I don't own Naruto.

Enjoy!

Outside the gates of Konoha (outside Naruto's mind)

Everyone outside of Naruto's mind watches as he tosses Zetsu's destroyed corpse aside. No one in the crowd so much as flinches as the fully white clone of the plant man hits the ground with an unforgiving thump and whatever is left of his insides pour out over the soil. The people in the crowd are mostly ninja so violence like this barely affects them and any civilians that witness Naruto's carnage understand these things come with living in a ninja village, many of them have unfortunately seen worse. Still, most the civilians who thought they came to see Naruto's peaceful homecoming quickly clear out and the ninja present fan out and check for any other enemies. Those left watch as the blonde savior turns in fear and yells "Ino! Cancel the jutsu!" By the time he finishes his sentence Naruto knows it's too late. Ino's slender form slumps to the ground, but Naruto knows it's not due to her body being uninhabited because he felt her consciousness leave him and return to its rightful place already. Even though it may have seemed like Ino was only in Naruto's mind for a split second to the people around them, she could have actually been in there for an eternity for all anybody else knew. The eyes of the receding villagers and alert shinobi turn to the quietly sobbing mind-walker on her knees in front of them. Ino's hands cover her face, but from the sound of the choking breaths she is forcefully taking it is easy to judge she must have tears flowing down her cheeks.

No one is sure what has just happened, but a few of Ino's fellow ninja can guess. Everyone is too surprised by the appearance of Zetsu and Ino's sudden crying fit to react and help her. The first person to even move towards Ino is her best friend and top medic Sakura. The pinkette bends down to see what's wrong, but can't see anything physically wrong with her. She remembers hearing Ino activate her jutsu but assumes she must have canceled it because its target was destroyed. She places a worried hand on Ino's shoulder to try to calm her down, but to her surprise Ino slaps her hand away and cringes at the unwelcome touch. She glares at the pink haired medic with disdain before she again covers her face and weeps.

Sakura is extremely confused. "What's wrong Ino?" The blonde woman says nothing, but she opens her fingers that are over her eyes to look at the shirtless blonde man covered in human remains. Sakura sees her look at Naruto and becomes enraged. 'What did he do to her?' She was about to charge up to him and smack him for answers like she used to, but he was already walking towards the duo.

Naruto crouches down in front of Ino and sighs. Blood drips off of his blonde and red hair, while he sloughs a little chunk of Zetsu's sternum off of his shoulder with his hand. Once he finishes cleaning himself off a little he leans forward and envelops Ino in a hug. "It's ok." Naruto says in the most soothing voice possible, while he rubs her back. Her hands slowly come up around her fellow blonde's back and she cries into his blood soaked shoulder.

Ino pushes off the ground and knocks Naruto over to lie on top of him. She squeezes the jinchuuriki so tight he feels his air supply being cut off. She cries even louder while what's left of the earlier crowd tries to imagine what caused this to happen. After a minute of the blondes caressing each other, Ino's cries eventually die down to quiet sobs and she loosens her death grip around Naruto. Ino whimpers as if she is trying to speak, but she is unable to form the words.

Naruto sits up and gently brings Ino with him. Sakura notices that Ino put her hand over Naruto's abs so she could feel them flex as he leans forward and she growls to herself. The blonde man stands up and simultaneously helps Ino to her feet because she still hasn't let go of him since she tackled him to the ground. "Look Ino. Everything is ok. I'm sorry, but I have things I have to do now. We can talk later." He says calmly before he tries to remove her hands from around him, but to his surprise she won't let him go.

Ino grips him tighter, but doesn't say anything; she is going to let her actions speak for her. The mind walker just holds Naruto like her life depends on it and she has no intention of letting go. Sakura hears sobs coming from her blonde friend again and she feels like someone needs to explain what is going on or she just might burst from confusion.

Before Sakura could say anything Naruto speaks up again. "Ino-chan" he says softly, which causes the girl to stop crying and perk up while making Sakura's heart drop slightly, "Later." He states before using a substitution jutsu to switch places with Sakura. He looks at the blonde absentmindedly squeezing the wrong person and turns to the pinkette. Cerulean bore into green as he looks into her eyes and Naruto can't help but to think she still looks so beautiful. "Sakura." He breathes out just before he turns to make his way towards Kiba.

Sakura watches Naruto walk away and drops her head in sadness. She was so enveloped in her own misery she didn't even notice the rapidly tightening grip around her torso until she was almost out of breath. Sakura looks down at Ino to see gritted teeth and rage filled eyes staring back at her. "Ino.. ugh I... can't... breathe..." Ino's eyes momentarily go wide before she releases her grip around Sakura and lets her hit the ground roughly. Sakura holds her ribs and coughs as air comes rushing back into her lungs.

Ino sits down next to her friend and pulls her legs to her chest. "Why did you do that Ino-pig?" Sakura yells out to her best ability, which isn't very loud at the moment. The blonde sighs and turns to her. As Sakura looks deep into Ino's eyes she sees how bad the situation really is. Her eyes reflect hurt and pain the likes of which Sakura doesn't think Ino has ever actually seen. Sakura isn't sure how long they stared at each other, but eventually the silent blonde slowly gets up and walks towards the village in a crawl. 'Did she see Naruto's memories?' Sakura starts to heal her bruised ribs. 'She must have seen what I've done to him. I didn't think it would affect her like this though. There must be more to it.' She stands up and dusts herself off. 'That will have to wait for now. I need to talk to Naruto.' Sakura turns around to see Naruto shunshin away with Tsunade and she sighs. 'Thats ok. Naruto is back now and I have time to talk to him.' She smiles a real smile for the first time in what seems like forever. 'Plus, I think I know where they're going.' She eyes up the hokage tower and begins to trudge towards it.

