Chapter Two: Return Home

"Hey," Naruto turned his head towards Jiraiya, "You excited? Its been what, eight years we've been gone from Konoha." Naruto sighed. He did miss Konoha City. After all it is his home… But he doesn't want to be reminded about that night. The night when he saw his father died, and himself being used an experiment to become the greatest weapon.

"Well… you can say I'm excited. I'm just glad that I would be staying in one city now instead of moving from one place to another." Jiraiya laughed at Naruto's statement. He knew Naruto was kind of getting annoyed of moving so much. Well at least he is almost done with his next novel.

They have been driving for hours now, and they are near the entrance of Konoha City. The last city they were at was Port City, which was at the edge of the Fire Country. They both had to get up early in the morning, and you can say they were both tired. Jiraiya, however, is the only one showing no signs of weariness. Naruto, however, fell asleep four times during their trip to Konoha; he is still tired.

Naruto began to shut his eyes when he was slapped in the face by his godfather's hand. "What the hell is that all about!!!!"

Jiraiya laughed at the reaction Naruto gave him, then he pointed out, "We're here." Naruto's anger went away when he turned and saw a sign that read Welcome to Konoha City. Naruto then just leaned forward from his seat to where his forehead is inches away from the front window of the car. He just stared at everything that went by. He sadly smiled when he saw a young boy holding on to his father's hand. The child's mother was holding onto the fathers other hand, smiling. They were so happy. Oh, how he wished he could see his parents again. Jiraiya saw Naruto looking at the family they past and frowned. He knew he missed his mother and father.

'(sigh) I know you miss them Naruto. But I promised you that we will find your mother. I just hope it isn't too late.' "Hey," Jiraiya began, to brightened up the mood, "You excited for school? You've been home schooled all your life, how do you feel now that you're actually going to an actual school?"

"Eh, I guess." Naruto replied. Jiraiya left eye twitched, 'That's all he has to say!!!!'

"Oh, come on kid. Been home schooled all your life and now your going to an actual school where you can make new friends, play sports, go to dances and all the good stuff… seeing hot young girls…" Jiraiya began to trail off into his perverted day-dreaming.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I mean I am excited. Its just I'm a bit nervous because… I don't know."

Jiraiya chuckled lightly, "Tell me, what's on your mind."

"A long time ago… I use to have two very close friends. And there is a chance I might see them."

"Ah, I see. And so what? Shouldn't you be happy?"

"What if their angry at me for leaving… without saying goodbye. And I know I wasn't able because of the situation but they don't know that. What if they don't remember me?" Jiraiya kept his eye on the road, not saying a thing. He knew what Naruto said could be true. So he is not going to deny it.

"We always hang out at the park…" Naruto began to smile, "Sasuke and I use to play video games, then fight afterwards. But, we both knew we were best buds. The only thing I kept from him was telling him I had powers. He was a normal human being and a good friend, I didn't want to lose him just by telling him I had powers."

"I understand where your coming from. But you know, best friends always stick by you, power or no power." Jiraiya stated, and Naruto stayed silent. Jiraiya continued, "What about your other friend?"

"Sakura, she is amazing. When we are alone, she and I usually sit on the swings and watch the sunset at night. We watch movies together…" Naruto chuckled, "I had a huge crush on her." Jiraiya smiled widely, 'Ah, young love. This gave me a good idea for my new book'.

"Well, if your so worried, remember their might be a chance that they don't go to that high school. If they do then you just have to figure out how to explain why you left." Naruto just sighed. He knew it will be a lot of trouble trying to tell them why he left, especially how to tell them without revealing himself having powers.

After about thirty minutes driving through the city to get to their destination, they have finally made it. Naruto stared through the car window, and gazed upon his old home. He heard Jiraiya got out of the car, which made Naruto follow. He never looked away, though. He just stared. Jiraiya yanked Naruto's luggage out of the trunk and noticed Naruto had a sad face. "You're alright staying here, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, no problem!" Jiraiya smiled sadly, "Alright then, lets head in." Both walked through the fence door to the front entrance. Jiraiya dug into his pockets and pulled out a shiny key and gave it to Naruto. Naruto took it with little hesitation and unlocked the door. The door creaked open, creating a slight echo inside. Inside was empty, no furniture were spotted.

