I'm glad a lot of people have taken a liking to my story. It gets better from here on out! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! Oh, yeah. Anyone mind being a beta reader? I'm lazy and don't like reading through my stories, especially when they get a bit long.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters and blah! So, nyah! You can't sue me now! (attempts to chuck demonic plushies at anyone who dares say otherwise)

Fragile Bonds

Chapter 3: Home Again

"Bye, Inari!" Naruto waved to the younger man behind him.

"You better come back!" he said through sniffles. Obviously, he wasn't too good at hiding the fact that he was upset.

"You know… you can cry," Naruto began, holding back his own tears.

A somewhat elderly man watched the pathetic scene unraveling before him. 'Geez, even at this age…' he sighed and hunched over.

The other man huffed. "I'm not having this conversation again!"

The white-haired man stomped over to the blond and dragged him by the collar of his shirt. "AH! Hey! Wait!" he waved his arms frantically in the air. "Let go!"

He let his collar go, his back still facing the blond. "If you don't want me to drag you the entire way, walk faster."

"Yeah, yeah," groaned the younger man, falling into step with his companion.

"I'd rather not spend too much time getting there, especially when you-know-who is involved," the older man whispered.

"You don't have to whisper you know. It's not like the hag's going to jump out and eat you, Jiraiya," he stopped walking to think about what he had said.

'Or would she?' he shuddered. 'You can never underestimate crazy old women. Especially crazy old women who seem to have their 'time of month' every damned day.'

"You can't be sure with Tsunade," Jiraiya smirked.

"Whatever. How long could it take?"

Around 1 day later…

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

The blond walked silently by teacher. Ten minutes of silence passed. "Are we there yet?"

"No."

If there weren't any other ways to entertain himself, he'd just have to settle with bugging Jiraiya. "How about now?"

Jiraiya's left eye twitched slightly. "No!"

"Hmm… now?"

That was the last straw. "Will you shut up, kid?!" he caught Naruto in a headlock, drilling his fist into his head.

"Ow! Ah! Ouch! Eep!"

"Promise me you'll shut up until we get there!" Jiraiya yelled.

"Mmmf!" his face was buried in the man's side.

"I can't hear you!" he said, adding more pressure to Naruto's head. He pushed away, escaping from Jiraiya's strong grip.

"All right, all right! Sheesh!" he said, folding his arms behind his head. Jiraiya sighed and smiled.

'Finally, some peace…'

Naruto tried desperately to find a way to take his mind off the rumbling in his stomach. He hadn't had anything to eat in a while and the hunger had left a dull ache behind. "Jiraiya? Got anything to eat?"

The man lowered his head in defeat. 'I give up. There's just no getting through to this guy,' he thought. He tossed and apple in Naruto's direction.

"What?! An apple? What, you don't have anything better? Like ram-"

"NO!"

"Fine. No need to yell," His eye began to twitch madly. "Uh, old man?" he looked at him for a while before slowly backing away. He looked like he was about to murder the closest thing in site… and that was him.

The two had continued their pace until Jiraiya came to a sudden halt, nearly knocking Naruto over. "Hey, what the?! Why'd you stop?" he raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" They stood before a large gate.

"We're here," Jiraiya announced. He spared Naruto a glance. "You ready, kid?"

"I'm not a kid anymore," he scoffed. He smiled, looking up. "I'm ready."

"Will you cut that out?!" he yelled, barely keeping the frantic boy down.

"Never!! You can't make me!" Naruto was running for his life, but due to the fact that Jiraiya had a good hold on his shirt, it wasn't likely that he was to get anywhere any time soon.

"You agreed to come back here, you idiot!"

"I'm not going back there! Do you know how long it's been?!"

"Of course! I got stuck babysitting you, remember?!" he began to skid on the ground, his sandals scraping against the ground.

"Let…me…go!"

Jiraiya smirked. "Okay."

"Hu- mmf!" he hit the dirt with a dull 'thud'. Face first. "Ouch…" he got up on his hands and knees, slowly pushing himself up off of the ground. "Damn you, you perverted, old geezer!"

"I'll get you somethin' if you agree to come along," he offered. If bribery was going to get him into that village, then that's exactly what he was going to do.

"That's not going to work on me," Naruto said, dusting dirt off of his clothes.

Jiraiya let out a fake sigh of despair and turned his back to Naruto. "Well, if that's how you feel, I guess that means I don't get to treat you to ramen. How unfortunate…"

Naruto's ears perked up in recognition of his favorite food. "R-Ramen?" he thought about this for a moment. "Fine, I'll go!"

'Hehe. One point for me!'

He turned, a sheepish smile plastered to his face. "I'm glad you see it my way!"

The fifth Hokage dismissed all room's occupants. Once the final person had left, she turned and smiled to the remaining two standing in front of her. She gestured for them to take a seat in the two chairs across from her own.

"Hello, old hag."

She ignored the comment and took a seat after the other two.

