Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.

A/N: Heh, another chapter! Oh, and for those of you who read the first chapter already, I changed a couple details… Meh…

Chapter 2: Arrival

Days later…

The young man squirmed in his seat, a grimace plastered on his face as a pair of tweezers struggled to pull a bullet out of his arm.

"Stop twitching," said the young woman by his side. Her light green eyes stayed focussed on the task, her hands steady. As she finally dislodged the bullet, both her and her patient gave a sigh of relief. The young woman began to dress the wound carefully. "You're too reckless, Lee-san," she said. "You need to think before you act. And take some time off every now and then- I'm worried you'll aggravate your old injuries again."

The young man smiled. "You do not need to worry about me, Sakura-san. I know that if I am ever hurt, you will be there to help me." He continued to stare at her, the smile still on his face as he thought about what a strange and wonderful young woman she was. Her touch was gentle, but he knew that if angered she would be able to pummel him through a wall with little trouble. It came from being apprentice to Tsunade-sama, no doubt, seeing as she had once been a bodybuilder. Luckily though, not all of her teacher's personality traits had rubbed off on her- she was kind and understanding, had no love of drink or gambling, and definitely was not addicted to plastic surgery. And she was cute, even if she had a rather large forehead.

Sakura finished with the bandages and untied her short pink hair, letting it fall to just touch her shoulders. She slipped her pair of medical gloves off, allowing her to roll down the sleeves of her red blouse. The girl gave a frown at the stains of blood she spotted on her apron, taking it off to not give it time to soak through to her black skirt.

She shook her head and sighed. "That's just what I'm worried about. Lee-san, not all injuries can be healed. You have been far too lucky considering what you've been through." She looked at the young man before her, taking him in. In this city, he definitely stood out- though not exactly in a good way. He had no concept of fashion sense, a bowl hair cut, thick eyebrows… his attire didn't help in the slightest- the formal, neon green shirt and pink tie looked like he suffered from colour blindness (which Sakura was convinced he had). The only redeeming fashion feature was his sunglasses, which were actually not too bad overall. They covered his odd-looking eyes at least. But, with such an exterior, it was sometimes easy to forget how unique his personality was. Kindness was a rare trait to find these days.

Lee patted the bandage around his arm, wincing slightly as he realised his folly. "If you wish for me to take more care, then I shall, Sakura-chan. You know what is best for your precious people."

The girl gave a crooked smile. "Get yourself a sling from the nurse when you leave. And just take it easy for the next few weeks- nothing big. And say hello to Neji-san and Tenten-san for me then," she said, politely ushering him from the room. "I'll see you later, Lee-san." She closed the door behind him and turned to rest her back against it for a second.

"I can't believe how busy things have gotten lately," she muttered to herself. She set about to cleaning up.

Things definitely had been busier lately for some reason. Since Tsunade had let her take up medical duties by herself for the gang, she'd never seen so many people with wounds come in. At least a quarter of those on duty had some form of injury. Granted, it was a small difference in comparison to that time the gang had been in that war with Suna and Oto, but it was still rather worrying.

Sakura tapped her fingers against the bench. She stared out the window before her, the view only just above that of the buildings next door. She had been glad to get this office; a sky view seemed to be rare these days with all the buildings suddenly reaching higher into the sky. The past few years had become even stranger. Or maybe it was just her that felt like it was? She didn't want to tell anybody, but she was lonely- almost desperately so. She'd tried to distract herself with work, which she did enjoy, yes, but she was still left with that same awful feeling of reject in the pit of her stomach.

Reject. She wasn't sure why she felt that was the word to use, but she had to admit that it was the right word for one of the cases. Just when all felt right in the world, she'd been rejected by the person she felt was the one. Over the years they had spent together, she'd come to realise more mature feelings, not just the ones born of a young girl's fantasy. But just when she felt like it was the right time to confess and explain, everything had changed. And he'd run away, leaving her unsure what to think. Was she the selfish one, or was he?

But reject was too harsh a word to apply to the other case. She still had hope for both, but in this case, the hope was justified. She at least knew she wouldn't be lonely for too much longer. And this time, she'd be sure not to entirely reject what she already had had before.

Sakura smiled as she thought that.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, how do you think Konoha is going? You write letters to Baa-chan, don't cha?" A boy of around fifteen glanced up with bright blue eyes at the older man beside him. The man sent him a patronising glare in return.

"I do use email, Naruto. Just because you've decided to stay behind the times doesn't mean I have to. And remember not to call me that in front of the whole gang. It's Jiraiya, okay?" He shielded his eyes from the sun as he stared over the sea. In the distance he was able to spot the outline of a city. "You'll be surprised when we get back."

Naruto stared up at his sensei strangely, the bottom lid of his eye twitching.

Jiraiya glimpsed back down at him, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Naruto's face turned green. He grabbed at his throat and pointed at it.

His sensei's eyes widened. He clamped his hands around the boy's arms as he wriggle around, looking like he couldn't breathe. "What is it? Why are you green? Have you been poisoned? Are you dying? I don't want my hard work to have gone to waste on you!" Jiraiya shook him, trying to get him to tell him what was wrong.

"Bleeeeh!"

An eye twitched. Vomit dripped down pants legs and onto sandaled feet. Naruto hung limply from Jiraiya's grip, relieved.

"Moron! What didn't you tell me?" yelled the old man, shaking him again.

