Hey everyone, I'm sorry that this chapter has taken longer then normal. My birthday was this week and I've been busy with other events. Anyway, I won't keep you guys any longer, here's chapter three.
Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto, he belongs to the great Masashi Kishimoto.
Naruto awoke with a smile on his face.
'Today, today marks my first step towards my dreams.'
The blonde crawled out of bed, showered himself, made his way to his closet, selected his usual orange jumpsuit, and made his way outside.
Naruto made his way through the streets of Konoha quickly, he made his way to Ichiraku's. Naruto gave old man Teuchi a soft smile and ordered his usual dish. The food was served within a few minutes and Naruto began to slowly eat.
The blonde had a sad smile on his face as he finished his ramen.
'If there's one thing I'm going to miss in this village, it's Ichiraku's ramen.'
The blonde reached into his pocket and put the money for his meal down on the counter, he gave the old man and his daughter a polite goodbye, being careful to not arouse suspicion.
The blonde made his way through town, he stopped as he noticed a ninja clothing shop.
'If we're going to be traveling as missing nins, I should probably change from the orange look.' the blonde thought to himself.
Naruto made his way into the shop, he looked at the wares for a half hour, after which he made his way to the counter with his selection.
The blonde bought himself his new wardrobe, a long black jacket with a high collar, a matching black tee shirt, the pants he bought were long, dark grey cargo pants, and finally he bought new black ninja sandals.
Naruto left the shop with his items in his shopping bag, and made his way through the village, wondering what he still had to do.
'Hmm, it's four o'clock now, I wonder what I could do until it's time to meet everyone?' the boy pondered to himself.
As he made his way through the streets, he failed to notice Ino and Sakura approach him.
The girls noticed him from across the street, Sakura had asked Ino if she could help her with a few errands around town, and the blonde agreed.
Ino had noticed Naruto first and told Sakura.
"Hey Sakura, Naruto's across the street from us."
The pink haired girl looked across the street then back to her friend.
"Do you like him or something Ino? You've kinda talked about him the whole time we've been out."
A light blush made its way to Ino's face.
"No I don't like him! …It's just, I'm worried about him, ever since he got back, he's been so quiet, and he's been talking to Shikamaru a lot more. I know their friends and everything, but the always speak in private."
Sakura raised an eyebrow and look at Naruto as he walked down the street.
"C'mon, let's talk to him." the pink haired genin whispered.
Sakura grabbed Ino's arm and began to drag her with her, until the blonde slapped her hand away.
"I can walk fine, thank you very much forehead!"
Sakura ignored the comment, and the two made their way to the unsuspecting blonde boy.
Sakura spoke first to the boy.
"Hey Naruto, what are you doing?"
Said blonde nearly jumped in the air of shock, he turned around to see the two girls looking at him in interest.
"Oh, hey Ino, hey Sakura, I was just doing some shopping around town, before I meet with some people."
The two girls raised their eyebrows at him.
"And just who would you be meeting with?" the Yamanaka asked.
"I'm going to be meeting with Shikamaru, Neji, Gaara, and his siblings." Naruto replied.
Ino looked over to Sakura, to see her eyes slightly widen, the pink haired girl looked over to her friend and nodded.
"Well, I really should be going, we should do something sometime, you two are looking great." Naruto said quietly.
He gave Ino a wink, then made his way to his team.
"Well Ino, Naruto is definitely acting different, and it's kind of nice."
Ino raised an eyebrow to her friend.
"Well, he's being polite, and quiet. Not to mention he's complimenting us, and did you see the wink he gave you?"
The blonde nodded slowly.
"I think, he likes you." Sakura whispered.
"I don't think so Sakura, he's just being polite is all." Ino replied with a sad smile.
'Could he really like me? He's changed so much, I think I'd actually really enjoy going out with him.' the blonde thought to herself.
Sakura had a strange look in her eye, along with a mischievous smile.
"Come on, let's follow him."
"What!? We can't just follow him around town! It'd be like stalking him." the blonde argued.
"Come on, don't you want to know what he's going to talk to them about?" Sakura insisted.
"Well…" Ino began.
"Then come on!" Sakura shouted.
Sakura grabbed Ino's arm once again, and began dragging her in the direction that Naruto had went.
Naruto continued through the town, unaware of the two girls following him, he made his way downtown, and made his way into a nearby restaurant.
He made his way inside, and spotted his team at one of the nearby booths, he gave a smile as he noticed Shikamaru give a lazy wave.
He approached the booth as the rest of his group looked to him.
"What's up everyone? You guys ready for tonight?" Naruto asked, while setting down his bag.
