"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

Jutsu name

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Before we start I just want to let everyone know that Naruto from this point on is wearing his normal jacket. Not the jumpsuit but the first outfit I gave him. His long cloak will make an appearance later on in the story

Chapter 36: Decisions to make

Naruto stood there with his arms crossed and tilting his head. He made his way to his apartment after the meeting with the Hokage and was looking forward to taking a nap in his pile of pillows but here he was standing in the streets looking at the pile of rubble that was once his apartment building. He didn't know how to feel about this. On one hand, he lost what he had called home for most of his life but on the other hand, he didn't really lose anything of real importance. Well apart from his pillows and plants. "Damn, I really liked that pillow." he sighed as he looked up in thought "now what do I do. I guess I could head to the forest and live there." he began to walk away with his arms behind his head and continued to think to himself.

As he was walking, a few people saw him and realized that he wasn't paying attention. They began to whisper amongst themselves

"Hey, it's the demon brat."

"His lair is no longer there to save him."

"He isn't paying attention. We should kill him now that we have the chance."

Soon a group of people began to slowly follow him

Nauto was still thinking to himself 'hmm what are the pros of living in the forest. I don't have to pay rent, I can be in my fox form more, it doesn't smell as bad as it does in the streets, I can hunt down rabbits for dinner.' he continued to walk without realizing the growing group and made his way to an alleyway. 'But what are the cons… it will be harder to get ramen…...damn I don't know if I can live if I don't get ramen.'

The following mob saw him turn a corner and they chose to attack him when they catch up. As they turned they didn't notice a few pieces of paper on the walls and when they turned the corner an explosion was heard.

Leaning against the wall a bit further away from the corner was Naruto as he looked smug at what just happened.

The mob found themselves glued to the walls by a light brown gooey substance and they couldn't move.

Naruto pulled out a slip of paper as he spoke "don't you guys have anything better to do than suffer my wrath." he looked to the paper in his hand "sticky bombs. My own creation that I made when Ero-Senin taught me about seals. Turns out I'm pretty good at them. Be glad that they were explosive tags….those would have hurt." he began to walk away but he heard muffled screams and thought to himself "hmm they don't need to breathe right?"

The ones stuck to the walls began to panic when they heard what the boy said. Many of them had the sticky substance covering their mouth and nose making it extremely hard to breathe. A few of them were even becoming light-headed and some were becoming a bit blue.

After a few seconds of letting them panic, Naruto channeled some wind chakra and as carefully as he could, send a small blade of wind to cut the goo that was over their mouths. He did miss a few causing them to have a cut on their lips but at least they could breathe. He looked back to the people "look just leave me alone. All you guys have ever done is attack me just or walking around and I haven't done anything to you people to be hated so much. AND BEFORE YOU START THAT SHIT ABOUT ME KILLING YOUR FAMILY OR FRIENDS TWELVE YEARS AGO….." this silenced a few of the ones that were about to say something "I was born twelve years ago. I am not the damn Kyuubi that attacked you at that time." 'I only have six tails, not nine' "I was just born on that day and Tou….it was sealed in me to prevent it from attacking the village. So get your heads out of your ass and start thinking." with that he left the alley

"Nice way of handling them kit."

'Thanks, Rama-tou-san.'

"But you will be punished later for calling me the 'damn' Kyuubi'

'...damn it'

Naruto continued down the street still in thought until

"Naruto-san!"

Naruto looked over his shoulder to see who called him. He smiled when he saw who it was "Karin-chan!."

As Karin got closed she hit him on top of his head. It was so unexpected that Naruto fell to the ground

Naruto was holding his head in pain "ow! Karin-chan what was that for?"

Karin adjusted her glasses as she looked down on the clansman "that was because you didn't tell me you left the hospital. I couldn't go see you for whatever reason and when I could finally visit, you just up and disappear!"

