Homecoming:
15 years later
"Damn paperwork," thought Tsunade as she pulled another document towards herself from the mountain of papers sitting on her desk. It has been exactly two years since the death of her sensei and the Sandaime Hokage of the village by none other than his own student Orochimaru. Not only that but this also had to be the day that Sakura took a leave because she mourned this day for that damned Sasuke Uchiha. It wasn't helping that the rebuilding of Konoha was still not complete from the attack two years ago, now the village was in debt and the fire daimyo was blaming it on Konoha's incompetence that he had to pay the other villages because of this disaster. Tsunade gave a loud sigh before leaning back and pulling out a bottle of sake and a cup.
Thoughts of another blonde came to her mind, "he must be old enough to be a chuunin now, but Minato was a tokubetsu jounin at the age of thirteen and was on his way to learning senjutsu from the sages in Mount Myouboku. She also remembered when Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were young and how Jiraiya constantly complained about how hard senjutsu training was and that why was he the only one that sensei chose to go through with it. Only years later did they realize that senjutsus training worked only for those that kept on trying until they got the desired results because it was based on trial and error methods until the chakra system found the right amount of mixing to allow person to take on sage mode. Most people did not find the exact right mixing and ended up being like Jiraiya who morphed a little bit himself when going into sage mode. The same went for Minato, his chakra reserves were too vast to find the exact mixing either. As far as Tsunade knew, nobody other than the toad sages of Mount Myouboku was able to find the exact mixing in the chakra composition. It was also rumored that with the exact composition sage mode would be much more powerful than the partial mode that Jiraiya or Minato could acquire; a full sage's prowess would be three to four times more powerful. Then again nobody had done it other than the fabled Sage of the six paths who was a master at just about every form of Shinobi arts there were.
"Where is the old pervert anyway, I need to know what information he gathered on Orochi-teme and this new Akatsuki group that were after all the tailed beasts and had already captured two jinchuurikis from different hidden villages, they are definitely composed of strong shinobis if they are able to just overpower jinchuurikis that have full control of their tailed beasts." Tsunade's trend of thoughts continued as she took another sip of sake. "Bah, why in the world did I agree to take this job, it sucks! Life was so much better when I could just gamble and drink all the time. No paperwork and no council trash to deal with, my luck really does suck sometimes." She groaned as she finished the rest of the Sake in one gulp and pored herself another cup.
The door to her office opened and a very red faced Shizune poked her face in and said "Jiraiya-sama is here to meet you, says he has two very important missions to turn in." Tsunade motioned for her to send him in and sighed very exasperatedly, "why does that old pervert have to flirt with girls that are a third his age? He should get the clue when he gets slapped around like that!"
"Tsunade hime, how is it going, gosh I haven't seen that lovely face in months." Said Jiraiya in his usual happy-go-lucky manner as he grabbed a chair and sat down looking the cleavage of her breasts. Tsunade thwacked him on his head with a chakra enhanced fist so that he would look at her face not her body.
"What do you want?" she said glaring at him as she pulled her robes closer to cover herself from the pervert's gaze, who knew what tales he was spinning in his head for the next installment of his famous Icha-Icha Paradise series.
"Why do you always take it the wrong way hime?" asked Jiraiya with a hurt expression on his face as he rubbed his head where Tsunade hit him.
Tsunade sighed before asking "I am really hoping you found something important from your spying network, Orochi-teme and this Akatsuki's growing threat is getting on my old nerves. I am getting very bad vibes from this new enemy. What do you have on them?"
Jiraiya's face turned serious instantly as he picked up the huge scroll he always wears on his back and laid it out on her desk. "Well, Akatsuki is indeed comprised of extremely powerful and dangerous shinobis. This time my research was extensive and thorough, all the members of the Akatsuki are comprised of SS-ranked criminals who have the highest bounties on their heads. All of them except one person, their leader Pein. He is apparently not from any hidden village because he has no bounty on his head. There is one thing that even makes me weary of him." Jiraiya looked up from his scroll to Tsunade's questioning face. "He beat Hanzo single-handedly, took his palace, and made it into the head quarters for all Akatsuki operations."
"He is that strong?" asked Tsunade her eyes wide, even they weren't able to take Hanzo down together the three sannin of the leaf, Jiraiya nodded. "What other information do you have?"
"There is also a leaf shinobi in the Akatsuki, a ninja who has a very, very high bounty on his head." Jiraiya's explicit explanation told her that she should have guessed who it was but she could not name anyone that she thought was from Konoha.
