777torn777 : Nah man, comment what you feel like. I really enjoy reading the comments.
Exodus12345 : No promises, I don't even know if I can write romance (shrug emoji). Thanks for the review, really appreciate it!
Van der Ay : No,no. I am not worrying about the views I get, I am happy with what I am getting. I am just curious about what is a good views average, that's all. Thanks for the review, really appreciate it!
X-X
Naruto woke up after a wonderful sleep. When he saw the sword stabbing into him, he was not expecting to wake up. But, here he was, waking up after the best sleep he had had. It was cold, but there was a strange warmness over his chest. Trying to wake up to check what was going on, he was gently put back in the sleeping position. Opening his eyes to look at what was going on, he was attacked with the harsh rays of the sun. Squinting his eyes to adjust to the light, he saw a green glow over his chest.
"I was not expecting you to wake up this soon. Well, for a while, I wasn't expecting you to wake up at all." A voice said.
"Who are you?" Naruto questioned, still unable to focus due to the harsh light.
Realizing the cause of his agony, the owner of the voice moved towards the window and closed the curtains. "Ah, have you forgotten me already? That's quite rude of you." The voice, identifiable as a 'she' , said.
"Tsunade?" Naruto questioned, now able to see somewhat clearly.
"That's Tsunade-sama to you, brat." She said.
"And why is that?" Naruto questioned.
"Eh, I am one of the legendary sannin." She said.
"Don't care." Naruto replied and proceeded to wake up.
"Nah-uh. You are not waking up this soon. The poison of the Kusanagi is no ordinary poison, it has only started to be subdued now, if you move, it will start spreading again. So, you are here for the long game." Tsunade said.
"Oi, Kyuubi." Naruto said, inside his mind.
No reply came.
"Come on, this is not the time to sleep."
An eye opened.
"Come on, can you heal me up?"
The eye closed.
"Hey, come on, don't ignore me."
"I am not breaking out of your stomach, that is enough help from my side." The kyuubi said, eyes still closed.
"Don't be like that. I opened up the seal, didn't I? You can heal me for once, come on!" Naruto said, he really did not want to waste his time just lying down.
"You did not know the seal will disappear, it was just your eager curiosity that led you in making poor decisions." The Kyuubi said, raising his paws. "This is only a one time thing, do not count on me again." He said, his nail touching the head of Naruto. As soon as the nail made contact, wild, red chakra covered Naruto for a second, and all the poison was washed out.
X-X
As the red chakra shrouded Naruto, Jiraiya appeared in a flicker, Tsunade leaped back and Shizune took a step back. When they saw it disappear after a second, they were confused.
"What was that?" Jiraiya questioned.
"The fox owed me one, so he healed me for once." Naruto replied.
"You talk to it?" Jiraiya questioned, shocked.
"What else did you expect? He has been inside me for almost 14 years now."
X-X
"Do you know why you have been called here?" The Hokage asked.
"Nope." Ino said.
"Probably for the chunin promotions." Shikamaru said.
Currently, the badge of shinobi teams dubbed as the 'Konoha 12' by the populous of Konoha were standing in front of the Hokage. Except for Naruto, of course.
"Indeed." The Hokage said, releasing a puff of smoke. "I will get on to it, then." He concluded.
"Hyuuga Neji, as well as you did in the exams, it is quite evident that you don't have the discipline necessary for becoming a chunin." He said.
"Understood." Neji said.
"Uchiha Sasuke, you too, lack the mindset to be considered a chunin." He said.
"Understood." Sasuke said.
"Nara Shikamaru, you showed the ability to think on the run and powers to back up your plans. Hence, it is a pleasure for me to promote you to the rank of Chunin." He said, handing Shikamaru the chunin vest.
"It is an honor, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said.
"Yamanaka Ino, you too, showed the capacity to think out of the box and work well under pressure. Hence, again, it is a pleasure for me to promote you to the rank of Chunin." He said, handing Ino the chunin vest.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Ino said.
"Hokage-sama, a question, if you do not mind." Ino asked.
"Ask away." He said.
