It was painful to remember how hard he had found it to walk so far,
How with each step he had moaned as his already sore muscles became sorer. Jiraiyas only comfort being jokes, bad jokes, about women and women and a group of women and lesbians with women.
But after a year of Jiraiyas harsh teaching, walking long distances felt..normal. He was full of energy, if he wanted to he could have sprinted the last few miles home.
Adrenaline rushed threw him with the thought, should he? The idea was forming, his legs begging him to run, oh god he sounded like lee. would lee still do things like that; challenge himself to do pointless things.
His smile was automatic picturing his friend. Although He found it harder then he should to visualize Lee. God had he really forgotten what his friend looked like? did Lee have brown or black hair, and did he really wear a green leotard, or had he made that up as well.
he looked around, starting to recognize the roads leading into his home village. He sped up slightly, would they be excited to see him? had they forgotten him? *Sakura wouldn't, and the another guys will still remember me* he told himself, trying to quell the doubt in his mind.
He slowed down as he got closer, his anxiety starting to leak out, The village wouldn't have Gaara in it, neither would Sasuke be there. His feet stopped moving.
His heart was really starting to annoy him, how was he supposed to think with it pounding over his thoughts. He let out a big breathe, grinding his teeth together as he stepped forward, keeping up a steady pace to the village.
His head physically hurt by the time he reached the village. He walked thru the gates without even glancing at the guards stationed at the booth.
"oi" one shouted breaking his spell "we said identification and reason of business"
"oh sorry" Naruto said rubbing the back of his neck, "Uzumaki Naruto, home from training"
"Naruto" the guard echoed eyes widening
"yeah" He replied suspiciously, had he done something wrong already
"sorry man, its just you've grown up" the guard replied, studying Naruto,
"oh yeah I guess" Naruto said, not really.. he hadn't exactly been young when he'd left, also he had no idea who the guy was, he wondered if he was allowed to enter the village or did he have to wait for the guy to finish staring at him.
"Kakashi will be happy to see you, he never shuts up about his lost member" The guy laughed, signing something on his register, unable to witness the horror appearing on Narutos face
"I think he was talking about our other lost member" Naruto replied feeling his heart run cold at the thought
"oh, anyway you can go thru its fine" the guard said smiling at the confused teen
"thanks" Naruto said before taking his first legal steps inside the village, he instently scanned the area for his friends, not many people were about.
Even with a year between when he had last stepped into this place, it had stayed the same, it was automatic to walk down the small road and then thru an alleyway towards ichirakus
"NARUTOOO" a voice cried and before Naruto could even turn a large weight shoved into his side,
"Konohamaru" Naruto smiled staring down at the brunet hair pushing against his stomach, had he really grown that much?
"We thought you'd never come home" konohamarus muffled voice said, Naruto laughed patting the boys soft hair
"I said I'd be back, and I always keep my word, you know that"
"yeah well.." Konohamaru trailed of, Naruto thought Konohamarus doubt may have something to do with sasuke and realllllly didn't want to get into that , this early in the mourning so quickly changed tactic
"hey do you know if Sakuras around?" he asked
"yeah shes been waiting for you, for weeks now" konohamaru shouted eagerly, Naruto grinned happy his friends really hadn't forgotten about him "She should be around here somewhere" Konohamry continued
"right, well I'm gonna have a look round for her, I wanna hang out with you soon, I have some awesome Justus I have to teach you" Naruto said smiling at his protégé
"really!" Konohamaru cried, "how about later today"
"yeah that will be awesome" Naruto smiled "I'll meet you at the training fields at 1 today,"
"yeah I'll see you then!" Konohamary cried before running of
Naruto smiled at his receding form, it was nice to be somewhere were people wanted to be around you, traveling with just the pervy sage had been a little lonely as times, especially with the amount of time the sage spent absent looking for women
Naruto considered waiting where he stood, incase Sakura or anyone else he knew passed by but found he was way to impatient so instead started walking to Sakuras house.
