A/N: Well, I reached my goal of 100 reviews. I have no idea if I would have reached that already if it weren't for my rants, since a large number of my reviews focus on my rants, but hey, whatever works. It seems that some people are not exactly thrilled that I gave Kin a scythe, so I suppose that I need to explain my reasoning. 1. I wanted to put a scythe in the story, and I didn't want to give Naruto every weapon imaginable. He already has two and he will probably have some more if he summons other demon fox clans (because why is Enma the only summon that turns into a weapon dammit.) So to add more weapons that he constantly carries with him is becoming overkill. 2. I can just picture Kin using a scythe. Since her character was originally designed to look like a "bad character", her darker look fits with a scythe in my mind. So as I said before…tough luck, it's my story, deal with it.

Shadow Fox

Naruto stared at the large gate looming in front of him and a sense of dread returned to him. Orochimaru had done all that he could to try and reassure Naruto that there would not be any trouble in his return to Konoha, but now that he was actually here, all of that dread was returning. What would he do if the leaf ninja found out about him, what if the sound got in trouble for harboring him and bringing him back for the chuunin exam. What if he caused a war? He really didn't want anyone from his new home hurt, but he didn't want to see any of the people he cared about in Konoha to get hurt either, like the old man, or Iruka-sensei, or his old team.

The thought of his old team caused a sadness to well up in his heart. Although his emotional wounds had some time to mend, they had never fully healed, and returning to Konoha only seemed to reopen those wounds.

'Sasuke, what would you think of me if you saw me now? Would you still consider me the dobe? Would you think that I was worth your sacrifice?'

Both Kin and Zaku had noticed Naruto's discomfort as they approached the gate, and they both laid a hand on one of his shoulders. He had told Kin a quite a bit about his past during their training sessions, and he had told Zaku about his past on their way to Konoha. He felt that his friend needed to know about his past so that he might know what to expect from him when they arrived at Konoha. Both understood that returning home was difficult for Naruto, and they wanted to offer some comfort to their friend.

"Don't worry Naruto, you've told us that your fighting style has completely changed since you left, and with your head covered in bandages, they'll never realize that it is you." Zaku said to ease his friend's fears.

Naruto gave each of his friends a small smile. He appreciated their attempts to cheer him up. It felt good to have friends like them. He had never had friends like the two of them while he lived in Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura were the closest thing he had to friends his age, and they were constantly insulting and belittling him. To have these friends now that cared about him were what he had always wished for.

Izuko stood behind his team, watching their interaction as they stood at the gate to Konoha. He gave a small smile as he watched the interaction between his modified team. His team had always been fairly talented, but before Naruto had come along, they were never really a team. Dosu and Zaku had tolerated each other, and looked down on Kin, and Kin had just felt out of place. Now that Naruto was in their team, Zaku and Kin were both much happier. Zaku had stopped looking down on Kin, and Kin had taken an initiative to become stronger. The boy had brought out the best in his team, and he felt bad about what he may be putting this boy through.

Flashback

"Izuko, I need to talk to you about some matters involving your team." Orochimaru told the former Cloud nin.

"What do you need from my team Orochimaru-sama?"

"It is not what I need from them, it is what I need from you regarding them, particularly Naruto." Orochimaru replied "As you know, we will be launching our attack on the leaf during the chuunin exams. I am certain that Naruto holds a grudge against most of Konoha and will have little difficulty fighting them. However, I am worried about any relationship he may have had with Sarutobi. I have little doubt that Sarutobi treated him well and was one of the few people who accepted him. Therefore, I am worried about the possibility of Naruto refusing to fight the leaf while Sarutobi is alive. I want you to keep the attack a secret from your team. I think that after I have dealt with Sarutobi, Naruto will willingly join in the attack. Until then, I want you to let them think that they are simply there as participants."

"Very well Orochimaru-sama, I will tell my team nothing about the attack on the Leaf."

End Flashback

'I am sorry to do this to you if the Sandaime means as much to you Orochimaru thinks he does, but I will do whatever I have to for the success of the Sound.'

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Meanwhile, said hokage was sitting at his desk behind a mound of paperwork. He tried to continue with the paper work, but he just couldn't do it, his mind just kept wondering to a certain someone. He had just finished dealing with the jounin instructors and their nominations for the chuunin exams. Kakashi had nominated the revised team seven and Sarutobi could not help but find himself remembering a certain hyperactive blonde ninja who had been missing for almost four months.