"Who is it, be clear with me." ordered the Godaime Hokage.
Jiraiya took a deep breath and said "Itachi Uchiha."
"DAMN, ANOTHER UCHIHA THAT BETRAYED THE VILLAGE! I AM DONE WITH THAT DAMNED CLAN!" Tsunade fumed with anger as she heard that the only other living Uchiha has also turned against his own village.
"Calm down hime, there is more, my spy network is working more efficiently now. They have also figured out that Pein is not the true brains behind the Akatsuki operations; he is just a leader figure. The actual brain behind the operation is someone else, someone even stronger than Pein. My network is still working on the identity of this person but he had eluded all efforts of us uncovering his identity with masterful art and deception."
"Even stronger than Pein? How strong is this ninja?" asked Tsunade, awe and concern evident in her voice.
"If my guess is correct, he is probably on par with the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju." Jiraiya stood up as he headed to the window so he could look out the window towards the rest of Konoha, "this foreshadows bad news hime, and there are troubling times up ahead for Konoha. You are their leader therefore I think you should start preparing right now."
"Yes, I wish they were here, they are far more capable to be the leader of Konoha than I am." Tsunade said somberly as she looked at the portraits of the Sandaime and the Yondaime Hokages.
"Do not mourn hime, there is still hope, and that is what my second mission submission is for." Said Jiraiya and there was something unreadable in his voice as he looked at the Hokage mountain.
"Does it relate to Akatsuki or Orochi-teme in any way? If it doesn't then leave the report on my table and go I have a lot of work pending that needs to be done by the end of this week and I am well behind by more than a week." Tsunade went back behind her desk and sat down.
"I cannot have a formal report written down for this assignment, you already know that." Jiraiya said as he turned towards her with a small smile on his face. Tsunade recognized that smile really well as this was not the lecherous smile that Jiraiya had on when he had perverted thoughts, this smile was the smile of a Shinobi who was looking forward to good things happening in the future. This was Jiraiya thinking that there was still hope that not all is yet lost even though it looks bleak and dark.
"What do you need to tell me?" Tsunade asked in a very serious voice, she had a frown on her face that said that if-the-matter-is-important-you-better-tell-me-fast.
"The will of fire lives on Tsunade, have faith in the new generation that is growing in Konoha. Today, as I was walking through Konoha, I felt the chakra signatures of all the young shinobis of Konoha, and they are not to be underestimated. Their will of fire is stronger than all the generations that came before; this generation has produced quite a group. All of them talented and dedicated to the Konoha, and all of them ready to lay down their lives without hesitation for the village if necessary, except for obvious few exceptions." Jiraiya said laughing inwardly as he saw a tick appear on Tsunade's forehead.
"Damn it Jiraiya, that's a nice speech but it is not getting us anywhere, just tell me what you need to and leave!" shouted Tsunade angrily and glared at the pervert for taking her time unnecessarily.
"Okay, okay," Jiraiya raised his hands before Tsunade decided to do something too drastic "My second mission is that Naruto is finally able to defend himself so I am returning him to Konoha as is his birthright."
Tsunade's eyes widened at this announcement. She had not seen Naruto in two years. The only time she had seen him in her life was when Jiraiya and Naruto had gone to retrieve her and make her the Godaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, and even in that small period she had taken a liking to that boy's spirit and even given him her necklace as a sign that she trusted him as much as she trusted Nawaki and Dan. "So what is the gaki like? I probably can't call him a gaki anymore can I?" asked Tsunade with a genuine smile on her face as she remembered the Naruto that had taken her bet and had mastered Rasengan in a week.
"Yes, calling him a gaki will be a misnomer as he has grown quite a bit since you saw him last. His skill and strength as a shinobi has also grown in unimaginable proportions. The boy was truly meant to be a shinobi and is becoming more and more like his old man every day." Jiraiya said pride evident in his expression and voice.
"Yes tell me about him, even though I have met him, I know nothing about his skill as a shinobi. In fact, the time he fought Kabuto, he only used Rasengan to beat him, he did not show any of his other skills." Tsunade asked with much interest as to see how Minato's legacy has grown up.