Walking up one of the main streets, it would appear many of the venders seemed to have forgotten who he was, he only counted two glares thrown his way in the entire street. Niceee. Moving up in the world it would seem.
Just as he reached Sakuras house her mum walked out, catching Narutos eye she turned and quickly grabbed him by his shoulders pulling him into a gigantic hug
"OH my Naruto, Sakura will be sooo happy your home!" she shouted, squeezing him so tight it hurt.
"Oh Mrs Haruno, its nice to see you too" He replied, smiling at her joy
"SAKURA, get out here!" she shouted back into her house, he could faintly hear something being shouted back, before Sakura emerged
"What do you want mum" she said anger clear on her face, but after seeing Naruto she quickly mirrored her mother grabbing Naruto by his shoulders and pulling him close.
"you weren't supposed to get back for another week" she shouted right into his ear, he winced, smile still in place as he pulled back to look over his friend. Yep same Sakura. Sakuras mum gave him another big smile before retreating back into the house.
"Yeah the old perv said I could head back early" He replied "its so weird seeing you again"
"yeah I know, wow, have you grown?, any taller and were gonna have to move the cealings up" Sakura joked, her eyes slightly glazed as she stared at the handsome man infront of her
"hm maybe a little" he said, he hadn't really noted any growth in his height, but standing next to the suddenly much shorter Sakura was making him realize just how much he had grown.
"Sakura is that Naruto!" Ino asked appearing behind Sakura with Shikimaru, and choji
"hey Ino" he said waving, chochi gave him a pat on the back and shikimaru nodded at him
"we were gonna go for food, wanna come" Ino asked
"hmm yeah I could do with some good food, you should have seen some of the places they passed of for restaurants!" Naruto cried, remembering the foul food he had been forced to eat for the sake of living.
"we are not going to ichirakus Naruto" sakura said,
"aww but sakura I haven't had it in a year!" he cried,
"hey Tsunade" Sakura suddenly shouted, causing the group to all turn towards the hokage who had appeared out of one of the many alleyways littering konoha, Naruto was about to shout his greeting at seeing her again but then saw her expression.
"Not now Sakura" Tsunade husked, her expression dreary as she continued up the street
"whats up Grandma?" Naruto called as she passed him, Tsunade spun, looking murderous, though her expression turned more courteous
"Hey Naruto, you were close to the sand siblings, weren't you?" she asked,
"I was close to Gaara" he said, though after rejudging the hokages reaction became worried "Why, is something wrong with them?"
"you could say that-" Tsunade said clearly about to fully divulge, but after a glance at the audience rethought "come and see me later, I may need you for something" she started walking away
"Hey Tsunade, I'm close to the siblings as well" Shikamaru shouted
"thats nice" she shouted back as she disappeared down the road, shikamaru sweared oblivious to the strange looks in his direction, he had put effort into something wow
"you gotta go see what that was about, it sounds interesting" Sakura said wondering what trouble the siblings were in.
"yeah I'll go after lunch" he said, though surprisingly he wasn't hungry anymore.
oooooo
"Tsunade" he shouted as he walked in, he may have matured slightly but not enough to learn respect for his superiors
"Naruto, sit down" Tsunade said, he was suspicious of Tsunades *good mood* she should have hit him twice by now, sure he hadn't done anything, but that had never stopped her before, he slid into the seat opposite her desk, bracing himself.
"what I say can't leave this room" she said, a whiskey glass was suddenly in his line of sight as she took a sip, ahh so that explains her passive mood
"okay" he knodded, although he knew he was shitty at keeping secrets
"the kazekage was murdered a few nights ago" she said, Naruto gasped not expecting such serious news, the kazekage? That was the intimidating man that had been manipulated by orochimaru some months ago at the chunin exams, that was Gaara's father. Gaara. Fuck his dad had been murdered.
