I don't own Naruto.

Thanks for the great reviews! Just for them, I decided to get another chapter up as soon as possible. It appears Sakura survived the first chapter, so I will be adding some SasuSaku, but it will remain a NaruHina fic. As for their decisions to leave, Sasuke started it and put a lot of thought into it, Sakura found out and had to go or be left behind (not yet realizing the seriousness of the situation), Naruto was under pressure from the threats of punishment, and Hinata's thoughts were centered entirely around Naruto-kun when she heard that he left. It was a 'go now or not at all' decision, and I had already planned to have them think back on it not too much farther into the story. Thanks for the support and if I do anything to completely ruin this story, tell me and I might alter it (However, I will not change every little thing you think should be different). Okay, now on with the story.

The Spirit and the Spirited

Somewhere in another realm the Death God hovered menacingly in darkness. At his side was a lone figure, who was staring at the same objectless image as the Death God. The Death God was furious, although he only looked as he always did.

"You lose." The figure beside him stated simply, showing no sign of visible or even concealed fear. "He held it for twelve years. It seems mortals aren't as weak as you think." At this the Death God only grunted in disapproval.

"And if I recall," the figure continued, "the stakes to our little wager were the souls of the kid and the Kyuubi if you won, against my soul and body if I won." A steadfast expression remained on his face. He had enormous faith that the boy would succeed, and he had been correct.

"Very well then. I am obligated to keep my word, no matter how much I despise to lose a good meal." A deep voice rumbled back at him. "As promised, I will restore your body to the exact condition and location it was in when we made the bet, and you will be sent back to it."

He stood perfectly still as a strange feeling washed over him. A feeling. He had felt nothing over the past twelve years. This was something almost foreign to him. As the feeling stopped, a single thought dashed through his head. I'm back…

He could see the familiar forest below him, stretching out to the horizon. He could see the village of Konoha in the distance, the people seeming like ants running through the streets. The first thing he realized was that he was on the outskirts of Konoha, about an hours walk from the actual village. The second thing he realized was that he was fifty feet in the air, and quickly falling toward the trees below.

Naruto grunted in annoyance. The stupid wind thingy wasn't working. Once again he performed the set of hand seals and swung his arm through the air in front of him. The leaves on the tree in front of him shook slightly just as they did every time since he started.

Sakura made another kunai mark on the tree in front of her. She then held her hand over the mark, and a green glow was emitted from her palm. She removed her hand from the tree moments later to reveal the mark was gone. Inner Sakura cheered loudly, while Sakura just smiled. She was doing much better than she had when she started. She still didn't know why the mark kept moving to the left whenever she tried to close it up then. Now, I just need make the mark deeper and keep practicing…or, I could go see how Sasuke is doing! I bet his jutsu is really awesome! With that, she put her training on hold to go see Sasuke.

Sasuke was leaning against a tree not too far away. He had mastered the jutsu a while ago, but it just took so much chakra. Anyway, it wasn't the one he had wanted to learn. The on that caught his attention was a jounin level technique, which he would have attempted had it not been for the note that accompanied it. 'Due to the head on nature of this jutsu, it leaves the user susceptible to enemy countermeasures. For this reason it is labeled as dangerous, and is to only be attempted by its creator.' So he had just chosen a technique he recognized from his clan's library, telling himself he would learn the dangerous jutsu some other time. He then saw the pink-haired kunoichi coming towards him and yelled to Naruto on the other side of the clearing, "Hey, dobe, that's enough training for today! The sun's starting to set! We'll need our rest to head out early tomorrow!"

Naruto heard Sasuke call him, and ran over to join the others near the tent. They entered the tent and quietly got ready for bed, careful not to wake the shy girl. After choosing a jutsu from the scroll, Hinata had laid down in the tent to rest from her run to catch up with the others that morning, promising herself she was just resting and would begin training with the others in a few minutes. She was now curled up in the middle of the tent, fast asleep, the hood of her jacket serving as a pillow.

As the others rolled out their sleeping bags, Naruto just looked at her for a moment. She looked so peaceful there, calm and happy. This wasn't the girl he knew her as. He had always seen her as nervous, or upset about something that wasn't even her fault. She looks… he thought, not knowing how to finish the words that had appeared on their own.

"Goodnight, Sasuke!" Sakura whispered cheerfully across the tent, pulling Naruto back to reality. He began to unroll his sleeping bag as well, and soon all four shinobi were fast asleep.

In the office of the Hokage sat a white-eyed, stern-faced man, as well as the hokage himself. "That is not of my concern." the stern-faced man said, "Now if you will excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to." He stood up and turned to leave. He was halfway out the door when the hokage spoke.

"Hiashi, do you not care for your daughter?" the old man questioned with a sad look in his eyes.

"I care for my daughter Hanabi, who is waiting for me at home. Now if this was all you called me here for, I must return home to finish Hanabi's training for today." With that, he left, not waiting for a reply.

A man lay on the ground, not far from the town of Konoha. "Stupid God of Death…" he muttered as he made his way to his feet. He turned in the direction of the village. He couldn't just go back and pretend nothing had happened. Everyone thought he was dead. Those kids…he thought, remembering what he had seen just before he had returned, they've left the village. They shouldn't be registered as missing-nin, so I could probably travel with them…Now just where are they, anyway?

