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So, in this chapter, I decided to make the story change a bit. Instead of explaining Naruto's whole experience in heaven (training, new characters, etc), I am skipping it and will explain it all through flashbacks. I wanted to do this to break with the normal routine that some 'Naruto leave for a while and comes back powerful' stories tend to lead. Oh, and Naruto is different. WAY different…

Indomitable Soul

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto-sama's characters, except for the ones I create.

The Calling from Heaven

Chapter 2

Return to Childhood

The shinobi watching over Konoha's main gate was having a very uneventful day. No people had left the village, or entered in a manner as to keep him awake. When a young man approached slowly on the path, the shinobi did not think anything of it at all. Nor after asking the young teen his business, did he recognize the boy that had been so hated by the village.

Naruto was walking up to the gate of Konoha after his long absence. He had found that he had been gone for a lot longer than he had thought, and had grown significantly, in both stature and countenance. Unless you had known him like a brother, you would not have recognized him.

He was standing at a very tall 6'2" and had long spiky yellow hair, reminiscent of the 4th Hokage's. Instead of an orange jumpsuit, he was wearing a grey cloak that covered his whole body. On the back of the cloak was a crest, much the spiral on his old outfit, but was centered on a strange looking animal called a griffon, a lion-eagle mix. Other than this, he was not wearing his forehead protector, but had a large red cloth tied around with the long ends flowing in the light breeze. His face no longer had the whisker marks, as he had 'grown' out of them, and he had a very handsome, defined face. The thing that had perhaps changed the most was his eyes. They were no longer a beautiful, deep blue but had changed into a golden, amber color, like Michaels.

The gate guard cleared his throat and said "Ahem, what is your business with Konoha?"

Naruto smiled at him and simply replied "I'm here to visit some old friends…"

The guard stared at Naruto for a moment longer and then nodded, allowing him to pass.

Naruto looked up at the Hokage monument, the first site to greet all those who walked into Konoha. He smiled as he looked over the faces, until he saw Sarutobi's visage looking out to the sky. He then got a sad, nostalgic look on his face and continued walking. As he drew near to his destination, the Hokage's office. He nearly bumped into a small figure.

Naruto immediately jumped to the side, allowing the person to rush past him without colliding. The person gave a yelp after seeing the near-miss and skidded to a stop.

Naruto saw who it was and immediately began to back away.

Haruno Sakura had been late for her mission assigned by Tsunade, and well, that wasn't a good thing. Had she remembered that she was supposed to leave at 8:00, not 9:00, she wouldn't have been nearly knocked into (or out of) a wall by Tsunade, who was having a hangover when she saw that Sakura was still in Konoha.

Suddenly deciding it was time to go do her mission, Sakura had nearly flown out of the building and would have left immediately had she not nearly bumped into someone.

Turning to apologize, she looked at the person who was now backing away from her, and blushed. 'You idiot! You nearly ran over some hot guy! Man-o-man is he FINE!'

As she continued to blush at these thoughts, She said, "Sorry about that, I was really in a hurry and didn't look where I was going!"

Naruto nodded and answered, "No, no, that's all right. I should have been more careful going around the corner."

Naruto, as he was saying this, thought 'Wow, she doesn't even recognize me! Have I really changed so much that she doesn't remember the loud-mouthed Naruto? Of course it has been 5 years, so I guess I would have changed a bit…'

Sakura then said, "Well, I would really love to stay and talk," 'Oh-h-h YES I would!' "But I have to go do a mission now." Naruto nodded to her and continued his walk to wards the Hokage's office. "Very well, Sakura, I'll see you later then!"

She waved goodbye to him and continued her run before pausing with the thought, "Wait, how did he know my name?"

Naruto entered the Hokage's office to be greeted by a secretary working at her desk. He cleared his throat and waited for her to look up from her paperwork. When she did, he was asked what his business was with the Hokage.

"Tell the Hokage that an old friend of hers is here."