(Line break)

Naruto is walking away as fast as he can from Sakura and Ino after using his substitution jutsu. 'I need to avoid her or else I might do something stupid again.' As hard as he tries not to, he starts to think about Sakura again. He thinks about her silky pink hair as it lightly falls over her shoulders and the light from the nearly set sun cascading across her delicate features. He wanted so badly to reach for her smooth, milky white skin that looks so soft to the touch and gently run his fingers across her beautiful cheeks that adorn her face. It didn't go unnoticed by him that she pouted as he turned to walk away. She probably had no idea that small act almost made him stop where he was and turn around. To Naruto, when Sakura pursed her plump lips together he wanted nothing more than to feel them against his skin again. Seeing her was the most painful reminder of what was never and will never be his. Before he can sulk any more, he arrives in front of a prone Kiba. "Hey buddy are you alright?"

Kiba stirs a little and gets onto his knees in front of Naruto. "I'm sorry Naruto. I couldn't protect Sasuke like you ordered." His voice was unbelievably forlorn as he sat there breathing hard from the hit Zetsu gave him.

Naruto gets on one knee in front of Kiba and puts on a huge grin. "No worries man! Everything's fine. Sasuke's alright. See!" He points to Sasuke who was slowly making his way towards them, using the sheathe of his chokuto as a cane to help him stabilize himself. Kiba looks up and sighs in relief when he sees Sasuke limping towards them.

Sasuke stops in front of the two friends. "I don't exactly know what just happened, but I don't really care either so it's ok if you don't explain."

Naruto looks at the new arrival. "How are you? He didn't get you did he?" Naruto asks while looking Sasuke up and down for any wounds he didn't give him in their fight.

Sasuke waves him off. "No. Kiba blocked the first hit, but got thrown to the side afterward. Without Kiba my body was so weak I couldn't even stand properly so I fell down. That's when you came."

Naruto helps Kiba stand up and checks him for wounds before lifting him into a giant bear hug. "Thanks Kiba. Without you Sasuke would be dead right now."

Kiba freezes when Naruto wraps him up. "Uh... I was just following your orders."

Naruto puts Kiba down slowly. "That's it! If you want an order then here's one! Act like your old damn self right now!"

Kiba freezes for a second and shakes his head in uncertainty. He sighs loudly before he throws his hands up in defeat. "Ok ok I will man! Jus chill out alright! I'll act normal now, but if my mom is around I'm going back to my role in the clan as a helper to the alphas or else she'll mess me up real good." Kiba smiles and takes a relaxed stance. "By the way, I don't think you fully understand what it means to be the alpha male of the Inuzuka clan."

"I don't know what's up with your clan Kiba, but right now I'm too busy for you to tell me. Just make sure you don't put up that act around me anymore. It's freakin creepy." Naruto runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Are you feeling well enough to help Sasuke get to the hospital?"

Kiba rubs his shoulder and moves his arm around. "Yeah. I'm good." He walks up to Sasuke and puts his shoulder under his arm to take his weight. Once he has Sasuke securely held on his shoulder he turns to Naruto and smiles. "I have a feeling I will be seeing you really soon Naruto."

"See you around dobe." Sasuke says before the two start to walk towards the hospital.

Naruto hears Kiba laughing as he walks away and wonders what the hell is so damn funny, but opts to find the hokage instead. He turns to look for the blonde headed sannin, but doesn't have to look far as she is already inches from his face. "You have some explaining to do." She says in an undeniably threatening manner. Naruto gulps and puts his head down in fear that if he looked directly into her eyes he might burst into flames. "Let's talk in my office." He nods and the both shunshin into the hokage tower.

(Line break)

Naruto and Tsunade arrive in her office in a puff of smoke. Naruto notices it looks completely identical to the office she had before the attack by Pain. The desk is the same. The pictures of the past hokages on the wall are the same. Even the view out of her window overlooking Hokage mountain was the same! Tsunade instantly walks behind her large wooden desk and opens up a false drawer inside another drawer to reveal a large jug of sake. She takes a couple huge gulps and sighs in relief. Naruto watches as Tsunade's 'couple gulps' take down half the bottle of sake as if it were water. The busty slug princess gently puts the half empty bottle on her desk and before jumping at Naruto and giving him a bone crushing hug. "I missed you so much gaki!" She holds him as tight as she can without ripping Naruto in half with her chakra enhanced muscles.

Naruto folds his arms around her and rubs her back gently. "I missed you too baa-chan." Naruto loves the touching moment, but he can't help but blush a little as he feels Tsunade's oversized breasts push into his sternum. He knows that she covers her true appearance with a genjutsu, but damn if it isn't a sexy genjutsu. Between her luscious puffy lips and the way the curves of her body rest against him, his senses are overloaded. On top of that he can tell she wants him. He can smell her desire thick in the air. To him it's as clear as day what she is thinking and he can't help but smirk to himself.

Tsunade's happiness in seeing Naruto is quickly overcome with another more dangerous feeling. She rubs her hands down Naruto's bare back and can't feel a single muscle give way to the pressure of her hands against them. 'His muscles are so lean I can't even move them.' She almost moans as her hands rest on the top of the glute muscles that are just barely covered by Naruto's low hanging pants. She pulls her head off his shoulder and notices she is eye level with his chest. 'When did he get so tall?' The blonde woman bites her lip as her greedy eyes roam Naruto's well defined torso. She rips herself off of him before she does anything else stupid and goes to her closet. She takes out one of her green robes and throws it at Naruto. "Put this on." She has trouble coming up with an excuse for why. "Um... you look cold." She notices the smirk on his face as he throws on the robe and the only thing she can think is 'Cocky bastard.' She crosses her arms under her chest and remembers something she wanted to say before she forgot. "You should know that your old apartment has been rebuilt and your belongings have been moved there."

