A/N: Well here's another chapter.
I know many of you are looking forward to the ItaNaru goodness, but I have bad news. That goodness won't come in for a while, probably in 5-6 chapters?.
Itachi isn't going to just waltz into Konoha and sweep Naruto off his feet. No, that is WAY too out of character for him.
Itachi will come in during or a bit before the chuunin exams. And even then I plan on building on their relationship before jumping in neck deep.(I don't even think you could call it a relationship in its earlier stages O.o) I'll build it based on their personalities, BOTH of their personalities.
Also, some of you might think that Naruto is already out of character, being so quite and all (and some of his attitude to come). But I want you to know that people CHANGE over the course of 3 years. And Naruto has practically been on his own for that time as he was left alone for training and the trip mostly consisted of training. Also Naruto has matured and is taking the whole ninja thing more seriously.
I've kept you from the story long enough! On with it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, what're the odds?
Warning: Nothing really in this chapter. Maybe the odd swear but nothing more than that (sorry guys)
LEGEND:
>>>Scene Change/POV Change>>>
"Talking"
'Thinking'"Kyuubi talking in Naruto's head"
'Kyuubi thinking in Naruto's head'
Taijutsu – fighting technique
Genjutsu – illusionary technique
Ninjutsu – ninja technique
Bakuretsu Kage Bushin no Jutsu – Exploding shadow clone technique.
CHAPTER 2: Replaced Furniture
Naruto was aimlessly walking around town again. After Sakura and Sasuke had finished eating they had left to attend to their everyday duties. Sakura had to go home and help her mom and Sasuke said he had to train. Naruto thought he should go train too but they had told him not to.
"You've been gone 3 years training! Your should at least take a day off to get yourself reacquainted with the town." Sakura had scolded him.
After some arguing and a couple lumps on his head Naruto had taken her advice and began walking. But that was all he had really done since he'd left; walk.
"Man, I really have no idea where I'm going. I still remember where most of the stuff is in this town. Well I still remember where to go to buy groceries, clothes, Ichiraku Ramen, and the training areas. Er, well not so much the last one." Naruto thought out loud.
Talking out loud had become a habit when Jiraya had left him alone to train. Naruto was naturally a loud person; even if he was with the toad ninja he could never carry a decent conversation with him. So the only person Naruto could talk to was himself. I guess you could call it a bad habit (Ero-senin did) but it was what Naruto did.
Actually, he had tried talking to the Kyuubi (he was that desperate for a conversation). It had been when Ero-senin had left him to practice bakuretsu kage bushin no jutsu. He would've probably gotten a better response out of a brick wall, or Sasuke, same difference.
---Flashback---
"Damn it!" Naruto cursed for the billionth time.
They, Naruto and Jiraya, had only been out of Konoha for a couple of weeks and this was the first technique since the rasengan that Jiraya taught him or rather shown him then left him on his own to figure out.
"Shitty teacher, shitty pervert, shitty ero-senin!" Naruto growled as he tended to a chakra burn on his fore arm.
Since Naruto had a natural talent for kage bushin Jiraya had decided that teaching him bakuretsu kage bushin would be the easiest thing for him to do, and thus the fastest.
They had recently stopped in a small lodging town, similar to the one where Naruto had first ran into the Akatsuki (Naruto involuntarily shuddered).
Naruto didn't quite grasp the whole exploding clones thing yet. He had no problem what so ever creating the clone. It was practically the same as a regular kage bushin. But in order for the clone to explode the chakra the clone contained had to be unstable enough to detonate. Sending, or having the clone itself trigger the reaction was difficult and Naruto had poor control over the amount of chakra he could put in the clone. So very often the clone would explode without warning and the explosion would either be too small or too large, hence the burns.
"I think… I need to talk to ero-senin about this…" Naruto panted as he lay on the ground to rest.
He had been at this for an hour and his chakra reserves where getting low. He didn't dare use the Kyuubi's chakra. No, that would be stupid, even for him.
Naruto winced as the burns began to heal themselves slowly, but quicker than a normal human. The cool ground underneath the tree was comforting too.
"I need a new outfit…" he was talking to himself again.
Indeed, his outfit was in crappier shape then he was.
'I'm glad I hid my wallet from ero-senin. He would have a field day spending my hard earned cash while "collected data" ' Naruto snorted.
He looked up at the sky and noticed that his vision was blurred and unfocused.
"Damn chakra depletion."
His chakra wasn't really dangerously low. But there wasn't a whole lot there plus he was very tired.
'Maybe I should rest a bit' he thought.
And he indeed felt that it was the best idea. He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
>>>In Naruto's Head>>>
Drip… drip... drip…
Naruto groaned and sat up.
