DISCLAIMER: I DO NOW OWN NARUTO...WHY?!?!?! Oh well...

(AUTHOR'S NOTES: Back again! Hope you enjoyed last chapter, remember your reviews help with the events in the story. ; Enjoy.

TRAVELS AND JOURNEYS

It was nice to see them again, even though Kiba continued to question how we had both appeared there without him having a scent whatsoever. I remember only scratching the back of my head and smiling like a total idiot. I had told Hinata 'hi' which incurred a lethal blush and a very small wave. The bug kid, Shino, when I had acknowledged him he merely nodded in return.

Now, Jiraiya and myself were on our way back to meet with Hokage again. I wasn't sure if Jiraiya had spoken with him in the last few months but I had a strange suspicion that he had. I remember seeing several of the villagers begin whispering to one another, I smirked to myself. I wouldn't be shunned away this time, this was my home and I was here to stay this time.

We followed the stairs up and Jiraiya knocked on the door a couple of times and waited, he took one quick glance at me with a small smile on his face before he turned back around. I felt my mind wander as my eyes followed suit. I hadn't really bothered looking around the 'waiting room' to the Hokage. It was actually rather quaint but after nearly half a minute passed I instantly felt boredom begin to bore into my skull.

I looked back towards the door that was beyond Jiraiya. He had his back to me with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I sighed heavily and I absent-mindedly placed my hands behind my head as I always found myself doing when I let the boredom get to me.

The sound of the door sliding open quickly caught my attention; I smiled and looked towards the door to see Hokage standing there with his pipe in his mouth. He removed the pipe from his mouth and blew a faint line of smoke past his lips.

"Ah Jiraiya, sorry about the wait. It seems as if Konohamaru is creating problems again and Ebisu is out rounding him up at the moment..."

He trailed off when he noticed me standing behind Jiraiya. He smiled and gestured us both into the room. We entered and two seats were faithfully awaiting us, I slowly took the seat and sighed wistfully as I set my pack down next to the chair and leaned back into the chair.

He chuckled lightly and took a seat behind his desk. He took another hit from his pipe and allowed the smoke to slowly drift from his mouth. His eyes darted from the two of us, until his attention finally ended up on me.

"So Naruto...Tell me, how have you been?"

My small smile widened into a full-blown grin and it ignited a story that had spanned through into sunset. My story touched base on all the important points including the not so important parts, emphasizing on certain situations that occurred in Cloud. The broad range of emotions that were hit in random order as the story progressed and at the end of my glorious story of what happened the last few years.

Hokage merely sat there with a peaceful smile on his face, nodding through each part until the very end. He asked a question here and there but remained rather silent and rather open to a few of the very dire moments. As I finally finished the end of my story, he re-lit his pipe and took another long drag and quickly blew out the smoke in a quick cloud of smoke.

"I see."

He stepped around his desk and around to my left, I cocked my head up at him and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. He laid his paling hand on my left shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile.

"You've matured greater than I had ever thought. You may still be that crazy kid now and again, but when it comes down to it. People can count on you, and that what truly qualifies you as a ninja."

I felt a very light blush touch my cheeks as I brushed my index under my nose.

"Yeah, I've been qualified to be a ninja the entire time. I just had to travel half way around the damn world to prove that to you."

He just looked at me then smiled and chuckled along with Jiraiya.

"Yeah right, kid."

I glared over at Jiraiya for saying such a demeaning comment to me at a time of great glory. I rolled up my sleeve and stood up from my chair and set my right food down on the cushion.

"You want some of this Ero-sennin??"

He smirked and stood up and cracked his knuckles a couple of times.

"Fine by me, brat. Ladies first."

He gestured his hand towards the door, I gritted my teeth and pointed at him in disgust.

"I'm not one of your floozies, hentai! I hope you haven't been checking me out like all the other women you check out, Ero-sennin!"

He sweatdropped and shook his head. The laughter snuck up on me and I couldn't help but succumb to its weakening affects as I grabbed my sides. He glared at me and without skipping a beat, bopped me in the back of the head.

I grabbed my head and glared back at him fiercely when Hokage stepped between us, holding his hands up in protest.

"Will you two stop this? You're both acting like children."

"He is!"

"He is!"

Hokage merely shook his head, a sweat drop forming on the other side of his head. He looked at me with a weak smile on his face.