'Naruto, I wish that you were here, I know that you would have loved to take part in the chuunin exams. Where are you now I wonder?'

The Sandaime had been disheartened when Kakashi had returned with the remainder of team seven and a note from Naruto. The tone of Naruto's note had greatly saddened Sarutobi; Naruto's seemingly indomitable spirit had been crushed. He had sounded so…defeated.

Contrary to what Naruto thought would happen, Sarutobi did not declare him a missing nin. He knew that Naruto felt that he would probably be a missing nin, but Sarutobi couldn't bring himself to do it. He read and reread Naruto's note many times and he never saw any sort of malice towards the village in that note, only saw self-loathing. He knew that the council would want him declared a missing nin so that they could kill the Kyuubi, but Sarutobi held out hope that Naruto would one day return to his village. Naruto had said in his note that he might return someday, and Sarutobi wanted to make sure that he was able to. That was why Naruto had been presumed dead in the hidden village of the Leaf. Sarutobi had felt that as long as he was presumed dead, then there would not declare him a missing nin and he would be safe from the hunter nin. Also, he felt that if he were presumed dead, and then returned, they could make up a story about his recovery from near death and bring him back into the village, whereas if he were a missing nin, he could probably never come back. He had made it a law that the council shall not speak of his "death" under punishment of death, the only people who knew the truth about him were the original members of team seven, Sarutobi, and Iruka.

'I hope that you will come back to us one day Naruto, and I pray that wherever you are, you have not joined with any of our enemies.'

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Naruto and his team had been given the day off to look around the village. Naruto had been showing his teammates around the village, careful not to seem too knowledgeable about the area lest he bring suspicion upon himself. They were currently standing in a tree, overlooking an alley when they saw a mass of pink hair chasing around three children, and the children looked scared as hell, this crazy girl was going to kill them. Naruto watched the scene take place with a little bit of apprehension.

They watched the girl chase the kids until one of the children ran into a boy in a black cloak who was walking with a girl with a giant fan.

The boy in the cloak picked the boy up by his collar and began to speak to him.

"Watch where you're going brat."

"Kankuro, just put the kid down and lets go."

"Hold on Temari, he's not around, and I just want to have some fun."

"…Fine, but I am not involved."

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault, I am sorry that he ran into you. Please put him down." Sakura said to try and diffuse the situation.

"Now why would I want to do that, I need to teach this punk a lesson."

"You big bully, if Naruto-niisan were here, he'd kick your butt."

Sakura's face faltered a bit at the mention of Naruto, she still felt a great deal of guilt over his departure. If only she hadn't been so stupid and spoken in anger, maybe then he would still be here, they would all be entering the chuunin exams together, he would be here trying to save his little friend.

'Konohamaru' Naruto thought as he began to melt into the shadows to go save the boy.

He stopped his rescue as he saw a stone fly through the air and hit the boy known as Kankuro. In his surprise, he dropped Konohamaru, who scurried behind Sakura for protection (really, some protection there). Kankuro and Temari looked up a nearby tree, only to find a raven haired boy in a blue shirt and white shorts smirking arrogantly at them.

Naruto's visible eye widened in shock and his breath caught in his throat. This couldn't be real, he was dead. He found himself unable to move, unable to speak, he was frozen in shock. How was this possible? He had seen him die, so how was he here now? Was he imagining this?

"Sasuke-kun, you're the greatest!" Sakura yelled in a typical fan girl manner.

There was no mistaking it now, it really was Sasuke. Naruto was paralyzed with shock. He watched as Sasuke threatened the two, and then watched his following conversation with a red haired boy. Naruto felt that this red haired boy revealed as Gaara was powerful, and there was something about him that seemed familiar, but he couldn't really focus on any of that, he couldn't believe that Sasuke was still alive.

The three sound genin stood there until all of the participants in that little exchange had gone there separate ways. Zaku and Kin were ready to go explore the rest of the village when they noticed that Naruto seemed to be very shaken up.

"Na….Dosu, what's wrong (they can't call him Naruto in public, even if they think they are alone…it is a ninja village after all.)." Kin asked him.

