Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: Well, a lot of things about Naruto, Gaara and Neji will be revealed in this chapter... They arrive in Konoha, what will happen?! Well, expect high class Genjutsu in this Chappie! Also, a lot of things will change from this chapter on. Who is good? Who is bad? Can we still tell? And just where is Orochimaru?! I am still not sure about some things in this chapter so it can still be changed, it depends on the reviews I get about it, I guess… Oh well, I hope you enjoy this chapter…

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Review Reply Corner:

Misu no Yami: Thanks for the review, Misu no Hikaru! Hehe, well, everyone needs a beating now and then… even Naruto..

BigAznDaddy: Hiya! Thanks for liking the chapter! I really like your fic 'Survival of the Forsaken', the only complaint is that the chapters are rather short.

CurlsofSerenity: All those Uchihas are arrogant, aren't they? Still don't know much about Itachi. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Loon Luu: Thanks, thanks and thanks!! There's not much action in this chapter, but lots of information. Hope you enjoy!

The-TempesT: Well, prepare yourself for a big surprise then!! Hehe, hope you like what'll happen!

Sirus183: Thanks! Here you have the next update!

Zsych: Well, you are right about GamaBunta being rather weak. But I don't think the summoner must be stronger or faster than the summon. As I recall, Naruto always calls GamaBunta 'Boss!' I think it's the other way around. The Summon is always stronger than the one who summoned him/her. I think certain summons of one summon (i.e. only toads) are better at certain departments (speed, power, brains)… So a less smaller toad than GamaBunta can be a lot faster than GamaBunta, but weaker. Yeah, about Lee, I think you're quite right. I think he can maintain high speed for a pretty long time. But once his points are pressed or he's horribly injured, than his Chakra will be close to useless. And about twists, well, can you catch?

Peter Kim: I don't know. I still have to decide on Kinoko's motivations in this fic. I guess I'm going to make him an obedient guy to his master, the Akatsuki Leader. Thanks for the review!

Perverted-senin: Thanks for the review! Oh, uh, they didn't summon any creatures because that would mean they would all their Chakra at once. Kinoko's Chakra was quickly diminishing the others' Chakra. In three minutes or so, they didn't even have enough Chakra to be able to summon.

EfrainMan: Heh, thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter a bit more! Naruto was beaten, but that was because they didn't have any info on this guy.

Nobuyasha: Thanks so much! I appreciate it that you like how I've portrayed them.

Silent Melodica: Hehe, Naruto's group is strong as hell, isn't it? Anyway, yeah the scrolls are more than important to the plot. Thanks for the review!

Judiann: Talented?! O_O! Thanks!! Thanks for the review too! Here's the update!

anon: Thanks for reviewing! Here's an update!

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There Where When is Now

Chapter 13

Shame went through their minds. One was yelling curses ever since they had awoken and continued on their way. Another was extremely cranky. The remaining people were only ashamed. The moment they woke up from their slumber, or in their case, unconsciousness, Naruto immediately yelled the Scrolls had been taken. After that, Itachi started explaining what would really happen once all scrolls were really brought together.

Itachi said it would take a long time before anything would really happen, since all the techniques in all of the scrolls needed to be learned to be worthy of the Final Techniques. Once all the techniques were learned, the one who had learned them was supposed to receive a massive amount of knowledge, but once that receiving starts, the user goes into a comatose state, for an undetermined time. It seemed only Dareda and Itachi knew of this. Naruto really wondered who had instructed Itachi and Dareda, when they were Genin.

As instructed, they all were now heading for Leaf Village. Where two of the Three Legendary Shinobis would be helpful in the upcoming battle.

"Damn this!! That freaking guy really nailed us!! I can't believe he was able to take the scrolls from me! He is SO going to pay for this!" Naruto yelled, as Gaara agreed with a nod, jumping next to him. Behind them, Neji and Dareda stayed silent as they followed. Itachi and Kisame were behind them, also silent and Sinobi and Mokito were at the end, having small talk.

"Well, now we know how they all fight…" Dareda started. "The guy, Kinoko Kutake, uses his spores to drain Chakra and mostly has poisonous and Chakra draining attacks. Naruto had stated that the guy was also exhausted so his Jutsus take a lot of his Chakra. Simply know that you don't want to play around with that guy, the way to beat him is to go for the instant kill… Those two TaiJutsu users seem to have a peculiar Bloodline Limit. Once activated, their Chakra amount, power and speed go sky high. But it didn't form a real threat once faced with Naruto and Gaara's transformations… But that still means only Naruto and Gaara can beat those two… Even though they're mostly TaiJutsu users, it seems they're superior to our Hyuga Style of TaiJutsu…"

"Not entirely true… I probably would have beaten him completely, if it weren't for the spores all around us. They fight mostly with Chakra, so I think they're the perfect opponents for us, Dareda." Neji responded.