Jiraiya put his index finger to his chin and thought for a few minutes before turning back to the window, "Since he is of the Uzumaki clan, his body has an affinity towards tai jutsu. I trained him with weights since he was four but then I had the sages of Mount Myouboku train in the arts the frog katas but he quickly mastered them. So I had him trained in some other forms until I met up with Might Gai, he gave me more than a few scrolls on Tai jutsus and their many forms, he also gave two of his most priceless fighting styles, to fight a man looking at his body but not his eyes. This form of Tai jutsu is very effective against any ninjas with ocular jutsus or two of Konoha's most powerful clans. Yet, and here's the kick; he being also from the Namikaze clan gave his body an affinity towards ninjutsus as well. His ability to understand the workings of a jutsu is phenomenal, and with his training method, he can master just about any jutsus in a matter of days, and the level he masters senjutsu is unbelievable. In addition to that, the Kyuubi also gives him a lot of advantages. His ability to heal is extra-ordinary, he can heal his wounds in hours that would take a regular man days, if not weeks, his stamina is incredible, and his natural chakra reserves are about twice the size of Minato's. Another important aspect is that even though Naruto might look like he is a simple minded guy; it would be a grave error to underestimate his skills as a strategist as he can come up with complex analytical tactics on the spur of the moment. He developed this ability from a young age as he studied under the sages of Mount Myouboku. He also has the toad summons contract and has become quite close with Gamakichi, Gamabunta's first-born son and probably the heir to his position. He also became a subordinate of Gamabunta, and for some reason Gamabunta shows him even more respect than he gives me (Tsunade smirked at that). Anyway, Naruto is not a genjutsu type, he is in fact quite bad at them and training his mind is exceptionally hard for him because of the Kyuubi. But I have personally given him extensive training in how to break even the toughest of Genjutsus and he has become quite good at recognizing them and breaking out of them. I would even go as far as to say any Genjutsu user will be at a disadvantage against Naruto because once he breaks the Genjutsu, he will flat-out overpower his opponent and take him down. In a nut shell Naruto is a power hitter, he takes his opponents and simply annihilates them, but he is also a genius as when required he has shown excellence in strategy and analytical understanding of any battle situation. Heck he even completed his Father's two most prized techniques, something even the Yondaime could not do himself."
Jiraiya turned back towards Tsunade only to see that her eyes were just about ready to pop out of their sockets. "H-How strong is he? Oh and did you say he mastered senjutsu?" stammered out Tsunade, this description sounded more like a kage level ninja than a chuunin to her. Either Jiraiya is elaborating a little too much because nobody should be as strong as this at the age of fifteen, or she had seriously under estimated Naruto's potential
Jiraiya again thought for a few seconds before looking back at the Hokage Mountain, "Yeah, he is a legend in Myouboku. He is the only person in the last century to mix his chakra with nature chakra in perfect proportion, no morphing at all when he goes into sage mode. If I have to give him a rank based on the ninja ranking system, he can easily make the kage level. In a straight out fight he can go toe to toe against me unless we go into sage mode. In sage mode I stand no chance against him. At the age of eight he was already at the level of a high chuunin, plus his experience in the number of missions he has completed outranks any of Konoha's chuunin and a few of the jounins. His assassination and espionage skills are on par with Kakashi's when he was the ANBU squad captain, and that was four years ago. He has got the guts to even threaten the Kyuubi. Right now Naruto can control up to six tails of the Kyuubi's chakra while remaining in full control of his emotions and his body. Not only that, but Naruto's ability to learn jutsus surprised even me. The guy can take any A-rank to S-rank jutsu and master it in less than a week. His mastery of seals is on par with me if not better and his mastery over Fuuton and Suiton techniques are also top class. He took the whole library in Mount Myouboku of fuuton and suiton related techniques and just memorized and mastered them in about two years (Tsunade sweat-dropped at that). However his greatest achievements are completing his father's techniques. He was able to channel fuuton chakra into the Rasengan and came out with SS-ranked jutsu, the Rasenshuriken. This technique is so fierce that it damages the user's hand, eventually Naruto learned to throw it so he can use it safely but this jutsu is a one-hit kill. It attacks the opponent in the cellular level and decimates them, not much of the opponent is left when the jutsu is done. He has increased the control over Hiraishin considerably. Where Minato used partner seals, one on his Kunai, and the other he had on himself, Naruto has modified it so that the partner seals are not necessary. He just has one seal on himself that takes him to exactly where he was looking or of what place he is thinking of as he activates Hiraishin, there is no more need for the kunais. I took quite a bit of lecturing from me to stop Naruto from popping himself here and taking a look at the village, since he has made it his dream to become the Hokage of Konoha. In other words, Naruto is probably the strongest ninja in Konoha right now. I believe that this mission was a complete successes, don't you?"
