So they settled for a waiting game. Tenten and Kiba waited, praying for the day that Lee would wake up and Naruto would be finished training. Thankfully, Lee healed quickly and after a two week long near-coma, he woke up. Thankfully, he woke up on a day that Naruto was in town and at the hospital visiting. It would have been horrible for him to have woken up and not had his closest friends there with him.

It was nearly a week before the doctor cleared Lee to leave the hospital for short trips. That was also the day that Naruto completed his training. No big surprise then that they decided to celebrate by having Ichiraku's for lunch the next day. It was the first day they had all been together in weeks, and it was a joyous occasion. Lee begged Naruto to tell him all about his training, and Naruto was more than happy to oblige. At least, he was between bite of ramen. Nothing made him appreciate just how good ramen really was like having his best friends there to share it.

"So he taught you the summoning jutsu? Nice..." said Kiba, amazed that Naruto was able to learn such a, advanced skill.

"Very nice," nodded Lee. "At least now you have a good trump card to use against Neji."

"Yeah, and I plan to use it! Neji won't know what hit him after I set Gamabunta after him!" bragged Naruto.

"Well...just try not to let Neji get warmed up too much. I've seen some of his new stuff and let me tell you, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it. He's been really pushing himself this past month."

"Don't worry about me Tenten. I can take anything that stuck-up Hyuuga can dish out and turn it right back twice as strong!"

"Ahhhh...how i envy you. If I was going against someone like Neji I'd at least be a little worried."

Confused blinking...

"Kiba just admitted fear..."

"What the hell...?"

Kiba just laughed.

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The match came all too soon. And of course Naruto almost didn't make it. Leave it to Konohamaru to screw things up. Good thing Genma wanted to see this fight so badly or else he would have disqualified Naruto for his tardiness. And what a fight it was. Naruto wasn't the only one with a new technique. Neji's Kaiten was amazing. And devastating. It took all Naruto had to keep from being killed. All his years a the class prankster saved him yet again, as his hide under ground before delivering a final blow technique worked like a charm. The resounding silence following the fall of the genius Hyuuga was matched only by the deafening roar of the cheering fans. Most of them had attended only to see the battle between Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Desert, but where more than glad they showed up and saw the monumental battle. Especially since the Sasuke vs Gaara battle was never finished. The invasion of the Leaf by the Sound, along with their Sand allies sort of took center stage before a winner was decided. And Kiba, the baka, let himself be put to sleep by Kabuto's genjuitsu. Can't really blame Tenten, she was too worried about Lee, and not very talented with genjuitsu. She never even noticed what was happening. Lee, well never had a chance. He couldn't have reversed the genjuitsu if he tried. So, once again, they were left out of the action. The big battle between Gaara and Naruto was not one to miss. Too bad the only witnesses where Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke, and Temari; since Sakura, Shino, Shikamaru, and Kankorou were incapacitated at the time.

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Naruto awoke in a stark hospital room, bandaged and sore.

"Hey you," said Kiba from his chair.

"Hey yourself. When'd you get here? When'd I get here for that matter?"

"About an hour ago. I watched them bring you in. Kakashi revived Tenten and I after he and Guy finished off the ninja in the stadium. Tenten took a little detour to make sure Lee was in a safe place before we ran off to help the others. Fat lot of good we did." He sighed, "A good chunk of the village was totally destroyed." He paused, "Naruto..." He stopped as Kakashi entered.

"Yo." he said flatly.

"Kakashi, what the hell happened?"

Kakashi shrugged, "it was a massacre, on both sides. We won, but we lost alot of good people. And someone all too important to all of us..."

Naruto stared. "Who...?" he muttered, afraid of the answer. The look on Kakashi's face told him everything. Naruto's face crashed down into his hand and he wept bitterly. "Old man..." he mumbled, "It can't be..."

Kakashi took that as his cue to leave.

"How..." mumbled Naruto, unable to comprehend how the Hokage could be dead. "It isn't possible..."

Kiba stood up and sat on the edge of Naruto's bed. "It'll be okay Naruto. If there's anyway to die, that was it. Protecting your family, friends, village. That's how he would have wanted it." Naruto looked up. Kiba couldn't help but feel a horrible sadness for the boy. "Oh Naruto..." he sighed as he hugged him close, letting the boy cry on his shoulder as he had done so many times before.

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It was a week before Naruto saw Jiraiya again. The Pervy-sage just appeared one day outside his hospital window. "Yo Kid! I got a mission for ya."

Naruto stared, "What now Pervy-sage?"

Jiraiya ignored the sarcasm, "I want you to come with me for a little training mission."

Naruto blinked, "Training mission? What the...?" "Yeah, you know, train while you work kinda of thing."

Naruto tilted his head to one side, "Okay...? So whats the actual mission?"

"We got to go find this woman."

"What the...? Woman? What woman?"

"Stop asking so many questions and start getting ready! Or should I go ask Sasuke to come along instead." That got him.

"Wait, don't do that! I'll go! Just give me a few hours to get ready!"

"You have two days Naruto," and he dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

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"OH FOR THE LOVE OF..." yelled Kiba. "What the hell is with you and dissapearing after major events...?"

"I can't help it if Jiraiya doesn't want to train me while staying in the village. Either I go with him or im stuck here without a sensei. Kakashi has officially given up training me now. Hell, i can't even get the guy to return my calls anymore."

"My offer still stands Naruto..."

"And as much as I'd love to take you up on it I can't. I'm not taijutsu person, and I don't have the insane strength or senses you have. I'm just not made for the kind of training you do Kiba."

"It really doesn't seem fair," said Tenten, trying not to lose her calm, "I mean he forces you to leave the village just to train. What's wrong with staying here and working on whatever he's going to teach you. I can understand if he wanted you to learn jutsu from the other villages, but if it's stuff he already knows why not just stay?"

"I've asked him that more times than I can count. The only answer I ever get from him is that 'if you do everything in the comfort of the village you'll never grow to your true potential', or some crap like that."

"Bunch of crap is right..." mumbled Kiba.

"Naruto, if you have no choice in the matter then I for one understand. If you must leave, then I will not stop you," said Lee.

"Thanks Lee," smiled Naruto. He sighed and looked at his watch, "Look, it's getting late and I have to get home and get ready. Promise you'll come and see me off?"

"Of course we will silly," said Kiba.

"Good."

­-----------------------------------

The next morning Naruto loitered at the gate. Jiraiya wanted to get going as early as possible, but Naruto basically forced him to wait. It was a sad goodbye for all of them. Kiba made Naruto promise to write, although he knew it was was too much to hope for Naruto actually writing them. Lee gave him a rib-crushing one-armed hug and Tenten a goodbye kiss on the cheek. And to the complaints of Jiraiya they said their final goodbyes before Naruto turned and walked off into the distance.