"I can't believe it's you," she whispered, as if afraid that even the slightest noise could cause the figure before her to vanish into thin air.

"Hehe," a faint shade of pink graced his cheeks. He rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "Surprise?"

Tsunade shook her head. "How you've matured!" she scanned his form. "Though I see you're still the same brat I knew three years ago," she said, remembering his earlier comment.

"Well, I'm always just myself!" she squinted as she noticed a strange glint flicker in his eyes before disappearing again, only showing that same indescribable blue. "Old hag…" he mumbled.

He immediately took back his words when he received a heavy blow to the top of his head. "Sorry, sorry!" he winced, feeling the already forming bump on his head. "You didn't have to hit me that hard," he pouted.

"You deserved it, brat," she didn't bother to hide her amusement. She turned to her old friend. "Care to fill me in on what you two have been doing these past years?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, we were staying with an old friend of his in the Water Country. Nothing special happened during our absence. Just training and a bit of traveling."

Tsunade returned her attention to the blond who was now fiddling with the amulet around his neck. She smiled. "So, you're still wearing that?"

"Huh?" he looked up at her. "Oh, yeah. I always keep it on."

"You really have grown. I just can't believe you're the same loudmouthed brat I knew," she said, smirking as he shot a glare her way.

He really did look different. His blond hair wasn't as unruly as it had been several years ago. It had lengthened and was combed in a fashion that was well suited to his face. His bangs feel in thin strips around his eyes. His face and body were much more defined, too. He had lost his baby fat and it was replaced by muscle, but he kept his slim form. Strong yet agile. The only features that remained the same were his piercing blue eyes and trademark whiskers, but even they were slightly faded. There hadn't been a drastic change in height, though.

She grinned to herself. 'He really has grown to be quite handsome…'

She blinked. Yes, he had changed, but then there was something else about him that seemed different. 'Is it his aura?' she thought. It was faint, but there was definitely a change in his aura.

It seemed almost… almost…

The godaime's eyes widened. 'Evil?' she thought. She focused on trying to pinpoint the strange feeling that washed through her again, but now the only thing she could find was innocence. 'But, I could sworn that I…' Had she just imagined it?

He still carried that same innocence that he had as a young boy, but his smile had changed. It was sincere, but it didn't seem to reach his eyes.

Treating it as a figure of her imagination, she shoved it to the back of her mind. She looked to the boy again who seemed rather flustered. She hoped he hadn't noticed her behavior. From the foul words that escaped his lips, which were of course, directed at her, she safely guessed that he hadn't.

Tsunade tilted her head and eyed his clothing, ignoring several of the rude comments that were being dished at her.

Jiraiya just shook his head, slapping his forehead. "Some people just never change," he raised an eyebrow and held back a laugh. The rambunctious blond was actually like a younger version of himself. Though he never admitted it, of course.

She chuckled. "Would you like some new clothing?"

He looked down at his outfit. He wore a simple brown shirt and light brown pants, which were already rather dirty from his travels. "Ah, these… they were lent to me. Don't worry about it. I have clothing. I just used these so that those wouldn't get damaged along the way."

"In that case, here are your keys to your apartment," she tossed him the keys.

"Ah, it wasn't sold?!" he cheered. "That's great! What about my stuff?"

"Nothing was taken. I had a second pair made for Iruka so that he could check in every once in a while to clean it."

He blushed lightly at the favor. "You didn't have to make him do that."

"Actually, he was the one who offered to do it," she could see the affection his eyes held for the man.

He made a mental note to stop by and thank his old teacher. Tsunade gave Jiraiya a quick nod and he made his way to the door. Taking Jiraiya's leave as a sign that their conversation was over, he picked up his own bag as well. "Well, I guess I'll be leaving."

"Wait a second. I still need to talk to you about something."

"Huh?" he turned back to her. "What is it?"

"I have a favor to ask."

He raised an eyebrow. "A favor?"

She nodded.

"I'm listening."

"I was hoping that you would accept my request," she began.

"Well, it depends on what it is old hag," he jeered.

"Shut up, brat. I'm getting to that," she spat. She snickered as he folded his arms and pouted. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you would be willing to train a team of genin."

"Eh?" an are-you-crazy expression settled on his face. "You want me to train genins?" He hunched over. 'Had she gone crazy or something?'

"No, I'm not crazy," she stated, a trace of annoyance in her voice. "And will you just keep quiet and let me finish?"

He shuddered. 'Freaky old woman,' he didn't noticed that he had actually voiced out his comment until she had kindly given him the gift of the second bump on his head that day. "Ai! Okay, just tell me what I have to do already!"

She smiled. "There's really not much to it. You just have to spend time training and going about missions with this genin team. Well, that is, if you pass them."

The blond's mind went blank. Why was she suddenly asking him to do this? Why not someone else? "Again, why me? I'm not even a jounin."

"Since becoming Hokage, I've noticed that children seem to get along with you." This earned a grunt from the boy.

'Yeah, right,' he thought. 'Since when?'