"You can go ahead and get your things situated back at your place."

"Alright, thanks."

I turned to leave when I suddenly remembered what I was going to ask him.

"Ah, Hokage...?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I was wondering if I would be permitted to re-visit the village of the hidden cloud before the--."

He quickly cut me off by waving his hand.

"We'll talk about whatever you need to talk about tomorrow. For now, just get your things unpacked and rest."

I sighed heavily and relented, walking back to the apartments the sun had finally hidden itself behind the horizon. With a few of the street lamps lit, the night was beautiful and it was that pleasant warmth that is rather rare in any season. I shifted the pack on my back and placed my hands behind my head, gazing up at the stars as I walked blindly towards the apartment.

Now most would think that I would just run into somebody and probably end up tripping myself up so badly that...well it'd just be bad. Fortunately enough I heard a small gasp and I stopped dead in my tracks, I looked around me quickly to see where the sound had come from and sitting a few feet away from me was Hinata Hyugga.

She averted her pale eyes and concentrated on rather plain pathway that had lead throughout the town. I smiled and let my arms fall; I heaved my pack off my back and next to the bench.

"Can I sit next to you?"

I'm not sure why I asked really, I mean I could have just sat next to her and nothing really would have changed. I still did though, oh well. She looked up at me weakly with a visible blush on her face and small smile. She nodded meekly and I sat down next to her, sighing with relief as I did. My left arm, which was next to her, laid loosely at my side while I swung my right arm over the back of the bench. I looked up at the stars with a smile still lying placidly across my face.

I saw her take a few quick and sneaky glances at me from the corner of my eye. I chuckled lightly, which caused her to slowly look at me with a somewhat inquisitive look. I looked at her and smiled widely.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about something."

She nodded meekly again and looked back towards the ground. I shook my head and leaned forward as well, leaning on my knees. I stared at the ground for a few seconds before turning my head towards hers.

"So what's so interesting about the ground?"

"Ano...Well..."

I chuckled again.

"It's alright, you don't have to be so embarrassed."

I watched as another flush waved over her facial features, which only made me smile even more. My stomach took that exact time to grumble loudly, I clutched my stomach in mock agony. Her features instantly flipped into a concerned look as her eyes darted towards me. I took one hand away from my stomach and waved at her dismissingly.

"No, I'm not dying really. I'm just dying of hunger."

"Oh..."

She sighed softly and I smiled and stood up, I picked up my back from the side of the bench and lurched it onto my shoulders. I looked back at her and gestured my head to my right.

"Wanna join me for a meal?"

I could tell she was mulling it over seriously, I'm not sure how big of a decision it is to eat or not. I was pretty sure it wasn't that, I mean I'm not that damn dense...sort of. She stood up and locked eyes with me for only a moment before she chose her twiddling fingers as the most interesting thing at that time.

"Alright! Let's go then, I wonder if that ramen stand is still there...?"

We made our way to the ramen stand where I made a grand entrance by flinging the banners from my pathway and stood proud in the doorway.

"I have returned and I desire the best ramen!"

The owner of the shop turned towards me and smiled openly.

"Uzumaki-kun?"

I nodded and sat down; Hinata had just stayed behind me while I did my grand entrance. As I sat, she had entered and silently took a seat next to me. The man laughed and walked up to the counter where we sat.

"I'll be damned, it is you. I haven't seen you in quite a while, what'll it be?"

I smiled and ordered one of my most favorite new meals that Sori had introduced me to in the Hidden Sand village. He nodded and looked towards the blue-haired Hyugga. She fiddled with her fingers and looked at the list of ramen specials and bowls until I finally had enough and ordered for her.

She smiled lightly and blushed while the man laughed and turned to fix our meals.

"How have things been in Konoha since I've been gone?"

"Ano...Things have been fine."

"Ah, well you've become a genin haven't you?"

She nodded staring at me for a second before turning her attention back towards the counter.

"Well, what kind of missions has your team been doing?"

She thought her answer over for a few moments before finally answering.

"Getting medicines back to the hospital from the doctor's. Watching some the newly training shinobi kids. Things like that."

"Oh..."

Damn that sounded boring, I don't think I could handle that, I would have demanded that Hokage give me a much tougher mission or I'd end up trying to kill him. I guess she actually got up the guts but she looked at me straight in the eye and softly spoke.