The secretary shook her head and replied, "I'm sorry, but the Hokage is recovering from a rather large hangover. She would probably knock you out of the room before you could even say your name!"

Naruto laughed at this and replied, "Pshaw! Don't worry about me, Tsunade wouldn't harm a hair on my head when she figures out who I am!"

The secretary seemed to think about this for a moment and let up. "Very well, go in and see her, but the office is not responsible for your injuries!"

Naruto nodded and cautiously opened the door to Tsunade's office, where he saw her sleeping on her desk, drool falling out the side of her mouth. He chuckled inwardly and carefully closed the door behind him and quietly said "Ok, Tsunade, its time to wake up! Rise and shine!"

Tsunade grumbled and slowly looked up, eyes full of pain and anger. "Who the heck are you and what are you doing in here?" Naruto sighed and said, "So, not even you recognize me…Man, I guess I have changed a lot!"

Hearing this, Tsunade looked carefully at her unwanted visitor, recognition slowly coming to her.

"Your right, you do look familiar…I didn't meet you at the bar last night did I?"

Naruto chuckled. "Nope, not there."

Tsunade frowned and said, "Look, I don't have the time for games! I have a bad hangover, and I really don't feel like entertaining strangers…Tell me who you are and what you want, then leave me alone!" Naruto sighed and pulled a necklace out from under his cloak, and threw it at Tsunade. She caught it, grumbling, and looked at it.

Immediately she gasped and said "N-Naruto?"

Naruto smiled and looked at the necklace, "Took you long enough!"

She jumped out of her chair, hangover forgotten, and gave Naruto a crushing hug. "You idiot! Where the heck have you been? Why the heck are your eyes golden? We've all missed you so much!"

Naruto laughed and returned the hug "I missed you to, baa-chan!"

She stepped back and looked at him. "Kami, I didn't even recognize you! You've grown up into quite the hottie!"

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Uhh, thanks! You look just the same as ever!"

Tsunade laughed and then turned to a more serious tone. "So, where have you been? It has been five years now since you disappeared."

Naruto stared out of Tsunade's window and paused before answering. "I'm sorry, baa-chan, but I can't tell you…at least for now." Tsunade was about to question him further, but saw that he didn't want to talk about it. She decided to wait for him to tell her, and not force the issue.

She nodded. "Very well, but you will have to tell me sooner or later." Naruto nodded and gave an uncharacteristic bow. Tsunade's eyebrow rose at this but she continued with what she was going to say.

"Alright, since your back, I suppose you'll need the keys to your apartment. Don't worry; everything has been cleaned monthly since you left, so it shouldn't be in too bad of a condition." She handed him the keys. "Also, you may want to go around and see if you can meet up with some of your old friends. I'm afraid that Jiraiya is out on a mission, but should be back in a few days, if he doesn't stop to go peeping on the bathhouses…"

Naruto laughed. "Hah! That old pervert still up to his disgusting ways?" Tsunade grumbled something like, '…these days…kill that…humph!' as Naruto was walking out. He chuckled at this and left the room.

Naruto got to the apartment and dropped his duffel bag on the ground, and looked around. Tsunade was right; everything had been cleaned pretty regularly in the small place.

He sighed and looked out the window at the sky. The sun was starting to set, so he decided that it was time for dinner. As the though of food came to mind, he remembered one of the other places he had been longing to go to all day: Ichiraku's.

He locked up the apartment and headed to the ramen stand. As he was approaching, he noticed a man sitting at one of the stools eating a miso ramen. When he noticed the scar running along the mans nose out onto each cheek, he immediately recognized him as Iruka. He smiled to himself and sat down a seat away from his old academy sensei, not alluding to the fact that it was him. He had begun to have fun letting people take their time figuring out who it was.

