alley and jumped onto the roof of a house. He still remembered the way around the village. He jumped from roof to roof, slowly entering into the poor part of the village until he found his old, rundown apartment complex. He jumped down to the front of the complex and walked up the squeaky wooden stares that led up to his apartment on the top floor. He got to the front of his apartment and looked at the entrance. The door had red spray paint on it saying 'Demon', causing Naruto to sigh.
Maybe it wasn't a great idea to come back. He placed the key into the lock and opened the door to reveal the apartment he had spent his younger days in. It was in better condition than he thought it would be, someone had obviously cleaned it up after he left. The room was clean and his bed was made, but dust covered much of the furniture. Naruto quickly walked up to his bed and collapsed into it. Small amounts of dust rose from the bed, but none affected Naruto due to his mask. He slowly got into the covers, exhausted from his extremely eventful first day back in Konoha.
0o0
"He's changed Kakashi."
Said Tsunade as she watched Naruto walk down the streets of Konoha. Kakashi sighed as he responded.
"I know, he's much... darker and gruesome."
Naruto seemed to have lost that personality he had three years ago before the Sasuke retrieval mission. However, when he was alone with her, he wasn't dark at all. He seemed almost timid and scared. It was almost as if he was scared to say something to her that would cause her to get angry. He wasn't as confident in himself. He obviously held a great hostility towards his ex teammates which would have to be resolved soon.
"Should I tell Sakura and Sasuke who he is?"
Asked Kakashi.
"No, first we should ask them what happened on the mission, and for at least a little while, lets allow him to keep his identity hidden."
Kakashi nodded and poofed out of the room. After he left, a small smile appeared on Tsunade's face. Sure Naruto had changed, but at least he was back. She was sure that after a little while he would become more like his old self. Plus, Jiraya was going to be thrilled when he hears his apprentice had returned.