Run Away

by: Naruto's Mask

NM-chan: I UPDATED!!!!! All right, this is the last chap before the chunin exams and Naruto sees all his pals. This is mostly the explanation of what went on during the meeting with Tatsuya, Kyo, and Tsunade. Some OOCness on Tsunade's part in the beginning, but that will be explained.

One more thing, there may be more focus on Naruto's team next chappy. I was just thinking it may be fun to show what they're experiencing as the students of a 'demon'. Let me tell you, they will be giving hell. But that's all I'm going to say.

Enjoy!

You would have to have been in the Hokage tower very long to know that something was wrong. Very wrong. There was just something out of place in the large tower, office of the village's most powerful ninja. It was a small detail out of place, but, to those who knew this place well, it was a very disturbing detail. There was usual stack of paperwork waiting for Tsunade's approval, but there was something different about the way she was reacting to the paperwork…

She was humming!

A happy little tune as she went through the paperwork, only stopping when she saw URGENT in large print. Even as more paperwork was brought in, she just thanked the one delivering them and went on signing with such a bright smile on her face.

"Do you think she's sick?" An ANBU asked as he, Shizune, and others watched this almost terrifying scene.

"No, I checked her temperature, she's sober, and, other than the humming, there's no sign she's cracked." She informed them, feeling worried about her friend and their leader.

"When did this start?" a nin coming back from dropping his missions report asked her.

"I think some time after the Yamikage and his assistant came along."

"Do you think they've done something to her?"

"I didn't sense any abnormal chakra pulses from her office."

"Oh my, she's starting to sing now!"

Three hours earlier:

"Yamikage-sama, pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face. I hope you were welcomed warmly into the village." Tsunade said putting on her 'friendly political figure' face as she shook the elderly man's hand.

"As warmly as we expected, Hokage-sama. Ma'am, this is my companion, Atsusa Kyo." He said, introducing the redhead next to him.

"It's a pleasure." Kyo said bowing formally. Tsunade nodded with a smile and sat down, the other two doing the same soon after.

"Now, as much as I would like this to be a pleasant meeting between two village leaders, I'm afraid I have to discuss something with you." Tatsuya said, his face stone cold rather than the usual warmth his villagers were more used to. Kyo was next to him, his eyes closed, but his face betrayed no emotion.

"Well then, discuss away. How can I help you?" She asked them. Tatsuya took a folder from Kyo's hands and put it on Tsunade's desk.

"This is concerning one of your missing nins. The daimyo of this country has officially excused him for all his crimes. He has also become an official ninja of my village and is a teacher for a trio of genins. So, any arrest concerning his crimes with this village will be taken as an insult against my village and will not be taken lightly." The dark haired man said to her. Tsunade blinked in surprise as she looked at the folder. She then took out it's contents and spoke while reading over it.

"I don't know what you mean. The only missing nin I can think of is Itachi and Orochimaru, but Itachi is dead and the snake has vanished so I…" She paused as her eyes slowly widened at the name on the paper.

"I am not speaking of those nins. I am speaking of Uzumaki Naruto. We've already had one incident with him not too long ago, but he persuaded me to turn the other cheek. I will not do it again. He is also very much loved by my village, so they will not take any offense to him sitting dow…Hokage-sama, are you laughing?" Tatsuya asked as Tsunade covered her eyes and small giggles left her lips. It wasn't long before she was clutching her sides in laughter. Even Kyo was staring at her with a shocked expression.

"Are you well, Hokage-sama?" He asked seeing her going into fits of laughter.

"Yes, yes I am. I've never felt better! Excuse me for a second." She said as she got up. Walking to one of her many shelves, she opened a drawer, took out a slip of paper, before smirking and tearing that paper to shreds.

"Hokage-sama?" Both males asked, surprised and confused as to what happened. She hummed happily and sat back down on the chair.

"Yamikage-sama, you have no idea how great this news is. I have been wanting to shred that thing for ages now, but never found a good excuse." She said to the shocked males. The two looked at each other before back at the Hokage.

