The silver-haired sojourn stretched and opened cobalt eyes, yawning tiredly before scratching his stomach.

'Nice to see you're awake. Plan on walking now?'

Naruto snorted and rolled off his companions back, easily taking up pace beside the massive demon."Not everyone has four legs."

The demon snorted, flicking her tail.

"Where are we exactly?"Naruto blinked, taking in their surroundings while he plucked at his sleeve.

Kyuubi hesitated before answering,'We're almost in Leaf territory.Should I change forms?'

"If we encounter someone, I can more than likely handle them.."

With a loud pop and a puff of orange coloured smoke, a small fox kit mewled and leapt into Naruto's arms, nuzzling his kimono before turning twice and falling asleep, tail covering nose.

"...Lazy bitch."

Kyuubi deemed not to reply and instead drifted into a much needed nap, leaving her bonded to navigate.

"I wonder if I'll see anyone I know. More than likely I will, they'll probably all be married and have children now...jobs..there'll be a new generation. Konomaharu might even be a chunin by now.."Thy man jerked uneasily at a twig snapping around a half a mile off.

"Someone's coming.."Naruto scratched his head and pondered the best choice. Either kill quickly and quietly, or play a friendly traveler from a secluded hidden village from Snow Country. It seemed fate made the choice for him when a kunai pressed threateningly to his windpipe, not uncomfortable, but not necassarily comforting either.

"Name, business, and origin. Don't try to lie, or I'll kill you."A deep voice rumbled, chest pressed against Naruto's shoulders.

"My name is Mimoko Nakatsu. Im a humble traveler from snow country come to Konoha to take a break from the cold."

A wry snort alerted him to a third presence from above. Naruto did not tense, knowing he could still win in a fight against the nins.

"How long do you plan on staying?"

"It depends. If the villagers are as welcoming as you, I'll probably leave within a day. If I like it here, maybe around a month or two."Naruto murmured with a easy smirk, Kyuubi stirring and pricking up her ears but still feigning sleep in the circle of his arms.

"What creature is that?"The voice lost some of its tension, replaced by curiosity.

"A snow fox."

"Why isn't it's fur white, then?"

"Because the climate changed as we came further from Snow Country, Snowball took on a coat for summer and spring."

"Ah.."The voice said uncertainly, obviously amazed at seeing such a creature. Naruto finally raised his eyes and blinked once, otherwise not showing his suprise.

Kiba, minus the fur jacket and with slightly longer and shaggier hair sat comfortably on a branch, arrogantly showing that he wasn't afraid of the foreign nin. He was decked out in jounin attire. Where was Akamaru?

A loud whistle echoed through the forest and a loud crashing came from their left. The nin behind him stepped back, kunai lowering but still remaining clenched in the man's fists. A massive red-brown wolfdog leapt into the clearing, tongue lolling out and ears flopping as he bound over to his master.

"Akamaru says there's no one else in the area."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, hand caressing Kyuubi's ear as her fur rose. Akamaru's ears perked up and he started forward, only to have Kiba grab his collar and hold him back."No boy, you can't eat it."

"Very well, we'll escort you to Konoha."

Naruto turned and eyed the other jounin, eyes bulging at Shino."..."

"Creepy-looking guy, isn't he?"Kiba cackled, yipping as a bee stung him.

Shino scowled and pushed the sunglasses up further onto his nose, eyeing the man once more with caution before nodding his head, an indication to continue walking.

"Man Shino..that was uncalled for."

"Shutup, mutt."

Naruto stiffled a grin, remembering the familiar banter that always took place between the two friends. It shouldn't suprise him that the two had become partners, and maybe more from the way Shino and smiling softly in fondness at Kiba's grumbling back as the other man leapt through the trees, dog following at a slower place near Shino.

Akamaru seemed taken by the bug boy, inching closer and closer as they walked till his furry back was resting underneath the boy's hands, deep brown eyes rolling back to gaze pleadingly at him. Shino grunted and absently began petting him, eyes locked on Naruto's back.

Ignoring the piercing gaze, the silver-haired nin took in his surroundings. There was no intense war happening from the looks of it, the trees and animals still abundant and everything was at peace. It didn't explain the extra security though, perhaps Tsunade had matured more.

The rest of the walk was done in silence, and when they reached the gate they were greeted by various chunin leaning against the open gate's entrance.

"He can pass."Kiba shouted, causing the chunins to wince in annoyance at the disturbance. One with a ponytail nodded, recording something on his clipboard.

"Pass then."

Naruto did a double take, staring at Iruka. The chunin's hair had grown out, the ponytail now reached the middle of his back and he had long silken strands of deep brown hair carressing his face and framing the pale skin. If anything, Iruka had only become more attractive as he matured.

Iruka's brown eyes locked with his, narrowing slightly as something sparked in the chocolate-colored pools."What was your name?"

"Mimino Nakatsu."

"..Are we related? Have we met?"

"I don't believe so. I'm from another country and am only visiting. This is my first time in this village."

The other man nodded slowly, forcefully lowering his eyes back to his clipboard and waving his hand.

Shino took his elbow and led him through the gates, Kiba strolling along on his other side."We'll find you temporary quarters so we know your location until our Hokage approves your presence in our village."

Naruto blinked, furrowing his brows,"Do you have a problem with our country?"