Dareda grinned. "Perhaps for you, then… The guy I fought fights with poisonous bullets and uses Shadow Transformations which are rather ineffective once seen through. One touch and the transformation is cancelled. Be careful with the guy, though, since he has a secret I had yet to discover, unfortunately, time was not given and I ran out of Chakra."

Sinobi caught up with Mokito and jumped next to Dareda. "The old woman I fought is mostly a defensive type. I can take her on, she's not that hard. Sometimes she can disappear and let attacks go through her. I didn't ask what her techniques were and kept attacking her. Eventually she got hit… The next time I will simply hit her sooner and harder."

"The others do not matter. A strategy has already been thought of to deal with them. Sukumi Tachi and Doro Odei are of no importance. Aburame Turin has already been dealt with." Itachi finished.

"We're almost there…" Naruto whispered, but everyone heard it real good anyway…

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Sasuke walked out of his new apartment and was heading to gather some breakfast. He wasn't really surprised to see about five ANBU on his roof when he woke up. They simply greeted each other. Suddenly, one of the ANBUs jumped down and landed in front of Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke… I have been ordered to accompany you everywhere you go."

Sasuke frowned. "That won't be necessarily. I won't do anything stupid. Now leave."

"I'm afraid it's a direct order from the Hokage. It would be unwise for me to disobey. I will remain where you will go."

Sasuke snorted. "Fine. I suppose this means you're living with me too?" Sasuke groaned inwardly as the ANBU Leader nodded. "Feh, you take care of your own meals. So, who are you anyway?"

The ANBU took off his mask and revealed his real face. "Aburame Shino."

Sasuke's eyes showed real surprise. "Shino… So, you've grown strong, then?"

Shino simply nodded as they started walking.

Sasuke smiled. 'Still the talkative type, ey? He's an ANBU Leader… dedicated to assassination missions and hunting missions. Shino must have improved a lot. I wonder how much he has learned.'

"Shino… During your missions, did you come across other strong Shinobis?"

Shino looked at Sasuke from the corned of his eyes and put his mask back on. "Yes. I am the leader of the elite ANBU Team, the direct guards of Konoha and the Hokage. My team receives the missions which have the highest chance of getting killed. Recently, my entire team got killed easily, except for me, by three Shinobis."

'He was the leader and also the only survivor… That's rather foolish… But he was the leader of Konoha's best ANBU Team and they got beaten easily?' Sasuke was getting intrigued and smiled. "So, who were these Shinobis that defeated you and your team?"

Shino and Sasuke both trudged forward in a slow pace. "Old acquaintances…"

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Itachi and the others were just out of sight from the guards of the Konoha Gates. Itachi was performing a very high Genjutsu which would envelop the entire Village. He had told the others to wait a bit after the Genjutsu was performed, because it would take a lot of Chakra and Itachi needed the time to catch his breath again.

"Jutai Munesanzun." Itachi said and immediately dropped to his knees. "Give me one minute." He panted slightly. "And I'll be ready to fight again."

"What does this Jutsu do?" Naruto asked.

Dareda looked at Naruto. "It affects the minds of the Shinobis… However, it would be lethal for Itachi if he had targeted the entire Village, so he had opted to go for the Shinobis with a Chakra amount of the average rookie Jounin. They forget what happened five minutes ago, but the memory is still in their heads. So they re-live those five minutes but don't know they've already done that and see it as a déjà vu and shrug it off.. They re-live those five minutes during a sleep. This is a very high levelled Genjutsu. It puts too much stress on the user. Luckily, Itachi can take a lot. We have to hurry up, only four minutes or so are left. Let's head for the Hokage…"

Dareda and Itachi stayed behind a little bit longer as the others leaped for the Hokage Tower. "Itachi, you know what you have to do, right?"