Naruto got back up and was rubbing his head "sorry about that. The moment I could leave I was told to go to a meeting by the Hokage." he finished rubbing his head before looking to Karin "by the way what are you doing here Karin-chan? I thought you would have been on your way back to your village."

Karin huffed ash she moved the hair that was covering her hitai-ate.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that she was now wearing the symbol of his village "wait, what?"

"I joined your village. My last remaining clansman lives here so why wouldn't I." 'besides, my village can go to hell for what they did to my mother and me.'

Naruto gained a wide smile at this "that's so cool but where are you going to stay? I doubt you have a place to live yet."

Karin just waved her hand dismissively "I got a room at one of the inns and I plan on doing some low-rank missions to get some money. Once I have enough, I can get an apartment."

Naruto crossed his arms as he spoke "so we are both in the same situation." 'though I'm going to be living in the forest so I won't really need money for the time being

"Wait why?"

Naruto pointed in the direction of where his apartment used to be "my apartment was destroyed during the invasion. I plan on living somewhere else until I choose to get another one."

Karin looked apologetically at Naruto "sorry to hear that."

Naruto shoved his hands in his jacket pocket and shrugged his shoulders "eh, I didn't have much in it so I didn't lose anything. Anyway, wanna go get some lunch? I know a ramen shop that we can go to."

Karin's stomach chose to respond to Naruto's question, causing her to blush "heh he sure."

"Great! Afterward, we can go see bushy brows."

"'Bushy Brow'?

"It's my nickname for Lee!"

~Hokage Office~

Hiruzen was sitting in his office glaring at the item in front of him.

Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya had given their report on the battle with them and Danzo before showing the Hokage the arm

Hiruzen took a deep breath as he pulled out his pipe and began to smoke. He was thankful that Naruto wasn't there at the moment' "I should have known that he would have gone and done something this depraved."

Kakashi looked to the arm "what should we do with this thing?"

Hiruzen took a long breath of his pipe "I want this thing analyzed. Based on the coloration of this, it is obviously not Danzo's original arm so I want everything about it examined. I shall have to think of what to do with it once it is all done. But for now, we shall seal this thing away."

They all nodded his head and Guy spoke up "should we inform the young Uchiha about this?"

This got everyone's attention and Hiruzen paused in his thoughts. He leaned back in his seat and began to think on this "hmm it is his right to know about this but I must consult with someone else before I inform Sasuke-Kun about this."

Everyone nodded and Jiraiya sealed the arm up and handed the scroll to the Hokage

Once Hiruzen put the scroll away he looked to Jiraiya "I am going to need you to stay in the village for a good while Jiraiya-Kun. I will be heading to the capital in a few days. It is time to discuss my next successor."

They were all a little shocked as this was the first time he heard of this but they schooled their features.

Jiraya was the one to ask "do you have someone in mind for who will be the next Hokage?"

Hiruzen leaned back and smiled

~days later, fire capital~

"Are you sure that you want to retire Hiruzen? Konoha has done well with you leading it."

Hiruzen took a smiled as he heard the Fire Daimyo say this "as much as your praise means to me. I feel that I have given enough of my time in leading the village. It needs someone else to take up the mantle."

The fire Daimyo, although a little laid back in personality, understood the underlining meaning of what Hiruzen said: I am old and I no longer think I can continue on. He fanned himself as he nodded his head "well who do you have for a recommendation." he looked to the one standing by Hiruzen "will you be the one that succeeds Hiruzen, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he spoke "I have no desire to become Hokage. I have my spy network to handle and I don't think I would do a good enough job anyway."

The shinobi council who were sitting at the long table with them were all secretly glad that Jiraiya would not be Hokage, especially Tsume, who felt that she would kill the man herself if he tried to pass a law that allows peeping.

The Fire Daimyo tilted his head "than who is it you want to become the fifth Hokage?"

Jiraiya internally smiled as he heard Hiruzen give out who they chose

"I believe that Tsunade Senju would be a suitable candidate for it."