"W-Why did you leave?"

"Uh...well there were a few problems here and umm..."

I didn't know what to say, I couldn't really say I had to leave because of the hatred from the villagers and the battle between Mizuki and myself. I swallowed and tried to continue as carefully as I could.

"There were some problems with some people and me, and they really didn't like me..."

"What? Why wouldn't they like you Naruto-kun?"

"I guess for several reasons, I never really had any friends when I was growing up."

"Oh..."

"Anyways, Hokage decided to send me off with Ero-sennin to train with and travel with."

She gave me a confused look.

"Ero-sennin?"

"Oh, I mean Jiraiya-san. He trained me for the last few years and we've been traveling ever since."

I could tell she was running the name through her head when her eyes widened slightly.

"One of the legendary sannin?"

I nodded with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, but if you knew him like I did. You wouldn't be so impressed."

I winked and continued on.

"We went to the Wave Country and trained there for a while, then to the Country of Lightning where I trained with..."

I trailed off and thought briefly about my experience there with Taifuu-sensei and Tatsumaki-chan. I sighed and looked over at Hinata with a weak smile on my face. I tried to compare their faces; the two of them were both amazingly beautiful while both their eyes appeared dead. Tatsumaki was blind while Hinata had an advanced sight that allowed her to see so much more. Their faces seemed to hold the same angular features that one another shared. Other than that, I could only match the height between them.

I clenched my right fist that was out of Hinata's sight and cursed inwardly. I wanted to visit the Cloud Village again before the exams came up and check up on how Tatsumaki was holding up. I had hoped that she hadn't forgotten about me but I wasn't holding my breath so to speak.

I was quickly snapped out of my trance when Hinata tapped gently on my shoulder. I shook my head and looked at her, she wore a face of concern and worry which touched me. I smiled and shook my head again.

"I'm alright, sorry about that."

Thankfully, the stand owner had finished our food and delivered to us with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Here you both go. And girl, you should thank your boyfriend, he picked one our the best dishes."

I could feel my face begin to match Hinata's fierce blush that threatened to swallow her whole, I smiled numbly and scratched the back of my head. I chose not to say anything further instead, just piling food into my mouth as quickly as I could. The food was extremely hot still from just being off the burners but as long as I had food in my mouth, I didn't have to answer anything anyone said.

Unfortunately I ate faster than I previously thought. I sat the bowl down and watched Hinata pick at her food with a pleasant interest. I smiled and found myself staring at her; I saw her glance at me then quickly turn her attention back to the bowl. I smiled but quickly realized what I was doing. I mentally smacked myself; I was starting to feel like a lecher now and then. Damn you Ero-sennin, I'd get you! I looked back at Hinata who had finally finished her bowl. I stood from my seat and picked up my bag, I bowed slightly.

"Thanks, I'll be back for more from now on."

"I'll be expecting to see you then."

He gave me a wink; Hinata stood up and followed me out. I sighed happily and rubbed my stomach and looked both ways down each direction of the path. I looked back towards Hinata who walked up next to me.

"So where now?"

She bit her lip and looked both ways while fidgeting with her own fingers.

"Ano...that way?"

She pointed to her right and I smiled.

"That way it is."

We followed the path around the village for nearly an hour before she glanced at a clock that was hanging on the side of a closed shop. She gasped softly and turned to me.

"I have to get home before father worries about me."

"It would be a little late for that."

I turned around to see who I'm guessing is her father. He had a rather pissed off look on his face as he looked down at his daughter. She cowered slightly and took an involuntary step to the right, which just happened to direct his sight, straight at me. I looked back at her then back towards her father.

"I had talked with the others and they said they hadn't seen you any today and that you hadn't been home for dinner. That is highly unlike you, Hinata. I decided to see if you were perhaps kidnapped due to your lack of skill."

What the hell? What kind of father belittles their own child but is still worried about them?

"Now wait a second, she was showing me around the village since I've been gone for so many years."

He stopped looking at Hinata from over my shoulder and locked his gray eyes dead set on me.

"Figures. Hinata, you also shouldn't be around—."

"The Kyubi boy, I hate it when you old fogies have to bring that shit back up. I hate to shoot you down when you were on such a good streak, but I'm not the Kyubi."

He scowled, his face growing sterner by the passing second.