Tsunade blinked but kept staring at Jiraiya for a full minute before Jiraiya coughed loudly to rouse her from her chain of thoughts. "When Sarutobi sensei said 'bring him when he can defend himself' I don't think he meant it on this level. It does not make my life any easier that you have just brought a ninja with no history who can probably wipe the floor with me if he wanted (Jiraiya smirked at that). So, does he know about his heritage?"
"No, all he knows is that he is from Konoha and that I found him after the fourth Hokage sealed the bijuu in him and took him out of the village to give special training. When he was younger he once asked me about his parents but did not ask after I told him that he will know everything in due time." Jiraiya was looking at the Fourth's picture, "Personally I think we should wait a couple more years before letting him know, but you are the Hokage, I leave this up to you."
"Yes, on this matter I agree. So where is he anyway?" asked Tsunade looking towards the door to her office.
"Oh just checking out the village right now, I gave him two hours free time, he will report here in about half an hour later." Jiraiya then looked at Tsunade; "It will also give me some time to discuss Konoha's standings with the other hidden villages of the shinobi nations."
With Naruto
As soon as Jiraiya walked off towards the Hokage tower, Naruto took to the rooftops. He was finally in the village where he was born. Jiraiya had told him a lot about the village, but being there first hand was something totally different. He had scoured the library in Mount Myouboku clean by reading every book he found on Konoha, starting from the history, all the way to the current Fire Daimyo's son's name. He knew every jutsu that was invented by the ninjas of Konoha; he knew everything there was to know about the clans of Konoha and all the blood line limits. Unbeknownst to Jiraiya, he had even taken special training from Paa Fukasaku and Maa Shima and learned how to counter all the blood line limits in Konoha. As he jumped onto another rooftop, he saw a very beautiful pink-haired teen sitting forlornly on a bench in the garden area of the Ninja academy. There was also blonde girl of similar age, sitting next to her and she seemed to be giving her some sort of lecture. They both looked like they were his age so he jumped down and slowly made his way towards them.
As neared them he heard the blonde girl speaking "…been two years now Sakura, you should figure it out that he is not coming back any more." The blonde girl said sympathetically, "Today all the people from our graduating year are going to a dinner party, you have to come, okay it is a tradition and you have already missed last year's so you have to go to this one." Naruto was very close to them but it looked like they were in the middle of a conversation so he moved to a side and leaned against the fence looking at the street. "Hey, don't you know this is a shinobi only area! No civilians allowed, get lost," shouted the blonde girl very rudely at him.
"Oh no, you misunderstand, I am a shinobi," Naruto said as he smiled at the blonde.
"Oh yeah, where is your head band, come to think of it I haven't even seen you before, who are you?" asked Ino, she quickly turned back to Sakura and gave her a smirk, this guy was clearly bluffing so he could take a look at the ninja academy. She was going to pull a little trick on him.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, what is yours?" asked Naruto as he extended his hand for a hand shake.
"My name is Ino Yamanaka. I am a chuunin of Konoha, nice to meet you. Hey want me to show you a real jutsu?" asked Ino in a too-sweet voice.
Naruto already had alarms going off in his head but outwardly he remained calm and gave a smile to Ino before saying "I would love to see one."
Ino gave him a smile and put her hands on both sides of her head, faced him and closed her eyes. Naruto immediately tensed a he figured out what was going on. "MIND TRANSFER TECHNIQUE!" shouted Ino. But Naruto was ready because he just swayed back like a tree in a breeze and the mind technique passed him before returning back to Ino's body. Ino blinked as she opened her eyes, before asking Sakura, "Why did it not work?"
Sakura pointed at Naruto and said, "H-He dodged it, like he was expecting you to use that."
"Of course I knew she was going to use the Yamanaka's blood line jutsu, she put her hands on both sides of her head, it was easy to predict after that," said Naruto. "What do they think I am, a fool?" thought Naruto.
"Okay, so you know a little bit about the Shinobi arts, but that is not going to fool us, you are not going inside the academy, you understand!" Ino said angrily, as she pointed at the main building in the academy.
"Jeez, calm down. I don't need to go in there anyway, I am past genin level. My mentor says that I am Jounin level, so you see I am way ahead of what the ninja academy teaches." Naruto said in an earnest voice and gave Ino a small smile.