Itachi gazed at Dareda. "Of course. Otherwise… they would not be forgiven…"

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Jiraiya frowned as he saw Gai and Kakashi team up to fight him. He grinned as he knew what they were going to do. But it was still strange that he knew, because he kind of… recognized the movements the two of them were making. 'This is… I already know what they're going to do and exactly what happens afterwards as well. This is not just a coincidence…'

Jiraiya easily sidestepped the dozen small duo attacks Gai and Kakashi were throwing at him. Even though the two of them together could easily beat him, already Jiraiya knew what they were going to do. He smiled and tested his assumptions…

Jiraiya simply out a fist upwards, which was really weird, as Kakashi was standing in front of him. The fist however, connected with Gai's jaw, who was in the middle of his own attack. 'I knew this… This is strange… Could I have dreamed this before or something?'

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Tsunade was reading a few Scrolls in her office, with a frown on her face. 'I've read this before… but when?' Tsunade shrugged and continued reading, flipping the pages.

Konoha's absolute Defence would be consistent of Jiraiya, herself, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Hiashi, Anko, Shino, Genma, Aoba, Shizune and Ibiki. Quite a large group, but of course they wouldn't be together. They were all ordered to live in apartments located on different sides of the Village. All of them had been trained harshly and effectively and it would be hard to get past the defences of the Leaf. Tsunade's plan wasn't a masterplan, but in this kind of scenario, this felt necessarily.

She sighed as she flipped another page, a flash of recognition again shot through her eyes. All was forgotten however, as she felt a huge Chakra just outside. And in moments, eight people stood before her. Recognition again hit her fully in the face. Tsunade's eyes widened. She knew who these people were…

"Tsunade… We have come to help you in the war against Akatsuki."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, setting her emotions to the side. "How did you get in?! If you kill me, it won't go silently!" Tsunade yelled, knowing she was definitely outmatched by these people.

Itachi shook his head. "We did not come to kill you… We came to aid…"

Tsunade snorted. 'They are with too many… If I move violently against them, they will definitely kill me. But these people… Naruto… What happened to you?'  Tsunade narrowed her eyes to slits. "Listen. The best you can do is leave this place. There's no way you will be able to get out alive…"

"Don't be mistaken… We have more than enough geniuses, two Shinobi who can almost fully control their demons, a TaiJutsu Specialist, THE specialist in silent killing and he's from the Mist and berserker Shinobi. We will destroy this Village if we all go fully out…" Dareda countered.

Tsunade snorted. "Don't be so sure. Our Village has become real strong since our Scroll got stolen."

"I would hope so…" Mokito rudely interjected. "We stole that Scroll way too easily."

Tsunade looked surprised. "You guys did?" Tsunade analyzed the situation. 'Wait, they are not with Akatsuki, but they stole the Scroll?' Tsunade faced them. "Why did you take the Scrolls?"

Itachi stepped slightly forward. "I made a technique that could make both Naruto and Gaara meet their demons inside of them. But I hadn't mastered it yet. I needed the Hidden Scroll of the Leaf to fully master it. Now I can and it will be… out Trump Card…"

Tsunade carefully gazed at Naruto. "Naruto?"

Naruto coldly stared at her but didn't say anything back. Itachi observed him. "Naruto, Neji, Gaara… I have something to tell you… I need to, so Tsunade will believe our sincerity…"

Itachi stood before the three, making himself an easy kill for Tsunade, as he had his back turned towards her. "The Kuragari Okkanai is high Genjutsu, which can make personalities change easily by implanting lies in the mind. Some are permanent, some or not. When I had abducted you, I performed the Kuragari Okkanai on all three of you… To make it a permanent effect, it almost took me my life… I stayed unconscious for three full days and on the fourth I couldn't even activate my Sharingan. I had told I was going to look for the woman that taught you guys how to summon, but in fact, I was in bed, resting. The woman already knew we would be there. To go on, I had succeeded in the permanent Kuragari Okkanai on you."

Naruto, Neji and Gaara looked at each other, not entirely understanding or believing what he had just said.

Itachi nodded and continued. "Tsunade… I performed it this way, so they would become stronger in a much faster way… Now, with the rage they have inside, their potential stops here… Now there's a need for peace in their mind to continue on getting stronger. I believe they will get that here…"

Tsunade gulped loudly. 'He performed the Kuragari Okkanai? I thought only Orochimaru knew how to do that. But this guy made it have a permanent effect? I remember Orochimaru fainting the first time he used, when we were in the Jounin Exams… But this explains why Naruto, Neji and even Gaara have changed this much… But can we really forgive them?'

Itachi looked at Tsunade. "Hokage-sama… I will change them back…"

"Who says we want that? I like me the way I am right now!" Naruto screamed. "Don't even dare to try anything, Itachi!"

Gaara nodded. "I have no interest in changing myself either."

Neji remained silent.