When the ramen man approached him asking for his order, Naruto replied with "Hmmm…lemme see…how about 3 beef ramens and 2 miso? Uhh, to start?" The man, slightly surprised at the quantity, nodded and began his cooking. Iruka, after hearing this, peered at the blonde curiously. After a moment or two, he returned to his miso.

Naruto was now receiving his bowls and devoured them like a starved man.

"Man, it's been too long since I've had Ichiraku's ramen!" Iruka then decided that there was something unnervingly familiar about this young guy, but he still couldn't put his finger on it…

After watching him demolish 5 more bowls, it finally dawned on him.

"…Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from his ramen with a grin on his face. "Sheez, sure does take you guys long enough to figure it out!"

Iruka immediately let out a heartfelt laugh of joy and gave Naruto a slap on the back. "Man, I barely even recognized you! Why are your eyes golden? And where have you been?"

Naruto replied as he had with Tsunade, saying that he would reveal all in due time.

Iruka seemed happy with this reply and said, "Well, then you can tell me later! Old man! Another round of ramen for your favorite customer! My treat!"

Ichiraku, realizing that his best customer had once again appeared, gave a cry of joy. "Forget it! His entire meal is on the house!"

Naruto then gave HIS cry of joy, knowing that he know had a free ticket to all the ramen he wanted that night, which in turn made both Iruka and Ichiraku sweat-drop.

Sakura had finished her mission, a reconnaissance mission collecting information from a fellow shinobi, and was returning the debriefing form to Tsunade when the memory of the outrageously cute guy from earlier popped up.

She looked at Tsunade, who was still overlooking the debriefing form. "Tsunade?"

Tsunade looked up from the form. "What is it, Sakura? I'm trying to finish reading this form!" "Um, I had a question for you…you see, I saw this guy earlier, and he knew my name without my even telling him. Do you think he's stalking me?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes, until she thought of a certain blonde who had just returned. "Was the guy blonde? With golden eyes?" Sakura looked at Tsunade questioningly. "Yes, that's him! How did you know who it was? And who exactly is this guy?"

Tsunade sighed. "I was hoping he would have a chance to talk to you himself, but it seems you won't be off my back until I tell you…"

Sakura grew impatient. "Who is it, Tsunade? Tell me!"

"Naruto has come back."

Sakura stared at Tsunade for a few seconds before responding. "But…I thought he was dead…" "So did I. After he disappeared, with Sasuke leaving in his wake, many people thought he had been kidnapped by Orochimaru. (Not to mention the fact they had seemed happy about it…) After all, there had been signs of a fight inside the house the night of his disappearance."

Sakura was still in shock. "But…he's here?" "Of course, you said you bumped into him earlier."

Sakura then snapped into a frantic mode. "Where is he staying? Tell me Tsunade!"

Tsunade calmly stared at her excited student. "He is probably at his old apartment by now; I'm not really sure."

Sakura flew out the door, once again dashing out of the Hokage's office and nearly running over a few people in her run to Naruto's apartment.

Naruto had returned from his wondrous eating frenzy at Ichiraku's, and was now preparing for bed. He had dumped his few belongings onto the bed, and was currently sorting it all and putting his clothes into the drawer of a chest at the foot of the bed. He had also gone shopping on the way back from the ramen stand, and placed the various goods into the refrigerator and cupboards.

He was about to take a cold shower when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up, surprised that anyone would come at this time of night. Heck, he didn't even think that anyone besides Tsunade, Iruka and Ichiraku had known that he had reappeared.

He opened the door, with a greeting of "Hello, may I ask-"

He stared at Sakura, who was standing in his doorway, tears in her eyes and a questioning look on her face.

"Naruto?"

AN: Wow, I wrote this chapter in like one day! Hopefully later on I will have such urges and update as fast! Thanks to those who reviewed, and sent me an email! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

Ok, next chapter will be some more of the reuniting between the rookie nine and various other characters. Also, we will begin to see flashbacks of Naruto and his time in Heaven

Alright ladies and gents! See you next chapter!