Naruto nods as he shoves his arms through the sleeves of his shirt and wraps up the green robe, which tightly hugs his body since it's made for a woman. "Well anyways, I'm here to give my report."

Tsunade sighs in relief after he puts the robe on. 'Whew! I couldn't take much more of that.' She feels the sake kick in and she wobbles to her desk and sits in her chair. Tsunade clears her throat and looks at the jinchuuriki. "I don't need your report gaki. I've received a report from Kakashi about everything you've been through. Although, I must say I am quite surprised to see how much merging with the Kyuubi has physically changed you." She hungrily looks him up and down again. Her expression changes to one of anger. "So..." A visible tick mark forms on her forehead. "Would you mind explaining to me just what the hell happened at the gates?" The fire in her eyes was ready to light her own office aflame.

Naruto chokes a bit. "Ugh... What do you mean baa-chan? hehe"

Tsunade stands up and slams her hands onto her desk. "You know exactly what I mean!" She blushes thinking back to her experience at the gate. "I know that was you..." She sits down and unconsciously puts a hand over her breast. "I could smell it."

Naruto face-palms himself and sighs. "I'm really sorry! It's a side effect of the merging, but you don't have to worry about that anymore because I've gained control over it." He throws his hands in front of him in defense.

Naruto's eyes go wide in fear as he hears the seductive yet dangerous voice of the Kyuubi breaks into his thoughts. "Oh you have huh? Please demonstrate your so called control. Oh and you better do it soon cause I'm feeling a little lazy and controlling all these pheromones is really hard. You never know when a little might slip hehe."

Naruto jumps in fear, but it's too late. He lifts his head slowly to see Tsunade dragging her nails across her wood desk, leaving large gashes down the grain as her hands effortlessly peel the wood back. Her eyes are rolled back in ecstasy as she takes short panting breaths to prevent herself from jumping from over her desk and on to Naruto's lap. One of her hands moves off of her desk to run through her hair, while the other begins to trace down the hem of her robe, right where her cleavage lay. She locks eyes with Naruto and slowly licks her lips. The hand she had resting on her breast grabs onto the hem and slowly starts to open her robe. Naruto panics. 'Please stop Kyuubi-chan! I'm sorry! You're the one with control over the pheromones, not me!' He pleads to the demon yet again in hopes she will stop toying with him.

Naruto hears a chuckle in his head. "That's right and don't you forget it Naru-kun!"

Tsunade stops opening her robe and wipes a little sweat off of her brow. After taking a few seconds to regain her composure she speaks. "You know… you didn't have to show me you had control. I believed you when you told me."

Naruto sighs in relief. 'Thank Kami she thinks I did that on purpose!'

"Lucky for you I stopped where I did. If you would've let me go any further I would've killed you and cut out your eyes for allowing it." She pulls her seat forward and repositions herself to show that she means business. "In any case I can't allow you do that anymore. The only time you are allowed to access that…. ummm….. power…. is if you are being attacked by a kunoichi and you wish to… errr… incapacitate her without harm." The words are hard to form for Tsunade as the situation is hard to explain.

"Well since I never planned to use it in the first place I'm fine with that"

"I'll release the pheromones when I damn well please! No slug woman will tell me what to do!" The Kyuubi screams in defiance.

Naruto tries to diffuse the situation. 'Calm down Kyuubi-chan. She's right that it would be a bad thing if these pheromones weren't kept in check.'

"I don't owe her anything!"

'Maybe not, but you do owe me. I don't know what you did to Ino-chan, but I know she was crying because of something you did to her.' Naruto tries to berate his captive into calming down by making her feel guilty. Lucky for him it works.

"She came into your mind on accident, but was too curious for her own good. She should have left right away." The Kyuubi speaks quietly in Naruto's mind.

'What did you do!' Naruto is livid that the Kyuubi would use his mindscape to hurt someone.

"I didn't torture her mind if that's what you're thinking silly boy." She says teasingly. "I only enlightened her."

Naruto sighs in relief when he hears she didn't actually hurt Ino. He wanted to find out how she enlightened Ino, but he noticed a cock-eyed Tsunade staring at him.

"Sorry baa-chan. I was just having a little conversation with my house-guest." He chuckles a little.

Tsunade scoffs. "That's ok. It's just a little weird when you space out for no reason."

Naruto senses five approaching shinobi from outside Tsunade's door. "Alright, so now that I agree to not let my pheromones get out of control I want to introduce you to our newest associates." Just as he finishes talking a knock his heard at the door. With a yell from Tsunade to come in Ibiki, Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu walk through the door followed by a seemingly un-alert Kakashi.

The new arrivals line up in front of Tsunade's desk and stand at attention. The blonde sannin stands up and walks around the three new arrivals for a quick inspection before she stops in front of them and speaks. "I am Tsunade the Godiame Hokage of this village. Please state your names and give me a quick overview of your abilities as well as your objectives concerning this village. You go first." She point to Karin.

Karin takes a step forward and bows gently at the waist. "My name is Karin, Lady Tsunade. My skills are mostly in tracking as I have a hyper sensitive receptors for others chakra. I also am able to transfer my chakra to others by letting them bite me which allows them to heal most wounds instantly. I have almost no combat experience and I harbor no ill will towards this village. My only objective is to stay near Sasuke-kun and….." She blushes as she looks toward Naruto who is leaning against the wall waiting patiently for introductions to finish. "…. and that is all."