Itachi looked at the three of them. "No, you need to know the truth… Please, do not resist. It will cause a… disastrous battle… if you do…"

"Itachi, the five minutes are already up, now they will be able to sense our Chakra if we emanate it too much." Dareda suddenly interjected, before facing Neji. "Neji… I'm sure you understand."

Neji nodded. "More ways are needed to become stronger…"

Naruto and Gaara stared at him for a moment. "Will we still know everything we know now?" Naruto asked.

"Of course. Every Jutsu, every transformation and every battle you ever fought. After the cancel of the Kuragari Okkanai, you will feel an incredible surge of regret inside, though… You've been killing a lot of people for the last five years."

Naruto and Gaara nodded to each other. "Regret makes up for a fine motivation…"

Itachi nodded as Tsunade was simply listening and observing, not saying a single word. Itachi stepped forward and, after performing several seals, tapped Naruto, Neji and Gaara all once. He performed seals again… "Kuragari Okkanai…." Then he performed the final seals. "Kai!"

"This Cancel Jutsu almost takes no Chakra…" Itachi explained as he didn't drop to his knees, but Naruto, Neji and Gaara all fainted immediately. "Attack them in this state and we WILL extract revenge upon this entire Village…" Itachi suddenly said. "But… we are here ONLY, to aid you in the war that is coming…"

Tsunade swallowed. 'This is all… too much…' Tsunade nodded slowly. "Hmm, After the war is over, you will be hunted again. For now, I accept your help. Use an advanced Henge to cover yourself, Itachi. Don't emanate any Chakra either. Your little brother is here too… And… tell Naruto, Neji and Gaara… to contact me once they wake up…" Tsunade paused. "Take Naruto's old apartment to live in. It's close by, the only apartment that isn't renewed. And, just to repeat. Do NOT reveal yourselves in the Village… It will cause fights… And I don't want fights, NOT in my Village."

Itachi nodded as Dareda put Neji on his shoulder, Kisame grabbed Gaara and Mokito grabbed Naruto.

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When Jiraiya calmly walked, while whistling, through the door to Tsunade's office, he fully expected Tsunade to be sleeping on her desk by now. It was surprising that Tsunade was awake and very deep in thought. Not surprising was that there were still many papers on her desk. Jiraiya coughed loudly to gain the Hokage's attention.

"Tsunade, even a low levelled Shinobi could have killed you in that state…" Jiraiya whined. "You are the Hokage, the strongest Shinobi of the Leaf. Supposedly…"

Tsunade's left eye twitched. "Shut up, Jiraiya… We have a problem.."

Jiraiya nodded. "I know… there have to be at least two high ranked Shinobis in this Village, because I noticed a major Genjutsu, one that can not even be performed by normal Jounins. It was Jutai Munesanzun, which makes you re-live the last five minutes. The victim will see it as a déjà vu.."

Tsunade nodded. "I see… I kind of fell for it, actually." Jiraiya sweatdropped. Tsunade turned serious, however, which made Jiraiya turned serious as well. "Jiraiya… Itachi was here…"

Jiraiya frowned. "He's the one who did it?"

"Probably. But it seems he's on our side now. Until he makes any wrong movements in the Village, do not attack him." Tsunade said. "He's got a whole group with him, by the way. Among them were Hyuga Dareda and Hoshigaki Kisame. Shinobis who are not to be taken lightly. The biggest surprise however… Naruto is back…"

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "What?! Where is he?!"

Tsunade shook her head. "It seems Itachi put a permanent Kuragari Okkanai on the kid… Also on Neji and Gaara. He cancelled the Jutsu today however. All those kills, they really weren't their real doings…"

Jiraiya sighed. "I guessed as much. No person can change so much. But a permanent Kuragari Okkanai, ey? That move is a Jutsu Orochimaru had created. You have to be real good, to be able to make it have a permanent effect. Someone like the Fourth could probably pull it off easily…"

"Itachi told me that after he had performed it, he was unconscious for three full days." Tsunade explained, earning a nod from Jiraiya.

"So, Neji and Gaara are also back?" Jiraiya asked, while Tsunade nodded. "I see… so everyone's back again… The Akatsuki will have it hard if they will join our forces…"

"I don't know… Can we really trust them? For all we know they are part of the Akatsuki. We should keep an eye on them… all of them… They're living in Naruto's old apartment." Tsunade said. "I don't want any ruckus either."

