Naruto finds Ryo sitting on the couch, reading, and Naruto plops beside him.
"Hey, haven't seen you in a while!" Ryo ruffles Naruto's hair.
"You haven't been around much."
"Well, I've been in the Nimbus village a lot."
"Yeah."
"Anyways, I was rummaging through the old house there and found this."
Ryo searches in his jacket pocket and pulls out a paper.
Naruto takes the paper and sees a photograph of a beautiful long red-haired woman, with the bluest eyes he has ever seen. Standing beside her, with his arms around her waist is Yondaime.
"I guess you can tell who she is." Ryo puts a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"She's beautiful." Naruto traces his finger over the woman's face.
"Now you can see why your dad married her. Unlucky for you, you got Kiiro's looks and Akaiini's loudness and spontaneity." Naruto scoffs at his uncle's jokes.
"I can keep this?" Naruto waves the photograph.
"Yeah. It's yours anyways."
Naruto opens his eyes and finds himself on top of the Hokage monument. He hears a noise behind him and his jaws just drop.
"Hello, Naruto."
With his mouth still opened, Naruto can't bring himself to speak.
"I'm guessing you know who I am." The woman implies.
"Y-you're-," Naruto takes out the photograph from his pocket and compares the woman in front him with the picture. "Akaiini. If I'm here, does that mean I'm dead?"
Akaiini chuckles, "No. You're near death but not quite. Besides, you have to become Hokage first right."
Naruto beams as she says this. "Right. So, um, is—is Yondaime-"
"No. He's in a different place."
"Do you ever see him?"
"I can't tell you that Naruto."
Naruto's face drops and releases a sigh. Akaiini cautiously approaches him and places her hand on his shoulder.
"What's going to happen to me now," Naruto locks his eyes with his mother.
"You'll know soon." Akaiini touches his hair and smiles, "You look so much like-"
"I know." Naruto smiles back. "Uncle always said that it was unlucky of me to get his looks and my loudness from you."
"That idiot still makes fun of me?" Akaiini laughs. "Tell me, is he married now?"
"No. But he does have a lot of girls chasing after him."
"How about you? Someone as handsome as you must have a girlfriend."
"I haven't really been thinking about that." Naruto blushes. "How did you meet uh--fath--Yondaime."
"I met him outside of Tanzaku city. He was training or making up a new jutsu--something like that. I took care of him when he collapsed from depleted chakra. Everything just fell into place after that."
The blonde ninja grins at how similar he and his father are. They were both training in the same place and if Naruto had to guess, Yondaime was probably developing the rasengan.
"Naruto…" Akaiini hugs him and catches the blonde by surprise. "You're going to be great Hokage."
Naruto opens his eyes once again and finds himself in a hospital bed. He finds Sakura, Kakashi, Hinata, and 2 medic nins looking at him. The blonde ninja jumps out of bed and runs but Sakura and Hinata hold him down.
"Calm down." Sakura orders.
Naruto's kneesdrops to the ground—his breathing shallow. He finds it difficult to catch his breath and suddenly everything around him goes black.
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Kakashi watches as the medics lay an unconscious Naruto back on the bed. He steps out of the room where he finds Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Neji, Shikamaru, and Pakkun waiting.
"He's fine." Kakashi reports.
"He was caught by Itachi's genjutsu. Then he just started coughing up blood." Shikamaru reminisces.
Kakashi watches as Sasuke arrives and leans against the wall.
"Well, there's nothing I can do for now so I'm off." Pakkun disappears in a puff of smoke.
Temari looks at Naruto's teammates and apologizes, "I'm really sorry. You guys came here to help and this happens."
"It's not your fault. No one expected this to be a trap for Naruto." Neji states.
Later that night, Kakashi and Hinata watch over Naruto as he sleeps.
"You didn't have to do this. You could always come by in the morning." Kakashi tells Hinata.
"I know, but I just wanted to be here." Hinata blushes which, Kakashi notices.
Naruto wakes up and looks around him.
