I'm so sorry for taking so long, but i've been working a lot lately, and there has just not been any time for writing, barely time sleeping, now I know how Gaara feels.

1. I have decided the pairing to be naruten, and because of that I need you to answer yet another question, should they get married or just stay sweethearts, it won't affect my course of action, but I think that it is an important detail.

2. sorry if there is many writing mistakes, but since my beta reader has gone on a vacation, you guys are the first people to read this chapter. I could always wait for her to come home, but that may take a couple of weeks, and I can't wait that long.

thank you for your attention.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It was a dark and cloudy day in the hidden village of Konoha, it was always like that on that special day, it was never rain and never sun. Always dark and cloudy, like the village or the gods themselves where in mourning. But then again, this was no ordinary day, today was the fifth anniversary of the day Konoha's misunderstood hero left the village in grief.

Ever since he left, the village had slowly lost some of its shine, like a light bulb that slowly grew weaker and in the end would darken completely.

The Konoha 12 (minus Sakura) had on this day started a tradition, a tradition that would never end before the sun again shone on this day. Every year they would meet up at Ichiraku's ramen stand, and have a small "Naruto party" in his honour, they would eat ramen till they could eat no more, and they would share their stories with each other, stories that they knew their blond haired friend would have been proud of hearing, because that meant that someone remembered. It was a party in his honour, where they would respect his only true wish in life, to be recognised as the person and great fighter that he was. So they continued this tradition every year, no exceptions, telling the same stories every year, but never growing tired of hearing them.

Even Tsunade helped in on their little gathering, she always made sure of that none of them ever had any missions on that fateful day, she even threw in a little bonus and always made sure that the little pink haired banshee was miles away on a mission on that day, so that she could never ruin their fun.

This way the flaming memory of the orange clad never died, and was kept just as alive as the sun on the sky and the thousand stars in the night, and it would continue to burn, until the day he came home, and blew more life to the already storming inferno of memories that he had left behind.

Today was of course no exception from any of the other days, and promptly at noon they where all seated in the small ramen stand, that could fill surprisingly many people, and started their yearly little ritual, always starting by ordering a steaming bowl of hot miso ramen, just because it had been Naruto's favourite.

Currently a little down the road in front of the gates to Konoha.

A figure was slowly making it's way up the road and back to the village of his nightmares, but also the village where his lifelines where placed, what he would have done without them he did not know.

When he came into seeing view from the gates, the two chunins at guard-duty (Izumo and Kotetsu) could see a tall figure wearing a deep crimson coloured jacket with black trimming and a big hood pulled over his head (think Tsunade's jacket with a hood, only red with thick black trimmings against all the edges at the bottom, wrists, collar and hood. Plus the arms are longer), black and baggy pants and standard black shinobi sandals. By his left side they could clearly see a sword behind the jacket that was caught in the wind and was dancing around his feet. They could also barely see a katana at his right side. But the most breathtaking about the guy was the brown and black majestic eagle that was seated at the person's right shoulder, piercing its sharp eyes at the dark and gloomy village ahead.

The two guards stared suspiciously at the stranger as he slowly made his way up to the gate, the tension in the air growing stronger by the second, normally these people where just harmless travellers, but something about this man made the chunins very on edge. Like as an aura of strength and wariness surrounded the cloaked figure, making them believe that this was no ordinary traveller, the person's presence literally screamed danger, and that gave them chills down their spine.

After what seemed like an eternity the stranger eventually reached the gate, and was then stopped by two suspicious looking chunins, one of them stepped forward and tried to stare the stranger in the eyes before saying in a cold voice "state your name and business in Konoha".

The stranger just slowly lifted his head, and before they could register almost any movement, the eagle gave off an ear-splitting scream that seemed to pierce straight through them, like the eagle was inside them screaming, and not in front of them. The stranger just lifted his arm and lovingly stroked the bird gently over the wings while making soft soothing sounds, the eagle calmed down but kept his sharp piercing eyes at the two, like he was looking straight into their souls. As the stranger once again hid his arm in his jacket they could clearly see that this was no spoiled brat, his hand was aged by wind, sun and hard work, and they could also see some minor scares on the stranger's hand. Still miles away in their own thoughts they had not noticed that the stranger was now looking straight at them, and when they finally noticed all they could see was a dark hole where his face was still hidden under the hood.