"how?" he asked, had Gaara fought the murderers? Had Gaara witnessed his dads death?
"an organization called the Acastski, the one that was seen in the village" she said, knowing Naruto was aware of the groups existence
"yeah Kakashi mentioned them, fuck" He drawled, what a awful situation, though with the kazekages alliance with Orochimaru some months back, It was probably politicly for the best. New start; better trust between the villages. Gaara didn't seem to even like the guy. Not like he had seen much of Gaara recently.
"language" she chided, making Naruto jump from his daydreams,
"of course with our alliance, Konoha will help in hunting down this group, in retribution for the kazekages death and in protection for ourselves, for all we know the group will be heading here" she said accompanied by a large sip of her whiskey,
"what about Gaara?" he mumbled
"huh?" she asked
"you know, like , is he okay? It was his dad who was the kazekage wasent it?" he asked
"hmm, I'm not sure, I havent heard much news on the siblings, they're probably fine" she said waving her hand
"yeah" he concluded, still feeling apprehensive
"I believe the elders have stepped in to be replacement Kazekages for the time being" she said before mumbling "pain in my ass elders"
"when will there be a new kazekage?" he asked
"one should be decided hopefully within the next month, god knows what prick will be named" she said,
"language" he echoed
"fuck, I said that aloud didn't I, fuck" she said her head falling onto her arms slightly, narutos brow creased, the old lady looked exhausted whether that was threw lack of sleep or just too much alcohol was up to debate. She slid down her arm to rest her forehead directly onto her desk.
"come on grandma, at least collapse into a bed" he said, watching her jerk back into a proper position her hazy eyes scanning the room slightly
"Naruto, I want you to be prepared to head to suna by next week," she said her eyes closing slightly as she spoke,
"wait, suna?" he asked unable to keep the excitement out of his voice
"yeah, you will escort our best scientists to conduct evidence, and peace between nations" her closed eyes said, Naruto feeling sorry for the old lady didn't press the issue, making sure the hokage couldn't hurt herself in her slumber and quietly left the room.
He'd only just got back today, and he was out traveling again, well at least he'd see Gaara.
well maybe that wasn't such a good thing, he had been both dreading and desiring the day when he'd see Gaara again, the past few months all he'd done is plan his speech to Gaara on how what happened was a mistake and he was very much into women, thank you very much.
oo
It was later when he was walking with Shikimaru when his problems suddenly amplified
Temari!?" Naruto shouted sotting the blonde nin before the rest fo the group did, "wooh what happened to you?" he asked
"shit, are you ok?" shikimaru asked standing and quickly walking to the blonde nin, her hair was all over the place half swept into her eyes and the other half tight back in one messy ponytail,
"I've been looking everywhere for you!, I need your help!" she shouted clutching at shikimarus arm like that would cure everything, Naruto was quick to also rush to her side
"what happened?" Naruto asked, already drawing on the fox's chakra
"the acatski, they took him!" she shouted gasping as she fell forward slightly, as this Narutos eyes were drawn to her legs they were dirty, her leggings ripped with small scratches visible, had she run threw a thorn bush?
"who did they take" Shikimaru asked, already realizing for Temari to be here, asking his help it would have to have been one of her brothers, his bet was on kankurou
"Gaara, they took him!, he's gone" She cried, her legs appearing to give out for a second, Shikimaru was quick to rush to her side but at this she appeared to gather herself, shakily standing straight and breathing deeply
Narutos mouth gaped open, Gaara?
"wait what happened?" he asked, were was Gaara?
"shh Naruto" Shikimaru shhhed before turning back to Temari "how many shiniobi do you need?"
"as many as will come, I will not let my brother die" she said
"come on, we'll go to tsunade now" shikimaru said quickly walking with Temari back towards the Hokages office.
Naruto looked round everything was a little sharper, there was a huge pain in his chest,
Gaara?
