The inn was the only one of its kind in the small village and all travelers eventually wound up at its door.  The innkeeper was a kind and attentive—if somewhat nosy—man and he made it his business to know (or at least to find out) everything he could about his patrons.  Of course, he was no fool.  He'd been in the business too long not to know when to stop prying and which questions were unnecessary.  As a result, his customers usually left happy, having found a willing ear or a quiet night's rest.

            When Naruto and his friends walked into the inn, the innkeeper had already set out a table full of food.  A pan lined with hot coals had been laid out to keep them warm.  Three cups of tea sat innocently on the table, giving off thin wisps of steam.

            Naruto smiled, "I can't keep anything from you, can I Oji-san?  Sometimes I wonder if it's you or me that's the shinobi."

            The innkeeper laughed disarmingly, "Ah, well that's my job.  I just happened to have met your friends earlier and guessed that you'd want to meet up.  Should I prepare two extra rooms?"

            Naruto shrugged and turn to Sasuke, who glared back at him and answered.  "Of course."

            The innkeeper nodded and went on.  "I had Ayame prepare your favorite soba ramen, Naruto-kun."

            Naruto beamed at him and rushed to the table immediately.  "This is my lucky day!  Ayame-chan's soba noodles are the best in the world.  Um…but she didn't just make one bowl, did she?"

            The innkeeper smiled knowingly.  "There's more in the back when you finished."

            "Oji-san, you know me best."

            The innkeeper left them to their talks, or rather, to Sasuke's glaring, Sakura's anxious silence, and Naruto's noisy slurping.

            In the sudden warmth of the inn, Naruto was finding it harder to convince himself that his shivering was purely from the cold.  But he told himself that it was okay.  He'd been calm.  Even after the surprise of Sakura and Sasuke showing up, he'd kept control of the situation.  Control.  That was the important word.  He'd been totally in control of the situation.

            From the depths of his mind, familiar laughter drifted up to greet the word.

            Control?  Who're you kidding, boy?

            Naruto ignored the voice and pretended to be fascinated by his ramen.  The noodle texture was perfect, soft yet not too mushy.  Ayame-chan really was a fantastic cook.

            My, my, you never grow up, do you boy?  After all this time with me you're still a child.  Do you really think I'm like your childhood monsters, that you can close your eyes and wish me away?  If you look under your bed, you'll find more than shadows, boy.  I'm lurking there, and I'll bite your face off.

            Again, the maniacal laughter.

            "Naruto, are you alright?"  Sakura asked him.  "You suddenly look pale."

            My, that's a pretty little thing, isn't she?  I wonder what she tastes like. 

            He lashed against the thought: Shut up, Kyubi.  Go away.

            Scared I've hit too close to the mark?  You ever wonder that yourself?  What her mouth would taste like?  How those pretty eyes would look when you've got her pressed against a wall?

            Go away.  I'm warning you.

            "I'm fine, Sakura-chan," he lied.  "Just recovering from the cold outside."

            "Are you going to talk to us or are you just going to eat all day?" Sasuke asked.

            Naruto shrugged.  "Sure we can talk.  Talk all you want.  Specifically, talk about how Iruka-sensei is doing.  Oh, and how about the fuzzy eyebrows?  How's he?  And is that old hag still the Hokage or did she spend all of Konoha's money gambling?"

            Sasuke slammed his fist on the table, shivering with barely restrained violence.  "You know that's not what I'm talking about!"

            We can stop talking about the girl if you'd like.  How about this guy instead?  He looks kind of familiar.  Ah yes, isn't he the meal that you never allowed me to finish?

            "I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto said.  He closed his eyes briefly, then added.  "Maybe now isn't the time to talk after all?"

            "When is then?  You've been trying to avoid us all this time, running away from Konoha.  Now that I've found you, you pretend like nothing's happened!  Are you going to run away forever?"

            Isn't this my lucky day?  Come to think of it, I don't think you've let me have any fun in a while.  How about it?  You know you want to.  Don't you hate him?  Wouldn't you love to beat him?  With my help, you can.  Even without my help, you probably can.  Come on, don't tell me you wouldn't love to see him defeated and on his knees?  You could break him, you know.  Show him the reality that he won't acknowledge.

            "Shut up, Sasuke.  You don't know anything!  I haven't run away at all," Naruto said brusquely, struggling to keep Kyubi under control.  He felt Kyubi's chakra building up inside him, demanding release.  He was dizzy with the intoxicating power of it.  His left eye began to throb.