"You are not one to tell me how I should be disciplining my own daughter."

"No, but when the thought of actually knowing my father could even in the remotest way be similar to you, then I would be glad I don't know who my father is."

I could tell he was pissed now by just the sheer look of anger on his face, his jaw was clenched tightly. In a fluid motion he flung his left robed arm to the side and sprung forward to strike. As his right palm came forward, I moved to the side, moving Hinata over with me. I grabbed his wrist and locked eyes with him. They were wide but they quickly narrowed again as he brought his other hand forward.

I dodged to left slightly moving closer to him while my hand was still tightly clenched around his right wrist. He continued to try to strike me continually when I finally grabbed his other wrist and stood directly in front of him.

"H-How are you able to do this?"

"Hey, don't get off the subject yet! I just think you shouldn't treat your daughter like shit."

He brought his leg up into a kick, which I was forced to let go and slide back a few feet. He straightened his robes out and flung his heavy sleeves back over his hands.

"You know I'm right."

He turned and began to walk in the other direction; he stopped for a moment and turned his head to the right.

"Hinata, I will see you at home."

She nodded and looked towards me. I sighed and scratched the back of my head nervously.

"I'm uh, sorry about that Hinata-chan. I didn't mean for things to start up with your father."

She shook her head and smiled at me.

"Ano...no, I just...Thank you Naruto-kun. I'm sorry if he said anything..."

I shook my head and held up my hands in defense.

"No, no. Don't worry about that Hinata-chan. it's just...it's a touchy subject sometimes and I guess I've been harboring something against that sort of opinion for a while now..."

She smiled and nodded and looked back towards her father's figure in the distance. She sighed sadly and looked back towards me.

"Thank you."

I smiled and rubbed the back of my head.

"It was no problem, but go ahead and catch up with him. I don't want you to get into any more trouble because of me."

She nodded and trotted off in I'm guessing the direction of her home. I finally made my way back to the apartment and unloaded my pack while mostly what was in it ended up all over my room. I smiled as I found several personal things that I wouldn't just let be strolled about.

A picture of Jiraiya and myself, I had a mock angry face on as he was holding up a peace sign with a large blush on his face, as we stood in front of a special hot springs joint. A small group of girls could be seen in the background waving in the background.

The next was another picture that had Taifuu-sama, Tatsumaki-chan, and myself. She already was beautiful but had her hitae-ate not been covering her eyes, she would have been even more dazzling. Taifuu-sama had a lopsided grin as he had a hand her left shoulder and my right shoulder. I was brushing the underside of my nose with my thumb in the picture. Why did I always do that?

Next was a picture of Kaji and myself glaring at one another while Sori was trying desperately to get us to stop by only pulling on me. I wonder why she thought that was going to work; it was probably just another excuse to touch me. I chuckled as I watched Pon salute the camera as if it were a military photo.

The last three items were forehead protectors, the first was the hitae-ate that Iruka-sensei had given to me the night that I had defeated Mizuki-san with my Kage Bunshin. I quietly placed that aside; I'd have to wear that starting tomorrow. Next was the hidden sand forehead protector. Shei was able to get me one to wear so as not to raise suspicions amongst any other shinobi who were unaware of my trial battles.

The last and most prized one in my possession was the hitae-ate that I hadn't known I had taken from Tatsumaki-chan. I remember checking throwing star pouch and found only her forehead protector of the hidden cloud. I set it next to the hidden leaf protector; I would wear this underneath my clothes tomorrow.

I turned the light off and laid in my bed for nearly half an hour, rethinking my experiences that had eventually led me back to Konoha; the village of the hidden leaf. Somewhere in the mental retelling of my own recollections, I fell asleep.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

I awoke to a loud bang on my door; I sleepily walked up to the door and gradually opened it. Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were standing at my door. Kakashi was smiling from what I could tell from his mask that covered the lower half of his face. Sakura was smiling as well while Sasuke leaned against the wall furthest from my door. Sakura instantly lost her smile and pointed at me angrily turning around with a blush on her face yelling something incomprehensible. Kakashi gave me a quick look over and shook his head.

"Naruto-kun, why don't you go put some clothes on before you answer the door?"

I scratched my bare stomach which had the odd seal tattoo on it, I looked down at the lower half of my body that was only covered by my red stripped boxers. I shrugged and went back into my room. I splashed my face with water and hastily got cleaned and suited up. I came out of the bathroom to see Kakashi and Sakura snooping around my room.