"Where is Naruto? Why was he not called here?" Ino questioned.
"Since he was specifically requested for a long term mission, he was promoted before the chunin ceremony. He is currently completing that mission." Hiruzen said.
"A solo mission?" Shikamaru questioned.
"No, he is with one of my students, Jiraiya." Hiruzen said.
"Jiraiya of the legendary three?" Ino questioned, shocked.
"That one, yes." Hiruzen said.
X-X
Returning to Konoha was an uneventful journey. They had taken a straight route towards Konoha, through several forests. Tonton was unwilling to leave Naruto's arms, 'oinking' harshly whenever Tsunade or Shizune tried to take her away from Naruto. Well, apart from that everything was uneventful.
The gates of Konoha, now visible, made Tsunade nervous. She had not been into the village for a long while. She did not know what to feel.
"Your names and reason to visit?" The gate guard asked, without looking up.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya, returning from a retrieval mission." Naruto said.
"Ah, Jiraiya-sama, sorry about that, I was not looking." The gate guard said.
"It's quite alright. Can we go?" Jiraiya questioned.
" Yes, of course." He replied.
X-X
"Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya, returning from the retrieval mission, Hokage-sama." Naruto said.
"Be at ease. So you actually managed to convince her? That's quite an achievement." Hiruzen said. "Well apart from that, the bounty of Gaara will be delivered to your address today. You may be dismissed" He said.
"Thank you." Naruto said and sunshuned away.
"So, Tsunade, you actually came back, huh? I was not expecting to see you, really." Hiruzen said and took a deep puff of smoke in. He looked old. Well, older than ever.
"Well then, you better be grateful and stop wasting my time. Why did you call me here?" Tsunade asked.
"Grateful I am, of course." Hiruzen said, then, his eyes became serious. "I want you to become the next Hokage." He declared.
"Huh? I am pretty sure you can squeeze in a few years more. Then, hand it over to Kakashi or Gai." Tsunade said, dismissing the idea.
"For a matter of fact, I cannot 'squeeze in a few years more', as you say. My fight with Orochimaru pushed me to my limits. I am not the God of Shinobi I used to be. My powers have been depleting, Tsunade. My reign is over now." Hiruzen said.
"Well, whatever. Make Jiraiya the Hokage then." She said.
"He has an information network to take care of." Hiruzen countered.
"Kakashi?"
"Too lazy."
"Gai?"
"Strong, but naive."
"Fine, give me some time to think." Tsunade sighed out.
"Of course, take your time. Well, apart from that, I do have a request to make." Hiruzen said.
"What's that?" Tsunade asked.
"A very promising genin, Rock Lee, was injured during the preliminaries of the chunin exams. None of our medics are skilled enough to heal him. Please do take a look at him and try to heal his injuries." Hiruzen said.
"Yeah sure, will do that." She said and flickered away.
"What do you think, Jiraiya? Will she agree?" Hiruzen asked.
"She will come around." Jiraiya said, sighing.
X-X
"So, why did you not tell us of your promotion and the mission before?" Ino huffed.
"Didn't see you around, then had to leave for the mission after waking up." Naruto replied.
Naruto was stocking up his kunai stock in the weapon shop when he came around Ino, and well, here they were, walking towards his house and rambling.
"You sure you wanna come? That's not a very nice place." Naruto questioned.
"Hmm, whatever. I have never seen your home before anyways." Ino replied.
"well, suit yourself then." Naruto said.
True to what Naruto had said, the area was not nice. Well, it was really bad. With beggars roaming around, thugs twirling used kunais and no sense of order, it looked like a civilization a century too old. Regardless, since they had their headbands on them, no one had confronted them and they had reached to Naruto's place without any problems. His house was on the second floor. The only house around that was well painted.
He had probably painted it himself, since there were inconsistencies that a professional would have not left, Ino noticed.
His house was not very big. Well, her living room was probably bigger than his house, but she was not judging. She knew Naruto was not as privileged as she was. But, it was clean and decent. The balcony was decent in size. It had an artificial grass mattress with a lot of bowls, full of bird food, on it. And of course, there were at least two dozen birds lazing around there.