"Jounin level eh, so you are saying that you are a better ninja than even I am? How about a spar huh? Surely a high and mighty ninja like you can easily beat a mere chuunin like me right?" asked Ino in a sarcastic voice. Naruto kept his face neutral even though he clearly realized the sarcasm in her voice. Truth be told, he had had enough of this blonde's attitude. It was time he showed her that he was not lying at all, being friendly with these type of people were only possible after you showed them that you were better than they are. Naruto nodded and gestured for her to lead the way.
As the three young shinobis walked towards the nearest empty training ground, Sakura looked at the blonde stranger curiously. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto asked.
"Well you have not already run off, that is a new height even for civilians. Do you truly think that you can take on Ino? She has got anger issues you know; when she is angry she loses control. It has never ended well if you fight an angry Ino. My advice is you take the first chance and escape, or else you will end up in the hospital for sure." Sakura said, in a pleading voice as she knew that not only will Tsunade punish Ino for assaulting a civilian, she will also punish Sakura for being there but not stopping the fight as a responsible Chuunin should.
"Look ladies, I am not kidding around when I am saying that I am a ninja. If you think I am lying then check my chakra signature, you will see that I have been training my chakra since I was very young. Heck, I have wanted to be a ninja since I came to know of the meaning of the word, and even after this if you don't believe me, that's fine, because I will fight. Do not say later that I didn't warn you already."
Ino continued walking, showing complete indifference to Naruto's words. Sakura, however, thought he was not lying. When she looked at him closely, he showed considerable amount of muscle that a lot of Tai jutsu specialists had, his gait had a natural grace, and his body was like a coiled spring, as if ready for any kind of danger at all times. If this guy was not a ninja, he was still a warrior of some kind; no civilian she knew had the training and discipline to develop an anatomical excellence such as Naruto's. As the trio neared the Hokage Mountain, they reached one of the empty training grounds. It was a circular clearing surrounded by a dense canopy of trees. Ino jumped over the gate and opened it from inside so that Naruto and Sakura could enter.
"Ino, I really don't think this is a good-" Sakura started saying but was interrupted by Ino.
"No Sakura, these kinds of guys need a lesson in manners, and he obviously did not learn it when we tried to explain it to him nicely, now he is going to find out the hard way." Ino was dead set on making this blonde cookie realize his mistake, he will think twice before being arrogant ever again. "Anytime you are ready."
Naruto took a Tai jutsu stance and wiggled his index finger letting Ino know he was ready for her. Ino simply charged at Naruto with the Tai jutsu style that Asuma Sarutobi taught her. Her low aimed kick did not connect as Naruto suddenly disappeared from her field of vision. She quickly looked around to see him standing casually behind her. She took her stance again when she felt excruciating pain on the back of her shoulder blades, and lost consciousness. Sakura could not believe what she saw, one minute Naruto was standing in front of Ino, but the next second he was behind her. Not only that, in that small gap he had created a shadow clone and had hidden it behind one of the trees. Sakura rushed to Ino's side to run a simple diagnostic and see if she was alright. "Don't worry, I just hit a pressure point, she will wake up in a couple of minutes." Naruto was looking at Sakura's glowing hands intently before concluding that she had some amount of medical training. It was expected since the Godaime Hokage was Tsunade; medical knowledge in Konoha's ninjas must have increased considerably. Ino stirred her hands and rubbed her shoulder before bolting straight up.
"What happened?" she asked looking at Sakura with a deep frown on her face.
"Nothing, a civilian just knocked you out cold in less than a minute." Sakura said sarcastically as she put an emphasis on the word 'civilian'. Ino's face flushed red but she quickly looked away from Sakura only to see Naruto looking at her. He quickly put his hands up to show he meant no harm.
"Look, I am sorry; I guess I should have elaborated before just going with your idea of a fight. You see I am an orphan from Konoha and for some reason the Sandaime Hokage saw it fit to just let me grow up and train outside the village. I don't know much about the reason behind it but I am sure he had a pretty good one for sending me off for so long. So I lived and trained under Master Jiraiya. You guys probably know him as one of the three sannin, and the current Hokage's old teammate." Naruto knew that he had humiliated the Yamanaka enough and now just wanted to be a friend, so he put all his animosities away and gave her a genuine smile.