            "Naruto, are you sure you're okay?"  Sakura asked worriedly.  She reached out and touched his arm gently.

            "Unlike you, I never run away from any—stop!"  Naruto flinched at Sakura's touch and flung her hand off his arm so violently that he knocked a teacup to the floor.  He instantly regretted it, seeing the way her eyes widen with fear and confusion.  Kyubi's presence grew stronger in him.  A coppery taste formed in the back of his throat.

            "Now is not the time to talk.  I have to go," Naruto muttered and stood up quickly from the table.  He headed for the stairs.

            Sasuke grabbed his arm and pulled him back, his face twisted into a mask of anger.  "Running away again?  You can't just leave after pulling a stunt like that.  What the hell is wrong with you?  You have to tell us—we can help you."

            "I don't need your help, Sasuke."

            This, of all things, seemed to make Sasuke the angriest.  He tightened his grip on Naruto's arm, unwilling to let go without a fight.  "You have no right to say that to me."

            "Let go of me before you regret it, Sasuke." Naruto said slowly.

            "What makes you think you can make me regret it?"  Sasuke asked coolly, his pride not letting him back down from the challenge.

            See?  The boy is asking for a fight.  Are you really going to let him go away with that smirk on his face?  You're different now.  Make him see it.
            "Things are different now, Sasuke.  You don't want to fight me."

            "No, I think I do.  In fact, I'm sure of it.  We never did have a chance to finish our fight properly.  I think it's about time we finish what we started."

            One good thrust with a kunai will do it.  The eyes are a good spot.  Throat too.  All you need is a little speed and a little nerve.  But we know you've got nerve.  You're a killer after all.  You live for the metallic bite of the kunai on your enemy's flesh.

            "I know what you're trying to do.  I warned you," Naruto whispered to Kyubi.  Sasuke gave him a confused look, thinking the other boy was talking to him.  But Naruto already had his eyes closed, his lips mumbling softly.  "Don't think you can get away with this."

            Naruto concentrated and tried to visualize his mind as an image like he'd been thought.  As usual, he found himself in a huge, dark dungeon.  In the last and darkest cell, Kyubi waited for him behind the rusty bars.  The fox smiled.

            Come to fetch me, have you?

            "You're too loud today," Naruto said.  "You're not a good tenant at all."

            Going to evict me, then?

            "More like a probation."

            He concentrated his chakra until it was a bright ball of violet energy in his hand.  He sent it out towards Kyubi's cell, spreading it out until it formed a thick wall of chakra in front of the fox.

            What do you think you're doing?  You can't do this, BOY.  I will not be held down by such a stupid trick, but some stupid BOY.  Even your whole village could not stop me!  I WAS GREAT BEFORE YOU WERE EVER BORN, AND I AM GREATER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!

            He visualized the chakra as bricks in his mind and slowly, from the bottom up, the blue energy started to manifest itself into the form of a brick.  Kyubi's voice grew softer and more muffled as the wall formed.

            No, boy.  PLEASE.  DON'T DO THIS!

            The pleading soon turned to violence.  Kyubi threw himself at the rusty bars, his violent red chakra rushing out towards Naruto.  However, it got absorbed by Naruto's chakra wall, and the only difference Kyubi's outburst seemed to make was that it make the wall of chakra a brighter violet and the bricks manifested themselves even faster than before.

            You can't keep this up forever!  It will drain your life!

            At first the chakra flow was so subtle that Sasuke barely felt it.  Standing so close to Naruto, he only sensed it as a force that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.  Sakura seemed totally unaware of it.  Slowly, it grew stronger and stronger, until at one point it seemed to burst violent from every pore of Naruto's body.

            It washed over him like alternating currents of ice cold and boiling hot water, streaming over the surroundings until it made even the cups of tea on the table rattle and tremble.  But it was more than just chakra.

            He also felt killing intent there, as if two forces were battling to the death inside of Naruto.  The chakra that streamed out of the boy seem to come from two totally different—well no, one seemed to contain variations of the other, but their levels were totally different—chakra.  The chakra melded and clashed against each other, like waves breaking against the shore, being absorbed in the sand and yet  battering the sand at the same time.  He had never seen anything like it before.  It disturbed him.

            And then, as suddenly as it had started, the chakra flow stopped.  Not just stopped, but stopped immediately, so suddenly that it was as if it had never happened in the first place.

            Naruto opened his eyes and he was Naruto again.

            "You going to explain that?"  Sasuke demanded.

            Naruto smiled at him.  "No, actually.  I don't think I will."

