Hey Guys I bring you the new installment of this story. I am very grateful for all the follows and favorites it is getting. I didn't think it would get this many. Also I would like to thank all of the commenters for your words, I very much appreciate them.

Anyways this chapter takes place 5 years after the last chapter. It is about Naruto's graduation from the academy and meeting his team members. Hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 3: BACK HOME

TIME SKIP 5 YEARS

Naruto POV

I can't believe that its been five years since I left the Leaf. It seems surreal to think that I traveled the world for five years. I had an incredible amount of fun and adventures. I trained harder than I ever have before. I've gotten stronger and I am excited to become an official shinobi.

The perv really taught me a lot and I am glad that I agreed to his offer all those years ago. I don't think I would be the same person if I hadn't gone of this trip.

I've met so many people and I've learned so much about the world. Now that I am heading back to the Leaf I am afraid that I am going to be a little lost. I don't really remember much besides Old man Teuchi and the Third Hokage.

My thoughts were interrupted by Pervy Sage.

"Hey kid, are you hungry?" asked the sage.

"No, Im fine thanks", I replied. Truthfully I just don't want to waste any more time on the road. Im actually quite tired right now.

"Alright then, just a few more hours until we're there", he told me.

I just smiled at him as a response.

Sakura POV

Today is the day. The day that I finally become a real ninja. To be honest I am really excited. I've been waiting 4 years for this moment and its finally here.

After showering I stopped to look at myself in the mirror.

I looked at myself from head to toe, stopping at my forehead. Evertime I look at it, he pops into my head.

Flashback

"I for one, think you look kind of pretty", he told me. "If people say they don't like it, its only because there jealous".

End Flashback

Those words always warmed my heart. He was the one who gave me confidence. He was the one who made me feel strong. He was the one who I admired. But to be honest I don't remember much about him.

I just remember his words, but in my memories he has no face.

I smiled once more looking at myself.

"Sakura honey, hurry up or you're going to be late", I heard my mother yell.

"Coming", I said.

I walked down the stairs and saw my parents waiting for me at the door. They smiled at me, and I smiled back.

"We're so proud of you honey", said my dad with a smile.

"Oh dad, I haven't even passed the graduation test yet", I told him.

"Honey we all know you're going to ace the exam", he said.

It was true that I was one of the top in my class. Next to that kid Sasuke who was always in first. I was honestly jealous of him at first. It all seemed to come easy to him. He didn't really need to train at all, it was like being a ninja was already hardwired into his brain. I come from a family of ninja too, but not from the Uchiha clan. Speaking of which, I stopped feeling jealous of Sasuke when I realized that he was always alone. All of his family was murdered one night and that was it. He was alone.

My parents decided that they were going to walk me to the academy today. I couldn't help but blush a little in embarrassment. I let them do it however, because they always supported me and helped me. They stood up all night with me sometimes to help me study for a test. They gave me everything they could to help me. I owed so much to them.

Once we got to the academy they said that they would wait outside for me for when the ceremony was going to happen.

"Alright class, its time for the final test", said Iruka Sensei.

"You must perform the clone jutsu", were his words. "First up, Akimichi Chouji".

And so the list went on until finally my name was called.

"Next up, Haruno Sakura", said Iruka Sensei.

I walked up to the front of the class. I was a little nervous to be honest. I made the hand signs and made 5 clones.

"Five perfect clones, very impressive Sakura, you pass", said Iruka Sensei with a smile.

I went back to my seat and waited for everyone else to go. To be honest I was really proud that I was able to make 5 perfect clones. It is a little difficult really, to be able to make them all perfect.

"Next up, Uchiha Sasuke", said Iruka.

Sasuke walked to the front of the class with his hands in his pockets and a smug look on his face. All the girls in the class cheering him on. All of them except for me of course, and another girl in our class named Hinata. She did blush at him though. She was crushing for him alright.

"Alright Sasuke show us what you got", said Iruka Sensei.

Sasuke made the signs and made 10 clones. I couldn't help but be completely surprised.

"Wow, 10 perfect clones, you're amazing Sasuke", said Iruka sensei.

Externally I was clapping for him while all the other girls were screaming his name. Internally however, I was furious. Damn Sasuke and his 10 clones, I have to get stronger if I am going to show him up.

"All right everyone, I think that's it its time to go out…", Iruka sensei was suddenly interrupted by someone at the door.

"Hold up Iruka", said a man at the door. The man had long spike white hair and tears of blood painted on his face.