Tsunade notices Karin look towards Naruto and sighs. "Very well. Now you." She points to Jugo and Karin steps back into line.

Jugo steps forward and bows. "My name is Jugo. I am an adept in various forms of taijutsu. I am the source of the curse mark Orochimaru used on his ninja and as such the curse may cause me to become enraged at a moments notice. I do no care where I am so long as I am near Sasuke or that man." He points to Naruto. "They both seem quite proficient in keeping my rage in check."

Tsunade puts her hand to her chin in thought. "Is it a problem while you are near them?"

"I can't say that it won't be. It seems long as I am near that man or Sasuke I can feel my curse recede into the depths of my mind. I believe that the more I am around them, the more control I gain over myself when they are not near me. I am not positive, but it is possible that soon I will have complete control."

"Thank you. That is enough for now." She looks at the blue haired man staring at the ceiling in boredom. "Alright, now you." She points to Suigetsu.

He walks forward and puts his hands behind his head lazily. "Hmmmm lets see." He pauses for a moment and puts a hand to finger to his chin. "My name's Suigetsu. I'm good at some things and bad at others. I don't care about this village at all. I'm just here to get my sword fixed cuz that jackass broke it." He points at Naruto.

Naruto sits up a little. "Hey! I told you I'd get it fixed! You just gotta wait til its done!" He walks up and gets in Suigetsu's face.

Suigetsu doesn't back down at all. "I want it back now asshole!"

"Who you callin an asshole you dipshit?"

"Who are you callin dipshit you little blonde bitch?"

WHAM!

Both men are on the floor holding their heads as a fuming Tsunade stands over them with closed fists. "Shut the fuck up!" Everyone in the room looks down to their feet and backs away from the angry Hokage. The two men slowly stand up and Naruto walks back to the wall murmuring to himself about sexually frustrated sannins. "What did you say gaki?"

Naruto turns around quickly and his eyes go wide in fear as he sees Tsunade walk towards him with a chakra powered fist at the ready. "Ahhhh I didn't say anything!"

"Liar!" she says as she cocks her fist back ready to lay into him.

"Uh-oh it seems like a kunoichi is attacking you and you need to incapacitate her without harming her haha." The Kyuubi chuckles in his head.

'No don't! I'll just take the punch!' Naruto tries to tell her, but it's too late. Tsunade and Karin have already been flung back with blood pouring out of their noses as the Kyuubi threw out a massive amount of pheromones to flood the women's senses. Naruto sighs.

"Damn kid." Ibiki hits his hand to his forehead. "I didn't sign up for this." He looks to his left to see the silver haired jonin ready to giggle like a school girl. "Kakashi." The one eyed man turns to him. "Chuckling at the hokage won't bode well for you when she gets up. You don't have pheromones to protect you."

The cyclops man immediately stops and stands at attention, his eyes full of fear. 'I didn't survive three years of constant attacks to die here!'

As the pheromones retract the two women stand up again. Tsunade wipes the blood out from under her nose and stares daggers at Naruto. "When I said you could use that against attacking kunoichi, I didn't mean me." No one in the room is surprised because they have all seen this before and know exactly what just happened.

Naruto looks down so she can't see his smirk. "Sorry. I got scared and let some go."

She turns around because she doesn't want to risk another burst of Naruto's aroma clouding her senses and she didn't want him to see her smile. 'I think three climaxes in one hour are good enough for now.' She closes her eyes to think for a moment. 'Hmmm….. maybe I should attack him more often. I have been….. stressed lately.' She lets loose a lecherous smile that the perv Kakashi rarely gets to see on anyone's face, but his own. Tsunade's smile drops and she turns to look toward the blue haired man still rubbing his head. "Anyways Suigetsu. Even though you really gave me no information that I wanted, I still need to speak with you all about the proposition offered to you." She walks to her desk and sits down in her chair before opening her drawer and taking out three folders filled with papers. "You have all been offered citizenship in Konoha, with stipulations of course that I'm sure have been explained to you." They all nod in agreement. "These contracts are yours to sign if you wish to join this village. If you do not want to be here we will not make you stay."

Everyone looks at Suigetsu who just scoffs and looks away. He mumbles "Well….. maybe I'll stay…. just for a bit or whatever." No one is really surprised. They all knew he was just looking for a fight earlier.

Tsunade looks at Jugo and Karin. "I assume you two wish to stay as well?" They nod and all three walk forward to fill out their lengthy paperwork.

Naruto pushes himself off the wall and looks as if he's about to say something, but instead he stops and looks at the door. "Since everything's good here I'm going to go. Kakashi, could you take them to the hospital to see Sasuke after they're done? Thanks." Without waiting for an actual answer Naruto shunshins out of the room leaving everyone dazed by his sudden urge to disappear.

Seconds after he leaves a knock is heard at the door. "Come in." Tsunade wonders who it is as she wasn't expecting anyone. The door opens to show the pink haired medic standing in the doorway. "Hello Sakura what can I do for you?"

"Sorry for interrupting Tsunade-sama. I was just wondering if you had seen Naruto." This earned an angry glare from Karin.

Tsunade sighs. "Sorry. He just left."

"Oh." Sakura puts her head down. "Did he say where he was going?"

"He didn't."