Drip… drip… drip…
The annoying sound of a leaky faucet, or something, had stirred him awake, but he still felt rested.
His eyes immediately came into focus and he noticed his familiar surroundings. This was the same place he had been when Jiraya had 'accidentally' pushed him off the cliff before the chuunin matches.
This is where it resided.
Naruto had guessed that this was in his head, but right now he wasn't really thinking that way.
"I wonder why this place is always so god damned empty?" he mused, not really noticing that he had just insulted himself.
Since he was here, Naruto guessed that the great demon must've wanted a word with him so he began to walk down the long, dark corridor that lead to the bared doors that kept the great demon at bay.
The walk down the hall seemed to take longer then he remembered and the damp, dark and empty look and feeling was beginning to creep him out.
Soon the sound of intimidating pacing, clicking of claws on concrete and the swishing tails as they cut through the air greeted Naruto's ears. He quickened his pace to reach the gates and leave the dark hall behind.
The sounds abruptly ceased as Naruto came into the fox's view, his eyes focused on the annoying blond.
"What do you want boy?" The demon growled.
"What do I want? You where the one that called me here!" the short blond accused.
A barking laughed echoed in the emptiness of Naruto's subconscious.
"You amuse me human, but I did not bring you here. I hold no control over your mind, nor can I influence it in any way. That damn toad-riding hokage did his homework when he created this god forsaken seal," The Kyuubi spat. " No, it was you who elected to come here. I can't do a damn thing behind these bars."
"Oh, well…. Why would I want to come here?" Naruto asked stupidly.
"Where else would you go when you're sleeping other then your mind?" The Kyuubi mocked.
Naruto frowned. He hadn't really expected a murderous demon to be nice, but he didn't have to put up with this.
"I don't have to put up with this shit." Naruto growled back.
Another barking laugh bombarded his ears.
"Shut up damn it!" Naruto yelled
"Then leave boy! What makes you think that I want you here? I'm not keeping you here and looking at your face is starting to pissing me off anyway!" The demon snarled, going from amused to pissed off in nothing flat.
"Fine you ancient ass!" Naruto screeched and tried to will himself awake.
"…." The Kyuubi gave Naruto an annoyed look, Naruto wasn't gone yet.
"Shut up," Naruto growled though the demon hadn't said anything. "This is harder then it looks!"
The demon 'hmphed' as Naruto tried again to force himself awake.
---End Flashback---
It had taken Naruto half an hour to wake up and all through that time the Kyuubi had given him the cold shoulder. Yes, the demon was indeed not something that Naruto could not get along with.
After the encounter Naruto had been in a foul mood for the rest of the week. But on the upside he managed to master bakuretsu kage bushin no jutsu by the end of it all.
Ah the good ol'days. Back then there was always something to do. Now Naruto was one bored person with nothing to do.
"For the past 3 years all I've done was eat, sleep and train. What else am I supposed to do?" He muttered as he kicked at the dirt.
He really didn't have anyone close that he could go visit. Everyone else was already chuunin anyways, they where probably on missions or doing paper work. Speaking of chuunins, Iruka would probably want to see him. Iruka always wanted to see Naruto (unless Naruto was in trouble, then he was usually in a sour mood) and since Iruka was an academy teacher he probably would be at the academy, not on a mission.
Now smiling, Naruto relaxed. His arms had been crossed and his brow furrowed in thought and memories, but the thought of seeing Iruka again was pleasing.
He turned on his heel and began to head in the direction of the academy, which lay in the opposite way he had originally been going in. With almost a skip in his step Naruto headed to the academy he had spent many wonderful, humiliating and boring days in.
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Naruto had reached the academy in no time. He had taken a short cut he had discovered in his earlier years. After sleeping in for 3 weeks straight and being sick of being punished Naruto had found this short cut and was he ever glad he did.
The structure looked a lot smaller than Naruto remembered. He smiled again; this must mean he was taller. People knew that Naruto was shorter than most people, but not a lot of people knew that it was something that really ticked him off if they mentioned it in a negative way.
But back on subject now.
Pushing the doors open Naruto entered the hallway. It was quiet, school must've just ended.
Stopping to think for a moment Naruto tried to remember what class was it that Iruka had taught in. Thinking again, he hoped that Iruka hadn't already left. As Naruto passed the boys bathroom he suddenly remembered the way to the class. He had spent a few classes skipping out and staying in the washroom. Of course, that was until Iruka caught him and gave him a weeks worth of detention.
Changing his route Naruto walked towards a classroom door.