I yawned openly and scratched the back of my head.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

I asked in a sleepy tone, Kakashi was the first to stop snooping through my fridge.

"We're here to recruit you as our new replacement genin."

"Wha?"

He closed the refrigerator door and took a seat at my small dining table.

"Remember that kid you worked on back at the Wave Country?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I vaguely do. Why?"

"Well it seems as if it took too long and the poison had already set in."

"Oh, I see. So he died?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"No, the poison was only made to seal up the vital chakra points that are used in ninjutsu and genjutsu. The poison seals up the chakra holes permanently, preventing the Nin from ever combating again.

I shook my head and looked over towards Sasuke who was now leaning against the right side of the doorframe. I looked back towards Kakashi with a small frown on my face.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but what the hell does that have to do with me?"

"Hokage-san said that you would be returning before the Chuunin exam and that he would refrain from assigning a new genin to the team so that you would have a team to come home to."

I felt a smile sneak across my face. Hokage-sama really did look out for me when it counted didn't he? I looked over at Sakura who was thoroughly studying the picture frames near my bed.

"Who are these people, Naruto-kun?"

"Ah, ah!"

I rushed over and took the one with Taifuu, Tatsumaki, and myself in it and placed it gently back on the end table.

"Which picture?"

Kakashi was seating on my bed, Indian-style looking at another picture.

"So you trained with Jiraiya-san?"

I nodded.

"Yeah."

"So what are these other pictures?"

"Uh, well I trained with a couple different villages."

"What??"

Sakura exclaimed pointing at the other two pictures with the other shinobi and myself. I nodded meekly and smiled nervously rubbing the back of my head absent-mindedly. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tell anyone but the cat was already out of the bag.

"Yeah, I've learned a few techniques from the Hidden Mist, several from the Hidden Sand, and a lot from Hidden Cloud."

Sakura was left speechless, muttering something that couldn't even be thought of as a complete word nor sentence. Kakashi smiled from underneath his mask.

"Well hopefully you will be able to teach us something insightful then, Naruto-kun."

I nodded and looked back towards Sasuke who was now looking the other way. Kakashi and the three of us followed him out into a small field that was surrounded by a nice collection of trees. I sat down and leaned back against a tree. Sakura and Sasuke were standing side by side nearly 10 feet in front of me. Sakura looked back slightly.

"Naruto, fall into line."

She had whispered, I chose not to listen. Instead I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree. I heard the wind rustle and breeze through the trees limbs when I heard another sound whisk through the air. I brought my hand up and caught a kunai with my left hand that was several inches to the left of my face and nearly a foot out.

"Hey! Are you trying to get rid of another genin or something?"

"No, it wouldn't have killed you."

"Yeah, yeah."

I stood up and threw the kunai back at him; he caught it and swiftly placed it back in his kunai pouch. Sakura and Sasuke both stared at me for a moment before turning their attention back at me.

"Alright, Naruto. How about you show us some of your jutsu?"

"What fun would it be to show everything now, can't we wait until the Chuunin Exam?"

"Why bother, Kakashi-sensei. You're giving him too much credit."

I turned toward Sasuke who had just spoken up. I knew I had a cocky smirk on my face and I crossed my arms in front of me.

"And what makes you the bad ass, hmm?"

He smirked and took a step forward, Sakura looked at me and pointed back at Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun is the number one rookie of Konoha!"

I just continued to smirk and shake my head disapprovingly.

"Oh, number one rookie huh? Let's see what number one rookie's got then."

"Fine by me."

He took several steps forward and readied himself. I ran my thumb briefly under my nose and grinned widely. This was going to be fun.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

END OF CHAPTER 7

((AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry about the cliffhanger, I just had to. You're going to see what Sasuke is really made of...and why Naruto is built for speed. Think about that. As for all the coupling ideas, keep em coming but as most of you can already tell I'm really leaning towards Tatsumaki-san. I have never been one for Author made characters, I really haven't. In most fan fiction I read, I sorta despise it. For some reason though I really like her and she seems right; like the best mixture of the characters. But you be the judge and tell me what you think of her. ; REVIEW!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next will be out ASAP. Thanks for the support guys. I continue to write this because of YOU.))