He performed a familiar seal. It felt so good to use a jutsu again after all these years. "Shadow clone jutsu." he said as twenty more of him appeared. "Fan out through the forest. Avoid being seen. Report back to me if you find them. You know who we're looking for." All the clones took off simultaneously, as the real one began to slowly walk through the forest, trying to get used to having a body again. Of course he didn't have to give the clones orders for them to know what to do. He just sort of did it out of habit.

The eastern sky was already beginning to glow faintly with light before on of his clones returned with the information he needed. He cancelled the jutsu, and sped of in the direction the clone had motioned. The Uchiha had said they would leave early, he had no time to waste.

Sasuke was again the first one awake. He looked out to see only a faint glow in the night sky. The sun would rise soon. He decided to go gather some food for breakfast, so he left the tent silently and made his way back to the same stream he had visited yesterday. Using the same method, he began to catch more fish.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Sakura was waking up as well. She turned to see that Sasuke was gone, and a set of footprints led in the direction of the river. Good. Sasuke's getting breakfast. I'm starving. She thought gratefully, still half asleep. Slowly making her way out of the tent, she came to the conclusion that without any money, they would be having fish for a while. She groaned at the thought, but accepted it, and began making a fire.

Sasuke returned shortly afterwards to find Sakura poking at the now lit fire with a stick. Mounted above the fire was a mostly flat rock, supported by carefully arranged branches. Next to the tired girl lay a pile of plants, mostly green with some other colors here and there. How long was I gone? Sasuke thought, looking up at the sky. It was only a little lighter than it had been when he left.

"Oh, hey Sasuke." She said drowsily, her voice lacking its usual adoration. Without really paying much attention she took the fish from him and placed it on the stone slab. She then began cutting some of the plants with a kunai.

Sasuke was confused. She didn't try to hug him, or tell him how great he was. She didn't seem to care that her hair was messy and she was covered in dirt. He came to the conclusion that she must be too sleepy to care. It was early after all, when she was more awake she would surely resume her normal habits. For now though, things seemed safe. He walked over and joined her on the log, silently watching her cut the…what were those?

"They're cooking herbs." she said without shifting her glance away from the strange plants. "I found some growing near the tent, and figured we might as well add some more flavor if we'll be eating fish every day."

They sat in silence for a while as she finished the cooking. She had become the annoying girl he knew her as yet, but she did seem to be getting more lively with every passing minute. After a while, Sakura turned behind her and yelled towards the tent. "Hey, wake up you two love birds! Breakfast is ready!" Sasuke again looked over at her as she yelled, obviously very confused. Had he missed something?

Unknown to them, Hinata had just woken up of her own accord when Sakura yelled to them. A deep blush overtook her face at the comment. The she noticed Naruto still asleep next to her. He was on top of his sleeping bag, and turned to the side; his legs draped over her own sleeping bag. She quickly jumped away, her blush deepening to a shade of red unimaginable. Luckily, she thought, nobody else was in the tent. Wait, was that a good thing? She hurriedly made her way out, trying unsuccessfully to hide her blushing face.

Sakura burst into laughter when shy girl emerged from the tent. Sasuke however didn't exactly understand what was so funny, so her brushed it off as something below him, and turned his attention back to…what had he been doing all morning? He remembered catching fish, then Sakura cooked the fish, and then…where had the time gone?

After Naruto had woken up from the smell of food, they all began eating. It wasn't exactly the best cooking, but the herbs Sakura added did make it taste a little better. Naruto noticed Hinata was acting strange near him again, avoiding eye contact, and even blushing when he looked at her. He had already asker her if something was wrong, only to receive a knock on the head from Sakura. She couldn't figure out why Hinata would like someone so dumb, but if Sakura could beat some sense into the boy, he might just leave her alone.

They talked some as they ate, only about minor things. Hinata had just learned that Naruto had graduated after all, and she congratulated him.

They were only five minute into their meal, when something caught their attention. A tall man with wild blonde hair was approaching their campsite from the forest. He wore a white cloak, with crimson flames embroidered at the bottom. His eyes were a cerulean blue that radiated with a sort of subtle kindness.

Sasuke drew a kunai instinctively, despite the stranger's appearance, they couldn't take any chances. He continued to slowly approach them, until he was standing only a few feet away from them. "Hi." He said with a small wave and a cheerful smile.

All four of them blinked in confusion. The stranger continued, not bothering to explain himself. "You have leaf forehead protectors. You are leaf village genin?" he asked, knowing full well that they weren't.

"No," Sakura answered, "we left Konoha when we got these headbands." Sasuke shot her an angry glare for responding, so she backed down a bit. The stranger started smiling again as he questioned them further.

"So you haven't been assigned to a jounin instructor, am I correct?" Sakura nodded silently so that Sasuke wouldn't notice her. "Good." the man finished, "then from this point on, I am appointing myself as this group's jounin instructor."

End of chapter 2

Well, there's another chapter done. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review!

Next chapter: the group travels onward: training in water country.