Sakura shifts around nervously before she picks up here head and gives Tsunade a forced, sad smile. "Well I'll just keep looking then I guess. Thank you for your time Tsunade-sama and sorry again for interrupting." She turns and walks out the door quietly. As she leaves the tower she notices the stars shining in the sky. 'Maybe he's gone home to sleep.' She starts walking towards his small apartment.

(Line break)

Naruto didn't want to be in the room with Sakura because he no longer trusts himself to do what is right and leave her alone so he's decided to avoid her. 'Just knowing she will be happy is ok with me.' After Naruto shunshins out of Tsunade's office he feels his stomach grumble so he heads straight to Ichiraku Ramen to say hi to his oldest friends Ayame and Teuchi. He knew that if he didn't get there soon they would be closing because it's starting to get late so he picks up his pace. He finally sees the banner for his favorite ramen bar strung around the wood building he made after the Pain attack and he smiles. As soon as he arrives he's enveloped in two giant hugs from two of his favorite people. "Naruto! We're so happy to see you!" Teuchi and Ayame both yell so loud they almost burst Naruto's eardrums. "Sit down! We'll make you your favorites!"

Naruto plops down in a chair excitedly. "I'm happy to see you guys too! I haven't had ramen from here in so long!" While Teuchi and Ayame cooked, Naruto told them all the exhilarating stories of his past three years. As Naruto excitedly acts out some of the scenes in his past battles the two cooks are happy to see that even though he has grown up physically he's still the same crazy, energetic guy on the inside. After Naruto finishes his stories the food is finished and Ayame fills him in on all the gossip he's missed. Apparently there are strong rumors of a relationship between Tenten and Neji, but no one has any substantial proof yet. The news that made Naruto laugh out a mouth full of food was about a certain lazy cloud watcher requesting missions almost exclusively for Suna. "Who does Shikamaru think he's kidding? I can't believe he's using missions as an excuse to go over there to see that fan lady!" After eating almost thirty bowls of ramen, Naruto was finally satisfied. "Well I guess it's about time for me to go. I've got a few more things I need to do."

Teuchi says goodbye and Ayame moves in and gives him a hug. "Don't be a stranger. Ok?"

Naruto nods and then turns his head in embarrassment. "Oh and Ayame-chan." She turns her head to look him in the eyes, but he's looking away. "I'm really sorry about what happened at the gate earlier. It won't happen again I swear."

Ayame turns her head and blushes remembering the overpowering scent that emanated off of Naruto and the feeling it gave her. "Well… it's ok. I kind of….. liked it."

Naruto's face goes beet red. "Ummmm…. well I'll see you around Ayame-chan." He turns to leave.

"I hope you're going to take a shower now Naruto." Teuchi says as he comes around the corner. "You smell like mashed up peas mixed with a used diaper."

'Oh man I was just covered in Zetsu chunks just a little bit ago. I must reek.' Naruto smells himself and cringes. "Oh yeah haha. I haven't washed up since yesterday." After another quick goodbye he turns and walks out under the banner over the entryway. 'I'll take a shower later. I want to set some stuff up first.' He shoots off towards the Hokage monument.

(Line break)

Sakura arrives in front of Naruto's apartment. As she looks around she notes that even though all of this part of town was recently rebuilt it still looks rundown. She treads up the stairs, past all the random graffiti from gangs and other punks, and walks up to Naruto's door. She knocks, but is sure he's not there because there is no shuffling on the other side and the lights aren't on. After a minute with no answer she takes out a pair of keys and opens the door. Everything was just the way she left it when she was there a few days before. The few possessions Naruto salvaged after the attack were there as well as the small number of items he procured after the attack. She had set up everything shortly after the apartment was fixed and the things were moved in. The apartment came with furniture and a refrigerator, but she added a few things. Like the TV in the living room (so she can watch when she visits), the calendars and clocks (so she knows how long he's been gone), the towels in the bathroom (so she can shower when she's there), and last but not least the bed in his bedroom. She meant for the bed to be there so she could sleep in it until he returned, but instead she sleeps elsewhere. Every night she's there she lies down on the cot he was using before he left and wraps herself up in the blankets he used while laying her head on his pillow. She breathes deeply into the blankets hoping to catch his scent one more time, but after three years of being used by a different person they have lost any trace of Naruto. However, today she would not stay there. She disassembles the cot and puts it in the closet. Then she folds the blanket and pillows, brings them over to closet, and puts them on the top shelf. 'He doesn't have to know I was ever here.' Sakura sighs as she looks around the room before she turns around, leaves and locks the door behind her. 'I still can't find him...' She frowns as she looks up at the night sky. 'and it's getting too late. I have to go home.' She walks through the night back to her parent's house. 'I can wake up early tomorrow before work and look for him some more.' She smiles a bit at the thought. 'Yeah…. tomorrow.'

(Line break)

Naruto lightly touches his hand to a large boulder and a small seal forms on it. Naruto smiles and wipes his brow. "Whew. Almost done." Naruto puts his finger to his chin in a thinking pose. "Lets see... I already marked hokage tower and Ichiraku's when I was there earlier, and now I have the hokage monument and a few other special areas marked with my seal for my Hiraishin no jutsu." Naruto stretches and rubs his neck. "That leaves my apartment." With that said he bursts off towards his new, old apartment.

Naruto arrives in front of his front door and shakes the handle to find it locked. "Hmmm." Naruto scratches his head for a moment before he gets a brilliant idea. He quickly slams his hand into the door and watches as seals pour through the cracks surrounding it. He waits a moment as he feels the seals reform on the other side and uses his Hiraishin no jutsu to teleport into his home. As he eyes up his apartment he finds it odd that his things have been organized. "I wonder who set this all up." Naruto looks around and finds everything is getting more odd as he does. "What's up with all this new stuff?" He says as he runs his hand along the TV he never had. "Oh well. I'll thank someone later." He takes off the Hokage's robe she gave him earlier. "I need a shower."