            Sasuke did not push him further.  He did not quite understand what had just happened, but he sensed that it was—as Naruto had said earlier—not a good time for talking.  Although they were perfectly safe in the inn, he suddenly felt wary, the way he did whenever he was on a high risk situation.  In cases like these, it was best to work by intuition, and ask the questions when it was the right time for questions.

            He still had time left.  This time, he would not let Naruto go.  He'd find the answers he wanted.  It was only a matter of time.

*-*-*

            Sakura crept out of her room in the early hours of morning to find a plate of leftovers left out for them by the innkeeper.  The man really was a mind reader.  He could probably make a better shinobi than she could.  Not that that would be extremely hard, considering how little distance she's gained even after all the training that she put in.  She'd tried hard, but found it impossible to keep up with Sasuke-kun.

            He'd already passed the chuunin exam after all, while she was still debating about whether or not she was ready for the next exam, which was to be in six months.  Despite being able to control chakra well, she had such a small supply that it made little difference and did not allow her to excel in any technique.

            Well, almost none.  She still had one trump card left.  It was the skill that she was proudest of, and the one that got her closest to Sasuke-kun.

            Sakura cast a longing look at the plate of leftovers, but ignored it for the time being.  She crouched down and withdrew her kunai, pricking her thumb with its point.  She concentrated her chakra and did the necessary hand seals, praying—as she always did when performing this move—that she would not screw it up again and it would work this time.

            "Summoning no Jutsu!"  The smoke cleared to reveal and small bird no bigger than her palm.  It chirped at her expectantly.  She let out a sigh of relief.  "It worked this time."

            She'd had to beg Kakashi for almost a year before he'd even let her try the Summoning no Jutsu.  It'd taken her another year to be able to perform the move, although all that she'd been able to summon was a small egg.  After another eight months of practice, she was able to summon a small pigeon, although it only worked ten percent of the time.  Still, she was quite proud of it.  It was a move that even Sasuke didn't know, though she suspected that if he wanted to learn, he could do it much better than her.

            Sakura withdrew a small slip of paper and attached it to the bird's leg.  "To Tsunade-sama.  And don't play around this time.  This is an urgent message."

            The small pigeon chirped once as if to say "Of course, I am a professional."  Sakura opened the door for it and it flew out, blending with the white of the snow outside.

            Delivering messages was about the only thing the pigeon could do, and at times it managed to screw even that simple task of.  Still, it had a distinct advantage over regular pigeons in that she could sense its presence at all time and make it destroy the note if it ever got detected by the enemies.

            "Well, now that that's done," Sakura muttered.  She crept over to the plate of food and sat down, nibbling on a few pieces of meat and vegetable.  She'd not eaten at all earlier and now she was starving.

            It had been impossible to eat under such a tense atmosphere, though.  Sasuke-kun was out for Naruto's blood, and Naruto…well, Naruto made her uneasy.  Mostly it was his left eye.  It reminded her of some terrible animal's eye, and did not seem like it belonged anywhere on Naruto's face.  It made him look almost…inhuman.

            And Sasuke-kun…well she had no idea what Sasuke-kun wanted, now that he had found what he'd been looking for all this time.  She imagined that he probably wanted answers from Naruto.  Of course, she wanted some answers, too, but not with the same urgency.  Yes, urgency was the right word.  Sasuke-kun seemed to have some sort of unfinished business with Naruto, and he would not be satisfied until it was settled.

            She wondered if all boys were this impossible to understand, or if she'd just somehow been stuck with a particularly complex bunch.

            "Ah, Sakura-chan!"

            Sakura blinked and looked up.  Naruto was at the foot of the stairs in his pajamas, a cloak wrapped around his shoulders.  Even in the gloom, she could see that he was paler than normal, and that dark rings were forming under his eyes.

            "Naruto.  You look tired."

            He shook his head and sat down at the table, helping himself to some leftovers.  "Just hungry.  You came down for scraps too, eh?"

            "Scraps?"

            Naruto grinned.  "The innkeeper leaves it out for me, since he knows I have a habit of eating at all times of the day."

            "Oh," Sakura said, suddenly feeling guilty for eating the food.  Naruto dismissively, as if to say that there was plenty to go around.  He'd gotten more perceptive than she remembered.  But then, people grow and changed, don't they?  Well, everyone but her apparently.  She was still stuck at the same stage of development, nursing the same infatuation—or was it love?  It is love, isn't it?  Isn't it?

            "Naruto, you guys have changed so much," she said finally.  Naruto looked at her with a mouthful of food.

            "Hm?"  He chewed thoughtfully and swallowed.  "How so?"