"Don't worry, your living room furniture and everything else will arrive soon. Your things arrived earlier today, and already set up." Naruto nodded and walked through the living room and to a narrow hallway that lead to his room. Once he was there, he noticed the door wasn't fully closed. He first peeked through the small crack, then he pushed the door gently making the door creak as it slowly opened. He noticed nothing was in there.

Naruto eyes narrowed. He could remember blood being sprayed throughout his room from Jiraiya's spiked hairs. "Naruto, that's not your room!" Naruto heard Jiraiya yelled in the background, "Your room is upstairs!" Naruto stared into the room once more before he left. He saw Jiraiya carrying his luggage waiting for him down the hallway. Jiraiya told Naruto, "You'll have our parent's room. Your old room would be too small for you." Naruto let out a little chuckle from the small joke.

Both began to walk upstairs towards Naruto's new room. They turned left to see a closed two-door. Jiraiya opened the doors to see what's inside. Naruto stared into the room, and was surprised how big it was. 'I guess I have forgotten how big this room was when I was a child.' Naruto walked inside and walked around the room. He went to his new bed. It was clean, and brand new. He brushed his finger on the soft blanket as he moved towards the bathroom. Bathroom was rather large, having a bathtub next to the shower. "… And this is where the magic starts." Naruto's face fell in disgust as he saw Jiraiya looking at the bath tub with a perverted smile on his face. Naruto walked passed his godfather while shaking his head.

Jiraiya saw his and said, "What?" He just saw Naruto walk up to the bedroom window. From the window, he can see the front of the house, and to the distance was Konoha Mountain. He just stared out into the horizon. Naruto sighed as he bowed his head. Jiraiya walked up behind him, "What's wrong?"

Naruto replied, "Just relieved to be home." Jiraiya, however, knew Naruto was lying to himself, "I'm going out to look around, see more of how much this place changed, okay?"

"Alright, don't be out for too long because… were going to at your old favorite restaurant." Jiraiya grinned. Naruto smiled widely, "Alright! See you in a bit."

Naruto walked around for quite some time, and to him, not much has changed. Some of the houses have been painted, new pavements, and new neighbors. Surprisingly to Naruto, no sign of any Akatsuki. He would have thought they would be out spying on him and all. 'Good thing for me, I'm not in the mood for beating anyone up.'

Naruto dug his hand into his pockets and headed toward the end of the sidewalk in front of him. Right as he turned the corner, he was bumped into somebody and fell straight to the ground. "Watch where your going, baka!" Naruto's eyes widened, 'Could it be?!' Naruto looked up and saw young man glaring down at him with his dark grey eyes. The young man has black hair that looks like… a ducks butt?

"Sasuke?" Naruto wondered.

"How do you know my name?" Naruto smiled widely and jumped to his feet.

"Don't you remember me!?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes while moving closer. It took him awhile for him to finally noticed it was his long lost friend. "Naruto, is it really you?" Sasuke grabbed onto Naruto's face and screamed in joy. He gave him the tightest brotherly hug, "Dear sweet Kami, where have you been!? How long has it been!?"

Naruto laughed, "Its been too long, Sasuke!"

Sasuke then caught something he never knew was there, "What happen to your cheeks man?… They look like scratch marks or something…" Sasuke grabbed both of Naruto's cheeks with his hands.

Naruto nervously tried to hide the truth from him, "It's nothing, it just kind of showed up as I got older. Don't worry about it," he said while removing Sasuke's hands from his cheeks.

"Whatever you say man, but hey are you free to do anything? We should hang out and catch up."

"I can't today, Sasuke. I'm meeting my godfather back at he house. Maybe some other time!" Naruto said while smiling.

Sasuke sighed and nodded, "Of course another time would be fine. Here's my number, just call whenever you want to hang." Sasuke took out a pen from his pocket and tried to find something to write his number on. "You wouldn't happen to have a piece of paper on you, do you? Naruto laughed and shook his head no.

"Well.. I don't know where-"BANG!

A huge explosion appeared out of nowhere between Sasuke and Naruto. Both landed on the ground hard, but Naruto was the only one to actually get in a defensive position. Sasuke slowly got up while palming his head. Both then heard a menacing laugh through the dust. "Welcome home, Naruto!"

"Deidara." Naruto growled, "What do you want!?"

"I just want to bring you a welcome home gift! And its my art! Tell me what you think of it eh!!!"