"I tried to tell you, you old perv! What'd you go shaking me for?!" Naruto struggled out of his grip and stumbled to the side of the boat. He leaned over, gasping for breath and hoping not to go through that again.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth. He pulled an old shirt from his bag and began wiping himself down. "Me… getting spat up on… by my own student… If anyone ever heard, I'd be the laughing stock of Konoha."

"You already are the laughing stock of Konoha, Ero-Sennin," muttered his student, leaning up from the railings. Colour was finally returning to his face. "You write those dirty books and perv on women all the time."

The man crossed his arms and turned away. "But at least I like the real thing, not like you and your drawings."

"Hey, you liked that one I gave you last week well enough," retorted the blond. "I saw you sneaking peeks at it even while you were perving on the real thing."

"It's no fault of mine you draw so well. You should learn to draw something else other than naked women for a change." Jiraiya rubbed at his nose, trying to hide the fact he was remembering the picture again.

"Naah…" Naruto leaned against the rails and stared out towards the distant city that slowly began to come into focus.

His sensei shook his head, knowing that getting into an argument was futile. He thought he would have learnt his lesson about fighting with the stubborn blond by now, but it was sometimes hard to communicate any other way. He looked across at his young student, thinking back to the day he had first met him. He'd been a cute kid- full of questions and pouts when he didn't get it.

In a way he was still the same, but he'd matured and grown. He had actually shot up somewhere around fourteen, meaning he went through clothes at an astounding rate. Though, it had done wonders for his appearance. He wasn't a snot-nosed brat covered in dirt anymore- he actually had learnt to brush his hair and teeth in the mornings, and even more astounding, had learnt how to iron. Not that he had to worry much with the clothes he wore currently: a puffy black jacket lined with white fur, worn openly so the bright orange shirt bearing a red spiral mark could be seen; and darkly coloured cargo pants tucked into a pair of boots. Jiraiya sighed and began to read a book he had pulled from his bag.

Naruto adjusted the black headband sliding down his forehead, still staring out towards the looming city. Now that they were closer, he could tell it wasn't a fog covering the city, but smog. And lost somewhere amongst it was his precious people- friends he'd left behind so he could 'recover' as the old Baa-chan had said. He'd missed them when he was overseas, feeling like an idiot when he realised that his time had been up and he hadn't contacted anyone during it. He was sure one particular girl would grab him into a headlock and yell at him for not doing so.

But then… maybe he'd felt too ashamed to do so? After all, he had failed. Konoha's precious "prince" had run off to join another gang, giving a sense of uncertainty to the future of the group. He'd never been too well-liked after all… Naruto gingerly touched his cheek, knowing that there on his face were the marks of an outcast. He'd been told they had been given to him by the Fourth Hokage of the Konoha gang just before he died. The marks were supposed to symbolise a new generation, one of change, but the Fourth's intentions for them were never realised by the other members. Instead they thought he was an omen, a sickly reminder that one of their most beloved leaders had passed away in mysterious circumstances. Many thought he had committed suicide, which made things all the more worse for Naruto's goal.

That was right. He had a mission- the realisation of the Fourth's dream. He'd embraced the notion after being told the true meaning of the marks. It was a dream worth realising too- Shigakure had come to ruins. The city was a den of death, and even those with money and the power to secure themselves feared that they'd one day crumble. The only way to get ahead was to go down as deep as you could go into the grip of death, and deal it out yourself. If you weren't feared, then you became one of the fearful. Naruto understood that at least, after having lived as one of the fearful innocents. Fortunately, he had found acceptance eventually with a man called 'Iruka'. He was a school teacher- a rather harmless seeming one, but underneath it all was a hard-working man for the yakuza group 'Konoha'. He had seen Naruto's struggle and had given him a chance to succeed.

From there, it was history as he found hope and ties of friendship in the most unlikely places. And it was these people that had ultimately set in stone his goal to bring change into this city. He wanted to see the city in its glory-days, like in the stories Ero-Sennin told him. People didn't always used to be afraid of the dark here, and it should never have become that way.

Naruto grinned, thinking how one day the city would be free from fear. Maybe then Sakura-chan would…

"Naruto!" A hand smacked him over the back of the head. Jiraiya glared down at him. "Stop daydreaming already, we gotta talk."

"Eh, what do ya want?" The spiky-haired teen rubbed the bump on his head irritably. He'd just been getting to the good part too…

The old man ran a hand down his face, his thumb and a finger vaguely tracing the two red tattoo lines running down under his eyes. "Look, we're on a boat, right? That means when we dock, we'll be getting off into Kiri territory."

"Why did we have to take a boat?" asked Naruto. He wobbled as the boat hit a particularly choppy wave. "A plane would have been easier…"

"You know Kumo has its hands in the airport. If they wanted, they could have detained us in the middle of the terminal, even confiscated our stuff."

"You just didn't want them taking away your pervert books, did you?" Naruto gave him a patronising look. He received another smack over the head.

Jiraiya crossed his arms. "Getting through Kiri's area is easier than Kumo's. A little bit of seasickness is worth not being locked up in an airport cell for a couple days. Tsunade wouldn't be pleased."

"I suppose," grumbled the youth. He pouted in thought for a moment before grinning. "Well, we better hurry when we get to the docks then if the old Baa-chan wants to see us! I haven't paid her out in years now!"

Jiraiya chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you missed getting punched in the face by her."

Naruto rubbed under his nose, the grin still on his face. "Hey, I'm tougher than that now, I can take a hit!"

"Better hope so," muttered Jiraiya, setting his sight back on the city. "The city sure deals out one hell of a blow these days."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!