Both the kunoichis eyes went wide at Naruto's explanation. He was trained under one of the Sannins for even longer than Sakura had. They both knew from personal experience that training under the Sannins for any period of time is brutal, but the results were astounding. Sakura had come a long way in just two years from a very ordinary genin to one of Konoha's best combat medics. If Naruto has trained under Jiraiya for most of his life, then he was far beyond their abilities to handle. Sakura concluded that he was probably as strong as Neji, Shino, or Shikamaru, as they were the youngest three from Sakura's year to have gained the status of Jounins. Ino nodded, and to Sakura's pleasant surprise, she said, "I am sorry, I forced you into that kind of situation just because of a little misunderstanding. I hope we can become good friends in the future." Ino quickly extended her hand to Naruto who shook it showing his desire to do the same.
"So, uh, how old are you guys?" asked Naruto rubbing the back of his head. "I am fifteen, so I am guessing that all the people my age are probably chuunins and jounins by now, hopefully I won't start as a genin that will be embarrassing." Naruto moaned making the girls giggle at his childish thoughts.
"We are also fifteen, and your assumption is quite right. I, Ino, Lee, Tenten, Kiba, Hinata, and Choji are all chuunins. The only Jounins from our graduating year is Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino, you will probably meet them all tonight if you show up at the gathering we are having. It is just the people our age, and since you are also exactly our age you should come, it will be fun." Sakura said as the three headed out of the training ground and walked back towards the market district.
"Yeah sure, it sounds good. Only one problem, I don't know where it will be or what time it will start." Naruto looked the time and was heading towards the Hokage tower; it was almost time for him to meet baa-chan.
"No problem, me and Ino can come and take you there, where are you staying right now?" asked Sakura as she found this stranger very interesting, and he was not like Kiba either, always trying to flirt with the girls or trying to get them to date him.
"We will be staying in the hotel that is right next to the Hokage mansion, you know in the east of the market district." Said Naruto pointing the in the general direction of the Hotel they booked their rooms in. "It's almost time for me to report in to the Hokage right now. Are you guys coming with me or do you have some-place else to be?"
"I got a free day because Asuma sensei did not feel like training today nor do we have any missions until this Friday, and Sakura took a leave today, so we can keep you company for a little longer." Ino said as they reached the bottom of the Hokage tower. "So what is going to happen, are you just going to get a Konoha head band? That is it? Will you be a Chuunin after that? Boy, you sure are lucky; I and Sakura had to go through the Chuunin exams twice before we became Chuunins, and the forest is brutal."
"Well, Jiraiya and the Sages tested me frequently in Mount Myouboku to keep tabs on my improvement. They said that I was past Chuunin level when the tested me at the age of eleven. Then, according to the sages, I made Jounin a little before my fourteenth birthday. They thought I was excelling as a Shinobi, but I kept on training and training because I knew that Konoha was among the strongest in all the Shinobi villages and by the time it was my fifteenth birthday I made it high level Jounin." Naruto was talking to the Kunoichis as he walked up the final set of stairs. "Shizune nee-chan, how are you doing?" asked Naruto as he saw the Hokage's assistant behind the reception.
"Naruto! I am fine. How are you? Gosh you have grown quite a bit since we last met." Shizune walked up to Naruto and gave him a quick hug before she went back to the reception and wrote his name down.
"I am doing fine; Ero-sannin has been training me constantly for the last year and a half. I am far stronger than I was two years ago when I fought that Hebi-sannin Orochimaru, and his pal Kabuto." Naruto said casually surprising both Sakura and Ino.
"Naruto, how do you know Shizune-chan?" asked Ino as he turned back towards them.
"I went on a mission with Ero-sannin to find Tsunade-Sama so that she could take the spot as the Hokage of Konoha after the death of the Sandaime Hokage. That is when I first met Shizune nee-chan; she was Tsunade-Sama's assistant back then too."
"Kid, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that, especially in front of such beautiful ladies?" Jiraiya said from the door of the Hokage's office as he looked at Sakura and Ino.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your perverted thoughts to yourself," said Naruto like he had already had this discussion a hundred times before. Tsunade and Shizune both smirked at Naruto's attitude towards Jiraiya's perverseness.
He walked into the Hokage's office looking around and taking in the room's elaborate décor and exquisite furniture.
Tsunade was a little taken back by the sheer growth in Naruto physique. Naruto was at least half a foot taller than he was the last time she met him. He stood almost head to head with Jiraiya; he had also become much more muscular and moved more like a predator than the clumsy teen she remembered. The most striking feature though was his face. It was almost exactly like Minato's with the obvious whisker marks on his cheeks. Where Minato's face had a refined and gentle look, Naruto's was rougher and more angular, giving his face a wolfish appearance.