"Yeah, we should be ready, I have my stuff all ready." the lazy chuunin replied.
"I'm ready to leave whenever you are Naruto." the Hyuuga prodigy replied
"We'll be ready when the time comes." the red haired Suna shinobi stated, while his siblings gave Naruto a nod.
Ino and Sakura had taken a seat near the group, without a member of the group noticing.
They had heard the entire conversation.
"Are they going on a mission?" Sakura whispered to her friend.
"No, I asked lady Tsunade if Naruto was scheduled for any missions, she said he wasn't scheduled for any missions for the next month." Ino whispered back.
Sakura's eyes widened a bit, as she turned and looked to Naruto and his group, as they were engaged in their own conversation.
She turned back to look at Ino, who had a sad look on her face.
"Don't worry Ino, it's not like their going to be leaving…" Sakura reasoned.
Ino gave her friend a sad smile.
"Naruto talked to Neji yesterday about leaving, I had followed him to the hospital and eavesdropped on their conversation. They talked about leaving then too, and I told you about how Naruto has been talking with Shikamaru in private." the blonde replied to her friend.
Sakura gave a small gasp, and looked back to Naruto's group. She turned back to Ino and mouthed a "Lets go.", the blonde nodded slowly, and the two made their way out of the restaurant.
Naruto and his team made their way out of the restaurant, and stopped outside the front door.
"Alright guys, I'll meet you all at the gates in two hours. See you all then." Naruto's team nodded to him, and he made his way towards the Hokage's tower.
Naruto snuck into Tsunade's office through the window, left a note on the desk, and left quietly through the way he had came in.
The blonde boy opened the door in his home to retrieve his backpack. The blonde looked around his home, making sure he had not forgotten anything, when something caught his eye.
Two scrolls sat on his kitchen counter, along with a note.
The blonde picked up the note and began to read.
Dear Naruto,
Hello brat, how are things? I'll skip to the main reason I've written this letter. I know that you are leaving the village Naruto, I am your sensei after all, I know what goes on in your head. I'm not going to stop you, but I offer these two scrolls to you. One is a list of different jutsu I've learned throughout my years of traveling, the other…is a letter to you from your father, it contains your father's hidden jutsu within it. The reason I'm giving these to you is because, I know that eventually the Akatsuki will come after you, and if I can't train you in person, I will give you every jutsu I know. The last bit of information is that I will be leaving the village once again, to check on the spy network throughout the world, so we may meet up, it would be nice to see how much you've learned. Take care of yourself brat, and I look forward to seeing you on the road.
Your teacher,
Jiraiya, the toad sannin
Naruto's eyes began to tear as he finished reading his teacher's letter.
'Damn pervert, always worrying about me.'
"He's a good teacher boy, you should show him gratitude if you see him in the future."
'I know fox, I will, thanks for the advice.'
"It's about time we got going boy, wouldn't want to keep the others waiting would you?"
Naruto nodded and put the letter and scrolls into his pack, he started to make his way to the door until he heard a light knock.
Naruto sighed and shook his head as he opened the door.
Outside, in the hallway, stood Ino, with a small smile on her face.
"Naruto, hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go get a bowl of ramen with me? It would be my-" Ino's eyes widened as she noticed the pack on Naruto's back.
Naruto shook his head softly, then locked eyes with Ino.
"Sorry Ino, but I can't tonight." he replied in a sad tone.
Ino's head fell a bit.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" she whispered.
Naruto's eyes widened, before returning to normal.
"Yeah, I am." he replied.
Her head shot up, and Naruto noticed the tears in her eyes.
"Why!? Why would you leave the village!? Why would you leave me…"
"I'm sorry, but Ino, you've never really showed any care for me before."
"Things change…" Ino muttered back to him.
"I'm sorry Ino, but I'm going. I need to do this to get stronger."
Ino quickly embraced him in a hug.
"Please Naruto, don't do this."
She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Naruto's eyes widened as she gave him the light kiss.
"I'm sorry Ino…"
In a lightning quick motion, he knocked her out, he picked her up carefully, and laid her onto his bed, he then quietly made his way out of his home, and on to the street.
Naruto neared the gate, and saw his friends waiting for him.
He gave them a small smile before speaking.
"Let's go."
They all nodded, and they began making their way out of the village.
Naruto looked back as they went farther and farther from the village.
'Goodbye Konoha…'
Guys I'm sorry, I couldn't get to where I wanted in this chapter, but fear not! I will get there and a little bit farther in the next chapter, see you all next time.
Preview of the next chapter.
Tsunade's eyes widened as she read the letter.
"Naruto, what have you done?"