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"So you're saying Naruto, Neji and Gaara killed all of you team mates without even trying?!" Sasuke said a little loudly. "That's interesting…"

Shino looked at Sasuke through his mask. "They did try, but only to finish off. In the beginning, they played with us. I was stupid not to use the Aburame's secret technique… But it would be useless, since it would only take one opponent's live and I would be too tired to continue and fight the other two."

Sasuke nodded. "Intriguing… Shino, how about we fight each other?"

Shino shook his head. "No, the Hokage told me not to start a fight with you."

Sasuke shook his head. "I mean training. So we both can get stronger. I want to see what powers you possess. Show me…"

Shino thought it over a bit. "I will have to discuss this with the Hokage."

Sasuke nodded. "We'll both go there now."

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Naruto awoke with sweat on his entire body. He looked around him and was slightly panting. 'Where am I?!' Looking beside him on the ground, he saw Neji and Gaara still sleeping. 'I…'

The dream Naruto had. It was too much. He knew everything, he now knew what was a lie and what was not. He wasn't really angry at Itachi… 'If it wasn't for him, I'd still be weak now… What I would achieve in more than twenty years, he made happen in five… and the same goes for them.' Naruto thought as he stared at Gaara and Neji… 'I can't believe I really wanted to destroy the Leaf…' Suddenly, Naruto's look softened a great deal. 'I… I killed Inari… and I killed many more innocents… Can I be forgiven?'

In the silence of the night, Naruto wept inward tears and he sobbed from the inside, not letting anyone see or hear he was grieving…

Gaara woke up and stared around him. 'I am in the Leaf, I remember. It seems that cancel Jutsu put me to sleep too.' Gaara smiled a strange smile, sort of like a smile of relief. 'Somehow, it does not bother me that I have no need to destroy the Sand Village anymore… Now I know the truth and I can deal with it as well. My siblings are reason enough for me to let the Sand Village stay in one piece.'

Neji woke a little later and stared at the ceiling. 'So, this was all Itachi's plan… To make us grow stronger, he needed us to have a different line of thoughts. We would grow stronger a lot faster that way. Yet, in that way, there was a limit, so Itachi had to use a Cancel Jutsu so we could grow stronger again. When we will train, we will be a force unlike any ever witnessed before… And that was probably Itachi's original plan… for us to own the world… or to test himself against our full potential… Either way, now we will be ready for the entire Akatsuki… I hope the Hokage can understand what happened… Even though Itachi originally was at fault. But perhaps they won't find out Itachi's real intentions…'

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Time passed in the Leaf Village. Naruto, Neji and Gaara fully recovered and trained outside of the Village, as to not to gain attention. Itachi, Dareda, Kisame, Sinobi and Mokito joined them and trained as well. Inside the Village, Sasuke was training with Shino.

"Katon, Karyu Endan!!" Sasuke noted that Shino was way better than the other Aburame Sasuke had fought… Aburame Turin. Shino easily pivoted away from the attack and continued by sending a huge plague of bugs towards Sasuke.

'That's a very bothersome attack… the bugs close in on me while they surround me completely. How can I defend against that?' Sasuke thought. During his decision to stay in leaf Village for the rest of his life, he had also decided not to use the Curse Seal Orochimaru had given him. He was going to get stronger without it. Sasuke chose for the easiest solution to get out of Shino's attack, which was go underground.

Shino jumped away from the hand that appeared below him, from under the ground and continued with a second attack. "Dokukan!!"

Sasuke expected an attack, but nothing happened. It was hard to use the Sharingan, since every time he did, he felt little occasional stings from Orochimaru's Curse Seal. Now he activated the Sharingan, fighting a flinch, as the Curse Seal stung. He noticed a change in Shino's body and saw that it was entirely poisoned. 'So he can activate the poison on his entire body and deactivate it too… He's a lot farther advanced than the woman I fought. But I can still beat him…' Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened. He was about to activate the Curse Seal… 'No, I need to do it without. I will grow stronger this way.'

Sasuke was forced to dodge the punches and kicks Shino threw at him. Sasuke quickly somersaulted away from Shino and spoke up. "The poison… is it deadly?"

Shino, behind the mask, stared at Sasuke. "I can make it so, but this is just training, so it will simply make your muscles swell up. Thus, the end of our fight shall be concluded if I hit you too many times…"

Sasuke grinned. "Alright." Sasuke performed a few seals. 'Without the use of the Curse Seal, I can fight longer fights…' "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!"

Shino was assaulted by many Shadow Clones, also making sure Shino would not be able to see the real Sasuke, who was currently performing hand seals again. "Sanjuu Raikiri!!"