"No, it's only measures of protection for Hidden Leaf."Shino replied emotionlessly.

Villagers turned to watch the strange foreigner be escorted through the busy streets, the sight completely alien.

"You might want to get some new clothes."Kiba muttered, shaking his head as a teenage girl swooned.

"Is this unusual?"Naruto asked, feigning ignorance.

"Hai. Pants and a shirt are common here, only the village ninjas wear this gear, and it is required."Shino replied.

A pinkhaired woman stomped angrily across their path and into a flowershop, shoulders tensed.

Kiba whistled in suprise, stepping back with hands raised in obvious terror. Even Shino stepped back, bringing Naruto with him. Sakura cast them a poisonous glare before kicking open the door, jabbing a finger towards the counter where a clerk stood sweatdropping.

"Can I get you something miss?"

"Where's that bitch!"

"N-nani?"

"Where is the manager of this store?"

"Is there something you n-need?"The clerk whispered in terror, shrinking as the woman approached the counter. The curtain behind the counter was parted, revealing a beautiful blonde with layered shoulder-length hair and baby blue eyes. The girl brushed a lock of her from her eyes and smiled in amusement at the angered woman.

"Sakura, dearest, whatever is the matter?"

"You were supposed to meet me AN HOUR AGO!Ino PIG!This is the last time I schedule ANYTHING even remotely INVOLVING you!"

The blonde slung an arm around Sakura's shoulders and leaned in close to her ear, whispering lowly. A flush slowly rose to Sakura's cheeks, causing Naruto to raise his brows. Kiba slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Sorry about that, those two lovers always get into these arguments then make up a minute later.As Shikamaru would say, troublesome.."Shino snorted at that in amusement, finally stepping forward to continue their walking.

'Ino and Sakura!Together!Whhhhaaattt!I thought Sasuke and Sakura would have dozens of kids by now!'

"Here we are."Shino muttered, releasing his arm.

Naruto casually strolled to the desk, placing a few bills on the counter and taking room keys from the friendly manager.The tag connected to the key read room 21, which would be on the second floor. Sighing, Naruto dropped the keys on Kyuubi's sleeping side, jogging up the stairs and opening the door slowly, ignoring the grumbling from his fluffy companion.

Dropping back onto the bed, the silver-haired man could already begin to feel his eyelids sag with exhaustion."How long has it been since we slept on a bed?"

'Too long.'Kyuubi murmured appreciatively, stretching and reverting to her true form. Naruto groaned in annoyed and allowed the massive creature to rest her large paw against his chest, pulling him to her fur and rubbing her face happily in the soft pillows. Stretching into the warmth and comfort, Naruto let himself drift off to sleep.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I have finally updated this story! I am shaming myself with these lame, short updates..-.-But I finally got the plot going again for this story. And I already have the next chapter completely planned out in my mind. So sorry for people who are waiting on Tired of Hating, I'll probably update this a few times before I focus on that again'

OHoh, and for the person who requested me to email the Gabriela Robin song to them, Im truly sorry, yahoo sucks ass and it took around an hour before I closed the window because it was taking so damned long to attach the song. So instead I'll give you the link to where I get a bunch of my pretty anime songs from, k? Its free and though they havent updated for a few months, they often post a lot of awesome, beautiful songs.

h t t p / a n i m e v i s i o n s . n e t / m p 3 . p h p (minus the spaces)

Another place that should be checked out that I found awesome was this forum that discusses songs that fit the naruto characters, some even include links for free downloading and I found a lot of the song-character matches really interesting.

h t t p / f o r u m s . a n i m e s u k i . c o m / a r c h i v e / i n d e x . p h p / t - 1 5 2 . h t m l (minus the spaces)

and other really great sites involving Naruto that have yaoi doujinshi scans and free stuff involving Naruto yaoi here are some more links

h t t p / f i g h t i n g - d r e a m e r s . o r g / (Many many free scanlations of Naruto yaoi doujins)

h t t p / b a k a . a m a z e . n e t

h t t p / f l e e t i n g f a n c i e s . n o k o r u , n e t / n a r u t o - f a n a r t - k a k a i r u - 2 . h t m l

h t t p / w w w . l i v e j o u r n a l . c o m / c o m m u n i t y / k a k a i r u

h t t p / k a k a i r u . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m

h t t p / w w w . l i v e j o u r n a l . c o m / co m m u n i t y / s a s u n a r u

and then if you go to my house on deviantart, all of my friends on deviantart are naruto yaoi artists, so you visit your houses and you are bombarded with yaoi of every pairing from Naruto

h t t p / L i s u l l e n l y e . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m

and if you really like writing and drawing, I would be happy to recieve messages or chat with you on

h t t p / w w w . e l f t o w n . c o m

You do have to make yourself a member but it only takes a few minutes and its free and easy and in the member search just type in copy and paste this

x.It Never Heals.x

And press search and it'll bring you to my house and there's pics and info on me and yeah..Im just trying to con you into visiting my house so I can babble to you about yaoi and anime and etc . I love talking to people who have the same interests as me though! Ohoh..and I also have a MSN messenger name and I would love to talk to you on that too, and I can send you loads and loads of good songs o-o I have hundreds of anime songs, and if I dont have them I can more likely get them and send them to you. So..yeah..this is it. end of a gery long thingy of author notes. Have funOo;