            "You've all just grown!  You and Sasuke-kun and even Lee-san.  You know he had surgery and now he's almost completely recovered from his last fight.  Pretty soon he'll be back to his old self.  No, probably even better than he was."

            "That's great!  The fuzzy-eyebrows deserves to be a shinobi.  Out of all of us, he deserves it the most."

            "I know, but—"

            "But?"

            "But I'm standing still.  I don't know why this is.  I try so hard, but no matter how hard I try, I can't try as hard as you guys do.  I don't know how you guys do it; how you can just push yourself farther than you can go.  Why do you do it?  Why do boys try so hard?  Can't you just be happy?  Can't you just be satisfied with what you have?"

            Naruto looked at her blankly.

            "Sasuke-kun…he's not happy.  I think he'll never be happy.  No matter what I do or how hard I try, I can't get him to love me.  I can't get him to be satisfied with just being with me.  I just—I just don't understand why you have to try so hard!"

            Naruto smiled at her softly in the gloom and scratched his head.  "Sasuke is Sasuke.  I don't think anyone really understands him but him.  But as for why we try so hard…hum…well I guess we do it so that we can become men."

            "Become men?"  Sakura repeated the phrase, feeling its awkwardness on her tongue.  She'd never thought about it before.

            "Well, yeah.  Cause that's what it means to grow up, right?  You can just wait for the years to pass you by and say 'Oh, now I'm grown up'.  You have to work for it and push yourself there.  We all do it so that we can become men, good men.  Men that our fathers would be proud of."

            Naruto sighed, his face looking tired and drawn.

            "And what about girls?"

            "What about you?"

            "How do girls become women?"

            Naruto gave her another one of his trademark blank looks.  "Sakura-chan…I'm not a girl.  Although I suppose you'd do it the same way, right?  I mean there shouldn't be any difference except, I dunno, maybe a few weird hormone and hygiene things."

            She burst out laughing at the confused and embarrassed look on his face as he said the last phrase.  She didn't realize that she'd been crying until she started to laugh and felt her skin tingle with the drying tears.

            "Thank you, Naruto."

            "Oh, it's no problem," Naruto said graciously.  "He leaves plenty of food out every night.  I can never finish it all anyway."

            "I wasn't talking about that."

            Naruto scratched his head again, and Sakura wondered if he was really as dumb as he looked, or if he was just pretending.  "Um…you're welcome I guess."

            He could not sleep.  He laid awake and watched the shadows on the walls and ceilings instead.  Finally, he'd caught up.  Finally, he could finish everything and be free.  Of course, Naruto would not understand why his disappearance to Sasuke was so important.  Naruto was just that kind of a selfish guy, that he would disappear without regards to anyone's feelings.

            He had not even stopped to think about what his disappearance meant to Sasuke, what kind of burden it imposed on him.  For three years, he had not been able to live in peace, thinking of the debt that he owed to Naruto.  Naruto had saved his life.  That Naruto had saved his life. 

            As if that wasn't bad enough, Naruto had saved his life and then left.  He'd left before Sasuke could ask him why he did it, or yell at him for sticking his nose in other people's business.  More importantly, he'd left before Sasuke had a chance to save his life back.  He'd left the village and left Sasuke with a life debt on his shoulders, so that no matter what Sasuke did, all he could think was: I am doing this because of Naruto.  I am here because he saved me.

            Owing such a debt to anyone—and most unforgivably, to Naruto of all people—drove him crazy.  He prided himself on his ability to survive on his own without anyone's help, and yet now, he owed someone such a great debt that it was almost impossible to pay back.  He felt cheated and swindled, like he'd someone been tricked into owing Naruto his life.  Now Naruto would hold that over his head forever, and Sasuke would be kept under his heel as the teammate who needed saving, the one who could not hold his own.

            Of course, now that he'd found Naruto things would be easier.  All he had to do was drag Naruto back to Konoha and save his life, and then they would be even and things would be squared off.  Seeing as how Naruto was a wanted man now, his life was probably in constant danger, so there'd be plenty of possibilities to save his life.

            Before he could pursue Itachi properly, he had to make sure he paid Naruto this debt back.  If he died by Itachi's hand with this debt on his shoulders, he would be in Naruto's debt for all of eternity.  Then again, he also had to make sure he didn't die saving Naruto.  He still had to a goal to pursue; he had to save his life to go after Itachi.

            All these complications were, as usual, all Naruto's fault.