"Oh ho Tsunade eh. She was one of your students along with Jiraiya-san, right?"

Hiruzen nodded "yes. Out of the three of my students, she is the most sensible and level headed out of the three."

Jiraiya slumped to the floor and began drawing circles on the ground

Everyone chose to ignore the man

"Will she be willing to do it? I have heard that she had been dealing with problems of her own."

Hiruzen smiled "I will be sending a couple of people that I believe will be able to convince her to take up the job."

The Daimyo nodded as he looked to everyone at the table "do any of you have anyone else that you would like to recommend for the seat? Or do you all agree with what Hiruzen-san has decided?"

Everyone looked to each other as if in a silent conversation until they all nodded.

Shikaku rose from his seat and spoke in a respectable tone "I believe I speak for the rest of the clan heads when I say that we all agree with the decision Hokage-sama has given."

The daimyo nodded and grabbed his gavel and spoke "very well. It is decided that Tsunade Senju shall be the fifth Hokage!" and with that, he slammed it down

Hiruzen looked to Jiraiya "once you find him, you are to depart immediately."

Jiraiya nodded with a smirk on his face "no problem. It shouldn't take long once we get back."

~next day, Konoha~

"Where the hell is that gaki?!" Jiraiya had spent most of his time trying to find Naruto but so far he has had no luck. He and the others had arrived back in the village early in the morning and right now it was five in the afternoon. When he found the destroyed rubble of Naruto's apartment, he began looking in the usual spots he would find Naruto but so far nothing. He even tried to hot springs and spent a good amount of time looking around that area, specifically around the fence. Now here he was, with a black eye, a bleeding lip and a welt on his head, looking down at the streets to see if he could find any sign of spiky blond hair."

"Come on Ino-chan! Can't we just have Ichiraku?"

Jiraiya looked down to the left when he heard the familiar voice. He saw Naruto being dragged by the back of his jacket by who he could tell was a Yamanaka

"Naruto, when was the last time you ate something that was ramen?"

"Uh I had a rabbit last night…..:

Ino stopped and brought Naruto forward so she could look him in the eye "Naruto, we are going to my favorite restaurant and you are paying. We haven't talked to each other for a long time so we are catching up. Besides this is punishment for not telling me that your apartment was destroyed and you were living in the forest! I was worried about you since I came over and saw what happened to it so you are paying me back this way…...or I could make myself a fox tail scarf."

Naruto quickly put his hands over his tailbone where his tails, theoretically, were "you wouldn't!"

Ino smirked at Naruto "I have a dress that would look good with one and you have five more to spare."

Naruto cried in defeat for a second before it turned into a wide smile "I missed you Ino-chan." He had missed the small bit of banter they exchanged, he missed hanging out with her and he hated the time he spent avoiding her.

Ino smiled back as she, on impulse, placed a small kiss on his cheek "I missed you too, Baka." she let go of his jacket and began walking again as she spoke softly "and…. We need to talk about …..what we are going to do…..about you, me and Hinata."

Naruto stood there dumbfounded with his hand on his cheek until he heard what Ino said. He looked down a bit as he nodded his head "...yeah…"

Jiraiya was writing down notes so fast that he could have made a new fire Jutsu. 'The kid has TWO girls after him! I'm so jealous!" he was so lost in his perversion that it didn't even register that she commented on his tails. "I need to get the detai….no I mean tell him how to plea …..NO I mean use him for my next boo…...NO! I….I- I need to get him to join me on this mission. Yeah, that's it.' As Jiraya began to leave, he felt light-headed and his complexion became white. After he took a few steps, he fell forward and landed in a large puddle of blood and a small trickle of it was seen coming out of his nose. He laid there unconscious with a stupid perverted grin on his face

As Naruto walked with Ino, his nose picked up the smell of blood and it came with another scent that was familiar but his mind was telling him to just ignore it so he did.

