I'm back. Woohoo! Haha, so, im truly sorry about not updating, and this is gonna be such a suckish chapter, but I just wanna get it over with. Life has been so hectis for me lately, but things have started to cool down, thank god. And I've recently made an awesome friend, who's brought me out of my dark emo/evil mood, so, we'll see how that effects my writing, won't we? Chapter's short, but I willl get another one out soon hopefully.

A small, calming breeze blew over the forest, scattering the few loose leaves from the treetops. The sky was a crisp, light blue, stained with light pinks, reds and oranges as the sun began to rise. Overall, it would have made a beautiful picture if it were anywhere else. But, in the forest of Death, nothing was pleasant, not even a would be gorgeous scene. A small bird landed on a branch, and was just about to begin it's morning song, when a snake slithered up behind it, and struck. With swift agility, it swallowed the unsuspecting creature. The snake then laid there, waiting for it's meal to digest.

20 feet down, Naruto looked up at the scene. He stood there casually, his hands in his pocket, looking up, as his bangs swayed in the wind. Naruto sighed, this was his last morning in the forest of death. He had been there all week, and then stayed for a few more days on request. Anko had givin him the days, as she was still a bit unnerved from her last involvement with him. Naruto had calmed down quite a bit, and had successfully suppressed his demon. The kyuubi was not at all happy with his sentence to be caged in the boys mind. He had put up a good fight, but Naruto's drive to be strong on his own had overpowered him.

"Morning, Sunshine," Anko taunted, jumping onto a branch near the snake, "Ready to get the hell out of here?"

Naruto looked up at her, then blinked. He choose to not talk, as it seemed to always get him aggravated when around Anko. She really knew how to grate on his nerves.

Naruto nodded, and Anko smiled that annoying smirk of hers. Well, in Naruto's opinion it was annoying.

"Alright, maggot, let's move out, we've got a mission today, your joining team 7."

Anko leaped onto the next branch, then turned her head, waiting for Naruto to follow.

Naruto gracefully leaped onto the branch she had just occupied, then leaped onto a branch ahead of her, signaling he was ready. Anko took off through the woods, jumping from one branch to another, Naruto closely following behind her.

In a matter of minutes, they had reached the gate, and Anko let them out, letting the padlock fall to the ground, before pushing the gates open. After they had stepped through, she picked the lock up, before chaining the gate, and locking it.

Naruto turned around, just enough so he could see Anko, "I'm heading home."

Anko nodded, waving her hand at him dissmisively, "Sure, sure," she said absent mindedly while finishing with the gate.

She then turned around her attention more focused, "Meet Team 7 and I at the north gate at 14 hundred hours (1)"

Naruto blinked in understanding, before leaping off through the village to reach his small apartement.

Naruto pulled out the small key from his pocket, and unlocked the door when he arrived at the apartement. Naruto walked in, shutting the door behind him. The apartement had a thin layer of dust from the years of very little use. Naruto walked to the bedroom, and pulled out a towel from one of the shelves. He walked to the small nathroom connected to the room, and stepped in.

He swiftly turned the water on, and waited for the water to get nice and warm, before shedding his clothing, and stepping into the small shower.

Naruto smiled, not the evil smirk one sees before there death is dealt to them by the smakk bkond haired child, but a small, content ghost of a smile. No one had ever seen this smile except for Naruto himself.

Naruto took a few calming breathes before washing the layer of dirt that had gathered on him while he was in the forest.

An hour later, Naruto stepped out of the shower, and went over to his closet. He pulled out a pair of dark navy jeans, that where tight around his calves and ankles so they wouldn't get in the way, and looser around the crotch and thigh areas so his legs could move easy enough. After slipping them on, he Then pulled on a sleeveless shirt made of chain mail, and over that a tight black and dark grayish-green striped shirt. (2)

Next, he slipped into his black ninja sandles, before strapping on his weapons pouch to his thigh, then belt. Finnaly he strapped on metal arm guards to his forearms.

Naruto grapped his brown leather bag, and slipped a change of clothes, and a few packs of weapons, and some food.

He glanced at the clock that hung on his wall. Naruto threw the bag over his shoulder, then walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

K, that's all for now. I'm sooo tired it's not even funny. And I still have to call my bf…

Well, reviews are appreciated, and I'm still looking for a beta, so, please contact me.

2 pm for those of you who don't use or know military time.

I recently bought a shirt like that, it's very comfortable, haha, thought I'd give it to Naruto, and yeah, I do relies im making him kind of emoish, but it suits his attitude a bit.