Three small balls of lightning were shot from Sasuke's palms towards Shino. When the first ball hit Shino in the gut, Sasuke analyzed and watched the second hit him in the chest and the third went straight through him, Sasuke shook his head. He already knew what Shino did and watched as the body dissolved in hundreds of bugs. 'Damn him…'

Suddenly, they felt two people approaching. Shino appeared to Sasuke's right. "A break?"

Sasuke nodded as began to stare at the direction of the two who were heading there way. 'I hope it's not Sakura or Ino…'

Sasuke smiled as he saw Rock Lee and Shikamaru jump down in front of him and Shino. Rock Lee stared at Sasuke unbelieving for a few seconds. "Uchiha Sasuke… I've heard rumours about you being back…" He stopped talking as he just continued on observing Sasuke.

"Heh, finally decided to come back, huh? The situation is really troublesome these days… We could use all help. Those Akatsuki are really annoying…" Shikamaru said in a whiny voice.

Sasuke smiled. 'Somehow… this feeling I feel… it's as if I'm home… But I felt home right there with Orochimaru and Kimimaro… But somehow, this feels better…' Sasuke sighed. "It… It's good to be back…"

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Naruto, Neji and Gaara were slowly walking through the streets, observing everything around them.

"Somehow, it's really nice here… " Naruto stated, remembering everything as he looked all around. "I can't believe my ambition was to destroy this village… I was too easily manipulated…"

"I don't think it could be helped. No matter how powerful the mind is, all fall victim to that attack…" Neji stated as facts. "No matter now, we will make up. And… my allegiance lies… it lies with Konoha…"

Naruto stared at Neji. "Really? I don't know… The Village has loathed me as long as I exist…"

Gaara looked at Naruto and knew how he felt. Neji smiled. "Perhaps, but there are still people who respect you and know you're different. By the way… does everyone know… your little secret, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head. "I guess only the older people… I think the Chuunins don't know… and most who have been promoted to Jounin in the last five years don't know either… Perhaps one day, no one will know it…"

Neji looked at Naruto sideways. "Perhaps. But I feel you have to tell people close to you."

Naruto frowned. "All the people who are close to me already know. There's no need to tell anyone else…"

Suddenly, the three of them tensed up, sensing that they were being watched. The three of them simply disappeared and re-appeared behind the man who was watching them.

"Nice to see you again… Jiraiya…" Naruto said, with a full grin on her face.

Jiraiya chuckled embarrassedly. "Heh, yeah… Likewise… You three buffed up a great deal… So how are you?" He asked the trio.

"I'm fine." Naruto said, while Neji nodded once and Gaara simply stared.

Jiraiya smiled, not knowing what to say. "Yeah, me too… I just came to check on you guys. Ever since Tsunade told me you guys were back I… I couldn't really believe it… Listen, how did you feel once the Kuragari Okkanai was no longer on you?"

Naruto's look softened and he really liked seeing the old pervert again. "Well, I felt regret and sadness… I had killed innocents and so on… But it was the way to grow strong fast and also on your own. I guess I can blame Itachi… but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be as strong as I was now and then the Akatsuki had a much better chance of getting what they wanted. I guess I'll just… try and forget about it…"

Jiraiya turned towards the other two. Gaara said "I felt the same way as Naruto felt." Neji simply said. "The same…"

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head. "Heh, ok… Well, Tsunade has also trained with me. Our defence is the best in decades. The elite Jounins could very well take on us Legendary SenNins on their own. But then again, we've grown a lot stronger as well…" Jiraiya said, with Legendary SenNins meaning himself and Tsunade.

Naruto nodded. "That's good…"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto… 'He looks so much like the Fourth… Only his eyes are a lot harsher.. he's been through so much…' Jiraiya stared at the others. 'gaara hasn't changed much… still same tattoo and his eyes are just a bit less unpleasant. Neji looks so much like Hiashi it's scary… I bet the kid can probably beat Hiashi easily… But their clothes are much better than what they wore before. Simply cloaks… Naruto's dark red, beautiful, probably got Kyuubi's taste or something… Neji has a dark blue cloak and Gaara simply has a black cloak.'

"Jiraiya, we're going on our way again. Maybe we'll train some time, ok? I'd like to kick your ass!" Naruto yelled as the three jumped from the roof back on the ground and went on their way again.

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TBC

I hope you enjoyed the Chapter! Please RR! If you didn't understand something, please tell me! I'll try to elaborate.