~later~

Naruto now held his little fox wallet and cried at how empty it was. He knew that he would be paying for not only the meal but also, desert and a sudden shopping spree that she wanted to go on. He actually thought this would happen and he brought extra money for it but she apparently didn't want to stop until he was now broke. "I guess I'm going to need a few more missions to do before I fill you up again."

"Hey, Gaki."

Naruto looked behind him to see Jiraiya wiping off what smelled like blood from his face and nose. "Hey, Ero-Senin. Did you get beat up by women again or did you find something to perv over?" he asked as he crossed his arms and gave a deadpan expression

Jiraiya just sagged a bit as he mumbled: "no respect" he stood up straight again and looked to Naruto "nevermind that, we have a mission."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "a mission? What mission?"

"We are going to get the next Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened at this "they already chose who it is?! Who is it?!"

Jiraiya smirked, "ah ah ah you'll find out when we find the person."

"Oh come on! I'm helping you with this so at least tell me who!"

Jiraiya started to walk away "nope. Now go pack for a month's journey."

Naruto put his hand in his jacket and fount some of the scrolls that had his basic equipment. 'I don't really need anything else…...not like I have anything' He ran up to Jiraiya and began walking alongside him.

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto "uh aren't you going to go get your stuff?"

Naruto just put his arms behind his head "I don't have anything other than the set of clothes I have right now."

Jiraiya began to look sheepish "oh right, your apartment." 'damn now I can't go do my research here'

"Yeup! So you going to help me train while we go."

Jiraiya put his hand on his chin in thought as he thought about what he could help Narut with. 'Hmm I think I'll hold off on sage training, It's too early for that. I could teach him the frog kata, might as well give him the fighting style best used for the sage mode, even if he won't get to that yet. Oh, I know!' "hang on gaki. I need to head to the store for a minute wait for me at the gate."

Before Naruto could say anything Jiraiya left in a swirl of leaves. Naruto glared at the spot Jiraiya was standing at before he began marching to the gate "if I find out that he is peeping right now, I'm going to make his life miserable."

~main gate~

Naruto was talking to the eternal chunin duo as he waited for Ero-Senin

"Wait, wait, that was you?! You were the that painted the Hyugas hair different colors?!" Izuma exclaimed as he heard Naruto brag about his pranks.

Naruto gave a cheeky grin "yep. Took me most of the night to get all the shampoo bottles but I got them."

Kotetsu smirked at this "and I guess you are the one that forced them to wear those ridiculous outfits."

"Yep."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"I am a master of pranks."

Both Izumo and Kotetsu shivered when they saw Naruto give an evil grin

Suddenly Naruto perked up when he caught Jiraiya's scent. "Bout time he got here"

Jiraiya came walking up to them as he held something in his hands "sorry it took me a bit but I got what I needed." he then tossed a water balloon to Naruto who caught it.

Naruto was confused about what he was supposed to do with it

Jiraya caught on to the confusion and held out his hand "I'm going to teach you, your legacy."

Naruto was in aw when he saw an orb of chakra form in ero-senin's hand

"I'm going to teach you the Rasengan"

End of chapter

I realize that now that the previous drama has been settled. My chapters got shorter.

Not a lot happened in this chapter. Naruto is living in the forest for the time being, Karin will now be living in Konoha. Ino and Naruto are back on friendly terms…..

Ps Jiraiya is a super pervert

Now I have a few things that I would like you readers to help decide

Should Sasuke be informed about the arm? Realize that this means he would be told everything and it will affect how things go later on, specifically the fight you all know about. Whether it happens or not

Who gets their moment with Naruto first. Hinata or Ino. I don't know how far I will go with it but who you decide will be the first one

Should Naruto get another summons? I remember in the anime that Sasuke has hawk summons and the snake summons. So I figured why shouldn't Naruto get two. So if you guys want him to have another summon what should it be and maybe give me a solid reason

Please read, favorite, follow, and review