"You're not going to go hysterical again are you?" Kakashi teases.
Naruto remains quiet making an awkward moment.
"What happened?" Kakashi asks while he adjusts his headband.
"I don't know. First I was fighting Itachi, and then I ended up in the hospital, then…" Naruto stops himself.
"Then what?" Kakashi pushes for more information.
"I dunno--maybe it was a dream, but I saw my mother. And, I dunno—" Naruto shakes his head. "I felt really happy being around her. I've never felt that kind of happiness—I don't know how to explain it. But, she was so kind and—when I woke up, the sadness, the loneliness, it felt like crashing down around me."
"I guess you're angry at us for bringing you back." Hinata shyly says.
"No, no that's not it. I'm not mad at anyone. I—I really don't know what's going on."
Kakashi sighs and understands the trouble that Naruto's going through. He's probably going through the same thing when Kakashi lost his dad.
"Get some rest. You'll feel better in the morning."
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"How's the loudmouth?" Sasuke asks Sakura.
Sakura stares out from the Hospital roof and watch as the moon glistens over the village.
"You care about Naruto?" Sakura tries to hide her shock.
"No, just wanted to know how long we have to stay here."
Sakura scoffs and begins to walk away.
"What's wrong with you? Since when did you like the dobe so much?" Sasuke sneers.
The kunoichi glares at Sasuke, who smirks at her.
Sasuke passes by Naruto's room and hears a snippet of the conversation going on inside.
"I saw my mother. And, I dunno-- I felt really happy being around her. I've never felt that kind of happiness—I don't know how to explain it. But, she was so kind and—when I woke up, the sadness, the loneliness, it felt like crashing down around me."
Sasuke continues to keep walking and suddenly is reminded of his family. Although, they weren't perfect, he always felt complete and happy. Then that happiness was taken away by his brother—his own blood family—and suddenly Sasuke his blood ragingly boils by the thought of Itachi.
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Naruto was strong enough to return to Konoha the next day. Kakashi and team 9 stopped by the Hokage's office.
"Akatsuki's becoming impatient. Naruto—" Tsunade is interrupted.
"Tsunade obasaan! I don't want extra security, I don't want you giving me easy missions, and I don't want to be pittied." Naruto impatiently yells.
"That's enough! How dare you speak to a Hokage like that!" Tsunade yells back.
Naruto glares back and then disappears in a flash.
"Damn it! Kakashi, Neji, what the hell happened to him?"
"Just give him some time Hokage sama…" Kakashi suggests.
"We don't have time Kakashi. If Akatsuki get their hands on him—"
"I beg your pardon Tsunade-sama," a vein pops up from Tsunade's forehead as she is interrupted again. "Naruto has shown great strength and high levels of jutsus. Maybe we should treat him as if he could defend himself." Neji advises.
"I agree with Neji. Besides he and Shikamaru are strong enough to protect their teammate." Kakashi concurs.
"Fine! But, they're not getting as much high ranked missions. And I'm gonna have Asuma come to your missions more often."
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After storming out of the Hokage tower, Naruto makes his way through the village. He spots Sasuke by the old training ground and ignores him. Sasuke notices Naruto walking by and punches the log extra hard for the blonde to notice. Out of the blue, Naruto punches Sasuke in the face.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Sasuke his right hand holding his cheek, while his other balls up into a fist.
"What is wrong with you, you greedy bastard! You want everything to be about you. You have to be the one with the most jutsu, the strongest; the best looking…you know what? You're the dumbest!" Naruto storms off and Sasuke follows him.
The Uchiha punches Naruto in the gut twice.
"Shut the hell up! You don't know anything!"
Naruto blocks his other punches and hits him back. Sakura finds them and with her super strength punches the ground to separate the two.
"What's going on here!" Sakura yells.
"I'm out of here." Naruto runs off, not bothering to acknowledge Sakura.
"Hmph!" Sasuke heads off the opposite way.
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A/N: Sorry for not updating as fast as I used to. I'll try to add new chapters at least once a week.