"So Naruto, I see you have met two of my students already. What do you think of Konoha, I assume you have been looking around a little bit?" asked Tsunade.
"Well that was the plan but the only place I got a good look at was the Hokage Mountain before I met Ino and Sakura and…there was a little misunderstanding between us, but now it is all cleared out."
"Sakura can you elaborate on this misunderstanding that Naruto mentioned?" ordered Tsunade as she looked at Ino. She knew Ino was a little impatient and hot tempered, and had gotten into fights with many civilians of Konoha.
"Hai, Ino was trying to cheer me up and was inviting me to the gathering that the people from my graduating year are having tonight when she saw Naruto standing by the fence and was looking at the Ninja Academy. She immediately mistook him for a civilian and tried to play a trick on him which failed. When Naruto denied being a civilian, it only angered her more and she challenged him to a duel. Naruto went with me and Ino to training ground in the south western side of Konoha and they had a fight." Sakura was trying to minimize the situation to its bare minimum so that Ino didn't go into probation again. That could take a very bad effect on her career as a shinobi.
"So, how did it go?" asked Tsunade obviously interested to see how Naruto matched up against the shinobis his age.
"If you call getting knocked out in under a minute without being able to land a single hit on the opponent you are fighting, then yes Naruto and I had a fight." Ino was staring at the floor as she admitted how easily she was defeated by Naruto.
"Wow," thought Tsunade "he is really as strong as Jiraiya says he is."
"Hey, listen there is no reason to feel bad if you were defeated by Naruto, he was meant to be trained to be a special ninja. That is why he grew up outside the village." Jiraiya said surprising Naruto, Sakura, and Ino.
"Really?" asked Ino, as she felt reassured that she was not totally useless as a shinobi.
"Sure, how many Konoha nins do you know that grew up outside of Konoha? Think about that."
"Hey Ino, let's go, I have to tell you something. Naruto we will be at your hotel at about seven, see ya later and don't forget to wear formal clothes." Said Sakura as she and Ino walked out of the office.
"So, baa-chan are you going to give me a head band or do I have to start off as a genin?" asked Naruto as he looked at the portraits of all the Hokages of Konoha, and as usual his eyes stopped on the Yondaime's. Something about the man always appealed to him but he could never point out what it was that nagged him whenever he laid eyes on the picture of the youngest man to ever become the Hokage of Konoha.
"Not so easy gaki. You have to prove what you are made of before you get the headband and I have to determine what level you are." Tsunade was smirking; she already had a very good opponent for him in her mind.
"What do I have to do?" asked Naruto, he knew the Godaime Hokage's smirk and he was already self conscious.
"A spar, just to see how good you are, nothing else. Your opponent is going to be Shikamaru Nara." Tsunade figured that brains were the best defense against brawn so; she decided to see how good Naruto truly was when he faced someone as smart as Shikamaru.
"Nara huh? I know the best defense against them. Surprise is the only option to take them down quickly and efficiently." Naruto had always paid attention to what Fukasaku Paa had said, and he had tried them before and they have always worked in every situation.
"Ya, okay let's do this quickly, I have to go somewhere to meet one of my informants. It is information on Sunagakure; it looks like Akatsuki is going to make a move on their Kazekage." Jiraiya whispered to Tsunade who nodded before she, Naruto Jiraiya, and Shizune walked out of the Hokage tower and towards one of the training grounds. As they moved towards the training ground Naruto saw a spiky and black haired boy lying on the ground, and staring at the clouds. Along with him was a man who seemed to be a chain smoker, a big brown haired boy, and also Ino who waved at him.
"So you are Naruto Uzumaki, huh?" asked the guy who was smoking a cigarette. He looked at Naruto closely before adding, "I can see why Ino was beaten by you."
"Oh, that was nothing; it was all a stupid misunderstanding." Naruto said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head.
"All right Shikamaru, this is your opponent Naruto," said Tsunade as he she went in the middle of the training ground.
Shikamaru slowly got up and muttered "Troublesome."
"Stereotypical of all the Nara clan," thought Naruto as he got ready for the spar.
"All right, to proctor this match I have called Genma, he is an expert and he proctored all the matches in the past few Chuunin exams." Tsunade waved and a man with a bandanna style head band jumped down from one of the trees.
"Hi guys," he said and beckoned the two fighters to face each other, "All weapons and ninja tools are allowed along with the use of soldier pills, animals, bugs, and other ninja accomplices. All forms of jutsus are allowed except for the ones that can kill instantly, there are no limit to the use of unique jutsus and blood line limits. Is that understood?"