"May I ask what were the contents?" Tatsuya asked. She nodded with an even wider smile.

"That document was a decree by the council that I was to sign once the Chunin exams were over, otherwise I would lose my position. Not that I really care, and I sure as hell wasn't going to sign it even with them breathing down my neck. Anyways, that document was to label Uzumaki Naruto…as an S-class missing nin, making killing him on sight a must. And I just tore it up! This is officially the best day I've had in ages!" She said with a cheerful giggle. The two males were surprised, but then Kyo started smiling and laughing along with her.

"Tsunade-sama. I'm sorry to interrupt, but there are a bunch of civilians outside filing complaints. I think you might want to take care of this personally before your already piling paperwork gets taller." Shizune said opening the door.

"All right, all right. Tell them I'll be right there. Yamikage-sama, Atsusa-san, it was a pleasure meeting with you both. More pleasant that I had expected." She said, smiling despite the hints of weeks of paperwork. Shizune was curious about the sudden cheerfulness, but the sounds of loud shouts outside distracted her.

"I'll show you out. I hope you don't mind going through the back, but things are pretty hectic out front." She said.

"It's quite fine with me." Tatsuya said. Kyo nodded in agreement, but his mind was on a certain blond. He really hoped that the man was doing okay, especially after what happened in the middle of the street.

"Tatsuya-sama, may I ask if you need anything more of me?" He said, looking up at the elder man. The Yamikage smiled gently and shook his head.

"Not today. You be careful, all right? If anything happens, I want you to tell me, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir. Excuse me." When they made it out the back, Kyo dashed off, hoping to possibly make it to the inn. There was a kitchen in the rooms, so he wanted to make dinner to apologize for causing such a fuss earlier.

Present time

"I'm really getting worried." Shizune muttered, standing right outside the office. After a while, some decided to let it be, and the change was pretty nice. They didn't have to deal with the deafening shouts when Tsunade was handed more paper. Shizune had her head hung, only seeing the feet of those rushing past her. Then a pair stopped in front of her and the owner of the feet turned to her.

"Hey, you okay?" She looked up and saw the concerned face of Inuzuka Kiba. She hadn't noticed before, but there Akamaru was, right by his best friend's side.

"Hello, Kiba. Back so soon?" She asked with a smile, noticing the folder that contained his mission report. He was probably dropping it off when he noticed her.

"Yeah, hope the village wasn't too quiet without me." He grinned. She sweatdropped, knowing a lot of elders praising for a week's break from the man's dangerous pranks.

"Pretty quiet. You really need to stop. Pretty soon you're going to have the village council on your tail." She scolded. He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Well you know what, I'm not afraid of some primped up gang of snobs with sticks up their ungrateful asses. But you know what, I have to say today has turned out pretty good! Especially when Hinata told me the news." He grinned. Shizune blinked.

"News?"

"You didn't hear?! Man, how could you have been left out of the loop! Well, you would never guess who returned after three years of making us run around in circles. Come on, guess." She thought for a moment, then she remembered the fuss in the front of the tower. Add that with Tsunade's sudden perkiness…

"Naruto?!"

"BINGO! She, Sakura, and Ino are off telling everyone about it now! We're planning on paying him a visit later on. Of course, going to his room may not be a good idea. Maybe we can welcome him back during the chunin exams." He said this with a thoughtful look on his face, ignoring the glares he was getting for speaking so friendly about Naruto. He then grinned again and crossed his arms.

"The best thing is, nobody can hurt him without causing a political incident with Yamigakure! He's teaching a genin team, plus I heard he's a pretty close pal with the Yamikage. Long story short, he's safe here for once. Man, I bet the council are seething right now. They worked so hard to make Naruto an S-class, only to find out he's not even part of Konoha anymore! Wish I could see their faces." He snickered. Shizune smiled softly, happy to hear that Naruto was safe from the villagers. That also explained Tsunade's sudden upbeat mood.