Hearing the shuffling of papers and the groan of annoyance Naruto assumed that Iruka was marking papers. He opened the door slowly, so not to alert the busy chuunin, Naruto walked in. The chuunin didn't notice, thankfully, and Naruto snuck up behind him, still the chuunin didn't notice him.
Now directly behind Iruka he covered the chuunin's eyes with his hands and said in the most mature voice he could muster:
"Guess who?"
The chuunin had stopped marking his papers as he could no longer see the papers and he smiled in amusement, then answered seriously:
"Kakashi?"
Kakashi? Why whould Iruka think that Kakashi would surprise him in the middle of the day and cover his eyes! (1)
"No!" Naruto said in his normal voice as he removed his hands.
Iruka whipped around to face Naruto, knocking over the chair in the process.
"N-Naruto!" His former sensei stuttered, obviously flustered over something.
"Well hello to you too. How've you been these past 3 years?" Naruto said in a flat tone.
"Oh, sorry. How've you been these last 3 years?" Iruka smiled apologetically.
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms.
"I've been fine. Training with ero-senin across the country. We left the country once or twice." He said in an angry tone that was obviously fake.
"That must've been exiting. Think your good enough to enter the chuunin exams?" Iruka asked as he sat back down in his chair, already knowing the answer.
"Pfft, of course!" Naruto exclaimed,no longer usingan angry tone.
"I thought so." Iruka laughed. "I've just been grading papers, teaching and I've been seeing--" he trailed off, a pink tint gracing his tanned face.
Not taking the hint Naruto asked:
"Seeing what?"
"Never mind, it's not important. Where did you go? Well, when you left the Fire Country?" His old sensei asked.
"Well, I went to the Wave Country and saw Inari…" Then seeing the questioning look Iruka gave him. "Inari was the grandson of the bridge maker Tazuna who we had to protect and escort to the Wave Country. It was my first C-class mission, though it turned out to be a B-class mission… long story."
Iruka nodded, a B-class mission, that had been impressive for a genin at that age. But then again, Naruto was always going head first into all sorts of dangerous missions.
Naruto smiled nostalgically. He had seen Tazuna, Tsunami(2) and Inari, but more importantly he had gone to visit Haku's and Zazuba's graves. He had worried that leaving two lone graves where they had that they might get vandalized. But he was relived to find them in perfect shape. Even Zazuba's sword hadn't even rusted, considering how damp and rainy that part of the Wave Counrty was. He later was surprised to find out that Inari and his family had come every now and then to pay their respects and make sure the graves where not disturbed. Dispite the fact that the two missing-nins had tried to take Tazuna's life the family had somehow heard about their story, and the fact that it was Zazuba who had killed Gatou.
"What kind of training have you been doing?" Iruka asked, breaking him out of his memories.
"Well, I've done some jutsu training, but ero-senin made me really work on my 'weaknesses' " Naruto pouted.
"Hn" Iruka said, waiting for him to elaborate.
"Besides the jutsu training he made me work on taijutsu, genjutsu….. and strategies" He explained.
It had been the hardest to get Naruto to strategize, he had to read book after book on it, then he had to apply what he had learned from the text to real life when Jiraya sprung surprise quizzes on him.
"Did you meet any gilrs during your travels?" Iruka asked slyly.
"No. Well, besides the ones I had to run from when ero-senin would be caught in town while 'gathering data'" Naruto chuckled.
Iruka raised an eyebrow in amusement and curiosity. This sounded like a story that needed to be heard.
"And…?"
Naruto grinned from ear to ear.
"It all started when ero-senin insisted on staying in a hotel that was connected to an open bath house………"
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Iruka laughed again. The famous Jiraya he had hear about was definitely more fiction than he was fact. The person Naruto described sounded completely opposite.
Iruka had finished marking all of the papers halfway through Naruto's story. It had been a long story though, it had taken 3 hours to tell. But they had gotten side tracked every now and then talking about something else.
Whipping a tear from his eye Iruka began to pack his stuff up. It was already six o'clock in the evening. He had already missed dinner, or at least the time where he normally ate dinner.
"Well, its already late and I really should be getting home. It was nice to see you again Naruto." Iruka smiled.
"Yeah it was." Naruto grinned.
Iruka gathered everything he needed to take with him and left the empty class room with Naruto close at toe. He locked the door in silence and exited the building in the same fashion.
"So where are you going to go now?" He asked walking down the street.
"Well I was thinking of going to try and find everyone else, but I am pretty tired. Can you believe that ero-senin made me walk all the way here? Non-stop too. I'm actually thinking of heading home and—" Naruto abruptly stopped in mid sentence.