Naruto enters his bathroom and takes a long shower. He hasn't had a decent shower in a while and the warm water against his skin feels amazing. He finishes getting the last bit of stench from Zetsu off of him and he turns off the handle to stop the flowing water. The blonde reaches for the nearest towel and throws it over his head. He remains immobile as the towel drapes over his covered face. Naruto slowly removes the towel from his head and looks down at it before crushing it against his nose. The jinchuuriki takes long deep breaths into the towel almost frantically. "Sakura used this!" He runs to his cabinet and rips the door open. The agitated teen throws his face into the towels there and takes another deep breath. "She's used all of these!" He sits down on the sink counter next to the cabinet and holds his head. Naruto leans his head back and rests it against his mirror over his sink. "Why does this keep happening?" The blonde holds his towel to his nose once more to take in the pinkette's intoxicating scent. "I can't get away from her no matter how hard I try." He puts his head down again. "Why was she even here?" Naruto gets off the counter and towels off still thinking about Sakura before he comes to a conclusion. "That's it! She must have set up my house!" He thinks about the towels. "She must have also known I didn't have any towels and gave me hers. That's why they are full of her scent." The blue eyed man walks out of the bathroom and into his bedroom to put on some sleep wear, still keeping the towel near his face at all times. His body shakes as he takes another breath into it and he throws it off to the side. "I have to put this towel away now. I'll never get to sleep with this thing around." Naruto walks over to his clothes he was wearing earlier and wraps them around the towel. "There. Now I can't smell it at all."

Naruto walks over to his bed and pulls the covers back on the twin sized bed he never bought and lays down. As he lies down for the night he can't stop tossing and turning because Sakura's scent won't leave him alone. The tired blonde gets up and stomps towards his hamper where he just threw the towel and his clothes and opens the lid. As his blue eyes peer down he notices the scent isn't coming from the towel he left wrapped in his dirty clothes. His nose hits the air like a bloodhound and he scampers straight to his closet. The jinchuuriki puts both hands on the door and sniffs at the small crevices that surround it before he swings it open. He nearly hits the floor as an overpowering wave of his beloved's scent hits him like a brick wall. The swooning man closes his eyes it almost feels like the one he wants is right there in front of him. He peers into the closet to see his old cot and blankets from before he left. He reaches for the blankets and holds them close up against his face and chest. The pinkette's aroma covers the material and he can't help but wonder why. He reaches forward and grabs the cot to find that it's full of her scent as well. 'Why does this stuff smell so much like her?' He takes out the cot and sets it up. He desperately searched for a reason as to why she would be near any of his old things. 'Maybe she kept this stuff at her house for me before she brought it here.' He wraps himself tightly in his old blankets and pictures Sakura holding him in their place as he lies down on his cot and places his weary head upon his old pillow. 'Yeah. That must be it.' He says to himself as he drifts off to the most comfortable night of sleep he has had in three years.

(Line break)

Naruto wakes early in the morning due to the light from the sun peeking through his shades and into his eyes. He attempts to get back to sleep, but fails miserably and decides not to waste any more of his day just lying around. He gets off of his cot, still wrapped in his blankets, and goes to his room to change into his training gear. His gear consists of a form fitting black muscle tee shirt, with orange stripes down the short sleeves that connect to an orange collar, which is tucked into black pants that are tucked into black boots. He whips an orange belt tilted to the side around his waist and throws a few kunai into the loops on the left side of the belt. Then he takes his Konoha headband wraps it around his waist so it hangs down on the right side, opposite the kunai, before he Hiraishins over to one of the training grounds he permanently marked with his seal. If he would have stayed in his apartment ten minutes longer he would have encountered the pink haired woman he dreamt about all night.

Naruto arrives at the training grounds and undergoes his usual routine for warming up. He stretches and runs a few laps around the area before settling down for some real training. He sits down cross-legged in the middle of the area and holds his right hand out in front of him while holding his wrist with his left. As he stares at his hand, five spiraling spheres of chakra appear at the tips of each of his fingers. "Okay now for the hard part." He stares at his thumb and a blade of wind starts to spin around the sphere quickly. Then he looks to his index finger and a small ring of water moves around the small sphere. He groans and looks to his middle finger intently. Sparks start and a flicker of fire starts inside the sphere. "Yeah I did it!" In Naruto's excitement he accidentally touches his fingers together and what looks like the bursts of flame out of the end of a rocket shoots out of his hand and levels most of the training ground. Naruto himself is propelled through a few trees as the force of the blast from his hand acted like a rocket engine exerted an opposing force on him. "Whew. Good thing that I put the water element between wind and fire or that REALLY could've hurt." Naruto stands up and brushes off the dirt, leaves, and sticks he accumulated from flying through the forest.

"What the hell was that?"

Naruto turns around to see Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo standing in awe of what he has just done. "Oh that's nothing. Just a new jutsu I'm working on." He looks over the massive amount of damage he caused. "Hehe. It's definitely not ready yet."

Suigetsu steps forward with his brand new sword hanging off of his back, although it is covered with seals to keep the edges blunt. "That was unfinished?" He looks across the broken forest. "There isn't anything fucking left!"

"That was completely uncontrolled." Naruto says casually before he turns around and faces the group with glittering eyes and clasped hands. "When I'm done with this jutsu it will be sooooooo awesome!"

