Thanks to Morcalivan7 and InARealPickle for your reviews. I still don't own the Naruto characters. Enjoy!
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Naruto walked into the ramen shop behind Shikamaru, his hood and mask again hiding his identity. He had asked his friend not to tell anyone who he was yet—he wanted to do it when he felt ready. He glanced around the familiar restaurant, spotting a few familiar faces. He didn't see any of his old friends, however, and wondered if Shikamaru had been mistaken. He followed the lazy ninja deeper into the restaurant, toward a door in the back. He opened it and walked in, and was immediately met with the gazes of several of his old friends.
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Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Choji, and Ino sat around a small table, smiling at the newcomers. They were surprised to see a strange ninja with Shikamaru, but any friend of his was a friend of theirs. Choji stood and walked over to them. He was taller than he had been at fifteen, and he had lost a lot of weight. He now truly had the appearance of only being "big-boned." His smile widened and he extended his hand toward the strange ninja.
"Hey, Shika. Who's your friend?" he asked, still grinning at the masked ninja.
"Um, this is…."
"My name's Kizake. I'm visiting the village for a while," a voice coming from under the mask replied.
"Well, Kizake, as long as you're here, you're one of us." Choji led the young man to the table, pulling out the chair next to his. Shikamaru sat down to Naruto's left. "Kizake, this is Kiba… Hinata… Shino… and Ino. Naruto shook each one's hand as he was introduced, thinking to himself how ridiculous this was. He looked back at Hinata, who was looking at his brilliantly blue eyes, blushing. He quickly looked away.
He noticed Shikamaru staring at him out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at him. The other ninja was eyeing with a "well, are you going to tell them?" look. Naruto shook his head and turned back to Choji, who had continued to chatter on after finishing the introductions.
"…and Uchiha Sasuke are all on a mission, but you can meet them when they get back, if you're still here…." Choji stopped when "Kizake" began to choke, pushing his chair back from the table.
Shikamaru looked sharply at Naruto. He had reacted strongly to hearing Sasuke's name…. Had he not known he was still in the village? True, Naruto had rescued him; but he had died, or rather been captured, before Sasuke had promised to return to the village. That was another thing that confused Shikamaru. They had found Naruto's body—or a body that very closely resembled his—in the aftermath of the battle. They had buried him and held a funeral for anyone who wanted to come. Had it been some kind of jutsu, or a clone, or…. Shikamaru assumed he would get the answers tomorrow in the meeting with Lady Tsunade—he had been invited to join them since he knew already.
Shikamaru decided to tell him about everything that had happened after he disappeared that night at his place. He would want to catch up on how everyone was doing and what had gone on in the village. But for now, he decided to enjoy his time with his friends.
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Sorry it was so short. I'll try to post a longer chapter soon. Please tell me what you think so far.