A/N: This chapter is a little longer I think, so hopefully you'll excuse any rude things I might happen to do.
Live or Let DieAt his waking, Naruto groaned, surprise at the lack of pain evident in his groan.
"Well and well, look who finally woke up." Naruto started at the familiar, yet still unknown, voice. With a jolt, he remembered whom the voice belonged to. Squinting in the bright, to his eyes, light, Naruto sat up. Focusing on his father, who was sitting in a chair to the right of him, he blinked then frowned slightly.
"Why do you do that?" His voice, still rusty from sleep, managed to sound aggravated. Yondaime smiled innocently, managing, somehow, to look bemused though Naruto knew he was just doing it to spite him.
"Do what, Naruto?" The younger blonde really wished he could leap out of the bed and strangle the man next to him like he really wanted to. Refraining from growling, as that would be what the insufferable man wanted, Naruto breathed deep, closed his eyes, counted to 10 and, opening them again, fixed the now grinning Hokage with a decidedly unamused stare.
"Why do you keep changing your appearance? You're worse than Sakura when she's trying to impress Sasuke. Why can't you decide on a look and stick with it?" Despite himself, a little annoyance bled into his voice as he spoke. Still smiling, though not as hard, Yondaime shrugged.
"A Shinobi should be comfortable in all kinds of disguises, Naruto. Surely you know this." Be fore Naruto could reply that yes he did know this and could he kindly stop being so damned annoying, the door opened and 3 of the people he loved most in the world walked in.
Out of the corner of his eye, for he was now staring directly at his teammates, Naruto saw his father tense up for a second before relaxing. He vaguely wondered why, and would have asked had Kakashi not made the first move.
"Have fun on your trip, Naruto? Did you…uh…find what you were looking for? And who is your friend?" Naruto heard the pause in his sensei's question but, for once, said nothing.
Naruto turned to look at his father, who looked extremely unconcerned with what was happening and was even staring out the window with a faintly bored expression, before once again turning to look at his genin sensei. Letting out that breath he was still holding, Naruto decided.
"Nice to see you too, sensei. Him? Oh he's my…"
-
-
-- Please don't kill me!!! (squeals) I humbly ask your pardon dear readers, but hopefully the next one won't be too long in coming.