"Thank you for telling me. But you should get that down there soon before you get in trouble." She told him, pointing to the report that he still had clutched in his hand. With a small yelp of surprise, he took off. Bidding a small farewell as he vanished behind a corner. Giggling at the sight, Shizune leaned against the wall. Closing her eyes as a soft smile spread across her face.

He's back…

"Naru-chan, are you here?" Kyo called while walking into the room he and Naruto shared. He had bags on each arm and looked into the darkness, not wanting to turn on the light in case the blond was sleeping.

"Over here." A lamp turned on and he saw Naruto sitting on the bed. His team were sprawled all over the floor, snoring loudly as they slept off the last-minute training their sensei gave them.

"Hey you…what exactly did you do to them?" Kyo asked curiously while setting the bags down. They looked exhausted, and he worried that they may not be in top condition for the exams the next day. Then he noticed a small vial sitting on the counter in their mini-kitchen. "Digging through my potions again?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, Kyo, I've only used that twice now. They really needed it last time and they really need it now. So far, they're blaming it on my wonderful cooking, so I won't let them get dependant on the stuff." Naruto grinned. The potion he was talking about was something Kyo had made. It was supposed to make it so that even after an hour's of sleep the body of the one who took the potion would be fully rested. No muscle or bone pain and no drowsiness the morning after. However, dependence on it would only reduce the shinobi's ability to be prepared no matter how tired they are. The potion was only to be used three time within a 365 day period. No one uses it unless it's an emergency. And the biggest test for a genin counted as an emergency. Especially if their slave-driver of a sensei worked them to the bone the day before.

"Speaking of cooking. How did you get enough food? I thought there wasn't much left over from the trip over. You didn't…" He trailed off, not wanting to bring up the village and the risks of Naruto wandering around, even with the laws against attacking genin teachers during chunin exams.

"No, no. Kira said we had enough left over for every one to have at least one good meal so we don't have to worry until tomorrow about stocking up. Of course…you look like you took care of that for the rest of the month at the least." The blond said. Kyo smiled sadly and walked over to Naruto before sitting down next to him.

"I just don't think we should go out to shops and stuff to often. I'm not saying we should lock ourselves up, but those people were so violent towards you. We may be safe physically, but going to buy things may only get us cold shoulders. It was a miracle I was even able to get us food." He said. Naruto suddenly felt guilty. He knew the only reason the villagers were hostile against him is because they were together.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. Kyo blinked, and then realized what he said.

"It's all right, Naru-chan. Besides, I got help from a nice friend of yours." This caught the blonds attention and his head jerked up. "She helped me buy the food. Her name is Hyuuga Hinata, I think."

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto was surprised, but then he smiled in understanding. Even though he didn't expect his friends to remain his friends, he should have known. Hinata was not able to hate anyone, but with the Hyuugas, where the elders supported his execution three years ago, he was surprised she would help him. He knew her father didn't, but the elders had more influence than the head of the clan.

"She seemed really excited to hear that you returned. You know, you should pay some of your old friends a village. They may not be as spiteful as you think." Kyo suggested.

"Yeah…yeah, I'll do that. Maybe I'll see them at the chunin exams…" He smiled and then his eyes fell on the three genins passed out on the ground.

"We should put them in their rooms. I don't think I can sleep with that snoring." Naruto laughed and nodded. The pair carried the team to their rooms. Naruto taking the two boys while Kyo grabbed Maya. After putting the groceries away, they went to bed.

NM-chan: Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, one more thing. I'm having a hard time deciding something very important. Something that has to do with Kyo and Naruto's relationship...

Who's seme and who's uke?

I mean, the original idea was for Kyo to be seme since he would be providing Naruto a great deal of emotional support and Naruto, being hurt and betrayed by the village he gave so much to, would be uke. However, I've noticed that I've unconsciously made Kyo VERY uke-ish. HELP!

Anyways, R&R ppls. It may help me update faster. -grins-