"…Sorry, but I think that I need to be alone right now." Then Naruto and Kyo vanished into the shadows before his teammates could say anything.

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Naruto found himself in one of his favorite spots from his childhood, sitting on top of the heads of the previous hokage's. He overlooked the village that he once called home and couldn't help but feel confused. He enjoyed his life in the sound, he wasn't hated, he didn't need to work for people to acknowledge him, he could just live an ordinary life. However although he had many bad memories of Konoha, this is where some of his most important people were.

'sigh No use thinking about returning here, I am a missing nin now. Besides, I enjoy my life in sound. The villagers, my team….Kin.'

As he was lost in his thoughts, said female teammate approached him and sat down beside him. Neither said anything for a while, both enjoying just being in the others company.

"Are you going to be ok?" Kin asked, breaking the silence.

"I think so, just thinking about some things. Nostalgia I suppose (yeah, Naruto probably wouldn't use words like nostalgia, but he does now)."

"Well, I don't know how you feel about this place, but personally, I am glad that you came to Sound." Kin gave him a small smile which Naruto returned.

"Well Kin-chan, would you like to join me for dinner at my favorite ramen stand tonight?"

Kin blushed at the added suffix "Sure, why not."

Naruto smiled at her as he grabbed her hand and led her to the Ichiraku ramen stand.

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A/N: yeah, I know that this chapter was pretty short, but I just decided to get a quick chapter in about their arrival in Konoha. Besides, shorter chapters mean you don't have to spend an hour reading through the chapter. Ok, I know that I have typically been updating quickly, and I will still try to make updates fairly quick, but I have decided to spend a bit more time on chapters so I can think things through and not write myself into a corner.

Ok, for now during the chuunin exams, someone talking to Dosu will probably be talking to Naruto, they can't say his name in public, so unless they are in their hotel, they will call him Dosu.

One thing that I feel I need to add. I need to add a message to all the semi Naru/Hina fans that have reviewed as I seem to have made my view seem a bit harsher than it really is. I do not hate everything Naru/Hina related. I admit that with a good author, a good Naru/Hina story can be written, the point is that most of them suck. Also on a personal level, I just don't like common pairings like Naru/Hina because there tends to be little development since in the story Hinata already like Naruto, all they need to add is Naruto returning the feelings, and that my friends makes a boring story. On a final note, I am not trying to convince you to give up Naru/Hina or anything like that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. My opinion just happens to be that most Naru/Hina fans are idiots (not all, MOST).

Now to respond to a few choice reviews.

LeweL: Ok, I'm sorry, but did you miss the 3 or 4 times that I have clearly said that this will not be an evil Naruto fic. I mean really. As for the rasengan, I am still unsure, my plot for the future can consider it but not guarantee it. For the record though, he will not learn it on his own or from Kyuubi, it is really stupid when people do that. If he learns it, it will only be learnt from Jiraiya.

Hell's Sorrow: Ok, as for both of your questions:

Well, I kind of put Kimimaro's appearance in as simply that, an appearance. To put things on a more logical note, yes, Naruto and Kin could be trained by the sound five, but I wouldn't think it likely. They areOrochimaru's elite group of ninja, I think they would be out on missions, not training some genin. As for Kimimaro, I figure because of his illness, he might not be on many missions and thus have more time to train them.

Ok, the Naru/Saku is kind of a toss up to me. The stems mostly from the fact that my opinion of Sakura varies wildly as I read different stories. I know that you said you would take me off of your favorite Authors list if I read Naru/Saku, and it hurts me to do it, but yes, I do read them. Although technically, it would be my second least favorite, beaten only by Naru/Hina. The problem is that Naru/Saku is beginning to get like the Naru/Hina pairing, too many and poorly written. But to sum it up, I don't particularly hate it, I just don't entirely love it either. And if I am not too strongly against it, it wouldn't be as good of a rant.

For those who want a rant, I will put one in next chapter. I will try to space out the rants some so that I don't run out as quickly. Sorry for those of you really hoping for a rant, but this was just a quick chapter and I'm lazy. Besides, if I do it now, my authors notes and rants my be longer than the actual chapter. Anyway, the reviewers reminded me that I meant to rant against High School fics and forgot about it, even though I listed it in the first chapter. So next chapter, you'll get the high school fics rant.

Till next time.