"This is nice." Ino said.
"You don't need to sugar coat anything." Naruto replied.
"No, really. This is nice." Ino insisted.
"Well, if you say so." Naruto said.
"So, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Ino questioned.
"D-ranks in the morning, training till evening and maybe a C-rank, if I feel like it, the regular stuff." Naruto replied.
"No, I mean for celebration." Ino said, pouting.
"Celebration? For what?" Naruto questioned.
"We got promoted, for that, of course." Ino said.
"Hmm, no plans, none that I can think of." Naruto said. "Well, what about you?" He questioned.
"My family with Shikamaru's and Choji's are going to the Nara's forest for a day or two, it's a really great place with a farm house and all." Ino said.
"Did Choji get promoted too?" Naruto questioned.
"No, but he is a really close family friend. And our families usually takes vacations together." Ino answered.
"Ah, I see. Well, enjoy your vacation then." Naruto said.
Just when they were about to fall into silence, a chirping noise prevented it. A bird came flying in through his window. Well, that was quite a common occurring. But, what was not common was the envelope in its mouth. The bird sat on his shoulders and offered him the envelope.
"Ah, the bounty." Naruto said, remembering what the Hokage had told him.
"What bounty?" Ino questioned.
"Gaara's." He said, putting the envelope in the drawer.
"Well, it seems like you have money to spare, why don't you move out of here?" Ino questioned.
"I just purchased this house against cash, there is no point in moving out this early." Naruto said.
"Ah, I see, that makes sense." Ino said. "Well, I will leave now, I guess."
"Sure, see ya around." He said, escorting her towards the door.
X-X
The idea of celebration had stuck with him. He had never celebrated anything before. And yeah, he felt jealous of Ino when she talked about family vacations. Well, she probably didn't understand what she was saying.
It was the day after Ino's and his conversation. Well, it was not exactly day. It was almost night now, and he had more than one excuse to justify his celebration. One, his promotion. And second, his birthday. Yeah, it was 10th of October, his 14th birthday. Till now, he had not gone out for a single birthday of his. But, he had an excuse today. And well, he was curious about alcohol now. Also, he had money to spare. So, here he was in front of a bar. It was legal for shinobi of any age to drink alcohol. Because, well, any shinobi could be asked to indulge a daimyo or a noble with a drink. It was going to be his first drink though.
Entering the bar, he had taken the most isolated seat towards the corner. He had ordered a can of beer and a pastry. Yeah, the waiter had looked at him weird, but it was because of the combination he had ordered, so he would slide with it.
Eating the pastry and not looking at the alcohol just yet, he was enjoying his isolation. Recently, he had very less alone time. He had spent a month surrounded by owls, then a week with Jiraiya for finding Tsunade, then 3 days with Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton, travelling back to Konoha. So, yeah, he was enjoying his birthday very much.
"Tsunade-sama, not a bar again. We have been to 30 different bars in two days." A familiar voice sighed out.
He sighed too. Why? Because there stood Tsunade and Shizune. And they had seen him. And they were heading towards him. He wanted to sigh again, but that would be rude.
"So brat, I did not know you drank." Tsunade said, taking a seat on his table.
"I don't, this is my first time here." He said.
"Well, what's the occasion?" She questioned.
"My birthday." He replied.
"I see, and why are you alone?" She questioned again.
"My teammates have places to be at, and it is saving me money." He said.
"How about you treat me then-."
"No." Naruto cut Tsunade off.
"Hey, come on, you can do that at least." Tsunade said, indignant.
"No." He replied.
"Fine." She huffed, "I will pay for mine."
"Happy birthday, Naruto." Shizune said, smiling.
"Thank you." He said, quite awkward.
"Bring me the biggest bottle of sake!" Tsunade shouted, looking quite drunk. Wait, where had his beer can gone?
Well, with Tsunade drinking, Shizune smiling awkwardly and Tonton sleeping in has arms, he had to agree, he was enjoying his birthday.
X-X
AN: I tried something new, tell me your thoughts. Until next time!