Both Naruto and Shikamaru nodded.
"All right, BEGIN!" Genma moved out of the way of both the fighters.
"Kage mane no jutsu," shouted Shikamaru and bound Naruto in his jutsu. He quickly put his hand in his holster and pulled out a kunai. Naruto mimicked his movements and also pulled out a kunai. "Now you realize what my jutsu is doing, so I will ask you if you will give up right now or not. Move your eyes to the right if you want to."
"Wow, nice jutsu, too bad I knew about it from the beginning, and I also know that you Naras think like ten moves ahead every time. So the best way to take you guys down is by surprise. About twenty more Narutos jumped down from the trees, and the one that was under the Kage mane jutsu disappeared in cloud of smoke.
"Atta boy," thought Jiraiya as he looked over to Asuma Sarutobi, only to see his mouth hanging open and his cigarette was lying on the ground. "Looks like someone is surprised," said Jiraiya with a chuckle.
Shikamaru quickly pulled back the Kage mane jutsu and raised his hand, "I forfeit." He said in his usual bored voice as he walked over to Genma.
"Lazy ass," thought both Naruto and Tsunade. She knew it was a big risk to ask Shikamaru to take a spar seriously, but she didn't think he would give up this fast.
"Well gaki, looks like you are a shinobi of Konoha. Let's go back to my office so we can fill out the paperwork and you will get the headband."
"I will see you at the party, okay. Oh, and this is my other teammate Choji and that is my sensei Asuma Sarutobi." Said Ino pointing at Choji and then at Asuma. Choji waved at him.
"I have been looking forward to meet you after Ino told me about you. She says you are from Konoha but you grew up outside. I would like to know about your travels." Choji sounded like an excited baby, but Naruto concluded that he was probably a kind of person with a golden heart, something very rare among shinobis.
"Okay guys, I'll meet you in the evening then," Naruto, Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya sushined back to the Hokage's office and Shizune pulled out a file with his name on it from the cabinet and handed it to Tsunade. "I believe that the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had it made covertly and left it with Tsunade-sama. Finally Naruto's name will be added to the archives as a shinobi of Konoha. Welcome home Naruto." Shizune smiled and then went back to the reception.
"Boy, sensei thought about everything didn't he?" chuckling at himself Jiraiya opened the folder, he quickly scanned it and the handed it to Naruto. He looked at Tsunade and said "Looks like there is nothing amiss, so let's get this business over with, I need to get going."
"Naruto sign the forms where your signature is required, and I will get the head bands there are choose whichever style you like." Naruto quickly signed the papers and then looked at the headbands that were laid out in front of him. He quickly chose the one with the extra long strap and tied it to his forehead. "Now, we can talk about the rankings, judging from today's display, you are definitely a Jounin, but I know nothing about your abilities when you are in a team, so I am going to put you in as a Tokubetsu Jounin, and then send you out on team missions. If you are just as good a team worker, then you are fully qualified to be a Jounin of Konoha. Right now I have no missions for you, but be here tomorrow, I will see what I can dig up for you."
"Okay, hey do you mind if I borrow nee-chan for an hour or so?" asked Naruto, he had no idea about fashion or knew where to buy clothes so he figured Shizune could really help him out.
"I am glad you asked, yes take her out of this cooped up office for some time, she has been really stressed the past few weeks, just make sure she comes back to report the day's work."
"'Kay, see you later Ero-sannin, baa-chan," Naruto ran out of the Hokage office as he heard loud curses coming from both Tsunade and Jiraiya. "Shizune nee-chan I need your help can you help me?"
"I wish I could but I have a lot of work left." Shizune sighed as she looked back to the files that still needed to be sorted.
"Yeah, I know but baa-chan said you really need some fresh air so let's go," Naruto grabbed both of Shizune's hands and literally dragged a thrashing and screaming Shizune out of the Hokage tower.
Naruto let go of her hands and she folded them with an angry pout on her face, "That was rude Naruto."
"Ya, sorry but I really need your help to pick out some good clothes for tonight's party. Heck I don't even know what formal clothes look like much less buy them and wear them. So please help me out!" Naruto had his hands folded and was pleading to Shizune. Shizune couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's antics.
"Okay, let's go. You wanted to buy formal clothes right?"
There all done with the first chapter. Hope you guys like it did not intend to make it this long but oh well. Next thing, can anyone explain to me what happened in Naruto's latest chapter? Did not get the crow part at all!