Back at Ichiraku.

"and do you remember that time when he put up that complicated trap in the classroom and it ended up with Iruka-sensei being covered in pudding with a note saying I just love pudding?" the assembly of people laughed hard at that particular memory, Iruka had been mad for two weeks after that. Then Kiba spoke up and said, "And let's not forget the time when he snuck in to the hokage tower and coloured ALL of the hokage robes bright pink and the hat orange. Right then I really thought that Sandaime sama would have killed him", "yeah, I remember seeing the Sandaime chasing Naruto through the streets in something pink that day, he looked mad as hell while Naruto just laughed and kept on running" Ino said.

"Or that time when he and Kiba was arguing, and he just suddenly threw a frisbee and yelled 'catch', and it hit that Anko chick, you could hear him run for his life the entire day, I swear he must have ran past my house a least three times that day with her right behind" Sasuke managed to choke out between the laughs, that gave them all a very good laugh, but it soon died down when Shikamaru said something.

"But even though he did all of those things, he always protected his precious people. Hell he has even saved our village twice from destruction, first from the Kyuubi, and then from Gaara when he got taken over by Shukaku" Shikamaru said while staring into his clear glass of water. In that moment the same thought floated in everyone's mind, "he truly was the hero and sunshine of this village".

Back to the gates again.

The two chunins was pushed out of their startled gaze as the stranger spoke too them with a voice that seemed hoarse from lack of use, but his voice also signalled wisdom and wariness, "my name is of none of your concern, neither is my business here, but I'm expected by your hokage, so you better let me in" he said while holding up a declaration signed by lady Tsunade herself, stating that he was allowed entry in every village in fire country.

The two chunins studied the paper for a few seconds before dividing in two directions and gave the stranger access to the village. The stranger slowly walked between them and continued to give of the aura that clearly stated that he did not trust the two men one bit and was on edge as well.

As the stranger walked into the village he could feel the men's glares on the back of his head, but shrugged it of as nothing, they couldn't hurt him now anyway.

As the guards watched the retreating back they gave a sigh of relief as the pressing tension that had been resting in the air was finally gone and their muscles once again started to relax, when they saw the retreating form they noticed one detail about the strangers clothing that they had not seen from the front. Gently wrapped over the back of his jacket, with its wings on the shoulders and the head placed right on the middle with the head turned up to the right with its beak open in a silent scream, was the majestic re-creation of a black eagle.

Naruto's POV:

"Hmm I guess I should be getting to see Obaa-Chan, hope she doesn't either send me flying through the wall or break my ribs in a hug, wouldn't be the first time. Perhaps I should send in a kage bunshin first?" That was the things going trough Naruto's head while he slowly was walking down one of the many streets in Konoha. "This old place hasn't changed one bit, the only change I can see is that Obaa-Chan is now hanging from the hokage monument, I wonder how my apartment is doing? Heeey……isn't that Ichiraku's? hmmm; I am a little hungry..."

Back too 3rd POV:

Just as Naruto stopped and looked at the restaurant where he had spent mostly of his lonely childhood, 10 people stepped out, all was laughing, but they still gave of an aura of melancholy. The very moment they all stepped out in the street, the air got suffocating and tension filled their muscles, all of them looked up and saw a stranger in a red jacket with a bird on his shoulder standing across the street looking at them, none of them moved, like time itself had frozen in that very moment.

Suddenly a powerful breeze soared through the air, and promptly knocked down the hood that belonged to the stranger.

The tension in the air suddenly became much more suffocating, as what they saw in front of them finally sunk in. What they saw looking at them was a tanned face with no baby fat, a pair of deep sky blue eye with slits and a three pairs of whisker marks that was slightly but hardly noticeable thicker. And shoulder length bright blond hair that danced around the tanned and well shaped head. He was looking nothing like the last time they had met, but this still was a face that they could never forget; it was the face of the person that had haunted their dreams the last five years.

Neji was the first that got his voice under control again, and managed to utter a word with a low whispery voice that screamed uncertainty, "n.n.naruto?"

And for the first time in five years, on that fateful day, the sun peeked out from the clouds, and once again flooded the hidden village hidden in the leaves with its yellow and warm light.¨

don't forget to vote on marriage or not, and tell me what you think, this is extremely important to me as you are my first readers since I don't have my beta reader