The three hit the ground in a cartoon style fashion. Suigetsu stares at him in disbelief. 'I can't believe this guy!'

Karin is the first to stand up. "Ummm... Naruto-kun." Karin looks at Naruto's muscled body as it clings tightly to his shirt and almost needs to sit back down again.

Naruto looks at her and raises a brow. "Huh? What is it Karin-chan?"

Karin almost faints when she hears Naruto call her Karin-chan. 'I think he likes me! Were not good friends yet so he must if he calls me Karin-chan!'

Jugo stands up and steps forward. "We're here about the clause in our contracts that concerns you."

Naruto face goes serious. "I see." Naruto crosses his arms across his chest. "We can do it tonight. I should let you know that the application of the seal may be quite painful."

Suigetsu scoffs. "It doesn't matter anyway. We have to do it if we want to stay."

Naruto shrugs his shoulders. "I'm just telling you so you will know later."

Karin speaks up. "Would you mind giving us a few details about our situation?"

"Certainly. Because we are not sure if we can trust you I need to apply a semi-permanent seal on each of you, which allows me to instantly transport myself to your location. It will remain fully active until the end of your probation at which time you are allowed the choice of having it removed."

Suigetsu laughs. "Why the hell would we wanna keep a seal on us that lets you intrude on our privacy whenever you want?"

Naruto smiles. "That's easy! Once your probation is over I can change the seal so that I can't just intrude on you whenever I want." Naruto puts his finger in the air to make it appear that he's really smart. "I would remove my chakra from the seal and then it can only be activated by you when you want to see me." He looks to Jugo. "For example, if you found you needed help with control. All you need to do is apply the smallest amount of your chakra to the seal and I will feel it activate. I will be there right away, but if you don't apply chakra to it then the seal is inactive and I can't use it." He looks at Suigetsu. "However, once your probation is up you have the choice of getting rid of it entirely. It's up to you."

"I don't want your damn seal." Suigetsu crosses his arms and pouts.

Karin turns to her blue haired companion. "Stop bitching Suigetsu! You don't have to keep the thing once your probation's over!"

Suigetsu grunts and puts his hand on his sword. "Fuck you!"

Naruto takes a step forward and gives Suigetsu a large frightening grin. "Please don't attack anybody Suigetsu. I'm asking you nicely."

Suigetsu gulps remembering the last time Naruto 'nicely' asked him not to attack. He puts his hand over his sternum and cringes. "Fine whatever. What time do you wanna do this seal thing?"

"Eight o'clock in Sasuke's hospital room. He needs a seal too."

The three nod, but only two walk away once the information was passed.

"Can I help you Karin-chan?"

She blushes again at the suffix. "Ummmmm... I was wondering if... maybe you could show me around Konoha sometime?" She says quietly and quickly with her eyes squinted shut.

Naruto walks forward until he's almost face to face with Karin. She can feel he's trying as hard as he can to suppress every once of chakra from leaking through so she doesn't sense it and act crazy like she did with his clone the day before. "Sure Karin-chan." He pulls her in for a hug. "Welcome to Konoha." Her legs wobble and her body goes numb as he holds her. She wraps her arms around him and sinks her body deeper into his hold trying to relish every second he allows her to touch him. To her dismay, he abruptly lets go and leaves her cold without him there to warm her. "Maybe we can do it tomorrow. Right now you need to rest to prepare for the seal. I wasn't kidding when I said it will hurt."

The red-head nods and starts to back away. "Goodbye Naruto-kun."

Naruto gives her a smile that melts her to the bone. "I'll see you soon Karin-chan." She squeals and runs away in clumsy excitement, completely ignoring the fact that he just told her he was going to put her through excruciating pain. He shakes his head and sits down to try and finish adding the lightening and earth elements to the last two mini rasengans floating above his fingertips.

(Line break)

Sakura wakes up early in hopes of catching Naruto at his apartment. Unfortunately she arrives too late. She unlocks the door and walks in again without even thinking about the fact that she shouldn't walk in without being let in anymore because the owner lives there now. She sees the cot set up with his old blankets hanging off of it and frowns. 'Does he not like the bed I got for him?' She walks into his bedroom and sees the bed sheets are ruffled. 'I don't understand. Why is the cot set up in the living room if he slept in his bed?' She thinks about the situation for a moment and frowns. 'Unless someone slept here with him.' She rubs her chin. 'I don't think so. Who would it have been anyways? The newcomers and Sasuke-kun all slept in the hospital last night so it can't be them and no one else would be here.' The pinkette turns and walks out the bedroom door and into the living room. 'It doesn't matter right now I guess. I need to find him' With that she turns and walks out the door, locking it behind her.

As she strolls through the streets she tries to think about places he might have gone. 'That's it! He said earlier he was going to visit Ino!' A sad look washes over her face as she thinks about how softly he hugged Ino the day before. She wished he would hug her like that... and she was determined to make that happen. 'I'm going to find him and explain myself even if I have to force him to listen!' With renewed vigor she leaps toward the flower shop girl's home.

(Line break)

Sakura arrives at Ino's house and rings the doorbell to have Ino's father answer the door. "Hello Yamanaka-san. Is Ino home?

The older blonde wraps Sakura up in a hug and sighs into her shoulder. "Thank Kami you're here Sakura."

Sakura is too surprised to hug him back. "Wha? What's going on?"

Ino's father lets go of Sakura and sighs loudly. "It's Ino. She came home yesterday and went up to her room. Now all she does is stare out her window without saying a word to anyone. I've never seen her like this and it's making me sad to see my hime so detached." He says with an melodramatic sad dad face.