Iruka sensei seemed stunned before speaking, "Lord Jiraiya, what are you doing here?".

Jiraiya, where have I heard that name before? Of course, he is one of the legendary sannin.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you have one more student to pass", said Lord Jiraiya.

"Im sorry Lord Jiraiya, but I have no one left on my list", said Iruka Sensei very confused.

"Don't worry about it Iruka he just got here today, the Third already knows about this", said Lord Jiraiya.

"Alright then bring him in", said Iruka Sensei.

Lord Jiraiya stepped aside and in walked in a boy. Lord Jiraiya whispered something in his ear to which he smiled. Jiraiya left and the boy walked up to the front of the class.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" asked Iruka Sensei.

The boy fidgeted for awhile before answering, "Ah yes, my name is uh Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya", he said a little nervous. I had to admit, he was really cute. He had short wild blond hair and the bluest eyes i've ever seen. He was about as tall as Sasuke and had the weirdest whisker marks on his cheeks.

"All right Naruto pleased to meet you", said Iruka Sensei. "In order to pass the exam you have to make two perfect clones.

"Clones, you say?" asked Naruto.

"Uh yes", said Iruka.

Then he did something unexpected. He made a hand sign I had never seen before. It looked like a cross. Then a cloud of smoke appeared across the room.

After the smoke cleared I was shocked to see the entire room was filled with his clones. There must have been at least fifty of them. Not only that but they were shadow clones too.

Everyone in the room was slackjawed Even Iruka Sensei didn't know what to say.

"Did I pass?" asked Naruto, somewhat innocently.

Iruka Sensei just nodded.

I couldn't help but feel frustrated. This guy just popped out of nowhere and made 50 shadow clones. I could barely make five regular clones. Just who is this guy?

We went outside for the graduation ceremony and we were all getting our head bands. When I got mine I immediately tied it around my head like a ribbon. I took a picture with my parents and they left to go home. I told them that I had to stick around for a while to get the team announcements.

I walked around for a bit outside of the academy. I was filled with pride once more and I thought about what that boy had told her all those years ago.

"By the way some advice, people may keep trying to make you feel bad, but you have to stand up to them"

Those words rang in my head. I thought to myself how much I had grown. I've gained a lot of confidence that has allowed me to get this far.

"Hey forehead", said a familiar voice.

I turned to see a blond haired, blue eyed girl. I hated to admit it, but she was probably the most beautiful girl in my class. Not only that but she was my best friend, and my rival.

"Hey Ino-pig", I told her with a smile.

She frowned at first, but then she smiled at me. She joined me in my walk around the academy and we started talking.

"So what is up with that new kid", said Ino.

"I don't know, but I've never seen someone make so many shadow clones at once", I told her.

"Not about that", she told me. I looked at her a little confused.

"He is extremely cute"', she said giggling.

"Really, he makes 50 shadow clones without any effort, and all you care about is that he's cute", I asked a little frustrated.

"Yeah, he is strong alright", said Ino. "But very cute too".

"I thought you liked Sasuke?" I asked Ino.

"I do, but who says that I have to limit myself", she said.

I rolled my eyes at her, she never seemed to stop surprising me.

As we were walking around we made it to the swing set outside the academy. There we saw Naruto sitting on the swing. He had his eyes closed like he was in deep thought.

We walked up to him and I was the first to speak, "Hey there".

He jolted, and it was then that I discovered that he was actually asleep.

He snapped out of his grogginess and looked up at us. His blue eyes came in contact with my green eyes.

"Hey", he responded.

"I just want to introduce myself, my name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura", I said.

I offered him my hand and he shook it.

"Nice to meet you Sakura", said Naruto.

"This is my friend her name…", I was almost finished when I was interrupted.

"My name is Ino, Yamanaka Ino", she said. She too quickly offered him her hand and he shook it.

"Nice to meet you Ino", he said with a smile, and Ino just giggled.

"What you laughing about?" he asked, which just made her laugh a bit more.

"Don't worry about it, she is just a little weird" I told him. He chuckled a little bit.

"Well, I think you guys know my name already, so I guess i'll see you around", said Naruto.

"Yeah I guess", I responded a bit awkwardly.

After he left I turned to face Ino who said,"Well he's a little strange huh".

I just nodded at her response.

"Attention everyone, please head back into your classrooms for team announcements", said Iruka Sensei.

Naruto POV 1 hour and 30 minutes earlier.

We were just getting into the village when I realized that we were going to be late for the graduation. It was going to be at 10 and it was already 9:50. I told Pervy Sage to hurry, but he seemed to be in no rush.

