Naruto strolled through the small village, distracted, and unaware of the passersby smiling and slightly bowing their heads towards him as he went past. He thought back to Sasuke and when he had broken up with him, he thought about how Sasuke had protested, still the same new Sasuke. He had to remind himself that he was trying to help Sasuke. And as he was to be the new Hokage, he had to be able to see what was best for his future people.

It burned him inside that he was so harsh to the one he loved. No. This wasn't the Sasuke that he loved. He loved the one that hadn't always depended on him, and hadn't always clung to him. He loved the one who was there for him and cared for him and held him tight in a welcoming embrace rather than a clingy, desperate one. He wouldn't return to him until that had happened. He wouldn't go back until he had the old Sasuke back. Not the majorly emo one that talked to no one and was really arrogant, but well, the one I just said!!

A kunai was flung at Naruto's head from behind and he caught it in the hook with his index finger not even turning to see who it was, "what are you doing, Konohamaru?"

"Ahh, leader! You're so cool!! You could tell who I was without even looking!"

"Aren't we a little too old for this Konohamaru? You're about to enter the chunin exams now, you need to keep up your training so that you can defend the village with your life. Don't you want to protect your home?"

"Of course I do, but I still want to keep my friendship with you, leader"

"Heh, you will, but right now, I have my own training to get to"

"But you're the best shinobi in this village! Why would you need to train?"

"I'm not the best Konohamaru, Tsunade – Sama is still the best fighter in this village, with Jiraiya-san, and I'm third inline"

"You've finally beaten that Uchiha as well; I remember when he was able to beat you without breaking a sweat"

"Heh, so do I."

"What happened to him anyway? I haven't seen him in a while"

'That Sasuke is long gone, I haven't seen him in so long, and I miss him' "I've got to go Konohamaru"

And with that, Naruto carried on walking towards the monumental heads of the Hokage's of Konoha.

When he reached the top he met his now long time sensei, Jiraiya. He was writing down notes, most probably for his latest Icha Icha Novel, after all these years, he was still the biggest pervert in all of Konoha.

"Hey, Jiraiya-sama, I can't wait all day to train to become Hokage just because you want to meet your next deadline for that perverted book."

"-sigh- you know Naruto, I miss the days where you called me 'ero-senin' and were freaked out by what you read in these books. Such innocence and such a bold personality. Do me a favour, don't let that die."

"Eh? If I want to become a respectable Hokage to this village, I have to be serious and straight forward about how I'm going to improve Konoha and make it a safer place for everyone to live and be. If I keep that brat that played practical jokes on everyone and made stupid mistakes, then Konoha will crumble!"

"At the expense of loosing who you are? Naruto, when you were younger, you said how you wanted to become Hokage, you wanted the villagers to acknowledge and respect you, you built your own life through practical jokes and having that loudmouth personality of yours, if that dies, then your dream might as well die with it because without that, even partly in your life, you aren't the same person who has worked so hard for the title of Hokage and has fought so hard to bring back the people you love and protect them from any harm that might come their way."

Naruto looked down at the ground, part of what he was being told made sense, it seemed right that he should only naturally be the same as he had been when he was a child, but hadn't everyone hated that kid? Hadn't everyone told him to grow up or die even? That was at the time when he was hated for being the Kyubbi, and he had played the jokes so that people would have a real reason to be annoyed with him rather than hating him for no reason at all. Does this even make sense?

The bubbly loudmouth that he used to be was as a result of the hatred thrown at him as a child determined to not let these people get to him. But today, today everyone acknowledged him, he was recognised for his efforts to protect the village he loved and he didn't have to be an annoying bubbly maniac to do it. Did he really need to turn back to his original self? Sakura hadn't liked that Naruto; Sasuke hadn't liked that Naruto; if he was still that Naruto then he might have never been with Sasuke. But hadn't Sasuke said that he loved him years before he had changed into this… this Hokage stereotype?

Hokage: protector of Konoha and strongest shinobi of the village. Loving and caring of his/her people. Hardworking and determined. Doesn't fool around and takes his/her work very seriously.

Was that what he had turned into; a workaholic? Someone who focused only on the task and didn't allow anything to distract him. Sure that wouldn't really seem like such a bad thing, until he spent so much time trying to do everything that he could to protect the village without realising that he was doing nothing of the kind. Could that really happen?

Naruto's head started to hurt before he had even began his training with all this hard thinking and complicated circles.

"J–Jiraiya…"

Jiraiya turned from his notes to look up at the handsome blonde.

"have I changed so much?"

Jiraiya paused before answering, taking a moment to word it, "you focus on training and becoming the Hokage only. It's been months if not longer since I have seen you with friends other than Uchiha. You eat the most balanced diets known to man. You don't leave time to fool around or for leisure. So, to sum it up… yes. You have really changed so much."

"but, not all of that is a bad thing, right? I mean, it's good to stay focussed to gain optimum power and to be the best Hokage and not let everyone down. That wasn't my fault that I haven't seen the others for so long. Sasuke got jealous of anyone that I talked to or was with other than him. It's good to eat a balanced diet isn't it? I gain all the nutrients that I need and I have the energy to train and become stronger rather than train to change excess fat from bad food into something worth having. I don't have time to fool around. I need to be ready for when it's time for me to become Hokage."

"But that's the thing. Once you become Hokage, it isn't going to be easy and you aren't going to have much time for fun. You're still a kid, enjoy it while you can! Naruto you are already so near to being equal to me. You have control over the kyubbi within you and know how to use him to your advantage, it would take a lot to have the village disappointed in you. You need to sort out your issues with Sasuke. he's clinging onto you and causing you to try even harder than you need to! If you carry on at the rate that you are going then you are going to burn out. Sure, it's good to eat a balanced diet but Naruto doesn't eat a balanced diet. I still see you cringe when you eat all those vegetables, you just want ramen. So EAT RAMEN!"

Naruto stood silent for a while and lowered himself to the ground.

"I dumped Sasuke. that's one problem out the way"

Jiraiya was shocked. Naruto and Sasuke where the couple that everyone had been rooting for, until Sasuke got clingy and jealous, but Jiraiya didn't think that Naruto would dump him.

"why?"

"it was like you said, he was clingy and causing me to push too hard"

"do you love him?"

"I love the old Sasuke. the one that everyone first saw with me"

There was a pause before he continued.

"I told him that he was holding me back from my dream…"

"na…ruto." Jiraiya coughed before changing his tone of voice, "I don't think today is a good day to train. We've spoken a lot today, about a lot of issues. How about, you take a day or two just to figure it all out. Try and catch up with your old friends again. As far as I know they have all recently returned and recovered from missions, they were planning on having a meal out tomorrow. Shikamaru told me to tell you when he was on his way to find Sakura and tell her about the news."

"okay. Arigatou Jiraiya-sama"

Jiraiya got up and left Naruto to his musings and the thoughts running through his mind…

-TBC-

This must be one HELL of a confusing chapter…

And I'm sorry it took so long to upload. Do you really like this??

(Edit: 27/08/08)

i have made a hotmail account for my readers to add me on if they would like t talk to me or if they would like to email me without it being edited by fanfiction

it will not show up in the chapter if i type it so if you wouldlike to add me then go onto m profile page and it will be there.

anyone is welcome to add but those who aren't nice will be blocked and deleted.

that is all

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