Hello everyone!

Did you all have a good easter holiday? I sure did! Lots of writing, fun, and games!

Sorry for not updating earlier. Totally forgot! hehe...

Here's the next chapter!

Once again, I thank my editor for her outstanding job!

Texts:

Normal Speech and Narrative or thoughts with stress

Thoughts or stressed words

Demon Speech or Technique/Bloodline Limits when thinking

Techniques or Bloodline Limits or Stressed Demon Speech

Naruto: The Ninth Tail: Chapter 6

Return

"It's been nice seeing you again, but I think it's time for us to go." Kimiko pulled Naruto, but he didn't budge. "Naruto, it's time to go."

Naruto didn't respond. He turned around, eyes shadowed. He grabbed gently onto Kimiko's hand, and slowly pulled it off his arm. He let it drop, and started walking backwards to his friends. He started to talk, eyes locked onto Kimiko's

"I may have said I wanted revenge, but I never said that I would join your group. Actually, I did want revenge, but that was a long time ago. While my life was a miserable wreck, I trained hard to get the people's recognition. As I did this, I entered the Konoha Ninja Academy. There, I met people who actually accepted me as a person, not some kind of a monster. They realized that I had feelings, and they accepted me as a human, not as some bloodthirsty monster." He reached Sakura's side, and put his hand on her shoulder. "That is why I don't want to join you. You treat me like your own, like a monster. What I am doesn't always agree with what I want."

Everyone thought that Kimiko would crack, but she just smiled. "That was a beautiful speech, but that doesn't me we will give up." The Sabishii started to walk away. Kimiko said this over her shoulder. "We'll give you a month to think about our offer. If you decline, the people who treat you like a human may not be spared."

With their last statement, they leapt into the distance. Naruto knelt down, and looked at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, are you okay?"

Sakura turned her head slowly, and looked into his eyes. Then, she flung her arms around him. "Naruto!" She cried, tears trickling down her cheeks.

Naruto gently patted her on the back. "It's ok… I'm here." He did this for a while longer, until she stopped crying. He stood up, and looked at the old Sannin. "Hey, erro-sennin, what do we do now?"

Jiraiya stood up, and stretched. "Well, I guess we'd better do our mission anyways. We can think about those Sabishii once we get back to Konoha."

"Yeah…" Naruto and company re-started walking towards the Country of Waves.

A young boy was in his home's living room, swinging his feet, eating his lunch. His mother was washing the dishes, and smiling. An old man was sitting on their sofa, reading a newspaper.

A loud knock on the door was heard, and the young kid got up from the table. "I'll get it!"

He opened the door, and he saw three faces he remembered from more than three years ago.

"Yo, Inari! Long time no see!" Naruto had a big grin on.

Inari's lip was trembling, and his eyes were watery.

"Huh? Inari?" Naruto looked carefully at the young boy's face, looking for bruises or anything that would be hurting him.

"Naruto nii-chan!" Inari flung himself at Naruto, sending them both flying backwards. Naruto landed on his back, and remembered what he had told Inari so many years ago.

It's OK to cry when you're happy.

Naruto smiled, and patted Inari on the head. "There, there. It's ok."

The old man got out, and looked out the door, smiling. "Hey, it's Naruto. Have you become Hokage yet?"

Naruto grinned at the old man. "No, but it's still great to see you old geezer!"

Sakura said, "Nice to see you, Tazuna-san." She leaned over, and saw the woman at the sink. "Ohio, Tsunami-san!"

The woman looked over and was pleased to see company. "My, my! It's been so long since we saw you last!"

Once Inari got over his crying, everyone got into the house. Sakura took a look around. "Wow, this place has changed so much since we left."

And it had. The floor was tile now, except for the living room, which was still traditional Japanese style. The upper floor walls were all smooth, and Inari's room wasn't as bland. It had many posters showing different fighting styles and techniques. There were scrolls here and there, inscribed with the correct posture and position you have to throw shuriken and kunai. Books were littered everywhere, opened to various Jutsus.

Naruto looked around and laughed. "Ha-ha! This reminds me of my room back in Konoha! It looks like you have been studying."

"It's because I want to be like Naruto nii-chan!" Inari started throwing dull shuriken at the group.

Naruto grinned, and watched the shuriken carefully, and he put his fingers through the holes, stopping them from hitting anyone. "It looks like you'll need a lot more training before you can beat us." Inari looked a bit downcast at that last statement. "Why don't I help you train?"

"Yay!" Inari started jumping up and down.

Naruto patted Inari's head, and lowered his own head to Inari's eye level. "But first, I have to do a little shopping, alright?"

"Un!" Inari nodded his head, smiling.

Naruto was walking down the street, looking at the different stalls here and there. So far, he couldn't find what he was looking for. He saw food stores, so he bought a snack for himself. He kept looking, but he still couldn't find it. At the end of the lane, he saw a very shabby looking stall, so he went over to take a look.

An old man was sleeping in a chair. There were quite a few scrolls on the table, mostly small ones. Naruto opened a scroll, and saw quite a few basic techniques on them. Some of these were in Inari's room. This must have been where he got these. I'll get the ones he doesn't have for his training. He shook the man awake, and paid him what he owed for those scrolls.

He turned and kept walking down the lane. He still hadn't found what he was looking for. He kept walking, and finally found it.

It was a cloth store. He looked for the black, and bought a strip of it. He smiled, and went to the beach.

Once he got there, he pulled off his pack, and opened it up. He brought out his forehead protector that had been burnt right through because of Kirin's attack. He looked at it sadly for a little while, then went rummaging in his pack once again. He found it. It was the old forehead protector that Iruka had given to him. The cloth was totally gone, all ruined, but the plate was sound. He took the plate, and unscrewed the screws in the corners. He then poked small holes in the cloth, and put the plate over it. He aligned the plate's holes with the cloth's holes, sticking his tongue out a bit. Then, he wound the screws into their holes, and his new headband was done.

He looked at his handiwork for a bit, admiring it. It was a bit scratched here and there, and quite dirty, but a good polishing would do it some good. He rummaged around for cloth and polish in his pack (you never know what you'll need it for), but his hand touched a cold, metallic object. He stopped rummaging, and pulled out the object.

It was the forehead protector of Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto sadly looked at it, thinking how he could have just knocked Sasuke unconscious and brought him back to Konoha. But that wasn't the point. Sasuke had gone willingly, and he didn't want to return.

A needle of pain shot through his chest. He grabbed at his chest, and the pain subsided. He didn't know where it came from, but he attributed it to thinking about Sasuke.

He got up, dusted his pants, and headed back for Inari's home.

End of Chapter 6
Like it?

The story is going to calm down a bit, then it'll get exciting in no time! I think I'm going to keep that little pattern, until the end, where it'll skyrocket! Well, at least, I hope you readers will think it skyrockets.

I think this fanfic will be quite long if I can pace my chapters well. I don't really like to chop up battle scenes much, so they might tend to be a bit longer.

Phrase:

"Good friends are like stars...you don't always see them, but you know they are always there."

Quote by Joyce