Slowly but surely we made it to the academy. Of course we were late, it was on the other side of the village. Pervy Sage opened the classroom door and interrupted the sensei inside.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you have one more student to pass", said the Sage.

"Im sorry Lord Jiraiya, but I have no one left on my list", said the Sensei very confused.

"Don't worry about it Iruka he just got here today", said Jiraiya.

"Alright then bring him in", said Iruka Sensei.

Before I walked in to the classroom, Pervy Sage whispered something in my ear. "Don't show off too much", he said. I just grinned at him and walked to the front of the class.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" asked Iruka Sensei.

I didn't seem to know what to say, until finally I said, "Ah yes, my name is uh Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya", I said.

"Alright Naruto pleased to meet you", said Iruka Sensei. "In order to pass the exam you have to make two perfect clones.

"Clones, you say?" I asked.

"Uh yes", said Iruka.

I didn't know how to make regular clones so I decided I would have to make shadow clones. I made the usual sign and made some clones. I didn't realize that I had made so many until the smoke cleared. I had filled the whole classroom with them.

Everyone in the classroom seemed to be shocked at the amount of clones. It was honestly not that many, I had made a lot more before.

"Did I pass", I asked Iruka Sensei. He just nodded in response.

We went outside were they gave out our shinobi head bands. I tied mine across my forehead like people normally do. I was alone in the sea of people so I decided to get out of there.

I walked around the academy for while until I found a swing hanging from a tree. I was a little tired from walking all day so I decided to rest there.

I sat down and began rocking myself until I drifted into a nap.

It was short lived however because I was suddenly woken up by a voice.

"Hey there", it said. I snapped out of my sleep and looked up to see who the voice belonged to.

I came into contact with the greenest eyes I had ever seen. The voice belonged to a girl my age it seemed. A graduate as well. The most bizarre thing however was that she had strikingly familiar pink hair.

"Hey", was my only response.

"I just want to introduce myself, my name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura", she said.

She offered me her hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you Sakura", said Naruto. She turned to see a girl that I hadn't noticed was there until now.

"This is my friend her name…", she was almost finished when she was interrupted.

"My name is Ino, Yamanaka Ino", the other girl said. She too quickly offered me her hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you Ino", I said with a smile, and she just giggled.

"What you laughing about?" I asked, she just kept giggling.

"Don't worry about it, she is just a little weird" Sakura told me. I laughed a little bit at her comment.

"Well, I think you guys know my name already, so I guess i'll see you around", I said.

"Yeah I guess", she responded.

"Attention everyone, please head back into your classrooms for team announcements", said Iruka Sensei.

Sakura POV

We all went back inside to see what our team assignments were going to be.

I sat next to Ino and we were talking until finally Iruka Sensei stood up in the front of the classroom.

"Alright, first of all I would like to congratulate you all one more time for your achievement today", said Iruka Sensei.

"Ok lets get to business shall we, Team 1 will be…", started Iruka Sensei.

The team names and members went by until finally I heard my name called.

"Team 7 will consist of: Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Haruno…", said Iruka Sensei and my name peaked my attention.

So I am going to be with Sasuke huh.

"…and Uzumaki Naruto", said Iruka Sensei.

Me and Sasuke both turned to look at Naruto.

"Sakura you're so damn lucky", pouted Ino. She was just mad that I had her two crushes on my team.

Naruto and Sasuke, this was going to be interesting.

The minutes turned to half hours and the half hours into hours. There was no sign of our sensei.

All I could hear was the movement of the damn clock. It was beginning to annoy the crap out of me. One thing was for sure, I am going to be the crap out of our sensei. Who does he think he is?

I turned to look at Sasuke and he looked calm as ever, but I could see a hint of irritation in his eye.

I turned to look at Naruto and…. he was asleep!

I was so busy being angry that I didn't even notice he was snoring. Man he was a loud snorer.

Again I resumed my inner rant about how I was going to kill our sensei.

Another hour went by when finally I heard the door open.

I turned to look and at the door was a man. He had silver hair and his shinobi headband was covering his left eye.

His exposed eye was looking kind of droopy, like if he hadn't had a good nights sleep in a long time.

He walked in and didn't say anything. He just looked at us. First he looked at Sasuke, he was almost peering into his soul.

Then he turned to look at me. He stared into my eyes for a while like he was examining me.

Then finally, he turned to look at Naruto and was actually surprised to see him asleep. I thought he would've noticed it by now.