That was right. He didn't have a place to stay. He usually relied on Jiraya to find a hotel (usually near a bath house) then come and find him in the forest passed out from training and bring him back to sleep.
But now it was different. He would be staying here permanently. That would mean he would have an apartment to stay in.
He grimaced. He doubted that his old apartment was still available, or his stuff that he left there wouldn't be there now.
"Is something wrong?" Iruka asked, Naruto had been quite for some time.
"Oh, I just forgot that I have no place to stay." Naruto laughed sheepishly.
"That's all right. Your old apartment is still there. Hokage-sama kept it available for you all this time. Your stuff is still there… more or less"
Naruto didn't catch the last part.
"Really?" He said astonished.
"Yeah, I've kept it clean from dust too." Iruka smiled. "The key is hidden under the board of the fourth step."
"That's great! Well I'll be off!" Naruto exclaimed and hopped off.
Iruka waved good-bye to the fading figure and continued his own trek home.
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Naruto was grinning as he approached his apartment. It would be good to have a nice, familiar place to stay. Plus all the stuff he had left behind was still there.
Lifting up the board of the fourth step Naruto retrieved the key. Still grinning he walked up to the door to unlock it.
He stopped right in front of the door, his hand resting on the doorknob.
This was a new door, meaning this wasn't his old door, it had been replaced.
Dismissing the creeping uncertainty in the back of his mind Naruto shoved the key into the doorknob, turned it and walked into his old/new home.
He took off his shoes and placed them near the door. He took off his jacket and hung it up on a hook above his shoes.
He walked down the hallway across his blue carpet… wait… hadn't his carpet been white when he left? Dismissing it again Naruto walked into the kitchen to get himself something to eat. He was once again greeted by a similar oddity. The fridge was new. To confirm this he opened it and it was indeed different. He looked over at his table, it was new too.
He had carved his name into it when he was younger among other things which where now not even on the table surface.
Now paying attention to the sinking feeling he was getting he looked around.
'Am I in the right place? Is this someone else's house?' He thought and looked around.
Nope, this was his place.
'Maybe they just decided to get me new stuff. To welcome me back?' He hoped.
'Then why didn't they replace your stove or cupboards?' a little voice in his head questioned back.
Frowning even more Naruto left the kitchen forgetting about food and went into his small living room.
It was the same here. There was a new couch, a new TV set and some new videos that he hadn't even remembered owning in the first place.
The sinking feeling grew and he went to check his bedroom.
His bed was new too. The old one had wooden and he had also carved various things into it. But this one was a metal-framed one.
Naruto's heart sank into the pit that had developed in his stomach.
You only get new furniture when the old was no longer work, are out of date or…
'Get vandalized? Destroyed?' that damn little voice again.
The door, the carpet, the fridge, his couch… it made sense.
Naruto shoulders slumped and he looked up at the picture of team 7 resting on his nightstand. He had to confirm it.
Picking up the frame he removed the picture and looked on the back. His suspicions where confirmed.
Where Kakashi, Sakura and even Sasuke had signed was empty, blank. This wasn't his picture.
It had been replaced. His furniture had been replaced. And stuff like this only gets replaced if its been destroyed.
Naruto suddenly didn't feel hungry. Naruto felt really tired right now.
Sighing Naruto made his way back to the living room. He flopped onto the couch and stared at the wall behind the couch. This sucked. He didn't feel happy at all. And that was when he noticed something behind the couch.
Moving the couch away from the wall Naruto inspected it. It was a burn mark, a large burn mark.That definitely hadn't been there when he left. There had probably been more expensive damage but the rest of it was painted over.
'Great! So they trashed the place then torched it!' Naruto growled.
Yes, this definitely sucked.
Then he noticed something else. It looked like someone had tried to sand over it in an effort to erase it but given up. Naruto could still make out the writing that was carved into the wall right behind his wall. These words that haunted him.
He felt the sinking feeling return and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and forget these words.
"Monster. Demon. Murderer."
End Chapter 2
Bwahahahahahahah! It is done!
Sorry it took so long but summer vacation popped up and took be by surprise! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, especially that last part. I know some of you guys are getting restless for some action, even I'm getting impatient. I'm going to have to have the rest of Naruto's old friends come in during the next chapter and his new genin team (which I have no idea what to do about O.o)
The chuunin exam will be taking place in 6-8 months in this story so I'll need to have some missions lined up for Naruto to pass the time. Suggestions welcomed!
I liked this chapter better than the last one. The first chapter started out a little shaky but got better.
(1)- Yes I was hinting at KakaIru X3
(2)- I can't really remember Inari's mother's name… oh well XP
REVIEW PLEASE (Feed my ego! He's starving!)