She continued. "This team seems to be rather… How should I put it? They're troublesome," she said. He was beginning to feel rather uneasy about this. "Seeing as you were in a team with similar personalities, I thought it would be suitable for you to teach them. Is this all right with you?"

"Yeah, I guess…" he murmured. "How hard could it be, anyway? It could be pretty fun."

At least he was being compliant. "Since you seem happy about the idea, I'll tell you that several jounin teachers have tried failing them simply because they were being hard to deal with."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?" He thought about this for a second. "What if I refuse?"

"I'll knock you back down to the genin position."

He frowned. "Can you even do that?"

"I'm sure we'll know if you're willing to find out."

'Well, doesn't she look happy,' he thought.

"I'll pass. So, when do I start?"

"Tomorrow. I wanted to give you some time to settle in again. Why don't you take this time to go around and visit old friends? I'm sure they wouldn't mind hearing from you, seeing as you left without a word."

Naruto averted his gaze to the ground. The blond had felt guilty about that, but he wanted to get away from that place and he didn't bother to tell anyone at the time. He knew the simple question that everyone would have asked, "Why?" And to be honest… he didn't know at the time.

"I don't think so," he said quickly. "I'll save that for later." Much later. He didn't feel like rekindling old fires just yet. "So, when do I meet the team?"

"I have told your students to wait in their old classroom. You can find them there," she said. "I'm sure you won't need directions. Iruka was their teacher."

That caught his interest. 'So, Iruka-sensei was their teacher, eh?'

"Well, now that that's settled… I'd like you to be there around 7:30."

"Why so early?" Naruto whined. He had always been a late sleeper.

"Just don't argue. Be there at 7:30. That's that."

He shrugged, not bothering to push the matter any further. He turned and left.

Tsunade smiled. "He really has matured. It's odd, but he seems so laid back. Nothing like his old antiques." Even though it was a nice change, it was somewhat unnerving to see such a drastic change in his personality. At least he still carried the same determination and confidence.

He pushed open the door to his apartment and slowly shut the door behind him. He looked around his room. "Heh, he really did keep it clean."

There wasn't a speck of dirt to be seen on his floor or furniture. His bed was kept neat and nothing had been moved out of place. The blond pulled his drawers open to find all his clothes neatly folded. The man seriously was thorough with his work!

His lips curved into a soft smile. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei," he whispered. He flung his bag off of his shoulder and onto the couch. Naruto stretched his arms out, yawning. "Damn it all. This is just what I need right after coming back. Stupid, old hag…"

He was looking forward to his mission, or 'favor', as she had put it. 'Some favor,' he thought. 'That was more like an order!' Still, he didn't necessarily mind, but the fact that he had to get up so early was frustrating.

"Maybe I'll pull a 'Kakashi' this time around."

Switching on the light to his bathroom, he shut the door and peeled off his clothes. They were comfortable to wear, but he would have to change his attire from now on.

Since being assigned Tsunade's so-called favor, Naruto had been given a new position as a jounin. Normally, he would have been singing and dancing, but he hadn't earned it. 'Jiraiya had mentioned something about the jounin exam coming around. Maybe I could participate, anyway.'

He shoved aside the crème shower curtains and turned the water on. It had taken several seconds for the water to turn warm, but the blond welcomed every last drop of the cool water that washed away his aches.

'It's heaven in comparison to that heat!' he wrinkled his nose in distaste at the thought. Being forced to walk around for more than a day when he was practically being cooked alive isn't exactly what he would consider as fun.

He grabbed a little bar of soap, running it on his slightly tan skin. He looked down at his flawless body and frowned.

In payment for his training, his body had been bruised and wounded on several occasions. 'Yet…' he thought before stepping out of the shower, uncaring of the water that spilled onto the floor. Naruto reached down and pulled open a drawer where he had kept a small blade. He pressed it gently against his left palm before he pushed down and made a swift movement.

The blood rushed wildly to the open wound. A small pool of blood had already formed in the sink within seconds after inflicting the injury. He smirked as he felt the sharp pain coursing through his hand gradually began to subside.

'I can see it.'

Sure enough, a dull light could be seen forming on his skin as his wound closed itself up in an instant. All that was left was the blood. The blond ran a thumb over the obscure cut.

He rinsed the blade and dried it, setting it back in its original place.

'So, this is the power of the kyuubi. Since I'm going to be stuck with it, I might as well use it to my advantage.'

I wasn't sure whether or not I should stop it at this point. Actually, I was planning on adding one more scene to it, but I realized that it was getting pretty long. It was kind of fun to write and I guess I got carried away with all the description. I kind of have an idea of what I want to do, but then the rest is all blank! I guess I'll just have to figure it out along the way.

Sorry about the random Japanese words that are thrown in. I know some people might find it annoying. I kind of like sticking to one language, but for some reason, I find it really hard to imagine Naruto referring to Iruka as… well… Iruka, rather than Iruka-sensei.

So, what do you think? Is it worth continuing?