            Sasuke sighed and turned over in his bed.  He'd wasted three years of his life searching for Naruto, three years during which the gap between him and Itachi had gotten even farther.  Somehow, it felt as if most of his life had been wasted time, time spend in waiting and wanting, searching for a goal that remained elusive.  What he wanted most now was some closure in whatever way he could find it.  He needed some relief from the constant yearning and a part of him feared that this desire for relief was making him weaker by the day.

            There was a fear growing in him that was greater than the fear of owing Naruto his life or never being able to catch up to Itachi.  What he feared most was what he felt threatened him the most: that one day his anger would fade and he would be left with nothing.

*-*-*

            "I'm surprised you're not late," Tsunade said with a smirk.  She gestured to a chair.

            Kakashi sat down and shrugged.  "I'm not late for important things.  This is an important thing, isn't it?"

            "I should think so.  A certain little brat has been found.  Your students found him in a northern village," Tsunade picked up a slip of paper from the table, where a small bird was perched.

            "Ah, that's Sakura's pigeon isn't it?"

            "You don't sound surprise at all."

            "I'm not.  Why should I be?"  Kakashi leaned back on the chair and even through the face mask, Tsunade thought she could detect a faint smirk.  "If anyone could find Naruto, it would be those two.  After all, they are san-nin de hitotsu."

            "So you say."

            "You doubt them?"

            Tsunade shrugged, "Not so much doubt.  It's just an acknowledgement that people change.  It's one thing to be as one when you're together as a team of lowly genin, but power changes people.  People grow.  People change."

            Kakashi shrugged, "Well, we'll see soon."

            "Good," Tsunade said, folding her hands.  "That's a good way to look at it.  If everyone looked at it the same way as you, things would be easier.  Unfortunately…"

            "Unfortunately?"

            "Naruto's return will bring troubles, both from within and from outside the village.  Some people just don't want him around—even less so now that he's got that bounty on him."

            "And?"

            She leaned over the table and grinned at him, showing gleaming teeth.  "And those people will learn to shut up or deal with me.  However, the important thing is the threat from outside the village.  Once the other villages learn of Naruto's return, they'll attack the leaf to get him.  I'm prepared to issue a declaration of war against any village that allows its ninja to invade ours."

            "Hmm, that's good," Kakashi said through half-lidded eyes.  "It'll discourage all out hunting, so they'll have to resort to espionage subtler, individual methods.  We can pick them off easier that way, especially when they're on our turf."

            "Exactly.  You and the others must be prepared for this situation."

            "We always are."

            "Well, we're thinking quite far.  What worries me now is what will happen on the way here.  Word travels fast you know.  They're bound to get ambushed on the way to Konoha."

            "I'll send a welcoming committee."

            Tsunade shook her head, "No good.  Having a dozen jounins run out to welcome Naruto would be like waving a red flag and announcing our intentions.  Besides, we're overbooked for missions as it is."

            Kakashi ran his hand through his unruly hair, "Ahh, actually I was thinking of something a little different."

            "Oh?"

            Kakashi grinned.  "Well Naruto would probably rather see his friends than a bunch of us old geezers."

            "You mean…"

            "Is there a problem?  Most of them aren't on any important missions, are they?"

            Tsunade shook her head, "No, that's a fine idea.  I'll leave it up to you guys to organize it then."

            Kakashi stood up and stretched, turning towards the door.  "Well, it's about time that we finally get some excitement back in Konoha.  It's been so boring these last few years."

            Tsunade shook her head and chuckled, "Peace doesn't become you, does it?"

            Kakashi shrugged, "Some people are destined for a life of turmoil."

            "You're not talking about yourself, are you?"

            "I don't know.  Am I?"

            Tsunade shook her head and waved Kakashi off dismissively.  He left and closed the door behind him.  Tsunade looked up at the Fourth's picture on the wall and sighed.  "You sure know how to pick the weird ones."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been running into busy schedules and computer problems, so I haven't had much time.  Now to clear up a few points:

- I am aware that Jiraiya has not shown up.  I haven't forgotten about him, don't worry.  ^^  Be patient.

- No, I am not implying that Naruto can actually make chakra into bricks.  The bricks are merely a visualization of his chakra.  He imagines chakra as bricks in his mind to help him create a mental chakra shield against Kyubi.  Since Kyubi resides in Naruto, any chakra that Kyubi releases is also controlled by Naruto's mind.  Or at least in theory.  Whether or not Naruto can maintain control of his own chakra is dependent on him.

- How often will you update this thing, anyway??  Depends on how busy I am, but currently, I think we're looking at once every 2-3 weeks.