He grabbed a book from the desk next to Naruto's and dropped it right in front of him, producing a large thud that woke Naruto right up.

"Ahhh!" was all that Naruto could say.

Good now that I've got all your attention, lets go to the roof.

We all followed him until he got to the roof the academy.

He sat down and commanded us to sit down in front of him.

"Alright lets start off by introducing yourselves", he said.

"What exactly do we say?" I asked.

"I don't know, your name, your likes and dislikes, your hobbies, your dreams", he said with a lazy tone.

"Why don't you start us off", said Naruto. Sasuke and me both nodded.

"Well alright then, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I don't have a lot of hobbies, I like a lot of things, and I don't really have any dreams", he said.

So all we learned was his name.

"Next up is you pinkie", he said.

"Pinkie!" I yelled. "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like to study and train. My hobbies are cooking , reading, and my dream is to become the strongest kunoichi in the world".

He just nodded at my words.

"Alright next up is you Mr. Gloomy", he said towards Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't have any hobbies, I don't like a lot of things and I dislike a lot of things. My dream is to kill a certain man", said Sasuke.

Naruto, Kakashi-Sensei and me all turned to look at him like he was crazy. He was unfazed by our reaction.

"Anyway, your left blondie", said Kakashi Sensei.

"Ok, uh my name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like to umm travel and uhh I like ramen. My hobbies well, I like to umm, anyway my dream is to become Hokage", said Naruto.

Again we didn't really learn anything about him either. It seems like I was the only one who said anything about myself.

"Alright well, nice to meet you all", said Kakashi Sensei. "Meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow at 6 in the morning to begin your training. I recommend you don't eat any breakfast unless you want to throw it all up.

He left without saying another word, leaving the three behind. We all just looked at the ground for a while not knowing what to say.

Then Sasuke just left without saying anything. Leaving me and Nauto alone. After being quite for what felt like an eternity, I spoke up.

"Hey Naruto, you wanna go get something to eat?" I asked trying to be friendly.

He turned to me and said, "Sure".

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, again trying to be polite.

He thought for a few seconds until finally coming up with an answer, "How about Ichiraku Ramen?".

I just nodded and we started walking towards the Ichiraku stand.

When we got there Naruto was the first to go in and I followed him. He didn't sit down and I was kind of confused on why he kept staring at the cook.

What surprised me even more was the reaction the cook had.

"N-Naruto is that really you?" he asked.

I turned to see Naruto and he only nodded.

"Ayame come out here!" he yelled.

Out of the back of the resteraunt came rushing out a girl who was around 19 years old.

"Whats wrong dad?" she asked a little worried.

"Look who we have visiting", said the old man.

She turned to look at Naruto at her mouth gaped open.

"Little Naruto, is that you?" she asked. Again Naruto only nodded.

"Well, he's not so little anymore, he's gotten taller", said the old man with a little laugh.

Naruto only chuckled. "I guess so huh", was his response.

"Well sit down, its on the house today, for you and your girlfriend", said the old man.

I felt heat rise up to my cheeks and I quickly answered, "Oh no, I'm not his girlfriend, I'm just his teammate, but thanks anyway", I said.

He only laughed at what I said. They quickly made us a bowl of ramen and even closed the shop down so that they could talk with Naruto.

"So tell me boy, how was your journey?" he asked.

"Well, it was a lot of fun for sure", was Naruto's response.

"I bet, did you travel really far?" he asked.

"We sure did, we went to all of the nations", said Naruto.

So he was on a journey all across the world. That's interesting.

"You know I still remember the day you told me you were scared to go", said the old man with a smile.

"Yeah, but now I couldn't be happier with my choice", said Naruto.

"Alright then Naruto, we're gonna start cleaning up here, you just enjoy your meal with you girlfriend", said the old man.

Again I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. "I'm not his girlfriend! I just met him today!" I yelled. I turned to look at Naruto but he didn't seem to care.

The old man only laughed again and went into the kitchen.

After calming down from my outburst I turned to look at Naruto who was vacuuming his ramen.

"Wow, you really like that ramen", I told him.

He just nodded at me.

After we finished our meals we said goodbye and went home.

Some good came out of hanging around with Naruto. He seems to have an interesting background. He went on a journey for who knows how long. I don't know with who, but I can guess it was that Jiraiya guy. One thing's for sure Naruto seems to be a bit of a mystery.

Alright guys thats it for this chapter. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed. By the way credit for the cover image goes to LadyGT(Best Doujinshi Writer and Illustrator).