"Really? Do you have any idea what's wrong?" She says worriedly.

Inoichi runs his hands through his hair. "I do." He leans forward so no prying ears can hear what he has to say. "It happens occasionally when a mind-walker enters a mind that is particularly ummmmmm." he puts his finger to his chin to try to think of the right word. "Well it can happen when we enter a... scary mind."

She clenches her jaw in anger. 'There is nothing scary about Naruto!'

"Well a scary or damaged mind I guess, but usually scary." He crosses his arms and looks down at Sakura. "Do you have any idea who's mind she entered."

She looks down so he can't see her tears form. 'Damaged? He's not damaged. Is he?'

Inoichi sighs and moves to the side. "Ignore that question. Right now Ino needs you to help her through this."

Sakura nods and walks past the elder Yamanaka to see the younger. She slowly walks up the stairs and opens the door to Ino's room to see her just as her dad said she would be. Ino sits motionless with her legs to her chest on the bed and staring out the window, the only movement being an occasional blink from her lifeless blue eyes. Sakura walks to her friend and sits beside her on the bed. "Ino?" She doesn't even turn her head to acknowledge her pink haired friend. Sakura knows Ino saw something in Naruto's mind and whatever it was must have been truly frightening. "Ino." Sakura says forcefully. "I know you were in Naruto's mind." Ino visibly flinches, but doesn't turn away from the window. Sakura puts her hand on Ino's shoulder and grips it tightly. "Show me." Ino slowly turns her head and stares directly into Sakura's eyes. Sakura doesn't see fear in Ino's eyes, only sadness. "I don't know what you saw, but if it concerns Naruto I want to know."

Ino turns back her head back and looks out the window. "No you don't." Ino speaks to her friend for the the first time.

Sakura grips Ino's shoulder tighter. "Yes Ino. I do." She says in a rather angry voice.

Ino turns her head back again, but this time she's angry. "You want to see Naruto's memories! Fine! I'll give you just a glimpse of what I saw!" She does a few hand signs and pulls her hand back before palming Sakura in the forehead. Sakura feels the hit connect and her world goes black.

(Line break)

Sakura wakes up in and notices she is no longer in Ino's room. Instead she is at Konoha's gate and it 's nightfall. She puts her hand to her forehead and tries to clear her groggy mind. "Stand up Sakura." She looks up to see Ino standing above her.

"Where are we Ino?" She asks as she looks around and sees everyone who was at the gate the day before seemingly frozen in place. She even sees herself laying on the other side of the group of people.

"We are in my mind." She says calmly. "This is my memory from yesterday."

Sakura looks around again. "Why is everybody frozen then?" Sakura asks confused.

Ino points towards Naruto. "Just watch."

Sakura watches as another Ino steps forward and caresses Naruto's frozen shirtless body. "What the hell Ino-pig? I don't want to watch you fondle Naruto!" She yells at her blonde friend.

"Just shut up and watch Sakura."

Sakura turns her head when she hears the memory Ino say something, but doesn't quite catch it. What she does hear is a seductive voice say. "He's worried about you I'm sure." A beautiful woman with wild dark red and black hair appears seemingly out of nowhere and begins to elegantly walk towards the memory Ino. She is wearing a brilliant white kimono that slowly transitions to a dark red at the bottom. The colors of the kimono allow for a perfect contrast to her elegant demeanor and dark tanned skin, while allowing her to show her generous curves and bust. "You should have left when you had the chance mind-walker."

"Who are you?" The memory asks.

The beautiful woman walks up to the memory Ino and grabs her throat. "There is only one person who will ever know my true name and that is Naruto! Also, it is common courtesy to introduce yourself first you whelp!" She says before she throws her to the side effortlessly.

Sakura worriedly looks at the real Ino, but the blonde just keeps staring at the memory. The memory Ino holds her throat while gasping for air. When she finally gains her breath back she stands up and speaks. "My name is Yamanaka Ino." She says fearfully. "May I ask to whom I am speaking."

"I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune." The memory gasps and tries to cancel the jutsu, but can't. "I told you that you should have left while you had the chance. Now you will have to wait until I release you from this place." The Kyuubi says.

The memory looks down. "What is it you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you." The Kyuubi says, which gives the memory Ino some hope. "In fact, I'm going to give you a gift." The blonde looks at the Kyuubi confusedly. "I will allow you to see a few things that no one has seen before, save myself and Naruto."

The memory cautiously maintains her distance from the Kyuubi. "Why would you give me such a gift?"

The Kyuubi sighs. "I will explain at another time if I find that you are worthy of an explanation."

"Very well I'm ready."

Sakura watches the memory say she's ready, but as she looks over to the real Ino she looks anything but ready. Tears are forming in the blonde's eyes and she is shaking uncontrollably. The real Ino looks at Sakura. "I'm sorry Sakura, but I don't want to relive this again. I will allow you to travel with my memory, but I won't see you until it's over." As she speaks her last word she disappears.

Sakura saw that Ino was scared of something and that it was coming soon, but she didn't know what. Before Sakura could turn towards the Kyuubi and the memory Ino the world she's in shifts into a small, dark bedroom. She looks around to see Ino staring a small boy crouched in front of a fading candle, holding a cute teddy bear. The pinkette knows exactly where she is and who the young boy playing with the stuffed bear is as well. 'Naruto.'

Well that's chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed. I apologize if the distinction between memory Ino and real Ino is difficult. I decided the only way to remedy it is to get rid of the real Ino until the memory is over. Thank you very much to all those who have read and/or reviewed. It means a lot to me to know somebody likes this.

Ill see you in chappy 6!